A Glimpse of Purpose
Text: Ephesians 5:15-20
How do we really know what the will of God truly is? “What does God really want me to do?” It’s certainly not a new question at all, people both unknown and famous have asked it throughout the centuries. We’re certainly no different. Imagine if people like Martin Luther or John Calvin had resigned themselves to their original careers as lawyers? The church as we know it would be a very different place.
Keep in mind that people like John Calvin didn’t set out to be the founder of the Reformed Church movement. Martin Luther didn’t set out to have a church named after him. As a book I am currently reading reminds us, that leaders are neither born nor made… they are summoned. God calls or summons otherwise ordinary people to do extraordinary things. That includes both you and me.
The trouble is, we often miss what God is trying to say to us. We’re expecting something grand, something spectacular… all the while, the subtle clues and hints are all around us. God is calling us to discover meaning in life, to catch a glimpse our purpose… The letter to the Ephesians reminds us that we also have a part to play… even in our little corner of the world.
What we hear this morning is an expression of gratitude. God acts first… we respond with joy and thanksgiving. Admittedly it’s hard to take these words in a vacuum, they are part of a larger whole. It is part of a larger effort to advise early Christians on what is an appropriate response to God’s love. There’s still power to this… It’s more than just simply a list of rules or regulations… It tries to set things into a broader context, that God has given us so much, an opportunity for freedom, to live life with hope and optimism.
Ephesians tells us, “Life’s too short to drink it away! Instead make the most of your life. Don’t be foolish, but understand what God’s will is! Gratitude, thanksgiving is the key!”
The trouble is, it’s as if we already know. Maybe we haven’t been reading or listening as well as we should… This is where reading only small slices of the Bible gets us into a bit of a mess. It’s not that we’re not paying attention; we’ve only just picked up this part of the Bible this week. So, suddenly we find ourselves flipping back a few pages to see what we missed. Once we fight our way through Paul’s language, we discover something far simpler than we realized.
Paul’s thought goes something like this: at one time we were separated from God. By God’s grace, through Jesus Christ, that gap has been bridged. Once we were far off, and now God has brought us near… not only that… the bridge… God’s love, can never be broken. Nothing can separate us from God’s love. Period. That’s Paul’s theology in a nutshell. No work covers it better than Ephesians!
The problem is, we have a hard time accepting the fact that God has already done this. We spend all of our time looking for God, trying to earn our way into God’s good graces... and we’ve missed the point.
There is a modern-day parable of a man whose home was in danger of being washed away in an impending flood. Perhaps you’ve heard it? He was a very faithful fellow, and held a very strong belief that God would provide and save him from the flood. So strong was his belief that he chose to remain with his house.
The water was getting higher as the river crested, but it was still at a safe distance. Someone with a Jeep drove up, and said to him, “get in the Jeep, I’ll take you to safety!”
Undaunted as he filled sandbags, he turned to his would-be rescuer and said “God will provide for me and keep me safe.”
“Suit yourself,” the driver of the Jeep replied, and drove away.
The next day, the water level grew higher, surrounding the sandbag wall that he had built… but they had developed a small leak and the water was still rising. Someone in a motorboat cruised up, and said “Get in the boat; I will take you to safety!”
The man replied, “God will provide for me and keep me safe.”
No amount of convincing would get him into the boat. Finally the boat pilot sailed away.
The water level continued to rise. It broke through the sandbag walls, and rose up so high that it began creeping up the roof where the man had crawled up to and waited patiently.
A helicopter flew over, the rescue team called down over a megaphone. “We are lowering a ladder, get on it, and we will bring you up and take to you safety.”
Again, faithfully, the man waved them off, replying “God will provide for me and keep me safe.”
Running low on fuel, the helicopter returned to base.
A short time later, the water rose so high and so violently that the man was swept away, and he drowned. Upon arriving in heaven, he was quite upset. Not even waiting to dry his clothes, he went off to find God to give him a piece of his mind.
“I was faithful to you! I waited for you to provide and keep me safe, and I still drowned! Why did you not save me?”
God, rather annoyed, replied back and said, “Look, I sent you a jeep, a boat, AND a helicopter! What more were you looking for?”
I think all too often in trying to be faithful, we genuinely miss those moments where God has been acting in our lives. We tend to look for God in the spectacular, rather in those simple and mundane things that we experience from day to day. Yet if we really think about it, if we believe that God can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine, then why can’t God be present in all elements of our lives… especially all of those ordinary mundane moments that we never pay attention to? Often we don’t realize that God has been there until well after the fact. Hindsight is 20/20. So once again, how do we really know what God wants of us?
Ephesians is full of advice. “Make most of the time...” Often there are opportunities in life that take us in directions we never thought we could go. Maybe we find open doors where we never saw them before. The trouble is, how often do we look at these open doors in the same way that this man in the story saw the jeep, boat or helicopter? If we spend too much time looking for that special sign or special help, then we may well miss the ladder that’s dangling right in front of us!
Make most of the time… How do we do that? How do we make the most of the time? Ephesians has already covered that: God’s already shown us love in Jesus Christ. Take life as a gift, live it with thanks. Making the most of the time is to remember that God has brought us close through Jesus Christ, and that everything else in life is gratitude… saying thanks… Our purpose, our calling is to discover the gifts and talents that God has already given us, and use them to make this world, the world that God created, a better place.
Granted, I am also convinced that God does have a sense of humour in all this. We become so focused on one particular task or slice of our lives that we think where God is working. It captures all of our attention… like the man in the story… In the work that we do, we often feel as if we’re banging our head against a wall, wondering if we’re really making a difference. Yet every once in a while, God affords us a small glimpse… where we suddenly realize that God has been working through us already without us even knowing about it! It’s encouraging that sometimes in spite of ourselves, God can and does work through us!
By virtue of being human we often don’t see the big picture. It’s kind of like looking at a stained glass window with a microscope. All we see are the individual bits and pieces, the smallest details, and yet we cannot truly appreciate the beauty of the whole work. We only get glimpses of it. All that we can do is affirm that somehow we have a part to play, but sometimes we won’t even know what that part is. It’s not what we do alone, but what God does for us and what God does through us that can change the world. All we need to do is say “thank you” and live our lives with joy and thanksgiving… and maybe we can get a glimpse of purpose.
Amen.
How do we really know what the will of God truly is? “What does God really want me to do?” It’s certainly not a new question at all, people both unknown and famous have asked it throughout the centuries. We’re certainly no different. Imagine if people like Martin Luther or John Calvin had resigned themselves to their original careers as lawyers? The church as we know it would be a very different place.
Keep in mind that people like John Calvin didn’t set out to be the founder of the Reformed Church movement. Martin Luther didn’t set out to have a church named after him. As a book I am currently reading reminds us, that leaders are neither born nor made… they are summoned. God calls or summons otherwise ordinary people to do extraordinary things. That includes both you and me.
The trouble is, we often miss what God is trying to say to us. We’re expecting something grand, something spectacular… all the while, the subtle clues and hints are all around us. God is calling us to discover meaning in life, to catch a glimpse our purpose… The letter to the Ephesians reminds us that we also have a part to play… even in our little corner of the world.
What we hear this morning is an expression of gratitude. God acts first… we respond with joy and thanksgiving. Admittedly it’s hard to take these words in a vacuum, they are part of a larger whole. It is part of a larger effort to advise early Christians on what is an appropriate response to God’s love. There’s still power to this… It’s more than just simply a list of rules or regulations… It tries to set things into a broader context, that God has given us so much, an opportunity for freedom, to live life with hope and optimism.
Ephesians tells us, “Life’s too short to drink it away! Instead make the most of your life. Don’t be foolish, but understand what God’s will is! Gratitude, thanksgiving is the key!”
The trouble is, it’s as if we already know. Maybe we haven’t been reading or listening as well as we should… This is where reading only small slices of the Bible gets us into a bit of a mess. It’s not that we’re not paying attention; we’ve only just picked up this part of the Bible this week. So, suddenly we find ourselves flipping back a few pages to see what we missed. Once we fight our way through Paul’s language, we discover something far simpler than we realized.
Paul’s thought goes something like this: at one time we were separated from God. By God’s grace, through Jesus Christ, that gap has been bridged. Once we were far off, and now God has brought us near… not only that… the bridge… God’s love, can never be broken. Nothing can separate us from God’s love. Period. That’s Paul’s theology in a nutshell. No work covers it better than Ephesians!
The problem is, we have a hard time accepting the fact that God has already done this. We spend all of our time looking for God, trying to earn our way into God’s good graces... and we’ve missed the point.
There is a modern-day parable of a man whose home was in danger of being washed away in an impending flood. Perhaps you’ve heard it? He was a very faithful fellow, and held a very strong belief that God would provide and save him from the flood. So strong was his belief that he chose to remain with his house.
The water was getting higher as the river crested, but it was still at a safe distance. Someone with a Jeep drove up, and said to him, “get in the Jeep, I’ll take you to safety!”
Undaunted as he filled sandbags, he turned to his would-be rescuer and said “God will provide for me and keep me safe.”
“Suit yourself,” the driver of the Jeep replied, and drove away.
The next day, the water level grew higher, surrounding the sandbag wall that he had built… but they had developed a small leak and the water was still rising. Someone in a motorboat cruised up, and said “Get in the boat; I will take you to safety!”
The man replied, “God will provide for me and keep me safe.”
No amount of convincing would get him into the boat. Finally the boat pilot sailed away.
The water level continued to rise. It broke through the sandbag walls, and rose up so high that it began creeping up the roof where the man had crawled up to and waited patiently.
A helicopter flew over, the rescue team called down over a megaphone. “We are lowering a ladder, get on it, and we will bring you up and take to you safety.”
Again, faithfully, the man waved them off, replying “God will provide for me and keep me safe.”
Running low on fuel, the helicopter returned to base.
A short time later, the water rose so high and so violently that the man was swept away, and he drowned. Upon arriving in heaven, he was quite upset. Not even waiting to dry his clothes, he went off to find God to give him a piece of his mind.
“I was faithful to you! I waited for you to provide and keep me safe, and I still drowned! Why did you not save me?”
God, rather annoyed, replied back and said, “Look, I sent you a jeep, a boat, AND a helicopter! What more were you looking for?”
I think all too often in trying to be faithful, we genuinely miss those moments where God has been acting in our lives. We tend to look for God in the spectacular, rather in those simple and mundane things that we experience from day to day. Yet if we really think about it, if we believe that God can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine, then why can’t God be present in all elements of our lives… especially all of those ordinary mundane moments that we never pay attention to? Often we don’t realize that God has been there until well after the fact. Hindsight is 20/20. So once again, how do we really know what God wants of us?
Ephesians is full of advice. “Make most of the time...” Often there are opportunities in life that take us in directions we never thought we could go. Maybe we find open doors where we never saw them before. The trouble is, how often do we look at these open doors in the same way that this man in the story saw the jeep, boat or helicopter? If we spend too much time looking for that special sign or special help, then we may well miss the ladder that’s dangling right in front of us!
Make most of the time… How do we do that? How do we make the most of the time? Ephesians has already covered that: God’s already shown us love in Jesus Christ. Take life as a gift, live it with thanks. Making the most of the time is to remember that God has brought us close through Jesus Christ, and that everything else in life is gratitude… saying thanks… Our purpose, our calling is to discover the gifts and talents that God has already given us, and use them to make this world, the world that God created, a better place.
Granted, I am also convinced that God does have a sense of humour in all this. We become so focused on one particular task or slice of our lives that we think where God is working. It captures all of our attention… like the man in the story… In the work that we do, we often feel as if we’re banging our head against a wall, wondering if we’re really making a difference. Yet every once in a while, God affords us a small glimpse… where we suddenly realize that God has been working through us already without us even knowing about it! It’s encouraging that sometimes in spite of ourselves, God can and does work through us!
By virtue of being human we often don’t see the big picture. It’s kind of like looking at a stained glass window with a microscope. All we see are the individual bits and pieces, the smallest details, and yet we cannot truly appreciate the beauty of the whole work. We only get glimpses of it. All that we can do is affirm that somehow we have a part to play, but sometimes we won’t even know what that part is. It’s not what we do alone, but what God does for us and what God does through us that can change the world. All we need to do is say “thank you” and live our lives with joy and thanksgiving… and maybe we can get a glimpse of purpose.
Amen.
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