Preached by Apostle Andre Pelser in Umuahia, Abia State,
Nigeria on 23 August 2009
Here are some ingredients that made up the purpose of Christ
to help us understand our purpose in this world.
1.
He knew who He was, the Son of the living God,
and what He came to do: to give His life as a ransom for many, to set up the Kingdom
of God and to build the church.
2.
Course adjustments were needed to keep Him on
track on His earthly mission in order to fulfill His divine purpose. For
instance, on the Mt of Transfiguration in Luke 9 we read how Moses and Elijah
appeared to remind Him of the death He had to accomplish when He was about to
be received up.
3.
He came to take away the sins of the world.
4.
He came to destroy the works of the devil
5.
He came to glorify God and asked God to glorify
Him
6.
The Eternal purpose however, is the church.
Eccl 3:11 - There
is a time for every purpose under the sun
Eph 3:11 -
Manifold wisdom of God revealed through the church
We are not purpose driven as some would propose, but we are
led by the Spirit to express our eternal purpose in Christ.
Sin makes us miss the mark of our purpose. Mike Wood so
clearly explains the true meaning of ‘hamartia' for sin that we miss our true
identity as sons of God, created before the foundation of the world. Sin makes
us operate in our mistaken identity, because we have a false image of the true
God instead of a true image of our God. That idolatry has to be broken down so
that we can have a true revelation of who God really is. When we see and know
Him as He really is, we discover our own true identity in Christ and the Holy
Spirit enables us to express our purpose in this world as sons of God.
Here are a few examples of ordinary people in the bible that
fulfilled their purpose.
Tychichus - ‘chance happening'. He changed from being a
charlatan or ‘chancer' to become a faithful and beloved brother to Paul and the
other apostles.
John Mark - he caused a great dispute to arise between Paul
and Barnabas because he did not have a finishing mentality but bailed out of
his first missionary journey together with the two apostles. Later on Paul
invites him back on the missionary team because he has become ‘useful' to Paul.
Onesimus- ‘useful'. He was a useless slave to Philemon and
stole from him. This caused him to end up in the same prison Paul was being
kept by the Romans. Paul led him to the Lord and sent him back to Philemon with
a letter which became the epistle of Philemon. In the epistle he reminds
Philemon that he actually owes his life to Paul and that he should receive
Onesimus as a brother. If he still owed Philemon anything Paul was prepared to
pay the deficit. Onesimus actually became useful to Philemon in the end and
fulfilled his life's purpose.
When you know who you are in Christ, when your sins are
forgiven, when you know your true identity in Christ and forsake your false
identity, you can fulfill your divine purpose in this life like these men we
mentioned in these examples.