A Life of Significance

Answering the Call

Matthew 10:1-15

“And when you go, preach, saying, ‘The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.’”

 

            What is your goal in life?  At the end of your life, what do you desire to accomplish?  These are no idle questions to ponder and dismiss.  They are the hard questions we need to ask so that our life has genuine purpose and meaning. Tim Kizziar wrote, “Our greatest fear as individuals and as a church should not be the fear of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter.”  Too often, we spend our lives in pursuit of the things that, in the end, are insignificant and temporary rather than meaningful and eternal.

            In response to the spiritual needs around them, Jesus sent out his disciples to proclaim the kingdom's message.  In 9:38, he challenges his disciples to pray for workers to be sent into the harvest.  We are to pray for people who are willing to become participants in Christ's redemptive program by proclaiming his message to others.  In 10:1-15, Jesus then commissions his disciples to answer their prayer.  This is to be their sole purpose and focus in life.  Their priority is not the advancement of their financial portfolio.  It is not the accumulation of things.  Their priority is to proclaim the arrival of the Kingdom of Heaven.

            The purpose of Christ’s ministry was not the advance of social justice.  It was not the pursuit of economic equality.  It was not the promotion of governmental reform.  It was not the proclamation of the importance of financial security or material prosperity. While the gospel certainly has implications for these issues, they are not the main focus.  The message of Christ was proclaiming the arrival of the Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of God, for it is only when Christ’s kingdom is established that the world's problems are solved.   The Kingdom of God refers to the sovereign rule of God over every sphere of life through the establishment of Christ's spiritual (present now through the church) and physical reign over the universe (in the future when Christ returns).  The gospel proclamation calls people to submit and surrender to his sovereign rule.   This is what gives us purpose in life.  Our ultimate goal in life is to bring people into Christ’s kingdom.  This does not mean that we are all called to full-time ministry. Instead, it means that we leverage where God has placed us in our careers and engagements to be the sphere of our influence so that we might manifest his kingdom to others.  If we are electricians, we must go about our work seeking opportunities to share our faith with others.  If we are businessmen, we strive to proclaim the kingdom with our associates and other businessmen. 

            Meaning and purpose in life come from accomplishing eternal rather than temporal results.  There is only one thing that will survive this earth, and that is people.  There is only one thing that will change people’s eternal destiny: the message of the kingdom of God.  God may call us to different career paths and, thus, different spheres of influence.   He has called us to one eternal purpose: proclaiming his kingdom to affect people eternally.  That is our life purpose and what gives meaning to our lives.  Today, ask God to send out laborers into the harvest but also ask God to enable you to be a witness for him in the lives of people that you interact with regularly, in your job, your neighborhood, associations, and family.