Where Is There Meaning and Purpose in Life?
Sarah Street · Tidal Church Moncton · January 19, 2025 · Redeeming Your Routine series
Sarah Street explores Matthew 5:13-16 and Jesus' call to be salt and light. She explains that our purpose is to love God, while our assignments change, and shows how abiding in Christ and obeying Him builds a firm foundation through every season.
More from Sarah Street · The Redeeming Your Routine series
Topics: Identity, Purpose, Discipleship
Transcript
[0:00] One of my favorite childhood memories growing up was our annual summer family vacations. And my parents did this cool thing for a number of years where they would select a weekend in the summer and we would have no definite plans. We would get in the car, they would give us a couple options and we'd decide right then and there what we were gonna do. And sometimes it worked out great and sometimes it backfired. But that was all part of the adventure. And on this particular vacation, we had chosen to go to Maine. And so we arrived in Maine in the late afternoon. And you have to remember, this is before smartphones and online bookings. So we showed up at the hotel, come to find out it's a very busy weekend in Maine. So I watched panic, sort of like slowly come over their faces as dusk is approaching and we're giving off very much like Mary and Joseph vibes, going from hotel to motel to inn being told there's no room for us.
[0:51] So my dad had this ingenious idea to check out the local campground and lo and behold, we became the owners of one of the campground's last sites. Small detail. We have no camping equipment. We have, from what I can recall, little to no camping experience and we certainly have no passion or even interest in camping regardless. We quickly found ourselves in the camping section of the local Walmart picturing or purchasing a couple sleeping bags and what appeared to be this ginormous tent. And my sisters and I were so excited about the outer rooms, and that excitement slowly faded as we rolled out what appeared in the picture to be a ginormous tent, but in fact was simply a two man tent. And those outer rooms were actually luggage compartments big enough for a book bag.
[1:39] And we walked around the campground and we saw sites kind of like on this photo, beautiful campsites. I mean, these people's tents were so cozy and they had, you know, battery operated lights in the trees and ropes hanging with tarps and their towels over top of ropes. And the smells that erupted from their sites were nothing short of delicious with meals being prepared and chairs were wrapped around a nice roaring fire. As families were roasting marshmallows, board games are being played by lantern on these beautifully decorated picnic tables with tablecloths. And our family took what little positivity we could muster as we packed our fives into this two-man tent. And I can remember rolling on one side and rolling on the other on that hard ground, trying to get comfortable for what seemed like hours was probably only minutes.
[2:32] And then it rained. And when I say it rained, it came down in sheets and started accumulating in the corners. And my dad and I got kicked out and slept the night in the van while my mom cuddled my two sisters and slowly watched the water get closer and closer throughout the night. And that's the last time we went camping as a family. And this morning we're talking about purpose. And just like my family could easily determine what their purpose was not, we were not meant to be a camping family. Similarly, it can be easy for us to determine what our purpose is not. I'm not meant for that. I'm certainly not gonna do that. No, don't ask me to do that.
[3:18] But you see, you were made by God on purpose for a purpose, and we can live very meaningful, fulfilling, purpose-driven lives. And I want us to think, what are some areas where you find purpose in your life? The series we're doing right now is Redeeming Your Routine, a greater vision for work. And many people find purpose in their work. For me, I find purpose, I think, of being a wife and a mom. Jeremy mentioned I'm a nurse. I'm a volunteer in children's ministry here at Tidal Church. I'm a sister, I'm a friend, I'm a neighbor. But what are some areas where you find purpose and maybe right now you're struggling to find purpose? Maybe you don't find purpose in your work or you're on disability or you're retired.
[4:06] Maybe you're in a season of transition and an area where you once found great purpose is dramatically changed and you're in a season of looking for that newfound purpose. Or maybe you're like me and you're like, "Girl, I got too much purpose. Don't talk to me about needing more purpose. I need less purpose." And that's okay too. Whether you're searching for purpose or you have too much purpose or you're somewhere in between, I'm so glad you're here with us this morning. I don't think it's by accident whether you're here or online. I believe that God wants to speak to you in a mighty way this morning. And on that note, we're gonna look at Matthew 5:13-16. "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?
[4:54] It's no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven." And here Jesus is telling His disciples as followers that they are to be the salt and light of the earth. And as Christians today or Christ followers, we are also called to be the salt and the light of the earth. And my mom always did call me salty and it wasn't a good thing. It was in the context of, "Sarah, stop being so salty."
[5:41] And now I find out it is a good thing. But there's a line here that really stands out to me. What if salt loses its saltiness? How can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. That's downright terrifying. I mean, I certainly don't wanna be salt that's lost its saltiness. So how can we truly and authentically be the salt and light in the world and walk in our unique God-given purpose? Well, I wanna start by just defining a few things. We're gonna start with purpose, okay? The Oxford Dictionary defines purpose as being the, here it is, the reason for which something is done or created. That is our purpose. The second thing we need to identify and define is the term identity.
[6:33] Because identity and purpose are often so closely related, but they are different. So identity is defined as the fact of being who or what a person or thing is. And finally, I'd like to add the concept of assignment. Assignment is defined as a task or job given to someone by someone in authority. And as a Christian, God is the center of everything, right? And our identity, first and foremost as Christ followers is children of God, John 1:12-13. Yet to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God. Children born not of natural descent or human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.
[7:25] So we know our identity is as children. What is our purpose? Well, that can be found in Matthew 22:37-38, a very quoted scripture where the expert in the law comes to Jesus and he says, "Jesus, out of all the Old Testament laws, there's something like 613 Old Testament laws, what's the most important?" And Jesus responds and He says, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is your first and greatest commandment." You see, our purpose as human beings, the reason for which we were created was to love God. Not only to love Him, but to love Him with all of us. You see, we have this incredible God who created mankind in His image in the garden and He walked with them in the garden and was with them and was in relationship with them.
[8:16] And then when we screwed it all up again and again all throughout the Old Testament, He sends His one and only Son who dies for our sins, Emmanuel, God with us. And when He goes to heaven, He sends His Holy Spirit who's here with us now so that we can continue to be in relationship with God. See, we have a God who loves us and our purpose is to love Him back. So we know our purpose, we know our identity. And finally our assignment, our assignment are the things that we were thinking about at the beginning. Our assignment are the things that He calls us to do. Our assignments come and go.
[9:05] Our assignments change. Our assignments often have a beginning and they often have an end. Our purpose never changes. You see, God doesn't see success like we see success. Our purpose, the main most important thing in our life is not to be successful in our career or run a successful business. Our purpose, the thing that is driving us most importantly, is not to have a thriving, cutesy, Instagramy type marriage with beautiful, well-functioning, happy and healthy children. Our purpose isn't for academic achievement or increasing intellect or acquiring wealth or more stuff.
[9:51] Our purpose isn't self actualization or the pursuit of comfort and enjoyment. Our purpose isn't even to do the most amount of ministry, help the most amount of people or do the most amount of good works. Don't get me wrong, those things are not bad. Most of those things are very good and we should be doing them, but they are not our purpose. Does that make sense? And how often do we get that mixed up? But the distinction is pivotal. And then the incredible thing to me, the ironic thing is that your best chance at doing well in your assignment is actually living out your purpose. Matthew 6:33 says, "Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well."
[10:41] And I can stand here and give you example after example that that has rung true in my own life. But we're talking about work. I am the best employee, coworker, and nurse when I am focused on loving God first and foremost in my life. When I am spending time with Him, in relationship with Him, when He's meeting my emotional needs, when I come full of Him, when I live from a place from love and not for love, I function the best in my work. But what if things go wrong? What if you do everything right and everything goes wrong because that can happen, right? I wanna look to Matthew 7:24-27.
[11:28] Jesus says, "Therefore everyone who hears the words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down and the streams rose and the winds blew and beat against that house. Yet it did not fall because it had its foundation on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain came down and the streams rose and the winds blew and beat against that house and it fell with a great crash." So here Jesus is saying that when we hear His words and put them into practice, it's like building our house on the rock. And Jesus also says that the most important commandment out of all of them is to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind.
[12:15] And I'm a visual person. So I like picturing the most important thing, being also the most important thing in my house. The foundation, you see, loving God with all of ourselves is like our firm foundation. And when we build our lives on anything other than loving Jesus, when the storms of life come and they will, we can come down like a crash. If your purpose is for success in your career or what's driving you is that successful business. What happens if the business goes under, you get fired or demoted? You fall with a crash. If your purpose, the main thing that is driving you is to have a thriving marriage or to have really good relationships in your life.
[13:04] And that's what's driving you every day. What happens if your spouse is unfaithful or leaves you or your relationships fall apart? We crash. If the main thing that's driving us is to develop happy and healthy kids and we're devoted to that and that is our purpose every day. What happens if something tragic happens to your child where they grow up and move away or they don't turn out the way you hoped? We fall with a crash. Just another example, what if your purpose is like health and wellness? That is your focus every day. You're eating well, you're exercising, you're focusing on your health and wellbeing. What happens if you develop a chronic illness or you get an injury? You fall apart.
[13:53] Building our lives on anything other than God is like building our lives on sand. And when the storms of life come and they will, we can fall with a crash. But good news, if our purpose is to love God with all of our life, then every season, whether difficult, painful, tragic or beautiful and blessed, becomes an opportunity to know God more and therefore love Him deeper. A time of loss and grief becomes an opportunity to know Jehovah Nacham, the great comforter. A time of financial struggle and insecurity becomes an opportunity to know God.
[14:38] Jehovah Jireh, the great provider. A time of deep pain or illness becomes an opportunity to know Jehovah Rapha, the great healer. A time of insecurity or uncertainty or fear becomes an opportunity to know Jehovah Shalom, the God of peace. You see, every struggle instead of being something that takes you out with a crash instead becomes an opportunity to know God more. Therefore love Him deeper. and that foundation only becomes stronger. You see, God is magnificent, He is incredible, He is indescribable.
[15:30] He's simply just amazing in every way. God doesn't change. It's our knowledge of Him that can change and grow and develop with time. It's our experience with Him that can change and develop and grow over time. My husband, Mark, and I, we've been married for 15 years now. He's sitting over here. He truly is my better half. He is. I'm just honestly so blessed to be married to Mark. But any married couple's gonna tell you if they've been married 15 years or more, that marriage has its ups and it has its downs, right? And I'm thinking specifically of when our three little kids were really little, like baby, two, four, and these precious little life suckers just take everything out of you, right?
[16:20] And forget about date nights and quality time and all that sort of thing. We're lucky to have a conversation at the end of the night. It's a difficult season on a marriage. And you know, after a while of kind of going through the motions, doing all of the things, as a result, you can start to become really great coworkers. Like, I love Mark. In theory, we're acting like a married couple. We're doing all the things that a married couple's supposed to do, but without actually putting each other first, putting everything else before one another: work, house, chores, responsibilities, kids. You start to lose that relationship that was so special to begin with. And the same can ring true with God.
[17:05] How quickly can we find ourselves busy and overwhelmed with the tasks of life, going through the motions. And just like Mark and I are acting like a married couple, we can act like Christians, we can come to church, we can volunteer, we can live very moral lives, but without actually putting God practically first and foremost in our lives, instead letting everything else come first. And maybe we'll have a conversation at the end of the day. We can slowly grow apart and that foundation can weaken. Even as a Christian with my very best intentions, it's continually such a temptation for me to get so wrapped up in doing well in my assignment, trying so hard to be the light that shines people to Jesus, that I forget to actually love Him myself.
[17:57] I can be so caught up in doing life that I forget about the life giver. And that is how our salt starts to lose its saltiness and our light begins to dim. And I need to confess here, I'm a type A person. I love getting after it. And I also know that living for God, like God and with God, is the very best life. It is heaven on earth, truly. But I need to confess that I've been guilty of using God in order to find success in my assignments, with my assignment being actually the most important thing. Instead of using my assignments as an opportunity to know God more and love Him more, with Him being the most important thing, do you see that difference?
[18:50] And when you're walking in your purpose, most often nothing changes and everything changes. Back to the marriage example, it's kind of the difference between a struggling marriage and a thriving marriage. On the outside, to everybody else, they look the same. But you know when you have any relationship in your life that's important to you, that's not going well, it eats inside you. You feel terrible, you carry that all day. You feel so sad and burdened and pain. And when you're in a thriving relationship, what's the difference? I mean, the difference is everything. You feel supported and loved, all the things you're doing have new meaning. Nothing changes on the outside, but everything changes on the inside. And likewise, when we are living with God, oftentimes nothing's changing.
[19:41] When we are living in our purpose, it doesn't mean we go out and quit our job and change countries and start a new life of purpose. Oftentimes nothing changes on the outside, but everything changes on the inside. See, when you're walking with, loving God as the first and most important thing in your life, you feel loved, you feel treasured, you feel guided. Everything within you changes when we're walking in purpose. So what does it mean to practically love God with all our heart, soul, and mind? Living out our purpose can be as unique as you are. There are so many ways to love God and it is determined by your personality and your gifts and your experiences and your interests. But there's two main principles that have rung true in my life.
[20:29] And we're gonna look at them right here in John 15:1, when Jesus says, "I am the true vine and My Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes so that it'll become even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken over. Remain in Me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself. It must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me." And I love that word in verse 4, remain. It comes from a Greek word, meno, and I love the King James. It says, abide. That is rich. Abide in Me. And it means to remain, to dwell with, to live in.
[21:15] See, we were meant to dwell or live, remaining in Jesus. What happens when we don't abide in Christ? Well, let's keep reading, verse 6. Jesus says, "If you do not remain in Me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers." It kind of sounds like salt that's lost its saltiness, good for nothing but be trampled over by men. To remain salty, to remain fruitful, we need to abide in Christ. We need to align ourselves with Jesus. How do we do that practically? Prayer. For a while we've been praying as a family before we leave the house. What a difference. Giving our day, dedicating our day, asking Him to come in and guide and direct us and fill us.
[22:03] You can pray all sorts of prayers: spiritual warfare, prayers where we're interceding with people, conversational praying where God is your friend, prayers of lament and emotion, prayers of questioning, biblical prayers, fasting. There are so many different ways to pray. But pray and read God's word. Don't just come on Sunday, open it up for yourself. Dig into these scriptures yourself. He will speak to you through His active and living word. Worship, not just on Sunday, but put worship music on in your car, in your house. That changes the whole atmosphere. Carry a heart of worship throughout your day. This is how we abide in Jesus. And I would also add, set aside quiet time where you aren't the one talking or singing or learning, where you're actually just listening to God's still small voice.
[22:55] This is how we abide in Christ. And just like marriage, sometimes love is a feeling, for sure. Most often love is a choice, followed by a feeling. And just like Mark and I had to step back in those early years and kind of shake it off and be like, "Whoa, we really need to make some changes and really start putting each other first." And can I be honest? It's a struggle. You have to be really determined. You have to actually plan ahead. You have to say no to other things. You have to be really determined to put each other first. And similarly, our love for God. Yes, sometimes it's a feeling, oftentimes it's a choice followed by a feeling. It can be a struggle.
[23:41] It can take a great degree of intentionality. You have to be very determined. Sometimes you have to plan ahead. You have to say no to other things. But this is how we abide or remain in Christ. And then if we keep reading, Jesus says, "As the Father has loved Me, so I have loved you. Now remain in My love. If you keep My commands, you will remain in My love. My command is this: love each other as I have loved you." You see, as you're abiding in Jesus, like we read earlier, God's the gardener. He will come beside you and He will want to cut off the branches that are bearing no fruit. He will want to prune the branches that are bearing fruit. He will ask you to repent of your sin, turn away and make changes in your life so that you can have more intimacy with Jesus so that you can be more fruitful.
[24:36] But we have to obey. And some people are very good at abiding, worshiping, spending time with God, being in relationship. That's their strength. And some people are really good at obeying. "Tell me all the rules. I got this." It's really both abide and obey. Abide and obey. This is how we love God with all of us. Over Christmas, we went on this long road trip as a family and we were driving home and the highway is really dark in New Brunswick and we are like the only car for like ever. And it struck me how dark it was and we would really have no way of knowing if there was a sharp turn or if we were supposed to turn right or left except for these little pieces of reflective tape that were on the guardrails.
[25:26] And like a reflective sign up ahead, John 8:12, Jesus says, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life." You see, Jesus is the light of the world. We are not the light. We're more like reflective tape. And the thing about reflective tape is that on its own, in the darkness it's really useless. It doesn't do much. Reflective tape is actually only useful when there's a light shining on it like the headlights of a car and it shines that light back through the darkness.
[26:13] And similarly as reflective tape, we're not really useful on our own. It is only when we are actually putting God, Jesus, first and foremost in our lives. When we are determined to worship Him, to serve Him, to follow Him. Every moment of every day. When He is number one, His light begins to reflect off of us to the world. But how often do we get confused by our assignments? How often do we look to our assignments over here and say, "If only my relationships could be better, I'm going to do everything I can to fix them, then I will be fulfilled and will be walking in my purpose."
[26:59] If only I could get the promotion or my business could do better, then I will be fulfilled and walking in my purpose. But if we look to anything other than Jesus, what happens? We lose our light. I love when Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:5, "For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God who said, 'Let light shine out of the darkness,' made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God's glory displayed in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all surpassing power is not from us, but from God. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed, perplexed, but not in despair.
[27:48] Persecuted but not abandoned. Struck down but not destroyed." See, I like to think of it this way. What if we follow Jesus through our assignments? And the cool thing is the closer we get to Jesus, actually the brighter our light shines like reflective tape. And also He starts to show us our path, which way to go. And as we're closely following Jesus, it is then, then He's number one in our life that His light starts to reflect to the others in the world, showing them the way to Him in the darkness. This is how we are the light. And this is how Christians or the church looks different from the world.
[28:35] This is how we are the salt and the light. The world doesn't care much about our cool lighting or our fantastic music, by the way. They don't care about our cool programming as much. These are all great things. They don't care about our morality or how many rules we follow or how many good things we do 'cause we're not perfect. That's why Paul says it's in jars of clay. The world takes notice when the storms of life come and our houses only get stronger. May we be people who are hard pressed on every side, yes, but not crushed. We may be perplexed, but we're not in despair.
[29:23] Persecuted, never abandoned, struck down, but not destroyed. It is through wholly and authentically loving God with all of us. That is what people take notice of. And just to close, my kids were getting a little bit older when Mark and I started to get a little curious of camping. We had like seen some photos and heard some stories and we were curious. So we went out and bought a couple sleeping bags and a tent. Sound familiar? But we actually invited a close friend of mine, my cousin Jess, and she came with us and she was like really experienced at camping and she was really passionate about it. And she brought these like two totes full of stuff.
[30:09] And she showed us the ropes, what we needed to have and how you kind of go about doing it. And that weekend ended up being the highlight of my summer. So the next summer we went out and we got some of that equipment and we tried it again and we had fun. So we got a couple more things and we tried it again. And what started as curiosity turned into interest with experience and more being equipped, turned into passion. And if you're here this morning or online and you only have a curiosity of God, hold onto that and I would invite you to try it out. In fact, I would encourage you to invite someone in your life, in this church, in a small group, somebody who is experienced in following Jesus.
[31:02] Someone who's passionate about following Jesus, someone who's equipped and can show you what it looks like, how to go about doing it. And I believe that what starts off as curiosity of God can develop into a deep, meaningful, life changing, life giving, fulfilling, purposeful relationship with the King of kings, our God. And that can start today. We're gonna sing. There'll be people at the end to pray with. And I invite you to come forward. And if you're here this morning or online and, like me, you are a follower of Jesus, but you know deep inside that your priorities have gotten off.
[31:47] You love God in theory. He's one of the many things. Sure. But He's not the most important thing. I would also invite you to reach out to Jesus and make that change this morning. Let's pray together. Oh God, Lord, You are just magnificent and indescribable, incredible in every way. What a joy it is to know You and to be known by You. And Lord, as we sing, God, I pray that You will continue to speak in more powerful ways than I ever could.
[32:35] Lord, may You be palpable to each and every person in this place. Lord, may we become people whose love of You is our firm foundation. Lord, may we become people, God, who, when the storms of life come, only get stronger. Lord, may we determine to put You first through planning ahead, through saying no. May we actually and practically abide and obey, abide and obey. And as we follow You through our assignments, Lord, we ask that Your light would come into our lives, within us and on us. God, that You may not only just direct our path, but that Your light would shine off of us in this dark world.
[33:22] God, may we be salty because of our relationship with You. May we be a light in this dark, dark world, pointing people to the way You are, the way, Jesus, and may our lives be testimony to that because of Your mercy, God, because of Your power. Lord, what a joy it is to live purposeful lives. May every person in this place know that experience. And may they, that start today. We ask in Your name. Amen.