Chapter 7
The Way of the Lord - Two Purposes
What do I live for? My purposes or God’s?
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We have seen that the gospel of the Kingdom does two things: it declares what God has done to save us and it summons every human to repent and return to Him to be restored to proper relationship with God and purpose in His Kingdom. In other words, the gospel restores you to your true life and purpose as a human.
In “the Way of the Lord” I describe two primary purposes and how they are restored when you become an intentional disciple of Jesus. You can think of these two purposes as living the life and fulfilling the mission.
Purpose 1: Live the Life That Jesus Lived
In the Sovereign Creator’s design, you were made to live your life but not just any life. As an image-bearer, you were created to live your life in the presence of God with all its benefits and blessings. In Jesus, you are called back into that relationship to learn to live by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus came to restore in us the life God created us to live. Jesus said,
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. (John 10:10)
And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. (John 17:3)
Peter, one of Jesus’ first followers, said it this way,
His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which He has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. (I Peter 5:3,4)
The life you are called to live is the same life that Jesus lived. He showed us what a human life in proper relationship with God looks like and calls us to follow Him in living it. Answering the call to follow Jesus means that we will become like Him. In another letter, Paul wrote,
But that is not the way you learned Christ, assuming that you have heard about Him and were taught in Him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:20–24)
Purpose 2: Fulfill the Mission That Jesus Began
In Jesus you are not only given the ability to live a new kind of life as a new kind of person, but you were also empowered and equipped to fulfill a mission. We see this mission from two different angles in the bible.
FIRST, we fulfill the mission by doing the work of an Image-bearer. In a way, fulfilling the mission as a disciple of Jesus is the recovery of our original assignment and purpose as God’s image-bearers to subdue the earth and have dominion over the works of God’s hands.
As it says in Genesis 1 and Psalm 8,
And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’ (Genesis 1: 28)
Yet you have made Him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned Him with glory and honor. You have given Him dominion over the works of your hands… (Psalm 8:5–8)
Subduing the earth and having dominion is not about power plays or arrogant human ambition. It’s about the assignment to continue to bring order to chaos and to fill the earth with His love, wisdom, and presence. This was the work Sovereign Creator had begun in Genesis 1.
SECOND, we fulfill the mission when we continue the work Jesus began. From this angle, we see that our mission is to carry on with the work of Jesus, the 2nd Adam, who lived and worked among us. He is the true example of what God intended an image-bearer to be and what it looks like to take up the Genesis 1:28 assignment to bring order and fill the earth with God’s love, wisdom, and presence.
Jesus wasn’t a wandering teacher performing random magical tricks and miracles to impress His hearers or validate His message. Jesus did the work human image-bearers were given to do. He took dominion over forces corrupting God’s creatures and subdued them. He restored God’s blessing and order in the creation. Luke described it this way in the book of Acts,
God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. (I Corinthians 15:45)
But Jesus’ mission wasn’t His alone. As the firstborn of many brothers (Romans 8:29,30), He began the work that now is assigned to those who follow Him. Jesus instructed His first disciples to pass on the mission to every generation of His disciples. The gospel of Matthew ends this way,
And Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. (Matthew 28: 18,19)
When you become an intentional disciple of Jesus you embrace for yourself as your primary purposes in life to live the life Jesus lived and to continue the mission Jesus began.
Contrast Non-biblical Alternative Answers to the Question about Purpose
The false “health, wealth, prosperity gospel” of the past several decades is giving way to what we might call a false “identity gospel.” This false gospel teaches that God simply wants you to be content with who you are—in your social circles, in your sexuality, in your gender expression, in whatever. As long as you are being “true to yourself,” you are being true to God. As long as you are “following your heart,” you are following God. Scripture gets twisted or tossed out to ensure that people feel no pressure to conform to any kind of moral norm—they are free to set their own course. So this false gospel preaches that man’s chief end is to glorify Himself and enjoy Himself forever.
Johnathan Cruse
The Christian’s True Identity
More likely than not, the two biblical purposes we have presented in this chapter are not what you heard growing up in the modern world. While there are a variety of competing options for alternative life purposes, here are two common ones in our western, post-enlightenment, post-modern culture:
Alternative Number 1. Your purpose is to BE WHO YOU REALLY ARE.
This view says you need to discover and express your authentic self. According to this view, you should not let anyone stop you from being who you “really” are – not even some supposed god! Ethnic, national, or gender identities are frequently discussed as markers of one’s most authentic identity.
Alternative Number 2. Your purpose is to GET ALL YOU CAN GET.
In this view we are taught that life is short, and no one is going to look out for you except you. The good life is guaranteed by getting and having power, pleasure, and money. So, do what you can to get your share.
Without belaboring the point, these purposes fall far short of what God has in mind for the lives of those created in His image. A basic mistake many would-be followers of Jesus make when thinking about their purpose in life is to retain their old ideas like the ones above, and simply add Jesus to them.
But our old identities don’t mean much anymore. Paul wrote that in the Kingdom of God,
… there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28)
Or, some would-be disciples might think, I’ll keep trying to get all I can, but I’ll do it with Jesus. Surely, he’ll help me achieve my ambitions since He loved me enough to die for me.
But if the gospel is really news about a fundamental change in your reality then living as a true follower of Jesus means dying to many of the things we used to look to for identity, comfort, or control. Perhaps, if you cannot live without it, maybe you can’t live with Jesus. Jesus said it clearly:
If anyone would come after me, let Him deny Himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if He gains the whole world and loses or forfeits Himself? (Luke 9:23-25)
And Paul does not leave any room for the things we found so valuable in our old life, either.
Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked when you were living in them. (Colossians 3:5-7)
Compared to what the Bible says about the Sovereign Creator’s plans for you, the goals and purposes offered by our culture are small and empty of any real meaning or value. They do more to dehumanize people than to help them find and live the good life.
Here are some questions for consideration and discussion.
Why is it so easy to settle for the kind of life considered normal and good enough in our world rather than do whatever it takes to enter the kind of life Jesus lived?
How will you live your life differently if you see your mission and purpose as doing the work of an image-bearer by continuing the mission of Jesus?
In what way do you feel most challenged to set aside the old reasons for living and working to live the life and fulfill the mission of Jesus?
Chapter 7 Daily Scripture Readings
How to spend some quality time listening to what Jesus would like to say through the scriptures:
In preparation, acknowledge the Lord’s presence and love for you and settle yourself before Him (in your mind and heart).
Read the day’s text carefully; take your time.
Reflect on what you have been reading with a listening ear – what word, phrase, or sentence speaks to you from the text?
Now, talk to the LORD about what you hear from this text. What has Jesus stirred in your heart?
If you were with Him walking from one Galilean village to another, what would you say to Him about this?
Chapter 7 - Day One: Daniel 7:13,14; Revelation 1:9-18
Chapter 7 - Day Two: Isaiah 9:1-7
Chapter 7 - Day Three: Isaiah 40:1-11
Chapter 7 - Day Four: Isaiah 42:1-9
Chapter 7 - Day Five: Isaiah 52:13-53:12
There are two ways you can go deeper with this material, if you are finding this helpful.
First, read How to get the most from this book. I offer some suggestions about how to do more than skim the pages and move on with minimal impact.
Second, read How to use this book with a small group. This material was formed and proven in a small group setting that has been very effective at helping participants engage with Jesus at a much deeper and transformative level than is typical in our churches today.