How to Find Your Purpose in the Wilderness | Season 02, Episode 05 | Simple Truth Podcast

At some point in life, we all ask the same question. Why am I here? It's a big question, I know, but it's an important one, right? Throughout this season, we've been asking a simple but important question. What is a Christian? And the Bible has shown us that a Christian is a follower of Jesus Christ. That the life of Jesus becomes our example. We are to be born again, baptized in water, filled with the spirit. And like Jesus, we are led into the wilderness. But the wilderness is not the destination, is it? Jesus came out of the wilderness walking in power and clarity of purpose. And today we are going to talk about what that means for you. Because God has a purpose for your life and he intends to empower you to walk in it for his glory. Let's explore this together in today's episode of the simple truth. Welcome to the Simple Truth podcast, where we open the Bible to uncover simple, biblical, and essential truths that can transform your life. And now, here's your host, Ted Ross. Hi, my name is Ted Ross and this is the Simple Truth podcast, your home for biblical truth, clearly taught and freely given. I think this is going to be a really impactful episode because we're talking about the other side of the wilderness. We're talking about how God has Christians come out of the wilderness in power and purpose like Jesus, our example. And in this conversation, we're talking about the power of God to fulfill your purpose, which means we're talking about your purpose, your meaning, what God intends for your life, why are you here. So, let's not hold this up any longer. Let's get into it. Which brings us to our next simple truth. God wants you to fulfill your purpose with his power. In the wilderness, Jesus was prepared for God's power and his purpose. Let's take a look at Luke 4 again. This time, we're going to do verses 14-9. Verse 14. Then Jesus returned in the power of the spirit. This is Jesus coming out of the wilderness to Galilee and news of him went through all the surrounding region. We looked at this verse earlier. It says here, he returned in the power of the spirit. That's the ability, the might, the strength of the spirit. Before the wilderness, consider this. Jesus was the carpenter's son. Jesus read at the temple. Jesus lived with his family. By all accounts, Jesus was an average guy. Every miracle and every powerful thing that happened in the life of Jesus Christ happened after the wilderness. After the wilderness, Jesus heals the sick. Jesus prophesies. Jesus casts out devils. Jesus raises the dead and teaches God's word with power. Remember folks, Jesus is our example. Jesus purposefully lived the life he lived for Christians to follow. And here's a great example in which Jesus goes into the wilderness. He is humbled. He is tested. He is proved. And he comes out as it says here in verse 14. He returns in the power of the spirit. The same for us folks. Verse 15. And he taught in their synagogues being glorified by all. In this verse, we see that Jesus then taught with authority and was honored for it. That word taught is authoritatively instruct. Explain, right? He was teaching in their synagogues. He was authoritatively instructing and explaining the kingdom of God to others. Then it says he was glorified. He was honored. He was praised. He was esteemed by those in the synagogues. Verse 16. In this verse, we'll see that Jesus returns to Nazareth and goes to the synagogue to read as was his custom. Something he would usually do. Verse 16. So he came, that's Jesus, to Nazareth where he had been brought up as his custom was. He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read. Jesus was one of those people who was as a part of their ceremony would read in the synagogue. Verse 17. And he was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written. Jesus is handed the book of Isaiah. This is a divine appointment. They could have handed him another book or another scripture. But God ensured that the book of Isaiah was handed to Jesus on this day, on this Sabbath day in the synagogue. And Jesus turns to a spirit-led passage, the passage the father wanted him to go to. And he then declares his purpose to his hometown after coming out of the wilderness. Coming out of that wilderness, Jesus clearly understands his purpose. And Jesus clearly understood the passage the father wanted him to read. Jesus now declares himself as Messiah and describes his purpose to his hometown. Verse 18, the spirit of the Lord is upon me. This is him reading these verses out of the book of Isaiah. The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed. verse 19 to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. For Jesus to say the spirit of the Lord is upon me. Jesus is saying that he is operating in the Holy Spirit. It says because he the father has anointed me. Jesus, that's who he's writing here. To be anointed is to be appointed to be a set apart by God. I mean literally it's a smearing of oil or some other substance, some ointment. But every time the anointing would occur, it was a divine appointment. Jesus was set apart by God the Father for a purpose. Remember, we're describing Jesus here, the son of man. It says to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. This is this time of forgiveness and refer restoration, excuse me. It references the year of Jubilee, which is something in the Old Testament that was celebrated every 50 years. This is a magnificent statement to say. So, how does God manifest his power for Jesus's purpose? Let's see. God immediately confirms Jesus's purpose through a display of God's power. Luke 4:33. Now in the synagogue, there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice. Verse 34, saying, "Let us alone. What have we to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? Did you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God. After the wilderness, Jesus walks in authority, and he confronts darkness. In fact, the darkness couldn't help but cry out in Jesus's presence. The father was setting quote at liberty those who oppressed. We saw this earlier with Jesus was reading in the book of Isaiah. And here's an example of somebody who was oppressed with an unclean demon. And the father was moving by his spirit, moving by power to be able to fulfill Jesus's purpose right then and there in that synagogue. Jesus's purpose, it wasn't proven by words alone, but by God's power working through him. Verse 35, it says, "But Jesus rebuked him, saying, be quiet and come out of him. And when the demon had thrown him in their midst, they came out of him and did not hurt him. For Jesus to rebuke, that means he authoritatively commanded. He reprimanded. Jesus did not wrestle with the demon. Jesus rebuked and commanded the demon. Don't forget that. There was no wrestling match going on. This isn't a movie, folks. This isn't the movies. Jesus didn't have to wrestle with anything. Jesus rebuked the spirit and commanded the spirit. This is the quote working of miracles. This is a gift of the spirit that's described in 1 Corinthians 12:10. And the crowd was astonished by the authority and power that they have never seen before. Luke 4:36. Then they were all amazed and spoke among themselves, saying, "What a word is this? For with authority and power that's Jesus, commands the unclean spirits and they come out." That word word, it's the spoken message, the command. With Jesus's word, they said, "What a word, what a spoken message this is." It says, "For with authority," that word is privilege, right? Authority to command. So with privilege and right, as well as with power, which is ability, force, and strength. So Jesus has privilege and ability, he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out. After the wilderness, Jesus didn't just teach his word, teach God's word. Jesus operated in authority and demonstrated the power of God. So Jesus knew his purpose. And then Jesus operated in power to fulfill his purpose. And here's an example of what that means to fulfill God's purpose and to do so in the power of God for God's glory. And Jesus's ministry, it was not self-generated. It was empowered by God. It wasn't coming from within himself. This was the father by the Holy Spirit. Acts 10:38. And here says, "How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him." What a powerful verse. That word anointed again, appointed, set apart by God. It says that Jesus of Nazareth was appointed by God. That word power, we've seen this word before. It's dunamis. Ability, force, strength. That's what it means. So Jesus was appointed by God with the Holy Spirit and with ability, with force. And Jesus went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed of the devil. God's power was not for self-promotion, but for our purpose, for God's purpose, for other people's benefit. This is not a power that you go around trying to grab to be able to have everyone say, "Hey, look at me." That's not how this power works. This is power to fulfill God's purpose, for his kingdom to be upon people, and for God to do the works that God called us to do. And it is such a blessing to be a part of God's kingdom and to be a part of God's purpose and his power. God's power also, you may notice it addressed physical and spiritual oppression. In fact, after the wilderness, Jesus was empowered by the spirit to fulfill his purpose. And he did good. He destroyed works of the devil and demonstrated God's kingdom on the earth. And remember, Jesus is our example. So like Jesus, every Christian, that's you and me, has a purpose. We are intentionally created and shaped by God for a specific purpose. We see this throughout the scriptures. You may not always notice these verses where God says quite clearly these things about us. Let's take a look at Ephesians 2 verse 10. Quote, "For we are his workmanship, God's created in Christ Jesus for good works." That's what we were created in Christ Jesus for, for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. It says that we are God's workmanship. We're God's creation, God's handiwork. He did something really great when he made you and me. I know sometimes people may look in the mirror and they may say to themselves, "I'm not really anything or I'm not really. I wish this were different or that were different." Don't say that about yourself. God made you and called you good. And you and I are repenting from things that may be trying to hold us down. But you are good. God made you good. You are God's creation. that you are God's handiwork. And it says that we were created, formed, fabricated, made at the new birth when we were born again. We were formed and fabricated in Christ Jesus for good works. That really means beneficial deeds, virtuous actions. God made you and me. We are God's handiwork to do virtuous things in the world to fulfill our purpose. We are God's deliberate creation made for good actions and made for service. Thank God for that. And it says that we were prepared beforehand. God actually planned our purpose before we knew our purpose. Thank you, Lord. And it says here that we should walk in them. Our purpose is to be lived daily. This is not some one purpose. This isn't some 15 minutes of fame, so to speak. God has a purpose for us, and we're to live it out daily. And that's why it becomes very important for us to get through the wilderness experience for us to seek God to hear his voice and to obey him to obey his purpose. And he will confirm his purpose in our lives because he will manifest power. And it's not for our glory. It's for God's glory. It's for his purpose. We were actually God's handiwork. As it says here, we're God's creation for those very things. And I'll tell you this. I will assure you of this. When you are doing God's purpose in your life, not only will you be a blessing to others, God will be a blessing to you. God is actively at work in Christians. He is shaping both our desires and our actions. Philippians 2:13, for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for his good pleasure. This is one of those verses that a lot of people will quote in church and memorize and it's an important one. So it says here for it is God who works. That means at work that God is operating effectively that God is activated. So God is actively working and operating in you and me. Both to will that's to desire to wish to intend and to do. That's for us to work to operate effectively. It's actually the same word in the word works earlier in the sentence. So what does it mean? It says that God energizes our desires, that's our will, and our actions to do for his purposes. God energizes our desires and our actions for his purposes. Power and purpose, they come from obedience to God working through us. After the wilderness, God activates our heart and our hands to live out his purpose. In fact, Jesus chose us to live fruitful lives with prayer flowing from our purpose. John 15:16, Jesus said, "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give you." Jesus said, "You did not choose me. You did not purposefully select or elect me. In fact, let's go back. That's a good one. But Jesus said, "But I chose you. I purposefully selected and elected you and appointed you." Jesus doubles down. He not only chooses us, he appointed us. So if choosing us is to purposefully select or elect us, appointed means to intentionally set us in place or assign us. Jesus leaves no doubt in this. No stone is unturned. You and I have been purposefully selected and we've been intentionally set in place that you should go and bear fruit. That means to bring forth fruit, which means good impacts, right? Service to others, benefits to others. We've been called to bring forth fruit to create a good effect, a good impact in other people's lives. And it says that your fruit should remain. It should endure. It should last. It should continue. Christians are intentionally placed into purpose and power for good impacts in the world around them. In fact, even the wilderness works for your good because God's shaping you through it. Romans 8:28, another one of those famous verses that many people memorize and many people quote, and it's a fantastic verse. Quote, "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose." Right? It says that we know all things work together. All things cooperate. They work jointly towards a result. Right? They work together towards a purpose and they work together for good. That means for benefit, for usefulness. I want to emphasize something. All things don't work together for your comfort. All things work together for your good. God didn't bring us into the wilderness to make us comfortable. To live a lavish life in which we have no cares and no issues and no problems. That's not the life God called Christians to. There's going to be suffering in the wilderness. But if you will obey God through the suffering, there will be conversion in the wilderness. So God brings us together. All things are working together. They're working jointly for our benefit, for our usefulness. Thank God for that. For those who love God, those that trust in God, rely on God, obey God. And it says to those who are the called according to his purpose. Christians are not random. We've been seeing this in verse after verse. We've been seeing how we're selected and we're appointed. And here we see it again. Christians are not random. You're not random. I'm not random. You are intentionally selected by God for a purpose. And you and I should obey God. We should seek God. We should pray. We should fast. We should read God's word to understand that purpose. And as we come to understand that purpose, we will then step out in obedience to God to do that purpose. And God will manifest his power because God wants to manifest might and strength and privilege and all those things that we read because God wants to bless others and he's going to bless others through you and me. God turns every season into preparation for your purpose. So let's go. Let's find your life's purpose and meaning. You might be saying, Ted, what is my purpose? I don't know. I don't know your purpose. But God does know your purpose. And God will reveal your purpose to you. That is faithful. He is faithful. He is reliable. God will reveal your purpose to you as you seek God and obey God. So keep something in mind though. Let's talk a little bit about purpose. You are seeking to know your purpose. A definition of purpose is what God has called you to do. So you're seeking what has God called me to do? But at the same time, to be honest, you're also looking for meaning, which means why your life matters. So keep in mind, for most people, while we talk about purpose, what God has called us to do, we're usually also talking about meaning, why my life matters. This concept is often summarized this way. Meaning often equals coherence plus significance plus purpose. Now, I warn you right now. I am not reading scripture. I am not going through the Bible. And you'll notice that almost all the time if I'm going to talk about something, I'm going to look at scripture and we're going to look at scripture together to do that. But this is a topic that I get asked a lot. And so we're going to grab something that's a lot more worldly, right? A lot more definitions and talk. So I'm going to spend the next couple of minutes for you to understand what it is to have meaning. So again, meaning equals coherence plus significance plus purpose. Let's take a look at what that means. And this might shake something loose as you pray, as you seek God, as you read the scriptures, and as you try to understand what your purpose is. Let's talk about coherence. When we say coherence, we mean why things make sense. So part of meaning is you understanding why things make sense. Your life has an understandable pattern that fits together. That's coherence. When you can see a pattern in your life and how it fits together, then it starts to help amplify or give you understanding of your meaning. So this concept of I see how things that maybe happened in my past, they fit together into a big picture. That's coherence. Without coherence, life feels chaotic. Life can feel meaningless. With coherence, you can interpret even painful experiences, even suffering as part of a larger narrative. You often can cultivate coherence by reflecting on your own story, taking a little bit of time and thinking about your past and growing up and experiences that you have, things that have formed you, your origin story, as they say in comic books. So you can reflect on your story and you can connect past challenges to lessons you've learned and growth you've experienced and then you'll start to say, "Ah, I think I start to see why things make sense." Prayer is talking to God. We're going to teach about prayer in some future episodes. And prayer often helps to make sense of your experiences. So talking to God about your experiences in the past or or recent experiences, it helps us to understand for God to give insight for you to say, "I see why that makes sense now." You remember Jesus is our example and Jesus many times took time to pray and we should too. So part of meaning is coherence. Another part of meaning is significance. So what does significance mean? Significance means why you matter. It's understanding why you matter. Significance means believing that your life has value and worth. And let me tell you right now, for every single one of you, your life has value and worth. Don't believe otherwise. It's understanding that your existence makes a difference. And it does. You feel that your presence impacts others when you understand significance and that your efforts contribute to something meaningful. People who lack a sense of significance often feel unneeded and could feel hopeless even if they're experiencing pleasure and success. You could be doing something pleasurable and still feel very insignificant. You could be someone who's very wealthy or has a very successful career and still feel insignificant. You cultivate significance by growing in your knowledge of God. God explains a lot of your significance in God's word. You also do it by nurturing relationships. As you interact with other people, you start to understand the significance of why you matter. Maybe you have children. Children rely on you. They need you. You matter to them and you matter as a person because they need you. It may be a niece or a nephew. It may be children in the neighborhood. You may be a teacher, may be children at school or others you interact with. Or it may not be children at all. Maybe other adults or those older than you. You matter. And so nurturing relationships is another method to see your significance and to understand as well as serving others. That is such an important value. There's so many different ways to serve other people. And by serving others, you start to understand how your life matters. The third part of meaning is that word purpose. So what is purpose? It's why you exist. It's what God has called you to do. Purpose is the direction of your life. It's the reason you get up in the morning. It's what you aim to contribute. No one just wakes up and say, "I just go do a job." There's nothing inspiring. There's nothing meaningful in that. And God has meaning. He has inspiring things for you. Purpose to say it another way is what would you give your life for if called to do so? Now that's a dramatic statement is it? What is something that you would give your life for? Would it be service to country? Would it be service to others? Would you give your life for your family members? Right? There's a lot of things that somebody would it is it something that you strongly believe? Is it your faith? What would you give your life for if you were called to give your life up for something? That will often identify very closely at least your current understanding of your purpose. It helps you to understand why you exist. Purpose means living for something bigger than yourself, serving others, creating value, advancing something that you care deeply about. Purpose helps you organize your goals and it gives you daily activities that give meaning beyond the immediate pleasure or reward. Purpose helps you organize your day. Purpose helps you to understand these things I'm doing every day. It's towards this bigger purpose. You cultivate purpose by seeking your why through God. You pray, you fast, you read. So you can say, "Dear Lord, why? Why do I exist? What purpose have you called me for? It also helps to notice what energizes you when you're serving others. To be clear, your purpose is not to satisfy the divi desires of your flesh. You were not brought into this world to heap desires on yourself to to make yourself feel better with all sorts of pleasures. You were called to help other people. And I can't tell you exactly how, but God does. and you should seek him to gain insight and understanding. And then what you'll find is that you'll take these daily goals or weekly goals or monthly goals and you'll start to align them with your purpose, with your mission. One thing we'll talk about in a second is as you start to align your goals, you'll actually start to test drive your goals or I should say test drive your purpose and then you'll start to see if it's really your purpose. You may say, "I still don't know. Do you have any practical advice on how to find purpose?" Well, here's a few things before we move back into the scriptures. First of all, seek God for your calling. Pray and seek God for what he has called you to live for. Consider what your convictions are, what your values are. What has God deposited it in you? And what causes you would give your time, your energy, and your life to. That's powerful. Secondly, align your daily life around your purpose. If you believe you understand your purpose, start to order your work, your relationships, your habits around what you believe your purpose is. What you do should reflect who you are supposed to be. If after aligning your daily life, you still question your purpose, then it probably isn't your purpose, then you should go back to step one and seek God again and then realign your life around whatever that new purpose is that you believe God has for you. Third, serve beyond yourself. You'll find that purpose often matures through service, through sacrifice, through loving others. So, you may have an initial insight to purpose and it will start to grow and really benefit as you start to exercise it through service, sacrifice, and love. Fourth, live out your purpose. Don't just think about your purpose. I'm around a lot of people who they keep thinking and thinking and thinking and they're never doing. purpose is clarified by obedience and endurance, especially through struggle. You'll start to really understand if this is your purpose or not as you start to obey God in it and as you start to endure through it. Living out your purpose road tests your purpose. Kind of like taking a car and taking it out on the road to see if this is really how it works and how the car operates. By living it out, you'll see whether your calling is truly from God or not. By thinking about it, you'll never be able to test it. And you should try answering the two meaning questions with God. And here's what I mean by the two meaning questions. Number one, why am I alive? Everyone should have an answer for why am I alive. If you don't have an answer, get to it. Do those steps I was describing before so you can figure that out. And secondly, for what would I be willing to give my life? Again, such a dramatic statement, but such an important one. For you to know your purpose, you should understand what you're willing to give your life for should you be required it. I pray you never have to give your life for any of these things. But what are you truly committed to? What are you passionate about? And what are you willing to give your life for? You should have some answers to these two questions. Thank you for listening to this episode of the Simple Truth Podcast. Today we talked about purpose and how purpose is often found in the wilderness season. We saw how Jesus returned from the wilderness, went back to Nazareth, and disclosed his purpose in the synagogue. Paul wrote to the Ephesians how we are God's deliberate creation made for good actions and service. In other words, God made you for a purpose. And Romans 8:28 shows how God turns every season into preparation for your purpose. We also discuss how to identify meaning in your life by examining coherence, significance, and purpose. This included some practical advice to help you understand your own unique purpose. So don't be tempted to think of the wilderness as a delay in your life. Instead, and as we see biblically, through the wilderness, God is shaping your life and revealing your purpose. If you are in the wilderness right now, please hear this. Your purpose hasn't stopped. It's being built as you trust and you obey God daily. So, don't try to rush the wilderness season and don't resent it. This season has meaning. And this struggle, as tough as it may be, it has direction. The same God who led you into the wilderness is using this season to prepare you for what comes next. And as you begin to walk in your calling, you will see the power of God working through you to help others. If you found this episode to be a blessing, please like, subscribe, and share it with someone else who may be walking through a wilderness season of their own. Next time we'll talk about how to come out of the wilderness with power. It has been a real pleasure talking about the Bible with you. I pray God bless you and God keep you. Until next time. Thank you for listening to the Simpler Podcast. For additional episodes, visit us at www.simpertruth.org