A Teleological Life
Once again, through ways I will not bother relaying, I found myself preaching on a Sunday morning. The topic: finding purpose.
One of the biggest problems with the Advent/Christmas season is the worry about “losing the meaning of Christmas” due to “commercialism” and the other coca-cola-Santa-Claus-vices. I submit that there is a greater fear in limiting the Providence of God by localizing His actions and planning to one or two moments in time. The birth was not the end or the purpose of the incarnation, neither was the crucifixion, nor the resurrection. Place the various holidays and our personalized application of them on the back burner. They all work together in a unified way. God has an overall plan. A purpose. A “teleos” = goal.
From here a quick summary of various events in the life of Christ which show His clear acknowledgment of this goal/purpose, though mainly things were focused around Luke 2:41-52, where the pre-teen Jesus is going about His “father’s business”.
An old prof of mine has recently submitted that a better rendering of that phrase is said “to be among those who belong to my Father.” And who would those people be? Who belongs to the Father? Everyone, as evidenced by Jesus’ interactions in life: the “churched” and “unchurched” were on His relational radar.
Nicodemus, the woman at the well, the disciples, those others called but who walked away, the scribes, the tax collectors, the Pharisees, the prostitutes. None is exempt from the goal of Christ, calling all men/women onto repentance, and showing all how to live in perfect communion with God.
If we are Christians (read: “little christs,” “Christ like,” or “imitators of Christ”) then it seems to reason that said goal is the same: the purpose does not change, though individually we need to figure out what that looks like in each of our lives. How my goal is sought, accepted, or achieved will not be the same for you, but I still need to be actively seeking opportunities and accepting the ones that fall in my lap. I’ll say that again:
I need to be actively seeking opportunities and accepting the ones that fall in my lap.
Amid Kat Williams allusions and a bit of biblical exegesis, the question remained (and remains) how do I go about my Father’s work if I am not around His people with a specific purpose, and a godly one at that? It was not a five point sermon, with the preacher’s amazing answer at the end. Instead it was one question, repeated in different ways:
What is it God would have you do, specifically, relationally, and daily? What purposes/goals are you supposed to seek out and/or accept as they come your way?
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