At the time, it felt so hard. Because, well, it was hard. My legs screamed in agony climbing some of
those hills. But, after twenty minutes or so of the run, it
was over. I could relax, grab some Gatorade,
cheer on some friends. It always ended,
the run.
Growing up, everything kind of felt that way. Running in a race, no matter how hard that
race was, it always ended. Seasons
ended. Classes ended. School years ended. And after those endings, you could relax a
bit, until something new began. Even on
the toughest days, I always felt life was going somewhere. It was moving towards something, even if it
was only the next class. But now, life
doesn’t feel like that so much. No,
life feels more like this famous old commercial.
That commercial never inspired me to buy Dunkin
Donuts. But it sure made me feel bad for
poor Fred. “Time to make the
donuts.” Poor guy. But, has your life ever felt a bit like that? Does Fred’s life feel a little too close for
comfort?
Today the world doesn’t seem to ever turn off. Life feels unrelenting, like a race that keeps
going and going with no end in sight. But
as hectic as that pace can be, it’s not the worst. No
matter where you are in life, a bit of unrelenting comes with the territory. Dishes always need to be washed. Errands always need to be run. Life always has stuff like that.
No, what brings Fred’s life too close for comfort is
when you wonder why? Why am I doing all that.
What am I actually aiming for, not just next week, next year. What am I aiming for in my life. Is it only to make the donuts?
God tells you. It’s
not. Your life has a grand, stunning,
exciting purpose. Your life has a purpose
that encompasses everything you do, even everything that happens to you. And, what is it? In these words, God shows you the way. Let’s listen and hear what God has to say.
So, why are you here?
What’s the point of it all? In Paul’s
words, God tells you. God created you
for eternity, for a forever life with God, a life more wondrous, powerful, joyful
than you can imagine. But that life
doesn’t begin when you die. It begins right
now. God right now is focused on transforming
you into that resurrection person, into the beautiful being God has intended
you always to be.
Now before we talk about how God does that, you need to understand why you need God to do that in you. Lots of people believe they have a purpose
for their life. But in reality what they
think is a purpose isn’t really a purpose at all. Let me explain.
Do you know how a knock-knock joke goes? Indulge me. Do one with me. Knock Knock.
Who’s there. Cow says. Cow says who.
That’s pretty good isn’t it? Oh, did I leave something out? What did I leave out? I left
out the punchline. And without a
punchline, that joke, any joke doesn’t make any sense.
A comedian named Michael Jr. helped me see that as a
metaphor for my life, for any life. You
see every joke, Michael Jr. said, has only two parts. It has a set up and a punchline. The set up leads you to expect something,
and then the punchline delivers that something, hopefully a something that makes
you laugh.
And Michael Jr. said that every life needs a
punchline, but instead people get stuck in the set-up. They never get to the punchline. You see. The set-up is everything you accomplish in
life, your job, your family, what you learn, everything. Even the hard things, setbacks are part of your
set up. But, people mistake all that
stuff or part of it as their purpose.
But none of it is. It’s all part
of the set-up. Then people wonder when
they accomplish all those goals, why they feel something missing. It’s
because they still haven’t gotten to the punchline.
They feel like you’re feeling right now, wondering. What
was the end of that knock-knock joke?
And since I don’t want you wondering about it for the rest of the sermon,
let’s try it again. Knock Knock. Who’s there.
Cow says. Cow says who. No, cow says moo. Get it?
Only when you have the punchline for your life, will
it make sense. And here in Paul’s words,
God is pointing you to the punchline. God is telling you your punchline is resurrection,
not simply resurrection when you die, but resurrection right now. And God will use everything in your life,
even the hard things, to bring about that punchline. Now, what is resurrection? It is God healing what is broken in you. It is God taking your potential and making it
potent. It is God doing all that to make
you like God, not in God’s power, but in God’s character. And what lies at the heart of God’s character
but God’s powerful, unstoppable, joy-filled love. That is
the punchline God is bringing about in you, to love like God loves, powerfully,
unstoppably, joyfully. And how God works that punchline of love will be
different for each person. It will be unique
to you, to how God has uniquely shaped and created you. What do I mean?
Before the comedian Michael Jr. got this, he thought
his purpose was to get laughs from people.
Then one night before going out on stage, he got it. God had not created him to get laughs. God had created him to give laughs, to give
people an opportunity to laugh, to experience that joy. Michael Jr. realized. His purpose in life wasn’t to take. His purpose in life was to give. So,
now every time he does a comedy date, he does a show in a place where laughter is
hard to find, a prison or a homeless shelter or a home for abused kids.
In one such home, Michael Jr. tells of a little kidnamed Ronan. Before the show, Ronan’s
grandmother had explained to him. Ronan had
been so abused by his mother that to have some sense of safety, he went through
his life literally wearing a Spiderman costume, mask and all. And as the show began there was that little Spiderman
on the front row. 30 minutes into his show,
Michael Jr. heard a voice cry out. “My
name is Ronan.” And the little boy pulled off his mask. It was one of the most powerful moments in
Michael Jr.’s entire career, more powerful than any moment on Leno or in
Vegas. Why? It fulfilled his punchline.
Like Michael Jr., you have a punchline, a way to give,
a way to grow to love as God loves, a way to know the power of Jesus’ resurrection
in your life. But for that punchline to
happen, something else needs to happen. In his words here, Paul points it out again and
again. He talks about gains he now regards as
loss. He talks about forgetting what
lies behind. He even talks about
becoming like Jesus in his death. In all those different ways, Paul is pointing
to the same thing. For your punchline
to live, other things in you need to die.
This past week, I was sitting in a room with some
local pastors. And we shared the
challenges we’re facing in our churches.
As we talked, Fidel, the pastor over at Calvary Chapel said something
that will stay with me a long time. He
talked about how for years he struggled with the downs of ministry, people
disappointing him, programs failing, painful losses, discouraging setbacks. But now he realized. His ministry wasn’t about creating a church
with no downs, no disappointments. That church
didn’t exist. No, his ministry was about
letting God shape him through those downs, to become the pastor God intended
him to be all along. But doing that
meant, Fidel had to let some dreams die.
He had to bury expectations that had more to do with what he wanted than
what God did. He had to leave a lot of stuff behind to live
out his punchline. And if you want to live out yours, you’ll need
to do the same. They may be good things
even. They’re just not the ultimate thing. But you’ve made them that. And now you’ve gotta let that go. And that
can be scary, like pulling off a mask that you think makes you safe, but only
holds you back.
So how does that happen? It happens as you realize more and more how God
has already lived out your punchline for you.
God did that in Jesus, when he
died for you, when he rose again for you.
But God’s punchline goes even deeper than that. In a few moments, we’ll hear it from the book
of Hebrews, where the writer tells us:
that Jesus, for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross,
disregarding its shame. The joy that was
set before him?
What was that joy set before Jesus? That joy is you. You are that joy. Jesus ran the race, the race to his own
death to win the prize. And what was
that prize? You. Jesus endured
the cross for the joy of bringing you home, of raising you up, of giving you
the glorious freedom of the children of God. And when you know that, that God loves you
like that, that God is that passionately, lovingly focused on you, it frees you. It frees you to let go of anything else but
knowing that love, but growing in that love, but living out that love, of becoming
through that love what God died for you it be.
It frees you to live out your
punchline. And the more you know that love of Jesus for you, the clearer your punchline
will become. You will discover day by
day, moment by moment, the very unique punchline God has created you for. And in that discovery, God’s resurrection
power will grow in you. It will grow you
to love as God loves. It will grow you
to give as God gives. It will grow in
you until that glorious day when you aren’t striving for the punchline, because
you have become it, in all the beauty and wonder that belongs those redeemed,
restored, and recreated in God’s great love.
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