A Life with Purpose

Jeremiah 1:4-10

Does life have a purpose? Do I have a purpose in life? Those are questions that we ask ourselves, true? And I’m pretty sure that pretty much everyone asks themselves questions like that in some way, shape, or form over the course of their lives. When Adam and Eve were first created, the purpose of life was crystal clear. Have fellowship with God and serve him. That was it. And it would have been great. And then they grabbed that fruit off the tree. And everything in life got messed up, including what we human beings think the purpose of life is. So as you listen to the world around you, what are some of the thoughts you hear about life and its purposes? Look out for number one. Follow your dreams. Do what makes you feel good. Or even the one who dies with the most toys wins. Now, is it wrong for us to pursue life goals and occupations that are consistent with the talents and the abilities God has given to us? Of course not. That’s totally, totally fine. But if I think that that’s my life’s purpose and that that’s where I’m looking for value in my life and meaning in my life, I’m gonna end up being very sorely disappointed. Because the reality is, Adam and Eve grabbing that fruit off of the tree did not change life’s purpose. Life’s purpose remains to have fellowship with God and to serve him. And we’d add to it its corollary to serve him by serving one another. I wonder what Jeremiah thought about life’s value and life’s purpose. I wonder what he thought about it near the beginning of his life and ministry, which is what we have recorded in our text in front of us. I wonder how he thought about it near the end of his life. See, Jeremiah has this really lengthy ministry. The text in front of us, the first three verses of Jeremiah 1, tell us that this happened in the 13th year of good King Josiah. So that puts us at about 627 BC. And King Josiah was one of the best kings that the Southern Kingdom ever had. And so though while the nation of Judah overall was in a bad place spiritually, when God calls Jeremiah to prophetic ministry, to being a pastor basically, he’d have had a big ally in the king. The most powerful person in the land would have been on his side in supporting him. And he’s a young man. He’s probably in his teens, maybe in his very early 20s. It has to be that because he ends up ministering until at least 580, 47 years later. So his ministry lasts at least 47 years and it may go longer than that. So Jeremiah just cannot be all that old at the time that our text is, that our time at our text takes place. So you’re a young man, you’re a teenager, you’re a very early 20-year-old. And God comes to you and says, “Hey, before you were in the womb, I knew you. “I’ve appointed you. “And not only have I appointed you, “I’ve appointed you to be a prophet to the nations “and over the nations.” And can you imagine Jeremiah thinking, “Man, I’m gonna have this powerful, impactful ministry that’s gonna be incredible. What’s all gonna happen?” Can you imagine the wide eyes and the excitement? I think I can. I was a young pastor once. I wonder what Jeremiah thought about these words as a much more seasoned pastor, believer. You see, Jeremiah’s ministry was hard. Perhaps about as hard as anyone’s recorded ministry in the entire Bible. Maybe Elijah would be an exception. Maybe Noah. That was pretty rough, I think about it. But Jeremiah was tough. He starts off with good King Josiah, but things are happening on the world scene. And the Assyrian Empire is in decline. And the Egyptian Empire isn’t all that strong, but the Medo-Babylonian Empire is on the rise. And in 609 BC, things come to a head. So this is about 18 years into Jeremiah’s ministry. Jeremiah’s 35, 40-ish, something like that at this point. And the Egyptian army comes marching up through the land of Israel. They’re gonna go up and they’re going to connect up with the Assyrian army to fight against the Babylonians. Well, apparently Josiah has allied himself with the Babylonians because Josiah comes out to fight against the Egyptians. And what seems to us to be just a tragedy, Josiah gets killed in battle. And so now this good, God-pleasing king is dead. One of his sons is appointed to be his successor or succeeds him, that isn’t really appointed, just succeeds him. The Egyptians quickly come through, depose him, put another of his sons on the throne, man named Jehoiakim. And Jehoiakim was just the opposite of Josiah. Jehoiakim was really, really evil. In fact, sometime later, when Jeremiah has written a chunk of his scroll, Jehoiakim listens to the scroll being read and bit by bit cuts off chunks of it and throws it into the fire, and burns it. Can you imagine? He’s burning the very words of God. So you have an evil king who’s on the throne. And the political scene is getting worse and worse for the people of Judea. The Babylonians come in 605, they conquer Jerusalem, they conquer Judea, they kill some people, take a bunch off into exile. They come back in 597, they come back in 592, killing more people, exiling more people. Jeremiah’s in the midst of all of this stuff. This is hard. And what kind of thanks is Jeremiah getting for being a faithful pastor to the people? Well, he’s thrown into jail. One time he’s tossed into a pit, which is empty. It was a water pit, it was empty, but muddy in the bottom. Said he would sink down into the mud and get stuck in there and die. Thankfully, some friends came and pulled him out. Jeremiah is given the very unhappy task, at least I would assume it was the unhappy task, of having to say to the people of Judea and the people of Jerusalem, serve the king of Babylon. If you serve the king of Babylon, you’ll be okay. How do you think that went over? Yeah, I can only imagine that that went over like a lead balloon. How do you think Jeremiah’s feeling about the value of his ministry and his life purpose? I gotta think he’s very discouraged, struggling. And of course, the Israelites don’t do it. The Israelites don’t serve the king of Babylon. They keep on rebelling against the king of Babylon. So about 587, Babylon comes back, and this time they’re sick of it. They’re sick of making the trip. And so this time, not only do they once again conquer Judea and Jerusalem, but this time they destroy the place. And it is awful. There’s starvation. There’s even reports of cannibalism, people eating their own children because they’re so hungry. Families are ripped apart and destroyed. Zedekiah, the king at that time, just as evil as Jehoiakim before him, tries to make a run for it. The Babylonian army catches up to him, puts to death all of his sons and makes Zedekiah watch it, and then pokes out Zedekiah’s eyes. Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. I appointed you to be a prophet to the nations. How do you think aged Jeremiah felt when he was reading those words? Do you think he felt like his ministry had been a resounding success? I’m guessing he felt like a complete and utter failure. What did I do with my life? Oh, and then after Nebuchadnezzar destroys Jerusalem and wipes out the place, he appoints a person to be his governor in the land. Jeremiah once again has the unhappy, I think, task of saying to the people, you just stay here. Don’t even think about going to Egypt, which is what they’re starting to talk about doing. Don’t go to Egypt, stay here in the land. If you stay here in the land, it’ll go just fine with you. Serve the king of Babylon, it’ll be just fine. And in just absolute stubborn rebellion, the people of Israel do what? They assassinate the governor, whom the Babylonians had appointed, in what universe does that make sense? And then exactly opposite of what God says, they head down to Egypt and they take Jeremiah with them. And as far as we know, Jeremiah dies in Egypt. Wow. How do you think Jeremiah felt about the value of his life? His life purpose. How do you think he felt in Egypt when he reread? “Before I formed you in the womb.” And by the way, that word formed is the exact same word that’s used in Genesis 2 for God forming Adam. Adam. It’s a word that means to shape like a potter, like a craftsman. It’s this beautiful word that shows value and importance. “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.” And oh, Jeremiah had his struggle points over the course. I’ve told you just about the history, but there were times that Jeremiah was just discouraged. One time he goes to God and just says to him, “Look, you’ve been unfaithful to me. “You’ve not been someone I can rely on.” And God responds to him, “If you utter worthy, not worthless words, “I’ll pay attention to you.” Wow. But God forgave him because Jeremiah had gotten caught up in himself. And I often don’t, you and I get caught up in ourselves. God says to Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.” Did you notice what Jeremiah’s response was? “Lord, I don’t know.” Jeremiah, that doesn’t matter. What matters is that God knows you. The issue isn’t how much you know. It’s that God knows you. And the issue, Jeremiah, is that God has given you exactly what you need to be his pastor at this particular point as he’s given you exactly what you need to serve him at this particular point in history. Does that mean that our life is gonna be wildly successful and easy by worldly standards? Maybe, but not likely. Because Jesus said to us, “We must through much tribulation “enter into the kingdom of God.” That our lives are more likely gonna look like Jeremiah’s life than like, name your famous, happy, rich person’s life. Yeah, I don’t know if there really are many of those, by the way. But our life’s purpose is just exactly the same as Jeremiah’s. It’s to serve God. After all, it’s God who, first of all, made us. He made you and me to be exactly who he wanted us to be. Just like God knew you and formed you in the womb before you knew anything, so God formed you and formed me in the womb before you and I knew anything. He did it for Jeremiah, he did that for you. He created you uniquely. And because he loves you, he went to the cross and died for you, paid for your sins and mine completely and totally, just like he did for Jeremiah. And in wonderful grace, the Holy Spirit has come to you and the Holy Spirit has touched your heart with his love and has convinced you that Jesus is your savior and that there’s a place in heaven for you. And in grace that Jeremiah could have only dreamed of. God has established with you a new covenant. Jeremiah prophesied about it. And you get to taste, touch, smell, feel, bread and wine and also along with it, receive Jesus himself, Jesus’ own true body, Jesus’ own true blood. God does that for you. So would it not make sense that our life’s purpose, our life’s goal would ultimately be to serve him? Yes, thank you for answering. Absolutely, he made us, he bought us, he worked faith in our heart, we are his. And so now our life takes on this incredible purpose that no matter what we do in life, whether it’s work our job, whether it’s shovel our walks, whether it’s mow our lawns, looking actually forward to doing that again, whether it’s take care of our vehicles, whether it’s take care of our health, you get to do every single bit of it to serve God. And that makes every single moment of your life purpose-filled and meaningful. Because it’s God-given purpose and God-given meaning and God-given opportunities to serve. Will my life be wildly successful in the eyes of the world? Yeah, maybe, maybe not. Does it matter? No. Because as you serve God, and as you serve one another in love, you are being wildly successful in the eyes of the one who has the only opinion that matters, the God who has known you forever, and who will love you eternally. Amen. And amen.