Does Your Life Have Meaning?

Exodus 19:1-8a

Is it fair to say that most people, maybe even all people, want a life which is meaningful and purpose-filled? I mean, I think so. I don’t know everybody, of course, but I think it’d be pretty fair to say most, if not everybody, wants to have a life which is meaningful, full of purpose. I’ve been reading a book recently, it was written by one of our WELS pastors, and it’s called– I can’t remember what the exact name of it, I should have checked– it’s something like The Meaningful Life, or For A Meaningful Life, or Towards A Meaningful Life, or A Life With Meaning. I don’t know, it’s something like that. And one of the premises of the book, and one of the claims that he makes, is that for people to have a life which is valuable, which they see to be satisfied with their life, to be content with their life, they need to know that their life has purpose and that they have value. And I agree with him. And I think God does too. On the basis, maybe we should say, he’s agreeing with God. That’s a better way to put it, isn’t it? On the basis of the readings that we have in front of us today. We recently got done with a series and Bible study called, Who Am I and Why Am I Here? If you missed it, you missed something valuable. Because what God says to us about who we are in Christ is flat-out amazing. We see a little glimpse of it here in our texts in front of us. Notice I’m using all three of the Bible readings we have in front of us today. What does Jesus say? He says, you are the light of the world. What does Jesus say? You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. What does God say? God says, you are my treasured possession. Wow. Talk about value meeting purpose. And the text that’s in front of us talks much about those things. The Israelites have left Egypt just three months before. Or let’s put it a little bit more accurately. God brought the Israelites out of Egypt just three months before. I carried you up on eagle’s wings, God says to them, that they couldn’t have gotten out of Egypt by themselves, nor was it just happenstance, nor was it just political machinations that caused it. No, this was a miracle of God that they were brought out of the land of Egypt. And on their journey out on their way to the holy land, to the promised land, they came to Rephidim. And there at Rephidim, they had a problem. They had no water. And so God told Moses, strike the rock, and I will cause water to come pouring out of the rock. And Moses did what God said, and water comes pouring out of that rock so that the Israelites have the water that they need. At Rephidim, the Israelites get into their first battle. It’s the battle with the Amalekites. It’s the battle where Moses stands up on a hill, and as long as Moses’ hands are upraised, signifying the blessing of God, the Israelites are winning. As soon as Moses’ hands go down, the Israelites begin losing. It’s hard to keep your arms up for a long time. And so Aaron and Hur come and hold up Moses’ arms, one on each side of him, so that those hands can be kept lifted up and the Israelites win a resounding victory. Why did God have the hands-up thing going on? Because God wanted it to be absolutely crystal clear that this was a blessing from God, a miracle from God, not because Joshua was this amazing general, which he seems to have been, by the way, but this was a blessing from God, a miracle from God. And finally, all that they had would be blessings and miracles from God. Now, what does this all say to the people of Israel about who they are and how much God cares for them? God cares for them enough to take care of their earthly needs. And when they have something which is absolutely critical, they can count on God to do whatever is necessary to take care of them. They can count on God to be their protector against their foes, because God loves them and treasures them. And God loves and treasures you, too. Now, they’ve come to Mount Sinai. Moses has been here before. Remember that bush that was burning but wasn’t burning up? That was at Mount Sinai. And as God calls Moses to go back to Egypt and lead the people out, one of the promises God makes is, “And you will worship me on this mountain.” And now here they are. They’re at Mount Sinai, just as God had promised. And then God, in remarkable grace, speaks to Moses. Can you imagine God speaking directly to a sinful human being? How important does that make Moses? Someday God will speak directly to you, too. He’s doing it right now in his word. And he’s going to do it face-to-face when you get home to heaven. How important, how valuable does that make you? And me too. And God talks to him and says, don’t go to the people and say something like this. Instead, God gives them the exact words to say. This is what you are to say to the descendants of Jacob, and what you are to tell the people of Israel, you yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Oh. Did you catch the most important point? The most important point wasn’t that God had brought them out of slavery. The most important point wasn’t that God was going to lead them to their promised land. The most important point was that I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. I brought you to me. And my brothers and sisters, that is the most important point for you and me too. Can you imagine of the billions of people in this world, God made sure that you were baptized into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, that as we heard in our opening litany, that your sins were washed away, that you were clothed with Christ, that the name of God was placed on you, said I am now Tom Godson, Mike Godson, Pat God’s daughter. God brought you to Himself. And if we have any question about it, God continues to bring us to himself through the Lord’s supper as he feeds us with the very body and the very blood of Jesus himself. Can you imagine? God is bringing you to himself. How important, how valuable, does that make you and me to be? You cannot put a price tag on that. Amen? And you know that, because he’s revealed those things to you. Oh, how special you are in the eyes of God. Oh, how important you are to the Almighty. He says to the Israelites, if you obey me fully, and I gave you the better translation, if you listen, if you really listen to me, listen to me thoroughly, and keep my covenant, that out of all nations you will be a treasured possession. What does God want his people to do? Listen to me. Listen to me. And the Hebrew construction has the idea of being intense about it and being thorough about it, and putting your zeal and energy into it. Listen carefully to me. Why? Because God wants you to know who you are. God wants you to know that you are his treasured possession. The Hebrew word is segula for treasured possession. I like saying it, it’s just a cool word, segula. It just is a cool word. It doesn’t occur very often, but every time it occurs in the Old Testament, it has this idea that the Old Testament Israelites were God’s just, oh, so special people. And God wanted them to know that. And the only way they could know that was if they thoroughly, regularly, zealously, eagerly listened to him. Do you think God wants any different from you and me? Of course not. Peter, who talked so wonderfully about how we are chosen people, a royal priesthood, more on that in a minute. It’s Peter who says, “But grow in the grace and knowledge “of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” Does growth in the word of God, eager, intense, zealous, energetic, growth in the word of God, does that mark your life in mind? If not, you’re gonna struggle with feeling like your life as meaning and purpose. Because you won’t be being reminded regularly of who you are and how important God thinks you are and how valuable you are to God. Oh, and then when we listen eagerly, carefully, zealously, energetically to the word of God, there’s a natural response that happens. We keep his covenant. In other words, we put the word of God into practice, and doesn’t that make total sense? If I learned that Jesus is the light of the world who has come and driven the darkness of sin out of my mind and out of my heart, and his eyes, yeah, they still linger in there, but not in God’s eyes. In God’s eyes, you are that holy nation. If I know that, what do I wanna say to my God? I wanna say thank you to him. And so I wanna reflect the light of Jesus. I wanna live in a way that gives glory to him. I want to make it clear that I am God’s treasured possession. By being patient and kind and loving God and loving my neighbor, I want to make sure that God takes first place in my priorities in life. I wanted to make sure that God takes first place in the way I use my income. I wanna make sure that God takes first place in the way that I use my talents and in the way I treat the people who are around me, right? Because you are God’s treasured possession. You are God’s treasured possession. Do our lives make clear that we are treasured possessions of God? Or as people looked at us, would they think that maybe our life was a possession of our job, or a possession of a political party or movement, or our life was a possession of a hobby or pleasure, or wealth? Does your life and mind reflect that we are God’s treasured possession? If it’s not, you’re gonna struggle to feel like your life has meaning and purpose because the whole point of our existence on this earth is to be God’s treasured possession. And if we’re being treasured or if we are serving something else other than God, we’re gonna struggle. But can you imagine? It’s even better for us New Testament people than it was for those Old Testament people. God claimed those Israelites with all their faults, with all their warts. He claimed them and talked about them as his treasured possession and a holy nation. And you know enough about the Israelites, they were anything but. But did you notice how he couched it? He couched it in the terms of condition. If you really listen to me, and if you obey my covenant, then you will be, for me, a treasured possession and a holy nation. Did you hear how Peter said it in our New Testament reading? There was no condition. He says, “You are a royal priesthood. You are a royal or a holy nation. You are,” the NIV translates to treasured possession, which is a nice throwback to segula. It’s not what the Greek says. What the Greek says is, “You are a people for the purpose of possessing.” In other words, that God looks at you and says, “I want you as my people. You are my first round draft choices.” Isn’t that cool? Just amazing. And God doesn’t put it in the terms of condition. He says it in the terms of fact. You are a royal priesthood. You are a holy nation. You are a people for the purpose of possessing because of what Jesus has done for you, because of the light of the world has shown on you. So do we want lives that are filled with meaning, that are filled with purpose? Two simple things, my brothers and sisters. Number one, dig energetically, zealously, regularly into the word of God so that God can keep reminding you of who you are in Christ, that you are God’s segula, his treasured possession. And number two, be who you are. Put his words into practice. Be that kingdom of priests. What did priests do? They were God’s servers. Be a God’s server. And the Old Testament priests also connected the people to God. As you are a God’s server, as you let your light shine, one of the things that happens is that the unbelievers around you see it. And you are giving people the opportunity who are right now not connected to God, to become connected to God, because they see the light of the world in you and through you. And you know what’s amazing? God doesn’t call us to do something amazing or miraculous or remarkable. Well, he just calls us to be who we are in Christ, to reflect the love of God to people around us. That’s it. To just be who you are. And as you be who you are, you connect people who are now living in darkness to the light of the world. And in the end, could there be anything more meaningful or purpose-filled than that? Amen? – And amen.