FINDING THE MEANING OF LIFE- Heart Series Part 2
By Pastor Dennis Heppner
1 Samuel 13:13-14
Some people just don’t get it. For some reason, they have come to believe that the world revolves around them.
A man had been dating a woman for several years, and she was starting to wonder if they would ever marry. He said he didn't know if he could marry her because, as he put it, "I don't think she makes me happy."
Why doesn’t she make you happy? He went on and on explaining all the reasons why she didn't make him happy.
Then he was asked "What kind of wife would make you happy?" The more he described what he was looking for in a wife, the more it became clear that what he really needed was not a wife. He needed a goldfish, the pretty kind with the long tail that floats around, or maybe a Golden Retriever—but even a dog will make demands on you emotionally. A goldfish, though, just sits there and looks pretty and doesn't ask you to communicate. It doesn't ask you how your day was or expect you to listen to how its day was. The last thing he needed was a wife, because his whole understanding of why the world existed was to meet his needs.
He is like so many who believe that the most important thing in the world right now is what is happening to them. Their needs, their pain, their wants, their dreams, their goals, and their rights… you name it and it’s all about them. The world is full of these people and King Saul was one of those. He even knew God, had experienced God, witnessed the power of God but had no reverence for God and because life revolved around him---he was regularly in trouble with God.
The Purpose Drive Life book kind of brings it into perspective with its first sentence:
“It’s not about you.”
And I quote
“The purpose of your life is far greater than your own personal fulfillment, your peace of mind, or even your happiness. It’s far greater than your family, your career and even your wildest dreams and ambitions. If you want to know why you were placed on this planet, you must begin with God. You were born by His purpose and for His purpose."
Rick warren quotes a study done by Dr. Hugh Moorhead, a philosophy professor at Northwestern Illinois University. He once wrote to 250 of the best-known philosophers, scientists, writers and intellectuals in the world asking them the question, “What is the meaning of life?” He then published their responses in a book. Some offered their best guesses, some admitted they had just made up a purpose for life and others were honest enough to say they were clueless. A number wrote back asking professor Moorhead to write back and tell them if he discovered the purpose of life.
The difference between King Saul and David was clearly a matter of the heart. One knew God but chose not to follow God. David, on the other hand, knew God, loved God and worshiped God. It was all about the heart. Until God has your heart, you are going to hurt and hurt badly. Much of life will be painful because it has no meaning and no frame of reference.
The bottom line is that most people do not know their purpose in life --- why they are here or for what purpose they live.
Don’t forget that Satan is after your heart.
Younggi (David) Cho tells a story of receiving a call one midnight. The man on the other line asked him to come over and give his blessing because he and his wife were quitting the marriage and they wanted the pastor’s blessing. He tried to make an appointment for the next day but they were so insistent that he went at midnight.
When he arrived in their luxurious home, the room was icy cold with hatred. He entered the door and the man met him with a multitude of accusations against the wife. Then the wife came from the other room telling him not to listen to her husband but instead, to listen to her. As he listen to them, they both seemed right. Now what to do? They said they had tried everything and nothing worked. So they would divide up their stuff and separate that very night.
He took their hands and wanted to pray. They both insisted, “Don’t pray for us, just pray for our divorce.” He took their hands and said, “In the name of Jesus, I break this spirit of hatred. I command these two to be melted together.” Then after a minute or two, he felt something warm hit his hand and it was a tear...and then another. He put their hands together and walked out. The next Sunday, they were singing in his choir and he was curious what happened. They said, when you prayed, something touched our hearts and we decided to try again.
Oh, for something to touch our hearts!!
One day, as the scribes circled around Jesus, they posed a question. “Jesus, of all the commandments, which is the most important commandment?”
Jesus replied:
Mark 12:29-31
29"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' 31The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."
Love your neighbor is where modern man places the emphasis. We should get along with people. How true, but the emphasis Jesus gave is still on the most important commandment: Love the Lord with your whole heart. That is life’s primary relationship and making that one right will affect all other relationships.
Your heart is…….The heart, as understood here, is the center of all your spiritual activity. It is the home of your personal life, the hidden, unseen, real you. It is the place where motives are born, decisions are made, the place of your intelligence and thoughts, the seat of your emotions and where your conscience is kept. It is the real you! It is to love God with my mind and thoughts, with my emotions, with my will, with pure motives.
Why do we seem unable to love God with our whole hearts?
We are such damaged people. We’ve been damaged by sin, Satan’s lies and our own decisions so much so that coming to God in a healthy way with our whole heart is very difficult. We are damaged on a core level. For Jesus said it:
Mark 7:20-22
20He went on: "What comes out of a man is what makes him 'unclean.' 21For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.
All the mess of life and relationships start at a heart level. If we do not let Jesus into the heart of our life nothing will change and life will remain without meaning.
When David sinned and Nathan the prophet rebuked him, later he wrote, “Create in me a clean heart, oh God and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” - Psalm 51:10
Oh God, touch me at a core level! That was David’s words. David knew that what went wrong was not a mistake but a problem with his heart. Your meaning begins with God. It’s really not about you. The longer we defend ourselves, our position, our wrong, the longer we wander in the wilderness without meaning.
Do you remember what I said earlier about damage? We are such damaged people. We seem entirely unable to respond to Jesus, to sing to Jesus, to pray to Jesus, to Love Jesus. However, no matter how difficult it seems, you are required to do so.
As God commanded the people of God to love Him and Jesus reaffirmed that requirement of us, how are we doing at loving Him with our whole hearts?
We’ll read together some of David’s words about God and where his heart was.
Psalm 42:1
As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. 2. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?
Psalm 63:1
O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
Psalm 84:10
Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked
Psalm 95:6
Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker;
Psalm 103:11 Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Psalm 27:4-5
One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple. 5 For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle and set me high upon a rock.
If we could get that “one thing” right, life would never be meaningless. These kind of words are the expressions of a heart that loves God.
Bob Sorge opens his book on loyalty with this sentence;
When God scrolls across the landscape of humanity, there is one character quality above all others that He is specifically looking for:
For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him (2 Chronicles 16:9)
God wants a huge family whose hearts are all turned towards him in adoring loyalty. He wants many sons just like Jesus- truly loyal to him- even to death and he has chosen you to be a part of his family.
So you are here and you’re not sure why you are a believer and your not sure for what purpose or you lack meaning. For these issues of life, Jesus can help.
It’s really not about you, your happiness, your success---it’s about Jesus and loving him with your whole heart. Consider this question. When do you give him your heart---your intellect, emotions, voice, thoughts and dreams?
Is yours a life filled with the world with a little of Jesus or is your life Jesus with a little of this world? Answering that question will reveal your real level of meaning in life.
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