In the past 3 ½ decades I’ve been asked a lot of questions…ones you’d expect:
· how can I find God – where’s God in my situation?
· what do I do with this sin pattern?
· how do I save my marriage?
· how can I reach my child?
But there is one question that I get asked as much as any other:
· What should I do with my life?
· Is this all there is?
· How can I be significant?
· What am I here for?
· Who am I?
· What is my calling?
The kind of people who ask it spans generations:
· high school seniors, college grads, 30 somethings rethinking where they’re headed, 40 somethings in mid life crisis, empty nesters, retirees
It’s inevitable…all human beings at some point and maybe at many points want to know … “what should I do with my life? ” and “What is my calling ?”
I’ll bet many of you are right there right now.
in 1943 a Psychologist and professor at Columbia university…Abraham Maslow…unveiled his theory that we are hard wired to pursue meaning and calling. He called it a hierarchy of needs.
· he believed that every human being’s primal motivation is physiological: food, water, air.
· but we are also wired to desire safety: personal safety, financial safety, health, well being
· then comes the desire for belonging or love: intimacy, friendship
· followed by esteem – respect and recognition, significance
· and topping the list of human motivations something he called self-actualization: realizing my fullest potential or becoming what I was created to be…or finding my calling.
Interesting in his later years he thought about modifying or even adding to this pyramid of motivation…wondered if Self-Transcendence was a better way to describe our highest motivation…my deepest need or highest motivation is to altruism…giving oneself on behalf of others.
…Maslow’s understanding rings true. both in our hearts and in what we believe about God and human beings. And as you’ll see in a few minutes God made us this way. God made us to hunger for self-actualization and self-transcendence.
…and of course this makes discovering your potential…finding your place of highest serving… essential!
Discovering your calling is one of the essentials of life. God is counting on you to look for it, find it, embrace it, and live it.
…because when you do you change the world.
You were powerfully built to serve God and humanity which makes discovering your calling essential.
Today I want to stimulate you to ask the questions…consider the possibilities…and yearn for the answers…
I want to make you antsy and maybe even a little anxious about all this.
I want to bug you and prod you and push you.
I want to awaken, in you, a hunger for transcending the life you are now living to finding the life in which you become superhuman.
Because if you have surrendered your life to Jesus, you are superhuman. You are powerful… you are gifted. You are a masterpiece.
…think that’s exaggeration? Let’s see about that…
Let me tell you about you…let me give you a Biblically guided tour of your soul…
(today I’m not focused on one passage so most will appear on the screen)
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Psalm 139:13-14
All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. Psalm 139:16
· You are no accident. God tinkered with you and fussed over you before you saw the light of day.
· You are fearfully made: there is something awe inspiring and freaky about how God was involved in your creation.
· You are wonderfully made: wonderful and unique in essence
There was great purpose and forethought by the Lord God of the universe…you are no accident!
· you are no fluke And even if you have some physical or mental or emotional limitations still, yes…but you have a purpose to fulfill!
You are God's masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for you to do. Ephesians 2:10
· Not only are you uniquely created…you have a unique destiny.
· That destiny, that calling is to good works as defined by God. Any good work you’ve been destined to do will help fix the broken places of this world.
o Separation of God and humans, isolation, pain, decay, hatred or injustice.
Even now for many of you your heart has sped up. This is ringing true…this feels right.
You were powerfully built to serve God and humanity which makes discovering your calling essential.
But, that’s not all…let’s probe deeper into you…especially those of you who have surrendered your life to Jesus Christ. (what I’m about to say does NOT apply to those who have not surrendered to Christ)
· when you surrendered to Christ something quite mystical and stunning happened to you…you were utterly transformed.
If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
2 Corinthians 5:17
· All the spiritual impediments and brokenness due to sin were washed away.
· You got a clean start…you were born again…raised from spiritual death…you became immortal.
· Note to those who think you’ve messed things up so much that they can have no meaning or calling…that you are a lost cause…that through your awful choices you’ve thrown your life away – NONSENSE!
You humbly repent turn to Christ and surrender and you will be a new forgiven creation…who can then move with courage to find you place in this world.
In addition to all that…if indeed you have surrendered to Jesus you ALSO received his presence in your life…his holy spirit.
…and let me show you what THAT looks like: The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Galatians 5:22
· with the Holy Spirit you now have the potential for some powerful stuff to flow in and through you…
o love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control
oh…and by the way you also now have the mind of Christ:
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God …we have the mind of Christ. from 1 Corinthians 2
· you are able through the Spirit within you to “know” what God is thinking. To get inside his head. To get inside his heart.
I’m telling you, you are superhuman.
Let’s review you:
Ø You are fearfully made: there is something awe inspiring and freaky about how God was involved in your creation.
Ø You have a destiny to do things which God prepared long ago for you to do.
Ø You were completely transformed…sins forgiven…a new creation
Ø You were filled with the Spirit of God and the mind of Christ.
Dang!
You were powerfully built to serve God and humanity which makes discovering your calling essential.
…Oh and I’m not done…
· God gave you unique …high intensity special skills…uber abilities that woven together with your unique personality make you uniquely you.
Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 1 Corinthians 12:7
…leadership, teaching, helping, prophecy, giving, administration, wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miraculous powers, prophecy, discernment, speaking in tongues
Is anybody with me here? Are you tracking with me? Are you getting this…about you? Because I’m not done…
In addition to all the innate giftedness and destiny you were placed in an environment…a team…an army…a community where you can spread your wings…link arms…be supported…be empowered…be commissioned…be developed and be envisioned
…you were placed in the church
Now think about this…you with all your incredible capacity and gifting serving in the most powerful institution in the history of the world.
· no wonder
I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. Matthew 16:18
· the church is chock full of people like you … we are spiritual equivalents of Spartans. We are the 300.
Do you see who you are? Do you understand your potential? Do you see why you have been wondering about this calling thing? God has been trying to get your attention and invite you to join with 1000s of other superhumans to alter the trajectory of the world.
You were powerfully built to serve God and humanity which makes discovering your calling essential.
It is time you stop playing small. Stop being a reluctant hero. Like my favorite of all superheroes. For some reason growing up I was not a Batman guy…or a Superman guy…Didn‘t relate to the Hulk…or Captain America…no I was a spidey guy. I loved Spiderman.
· maybe because he was a teenager or maybe because he struggled with his identity and calling.
During one of his moments of deep introspection and personal soul searching his Uncle Ben said this to him:
With great power comes great responsibility.
Spiderman took that to heart and became one of the most beloved fantasy superheroes of all time.
Let’s come back from comic book land and wrap this up about you.
You have great power. God has invested dearly in you. And now you have a responsibility to find your destiny. It is essential you self-actualize. And when you find it…invest in humanity to change the world.
….
How…you might ask? The most sure fired way I know is to enter into the Way of Discipleship with someone.
· WoD is an intentional time bound relationship focused on learning and embracing 11 core practices essential to following Jesus Christ.
· Revisit last September’s sermon series