Choosing Purpose Over Aimlessness – Part 1

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Now, here's today's podcast, From Pathway to Victory. God's Word with you every day on this Bible teaching program. On today's edition of Pathway to Victory, Paul writes, live life then with a due sense of responsibility, not as men who don't know the meaning and purpose of life.

Make the best use of your time. Don't be vague, but grasp firmly what you know to be the will of the Lord. Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress. You know, some people believe that life is all about having fun. Others make it their goal to accumulate stuff or chase after fame and power.

However, those pursuits are entirely shortsighted when compared to eternity. Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress teaches that you were created for a bigger purpose than you might realize. Now, here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message.

Dr. Jeffress. Thanks, David, and welcome again to Pathway to Victory. Just before we begin today's message, I'm inviting you to join me on a world class vacation next May 2025. Our exquisite 12 day cruise will take us to stunning Mediterranean islands like Santorini, Mykonos, and Crete, some of the most sought after destinations in the world. But our trip includes far more than white sandy beaches and quaint villages. In addition to all this natural beauty, we'll be tracking the missionary journeys of Paul with several stops at key biblical sites like Ephesus and Rome. Please check out the exciting details at ptv.org and make plans to join us on the journeys of Paul Mediterranean cruise.

The dates are May 5th through 16th, 2025. And along the way, we've arrived at the conclusion that while we can't control our circumstances, we can control our response to them. It's a matter of aligning our perspective with God's plan. I like the way my friend Chuck Swindoll puts it. He said, I'm convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.

That's so true. Well, this is one of the most practical topics we've ever addressed on Pathway to Victory. And to help you gain victory over 11 common struggles, I've written a book for you. It's called Choose Your Attitudes Change Your Life.

When you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory, we'll be sending a copy to your home with our thanks for your partnership. One of the most common struggles among Christians is to determine the will of God. So today we're looking at Ephesians chapter five. I titled my message, choosing purpose over aimlessness. Thomas Chalmers once said, the grand essentials for happiness are something to love, something to do, and something to hope for. What Chalmers is talking about is the importance of having a purpose in life. Purpose is the foundation upon which we build our actions, our affections, our aspirations. Having a purpose is like having an engine that drives our life. A purpose is like a beacon in the darkness that gives our lives direction in times of uncertainty.

And yet, as important as it is to have a purpose, studies have shown that less than 3% of Americans have a clearly defined purpose in life or the goals and objectives to meet that purpose. In our series, Choose Your Attitudes Change Your Life, we're talking about 11 biblical attitude choices that are essential for living the life God wants us to experience. And I could certainly make an argument about why each one of these choices is the most important one. But if I were going to say which attitude choice is the most essential, certainly the one we're talking about today would be close to if not at the top of the list. And that is the choice of how we go through life. How do we spend the limited time God has given us here on earth? We can do so aimlessly and just simply reacting to whatever comes our way each day, or we can choose to live our life with purpose. And today we're going to talk about the importance of choosing purpose over aimlessness in life.

Without a clearly defined purpose for living, we are doomed to live lives that Thoreau talked about, lives of quiet desperation. If you think that's an overstatement, consider this very real experience that the late Charles Colson talks about in his book, Kingdoms in Conflict. In that book, Colson recounts the true story of a group of Jewish prisoners in a Nazi concentration camp who suddenly found that the factory they had been working in had been bombed out by Allied aircraft. Colson writes, the next morning, several hundred inmates were herded to one end of the charred remains of the factory, expecting orders to begin rebuilding. They were startled when the Nazi officer commanded them to shovel sand into the carts and drag it to the other end of the plant. The next day, the process was repeated in reverse. They were ordered to move that huge pile of sand back to the other end of the compound. A mistake had been made, the prisoners thought.

Stupid swine. But day after day, they hauled the same pile of sand from one end of the camp to the other. And then it began to happen. One old man began crying uncontrollably. The guards hauled him away. Another prisoner screamed until he was beaten into silence. Then a young man who had survived three years in that concentration camp darted away from the group. The guards shouted for him to stop as he ran toward the electrified fence. The other prisoners cried out, but it was too late. There was a blinding flash and a terrible sizzling noise as smoke puffed from his smoldering flesh. In the days that followed, dozens of prisoners went mad and ran from their work only to be shot by the guards or electrocuted by the fence.

The commandant smugly remarked that soon there would be no more need to use the crematoria. The gruesome lesson is plain, Colson writes. Men will cling to life with dogged resolve while working meaningfully, even if that work supports their hated captors. But purposeless labor soon snaps the mind.

What is true in that Nazi concentration camp is true in your life as well. Purposeless labor soon snaps the mind and the spirit. Today, we're going to talk about how to discover your God-given purpose in life. When we talk about your purpose, it's important to clarify the difference between a purpose, objectives, and goals in your life. Let's look, first of all, at purpose. A purpose statement simply answers the question, why do I exist? It doesn't have to be a long treatise. It can be a simple statement about your unique purpose in life.

Why did God create you? Why are you occupying real estate on planet Earth? You know, organizations have purpose statements, hopefully. Many businesses have a purpose statement. You know, the General Motors Corporation might say that their purpose, their reason for existing is to generate a healthy profit by manufacturing the finest automobiles in the world. And that statement gives that company direction. You know, suppose a vice president comes into the CEO and says, you know, I had an idea.

I think there's a lot of money to be made in pharmaceuticals. And the CEO, if he's worth his weight in salt, would say, well, that's a great idea, but that's not the purpose of our company. Our company exists to make money by manufacturing fine automobiles. Not only do businesses have purpose, hopefully a church has a clearly defined purpose. You know, in our church, we understand and believe the great commission Jesus gave to go into all the world and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe whatsoever things I have commanded you. And from that great commission, First Baptist Dallas has developed a mission statement. Our purpose is to transform the world with God's Word one life at a time. And that means everything we do as a church is directed toward either winning people to Christ, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, or once they become Christians, developing them into disciples, teaching them to observe all things Christ has commanded us. And anything that doesn't contribute to either evangelism or discipleship may be a nice thing to do, it may be a good thing to do, but it's not what we're called to do.

You know, somebody might say, you know, I think it would be helpful to our people if we held a seminar on real estate investing for our people. Well, that may be a nice thing to do, but that's not our purpose. Or somebody else might say, wouldn't it be a nice ministry for our church to run a hospital?

Well, that's a nice thing to do as well. Some of you might think we actually do that. Have you seen those commercials for First Baptist Hospital? That's not us. It's not that we're against hospitals, but that's not what we're called to do. Or somebody else would say, wouldn't it be fun to have a Monday night bingo at our church every Monday night?

Nothing wrong with bingo, but that's not what we're called to do. A purpose statement gives us as a church direction. What's true about organizations, businesses, and churches is true about individuals as well. We need to have a clearly defined purpose statement. Now, you know, in our series, Choosing the Extraordinary Life, we talked about the difference between a general purpose and a specific purpose. I mean, as Christians, we all have a general purpose of glorifying God, having fellowship with him, leading people to faith in Christ. But each of us should have a specific reason for living as well. Remember, we said that God is telling a story throughout the universe of his love and redemption through Christ.

But God is also writing an individual story in your life to tell his story. And so when we talk about discovering your purpose, we're talking about discovering that unique reason that God has created you. And there are two keys, the Bible says, to discovering your unique purpose. The answer to the question, why do you exist? And those two keys are both found in Philippians chapter 2, verse 13.

I like the way J.B. Phillips paraphrases this verse. For it is God who is at work within you, giving you the will and the power to achieve his purpose. God has given you, first of all, a will, a desire, a passion, if you will, to accomplish your purpose. And so the first key to discovering that unique purpose is to identify your passion.

What is it that you see that causes you concern in the world today? One way God reveals his purpose for your life is by the unique passion, the desire he has given you. For example, here is a business person who is concerned about the fact that many Christians in business compartmentalize their faith.

They have never integrated their business with faith. This person believes that the Bible has a lot to say about how to run a business according to biblical principles. So he makes his life purpose to be a model Christian businessman for other business people to show how to integrate biblical principles with your business. That's his passion.

Or let's say there's a woman whose teenage daughter was killed by a drunk driver. And she has a passion to remove the menace of drunk driving from our nation's streets. Or here is a pastor who growing up as a teenager always was trying to invite his unsaved friends to church.

But every time he did so, he was embarrassed by the poor quality of the church service and the deafness, so to speak, to unbelievers. And so he has this passion as a pastor to create a church in which unbelievers would be comfortable attending and that would speak to their special needs. By the way, all three of those examples are real life examples of people who found their purpose in life by the unique passion that they have. What passion do you have? What is it that inspires you? What is it that makes you angry?

What needs do you see in the world that keep you awake some nights? You know, in our first service, Andy Horner was here. And I just thought of it. I saw him on the second row.

I thought of that as I was preaching this. Because, you know, Andy's story is a miraculous one. When he was 60 years old, he had retired. He could have stayed retired.

He didn't need to work anymore. But as he looked around, he saw some needs in the world that really bothered him. One need he saw was the need to provide funds for missionaries and to support the work of missionaries. But another need he saw was the need for women who were staying at home with small children or single women to be able to make a living for their families. And so out of that passion to generate money to support missionaries and to meet the need of women who couldn't be in the workplace full-time, he developed premier designs, a way to fill that very real need he saw in the world.

And the same is true for you and me. God puts a passion in our heart. You know, every life, somebody said, is focused either to fill a greed or to meet a need. And the passion God puts in your heart is not to fill your own greed but to meet a genuine need in the world.

How do you identify what that passion is? Our friend Bob Beale from Master Planning International gives five questions you can ask yourself to help you determine what your passion is. Question number one, what needs do I see in the world that concern me? Question number two, if I could meet any need in the world, what would that need be? Number three, what are the most urgent needs in my country, my community, my work, my school, and my church?

Number four, what age group or type of people naturally interests me? And number five, what are the major needs among my neighbors, my friends, and my family? Answering those questions will help you determine the unique passion God has placed in your heart. It is God who is at work within you giving you the will to do his will. But there's a second key in that verse, and that is he gives you both the will and the power. That is the ability, the giftedness to achieve your unique purpose. If God has called you to do something, he's not only gonna give you a passion for it, he's gonna give you a special gift in order to fulfill that passion. And that's why the second key in discovering your purpose is identifying your gifts and your abilities.

Let me show you why that's so important. You know, let's just say, for example, I looked around the world and I said, you know what the greatest need in the world is, I think, is to find a cure for cancer. So I think maybe I would devote my life to finding a cure for cancer.

How many of you would think that was a worthy goal? I could develop quite a passion for that. I mean, I could talk about how cancer affected my own family and took my parents prematurely. I could have a real passion for it. The only problem with me devoting my life to that is I have no gifts in science whatsoever. I mean, I almost flunked out of high school biology because I couldn't see anything in the microscope.

Everybody else saw these things swim, I never saw anything in a microscope. So I'm probably not the one to find a cure for cancer. Because if God is gonna gift you to do something, he's not going to only give you the passion, he's gonna give you the corresponding gifts and abilities.

That's what Philippians 2, 13 is. It is God giving you the will and the power to achieve his purpose. Many years ago, back in 1984, I remember sitting in the coffee shop at the Houston Intercontinental Airport. I had my yellow legal tablet out.

I had a few hours to wait for a flight. And I really asked God to give me discernment in writing down a clear purpose statement that would guide the rest of my life. And I wrote this simple statement, my purpose is to be an effective communicator of God's Word. I remember the words of my old seminary professor who used to say, Men, it is a sin to bore people with the Word of God. I hear an amen on that somewhere. Don't hurt my feelings.

But that is true. And so I wanted to devote my life to clearly communicating God's Word. Now, suppose I had that passion, but I had no communication skill whatsoever. Every time I stood up, I stuttered and stammered.

Or when I sat down to try to write, I couldn't write a cohesive sentence that made sense. That's probably not my calling if I don't have the gifts to go along with that. And I know some of you Bible students, you're already objecting yourself. Oh, wait a minute, pastor. What about Moses? He stuttered, he stammered, but God used him supernaturally.

Well, that's true. But Moses' major calling was not to be a communicator of God's Word. It was to be a leader of God's people.

And Moses had tremendous leadership abilities from the very beginning as a child growing up in Pharaoh's palace that were exhibited throughout the rest of his life. If God has called you to do something, he will give you the gifts to do that. How can you identify your unique gifts and abilities? Again, let me share with you five questions you ought to ask yourself. And by the way, this is great material for you to use with your children, your grandchildren.

There are so many millennials today who are wandering through life without any clear direction because they really don't know how to define their purpose in life. Here are some questions to help you identify your gifts and abilities. Number one, what abilities do you have that other people seem to notice and appreciate, things they compliment you about?

Number two, I love this. Suppose you were asked to give a how-to seminar in your church or civic group on any topic you chose. What topic would you feel the most comfortable addressing? Number three, outside of recreational pursuits, list five accomplishments that have given you the most satisfaction. What aspect of these experiences did you enjoy? Number four, is there a common denominator in those five experiences that you could identify? What is it? I think about the five most satisfying experiences of my life.

They were different and yet they all shared one common characteristic. They all dealt with communicating, whether it's to a church group or to a secular audience or something about communication that satisfied me. With you, that might be working with children. It might be serving other people. It might be organizing events. But what one word would describe that satisfaction? And number five, hopefully these questions have helped you identify one area in which you are both interested and gifted.

In a word, what is that area? And knowing what your passion is, what your giftedness is, will help you identify your purpose and help you fill out that sentence, my purpose in life is to what? Now remember, we all have a general purpose in life. Jesus said that in John 434. Jesus said, my food, that is my purpose is to do the will of Him who sent me and to accomplish His work. That ought to be the purpose statement of every Christian. But Jesus also understood He had a unique purpose in coming to earth that nobody else could fulfill. In Matthew 20 verse 28, He said, Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many. My prayer is that God is using these biblical principles to help you determine your unique purpose in life. He's gifted you with certain talents and abilities, and all of them culminate in the central purpose of accomplishing God's will. Look, life is no cakewalk.

We all know that. And we can either let our challenges sharpen us or destroy us. The healthier choice always begins with shaping our attitude. To help you in this journey of personal discovery, I've written a book for you. It's called Choose Your Attitudes, Change Your Life. One of the 11 chapters in my book does a deep dive on this issue of knowing God's purpose for your life.

And I'd be pleased to send a copy to your home right away. In addition to helping you determine God's purpose for your life, I help you understand how to choose things like repentance over guilt, relaxation over stress, and contentment over comparison. 11 attitude choices in all, making this the perfect curriculum for your book club or small group Bible study. This special offer ends very soon, so be sure to request your copy today of Choose Your Attitudes, Change Your Life. It comes with my thanks when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. In closing, let me thank you for your financial support of this ministry. God is using your gifts to infuse hope into listeners and viewers around the world who, just like you, are trying to rise above their problems. As you give, you're allowing Pathway to Victory to remain a beacon of light to a world that's overcome in darkness.

David? Thanks, Dr. Jeffress. You're invited to request a copy of the book by Dr. Robert Jeffress, Choose Your Attitudes, Change Your Life, when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. To request your copy of the book, call 866-999-2965 or go online. That's at ptv.org. Now, when your gift is $75 or more, we'll also send you both the CD and DVD sets for the Choose Your Attitudes, Change Your Life teaching series.

Plus, you'll receive a study guide for individual or group study. If you'd like to request the complete package of resources, call 866-999-2965 or go to ptv.org. Now, you could always send your request by mail. Just write to P.O. Box 223609, Dallas, Texas, 75222.

Again, that's P.O. Box 223609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. I'm David J. Mullins inviting you back Tuesday for Part 2 of our message, Choosing Purpose Over Aimlessness. That's right here on Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. You made it to the end of today's podcast from Pathway to Victory, and we're so glad you're here. Pathway to Victory relies on the generosity of loyal listeners like you to make this podcast possible. One of the most impactful ways you can give is by becoming a Pathway partner. Your monthly gift will empower Pathway to Victory to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and help others become rooted more firmly in His Word. To become a Pathway partner, go to ptv.org slash donate or follow the link in our show notes. We hope you've been blessed by today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.