If I Could Only Teach You One Thing

If I Could Only Teach You One Thing: WHY GOD MADE YOU

“The two most important days in your life are…

“…the day you are born…

“…and the day you figure out why. ”

How do we know what choices to make? Stanley Hauerwas Theologian

“That’s what the Church is all about. It says that we really don’t know what powers and what stories will have a hold on us until our lives have become one with the life of the Church. Stanley Hauerwas Theologian

The church says to us, “We’re not giving you a story that you can choose. We’re making you part of a story you didn’t choose: God’s story. You don’t get to make God; God gets to make you. You are made by being brought into this community through which you discover your own story. Stanley Hauerwas Theologian

And your story is that you have been created to praise and glorify God – all moral life derives from that truth. Therefore, there is a distinct difference between you and those who have not been made part of God’s story. ” Stanley Hauerwas Theologian

Ephesians 1: 11 -12 “It is in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for…. part of the overall purpose that He is working out in everything and everyone. ”

In this first chapter, St. Paul uses the words “chosen, adopted, and predestined” to refer to the followers of Jesus Christ. How do you know if you are any of these? What part of God’s plan most confuses you and most encourages you?

Colossian 1: 16 “Everything, absolutely everything got started in Christ and finds its purpose in Him. ” “For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. ”

Why is it important to see God as not only our Savior but also our Creator?

Five Major Purposes for Living 1. God made me for His pleasure.

Five Major Purposes for Living Revelation 4: 11 b “You, O God, created everything and it is for your pleasure they exist and were created. ”

Five Major Purposes for Living Psalm 149: 4 “The Lord takes pleasure in His people. ”

Five Major Purposes for Living Hebrews 11: 6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Five Major Purposes for Living To determine if you’re in or out of faith, ask yourself: Am I doing what God has told me to do? Am I fulfilling the assignment He gave for my life? Am I living in obedience to His Word? Am I sticking with the plan Jesus asked me to execute? Am I connecting myself, going into a state of faith?

Five Major Purposes for Living What gives God the greatest pleasure?

Five Major Purposes for Living Ephesians 1: 4 “Long before He laid down earth’s foundations, God had us in mind, and settled on us as the focus of His love. ”

Five Major Purposes for Living Why are we the focus? How does this show itself?

Five Major Purposes for Living Hosea 6: 6 “I don’t want your sacrifices. I want your love! I don’t want your offerings. I want you to know Me!”

Five Major Purposes for Living 1. God made me for His pleasure. So, my purpose is to know and love Him.

Five Major Purposes for Living 1 Timothy 6: 21 “Some people have missed the most important thing in life – they don’t know God. ”

Five Major Purposes for Living Matthew 6: 32 “People who don’t know God are always worrying. ”

Five Major Purposes for Living 2. God formed me for His family.

Five Major Purposes for Living Ephesians 1: 5 “God’s unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself in Jesus Christ. And this gave Him great pleasure. ”

Five Major Purposes for Living 1 Peter 1: 3 “God has given us the privilege of being born again so that we are now members of God’s own family. ”

Five Major Purposes for Living 1 Timothy 3: 15 “That family is the Church of the living God, the support and foundation of the Truth. ”

Five Major Purposes for Living 1 Peter 2: 17 “Love your spiritual family. ”

Five Major Purposes for Living 1. God made me for His pleasure.

Five Major Purposes for Living 2. God formed me for His family so that we may learn to love others.

Five Major Purposes for Living Romans 12: 5 “We belong to each other and each of us needs all the others. ”

Five Major Purposes for Living 3. God created me to become like Christ.

Five Major Purposes for Living Romans 8: 29 “From the very beginning, God decided that those who came to Him – and all along He knew who would – should become like His Son. ” 1/2

Five Major Purposes for Living Colossians 1: 15 “We look at the Son and see God’s original purpose in everything created. ”

Five Major Purposes for Living Philippians 2: 5 “In your lives, you must think and act like Christ Jesus. ”

Theosis The statement by St. Athanasius of Alexandria, "The Son of God became man, that we might become god", indicates the concept beautifully. 2 Peter 1: 4 says that we have become ". . . partakers of divine nature. " Athanasius amplifies the meaning of this verse when he says theosis is "becoming by grace what God is by nature".

Theosis ("deification, " "divinization") is the process of a worshiper becoming free of sin (amartía - "missing the mark"), being united with God, beginning in this life and later consummated in bodily resurrection. For Orthodox Christians, Théōsis is salvation.

Theosis assumes that humans from the beginning are made to share in the Life or Energies of the Holy Trinity. Therefore, an infant or an adult worshiper is saved from the state of unholiness (amartía — which is not to be confused with amártēma “sin”) for participation in the Life (zōé, not simply bíos) of the Trinity — which is everlasting.

Five Major Purposes for Living 2 Corinthians 3: 18 “As the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like Him. ”

Five Major Purposes for Living 3. God created me to become like Christ in order to grow up spiritually.

Five Major Purposes for Living Mark 4: 17 “Some people have such shallow soil of character that when their emotions wear off and difficulty arrives, there’s nothing to show for it. ”

Five Major Purposes for Living 4. God shaped me to serve Him.

Five Major Purposes for Living Psalm 139: 13 “You shaped me first inside, then out. You formed me in my mother’s womb. ”

Five Major Purposes for Living Ephesians 2: 10 “God made us what we are. In Christ Jesus, God made us to do good works, which He planned in advance for us to live our lives doing. ”

Five Major Purposes for Living 1 Peter 4: 10 “God has given each of you some special abilities; be sure to use them to help each other, passing on to others God’s many kinds of blessings. ”

Five Major Purposes for Living 4. God shaped me to serve Him. We serve God by serving others.

Five Major Purposes for Living 5. God made me for a mission.

Five Major Purposes for Living John 17: 18 “In the same way that God Me a mission in the world, even so I am sending you on a mission. ”

Five Major Purposes for Living Acts 20: 24 “I consider that my life would be wasted unless I use it to complete my mission and finish the assignment that the Lord Jesus Christ has given to me – to tell everyone the Good News of God’s grace. ”

Five Major Purposes for Living Proverbs 19: 21 “We can make all kinds of plans but only God’s purpose will last forever. ”

Five Major Purposes for Living 2 Corinthians 5: 15 “Jesus included everyone in His death so everyone could be included in His life, a far better life than anyone ever lived on their own. ”

If We Could Only Teach You One Thing: This is it: Psalm 34: 8 “Open your eyes and see how good God is! Blessed are you who run to Him. ”

Five Major Purposes for Living Matthew 11: 28 -30 “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to Me for real rest…and you’ll recover your life…and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly. ”

Five Major Purposes for Living Acts 10: 35 “It makes no difference who you are or where you’re from – if you want God and are ready to do as He says, the door is open. ”