Purpose
Read, watch, or listen, then join the conversation below.
We’re in the middle of a series we’re calling “Kingdom Story”, so titled because we’re allowing Jesus to reinterpret the biblical story for us, the story of God’s kingdom Jesus said he had come to fulfill. So far, we’ve talked about the “image” as the self-existent, unchangeable nature and character of our Creator God—who he is, what he’s like, and what he wants—fully revealed in the words and actions of Jesus. Then, we looked at the “light” at the beginning of the Hebrew creation story and Jesus’ claim that he was that “light”, that he was the visual expression of the invisible Spirit of God intimately connected and united with humanity itself. That good “light” was set apart from the “darkness” at the beginning of the creation story, but Jesus and the New Testament authors understood that “darkness” to be the obscuring, darkening power or spirit now in this world, which rejects the light and chooses to stand in opposition to it. Last time, we looked at “identity” and how humanity was brought into being with immense value, in diversity and “uniqueness”, but also in relational “oneness” with our invisible, loving Creator—the Father; with the light-filled, visual expression of his good nature and character—the Son; and with his animating and empowering life force—the Spirit.
This leads directly into our next topic. Our word this week is “purpose” and as we’ll see, it is intimately tied to the image of our Creator and to humanity’s identity. The word “purpose” means “the reason for which something exists” or “the aim or intention of something.”
As we discovered last time, the symbolic creation story tells us that humans were created in the image of our Creator, chosen to carry his image and likeness—his light, his love, and his life. That’s who we were created to be, but does the story also tell us why we were we created—the reason or intention behind it? Now, I know we’re in deep philosophical, psychological, and theological territory here. People have spent lifetimes pondering, debating, and obsessing over the meaning of life. In fact, humans are perhaps the only creatures who will actually end their own lives if they can’t find a satisfactory answer to the question of why they’re here.
Certainly, seeking after the meaning of life is an essential pursuit, and one can search for answers in any number of ways, but can the biblical story speak to this question as well? Let’s return to the Hebrew creation story again to see what it might have to say about humanity’s purpose.
As we’ll recall in the book of Genesis, “…God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it…’” (Genesis 1:26-28 NIV). “Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it” (Genesis 2:15 NIV).
There are several ideas to look at here that might give us some insight into humanity’s purpose. First, as we considered last time, in addition to the obvious literal, anatomical, gender meaning of the words “male” and “female” pointing to humanity’s procreative purpose, another symbolic interpretation of the words could also be, “appointed to remember.” The word “remember” means “to have or keep an image of someone or something in your mind.” So perhaps, one reason humanity was created and appointed out of all creation to be image-bearers, was to remember who our Creator God is, to keep his image in our minds and hearts, and to remember how much he loves his creation and his image-bearers. To be the ones who truly know him and are known by him, connected to him in loving, trusting relationship.
Notice in the story, God planted a garden in the midst of creation (the origin of the word “garden” in Hebrew means “a surrounded, protected, defended place”) and placed humanity there to cultivate it, nurture it, and care for it. The garden was the place of blessing, the place of abundant provision, the place of “shalom”—the peace and wholeness of God. It was the place where the Spirit of the Creator would commune with his image-bearers in intimate connection, where his presence would walk with them in loving relationship.
Perhaps, part of the garden symbolism is the idea that humanity was to cultivate and care for this relational connection with their Creator, to nurture it and keep it so that through their intimate connection, they would also be able to care for creation and help it to flourish.
Later in the biblical story, after the image-bearers became relationally disconnected and had to leave the garden—the place of peace and wholeness—they were instructed to remember God, to love him, and also to remember the Sabbath, a holy day of rest set aside each week specifically to stop and remember the Creator and his creative work (Deuteronomy 6:5, 8:18, Exodus 20:8). It seems that outside the garden, humanity needs to be constantly reminded to keep their minds and hearts focused on God.
Jesus reaffirms the necessity of keeping God at the forefront of our minds and hearts—of knowing, loving, and trusting him. He told his disciples that since he had come, and because they knew him, they also knew his Father (John 14:7), and that they were to stay connected to him (John 15:4). Even more than that, Jesus said that knowing the truth about his Father—the Creator God—was eternal life itself (John 17:3). And he said that when he left them, they were to continue to remember him (Luke 22:19).
Now, being the creatures who were chosen to intimately know and be known by the Creator God is an awesome purpose in and of itself, but could there be even more to his intention for humanity?
As well as being created in his image, chosen to be the ones to remember who our Creator God is, we were also created as image-bearers. The creation story goes on to say that humanity was blessed and told to be fruitful—to help creation grow and flourish—and to multiply—to increase and fill the earth with image-bearers. Now we can start to see why the image of our Creator and humanity’s identity as image-bearers, are so crucial to humanity’s purpose. In addition to remembering him—keeping his image in our minds and hearts—and being in relationship with him in “oneness”, we were also meant to carry and reflect the knowledge of who he is out into his creation in our own “unique” ways.
To reflect his light so all creation would see his diversity, beauty, and truth; to reflect his life so all of creation could grow and flourish; to reflect his love so all of creation would know their value and worth in his eyes; and to reflect all of creation’s praise, honor, and love for their Creator, back to him.
We hear this call to carry the image of our Creator into the world and to reflect it back to him echoed in the words of Jesus when he told his followers they were to worship God (the word means “to express reverence and adoration”) and to love him with their entire being (Luke 10:27, John 4:23), so that they would be able to shine his light of life into the world (Matthew 5:16, John 8:12), and love others in the same way he had loved them (John 13:34). In addition to the image-bearers being created to remember God—to know him and love him—and to reflect his loving, light-filled, life-giving image, the Genesis story also says that humanity was given authority to rule over creation on his behalf. In other words, they were given a kingly purpose. The word “rule” means “to exercise authority or dominion”. The word for “king” means “someone who exercises authority”, and a “kingdom” is “a territory or realm under the authority of a king.”
Let’s see if we can unpack this astounding idea. It seems that this relational Creator God, the capital “K” King who holds all ownership and authority over his creation kingdom, desired to share his authority with his human creatures. This King of Kings chose to exercise his rule and reign over his very-good creation through the rule and reign of his image-bearing children.
Now, before we let all this go to our heads, we’re going to need to let Jesus reinterpret the concepts of “authority” and “rule” for us, because historically, humanity’s rule and reign over creation has been fraught with violence, self-interest, domination, and destruction. But just as Jesus reset the “image” of God and the concept of humanity’s “identity”, he also had a radically different vision of what “ruling” looked like, and what his Father’s intentions were for his kingdom at the beginning.
First and foremost, Jesus insisted that all his power and authority came from his relationship with his Father—the Creator God—and that humanity needed to be intimately connected to him through his Spirit as well, to wield their God-given power and authority appropriately—to rule and reign in his power and according to his will and purpose (John 15:4-5).
Remember, in the creation story, humanity was placed in the garden to cultivate it (the word means to work in service of it) and to care for it. In addition to the symbolism of nurturing our relationship with our Creator, the words also imply a gardening, shepherding, and stewardship purpose.
A shepherd is one who guides, watches over, and protects; a steward is one who manages or looks after what belongs to another; and a gardener cultivates life and helps it to grow and flourish. In the gospels, Jesus calls himself the Good Shepherd (John 10:14) and he also conferred a shepherding role on his followers (John 21:15-17). He told stories and parables about growing seeds, trees producing fruit, and people who are called to steward and care for an owner’s land, property, or people (Luke 12:42, 20:9). He told his followers that they were not to strive for greatness, power, and honor for themselves (Matthew 20:26), or to lead using violence or domination (Mark 10:42). But instead, they were to consider themselves as children (Matthew 18:4), to lead as shepherds—to watch over and care for each other—and to use their power and authority to serve others, help life to flourish, and steward what belongs to his Father—the Creator God (Luke 22:26). Jesus said humanity’s “rule” was to look like what he had been saying and doing—shepherding, stewarding, cultivating abundant life and blessing—all in total love and trust in his Father, and in love for his creation and for his image-bearers (John 14:12).
Wow! That’s a lot to take in. Let’s see if we can bring this all together. If we allow Jesus to interpret for us, the symbolism of the Genesis creation story seems to suggest that the loving, light-filled, life-giving Creator God created humanity in diversity and “uniqueness”, but also in relational “oneness” with him, and appointed them, out of all his creatures, with an exceptional purpose. To be the ones who would remember him, who would keep his image in their minds and hearts. To be the ones who would reflect his image—his light, his love, and his life—into his creation in their own diverse, “unique” ways, all the while, reflecting creation’s love, honor, and praise back to him. And to be the ones entrusted to rule—to cultivate, shepherd, and steward—the creation he loves, in his power and authority and on his behalf, intimately connected to him in loving, trusting relationship. Talk about a purposeful life!
It makes you think, doesn’t it? If we were created in the image of the Creator, what image comes to our minds when we think of him? Is it loving? Is it light-filled? Is it life-giving?
If we are bearers of that image, what are we reflecting into the world through our words and our actions, through how we use our gifts and our talents, and are we reflecting love, honor, and praise back to our Creator?
Are we using the power and authority we’ve been given, in our relationships, in our families, in our jobs, in our places of worship, in our communities, and in the world, to shine light, to foster love, and to help creation to flourish?