Hope for Those Seeking the Purpose of Life
Pastor Tan Thai · Dec 4, 2011
This sermon explores the profound question 'What am I living for?' and addresses three common life orientations: living for self, living aimlessly, and living only to work and accumulate wealth. Through the account of Jesus calling His first disciples in John 1:37-51, the pastor shows that true hope is found only when one lives according to God's ordained purpose.
The sermon opens with the 2011 Christmas theme 'Lord of Hope, Lord of Peace,' and raises the central question that every generation asks: 'What am I living for?' The pastor emphasizes that this is not an abstract philosophical question but one that directly affects the direction, lifestyle, and decisions of every person. The story of Steve Jobs inviting John Scully — 'Do you really want to spend your life selling sugar drinks?' — is used to illustrate the power of the question of life's purpose.
The pastor presents three common but misguided life orientations. First, 'living for me': placing oneself at the center and treating all relationships as instruments to serve personal happiness and goals. A New York Times article about 'the me marriage' is cited to illustrate this trend in modern society. Second, 'living just to live': drifting with circumstances, directionless, like a water hyacinth floating on a river. The book of Ecclesiastes by King Solomon is quoted to portray the monotonous cycle of a purposeless life. Third, 'living to work': pouring all energy into earning money and accumulating material wealth, yet ultimately feeling empty.
The pastor also demonstrates that pleasure-seeking cannot fill the void in the human heart. The story of a man who visits a famous psychiatrist for depression — only to reveal that he himself is the famous comedian — illustrates the irony of seeking external joy to fill an inner emptiness. The poem 'Beyond Thirty' by Vietnamese poet Vu Hoang Chuong is quoted as the lament of a man living without purpose and seeking solace in opium.
The sermon's answer is grounded in John 1:37-51, recounting Jesus' call of ordinary fishermen on the Sea of Galilee. Before following Jesus, their lives consisted of daily fishing according to their fathers' traditions. But Jesus called them and gave them a far greater purpose: 'Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men' (Matthew 4:18). From that point on, wherever they went and whatever they did, they had a clear God-given purpose: to bring others to the love and salvation of God through Jesus Christ.
The sermon concludes with a firm declaration: understanding that one was born for God's purpose is not enough. Many believers understand this in theory but do not live it out in practice. The pastor cites 1 Corinthians 9:26 to remind the congregation that true hope belongs not to those who merely understand God's purpose, but to those who run with intention — living and working according to the specific mission God has entrusted to them.