Apples of Gold
Radio Script for July 18, 2008
“God Made Us for This Very Purpose”
Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.
This made my ears perk up.
I was reading the Bible and came across this statement. “Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose.”
Wow. I am about to discover my purpose in life; everyone’s purpose in life. It’s going to tell us the purpose for which God made us.
But it’s not real obvious. We’re going to have to do some digging.
Let’s start by looking at that whole verse, which is Second Corinthians 5:5. “Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.”
Okay, so God made us for a certain purpose, and He gave us the Holy Spirit as a deposit to guarantee what is to come. That means we don’t have it yet. He made us for a purpose, but that purpose is still to come.
But Second Corinthians 5:5 didn’t say what that purpose is. It says God made us for “this very purpose,” but what purpose?
Well, let’s look for the answer in the previous verse, verse 4. It says that while we live in this body, we groan and are burdened. But one day we will have a heavenly body. One day what is mortal will be swallowed up by life.
So this is talking about when we die, when our body dies.
Now let’s go back to verse one. It says this. “Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.”
When we die, we will leave this body, this earthly dwelling, and we will enter our heavenly dwelling, an eternal house in heaven. Listen to the way verse four describes this transformation: what is mortal is swallowed up by life.
The very next verse says that this is the very purpose for which God made us. And what purpose is that? That we will have life! We will no longer be mortal, but we will have life in our eternal home in heaven.
Now look at verse six. It says that as long as we are at home in this body, we are away from the Lord. Yes, we have the Holy Spirit as a deposit, but that is only an inkling of what is to come. Verse seven points out that right now we live by faith, not by sight. We can’t see exactly what’s coming, but we know it by faith.
So right now we live in this mortal body, away from the Lord. But now look at verse eight. One day we will step away from this body, and we will be at home with the Lord!
This is the very purpose for which God made us – to be at home with Him! Yes, right now we are sort of with Him. We have the Holy Spirit, but that is just a down payment. The fulfillment will come when this body dies and we receive our heavenly dwelling – where we will be with the Lord for eternity!
The real point of it all kicks in when we die. In John 10:10 Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” Again, we get an inkling of that in this life, a taste of it. But the fulfillment comes when what is mortal is swallowed up by life.
Ephesians 4:18 talks about the “life of God.” This is eternal life with Him.
In John 11:25 Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies…”
That may sound like a contradiction, but that’s because He is talking about real life, which is eternal life. Yes, we will die, but that is simply stepping out of this mortal body and into our eternal dwelling where we will have real life with the Lord.
Paul wrote about this in Philippians chapter one. He said that he was looking forward to the day when he would depart his earthly body and be with Christ. He said that would be better by far compared to life in this mortal body.
However, he had a purpose for sticking around. Philippians 1:22 says, “If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me.” He goes on to say that it’s necessary for him to stick around because of the good he can do while he is here.
Back to Second Corinthians chapter five. Again Paul talks about the purpose for living in this body. He said that God gave them a ministry of reconciliation. Their mission was to call people to be reconciled to God. Verse 19 says, “He has committed to us the message of reconciliation.”
So what is the very purpose for which God made us? To have life with Him in our eternal, heavenly dwelling.
As a guarantee of that, He gave us the Holy Spirit as a deposit. Call it a “foretaste of glory divine.”
If that’s our purpose, why doesn’t He just take us home? I think it’s so we can reach out to others with that message of reconciliation; to tell them about being reconciled to God through Jesus Christ.
We are Christ’s ambassadors. First Timothy 2:4 says that, “God…wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” And so He leaves us here in our mortal body to share the good news of salvation with others.
But soon the day will come, the day when what is mortal will be swallowed up by life. We will step away from this body and will be with the Lord forever in our eternal home.
So when Second Corinthians 5:5 says it is for this very purpose that God made us, this is the purpose: to have life with Him forever.
Comments?
E-mail me: dougapple@wave94.com.
May God bless you today! With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.
© 2008 The Arrow’s Tip
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(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)
Why “The Arrow’s Tip”? Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold. Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.” I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.
Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL 32315
(850) 926-8000
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