Ephesians 1:15-23, Philippians 1:6

Matt Summerfield examines Paul's perspective of life

Matt Summerfield

In the book 'The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy' a supercomputer is built to try and answer the most important question of all - What is the answer to life, the universe and everything? What is the meaning of life? 7.5 million years later the huge supercomputer has come up with the answer - which disappointingly and bizarrely is 42.

So what IS the purpose of life and how do we go about it?

If you get a moment, why not read some inspiring words that the Apostle Paul wrote to a group of Christians across the churches in a place called Ephesus (part of present day Turkey). If I was going to sum up what Paul writes (see Ephesians 1:15-23) in answer to this big life question it's this.

'The purpose of life is to grow a life with God,
rooted by hope in God
and achieved through the power of God.'

In these verses, Paul essentially prays three prayers.

Paul's first prayer is that above all else the people across Ephesus would know God and keep growing in their knowledge of God; growing a life with God. Notice that Paul doesn't say that He wants you to 'know about God'. There are plenty of people in the world today who might say they know stuff about God and Jesus, but that's not what Paul's talking about. He's saying that the most important thing is that you know God; that you have a personal relationship with Him; that you know Him as your heavenly Dad. That you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour and that you keep growing in this closeness to God. Growing in life with God is the only way to a fulfilled, purposeful and contented life; then as you grow in your life with God, His life starts to rub off on your life. You start loving the things He loves like justice, kindness, generosity, thankfulness and you hate the things he hates like jealousy, greed, gossip and lies.

In Paul's second prayer, he prays that we wake up to the fact that whatever life throws at us, we can trust God, and we can put our hope in him, because God will finish what He started with us. He's the starter and finisher of our life and He's the author and perfecter of our faith. This is why Paul writes elsewhere in Philippians 1:6:

'And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.'

Right now I may still struggle with suffering or succumb to sin. Pain may be my present reality, but it's not my future destiny; I live in pain, but I live in hope; confident hope.

My hope is rooted in the promised reality that one day all sickness, suffering, sin, Satan and even death itself will be destroyed and I will live with Jesus face to face, fully healed and fully whole in God's new creation.

Someone once said, 'Believers hope is not a vague feeling that the future will be positive, but it is the complete assurance that God will do all that he has promised. We expect it to happen, trust God to bring it about and patiently await its arrival'.

Finally Paul prays that the believers will recognise that this growing life in God, rooted by hope in God, is achieved through the power of God.

Paul prays that we would wake up to the incredible, overcoming, immeasurable, unlimited, superior power of God that is - not will be - at work in us to get us from where we are now to where God wants us to be.

Paul is saying if you have life with God, if you have Jesus, then you are connected to the power of God. The power of God is unrivalled and unmatched; no ruler, authority, power, or leader; nothing in this life or the next can match the power of God.

Paul passionately prays that the people of God would understand that the full resources of Heaven; the power of God and the name of Jesus are fully available to them so that they can grow in their life with God. Paul is not asking God to give out his power, Paul is praying that the people of God will wake up to the reality that God has already given His power; the power of God is available to every believer!

What wonderful and incredible news!

So what is the purpose of life? It's not 42.

Paul tells us:

'The purpose of life is to grow a life with God,
rooted by hope in God
and achieved through the power of God.'

Believe it! Live It! And don't look back.