Got Purpose?
“Discovering Purpose Through Sacrifice”
(Part 4)
Intro: Most people when they hear the word sacrifice they cringe. It instantly brings up
negative images / negative emotions / maybe even negative experiences. This is a puzzling
thing to me. Because sacrifice, results in a host of wonderful results.
• We made a sacrifice to get married – We continue to make sacrifices to stay married.
• We made sacrifices to become parents (sleep / money / time / stress / freedom
• We made sacrifices to achieve our educations
• Many people make sacrifices to get in shape and be healthy (Zumba – Insanity - diet
• We make sacrifices to save money so we can take a vacation / purchase a house
Why do we look at the word sacrifice in such a negative manner? It seems to me that a life of
sacrifice is really a wise and rewarding way to live. This is exactly what Jesus said. If we are
ever to discover a purpose worth living for, we are must embrace a life of sacrifice. So before
you cringe…it is sacrifice that gives us life and purpose.
Without sacrifice there is no purpose. Without sacrifice, purpose never moves past good
intentions. Let me give you 3 key truths regarding sacrifice and purpose.
1. We Cannot Follow Jesus Without Sacrifice
Luke 9:23-25 “Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must
turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me. If you try to hang on to
your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do
you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed? (NLT)
If we refuse to embrace sacrifice how can we follow Jesus discovering our purpose…because
sacrifice is required for following. What does He mean by some of these statements?
• Learn to tell yourself no so you can tell Jesus Yes
“…turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me.” In other words; give
up being selfish and self-centered / embrace sacrifice so you can follow Me.”
There’s no way we can follow Jesus without learning to tell ourselves NO. WHY?
Because most of the time, we want to move in a different direction than Jesus. I am
inherently selfish and like my own way. I like to tell myself YES all the time.
HOW?
Stop defining NO as a negative experience. Our problem so often is we always
interpret NO as something negative. That’s simply not true. That’s not reality!
As parents we tell our kids NO all the time. WHY? Because we are trying to
protect them from negative consequences and provide for them positive
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experiences. We need to embrace the same mentality when it comes to
following Jesus. (Protection and Provision) NO is positive!
o 2008 Jim Carrey movie “Yes Man” - explain
Say NO to lesser things in order to say YES to greater things.
This is really the issue of delayed gratification. Not a popular concept in our
culture. They have done studies on this: Discuss Marshmallow Test – tested 4
years olds on delayed gratification. They tracked these kids through HS and
college. (Share results – school / careers / relationships
o We all must be willing to sacrifice short term pleasure for long term
benefit. What I see so many people doing is throwing away their
purpose…their destiny…the blessings that come from following Jesus for
trinkets…for an immediate short term payoff.
o Sometimes we even have to say NO to good things because they are not
the best things. (Explain – not always a choice between good and evil;
but between good and best.
• Learn to give up your life so you can discover your life
“…If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake,
you will save it.”
I realize this is a tough one. This is a very difficult statement by Jesus. He is asking us to give
up our lives to Him in exchange for a life He wants to give us. We can’t have both.
The life I’m hanging on to I can’t save anyway.
Whatever life we are trying to build and hang on to without Jesus, is not going to
matter. In the end, we will lose it. It’s not going to bring us the benefit we
thought, we expected, we hoped for. So often we are trying to hang on to
something that Jesus says is impossible to save.
o The more you try to hang on to your life the more you will destroy it. You
and I are designed to follow Jesus. If you refuse to do so, you will damage
your life and miss your purpose.
It is through surrender we experience life
Jesus is telling us that real life is experienced when we give up this life. Surrender
= Life. Surrender is not some one time experience. It’s progressive. My spiritual
journey has been a series of choices to surrender. A series of progressive choices
to give up my life in order to follow. (Share)
o Began at 17
o Surrendered to go to college / surrendered to graduate
o Surrendered to get involved in ministry (left secular job)
o Surrendered to stay in ministry through multiple church splits and pain
o Surrendered to follow Jesus despite mean spirited people
o Surrendered to Jesus when I got voted out of my church years ago
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o Surrendered to Jesus to start Foothills.
The more I surrendered the more life and purpose I progressively experienced. We cannot
follow Jesus and experience purpose without sacrifice.
2. We Cannot Make A Difference Without Sacrifice
Phil. 2:3-5 “Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as
better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others,
too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
What attitude did Jesus have? A willingness to sacrifice Himself for the purposes of God and
for the sake of others!
Very few people are willing to pay the price to make a difference. Very few people understand
there is a cost involved in following Jesus in to your purpose. Discovering purpose is
impossible without sacrifice. As exciting as purpose is…there is a price. It is not discovered
through a selfish-self-centered process. It is through humility and sacrifice.
Jesus said; Luke 14:28 ““But don’t begin until you count the cost…” (NLT) Let’s count some
cost today for purpose.
• You have to give up to show up (Prioritize your time for purpose)
It will always be impossible to get involved making a difference until you say no to
something else that takes your time so you can SHOW UP and make a difference
somewhere. One of the greatest enemies for making a difference with your life is simply
busyness. We are too busy to even show up in places to make a difference. (Church
attendance / classes / life groups / ministry and serving / reading the bible / prayer /
Most people are too busy for purpose. They don’t have time for it.
Assignment: Say NO to something this week so you can show up somewhere that
actually makes a difference in your life. Stop being a victim to busyness.
• You have to give up to go up (Understanding the cost of making a difference)
The greater the impact you want to have the greater the sacrifice you will be asked to
make. The bigger the impact the bigger the cost. The higher you climb, the less options
you have.
I don’t have the same options that many of you have. I don’t have the option of
blowing off church / not following Jesus / not being friendly in BI-Mart or
Safeway / not having my life scrutinized / spending my time however I want /
BUT, the sacrifices are worth it. I get to see lives change / a city transforming /
experience fulfillment and satisfaction knowing my life matters. Whatever I lost,
the gain is 100 fold!
Some of you have desire to do great things for God yet you refuse to leave behind
your selfish tendencies. Life is still all about you. That’s not the attitude that Jesus
had. You want to go up and experience purpose? What do you need to give up?
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• You have to give up to grow up (paying the price for spiritual growth)
Spiritual maturity comes at a price.
I Cor. 13:11 “When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I
grew up, I put away childish things.” (NLT) I gave up childish things.
Spiritual maturity requires us to put away those immature parts of our lives for the sake of
following Jesus. Refusing to sacrifice for maturity limits the amount of purpose God can
entrust to us. It’s only as we grow God progressively hands more purpose to us. So what
does this look like?
I give up immature thinking
How a child thinks and how adults think are radically different. The same is true
spiritually. Spiritually mature people view life through the filter of the word of
God. Mature people interpret life through the lens of the Bible. God’s word
governs their thinking. The Bible does not govern the thoughts of immature
people. They still think like children…spiritually. If you want to experience your
purpose through maturity, you have to give up spiritually immature thinking.
o Life is all about me / my pleasure / my happiness / my desires / my wants
I give up immature behavior
Immature thinking leads to immature behavior. One of the best signs of growing
maturity in people is their willingness to give up their freedom or comfort for the
sake of others. When you behave in a manner where life is all about you, that’s
immaturity. When you become aware of others and their needs, that’s maturity.
o Mature people are very conscientious of their testimony to others – How
does my lifestyle represent Jesus? You embrace the fishbowl - explain
We cannot make a difference walking in our purpose without sacrifice.
3. We Cannot Experience Fulfillment Without Sacrifice
• Fulfillment does not come from a life of ease. It is the result of sacrifice. We must reject
the cultural lies that are telling us fulfillment is the result of ease / comfort / and
indulgence. Sacrifice = fulfillment.
When I make sacrifices in my marriage, I experience the fulfillment of a satisfying
marriage.
As Lisa and I made sacrifices as parents, we now experience the fulfillment of an
amazing relationship with our adult daughters and son-in-laws
The fulfillment of Foothills is the result of many people and the sacrifices they
have made for years and continue to make each week. (70 people for 1 service)
Sacrifice and fulfillment go together. They went together with Jesus living His purpose.
Heb. 12:2 “…Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame.
Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.” (NLT) Sacrifice =Fulfillment
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• Sacrifice that results in fulfillment focuses on the future joy
There is no endurance in sacrifice without looking forward to and anticipating the result
of the sacrifice. The sacrifice is worth it. This is what Jesus did. Because of the joy He
was anticipating, He could endure the cross.
This concept has helped me stay in the ministry for almost 30 years. The day I lose
sight that the sacrifice is no longer worth it…I’m done. It’s all over. I believe there
is joy waiting for me on the other side of sacrifice.
I know we say Obedience = Blessing all the time here, but the reality of this
statement is this: Obedience comes at a cost. It requires sacrifice to obey and
follow Jesus. Knowing that the sacrifice is worth it keeps me in the game.
I’ve struggled with this over the years. I’ll be honest. I’ve had my moments where
I have cried out to God saying; “God is this worth it?” It seems like it’s all sacrifice
and very little benefit. There will be seasons like this.
I know have the benefit of age on my side. I have a 30 year track-record with
Jesus. Early on, I simply took it by faith there was a payoff. Now I have history to
draw on that gives me encouragement.
HOW do we stay focused on the future benefit of sacrifice when it seems this is all we do?
• Sacrifice that results in fulfillment focusses on God’s promises
God’s word is filled with promises about the blessings that result from sacrificing for the
things God says are important. The Bible is a Promise Book!
Ps. 18:30 “God’s way is perfect. All the Lord’s promises prove true…” (NLT)
Ps. 91:4 “His faithful promises are your armor and protection.” (NLT)
Ps. 119:140 “Your promises have been thoroughly tested; that is why I love them so
much.”(NLT)
Ps. 145:13 “The Lord always keeps his promises…” (NLT)
One of the best things followers of Jesus can do is know the promises from the
word of God. WHY? They give you hope and endurance. Countless times I have
prayed; “God…you said…” I don’t feel this is out of disrespect, yet rather a faith
reminder for me. I think God likes it. “Yes…that’s what I said!” Now trust Me!”
Assignment: I gave this to my Bible class 2 weeks ago. Read Ps. 119 and write
down every benefit from knowing and following God’s word. Then ask yourself if
the sacrifice for obedience is worth it?
Obey long enough to see it become your reality. Don’t quit before the blessing. It
will come. Then, you can begin developing a track record of fulfillment resulting
from sacrifice. Then, sacrifice can be viewed as a joyful thing.
This may be the toughest lesson of this series to embrace and live. It also may be the most life
altering. As exciting as it is to discover purpose, the reality is that it will require great sacrifice
to experience it. But remember…sacrifice doesn’t take life…it gives life.
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We cannot follow Jesus without sacrifice
We cannot make a difference without sacrifice
We cannot experience fulfillment without sacrifice.
How is God asking you to embrace sacrifice in order to discover the purpose He has for your
life?
Worship Team
What do you think of when you hear the word sacrifice? Is it positive? Negative? Can you see
how it is connected to discovering your purpose? Following Jesus will always be a process of
surrender. Is there one more step of surrender Jesus is asking you to make so you can take
another step forward towards Him and your purpose?
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