[Transcript of a midweek message published by Horley Baptist Church on YouTube[1], April 2021]
It’s possible to find meaning and purpose on all sorts of things, but how can I know that it’s authentic and true?
On Sunday in our sermon series ‘alternative facts’, Neil was talking about how we can find fulfilment in life and he gave us a quote from Victor Frankl, an Auschwitz survivor, who says it’s about finding meaning and purpose in our life.
I just want to kind of go into that a little bit deeper, dig a bit deeper into what meaning and purpose is. How do we find it, because we can find meaning and purpose in all sorts of things. We can find meaning and purpose in life through our relationships, you can find meaning and purpose through your job, you can find meaning and purpose in your hobbies, but Victor Frankl goes on to say that actual true meaning and purpose is one that is connected to authenticity, is connected to truth.
That leads me with that question: “How do we know that our meaning and purpose is connected to truth, it’s authentic, it’s real?” I think when I’m thinking about this I thought there’s possibly two ways in which we know that those things that we’re finding mean and purposing in are linked to authenticity.
The first one, I think, is that actually it works, it makes a difference, it makes a positive difference in our life. It adds value, it bears good fruit. In fact Jesus said “You can spot someone who’s false by the fruits that they bear” so is your life bearing good fruits? I think if we have a life that bears good fruit it doesn’t only have a positive impact on our own life, it has a positive impact on the lives of those around us and the relationships that we have. Does the thing that you’re finding meaning and purpose in really make a positive difference to yourself, your relationships, the people around us? Does it actually work?
The second thing, I think, that shows whether it’s true or authentic is that it lasts. It reminds me of an account in John’s gospel when Jesus stops down by a well and starts to have a conversation with a woman that he met there, which wasn’t a very Jewish thing to do particularly because the woman was a Samaritan which was a hated race, I guess, for the Jewish people. He has a conversation with her and he asks for a drink. Then he offers her something called ‘living water’ and he says that if this woman drank this living water she would never be thirsty again.
Now this woman gets a bit confused; she thinks that Jesus is talking about an actual drink. Jesus isn’t, he’s talking about spiritual drink. She said “Well, that’s just great I’d never need to come to this well again” and then Jesus said to her “Well, go and fetch your husband, bring him here” and she said “I haven’t got a husband” and this is where Jesus really gets to the crux of where this woman was finding her sense of meaning and purpose in life, how she was trying to be fulfilled. He says to this woman “You’re right, you haven’t got a husband. In fact you’ve had five husbands and the guy that you’re living with at the moment isn’t even your husband”.
See, this woman was trying to find meaning and purpose and fulfilment in the relationships that she had. Perhaps she was willing to sacrifice anything in order to get those relationships, possibly even going with the wrong men because actually it was more important that she was in a relationship than who she was in relationship with. She was trying to quench her thirst with something that left her after a short time feeling parched and dry.
It’s a bit like Coke really and fizzy drinks. I’d much rather have a can of Coke or a fizzy drink than a glass of water but I know that within half an hour or so I’m going to feel thirsty again. That’s the same with those things in our life that we use to quench our thirst but they’re not authentic; they still leave ourselves after a period of time feeling thirsty dry and parched, they just don’t last.
See, Jesus said to this woman “This living water that I’m offering you life and relationship with me and your heavenly father will mean that you will never be thirsty again”. Actually what Jesus is offering us doesn’t last for five years, 10 years, 20 years, a lifetime on this earth even, but this is something that will last for eternity. Jesus said “I am the way the truth and the life”. Jesus and our relationship with him is meaning, it gives us meaning, it gives us purpose but it’s also true and it’s authentic, it works. It makes a difference in your life and it lasts for eternity.
If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, if you would call yourself a Christian, I want to ask you the question: “Are you still thirsty?” because the danger of being a Christian is that we can find our meaning and purpose in the things that we do, the ministry that we have through our church and the relationships that we find there. In fact, we can become overly protective of our church because we don’t want anything to affect that thing that we put so much importance on.
If we place so much importance on those things then ultimately we’re going to become thirsty again. We’re going to find they are unfulfilling, that they don’t work as they used to because they just don’t last. We’re called to quench our thirst with our relationship with Jesus, to be filled with the Holy Spirit, to experience that joy that goes beyond understanding.
So, are you willing to drink of Jesus rather than the sweet attractive but ultimately unfulfilling things that this world offers?
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[1] YouTube link: How can I find true meaning and purpose?
Bible references: John 4
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Contributed by Martin Shorey; © the Author
