The Perfect Purpose

My first thoughts of “purpose” arrived unexpectedly at the kitchen table one day at about age 10. My younger brother and I were quietly eating our pretzels and sandwiches when out of the blue, my mom asked us what we were living for. I first blinked, then panicked. I didn’t have a single word to contribute to the conversation.

Here, I decided to look at what Jesus would have said if He sat at our kitchen table and faced my mom’s question. What was He living for? He actually answered that question many different ways. I fired up my “Online Bible” and checked out the Gospels for every instance Jesus said, “I am come” or “I came to.” He had a mixed bag of joy and grief in His stated purposes.

But first, back to my mother. I’m sure the silence was deafening as my brother and I had no answers for what we were living for. She finally offered a lifeline. “I’m living for the 10 commandments,” she announced. I brilliantly responded, “So am I.” And whew, that conversation was over.

Jesus would have had something to say about that answer. The 10 commandments are part of what is called “the law.” We’ve all broken at least one of them, eliminating any possibility of having a right relationship with God. So, fascinatingly, Jesus said, Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill (Matt. 5:17). That was the reason God sent Him down to earth—to fulfill the law. So He made that His mission. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. (John 6:38)

But the law was more than the 10 commandments. Much of the Old Testament law had to do with sacrifices. It’s called the sacrificial law. And it is apparent that this law was the main one He came to fulfill. It’s perfectly clear in the book of Hebrews.

“But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do [fulfill] thy will, O God. Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;” (Heb. 10:3-12)

That’s how He fulfilled the law. He set aside His own will in favor of God’s will and offered His perfect body as the sinless sacrifice to take away sin once and for all. Fortunately, He lived up to His purpose. Had He not, we would be in serious trouble. We would have to live for the 10 commandments and actually keep them our whole life without breaking one. He knew we couldn’t do that, so He came with a purpose…

Jody