This article was one of the short-listed submissions to the 2024 TGC India Essay Contest, answering the question, “What is the Gospel?“
Everything around us is designed for a purpose—from the smallest pen to the most complex software. The created object does not define its purpose. Rather, it’s the one who designed it who knows its purpose. If the object does not serve its purpose, its value is limited. It’s either repaired or discarded. So it’s instinctive for human beings to wonder, “What is the purpose of life? What was I made for?”
In our quest for the answer, some of us look into ourselves. We believe we can create or define our purpose. But when we realise the limitation of our self-defined purpose, it leaves us dissatisfied. We are left wondering, “Is there anything more to life than this?”
Others look to others to find purpose and meaning. We wander from one philosopher to another; to gurus, leaders, teachers and influencers. We hope they can offer us answers to the nagging question of purpose. They provide us with tools, formulas, and mantras that can help direct our lives. But these, too, fall short.
Our purpose is best found in looking to our Creator.
The Purpose of Life
In Genesis 1:1, the Bible says, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
God created everything. He is the sovereign king over all his creation, the all-powerful one (Jer. 32:17, Isa. 14:27).
He is eternal (Ps. 90:2).
No one created God. He has always existed, he exists now, and he will exist eternally in the future. There is no beginning or end to God. He exists outside the limits of time, for time itself is something he created.
He is holy (Isa. 6:3).
God is not just pure. He is the purest. There is not even a hint of sinfulness, wickedness, or evil in him. He is not only different; he is superior to everyone in every way (Ps. 86:8). So it follows that he is worthy of all worship (Rev. 4:11).
This amazing God created us in his image (Gen. 1:26). He created us for a purpose and revealed to us his Word.
The Westminster Shorter Catechism (Question 1) beautifully defines this purpose: “The chief end of man is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.” This is our true purpose.
As John Piper says in this sermon, to glorify God means “feeling and thinking and acting in ways that reflect his greatness, that make much of God, that give evidence of the supreme greatness of all his attributes and all-satisfying beauty of his manifold perfections.” This glorifying God is not detached from enjoying him.
Purpose Lost
Adam and Eve were to fulfil this purpose by trusting and obeying God. But they turned from him, disobeyed him, and sinned against him. Their rebellion led to the fall of all creation. The extent of this fall is that our very nature became sinful. We are not sinners because we sin; we sin because we are sinners.
In other words, we sin because we love sinning (Rom. 3:10-12). We do not glorify God and enjoy him. We have turned from our Creator to seek glory and pleasure in created things.
Not only have we lost the purpose for which we were created, but we also inherently despise it. Since God is holy, the fall of humanity means we have become “children of wrath,” subject to God’s righteous judgment (Eph. 2:1-3, 1 John 1:5-6).
Purpose Restored
The gospel is the good news that “God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved” (Eph. 2:4-5, John 3:16).
In his humanity, unlike all human beings, Jesus was blameless—without sin. Yet God placed the judgment of our sins on him. Through his death, he paid the penalty for our sins.
As a result, anyone who repents and believes that Christ is Lord is first rescued from the righteous judgment of God. But even more so, we are adopted into his eternal family as children of God (2 Cor. 5:21, Rom. 3:23-26; 8:12-17, 1 John 3:1).
All who receive God’s promises by faith in Christ enjoy assurance of his unmerited favour. We receive confidence in life for Christ was raised from the dead and is now seated at the right hand of God (Eph. 1:20-21). Until we see him face to face, he lives to intercede for us before God (Rom. 8:34, Heb. 7:25).
Through faith in Christ, we receive the Spirit of God who lives in us, who is the guarantee of our adoption and inheritance (Rom. 8:12-17, Eph. 1:11-14). He empowers us to live as people saved by God, to the praise of His glory (Phil. 2:12-13). And so God enables us to fulfil the purpose for which he made us—to glorify him and to enjoy him forever.
