1
Corinthians 13:13 NRSV And now faith, hope, and love abide,
these three; and the greatest of these is love.
John
6:38 NRSV for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own
will, but the will of him who sent me.
B1
Jesus came to do His Father’s will.
B2
So should we.
Goals—Some goals for us
B1
Philippians 3:10, 12, 14 CSB My
goal is to know him and the power of his resurrection and the
fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, ... Not
that I have already reached the goal or am already perfect, but I
make every effort to take hold of it because I also have been taken
hold of by Christ Jesus. ... I pursue as my goal the prize promised
by God's heavenly call in Christ Jesus.
C1
To know God better.
C2
His power and promise of the resurrection.
C3
To be patient in sufferings
C4
Heaven
B2
1 Timothy 1:5 CSB Now
the goal of our instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a
good conscience, and a sincere faith.
C1
God teaches us through reading and studying the Bible.
C2
Our faith needs to be genuine.
C3
God gives us grace and help to make it to heaven.
B3
1 Peter 1:9 CSB because
you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your
souls.
C1
The goal of our faith is our salvation.
C2
Whatever we face here is only temporary.
C3
Be faithful
B4
1 Corinthians 14:1 NLT Let
love be your highest goal!
C1
Love is the highest and best characteristic.
C2
It is in short supply.
C3
You and many others have been cheated from love that was deserved and
needed. Parents may have failed, teachers, pastors, religious people,
church goers, employers, etc.
C4
God love is constant.
B5
2 Corinthians 5:9 NLT So
whether we are here in this body or away from this body, our goal is
to please him.
C1
We want to please the saviour, our Messiah.
C2
He promises to deliver, but He does not say when He will deliver.
C3
Our thankfulness for His goodness is never forgotten.
B6
Galatians 1:10 NLT Obviously,
I'm not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing
people were my goal, I would not be Christ's servant.
C1
Pleasing people is not a good goal.
C2
Too many people take advantage of us and hurt us.
C3
They lie and cheat us.
C4
Pleasing God is doing His will.
C5
His blessings are eternal.
B7
1 Thessalonians 4:11 NLT Make
it your goal to live a quiet life, minding your own business and
working with your hands, just as we instructed you before.
C1
Some people are loud.
C2
Some people are obnoxious.
C3
Some people are both.
C4
God does not want us to be either of them.
B8
John 17:4 NLT I
brought glory to you here on earth by completing the work you gave me
to do.
C1
To bring glory to God rather than ourselves.
C2
God will honor us.
C3
Let us finish His work that He has given us.
D1
Every Christian has a some work to do for God.
D2
It could be praying, listening to others, helping when possible,
being kind, etc.
B9
2 Timothy 4:7 NLT I
have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have
remained faithful.
C1
We need to be faithful.
C2
We have God’s promise to help us.
C3
We pray for each other.
Goals—Some goals of God
B1
To live with His people
C1
Leviticus 26:11-12 NLT I
will live among you, and I will not despise you. I will walk among
you; I will be your God, and you will be my people.
C2
Psalm 23:6 NLT Surely
your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my
life, and I will live in the house of the LORD forever.
C3
John 14:23 NLT Jesus
replied, "All who love me will do what I say. My Father will
love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them.
B2
To seek the lost: Luke 19:10 NRSV For
the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.
B3
To reconcile with His enemies, that is, humans: Colossians 1:20-21
GNB Through
the Son, then, God decided to bring the whole universe back to
himself. God made peace through his Son's blood on the cross and so
brought back to himself all things, both on earth and in heaven. 21
At one time you were far away from God and were his enemies because
of the evil things you did and thought.
B4
To never leave nor forsake us: Hebrews 13:5 NRSV Keep
your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you
have; for he has said, "I will never leave you or forsake you.
B5
Others answered: What is God's ultimate goal? Why did God do
everything he did (e.g. creating humans, angels, and animals)? What
does he gain? Isn't he perfect, and supposedly has no needs?
Anthony
Zarrella, Lifelong Catholic and avid student of theology
You’re
right that God has no needs. The greatest Saint adds nothing to God’s
perfection, and God would be no less great if there were nothing but
Him.
However,
God’s nature is love, and love seeks to be shared.
So,
God created Man - a free moral agent who could choose to do good (and
therefore, by necessity, could choose to do evil), and who could
choose to love God (or not).
It’s
not that the existence of Man is good for God - God doesn’t need
us. But the existence of Man is good for Man.
It’s
the same with prayer - God doesn’t need our prayers, but prayer and
worship puts us in better “alignment” with His nature, and
therefore with our own best nature, and so He demands it of us just
like a parent demands that a child eat his vegetables (it’s not
like the parent gets any benefit from the kid eating nutritious food,
right?).
As
to His reasons for creating other stuff (animals, angels, etc.), He’s
the only one Who knows for sure, but it’s strongly implied that all
Creation is “aimed at” Man - that is, that the universe in all
its splendor has us as its goal. I’m talking theology here, not
science, by the way - I have no desire in this particular thread to
debate whether it is scientifically reasonable to believe this (I
think it is, but it’s a discussion for another time and place).
Psalm
18:6 NLT But
in my distress I cried out to the LORD; yes, I prayed to my God for
help. He heard me from his sanctuary; my cry to him reached his ears.
Psalm
69:3 NLT I
am exhausted from crying for help; my throat is parched. My eyes are
swollen with weeping, waiting for my God to help me.
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