The Grace Driven Life

“The Purpose-Driven Life will guide you to greatness-through living the Great Commandment and the Great Commission.” - Billy Graham and Franklin Graham (Purpose Driven Life - back cover)

Warren’s Purpose Paradigm: You were made by God and for God.

Romans 8:6 The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace;

The Message: Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life.

Matthew 16:25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.

The Message: Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self.

Notice the tremendous difference in these translations. What do the two Message translations point against?

Are these wrong points?

What do they point to in these two verses?

The key to finding your purpose according to Warren is looking to the Creator and His Bible -

Psalm 139:16 your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Acts 17:26 He determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.

Isaiah 46:3-4 “Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all you who remain of the house of Israel, you whom I have upheld since you were conceived, an have carried since your birth. Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.

Warren concludes from these passages that -

            1) God made you for a reason - you are not an accident

            2) Your life has profound meaning

“This is the true joy of life: the being used up for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clot of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.” George Bernard Shaw (Purpose Driven Life 33)

So - Warren says - Knowing your purpose gives meaning to your life, motivates you, and prepares you for eternity. “Living to create an earthly legacy is a short-sighted goal. A wiser use of time is to build an eternal legacy.” (33)

The ultimate goal of the universe is to show the glory of God. Revelation 4:11 “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”

His book is then filled with ways in which you can give God glory. “It’s not about you,” is the premise. Giving glory to God is the purpose. The five purposes for you according to Warren are -

                        1) to be a member of his family

                        2) a model of his character

                        3) a magnifier of his glory

                        4) a minister of his grace

                        5) a messenger of his Good News

Therefore - the KEY to motivation in purpose driven thinking is filled with these terms -

            - life-changing

            - effective

            - meaningful

The purpose driven life is driven by the promise that God has a PURPOSE for you - to give glory to HIM in different ways. If you know your purpose, then you can FULFILL your purpose. The basic idea is if you see the goal, set the goal, knowing you have a purpose - then you can achieve the goal.

            B. The Grace Driven Paradigm

According to God’s Word - Christians are made up of two different entities - you could say.

Romans 7:21-23 So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.

Galatians 5:17 For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.

What two parts does the Christian have within him?

Therefore , you could say that motivating a Christian is like motivating a donkey -

This is reflected in the explanation to the Ten Commandments -

“We should fear and love God . . .”

God motivates us with threats and promises throughout the Scriptures -

Exodus 20:12 “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.

Exodus 20:18-20 When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.” Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.”

Both of these motivations are aimed at the FLESH.

When it comes to the Spirit - there is no motivation needed -

Romans 8:1-4 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.

1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

Galatians 5:1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

1 Timothy 1:8-10 We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. We also know that law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious; for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, for adulterers and perverts, for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine

Why is there no motivation needed for the Spirit?

However, what reality do we have as Christians?  

Therefore, when we realize that we are spirit and flesh put together which cannot be separated but by death - one thing really drives us that covers law and gospel -

Ephesians 2:4-6 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,

2 Corinthians 8:9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.

What is grace?  

What is a grace driven life based on?   

How is this motivation untouchable?   

Romans 5:20-6:4 The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

Romans 6:6-7 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.

Romans 6:12-14 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.

2 Corinthians 5:14-15 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

How does grace affect us profoundly?

1 Corinthians 15:9-10 For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.

2 Corinthians 9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

Why was Paul continually motivated by grace?

How effective does God say His “grace” is?

Compare the two paradigms.

What does purpose point to as opposed to grace?

What two different approaches to sin do the two paradigms use?

Where does the purpose paradigm fall under in regards to God’s Word?

How can it be helpful in some ways?

What, in effect, can the purpose paradigm end up being?

What can the purpose paradigm end up in? 

How is the grace paradigm more comforting?

How is it more motivational?

If we use the grace model, why aren’t our people more motivated then?

Paul said -

Romans 1:16 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.

Acts 20:24 However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.

Any questions?