God created man in His image, and for four basic purposes:
- to have fellowship with,
- to cultivate the garden,
- to be fruitful and multiply, and
- to rule over the earth and all that is in it.
Man’s restoration will not be complete until all four of these purposes have been recovered. Our personal restoration will not be complete until all four of these purposes have been recovered. Before these can be applied rightly to the rest of mankind, they must first be recovered by the church. Now let’s look at how these apply to us personally.
Purpose #1
The ultimate purpose of redemption is the restoration of the relationship between God and men. Therefore, true spiritual maturity can best be measured by one thing—how close are we to God? If restoration is continuing in our life, we will be getting closer and closer to the Lord. This is our ultimate and highest calling—to walk with God just as Adam walked with Him—daily.
Because our first calling is to fellowship with God, we will never be as productive in our other purposes if He is not our first love. Again, “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing,” and this is the main thing.
Purpose #2
The next reason for which man was created was to cultivate the garden. We have each been given a garden that we are called to cultivate. Yes, man was created to labor. In fact, it is such a part of who we are, and what we need to be doing, that it has been proven if you remove meaningful labor from a person’s life, they will tend to go insane. This is why kids who may “have everything” can still become so depressed that they commit suicide. The second most important thing that we all have is a purpose. This is also why many people die so soon after they retire.
We were created to have purpose in our life—to have a garden to cultivate. The first one that we all must take care of is the garden of our own heart. What are we allowing to be sown in our heart? Are we keeping it weeded, keeping the cares and the worries of the world from choking out the seeds that have been planted within us to bear fruit for God’s purposes?
Our family is also a garden that we have been given to cultivate. So is our ministry, which every Christian has. The gifts of the Spirit are tools that are given for the purpose of cultivating our garden.
Purpose #3
The next purpose of man was to be fruitful and multiply. This is about being productive. The Lord has put within us the need to see results from our labor. The more fruit we see, the more satisfied we will be.
This was also about our purpose in having children, which is usually one of the greatest drives in a person’s life. This can be choked out by selfishness, or an unbalanced devotion to another purpose. However, children bring more meaning and purpose to our lives than we can imagine. Because of this, if the family continues to break down in a society it will lead to an increasing depravity and discord in that society. Regardless of whether they know it or admit it, those who are not a part of a strong family unit are going to have a large void in their life that will likely be filled by depression or worse. There are exceptions to this need for children, as there are some who have other gifts and callings from the Lord, but in general this is true.
Purpose #4
This is the purpose that man was given to have dominion over the earth and all that is in it. Every one of us needs a realm of authority for which we are responsible. Those who do not have this will have a deep feeling of incompleteness, and then will try to usurp, or wrongly use authority to fill this void.
So, we should ask ourselves these four questions:
- Are we getting closer to God?
- Do we know the spiritual garden that God has given to us to cultivate?
- Are we being fruitful, and is our fruit multiplying?
- Are we growing in authority?
How These Purposes Are Restored
Basically, the ministries the Lord has given to His church are all designed to equip His people in their own ministries so that they are growing in each of these areas. Then our ministries are all designed to extend the redemption, reconciliation, and restoration of others to God so that their basic purposes are likewise recovered.
For this reason our church life is far more important than any career or profession. If it is not, then our career or profession has become an idol which is keeping us from our most basic purpose for being on the earth.
This does not mean you cannot have a career or profession, and seek to excel in it. It only means that it must be kept in proper order. If the Lord, including His purposes in your life, are not first in your life, at best you are going to be lukewarm, which is one of the worst states a Christian could ever fall into. If this is the case with you, in the times ahead you will fall away.
Many will actually find the place where they function in ministry is the place of their occupation. When this happens, both our place in the body of Christ and our career can become far more fulfilling than otherwise possible. If we have our priorities in the right order, we will not think of ourselves as a engineer, lawyer, or a doctor first, but we will think of ourselves as a pastor who shepherds his fellow employees, or a teacher who sows spiritual seeds and then waters them daily at work. We could even be called as a prophet to our industry, government, city, etc. In this way we should always think of ourselves in relation to our ministry first, and our occupation is a place that we walk in our ministry. In this way our office, business, or even our sport, can become our garden which we are to cultivate, and bear fruit in.
The Tragedy of Modern Church Life
I have asked in many conferences and large churches how many people know their ministry, or the gifts of the Spirit that have been given to them. Usually the result is that less than 5 percent know the answer to this question. How would you be doing if only 5 percent of your body was working? Yet, this is the present state of the body of Christ. Obviously this is because there are very few true New Testament ministries now in the church or they would be “equipping the saints to do the work of the ministry” as we are told in Ephesians 4:12.
For this reason the modern church probably has more in common with a spectator sport than the biblical model we have of the church—you basically have a few people playing the game and everyone else watches and cheers them on. However, this will begin to change, and change quickly. We have come to the time of the restoration of all things, and it will begin with the church being restored to her purpose, and maturing in it as a light to all people of what they were created to be.
As the church is restored to her purpose of truly restoring all who are joined to her to their purpose, Christians will become the most fulfilled, confident, bold, peaceful, graceful, loving, people on the earth. This will be in striking contrast to what is happening with everyone else.