In this piece, I want to share with us something that has been titled: The Purpose-driven Mission and I want us to open our Bibles to the book of Luke 4:16-20. This is going to be our anchor Scripture and from there we would move to other passages and then we will conclude.

 

“So, He came to Nazareth (Talking about Jesus), where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. ¹⁷ And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written concerning Him.” In other words, what Jesus was about to read was something that had been written concerning Him in the prophets. So, He begin to read from verse 18:

 

¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the broken-hearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
¹⁹ To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

²⁰ Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him.

 

Now, this was an account of Jesus in Luke 4:16-20, talking about His mission on the face of the earth. So, Jesus read these things that has been written aforetime concerning Him in the Old Testament. Don’t forget that the Bible says the Old Testament is a shadow of the things to come. It gave us an account of what is to come, so, it prophesied about the birth of Jesus, it talked about a messiah, a deliverer that is to come. Isaiah 9:6 says “for unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder.” As at the time Isaiah was writing or prophesying this, Jesus had not come into the picture.

 

So, the Old Testament, the prophet, the law pointed to what was to happen in the future. So, when that future came, Jesus was born and at a point in the live of Jesus, He entered the Synagogue and began to tell the people the things that has been written concerning Him. He was telling the people about His mission and what God has sent Him on the face of the earth to accomplish. Now, one of the things that we must realize early in our lives is that our life is on a mission to this earth. The earlier you realize this, the better it will be for you, that your life here on earth is on a mission. There is no one on the face of the earth that there is something that is not tied to you or your existence. There is a purpose, there is a mission and an assignment that is tied to your life here on earth.

 

You did not fall from heaven. Even if it appears that your birth, the way you came about was not conceived by your parents or your parents didn’t plan to have you, irrespective of the circumstances surrounding your birth, there is a mission that your life is meant to fulfill on this earth. Our life is on a mission, our life is on a purpose. Just as we read concerning Jesus and His mission, our life has a mission. Sometimes it would be sufficed if you call yourself a missionary. But you must be doing that from an understanding. Your life is on a mission, irrespective of how your birth came about to be. In the purpose and the counsel of God for our lives, there is no life that is a mistake. There is no birth that is a mistake. There is no child released into this earth that is a mistake. Nobody is a mistake. In case you have been told that your life is a mistake and that nothing can come out from your life, it is a lie from the pit of hell. There is a mission your life must fulfill on earth.

 

Jeremiah 1:4-5, the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah concerning his mission here on earth. It says:

Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

⁵ “Before I formed you in the womb (before your conception, before your parents ever met themselves), I knew you;
Before you were born, I sanctified you;
I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”

 

Did we see that? This was the account of Jeremiah and this account is as true for you, is as true for me, is as true for anyone else living on the earth. Whether you have realized it yet that you are a missionary here on earth or you are yet to come into that reality, your life has a mission, your life has a purpose. Somebody may be saying, “I don’t even know my mission here on earth, I don’t even know my purpose and why I live” and the moment a man or a woman begins to think this way, then you would understand that there is something fundamentally wrong. The moment you realize that your life is worthless, mission-less, purposeless and you don’t even know why you exist in the first place, it is a dangerous corner to be in life and it is why you must understand it that your life has a mission.

 

What then is your mission? You see, your mission and purpose on earth is Christ’s mission. In case you are saying “I don’t know my purpose, I don’t know my mission in life and in destiny”, I am here to tell you this morning that your mission in life, your purpose in life is Christ’s mission, is Christ’s purpose. So, in case you can’t find your purpose, the moment you can find Christ’s purpose and His mission, then you have found your purpose, you have found your mission. It is as good as that, and as simple as that. God has a plan and purpose for you, and that plan and purpose and mission of God is embedded in the mission and purpose of God on the earth that Christ himself came to execute.

 

Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 1:12. He said: “And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me” Who enabled the apostle Paul? Christ Jesus! You all know the story of apostle Paul when he was Saul, he was a terrible guy. He thought he was serving a purpose, but it was a wrong purpose and a wrong mission, until he met Christ on his way to Damascus. So, your purpose, your mission in life is Christ’s enabled, is God enabled. Your purpose should emanate from God and not from you. Apostle said Christ “counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry.” Apostle Paul wrote that Christ found him faithful and enabled him and put him into the work of ministry. And that is why the Bible says “for it is God that works in you both to will and to do for His own pleasure.”

 

So, Christ’s mission is your mission, Christ’s purpose is your purpose. And because of this, there is a work for you on this earth. There is a mission on earth for you and that mission is Christ’s mission, that mission is God’s mission. I am trying to expatiate this so that we can see it from the perspective of God. John 14:12-14 says: “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also.” Jesus said somewhere that my Father works and hitherto I work. He also said I have come to do the works of my Father while it is day because the night comes when no man would be able to work. So, what does that tell you? It tells you that there is a work for you as a believer. There is an assignment and a mission for you. Jesus was saying it here emphatically that the works that I do, you will do also.

 

The first thing you would realize is that Jesus didn’t limit us to the works that He did alone. He said “and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. ¹³ And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴ If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” Jesus said you would do greater works simply because there is a capacity that is going to be deposited in you, there is an enablement that will come that will make you do greater. As at this time that Jesus was talking, the Holy Spirit has not yet been given. So, Jesus said number one, you would do what I am doing right now if that is where you limit yourself to. But you would do greater because the Holy Spirit would be release to do much more and surpass Jesus’ record.

 

So, there is a work of Christ that we are meant to be doing. Where Jesus stopped is where we should take over from and that is why our life is on a mission. That mission of Christ is our own mission. The business of Christ is our business, the things that Christ did are the things we are meant to be doing. So, if you think that you are purposeless, if you think that your life is worthless and you don’t even know why you exist, just look at Christ. When you find Christ you find your purpose, your mission and assignment. Your business can proclaim the work of Christ. Somebody may ask: What then is the work of Christ?

 

Number one: the work of Christ is evidenced in the preaching and teaching of the gospel. Jesus preached and taught everywhere He found Himself in His days. What was Jesus teaching and preaching about in His days? The kingdom of God. If that is all your life is doing right now, you are fulfilling your purpose. If all the people you come in contact with in your daily life, and living points people to Christ, you are on a mission. Jesus’ life taught and preached! In John 3:3 the Bible says Nicodemus came to Him. Nicodemus was a powerful man, a Pharisee and said to Jesus “we have seen all the things that you are doing.” So, people can see what you do with your life, even though they don’t come near you. Now don’t forget, this man called Nicodemus is a first-class Pharisee and testified of the things that Jesus was doing. That was Jesus’ first contact with Nicodemus. So, your life alone can preach the gospel because that is the work of Christ.

 

Also, in John 4, there was the account of the woman of Samaria that Jesus met at the well, and He began to teach her. So, what does that tell you, the works of Christ is evidenced in the teaching and preaching of the gospel and that is what He has committed into your hands. Matthew 5:1 gave us an example of such moments. It says: “And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. ² Then He opened His mouth and taught them.” What has Christ taught you? The same thing, teach people. Apostle Paul said “the things that you have heard of me among many witnesses the same commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others.” So, your purpose is in preaching and teaching about Christ the things that He has taught you.

 

What are the things that God has revealed to you and that has worked for you? The reason why He revealed them to you is not so that it can remain with you. One of the things that you are supposed to be doing is dispensing the fragrance of the knowledge of God. 2 Corinthians 2:14 says “Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.” So, that thing that God has taught you that is helping your business to do well, your family is doing well and everything around you is working, those things has been committed unto you so that you can teach others. So, Chris was teaching, that is His work and that also automatically becomes your work.

 

Number two: The work of Christ is evidenced in the miracles and healings that He performed. Jesus did all manner of miracles and healings. Acts 10:36-38 tells us: “The word which God sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ—He is Lord of all— ³⁷ that word you know, which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached: ³⁸ how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.” The anointing propelled Christ to go everywhere, the anointing gave Him the power, the strength, the anointing gave Him the message and He went everywhere teaching and preaching, with miracles and signs and healings.

 

Now, somebody may say: “Well, I don’t have what it takes to do the works of Christ, and that is why I have remained a complacent believer.” But that is not true, and it is because you are ignorant. The power is in you. All that you would need to fulfill the works of Christ, He has deposited in you. 1 Corinthians 12, let me show you. If you understand the Scriptures, there is no Christian that is a powerless Christian. The least in the kingdom is a powerful person. And what is that power? The Holy Spirit. The moment the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you become an embodiment of power. You become an embodiment of capacity, you receive that grace, that anointing and enablement to do the works of Christ. So, there is nothing like I am powerless as a Christian and don’t know what to do. It’s a lie. You actually know all things. There is an auction in you, there is a spirit in man (Job 32:8) and the inspiration of the Almighty God gives him understanding. Don’t say I don’t know. As a Christian, there is nothing like I don’t know or understand. Say to yourself “I know all things; I understand all things” because you have the Holy Spirit. He is the source of that power and makes it available.

 

1 Corinthians 12:7 tells us: “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: The Holy Spirit is given to you so that everyone you come in contact with will profit. You don’t receive the Holy Spirit and bottle Him and boast about the fact that you have the Holy Spirit. There is a purpose of God why He released the Holy Spirit. It is for the profit of all. Verse says: “for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, ⁹ to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, ¹⁰ to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. ¹¹ But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.”

 

The only thing that has hindered you from manifesting in the full capacity and dimension of the Holy Spirit that you are carrying is because you are not willing. Isaiah 1:19 says “if you are willing and obedient, you will eat the fruit of the land.” If you are willing and obedient, you will manifest the gift of the Holy Spirit. The fact that you are not manifesting them doesn’t negate the fact that you don’t have it. But you have not willed it enough to manifest it. You can’t come in contact with Christ and your life will remain the same. Nobody came in contact with Him and their life remain the same. So, the work of Christ is that you go out there. Let your life reflect His glory, let your life reflects His mission. Enough of saying I don’t know what I am supposed to be doing in the kingdom. Now you are seeing it, you are a missionary and your life is on a mission.

 

Number three: The work of Christ is evidenced in His reconciliatory work He did for us on the cross of calvary. Christ came to reconcile us back to God and that is His work, that is what he came to do and the Bible says He has committed that same works into our hands. If you understand this statement, why do you now complain that you don’t know your life’s assignment? This is it here on the pages of the Scripture. The ministry of reconciliation. So, what are you supposed to be doing now? You have received life; you have received salvation. Those of us that have been saved, we are meant to arise for the salvation of others. The same light that you have received, the same revelation that you have received, the same knowledge that has transformed your life, Christ has committed it into your hands to also transform others.

 

So, Christ has committed that ministry of reconciliation into our hands. 2 Corinthians 5:18-21 says: “Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.” What did God give us? He said He has given unto us the ministry of reconciliation to bring others unto Him in our families, in our communities, in our nation and everywhere in the world. And that is why we are online. There are places we can’t go that this message would go to, and you can’t tell who is listening and the life that would be transformed by this message. He has committed this message into our hands and by whatever means possible, make sure that this knowledge gets out there. Because that is why you were saved.

 

“That is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.” Now, the word of reconciliation is not condemning the world. Our assignment is to preach about Christ and not the preaching of condemnation. Do you know that Christ did not come to condemn anybody? Christ came to bring sinners to repentance. And that is why apostle Paul said that I became all things to all men peradventure, maybe I would be able to win some. Our assignment as believers, the mission that God has committed into our hands is not to condemn sinners. Don’t look at a sinner and write them off. Don’t write off a life that God has not written off. Don’t look at a life and conclude too soon that nothing can come out of them. That is not the ministry of reconciliation.

 

You see, the word reconciliation there talks about bringing peace between two warring factions. But when you want to bring about peace, do you first of all ferment war? You don’t begin to blame the parties involved. Even if there are raging disagreements between the factions involved, you as the reconciliator must bring about peace. And that is what Christ came to do. We were in the kingdom of darkness and Christ came to beam His light on us. The Bible says we behold His glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace. We saw the grace of God, we looked at our lives and then we realized that there is a better place and then we chose that place in Christ.

 

So, don’t look at a life and say “your life cannot be better again.” Don’t start from there. Start from the message of love, show the people the love of the Father, show a sinner that there is a God that loves them and a devil that hates them. God loves us so much and the devil hates us passionately. Don’t begin to tell the people that it is there past that is hunting them now. There is no man on earth who has come to Christ who doesn’t have a past. Apostle Paul had a terrible past for example. He consented to the killing of Stephen. That was Paul’s terrible past. But when he saw the light, he said he counted everything dung. That is the message, that even though you had a terrible past, God is willing and able to forgive your sins and then accept you. That is the ministry of reconciliation.

 

There is a difference between the ministry of reconciliation and the ministry of condemnation. The ministry of condemnation depresses and suppresses people. Even though you want them to see the light, but you have condemned them to barest minimum of life. If you ever see people talk like this in religion: “this thing that you have done, I doubt God can even answer your prayer.” It is terrible! How do you know which prayer that God answers and the one He does not answer? If God were to be looking at our lives and what we do to answer prayers, there are many prayers that He won’t even answer. Because the moment you begin to do that, you are wallowing in self-righteousness. And the Bible says self-righteousness does not amount to anything before God, it is filthy rag.

 

So, you don’t condemn people, condemn them into their past before you now bring about the light. So, Christ has committed unto us the ministry of reconciliation and not condemnation. So, you don’t see a sinner and write him or her off. Don’t write off a life hat God has not written off. God does not give up any body, do you know that? Who would have known that somebody like apostle Paul would come to know Christ? Do you know he wrote two-third of the New Testament? So, if somebody had looked at apostle Paul and condemn him, you would have condemned an apostle and all the revelation we are reading now in the New Testament. So, don’t write a life off. Our assignment is to reconcile them back to God and then continue to pray for them that God would make them see the light more and more.

 

Verse 20 says: “Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. ²¹ For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” So, God is pleading through us and it is that same plea that we are pleading with others. And what are we pleading? It is so that people can come to God and become the righteousness of God through Christ Jesus. Do you know what righteousness does? In a simple elementary meaning, it makes you right with God. The reason why you are so bold before God is because of your status in Him. It is the same thing that gives you the confidence to access His presence.

 

It is because of what Christ did, that reconciliatory work. So, you tell people, come and see the righteousness of God, which is not on the basis of works or your past. It is on the basis of what you have in Christ Jesus, your tomorrow. The righteousness of God brings you into that place where you can have a glimpse of how your future can look like. And then when you partner with God and begin to walk with Him, you simply enter into that future. That is what we are talking about. So, you tell people that is a righteousness status that is available to people by faith in Christ Jesus. The righteousness of God is a gift of God. God looks at you benevolently and then bestows on you His righteousness. A gift is a benevolence of someone to another.

 

So, the Scriptures says: The righteousness of God now, you can receive it on the basis of a gift. In the Old Testament, people struggle to be righteous. People do all manner of things in the name of “works” to be righteous. And the Bible says the more people tried to be righteous, everything amounted to filthy rags before God. You cannot be righteous except God declares you righteous. How did Abraham become righteous? What is by the works? No! By faith! So, how do you become righteous? By faith in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:8-9 says: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

 

The reason why you are saved is because you received the word of God, somebody preached the word of God to you and then you receive that word and then you become saved and the moment you became saved, the gift of righteousness was imparted on you. There was nothing you did to earn salvation. Salvation came on the basis of faith, and the reason why that faith was stared up in you was because a grace was made available and the moment you become saved, that gift of righteousness was handed to you on the platter. That is why the Bible says you are a new creation.

 

So, in conclusion, you are not here on earth by accident. You are not an accident. I believe we have been able to establish that. Don’t let anyone look down on you and call you an accident. You are a son, a daughter on purpose, you are on a mission, a missionary. There is an assignment, a purpose of God that is hanging on your head. And in case you are wondering, what is that assignment and purpose? Just look at the mission of Christ that we read in Luke 4. The moment you understand that Scripture, then that is your mission because the works of Christ becomes your mission, the purpose of Christ becomes your purpose. So, you are not an accident. You are a being of purpose.

 

So, what is your life supposed to be doing? Your life, your mission as a man and as a woman; should be towards expanding the frontiers of the kingdom of God just as we read in our text. Jesus said “the Spirit of the Lord us upon me”, the Spirit of the Lord is now inside of us. To what end? Because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. So, that is your mission. Your assignment is to preach the gospel to the poor, not only to the poor alone, preach the gospel to everyone and anyone. It says further: “He has sent Me to heal the broken-hearted.” Now, we read in Isaiah 42:22:

 

“But this is a people robbed and plundered;
All of them are snared in holes,
And they are hidden in prison houses;
They are for prey, and no one delivers;
For plunder, and no one says, “Restore!”

 

The reason why people will continue to remain in this state is because you have refused to say something, because you have refused to proclaim liberty to the captive. If the state of people would change from this situation, you must step in into your life’s mission and your life’s mission is Christ’s mission. It says:

 

To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
 

The blind here does not necessarily mean people who are not seeing physically. Anyone who has not accepted Christ as his personal Lord and Savior is still blind. Don’t limit that particular part to those who are blind physically. It included them, but it is not limited to them. Anyone who has not come into the fullness of Christ is blind. And so, when you preach to them and they receive Christ and salvation, what then happens? Their eyes have been opened.

 

To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
¹⁹ To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

 

What is the acceptable year of the Lord? It is the day of salvation. Apostle Paul said “now is the day of salvation.” The acceptable year of the Lord is now! And this is why it is expedient for you and I to preach the gospel. This is our mission, this is our life’s assignment, and I pray as we do so, the Lord will help us in Jesus’ name.

 

Amen!

Thanks for the gift of your time, I am Obayomi Abiola Benjamin!

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