The beginning of the year is often a time of deep reflection. Our hope is that your thoughts are not only directed toward your resolutions but also about more profound existential questions. We will help you get there: our first two months of sermons are entirely directed toward the subject of purpose!

I’ve been part of many dialogues between Christians and Atheists, which often circle around whether everything (including humanity) was intelligently created. In essence, does humanity have a God-given purpose? Or are we merely an accident of the universe’s own chaotic doing? The question, however, has far-reaching implications, especially when it comes to love.

Prior to receiving Christ as Lord, the Ephesians grew up in an ancient Greco-Roman pagan background that told a drastically different narrative than Christianity. They were religious but they might as well have been atheists since their so-called “gods” did not care about them. Greco-Roman religion would never use language such as “Artemis loves you,” or fill in the blank. They served a purpose to the gods, sure. So they had a “purpose,” but it was not a purpose born out of love. Rather, their purpose was born out of utilitarian causes. Pagan religion taught that the “gods” created humans to serve them and do the grunt work they didn’t want to do, such as feeding themselves (via the sacrifices) and so on. The relationship was transactional: you do this for me, a god, and I’ll bestow some blessings on you.