The Real Purpose of Life

Many books have been written to help Christians how to find the purpose of life and to live life according to Biblical principles. The purpose of life is a pupular theme for Church Camps or Church Seminars all over the country. Some of these teachings are good and even helpful, but not all are Biblical. Majority of these teachings originated from the wisdom of men. They bring new "doctrine" to local churches with irrelevant references to the Scripture to feed iching ears.

Paul gave a solemn warning to christians:

"Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ" (Col. 2:8, NKJV).

If Christians care to search the Scripture diligently they will not fail to realise that the main purpose of life is knowing God. Jesus Himself expressed this beautifully when He prayed to the Father:

"And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent" (John 17:3, NKJV, emphasis added).

In the context, "they" means "Jesus' disciples and those whom God had given eternal life.

This, I believe is the ultimate purpose of all life - to know the one and only true God. Out of this knowledge there comes eternal life, divine life, the life of God Himself. Eternal life is the hope of all men and only by knowing God this hope can be realised.

Paul said, "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable"(1 Cor.15:19).

In other words, our hope in Christ is beyond our present life on earth; our hope is our eternal life with Christ! Paul said, "For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God" (Col. 3:3). The life that is hidden with Christ in God is eternal life - the result of knowing God.

However, knowledge of God is not merely intellectual. It is not merely theology or doctrine. It is not knowing about God. It is actually knowing God Himself - knowing Him directly and intimately; knowing Him as a Person. It is a person-to-person relationship. It is a spiritual union between the Spirit of God and the spirit of man quickened and made alive by the Holy Spirit.

Covenant relationship between Christ and His Church

Before we can understand life's purpose of "knowing" God we must understand the convenant relationship between God and His people and Christ and His Church.

In the Old Testament, God compared His relationship with Israel to that of a husband with his wife. He traced this relationship back to the covenant back to the covenant that He made with Israel at Mount Sinai after He had delivered them out of Egypt (Jeremiah 31:31,32).

However, by unfaithfulness and idolatry, Israel violated their covenant relationship with God as their Husband. Hosea gave a prophetic picture of God bringing Israel back into a new covenant with Himself and thereby restore His relatioship to them as their husband:

"I will betroth you to Me forever; yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and justice, in lovingkindness and mercy; I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, and you shall know the Lord" (Hosea 2:19,20, NKJV, emphasis added).

Through Israel's covenant commitment they would come to "know the Lord" as they had never known Him before - just like the marriage covenant commitment between a man and a woman through which a man comes to "know" his wife.

The nature of this new covenant is more fully reveiled in the New Testament. This New covenant in Christ is viewed as bringing believers into a relationship with God that is analogous to the marriage relationship between husband and wife. This truth is brought out by Paul in Ephesians 5:25-33 which says, Christ redeems and sanctifies His church in order that He may present it to Himself as a bride is presented to her husband, "holy and without blemish" (V. 27).

One Spirit with God

The picture of a bride is not only for the body of true believers (the true Church) as a whole. Paul said, God desires to have an intimate relationship with each individual believer - to be in one Spirit with Him:

"Do you not know that that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For 'the two,' He says, 'shall become one flesh.' But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him" (1 Cor. 6:16,17, emphasis added).

Paul was speaking about the sexual union between a man and a woman. He said that a man who has sexual relations with a harlot makes himself "one body" with her. Then he went on to say that a believer can have a similar kind of union with God in which he becomes "one spirit" with God. That means, the relationship that God invites each believer to have with Him is precisely parallel, on the spiritual plane, to the sexual union which, on the physical plane, a man may have with a woman.

The above Scriptures also brought out an important truth. The union between a man and the harlot is fornication, which is sinful. Unlike a man and his wife whose marriage union is preceded by mutual covenant commitment. Paul applied this priciple also to the relationship between God and the believer. God desires spiritual union with each individual believer. At the same time, however, it is certain that God will never violate His own laws. He will never be a party to "spiritual fornication", which means a believer shall have no other covenant relationwhip with other gods. Therefore, union with God in this sense depends upon, and receded by covenant commitment to God. Until a believer is ready to make the total, unreserved commitment to God that covenant requires, he can never have this full spiritual union with God that is the purpose of redemption.

Take the situation that is so common in an evangelistic campaign in the local Church or in an evangelistic rally. Many people are touched by the message. They respond to the altar call and come forward to receive Christ. They desire a relationship with God. They may even lay claim to such a relationship. Nevertheless, their desire is unfulfilled; their claim is unjustified. The reason is that they have never made that solemn, unreserved, personal commitment to God that is the only basis upon which He will receive them into the relationship that they desire. Religious ritual, such as baptism or confirmation of Church membership may not change a thing in their relationship with God. It is the committed covenant relationship with God that God is after. Short of this no believer shall get to really know God. And without truly knowing God there is no real purpose of life. Knowing God is beyond discipleship!

A true disciple of Christ should never be interested in some watered-down, religious substitute for the real intimacy with God. Look at the picture of intimacy painted by the psalmist David:

"O God, You are my God; early will I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water" (Psalm 63:1, NKJV).

In other words, there can be only one source of ultimate satisfaction for the thirsty soul; it is God Himself. To stop at less than true union with Him is to miss the real purpose of living. It is to remain forever frustrated, forever unfulfilled in the christian life.

Covenant commitment between between man and God causes man to really know God - on the vertical plane. Similarly, covenant commitment between a man and his wife causes man to really know his wife - on the horizontal plane. Any christian or disciple who fails to know God as mush as he knows his wife does not know the real purpose of life!