The Purpose Driven Life- An Apologist's Review- Part 5: Serving God

Book Review- The Purpose Driven Life- Part 5

A few weeks ago I began my chapter-by-chapter review of Rick Warren's popular book The Purpose Driven Life (hardback, Kindle, audio book). Rick Warren presents a theology of suffering in this book that caught my attention as a defender of the Christian worldview because of its applicability in addressing the problem of evil and suffering. Because the book has forty chapters, I decided to break up the review into multiple parts that coincide with the parts of Warren's book. For easy navigation of this review, here are the parts with links that will be updated as they publish:

• Part 1: Created For God's Purpose
• Part 2: Created For God's Pleasure (Worship)
• Part 3: Created For God's Family (Fellowship)
• Part 4: Created To Become Like Christ (Discipleship)
• Part 5: Created To Serve God (Ministry)
• Part 6: Created For A Mission (Evangelism)

Part 5: You Were Shaped For Serving God

Chapter 29: Accepting Your Assignment

Once we accept Christ's sacrifice, we are not immediately taken to heaven because God has a purpose for us in this world before He takes us to the next. The fourth purpose that God created us for is service to others, also known as "ministry." The sufferings that we endure as part of our spiritual maturing (discipleship- the third purpose) is vital to accepting and fulfilling our assignment from God to serve others. If every event in our lives (no matter how small or how painful) is for our spiritual growth, and if our spiritual growth is for our serving of others, then every event in our lives (no matter how small or how painful) is for our serving of others. God has given us a role in this world that gives us objective value and objective significance in this world. This means that our sufferings in this world do not only have meaning, significance, and value in the next world, they also have meaning, significance, and value in this world.

It is important to understand that we do not serve for salvation but we were saved for serving. So, if we choose to not serve others, we are not fulfilling one of the reasons for which Christ saved us. Because service to others is essential to the Christian life, it is not something to be merely squeezed into our busy schedule when and where we have extra time. It must be an essential part of our schedule and other activities are squeezed in when and where we have extra time. Warren observes that many churches are dying today because its members, the Body of Christ, have not accepted their assignment in this world to serve others and are merely waiting for Christ to take them to the next world. Warren makes the point that if God's purpose for you in this world was complete, He would have taken you home already, but the fact that you are still here in this world indicates that you still have a purpose to fulfill here.

Chapter 30: Shaped for Serving God

God created each of us with a particular shape that was designed specifically to serve Him and His purposes for us. Warren explains that this shape is a gift that God has graciously given us; it is not earned or deserved, but undeveloped and unused it is pointless. Warren presents an acrostic to help identify the unique shape that God has given each person to service others:

Spiritual Gifts
Heart
Abilities
Personality
Experiences

Spiritual Gifts- God has not given everyone the same gifts; this reinforces our dependence upon each other thus the necessity of fellowship. God gave us our gifts not to hoard for our own use, but for the service of others. If we are to use our gifts only for our benefit, others suffer, and if others use their gifts only for their benefit, we suffer. Because we all have different gifts and we are still sinners, we are tempted to fall victim to two vices when it comes to gifts: gift envy and gift projection. The first is being dissatisfied with the gifts that God has given us, coveting the gifts of others, and ultimately refusing to use our gifts for the service of others. The second is thinking that others should possess our gifts, be as passionate as we are about these gifts, and ultimately thinking that our gifts and service are more valuable than other gifts and service.

Heart- What we find that we are passionate about is a key indicator of the gifts that God has given us to serve others. We must identify what we are passionate about and develop that for service to others. Two things must be considered, though. As already mentioned, not everyone will be passionate about the same things as you are, so don't be discouraged by others' lack of passion for your passion. And we cannot forget that we are sinful, so it may be that we are actually passionate about a sin or something that is contrary to God's nature. In order to distinguish between legitimate passions and illegitimate passions for service to others, we must recognize that all the purposes are to be fulfilled together, so worship, fellowship, and discipleship must all be used in identifying legitimate passions. We must worship the Father in spirit and in truth, we must submit to godly brothers and sisters, and we must allow God to develop our character to reflect the image of His Son.

Chapter 31: Understanding Your Shape

Abilities- God created each of us with a unique combination of abilities. Warren appeals to studies that indicate that any one person could have in excess of 500 unique, natural abilities- many of which are laying dormant. These have all been given by God and can be used to serve Him and others, but we must identify the legitimate abilities (just like identifying legitimate passions) that we have the passion to develop and utilize them in God's service. Unused abilities that we have the passion to develop and use for service leave a hole, while missing abilities that we may be passionate about but do not have can bring damage to others because the abilities are misused (similarly to gift envy).

Personality- Our shape is further defined and made unique by our personality. While we may have similar abilities and passions as others, our different personalities will allow us to use those abilities in unique ways that others, with the same abilities and passions, are not equipped to use them in. God has created us with diverse shapes because the world we live in provides diverse circumstances, and people in each of those diverse circumstances need to be served by the diverse abilities that He has given to others but not necessarily to them. The great diversity of circumstances and human personalities further reinforces the significance and value of each person and the purpose of fellowship.

Experiences- The diversity of our experiences further refine our shape for ministry. Particularly our painful experiences. Just like with the purpose of discipleship, painful experiences are vital to the purpose of ministry. Who better to minister to a person than the ones who have first-hand experience with the pain and suffering of a particular experience but have been carried through that experience by Christ? Our experiences uniquely equip us to minister directly to the hurting hearts of others. We are the Body of Christ, and our shape (including our experiences) makes God's presence and heart a very tangible reality in this world for others. Our experiences can help with the discipleship of another, which will strengthen their worship of their Creator and Savior. This further gives our painful experiences objective purpose and eternal significance. For those who think God is hidden in their lives or that God has deserted them in their pain, either they are covering their eyes to the Body of Christ around them or the Body of Christ in their lives is refusing to minister.

Chapter 32: Using What God Gave You

Not everyone has been given the same spiritual gifts, heart, abilities, personality, and experiences so it is important to identify what shape that we have and what shape you do not have. It can be difficult to identify, but Warren encourages the Christian to simply jump in and serve in different capacities to identify their gifts, passions, and abilities, and how their personalities and experiences can contribute to their service. When you serve in a capacity that you find that you have little interest in and/or little ability for, you will have limited results.

We often continue in a ministry we have no ability to accomplish because we have a passion for it. Continuing to attempt to serve in a capacity that God did not shape us for will cause more damage than benefit and will hinder those who God truly shaped for that ministry. We must run from the temptation of ministry envy by using our passion for that ministry in two ways: first, to encourage those who have the ability and were shaped for it; second, allow those who were shaped for it to minister to us.

Now, we must also allow ourselves to let go of performing that particular ministry we were not shaped to fulfill and move on to the next experimental ministry. This whole process will need to be done until that ministry (or ministries) that "clicks" is identified. Once identified, run with it. Do everything you can to develop it and serve others.

Chapter 33: How Real Servants Act

Unfortunately, it is possible to serve for a lifetime without ever possessing a servant's heart. Serving according to the shape that God has given us is the primary aspect of our ministry. However, serving in seemingly mundane ways when called upon demonstrates a posture of the heart that is always ready to serve. The seemingly mundane tasks are not ones that require any special shape, but they are necessary, and our willingness to do them when necessary demonstrates maturity. Having a servant's heart affects all areas of ministry. When we have this maturity, we actively look for ways we can serve others. We look for others' needs; we accomplish the service despite constraints that we have; we see the value in even the seemingly mundane services; we remain faithful to our ministry, and we do all this outside the limelight.

Through our serving of others, God is not only using our shape, but he is still shaping us. This portion of our ministry overlaps with the purpose of discipleship. It is through our serving of others that we continue to develop humility and integrity. It is through this portion of ministry that God further develops our character to be like Christ to guard against our falling prey to the temptations of ministry envy and ministry projection. This further enhances the results of our primary ministry and others' primary ministry. We cannot ignore or attempt to excuse ourselves from this type of ministry, unless we wish to place limits on our and others' ability to serve others. This secondary portion of our ministry is just as important as our primary, if not more so because of the primary's dependence upon the secondary for its level of effectiveness.

Chapter 34: Thinking Like A Servant

Unfortunately, many people serve in order to satisfy their own needs and desires or to get others to do something for them. Worst yet, some people serve with the mindset that they are making a bargain with God to get something they want out of Him, and "He'd better hold up His end of the deal!" This is not true service; this is manipulation. In order to think like a servant, a complete shift in thinking from what our sin nature and culture promote is required. Thinking like a servant involves moving the focus from one's own self, desires, and purposes, to those of God and others.

Warren contrasts four sets of opposite ways of thinking to explain this. Servants think like stewards not owners. Servants think about their work not others' work. Servants based their identity in Christ not in what they do. Servants see ministry as an opportunity not an obligation. Culture would have us believe that we own everything, focus on criticizing others' ministry in an effort to make ours look better, based our identity and worth in what we accomplish, and see serving others as something that we have to do. On the other hand, servants know that God owns everything (we're just utilizing it for His purposes), that God does not compare our ministry to others' ministry, that our identity is absolutely grounded in Christ, and that serving others is perform out of joy and gratitude for what Christ did for us.

Chapter 35: God's Power In Your Weakness

While we all have strengths that help us identify our primary ministry, we all have weaknesses as well. Some weaknesses are natural for us and others are the result of circumstances. The strengths and weaknesses together form our shape and further help refine our service to others. Warren explains that often, it is not our strengths that make a ministry effective, rather it is our weaknesses. Everyone knows that everyone else has weaknesses, including those serving them. People connect on a personal level more easily with those who are authentic about their weaknesses because they demonstrate a humility and a humanity. When weakness is understood and even openly discussed, God can use that weakness to touch the heart of those we serve.

We may even find that our worst weaknesses end up being our best strengths. Where we are weak is where we can often be the most effective in our ministry. Weaknesses are planned and allowed by God so that we can minister to those who have similar weaknesses. Every feature of our bodies that we may see as a weakness, every event in our lives that dramatically changes the trajectory of our lives for the "worst"- they all have a purpose in God's eternal perspective. If we are willing to admit our weaknesses, be content with our weaknesses, share our weaknesses, and even boast of our weaknesses, God can take each one and give it purpose and meaning for eternity.

Purpose #4: Ministry (My Thoughts for the Apologist)

In the very first chapter of this section, Warren explains the connection between discipleship and ministry. In the previous section Warren talks about how every event in our lives can be used by God to make us more like Christ. So, every event has purpose that directly applies to us. His connection of discipleship to ministry gives those same events an additional purpose of affecting other people. Not only do events have immediate purpose for the character development of the Christian, they have purposes for the service to others further down the road.

In this section, Warren has not just defeated the logical problem of evil and suffering by saying that God could have a purpose for evil and suffering, he has positively identified not just one but two purposes that God does have for evil and suffering in our lives. And when the connection of ministry further builds fellowship and help another to worship the Father "in spirit and in truth, the events in our lives have been shown to have four explicit purposes that our all-loving and all-powerful God has for them.

Next week, we conclude with the final purpose: Evangelism.

Continue on with the review (new links will appear as the parts publish):

Part 1: Created For God's Purpose

Part 2: Created For God's Pleasure (Worship)

Part 3: Created For God's Family (Fellowship)

Part 4: Created To Become Like Christ (Discipleship)

Part 5: Created To Serve God (Ministry)

Part 6: Created For A Mission (Evangelism)