Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” The goal of Anchored by Truth is to encourage everyone to grow in the Christian faith by anchoring themselves to the secure truth found in the inspired, inerrant, and infallible word of God.

Script:

However, you are chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, people who belong to God. You were chosen to tell about the excellent qualities of God, who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

1 Peter, chapter 2, verse 9, God’s Word Translation

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VK: Hello! I’m Victoria K. Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. We want to thank you for joining us as we continue a series we began a few weeks ago on Anchored by Truth. We’ve entitled this series “Why am I here?” We wanted to do this series because there has probably never been a time in history in our culture when so many people seem to wonder whether their lives have meaning. One of our listeners recently told us, “So many people, especially younger people, are asking this question either out loud or in their malaise and lack of direction in life.” We agree. So, to help us to continue to see what the Bible has to say about this very important topic, we have RD Fierro back in the studio. RD is an author and the founder of Crystal Sea Books. RD, you entitled this series “Why Am I here?” Before we get too far along would you like to comment on how you believe the widespread belief in evolution has contributed to what our listener called this “malaise and lack of direction in life?”

RD: Well, before I comment on that I would like to add to your thanks to the listeners for tuning in today – whether they’re listening on the broadcast or podcast. We know that people in today’s world have a lot of demands on their time so we’re grateful for anyone who devotes part of their day or week with us. Well, as we’ve mentioned a couple of times during this series anyone who believes in what is often termed the general theory of evolution believes that all life originated with the random collision of some atoms and molecules in some corner of the world eons ago. Charles Darwin talked about “a warm little pond.” Today, evolutionists are more likely to refer to “deep ocean vents” or some other place more exotic. But regardless of where they envision the first life began they are united in the belief that there was no intelligence or design that created life. As such anyone who starts with this foundational premise believes, as Dr. Jonathan Sarfati puts it, we’re all the result of “goo to you via the zoo.”

VK: In other words if all life began as the result of blind, random chance all subsequent life must be the product of a series of blind, random chances. It may be an incredibly long series of such chances but we’re all products of chance.

RD: Right. And there is no way to coherently extract a meaningful purpose for a life that is just the result of a series of blind, random collisions of inanimate particles.

VK: But there are people who are sometimes termed “theistic evolutionists” who believe God created life but then used an evolutionary process to bring about changes down through the millennia. So, we, people, are the product of a god-designed process – just not the process described in the Bible.

RD: And there are extensive problems with the idea of “theistic evolution” but I’ll just quickly mention two. First, it makes God seem like a rather inept designer. We are to believe God was able to put together the first living creature with all of its amazing complexity but not able to go farther and simply create the creatures He really had envisioned. But the second problem is even worse. The Bible is very clear that death in creation is the result of sin.

VK: Such as Romans, chapter 5, verse 12 which says, “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.”

RD: Exactly. So, anyone who tries to envision God using an evolutionary process inevitably winds up in the position of believing that death occurred before man’s first sin. After all, in the evolutionary process all the creatures that were supposedly leading up to man had to die before the first man came into existence. So, this puts death before sin and not after. This presents some very grave Christological and theological problems. I would encourage anyone who would like to explore this topic further to go to creation.com which is the website for Creation Ministries International. They have a wealth of articles on this topic. But let’s get back to your original question. The reason a widespread belief in evolution helps create a crisis of purpose in our culture is because a belief in evolution strips purpose from human existence. Purpose is the opposite of blind, random chance. So, if our existence on this earth is due to random and chaotic events with no design or purpose we are automatically denied a rational basis for asking what our purpose is.

VK: And people sense that even if they have never thought specifically about the chain of reasoning involved. As we often observe on Anchored by Truth all of us view life through a set of starting axioms. If someone’s starting axiom is that there is no God, then, for them, all that exists is the visible universe of matter, energy, time, and space. Well, no one believes that matter, energy, time, or space have personal attributes of intention, purpose, plans, or goals. So, a person without God tries to extract a meaning for their life out of unthinking, uncaring particles or forces. It’s pretty obvious that’s going to be a hopeless endeavor.

RD: Right. So, all that is left for that kind of a worldview is a profound sort of abiding hopelessness. In their worldview they could just as well have not existed as existed. Their existence is just one more cosmic accident because cosmic accidents are all that is possible in an uncreated, undirected universe. It’s little wonder this kind of a starting axiom produces feelings of lack of worth, unimportance, and purposelessness in people who hold to it.

VK: But contrast the starting axiom that God doesn’t exist and therefore all of life and existence is one giant cosmic accident with the axiom that the God of the Bible exists. The God of the Bible is an all knowing, all powerful, loving, and intentional God who created human beings in His image. Therefore, we are all image bearers of the Universal Sovereign. We possess inherent worth and dignity just because we bear His royal image. Our lives have inherent meaning and purpose because a sovereign God created us for a purpose. He can – and does - assign important tasks to us and therefore we are to be about His business. You know, all people sense this truth innately but we are prone to push it off because being the child of a royal, holy God does put limits on our lives.

RD: Yes. Being the child of the sovereign means we have not only inherent worth and dignity but also rights – and responsibilities. And sensing those responsibilities is where the possibility for rebellion against the sovereign comes in. We like the possession of the rights but we’re not so fond of embracing the responsibilities.

VK: If we want to eat fruit from the garden we have to be sure that the tree we’re choosing is one that is intended for us.

RD: Exactly. So, in one form or another all of these are concepts we’ve addressed in the first few episodes in this series. To know why we are here we must be willing to contend with truth and reality. If we’re not willing to contend with truth and reality we are going to attempt to find the meaning for our lives but base that meaning on a faulty proposition, a lie. And to be able to contend with reality we are going to have to know something about God because He created this reality and organized it to suit His purpose.

VK: And to understand God we are going to have to become familiar with the Bible. The Bible tells about God but it does more. It tells about the history of the heavens and earth and the Bible tells where we fit within the grand saga. The grand saga includes not just the creation of the heavens and earth but also the fall and corruption of them. Fortunately, as soon as the fall occurred God began a plan of redemption. And right now we live in the period of history that is set between the first and second coming of God’s designated Messiah and Savior. Knowing all of this allows us to begin the search for our own role in the grand saga. That was one of the points you made in your book, Doors of Destiny. As the children who were the heroes were ending their adventure you wrote: “Now the older children knew that they were not the center of the universe, but they also knew that the universe was a much more magnificent place than they had ever imagined. They found that it was much more satisfying to play a role in a much bigger story than to be confined to the small stories that had formerly occupied so much of their attention.

RD: As we contemplate the question of why we are here we are often expressing a desire to know that we are important and that our lives have meaning. That’s not only a natural question, but I believe it reflects a part of God’s intentional design for the only earthly creature who is described as having been made in God’s own image. The question, why am I here, is part of God’s design to make us turn to Him. Sometimes we will turn to God just for the reassurance of knowing we matter to Him.

VK: But sometimes we will turn to Him to receive direction for our lives. We talked about that in our last show. And we said that we can think about our need for direction in terms of three categories: our characters, our careers, and our callings.

RD: Right. This is not to suggest that these three categories are the only areas of our lives where we need God’s direction. For instance, most Christians will, at one time or another, look to God for direction about our relationships – who we should date or marry. But thinking about our purpose in our life will almost inevitably have connection to our characters, careers, and callings. And since we have covered those topics in our earlier shows I don’t think we need to dwell too much on the Bible’s guidance about characters and careers.

VK: And for anyone who missed those episodes of Anchored by Truth links to those shows are available on our website crystalseabooks.com or on your favorite podcast app. So, today you would like to go more deeply into why we are here as it relates to our callings.

RD: Yes. And just as a brief reminder our careers – essentially our work and vocations – may be connected with our calling as Christians but they don’t have to be. Obviously, ministers, missionaries, etc. have a clear and direct connection between their work and what we are terming their “calling” but all Christians whether in other vocational fields or no vocational field can and should contribute to the expansion of the kingdom of Christ. Plumbers can teach Sunday school even if they don’t have formal training as classroom teachers.

VK: And accountants can serve in food pantries, mechanics can lead small group Bible studies, and full time moms can serve or lead music ministries and a lot of moms are the volunteers staffing our crisis pregnancy centers. In fact you were on the board of a local crisis pregnancy center for over 10 years but your occupation during that time was as a senior, government administrator or a consultant. And we have both known lawyers, clerical staff, nurses, repairmen, etc. who were very effective in church and missions.

RD: Yes. So, one of the big points I really want to get across today is that all Christians have some kind of a calling. It’s not a question of whether we have a calling to serve the kingdom but rather it’s the discovery of what our true calling is.

VK: That’s one reason we used the opening scripture from 1 Peter, chapter 2, verse 9. For convenience sake let me repeat it. However, you are chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, people who belong to God. You were chosen to tell about the excellent qualities of God, who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

RD: That is such a strong scripture for helping us understand that all Christians have been called and have calling. Notice the first phrase in the first sentence says that the people Peter was writing to were “chosen” and then he quickly goes on to say that they belonged to God. Peter was writing to first century Christians who had been widely dispersed most likely because of the intense persecution that was common for Christians in his day. 1 Peter 1:1 says that Peter was writing to “God’s chosen people who are living as foreigners in the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.” That’s the New Living Translation. Pontus, Galatia, and the other places that are mentioned were Roman provinces in present day Turkey.

VK: And Peter said his audience was “living as foreigners” in those provinces. In other words those places were not their native homes.

RD: Right. So, in the first chapter of his letter Peter tells the people he’s writing to they were “chosen” and then he repeats that it chapter 2.

VK: In fact in our opening scripture, which is from the God’s Word Translation, he uses the word “chosen” twice. It’s as though Peter really wants his readers to know they were “chosen!

RD: Indeed. Peter was writing to a widely dispersed group of believers who were far away from home and who were probably still enduring significant persecution. So, one reason he keeps telling his readers they are chosen is because he wants to reassure them that the struggles they are enduring do not mean, in any way, that God has somehow rejected them or has no more use for them. To the contrary Peter is reminding his readers that God still has work for them to do – in other words God still has a purpose for them. There is a reason for them being on this earth.

VK: That’s a good lesson for us today. Resistance to Christianity has been steadily growing for the past two decades at least, so I’m sure there are Anchored by Truth listeners who need to know that this situation is far from new. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t still chosen by God. We are. And increasing resistance to the gospel certainly doesn’t mean that God has abandoned us. He hasn’t, won’t, and can’t. Said plainly, there is a reason we are here.

RD: Yes. We all have a calling to serve the kingdom and Peter gives us insight into what that calling is. He says, “You were chosen to tell about the excellent qualities of God.” That’s a shorthand way of saying that his readers – and us – to tell others about God. And we’re not just supposed to tell them that God exists but we are supposed to tell them about God’s “excellent qualities.” In other words, we are to tell people enough about God that they too can come to a place where they know enough about the one True God to be able to distinguish Him from all the imposters – enough so they will be able to begin to worship God “in spirit and in truth.” And Peter reinforces this purpose by reminding his readers that they were called “out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

VK: So, this is a general instruction about witnessing and testifying but it also tells us so much more. It tells us that we are to continue to be faithful even when time get tough and it tells us that part of the reason we are here is to help call others out of darkness and into God’s marvelous light. But this doesn’t necessarily tell us whether we are to be cooking in the church kitchen for Easter dinner or going to a foreign land to serve as a missionary. How do we know where our calling fits in to the larger narrative?

RD: There is no single answer to that but there are principles that we can derive from the Bible that help us make informed, Godly decisions for ourselves.

VK: But of course we won’t be able to discern any of these principles if we haven’t studied the Bible so we know what it says. What are some of the principles you’re thinking about?

RD: First, we need to make sure we are clear about God’s vision for His church – both the local church and the larger, global church – what is sometimes termed the “invisible church.” There are a wide variety of tasks that are necessary for the proper functioning of a local church but in our day and age some churches have departed from the Biblical model. We need to be sure that as we serve in our local church we serve in roles as they are described within the Bible. Our purpose on Anchored by Truth is not to start criticizing specific practices but only to remind everyone that the church belongs to God not to us. We have to be sure that everything we do conforms to his instructions for his church.

VK: I know you once left a church because that church began encouraging its members to attend worship services of other faiths. While the person who started that program within the church you left may have been well-intentioned the truth is that program is distinctly un-Biblical. God takes worship very seriously. We can stand alongside people from other faiths in many causes such as feeding the hungry or ending abortion – cases that involve general matters of welfare and charity. But we cannot worship alongside them as that would mean violating the 1st and 2nd commandments among other problems.

RD: Right. Again, as we consider out calling within the kingdom of Christ we must be sure that we are focusing on Christ as He has revealed Himself in scripture. We have to work very hard to be sure that the Bible forms the foundation for any ideas we have for how we can contribute to building Christ’s kingdom. Paul warned both Timothy and Titus that false teachers would come into the church hoping for what he termed “dishonest gain.” The simple principle is that as we seek our calling for the kingdom the first principle we must follow is to check the calling we think we’ve gotten and be sure that it is scripturally sound.

VK: I think that’s a pretty basic principle and one which should almost go without saying. What are some other principles we should keep in mind as we seek our calling.

RD: A second thing to realize is that our calling may be singular or it may be plural. In other words God may assign us a task which is ours and ours alone – and we must be prepared to stand alone if that’s what God chooses. But quite often, probably most often, we will be called along with others.

VK: As an example the Apostle Paul initially received his call from Jesus individually. In Acts, chapter 9, Paul, when he was still called Saul, was travelling as part of a group on the way to Damascus. But Acts, chapter 9, verse 7 says “The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone.” That’s the New International Version.

RD: Right. But during Paul’s missionary journeys he had partners and companions. He initially partnered with another believer named Barnabas. But Paul and Barnabas had a disagreement on whether to take a younger believer named John Mark along with them. So, they separated. Paul chose Silas as his new partner while Barnabas and John Mark went their way.

VK: This is an example of another principle we should note. We may receive our calling, start out alone, and later have partners. But the opposite may also happen. Billy Graham initially began his ministry alongside a man named Charles Templeton. But somewhere along the way Templeton lost his faith and Graham continued on alone building what became one of the best known ministries of the 20th century. So, our calling may start out singular and become plural, or start out plural and become singular. Said differently, the circumstances of our calling may change over time. But there is nothing wrong with that. Because things change does not mean we have been ineffective in our calling.

RD: Exactly right. We live in a fallen creation so even when we’re being faithful at serving the Lord change – and, for that matter, difficulties – will come our way. That change may be in the circumstances of our calling or our calling itself may change. Some people receive a lifetime call. Others might only be called in specific ways for a specific time. Once Paul was converted he pursued his calling to be the Apostle to the gentiles for the rest of his life.

VK: Whereas, Nehemiah who restored the walls of Jerusalem in the Old Testament appears to have only episodically worked at Jerusalem’s restoration. In Nehemiah, chapter 2, verse 6 Nehemiah writes, “The king, with the queen sitting beside him, asked, “How long will you be gone? When will you return?” After I told him how long I would be gone, the king agreed to my request.” So, right from the start Nehemiah put a limit on how long he expected to be involved in rebuilding Jerusalem’s walls. But he did later return to address some problems. Nehemiah, chapter 13, verse 6 Nehemiah says, “I was not in Jerusalem at that time, for I had returned to King Artaxerxes of Babylon in the thirty-second year of his reign, though I later asked his permission to return.”

RD: So, before we close for today let’s highlight the principles we have been discussing about knowing our calling – which is one part of knowing why we are here. The first principle we must follow is to check the calling we think we’ve gotten and be sure that it is scripturally sound. The second is to recognize that our calling may be singular or plural. Often we will be alongside others who have been called but if God calls us alone we must be prepared to stand alone.

VK: A third principle we must recognize is that our calling may be continuous or it may be episodic. We may be called at specific times for specific reasons or our initial calling may last a lifetime. And a fourth principle is that our calling or the circumstances of our call may change over time. This does not mean we have been unfaithful or failed. It simply means a sovereign God knows better about what He wants and when He wants it than we can. Our role is to respond prayerfully and faithfully when we can discern what He wants.

RD: And I have one more principle about our calling that I would like to observe. During seasons when we may not be actively involved in a specific calling then that means God is preparing us for what is next. There will never be a time in our life when God does not want us to be serving Him. But there are seasons of life that are similar to the seasons that God designed in the natural world. Sometimes we are to be actively serving and other times we may be resting and preparing for the next season of activity. It takes wisdom to know and follow God’s leading but if we follow His lead He will give us rest when we need it and work to do when we need that.

VK: This sounds like a great time for a prayer. Today let’s listen to a prayer for Christian missionaries who have been sent to bring the light of the gospel to those who need it. Some are sent to far lands but even those of us who are not can be missionaries to our families and friends.

---- PRAYER FOR CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES

VK: Before we close we’d like to remind our audience that a lot of our radio episodes are linked together in series of topics so if they missed any episodes in this series or if they just want to hear one again, all of these episodes are available on your favorite podcast app. To find them just search on “Anchored by Truth by Crystal Sea Books.”

If you’d like to hear more, try out crystalseabooks.com where “We’re not perfect but our Boss is!”

(Bible Quote from the God’s Word Translation)

1 Peter, chapter 2, verse 9, God’s Word Translation