Posted on 02/12/2005 6:49:09 PM PST by P-Marlowe
Excerpts from Rick Warren's
The Purpose-Drivenâ Life
What On Earth Am I Here For?
It's not about you. The purpose of your life is far greater than your own personal fulfillment, your peace of mind, or even your happiness. It's far greater than your family, your career, or even your wildest dreams and ambitions. If you want to know why you were placed on this planet, you must begin with God. You were made by God and for God, and until you understand that, life will not make sense.
Planned For God's Pleasure
Bringing pleasure to God is called "worship." It is the first and primary purpose of your life. The Bible says, "The Lord is pleased with those who worship him and trust his love."1 Anything you do that brings pleasure to God is an act of worship.
Depending on your religious background, you probably need to expand your understanding of "worship." You may think of church services with singing, praying and listening to a sermon. Or you may think of ceremonies, candles and communion. Or you may think of healing, miracles, and ecstatic experiences. Worship can include these elements, but worship is far more than these expressions. Worship is a lifestyle.
Your spiritual family is even more important than your physical family because it will last forever. Our families on earth are wonderful gifts from God, but they are temporary and fragile, often broken by divorce, distance, growing old and inevitably, by death. On the other hand, our spiritual family -- our relationship to other believers -- will continue throughout eternity. It is a much stronger union, a more permanent bond, than blood relationships. On earth, it is called fellowship.
Often we act as if relationships are something to be squeezed into our schedule. We talk about finding time for our children, or making time for people in our lives. That gives the impression that relationships are just a part of our lives along with many other tasks. But God says relationships are what life is all about.
Biblical fellowship is being as committed to each other as we are to Jesus Christ! God expects us to give our lives for each other. It is God's second purpose for your life.
Four of the Ten Commandments deal with our relationship to God while the other six deal with our relationship to each other. But all of them are about relationships! Later, Jesus summarized what matters most to God in two statements: love God and love people. After worship, learning to love others is the second purpose of your life.
Created to Become Like Christ
From the very beginning, God's plan has been to make you like his son, Jesus. This is your destiny, and the third purpose of your life. God announced this intention at creation: "Then God said, ‘Let us make human beings in our image and likeness.'"2
God's ultimate goal for your life on earth is not comfort, but character development. He wants you to grow up spiritually and become like Christ. Becoming like Christ does not mean losing your personality or becoming a mindless clone. God created your uniqueness, so he certainly doesn't want to destroy it. Christlikeness is all about transforming your character, not your personality.
--more--
Excerpts from The Purpose-Drivenâ Life/page two
Let me be absolutely clear - You will never become God, or even a god. That prideful lie is Satan's oldest temptation . . . This desire to be god shows up every time we try to control our circumstances, our future and people around us. But as creatures, we will never be the Creator. God doesn't want you to become a god, he wants you to become godly -- possessing his moral character.
God formed every creature on this planet with a special area of expertise. Some animals run, some hop, some swim, some burrow, and some fly. Each has a particular role to play, based on the way they were shaped by God. The same is true with humans. Each of us was uniquely designed, or "shaped,"to do certain things. You were shaped to serve God. Your service is called your "ministry"and it is the fourth purpose of your life.
Only you can be you. God designed each of us so there would be no duplication in the world. No one has the exact same mix of factors that make you unique. That means no one else on earth will ever be able to play the role God planned for you. If you don't make your unique contribution to the Body of Christ, it won't be made.
Serving is the opposite of our natural inclination. Most of the time we're more interested in "serve us"than service. Immature people say "I'm looking for a church that meets my needs and bless me,"not "I'm looking for a place to serve and be a blessing." We expect others to serve us, not vice versa. But as we mature in Christ, the focus of our lives should increasingly shift to living a life of service. What matters is not the duration of your life, but the donation of it.
God is at work in the world, and he wants you to join him. This assignment is called your mission. God wants you to have both a ministry in the Body of Christ and a mission in the world. Your ministry is your service to believers, and your mission is your service to unbelievers.
The mission that Jesus had while on earth is now our mission since we are the Body of Christ. What he did in his physical body, we are to continue as his spiritual body, the church. What is that mission? Introducing people to God! The Bible says, "Christ changed us from enemies into his friends and gave us the task of making others his friends also."3
When you became a believer, you also became God's messenger. God wants to speak to the world through you. Paul said, "We speak the truth before God, as messengers of God."... Your Life Message has four parts to it: Your testimony: the story of how you began a relationship with Jesus; Your life lessons: the most important lessons God has taught you; Your godly passions: the issues God shaped that you care about most; The Good News: the message of salvation
1 Psalm 147:11 CEV
2 Genesis 1:26 NCV
3 2 Cor. 5:18 TEV
If you are looking for good Bible exposition in that corrupt mess called the Catholic Church, you'll NEVER find it.
Just wondering. It seems that most of Rick's critics have never seen one of his services.
I attended there for several years and am still a member, so I have a better handle than many on what he's about.
It is none of my buisness what the next papal announcement is about. I won't offer an opinion about it. You see, I have enough sense to stay out of discussions which don't involve my chosen faith.
One of the dispensational views on the Seven Churches is that it is a rather general description of the Christian churches over the Church Age. It is imprecise and not descriptive of ALL churches during a particular era.
I would say that the church I attend has shortcomings as well. There could be a midweek prayer and Bible study for instance. Yet, on Sunday mornings, the worship is reverent and there is good expository teaching. I'd hope it would be categorized as somewhat like Philadelphia.
There is another poster on this thread who views the long-standing existence of the Catholic Church as ample reason to follow their example.
Neither growth nor tradition is how we should judge the value of a local church. Rather, we should judge it on the basis of the quality of teaching and worship.
Attendance and first hand experience does not make up for weakness in exegesis and writing. Particularly when he is telling people that they will be transformed by learning and following his principles. And those principles are just not supported. If what he says and does at Saddleback stayed at Saddleback - fine. But he is trying to export what he is doing there to the rest of the country. And those of us with experience in the same field finding his writing suspect, at best.
Sorry, but that is just the reality. Experience does not excuse poor teaching and scholarship. We are told to "rightly divide the Word of God" that we "need not be ashamed." I fear that Rick Warren has much to be ashamed of in his books and email newsletters that I have read.
A paraphrase is nothing more than a translation that includes some commentary. In that sense it is no different than expository preaching. If that is the best criticism you have of Warren's work, then I'd have to conclude that there is little to criticize.
Your criticisms of Warren are generalized and cliche'. I don't know the first thing about Warren, but the excerpts from his book certainly seem orthodox and true.
I posted this to see whether or not anyone could justify the criticisms that have been bandied about in regard to Warren, but so far all I've seen is rumor and innuendo in regard to his qualifications and his success.
The link that you posted criticized him not because his book was filled with errors, but because his theology was simple and that his thinking was not deep. But the book was not directed at seminary trained former pastors, but the simple minded and gentle hearted people who shop at the Wal Marts of the world where the book has seen its greatest success.
The pews of the world are not filled with theologians LK, they are filled with simple people most of whom would not know the difference between soteriology and eschatology if their life depended on it. They are looking for a clear and simple explanation of what it is that God expects of them and what they can do to grow closer to him.
From what SandyInSeattle says, it would seem that Mr. Warren's book fills a need that you don't have. But that doesn't mean that others don't have that need and it doesn't mean that Warren's book is useless in providing for it.
The fact is that most every Church has elements of Philadelphia and most every Church has elements of Laodecia. If Warren were teaching that homosexualism was OK with God or some of the other abominations that are being bandied about by the mainstream churches of this country, then I'd say his ministry should be roundly condemned. But he certainly should not be raked over the coals because he feeds his sheep too much milk. He has a lot of sheep to feed.
At 0113 I am not prepared to give examples. But, what you have said is not true. There are a number of examples, many cited in the works that I linked, that change the meaning of the cited Scriptures.
I acknowledge that the pews are not filled with theologians, but that is no excuse for those charged with the responsibility for teaching the Word of God to distort what it says to make a point. Oddly enough, the fact that the pews are not filled with theologians is the fault of the preachers and teachers who don't feel the need to teach the whole counsel of God. I dare say the people in the pews could not begin to handle the sermons of great preachers of the past like Charles Spurgeon, John Calvin, etc. We have so watered down the preaching today, and have become so self-centerd, focusing more on how can I survive this life, rather than looking towards heaven, that we have lost the depth in the pew that would never accept a book like Rick Warren's - and that is to the shame of the pastor/teachers who should know better.
Maybe at your church. But it is not universal. There are many large churches that fill the pews with people eager to learn the whole counsel of God. And many large Churches fill that need. Those churches tend to grow rapidly. You mention Charles Spurgeon. Spurgeon was the pastor of the largest congregation on England. You seem to have nothing but praise for him. I've read many of his sermons, and he was NOT an expository preacher. He did not extensively quote Bible verses and did not go through the whole bible one verse at a time. He used illustrations and his sermons were fairly "entertaining" for their day. Rick Warren may not be a Spurgeon, but, as the quotes above illustrate, he certainly isn't the Anti-Christ.
I view Cal Thomas as sort of a Bill Kristol lite.
You mean sort of like the way Jesus preached?
Have you been involved with the Worldview 'Mere Christianity' seminars?
Here are some that show he is putting his book above others - on a level with the Living Word. He is saying that it is his book, not the Word, not the Holy Spirit who will give you spiritual life. It is subtle, but it is very definetly there. Not all will see it though.
This is more than a book; it is a guide to a 40-day spiritual journey that will enable you to discover the answer to life’s most important question: What on earth am I here for? By the end of this journey you will know God’s purpose for your life and will understand the big picture—how all the pieces of your life fit together. Having this perspective will reduce your stress, simplify your decisions, increase your satisfaction, and, most important, prepare you for eternity.
This book is divided into 40 brief chapters. I strongly urge you to read only one chapter a day, so you will have time to think about the implications for your life. The Bible says, “Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do.” One reason most books don’t transform us is that we are so eager to read the next chapter, we don’t pause and take the time to seriously consider what we have just read. We rush to the next truth without reflecting on what we have learned.
Don’t just read this book. Interact with it. Underline it. Write your own thoughts in the margins. Make it your book. Personalize it! The books that have helped me most are the ones that I reacted to, not just read.
You can go to the Purpose Driven site and read the first 3 chapters. Plus I posted some of those paragraphs.
How sad but true. The me centered "worship" is disheartening. And the dumbing down is a real discredit to the folks in the pews in all honesty.
I haven't ever been there.
This razzle-dazzle entertainment approach might add to the numbers but It was not AT ALL reverent or edifying.
So the only way to worship God is with hymns written 200 years ago? Have you read Psalm 150?
It is merely Pentecostal hoopla without the tongues.
And getting excited about God is wrong because...?
As has been pointed out, Warren's tome is a series of meditations. If he's able to coax lukewarm believers into thinking about God for forty days, he's accomplished something considerable.
I think some of the theological and biblical purists are just jealous that they didn't think of this approach first.
bump for later reading
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