WHERE AM I?
Discovering the Life I Am Called to Live
“There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God…”
— Hebrews 4:9
Tonight is not about adding another responsibility to your life.
You don’t have to fix yourself tonight.
You don’t have to develop a five-year plan.
You don’t even have to leave with a perfectly written Mission & Values Statement.
We are simply going to stop for a little while and notice:
Where am I? Who am I? Who is this person beside me? Why am I here?
And perhaps, somewhere in those questions, we will begin to recognize the life God is already inviting us to live.
1. WHERE AM I?
Before asking where we are going, it helps to notice where we actually are.
Not where we should be.
Not where we were ten years ago.
Not where someone else expects us to be.
Where am I — today?
Am I tired?
Grieving?
Content?
Overwhelmed?
Hopeful?
Restless?
Beginning again?
Carrying someone else?
Being carried?
Waiting?
Jesus repeatedly met people where they actually were.
A woman beside a well.
Two discouraged disciples walking toward Emmaus.
A grieving family in Bethany.
A frightened group behind locked doors.
He didn’t begin by handing them an assignment.
He encountered them.
A question to sit with
What is life asking of me right now — and what am I carrying as I answer it?
Take a moment.
There is no correct answer.
2. WHO AM I?
Paul’s letter to the Ephesians has an interesting order.
For three chapters, Paul tells people who they are.
Chosen.
Adopted.
Redeemed.
Loved.
God’s workmanship.
Members of one another.
Only afterward does he begin talking extensively about how they should live.
CALLING → CONDUCT → CONFLICT
Identity comes before behaviour.
Paul doesn’t say:
Behave correctly so that you can become God’s beloved people.
He says:
You are God’s beloved people. Now learn to walk in that reality.
“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
— Ephesians 2:10
So perhaps the question isn’t initially:
What should I be doing?
Perhaps it is:
Who am I becoming as I walk with Jesus?
What has God placed in me?
What matters deeply to me?
What gives me life?
What makes me angry because something precious is being violated?
What suffering has changed me?
What have I learned to love?
What do people consistently receive from me?
These questions begin revealing our values.
3. WHO IS THIS NEXT TO ME?
Look beside you.
For some of us, that person has been there for decades.
And yet this may still be one of the most important questions we can ask:
Who is this person?
Not:
Who do I need them to be?
Not:
Who were they when I married them?
Not even:
Who have I decided they are?
But:
Who are they becoming?
Life changes us.
Grief changes us.
Children change us.
Illness changes us.
Age changes us.
Success and failure change us.
And Christ changes us.
Perhaps loving someone means remaining curious about the person God is still forming beside us.
Ask one another
What matters to you now?
Then listen.
Don’t correct.
Don’t explain.
Don’t solve.
Just listen.
4. WHAT DO I NEED?
Abraham Maslow famously described human needs as something like a hierarchy.
We need things such as:
Safety
Food and rest
Belonging
Love
Dignity
Meaning and purpose
There is wisdom in recognizing that human beings are not machines.
Sometimes what looks like a spiritual problem may simply be exhaustion.
Sometimes the person who thinks, “I should be doing more for God,” desperately needs sleep.
Sometimes we need companionship.
Sometimes we need to grieve.
Sometimes we need someone else to carry something for a while.
Jesus knew this about people.
“Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”
— Mark 6:31
And Scripture contains this remarkable invitation:
“Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest…”
— Hebrews 4:11
Christian life is not frantic activity performed to prove our usefulness to God.
We work from grace.
We serve from belonging.
We move from rest.
5. WHY AM I HERE?
Now we can begin asking about mission.
Not:
What more should I add to my life?
But:
Given who God has made me, what kind of life do I want to offer Him?
Jesus sets us free.
But freedom in Christ isn’t merely freedom from something.
It becomes freedom for something.
“You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.”
— Galatians 5:13
Jesus demonstrated this himself.
He washed feet.
He welcomed outsiders.
He touched people others avoided.
He prayed.
He withdrew.
He ate with people.
He taught.
He confronted.
He wept.
He gave himself.
And then he told his disciples:
“As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”
— John 13:34
Our mission doesn’t have to be spectacular.
It has to be ours.
6. WHAT DO I VALUE?
Before writing a mission statement, try completing these sentences.
I want my life to be characterized by…
The people around me matter because…
Something I never want busyness, fear, success or exhaustion to take away from me is…
When people encounter me, I hope they experience…
When I look back on this season of my life, I hope I will be able to say…
Don’t worry about making these sound impressive.
You’re looking for something true.
7. MY VALUES
Now reduce what you have written to a few words.
Perhaps:
Presence
Faithfulness
Hospitality
Courage
Compassion
Truth
Family
Generosity
Rest
Service
Curiosity
Prayer
Joy
Justice
Belonging
There is no official Christian list.
What are the values God seems to have written particularly deeply into you?
Choose three to five.
1. __________________________
2. __________________________
3. __________________________
4. __________________________
5. __________________________
8. MY MISSION
Now we can finally ask:
Why am I here?
A Mission & Values Statement isn’t a contract.
It isn’t another rule.
It isn’t something somebody else gets to impose upon you.
It is simply an attempt to put words around this question:
Given who I am in Christ, what kind of life do I want to offer God and the people around me?
Try:
My mission is to __________________________ by living with __________________________ so that ________________________________.
Or forget the formula completely.
Write one honest sentence.
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
9. OUR MISSION
Now look around the room.
We are not merely individuals who happen to meet at the same house once a week.
Paul describes us as:
“members of one another.”
— Romans 12:5
So let’s ask the same questions together.
Where are we?
What is happening among us right now?
Who are we?
What kind of people is God forming us to be?
Who is beside us?
Who has God actually placed within reach of us?
Why are we here?
What might God want to give to others through this particular little community of people?
From those questions we can begin discovering:
OUR HOME GROUP MISSION & VALUES
Not imposed.
Not copied from somewhere else.
Discovered together.
AND THEN WE KEEP WIDENING THE CIRCLE…
Once we have begun recognizing our own mission and values, some fascinating questions become possible.
What is our Home Group’s MVS?
What is our church’s MVS?
What is River Valley’s MVS?
And then the biggest question:
WHAT IS GOD’S MISSION?
What does Scripture reveal that God values?
What is He doing in the world?
Where does Jesus fit into that mission?
And perhaps most importantly:
Where does my little life intersect with what God is already doing?
Maybe discipleship isn’t primarily about trying harder to manufacture a meaningful Christian life.
Maybe it begins by discovering that God is already at work—
and learning to recognize where we have been invited to join Him.
CALLING → CONDUCT → CONFLICT
Remember who you are.
Learn to walk in that identity.
Expect resistance.
And when resistance comes:
“Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.”
— Ephesians 6:11
But before the armor…
before the conflict…
before the conduct…
comes the calling.
Remember who you are.
And remember whose you are.
