Sermon by The Very Rev Chris Yaw, 1/11/2026
Lessons:
Matthew 3: 13-17
What Is the Point of Your Life?
The Baptism of Jesus
Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ!
Let me start out with a question for you this morning: What is the point of your life?
It's a question that gets answered for us just by growing up in America. And the most popular answer is this: We're here to do things.
We're here to build families.
We're here to make money.
We're here to hold down jobs.
We're here to fix what's broken.
We're here to reconcile the world with Christ!
We're here to give, take, build, make, and do.
Think about when someone asks us to stand up and identify ourselves in a room full of strangers, we give our names and our professions - 'Hi I'm Chris and I'm a priest.' We define ourselves by what we do.
We're judged by what we do - we extract our biggest value and self-worth from what we do. We are judged as valuable or worthless by what we contribute to the world.
What we do identifies us on our most important documents - our diplomas, business cards, even our tombstones: Want to know who you are? Tell me what you do.
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Another answer to that question, 'What is the point of my life?' is that I'm here to be remembered - when all is said and done, I'm here to make a good mark - to have a good reputation - to have people speak well of me.
I was told by my grandfather that you're only as good as your word. And if you shake hands on a deal - it's a deal. You have my word on it. Why? Because what I am is my reputation. My good name. That's why people put their names on buildings, boats, and monuments.
The Bible says our reputations are more valuable than anything - Proverbs 22 says “A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches...”
Don't you love it when someone comes up to you and says, "We were talking the other day and this person said something kind and complimentary about you, your children, your cooking, or whatever...' And it was clear that your name was connected with good things.
Having a good reputation - leaving a good legacy, being remembered well - with your name on a hospital wing - or a war memorial - this is a common answer to that question, 'What is the point of my life?'
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Another answer to that question is that we're here to get stuff.
I'm here to own things - or to experience things - I have a boat, a car, a nice home - or I have traveled the world on vacations to France, been skydiving in Belize, or run a marathon in Boston.
I've fed the kangaroos in Perth, photographed the turtles in Galapagos, skied in Switzerland, played golf at St. Andrew's, danced the Samba in Sao Paulo, and shared a potluck meal at St. David's Annual Meeting in Southfield!
OR I've owned a Porsche, a Picasso, and ancient Chinese porcelain - horses, custom-made suits, and a vacation home on a lake.
We see these stories and images plastered all over our TVs and social media accounts - that we are here to live the 'good life' - filled with possessions and experiences. And because so much of our lives are dominated by advertising and people pushing agendas, that usually lead to our pocket books, we do well to question their motives.
Ever wonder why all those people on TV who claim to have seen the Loch Ness monster are the hotel and restaurant owners around that Scottish lake?
You and I do not have to look far to find that answer to the purpose of life: that We are here to own things and to experience things.
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So given these answers, let's chart the ups and downs of our lives - the impact these things have on us!
And notice that sometimes things are good! It's when we are successful at doing things, we get a promotion, we complete a project - OR we cultivate a solid reputation, winning an award or when others speak well of us, OR we finally get that car or home we want - if we're doing well in all of those areas - then life looks pretty good! We sit back and relish in those mountaintop moments of success!
But if things are not going well - we've gotten laid off, divorced, or sick, OR if we've been publicly embarrassed, or a kid cuts ties with us, OR if we lose the house, or have to cancel a vacation - life is not very good. And we sit back and worry and get sad and depressed while living in the valley.
So that our lives become those medical charts - with ups and downs - peaks and valleys as the years go by - all dependent on how those things are going - and we're never in one place very long - because all of those things are as unpredictable as the weather - some sunny days, some stormy ones, other than Lori Pinson, who knows?
So I'm here to tell you that this entire worldly way of answering the question: "What is the point of my life?" is absolutely, unequivocally, and categorically - wrong!
And the answer to the question of our true identity and our real purpose in life comes to us loud and clear in our Gospel - when the voice from heaven comes down at Jesus' baptism - and says: 'You are my beloved... with whom I am well pleased.'
This is the answer to every identity question you've ever pondered - What is my purpose in life? To be loved.
Henri Nouwen calls it the core truth of our existence - it is that you and I are here to be loved.
Before Jesus had healed a leper, fed a multitude, or talked back to the societal elite who would kill him - God called him 'My beloved... with whom I am well pleased.'
And that's who God calls you.
Now, what do I mean by this?
Let me quote some other scripture for you when God talks about you: Isaiah 43 says this about you “You are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you.” Jeremiah 31 says, “I have loved you with an everlasting love..." 1 John 3 says, "See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God.” Colossians 3 calls us 'God's chosen ones, holy and beloved...'
So instead of claiming our identity on what we do or what we have, we claim our identities on who God says we are: Beloved.
You and I are - first and foremost - objects of God's love - not here primarily to do and to have, but we're here to be.
Our growth in the faith, then, becomes less about church attendance, memorizing Bible verses, volunteering for service activities, or attending rallies - and much more about embracing our belovedness.
If I'm still not being clear - Think of the freedoms that are unlocked as we, live into our belovedness by God - that we don't need to impress anyone - there's no debt to pay - or bill to reduce - or score to settle - that's been done for us:
We no longer do things: Out of a sense of duty to a harsh taskmaster God; Out of a sense of obligation to continue some Divine legacy; Or out of a sense of anxiety and angst against a FOMO God to whom I am not living up to because I have not smelled every rose and tasted every chocolate.
This is why the gospel is so counter-cultural. It brings us peace! This is why the gospel can be so foreign to our hectic, frantic, urgent, and crazy everyday lives!
People don't understand how you can have serenity and contentment in such harrowing times - because they're measuring their purpose and carving out their identities on the false foundations of doing and having - instead of the foundation we've been given by God in Christ - which is being the beloved. No matter what you have done, are doing, or will do - God loves you - and considers you a precious, invaluable, and irreplaceable part of the world. This is why it's gospel - it is good news.
So why do I have such a hard time accepting this and being moved by this very clear revelation regarding my identity - one that is revolutionary and life-changing? Why don't I feel like the Gospel is good news - why do I want to say, 'Thank you pastor, those are wonderful insights but it's kind of esoteric - those are just words in the air - I've got other things on my mind.'?
A few things to consider.
The first is that we're in a hurry.
This is one of the biggest challenges of modern life - we live in a whirlwind - that goes after us whether we like it or now –
That we are constantly surrounded - and influenced - by the scurrying from one thing to the next - like junkies looking for that next dopamine hit - So we don't have the time or make the time - to listen and contemplate that voice from the heavens that has called us beloved.
I get too busy looking for affirmation in other places, that I don't have time to do that. I spend all my time searching for the kingdom of God and forget what Jesus said in Luke 17 that the Kingdom of God is within you.
I once spent 5 minutes looking for my keys, running from room to room, to the car and back, before realizing they were in my pocket - and I suspect you may have done something similar. "Hurry" can rob, steal, and kill us. And the antidote, slowing down, is not rare, expensive, or hard to use - I just need to take it!
Another reason we have a hard time living into our belovedness is because calling me beloved is a compliment - and I have always had a hard time taking compliments.
Somebody says something nice to me and I brush it off, 'Don't mention it, It was nothing...' They write me a nice card, and I skim it then put it aside. I don't take the time to take their compliments seriously - maybe I am not truly present to accept those kind words - so they don't seep in and have the intended affect.
As some of you know, somebody ran a red light and slammed into our car before Christmas, car was totaled, it could have resulted in death or serious injury, but thankfully, everybody's ok. And we found out that in order to recover the loss, we would have to sue the negligent driver.
I have always had a hard time with people suing people. And so my default is not to do that - and to just move on. But then I started to ask the opinions of people around me whom I respect and who have more insight into these kinds of things. And I heard what they had to say and thought about it and prayed about it- and let their words sink in - because I often get all caught up in my head and fail to see things as clearly as I would like because I insist on only seeing it only from my point of view.
And I find that my point of view - and maybe your point of view - about our belovedness needs to be informed by a wider audience than just me in my own head.
Maybe you're trying to be humble - you've been taught to be meek and self-deprecating since you were a child - but that is not helpful to the spiritual life that calls us to accept and nurture our belovedness - to TAKE the compliment - to RECEIVE the blessing. Remember Paul Tillich's famous insight into the ultimate challenge of the spiritual life: 'To accept our acceptance.'
You and I have scripture - we have tradition - we have family and friends - we have a Christian community - that is calling us blessed and beloved:
Maybe our real appreciation for the Good News will finally come when we stop and seriously consider their words - their insight into what we cannot, or are not willing, to see - that we are beloved.
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Now I want to end on this final point of your and my belovedness - because you may be wondering what the upshot of all this is - and that is one of the best things about owning this Good News: the more in-touch we get with our own belovedness, is that the more beloved we treat other people.
The good deeds that come out of our sense of being beloved, do not come out because we want to earn salvation, brownie points, or favor with God - but out of our conviction that we are blessed - which often compels us to bless others.
We live in a world full of people who do not think they are beloved. We have established classes and neighborhoods, and cliques and whole communities of people who are constantly messaged that they are 'less than' - that they are inferior - and not that they are beloved.
There is a thirst, a hunger, a real absence of messaging out there of people reminding people of their belovedness.
Our frenetic world has done away with too many greeting cards and courtesy calls from one person to another - whose sole purpose is to wish them well - to bless them - to remind them of their belovedness - that is in dire need of redemption - by us.
So I want to challenge us to reach out to someone - just needs to be one - this week - with a message of love and care. Call them, text them, visit them. People are starved to be reminded of their belovedness - depression, suicide, societal isolation are all on the uptick - as so many people - our neighbors, relatives, even friends - they have lost touch of their value, their worth, their blessedness - and you and I are called to remind them!
So much of the grinch-ness that's in the air we breathe - in the rudeness, selfishness, and anger that we regularly see in other people, in our communities, in our politics - can be traced to human hearts that have lost touch with their belovedness: because when you know your beloved, you act out of your belovedness - blessing others - not insulting, condemning, or harming them - but walking in love as Christ has loved us.
What is your purpose in life? Not to do or to have - but to be - to be loved - and may each one of us receive and cultivate our belovedness - realizing that this is probably the best gift we can ever give ourselves and our neighbors.
Amen.