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The Greeks have this great word,

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telos.

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And telos is a simple word,

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but it means a lot.

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Telos in English more or less

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like this means end.

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But more than just end,

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it also means the idea of goal

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or purpose or function

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for something.

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So when something has a telos,

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it has a purpose and there is a

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sense of goal or direction

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or meaning behind it.

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So the telos of something is

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the thing that it's driving for,

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the thing you're working for.

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An Olympic athlete has a telos.

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An Olympic athlete's telos

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is a gold medal.

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And so that Olympic athlete will

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spending all their waking hours

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thinking about how to

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get to that telos,

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what it's going to mean,

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and they'll invest years and

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years of training and work

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to get to that telos.

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Then the moment arrives and

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they get to the telos,

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they achieve the gold medal.

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That's what it's all about,

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the telos. Well, the key,

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I think,

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to understanding a lot of our

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place in God's plan and how

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we understand character,

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because character fits into this

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is coming to terms with telos.

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Because character is all about

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how are we shaped?

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But if we're going to be shaped,

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we need to be shaped according

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to a pattern or a plan.

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There needs to be some kind

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of goal or pure purpose.

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And that's the point you see,

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God has told us what the telos

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is and the character is to telos

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which is to be conformed

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to God's plan,

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to be what God wants us to be,

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to be what God created me to be.

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So I'm going to be conformed

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to God's plan,

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to conform to his will.

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Well,

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what's God's plan for humans?

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God's plan for me is to do what

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he put me here to do,

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to be fully human.

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That's kind of a nice way

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to think about this,

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to be fully human.

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Everything that God

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created me to be,

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everything I'm intended to be.

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That's what it means to

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be doing my telos.

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And what that looks like then is

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striving to become what God

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designed for me to be.

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So what's the example we have?

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Well, the example of course,

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is Christ himself. Now,

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I'm not saying that Jesus is

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only example. He's our savior.

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That's what he came to do.

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To die, to rise,

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to make us right with

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God vertical,

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righteousness coram deo,

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that's what Christ is about.

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But that's not all.

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He's also clearly, as St.

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Paul tells us, an example.

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And so Christ stands as

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an example.

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Not for how I should do

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every part of my life,

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but an example of what it

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means to be fully human.

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Arriving at God's,

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telos to be what God

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created me to do.

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So in a very real sense,

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Christians are absolutely

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interested in the imitatio

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Christi,

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as they used to put it in the

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Middle Ages or the imitation of

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Christ being like Jesus.

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Not that I walk around water.

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Not that I hang out with the

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disreputable people necessarily.

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But what it means is I'm living

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a fully human life.

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I'm doing what God put me here

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to do. We strive for this,

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always working closer and closer

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to what God would have us do.

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Knowing we always fall short,

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desperately need God's

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forgiveness and yet striving

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anyway. Knowing that ultimately,

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at the last day at the Escaton,

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God will make complete what

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we're holding on to now in hope.

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And the imitatio Christi will be

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complete as we will

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be fully human.

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Everything God ever

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created us to be.

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That's the telos of humanity.

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To be what God designed

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you to be.