Why do you have to use a referance point to determine whether or not an object is in motion

Because there's no such thing as "really" moving.  
ALL motion is always relative to something.

Here's an example:
You're sitting in a comfy cushy seat, reading a book and listening 
to your .mp3 player, and you're getting drowsy.  It's so warm and 
comfortable, your eyes are getting so heavy, finally the book slips 
out of your hand, falls into your lap, and you are fast asleep.

-- Relative to you, the book is not moving at all.
-- Relative to the seat, you are not moving at all.
-- Relative to the wall and the window, the seat is not moving at all. 
-- But your seat is in a passenger airliner.  Relative to people on the 
    ground, you are moving past them at almost 500 miles per hour !
-- Relative to the center of the Earth, the people on the ground are moving
   in a circle at more than 700 miles per hour.   
-- Relative to the center of the Sun, the Earth and everything on it are moving
   in a circle at about 66,700 miles per hour !  

How fast are they REALLY moving ?
There's no such thing.
It all depends on what reference you're using. 

The answer is because the reference points allows you to determine whether or not the position changes.