Will of God sermon 5 08/03/08
Will of God (How to know the will of God & then apply it) sermon 5
08/03/08
For the past four Sundays we have been studying the will of God. It is an important subject, for without knowing the will of God a person can have a really mixed up view of God. And that mixed up view of God, while having nothing to do with one’s salvation, for we are told that if we confess our sins and believe that Jesus is our Savior we are saved, can color our view of God in such a way that we cannot enjoy the blessings he showers upon us daily.
You see, if you see God as the big guy in the sky controlling all that you or anyone else does you have a wrong understanding of God. That understanding can leave you depressed, to say the least, and can lead to all kind of questions concerning the goodness of God. Questions like why is there evil? Why does it seem like the good die young? Why are there terrible events in nature and so forth.
If you see God as a god who for the most part just lets the world do its own thing, except for an occasional tweaking can also get you into a false understanding of God. To believe God is not active in our lives is to live by chance. It is to live eventually without hope. And to live without hope will lead you to live a life of despair or on the opposite side you live a hedonistic life; that is a life based on self-gratification in spite of who it effects.
But when you know God, at least as much as you can know him according to his Holy Word, you can live a peaceful life knowing you can no longer be condemned for your sin by God. While that is indeed a wonderful thing, we still, since we are living as sinful people in world corrupted by sin still suffer from sickness, accidents, war, natural catastrophes, and eventually death, the evils caused by sin.
That is not what God intended. This is what I mean. In the beginning God’s intentional will was that his human creation would walk in fellowship with him and do good. Adam and Eve sinned. The circumstances changed since they no longer walked in fellowship with him and did not do good as he desired, so God’ intentional will had to worked out in a different manner. A price had to be paid, for their disobedience since it not only affected them, but all people plus the creation itself which groans for release.
This still goes on today, as we are all painfully aware, but all is not lost. There is hope for Jesus, on the cross brought together God’s intentional and circumstantial will so that God’s ultimate will, could be done. On that bloody cross a completely innocent man was murdered; an evil act. But God, being all powerful took that evil act and turned it into good, in that through this evil act we are now at peace with God. The punishment has been dealt and can no longer be levied against us. God’s intentional will, will at the end of time be ultimately accomplished. We, who believe in Jesus as our Savior will be brought out of our graves, reunited with our souls, and spend eternity walking in fellowship with God and doing good.
The problem is that while we believe and trust in God’s promises we need to know God’s will for us now. At least we think we do. As I have studied the will of God I have found out that our search for the will of God in our present lives shows a fundamental lack of trust in God. If we truly trusted in God we would not even be asking about the will of God in our lives, for we know that, according to his Holy Word that he wants us to walk in fellowship with him and do good. That is his will.
We know that, but we do not fully trust in God. In fact, we are incapable of fully trusting in him. Oh, we say we do when times are going good or we have nowhere else to turn, but even then we like to hang on to at least a little corner of the problem we say we have turned over to God, just in case we need to take care of it ourselves. That is the way we all are, some more than others, but we all want to be in control of our lives to some extent or other.
Since that is the way we are here are some ideas that might be of help to you, so that you might better trust God’s will in your lives. First of all, where is the best place to find out about God’s will for your life? In his book of course, for 1 Thessalonians 4:3-7 tells us, “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, 5 not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; 6 that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. 7 For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness.”
I am amazed at the number of people that go searching for God’s will in their lives, but do not want to spend any time in God’s Word, where with a little study you find God’s will for your life.
The next thing way you can find God’s will for your life is by listening to your conscience or that little voice inside you, that warns you that trouble lies ahead. I cannot tell you the number of times I have not listened to what I call my gut feeling and gotten into trouble. After the fact, I found through careful examination that if I had followed my gut feeling I would have certainly been doing the will of God, because it met the criteria, that is walking in fellowship with God, at least as much as I can, and doing good.
Another way to find out the will of God in your life is to talk it over with other active Christians, that is, those who study the Word of God. I have used this quite often and it is amazing, although it should not be amazing, that other Christians, when I have asked for it, have such good insight into the will of God in my life. To find the will of God is not that hard as you can see.
The problem is that we, I am certain of this, are too many times when we are looking for the will of God in our life, we are really wanting our will, our desires to be rubber stamped by God. We don’t want to change, for we want to do what we want to do, even when we know it is against God’s will.
I pray that this short sermon series on the will of God has opened up for you a better understanding of God and his will for you; that is to walk in fellowship with him whatever the circumstances of life and doing good. Sounds easy does it not?
But it is not easy, for when you really open up to letting God’s will be done in your life, it will not be easy, for God’s will does not match the world’s will or your will, for that matter. That is the wonderful thing about God’s will. It does not match the world’s will, or your will, or my will, or anyone else’s will. God’s will is perfect and it will ultimately be done. That is a good thing. Amen
08/03/08
For the past four Sundays we have been studying the will of God. It is an important subject, for without knowing the will of God a person can have a really mixed up view of God. And that mixed up view of God, while having nothing to do with one’s salvation, for we are told that if we confess our sins and believe that Jesus is our Savior we are saved, can color our view of God in such a way that we cannot enjoy the blessings he showers upon us daily.
You see, if you see God as the big guy in the sky controlling all that you or anyone else does you have a wrong understanding of God. That understanding can leave you depressed, to say the least, and can lead to all kind of questions concerning the goodness of God. Questions like why is there evil? Why does it seem like the good die young? Why are there terrible events in nature and so forth.
If you see God as a god who for the most part just lets the world do its own thing, except for an occasional tweaking can also get you into a false understanding of God. To believe God is not active in our lives is to live by chance. It is to live eventually without hope. And to live without hope will lead you to live a life of despair or on the opposite side you live a hedonistic life; that is a life based on self-gratification in spite of who it effects.
But when you know God, at least as much as you can know him according to his Holy Word, you can live a peaceful life knowing you can no longer be condemned for your sin by God. While that is indeed a wonderful thing, we still, since we are living as sinful people in world corrupted by sin still suffer from sickness, accidents, war, natural catastrophes, and eventually death, the evils caused by sin.
That is not what God intended. This is what I mean. In the beginning God’s intentional will was that his human creation would walk in fellowship with him and do good. Adam and Eve sinned. The circumstances changed since they no longer walked in fellowship with him and did not do good as he desired, so God’ intentional will had to worked out in a different manner. A price had to be paid, for their disobedience since it not only affected them, but all people plus the creation itself which groans for release.
This still goes on today, as we are all painfully aware, but all is not lost. There is hope for Jesus, on the cross brought together God’s intentional and circumstantial will so that God’s ultimate will, could be done. On that bloody cross a completely innocent man was murdered; an evil act. But God, being all powerful took that evil act and turned it into good, in that through this evil act we are now at peace with God. The punishment has been dealt and can no longer be levied against us. God’s intentional will, will at the end of time be ultimately accomplished. We, who believe in Jesus as our Savior will be brought out of our graves, reunited with our souls, and spend eternity walking in fellowship with God and doing good.
The problem is that while we believe and trust in God’s promises we need to know God’s will for us now. At least we think we do. As I have studied the will of God I have found out that our search for the will of God in our present lives shows a fundamental lack of trust in God. If we truly trusted in God we would not even be asking about the will of God in our lives, for we know that, according to his Holy Word that he wants us to walk in fellowship with him and do good. That is his will.
We know that, but we do not fully trust in God. In fact, we are incapable of fully trusting in him. Oh, we say we do when times are going good or we have nowhere else to turn, but even then we like to hang on to at least a little corner of the problem we say we have turned over to God, just in case we need to take care of it ourselves. That is the way we all are, some more than others, but we all want to be in control of our lives to some extent or other.
Since that is the way we are here are some ideas that might be of help to you, so that you might better trust God’s will in your lives. First of all, where is the best place to find out about God’s will for your life? In his book of course, for 1 Thessalonians 4:3-7 tells us, “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, 5 not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; 6 that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. 7 For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness.”
I am amazed at the number of people that go searching for God’s will in their lives, but do not want to spend any time in God’s Word, where with a little study you find God’s will for your life.
The next thing way you can find God’s will for your life is by listening to your conscience or that little voice inside you, that warns you that trouble lies ahead. I cannot tell you the number of times I have not listened to what I call my gut feeling and gotten into trouble. After the fact, I found through careful examination that if I had followed my gut feeling I would have certainly been doing the will of God, because it met the criteria, that is walking in fellowship with God, at least as much as I can, and doing good.
Another way to find out the will of God in your life is to talk it over with other active Christians, that is, those who study the Word of God. I have used this quite often and it is amazing, although it should not be amazing, that other Christians, when I have asked for it, have such good insight into the will of God in my life. To find the will of God is not that hard as you can see.
The problem is that we, I am certain of this, are too many times when we are looking for the will of God in our life, we are really wanting our will, our desires to be rubber stamped by God. We don’t want to change, for we want to do what we want to do, even when we know it is against God’s will.
I pray that this short sermon series on the will of God has opened up for you a better understanding of God and his will for you; that is to walk in fellowship with him whatever the circumstances of life and doing good. Sounds easy does it not?
But it is not easy, for when you really open up to letting God’s will be done in your life, it will not be easy, for God’s will does not match the world’s will or your will, for that matter. That is the wonderful thing about God’s will. It does not match the world’s will, or your will, or my will, or anyone else’s will. God’s will is perfect and it will ultimately be done. That is a good thing. Amen
posted by Pastor Rhoads | 1:25 PM
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