Will of God sermon 3 of 5 7/24/11
Will of God sermon series
Circumstantial Will of God sermon 3 of 5
07/24/11
This is the 3rd of 5 sermons on the “Will of God”. I am doing this sermon series because I believe that unless a person has a correct understanding of the will of God, at least as much as a person can have they are unable to fully grasp the role of God in their life and the lives of others.
While I am breaking down the will of God into 3 wills; his intentional, circumstantial, and the ultimate will of God, God does not have 3 wills, but only one perfect will. I am just doing this so that we all will be able to better understand the will of God.
Last week we found out that God’s intentional will is that his human creation is to walk in fellowship with him, do good toward others, and live in harmony with the rest of his creation. That is God’s will.
God’s original will, his intentional will, still exists today, but it is hampered and sometimes even stopped for awhile because we too, just like Adam and Eve don’t fully trust God to do what he said he would do; care for us.
So, because of this, God’s original will is changed, not changed in that his intentional will is no more, but that his will is operating under different circumstances, the circumstances of a sinful human creation that opposes God’s intentional will.
We see his circumstantial will operating even before Adam and Eve were forced out of the Garden of Eden. In Genesis 3 we are told, “The Lord God said to the serpent; ‘Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heal.”
Right there, God’s will while being the same has changed in how it works. God is now operating in a different way, for his human creation is no longer walking in fellowship with him, or treating others as they would want to be treated, nor are they being good caretakers of God’s creation.
Because God loves his human creation so much he had to do something under the circumstances of a sin filled world to bring us back into his intentional will. He promised in that last verse that I read, a Savior that will bring his human creation back into fellowship with him, back to doing good toward others, and living in harmony with the rest of his creation.
That happened in the circumstance of the cross. Jesus could have said that he wanted to just skip the whole bloody affair, but we read in Matthew 26:39 and following, that Jesus prayed to God the Father, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” He prays this prayer three times and it is in that prayer we see God’s intentional will and circumstantial will begin to come together ending up at the cross.
Leslie Weatherhead in his book, The Will of God, gives us a great illustration that should make what I have been saying about how the circumstantial and intentional will of God work in life. He writes, “Think of a father in cooperation with his son planning the boy’s career. The will of both may have been, let us say, that the boy should become an architect. Then comes the war. The father is willing for his son to be in the armed forces, but that willingness is only a circumstantial will for his son, for his intentional will has not changed in the circumstances of evil which produced the war. He still plans on his son being an architect.” It has only been put off for a time.
Just the way the father’s intentional will for his son was temporarily changed under the circumstances of war God’s intentional will for his human creation has temporarily changed because man’s natural inclination to evil has created circumstances that cut across God’s intentional will of good for his human creation.
God used the circumstances of evil in Jesus life to accomplish his intentional purpose of having us walk in fellowship with him, as his redeemed children. Thus we have faith that ultimately in the end we will be with God in the new heaven and earth. His intentional will, will be done.
But what about God’s circumstantial will for our lives as we live them now? A good example is one that we either have or will face in our lives; the problem of disease. When I visit people who are suffering from some terrible disease I hear quite often, “Why did God do this to me.” You see people say that because they know that they have not lived as God wants them to live. They have a guilty conscience and believe they are being punished by God.
The problem is that disease is the result of evil and since God cannot do or make evil, it cannot be from God even if good comes out of it. If disease was Gods’ will, then why has God given us the wonders of science and medicine? If disease is God’s will then why did Jesus heal people? Would he not have been interfering with the Father’s will? Do you see the problem in saying that disease is the will of God
Another example could be that of a woman that cannot have children. Her body, as are all women’s bodies is designed by God to have children. This woman loves children. She has the ability to care for children, but she cannot have children, so she often hears from her Christian friends, “It must be the will of God that you cannot have children.” That statement is false, for God’s intentional will before sin came into the world is that women have children. That is why women are made as they are.
So it cannot be God’s will that she cannot have a child. This is where God’s circumstantial will comes in for this woman. She, because she lives in a sinful world and is sinful herself, has been afflicted with a terrible thing, not being able to have children.
Under the circumstances she could become bitter and angry toward God or feel helpless before God like Job did, for willing this on her, or she can do some type of good which is God’s circumstantial will. While it might not take away the hurt she can adopt or care for other’s children. She can enter professional fields such as being a nurse or a doctor that provides medical care for children. She can become a scientist that tries to discover cures for infertility or children’s diseases, or she can do many other good things all according to the circumstantial will of God.
God’s intentional will is always good. It can be nothing less. God’s circumstantial will thus is always good. God’s intentional will is his alone, while God’s circumstantial will requires, in a sense, our help, our cooperation.
A good example of this is found in Jesus, for even though he knew the horror of pain and death he faced he cooperated with the Father’s circumstantial will, so that God’s intentional will for his creation would be accomplished.
While we will never have the faith that Jesus had, we need to believe in God’s promises that he will not abandon us and that he will give us what we need in the circumstances of our life, so that his will, will be done just as he intended before Adam and Eve sinned. Amen.
Circumstantial Will of God sermon 3 of 5
07/24/11
This is the 3rd of 5 sermons on the “Will of God”. I am doing this sermon series because I believe that unless a person has a correct understanding of the will of God, at least as much as a person can have they are unable to fully grasp the role of God in their life and the lives of others.
While I am breaking down the will of God into 3 wills; his intentional, circumstantial, and the ultimate will of God, God does not have 3 wills, but only one perfect will. I am just doing this so that we all will be able to better understand the will of God.
Last week we found out that God’s intentional will is that his human creation is to walk in fellowship with him, do good toward others, and live in harmony with the rest of his creation. That is God’s will.
God’s original will, his intentional will, still exists today, but it is hampered and sometimes even stopped for awhile because we too, just like Adam and Eve don’t fully trust God to do what he said he would do; care for us.
So, because of this, God’s original will is changed, not changed in that his intentional will is no more, but that his will is operating under different circumstances, the circumstances of a sinful human creation that opposes God’s intentional will.
We see his circumstantial will operating even before Adam and Eve were forced out of the Garden of Eden. In Genesis 3 we are told, “The Lord God said to the serpent; ‘Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heal.”
Right there, God’s will while being the same has changed in how it works. God is now operating in a different way, for his human creation is no longer walking in fellowship with him, or treating others as they would want to be treated, nor are they being good caretakers of God’s creation.
Because God loves his human creation so much he had to do something under the circumstances of a sin filled world to bring us back into his intentional will. He promised in that last verse that I read, a Savior that will bring his human creation back into fellowship with him, back to doing good toward others, and living in harmony with the rest of his creation.
That happened in the circumstance of the cross. Jesus could have said that he wanted to just skip the whole bloody affair, but we read in Matthew 26:39 and following, that Jesus prayed to God the Father, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” He prays this prayer three times and it is in that prayer we see God’s intentional will and circumstantial will begin to come together ending up at the cross.
Leslie Weatherhead in his book, The Will of God, gives us a great illustration that should make what I have been saying about how the circumstantial and intentional will of God work in life. He writes, “Think of a father in cooperation with his son planning the boy’s career. The will of both may have been, let us say, that the boy should become an architect. Then comes the war. The father is willing for his son to be in the armed forces, but that willingness is only a circumstantial will for his son, for his intentional will has not changed in the circumstances of evil which produced the war. He still plans on his son being an architect.” It has only been put off for a time.
Just the way the father’s intentional will for his son was temporarily changed under the circumstances of war God’s intentional will for his human creation has temporarily changed because man’s natural inclination to evil has created circumstances that cut across God’s intentional will of good for his human creation.
God used the circumstances of evil in Jesus life to accomplish his intentional purpose of having us walk in fellowship with him, as his redeemed children. Thus we have faith that ultimately in the end we will be with God in the new heaven and earth. His intentional will, will be done.
But what about God’s circumstantial will for our lives as we live them now? A good example is one that we either have or will face in our lives; the problem of disease. When I visit people who are suffering from some terrible disease I hear quite often, “Why did God do this to me.” You see people say that because they know that they have not lived as God wants them to live. They have a guilty conscience and believe they are being punished by God.
The problem is that disease is the result of evil and since God cannot do or make evil, it cannot be from God even if good comes out of it. If disease was Gods’ will, then why has God given us the wonders of science and medicine? If disease is God’s will then why did Jesus heal people? Would he not have been interfering with the Father’s will? Do you see the problem in saying that disease is the will of God
Another example could be that of a woman that cannot have children. Her body, as are all women’s bodies is designed by God to have children. This woman loves children. She has the ability to care for children, but she cannot have children, so she often hears from her Christian friends, “It must be the will of God that you cannot have children.” That statement is false, for God’s intentional will before sin came into the world is that women have children. That is why women are made as they are.
So it cannot be God’s will that she cannot have a child. This is where God’s circumstantial will comes in for this woman. She, because she lives in a sinful world and is sinful herself, has been afflicted with a terrible thing, not being able to have children.
Under the circumstances she could become bitter and angry toward God or feel helpless before God like Job did, for willing this on her, or she can do some type of good which is God’s circumstantial will. While it might not take away the hurt she can adopt or care for other’s children. She can enter professional fields such as being a nurse or a doctor that provides medical care for children. She can become a scientist that tries to discover cures for infertility or children’s diseases, or she can do many other good things all according to the circumstantial will of God.
God’s intentional will is always good. It can be nothing less. God’s circumstantial will thus is always good. God’s intentional will is his alone, while God’s circumstantial will requires, in a sense, our help, our cooperation.
A good example of this is found in Jesus, for even though he knew the horror of pain and death he faced he cooperated with the Father’s circumstantial will, so that God’s intentional will for his creation would be accomplished.
While we will never have the faith that Jesus had, we need to believe in God’s promises that he will not abandon us and that he will give us what we need in the circumstances of our life, so that his will, will be done just as he intended before Adam and Eve sinned. Amen.
posted by Pastor Rhoads | 4:45 AM
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