Message
"Heavenly Styled Service"
A Sermon On 1 Peter 1:10-12
As soon as we start to talk about the will of God all sorts of questions arise don’t they.
It happens in relation to our career
• sometimes we have setbacks.
• there are times when we have a few false starts.
• a mid-life crisis can also happen.
Our questions about God’s will certainly arise when we think about our future partners and marriage.
• who has God got in store for me?
• how long should we wait before getting serious?
• have we got what it takes to last?
• when will the right person come along?
Most of us have had enough experience of life to know that the questions have arisen again and again.
• what house should we buy? when? where? do we sell and move on?
• what school should our children go to? will we be able to afford it?
• what investments should we make? how much risk should we take?
Then of course we can turn the question around.
• is it God’s will that we are going through an incurable disease?
• is it God’s will when a teenager is killed in a car accident?
• the current issues surrounding the events in Syria … is that God’s will?
That’s what happens when we begin to talk about God’s will doesn’t it. Question after question arises. And we can all think of times when we have been perplexed, and even somewhat frustrated, as we have sought to understand God’s will.
But is this the track Jesus wants us to take when we pray Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven?
When it comes to God’s will Are we meant to straight away fall into a cycle of questions, perplexity and frustration? That isn’t the impression we get from the Scriptures.
Read Luke 12:42-48
Here the master is God/Jesus and we are the managers – we have been given great responsibility. And the parable makes it very clear that it is possible, very possible, that we can do what God wants.
That servant who knows his master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what his master wants will be beaten with many blows
• the master would have clearly spoken about what was required.
• the will has been revealed and the response is clear.
• it would be unfair to be beaten for something that you didn’t know you had to do.
It is very evident here that the will of the master brings clarity, not confusion, not questions, not second guessing.
You see we need to recognise that there are many aspects of life which God has told us what His will is.
Career.
Maybe not a specific career, but we are told how to go about it.
• Honouring those in charge.
• Not abusing slaves/ those under us.
• Acting with integrity even when no-one is watching.
Using these actions as our guidelines we can go into many jobs with success and enjoyment. It isn’t the specific job but the attitude.
Relationships
Not told who to marry by name. But we are told how to make it happen.
• Same faith.
• Love.
• One-another passages.
• Avoiding lust
Do this and God will bring us to that person which He has in mind for us.
When we pray Your will be done we are not looking to have all the answers or know how everything is going to turn out … we are not praying about that which is uncertain.
Rather Your will be done is a prayer of certainty; a prayer of specific action.
What we are asking is that we will follow the call to live in obedience recognising that the Scriptures give us an amazing amount of direction in life if we are willing to follow that direction.
It isn’t so much about answers, as about attitude.
And the sort of attitude Jesus is looking for is spelt out specifically in the prayer.
Our Father in Heaven.
Hallowed be Your Name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
You may not have seen this before but
When it comes to the will of God we take our lead from the angels.
Ours is to be a heavenly styled service. Therefore the example of the angels is the example we follow. When we look at the actions of the angels we find a compelling example.
The angels are unwavering in their service.
They serve without question despite the circumstances which prevail. Despite what logic might say the angels do nothing more or less then what is commanded.
The arrest of Jesus is an excellent example of this. In an effort to protect his Lord impetuous Peter draws his sword. But Jesus says put it away for there are 12 legions of angels ready.
How those angels must have longed to come down and protect the Lord
… expand:- and talk about their relationship with Him.
They couldn't understand what He was doing
… expand:- why would He want to have His life taken and give Himself over to the traps of the enemy.
Yet they angels were unwavering … despite the questions they have about how it should go the angels waited knowing that Jesus knew what was best.
Another aspect of the service of the angels has to do with their obedience.
The angels are never half-hearted, nor do they leave anything undone.
If they are called to go to the virgin Mary, they go.
If they are called to celebrate the birth of the Saviour, they go.
If, as Heb.1:14 tells us, they are sent to serve those who will inherit salvation they go.
Even the archangels Gabriel and Michael, those who have the highest ranks in the angelic world, are sent by God on errands
… expand:- so powerful, yet so willing.
Angelic obedience, the type of obedience which needs to be evident in our service to God, never misses one iota of any command. Nothing is ever left undone by them. This is the nature of the service which the angels give to Jesus. When we pray Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven we need to look to this service and learn from it. Giving joyful, unquestioning service to our Lord as we seek to live for His glory and as we seek to put into place that which He has shown us in His word.
That is a challenge isn’t it. For when it comes to following God’s will we do struggle. In fact
When it comes to the will of God we must admit that we can be “unangelic” at times.
We can be like Julian the Roman Emperor. Julian wanted to reverse the decision of Emperor Constantine who decreed that Christianity should be the religion of the Roman world. Julian wanted to go back to the pagan ways and reintroduce worship, and service, and ceremonies which were dedicated to the ancient “gods”. He didn’t get his way and, in the end, he was mortally wounded in battle. As he lay bleeding to death, he took a handful of his blood and tossed it into the air, saying, “You have conquered, O man of Galilee”. Yes he accepted God’s will … but he did so through clenched teeth. We can be like that can’t we
We can be “unangelic” by accepting God’s will through clenched teeth.
But we can also be different. When it comes to the will of God we can be more like those who have a boss who is intolerable.
• employees come up with good ideas.
• but the boss is always right.
• employees know it is not worth arguing against.
• in the end they just give up, “Have it your way we don’t care”.
We can be like that too can’t we.
We can be “unangelic” by grudgingly accepting that God’s mind can’t be changed.
If it was our choice then we would take a different approach. But it is not our choice so we don’t care and can’t be bothered. We can be like that.
We can also be different in our approach to God’s will. This time the example comes out of parenting. If you’re a parent, or have even seen parenting in action, I'm sure you can relate to the following scenario.
There are times when parents must direct their children in the way they should go. Times when the will of the parent must come into action.
And there are times when a child will eventually obey … but only after they kick and scream and make a fuss – knowing all along that the direction of the parent will come about.
We can be like that as well.
We can be “unangelic” by kicking and screaming against God even though we know His will must be done.
We don’t like the fact that God is in charge and we do all we can to scream and whinge and complain all the way. Fighting against God and His decisions.
It happens doesn’t it. But the third petition in the Lord’s prayer Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven calls us to fight against such an approaches.
Not acceptance through clenched teeth.
Not a resigned shrug of the shoulders.
Not kicking and screaming all the way.
But having the attitude of the angels
Can you do that? Can you match the angels in their attitude to do the will of God?
Read 1 Peter 1:10-12 (summarize 3-9)
Even angels long to look into these things.
Do you see something there? This passage is saying you have an advantage over the angels. You have something they want.
… despite the way in which the angels give their service with speed, completeness and perfection.
… and despite the fact that they are allowed to stand in the presence of the One who created them.
… and despite the fact that angels don’t waver or question.
Despite all this our desire to do the will of God can be filled with more vigour, completeness and zeal – even more than that of the angels.
Unlike the angels, we know the depths from which Jesus rescued us so that we could be His precious children.
The angels do not know what it is like to have a debt of sin taken away by grace – for they never sinned. But we know.
The angels don’t understand the mystery of undeserved favour from God – but we do.
The angels could not even fathom what joy we have in our heart – but the joy of redemption is there.
And that knowledge should be an empowering jolt in the way we go about living God’s will. The joy of the service which the angels give should be outshone by our own joyful service – for we have been given so much more from the hand of God.
Unlike the angels, we have been brought into a renewed living relationship with the Father in heaven.
That is how we start the Lord’s prayer … our Father in heaven. We do so …
… recognising that there was a time when we didn't accept Him as our Father.
… recognising that we would never have accepted Him as our Father were it not for the fact that He came to call us His precious children.
And even as we say the Lord’s Prayer we have to admit that there is a long way to go.
Instead of speed there is hesitancy.
Instead of completeness there is half-heartedness and complaint.
Instead of joy there is slackness.
We have had moments of clenched teeth, and resigned shrugs of the shoulder, and even a little bit of kicking and screaming.
When it comes to doing God’s will we have a long way to go … if we always focus on our ability and our response.
But we can’t focus only on our ability and our response … we have to see what God is doing.
God is at work in a powerful way.
God does give us much direction and guidance and ability to focus.
God has put us in a position to give heavenly styled service.
We can give service that even outshines that of the angels.
We just need to be ... willing.
Prayer
