“Can” Does Not Mean “Will”
Scripture: Hebrews 6:18-19; Hebrews 11:1; Philippians 4:12-13
The title of my message this morning is “Can Does Not Mean Will.” Simply put, just because you can do something does not mean that you will actually do it. The core definition of the word “can” is “to have the ability, knowledge, or opportunity to do something.” However, one of the definitions of the word “will” is “to indicate the inevitability of something happening or being true.” Within this definition I want you to focus on the word “inevitability.” That word means “impossible to avoid or to prevent from happening.” The first thing I want you to remember this morning is this: just because you “can” and have the ability to do something does not mean that you have the “will” to do it or that you “will” do it. This will become much clearer as I get into the message.
Several years ago I was having a conversation with a friend about hope and faith. We were discussing what we thought was one of the most important things to instill in a congregation. He expressed his position that hope comes before faith while I expressed I believed that it was hard to have hope without having faith. At that time I was attending a church where everything was about faith. Contrary to what I believed at that time, I have learned through the years that what he said was more in line with Scripture than what I had believed. Faith is truly important, but people also need hope and sometimes it’s that hope for something different that leads to their faith bringing it into reality. The writer of Hebrews said this, “(17) In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath, (18) so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us. (19) This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil.” (Hebrews 6:17-19) Paul speaks of the hope that we have in Christ – that it guarantees our safety. Later in the 11th chapter, verse 1, he says: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” What Paul says plainly is that we must first have hope and then our faith will bring what we hope for into reality. I will deal with this more at a later date. However, this morning I want you to think about how hope and faith impacts what we “can” do and what we “will” do.
But before we do that, I want to point out the definitions of the word “hope” in these two passages. They are different but communicate the same message. In Hebrews 6:18, hope is the “desire of some good with the expectation of obtaining it.” In Hebrews 6:19, hope is “something you have and hold, implying continued possession.” In Hebrews 11:1, hope means “to expect and desire.” I wanted to point this out because sometimes it seems that when we talk about hope, we talk about it in terms of “wishing for something.” But that’s not how the word is used in Scripture. In Scripture, when we truly have hope – when we can see the complete image in our minds of what we are hoping to receive – then we know that what we are hoping for we will receive. New Light, scripturally, there is no such thing as not receiving what you hope for when the image of it is truly developed and settled in your heart and mind. And that is exactly what we see in the first verse of Hebrews 11. It is our faith in Jesus that assures us, that gives us complete confidence, to know that what we are hoping for we will receive.
In our daily lives we make decisions, that no matter how small or meaningless, affects the rest of our lives. Every day we make decisions based on our understanding of what is going on around us, often without giving consideration to what God would have us to do. How we make decisions in any given situation is directly influenced by our core values – what we believe – and our attitudes about the situation at that moment. Whether we respond to a circumstance in faith or out of survival instinct – out of fear of being harmed in some way – is all dependent upon our attitude. Paul gave us insight into this with his statement in Philippians 4:12-13 which says, “(12) I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. (13) I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” Paul tells us something New Light that we read in this verse and miss – that he had learned to trust Jesus. New Light, you don’t learn to trust Jesus when everything is good in your life. We truly learn to trust Jesus when our hope is ready to pack its bag and walk out the door. That’s when we find out whether or not we have grown in our understanding of what is available through Christ. Paul shows us that it is a process – we must grow in this.
Paul tells his readers that he has experienced different “seasons” in his life. Remember what I said last week about our having both temporary and forever moments? Paul describes some temporary moments that he had to deal with: having little and living in prosperity; being full and being hungry; having abundance and having need. These are the things that he had experienced but what he said in verse twelve tells us what he learned from those experiences. He said, “....in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of.…” What was the secret that Paul had learned? He tells us in verse thirteen, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” We often read and quote verse thirteen without reading what Paul said in verse twelve. When we quote verse thirteen, we quote it through a lens of empowerment to overcome. But Paul took it a step further. The word “do” means “to be strong” and paints the image of having the strength, ability and power, both physically and morally to deal with a situation. Notice Paul didn’t say Jesus would do the things for him. He said that Jesus had given him the strength, ability and power to do it! New Light, that is important. It seems that so many in the Church are looking for Jesus to get them out of hard parts of life. But Jesus tells us that He has given us everything we need to get us through the hard parts. And it goes back to what we are talking about this morning – faith, believing that we have in us the ability to do it and hope, the expectation, that we will do it.
Now I want you to think about “can” and “will.” When Paul used the word “can” he was speaking from experience and knowing that he could do it because he had done it before. When we quote this verse, it might not be the same for us. Let me explain. The word “can” says something is a possibility. It says that something can be, or can happen because the possibility exists, the possibility is real. The word “will” implies a determination that something will be or will happen. Remember the word we called out earlier in the definition, the word “inevitability”? That word means that it is impossible to avoid or to prevent something from happening. One word implies possibility while the other implies determination or inevitability. When Paul said, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me” he was speaking what he would do. So what he was saying was not a possibility to him, but inevitability. He could have easily said, “I will do all things through Him who strengthens me.” Do see the see the difference in meaning that comes with the change in this one word? This is what Paul meant, but is it what we mean when we say it? We have to grow in Christ in order to speak definitive like Paul does in this verse, in order to say what we will or will not do; what we will believe versus what we will not believe; what we will accept verses what we will not accept. Many Christians are living with a “can” possibility mentality and not a “will” inevitability mentality.
As children, we made decisions based on what we wanted, not what was best for us. And some of us still do! If we wanted it, that was all that mattered. As we grew into adulthood, our decision making processes developed and we began, sometimes with harsh lessons, making decisions based on our understanding of what was best for us. Sometimes we even remembered to pray and ask God about it before we actually made the decision. Our desires began to come more in line with our needs and what we could afford rather than what was best for us in our own minds. This process of development is what differentiates adults from children – the ability to know what is best for you and to make those decisions appropriately. This ability comes with the wisdom and understanding gained with age and maturity based on life experiences. So our experiences walking with God slowly changes our thinking from the possible to the inevitable. Things we are doing with God are not just possible, they are inevitable.
Paul said in Romans 12:2: “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” As I have shared with you on many occasions, when we become Christians, the first thing we must do is start the process of renewing our minds. This is not a matter of how old we are in years, but how quickly we accept what God says about us. It’s about how quickly we move our thinking from something is possible with God to something being inevitable with Him; from a “can” way of thinking to a “will” way of thinking. This change involves a renewing of our minds – our old man (old ways and thought patterns) yielding to our new man. Paul admonishes us to not be conformed to this world, not take on the image and ways of the world, but be transformed. To be transformed is to be changed – to become different from what we were yesterday. Now this is important, the reason that we must we renew our minds is so we can prove, to ourselves, the will of God. God knows what His will is but it is our responsibility to prove it to the world by living it. And one more thing: we will never reach a point in our lives where we will no longer need to renew our minds. Why do I say this? As we continue to renew our minds, our minds slowly come into agreement with our spirits, which are in constant communication with the Holy Spirit. And that is when the world will begin to see more and more of Jesus in us.
As we transform our minds, we reach the conclusion that Paul reached in Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Paul says that he understands how to get along in whatever situation or state that he found himself. Earlier in the chapter Paul tells us about rejoicing in the Lord and what we should be thinking about as we transform our minds from the possible to the inevitable. Let’s read a few excerpts from Philippians chapter four. Paul tells us in:
Philippians 4:4: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!” Paul wrote the book of Philippians in a Roman prison. He was on death row and yet he makes the declaration “I will say, rejoice!” New Light, this shows us the power of the gospel to comfort the person who has made Christ his all in all. Keep this in mind as we read the next few verses.
Philippians 4:5: “Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near.” When I read this verse I thought about the last part of Hebrews 13:5 which says “…for He Himself has said, ‘I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you.” Paul knew that he was not alone. He knew the God he served was with him.
Philippians 4:6: “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” Again, Paul is in prison on death row but he’s not anxious about the situation he’s in.
Philippians 4:8: “…whatever is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, of good repute, any excellence, and anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.” Paul’s mind was not on where he was. His mind had been renewed to the point that his situation would not stop him from focusing on Jesus.
These are the things that Paul tells us we are to do as we transform our minds to the gospel of Christ. We “will” not rejoice in the Lord always if our minds have not been renewed. Not only is it not possible, it is inevitable! The same can be said about having a gentle spirit, not worrying and the things we choose to think about. Everything that he said replies on our choice to renew our minds; shifting from a “can” mentality of things being possible to a “will” mentality of things being inevitable. When this shift is made, we begin to read and understand the Word of God differently. Let me give you some examples.
Philippians 4:13 says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” But in your mind you have already made the decision that “You will do all things through Christ who strengthens you.” There is no longer any doubt about how you will get through every circumstance and situation you are faced with – you will do it all through Christ!
Paul told Timothy in Second Timothy 4:7, that “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith.” He spoke to what he had done. Before our minds are renewed, many Christians apply what Paul said to them by thinking, “I can fight the good fight, I can finish the course, I can keep the faith.” This sound positive but again, it speaks to the possibility of achieving the goal. But, when we read it as our minds are renewed, we make the profession saying, “I will fight the good fight, I will finish the course, I will keep the faith.” In this profession what we plan to do is inevitable because “I will do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Look at Psalm 121:1-2.
The psalmist wrote in Psalm 121:1-2 that “(1) I will lift up my eyes unto the hills, from which comes my help. (2) My help comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth.” The help does not come from the hills, but from the Lord who made it. The psalmist was making the point that in his time of need he was looking up, not down. Have you ever seen someone who was under so much stress and pressure that it was hard for them to hold their heads up? This is the opposite of what I envision when I read these verses. Christians, just as anyone else, will experience terrible things that make them feel like they are carrying the weight of the world upon their shoulders. It is during these times that our responses will encourage us to walk with our heads down and our shoulders slumped. The only thing we can see while we are walking in this position is the ground upon which we are stepping. The psalmist wrote that he would look to the hills. So the question for each of us is “can” or “will”. Is looking up a possibility during our times of struggle or inevitable? If it’s inevitable, then we can say exactly what the psalmist said, “(1) I will lift up my eyes unto the hills, from which comes my help. (2) My help comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth.”
Can does not mean will. “Can” only means “will” when we transform our minds and begin thinking the way God wants us to think. When we think about how we are walking with God and the moments we are sharing with Him, are we thinking of things as definite or as possibilities? When we speak of things that God is doing, are we speaking of them as “He definitely is…” or “He can do….” When we pray, are we praying believing that God can or God will answer our prayer? When you look at your situation, are you thinking God can or God will intervene on your behalf?
Last week I told you what Jesus said about a camel going through the eye of a needle. He said, “….with men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26b) If all things are possible with God and nothing is impossible with Him, then the only consideration is not “can” He do it but “will” He do it. And if that is the only consideration, then that ownership is not on God because He has already told us what He “will” do so even that is not a consideration. The only real question is “Can or Will we believe Him?” It goes without question that we can believe God so there is only one question that needs to be considered at this point, “Will we believe Him?” Can does not mean will. “Can” implies the possible. “Will” implies the inevitable. I don’t know about you, but I want to walk with God knowing without doubt. I want to walk with Him not questioning if He can but knowing that He will. I may not get all of the answers the way I want for I am not in control of that. But what I am in control of is how I choose to walk believing God. “Can” or “Will”. How we choose to walk with God is up to each one of us.
Until next time, “The Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up His countenance on you and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26)
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