God’s Will, Your Will, Which Will?
Colossians 1:9-10
INTRODUCTION... Pastoral Call. Source: unknown
A minister received a call from a church that offered him a salary four times what he was then receiving. Being a devout man, he spent much time in prayer trying to discern what God wanted him to do. One day a friend met the minister’s young son on the street. “Do you know what your dad is going to do?” he asked. “Well,” replied the youngster, “Dad’s praying, but Mom’s packing!”
All of us have decisions to make. Life is all about decisions and making good decisions or bad decisions. We then have to live with the decisions we make. We make decisions about all aspects of our lives: what to do for a living, where to work, when to retire, who to marry, when to have kids and how many, how to raise our family, what doctors to see, how to manage our health, and the list goes on and on for our entire lives. How do we make all of these decisions? How do we know what is for us?
If you are not a Christian, I have absolutely no answers for you. I do not know what is best for your life or even the best way to decide how you should live your life. Maybe weighing the pros and cons is the best way to go. Maybe flip a coin. If you are a Christian, the way you live your life and the decisions you make are directly tied to your faith. They are tied to your faith because when you became a Christian, you turned over Lordship and control to Jesus Christ. You live your life according to His Will. Colossians 1 has something to say to us about God’s Will and that is what I would like us to discuss today.
READ COLOSSIANS 1:9-10
I. THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD’S WILL IS SUPREMELY IMPORTANT
Paul writes to the Colossians and tells them that he prays for them over and over that they would be filled with the knowledge of God’s will. You might ask yourself, why do I need to concern myself with the knowledge of God’s Will? Why make effort to find out?
The first reason is because as Christians, we want to be like Jesus. Jesus says in Mark 3:34-36, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.” If you want to be like Jesus and live the way that He did, you will hold God’s Will as important. Jesus lived His life according to God’s Will and did not stray from it to the right or to the left. Jesus says if you live your life according to God, then you are part of His family. As Christians, that is our goal is it not... to be more like Him?
The second reason is because life is hard and you need some kind of direction. It seems like in the past few weeks I have been talking with different people in the church and I know that you all are dealing with a lot of difficult situations. Sometimes life piles up and piles up and you wonder if you can keep your head above water. Life is hard when you are outside of God’s Will and life is also hard when you are inside God’s Will. Let me explain what I mean by quoting from 1 Peter 4:18-20, “And, ’If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?’ So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.” Life is hard for people who are not Christians and life is hard for people that are Christians. So what is the difference? Christians have a Faithful Creator who will give them guidance and direction through His will. Christians have hope. Christians have a God that works for their good in all situations. Christians have a God who loves and forgives and directs always.
One of the most important investments in your life and in your spiritual life and in your walk with God is to look into God’s Will and consult Him when you have decisions to make. God’s desires for our lives are not secondary. God’s desires for our lives are the primary concern for those who love Him.
II. THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD’S WILL CAN BE UNDERSTOOD
So many things about God we cannot fully understand. We can look at the world around us, but how God actually spoke everything into being eludes us. We know that God sent His only Son Jesus to die for us and that it was an outpouring of grace, but none of us truly understand the grace of God. We can know the passages of Scripture are the very words of God, but how God actually inspired the writers through the Holy Spirit we do not know. There are many things about God that we cannot know. There are many things about God that He has chosen not to share with us: why do dolphins sleep with one eye open, why did He create our bodies so that fingernails grow faster than toenails, what was the Garden of Eden really like, why it never fails as soon as you get comfortable the phone will ring, and the list goes on. We cannot know all the things in the mind of God or understand all the mysteries of His Creation. There are many things about God that we can never understand. God’s Will is not one of those things.
Paul tells the Colossians in verse 9 that he is praying that God would fill them with the ’knowledge of His will.’ Paul’s prayer is a powerful one and it is also one that God grants. We can know the will of God. We see this in the life of the fully-human Jesus. Jesus says in John 5:19, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by Himself, He can only do what He sees His Father doing, because whatever the Father does, the Son also does.” Jesus lived His life according to God’s Will. He followed God’s Will even in the most difficult of circumstances. Luke 22:39-46 records Jesus’ time on the Mount of Olives before He is betrayed. He knows He is facing: betrayal, rejection by His people, an unfair trial, merciless beatings, denial by His closest friends, a relentless march to His death, the pain of being nailed to the cross, the shame of hanging on the cross, the grief of His mother, the sin of the world on His shoulders, separation from God, and death. And yet He still prays (22:42), “...yet not My will, but yours be done.” Jesus understood the will of God. It was God’s Will that He go to the cross for us. Jesus knew that and chose to obey God for us because He loved us.
The Apostle Paul tells us that it is possible to know the will of God when he says in Romans 12:2, “Do not conform ny longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will.” It is possible to know God’s Will for your life and in the decisions you make.
ILLUSTRATION... From the Movie Hidalgo
I rented a movie a few months back called Hidalgo starring Viggo Mortensen about Frank T. Hopkins who was an American distance horse race champion. He is invited to race in this long Arabian desert race that is dangerous and also profitable. He of course has the usual action sequences, there is a lady in he mix, but in the end, he does well in the race. One of the parts of the movie still is vivid in my mind. After saving the life of one of his opponents, Frank has a conversation with him. The Arab complains that it was Allah’s will that he enter the race, and Allah’s will that he should die in it. “It is written,” he says. Then Frank says something to the effect of: “What about your will? And your horse’s will? That’s what’s going to get you to the finish line, and only then will it be ‘written.’”
I do not think I could have summarized a better picture of the human opinion myself. We do the things we want to do and if it doesn’t work out, we try all the harder. We dismiss God and His opinions and go our own way and run our race the way we want. For Christians, that should never be our attitude or our way of life. God’s Will is supremely important and we can know what it is.
III. THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD’S WILL IS PRACTICAL
One of the first ways that knowing God’s Will is practical is that you will know that the things you are doing and the places you are going and the decisions you are making are in agreement with your Lord. In Romans 1:9-11 Paul says, “God, whom I serve with my whole heart in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you. I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong.” Paul was another who lived his life according to the Will of God. Paul did not yet know if it was God’s will that he meet the Christians in Rome. He would go when and if God said He could. Did he want to go? Sure, but he, like Jesus, lived his life ’not as I will, but as You will.’ Paul tells us in Colossians 1:10 that if we know God’s Will and do it, then we will live a life worthy of God and that pleases Him.
Another way that knowing God’s Will is practical is that it will produce good fruit in your life. Paul says that in verse 10 as well. I see a life that follows God one filled with doing the things God wants. You will be acting like He wants you to act. There will be no guilt. There will be no regrets. There will be none of those things because you have lived and acted according to God and not according to you.
ILLUSTRATION... Bob Mumford in Take Another Look at Guidance
Author and minister Bob Mumford compares discovering God’s will with a sea captain’s docking procedure: A certain harbor in Italy can be reached only by sailing up a narrow channel between dangerous rocks and shoals. Over the years, many ships have been wrecked, and navigation is hazardous. To guide the ships safely into port, three lights have been mounted on three huge poles in the harbor. When the three lights are perfectly lined up and seen as one, the ship can safely proceed up the narrow channel. If the pilot sees two or three lights, he knows he’s off course and in danger.
He says that God has also provided three beacons to guide us. The same rules of navigation apply—the three lights must be lined up before it is safe for us to proceed. The three harbor lights of guidance are:
1. The Word of God (objective standard)
2. The Holy Spirit (subjective witness)
3. Circumstances (divine providence)
Together they assure us that the directions we’ve received are from God and will lead us safely along his way.
CONCLUSION
