26, February 2006
Dakota Community Church
God in a Box
Introduction:
This week I want to expose the formulas, steps, keys, secrets; and other fallacies, about the plan of God for our lives.
This is a topic that inspires fear and hopelessness for many. We tend to want to produce formulas and short cuts when things get confusing.
How many times have you taken a short cut only to discover that it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be?
- Almost out of gas at Pembina Bible Camp
Why aren’t we more suspicious of short cuts to the will of God?
It seems like everyone has a simple cliché answer to this problem. God is always telling them one thing or another and there is no room for discussion.
Matthew 6:7-8 (Message)
"The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They’re full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don’t fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need.
A Problem:
When I hear TV preachers or even local Christians declare boldly that they are doing something because; “It is will of God” (often it is something that seems a little whacky), i.e. asking for 8 million dollars or quitting a job to go witnessing for the summer.
I usually am not inspired with fresh confidence about the outcome.
Here is my issue with this line of thinking; even Paul was not that sure.
1 Corinthians 13:12
Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
Paul gives a long discourse on marriage , sex, divorce, widowhood and wraps it by saying this is my opinion:
1Corinthians 7:40
And also I think I have the Spirit of God.
Look at how the early apostles spoke when they were deciding an issue that was setting the course of all Church history:
Acts 15:28-29
It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell.
Jesus indicates that there is more to the will of God than finding it and doing it in Luke 10:
Luke 10:38-42
As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!"
"Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."
There are many of us in the Church that just want to be told what to do and left to do it.
Jesus is saying that is not what the will of God is.
What I want to share this morning is a couple of truths I have learned about the will of God that will be liberating to everyone:
God’s will is:
1. Less about a destination, more about the journey.
God’s will is more about the journey and how much of it you share with Him. It is not that there is no destination, just that the journey is more important.
- If the destination is marriage then you single is the important part to God.
- If it is children then you as a husband is the important part.
- If it is career then your study and work balance is the thing.
When we make the mistake of thinking that the destination is the will of God we wind up disillusioned like the children of Israel when they reached the Promised Land.
There are battles to be fought in the perfect will of God.
There are enemies to be faced.
The will of God is not the path of least resistance.
It is amazing how many Christians raise a fist at God because a door he guided them through turned out to be full of disappointment, struggle, and opposition.
Jesus wants to be in it with us.
John 6:35-36
Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe.
Not I will give you the bread, I am the bread!
John 10: 7-9
Therefore Jesus said again, "I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.
John11:23-26
Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."
Martha answered, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."
Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"
John 14:5-6
Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?"
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
John 15:6
"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
Revelation 1:8
"I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty."
Quote:
We tend to think that if Jesus Christ compels us to do something and we are obedient to Him, He will lead us to great success. We should never have the thought that our dreams of success are God’s purpose for us. In fact, His purpose may be the exact opposite. We have the idea that God is leading us toward a particular end or a desired goal, but He is not. The question of whether or not we arrive at a particular goal is of little importance, and reaching it only comes merely as an episode along the way. What we see as only the process of reaching a particular end, God sees as the goal itself… His purpose is the process itself.
– Oswald Chambers in My Utmost for His Highest
So the will of God is less about the destination, more about the journey and:
God’s will is:
2. Less about what you do, more about who you are.
God is more concerned about who you are and who you are becoming.
When you recognize that the will of God is more about what is happening in you it leaves room for free will and it leaves room for mistakes.
John 17:3
Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
Problem:
When the will of God is more about what you do then mistakes become irreversible!
God’s will is for no divorce so from now on I am out of God’s will? No!
Does anyone believe it could be God’s will for a man to commit adultery and murder?
Of course not!
Read 2 Samuel 12:1-24
2Samuel 12:24
Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and he went to her and lay with her. She gave birth to a son, and they named him Solomon. The LORD loved him.
God chooses Solomon, the product of events that clearly were not His will.
The focus is not about who you marry. The focus is about what kind of husband you are; and what kind of husband you are becoming.
The focus is not about which job you take it is about what kind of employee you are.
The issue is not about Church attendance, it’s about how much of it are you walking out.
If the will of God is for you to be a parent then the job is done once the kids are born, it is not about something you do, it is about what you become as a dad or mom.
See we need to ask why has God done all this?
He has endured rebellion in heaven, desertion by man, abuse at our hands, heartache over rejection, death on a cross, and divisions within His body the Church.
God wants you to make some of the decisions.
The one you make is the will of God.
Illustration - 1:
My son graduates from Senior High this year. Let’s say he comes to me and says, hey Dad I am trying to decide what to do next year. I have narrowed it down to four options:
- Go to Providence for a ministry degree.
- Go to U of M for a teaching degree.
- Head off to YWAM for a world mission experience
- Take a year off to work full time and save money until I am more certain.
Which one should I do?
I might say, “Well let’s look at the benefits and negatives of each one and maybe that will help you to decide.”
He says, “But Dad, just tell me your will. I will do whichever one makes you happy.”
I would say, “Son, my will is for you to decide for yourself.”
Why? Because what happens in him as he makes these choices, how he develops into a responsible adult, how he learns to use my guidance is more important that what school he chooses.
Illustration:
At the end of Bible College I was offered a job of youth pastoring at Christianview Church. I had been planning on coming out here to Winnipeg to plant a Church right after graduation. I took the day off school and went up to the heart shaped pond in Bedford to seek the Lord’s will. After about 10 hours of silence I am certain the Lord said, “You decide.”
I decided to go to Christianview and that turned out to be God’s will.
If I had come straight out here, that would have turned out to be God’s will.
Is God’s will always the opposite of what we want? – NO, 1000 times NO.
Your identity is not defined by you vocation.
Conclusion:
Thomas Merton Prayer
MY LORD GOD, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.
Do you need prayer on this issue?
Healing? Salvation? A return to God? Renewal? Come forward.
Portions of this sermon are derived from "Understanding the Will of God" by Kyle Lake
PowerPoint available on request – dcormie@mts.net
