Facing the Future with Confidence
May 29, 2005
Series: Letting God Guide You, Esther
Read Rom.12:1-2… The question we ask all the time is, “How do I know God’s will for my life?”. Which is really a great question, because it means that you’re tired of living life the way you want, and you’re open to finding out how God wants you to live it. Because God made you, He’s got a pretty good idea of what He made you FOR. So, in reality, there’s nothing more important than finding out why God put you here in the first place. Someone has defined success in life as, “Knowing God’s will and being right in the center of it!”
Believe it or not, God WANTS you to know His will for your life. He’s not playing hide and go seek with you, and He’s not trying to make it difficult. You say, “So if that’s true, why is finding God’s will so difficult?” I’m curious, how many of you have been, (or currently are) confused about knowing God’s will? (may I see the hands?)
The problem with finding God’s will, too many times is that we’re looking in the wrong direction. In fact, discovering God’s will isn’t difficult at all once you begin to put the 3 principles that I’m going to share with you, into place. In the passage from Romans 12 we just read, the Apostle Paul lays out the principles that we need to follow… if we’re going to find God’s will (not just for a specific situation), but on a daily basis.
Read 12:1 again with me because it’s there that we find the 1st principle. (READ) Paul is saying that …
1. Finding God’s will for my life requires total DEDICATION
In otherwords, if you want to find God’s will, 1st of all, you have to commit your entire life, totally to Christ!
See, the secret to knowing God’s will is to be willing IN ADVANCE to do whatever He asks you to do! So many times we’ll approach God with the attitude, “God, if you’ll show me what your will is… I’ll decide whether I want to do it or not” NO! It doesn’t work that way! You have to decide ahead of time, that you’re going to follow His will, before He gives it. Say “YES” to God… and then He’ll tell you what He wants you to do.
Now why does God ask for our total dedication in the 1st place? Notice what Paul says… “I urge you brothers, in view of WHAT?
“I urge you brothers… in view of GODS MERCY!” Why should I dedicate my life to God? Because of everything He’s done for me!
In vs. 1 of Romans chap.12, Paul uses the word, “THEREFORE”. Now… whenever you see the word ‘therefore’ in the bible, stop right there, and look to see what it’s there for! It’s there, because Paul just spent chapters 4-11 explaining to us (in detail), the wonderful, amazing things God has done for us when we simply accept His gift of eternal life. See, once you truly understand how good, God really is… you’d have to be dumb and stupid to reject Him!
Refusing the gift of salvation is like having the American Sweepstakes “Dream Team” show up at your door with 10 million dollars, and saying, “Excuse me… but apparently you can’t read! The sign on my door reads… NO SOLICITORS! That means YOU! Now beat it before I call the police!” I’m convinced that most people aren’t stupid… they’re just ignorant when it comes to the gift of salvation. But that can be remedied! It’s our job to get the word out, that God’s not mad at you… He’s mad ABOUT you! He’s come to save you from your sin, save you from yourself, save you from an eternity separated from God!
Paul says, “Since God’s been soooo good to us… and since He gave His life for us… then isn’t it the natural thing to do, to want to give our lives to Him!??? To make that kind of TOTAL dedication, Paul tells us to “offer our bodies… as living sacrifices”. I always wondered, “Why didn’t Paul say, “offer your spirit” OR… “offer your soul to God”…Ever wonder that? Some of you are thinking, “Why would God want this body? I don’t even want it!” Well, the reason is… when God has your body… He has everything else with it!
Ever heard somebody say, “Hey, I can’t make it to the meeting… but I’ll be with you in spirit!” Now even though that might seem like a nice thing to say, it’s totally worthless! God doesn’t want our nice sayings… He wants US! ALL of us! In fact, everyone who takes this step this morning and dedicates their body as a living sacrifice will receive a free T-shirt that says, “This BOD belongs to GOD!” (just kidding!)
Seriously, God had given us soooooo much, why do we resist giving Him everything we have? I think there are 3 basic reasons why we don’t fully dedicate ourselves to God… and they all have to do with fear!
1st… there’s the…
1. Fear of CHANGE
I used to be afraid to pray the Lords Prayer, because of one phrase… Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name… thy kingdom come… THY WILL BE DONE… That’s the part that scared me! I thought, “If I pray that… I might have to give up my girlfriend, or maybe I’ll lose my job… I might get sick! Because if I really give my life over to God, I might have to change my ways”.
Well, let me dispel any confusion over whether God will require some changes in your life or not, when you dedicate it to His will. He WILL!
In fact, I’ll guarantee that God will begin to change your life! But, let me also say this… the changes He brings will be for your benefit not your destruction. They’re the kind of changes you wanted to make all your life, but just didn’t know how. There’s no reason to get nervous, or worried about what God has in store for you… because it’s all good in the end.
The 2nd fear we have to deal with when it comes to God’s will is…
2. The fear of CRITISISM.
“Hey, if I really sell out to God… will I have to become a Jesus freak? Will I have to show up at 49er games in a rainbow wig and wave a sign that says, “John 3:16”? Because if that’s what it’s all about… I don’t want to deal with the embarrassment.”
If you have a fear of criticism… don’t worry… because Jesus didn’t die to make you a fanatic… He died to make you fully alive! Critisism may come… (in fact, it probably will come)… but not because you’re acting like an idiot. It’ll come because you’re acting like Jesus! Jesus said, “I have come that you might have life”. In otherwords, without Him… you’re not really living. You might think you are, but since He’s the only one who can give you real life… what you call living, Jesus would call ‘existing”
The 3rd fear that keeps people from totally dedicating their life to Christ is…
3. The Fear of COMMITMENT
The reason people fear doing God’s will, is because in the bottom line… we doubt whether God really loves us. We doubt that He really has our best interest at heart. The fact is… God loves you more than you love yourself, and He knows what’s best for us… better than we know what’s best for us!
Listen to what He says to us from Jer.29:11 “ for I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to make you miserable, plans that will hurt you and make you feel guilty for the rest of your life!” Is that what it says? No, but that’s what most people think God says about His plans for them! Look again…God says, “I have plans to PROSPER you and NOT to harm you… plans to give you a hope and a future!”
Plans to what? “Prosper you!” And just to clear up any confusion, He’s not talking about your pocketbook… it’s more than that… God wants to prosper you in ways that money can’t buy…in your relationships, in your thought life, freeing you from worries, addictions, destructive thoughts, low self esteem…marriage…etc.
… giving you hope! And a future!
Most people think that God is some kind of “Cosmic Kill-joy”, just waiting to catch you having fun…
· “Uh-oh, I see him smiling! I’ll take care of that! Zap! Got em!
· Whoops! They started to enjoy life… POW! Good! Lost that job!
If your toddler comes to you and says, “Daddy, I want to be a good boy! I never want to fuss or cry or pout again. I want to please you, obey you and grow up just like you Daddy!” What are you going to say? “Alright! That’s what I’ve been waiting to hear from you! You’ll regret this day the rest of your life! From now on…It’s 5 hour naps everyday… spinach for breakfast, no more candy or icecream… and I’m going to break every one of your toys!”
Is that your attitude? I hope not! No, instead, when my kids decide to obey me and submit to what I (as a loving Father), know is best for them… it’s a great day! Because I want nothing more than their success in life. And even though they don’t always think that what I’m doing is for their benefit… as a wise and good Father… it is! Now if I’m evil, (compared to God)… how much more does my Heavenly Father want what’s best for me? Huh? Can you imagine? And believe me, He’s sooo much more wise than I am!
His decisions and His will is sooo much better than mine is!
See, what we need to understand is… God’s will is an expression of God’s love (repeat). With that in mind, we need to wake up every morning and say, “Okay Lord, no more playing church… no more ½ way… I’m totally and completely YOURS! Do what you want to do with my life. I’m giving it back to you! Have your way in my attitudes, my relationships, my finances… my job. I’m going all the way with You, because You are the only way to life!”
God requires complete dedication. That’s why Paul says that we’re to offer ourselves as a LIVING sacrifice. A dead sacrifice doesn’t do him any good. He doesn’t want a dead dedication… He wants a day by day LIVE-a-cation! The only problem with a living sacrifice is that it has a tendency to want to crawl off the altar. That’s why I need to be a daily submitted to His will for my life!
I don’t know how many times I’ve committed myself to God on Sunday, only to crawl off the altar on Monday morning. We’re singing “Onward Christian Soldiers” on Sunday and by Monday, we’ve gone A.W.O.L.!!! Paul says that this is our ‘spiritual worship’. In otherwords, worship isn’t just something we do on Sundays. Worship is anytime I commit myself to God. Anytime I commit my time, talents, money, energy to God, that’s an act of worship!
So to find God’s will for my life… my 1st step is DEDICATION to Him. 2ndly, Paul tells us that in order to know God’s will, I need to…
2. Resist IMITATION.
READ vs. 2… People who are seeking God’s will for their lives, refuse to cave into the worlds value system. The word ‘world’ that Paul uses isn’t referring to the people in the world, He’s talking about the values of the world. It’s what our society tells us is important and unimportant. (the clothes we wear, the cars we drive, the houses we live in, the priorities we have).
Let me ask you this… How many of you think that most people are following God’s will? God is telling us here that it’s impossible to follow God’s will and the ‘worlds will’ at the same time. The world’s value system can be summarized in 2 words… ME FIRST! That’s the bottom line! The Phillips version of the bible translates this vs… “Don’t let the world squeeze you into it’s mold”. Do you feel the world trying to SQUEEEEEZE you into it’s mold? It is you know. It’s a constant pressure to conform to the world value system.
Because the world is constantly trying to squeeze us into it’s mold, it’s easy to get mixed up and confused about God’s will. In fact we can rationalize our actions to the point that we think God’s will and the worlds will are the same thing! So let me give you 2 things that God’s will is NOT… and 1 thing that God’s will IS.
1. God’s will is NOT a FEELING
Trying to discover God’s will with a feeling is a ‘mystical approach’ to finding God’s will, and it can be very dangerous if you’re not careful. Why? Because ‘feelings’ can be wrong! I just kind of let my mind go blank (easier for some than it is for others)…and wait for a quiver in my liver.
I know people who think they have a direct link to heaven and they’re always saying things like… “God told me to tell YOU this…”
I’m thinking… “Interesting. I was just talking to Him this morning and He never mentioned anything about that to me!” They’ve always got a plan for everybody else! And it comes off as spiritual one up-manship! I’m more spiritual than you are, so listen to me!
The problem with trying to discern God’s will with your feelings is… feelings can be very unreliable. They’re easily manipulated and subject to your emotions. What you think might be God speaking to you, could be a bad burrito from Taco Bell the night before!
God’s will isn’t necessarily a feeling. So if you’re waiting for a feeling… your waiting for the wrong thing. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve made a decision based on a ‘feeling’ and it turned out to be totally wrong! If I married every girl I had a feeling for when I was a teenager, I would have been a mess! Somebody needs to tell Shirley McClain that even the devil can create a feeling.
2ndly, you need to know that…
2. God’s will isn’t a FORMULA
Boy, wouldn’t it be easy if it was? A lot of books written on finding God’s will are nothing more than ‘Spiritual Recipe Books”… add a liberal amount of works, a ½ day of prayer, stir in a bundle of money and WHALLA! Instant God’s will! But formulas don’t work with God. He can’t be manipulated. Because we live in this push-button world… we want everything fast and easy. “Sewing Made Easy”… “Cooking Made Easy”… “Embalming Made Easy…”God give me 10 Easy Steps to Knowing Your Will”
Well, let me just tell you… it’s not that easy! God’s not some kind of heavenly vending-machine…popping out little lists we can robotically follow! And I’m kind of glad He’s not! I’m glad I don’t worship a God that can be figured out! If He could be figured out… He wouldn’t be God! What you need to know is that God’s will isn’t a rigid formula… it’s flexible… It’s not all starched and stiff…it’s dynamic!
Think of God’s plan for your life more like a ‘cruise-liner’. The captain has a destination, He may be directing the ship to the Caribbean or to Hawaii… and I can’t stop that… but He does give me the freedom to re-arrange the deck chairs! What that means is, even though I may make some mistakes along the way… God has the ability to re-arrange my life to fit into His perfect plan.
So, I don’t have to settle for 2nd best… once I re-commit my life to follow God… He’s able to give me Plan A again!
If there’s one thing you discover as you read the bible, it’s this. God is a God of the 2nd, and 3rd and 4th and 5th chance! Now, I don’t want to take advantage of His grace… but it sure is nice to know that no matter what I’ve done in the past… God still has a plan for my life!
So… Gods will isn’t a ‘feeling’. And it’s not a ‘formula’. So what is it? Write this down…
3. God’s will is a FRIENDSHIP!
God’s will is discovered as the result of a relationship with Him! He wants us to know Him, to spend time with Him. He wants to share our life with Him on a daily basis, through the ups and downs the twists and the turns… seeking His direction and counsel at every point along the way. So the secret of finding God’s direction in life isn’t found in trying know God’s will, it’s found by trying to know God! And the better you know God… the less confused you’re going to be about His will!
For example, when I 1st got married … I needed a lot of guidance on being a good husband (didn’t I honey?). So, I read a lot of good books, I asked friends who had good marriages, I went to seminars… I did everything I could to try and figure out how I could be the best husband I could. But somewhere along the line, an amazing thing happened…I started to depend less on external guidance, and more on internal guidance.
For over 20 years I’ve been working on our relationship now, and I’m getting to know her pretty good. For example, instead of being told that my wife was angry at me… I actually learned to discern it all by myself! I know I’m in trouble when I get, “THE LOOK”. Any of you guys know what I’m talking about?
Listen… the greater the relationship… the fewer the rules! I know when she’s not pleased with me now…
(I can’t say I’m the perfect husband… but I’m a lot better than I used to be!) Now the same is true in discerning God’s will. I know my Jesus a lot better now than I knew Him 20 years ago… I know when I’m pleasing Him, and I know when I’m grieving Him. I beginning to understand and know His voice, without having to hear it audibly. See, the better you know the Lord, the more you learn to make decisions based on what Jesus would do.
You’re going to get your guidance from 1 of 2 sources… either you’ll get it from God’s Word… or you’ll get it from the world. According to Rom.12:2, our culture is a totally unreliable source for getting guidance in your life. In fact, I’d say that if you’re living your life the way everybody around you is living… you’re probably not in God’s will this morning. You need to turn around and go the exact opposite direction to where the world is telling you to go.
Most people make their decisions based on what is culturally acceptable. God is telling us this morning, “Make your decisions based not on what others say, but on what I say!”
So, to find God’s will for my life… I get over my fears and take a step of total dedication, then I learn to resist my natural tendencies towards imitating the worlds attitudes. Lastly…
3. Finding God’s will results in TRANSFORMATION
READ 2b… Paul is talking about how the H.S. changes us from the inside out, so we’ll know God’s will. The word he uses for ‘transformation’ is the grk. word, ‘metamor-posis-thu’. It’s where we get our English word… ‘metamorphosis’. Have you seen the amount of monarch butterfly’s around here lately? Recently, they went through a ‘metamorphosis’ from a lowly caterpillar to a beautiful butterfly.
Two caterpillars are looking up in the sky at a butterfly, one caterpillar turns to the other and says, “Man, you’d never get me up in one of those things!” I think that’s the way we were before we became Christians… “Man, you’ll never see me going to church!” But if you’re a Christian this morning, something happened to you didn’t it? God got a hold of your heart! He ‘metamorphosized’ our very personality and nature! Now the things we swore we’d never do… we’re doing! And loving it! God offers a total transformation to every person on the planet earth… but 1st, that old cocoons gotta go! Those old ways, the old attitudes, the old patterns of acting and reacting.
Paul says that a transformation of my mind and attitudes occurs, to the point that I can actually be in the center of God’s will every day of my life. When God transforms my life to His will… 2 things happen…
1. I’m no longer FATALISTIC about life.
2. I’m no longer FRUSTRATED about life.
The ‘fatalistic’ attitude says, “Whatever happens is God’s will”. fall People fall into the trap of thinking that everything that happens MUST be God’s will. (example) The problem is, if you believe that… God gets blamed for everything, and you turn into a puppet! God gets the ‘rap’ for all the bad things that happen. But did you know that God’s will isn’t always done on earth? Jesus taught us to pray… “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”. Things in heaven are done perfectly. How are things done on earth? Imperfectly! If everything done on earth was God’s will… then Jesus wouldn’t have told us to pray that prayer! Obviously there’s some room for improvement!
Besides that, if you have a fatalistic attitude, you’re going to be throwing a lot of ‘pity-parties’ for yourself. “Poor me, I’m in this cruddy marriage! It must be God’s will!” No it’s not! God’s will is that your marriage gets better!
Fatalism prevents growth, because you’re always blaming God for the bad things that happen in your life, instead of doing something about it.
2ndly, when God transforms my will to His will, I don’t have to be frustrated anymore! Have you ever done something that you thought was God’s will and it totally bombed? I have! We say, “What happened God? I thought you told me to do this, and now look at the mess I’m in!” Well, maybe God is BIGGER than your plan! Maybe God’s purposes are BIGGER than my problems. Have you ever thought about that? Maybe He’s still working!
Write this down in your notes somewhere… “God does not owe me an explanation!” Go ahead, write it down… I’ll wait. See this ‘finding God’s will thing” isn’t an exact science! God wants us to learn to live by faith. In otherwords, to trust Him, even when things don’t work out the way we thought they would. To trust that He knows what He’s doing, even though I don’t. And refuse to take it back into my hands, when I don’t get the results I want.
God’s will is a long term process that includes both pleasure and pain. Now, we all wish that He’s only include roses and rainbows, …but it doesn’t work that way. In fact, if you think about it, the problems help us more than the pleasures. My character has grown much more through painful situations, than in all the times I’ve been to DISNEYLAND combined!!! What if God put our whole lives on our PDA, and all you had to do is open up your ‘Outlook’ folder to see what was going to happen to you tomorrow. You know what would happen? We wouldn’t do it!
READ Heb.11:6 God’s will ALWAYS requires faith! Because faith is what pleases God. And if God is going to teach us how to live by faith… sometimes He’s going to take away the feelings.
You’re going to say, “God, I don’t feel You right now!” And God’s going to say, “You don’t have to feel me, to know it’s My will. Move ahead in faith. You know Me, you know what I would want… ”
Did you know it’s entirely possible to think and even feel that you’re making the right decision… but if it’s not made in faith… it’s the wrong decision. 23 years ago, I was pastoring my 1st church in Washington, MO. It was our 1st church plant. We were there for 10 years and we had the joy of seeing almost every person there come to Christ. We loved them and they loved us. My head said, “I want to be there the rest of my life”. My feelings told me, “This feels right”… but in my heart I knew that it was time to leave.
So we resigned and we had no idea where God wanted us to go. Eventually He led us to start our 2nd church in the Phoenix area. Those turned out to be the toughest 4 years of our lives. I remember many times crying out to God, “Lord, why did you bring us here? I want to go back to Washington where it was warm and cozy. At least we had a dependable salary!” I felt like God had abandoned us, but again, in my heart I knew we were right where God wanted us.
We eventually had to close the church and I felt like a total failure…wondering if God could ever use me again. But, again, God was faithful and He led us to Antioch where we pastored for 4 ½ great years… people were saved, the church doubled in size… and then life turned sour… we endured 8 mo. of painful conflict, ending in a church split.
Again, I felt like a huge failure, my head told me that I needed to leave the area… but my heart told me that God wanted me to stay. The next day, our D.S. asked me to plant our 3rd church… in Oakley. And you know what? Through all of the hardship and pain… I’d do it all again to be the pastor of this church. I can see God’s hand leading and guiding every step of the way!
And if none of that happened, we wouldn’t be here with you today! And I love you!
Even though there were times when I didn’t ‘feel’ God… His invisible hand was leading and guiding us, giving us the assurance that we were going to be alright. I don’t know where you find yourself this morning. Maybe you don’t understand why God is leading you the way He is… but take my advise. Hang on by faith. God knows what He’s doing! Trust Him!
Why should I discover God’s will for my life? READ 12:2c
1. Because it’s GOOD. Grk.= high quality! God’s plan for your life is high quality!
2. Because it’s PLEASING AND ACCEPTABLE. It brings incredible satisfaction. You’ll never be happier than when in center of His will.
3. Because it’s PERFECT. It’s tailor made and unique to you!
God’s plan for your life is good, it’s valuable and it’s perfect. It’s meaningful, it’s significant and it’s fulfilling.
PRAY
