Lord, I'll do your will

Perfection Personified

Who among you can claim that you have always done everything that you were supposed to do?

Who among you can claim that you have always been where you were supposed to be when you were supposed to be there?

Who among you can state, unequivocally, that you have always wanted to do what you were told to do?

I don’t think that there is a person in this building, certainly not myself, that can claim that any of those statements is true.

I have been known to cut a corner or two. I have reached professional levels of procrastination, and the depth of my personal selfishness has driven me to see what I wanted to do as far more important than anything my leadership has asked me to do on several occasions!

What about God?

Now, if it is possible to have that level of lack of concern for the leadership I can see on a daily basis, what about God?

I imagine that, for many of us whether we are willing to admit it or not, it is far easier for us to dismiss the will of God in our lives than it is for us to dismiss the will of man. Why? We can at least see the man that’s making requests/demands on our time. God, on the other hand, we act as if we think it’s questionable if He even exists! I mean, sure, we say we believe in god, but it says in John 14:15 ““If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” Jesus said nothing there about “if it’s convenient for you” or “if you can make it work in your favor” or even “if it doesn’t offend anyone”. He simply said “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”

Destructive Behavior

Jonah 1:1-3 “The word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me.” But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.”

Jonah, a prophet of God, is commanded by God to Nineveh and pronounce God’s judgment against the city. Now, to fully understand the depth of Jonah’s struggle with God’s command to preach repentance in Nineveh, it is important to understand a few things. Foremost, Nineveh was the capital city of the Assyrian empire. Nearly every reference to Nineveh in biblical literature is an indictment of its evil or a declaration of its impending destruction (Jonah 1:2; Nah 2:8; 3:7; Zeph 2:13). Sennacherib, who led a military campaign through Judah during the reign of King Hezekiah, decorated his palace with reliefs that depicted the atrocities the Assyrians regularly visited on the peoples they defeated. Assyrians commonly impaled, dismembered, decapitated, and disfigured defeated peoples. These are the images that would have made up the mental backdrop for Jonah when God commanded him to go to Nineveh to pronounce His judgement against the city.

The long way around

Jonah 3:1-2 “Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and proclaim to it the proclamation which I am going to tell you.””

Jonah was angry, from a nationalist point of view, and attempted to force that point of view to cover his responsibilities to God. Didn’t work. All it did was increase the length of his journey significantly! He forced men who were considered legendary for their ability to travel across waters of any kinds under any circumstances to tremble in terror. He then spent 3 days in the belly of a fish where, if you carefully read the text, he was willing to admit to being afraid that he might drown, even willing to express gratitude that he didn’t drown, but refused to acknowledge that he was wrong or seek forgiveness for having been wrong! Beware becoming so self-righteous and arrogant that not even God’s correction can get you to admit when you’ve been wrong! Finally, after being vomited out on dry land, Jonah went back past where he should have been going in the first place to reach what should have been his original destination.

I’ll do your will

John 21:15-17 “So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Tend My lambs.” He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Shepherd My sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Tend My sheep.”

At first blush this seems to be a very benign conversation between Jesus and Peter, but dig a little deeper and a great deal of depth begins to come forth. First and foremost, Peter could be a man of contradictions. Sometimes he was too slow to listen and too quick to speak, (Matt 16:21-23;) on occasion he was slow to think and too fast to act (Mark 14:47;) and sometimes his courage fled him completely and he became a denier (Luke 22:55-61;). But, if you take it a step further and consider that Jesus questions Peter three times, the same number of his denials, Jesus went through all of this to reinstate Peter back into His inner circle.

Now, let’s dig past the top layer. When Jesus asked Peter “do you love Me more than these?”, the word He used in the Greek was agapaō. When Peter responded, however, he used the Greek phileō. Now while these terms can sometimes be used interchangeable, depending on the context of the sentence, their usage can become somewhat restricted.

Agapaō, in it’s most restrictive form, is a verb that means to love, to esteem, to like. This verb refers to a kind of love that expresses personal will and affection rather than emotions or feelings. In other words, you don’t fall in this. You have a made up mind for agapaō.

Phileō, on the other hand, is a verb that means to love. This verb expresses a kind of love that expresses affection and, often, mutual interest. In other words, I have something to offer, and so do you, so let’s work together. It’s no small wonder that phileō forms the root of Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love.

So, armed with that knowledge, reading the text you can imagine that Jesus may have been a little disappointed when He asked Peter, essentially, “do you love me with your full personal will and not just because you in your feelings” and Peter responded “yeah, I love you like a brother”.

You can’t submit your will to someone you love “like a brother”. Because what do you do when they tell you to do something that flies in the face of what you percieve as your own best interest.

What do you do when you want the spotlight, but Jesus says “I made you for the background”. Whose will are you going to surrender to? Many men have fallen out of favor with God because they refused to fulfill the role that God gave them and instead tried to force themselves into a role they felt they were better suited for. In the end they did lasting damage to themselves, the people, and the church around them, and in some cases God shortened their lives in order to save them and/or the people they were hurting.

What do you do when you are determined to stay in the background, but God is trying to elevate you? Whose will are you going to surrender to? There have been men and women that God has had an express purpose in the gifts He has given them, whether it be their musical talents, their gifts of hospitality, etc, but because they were more content to stay in the background than to allow God to be the one to utitilize their gifts, the role He had for them remained empty and there’s no way of knowing how many souls went unreached in THIS house because you weren’t manning your position. Who knows how many people were supposed to be sitting in the seats today, but because of roles that weren’t filled those people were never reached here.

What do you do when somebody tells you “I think you’d make a good”, but God hasn’t confirmed that? Whose will are you going to surrender to? How many of us have either been pushed into, or seen somebody pushed into, a position they were ill-suited for because somebody else who likes to pretend they are super-spiritual told them they’d make a good “blank”. Just like there are pre-requisites to be effective in secular jobs, the same is true in the church. Sure, you may be able to smile, but if you have a “my way or the high-way mentality” you should not be an usher. You may be able to differentiate between numbers, but if you can’t add and subtract proficiently, you have no business in the finance office.

Now is the time, today is the day, to re-dedicate ourselves to doing God’s will. If you have, like Jonah, run away from doing God’s will, it’s not too late. Do what he is never recorded doing. Repent for running. Turn toward the Lord Jesus Christ, surrender your will to His, and allow His will to guide yours. Don’t wait too long. And when I say don’t wait too long, I’m not counting death as too long. It is possible to wait beyond your ability to physically do what God originally told you to do. When Israel originally wanted a king He gave them what they asked for. God was content to support Saul so long as he remained faithful to the covenant, but when he began to sin against God and dishonor the covenant God replaced him and his entire family line with David and his line. Don’t lose your place in God’s plan because you won’t surrender to His will. There have been men and women who have lost their place in God’s plans because they played with him too long, wanted to do things their way instead of surrendering to His will, and are now unable to do what they’ve alway wanted. On the other side, don’t make God render judgement against you for standing in the way after you forced His hand. Remember, Saul became antagonistic toward David and he and Jonathan suffered terrible deaths as a result.

Lord, I’ll do your will. If I’ve ever run from what you told me to do, bless me with a chance to get it right and I’ll stand and fight. Lord, I’ll do your will. I don’t want to lose all you’ve given me. If I’ve got to go all by myself, Lord I’ll do your will. Send me, I’ll go. Give me the strength, I’ll go. Make me over, I’ll go. Strengthen my body, I’ll go. If this is you, if this resonates in your soul, tell the Lord, I’ll do your will.

Nettelhorst, R. P. (2014). Love. In D. Mangum, D. R. Brown, R. Klippenstein, & R. Hurst (Eds.), Lexham Theological Wordbook. Lexham Press.

Nettelhorst, R. P. (2014). Love. In D. Mangum, D. R. Brown, R. Klippenstein, & R. Hurst (Eds.), Lexham Theological Wordbook. Lexham Press.

Sieges, A. (2016). Nineveh. In J. D. Barry, D. Bomar, D. R. Brown, R. Klippenstein, D. Mangum, C. Sinclair Wolcott, L. Wentz, E. Ritzema, & W. Widder (Eds.), The Lexham Bible Dictionary. Lexham Press.

Sieges, A. (2016). Nineveh. In J. D. Barry, D. Bomar, D. R. Brown, R. Klippenstein, D. Mangum, C. Sinclair Wolcott, L. Wentz, E. Ritzema, & W. Widder (Eds.), The Lexham Bible Dictionary. Lexham Press.