The God Who Guides
Oh, My God:
The God who Guides
Jeff Jones, Senior Pastor
March 16/18, 2007
Welcome to our series, Oh, My God, where today we are looking at God’s guidance in our lives, that our God is a God who guides. I’m going to ask you a question, and I want you to stand up if this is true of you. How many of you are facing some kind of pressing decision right now…a decision that you know you have to make? Go ahead and stand up.
That’s not surprising, because life is largely made up of a series of decisions…we go from one decision to another. This last week I filled out my bracket for March madness, the NCAA tournament for the office challenge. A lot of prayer went into that: North Carolina or Texas? Florida or UCLA? I’ll go ahead and let you know that I have Florida winning the whole thing. Some of you right now are praying about who to marry or date. Others are praying about a job choice, or some financial decision. Some are wondering what kind of chocolate to get your pastor for Easter. Big decisions.
The good news for us who are facing decisions is that our God is a God who guides.
Slide: ________________: Proverbs 3:6 (NLT)
tells us: Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take (NLT). That is a wonderful promise, and God is committed to guiding our lives.
However, what you see in the Bible and experience in life is that he does not always guide us the way we want to be guided. What I mean by that is that he doesn’t generally make the decision for us, just part the skies and reveal to us the specific answer to our guidance questions. We often want God to be like this magic 8 ball…that whenever we have questions, we can go to our 8 ball and it will tell us (play with 8 ball a little). We expect God to somehow give us the magic 8 ball answer: yes, no, not now, and we can get a little peeved when those answers don’t seem to be coming.
We can make the same general mistake that a guy in the Old Testament made, a man named Saul. Saul was the first king of Israel, and he was used to relying on his friend Samuel, who was a prophet of God, to tell him what God’s will was for the nation. Toward the end of Saul’s life, Saul was in a real pickle because he was facing a very tough decision about what military action to take against this huge Philistine army that was bearing down on him, and Samuel had just died. Saul panicked. He prayed and asked for God’s specific guidance, but nothing was coming. The 8 ball wasn’t working. So, he makes a fatal mistake:
Slide: ________________: 1 Samuel 28:5-7
When Saul saw the Philistine army, he was afraid; terror filled his heart. He inquired of the Lord, but the Lord did not answer him by dreams or Urim or prophets. Saul then said to his attendants, “Find me a woman who is a medium, so I may go and inquire of her” (1 Sa 28:5-7). Oops. Bad idea. He turns to the occult to try to find the answer of what he should do. God actually allows this woman he finds to call out Samuel from paradise, and Samuel appears to Saul and says,
Slide: ________________: 1 Samuel 28:15
“Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?” “I am in great distress,” Saul said. “The Philistines are fighting against me, and God has turned away from me. He no longer answers me, either by prophets or by dreams. So I have called on you to tell me what to do” (1 Sa 28:15). As you can imagine, Samuel is not impressed and Saul gets a rap on the knuckles for his dumb decision.
Now, many of us in this room know better than to turn to the occult, though I don’t want to take that for granted. Please understand that the Bible talks directly about and very strongly against turning to astrologers, fortune tellers, psychics and the like for direction—essentially turning from God to the occult. You are consulting the wrong team when you do that.
Even knowing all that, we still can make the same mistake Saul made. We treat God like the magic 8 ball, expecting God to guide us a certain way, just lay it out for us in some miraculous way…part the clouds or something. I’ve heard about Christians doing all kinds of things to gain God’s specific guidance, and I’ve done many of them. Some play Bible roulette, where you open the Bible, throw your finger down on a verse, and see what God is saying to you. I tried that this week before going to lunch, because that’s a big decision, where to go to lunch. The second verse I came to in Bible roulette was
Slide: ________________: 1 Samuel 16:2
which says, “’Take a heifer with you,’ the Lord said.” So, I’m supposed to take my own cow. Bummer. Other Christians rely on feelings, and will often describe it is “having a peace about it.” They will pray and then see if they have a peace about a certain decision. But feelings are totally unreliable. One friend of mine justified having an affair and leaving his wife for another person because he had such peace about the decision. He just knew it was what God wanted.
Slide: ________________: Jeremiah 17:9
says, The heart is deceitful above all else. Our capacity to rationalize wrong decisions is astounding. We’ve all made dumb decisions based on impulse that seemed great at the time. Feelings of peace are an unreliable guide to God’s will.
So, how then does God guide? If God does guide our lives, then how do we know what his will is? Think about a decision that you have in front of you right now, or perhaps a decision you feel like could be around the corner. Got one? Let’s talk about God’s guidance with that in mind with two very basic and important principles about God’s guidance in our lives.
Slide: ________________:
· God’s will is more about the HOW than the WHAT.
When we think of God’s will, we typically think of the answers to the what questions. What choice do you want me to make? What girl should I marry? What job should I take? What church should I be part of? When you read what the Bible says about God’s will, however, you quickly see that God’s will has much more to do with the HOW questions than the what questions…meaning, how am I to be a husband or wife? How I am to do my work? He gives us freedom in the what questions, but gives us a lot of instruction about the how questions. Let’s look at some of the New Testament references to God’s will to play with this principle a little bit.
Let’s say you are single, and you want to know God’s will about dating, so God’s will for you is about the what—what girl or what guy. But the Bible emphasizes the how…how should I relate on a date?
Slide: ________________: 1 Thessalonians 4:3-6
says, It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. On a date, God’s will is that you behave yourself physically. Stay morally pure. That is God’s will.
Another passage that mentions the “will of God,” relates to work. We go to God to ask him where we should work or if we should take the promotion…but here is the will of God for our work:
Slide: ________________: Ephesians 6:5-8
Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free (Eph 6:5-8). The passage is talking about slavery but to apply the passage for today you could put in its place, “employee.” God’s will is for you and me to be great employees at whatever job we have, which is far more important than the particular job we take.
Same with marriage…we get fixated on who to marry, and the Bible as we will see gives some guidelines…but even more important than the what or the who is the how. What God has revealed to us is how to be a good wife or a good husband.
God’s will has more to do with the how than the what. We get so fixated on the what, but what God is saying is this, “Don’t worry so much about the what’s. More important is getting the how’s right.”
Slide: ________________:
· God chooses to guide through your process of making wise decisions.
This is very important to understand. What we may want is for God to just make the decision for us and somehow tell us what it is, to be a good 8 ball. But he doesn’t generally do that. He doesn’t just make the decisions for us, but he guides our process of making good choices and informs us how to make wise decisions. That’s the kind of Father he chooses to be, one that allows his children to grow up and be responsible for their choices. That’s the way we learn and our faith can grow. God will not guide you in a way that keeps you immature and dependent in a wrong sense. God will guide you in a way that will make you mature and wise.
It’s like those infernal science projects that the school assigns kids. Any other parent ever struggle with bitterness over school science projects? A couple of months ago, Caleb had to turn in his 5th grade science project. It was a requirement. We had to do it. It was his project to do, not mine—but if you are a parent you know how that goes. Here is the result board we handed in. It was a cool project, on heat transfer through materials, and we had a good time doing it. Yet, as I worked with Caleb on the project there were a number of times I found myself pushing Caleb away because he was compromising my work. I really had to resist that, not making it my project but keeping it his project. Anybody else relate to that? The only way Caleb was going to learn is if he did the project, not me doing it for him.
The way God chooses to grow us and mature us is to give us the freedom to make wise decisions, and he promises to guide that process. That takes a lot more faith than if God just told us the decisions, if we could just email God and get a quick response every time we had a choice to make. Having to make wise decisions grows us up and forces us to clarify what is truly important to us.
So, if God guides our process of making wise decisions, then how to we make wise decisions? God has provided a lot of help in his revealed will, the Bible, to let us know how to make good choices. Again, get the choice that is in front of you or perhaps one that is looming out there in the future, and let’s talk about how to make wise decisions.
Slide: ________________:
o Consult God’s Word
Slide: ________________: Psalm 119:105
says, “Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light for my path.” God has revealed his general will in the Bible, and those principles form the boundaries, the guard rails, for every decision we make. God’s Word gives us the wisdom we need to make good choices.
Let’s talk about choosing whom you are going to date or marry. The Bible is not going to give you names of girls or guys to consider, but it does give boundaries to that choice. 1 Corinthians for example is very clear that we who know Christ should marry only someone who is a Christian. If you are considering marrying someone who does not yet have Christ in their life and you do, then you really don’t need to pray about that choice. God’s Word is clear. The answer is no, at least not until that person gets on the same page spiritually.
That’s just one example. I find that when people come and talk to me about major decisions, that at least 50 to 60% of them are already laid out in the Bible. Those become easy decisions, because they are a no brainer. A bunch of Christians made some dumb decisions last week when the lottery got up to something close to 400 million dollars. You might ask, “Should I sell my car or take a bunch of money out of savings to buy a bunch of lottery tickets?” Proverbs tells us not to go after get-rich-quick schemes. That’s a no brainer. God has already told us the answer. Should I move in with my boyfriend? What does the Bible say? Should I fudge on my taxes? What does the Bible say?
The Bible gives us guidelines, and within those we are free to make decisions. The guidelines themselves will reveal God’s will for about 50-60% of the decisions we make, but what about when you are deciding between options within those boundaries, in areas where the Bible is not clear? God has given us help here, too. Let’s keep talking about how to make wise decisions.
Slide: ________________:
o Seek out advice from wise people
Slide: ________________: Proverbs 19:20
says, ”Listen to advice and accept instruction and in the end you will be wise.”
Slide: ________________: Proverbs 20:18
says, Make plans by seeking advice. Pretty clear. We need other people’s perspective to make wise decisions. That is so important because often in big decisions we can easily lose objectivity about our own lives. We get emotionally connected and lose perspective. You are looking for a car to buy, and you fall in love with the 80,000 dollar Bentley. You know you can’t afford it, and you sort of know what the Bible says about bad debt, but it’s a Bentley. You can picture yourself in the Bentley. You feel like you could really serve God better if you had the Bentley, ride poor people around in it and stuff. You rationalize. You need other wise people to knock you on the head and say, “How about the Kia?”
I cannot communicate enough how thankful I am for wise people in my life, especially our board of elders here in this church. Our elders and their wives are so incredibly wise, and many times I have been so thankful for their perspective, their ability to stay objective. You need some wise people around you and if you are wise you will listen to their advice, trust their ability to be objective when you begin to rationalize a bad decision.
Slide: ________________:
o Consider your mission and priorities
When making a big decision, consider your mission and priorities. God has given you a mission, to help build his church, to bridge people to a growing life in Christ. We are here for his purposes, and every decision we make has to be made with God’s purposes in mind. What decision is best for the mission? Same with our priorities. What is best for my family?
That’s the one of the great things about God making us make decisions rather than just making them for us. Big decisions force us to decide what is really important to us. This past year one of my closest friends had a huge decision to make, whether or not to take a new job that he was really excited about even though it would mean moving his family to another city. It was an excrutiating process for him, but at the beginning of the process, I said, “Doug, this decision is not about which job you take but about your priorities and values. Make the right value decision. Allow this to really clarify your priorities.” It is easy to say we value family, or we value God’s kingdom—but then we get faced with a promotion at work or a marriage proposal and our priorities are put to the test. What is best for the mission? What is best for my family?
Slide: ________________:
o Be open to the Holy Spirit’s prompting
In churches like this one, we can be a little scared of the Holy Spirit and reluctant to be open to his leading in our lives. The Holy Spirit is for charismatic churches…but that is something we need to get over. We don’t have to be afraid of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. He indwells those who confess Christ to be Savior. And as part of His indwelling ministry, part of His ministry is to guide us, to show us the way. That’s what Jesus said just before he left this planet, that he would send his Spirit, and his Spirit would guide us. How does that happen? Here is where it gets a little difficult for some people. It is usually not through visions or audible words. But the Holy Spirit is not just silent, either. Somewhere in the middle of a clear, audible sound and total silence is this territory that many godly people describe as having impressions from God, having a sense in your spirit. I call them spiritual promptings or spiritual nudges or tugs. You just have this sense that God is wanting you to do something. I believe we need to listen to those, to be open to God leading us that way.
For example, many of you are here in this service today because you sensed God pulling on you. You were living your life, and there was this hunger or this desire for something more, and this nagging tug to take a step toward God, and here you are. Two years ago you would have never guessed that you would be sitting in a church service by your own volition, but here you are.
I do believe we need to be very careful in this area, but we don’t need to throw it out just because other Christians get goofy with this Holy Spirit guiding you thing. I remember one faith healer who had this vision of a 70 foot Jesus tell him to build a hospital. When I heard that, I thought, why would God tell a faith healer to build a hospital? If he is a healer, why does he need a hospital? Make up your mind. You can’t have it both ways. That’s goofy.
About every five years or so, I’ll meet someone who is all excited about God and ministry tell me that they sense the Holy Spirit telling them to quit their job and go into ministry and just trust God to take care of them. They have a family and don’t have a clue how they will make money, but they are just going to take the leap any way. I’ll say, “Well, the Bible tells you as a husband to provide for your family, so it would be strange that he would contradict himself that way. Maybe your antenna is broken on this Holy Spirit leading thing.”
The Holy Spirit will never lead us contrary to God’s Word, and we still need to put those little nudges to the test of wise counsel and the other principles we’ve mentioned. But I do believe we need to consider those times when we sense that God is calling us to something. Time is part of the test for me, because when God is prompting something it is not a feeling that comes and goes. There is this nagging, persisting sense that God wants me to do something. And I have learned to listen to that, to consider that.
A while back I was speaking at a conference for pastors, and when I was done I was tired and wanted to scoot out of the room and go do something else. But I had this sense that God was prompting me to talk with one of the participants and give him something I had with me as a gift to encourage him. I had no idea why. He’d been fairly quiet in the session, but it seemed to be what God was saying. That’s certainly not against the Bible to go encourage somebody, so I did so—and was so thankful I did. The talk itself that day was okay, but what God really wanted to happen was that conversation. This pastor desperately needed encouragement and perspective, and I was able to be God’s encouragement in that man’s life that day. Had I blown off the Holy Spirit’s prompting I would have missed out.
Slide: ________________:
o Pay attention to open doors and closed doors
The apostle Paul often talked about open doors and closed doors when he made decisions. In
Slide: ________________: 1 Corinthians 16:8-9
he says, “I will stay on at Ephesus until Pentecost, because a great door for effective work has opened to me.”
Slide: ________________: Romans 1:9-10
In the book of Romans he says, …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 (rom 1:10). Paul also talked about times God closed doors, and basically he is talking about circumstances.
When God closes a door, that’s one way he guides us. You want to go to a particular college, and you get a letter saying that you are not accepted. That’s an answer. It doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be persistent or apply down the road, but for the time being you know it is just not the right time. Other times, God opens up an opportunity and you put it to the test of all these other principles of making wise decisions, and you go for it. One way God guides us is by opening and closing doors.
With our relocation to Chase Oaks and Legacy, it was a very interesting process. As elders, we had decided to relocate a couple of years before the whole senior pastor transition from Gene to me, and we were praying and searching for the right opportunity—but the timing just didn’t seem right. God was more in the mode of closing doors than opening them. And about the time the transition happened, for whatever reason it was obviously God’s time, because the doors flung wide open. We knew as elders that God was moving and working and we wanted to be responsive to that.
So, be sensitive and on the lookout for open doors and closed doors. Often that is God’s way of guiding our decision. Yet, remember that God will not generally just make the decision for us.
That is often what I at least want. God, part the clouds and write in the sky what you want me to do. And he could, but he doesn’t. To do so would mean me not growing up…me not living by faith…me not growing in wisdom. He does guide us, but he does so by guiding our process of making wise decisions.
You may be thinking, “But, wait! What if I still don’t know for sure. I’ve read what the Bible has to say, I’ve talked with other godly people, I am being sensitive to the Spirit and aware of the circumstances, I’ve considered my priorities—but it is still a really tough call.” At some point, you do what every godly person through the centuries has had to do. You make the best decision you can by faith, trusting that what God says is right…that if you really do commit your ways to him and make decisions the wisest way possible that God is directing your steps and guiding your life. You make the best decision you can, and you leave the rest to God.
Ultimately, he promises that he will direct our steps, and he even promises that he will work out everything in our life for good—even our mistakes. Even if you get it wrong, he is so gracious that he says in Romans 8 that he will work it out for good in our lives anyway.
Slide: ________________: Romans 8:28
says, ”God can make all things work together for good to those who love him and who are called according to his purposes.” So, the whole thing is idiot-proofed. Don’t get me wrong, we need to make wise decisions…but he promises that even when we don’t, our life is not over. God will end up teaching us things about his love and steadfastness and grace and work it out to grow us up in him, even if we blow it.
So, our God is a God who guides. He is more concerned with the how than the what, which means we need to be more concerned about that too, how to be a great person, parent, worker, friend. And in life decisions, we can trust him to guide us as we make the wisest decisions we can make—trusting that he really is guiding the whole process. He will do it in a way that grows us up, that matures us. We may want him to just make the decision for us, be our magic 8 ball…but he loves us too much to do that. He is committed to our growth.
Let’s take that decision that you have in front of you right now, and commit it to God. Ask him to guide the process of making a wise choice. Let’s pray.