James. The Will of God. Obeying
Notes
Transcript
Obeying God’s Will
Obeying God’s Will
15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
“If the Lord will” is not just a statement on a believer’s lips: it is the constant attitude of his heart.
“My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work” (John 4:34).
Often in his letters, Paul referred to the will of God as he shared his plans with his friends (Rom. 1:10; 15:32; 1 Cor. 4:19; 16:7).
Paul did not consider the will of God a chain that shackled him; rather, it was a key that opened doors and set him free.
Everything in this universe operates according to laws.
If we cooperate with these laws and obey them, then the universe works with us.
But if we fight these laws and disobey them, the universe will work against us.
For example, certain laws govern flight.
The engineer who obeys those laws in designing and building the plane, and the pilot who obeys those laws in flying the plane, will both have the joy of seeing the great machine operate perfectly.
But if they disobey the basic laws that govern flight, the result will be a crash and the loss of life and money.
God’s will for our lives is comparable to the laws He has built within the universe, with this exception: those laws are general, but the will He has planned for our lives is specifically designed for us.
No two lives are planned according to the same pattern.
No two lives are planned according to the same pattern.
To be sure, there are some things that must be true of all Christians.
It is God’s will that we yield ourselves to Him.
5 and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us.
It is God’s will that we avoid sexual immorality
3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality;
All Christians should rejoice, pray, and thank God
16 Rejoice always,
17 pray without ceasing,
18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Every commandment in the Bible addressed to believers is part of the will of God, and must be obeyed.
But God does not call each of us to the same work in life, or to exercise the same gifts and ministry.
The will of God is “tailor-made” for each of us!
It is important that we have the right attitude toward the will of God.
Some people think God’s will is a cold, impersonal machine.
God starts it going and it is up to us to keep it functioning smoothly.
If we disobey Him in some way, the machine grinds to a halt, and we are out of God’s will for the rest of our lives.
God’s will is not a cold, impersonal machine.
You do not determine God’s will in some mechanical way, like getting a soft drink out of a “pop” machine.
The will of God is a living relationship between God and the believer.
The will of God is a living relationship between God and the believer.
This relationship is not destroyed when the believer disobeys, for the Father still deals with His child, even if He must chasten.
Rather than looking at the will of God as a cold, impersonal machine, I prefer to see it as a warm, growing, living body.
If something goes wrong with my body, I don’t die: the other parts of the body compensate for it until I get that organ working properly again.
There is pain; there is also weakness; but there is not necessarily death.
When you and I get out of God’s will, it is not the end of everything.
We suffer, to be sure; but when God cannot rule, He overrules.
Just as the body compensates for the malfunctioning of one part, so God adjusts things to bring us back into His will.
You see this illustrated clearly in the lives of Abraham and Jonah.
The believer’s relationship to the will of God is a growing experience.
First, we should know His will
First, we should know His will
14 And he said, ‘The God of our fathers appointed you to know his will, to see the Righteous One and to hear a voice from his mouth;
The will of God is not difficult to discover.
If we are willing to obey, He is willing to reveal
17 If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority.
It has been said that “obedience is the organ of spiritual knowledge.”
This is true.
God does not reveal His will to the curious or the careless, but to those who are ready and willing to obey Him.
But we must not stop with merely knowing some of God’s will.
God wants us to be “filled with the knowledge of His will and all wisdom and spiritual understanding” (Col. 1:9).
It is wrong to want to know God’s will about some matters and ignore His will in other matters.
Everything in our lives is important to God, and He has a plan for each detail.
God wants us to understand His will
God wants us to understand His will
17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
This is where spiritual wisdom comes in.
A child can know the will of his father, but he may not understand his will. The child knows the “what” but not the “why.”
As the “friends” of Jesus Christ, we have the privilege of knowing why God does what He does.
15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.
7 He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel.
The Israelites knew what God was doing, but Moses understood why He was doing it.
We must also prove God’s will
We must also prove God’s will
2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
The Greek verb means “to prove by experience.”
We learn to determine the will of God by working at it.
The more we obey, the easier it is to discover what God wants us to do.
It is something like learning to swim or play a musical instrument.
You eventually “get the feel” of what you are doing, and it becomes second nature to you.
People who keep asking, “How do I determine God’s will for my life?” may be announcing to everybody that they have never really tried to do God’s will.
You start with the thing you know you ought to do, and you do that.
Then God opens the way for the next step.
You prove by experience what the will of God is.
We learn both from successes and failures.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
The yoke suggests doing things together, putting into practice what God has taught you.
Finally, we must do God’s will from the heart
Finally, we must do God’s will from the heart
6 not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart,
Jonah knew the will of God, and (after a spanking) did the will of God; but he did not do it from his heart.
Jonah 4 indicates that the angry prophet did not love the Lord, nor did he love the people of Nineveh.
He merely did God’s will to keep from getting another spanking!
What Paul said about giving can also be applied to living:
7 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
Grudgingly means “reluctantly, painfully.”
They get absolutely no joy out of doing God’s will.
Of necessity means “under compulsion.”
These people obey because they have to, not because they want to. Their heart is not in it.
Happy in the will of god.
Happy in the will of god.
The secret of a happy life is to delight in duty.
When duty becomes delight, then burdens become blessings.
54 Your statutes have been my songs in the house of my sojourning.
When we love God, then His statutes become songs, and we enjoy serving Him.
When we serve God grudgingly, or because we have to, we may accomplish His work but we ourselves will miss the blessing.
It will be toil, not ministry.
But when we do God’s will from the heart, we are enriched, no matter how difficult the task might have been.
We must never think that a failure in knowing or doing God’s will permanently affects our relationship with the Lord.
We can confess our sins and receive His forgiveness (1 John 1:9).
We can learn from the mistakes.
The important thing is a heart that loves God and wants sincerely to do His will and glorify His name.
What are the benefits of doing the will of God?
What are the benefits of doing the will of God?
For one thing, you enjoy a deeper fellowship with Jesus Christ
35 For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”
You have the privilege of knowing God’s truth (John 7:17) and seeing your prayers answered (1 John 5:14–15).
There is an eternal quality to the life and works of the one who does the will of God (1 John 2:15–17).
Certainly, there is the expectation of reward at the return of Jesus Christ (Matt. 25:34).
Conclusion
Conclusion
Which of these three attitudes do you have toward the will of God?
Do you totally ignore God’s will as you make your daily plans and decisions? Or, do you know God’s will and yet refuse to obey it?
Each attitude is wrong and can only bring sorrow and ruin to the life of the person who holds it.
But the Christian who knows, loves, and obeys the will of God will enjoy God’s blessing.
His life may not be easier, but it will be holier and happier. His very food will be the will of God (John 4:34); it will be the joy and delight of his heart (Ps. 40:8).