Decision Making & the Will of God (Part 1)
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Decision Making and the Will of God – Part 1
So the topic tonight builds on the foundation we laid from last week about how there is a difference between God knowing and God causing something.
There is probably no more frequent question asked of God by Christians than “What is God’s will for my life?”
We ask the question with the deepest sincerity as well as convictions. And the question is well intended. We seek to know the heart and mind of Christ. But being sincere and convicted does not always mean, nor does it guarantee, that the way we approach that question is always correct.
It is much easier to confirm our own set of beliefs. When we apply those beliefs based on our own set of rules. But what about when they are not our set of rules? Say God’s rules.
Let’s play a little game!
This is called confirmation bias. The tendency to interpret new information as confirmation of one's existing beliefs or theories.
This is the value of testing your beliefs.
This is something people in the church do all the time theologically. We need to be self aware enough to allow our assumptions to be tested. This is where real growth takes place. This is where honest doubt can actually be a helpful thing.
There are many traditions in the Modern American church that we hold too with deep convictions. And all we do is seek information to confirm them. But never question them. And often they have very loose ties to what we study in Scripture.
Sometimes, what we think is an eternal principle is little more than a cultural bias that runs so deep we can’t see it. -Karl Vaters
Sometimes, what we think is an eternal principle is little more than a cultural bias that runs so deep we can’t see it. -Karl Vaters
Confusion About How Godly Decision Making Works
-2-part talk, may be shaken in part 1, but will find freedom and relief in the end in part 2
You may feel like I am taking something away from you initially. I felt that way too. This is normal. Any time we may question a long held assumptions. It is normal to have a bit of unrest. But as long as what is being considered is more firmly rooted in both the Bible and connected to the Character of God. And I believe in this case you will see that it is. It is always the best choice to reconsider our position. But rest assured I will not leave empty without something, that I think is a much richer perspective, to fill that void.
-Importance of decision making in our lives
-Like me, many of you may have encountered people speaking about hearing God’s voice or being led by the Spirit, or discovering God’s will for their life through these various means
The Modern Evangelical Perspective: The “Blueprint” View
The Modern Evangelical Perspective: The “Blueprint” View
1) God’s made all the major decisions of my life for me already - God’s “blueprint” for my life
2) God reveals these personalized blueprints to us through a series of subjective clues (having an inner peace, feeling led, hearing the voice of God, open and closed doors, confirmations, etc.)
3) Our job is to take note of these clues and interpret them so we can know which decisions to make
-Today, we’ll examine this view by examining the biblical phrases used to support the view.
Feeling “led by the Spirit”
Feeling “led by the Spirit”
Blueprint view says: We are “led by the Spirit” to the decision God wants us to make.
12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
Faithlife Study Bible Chapter 8
Formerly, people did not have a choice; they were under the control of sin (Rom 6:16; 7:17). Because of the indwelling Spirit, Paul declares that believers are no longer subject to the control of the flesh. They have been transferred from the realm of the flesh to the realm of the Spirit.
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Faithlife Study Bible Chapter 5
live by the Spirit Refers to being under the Spirit’s direction and empowerment.
The Greek verb here, peripateite, typically means “walk.” It also can be used to express a metaphor from the Jewish tradition referring to a person’s conduct. For this reason, the phrase is often translated “live by the Spirit.”
Hearing a “still small voice”
Hearing a “still small voice”
Blueprint view says: God “speaks” to our hearts using a “still small voice” and tells us the decisions we’re to make.
I Kings 19: 11-13
11 And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. 13 And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
The cited passage say: God once had a conversation with His prophet Elijah through a low- volume voice. The phrase “low whisper” can also mean a calm voice.
Faithlife Study Bible Chapter 19
19:12 a fire Wind, earthquakes, and fire are often associated with a divine appearance or theophany (see Exod 19:16–18; 20:18; Judg 5:4–5; Psa 18:7–9; Hab 3:4–7). Here, they precede Yahweh like a messenger (Psa 104:4).
1 Kings Chapter 19:1–21
What was the object and meaning of this succession of signs? First, let us remember that Elijah was the prophet of deeds. He taught his contemporaries not by word but by act. He is here taught in turn by signs. There passes before him in the mountain hollow, in the black and dark night, a procession of natural terrors—of storm, and earthquake, and fire. But none of these things move him; none speak to his soul and tell of a present God. It is the hushed voice, the awful stillness, overpowers and enchains him. He is to learn hence, first, that the Lord is a God “merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth”
The Importance of Context and Original Meaning
Taking biblical verses and phrases out of context is probably the church’s major problem today in how we approach Scripture and it leads to all kinds of erroneous readings and doctrines.
What if you told your child to pick up his things and he said “okay” then went off and instead dished himself up a bowl of ice cream?
If we demand that people not twist our communications to mean something they never were intended to mean, shouldn’t we at least extend the same courtesy to God’s communications?
“A text can never mean what it never meant”
“A text without a context is a pretext for confusion.”
“Having a peace” about something
“Having a peace” about something
Blueprint view says: We can tell that God has given the go-ahead to our decisions if we “have a peace” about it.
12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.
The cited passage says: Stop fighting in the church, but let the “peace of Christ” be the thing that rules between everyone.
-Are decisions always easy? Is that a bad thing?
“Open and Closed Doors”
“Open and Closed Doors”
Blueprint view says: God tells us what decisions to make by “opening a door” and what decisions not to make by “closing a door”.
12 When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though a door was opened for me in the Lord,
26 and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened. 27 When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.”
The cited passages says: Sometimes God gave Paul certain opportunities, but Paul did not see those opportunities as binding directives that he was obligated to pursue.
“Fleeces” and other signs
“Fleeces” and other signs
Blueprint view says: If we “lay out a fleece”, God will give us a directive through that object or event about what decision we’re supposed to make.
14 And the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?” 15 And he said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” 16 And the Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.”
36 Then Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said, 37 behold, I am laying a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece alone, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said.” 38 And it was so. When he rose early next morning and squeezed the fleece, he wrung enough dew from the fleece to fill a bowl with water. 39 Then Gideon said to God, “Let not your anger burn against me; let me speak just once more. Please let me test just once more with the fleece. Please let it be dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground let there be dew.” 40 And God did so that night; and it was dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground there was dew.
The cited passage says: God was once patient with cowardly Gideon who continually questioned what God had commanded him to do.
Gideon wasn’t looking for what he should do. He was already told what do!!
A couple of our tendencies:
-Not putting out supernatural fleeces
-Not making the decision in question falsifiable
-Our overall tendencies towards inviting a vague or unclear result
-God is a God of clarity, not confusion
“Confirmations”
“Confirmations”
Blueprint view says: God “confirms” through signs the previous unclear directives he gave us.
15 “A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed. Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established.
The cited passage says: Two or three third-party witnesses are required to “confirm” whether the legal evidence brought against someone in a court of law is true or false.
Doesn’t God Give Guidance in the New Testament?
Doesn’t God Give Guidance in the New Testament?
Yes. -It’s very rare. It’s the exception, not the rule
-It’s an intrusion and contrary to wisdom
-It’s supernatural
-It’s clear
-It’s now part of God’s moral will and we are obligated to obey it
The Pagan Impulse
The Pagan Impulse
-Reading divine messages in natural events (Katrina)
-Creating new mediums for divine messages when we nature doesn’t readily offer them -God sets limits on our knowledge in two ways:
-He has made us finite
-He limited our knowledge to the past and present, the future is off-limits -He in essence says “Consider your limits and trust Me.”
Summary
Summary
-The Bible doesn’t teach that we get special personalized guidance from God through being led, having a peace about something, open/close doors, seeing confirmations, etc.
-Special guidance is sometimes given in the N.T., but it is rare, intrusive, clear, and those people have a moral obligation to follow it.
Questions
Questions
-Why would our modern evangelical culture and our modern American culture in general be disposed to something like the Blueprint view whereas previous generations were not?
-If God doesn’t give us special guidance for the various decisions in our lives, what could be an alternative way we are supposed to make decisions?
-Next week, we’ll look at what the Bible says about God’s will