Sermon Tone Analysis

if God says that something will happen, is that destined to happen?

are you sure?

after all inst it God saying it?

will God go wrong?

does this mean that we have no choice or free will in doing what we want?

some people say only Gods wish will happen.

somthing went wrong, thats because God wanted that to happen thats why it happened.

so in our concluding parts of 1st corinth paul says as below.

let us try and understand why Paul is saying what he saying.

the key take away from this verse is

1.

Paul is a great planner

2. Paul is subject to Lord Jesus leadership

if the Lord permits.....

why do you think that Paul says that in this letter ?

do you think that our Lord does not permit for a good cause?

some times when you read these verses, some people get this concept that well i dont know, finally wahtever God will will only happen.

so why should i plan and think.

i wll stay put till the Lord speaks to me in a dream or vision.

hello you think of the sofa and you will get visions of the sofa only.

pray and start making plans for God.

we are created in the image of God. one of the charater of God is to plan.

so start planning.

and in due course of time if the Lord prevents you, fine change the plan.

like we see in Pauls life .....

we see the use of Holy Spirit, Spirit of Jesus & God in the above text.

thus the trinitrian concept.

it could be that the holy spirit told him first and then Jesus himself in the Spirit came probably in a vision and stopped him, just as on the road to damascus.

could this be a repeat of the damascus road?

Jesus himself met Paul there

have you ever made the statment that you were going to say something to someone and immidiatly you realised that is wrong or it can get wrong.

so you stop and say back ‘you know what never mind’.

that is the work of the Holy Spirit.

ἐπιτρέπω epitrepō permit

to allow someone to do someth., allow, permit

to consent.

Another word that we often use in the similar terms is as below

GOD WILLING

(Latin Deo volente)

Arabic - inshallah

but this is not a biblical statement

you may be surprised now.

how come?

let us look closer.

“Jacobean condition” (conditio Jacobaea),

This idea is not exclusively Christian, for as Dibelius, 233–234, has fully demonstrated, many classical writers said the same (e.g.

Plato Alc.

1.31.135d;

Phdr.

80d; Epict.

1.1.17;

3.21.12;

3.22.2;

cf.

G. Schrenk, TDNT III, 47).

in fact this was a common phrase and James takes this and makes a minor change and that is what Paul and the other early christian used.

Lexham Theological Wordbook (θέλω)

θέλω (thelō).

vb. to will, to wish.

Expresses a person’s desire or wish in terms of purpose or intent.

Lord here refers to Jesus, as in the below verse

The Epistle of James (1.

The Test of Wealth 4:13–17)

Jewish and Christian authors also made similar statements (1QS 11:10–11; m.

Ab. 2:12; 1 Cor.

4:19; 16:7; Heb.

6:3; Acts 18:21; Rom.

1:10; Phil.

2:19, 24; Ign.

Eph.

20:1).

There is no great originality here except that for James and his Christian tradition it is the risen Christ and the one God who control all of history and who therefore must be taken into account, rather than simply the gods in general.

the whole concept is ‘if God permits me life, i’ll do this or that’

when you pray and ask God for wisdom and plan accordingly, there is no reason for God not to allow this in your life.

that will be a contradiction to what God said earlier and that is not Gods personality to change from what he said earlier.

‘If the Lord wills’ is not used in the scriptures to differ laziness or to defer the lack of responsibility.

the concept is that life comes from God

do if God allows and gives me life, i’ll come there and do that or this.

so the concept is dont be self confident and arrogant.

another question that we all as ourself is that if God knows what is going to happen, how is it our free will?

how can you say that we have a free will to choose and God knows it will happen.

what is the relation between the fore knowledge of God and our free will.

let us look at one instance from the OT and another from NT.

so here we see that the fore knolodge of god does not mean that it will happen as what God said. it was not that God was wrong.

it was left of Davids free will to choose what to do based on the fore knolodge of God.

another instance in the NT

as Dr Miceal Heiser says the fore knolodge of God is liek the chess game.

there are diffrernt moves.

ultimatly he will win.

but how you move to win is your free will.

THE WILL OF GOD

so what is the WIll of God

is it something to be said or done?

Ephesians 1:4–11 (ESV)

4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.

In love

5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,

6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,

8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight

9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ

10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,

will only Gods will happen on earth?

probably not.