Understanding the Will of the Lord
Walking Wisely • Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 8 viewsWalking wisely requires that we understand the will of the Lord.
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
There are two philosophies of life: the way of the world and the way of Jesus.
Those who follow the way of the world practice immorality, impurity, greed, filthiness, silly talk, and course jesting. They practice covetousness, which is the sin of idolatry and assure themselves that the wrath of God is not coming for them. They live in darkness, practicing the unfruitful deeds of darkness, doing disgraceful things that shouldn’t even be spoken of.
But those who follow the way of Jesus have been redeemed by the love and sacrifice of Jesus. They strive to imitate God as His beloved children. They please God by living lives of moral holiness, purity, and contentment. They use their mouths to give thanks to God. The look forward to the kingdom of Christ and God and know that the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. They walk as children of Light and bear the fruit of Light. They expose the deeds of darkness by walking in the light of Christ. They walk in true wisdom.
The way of Jesus is the way of wisdom.
Listen to Ephesians 5:15-21…
[READING - Ephesians 5:15-21]
15 Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, 16 making the most of your time, because the days are evil. 17 So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; 20 always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; 21 and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.
[PRAYER]
In Ephesians 5:15, the Apostle Paul called the Ephesian Christians to live not as unwise but as wise. He first call them to live wisely by redeeming the time because the day are evil. And then in v. 17 he called them to live wisely by understanding what the will of the Lord is.
Specifically, he writes in Ephesians 5:17…
17 So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
There are two commands in this one verse…
(1) Do not be foolish.
(2) Understand what the will of the Lord is.
These two commands raise three questions…
(1) What is foolishness?
(2) What is the will of the Lord?
(3) And how do we understand it?
[TS] Let’s think about these QUESTIONS…
Question: What is foolishness?
Question: What is foolishness?
17 So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
[EXP] The book of Proverbs has a lot to say about wisdom. It also has a lot to say about wisdom’s opposite, which is folly. Fool, foolishness, or folly is mentioned approximately 100 times in Proverbs. It says…
7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.
23 Doing wickedness is like sport to a fool, And so is wisdom to a man of understanding.
15 The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, But a wise man is he who listens to counsel.
20 He who walks with wise men will be wise, But the companion of fools will suffer harm.
16 A wise man is cautious and turns away from evil, But a fool is arrogant and careless.
22 Understanding is a fountain of life to one who has it, But the discipline of fools is folly.
3 The foolishness of man ruins his way, And his heart rages against the Lord.
1 The wise woman builds her house, But the foolish tears it down with her own hands.
[ILLUS] In late December last year, Honor Jones, senior editor at The Atlantic, wrote a story called “How I Demolished My Life.” In that story she told about how the different ideas she had for her kitchen renovation, but suddenly realized that she didn’t want to renovate. She wanted a divorce.
She talked about how the messiness of her children got her down. She talked about being tired of her husband standing between her and… well… herself or at least the person she imagined herself to be. She thought that maybe in this new life she would take up art, experiment with drugs, or engage in same-sex relationships.
So she demolished her life.
The family house was sold. Apartments were rented. Custody was shared. Pots and pans, forks and spoons were split. Her old life was gone. She wrote, “I had caused so much upheaval, so much suffering, and for what? (My ex-husband asked) me that, at first, again and again: For what?” Here response was something she considered deep and meaningful: “So I could put my face in the wind. So I could see the sun’s glare.”
But the Word of God tells us the real reason this woman did this—it’s because she’s a fool. She tore down her house with her own hands, because she lives as if there is no God.
In the Psalms it says that the fool says in his (or in her) heart that there is no God , but the fool doesn’t just say it in the heart; he or she actually lives as if their is no God. That’s what foolishness is.
[ILLUS] Jesus once told a parable warning against greed. A rich man once had very productive land. His crops were so large he wondered where he would store them. He decided he would tear down his barns and build bigger ones. The rich man then said to his soul…
19 ‘And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.” ’
But God said to him…
20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’
And then Jesus concludes the parable with these words…
21 “So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
This rich man lived as if earth was all there is. He lived as if there is no God. And because he lived that way, what did God call him?
“You fool.”
[APP] There is a God. You know there is a God.
If you don’t think there is a God, then what about creation?
20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
All creation testifies to the existence of God, and we would be fools not to believe creation’s testimony.
If you don’t think there is a God, then what about conscience?
14 For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, 15 in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, 16 on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.
Your conscience knows the difference between right and wrong because God has written the difference between right and wrong on your heart.
My conscience testifies to the existence of God, and I would be a fool not to believe its testimony.
If you don’t think there is a God, then what about your craving—your craving for God?
In Acts 17, in his sermon on Mars Hill, the Apostle Paul said about God…
26 and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, 27 that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; 28 for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’
You see, you have a God-given craving for God.
It’s true that no one seeks God and finds Him apart from the light of God’s grace, but we all seek for God in the sense of groping for Him in the dark—foolishly trying to satisfy the eternal longing in our hearts with earthly things that can never satisfy.
That’s what Honor Jones is doing. She wasn’t satisfied so she wanted a new kitchen. Then she realized that wouldn’t satisfy her, so she wanted a new life. But even now she senses that she won’t be satisfied with that new life.
She writes at the end of her article, “Maybe I’m deluding myself. Maybe I’m not free of anything and I just want different objects, a different home, maybe someday—(I’ll) admit it—a different man. Maybe I’m starting the same story all over again. ‘For what?’ you’d ask me, and you’d be right.”
Now, she says that she doesn’t think that’ll be the case; she thinks that she is starting something new that will satisfy her, but you can tell in her words that she’s already found that this new life isn’t satisfying.
And the rich man building bigger barns is the same way. He commands his soul to be satisfied with bigger barns because his soul isn’t satisfied with bigger barns.
His soul could never be satisfied with bigger barns. It can only be satisfied with God.
The great Christian apologist, C.S. Lewis said, “Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger; well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim; well, there is such a thing as water. … If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.”
That sense of being made for another world, that craving that only God can satisfy is proof that there is a God.
We’d be fools not to listen to that craving.
We live foolishly when we live as if there is no God.
[TS] So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is…
This brings us to our next question—the two questions in one…
Question: What is God’s will and how do we understand the Lord’s will?
Question: What is God’s will and how do we understand the Lord’s will?
[EXP] God’s will is what God has taught us in His Word. We understand God’s will by prayerfully discerning how to live our lives according to God’s Word.
Understanding God’s will doesn’t mean that we search out the secret things of God but it means we do the things He has revealed to us. Deuteronomy 29:29 says…
29 “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.
This is how we learn to do what is pleasing to the Lord; we try to discern how to apply what the Bible teaches to our everyday living.
[ILLUS] At one point in Israel’s history, God’s people sometimes determined God’s will was determined by the Urim and Thummim. If you don’t know what those are, you’re in good company. Not much is known about them but apparently they were a sort of sacred lot that would be cast (sort of rolled like dice or drawn like straws) in order to determine God’s will.
Proverbs 16:33 says…
33 The lot is cast into the lap, But its every decision is from the Lord.
Even in the NT we read of the Apostles drawing lots to decide who would replace Judas as an Apostle of Jesus. They prayed and asked God to choose and Acts 1:26 says…
26 And they drew lots for them, and the lot fell to Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles.
But is this how we Christians today discover God’s will? Are to cast lots, draw straws, or roll the dice?
[APP] Maybe there are times when we have to trust God to decide for us by basically flipping a coin, but most of the time we determined God’s will be coming to clear understanding of His Word.
The Lord’s will (His Word, His command) is for our understanding (our comprehension), so the Lord means for us to understand but because we are so dull we may have to work at it a little bit.
We might have to work at understanding it mentally.
Fortunately, the Lord’s commands are really easy to to mentally comprehend. It’s not difficult to intellectually grasp the command “Do not steal” or “Honor your Father and Mother” or “Love God” and “Love your neighbor”.
It is not difficult to mentally understand what the Lord’s will is with commands like that but our problem is not likely a lack of mental understanding.
But we certainly have to work at understanding that Lord’s will is for our good.
Understanding the Lord’s will includes understanding that His will is for our good. God gives us His Word—He reveals to us His will for us—because He loves us and wants us to walk in His love.
He doesn’t give His Word to us to ruin our ‘good time’.
He gives it to us so we know Him, live according to His way, and receive His blessings as a result.
If we understand that the Lord’s will is for our good, then we will want to live it out.
This is another part of understand the Lord’s will.
The Lord’s will is for living.
The Lord’s will is not just for theorizing but for practicing. The Lord’s will is to be done and not just contemplated.
Even if we comprehend the Lord’s will—i.e., the teaching of His Word—mentally, we don’t fully understand it until we start to do what it says.
[ILLUS] Sometime ago I had a fungal infection around my neck and chest called tinea versicolor. It’s very common and looks like a rash with white patches in it. I went to the dermatologist and he gave me some medicine that he said would be good for me. It would get rid of the rash.
I believed him. I went to the pharmacy and picked up the medicine and took it. And do you know what happened? The fungus went away! The medicine was actually good for me!
I may have understood that the medicine was supposed to be good for me mentally before I took it, but I didn’t fully understand that it really was good for me until I took it.
The will of the Lord as revealed in His Word is the same way. We may understand it on one level before we practice it—before we obey it—but we won’t understand just how good for us it is until we do what it says.
Doing the Lord’s will won’t always be easy.
It won’t always be fun.
Doing the Lord’s will may not win us friends.
But doing the Lord will is for our good.
And we understand just how good it is when we obey His will.
[TS] …
Conclusion
Conclusion
Of course, the first step in understanding the Lord’s will is coming to know the Lord. This is what Paul wrote to these Ephesian believers.
They had been saved by grace through faith in Jesus (Eph. 2:8); they had learned Christ (Eph. 4:20); they were now light in the Lord and were to walk as children of Light (Eph. 5:8); they weren’t to live like fools as they once did but they were to walk wisely—redeeming the time and understanding the will of the Lord (Eph. 5:17).
This morning, if you have been a fool believing there is no God, know that God offers to save you according to His grace as you trust in His Son Jesus.
He sent His Son Jesus to be perfect for you because you couldn’t be.
He sent His Son Jesus to take the wrath you deserved so that you could be forgiven.
Jesus lived, died, and was resurrected so that you would be saved.
Will you be saved this morning?
This morning, if you have been a practical fool living as if there is no God, know that God is calling you to repent, is ready to forgive you, and want you to do His will so that He can pour out His blessings on you.
He wants to see you walking wisely so He lavish His goodness on you.
And this morning, if you need an example of doing the Lord’s will, look no further than Jesus who the night before the cross prayed…
42 saying, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.”
May that be our prayer as well.
[PRAYER]
As we come to the Lord’s table to remember His sacrifice upon the cross, we want to keep in mind that prayer that took Him to that cross—“yet not My will, but Yours be done.”
We have not obeyed the will of the Lord perfectly but sacrifice of Jesus has atoned for our sin.
And the promise of the New Covenant in His blood is that His Spirit now empowers us to understand and do the Lord’s will.
As always, we begin by examining ourselves and confessing our sins and with good reason because 1 Corinthians 11:27-29 says…
{Lord’s Supper Observance}