A Look at God's Will
What is God's will? To be perfectly honest, this question can be one of the most difficult questions to answer today. It seems in this day and age that there are so many people convinced they are doing His will, even amidst blatant contradiction either with themselves, each other, and/or more importantly God and His word, that we really can't be sure. I've heard it said "when all else fails, look up", but maybe that's quite a bit too late. If we are His servants, then that ought to be the first thing we do. Maybe therein lays the problem. We have ignored the teachings from scripture which remind us we are to be God's self appointed servants and replaced it with overwhelmingly warm and fuzzy friendship. We, the body of Christ, need to reclaim the biblical and early church understanding of "being Christian".
There are no formulae or magic keys to unlocking knowledge of God's will for our lives. If we have any hope of knowing the will of God for our lives, we must submit to Him fully. It is this lack of submission to the will of God, which causes much false teaching and doctrine to be spread throughout the world today (John 7:16-17/ Gal 5:19-20). If we don't make all effort to love God more than ourselves, we cannot ascertain sound doctrine or truth. The greatest commandment is to love God with our entire mind, heart, soul, and perseverance (Mk 12:29-30). In North America, for the most part, we have succumbed to numerous self seeking forms of the Gospel. It may be rash in making such a sweeping generalization, but seek the Lord honestly on this subject, search out the face of Jesus in the scriptures, and see if you are not led to believe the same things under the conviction of the Holy Spirit.
Why is this so important?
In answering the question "what is God's will", the best place to start must be with Jesus. In what is referred to as the Lord's Prayer, we are told to pray "…thy will be done…" (Mt 6:10). This prayer however is not His. He gave it to us as an example or pattern to follow. You may consider this splitting hairs, but when does Jesus ever have to pray for forgiveness (Mt 6:12)? We are the ones who not only need forgiveness, but are also in need of constant reminder that His will is paramount. Many will come to God in the final judgement saying: "Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, and done many wonders in your name?" But Jesus will declare to them that He never knew them, to depart, for they are workers of lawlessness (Mt 7:22-23). How is it they are doing what seems are all the right things, and yet are practicing lawlessness? The answer is simple; they were doing their own thing and using Jesus' name to justify their actions or requests (Jam 4:3). This is taking the Lord's name in vain, which is breaking the third of the Ten Commandments (Ex 20:7).
Only those who do the will of the Father will spend eternity in His presence (Mt 7:21). In fact, many scriptures tell us that we are only His children if we seek and do His will. The emphasis is on doing, not on knowing which logically must come first, and certainly not on planning to do or talking about doing. This is from the mouth of Jesus directly. He said that it is those who do the will of the father that are His family (Mt 12:50). In Luke's gospel it's recorded someone in the crowd cried out a special blessing on Mary for having born Christ. It almost sounds like a precursor to Mary worship. Christ replied that the ones who do the will of God are more blessed than she (Lk 11:27-28). Doesn't that shed a little light on the subject of His will? Yes Mary was blessed for having been the one to birth and nurse the humanity of Christ, and she has not been robbed of that blessing throughout history. Jesus was not dishonoring her. He, however, did make sure we understand following God's will yields better blessings. Unless she too repented, she would not make it to heaven.
As Christians we must hold to the word of God, especially when we are made to feel weak, miserable, and useless by a world at odds with the One who lives in our hearts. One of my favorite passages is found in John's gospel (1:12-13). "As many as have received Him, to them He gave the right to become the children of God, to those who believe in His name…" When this takes place, we are now reborn spiritually, but we can not take the credit. We are born thus not "of the will of the flesh, nor by the will of man, but of God" (See also Jam 1:18/ Heb 10:10). When we start this journey of redemption, we start it by forsaking our sin and submitting to His will, and that we do by His will. Traditionally this is called repentance; it seems that is fast becoming forgotten vocabulary in some congregations. Why, if that is how we start, would we ever consider from that point forward we can resume our own will?
The greatest example
When Jesus taught us to pray "thy will be done", He didn't direct us to do anything He hasn't first done Himself. Jesus did nothing on His own, He sought always to do the will of the Father (John 5:30/6:38). It may not be possible to fully comprehend how Jesus could be fully God and fully man, nor is it easy to understand how He did nothing of His own will as a result. For the purpose of this study the most important thing to acknowledge is His surrender to God the Father's will. We can likewise do no differently than Jesus if we are called Christians, for that is the very meaning of the word; it is to be "like Christ". Philippians 2 reminds us that He was obedient to the point of death on the cross. If ever there was someone who had the right to assert His will, His strength, and His authority, it should have been Christ. Jesus had the authority to call upon legions of angels to help Him during His arrest and crucifixion (Mt 26:53-54). He never did. He humbled Himself, clothed His majesty in human flesh, and served His own creation. As though it wasn't humbling enough washing His disciple's feet (John 13:1-17), He completed His work on the cross. From His obedience we can learn love, submission, and perfect unity in the midst of diversity as is evident in the Triunity of the Godhead.
From the standpoint of His humanity, it wasn't always easy either. He was tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin (Heb 4:15). That means He was tested in such a way where He was presented every type of opportunity to do His own will. He never caved in under the pressure. The ultimate example occurred in the garden the night He was betrayed;
"And He went a little further and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will… He went away again the second time and prayed, saying, My Father, if this cup may not pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done." (Mt 26:39+42)
There is no greater example that could be set than this. Knowing the agony, knowing the separation, and knowing the punishment He would endure, and all to satisfy His own requirements for justice and righteousness, He submitted as the Father willed; as this was done "it pleased the LORD to bruise Him" (Is 53:10). Now "by His stripes we are healed" (v5) of the disease of sinfulness should we accept the cure. In his humanity, Jesus wanted there to be another way for this work to be accomplished. It was the Fathers will which prevailed, that the scriptures might be fulfilled. Now all men can be called to salvation if we will believe and repent. Our Lord taught it was His food to complete the task the Father had given Him and to do The Fathers will (Jn 4:34). On the cross He cried out with a loud voice; "It is finished" (19:30). He completed that task perfectly.
Concerning this idea of self-sacrifice, even to the point of the cross, we are told to have the same mind (Phil 2:2+5). We must be surrendered solely to God's will. Let's face it, most of us will never boast of having submission at that level. No one will ever best Christ in His example of life and conduct. That is not the point. We are to try to match it anyway. "It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a servant like His master" (Mt 10:25). We are to let the Spirit do it through us. Any doctrine or idea that asserts health and wealth, any gospel that asserts the Love of God without His holiness and its requirements, any attempt to marry the sacred to the secular in an attempt to reach yet one more person; these are all blatant ways of holding onto our will and ideas, whether intentionally or not (Jam 4:4-6/ Gal 1:6-10).
The Example of Paul
The example our Lord set is adequate enough to show the importance of submission to, and focus upon His will. To drive the point further into the heart, however, we can look at the example set through the life of the apostle Paul. To speak of him as "the apostle Paul" only affirms his obedience to God's will (1Cor 1:1/ 2Cor 1:1/ Eph 1:1/ Col 1:1 etc). Paul set God's will as priority in his life (Acts 18:19-21/Rom1:9-11/1Cor 4:19/1Cor16:7), whether it be to go to Rome, Corinth, or to return to Ephesus. He often spoke of doing things only if the Lord willed or permitted. Unlike Christ, he wasn't perfect. He wrote about walking in the spirit, and contrasted it against walking in the flesh (Gal 5:16-26). He confessed the struggles within to follow God's will (Rom 7:15-25). Nonetheless, he still stated we should follow him, as he followed Christ. That means quite simply that we should follow the example of Paul, in that he tried to imitate Christ in everything. Ultimately this means total submission to God's will.
In submission to the will of God, Paul knowingly went to Jerusalem where he was to be arrested (Acts 21:11-14). The plan of the Father for his life was paramount. This eventually led him to Rome, where death awaited him. Paul lived out that which he wrote to the Philippian church. This was not isolated to just Paul either. Peter was also shown his death beforehand (2Pe 1:14). Indeed this adds another dimension to knowing His will, since both Paul and his Lord were obedient to the Father, and they suffered loss of possession and life. This will be explored in more detail as we continue.
In place of our wills and desires…
We can say without a shadow of doubt that being a Christian means we no longer have ambition, desire, and will of our own (Jam 4:13-15). As someone professes to be "Christian", they automatically infer their will is dead. "We have crucified the flesh with its desires" if indeed we are Christ's (Gal 5:24). If we have not crucified and done violence to our will in subjection to God, then we are either not saved, disobedient, or ignorant of and desensitized to our sin. We can fool ourselves, we may even fool others, but make no mistake, we cannot fool Christ (Jer 17:9-10/ Rev 2:23/ John 2:25).
The work of baptism is, in part, a show of solidarity with Christ. We are showing we are united with Him in death, putting off the works of the flesh (Rom 6:4-14). Now if we have died with Him, and have put all things under submission to Him to obtain the hope of resurrection, then why could we consider our will still valid? We cannot. We are compelled as believers to lay aside our desires (2Cor 5:14-15). That is essential to obtaining the name Christian.
(Pertaining to the heart and desires of man, see also Num 15:39-40/ Jer 17:9/ Pro 28:26/ Ecc 9:3-4)
How then do we know His will?
If His will is paramount, how then can we know that will? Paul wrote…
"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."(Rom 12:1-2)
Notice the order of events. First is complete submission to Him. Jesus taught we are to take up our crosses to follow Him (Mk 8:34/Mt 10:38); we are to die to self or we will die ourselves. If repentance from sinful lives and submission to Him does not take place, than any good we do is hopelessly out of context. We must crawl upon the alter of self sacrifice daily, not to get off again. (In 1 Corinthians 15:31 Paul says "I die daily"). Paul adds that this is our reasonable service, meaning it only makes sense in light of the suffering of our Lord on our behalf. In the Greek the word "reasonable" means it is both logical and spiritual.
After self sacrifice and self denial comes transformation. As we accept the substitutionary death of Jesus on the cross as payment for our sins and repent, we are at that very moment transformed spiritually by the will of God (Jo 1:12-13). We cannot take any credit. We cannot even ask Him to be our Lord without His enabling us. When we do, however, it's at that exact moment we become His children by physical, legal, and spiritual right. We are new creations (John 1:12-13/ 1Cor 5:21/ Ti 3:3-7). The old self is done away with, that includes the old selfish desires, having been replaced with new selfless desires. Now we must continue to walk in newness of life (Rom6:4), and by the power of the Holy Spirit (Gal 5:16+25).
The unfortunate fact we still stumble reveals a struggle from deep within us. This struggle takes place upon what has often been called the battlefield of our minds. Before conversion we were enemies of God in our minds (Col 1:21/ Eph 2:1-3). Up to the point when people repent they cannot understand the truth contained in the bible, and this automatically means they'll end up serving the will of Satan instead (2Tim 2:24-26/ John 8:31-32). As believers, with regenerated spirit and mind, it is there we are tempted, and if yielding to it, we fail (Jam 1:13-15). Paul wrote of this conflict within himself. The war raged between what he wanted to do, and what he continued to do; this is the war between the flesh and the spirit (Rom 7:18-23/ Gal 5:16-26). When his new mind was overcome, then he noticed captivity under sin (v 23 (Rom 7:23)).This confirms the problem of sin must be understood as one which occurs in our minds and hearts. The outworkings are the fruit from the roots within. We will never sin against God unless we have first done so in our minds and hearts. Jesus said it best, "unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven" (Mat 5:20). That type of righteousness was external, cold, and to the letter of the law while at the same time void of the spirit of the law. It is the letter that kills, but the Spirit who brings life.
This is exactly why continual transformation by that new mind is necessary (Rom 12:2/ 1Cor 2:16). The greatest commandment is to love God with not only our heart and soul, but as well with our minds and perseverance (Mk 12:30). We need to have the same mind as Christ (Phil 2:2+5). Peter wrote of this as "arming ourselves", as if for battle, so we will follow His will. We must meditate on the noble (Phil 4:8), setting our minds on all things heavenly (Col 3:2). We must add to our faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, and to our knowledge self-control and perseverance, followed by godliness, brotherly kindness, and love (2Pe 1:5-11). If we do so then we will never stumble concerning the faith. Simply put, we believe, we repent, but we do not stay there. We must ingrain the scriptures into our heads, the result being a renewed mind. A direct result of a renewed mind is knowing the will of God our Father. We mustn't forget, though, our inability to understand scripture apart from indwelling of the Holy Spirit (1Cor 2:12-13).
What does the Father will?
Individual believers each have specific gifts which are to be used to accomplish specific tasks for the Father (Rom12:3-8/1Cor 12). Not all are feet, not all are hands, not all are teachers, and not all are apostles. There are however a few lines of commonality which all people of faith should know and obey. It would take volumes to expound His will precisely, even if it were possible to know that deeply. His ways are higher than our ways, and his thoughts are higher than our thoughts (Is55:8-9). However, necessity warrants at least a brief look at some of the common elements of God's will.
What were the consequences?
As earlier mentioned, there is another dimension to following the will of God which is definitely not comforting to think about. This is the aspect of suffering. It is contended today by some that God doesn't have it in His will for us to suffer, to be poor, or to get sick. This is blatant heresy in my opinion. Jesus came to do the will of the Father, which resulted in suffering and death. We are to have the same mind as that of Jesus, obedience to God even if it is unto death (Phil 2:1-8). Jesus taught His twelve they would suffer persecution as He did (Matt 10:22-25), after all "no servant is greater than his Master". As a matter of fact only John of the remaining eleven, after Judas hung himself, is disputed as to whether he died a martyr's death. Church history records for us the deaths of the apostles and a good number of the early church leaders;
Many more still were fed to the lions, tortured to death, burnt alive at the stake, and murdered as though they were traitors throughout the empire by the soldiers and rulers.
Included in this list of sufferers is the apostle Paul. Jesus told Ananias at the very beginning of Saul's conversion "I will show him [Paul] the great things he must suffer for My names sake" (Acts 9:16). Paul had yet to learn what his specific calling in the Lord was to be, and yet the Lord had the works arranged in advance (Eph 2:10). One result which was foreordained in the life of Paul was suffering. By his own pen he recorded for us in the scriptures what types of sufferings they were; imprisonments, beatings and scourgings, getting robbed, poverty and necessity, hunger and starvation, discrimination, rejection by his own countrymen, and physical infirmity (2 Cor 11:22-27/ 2Cor 12:6-10/ 1 Cor 9:16/ Gal 6:17/ Phil 4:12-16). There were times of blessing and abundance as well, but that seems to be the exception in scripture. As previously proven, Paul lived to satisfy the will and heart of God, and his Redeemer. To say that Paul suffered these things in consequence to his lack of faith or faithfulness is mockery of God's word, and a desperate attempt to twist the scriptures for personal gain; the end thereof is destruction (2 Peter 3:16).
What could be the consequences?
Paul promised that all who would live righteously before God and man will suffer persecution (2Tim 3:12). Coming from Paul in light of what we have just read, it carries a little weight. There is no way around this. I once heard it said…
"…and there was no room for Him in the inn. He got a little bit older, there was no room for Him in His family, His family turned on Him. He went to the temple, there was no room for Him at the temple, the temple turned on Him. Then He died, there was no place to bury Him, He died outside the city. Now why in God's name do you expect to be accepted everywhere? How is it the world couldn't get along with the holiest man that ever walked the earth, and it can get along with you and me? Have we compromised? Have we no spiritual stature? Have we no righteousness that reflects on their corruption?"
We need to test ourselves to see if we are in the faith (2Cor 13:5). The persecution we may or may not be suffering can easily be a secondary litmus test, which when self applied proves or disproves our bold preaching of the gospel in word and conduct. Peter cites this context for defending the Christian faith…
"But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled; But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ. For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing. For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit (1Pet 3:14-18)."
It is not just briefly mentioned in scripture that we may suffer for Christ if we are His disciples and in His will. Are we to be worried or troubled by this fact? Of course not (Mat 10:19). Are we to be surprised? Not at all (1John 3:13)! In the beatitudes, we are told "blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you" (Mat 5:11-12). It can be expected, and when it occurs, we should see it as a joyous occasion that we can take one on the chin for Jesus, especially in light of the one He endured to purchase us with His own blood. "Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful creator" (1 Pet 4:19).
Some closing remarks
Keep in mind in no way is the material we've covered this far to be considered exhaustive. To move on to the particulars of knowing God's will for our individual lives, we must dig in and understand a) the sufficiency of God's word to answer all of life's challenges, and b) the impossibility of living Holy unto God without the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (2Tim 3:16/ Gal 5:16/ 2Pet 1:3). As ones who have sold themselves willingly into lifelong servitude before the Lord; as ones having been purchased by Christ with His own blood; as ones having been made new creations through the sealing and indwelling of the Spirit of God, our direction should be clearly marked out for us. Though we are many members of one body (1Cor 12), and we differ in the particulars, that direction is singular. There is only one way (John 14:6). We become part of this body by forsaking our sin, our own will, and our desires in repentance. This forsaking means completely and without return. God replaces our old desires and will with His own. This occurs at a cost which in earthly terms could very well mean physical and/or financial distress. This is the case today in various places in the world where faithful brothers and sisters in the Lord have been stolen from and denied justice, where many are beaten, and where many are denied the right to earn a living for their families, just because they are willing to be named Christ followers. If we remain faithful, it could possibly cost us our very lives. This is the case we find for Christ, for Paul, and many of His followers in the first centuries and beyond of the church. This is the case for many Christians even this day in countries not plagued with affluence.
As we pray, it is true God will answer every prayer, and it is true we have whatever we ask of Him (1 John 5:14). There is a firm clause which scripture attaches to this; "if we ask anything according to His will, we will have all that we ask". It is only if we are perfectly aligned with His will, which should be the case if we consider ourselves Christians, that God will always grant our requests. Any attempt to say "we need to just believe/ confess/ have enough faith", apart from aligning ourselves primarily with His will, leaves us on shaky ground.
Grace and peace,
Arron.