August, 21, 2005
“The Will of God”
Romans 12:1-8
1. Quite often we hear people say, regarding some event in their life:
“It was the will of God.”
How often have you heard that? How often have you said it yourself?
We also hear this more frequently in politics, especially the international religious kind of politics that pits one nation against another … and we have plenty of that these days. For instance:
The Jews are at war with Arabs in Palestine say that God has given them the land in Palestine because it is in the Bible.
Or the Arabs are who are at war with other Arabs in the conflict between the Shiite Moslems and the Sunni Moslems – a conflict that goes back to the death of Mohammed.
Or, the Moslems and Hindus who are at war in India and Pakistan
And, of course, there is also conflict between Catholics and
Protestants in Northern Ireland
And, in todays religious wars there is a lot of rhetoric about God and even President Bush has gone out of his way to refer to certain countries as the “axis of evil”
And, in return, certain Islamic leaders have referred to the
United States as the Great Satan
Well, we hear it all the time, don’t we?
2. And today, in fact, more and more people, it seems are willing even
to die in the name of God … to be religious terrorists.
And to say, as they blow themselves up … “It was the will of God.”
And, yet, there are perhaps countless more millions of people in the world today of all religious faiths who stop short of proclaiming that they are possessed of the absolute truth … such as to know absolutely, “the will of God.” Most of these people wish only to live at peace with their neighbor … and to love each other as best they can. And, most of these people believe in one way or another that God is not a vengeful or dictatorial God who demands absolute allegiance and who can bring about natural calamities to punish those who disobey Him. Isn’t that so?
But, still, we wonder, don’t we? What role does God play in the events of the world? What role does God play in my life? And, we wonder,”How can I know God’s will and act accordingly?”
Moreover, we wonder if there is any way for us to discern in the events and experiences in our own life that God’s spirit is actually at work in us. Especially, when we hear stories about how this supposedly happens to other people.
3. For, we have certainly all heard about someone being healed of an illness – even when doctors said there was nothing that could be done. We have even all heard about someone who was miraculously saved from a disaster or a murderer or an accident.
In fact, this past week, I had the opportunity to attend a Red Cross meeting and to hear one of the teachers from the Red Lake tell how, after hearing the noise of gunshots, she came out of her class room, only to encounter the shooter Jeff Wiess face to face directly in the hallway of the school and for some unknown reason, he turned away and walked off down the hall, only to kill another teacher and numerous students. “Why,” she had to ask herself, “Why not me?” (You may have read about this in Friday’s paper.)
Now, she did not actually say to us, “It was the will of God.” But, she could have. And I am sure it was going through her mind and the minds of many of those who were listening. However, instead, she gave a more practical answer – namely that she was one of Jeff’s teachers and it may have been that because she had a good personal relationship with him her life was spared her life. One thing is certain, because Jeff died, we will never know for sure.
4. Now most of us have not had as dramatic an experience as this in life … but I suspect many of us have had some life threatening situation … occur along life’s way … such as a serious illness or car accident … or an experience while in the military … which caused us to wonder … why not me? Why was I spared? Especially, when we know that others die every day from illnesses and accidents.
And then there are those somewhat dubious anecdotal stories which raise the hair on the back of your head which circulate on the internet. Here is one I got the other day … it was about a man named Charles who was driving down a deserted country road, late for an appointment. Without warning his car, a small VW, suddenly died. Nothing he could do would get it to start again and there was no one around for miles. As he sat stalled on the side of the road, with the hood raised, another car drove by, but didn’t stop to help. After about fifteen or twenty minutes of useless tinkering, his car started easily as if it had never stopped.
He thought it was odd, but he continued on his way. He drove a few miles and came upon a terrible wreck. The car that had passed him and not stopped to help had been hit head-on by a semi-truck whose driver had fallen asleep. Charles said he knew why his car had stalled. If he had been hit head-on in the small VW, he would have been killed instantly. Later he took his car to a shop and had it checked out, but the mechanic couldn’t find anything wrong with it. He knew God had caused his car to stall to protect him from a fatal accident.
5. Now what are we to make of stories like this? Does God unexplainably intervene like this? Or is it our frail human attempt to explain the unexplainable?
Of course, there is no proof. It’s all a matter of faith, isn’t it? And, while these stories are often used as proofs for the existence of God …they don’t explain why in equally similar circumstances, other people die.
Such as all those who were killed in the 9-11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center … or the Tsunami disaster last Christmas.
The truth is that such explanations in end just make us wonder … does God have some inexplicable plan … which causes some people to die and others to live … is it all Predestination! Are we just pawns in a bigger game than we understand? Does God have some greater plan which we dimly perceive? And what about the other car, the one that passed the guy in the stalled VW? Was it God’s plan that he was supposed to hit the oncoming truck and die so the other driver could live? Is that the way God operates? I don’t think so!
So, don’t believe everything you read on the internet!
6. Well, to continue, regardless of whether God intervenes in specific instances or not … the Bible does seem to say that God does have an overall ultimate plan for the world … and for all of us …
So, the bigger question is … how to do we know? Or how much are we allowed to know? And how does this knowledge come to us?
Well, in a moment I will give you some general guidelines … but first a word about the Scripture reading from Paul’s letter to the Church in Rome which we read this morning…For a moment, let us read it again in the Eugene Peterson translation:
1So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life--your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life--and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. 2Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
3I'm speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it's important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.
Repeat:
You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it.
Notice how Peterson makes it a little more understandable, don’t you think? Whereas the RSV says:
We must “discern the will of God.”
Peterson says, “Readily recognize what he wants from you.”
7. Now, how do we “Readily recognize what God wants from us?” In other words, “How do we discern the will of God?”
Well, Paul makes it pretty clear, I think, when he says, more or less, that it is about attitude. Think about that … “It’s all about attitude.” For faith in God, IS KIND OF AN ATTITUDE – ISN’T IT –REALLY?”
Which means, of course, that God is not going to make all our decisions for us … or even that there is always a one – right – and perfect answer for everything we do in life – is there?
After all … When we get up in the morning should we put on our right shoe first … or should we put on the left shoe first … AFTER ALL, IS THIS A MATTER OF GOD’S WILL? IS GOD ULTIMATELY CONCERNED ABOUT EVERY LITTLE THING WE DO?
Of course not …
And, despite what some people might say … God is not ALWAYS going to specifically tell us which person to marry … or which house to buy … or which job to take …
The serious fact is that despite what some people think …we are not all of us dependent children … at least we are not supposed to be … For the truth is that God expects us to be mature adults … and to take responsibility for our lives … which is what we do try to do …at least most of the time, isn’t that right?
After all … as we all know there was a time when as children we grew up with our parents making all our decisions for us … isn’t that right? But, after a while we grow up … and as an adult -- what child wants their parents to be still telling them what to do … all their life? Not that some parents wouldn’t like to do that … and sometimes even try … and alternatively there are, unfortunately, some adults who often try to remain dependent (at least financially) for as long a possible … on their parents.
But, sooner or later … you have to live your own life … Which also means making your own mistakes … we all have to make our own mistakes. Even though, on a lot of talk shows, people try to blame everything on someone else.
8. Now as we know, as adults … life is uncertain … decisions are difficult … and we don’t always know what to do … like who to marry, which job to take, and which house to buy … and all the rest …
So, there is the temptation to turn God into a kind of supernatural parent figure … who will necessarily tell us what to do … AND IT WOULD BE NICE … WOULDN’T IT? NOT TO HAVE TO MAKE THOSE DECISIONS AND HAVE GOD DO IT FOR US?
And part of the whole predestination question, I think, revolves around THIS NEED WE HAVE to believe that SOMEHOW God is in control – in control OF EVERYTHING!!
Because, first of all:
A. IF GOD IS IN CONTROL OF EVERYTHING … Then we don’t have to worry about things. After all, if it’s all in God’s hands, THEN we don’t have to take responsibility for what happens in the world. Or, IN OUR OWN lives either.
Like, for instance, the question of Global Warming. Increasingly, SCIENTIFIC evidence points to the possibility that it is, in fact, a reality. SO, the question is: What are we going to do about it? Well, some people would rather not think about it. So, it is easier to say, “It’s all in God’s hands.”
But, that is not the same as someone who is dieing saying “It’s all in God’s hands.” Because when you are dieing and there is nothing you can do you are “In God’s hands.” And, nobody ever said that we aren’t ultimately in God’s hands. Not me, not Jesus, not the Bible, not John Wesley.
In fact, half the time, the problem with people is that they refuse to believe that God is involved in their lives at all.
But, that is not the same as saying that we should not be concerned about things like Global Warming. Because, these are things we CAN DO SOMETHING ABOUT. These are things God expects us to be concerned about as adults because it is our responsibility to take care of the earth which God gave us stewardship over … according to the Bible.
B. SECONDLY, IF GOD IS IN CONTROL OF EVERYTHING, then it follows that maybe we can try convince God to FIX THINGS FOR US instead of doing it ourselves.
Like in…Oh, Lord, won’t you buy me a color TV?
Which sounds a lot like … Mom – Dad … can I go to the movies? Can I have the car tonight?
Now, the truth of the matter is that there is a reason why children are not allowed to do certain things until they are old enough -- because they lack the skills and maturity to do them …
But, once you become an adult (that means us) we have to take responsibility for ourselves … God is not there to fix everything for us.
This is why Methodists believe in Free Will.
9. Now don’t misunderstand me, because on the other hand, just because God stops taking care of us like a parent when we become adults …doesn’t mean that God stops loving us … and caring about us … because without God we might just as well do just about anything … and get into all sorts of trouble … as some people do.
So, there is an overall plan … and a way to find out what we should be doing … and to find a way to keep ourselves on the right path … without expecting God to direct our every waking thought and idea and, always having to step in and fix whatever is wrong in our lives.
So, here is the plan … for recognizing “what God wants from us.”
And what it comes down to is, as I said, ATTIUDE. As Paul says … “Do not be conformed to this world … but be transformed by the renewing or our minds … so we may discern the will of God … what is good and acceptable and perfect”
Now our attitude (which is really another word for faith in God) is shaped by a number of important things. Here are basically ten things on which to ground your faith (or attitude) on:
1. First, always remember that God does have great plans for your life! God is concerned about every single person.
After all we were created by God, in His image, for a purpose. Just as God set apart from birth Isaiah (
Isaiah 49:1), Jeremiah (
Jeremiah 1:5) and Paul (
Galatians 1:15) for a specific purpose, he also has a specific plan for your life.
"'For I know the plans I have for you,' declared the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'" (
Jeremiah 29:11)
The Bible says that God's will is "good, pleasing and perfect." (
Romans 12:2)
2. As Christians, we believe that God's will, first and foremost, is that we come to have a relationship with Him through His revelation in Jesus Christ.
"This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth." (
1 Timothy 2:3-4)
3. God wants us to be Christ's disciples – or to follow Jesus teachings.
This means Christians must be committed to following God's will daily, whatever the cost. In other words, we are not to be self centered – always wanting things to be done our way. For, what it comes down to is that if we are not willing to give up some things in life we are really not willing to do God’s will – only our own. For as Jesus says:
"If anyone would come to me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." (
Luke 9:23)
4. We also know that reading and understanding the teachings of the Bible will also help us to know God's will.
"Your word is a
lamp to my feet and a light for my path." (
Psalm 119:105)
5. Prayer, of course, is very important. For God promises to give us wisdom if we just ask Him in prayer, believing that He will give it.
Sometimes we need to just ask God to give us wisdom to discern His will.
"If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him." (
James 1:5)
In
Philippians 4:6, God tells us that we can pray about everything.
6. Next, we should know that God has given us the Holy Spirit for guidance.
"...when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth..." (
John 16:13a)
7. Further, we are not in this alone. We need each other. And we should not hesitate to seek and listen to the advice of wise and spiritually mature men and women that God has placed in our lives.
Many times the advice of a parent, pastor, youth minister, Sunday school teacher or other mature person is just what we need to hear to help us decide what God wants us to do.
"The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice." (
Proverbs 12:15)
"Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisors they succeed." (
Proverbs 15:22)
8. Striving to do God’s will – while it won’t always make us rich or successful or cure all our illnesses, will bring us inner peace. For the Bible says that there is a peace that comes when we are in harmony with God with our lives.
For instance, when deciding between two alternatives that you have been praying about, sometimes one of the options will give you a greater peace. That option could often be God's will for you.
"The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever." (
Isaiah 32:17)
9. Seeking to do God’s will -- involves trusting God. We should trust God in faith that He will accomplish His will in our lives. However, this is sometimes the hardest thing. Because, as we know all too well, things do not always turn out exactly they way we want. Sometimes God’s will is different than what we ask for or what we expect. In spite of this, we must try to ….
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." (
Proverbs 3:5-6)
"Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in your will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." (
Philippians 1:6)
10. Lastly, we should understand that God has given each of us gifts and abilities to use in His service.
God always equips us to do what he calls us to do. If you aren't gifted in a certain area, God is probably not calling you to minister in that area. (see
Romans 12:6-8,
1 Corinthians 12:1-11 and
Ephesians 4:11-13 for lists of spiritual gifts and a discussion of them.)
10. Now, I hope all this gives you some general direction … which means, of course, that following the Christian life as Jesus taught us … seeking direction from others … striving to understand the Bible … attending Sunday worship …and practicing prayer and meditation … all go together to create an attitude … a way of viewing the world …a perspective …which will lead to our gradual transformation … into the kind of people God wants us to be …
Is this an easy thing … not at all.
Is this something that happens instantly… not at all.
Just because you are what some call a “born again Christian” does not make you instantaneously into a saint. Saints are not just born – it takes hard work. And while they may have religious experiences (and most of them do) they also experience all the trouble and doubt and uncertainty of life as anyone else does … in fact, they may even experience it to a greater degree.
Growth in Christian maturity then is a lifelong project. It is not magic wand. And it is not a regression into childhood dependence on an authority parent figure God who is going to fix everything just be because we ask for it.
Paul said it best, when He said, “when I was a child I spoke as a child, thought as a child, reasoned as a child … but when I became a man I put away childish things.” And then he goes on … as we all know in his great message in Corinthians 13 … to say … that faith, hope and love are the greatest of all …greater than speaking in tongues, or prophecy, or good works, or preaching, or all religious experiences …”
Say what you want about St. Paul … and he, himself, was not without his own personal shortcomings … but, in opinion, very little that has been ever written compares with his words … about love …
11. And what is love … but an attitude … what is faith … but an attitude … what is hope … but an attitude…?
And what is an attitude … but a way of seeing the world … which comes from understanding in some imperfect … dim … and uncertain … but human way … that God cares about us … loves us … and calls us to live as he would wish … as is revealed in Jesus Christ?
Now, part of the whole predestination controversy and the question of the will of God … which has suddenly arisen again … in certain circles …and is advocated more recently by the theologian John C. Piper … actually goes way, way, back to Jonathon Edwards … and even further to John Calvin … and while it makes … for interesting and very abstract philosophical reading … it also pretty much gives me a headache … these days …
After all, here again it just seems to me again that what we are trying to do is figure out what God is up to … and nail it down … because it is too scary to live in a world that has so much uncertainty …
Sometimes, I think that the best thing to do is to laugh about it. In fact, somebody told me this little statement the other day … which you can take home to ponder this week …
It goes like this: “Do you know how to make God laugh? Tell Him your plans!”
12. Does God really know how everything is going to turn out? Does everything that happens have a supernatural design? Does God really intervene in human affairs in strange and miraculous ways … or does God work strictly within the limitations of science and the laws of human nature. Who knows? How can we know?
As you may have read once a upon a time, the great astronomer-physicist Stephen Hawking said, in his famous book A Theory of Time, that if we could come up with a complete theory … the “theory of everything” … then we would all know the mind of God and we could all take part in the discussion of the question of why it is that we and the universe exist. But, so far, no luck! Will it ever happen? Certainly, I believe that a hundred years from now we will know much more than can be imagined today. But, to know everything, I really wonder.
In the meantime, I would say that what we do know … is that what we do have for sure is God’s revelation of Himself to us … in the Bible … in Jesus … in the lives of the great saints like John Wesley … and in the lives of lots of ordinary people … parents and grandparents and teachers … and friends … and ministers … and all the rest … who have lived faithfully … and with hope and who have shown God’s love in their actions … deeds … and words … and in this we, in our own imperfect way … DO KNOW THE MIND OF GOD! As much as perhaps we will ever know.
13. Our task then, is not to know everything … but to be transformed in our lives … and in our thinking … by the Love of God which was revealed in Jesus Christ …
Will that allow us to know, absolutely, the will of God in every situation? -- of course not. Will there never be doubts or uncertainty – of course not. Will we have to make decisions about most of life’s questions without perfect divine guidance – of course. After all, the only people who have absolute certainty … are the ones who flew the plane into the World Trade Center. To do something like that, requires absolute certainty. The only problem is … it wasn’t God’s will that they do it in the first place.
Mr. Piper … who is a predestinationist (or is it predestinarian? - I am not sure!) … while he does not concede that God is not in ultimate control of everything … does agree that for all practical purposes we will never know for sure … WELL, THAT’S PROGRESS… and he goes on to point out that for most of us there is no conscious reflection before we act. I venture to say. he writes, that a good 95% of our behavior we do not premeditate. That is, most of our thoughts, attitudes, and actions are spontaneous. They are just spillover from what’s inside.
Then he goes on to say, point out what Jesus said about how, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak” (Matthew 12:34-36).
Is it not plain therefore, he concludes, that there is but one great task of the Christian life: To be transformed by the renewing of your mind. What we need, he adds, are new hearts and new minds. As Jesus proclaimed, “Make the tree good and the fruit will be good (Matthew 12:33).
That’s the great challenge. That is what God calls us to. And, lastly, he adds, we need to realize that we can’t do it on our own. We need to have faith in God, and in Jesus, and we need the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to lead us into truth and work in create in us God divine truth-embracing humility.
14. This is, of course, one mans interpretation of Paul’s words from Romans - Chapter 12 today …
Give yourself to this. Immerse yourself in the written Word of God; saturate your mind with it. And pray that the Spirit of Christ would make you so new that the spillover would be good, acceptable, and perfect—the will of God.
Now, while I am not quite with him on the first part …about predestination … I think he gets it right on the second part. And, I think, John Wesley would, too. And, in reality, does it
On the other hand, of course, if Stephen Hawking actually finally figures it all out. All I can say is -- all bets are off!
Let us pray.
