A Guide to Christian Theology - Lesson 18

One of the questions that's pastorally very real and I run across it constantly, it has to do with providence and such, is, "How do I find the will of God?" I mean, in all kinds of different things, I'm just working with a couple that have just discovered each other. He saw this woman at church and said, "Whoa, got that fun smile," and she was headed out to go somewhere. He literally ran, caught up with her, and said, "My name is," and handed her a piece of paper with his phone number, said, "I'd love to grab coffee with you." And they've done a couple of walks together, and so far it's going pretty well. Is this the man? Is this the woman? What's the will of God? Shall we get married or not? In my case, shall I ...

I mean, put it where it is. How do I find the will of God? It's a very real question, and what I was taught back in the day was God has a plan for your life, quote verses, and I need to find that plan. And typically Gideon, fleece, dry ground, wet fleece, "Hmm, okay, let's try this one more time. Fleece, wet ground, dry fleece." Okay, is that the way you find the will of God? Put out a fleece? And you look in Jesus' words, he said, "The one who does not obey will be thrown into outer darkness." Man, I better get this right or I'm in real trouble kind of thing.

And so the thing is, there's a perfect plan of God, and I need to find it or I'm going to be in real trouble. And that's paralyzing, because how do I know I've got the thing? So I put this together and a friend of mine, Garry Friesen, who wrote a book called Decision Making and the Will of God ... And I like a lot of what Garry says, but I don't like all of it. So we're good friends and we smile at each other and disagree with each other on a particular point. But when I think about the will of God and I look at it biblically, 80%, at least, of the will of God statements in scripture are, "Be like God, cultivate a Christ-like heart." This is the will of God for you is that you have that kind of a heart. And so most of it, when you think about the will of God, will it make me a more Christ-like person? And some things obviously will not.

A Christ-like person, if I look in, say, the second half of Ephesians, there's all kinds of stuff in there that says, "Don't hang on to your anger because if you do, you're giving Satan an opportunity to mess up your life and the life of the community." Right now, outrage is a virtue. If you're going to be a Christ-like person, I mean, you're saying, "How can you be like Jesus and not be outraged by what's happening?" Well, actually, that's not the will of Jesus. His will is a whole different thing. So, the first thing is to be Christ-like. It means love, be faithful to God in everything that I am. Be the most Christ-like person I can possibly be.

Exodus 34:6, 7, I'm tempted to ask the crowd here and you guys, what's the first thing that God says about Himself when He announces Himself? What's the first thing?

Compassion.

Compassion, okay. Look at your Bible. Go to Colossians 3:12. He's talking about us as people, and so here he says, talking about Colossians 3:12, "So as those who have been chosen by God, holy and beloved," what's the first thing he says to put on?

Compassion.

Heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience. Boy, those are not the virtues of the world. They're surely the burdens of Jesus. So, be the most Christ-like person I can possibly be, and pray that he will reveal to me what there is in my heart that keeps me from doing that. So one of my breath prayers is Psalm 139:23, 24, the last two verses of Psalm 139, "Lord, search me and know me. Look at my anxious thoughts. Show me if there be any wicked way in me. Lead me in the way everlasting." That's a constant prayer, "Show me the things in my life that keep me from following you faithfully." So, that's number one. Cultivate a Christ-like heart. Put everything toward that, and scripture defines what that person is. And sometimes I'm like that, sometimes I'm not, but let's work toward it. That's number one.

A second thing to do, and gosh, we got a lot of passages for this, but ... Well, look at Psalm 19, and it's a great Psalm. Psalm 19 begins with, "Creation declares the glory of God." But Psalm 19:7, Psalm 19:7 begins to talk about the law of Yahweh, God's covenant declaration, "The law of Yahweh is perfect, restoring the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making the wise as simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eye." And what it's saying here and in many other passages is, listen carefully to God's Word. Listen carefully to God's Word. So, this is on your handout. I've got some fill in the blanks here, so the second here is listen carefully to God's Word.

And what you want to do there is use scripture to rout the sinful stuff. Scripture will show you the way to go. That's the Christ-like heart. But scripture will also show you, that's sinful, don't do it. "But it feels so good." Yeah, but it's sinful. And so you go to scripture and it tells you the right, but even more so, what scripture does is rule out the sinful. So that's the second thing on the steps to God's will.

The third thing on the steps to God's will is to live and act wisely. So, you get the passages like Proverbs. All over Proverbs is, "Seek wise counsel." There's another piece that comes with this. Does it make sense? So we could do a lot of ... They're in your list here. I'll let you look them up rather than me look them up with you, just for the sake of time here.

A key one here, is this in line with who I am? Wisdom, I have certain gifts, talent, certain personality characteristics, does it make sense? My favorite example here is David. He set out to kill Goliath, and he goes to Saul, and Saul says, "Okay, if you're going to kill the guy, you need some armor. Here, I'll give you my armor." Great gift to David. What does David do? He puts it on and he said, "There ain't no way I'm going to fight with his armor and this sword." And he puts them away. How come? "It's not who I am. I'm a shepherd." He picks up his sling and five rocks and goes for the guy. There are a lot of things that, that's just not who I am.

We looked at some length at our elder meeting last night about a guy on our staff and we're trying to think what's the best place for him. And some said, "Well, let's do this," and some of the rest of us, and I was one of them, said, "That's just not who he is. You put him up on stage and have him doing stuff, he's just not a public speaker." "Yeah, but he could learn." "I don't know if he could, but he sure can't now. He just fumbles and bumbles everything, even if he's trying to read a script. Don't put him on stage. It's not the best place for him." So that's a key thing there.

And wisdom, have I really considered all the possibilities? And he saw her type thing and she's saying, "Wow, he's a pretty cool guy. If I don't go with him, I'll be alone the rest of my life." Well, those are not the only possibilities, him or nobody, but in the moment, it can sure seem that way. We've got to get some counsel to see other possibilities. So, live and act wisely, and that rules out the stupid things. So, scripture rules out the sinful. Wisdom rules out the stupid.

Now, so far, Garry and I are saying the same kinds of things. The fourth point is where Garry and I differ, because I think God continues to speak and give direction. So, what I'm going to do at this point is I'm going to specifically inquire of God, inquire of God and see if He has a direction. And I look at Acts 16. Paul is, "What do I do next? Shall I go up north?" "Nope." "Shall I go down south?" "Nope." "What should I do?" "Cross the sea and go to Philippi," the Macedonian jailer vision. I think God still has those kinds of things. There are times when we need to stop and ask God. I think we should do it all the time, but my thinking is, sometimes God says, "Do it this way." Sometimes God says, "I want you to do this particular action."

But be careful that it's God talking, because there are lots of other things that I think are God's voice. I need to test that. We'll talk about that when we get into Holy Spirit a little later in the course. But this is a place where Garry doesn't do that. He's a cessationist, and he doesn't believe that God speaks today in that kind of way. I do, so inquire of God. And at that point, does it make me Christ-like? Is it following the moral commands of scripture, ruling out the sinful? Is it wise, ruling out the stupid? Does God have an opinion?

Now, if He has an opinion, even if He tells you, "Go sacrifice your child," you go do it. Of course, I'm referring to Genesis 22. Do not sacrifice your children, by the way. But if He gives you a radical command ... For me, 1969, it was to quit my draft-deferred job and go teach at Faith Academy in the Philippines, a non-existent school. Give up my draft deferment, married with a two-month-old baby, and go to the Philippines. Stupid beyond words, but God was in it, and so here we go. It was life-changing. But make sure it's God talking. Christ-like, scriptural, rout the sinful, wise, rout the stupid.

If God has a command, do it. But if God doesn't have a command, it seems to me if you've done that well, everything that's left is a blessable option. Everything that's left is a blessable option. And so then the fifth thing is, do what will make me most deeply long-term happy. Do what will make me most deeply happy. Choose from among the remaining blessable options, so the blank there is blessable. Choose from among the remaining blessable options and do what will make me most deeply happy.

Now, short-term happy is not the point, but what will make me happy a year from now, or five years from now? And I think that my deepest desires are godly desires. We'll talk about those when we talk about salvation. I think my deepest desires are godly desires. I've got lots of ungodly desires. It's still a part of my person, but I think when I stop and think, then do what we most ... deeply happy, I'll always do the right thing.

So the story that Garry tells, Garry Friesen, and I think is a good one, is Eve in the garden. Brand-new wife. She's got all kinds of possibilities. Trees are everywhere, and she goes up to God and says, "God, I want the most perfect ... I want the center perfect of your will. What shall I make my husband for our very first meal here on your new planet?" And God says, "Of any tree, you may eat freely, but not that one." "Yeah, yeah, I got that. I heard that, God, but I want to know, what is the perfect, best will of God? Which tree, God?" "Any tree of the garden you may freely eat, but not that one."

And Garry tells the story well. How frustrating. Christ-like, scriptural, wise, God's ordination, everything else is a blessable option. So, shall she do cherries, pineapple, mango? Whatever, but not that one. "Any tree." Now, here's the thing. When I choose a blessable option that is blessable, it doesn't mean it's going to work out well. Sometimes I make decisions that are blessable options and I get over there and there's real problems over there that I didn't know about. That doesn't mean it wasn't a blessable option. It just says there's stuff that I didn't know. What I shouldn't do is say, "It's God's fault because He didn't tell me what to do."

But what happens if I make a sinful choice, a non blessable option? Okay, repent, come back. God's welcoming you back. But I think that's a good way to approach the will of God. Will it make me Christ-like? Is it in line with scripture? And a lot of things scripture doesn't speak to, but a lot of things it does in general ideas. Is it wise? But even David went against wise counsel. Has God decreed something? If so, if God has commanded something, do it. And what's left is a blessable option. Choose one. Choose what would make you most deeply happy, and go for it, and then keep doing that. Repeat as necessary. So that's what I think of when I think of will of God.

The decision to have a perfect option, or the fear that God has a will and I will miss it, is absolutely paralyzing. I'll tell you one story. Had a couple come to me. They had a trisomy 18 baby in her womb. Trisomy 18 is a severe genetic abnormality and the baby will not live outside the womb. They had three kids, I think it was, and she was pregnant. Godly couple, and they were trying to think what to do, because of her particular situation to carry this pregnancy to term would've had some serious health risks, and would've probably ended any possibility of future pregnancies for her, and they did want more children.

They sat down with me and I took them through this kind of a thing, and I said, "This is where it is. Does it make me more Christ-like, scriptural, wise," and they passed all of those. The two big options, one is to terminate the pregnancy at this point, because the baby's not going to live anyway. He'd just live a few more months in the womb. But for a woman to shorten the life of a baby, I mean, why? But if they go ahead, there's, in her case, severe health risks to her, and no possibility to have more children. No likely possibility to have more children, and they had to make the choice between the two.

I took her through this and I said ... And we worked through it carefully, and there was medical people involved, and it came down to, let's inquire of God. In their particular circumstance, there's a spot at which they could no longer terminate the pregnancy, and they were near it, and they had an ultrasound scheduled about a week from our consultation. And I said, "Okay, get your prayer team together. You pray and fast. I will join you in praying, and let's pray. God, if you have something to say in this, will You reveal it to this couple? But if you do the ultrasound and the baby's not healed, then we'll take it as that You are not going to heal the baby, and put a wise limit on it." And they did that. And when they did the ultrasound, the baby was not healed. It was clearly still ... The trisomy 18 complications were still there. And at that point, now it's a blessable option whether they terminate the pregnancy or whether they go ahead with the pregnancy. There are negative complications from both of those.

And then I said, "If you want, I'll help you think through that," and they came back and we worked through it. And they came to the conclusion, we believe that overall, of these two bad things, that the better would be to terminate the pregnancy. And before they could get the appointment set, she does what's called a spontaneous abortion, and delivered the child who was dead by the time it arrived. But the decision-making they went through, the biggest thing was, she was so afraid that she'd make the wrong decision and God would punish her forever, that there was a perfect will and she had to find it. I said, "Let's pray with an end point. If God has an opinion, He'll give it to you," and He didn't. Okay, we'll go through the blessable options. So that's an extreme level, but that's the way I approach the will of God.