Colossians- Week 1

Mike Beck

Colossians • Sermon • Submitted a year ago

Colossians 1:3–10

Will of God

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How to Know the Will of God

Col 1:3-4, 9-10

Colossians 1:3–4 (ESV)

We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints...

Colossians 1:9–10 ESV

And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;

Today we are going to focus on this part of that passage- “asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding...”

I want you to imagine first of all that you are face to face with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now we know He’s always with us. He lives in us. We understand that. But I want you in your imagination to imagine that Jesus Christ in a bodily form, face to face, eye to eye, is standing before you. Now, of course, right away you’d just want to fall on your face and worship Him and praise Him.

But now, let’s suppose that you had an opportunity to ask Jesus Christ one question: what would you ask Him? You have an opportunity to say, “Lord Jesus, there’s something I want to know: would you please tell me?”

I have an idea. I know what you would ask. I believe you would ask Him the same thing the Apostle Paul asked him when the Apostle Paul met him face to face. And what the Apostle Paul said to him was, “Lord, what would you have me to do?” (Acts 9:6)

As a matter of fact, the Apostle Paul asked the Lord Jesus that day on the road to Damascus the two greatest questions that could ever be asked: number one, “Who are you, Lord?”; (Acts 9:5) number two, “What would you have me to do?”—“Who are you?” “What do you want me to do?”

And he spent the rest of his life discovering the answer to those two questions: just who Jesus is, and what Jesus wants him to do.

“What would you have me to do, Lord?” Not, “Lord, what do you want others to do?” Not, “Lord, what do others want me to do?” But, “Lord, what would you have me to do?”

So it’s that simple. What am I to do? What is your will for me? We want to be obedient and walk with him so that’s what we want to know.

God has a will for our life. What does that really mean? We hear that a lot. It seems very mysterious and very uneasy to know. Well lets see if we can simplify it some. We are going to break God’s will into 3 parts. There are 3 kinds of the will of God.

I. God’s Sovereign Will

That’s where God rules overall. And God’s sovereign will is always done. God allows sin. God allows rebellion.

Many times we don’t understand His sovereign will. “Who has known the mind of the Lord? or who hats been his counsellor?” (Romans 11:34) (slide) Paul asks.

There are some things you’ll never know. Never make the mistake of saying, “Oh, if I were God, I would have done this. If I were God, I would have done that.” You’re not big enough, wise enough, or smart enough.

That is, there are some things God doesn’t reveal; that’s His sovereign will—or we could call it here His secret will—His sovereign, secret will.

Romans 11:34 ESV

“For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?”

II. God’s Standard Will

There are certain things that are always right, and certain things that are always wrong: the Ten Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes—all of these things.

It’s always wrong to steal, and to lie, and to cheat. And it’s always right to tell the truth, and to do these certain things that are commanded in the Bible. That’s just God's standard will.

It’s never right to do wrong. God has a standard will. And it’s never wrong to do right. It’s just there are certain things that apply to you, me, every one of us. That’s just simply plain. We read it there in the Bible. We all live by this same standard. We don’t have to ask. We don’t have to pray.

III. God’s Special Will

God doesn’t deal with people en masse. God deals with people as individuals. He has as many plans as He has people. He has as many methods as He has men.

And you are not an accident; you are an incident. You are special in the plan of God and the mind of God. And God has a very special way for you. If you had been the only person who ever lived on this earth, Jesus Christ would have died for you alone. You’re very, very special to God.

illus. For example- I believe it was God’s sovereign will that I be saved. And I believe that God chose me in Him before the foundation of the world. (Ephesians 1:4) I don’t understand that, but I bless God for it. That’s His sovereign will. But he also gets more specific with us as Christians. For instance- I believe it was God’s standard will that I only marry a Christian, since I was saved, and God wanted me not to marry an unbeliever. But even on a more personal level God had a will for me- I believe it was God’s special will that I marry Jennifer. See?

Now what we’re talking about is how you as an individual can know that very special will that God has for your life, what God wants you to do.

There are some very common mistakes that are often made about knowing and doing the will of God.

IV. Mistakes We Make Concerning God’s Will

A. People think the will of God is like a roadmap.

God just gives it to you, and there it is; here’s where you’re going to start, and there’s where you’re going to finish, and here’s the way you’re going to go.

Thank God it is not a roadmap; it is a relationship.

When God led the children of Israel through the wilderness, He didn’t give them a map; He gave them Himself: a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire to lead them.

They didn’t have to worry about where they were going. They just had to make certain that they saw the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire. Today, you don’t have to know the future; you just have to know Jesus.

B. People think God only reveals His will in a big event.

You remember Elijah the prophet? He got perplexed and frustrated, and got out of the will of God, and got upset a little bit. And so God had to take him to a vacation retreat up in the mountains. And God spoke to him there.

1 Kings 19:11–12 ESV

And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper.

Don’t think that if God speaks to you, it’s going to be something radical and dramatic, You can just let God speak. Don’t make the mistake of looking for something radical, something dramatic.

C. People think that the will of God is only for young people.

if you’re an older person, you ought not to seek the will of God?! You must seek the will of God fresh every day. I don’t care how old you are. And if you miss the will of God as a youth, you can still get in on it.

Joel 2:25 (ESV)

I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten...

Isn’t that a wonderful promise? Maybe the locusts have eaten the years, the best years of your life; but that’s all the more reason— all the more reason—even though you may be sixty, seventy, eighty, ninety years of age—for you to say, “O God, show me; I want to know, and I want to do your will for my life.”

D. People think God hides his will from us.

They think somehow it’s like an Easter egg hunt; that we must somehow try desperately to discover His will. As a matter of fact, you get your heart right and the will of God will find you. You don’t have to find it. I mean, God reveals His will to those who want to know.

V. When seeking His will, He gives His guidance.

Psalm 32:8 (ESV)

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.

A. Guidance is promised.

He promises to never leave you or forsake you. I will guide you if you trust me. That’s a promise. Do you ever wonder if God is guiding you? Will he do it? Yes, it’s a promise!

B. Guidance is provisional.

Ok, so what is my part? What do I have to do?

What I mean is this: God will show you His will, provided you do certain things; provided you have certain attitudes, so God can speak to you.

I want to mention four of them.

* We have to be willing.

Are you willing to do the will of God? Now if you’re not willing to do the will of God, then you’re not going to know God’s will. Sometimes, we say we’re willing, but our minds are already made up.

illus.- I heard about a man who was a vagabond. He would just go here or there—just a happy hobo, just walking around. Somebody said, “Well, what plan do you have? Where do you travel?” He said, “I just go wherever I want to go.” And they said, “Suppose you’re walking down the road and there’s a fork in the road: how do you decide whether to go to the right, or how do you decide to go to the left?” “Oh,” he said, “it doesn’t make any difference to me. I just have a stick and I just throw it up. Whichever way it lands, that’s the way I go.” He said, “Sometimes I have to throw it up as many as six times to make it land the right way.”

Now sometimes we are like that: “O God, it doesn’t make any difference. You know, whatever you want, I want to do.” But we all in the back of our mind have in our mind what we want to do.

And we keep on praying, we keep throwing the stick up, till finally we think it comes down our way. And then we say, “Oh, isn’t it wonderful? I’ve found the will of God for my life,” which is really just your own sub-conscience trying to force your will upon God.

There must be that willingness.

* We have to be meek.

Psalm 25:9 (ESV)

He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way.

You can’t lead someone who thinks they are in charge, or thinks they know the way already.

Do you know what the word meek means? It actually means “teachable.”

In the olden days, when a horse would be trained and broken, they would say the horse had been meeked, or the horse had been made meek. That is, he would respond to the reins.

Now, are you guidable? Are you meek? Are you teachable?

*We have to be yielded.

Romans 12:1–2 ESV

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Question—question: If God were to offer you a contract today and say, “Will you sign this contract at the bottom, committing yourself to do my will,” would you sign it?

You say, “Well, wait a minute: you never sign a contract without reading it first.” Would you sign His without reading it first? If not, you’ll not know God’s will.

You say, “Show me your will, Lord—and I’ll do it.” God says, “No, you just present yourself a living sacrifice, completely.” You say, “That’s not reasonable.”

Jesus Christ died for you in agony and blood on the cross. Can you trust Him? Can you trust the One who loved you enough to give His life for you? Yes, you can trust Him—anybody who loves you that much.

You can say, “Lord, I don’t even know what it is; but I’ll do it.” You say, “I still would like to know.”

All right, I’ll tell you three things about it: It’s good, perfect, and acceptable. Then, you will “prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:2)

Do you need to know any more than that?

There must be a yieldedness to do the will of God. Are you committed to say to God, “Anytime, any place, anywhere, any cost?”

Are you? Think about it: “Anytime, anywhere, any place, any cost. Any time, anywhere, any place, any cost: I want the will of God.”

The main reason that many of us do not know the will of God is we do not put ourselves in a place to receive the will of God for our lives.

C. Guidance is practical.

Guidance Is Very Practical Now, let me give you a third thing: Not only is guidance promised, and not only is it provisional, but it is very practical. I want to tell you six ways now—very practical ways—that you can know the will of God for your life. These are very practical ways.

*The Word of God

Number one is what we call the Word of God—the Word of God. Much of the will of God for you is revealed right here in the Bible, especially what we call God’s standard will— God’s standard will. Now God’s special will may not be revealed—which girl to marry, which college to go to, and so forth—but certainly God’s standard will is revealed for you.

You have to study the Bible. But listen. Here’s the way God leads—Psalm 119, verse 105: “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” (Psalm 119:105)

*The Providence of God

And I want to tell you that one of the ways that I know the will of God for my life is that I have certain biblical principles that I try to apply to my life day by day by day. And they help me to know His will, especially what I call His standard will.

Never pray for guidance about what God has already commanded or what God has already forbidden. That is an open door;

Paul said, “A great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries.” (1 Corinthians 16:9) And in my own life, I’ve seen God guide me by opening doors and closing doors, and opening doors and closing doors.

*The Spirit of God

Now I’ll give you the third way that God guides. Now here’s a third way that God guides—and it’s what we want to call the Spirit of God—the Holy Spirit of God.

Now Romans 8, verse 14: “For as many as are led by the Spirit, they are the sons of God.” (Romans 8:14) Now the Holy Spirit is that still small voice that speaks to you mystically.

Galatians chapter 5, verse 18: “But if your led of the Spirit, you are not under the law.” (Galatians 5:18)

The Holy Spirit guides. But remember, He doesn’t shout; He doesn’t shove. You must learn to listen intuitively to the Spirit.

The Holy Spirit will never tell you anything contrary to the Word of God. But the Holy Spirit may tell you some things that are not specifically mentioned in the Word of God, and it may not make sense to you logically or emotionally.

I believe that God does speak. The Bible says in Colossians chapter 3 and verse 15, “Let the peace of God rule in your hearts.” (Colossians 3:15)

Do you know what that means? That word rule means “umpire”; it means “arbitrate.” The Holy Spirit of God is an arbitrator; He is an umpire.

And when you get out of bounds in the game of life, He blows the whistle. And so you let the peace of God arbitrate or umpire in your heart.

Sometimes in your life, as you’re praying, you’re going to do something: the Holy Spirit just blows the whistle and says, “Don’t do that.” “Why not?” “Just never mind: don’t do that.”

When that shrill whistle that you as a child of God know is from the Lord Jesus, who said, “My sheep hear my voice”; when the Lord blows the whistle, you say, “No, I’m not going to do that.” (John 10:27)

Or when the Holy Spirit of God gives you that assurance in your heart, then you’re being led by the Spirit of God.

*The People of God

God will lead you through counselors.

Proverbs chapter 24 and verse 6 says this: “By wise counsel you can make your war:”—if you’re getting ready to go to war, you’d better get some counselors to talk to you—“and in a multitude of counsellors there is safety.” (Proverbs 24:6)

Now, talk to human counselors, but make certain, number one, that they’re mature; and that they’re spiritual; and, number three, that you remember that the Holy Spirit is the Supreme Counselor.

But God will give you friends. And none of us live to ourselves. None of us are so wise and so self-sufficient that we need not pray with counselors.

And if you’re a teenager, you’d better take your parents into consideration. God has given your mother wisdom, young lady, that you may never dream she has. She can know more by looking at a young man in ten seconds than you can in twenty-four hours. You say, “Do you really believe that?” I do. I believe it’s a gift of God that God gives moms and dads. And the Bible teaches that you need the wisdom of your parents.

In a multitude of counselors there is wisdom.

*The Wisdom of God

the next way that God speaks to you is not only the people of God, but the wisdom of God. Ephesians chapter 5, verse 15: “See then that you walk carefully, not as fools, but as wise.” (Ephesians 5:15)

Let me tell you what J. I. Packer says that wisdom is—“Wisdom is the power to see and the inclination to choose the best and highest goal, together with the surest means of attaining it.”

Listen. You see the best goal. You choose the best goal. And then, you understand the surest way of reaching it. That’s wisdom—that’s wisdom!

Now, folks, a lot of the will of God is found right here: between your ears. I mean, you wake up in the morning, and some people are so foolish, they say, “Now, Lord, I want you to lead me today. What tie should I wear?” Wear one that matches your suit. See, there’s a certain amount of wisdom that is really sanctified common sense. And God gives you wisdom. You have the mind of the Lord. And God is going to give you wisdom.

Now those, are very practical ways for knowing the will of God for your life. It’s not as complicated as you may think. It’s hard to steer a ship that’s not moving. The way to understand the part of the Bible you don’t understand is to obey the part you do understand.

Colossians 1:9 ESV

And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,

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