Sermon Tone Analysis

Guidance Core Seminar Week 3

Introduction

Tupelo, Miss.—Walter

Houston, described by family members as a devoted Christian, died Monday after waiting seventy years for God to give him clear direction about what to do with his life.

“He hung around the house and prayed a lot, but just never got that confirmation,” his wife Ruby says.

“Sometimes he thought he heard God’s voice, but then he wouldn’t be sure, and he’d start the process all over again.”

Houston, she says, never really figured out what his life was about, but felt content to pray continuously about what he might do for the Lord.

Whenever he was about to take action, he would pull back, “because he didn’t want to disappoint God or go against him in any way,” Ruby says.

“He was very sensitive to always remaining in God’s will.

That was primary to him.”

That’s a fake Christian news story as reprinted in Kevin DeYoung’s book, Just Do Something.

Ridiculous, I know—but probably a little closer to how we really engage decision-making than we’d care to admit.

“He was very sensitive to always remaining in God’s will.”

What exactly does that mean?

How do you what God’s will is?

How do you know if you’re in it?

What happens when you fall out of it?

We’re in week 3 of the Guidance core seminar, and that’s our topic for today.

What exactly is “God’s Will” and what relevance does it have for how we make decisions?

You’ll recall that our first step in making decisions is to consecrate those decisions to the Lord.

To understand the larger context for that decision that He defines.

We started fleshing that out last week with the doctrine of God’s providence; today we’ll get into the question of his Will.

We’ll begin by answering what is a surprisingly thorny question, “what is the will of God?”

And then apply that to the decisions we’re called to make in life.

I. What Is the Will of God?

Well, before we can attempt to answer that question for any particular situation, we need to start by carefully defining our terms.

As it turns out, when we turn to Scripture we see that the will of God is used in a variety of contexts and doesn’t always have the same meaning.

Traditionally, Christians have referred to the will of God in two ways.

A. God’s will of decree

This is also called God’s “will of providence” and it’s largely what we looked at last week.

God always gets his way, and that’s a wonderful thing.

How do I know that it’s God’s will for me to be married to _____?

‘Cause we’re married.

How do I know that it’s God’s will for me to come to CHBC this morning?

‘Cause I’m here.

As simple as that.

Everything that happens, happens according to God’s will of decree, and everything that God has decreed will, without a doubt, come to pass.

B. God’s will of command

This is also called God’s “will of desire.”

In , Moses describes this alongside God’s will of decree.

“The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”

We don’t know God’s will of decree—everything that will happen.

But we do know his commands—and it is absolutely God’s will that we obey them.

So we read in Paul says, “This is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality.”

So we see that God’s will here is that we be sanctified.

So when you ask the question, “what is God’s will,” you need to be clear what you mean.

If what you mean is “what is God’s will of decree” then you’re essentially saying, “what is the future?”

And that’s not something that God deems best for us to know, at least not normally.

In fact, in God rebukes us for presuming to know that future.

That’s his job, not ours.

Then again, if what you mean is “what is God’s will of command,” then the answer is very clear: look in the Bible.

As Paul writes in , the Scriptures provide what we need to “be complete, equipped for every good work.”

The Bible gives us the whole counsel of God’s will.

But of course, in your heart you’re thinking, “AARRRGGHH!

I’m not asking a theological question; I just want to know whether it’s God’s will for me to marry Tommy or not.”

Here’s how one author addresses that question:

If we ask, “How can I know the will of God?” we may be asking the wrong question.

The Scriptures do not command us to find God’s will for most of life’s choices nor do we have any passage instructing on how it can be determined…Yet we persist in searching for God’s will because decisions require thought and sap energy.

We seek relief from the responsibility of decision-making and we feel less threatened by being passive rather than active when making important choices.”

OK, that’s a bit harsh, I’ll admit.

We may not always be asking the question, “how can I know God’s will” merely because we’re passive and lazy (though perhaps sometimes???) But he makes a good point: we need to ask the questions the Scriptures lead us to ask.

And “is it God’s will for you to marry Tommy” probably isn’t the best question.

II.

What God’s Will is Not

Before we go any further, let me clarify that last point a bit more by describing what God’s will is not.

We’ve seen what it is, but let’s look at a common misperception about God’s will.

Here’s Gerald Sittser’s description of a typical way of looking at God’s will:

Conventional understanding of God’s will defines it as a specific pathway we should follow into the future.

God knows what this pathway is, and he has laid it out for us to follow.

Our responsibility is to discover this pathway—God’s plan for our lives…If and when we make the right choice, we will receive his favor, fulfill our divine destiny and succeed in life…If we choose wrongly, we may lose our way, miss God’s will for our lives, and remain lost forever in an incomprehensible maze.

In short, the will of God is not:

Like a choose-your-own adventure book.

Where if you find the right path you go on to glory and if you turn to the wrong page, you die a horrible death in a volcano.

God will not be hampered in his will to do you good () in all things.

A fairytale of comfort and happiness.

As we’ll see in a few minutes, God cares about our eternal happiness more than our temporal happiness.

Just because something bad happens doesn’t mean you somehow missed God’s will.

It means that God has good in mind for you that’s worth the cost you’re experiencing.

A target you can somehow miss.

You can disobey God’s will of command.

But you cannot escape his will of decree.

So the fact that you disobeyed God at one juncture in no way means you’re confined to a life that’s only God’s second-best.

Yes, there are consequences for sin and foolishness—but even they only operate within God’s great, eternal, sovereign will and plan.

So does God want you to marry Tommy?

I suppose the only way to find out is to try.

If you succeed in saying “I do” then I guess the answer is yes.

“Should I marry Tommy” is a question about God’s will of decree, not his will of command, since Scripture nowhere gives you the answer to that question (other than “NO” if Tommy isn’t a Christian).

And except in unusual situations, God doesn’t tell his will of decree.

So that may not be the best question to ask.

A far better question to ask is, “Is it wise to marry Tommy?”

In other words, does it seem that marriage to Tommy is the best way I can see to “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness?”

If so, go for it!

God will stop you if it’s not his will.

Now, don’t get me wrong, Scripture does lay out principles for how we can make sound decisions, and we’ll cover that in the upcoming weeks.

But, what I want to emphasize here is that there’s no secret decoder ring, or secret will of God for your life that you’re responsible for finding.

God’s normal way to guide our decisions is the wisdom he’s given us.

And a great prayer for all of us is that, by his grace, we would make decisions that turn out to be wiser than we are.

Here’s how one author talks about this:

I’ll never forget my poor beleaguered roommate talking with me after her took a risk and told a nice young lady that he liked her…[I]t turned out she wasn’t interested…But instead of just saying “I’m not interested” or “I don’t like you”…she went all spiritual on him.

“I’ve been praying a lot about you,” she demurred, “and the Holy Spirit told me no.” “No?” my confused roommate asked.