Finding the Will of God?

November 18, 2018 in Bible - NT - 1 Thessalonians, Bible - OT - Deuteronomy, Covenantal Living, Faith, Meditations, Wisdom, Word of God

1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 (NKJV)

16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Many people are confused about the will of God. They speak of “finding’ the will of God as though it is mysterious and difficult to decipher. But Paul tells us in our passage today that the will of God, God’s purpose for our lives, is really quite clear, plain, and simple: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

Paul’s words remind us that, as Christians, our calling is not to peer into God’s secret will but to obey His revealed will. Moses writes in Deuteronomy 29:29, “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever.” Our duty as Christians is to obey God’s revealed will not to discover His secret will. Within the fence of God’s revealed law, we are free to choose what we desire, trusting God for the outcome. This is the principle of liberty within law. As Paul reminds widows in 1 Corinthians 7:39 – a widow is free to marry whomever she desires only in the Lord. She has liberty – she may marry whomever she desires – within the context of God’s moral law – she may marry only in the Lord.

But walking as free men requires faith and courage. Sometimes we obey His law and the future ends in victory, prosperity, and kingdom advancement; sometimes we obey His law and the future ends in defeat, poverty, and kingdom retreat. This is the challenge of walking by faith. While pagans routinely practiced divination – looking at the entrails of animals, reading the signs in the stars, and relying upon superstitions in order to discern the will of the gods for each and every decision – God’s people have been called to walk by faith. We aren’t promised how obeying God’s law will turn out; we’re just called to obey it.

So what is God’s will for you? What is God’s will for your life? Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks. God’s will for you is that you learn and obey His moral law. Within the context of His law, you are free to do what you desire. The will of God, therefore, is not hidden or obscure. There is no need to find His will; it has not been lost. God wants you to know His law and then to walk by faith, entrusting the outcome to Him.

That which is true for us individually is also true nationally. This week we celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday. President George Washington remarked in his first Thanksgiving Proclamation:

Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor… therefore, I do recommend and assign [a day] to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country…

President Washington’s words remind us that our duty is not to find the will of God but to obey it. In the same proclamation, Washington called upon us “to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue…” He insisted that virtue is essential for our survival as a people and for securing the continued blessings of Almighty God. We don’t need to discover God’s secret will but to obey His revealed will.

So as we gather to celebrate Thanksgiving this week, let us give thanks to the Lord for the Constitutional liberties we have enjoyed, for the peace we have experienced, for the abundance we have tasted, for the families we have been given, and for the salvation with which we have been blessed. If we are to give thanks in everything, how much more ought we to give thanks when we enjoy such manifold blessings?

Reminded that we are to rejoice always, to pray without ceasing, and to give thanks in all things, let us confess that we often ignore God’s clear will for our lives and feign ignorance of our duty. And as we confess our sins to the Lord seeking His forgiveness through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, let us kneel as we are able. We will have a time of silent confession followed by the corporate confession found in your bulletin.

Keeping Instruction or Despising Correction?

June 3, 2018 in Bible - OT - Proverbs, Meditations, Wisdom

Proverbs 10:17 (NKJV)
17 He who keeps instruction is in the way of life, But he who refuses correction goes astray.

Once upon a time there were two men traveling to the city of Zoe. It was an ancient city, the inhabitants of which lived in happiness, abundance, and peace. The Lord of the city openly welcomed visitors to the city and even invited them to stay and become citizens. Indeed, so generous was the Lord of the city that he sent envoys into the world to explain the way to the city.

The first traveler was named Sophos. He had met one of the Lord’s envoys and received directions to the city with great joy. “Always pass through the narrow gate and stay on the narrow path,” he was told. “For wide is the gate and broad is the path that leads to destruction.” He set out on the road to the city. Though there were many paths that led off the main road, wide paths that seemed to lead to pleasant pastures, he made sure to stay on the narrow path that led to the city of Zoe. In due time he arrived at the city where he was warmly welcomed.

The second traveler was named Moros. He too had met one of the Lord’s envoys and received instruction. But as he set out on the road to the city, the narrow lane began a steep climb and the going became difficult. It was then that he noticed the wide gate that gave access to a broad path leading down to a plain that was well watered everywhere like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as you go toward Zoar (Gen 13:10). So he went through the gate and headed down the path.

The Lord of the city knew that the country toward which Moros was heading was filled with vagabonds and cutthroats, so he had placed his envoys near the gate to warn travelers lest they go that way. One of the envoys warned Moros, “Beware! You are heading to the land of Sodom and Gomorrah, which the Lord of the city shall soon destroy.” But Moros would not listen. He had no desire to admit he had been wrong to wander off the narrow path and no desire to resume the arduous climb. So he continued along the path to the plain, admiring the pillar of salt that the inhabitants of the plain had built to point the correct way.

He who keeps instruction is in the way of life, but he who refuses correction goes astray. Reminded that God has pointed out the way to the Heavenly City and given us instruction to guide us on our way, let us confess that we often wander off the path and have need of the Lord’s correction. And let us pray that the Lord would preserve us from folly and from refusing to listen to those who would summon us back to the way. As you are able, let us kneel as we confess our sins together. We will have a time of silent confession followed by the corporate confession found in your bulletin.

Why pursue wisdom?

October 29, 2017 in Bible - OT - Proverbs, Bible - OT - Psalms, Confession, Discipline, Image of God, Meditations, Parents, Wisdom

Proverbs 10:1 (NKJV)
1 The proverbs of Solomon: A wise son makes a glad father, But a foolish son is the grief of his mother.

The proverbs of Solomon guide and teach us in order that we might be full of wisdom; in order that we might govern our daily affairs in a way that glorifies and honors our Creator and Redeemer, the Lord of hosts. In chapter 10 of Proverbs, Solomon begins to identify practical ways that the law of God teaches us wisdom. And where does he begin? He begins with your motivation. Why should you pursue wisdom? Because it is the wise son who brings joy to his parents.

Every child is born with an innate desire to please his parents. This desire is a gift from God, part of what it means to be made in the image of God. God the Son has eternally delighted to do the will of His heavenly Father, a delight on display in His Incarnation. “I delight to do Your will, O God,” Psalm 40:8 declares, “Your law is within my heart.” This delight of the Eternal Son in the Eternal Father has been hard-wired into the world such that children long for the approval of their parents, oftentimes even when those parents have been cruel or unkind.

So how can a son, young men, how can you, please your parents? Solomon gives you the answer: strive for wisdom and avoid folly. Cultivate the fear of God; meditate on the commandments of God; imbibe the promises of God; flee greed; flee lust; flee covetousness. Why should you do these things? Because it is the wise son who makes his father glad; because it is the foolish son that brings grief to his mother. And which would you rather do, bring your father joy or bring your mother grief? I pray to God that you would rather do the former.

But perhaps you don’t care about pleasing your parents. Perhaps you could care less what they think; perhaps you just want to cause them pain because you are frustrated with their restrictions or upset by their rules or hurt by their inattention. What should you do then? The first thing you should do is stop making excuses for your sinful attitude, confess it to God, and pray that He would change it. The fifth commandment is clear: Honor your father and your mother, that it may go well with you and you may live long on the earth. God’s desire for you is that you honor your parents. So if you are failing to do so, if you have no desire to do so, then you are in sin and you need to repent.

But what if you are the parent? What if your child doesn’t care about pleasing you, what should you do? First, ask yourself whether you care about pleasing your parents. Much more is caught than taught. If you do not long to please your parents it may very well be that your kids are simply taking a page from your book. If so, repent and confess your sins to the Lord and to your kids. Second, are you embittering your children, treating them tyrannically? A child’s innate desire to please his parents, though strong and resilient, can be destroyed by such behavior.

Reminded this morning that the innate desire that God has placed within us to receive the praise of our parents is often twisted, distorted, or even annihilated by our sin, let us confess our sin to the Lord and seek His forgiveness. And as we confess our sin, let us kneel as we are able. We will have a time of silent confession followed by the corporate confession found in your bulletin.

Ignorant Christians?

September 29, 2014 in Bible - NT - 1 Corinthians, Bible - NT - 2 Peter, Justification, Law and Gospel, Meditations, Mosaic Law, Sanctification, Wisdom, Word of God
2 Peter 1:5–9 (NKJV)
5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. 8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.
Last week we learned that our call as Christians is to add to our faith virtue. Holiness is not optional but a natural outgrowth of God’s work in our lives. He who has been born of God will become like God.
Today Peter exhorts us to add to virtue knowledge. Webster defines knowledge as “acts, information, and skills acquired by a person through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject.” So let us explore two implications of Peter’s words:
First, Peter tells us that we are to acquire knowledge, to gain a greater understanding of the Christian faith through experience and education. Remember that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord our God with, among other things, all our minds. God has given us minds to understand the Word of God, to apply it in our lives, and to grow in knowledge. So Paul commands us, Brethren, do not be children in [your thinking]; however, in malice be babes, but in [your thinking] be mature (1 Cor 14:20). Being an ignorant Christian is simply not a godly option.
What this means, therefore, is that each of us is commanded by Peter to grow in knowledge. We are to use the abilities and opportunities that God gives us to expand our minds. And we are, remember, to devote ourselves to this task with all diligence. Read your Bibles; read sound Christian literature; listen carefully to the sermons; review and discuss them through the week. Add to your virtue knowledge.
Second, the order in which Peter places virtue and knowledge is important. We are to add knowledge on top of virtue. Knowledge in itself is not the object; rather, it is knowledge in the service of faith and virtue. Paul warns us that knowledge puffs up but love edifies. In other words, it is possible to abuse knowledge. As J.I. Packer writes in Knowing God:
“if we pursue theological knowledge for its own sake, it is bound to go bad on us. It will make us proud and conceited. The very greatness of the subject-matter will intoxicate us, and we shall come to think of ourselves as a cut above other Christians because of our interest in it and grasp of it; and we shall look down on those whose theolgical ideas seem to us crude and inadquate, and dismiss them as very poor specimins… We need to guard our hearts against such an attitude, and pray to be kept from it.”

So this morning Peter would remind us to add to your virtue knowledge. In light of this, we must admit that we are often either lazy and slothful, failing to gain the knowledge that we ought, or proud and arrogant, looking down on those who haven’t learned as much as we. Reminded of our sins in these areas, let us seek the Lord’s forgiveness through Jesus. Let us kneel as we confess our sin.

Destroying the Wisdom of the Wise

June 30, 2013 in Bible - OT - Obadiah, Coeur d'Alene Issues, Homosexuality, Marriage, Meditations, Sexuality, Wisdom
Obadiah 8 (NKJV)
8 “Will I not in that day,” says the LORD, “Even destroy the wise men from Edom, And understanding from the mountains of Esau?”
This week the Supreme Court of the United States overturned the Defense of Marriage Act and further advanced the perverse agenda of those who would obliterate all vestiges of Christianity from the laws and institutions of our once great nation.
If you, like me, find yourself scratching your head and wondering, “How in the world did we get here? How is it possible that otherwise intelligent men and women could argue that the Constitution protects the rights of men and women to do that which is perverse and unnatural? Particularly when the Constitution was written by those who would be shocked and appalled by the uses to which the document is being put?” If you find yourself asking these very reasonable questions, let me direct your attention to our text today.
Edom was a people descended from Esau and had shared, like their namesake, in covenantal unfaithfulness. When the Israelites were suffering at the hands of the Babylonians, the Edomites mocked Israel’s suffering and assisted the Babylonians in plundering the land despite the covenant oaths that had joined Edom and Israel together. So God sent the prophet Obadiah to prophesy against Edom and announce the judgment that would fall upon the Edomites. What was the judgment?
“Will I not in that day,” says the LORD, “Even destroy the wise men from Edom, And understanding from the mountains of Esau?
Brothers and sisters, God still rules and reigns in the affairs of men – and the proof of His reign is that we are witnessing this same judgment on our land. Our wise men are being destroyed and understanding is being removed from the ruling centers of the land. Washington D.C. is a den of fools and charlatans. It seems that our leaders can no longer tell a man from a woman – and yet we expect them to calculate our tax burdens and administer justice?

We stand in desperate need of the grace and mercy of God – and the only way that we can expect God to pour out His grace and mercy upon us is if we bow before Him and confess our sin and rebellion against Him. As the Church, our calling is to lead the way in this confession. So today, let us kneel and confess that we have as a people rebelled against God and let us ask Him to have mercy upon us and our nation.

Wisdom from Above

July 7, 2008 in Bible - NT - James, Meditations, Wisdom

James 3:17-18 (NKJV)17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. 18 Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

Having described the nature of earthly wisdom, characterized as it is by envy and self-seeking, James goes on to describe heavenly wisdom. Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by imitating, not the wisdom of the world, but the wisdom that comes from God. And what does this wisdom look like? It is this that James tells us today.

And note if you will the complete contrast that exists between the wisdom of man in his sin and the wisdom that comes from God. The wisdom from above is not envious, but pure; it is not contentious – seeking its own – but peaceable; it does not create confusion, but is gentle and willing to yield; and instead of producing “every evil work,” it is full of mercy and the fruits of benevolence. And what are these fruits? Kindness toward all, being without partiality, as well as absolute integrity, being without hypocrisy. In short, wisdom from above imitates the One Who is above, the Lord Jesus Christ.

James informed us that the wisdom from below is full of self-seeking and envy. It looks out for number one and, when number two has something special, seeks to co-opt it for number one. The wisdom from below is never content. It is grasping and resembles the heart of the miser – ever greedy, never full, never satiated, but seeking more and more for oneself – whether the thing sought be money, glory, thrill, respect, pity, or fame, the goal is always to get more.

The wisdom from above, however, is not this way. Since it resembles the Lord Jesus Christ, the One who is full and has been full from the foundation of the world, the One who Created the world out of the overflow of His joy and fullness, the wisdom from above is likewise full to overflowing. It is peaceable – content, well settled in the mercies that God has bestowed and thankful for the bounteous goodness He has displayed. It is full of mercy and good fruits – the peaceableness and contentment manifests itself by bubbling over, sharing with others the grace that has been shared with it. And precisely because it is sharing what has already been shared with it, the wisdom from above is not shrill, not anal, not apoplectic but gentle and willing to yield. It is willing to consider the wisdom that others possess, willing to acknowledge superior views, willing to live with minor differences – rather than stubbornly maintaining its own way and demanding compliance.

So what of us? As parents how are we doing exhibiting the wisdom from above in the training of our children? How patient are we with them? Is our correction proceeding from the overflow of a heart filled with love for God and love for our kids, or is our correction flowing from our irritability and desire for respect? Are we looking out for our children’s best interest or ours? Mind you, the end product, the goal we are achieving may be the same. We want our children to be obedient, respectful, joyful – but how do we get there? With the wisdom from below or the wisdom from above? James tells us – get there with the wisdom from above.

As young men and young women, how are you doing manifesting the wisdom from above in the way you treat your siblings and your parents? Could the fly on the wall describe you as gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits? Or would he instead describe you as envious and self-seeking, looking out for your own good regardless of the consequences?

Reminded that we often fail to be wise and understanding, let us kneel and confess our sin to the Lord.

Who is wise and understanding among you?

June 30, 2008 in Bible - NT - James, Meditations, Wisdom

James 3:13-16 (NKJV)13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. 15 This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. 16 For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.

On one occasion the disciples were debating among themselves who was greatest in the kingdom of God and how to become the greatest. They were concerned to get ahead of their brothers; to be known as those who really served the Lord. And so they came to Jesus on one occasion and asked him, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

Jesus responded by calling a little child to himself and seating the child in their midst. He urged them, “Unless you are converted and become like little children, you won’t enter the kingdom. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” In essence, Jesus reversed their paradigm. To get ahead, Jesus told them, you must get behind. The greatest among you will be least of all, he will be the servant of all.

James’ question in our text today is intended to press forward this same point. “Who is wise and understanding among you?” Whether or not any hands were raised, we can imagine that the response of James’ audience is similar to our own. We may not reckon ourselves wise and understanding, but we certainly want to be so. And so James follows his question with an exhortation – manifest your wisdom in works of humility. Get ahead by getting behind. Serve. Look out for the interests of your brothers and sisters more than for your own.

James contrasts this type of wisdom with earthly, sensual, demonic wisdom. Wisdom from below says – “Hey, you’ve got to look out for yourself. You’ve got to pursue what’s best for yourself. The only way to get ahead is by pushing that fellow out of the way.” This type of wisdom, James tells us, is based on self-seekng and envy – it looks out for oneself and when anyone else has something good it endeavors to grab it for oneself.

Contrast this with the character of our Lord and Savior. Jesus came, not seeking His own will, but the will of the Father who sent Him. Jesus came, not to be served, but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many. Jesus came, not to take from others what was rightfully theirs but to give to others what was rightfully His. This is our Savior – and it is this conduct that James calls us to imitate in our own lives.

Why? Because if we don’t, if we persist in pursuing our own ideas of what is wise and enlightened, then confusion and wickedness will follow in the wake of our folly. Rather than witness righteousness and peace in our midst, we will observe warfare and sin. Not exactly a recipe for the happy life.

So what of us? How are we doing? You children, are you imitating Jesus in your relationships with your family and friends? When you play a game, are you determined to win at any cost or do you compete honestly according to the rules and with grace toward your competitors? You adults, what of you? When you associate with others, are you consumed with worry about what so and so thinks about you or do you consider instead how you can be a blessing to them no matter what they think? Because if we are all looking out for others, considering them more highly than ourselves, then we will have the fruit of that in joy and peace and righteousness.

Reminded of our propensity to be selfish and envious, let us kneel and confess our sin to the Lord.