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Good morning again. Please turn in your Bibles to Matthew 6, verse 25, and if you're using one of the Pew Bibles, it's on page 965. So we're going to look at Matthew chapter 6, verses 25 through 34, and when you get there, please stand with me, if you would, for the reading of God's Word.
Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air.
They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to his lifespan? And why are you anxious about clothing?
Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you?
Oh, you of little faith. Therefore, do not be anxious, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear? For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Let's pray. Father in heaven, we pray for this time in our service in which we worship you through the preaching of the word. Please make your servant invisible today and let your word be sharper than a two-edged sword as it enters into our hearing.
We do bless Pastor Seth and his family again this morning as their absence is felt here. Lord, illuminate our minds so that we can understand your word. We pray all these things in Jesus name. Amen. Please be seated.
So if you heard the story of the pastor who was driving on a country road and his car broke down, this was in the day before cell phones. So what you had to do before he had cell phones, believe it or not, you had to walk to the nearest establishment.
So he walked on the road, the nearest establishment had to be your guest at a tavern. So he walks in this tavern and he uses the payphone to call for a tow truck. And just as he was leaving the bar, he noticed there was a friend of his, an acquaintance, a guy named Frank who was at the bar drunk.
He was shabbily dressed. So the pastor approached him and said, Frank, what happened? You used to be rich. Well, Frank went on to tell him about how bad financial investments and bad decisions had led to his downfall.
So the pastor said, listen up, I got some advice for you. Go home, open up your Bible at random, put your finger down on the page, and that will be God's answer. Frank did it, he went home. So about a month later, pastor ran into Frank again.
This time he stepped out of a brand new Mercedes, he was wearing a very expensive Italian suit, had a Rolex watch on. So the pastor went up to him and said, Frank, you really turned things around. Frank said, yes, pastor, it's all because of you.
I did exactly what you said, put my finger down on the page of the Bible, and there was my answer. Chapter 11. You know, bankruptcy. Okay. Chapter 11, bankruptcy. Delayed reaction. I will not quit my day job.
Okay, so this morning we're going to examine this phenomenon called God's will. Does he have one for our lives? How do we find it? I know some Christians, believe it or not, that have used the technique I just described in attempting to discern God's will for their life.
That's called, if you've never heard this before, it's called lucky dipping when you do that. And by the way, God has a better way. And hopefully this morning we'll explain what that is. So this morning I'd like to examine a couple of questions.
Can we know God's will for our life? And if so, how can we figure out what that is? So most of us are familiar with the chapter in Jeremiah 29. I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you, not harm you, plans to give you hope in the future, etc.
It's a pretty common verse. If you're like me, you may ask, how do I know what that plan is? Will God tell me? After all, our lives down here are a confusing mess of starts and stops, of opportunities, of missed opportunities, of open doors and dead ends.
There are so many decisions we're faced with, right? Where should I live? Should I go to college or stay and work at the farm? Where should I go to college? Should I move out of state? Do I want a career?
Should I get married? Who should I marry? Do I want to have kids? Should I stay in my current job? Should I be a missionary? Should I buy a All those things. These are questions that we're faced with all the time.
So you get the picture. We have a lot of decisions that are in front of us. It's no surprise then, with all those decisions we have, are faced with, that we're desperate to know the will of God for our lives and how He is involved in that whole process.
After all, we do desire to do what God would have us do, don't we? If you ask pastors across the country what is one of the most common questions they hear, it would be, how can I know what God's will is for my life?
And this brings me back to my question. If God has a wonderful plan for my life, that was a campus crusade, their little catchphrase. If God has a wonderful plan for my life, how can I discover what that plan is?
Well, many books have been written trying to answer this question, and today I'd like you to consider that maybe we have difficulty discovering what God's plan is for our lives, because truth be told, He doesn't really intend on telling us what that is.
So let me explain. The will of God is one of the most confusing phrases in a Christian's vocabulary. We speak of things happening according to God's will. We talk about being obedient and doing God's will.
We strive to be in the center of God's will. We speak of finding God's will. Some of the confusion, I think, is a result of the fact that when the Bible speaks of God's will, there are two sides to it.
There's God's will of decree, or His sovereign will, and then there's God's revealed will, or His will of command. So I'm going to define these two for you. First, we have God's will of decree, or His sovereign will.
This refers to what God has ordained and decreed from all eternity. Everything, and I mean everything, every atom floating around the universe is under God's sovereign control, so that everything that comes to pass on earth is according to God's sovereign decree.
One of the clearest verses demonstrating this is the way Jesus spoke of the will of God in Gethsemane when He was praying. He said in Matthew 26, 39, My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.
Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. What does the will of God refer to in this verse? It refers to the sovereign plan of God that will happen in the coming hours during Christ's passion. God knows all things and superintends or controls all, has control over all things.
This applies to our lives too. He ordains it, both the good and the bad. Theologians call the good God's good providence. He calls the bad God's dark providence. His will of decree is absolute and cannot be overturned.
His will of decree is sometimes difficult for us to understand because a lot of bad stuff happens, right? And when we try to figure out where was God when all this happened, it's not an easy thing to, it's not an easy question to wrestle with.
But the Bible clearly teaches that God is sovereign and He ordains everything that comes to pass for His purposes. On the other hand, there's God's revealed will, His will of command. Now, this refers to what God has commanded of us, what He desires from His creatures.
God's revealed will is laid out for us in the pages of the Bible. This is the will of God that we can disobey and fail to do. So if the will of decree is how things are, then the reveal will, revealed will or will of command is how things ought to be.
Okay, so the passage from Romans that I read earlier in the call to 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.
This is an example of God's will of command. So as you strive to renew your mind through attending church, through Bible study, through prayer, etc., you will be able to stand during the times of testing.
In other words, you will be able to understand and you'll be equipped to be obedient to God's revealed will. Another example is taken from Matthew 7, in which Jesus says, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven.
Not everyone does the will of his father. Jesus says so right here. So not everyone will enter the kingdom of heaven. Why? Because not everyone does the will of God. Now, let me be clear with this passage.
This is not, Jesus is not suggesting that works merit salvation. He's saying that true faith will produce the fruit of good works. One more scripture on God's revealed will. In 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 3, the apostle Paul says this, this is the will of God, your sanctification that you abstain from sexual immorality.
So sanctification, that's a word we're going to talk about a lot this morning. That's one of those $5 words that theologians love. It simply means this, it means to increase in righteousness, in righteousness, in obedience, and in holiness as you progress, as you progress on your Christian walk.
It should be a progressive graph. If you're looking at a bar graph of your life, since you came to the Lord, since the Lord saved you, you should be progressing in your sanctification. It's not a straight line.
There's a lot of ups and downs in our walks, but from the time you were saved to the time you're called to go home, you should be a more mature Christian. That make sense? One thing about sanctification, this is not something that you can do on your own.
God the Holy Spirit must assist you in growing in your sanctification, because believe me, if it was up to me alone to become more holy and righteous, I'd be toast, I'd be complete toast. So God the Holy Spirit has to assist you in this process.
Okay, so in the verse I just read, first Thessalonians, does anyone else struggle with Thessalonians? I have trouble spitting that one out. First Thessalonians, we have a specific instance in which God commands us holiness, sanctification, sexual purity, and this is all part of God's revealed will.
But we know there are many, many people who disobey these commands. So God's revealed will, we can disobey God's will of decree, is something that's set in stone. So those are the two types of God's will that we see in the Bible.
So are you with me so far? Because right now I'm going to muddy things up a little bit. So a lot of times when we as humans speak of God's will, we're speaking of a third way. We're speaking of God's will of direction.
The questions we looked at this morning, where should I live, who should I marry, where should I go to school, how should I spend my money, all those things. What we're really seeking for when we ask those types of questions is God's will of direction.
So the question I have this morning, is that biblical? In other words, does God have a mysterious or a secret will of direction that he expects us to figure out before we do anything? The answer is no, he doesn't.
Here's what I mean. So as Christians, yes, God has a specific plan for our lives, right? And yes, we can be assured that he works out all things for good in our lives according to Christ Jesus. And yes, if we look back on our lives, we can connect the dots and we can see God's hand at work, bringing us all the way to where we are now.
So but while we're free to ask God for wisdom, and we should, Proverbs 2, 6, James 1, 5 are some classic verses on wisdom. And God does give us wisdom. Like I said, he doesn't burden us with the task of divining or discovering his will of direction for our lives ahead of time.
God's will is not like a corn maze, that if you take the wrong turn, in this case, take the wrong job, buy the wrong house, go to the wrong school, your lives will be at a dead end. You'll be out of God's will, you'll be doomed spiritually, physically, relationally.
That's not the way God's will work. God's will is not like the old magic weight ball you used to shake up. Anyone remember that besides me? Shake up the eight ball and you get an answer in the window?
Sure, you don't remember, but God's will is not like a crystal ball, okay? Deuteronomy 29, 29 is a key verse. It says this, the secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us.
So God is a benevolent, easy for me to say, merciful and good God. And he gives us intelligent minds, and he shows us the way of obedience, and he invites us to take risks with him and for him. And we know that he has a plan for our lives.
The scriptures affirm all of that. The problem is that we feel like we can know and we need to know what God wants every step of the way. And there is a better way. As I said earlier, it's the biblical way, it's Jesus way.
So let's get back to our text. Let's flip back to Matthew 6, which we read at the beginning. And let's take a look at verse 25. Here it is. Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on.
It's not life more than food and the body more than clothing. Well, here Jesus commands us not to be anxious about our lives. The big idea or the theme of this passage is Christ does not want us to worry about the future.
God knows what we need to live. In fact, we will live as long as he wants us to live. We'll die when he wants us to die. He'll provide us everything we need to glorify him in this life. He'll provide food, drink, clothing, a job, shelter.
He will provide everything. So worrying about the future and obsessing in an attempt to discern God's will will not add a single hour to your life. It won't add to your sanctification either. In fact, in verse 30, Christ says flat out, this is evidence of a little faith.
Scriptures also tell us that God has enough mercy for today's trouble and new mercies for tomorrow's troubles. That's Lamentations 3. God's way is not to tell us what decisions we should make tomorrow.
No, because that's not the way of faith. God's way is to tell us that he knows tomorrow. He cares for us and therefore we shouldn't worry. If you want to know the will of God for your life, look no further than verse 33 of our text.
Verse 33 says this, but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you. The question God cares about is not where should I live or work or should I buy a new car?
But do I love the Lord with all my heart, soul, strength, and mind? And do I love my neighbor as myself? Okay, so right about now you're saying to yourself, that sounds really righteous and holy. What does it mean today, right now, at this moment?
What does it mean to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness? It simply means this. As Christians, we are to live holy and set apart lives. Pastor Seth talked about Lot's wife a couple weeks ago and how she vacillated between the world and God.
Remember, she was kind of lingering behind. Well, she ended up being turned to a pillar of salt. I'm not suggesting that if you're not walking closer to the Lord, you're going to be turned to a pillar of salt tomorrow.
Don't get me wrong. But it's the principle that I want to zero in on. I referenced 1 Thessalonians 4 -3 earlier, for this is the will of God, your sanctification. Brothers and sisters, that's the will of God for your life.
The will of God for your life is your sanctification. God wants you to buy the house that will make you more holy. Yeah, that sounds crazy. What I mean is, is there a bible-believing, gospel-preaching church nearby?
He wants you to marry someone who will aid you in becoming more holy. Is the mate of your choosing a Christian? He wants you to pick a college that will help you grow in holiness. Will the school you choose cause your faith to increase or cause you to lose ground or stumble in your faith?
That's what I mean by all that. God's will for your life is your growth in righteousness, holiness, and Christ-likeness. Being filled with God's will doesn't mean getting divine messages about a financial investment like our friend Frank.
And it doesn't mean about making a decision whether you should live in St. Croix Falls or Trade River. Ultimately, it's who you are in Christ, not where you hang your hat. All right, so at this point, you might be thinking, that's nice.
I think I agree with what this man is saying. This approach to God's will is liberating, but I still have tons of choices every day. So are you saying, Mr. Rob, that God won't help us in making decisions?
No, that's not it at all. As I mentioned earlier, I'm saying God will guide us in making decisions. He gives us wisdom, godly wisdom, wisdom from above. It doesn't mean God expects us to discover his plan ahead of time.
I hope you can see there's a difference. God will give us wisdom through understanding the application of his word when we face decisions. So that's why it's very important to be people of the book, to be people who regularly are in God's word.
Because if we're not, it's hard for us to apply that godly wisdom into our lives and to understand what his scriptures say about a certain decision we're faced with. James 1 .5 says this, if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God who gives generously to all without reproach and it will be given him.
Okay, so why is this issue important and or relevant to you this morning? We have lots of decisions to make, like I mentioned earlier. We need to consider our decisions carefully. How will this decision I'm making today, how will it impact my sanctification and the sanctification of my family?
So frankly, I've had many discussions over the years and maybe you have too, with Christians who have been literally paralyzed by this issue. They've prayed and prayed and prayed and they still weren't sure what to do in a particular situation because God didn't lay it out for them.
So let me say something, in most cases there's not anything particularly commendable about doing nothing. In most cases. I'm not saying we should not wait upon the Lord and we should be impatient. That's not what my point is.
My point is there comes a time when we have to choose to make a decision. During the Civil War, the North had a very highly regarded general. President Lincoln rested much of his hope in this guy. His name was General McClellan and he built this huge army, the Army of the Potomac.
It was way larger than the Confederate force, but he wouldn't commit them to battle. He refused to commit them to battle. He did nothing. He had to be replaced. So I'm not saying we shouldn't look before we leave.
I'm saying this, God's word does promise to us that, or doesn't promise to us, that he'll reveal ahead of time what decision we're to make in a given situation. So brothers and sisters, God's will for your life is your sanctification.
Your personal righteousness and your holiness. If the decision you're faced with today will increase your sanctification, then do it. If it will cause you to struggle or even stumble in your personal holiness or righteousness, then don't do it.
If it's a non-ethical or non-moral decision, not everything has, not every decision we make has a moral twist to it. Whether you buy rye bread or wheat bread, it's not a moral decision. But there are decisions that are not, that are not, that are neutral, I should say.
So in those cases, pray and ask God for wisdom and then choose using the intelligence that he's given you. So one last point, then I'll try to get to the end of this. You can be sure as you're going through this process and seeking godly wisdom, he will never, God will never ever direct you to do something that's contrary to his word.
I remember years ago, I was speaking to a friend of mine who explained to me that he believed that God had led him to leave his wife. He'd been married 10 or so years. Well, there were no biblical reasons for him to leave his marriage.
You know, infidelity, there are several reasons that the Bible talks about, but there were none of that. So he was completely wrong for his actions. God will not guide you to do anything that's contrary to his holy word, period.
If you think you're being led to do something that disagrees with the scriptures, it's not God. It's not from God. And you need to think long and hard about it before you do it. So this morning we've talked about living in accordance with God's will and all that that entails.
I hope some of it was of value to you. Well, if you're here this morning and you have not believed the gospel report of Jesus Christ's sinless life and his death and his resurrection and the need for repentance of your sins, if you have not believed, then this message probably made very, very little sense to you.
And as it stands right now, you are outside the kingdom of God. And the only thing you have to look forward to is eternity apart from God, an eternal conscious torment. So if this is you, I would like nothing better than to speak to you one-on-one after this service about my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
And if you don't want to talk to me, that's fine. Please seek out Pastor Seth when he's back because salvation is not something we can punt on because we're not guaranteed long lives. We're not guaranteed tomorrow.
It's something we need to take very seriously. So if that's you today, please think about it. And I can't stress that enough. Anyone here who knows the Lord and knows the importance of making a decision and not kicking the can down the road.
So just to wrap all this up, yes, God has a will for your life. And his will we've seen is the same for all of us, right? And I'd like to steal a line. I read a book by a pastor, Kevin DeYoung, on this subject.
I'd like to steal a line from his book. It says this, live for God, obey the scriptures, think of others before yourself, be holy, love Jesus. Go through those again. There's five things. Live for God, obey the scriptures, think of others before yourself, be holy, and love Jesus.
And as you do these things, you can be assured that you'll be walking in the will of God. Let's pray. Our Father, our God, we do thank you for your word. We just pray that if there's anything that I said today, Father, that is contrary to your word, that you would strike it from these dear one's minds.
I pray that as we understand your will more clearly and what your word, what your revealed will tells us about these things, Lord, that we would seek to live more sanctified lives, that we would pray and ask for strength from God, the Holy Spirit, to enable us to understand your will and to live in a way that pleases you.
I just thank you for all the dear one's here, Lord. I do pray for VBS. I neglected to pray for that earlier. I pray that VBS would be a success and there would be those that would hear your gospel report.
And Lord, that there would be those who would come to you that would believe on your son and that would be forever changed. So we thank you for this time. We do give you all the glory and honor again for your word.
In Jesus name I pray. Amen.