The will of God

The day of Pentecost or the Feast of Weeks, is one of the seven Levitical convocation feasts to be offered by the Priests and, as we are the New Testament equivalent of the Old Testament priest, must apply to us as well. Remember Peter’s reference to Exodus 19:6, that we are “a kingdom of priests, a holy nation…?”
Christians through the ages may often have puzzled over the term, “God’s will”. They may have asked the question, “What is God’s will for my life, my family, my church, my country”. I have personally asked those questions of friends, Pastors and teachers but the answers never helped me get to grips with the practicalities of finding out and then doing it. I believe we can get a bit closer to understanding what is “the good, the acceptable and the perfect will of God” for our lives.
Now we know that there is a will of God for the natural nation of Israel that has not been completed yet (we find this in Romans 11. Look at vs25 where Paul speaks of a blindness that is on Israel until the Gentiles time is complete then ALL Israel will be saved) but today we are dealing with the spiritual nation of Israel which is the Church – (he is not a Jew who is one outwardly but inwardly as a circumcision of the heart) – and we find that in Romans 2:28&29.

Let’s begin by trying to understand what is meant by the word will. We will then go on to see an illustration of how Jesus fulfilled the will of God for His life and we will have a look at some scripture about a few of the things God has directed us to do to fulfil His will.

Understanding the will of God

I found the following dictionary explanation of the word will,
1. the faculty by which a person decides or is regarded as deciding on and initiating action.
2. a deliberate or fixed desire or intention (a will to live)
3. (archaic) what one desires or ordains (thy will be done).
and we also have as it’s meaning,
1. directions (usually written) in legal form for the disposition of one's property after death (make one's will)

We need to get a clear understanding of 2 things here– desire and action. When we talk about God’s will, we know that He wants something done and He wants US to do it. When desire is mentioned in the New Testament and attributed to man, it is rendered as zelos(dzay-los) (from where we get the word zealous). However, when God’s desire is spoken about, it is rendered thelema(thél-ay-mah) meaning WILL. Revelation 4:11 speaks about the 24 elders casting their crowns before God and saying, “..for You created ALL things and for thy pleasure they are, and were created” which is also, Thél-ay-mah. The New King James renders it, “…and by Your will…..”
So if we put the dictionary explanations together, we have a workable definition of God’s will :-

The explicit, written desires of God for man to carry out.

I have found that the phrase, “will of God”, doesn’t appear in the Old Testament but I did find a few references to the word “purpose” implying a similar intention. Interestingly, when Paul speaks of the eternal and predestined purposes of God in Ephesians 1:11 and 3:11, the Greek meaning of the word purpose that he uses is prothesis which means to determine to put forth as the SHEWBREAD of the temple.

This Shewbread speaks symbolically of Jesus. The Shewbread was holy and set apart, so was Jesus. It spoke symbolically of God’s presence among and provision for His people, Jesus is God made manifest amongst man and is all sufficient. It was called Shewbread because it was always before God’s presence and Jesus sits at the right hand of God (always in His presence).

Do you see what is beginning to come through? Jesus, who came to earth to live and work among men, is the ever-living expression of God’s will for man.

Look at John 4. This will be the key passage we’ll examine.

Jesus our example

Here’s my own slant on the story about the woman at the well in Samaria as told my Simon Peter;

We had been travelling for about 6 hours that day and I was beginning to think we were never going to stop for a bite to eat and something to quench the desert-fired thirst that I never could get used to. Going from village to village in the outback of the Judean hills is no picnic, I promise you and the Master had this habit of stopping every now and then at a village, preaching up a storm and then we’d all have to hot-foot it out of there because some Pharisee had got the hump with Him. He’d called some of them snakes and white washed gravestones, if I remember correctly. I really, really wish He wouldn’t do that….. get us all ready to spend the night but then have to pack up and leave at a moment’s notice. Sort of unsettles a man, you know?

Anyway, here we were on our way back to Galilee and Jesus decided to make a detour to a local Samaritan town called Sychar. He said He had some business there at a well that our ancestor Jacob had dug, so we all decided to go into town and buy a few things while He took a well deserved rest. James, John and I went down to the local fish market while the others wandered off to get bread and veg. When we got back to the well, we couldn’t believe our eyes. There was the Master, plain as day, speaking to a woman! And a Samaritan at that! I mean what next – tea with tax collectors or maybe getting that scoundrel Judas to look after the money bag or how about me walking on water? Yeah roight.

Turns out she was the local madam but Jesus had seen right through her. Told her her fortune, so to speak, but instead of scaring her away, she hung around Him and asked Him question after question after question. I would have told her where to get off but noooo, not the Master – always the gentleman He was. Knowing her history and still offering her eternal life, makes you think doesn’t it? There she was, been married 5 times, her latest bloke apparently just a partner - nothing official, just an “arrangement” you see. Well, she was gob-smacked by that bit of news getting out (after all, it was supposed to be a secret) and she fell on her face, right there in the dust, and asked Him to give her some of that living water so she wouldn’t have to go back to her old ways.

Man you should have seen her afterwards – running off yelling how this man had seen right into her soul and told her everything about herself that she thought was hidden. Once the others in Sychar got to hear about this prophet, they invited us all to stay for a 2 day revival meeting. Well, when we tried to get Jesus to eat something, He spoke about having some other food to eat. I mean, none of us had given Him anything to eat, there were no other travellers this far out so what was He on about?

Which brings us to verse 34;

34. Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work”

(Thél-ay-mah is the Greek word used here – remember what we looked at earlier? This means to purpose, to choose to do someone else’s desire. So the food that satisfies is obedience to the will of God. Did Jesus finish this work? YES he did! In John 19:30 Jesus said “It is finished”. The Greek meaning of finished is “tel-ay-oh” meaning to conclude, end, discharge a debt. He paid the ultimate price of obedience to the perfect will of God and He did this so that you and I would not have to do it. How many of us today can say, at the end of our lives, “It is finished…..” that we have accomplished ALL that God set out for us to do? Paul said at the end of his life, “I have run the race…”)

Jesus goes on to explain what He meant by His food being to do the will of God. Look at the following verses,

35. Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!

(Notice the difference between man’s and God’s perspective on timing? Man says, “There’s still time before we need to go out and gather in the souls” but God says, “…the fields are already white” Remember the reference in Hebrews, to Israel’s disobedience when God spoke to them in the wilderness? It says, “Today if you hear His voice” We also know that there is a direct link between hearing and doing from James which we’ll look at later.)

36. And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.

(The wages and fruit we receive and gather are God’s reward for our obedience in soul winning for the kingdom. Although there is pay for our work of reaping, there is also an element of unmerited blessing here – grace really – because wages are earned and fruit represents a bonus.)

37. For in this the saying is true: 'One sows and another reaps.' (Which Jesus goes on to clarify…)
38. "I sent you to reap that for which you have not laboured; others have laboured, and you have entered into their labours."

(This speaks of the different work we each have to do in the process of gathering in the harvest. If we all sowed, who would do the work of reaping and if we all reaped, who would do the work of sowing. They go hand in hand and I’m reminded of a similar principle of working hand in hand to achieve the purposes of God described in 1 Corinthians 3 and from verse 5 through 11. In the same way, there have been many men and women in the past who have been faithful to do the will of God by obeying His prime directive and toiled long, hard hours in God’s fields; ploughing away at the stubborn soil of men’s hearts, sowing seeds with tears but this generation is now able to enter the harvest field, reap the benefit of their labours and make disciples of all men with joy. This way, no one can boast about how well they have done. Their work will be judged in the fire and I pray that ours, too, will be found to be gold, silver and precious stones)

What is the will of God for us and how do we fulfil it?

I have listed just 10 references to God’s plan and purpose for us, His explicit instructions for individuals and the church to carry out. They are not in order of importance and the list is not exhaustive, far from it.

1) That the church is one
In John 10:16 Jesus says that there is one flock and one Shepherd. He is speaking here of the flock of Israel and the Gentiles being one. Therefore, the will of God for the church is that we are one. Jesus prayed to the Father, in John 17:22, that we would be one as He and the Father are one.

2) That we love one another
Proof to the world that we are the disciples of Jesus is that we love one another. The epistles of John, Romans, Thessalonians, 1 Peter and 1&2 John all contain instructions to the church to love one another.

3) That we go into the harvest field
Jesus’ command to His disciples in our key scripture earlier was that they were go into the harvest field and reap that which they had not sown. In Mark 16:15, Jesus appeared to the 11 remaining disciples and told them to go into all the world and preach the gospel. And in Matthew 28, He says to go into all the world and make disciples of all nations. This is harvest field we have spoken of today.

4) That none should perish
In Matthew 18, Jesus tells the parable of the 100 sheep and the shepherd who leaves 99 of them and goes out to look for one that was lost. He concludes by saying in verse 14, “..it is not the will of your Father in Heaven that one of these little ones should perish”

5) That we get to know Him
Paul so passionately and eloquently puts the intimate knowledge of God at the top of his to-do list. In Philippians 3 and from verse 7,

7 But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.
8 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ
9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ — the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.
10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.

6) That we regard each other as family
Mark 3:35 tells that whoever does the will of God, is his mother, sister, brother etc. At the cross, Jesus commanded His disciple John and His mother to, “…behold your mother, behold your son..”

7) That we have faith
Romans 1:17 and Habakkuk 2:4 tell us that “the just shall live by faith.” Hebrews 11 tells us that “without faith it is impossible to please God.” Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue who thought that his daughter was dead, “Do not be afraid only believe”

8) That we are holy in all our conduct
Paul, writing to the Thessalonians, tells them that the will of God for them is their sanctification or holiness. (See 1 Thessalonians 4:3) Peter, too, tells the readers of his letter to “Be holy as I am holy…” quoting Leviticus 11:44

9) That we do good works
James 1:22 says that we are to be “doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” Ephesians 2:10 also tells us that “we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” In Matthew 5:16, Jesus tells His disciples, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” But let us not forget James’ warning in James 2:21 that “…faith without works is dead”

10) That we are thankful
We used to sing an old chorus that went like this, “Give thanks, with a grateful heart, give thanks to the Holy One, give thanks because He’s given Jesus Christ His Son” In 1 Thessalonians 5:18, Paul says, “in everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

Like I said, the list is not exhaustive – I suggest you go away and find out more of what He has said concerning us and our obedience to His will.

But in all of this that we do according to the will of Him who called and sent us, may the true motive of our heart be one of an overwhelming love for Father, for a lost and dying world and for one another. Grace be to you all.