Do God's Will

Yesterday, we encouraged everyone to do a little research in the Bible to find the actual places where God has said in His Word “It is God’s will that…” and then walk in obedience to those things. I want to take that challenge a step further today.

Today, I want to challenge all of you who read this blog regularly to dig for God’s will in His Word. What do I mean by this? Well, one of the things that we learn in Hermeneutics class (“Hermeneutics” is $34 word that simply means “Bible study principles”), is that every Scripture passage we read has an interpretation, and possibly a number of applications. There are at least two applications that can be made from every Scripture. The primary application (or the first application made from the original author, readers and speakers), and the secondary application (or the application made by us in the 21st century).

Let me try and explain how the primary application works. When Paul wrote the book of Philippians, he was writing to a specific group of people for a specific purpose at a specific time. The things that he said, and the people to whom he said them, are of vital importance as we seek to understand the primary application of the book of Philippians. To know what the primary application is of a passage, it is paramount that we figure out who wrote it, to whom they wrote it, where the people were to whom it was written, what the circumstances were surrounding reason for the writing of the book, and the place in which the recipients lived. All of these things can be found in a commentary on the book you are reading, or sometimes in the notes at the beginning of each book of the Bible. 

A word of caution here: it may be tempting to skip the primary application since it has little to do with where we are today. But as you will find out, if you don’t understand the primary application, it may lead you into error when determining the secondary application.

The secondary application is trying to figure out what the Scriptures are saying to us today…right here…in the 21st century. This is where a careful study of the primary applications can really help us to determine what God is trying to tell us here today. When you study a passage, and you see how God used that passage to speak to the people of that time, it becomes easier to figure out what God is saying to you. But when you figure that out, be careful.

Read these words of Jesus and then let’s finish our post.

When you get a secondary application that is right on, and that you know is from God, you better be careful to follow that application. Why? Because as James says, “The one who knows the good they ought to do and does not do it, to them it is sin!” Simply put: When you know what God wants you to do, not doing that is sinful.

So get out there and study, and figure out what God wants of you. Then walk in the obedience that will bring you the blessing of God…His eternal peace, joy and confidence!

Feel free to comment below and we’ll see you on Sunday!

Knowing God's Will

People tell me all the time that it is difficult to know what God's will for their lives is. But the fact of the matter is that there are only three things in the New Testament that specifically tell us what God's will is.

The first is found in 1 Thessalonians 4:3, where Paul tells us that "It is God's will that you should be sanctified...". He then goes on to explain what he means by that in the next 5 verses. He says that sanctification (while it is deeper than just this issue) begins with committing to sexual purity. God's will for you, Christian is that you should be sexually pure, avoiding the lusts of the body. When you come to think of it, if we can get a hold of our own passions, then we will find that much of the rest of life will take care of itself.

The second is found in 1 Peter 2 and verse 15, where Peter tells us "it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people." Basically what God is saying through Peter here is that He wants us to not only not do stuff, but to also do things that are good by His standards and not some arbitrary feeling or emotion that is coming from us. You see God's purpose for us is that we do things for Him. We aren't to just sit around waiting for His return, but we are to get to work. If you are a Christian, and you're breathing, then there's work for you to do my friend!

The last thing we'll mention today is found again in 1 Peter, but this time in chapter 3 and verse 17, where it says that it is God's will for you to suffer for doing good, if you suffer at all. But add 2 Timothy 3:12 (In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted), and suffering seems to be pretty certain for all of us. So let's make sure that when suffer, it's because we've done the right thing.

So God's will, as it is spelled out for us here in these three passages, tells us that we need to avoid sexual sin, get busy doing the work that God has for us to do, and then get ready to suffer for doing it. Now I know this isn't going to make me "Mr. Popular" today for saying these things, but it is a place for us to start doing God's will.

Now there is a lot more to God's will than just these three verses. In fact, if you read the entirety of the Scriptures then you'll have a better grasp on what God's will is for your life. But the truth of the matter is that God hasn't hidden His will from us. He wants us to know...that's why He gave us His Word. So read it, live it out and rejoice every day that you get to be counted among those who love Him and are called according to His purposes!

Feel free to make a comment (I'd really love to see some of those!) and we'll see you on Sunday!