Thursday
Evening Bible Study
February
5, 2009
Introduction
Have you ever wondered what
God’s will was for your life?
Is it even possible to know God’s will for your life?
One of the ways our culture tells us about finding God’s will is to ask a guru, ask a wise man, ask someone more
knowledgeable than you.
And truthfully, it is good to ask for advice from wise people.
Illustration
Predicting The Weather
A film crew was
on location deep in the desert. One day an Old Indian went up to the director and said, “Tomorrow
rain.” The next day it rained.
A week later, the Indian went up to the director and said, “Tomorrow storm.” The next
day there was a hailstorm. “This Indian is incredible,” said the director. He
told his secretary to hire the Indian to predict the weather. However, after
several successful predictions, the old Indian didn’t show up for two weeks.
Finally the director sent for him. “I have to shoot a big scene tomorrow,” said
the director, “and I’m depending on you. What will the weather be like?” The
Indian shrugged his shoulders. “Don’t know,” he said. “Radio is broken.”
For some of us, the idea of understanding God’s will is a lot like trying
to predict the weather. We go to “experts” who try to tell us what is going to
happen. For some of us, we just feel like the radio is broken and we aren’t
hearing anything.
We began chapter 12 last week by looking at the beginning thoughts of
understanding God’s will:
(Rom
12:1 NKJV) I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you
present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your
reasonable service.
Lesson
God’s will starts with a living
sacrifice
Understanding what God wants for your life starts with being a person who
is on the altar. I
need to let Him have my body to do with as He wants.
It’s total commitment. Being a sacrifice involves total commitment.
Do you remember the difference between involvement and commitment?
“When you look at a plate of ham and eggs,
you know the chicken
was involved. But the pig
was committed.”
If you want to know God’s will, He doesn’t want you “involved” in religion,
He wants you “committed” to Him.
Paul goes on to tell us the rest about how to get to God’s will.
:2 And do not be conformed to this world,
conformed
– suschematizo – to conform one’s
self (i.e. one’s mind and character) to another’s pattern
From schema – everything in a person which
strikes the senses, the figure, bearing, discourse, actions, manner of life
etc.
This is the outward
form of something.
Paul’s painting
a picture of clay being squished into a mold, a mold that is shaped by the
world.
world – aion – forever, perpetuity of time;
period of time, age
aion is usually better expressed
by age, it is the world at a given
time, a particular period in the world’s history. It might be expressed as the “spirit of the age” or
perhaps the “culture of the age”.
It’s keeping up with the current trends
and fashions. It’s the pursuit of staying perpetually “cool”. It’s learning to
buy everything that Madison Avenue says you ought to buy.
More
about this “world” –
1. Satan is called the “god of this world (aion)” (2Cor. 4:4).
2. It’s something that once was a part of our life
before Jesus:
(Eph 2:2 NKJV) in which
you once walked according to the course
of this world…
3. The “world”
will ruin your spiritual fruitfulness:
(Mat
13:22 NKJV) "Now he who received
seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world (aion) and the deceitfulness
of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.
4. We still need to relate to the world.
It’s not that we should be irrelevant to our “world”
around us. I don’t think we need to get rid of our cars and live on farms in
the country.
We need to be “all things to all
people” for the sake of relating to them and reaching them for Jesus.
(1 Cor 9:22 NKJV) to the weak I became as weak, that I might
win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means
save some.
But we need to be careful that we don’t
get shaped by the world and then caught in its trap.
The action part of this phrase (the verb) is a “Present passive
imperative”, which means,
“Stop allowing
yourself to be in a place where the world shapes you into its mold.”
Lesson
What shapes me?
How do we allow the world to shape us?
Fashion – how
do you dress?
Morality
What constitutes marriage?
Why even get married?
The Madoff
scandal – cheating for success.
Information /
news / editorializing
Get two people in a room – one watches only NBC news, the other only
FOX news. Ask them what is happening in
government. Stand back and watch the
fireworks.
I’m not promoting either news channel. My point is that we often form our opinions
based on what our news sources tell us, and they may have a bit of a slant to
their ideas.
The real issue is: What shapes your life?
Is your life driven by wanting to look
good on the outside? Is your life driven by wanting all the things that other
people have?
Are you drawing your values from what
the world says is right and wrong?
:2 but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,
transformed
– metamorphoo – to change into
another form, to transform, to transfigure
A couple of years ago there was a movie made from a line if children’s
toys, “Transformers”
– where cars and trucks are really robots in disguise.
From morphoo – to form
Schema (from “conformed” above) is the outward
form of a thing while morphe is the
inward quality of a thing.
It speaks of a permanent
change, not a temporary one.
Present passive imperative – Allow yourself to continually be in a place where you are permanently
changed from the inside out.
How does this change take place?
renewing
– anakainosis (“again” + “new”) – a
renewal, renovation, complete change for the better
from kainos – new. This is not “new” as something that has just come
into existence, but “new” as something that is not old and worn out (“just like new”). It might describe
something unusual (“that’s a new idea”).
We don’t have our minds replaced with a new brain, but our old minds are
changed into something better.
mind – nous – the mind, what allows you to
perceive, understand, and feel.
It’s the way you think. God wants to change the way we think.
Lesson
Renewing
If we do a word study on how this word
“renew” is used in the New Testament, we can come up with some helpful ideas of
what can renew us.
1.
The Word
(Col 3:10 NKJV) and have
put on the new man who is renewed in
knowledge according to the image of Him who created him,
How are we renewed
through knowledge? I think it happens
through God’s Word.
Being “renewed” is a bit like having a
beauty treatment, going to a spa, getting a face lift. Look how Jesus does those things for us:
(Eph 5:25-27
NKJV) Husbands, love your wives, just as
Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, {26} that He might
sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, {27} that He might present her
to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she
should be holy and without blemish.
He uses His Word to
wash us and make us new.
2. The Holy Spirit
(Titus 3:5 NKJV) not by
works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved
us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing
of the Holy Spirit,
We need to learn to be yielding our lives to the Holy
Spirit – allowing Him to work in our hearts and minds.
3. Faith – trusting in the unseen
(2 Cor 4:16-18
NKJV) Therefore we do not lose heart.
Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. {17} For our light affliction,
which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal
weight of glory, {18} while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are
seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
We are renewed the more we learn to trust God for all our
situations.
Lesson
Change
your thinking.
It’s the mind that needs to be renewed.
It’s the way we think about things. The battle is all over your mind.
What will it spend it's time processing?
(Phil
4:8-9 NKJV)
Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble,
whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely,
whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is
anything praiseworthy; meditate on these things. {9} The things which you
learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace
will be with you.
When
you are in your car, who decides what station to listen to? Who decides what CD
to play? You do.
You have a choice of what you’re going to put into your
mind. God wants you transformed by having your mind made new, by playing His
“CDs”.
Sometimes we can get so preoccupied with a certain
situation that it’s all we think about.
We work ourselves into a panic, we get depressed, we lose hope.
It wouldn’t hurt every once in a while to “change the
channel”, to get your mind off your problem and think about something good.
One way we can do this is through not only reading, but memorizing
Scripture.
Illustration
Charles Swindoll writes,
“Why is the expenditure of time and energy so worth the
effort entailed in memorizing
Scripture? Because our life is lived in our mind. More than 10,000 thoughts a
day pass through that gray matter neatly tucked between our ears. Theologian
A.W. Tozer once said, “Our
thoughts not only reveal what we are, they predict what we will become. We will
soon be the sum total of our thoughts.” The Holy Spirit feeds on the spiritual
nourishment of the Word to rewire our mental computer, thereby effectively
changing our attitudes and actions.”
– Charles R.
Swindoll, The Christian Life, (Vision House, 1994), p. 79.
Illustration
Speaking of the mind and memory …
The Indian Chief
An Australian
travel writer touring Canada was checking out of the Spokane Hilton, and as he paid his bill to
the manager, he asked, “By the way, what’s with the Indian chief sitting in the
lobby? He’s been there ever since I arrived.”
“Oh that’s ‘Big
Chief Forget-me Not’,” said the manager. “The hotel is built on an Indian
reservation, and part of the agreement is to allow the chief free use of the
premises for the rest of his life. He is known as ‘Big Chief Forget-me Not’
because of his phenomenal memory. He is 92 and can remember the slightest
detail of his life.” The travel writer took this in, and as he was waiting for
his cab decided to put the chief’s memory to the test. “’ello, mate!” said the Aussie, receiving
only a slight nod in return. “What did you have for breakfast on your 21st
birthday?” “Eggs,”
was the chief’s instant reply, without even looking up, and indeed the Aussie
was impressed. He went off on his travel writing itinerary, right across to the
east coast and back, telling others of Big Chief Forget-me Not’s great memory.
One local noted to him that “How!”
was a more appropriate greeting for an Indian chief than “ello mate” On his
return to the Spokane Hilton, six months later, he was surprised to see ‘Big
Chief Forget-me Not’ still sitting in the lobby, fully occupied with whittling
away on a stick. But, remembering his friends advice he greeted Chief Forget-me
Not in the more appropriate fashion. “How?” said the Aussie. “Scrambled,” said the Chief.
:2 that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of
God.
If you translate this strictly by word order, you get something like what
the NAS has:
(Rom 12:2 NASB) And do not be conformed to
this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove
what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
It’s when you’ve presented your body to God, shunned the mold of the
world, and have allowed Him to renew
your mind, that you are now in a position to “prove” or “test” what God’s will
is.
prove – dokimazo – to test, examine, prove,
scrutinize (to see whether a thing is genuine or not), as metals; to recognize
as genuine after examination
from dokimos – accepted,
particularly of coins and money.
In the ancient
world there was no banking system as we know it today, and no paper money. All
money was made from metal, heated until liquid, poured into moulds and allowed
to cool. When the coins were cooled, it was necessary to smooth off the uneven
edges. The coins were comparatively soft and of course many people shaved them
closely. In one century, more than eighty laws were passed in Athens, to stop
the practice of shaving down the coins then in circulation. But some money
changers were men of integrity, who would accept no counterfeit money. They
were men of honor who put only genuine full weighted money into circulation.
Such men were called “dokimos” or
“approved”. (Donald Barnhouse)
will – thelema – what one wishes or has
determined shall be done; will, choice, inclination, desire, pleasure
This isn’t necessarily God’s almighty decree that He declares and nothing
can stop it. But this is a little more the idea of what God desires, what God
wishes for us.
Paul has been telling us how
to “test” to see if something is God’s will or not.
When you do these things (living sacrifice, not conformed to the world, transformed by
renewing the mind), you are entering into the process of testing to see what
God’s will is.
Lesson
You are more important than the
answer
Sometimes we get consumed with certain
issues regarding God’s will. We want some kind of guidance as to the
specific decisions we face in life. We want to know who to marry, what job to
take, where to live, etc.
But if you pay attention to what Paul says is the key to testing God’s
will, it’s all about what kind of person you
are becoming, not the specific answer to your question.
But it’s become my impression that God isn’t as much concerned about
specific decisions as He is about what we’re becoming. Don’t get me wrong, I
believe God is very concerned about which specific decisions we make. But I
believe He is even more concerned about what kind of person we’re becoming.
In the movie “Bruce Almighty”, Bruce is a guy who is unhappy with his
life. He blames God and everyone else
for his misery. God decides to give
Bruce the job of being God. For a time
Bruce has all of God’s powers – and he finds out how difficult it is to be God.
Play
clip from “Bruce Almighty”
Some of us are afraid of surrendering
ourselves to God completely because we have this idea that we too would be run
over by a semi truck as soon as we do.
The thing I liked about this clip was
seeing the work that had been done on the character of Bruce – he had
changed. It wasn’t that he had learned
to pray the magic prayer, but that his prayer came from a changed heart. See the difference?
When you get to the point where you’ve
presented your body to God, you’ve refused to be molded by the world, and you’ve
been letting Him renew your mind, then you’re in a position to know God’s will.
Chuck Smith writes,
“Too often we assume that God only
reveals His will in exotic ways such as tinglings down the spine or fiery
letters in the sky. When I entered Bible college, I learned that some students
had seen visions or messages
emblazoned in the sky calling them into the ministry. I didn't have any such
experiences. Actually, I had the least spectacular call to the ministry of
anyone in school. All I had was a desire to serve God by learning more of His Word. After all these
years I'm one of the few from my class still in the ministry. Many former
classmates are selling
cars or working in some such occupation. I sometimes wonder what happened to
those fiery letters in the sky. When we expect the will or call of God to come
in dramatic ways, we don't anticipate the natural ways by which He so often
leads us. Many times during the day God's hand is leading me, but I'm not even
aware of it. Some people expect a divine signal system to give them directions.
"Turn left!
Beep! Beep! Go forward..." They're looking for the spectacular, so they
bemoan the fact that they've never been led by God. In looking over my life's
situations, I realize that God has worked out things with perfect timing. My
hindsight shows me that my promptings to do a particular thing had come from
God. God leads us in natural ways. He said that He would write His Law on the
tablets of our hearts.”
Focus on the character that God is
building in you, and you will be learning to walk in the will of God.
When you find God’s will, you will find out three things about it:
good – agathos – of good constitution or
nature; useful; agreeable, joyful; excellent
There is nothing bad or evil about
God’s will.
(1 John 1:5 NKJV) This is
the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light
and in Him is no darkness at all.
We all know people who try to trick us
and manipulate us to do their “will”, and it’s something that is not a good
thing.
But God’s will for us is pure and good.
acceptable
– euarestos – well pleasing,
acceptable
God’s will is wonderful. This is the same word used to describe the living
sacrifices we are to make to the Lord (Rom. 12:1). We are a sweet aroma to the
Lord as a living sacrifice, and His will for us is a sweet aroma for us.
perfect
– teleios – finished; lacking nothing
necessary to completeness
God’s will is all we need. We don’t
need to be seeking things outside of God’s will to be complete people.
Lesson
Don’t be afraid of His will.
I think that sometimes we get the idea that God is out to ruin our lives.
He’s always doing “good” things for us, but they’re always the yucky,
brussel-sprouts kind of “good”. We’re afraid that if we give ourselves totally
to the Lord, then He’ll send us to Africa. We’re afraid that if we really stop
worrying about who we’re going to marry, and put it in God’s hands, that God is
going to pick out some really ugly, weird person with very bad breath.
(Psa
37:4 NKJV) Delight yourself also in the
LORD, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
We often look at that verse and focus on the “promise” at the end and say,
“Gosh, I can get whatever I want from God!”
But God’s focus on that verse is to for us to become people who find their
delight in Him. The issue isn’t the “getting of stuff”. The issue is whether or
not I’m becoming a person who is falling more and more in love with God. And in
fact, when I find myself delighting in Him, I find that all the “stuff” fades
away and isn’t all that important any more. I find that when I’m delighting in
Him, all that’s left in my heart, all the “desires” that are left are only the
kinds of things that He desires for me. I’m not so sure this verse is a promise
about getting “things”, it’s a promise about getting “desires”.
It doesn’t say He will give us the
“dreads” of our heart, but the “desires”. God’s will is good. It’s
well-pleasing. It’s perfect.