DISOBEYING GOD’S WILL
Message of
the verse: “Therefore, to one who knows the right thing
to do, and does not do it, to him it is sin.”
(NASB) “Remember, it is sin to
know what you ought to do and then not do it.”
(NLT) (James 4:17)
This section is talking about the
will of God, and as the verse uses words like “the right thing” or “good” then
it must be said that the will of God is good.
I think of the apostle Paul when he was about to go up to Jerusalem and
all of the advice that he got to tell him that trouble was ahead of him, yet he
knew in his heart that it was the will of God for him to go. The question to ask as we have the privilege
to look back on this is “was it good for him to go?” It seems to me that we may be missing part of
our Bible if he would not have obeyed God, and Paul would have missed out on a
free trip to Rome if he had not obeyed God.
Dr. Wiersbe gives two reasons why we
do not obey the will of God. The first
reason is pride, pride that we don’t need any help from anyone. When I think of pride I think of it as the
first sin that entered the universe, for it was the sin of Lucifer. It is also one of the seven deadly sins that
we learned about earlier this year from our brother Chittock. The second reason for not obeying the will of
God is fear or lack of faith, or as Dr. Wiersbe states it “an ignorance of the
nature of the will of God.” The will of
God is not an option for believers as the verse states, for if we know His will
and do not do it then it is sin.
Many people believe that the will of
God for our lives is something to avoid because it will make us miserable, when
the opposite is true. God is our
creator, and thus He knows infinitely more than we do so this is where faith
and trust come into the picture.
What happens if we don’t obey the
will of God in our lives? Read Hebrews
12:5-11 for the first part of this answer and for the next part of the answer
read 1Corthians 9:27. The first answer
is discipline, and the second answer is we will lose rewards.
OBEYING THE WILL OF GOD
Message of the verse: “Instead, you ought to say, ‘If the Lord
wills, we shall live and also do this or that.’” (NASB) (James 4:15)
As we look at this subject of
obeying the will of God we can look at the life of Jesus and see something that
He had to say about it. In the forth
chapter of the gospel of John, Jesus is speaking to the woman at the well about
her need for salvation, and while this is happening His disciples went to get
Him something to eat and were encouraging Him to eat when He told them "My
food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to accomplish His work.” I believe that as a believer we can relate to
this when we are doing the will of God and look at the clock and realize that
we have missed lunch because we were so wrapped up in what we were doing.
The will of God for Jesus Christ
while He was on this earth was to be offered as a sacrifice for the sins of the
world, to fall under the wrath of Almighty God in our place, and yet He said
that His food was to do the will of God.
This tells me that doing the will of God in my life will not always be
an easy thing to do, and yet by doing it, it will bring honor to God as was in
the case of Jesus doing the will of God was.
We will look at other reasons why it is best to do the will of God
latter on.
The apostle Paul did not believe
that the will of God for his life was a burden, but he knew that it was the key
which opened doors and set him free; free to do what he knew was the very best
thing he could be doing in his life.
Dr. Wiersbe says that the will of
God for our lives can be compared to laws that operate the universe with this
exception: “those laws are general, but
the will He has planned for our lives is specifically designed for us. No two lives are planned according to the
same pattern.” However there are
some things that are common practice in all believers as far as the will of God
for their lives. Let me give you some
examples of these common areas. The
commandments are areas that the will of God for our lives, but God does not
call each of us to do the very same work in our lives, so this is where we see
individually in the will of God for each believer.
Do you think that it is of the up
most importance to do the will of God with the right attitude? God’s will for our lives is not cold or
impersonal, “for the will of God is a living relationship between God and
the believer. This
relationship is not destroyed when the believer disobeys, for the Father still
deals with His child, even if He must chasten.”
Dr. Wiersbe gives a good
illustration of how to understand the will of God.
The Believers relationship with the
will of God is a growing experience.
1.
We should know the will of God.
2.
As Paul was speaking of his experience of conversion he said this: “And he said, ‘The God of our fathers has appointed you to know His
will, and to see the Righteous One, and to hear an utterance from His mouth.”’
(Acts 22:14)
2.
It is not difficult to discover.
John 7:17 “If any man is willing to do His will, he shall know of the
teaching, whether it is of God, or whether I speak from Myself.”
Dr. Wiersbe said, “God does not reveal His will to
the curious or the careless, but to those who are ready and willing to obey
Him.
3.
We are to be filled with the knowledge of His will. Col. 1:9-12 “For this reason also, since
the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you
may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and
understanding, (the reason why), so that you may walk in a manner
worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good
work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power,
according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and
patience; joyously giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share
in the inheritance of the saints in light.
- God wants us to
understand His will. Ephesians
5:17: “So then do not be foolish, but understand
what the will of the Lord is.”
There is a difference in knowing the will of God and
understanding the will of God. In some
cases God wants us to know why and not only what. “No longer do I call you slaves, for the
slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends,
for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.” I believe that this is taken in the
context of knowing and understanding mysteries and mysteries when spoken of in
the Bible means something that had been hidden before and is now revealed, and
because we are the blood bought children of God He has revealed the why of some
of the things that He is doing. For the
things we don’t know why about we must exercise faith, and remember Deu. 29:29,
“The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong
to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.” I recommend memorizing this verse, for in our
walk with the Lord there are times when we do not always know the “what”
and the “why” of all things.
B.
We
must also prove God’s will. Romans 12:2 “And be not conformed to
this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may
prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. “1) to test, examine, prove, scrutinise (to see
whether a thing is genuine or not), as metals
2) to recognize as genuine after examination, to approve, deem worthy,” (Greek meaning of the word
“prove.) If we were testing metal, as
this could be an application of this Greek word, then it would take some time
to do it but when we were finished then we could prove it. This verse says that we can prove the will of
God in our lives, we can, as the definition of the word prove says “see whether
a thing is genuine or not.”
- We must do God’s will
from the heart. Eph. 6:6 “Work hard, but not
just to please your masters when they are watching. As slaves of Christ,
do the will of God with all your heart.”
Can you think of an OT character that did not do the will of God
from their heart, but did the will of God?
[Jonah] What is the difference if you do it from your heart or
not? Dr. Wiersbe says that we can apply
2Cor. 9:7, which speaks of being a cheerful giver to doing the will of
God. Do you agree with this? (Read last paragraph on page 138, and
all of page 139).
“The secret of a happy life is to
delight in duty. When duty becomes
delight, then burdens become blessings.
‘Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage’ (Ps.
119:54). When we love God, then His
statutes become songs, and we enjoy serving Him. When we serve God grudgingly, or because we
have to, we may accomplish His work but we ourselves will miss the
blessing. It will be toil, not
ministry. But when we do God’s will from
the heart, we are enriched, no matter how difficult the task might have been.
“We must never think that a failure in
knowing or doing God’s will permanently affects our relationship with the
Lord. We can confess our sins and
receive His forgiveness (1 John 1:9). We
can learn from the mistakes. The
important thing is a heart that loves God and wants sincerely to do His will
and glorify His name.
“What are the benefits of doing the
will of God? For one thing, you enjoy a
deeper fellowship with Jesus Christ (Mark 3:35). You have the privilege of knowing God’s truth
(John 7:17) and seeing your prayers answered (1 John 5:14-15). There is an eternal quality to the life and
works of the one who does the will of God (1 John 2:15-17). Certainly, there is the expectation of reward
at the return of Jesus Christ (Matt. 25:34).
“Which of these three attitudes do you
have toward the will of God? Do you
totally ignore God’s will as you make your daily plans and decisions? Or, do you know God’s will and yet refuse to
obey it? Each attitude is wrong and con
only bring sorrow and ruin to the life of the person who holds it.
“But the Christian who knows, loves, and
obeys the will of God will enjoy God’s blessing. His life may not be easier, but it will be
holier and happier. His very food will
be the will of God (John 4:34); it will be the joy and delight of his heart
(Ps. 40:8).”
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