The Will of God
The Will of God
In Mark 3 we read some remarkable words about how Jesus related to His family and the importance of doing God's will. His mother and his brethren were seeking him 3:32 . The answer he gave was " who is my mother, or my brethren? And he looked round about on them which sat about him, and said,' Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister , and mother."
Here Jesus lays His emphasis on the family of God. He did not have to do that, but He did. And because He did, we should as well. Certainly that does not mean we neglect or ignore our family. We have been blessed with families and God works His covenant through the family. He calls individuals to serve Him and as families we are enabled to love Him more and more when the head of our families sets that example. In one sense this was a little bit of a rebuke to His family. In John 2, Mary also is told at the wedding, " woman , what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come."
The important thing is doing the will of God. In all of our lives, that should be first. It is easy to get this reversed and there are people that will help us do that unknowingly often. The world has its own ideas of what we should be doing. Our culture today allows us to have our religion , but that should not interfere with what others wish to do. The world rushes on and does not take the time necessary to listen to God. And we live in such a society that keeps saying that to be happy we must have more and do more that entertains us. Observing the Lord's Day is out of vogue for example. I was speaking to someone this week about how we have gone from bad to worse with Sunday observance.
The Scotsman, Eric Liddell was portrayed in a movie that was very popular several years ago, " Chariots of Fire". He ran in the 1924 olympics, but refused to run on Sunday because he wished to observe the Lord's Day. He still ran on Saturday and won a gold medal. People respected him for his strong committment to his faith. Later he became a missionary to China.
If we were to go thru the Bible itself we would find this a consistent theme throughout, " doing the will of God." It would be helpful for example to start with the "faith hall of fame', Hebrews 11. Noah was such an example 11:7. He " moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house." It was I imagine not easy at all to do this when others looked upon him as a crazy person. But " Noah was a just man ....and walked with God." Genesis 6:9
Some of us ask , " But how can I know God's will?" This is the best question we can ask and the fact that we are asking it all is wonderful. There are some things we cannot know. God has His plan which do not know. He has revealed to us how we are to live . Deut. 29:29 is a good verse about this, " The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law." ( Sometimes it is called the decretive - secret& preceptive-revealed will of God)
If you are struggling with the will of God now for your life, I would say, start with what you know. For example, we know we are to believe in God and His Son to have eternal life. Then we are to live so in this world that we may grow more and more like Jesus. Too many people are neglecting the revealed will of God because they are thinking that they want to know more. There are some things we will not know and never know. But God is not leading us astray if we acknowledge Him and let Him direct our paths. Proverbs 3:5-6
We could spend many hours talking about the will of God. Each of us despite our age have a living relationship with God that should be growing every day as we read the Scriptures, listen to the Word preached on the Lord's Day services, receive the Sacraments gratefully of Baptism & the Lord's Supper. My theology professor used to say a train does not run well off the tracks. So we are to run after God's instructions and directions, not necessarily someone else.
Jesus followed the will of God all the way to the Cross . And He said in those famous words in the Garden , " Not my will, but thine, be done." Luke 24:42 That is the way of true life and happiness.
In Mark 3 we read some remarkable words about how Jesus related to His family and the importance of doing God's will. His mother and his brethren were seeking him 3:32 . The answer he gave was " who is my mother, or my brethren? And he looked round about on them which sat about him, and said,' Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister , and mother."
Here Jesus lays His emphasis on the family of God. He did not have to do that, but He did. And because He did, we should as well. Certainly that does not mean we neglect or ignore our family. We have been blessed with families and God works His covenant through the family. He calls individuals to serve Him and as families we are enabled to love Him more and more when the head of our families sets that example. In one sense this was a little bit of a rebuke to His family. In John 2, Mary also is told at the wedding, " woman , what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come."
The important thing is doing the will of God. In all of our lives, that should be first. It is easy to get this reversed and there are people that will help us do that unknowingly often. The world has its own ideas of what we should be doing. Our culture today allows us to have our religion , but that should not interfere with what others wish to do. The world rushes on and does not take the time necessary to listen to God. And we live in such a society that keeps saying that to be happy we must have more and do more that entertains us. Observing the Lord's Day is out of vogue for example. I was speaking to someone this week about how we have gone from bad to worse with Sunday observance.
The Scotsman, Eric Liddell was portrayed in a movie that was very popular several years ago, " Chariots of Fire". He ran in the 1924 olympics, but refused to run on Sunday because he wished to observe the Lord's Day. He still ran on Saturday and won a gold medal. People respected him for his strong committment to his faith. Later he became a missionary to China.
If we were to go thru the Bible itself we would find this a consistent theme throughout, " doing the will of God." It would be helpful for example to start with the "faith hall of fame', Hebrews 11. Noah was such an example 11:7. He " moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house." It was I imagine not easy at all to do this when others looked upon him as a crazy person. But " Noah was a just man ....and walked with God." Genesis 6:9
Some of us ask , " But how can I know God's will?" This is the best question we can ask and the fact that we are asking it all is wonderful. There are some things we cannot know. God has His plan which do not know. He has revealed to us how we are to live . Deut. 29:29 is a good verse about this, " The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law." ( Sometimes it is called the decretive - secret& preceptive-revealed will of God)
If you are struggling with the will of God now for your life, I would say, start with what you know. For example, we know we are to believe in God and His Son to have eternal life. Then we are to live so in this world that we may grow more and more like Jesus. Too many people are neglecting the revealed will of God because they are thinking that they want to know more. There are some things we will not know and never know. But God is not leading us astray if we acknowledge Him and let Him direct our paths. Proverbs 3:5-6
We could spend many hours talking about the will of God. Each of us despite our age have a living relationship with God that should be growing every day as we read the Scriptures, listen to the Word preached on the Lord's Day services, receive the Sacraments gratefully of Baptism & the Lord's Supper. My theology professor used to say a train does not run well off the tracks. So we are to run after God's instructions and directions, not necessarily someone else.
Jesus followed the will of God all the way to the Cross . And He said in those famous words in the Garden , " Not my will, but thine, be done." Luke 24:42 That is the way of true life and happiness.
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