Finding God's Will - 1
Sermon Series 1 of 3
August 29, 2004
Matthew 7:7
13th Sunday after Pentecost
Galena-Warwick United Methodist Charge
Warwick & Galena, Maryland
Rev. Dr. Lawrence D. Jameson
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Matthew 7.7 (NRSV)
Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will
find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For
everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds,
and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.
How do you find out what God wants?
Christians often talk about
"being in the center of God's will".
How do you get there? How do you find that center?
How do you know for sure that
something you feel "led" to do
really is God's will?
The Lord's prayer says,
"thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven".
How can Christians learn God's will
for things such as:
what is right and what is wrong,
who to marry,
where to work,
what school to go to,
which house to buy,
which church to attend,
should you join the PTA,
should you go to dinner with the Johnsons?
This is part one of three sermons on finding God's will.
This morning I want to teach on topics:
1) free will
2) How not to find God's will
1) free will
We have free will!
This is an idea that United Methodists
has embraced.
We put the doctrine of free will
into our Book of Discipline as an article of our religion.
(2000 Book of Discipline, pages 61 & 68)
Q: What is free will?
A: It is our God given ability to make choices. That’s it.
The fact that we can make choices,
is a magnificent and beautiful thing.
Free will is evidence that God loves us.
How much free will do we have?
Our free will has limits.
There are boundaries.
For instance, you can't choose to become a bird
or give yourself super powers.
You can't decide to stop the sun or the stars from shining.
We are frail human beings. We are not God.
So our free will is limited.
But there are a lot of things we can do.
Over our lifetimes, we get to make millions of decisions,
some are big, and some are small.
The Christian faith teaches us
that God wants to guide us
and help us to make good decisions.
He knows everything. He is wise and loving.
He knows what is best for us.
That’s why the Bible
urges us to seek God’s will.
God designed us to make choices
because robots can't love.
The people who are most truly free
are Christians,
because we have been set free
from slavery to sin.
We choose to praise God
from the heart and worship only him.
We realize that God always knows best,
and so we seek to know
his will for us
in little things, and in big things.
The Bible teaches us that
God wants us to be decision makers.
He wants us to use the brains and intuition he gave us.
Here is an example.
Let’s say you have one daughter and one son.
You want them to grow up
and become strong, healthy, and wise.
You want them to develop the ability
to look at any situation
evaluate their options
and make up their own minds about what is best.
No parent could ever write a rule book
to cover all the possible experiences
that their little girl and little boy will ever have.
We want them to grow up
and become a man and a woman of character.
That’s exactly what God wants for us!
Before we begin to discuss
how to find God's will,
it is important to understand
why we are seeking it in the first place.
God wants us to seek for his will
because he wants us
to be constantly seeking for him.
Yes, God does wants our obedience,
but even more than that
he wants us to become mature, sensitive, and wise.
He also wants our attention, our commitment, our love.
God wants us!
He wants us to be in right relationship with him.
God's will is not
some cold universal principal of right and wrong.
God’s will is alive
because God is alive.
Here is something I want you to get,
so listen closely here.
You cannot find God's will
without finding God himself.
Seeking to know God's will
is seeking to know God.
2) How not to find God's will
Rookie mistake #1
DON'T DO WHAT GIDEON DID.
Don't put the Lord to a test.
The Lord spoke clearly and directly to Gideon
and told him to become a military leader.
Gideon didn't believe the Lord,
and so he decided to test God
by laying out a fleece of wool on the ground.
Gideon said,
"In order to see whether you will deliver Israel by my
hand, as you have said, I am going to lay a fleece of wool on
the threshing floor; if there is dew on the fleece alone, and
it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will
deliver Israel by my hand, as you have said."
Judges 6.36-37 (NRSV)
This was a really dumb test,
but Gideon was not the brightest guy in Israel.
He tested God twice.
The first time, the fleece was wet
and the ground was dry.
The second time, the fleece was dry
and the ground was wet.
God was merciful and kind to Gideon.
God permitted the test,
even though Hebrew scripture forbids testing God.
(Exodus 17.2, Deuteronomy 6.16, Isaiah 7.12, Matthew 4.7)
God chose Gideon not because he was smart,
or powerful, or full of faith.
Just the opposite!
God chose Gideon
because he was uneducated, weak, and timid.
What Gideon did with the fleece was wrong,
but many Christians think
that "putting out a fleece"
is a good thing.
It isn't.
It is wacky to think
you can determine the Lord's will
by setting up a situation that forces the Lord's hand.
An example is:
"Lord, I want to know if I should go to
Wesley College or University of Delaware.
So here is what I will do.
Which ever college sends me a letter first,
that will be your sign
that I am supposed to go to that college."
Now this might sound like
a really spiritual test,
but there are some problems here.
First - Picking the right college
is exactly the kind of thing
God wants you to learn how to do for yourself!
You are a child of the king!
You have free will,
and a brain that can weigh
the pros and cons of both choices.
Part of growing up
means that you learn how to make choices.
Second - Who are we to force God to answer our questions?
That is essentially what
"putting out a fleece" is.
It shows no respect for God.
It actually shows enormous disrespect!
When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness,
the devil suggested that
Jesus throw himself off the pinnacle of the temple.
(2nd temptation)
The idea was, that if Jesus did jump
God would send angels to protect him (Psalm 91.11-12)
and then everyone would see
that Jesus was the Messiah.
It was a pretty clever plan.
Basically, it would have
forced God to reveal who Jesus was
before the crucifixion
and therefore short circuit his plan
for Jesus to die on the cross.
But Jesus didn't fall for that temptation.
He said,
"It is written, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"
(Matthew 4.7 NRSV)
"Putting out a fleece" is wrong.
It shows disrespect for God,
and the Bible tells us not to do it.
There are much better ways to find God's will.
Rookie mistake #2
DON'T PLAY BIBLE LOTTERY
I have met a lot of people who when faced with a
decision will play what I call "Bible Lottery".
That is when you fan through a Bible,
and randomly stick your finger on a verse,
hoping that God will give you
an exact answer for your question in that verse.
It's a funny thing,
but sometimes this works!
Sometimes, (just as God was merciful to silly Gideon)
God can be merciful to you and give you exactly the right
answer to your question in this way.
But that is rare!
God doesn't want you
to only read the Bible when
you have problems.
He wants you to systematically
read the Bible
a little bit every day,
and fill your mind with his Word
on a regular basis.
Then, when you are faced with a troublesome decision
you will already have
a heart and mind
that has been steeped in Biblical principles.
That is
what God wants for you most of all!
So, don't play Bible Lottery. It is silly.
Bible Lottery is not for grown up Christians.
I heard about a man
who was struggling with the question of who
he should marry.
He picked up a Bible,
and randomly plunked his finger down on
1 Kings 11.3 which says:
“Solomon ... had seven hundred wives...
and three hundred concubines...”
Then I hear about another guy
who needed to make a decision.
He opened the Bible at random
and put his finger on Matthew 27:5
which said
“Judas went and hanged himself”.
The man said, “that’s definitely not God’s will for me.”
So he closed his eyes and opened the Bible again,
and put his finger on a verse and read Luke 10:37
which said “Go and do likewise”.
He said out loud, “this was not God’s will for me!
So I’ll try one more time.”
So he closed his eyes
and his finger pointed to John 13:28
"What you are about to do, do quickly,"
Bible Lottery is dumb.
That is no way to make important decisions.
Rookie Mistake #3
DON'T LOOK FOR GOD'S WILL IN THE OCCULT
Some people think that it is cool to
visit a psychic,
or a palm reader,
or an astrologer,
or to use a ouiji board,
or to play with Tarot cards.
Those are all activities which are forbidden
for Christians.
How do we know about that?
The Bible says so clearly.
In Leviticus 19:26 the Bible says:
Do not practice divination or sorcery.
In Leviticus 19:31 the Bible says:
Do not go for advice to people who consult the
spirits of the dead.
In Deuteronomy 18:10 the Bible says:
Let no-one be found among you who...
practices divination or sorcery,
interprets omens, engages in witchcraft,
or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist
or who consults the dead.
Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord.
In Chronicles 10:13 the Bible says:
Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord;
he did not keep the word of the Lord, and even
consulted a medium for guidance and did not enquire
of the Lord. So the Lord put him to death.
It should be obvious
that you cannot find "God's will"
by breaking his law.
I have a lot to share with you
about the topic of finding God's will.
Next Sunday I want to talk about
1 practical steps to finding God's will
2 being careful how we talk about God's will
Remember what Jesus said:
"Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will
find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For
everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds,
and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened."
God is just waiting for you to seek his will
because he wants to share
his will, his love, and himself with you.
PRAYER
Lord, I believe you have a plan for my life.
And if you have a plan, you also have a way to guide me.
Thank you for the Bible which teaches me right and wrong.
Thank you for the way my mind and character grows.
You designed me to make choices, so help me make good ones!
I thank you in advance for guidance, wisdom, and light.
In the name of Jesus Christ I pray. Amen.