Justin Matthew Reid

Bible Teachings - What is God's Will?

Hello saints,

Recently I've been reading through the gospels in the Chronological Bible, assembled by Edward Reese. While I may not always agree with how he arranged the scriptures, I have been very blessed with having parallel passages nicely arranged together. This helps to pull out details from the Lord's teaching that otherwise may have been missed. What follows is a teaching, based on one such detail.

Love in Christ,
Justin

Matthew 12:50

For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.

Jesus says that whoever does the Father's will has a relationship with Jesus. They are a member of Jesus' family. That sounds very nice, indeed. It begs the question, "what is the Father's will?".

Straightaway it should be noticed that the Father is in heaven. He is not a man, living on this earth. His will is not concerned with the cares of this world, like paying the mortgage, going to work, watching a movie, going grocery shopping and so forth. The Father certainly cares about His children who ARE living in this world. We certainly are confronted with the 'cares of the world' on a daily basis. Jesus beautifully shows the proper way to combat the cares of the world: "seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matthew 6:33). Jesus showed the way to live a life on earth, when He came to earth. Total reliance on the Father. A heart that refuses to let cares of the world interfere with the peace that total reliance on God brings. That is the model Jesus gave us, and it is perfect.

Certainly God's will for us is going to be spiritual and not natural or earthly. Anything we do in the natural should have a spiritual motivation in doing it. So then, what is the Father's will?

Luke 8:21

And He answered and said unto them, My mother and my brethren are these which hear the Word of God, and do it.

If we compare these parallel passages, we see that God's will is equal with hearing the Word of God AND doing it. God's Word IS His will!

There is a big difference between God's Word and the words of men.

1 Timothy 4:3-4

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching (tickled) ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the Truth and shall be turned unto fables (myths).

The words of men are designed to tickle the ears. They stand in direct opposition to the Word of God. This is exactly what God meant when He said, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways" (Isaiah 55:8). He was speaking to backslidden Israel, who were walking after their own lusts via the words of their false prophets. Everyone needs a word to believe in and focus on. That's how God made us to be. The issue is that when the world does not want God's Word, they focus on the words of men. Like Israel, they say, "prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits" (Isaiah 30:10). The false prophets say, "peace and safety", wicked men believe them, "then sudden destruction comes upon them ... and they shall not escape" (1 Thessalonians 5:3). It has to be that way. As Paul says in Galatians 5:17, 'these (the ways of God and man) are contrary the one to the other'.

Psalm 119:89

For ever, O Lord, thy Word is settled in heaven.

Mark 13:31

Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.

God and His Word are not going anywhere. They are eternal. The words of men are for a very short time. We are in this wicked world and every day we are faced with a decision: "will I believe God's Word or the words of men?". This affects every area of our lives! In every moment, in every circumstance, our behavior can be guided by what God says or what man says. Let us beware of our own ideas and thoughts for those ARE the words of men. Are you a member of the human race? Then your thoughts are the words of men, if they are contrary to God's Word. We have to learn that we cannot trust our own thoughts and reasonings. Those are the very things that led us away from God and made us in need of Christ to begin with! Did those thoughts and reasonings suddenly become a good thing because we are now Christians? Hardly!

In the end, in that day, all things will be measured by the Word of God. God has given us His standard. He will most certainly judge us by the standard He gave us.

John 12:48-50

He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the Word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, He gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. And I know that His commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.

In that final day, Jesus says we will be judged by God's Word. Notice that the words of men are not mentioned anywhere. We will not be judged by our self justification. We will not be judged by the words of a pastor. We will be judged by THE Word of God and NONE OTHER!

Since this is the Truth, it becomes us to behave in a way that becomes the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If we relax, if we get lazy, we'll be the foolish virgins of Matthew 25:5 who slept while the bridegroom (Christ) tarried (delayed His coming). Right now we are living in the age where Christ is delaying His coming. Right now is the time to be wise. The only difference between the wise man who built his house upon the rock and the foolish one that built upon the sand is this: one heard the Word of God AND did it, while the other heard the Word of God, but esteemed the words of men higher and obeyed them. I'm quite certain we've all heard God's Word. What have we done with it? What ARE we doing with it, right now? Are we esteeming the words of men higher than the Word of God?

The Word says in 2 Peter 3:9 that the only thing delaying Christ's coming is God's will that no one should perish. If we are not living in a way that encourages the world to come to Christ, then we are living contrary to God's Word and will. If we are not actively reaching out to this dying world, then we are wasting the precious time God has given us to live on this earth. The world is comprised of selfish people. They aren't reaching out to the lost. If we aren't reaching out, then we would look suspiciously like the world, in this regard.

Please take this as encouragement! Whatever ministry God has given you, do it with all your might! Stretch yourself. Die to self. Purpose in your heart to go deeper and higher with God then you've ever dared before. That is the only true path. If the Lord hasn't yet given you a specific ministry, give Him no rest until He does! Seek His face and wait upon Him. He will fill you with good things. No one that waits on the Lord will ever be ashamed.

1 John 2:15-17

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

God's Word	The words of men
Sound doctrine	Unsound doctrine
Spoken in love	Spoken in lust
A sure foundation	A slippery slope
Life everlasting	Eternal death
Glorifies God	Glorifies men and Satan
Teaches us not to sin	Teaches us to sin against God
Truth	Lies
Restores, rebuilds	Destroys, steals
Eternal	Temporary
Peace	Torment
Genuine	Hypocritical
Freedom	Bondage
Pleases God	Pleases men and Satan
Justifies God	Justifies the actions of men, condemns God

September 27th, 2008