1. there is a specific will of god that he desires you to walk in
Eph 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for
good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
Pslm 139:4 Even before there is a word on my tongue,
Behold, O LORD, You know it all.
Psalms 139:16 Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in Your book were all written
The days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them.
other arguments to make would be :
- prophecy is very specific and seems to require/presume the specific will
of god (consider the prophecy in matthew...bethlehem, egypt, nazareth,
the whole way through)
- scripture argues as a rule that god is in charge of all aspects of life (from
rom 9 to 'the kings heart is in the hand of the lord' [prov 19:1])
we frequently believe that there is a specific will but that god wants to 'hide' it from us.
there is no basis for believing that god hides his will from us or has any desire for us to not
know what he desires for us.
2. god's will doesn't include sin
(this is not a conversation about the perfect/allowed will; for those who care though,
we're dealing with perfect will here)
since one way we could define sin is 'that which is against the will of god', this would
seem easy...
micah 6:8 he has told you, o man, what is good; and what does the lord
require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly
with your god?
1 pet 1:14-16 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts
which were yours in your ignorance,
but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior;
because it is written, "YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY."
biblically, there are cases where foreknowledge of the will of
god is granted
sometimes we may know the future will of god; prophecy is recorded all
over the bible (though much of it isn't specific enough to know more than
general ideas or to recognize fulfillment)
an example of a case where there was specific foreknowledge about a situation
(sticking with paul as our subject) is acts 21:7-14 in which paul is told that
he will be bound by the jews and delivered to the gentiles in jerusalem.
acts 21:11 "the jews at jerusalem will bind the man who owns this
belt [paul] and deliver him into the hands fo the gentiles"
scripture is full of examples and exhortations that show a lack of knowledge
about the specific will of god in a situation.
1 cor 4:19 "i will come to you if the lord wills"
1 cor 16:7 "i hope to remain with you for some time, if the lord permits"
james 4:13-17 "Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will
go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and
engage in business and make a profit."
Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow.
You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and
then vanishes away.
Instead, you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will
live and also do this or that."
4. supernatural answers/confirmation are not guaranteed!
you might get lucky a la gideon...but don't count on it.
a. i know of no such promise that we will receive 'confirmation' of the
will of god (supernatural or otherwise)
b. i know of no such exhortation in the bible that says "seek confirmation"
c. there are many instances in scripture in which confirmation is given;
when it is granted however, there doesn't seem to be much question.
gideon is the odd case here in that he is uncertain twice; but it should
be noted that the confirmation he was unsure of was the one he requested...
note : the theology in which 'your spirit knows' does not have a biblical
precedent that i know of
this is the point at which i think most people will not readily agree; i
previously believed that god revealed his will to me in specific situations by
somehow letting me know internally. i made my decision to go to the college that
i did on this basis; and while there jonathan reibsamen asked me about this theology;
i spent a couple of days trying to find a biblical basis for the idea, then came back
to him and said that i couldn't defend it.
so - fundamentally, the problem with this idea is that it has no solid biblical
defense (that i am aware of).
carrying this further; we think of this idea, that god directly tells our 'soul' something,
as being very spiritual (much more so than not having this confirmation from god
to our spirits.) in reality, it is no more spiritual
than saying that god controls all outcomes; it is less 'interactive', but
it is not less 'spiritual'.
this is extrapolation...so beware...
- god has a specific will that he desires us to walk in; there is no reason for us to believe
that he hides his will from us, and the general assumption of scripture seems to be that
if we are not sinning we are in the will of god.
- if we are not violating commands of scripture yet god has a specific direction for us we
are not or will not take (due to a lack of information), god will provide the necessary information
i believe this is demonstrated clearly in scripture a number of times, most clearly in acts 16:6-10
(paul's macedonian vision); paul has been attempting to spread the gospel in asia minor...
- he attempts to access bithynia, but is prevented by the spirit of god (first provision of
knowledge concerning the specific will of god).
- he then receives a vision of the macedonian man, which he acts on (taking the gospel to europe)
(second provision of knowledge concerning the specific will of god).
1. pray about the issue
matt. 6:10 'your kingdom come. your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
phil 4:6 be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication
with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
2. ensure that the action isn't sinful
(this is a carrying out of point 2 in the 'know section' concerning the action)
- does the action conflict with the known will of god?
(see point 2 in the things to know section)
if the action is sinful, it's safe to say that god doesn't
want you to do it.
the goal here is to answer the question of 'why do i believe i should do this?"
- avoid negative motivation : does my motivation conflict with the known will of god?
(this is a carrying out of point 2 in the 'know section' concerning the intent)
if you are motivated by sin, at the least you need to fix your
motivation before you do it; if the goal of the action is sin
(sinful motivation), it's not what god wants.
two concerns in motivation :
a. can i do it in clean conscience?
rom 14:23 but he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because his
eating is not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin.
b. am i doing it out of sinful desire?
thought is as much an area where we can sin as deed...
e.g. matt 5:27 'everyone who looks on a woman to lust for her
has committed adultery with her already in his heart', etc...
what are the reasons you want to do this? do they accord with the known will of
god?
- if you have received direct revelation from god that this is his specific desire for
you (a la jonah "go to ninevah"), then you can consider that a satisfactory answer
to this question.
- if not...you need to look at why you desire the action
desire, that accords with what we know from the bible to be biblical
desire, can be followed.
- 'desire' must be analyzed for negative motivation...
desire is a broad term and can cover things from 'selfishness'
to a longing to see someone mature in christ.
- christian desire should match the desires of god
the christian should maintain desires that match what we
know the will of god to be and then act on these desires.
- desire may become specific; i long to see YOU to impart some spiritual
gift
the increase of specificity is not sinful if it is consistent
with god's desire.
rom 1:11 for I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual
gift to you, that you may be established;
phil 2:19 "but i hope in the lord jesus to send timothy to you shortly,
so that i also may be encouraged when i learn of your condition"
1 cor 16:12 "but concerning apollos our brother, i encouraged him
greatly to come to you with the bretheren; and it was not at all
his desire to come now, but he will come when he has opportunity."
this is an encouragement to avoid unnecessary guilt and worry.
we often doubt and worry about our decisions; i am arguing that our worry should be restricted to
the above 3 steps, and that if we have meet these criteria, then we shouldn't allow ourselves
to worry.
see matt 6:25-34 prohibiting worry (specifically about the future and provision though)
the other half of this is a principle pulled from biblical example
5. evaluate : is it effective?
jesus' instruction to the 12 when they go out...enter a city...and if you're not received, move on.
the instruction is to evaluate to see how effective the ministry is; if it is stay, if it isn't,
leave.
matt 10:14 "and whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that
house or that city, shake off the cust of your feet."
note : these examples center around corinth because that's what we studied recently...
a pair of visions (or 'seeing double')
segment one : the macedonian vision (acts 16:6-10)
- paul is in asia minor carrying the gospel
- the 'spirit of jesus' doesn't permit them to enter bithynia'
no, i don't know what 'the spirit of jesus did not permit them' means either.
but i would point out that at this point they are trying things and
either receiving difficulty/resistance in their efforts or direct
information not to do so...
- paul has a vision of a macedonian man asking for help, and he goes to macedonia
acts 16:10 and when he had seen the vision, immediately we
sought to go into macedonia, concluding that god had called
us to preach the gospel to them.
principles :
paul has been trying something...he's been going city to city in asia minor
it doesn't work/is blocked
he is given redirection as to where he should go
- paul travels to greece from macedonia
- he speaks in athens, but doesn't stay long (acts 17)
- he goes to corinth...and receives a vision from god confirming the ministry (acts 18:10)
acts 18:9-11 And the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, "Do not be afraid
any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent;
for I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you, for I have
many people in this city."
And he settled there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.
principles :
paul is going city to city without specific revelation about what city to go to -
note that his confirmation that corinth is a good place
to be doesn't happen until he had made the decsion... in other words, he made
the decision without direct knowledge.
the circumstances of 2 corinthians
- (at some point after the 1 cor...paul had told corinth that he wanted to go through
corinth to macedonia, then back through corinth on his way out. (2 cor 1:15,16)
- he didn't end up doing so; it seems that he did come through once, but was unwilling to do
so a second time because the first visit went so poorly (2 cor 1:23, 2:1)
- instead, he changed plans and sent a letter (2 cor 2:4 'out of much affliction and anguish
of heart i wrote to you with many tears') dealing with a sinner (most likely someone
who was strongly anti-paul) (2 cor 2:3-11)
- while titus was gone, he "had no rest for [his] spirit" (2:13); as a result, he leaves troas
for macedonia to hasten meeting titus.
- titus finally meets paul in macedonia with good news; corinth has repented and paul is comforted.
(2 cor 7:5-16)
principles :
- paul made plans based on biblical desires (2 cor 1:15 "i intended to...come to you,
that you might twice receive a blessing")
- paul had to change these plans based on other biblical desires (believing a letter might
cause less sorrow to them) (2 cor 2:1-4)
(note : paul worries that he shouldn't have written the letter; 2 cor 7:8)
- the correct result is achieved and things end well
2 cor 1:15-2:13