Title: GOD’S WILL—OUR BIDDING
Focus: Doing God’s will is a disciple’s bidding or calling in life.
Function: To encourage the people to make it our food, our task, to do the will of our heavenly Father.
Text: Romans 12:1-2
Heidelberg Catechism, L.D. 49
There are many mixed feelings and muddled thoughts when it comes to the will of God.
I remember a discussion I once overheard in my previous congregation. A tragic house fire in the community nearby led to the death of 8 family members—a mother and 7 children. The community was shaken by the tragedy.
At that time I entered in a conversation, where a number of people were discussing among themselves whether it is right, or possible for us to say that it was God’s will that a family of 8 should perish in a house fire. The tragic deaths of this mother and her 7 children triggered deep feelings and reactions—many of which centered on the question, “where was God?” or “how can God allow such a thing to happen?”
In the discussion, no one suggested that it would be right or wise to say to family members that it was God’s will that such a tragedy should happen. Such presumptive insensitive comments will only stoke and increase the pain of loss—as some of us have experienced in such contexts.
The will of God, however, is a subject that should be of interest to all Jesus’ followers. In fact, the Lord Jesus has taught us to pray “[Heavenly Father] Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
Here Jesus teaches us that doing God’s will is a disciple’s calling in life. To be aware of God’s will and doing our heavenly Father’s bidding, is not an option for us; it’s our food, our task, our calling as followers of Jesus.
The Psalmist teaches us to “be still and know that the Lord is God.” In other words, there are times that we must rest in God’s mysterious ways and being. But in this third petition of the Lord’s Prayer, we learn that we must not be still, but be busy. For when Jesus teaches us to pray: “Your will be done,” the Lord Jesus is calling us to action. Jesus is calling us to obey the will of our heavenly Father. In this third petition, Jesus is NOT teaching us to be informed or have full knowledge of God’s will, but to actively submit, obey, carry out his will.
With this call to action, we must also take note of a caution: do not pretend or presume that we can know everything there is to know about God’s will. I say that because in order to obey God’s will, we must know God’s will. However, much of God’s will is like the sun. There is a part of the sun that is always hidden from us. So it is with God. God has revealed a part of his will for us; but much of his will is hidden.
There are many things in life that belong to “the hidden things of God.” These hidden things go back to God’s eternal decrees or council before the creation of the world. And these hidden things are not up for speculation or presumption on our part, but rather, they magnify God’s majesty and deepen his mystery and mysterious ways with us. God has revealed a part of his will for humanity. That part of God’s will is for us to do. The hidden part is for us to rest in.
Let me give you an example. A few years ago, we celebrated the 50th wedding anniversary of my parents. A couple of days before the celebration, one of my sisters showed me a photo album with all kinds of family pictures. One of those pictures was of my sister who was killed by a truck at the age of five.
Underneath the picture, my sister, Audrey, who prepared the photo album as a gift to my parents, had written: “Marja—Her life was too short.” I understood what my sister was doing: she was struggling to come to grips with the seemingly senseless death of a sibling—even 40 years after Marja’s sudden death. Such struggles are very normal for all of us.
But instead of wrestling with this death in a fighting mode, I asked my sister if it would be ok to change the wording to “Marja—Her life was so short.” I wanted to rest rather than fight; I wanted to lament, but at the same time entrust her death in God’s hand. And let it rest there.
Many things in life are beyond our
understanding, but all within God’s comprehensive will. God’s revealed will we
must do or obey; the hidden things of God call for a resting, a surrender of
trust that God knows best and remains in control. “Our Father in
heaven…your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
The Catechism provides us with some helpful insights as we pray this particular request. Listen: “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven means, Help us and all people to reject our own wills and to obey your will without any back talk. Your will alone is good. Help us one and all to carry out the work we are called to, as willingly and faithfully as the angels in heaven.” Take note of the following insights:
all people….” In this petition we acknowledge that we need help in doing the will of our heavenly Father. We don’t have the will power, or the stomach to do the Father’s will in our own strength. The third petition begins with a cry for help.
But be careful now. “Help!” suggests that I only need a little “push,” that there is some strength, some savvy, some fortitude in me to do the Father’s will. But that would be a serious mistake. The Scriptures teach us that we must learn to do God’s will in the strength of Christ. To do God’s will means that I must die to my own will, my own self, pride, and need for self-promotion. When we pray, “Your will be done,” we must surrender and sacrifice our own ambitions and interests, and seek to do the interest of God. That is only possible when we walk in the power of God’s Spirit. I am weak; the Spirit is strong; I have my own interest in mind; the Spirit searches the mind of God. We need help—the power of God’s Spirit—to do God’s bidding. The other insight from the Catechism is this:
wills. Why? Listen: “Help us and all people to reject our own wills and to obey your will without any back talk. Your will alone is good.” In other words, there is something wrong with our own wills. Sin stains our wills; selfish motives drive our wills; self-interest is the natural impulse of our wills. That’s why we must reject our own wills, says the Catechism. God’s will alone is good!
Rejecting our own wills calls for some understanding of our will’s most common strategy: back talk, sputtering, making objections, finding excuses, justifying different acts more palatable to our comfort zones and personal interest. Sin and its powerful effects within us have corrupted our wills to be unwilling to do God’s bidding; That’s why the third petition is really a cry for help to obey: “Help us and all people to reject our own wills and to obey your will without any back talk.” It is God’s will that we do his bidding, like the angels in heaven, or like God’s Son here on earth.
In Romans 12, the apostle Paul gives us some further insights as to God’s will and our response. I want to highlight three insights from the text:
bidding rests on our Father’s good will toward us: Paul says: “Therefore, I urge you…in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices…Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing, and perfect will. ”
Here we learn that to present ourselves as living sacrifices so that we may do his bidding, rests upon God’s mercy—a mercy that is found in the entire work of God’s Son. In the previous chapters Paul has explained Jesus’ role as sin bearer and Savior of the world.
In response to God’s mercy and salvation found in Jesus Christ, Paul now calls us to action—to do God’s bidding. Gratitude, then, is the motivation for doing God’s will; The Father’s good will toward us—his mercy as seen in Christ Jesus—is the basis for obeying God’s will. Doing God’s will, then, is not a chore, but a joy. It’s part of grateful living for the salvation we have in Christ Jesus.
bidding calls for at least three things on our part: a
total surrender of ourselves; a willingness to serve self-sacrificially; and
the renewal of our mind.
Listen again: “…I urge you…in view of God’s
mercy, to offer your bodies…Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this
world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able
to test and approve what God’s will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
Paul
mentions our bodies; he is asking us to surrender not just our spirit or
emotions or inclinations. Paul is calling for an obedience that involves every
fiber of our being—flesh and blood and spirit. Paul calls us to surrender our
all.
Listen
again: “…I urge you…in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as
living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God….” When our son, Elliot,
signed up for the Marines, I said to him: “Elliot, do you realize that when you
sign up for the Marines, you must be willing to shed your blood, to risk your life;
you must be willing to die?” He said, “Yes. I know.”
I think that God calls us to do his
bidding self-sacrificially: we must die to the power and attractions of sin; we
must die to the natural tendency to pursue our own self-interest; and we must die
to the lures and false promises of the world. Clearly, doing God’s bidding
calls for total surrender and self-sacrificial living, along with
transformation.
Yes, transformation or the renewing
of our minds is part of the equation. The Scriptures call us to see things
God’s way. The renewal of our mind involves repentance or a dying to sin, self,
and the world; it includes drawing upon Christ’s gifts of healing and
forgiveness or restoration; and it results in sanctification—in living a life
that reflects holiness, purity and the restorative power and presence of the
Holy Spirit at work in us. The renewal of our mind centers on reflecting the
mind of Christ Jesus in our world. Doing God’s bidding calls for becoming
Christ-like.
Total surrender of ourselves; a willingness to serve
self-sacrificially; and the renewal of our mind—these are needed to do our
Father’s bidding today.
3.
Doing our heavenly Father’s
will
calls for spiritual discernment—a testing and approving: “Do not conform any longer
to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is….”
Earlier, we noted a distinction
between the hidden and revealed will of God. Now we see it again: God calls us
to exercise (test and approve) spiritual discernment, so that we may have a
sense of God’s will for us today.
Much of life calls for spiritual
discernment. How do we know that God wants us to be a truck driver, a lawyer,
or a teacher? How do we know that college is for us? We test and approve God’s
will for us. How?
By prayerfully laying before God
ourselves, our gifts, talents, and abilities. By looking for and considering
opportunities—entering open doors and windows, as well as taking note of closed
doors and windows. By listening to what the Spirit of Christ tells our
spirit—the inner testimony of God. And by taking cues from others who encourage
us, who observe our gifts, and who nudge us on to pursue a certain pathway in
life.
Doing God’s will is our bidding, our
calling in life. Glory be to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.