More on Discerning the Will of God

Ditto to Jim's post below.

I would add one more resource to those Jim listed - Piper's sermon on Romans 12:1-2 called "What is the Will of God and How Do We Know It?". He takes a good deal of time in explaining the difference between God's sovereign will and God's will of command. He then closes with these three stages of seeking to discern God's will in a matter:

Stage One

First, God’s will of command is revealed with final, decisive authority only in the Bible. And we need the renewed mind to understand and embrace what God commands in the Scripture. Without the renewed mind, we will distort the Scriptures to avoid their radical commands for self-denial, and love, and purity, and supreme satisfaction in Christ alone. God’s authoritative will of command is found only in the Bible. Paul says that the Scriptures are inspired and make the Christian “competent, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16). Not just some good works. “Every good work.” Oh, what energy and time and devotion Christians should spend meditating on the written Word of God.

Stage Two

The second stage of God’s will of command is our application of the biblical truth to new situations that may or may not be explicitly addressed in the Bible. The Bible does not tell you which person to marry, or which car to drive, or whether to own a home, where you take your vacation, what cell-phone plan to buy, or which brand of orange juice to drink. Or a thousand other choices you must make.

What is necessary is that we have a renewed mind, that is so shaped and so governed by the revealed will of God in the Bible, that we see and assess all relevant factors with the mind of Christ, and discern what God is calling us to do. This is very different from constantly trying to hear God’s voice saying do this and do that. People who try to lead their lives by hearing voices are not in sync with Romans 12:2.

There is a world of difference between praying and laboring for a renewed mind that discerns how to apply God’s Word, on the one hand, and the habit of asking God to give you new revelation of what to do, on the other hand. Divination does not require transformation. God’s aim is a new mind, a new way of thinking and judging, not just new information. His aim is that we be transformed, sanctified, freed by the truth of his revealed Word (John 8:32; 17:17). So the second stage of God’s will of command is the discerning application of the Scriptures to new situations in life by means of a renewed mind.

Stage Three

Finally, the third stage of God’s will of command is the vast majority of living where there is no conscious reflection before we act. I venture to say that a good 95% of your behavior you do not premeditate. That is, most of your thoughts, attitudes, and actions are spontaneous. They are just spillover from what’s inside. Jesus said, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak” (Matthew 12:34-36).

Why do I call this part of God’s will of command? For one reason. Because God commands things like: Don’t be angry. Don’t be prideful. Don’t covet. Don’t be anxious. Don’t be jealous. Don’t envy. And none of those actions are premeditated. Anger, pride, covetousness, anxiety, jealousy, envy—they all just rise up out of the heart with no conscious reflection or intention. And we are guilty because of them. They break the commandment of God.

Is it not plain therefore that there is one great task of the Christian life: Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. We need new hearts and new minds. Make the tree good and the fruit will be good (Matthew 12:33). That’s the great challenge. That is what God calls you to. You can’t do it on your own. You need Christ, who died for your sins. And you need the Holy Spirit to lead you into Christ-exalting truth and work in you truth-embracing humility.Give yourself to this. Immerse yourself in the written Word of God; saturate your mind with it. And pray that the Spirit of Christ would make you so new that the spillover would be good, acceptable, and perfect—the will of God. "

Justin N.

PS - At our next meeting, we're going to start with a period of prayer for each other before we even eat. I don't want prayer to be neglected in our meetings! The meeting today was a joy and to know that you guys are out laboring for the gospel of Christ is a great encouragement.

Don't Get Me Wrong...

There is room in my daily life and decisions for inward senses from God. But sometimes I fear I might confuse a "divine nudge" and what I ate for lunch. Plus, there doesn't seem to be much evidence in Scripture for the "divine nudge" approach. When God spoke to people, it was with an audible voice, or an angel, or bright lights.

So, while I am cautious about my fallen mind and logic, I am also cautious about my experiences and feelings.

I'm not saying that God doesn't speak in those ways (I kinda felt like that's what I left y'all with today). I'm just saying it doesn't appear to be the usual way in which God worked in Scripture.

Here are a few resources that have shaped my ideas concerning this issue:
Hearing God's Voice by Greg Koukl
Divine Direction and Decision Making in the Book of Acts by Greg Koukl
Making the Hard Decisions Easy by John MacArthur (long, but very good)
What is the Will of God for My Life? by John MacArthur (very short)
How Can I Make Decisions So That God Will Be Pleased With My Life? by John MacArthur
Why the Gift of Prophecy is not the Usual Way of Knowing God's Will by John Piper

I hope some of these help you understand my perspective. I really enjoyed our lunch and look forward to more in the future.

Jim

Commentaries

Hey Guys, great to hang out with you for lunch today.
I was asked to compile a resource for those seeking the best commentaries on each book of the Bible. I thought you may also benefit from my findings:

Building a Good Commentary Library

Justin Childers

Prayer

I just wanted to say that I have prayed for each of you this morning. I pray that God will be glorified in your churches in everything. Please pray for me as well. May God circle around this area of North Carolina through the faithful preaching and teaching of His word.

Randy

Baptism

Well, I thought I would get us started on another issue. At what age should we baptize? Let me first of all say that I am not talking about infant baptism. I believe in Believer Baptism. However, what I am asking is, "At what age should we draw a line at being baptized?" I have heard Dever's explanation of this, and honestly I think the conclusion is wrong. However, I do understand his argument and think there is validity there. I am sure you know the argument as well that in the NT there was often time immediate baptism. Let me say that I think there was baptism after being convinced that the person was truly a believer (grace was not quite as cheap as it is today). So, I leave you with this question. Is there a minimum age limit for baptism? And if so, what is your opinion of what it is?

Randy

True and False Faith When Praying for a Miracle

It's a little before 6 AM; Crystal and I will be heading for the hospital in less than an hour. We did quite a bit of tossing and turning last night, and I doubt Crystal got much sleep at all.

Once the baby is born, it seems that our first concern will be to assess whether he has enough lung tissue for even a chance at survival. According to the last study Crystal read, other babies in similar situations survive only around 10% of the time, and only with great obstacles to normal living. But of course, our faith is in God, for whom healing this child in an instant would be a very easy thing.

Which raises an issue that has been eating at us for several weeks, and about which God mercifully brought us a word of truth last night. So many well-meaning people have come to us, telling us that our baby would be just fine if we would only "just believe". That is, if we go into this hospital with the confidence that God is going to heal him, he will be healed. Again, while these people meant well, I don't think they realize how misinformed (and sometimes hurtful) those words can be.

I say "misinformed" because the Bible doesn't teach us to have confidence that God will do something unless He has actually revealed that He will do it. God tenderly reminded us of this last night, when Crystal and I had the opportunity to hear Stu Johnston preach at Grace Reformed Baptist in Mebane. He spoke from 1 Samuel 14, where Jonathan urges his armor-bearer to accompany him in taking on an entire Philistine garrison by themselves. Jonathan is absolutely convinced that God can give them victory. However, he recognizes that God has not promised him this, and therefore says, "Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised. It may be that the LORD will work for us." In other words, Jonathan didn't just say "Let's believe God will give us victory and it will be ours!", but "God may give us victory, if He chooses; therefore, let's proceed with faith in Him."

Crystal and I believe that God has the right to do with our child whatever He wills. Could He heal him? Of course - and oh how we've prayed for that! But will He? That is something He has not revealed to us. Therefore, we go to the hospital not demanding that God do our will, but preparing ourselves to submit to His - whatever that may be.

Job 12:10 says "In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind." He is the Potter, we are the clay. He works all for His own purposes. Ultimately, we must pray that Christ will be glorified, for God's Son is more important than ours.

I love you all.

Justin N.

Thanks for Your Prayers

Hey guys - I just wanted to thank you again for all your prayers for my family. I'll try and post as soon as possible to let you know how everything turned out. In the meantime, I wanted to share with you a post my wife put on her blog when we first received the bad news about our child back in early November. Her faith in Christ has been an incredible blessing to me:

"David Elisha seems to be an active, tiny, little fellow right now, but he is very special. You see, he most likely won't be with us very long. He has a whole list of things that will be problems for him--possibly before he is born, but certainly after. These only begin with a Dandy Walker cyst on his brain which is causing hydrocephalus and other problems, a diaphragmatic hernia which has caused many of his organs to move to places they are not supposed to be, and a pretty serious heart defect.

We were somewhat surprised to learn all of these things a few weeks ago, but you know what--God wasn't. When it comes to Him, we can confidently say...

For you formed my inward parts;

you knitted me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Wonderful are your works;

my soul knows it very well.

My frame was not hidden from you,

when I was being made in secret,

intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw my unformed substance;

in your book were written, every one of them,

the days that were formed for me,

when as yet there were none of them.

--Psalm 139:13-16

...even little David.

Please, don't pity us. Only pray with us that God will give us increased faith and strengthen us physically. But pray most of all that David's life will somehow touch hearts and open the eyes of others to show them the grace and mercy of God that they may soon rest in the faith that we know."

What a wife! And what a testimony. Whatever happens on Monday, our desire is that God be glorified. May He accomplish His purpose; we will hold our peace and be satisfied.

Justin N.

http://crystaln.blogspot.com/2006_11_01_archive.html

Great Blog for Preachers

I've been enjoying this blog for preachers:

unashamedworkman.wordpress.com

Justin Childers

Getting the Ball Rolling

Hello everyone. I thought I'd get us started by posing a question: How can we as Christians best witness to those around us who truly believe they are saved though their lives state otherwise?

Sadly, I fear that our churches are filled with people who's highest allegiance is not to Christ, but to their own pursuits and desires. They seek happiness in television or golf or work and do not know the joy of serving the king. Even in the American south, true lovers of Christ are hard to be found.

Many of these people find comfort in knowing that their names are on the membership roll of some church somewhere. Many attend church (at least on Sunday mornings), but only out of a sense of duty (being good to God so He'll be good to them). They do not hunger and thirst for God's Word or genuinely submit their lives to His will.

So how do we sound the alarm for those who believe they are safe? Should we be careful not to offend (fearing they'll turn further away from us), or should we in fact be bold and blunt about their soul's condition? (After all, isn't the gospel by nature offensive?)

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Justin Nale

PS. Thanks to Allen, Chad, Randy, and Justin for delivering God's Word during our conference this past week. Jim and Mike - I hope you'll be willing to preach for us sometime in the future.