Intentional Will circumstantial will

Transcription

1 Erwin McManus says this. To live outside God s will puts us in danger; to live in his will makes us dangerous. By that standard, we are learning that Mary and Joseph may well be the most dangerous people in the world. They so bravely followed God s extreme will and their courage to do that changed the world. Last week, we gave some definition to God s will. We talked about the difference between intentional will, circumstantial will and ultimate will. Since following the will of God is the point of this month s messages on The Journey, I want to review those definitions. Maybe you can write this down if you didn t get it last week. The Intentional Will of God is God s ideal purpose for your life. It is Plan A the most direct route into the plan of God. The intentional will of God is what He made us for. The circumstantial will of God is like Plan B. It is how we get there after we ve gotten off track. The difference between the intentional will and the circumstantial will of God is like the difference between a taxi driver and a GPS system. You know how this is If you ask a taxi driver to get you there, an honest one will figure out the quickest way to get from point A to point B knowing the roads and traffic conditions. A GPS, on the other hand, will tell you one way to get there and it may even be the most direct way but it is not necessarily the best way. At least, not my GPS So the intentional will of God is God on the ground with you, navigating you directly into His will. And the circumstantial will of God is the Circle K cashier, getting you headed back in the right direction after your GPS has gotten you to the middle of nowhere. Does that make sense? God s circumstantial will is not the best choice under ideal circumstances, but it is the best choice under these circumstances. And I want to make sure you get that because getting the difference between God s intentional will and God s circumstantial will is pretty critical to understanding how God works. I notice that too often people assign things to God that are not 1

2 His fault. We too often let our circumstances like a bad GPS system choose our lot for us and then we blame it on God. Maybe God wanted it this way. Maybe God needed another angel in heaven, or God needed another war or another divorce. These things are not God s intentional will. God will work through these things. He can still make good come out of them. But God doesn t cause them. In fact, God always works consistently with His Word in the Bible, which teaches us what His ultimate will is. The ultimate will of God is His plan for the world for the long haul. God s intention from the very beginning was to be in fellowship with his people. When we fell short of God s intention separating ourselves from Him through our mistakes and problems and weaknesses God chose to work through those circumstances to bring a Messiah into the world whose life would reconcile us to God. Because nothing can stop God s ultimate will. And Joseph was part of God s ultimate will. Joseph was chosen by God long before he knew it to be an instrument of God s will. He was not the average guy. We know he was a direct descendant of David, living in Nazareth. He was a faithful Jew, skilled as a carpenter. There was a quiet dignity about him. He comes into the story over the span of just a few verses, but he shows us so much about following the will of God about being a man of God and about leading a family. I have to tell you his story changed me this week. In Joseph s life, I see some profound principles about following the will of God. First, he teaches us that following God s will begins with grace and holiness. Matthew 1:18-19 says -- This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. 2

3 Can you imagine that first conversation between Mary and Joseph and her telling him about the angel and about being pregnant? It must have felt to him like some kind of bad movie. He s hearing it but not possibly comprehending it. Hearing it and having to redefine everything including his feelings for the woman he loves. The story says Joseph was a righteous man, and this is where he proves it. In fact, this is where all righteousness is proven. It is proven not in what we say but in how we respond and especially in how we respond when all hell breaks loose. So Joseph looks at this moment, and he can t possibly know where it will end so he decides to start with the character of God. He begins with mercy. He says to this woman, I may not know everything there is to know about this situation, but I know you are worth more than a stoning. That is a righteous response. Two weeks ago, we talked about creating a culture of trust, and we talked about learning to bend. Do you remember? Love bends. We talked about that beautiful line in the Old Testament it s Isaiah talking about the Messiah, and describing his character and he says (Isaiah 42:3), A bruised reed he will not break nor snuff out a smoldering wick, but he will faithfully bring forth justice. I love that one phrase a bruised reed he will not break there is so much compassion in that image. Love bends. Joseph clearly got this, and he responded like Jesus would. And can you imagine what that must have felt like for Mary to hear that she is someone worth saving, worth standing by, worth going out on a ledge for? I am reading a wonderful book right now Tattoos on the Heart, by Gregory Boyle. Father Greg is a Jesuit priest who has worked for 25 years in the worst part of Los Angeles. In the middle of the gang capital of the world, he runs Homeboy Industries, a collection of businesses and services that give jobs, counseling and training to men and women ready to come out of the gang life. He tells some beautiful redemption stories in his book. One is about a woman named 3

4 Carmen who showed up in his office just a few minutes before he was supposed to be doing a baptism. He needs her to move on because he has this commitment but she sits down and begins to tell him her story that she s been through a ton of rehabs that she actually graduated from high school, but began using heroin right after graduation. And (she says) I have been trying to stop since the moment I began. Father Greg says she looked him as she said that, and the tears began to come and then she said, I am a disgrace. Boyle says in that moment, when that woman spoke that word, her shame met his because when she came in that door, he mistook her for an interruption when in fact, she was the plan. I am a disgrace. That s a lie of the enemy. It is the lie he tells to make us stop fighting for God s will in our lives. Dis-grace is the opposite of Jesus. And it is the very word Jesus came to heal. He came to heal that word of shame and to show us that even if we didn t get plan A, there is still time and room for plan B or C or D. It is never too late to get into the flow of God s will. That is exactly what makes Joseph a righteous man. Rather than seeing Mary s call as an interruption to his life plan and rather than choosing disgrace as a response he chose to gather it all up and move toward God and toward grace. And that choice changed the world. And this is the coolest part to me! You remember that Jesus is in the family line of David? That was important, because all the Jewish prophecies promised that God s messiah would come out of David s family. Because of Joseph, Jesus fit that requirement but of course, we know Jesus didn t have the DNA of Joseph. But listen! Joseph had the DNA of Jesus! And his response to Mary proves it. He had the kind of spiritual DNA that chose grace and that moved toward God. Following God s will begins with grace and holiness. And following God s will means knowing God s voice. Matthew 1:20-21 says -- But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, Joseph son of 4

5 David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. The point of this dream is to validate Mary s call, so Joseph can lead his family. But notice that for Joseph, it didn t begin with a vision. It began with a test of character. That is an important principle. Brad Hambrick is a Biblical counselor who used to work in our area. He has moved on to North Carolina to serve as a counselor in a church there. I keep up with him through his blog. He published an article last week that was particularly strong, I thought. He talks in it about gender roles and specifically about the character of leadership in a marriage. He says that too often, we start with the wrong question when it comes to what the Bible says about men, women and marriage. We all want to know who leads and who follows. But Brad says the Bible doesn t begin there. The Bible begins with character. As Brad puts it, the secret is character over function. Because no one wants to follow someone whose character is not trustworthy. He gives us some questions to ask before we ever ask the question about leadership. (these are good character questions you might want to write them down ) First, does my life display the fruit of the Spirit, listed in Galatians 5:22? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control am I pursuing these character traits as a way of pursuing God s intentional will for my life? Second, do I treat the people in my house with the same respect I treat the rest of the world? The Bible gives a huge amount of instruction on how we ought to treat one another. In fact, there are 59 one anothers in the New Testament like Be at peace with one other. Wash one another s feet. Love one another Be devoted to one another..." " Honor one another above yourselves." Live in harmony with one another Stop passing judgment on one another. Accept one another just as Christ accepted you." "If you 5

6 keep on biting and devouring one another you will be destroyed by one another. And the one I use in every marriage counseling session is: Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ." So much of what the Bible teaches us is about learning how to bless one another. This is the mark of character and unless we are concerned with character first then any conversation about who leads and who follows will only lead to frustration. This is what made Joseph righteous. When Mary saw an open door, he followed her through it. (Has it ever occurred to you that Joseph actually followed his wife into ministry?) And then, when it was his turn to lead, he stepped out confidently because he knew the voice of God and the Word of God and the character of God Following God s will means knowing God s character. Matthew 1:22-23 says -- All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel (which means God with us ). For people who have been wounded by dis-grace and shame, this can be the hardest part trusting God s character that he is steadfastly with us and will never leave us or forsake us. Father Greg, the guy who works in the LA gang-infested neighborhoods, talks about the challenge of getting people who have been pushed down their whole lives to trust in God s goodness. He talks about the challenge of getting people to move spiritually from the one false move God to the no matter whatness of God. As in God is with us, no matter what. I got the most beautiful and painful last week from someone who moved away a few years ago. She wrote to say just how much she misses the kind of transparency she found here at Mosaic. I want to read you just a little of what she wrote. She says, I don't have anyone here that I can just tell my story to, because everyone has a judgment or something to say. So many people tell me to give up (on my situation). But I don't think God would ever let me go. I 6

7 know I have probably caused Him a great deal of heartache, but after everything this past year has been for me, He is still there, loving me and holding me together. And she says this, I (have) turned back to God, because I knew that that was what any of you at Mo would have said. I knew you would have told me to put it in His hands. I did, and things are looking up. She ends with this: Having the ability to talk openly with people about my life, and not be judged, but understood and comforted, really gave me the stepping stones I needed to get out of whatever it was I was stuck in. I just wanted to write to you to tell you thank you. Thank you for loving me, and caring for me. Thank you for accepting me. You all taught me so much about life, and God, and myself that I never would have been able to see on my own. Isn t that beautiful? I am so thankful for a place where people are modeling grace and holiness, so that a young woman can trust God again. You know, we tend to become like the kind of God we believe in. We tend to respond to life like the God we believe in. So it is worth the time it takes to figure out who your God is. Do you believe in the one false move God? Or the no matter what God? The Bible teaches us that God is for us, and the prophet reminds us that it is written into the very name of Jesus. God wants to save us. God is with us. Following God s will means practicing trust in the no matter whatness of God. Matthew 1:24-25 says -- When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus. 7

8 When Joseph woke up, he did something that was so totally against what the culture would have recommended or expected of him. He followed God s will. That has to be just about the most profound decision an ordinary human being can make. Years and years ago, when Steve and I were part of a little country church, we had this one couple we visited with regularly, just to encourage them. I m not sure either of them was particularly literate. She was very sickly and financially, they were always right on the edge. But they loved each other. And one day we were over there visiting with them and she was looking pretty rough. She was not what you d call attractive any way, but that day she looked bad. Her hair was sticking out and up and her clothes were mismatched. I know she didn t feel well. But somewhere in the conversation, her husband looked over at her and you could see he was just overwhelmed with love. He even said that earlier that day, he d looked at her and he said, She just looked so pretty that I had to take her out for a ride. And there was Joseph a carpenter a simple man who trusted the no matter whatness of God who woke up one morning and in the light of God s glory and love, looked over at this remarkable woman and in spite of all odds had the grace and character to carry her into the will of God. What is your response to God s call? 8