Stuart L. Brogden 9
Feb 2008
Every
child of God ought to know what his Father desires for him. I seem to find
three basic questions people ponder that leaves me with the impression that
many who claim Christ struggle with the very idea of determining Gods will for
their lives.
1.) How do you determine the will of God for
your life? First make sure you know
and obey the revealed will of God, those things He has made clear for each of
us. For example: 1 Thessalonians 4:3
7, 1 Thessalonians 5:16 22, and 1 Peter 2:13 17. His first priority for each of His children is to conform us to
His Son (Romans 8:28 30).
Beyond
God's revealed will, theologians categorize the will of God as providential
pleasing to Him because it aligns with His revealed will. How does one determine God's providential
will? First, study, know, and obey
God's revealed will, paying attention to principles found in Scripture on the
topic at hand. Secondly, ask the Lord
for wisdom for He loves to give such to His children, and He is wiser than
we. Thirdly, get godly counsel. Fourthly decide. If we live believing God's will for our mate, job, vacation, car,
or dinner is a unique choice that He has hidden from us, we will be
frustrated. Knowing His character and
living in humble obedience to Him as we study His revealed will will equip
us to make choices that please Him, as we exercise His providential will.
When
we make what seem to us as stupid choices we should review how we made the
decision. If we were aligned with the
Lord, we can be assured it was right and we now face decisions on how to
respond. If you marry the wrong
woman, know and obey God's revealed will for how to live with your wife.
2.) Can anyone have assurance of
salvation? Before having assurance of
salvation, a man should make sure he is redeemed. Scripture tells us we can know we are in Christ (1 John
5:13). and Scripture also tells us how to know: we keep His commands 1
John 2:3 6; love the brotherhood - 1 John 2:9 11, 1 John 3:10, and 1 John
5:1 3; love not worldly things - 1 John 2:15 17; believe in the Lord Jesus
- 1 John 5:10 12; confess Him as Savior - 1 John 4:13 15; love God 1 John
4:16; keep ourselves from wickedness - 1 John 5:18 21. We cannot do these things to be saved we
diagnose our spiritual condition by examining if and how we do them.
3.) Is every Christian supposed to
witness? Many people look to Ephesians
4:11 and think only those called to be an evangelist are required to witness,
to proclaim the gospel. What does
Scripture say? As we saw from 1 John
4:13 15, one mark of a Christian is that he testifies (V 14) and confesses (v
15) Christ to be the Son of God. To
testify means to bear record of, to give witness of; to confess, in this
context, means something said, a reasoned statement, an account or
communication, preaching. In John
10:22 25, Jesus told the Jews that His works bore witness of Him. Since we are the workmanship of Christ, we
ought to willingly be witnesses of Him.
We see Peter and John, in Acts 4, unable to keep from telling people of
Jesus, even in the face of threats from the government (Acts 4:19 20). We need to keep in mind that it's not our
job to convince people to save themselves which we can't do and neither can
they. Salvation is the work of the Holy
Spirit and since He abides in every Christian, He will do His work when we are
witnesses of Jesus. Every Christian can
do this work and every Christian should do this work. In the Great Commission, the Lord first tells us to Go and
teach all nations. The only
rational conclusion is that those to be taught must first be witnessed to and
redeemed before they can be taught. So
don't think this commission doesn't apply to you if you aren't a teacher. Finally, look to the reward we gain by being
faithful in this ministry Revelation 12:11 shows martyrs recognized by God
for their testimonies of Him. It's
always good for the Lord of Creation to approve your work even if it's as
simple as telling people about Jesus.
4.) A bonus question, as follow-up. What is the Gospel, beyond simply being
good news? Paul tells us (Romans
1:16) it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to
the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
In 1 Corinthians 1:17 18, we
see that the Gospel is about the cross: For Christ sent me not to baptize,
but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ
should be made of none effect. For the preaching of the cross is to them that
perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. Further in this passage, we see that it's
also foolishness and a stumbling block to men so no man can win a soul to
Christ by force of intellect or smooth speech.
We find in 1 Corinthians 15 what is perhaps the best summary of the
Gospel of Jesus: Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I
preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
By
which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless
ye have believed in vain. For I
delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ
died for our sins according to the scriptures;
And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according
to the scriptures: And that he was seen
of Cephas, then of the twelve: After
that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once.
The
Gospel declares that Christ died as prophesied and required by the law as
punishment for our sins. Man is wicked
and sinful and in desperate need of a savior Christ is the One. He was buried and raised from dead as
foretold in Scripture though man tried everything to obscure the Truth of the
resurrection. And Christ was seen by
hundreds of people who were still alive when Paul wrote this, meaning they
could have called him a liar to his face if the Gospel was false. Your personal testimony is good news, but
it's not the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it won't save anyone. Your walk of obedience is pleasing to the
Lord, but your lifestyle is not the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it won't save
anyone. Trust God when he says the
Gospel of Jesus is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believes.