Doing God’s Will
By David Phillips
Introduction. Our God is an awesome God. How often do we stop to consider the beauty of His creation, the power of His works, and the great love that He has shown us through all of these things? “Oh, give thanks to the Lord! Call upon His name; make known His deeds among the peoples!” (Ps. 105:1). But the question must come to mind, why does God do so much to care for our needs? He wants us to understand something from all that He does for us. Paul put it this way in his sermon in Acts 14:17-18, “Nevertheless He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good, gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.” The good that God does is a “witness” or a testimony to His existence and His power. God gives us such things so that we may know that He exists and that He provides for us. Therefore, Paul also said in another sermon in Act 17:27, that we should “seek the Lord, in the hope that (we) might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.”
The Need to Seek God. God wants us to find Him. He is not far from us. He is waiting for us; He is calling us through His gospel (2 Thess. 2:14). But what separated us from Him in the first place so that we should need to seek Him? Why do we not already have a relationship with Him? The answer, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). We need to find God because we departed from Him when we first sinned. We walked away from Him when we chose to disobey His word.
How? The question now is, how do we come back to Him? When we recognize His wonderful works in our lives, how do we go about seeking Him? If we departed from Him by NOT doing His will, it logically follows that we seek Him by striving to DO His will. But God does not leave us to rely on our own logic. He explains in no uncertain terms how we can come to know Him. “Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him” (1 John 2:3-5).
Sadly, there are many people in the religious world who do not agree with God on this point. Sometimes we want to have a good relationship with God, but without actually doing what He says. We forget that that mindset is what separated us from Him in the first place. If we want a right relationship with God, we must sincerely want to do His will. Therefore, Jesus says, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven” (Matt. 7:21). Jesus says it is not enough to simply call Him Lord. It is not enough to say we love Him, or to say we believe in Him. Rather, as He said in John 14:15, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.”
To Know His Will. We must know what the will of God is before we can obey it. That is what the Bible is for. “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16-17). Everything we ever need to know in order to please God is provided for us in the Scriptures. Through what God reveals in the Bible, we are able to “be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” What a relief. We do not need to sift through all of the man-made creeds and traditions. All we need to do is to simply go back to the Bible have that as our only source of authority and strive to do His will in all things. God is very good!
Introduction. Our God is an awesome God. How often do we stop to consider the beauty of His creation, the power of His works, and the great love that He has shown us through all of these things? “Oh, give thanks to the Lord! Call upon His name; make known His deeds among the peoples!” (Ps. 105:1). But the question must come to mind, why does God do so much to care for our needs? He wants us to understand something from all that He does for us. Paul put it this way in his sermon in Acts 14:17-18, “Nevertheless He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good, gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.” The good that God does is a “witness” or a testimony to His existence and His power. God gives us such things so that we may know that He exists and that He provides for us. Therefore, Paul also said in another sermon in Act 17:27, that we should “seek the Lord, in the hope that (we) might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.”
The Need to Seek God. God wants us to find Him. He is not far from us. He is waiting for us; He is calling us through His gospel (2 Thess. 2:14). But what separated us from Him in the first place so that we should need to seek Him? Why do we not already have a relationship with Him? The answer, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). We need to find God because we departed from Him when we first sinned. We walked away from Him when we chose to disobey His word.
How? The question now is, how do we come back to Him? When we recognize His wonderful works in our lives, how do we go about seeking Him? If we departed from Him by NOT doing His will, it logically follows that we seek Him by striving to DO His will. But God does not leave us to rely on our own logic. He explains in no uncertain terms how we can come to know Him. “Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him” (1 John 2:3-5).
Sadly, there are many people in the religious world who do not agree with God on this point. Sometimes we want to have a good relationship with God, but without actually doing what He says. We forget that that mindset is what separated us from Him in the first place. If we want a right relationship with God, we must sincerely want to do His will. Therefore, Jesus says, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven” (Matt. 7:21). Jesus says it is not enough to simply call Him Lord. It is not enough to say we love Him, or to say we believe in Him. Rather, as He said in John 14:15, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.”
To Know His Will. We must know what the will of God is before we can obey it. That is what the Bible is for. “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16-17). Everything we ever need to know in order to please God is provided for us in the Scriptures. Through what God reveals in the Bible, we are able to “be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” What a relief. We do not need to sift through all of the man-made creeds and traditions. All we need to do is to simply go back to the Bible have that as our only source of authority and strive to do His will in all things. God is very good!