Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. | 1 Thessalonians 4.1-2
Since this is election week, I wanted to write a series on what I have been reflecting on in this season. I have spent a bit of time in 1 Thessalonians 4 over the last few months, working through how God would have us live in this world that is at war with Him. As I wrote a few weeks ago, I believe that we have placed too much of our expectation in politics as the answer to our problems.
I had a conversation with someone at church this Sunday who said: the first step to getting over our obsession with politics is to stop talking about it. I agree, sort of. I also believe that the only way for us to give something up is to replace it with something better. The only way for us to stop placing our hope in this temporary world and in the power structures that rule over us is to remember where real power lies.
This is easier said than done. As Andrew said in the sermon this week: we preach the gospel every week, not only because we know that is the power by which God changes lives, but also, because we all need to hear it again and again to combat the onslaught of false messages that claim to be more powerful. It is easy to feel like doing good, serving others, and worshipping God is not doing much against the powers and principalities of this world. The gospel is the reminder to us that what we see is not the whole story. God is acting out a grand narrative of redemption, of which, we are a very small part. It is not our performance, or what is going on in the world around us that is of ultimate value. Our hope rests on the fact that the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross has unified us with God for eternity. Understanding this will help us to declare with Paul:
From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. | Galatians 6:17
The question that we all struggle with is: what does this actually look like? How can we live out the Christian life and please God? Our modern way of posing this question is: what is God’s will for my life?
The book, Just Do Something by Kevin DeYoung seeks to help answer that question (it is also one of the books I have given away more than any other). In it, DeYoung helps define the 3 ways in which the concept of God’s Will is used in Scripture: God’s Will of Desire, God’s Will of Decree, and God’s Will of Direction.
GOD’S WILL OF DESIRE (sometimes called revealed or moral will)
Simply put, God’s Will of Desire is everything perfectly reflecting the character of God. At times, God will reveal to us what this world looks like in perfection. This helps to reveal sin (where we miss the mark), gives us a better idea of who God is, and helps us look forward to heaven. It is also important to recognize that this world does not reflect the Creator perfectly. It is broken. We must operate with both an acknowledgement of din, but also an acceptance that God has allowed this world to function in this way.
GOD’S WILL OF DECREE (sometimes called the secret or sovereign will)
God’s Will of Decree refers to the fact that God is in control of all that happens in this world. We often refer to this as His sovereignty. Isaiah 55:10-11 tells us that God wills all that occurs and His will always accomplished what it sets out to do:
For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
God’s plan for this world is meant to reveal His glory and to share it with a people who will worship Him fully. In order to do this, God has allowed His Will of Desire to be suspended (or set aside). His plan of redemption is great enough that God willingly allows what is an attack on His goodness to accomplish a greater commitment (this article has a lot more to say about the struggle between these two ‘wills’).
We see the co-existence of these two clearly in the death of Jesus Christ. God does not delight in putting Jesus to death, yet He clearly decreed it:
this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men | Acts 2:23
I say all of this, not to overwhelm you with theological confusion, but to make it clear that when we are trying to make determinations about God’s will, it is easy to either assume that God is not truly in control OR that everything will go well for the people of God because that is what God wants (often stated: the existence of suffering in this world means that God is either not all-powerful or is not good). Another way to reconcile this is to acknowledge that His plan for this world is simply beyond us:
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts. | Isaiah 55:8–9
What embracing this does is allows you to let go of the futile idea that you can figure it all out. God’s secret, sovereign, decreed will is not something that any of us will be able to discern. This does not mean that it doesn’t matter what we do; my next post will focus on what God has clearly revealed as His will for our lives (God’s Will of Direction). What this should do is bring quite a bit of humility to the idea that any of us speak definitively for God in the things that He has chosen not to reveal to us. God has intentionally not given us all of the information; this forces us to continually rely on Him:
“The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law. | Deuteronomy 29:29
The best that we can do is obey what God has clearly stated as we walk with others trying to do the same. When those who walk with us don’t come to the same conclusions, it is an opportunity for us to humbly search the Scriptures and seek to understand our brothers and sisters. Whatever we think God is doing through this election or time in history, we can be sure that all those who He has called to Himself will be united for eternity. Let’s practice that now.