Wisdom, Problem Solving, RMA, part 2; 1 Cor 16:5-11

Something that hits us on a day-to-day basis is the process of planning and decision making, and what happens when we make one plan and then circumstances don’t work out and we have to go to plan B or plan C. Paul gets that way on occasion but what is his process of decision making? Decisions today are based upon the application of God’s Word and the doctrine we have in our soul. If God wants you in a specific geographical location He is going to get you there one way or the other, even if you start off making the wrong choices.

1 Corinthians 16:10 ^NASB “Now if Timothy comes, see that he is with you without cause to be afraid, for he is doing the Lord’s work, as I also am.” In other words, treat him with respect. The Corinthians had a real problem with their pastors, and in their carnality they showed a tremendous disrespect for those who were communicating the Word of God and there is nothing worse than Christians who don’t show respect for pastors. [11] “So let no one despise him. But send him on his way in peace, so that he may come to me; for I expect him with the brethren [the others who were travelling with Paul]. [12] But concerning Apollos our brother, I encouraged him greatly to come to you with the brethren; and it was not at all {his} desire to come now, but he will come when he has opportunity.” Paul thinks this is a good idea for Apollos to come over there now and to follow up on this problem. The Corinthians knew him, Apollos had been their pastor for a while, and so Paul thinks this is a great idea. But Apollos doesn’t! Paul recognizes that Apollos legitimately and validly makes a decision based on wisdom. Apollos was saying that he had an effective ministry in Ephesus right now and that it was not a good time for him to leave and go to Corinth. He was obviously involved in a ministry that he couldn’t pull himself out of and didn’t think it wise to make that move. So what is underneath all of this is the use of wisdom and the doctrine in a person’s soul to make decisions, as opposed to this model that “I need to pray about every decision and seeks God’s perfect will.” This is not say God doesn’t, He may not have a specific choice, A, B or C in every decision. Sometime He moves circumstances providentially to make it clear to us where we should go.

The doctrine of the will of God

1) The term “will of God” relates to three aspects of divine volition in relation to His creation. First we have God’s sovereign volition with regard to His creation. This is where He brings to pass what he wills and what He has decreed. This is God’s plan and purpose for history, we don’t know what it is. God’s sovereign will includes His permissive will; he allows for His creatures to make sinful choices and bad decisions. He allowed Adam to disobey Him in the garden. Secondly, there is His moral will, sometimes called His revealed will. His revealed will was: “Thou shalt not eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” His sovereign will was that he allowed Adam to eat of the tree. So His moral will is not identical with His sovereign will. The third category of His will is His overriding will. In His overriding will God allows us to make decisions, we disobey Him, but in His grace He overrides the consequences of those wrong decisions.

2) Key verses: Daniel 4:35 ^NASB “All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, But He does according to His will in the host of heaven And {among} the inhabitants of earth; And no one can ward off His hand Or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’” This refers to God’s sovereign will. Proverbs 21:1 ^NASB “The king’s heart is {like} channels of water in the hand of the LORD; He turns it wherever He wishes.” This is God’s overriding will. He allows us to make certain decisions in His permissive will, but ultimately God is going to bring about that which he has chosen. Revelation 4:1 ^NASB “After these things I looked, and behold, a door {standing} open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like {the sound} of a trumpet speaking with me, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things’.” The voice was that of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is sovereign will, you don’t have a choice. Ephesians 1:5 ^NASB “He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will.” This is God’s sovereign will. Proverbs 16:33 ^NASB “The lot is cast into the lap, But its every decision is from the LORD.” This is referring to a form of decision making that was valid in the Old Testament but not in the New Testament. Romans 9:19 ^NASB “You will say to me then, ‘Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?’” The implication there is the fact that when God has a sovereign plan we can’t resist that sovereign plan. But that still allows for our volition.

3) The specifics of God’s decreed will (His sovereign will) are secret, unrevealed and unknown. We don’t know what His sovereign will is until it happens; we don’t know what he is working in history until it comes to pass. When we look at human history after it has transpired, then we see what God’s sovereign will was.

4) Therefore we can only know the specifics of God’s revealed or moral will. When Paul wanted to go into Asia God revealed to him that he wasn’t to go there. It wasn’t immoral, it wasn’t a violation of a divine command, but he wasn’t to go there. Romans 2:18 ^NASB “and know {His} will and approve the things that are essential, being instructed out of the Law.” How we know what to approve and what to reject is based on what is revealed in His Word. Other things we know that God has revealed to us, for example 1 Thessalonians 5:18 ^NASB “in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” Another example of a clear statement of God’s will for every believer is 1 Thessalonians 4:3 ^NASB “For this is the will of God, your sanctification; {that is,} that you abstain from sexual immorality.” 2 Corinthians 6:14 ^NASB “Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?”

5) Therefore God’s sovereign will includes His moral will, but His moral will—Thou shalt, or Thou shalt not—is not always His sovereign will.

6) Usually we start getting concerned about the will of God when we have some sort of momentous decision to make. Too late! We don’t have the doctrine in the soul we need to make the decision. By the time we get to that crunch point we need to have a lot of doctrine in the soul, so the real issue begins with that day-to-day decision to take in the Word of God and making knowing the Word of God the priority in our life, because that is the will of God. God’s will is for us to have the mind of Christ in the soul.

7) If a person is to do everything to the glory of God then that means even the most minute decisions demand some level of attention.

8) As we can only know the specifics of God’s revealed or moral will before the fact questions about the will of God relate only to revealed information. What is God’s will for my life? Well, we have to start with revealed information. God is not speaking to us anymore in terms of giving specific revelation, so what we have to focus on is knowing what God has said. There is a tremendous amount of what God has said in Scripture. God guides and directs. Proverbs 3:5, 6 ^NASB “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.” He makes our paths straight. That means that if our attitude is God first, doctrine first, that is my priority, then even when we make the wrong decision God straightens out our path. Paul was stubborn in his decision to go to Jerusalem instead of to Rome. What happened? God has to work out the circumstances so Paul gets arrested and taken to Rome in chains. God straightened out his path and got him there. In other words, even if you make the wrong decision God is going to get you in the right place. If you are stubborn, then it may take a little longer and God may drag you there in chains, so to speak. But God will make your paths straight.