Sermon Tone Analysis

“You shall be careful … to do as the Lord your God has commanded you.

You shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.

You shall walk in all the way that the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live, and that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land that you shall possess.”

“The Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are this day.

And it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us.”[1]

The Master has established a standard for all who are called by His Name.

This standard may be stated in Christ’s words, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” [*John 14:15*].

One must wonder whether many among the churches are prepared to apply this biblical standard to life.

We say we love God because we give him a few moments of our busy lives—singing repetitious songs in a desultory fashion, enduring a brief lecture about some pious issue or another and reciting prayers that we have committed to memory.

Or we say we love God because we fling a hurried request for a non-specific blessing on the food we eat (provided we are not too embarrassed by the presence of strangers).

However, the Word of God makes it very clear that the love of a believer is gauged by obedience to the will of the Lord!

The message is a call for all who call themselves by the Name of the Son of God to ensure their obedience to Him.

If we are disobedient, we must prepare ourselves for divine discipline or acknowledge that we have never known Him.

It is high time that we divested ourselves of every excuse and again sought the will of the Master expressed through our lives.

*The Will of God* — People, especially immature Christians, spend an inordinate amount of time worrying about the will of the Lord.

Young men and women are often perplexed, asking what the will of God is for their lives, or asking whom the Lord would will them to marry.

Let me make a few general observations about the will of God.

First, God does have a will.

There are not multiple wills (a separate will for each of us) as some imagine, but the will of the Lord is revealed clearly in His Word.

Let me say in the broadest sense that we focus so much on the aspect of finding God’s specific will as if our lives were fully plotted for us—as if should we fail to discover the secret will of God we will have to settle for God’s second best.

Such thinking ignores the evidence of the Word.

We are saved so that we might be free.

This truth becomes evident when we remember the glorious dictum, “For freedom Christ has set us free” [*Galatians 5:1*].

If we are free, then, we should not permit ourselves to become enslaved to rules and regulations created by mere mortals.

Neither should we be enslaved to the expectations either of other believers or of outsiders.

Assuredly, we must not permit ourselves to be enslaved to our own passions.

Certainly, we do not wish to be provocative toward outsiders or to deliberately injure the spirit of those who are weaker in the Faith; nevertheless, we were called to freedom [see *Galatians 5:13*].

This freedom is not freedom to do as we wish; rather, it is freedom to lovingly serve one another.

Having emphasised the freedom we are to enjoy, we must not imagine that God maps out each step of our life.

For instance, you are free to marry whom you will, so long as the marriage is in the Lord [see *1 Corinthians 7:39*; *2 Corinthians 6:14*].

As a Christian, you are not free to marry outside the Faith; if you do so, you may anticipate trouble.

You are free to pursue any occupation or profession that you desire, bearing in mind that “whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men” [*Colossians 3:23*; see also *Colossians 3:17* and *1 Corinthians 10:31*].

You may live where you will, though I caution that you should avoid living in Sodom, unless you were sent there by the Lord to warn the inhabitants—even then, move with fear and trembling.

You have been given freedom, and God does not narrowly restrict your steps.

Having said this, I return to the point that God’s will is revealed in the Word.

Because we call Jesus our Master, we are responsible to treat Him as Master, proving obedient to what He commands.

Let’s establish the importance of knowing and doing the will of God.

It is important to realise that doing the will of God marks you as belonging to Him, and belonging to Him assures eternal life.

This is the import of the words John writes in his first letter, when he states, “The world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does */the will of God/* abides forever” [*1 John 2:17*].

Moreover, doing the will of God reveals our relationship to the Master.

Jesus said, “Whoever does */the will of God/*, he is my brother and sister and mother” [*Mark 3:35*].

We pray, and we frequently conclude our prayers by reciting the formula, “In Jesus’ Name.”

In effect, we are stating that we are praying according to the will of the Master.

However, when we are brutally honest, we confess that we do not know how we should pray.

Fortunately, Christ serves as our Great Advocate before the Father [*1 John 2:1*].

Also, it is vital to note that the Spirit of God dwells in the life of each believer.

Among the multiple tasks performed by God’s Spirit living in us, is His intercession on our behalf.

Paul teaches us that “The Spirit helps us in our weakness.

For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

And He who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints */according to the will of God/*” [*Romans 8:26, 27*].

So, even if we say that we do not know the will of God, the Spirit who lives within knows the will of God and intercedes according to the divine will!

It is evident that we can know what the will of God is.

What else can Paul’s words mean when he writes, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is */the will of God/*, what is good and acceptable and perfect” [*Romans 12:2*].

It should be obvious from what preceded this verse that the will of God is expressed through presenting our “bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is [our] spiritual worship” [*Romans 12:1*].

Underscore in your mind that the will of God is “what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Thus, the will of God in your life is expressed through presenting your body as “a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.”

Let’s focus on how we can be holy and acceptable to God.

If we know the will of God, and if we anticipate doing the will of God, we will be endeavour to live a holy life in the presence of God.

In this vein, I can state categorically that your holiness is the will of God.

Listen to the words of the Apostle, “*/This is the will of God/*, *your sanctification*: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honour, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you.

For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness.

Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you” [*1 Thessalonians 4:3-8*].

Clearly, the will of God is that you should be holy.

Sexual immorality—licentious acts, salacious images and thoughts, suggestive language, viewing pornography and all such things—are out of the will of God.

You were called to purity; live as free people.

If you live a pure and holy life, you will also learn to “give thanks in all circumstances,” for you know that this, also, “is */the will of God in Christ Jesus/* for you” [*1 Thessalonians 5:18*].

I also learn that standing up under the trials of life is the will of God.

Listen to a passage found in the Letter to Hebrew Christians.

“Recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated.

For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.

Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.

For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done */the will of God/* you may receive what is promised.

For,

‘Yet a little while,

and the coming one will come and will not delay;

but my righteous one shall live by faith,

and if he shrinks back,

my soul has no pleasure in him.’”

[*Hebrews 10:32-38*]

It should be obvious that turning aside from following the Master displeases God; such cowardice cannot be the will of God.

Endurance is clearly within the will of God.

These two instances of the will of God—maintaining sexual purity and enduring opposition—are united in a passage that Peter pens in his first letter.

“Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for */the will of God/*.

For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry.

With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you; but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead” [*1 Peter 4:1-5*].

We are to avoid living as the world lives and we are to inure ourselves to hardship, for this is the will of God.

In making the following tough statement I seek neither to injure nor offend, though I do not doubt that some will feel hurt and others will be offended.

However, I love you enough to speak plainly, challenging you and stirring up your sincere minds by way of reminder.

Among professing Christians today, it would appear that the majority are best identified as cultural Christians.

They self-identify as Christians, even while tolerating immorality because to not do so would embarrass their friends, their children or their colleagues.

They wish to live as the world lives without distinguishing themselves as pure or holy.

They are quiescent in the face of opposition to the Faith, treasuring the possessions of this life more than the approval of Holy God.

The hope for continuation of the Faith in Canada lies not in occasional noisy marches or in crowds gathering to sway hypnotically while singing choruses before returning to the spiritual senescence that previously marked their lives—the hope of the Faith is godly men and women who quietly do good, persistently and prayerfully seeking the souls of lost men and women, even as they fear sin far more than they fear the disapproval of the world about them.

This is demonstrated by the instructions Peter gives in his first letter.

Listen to his words.

“*/This is the will of God/*, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.”

The Apostle then provides specific ways in which we can do good.

“Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.

Honour everyone.

Love the brotherhood.