The Disciple's Will
Abiding in Christ • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 56:51
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· 120 viewsIf you’re a disciple of Jesus, then your abiding in Christ and His abiding in you defines everything about who you are. In this series we’ll see how the disciple’s mission, mind, emotions, body, will, and relationships are affected by his or her relationship to Jesus. Understanding our identity in Christ is crucial as we seek to follow him faithfully.
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The Disciple’s Will
The Disciple’s Will
“What is God’s will for my life?” It may be the most commonly asked question in Western Christianity today. What in the world is God’s will for my life? And I think one of the reasons is because we have so many decisions that we make and we have so many questions that we ask that are not specifically addressed in the Bible.
Countless people are confused and wondering, “How do I find God’s will for my life?”
Countless people are confused and wondering, “How do I find God’s will for my life?”
Countless people are confused and wondering, “How do I find God’s will for my life?”
“What is God’s will for my life?” It may be the most commonly asked question in Western Christianity today. What in the world is God’s will for my life? And I think one of the reasons is because we have so many decisions that we make and we have so many questions that we ask that are not specifically addressed in the Bible.
We have many decisions we make. Some small, some large with serious potential consequences. We’ve got all kinds of questions and thoughts that the Bible doesn’t give specific guidance on. So here’s the Bad News, there are...
David Platt, “The Disciple’s Will,” in David Platt Sermon Archive (Birmingham, AL: David Platt, 2007), 982.
Countless people are confused and wondering, “How do I find God’s will for my life?”
Countless people are confused and wondering, “How do I find God’s will for my life?”
The Good News...
God’s will is not lost.
God’s will is not lost.
It’s not lost, so we don’t have to find it. We are not living in this cosmic Easter Egg hunt where we’re trying to find God’s will and God is saying, “You’re getting warmer. You’re getting warmer. Oh, no, you’re getting colder.”
What if God’s will is not some secret that we need to uncover somewhere? What if God makes His will very clear to us, and what if God is actually more passionate about you knowing His will than you are about knowing His will.
God desires for me to follow His will so much that He lives in me to accomplish it.
God desires for me to follow His will so much that He lives in me to accomplish it.
What if God’s will is not some secret that we need to uncover somewhere? What if God makes His will very clear to us, and what if God is actually more passionate about you knowing His will than you are about knowing His will.
This is the bottom line and foundational truth...
David Platt, “The Disciple’s Will,” in David Platt Sermon Archive (Birmingham, AL: David Platt, 2007), 983.
God desires for me to follow His will so much that He lives in me to accomplish it.
God desires for me to follow His will so much that He lives in me to accomplish it.
This is where we get back to these concentric circles. These different circles are not neat categories. Our will affects all these areas of my life.
I want us to dive into a really interesting passage of Scripture this morning in where we’re actually seeing a kind of confrontation between Paul and Peter. They’re actually butting heads with each other.
What happened is, just to give you a little background, there was a group in the New Testament church called the Judaizers. And these folks came on the scene, and they basically believed that you can follow Christ and Christ is who saved you, but you also have to follow Jewish laws. And so in order to be a Christian, you also need to be circumcised. In order to be a Christian, you also need to follow these food and dietary laws. And what was happening was Gentiles were coming to faith in Christ and Gentiles lived a lot differently. The Gentiles were wondering, “Well, does that mean we have to be circumcised in order to follow Christ?” or “Does that mean we have to follow your dietary laws in order to be saved?” And the Judaizers were saying, “Yes, that’s exactly what needs to happen.”
Christ gives us a new identity.
Christ gives us a new identity.
What happened is, just to give you a little background, there was a group in the New Testament church called the Judaizers. And these folks came on the scene, and they basically believed that you can follow Christ and Christ is who saved you, but you also have to follow Jewish laws. And so in order to be a Christian, you also need to be circumcised. In order to be a Christian, you also need to follow these food and dietary laws. And what was happening was Gentiles were coming to faith in Christ and Gentiles lived a lot differently. The Gentiles were wondering, “Well, does that mean we have to be circumcised in order to follow Christ?” or “Does that mean we have to follow your dietary laws in order to be saved?” And the Judaizers were saying, “Yes, that’s exactly what needs to happen.”
And so you have this division, this conflict, and Peter was right in the middle of it. What would happen is if you were going to sit down, say you were a Jewish Christian and you were going to sit down for a meal with Gentile Christians, and they were going to start eating these things that went against your dietary laws then you were in a quandary. Either number one, you could eat those things and risk violating these laws from the Old Testament, or number two, you could say, “I’m not going to eat with you guys anymore,” and by implication say that they are not acceptable to God because they’re eating those things.
David Platt, “The Disciple’s Will,” in David Platt Sermon Archive (Birmingham, AL: David Platt, 2007), 984.
And Peter was in that deal. For a while, he was sitting there eating this meal with the Gentiles, but then some Judaizers showed up and he started to back away, and he wouldn’t eat with the Gentiles anymore. And by implication, he was reverting back to this works based righteousness that says, “In order to be accepted by God, you’ve got to do these certain things and abstain from these certain things.” And Paul just flat out calls him on it in . And in the middle of this context, we have one of the crown jewels of the New Testament, a verse that I pray, I hope will lodge into our hearts and our minds this morning and help us to realize how Christ in us affects the way we live. It’s verse 20, but we’ll start in verse 11 to get the context.
11 Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed; 12 for before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. 13 And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy.
14 But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, “If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews? 15 We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, 16 knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.
17 “But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is Christ therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not! 18 For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. 19 For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”
David Platt, “The Disciple’s Will,” in David Platt Sermon Archive (Birmingham, AL: David Platt, 2007), 984.
Galatians 2:11-21
And , if you don’t have it underlined in your Bible, let me encourage you to underline it, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (). That is one mammoth verse that brings us in line with what it means for Christ to transform, absolutely transform the way we live and transform our will.
Christ gives us a new identity.
Christ gives us a new identity.
And , if you don’t have it underlined in your Bible, let me encourage you to underline it, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (). That is one mammoth verse that brings us in line with what it means for Christ to transform, absolutely transform the way we live and transform our will.
I want us to see some truths that are hidden here in this verses that help us understand what it means for Christ to transform our will.
Christ gives us a new identity.
Christ gives us a new identity.
David Platt, “The Disciple’s Will,” in David Platt Sermon Archive (Birmingham, AL: David Platt, 2007), 985.
Christ gives us a new identity.
Christ gives us a new identity.
This is where starts off, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.”
The great exchange at the cross…
The great exchange at the cross…
And this is probably the most concise picture, but it’s a picture we’ve got all over Paul’s writing from the New Testament about how in our lives we are united with Christ and everything that’s Christ becomes ours, and it all revolves around the cross. Crucified with Christ, the cross is the one place where myself is united with Christ and all that He is. This is why He says later in , “I boast in the cross,” which is a weird statement. How do you boast in an instrument of torture? He boasts in the cross because of what happens at the cross.
David Platt, “The Disciple’s Will,” in David Platt Sermon Archive (Birmingham, AL: David Platt, 2007), 985.
The great exchange at the cross…
The great exchange at the cross…
I want you to think about the great exchange that happens at the cross, and the unity we have in Christ that happens at the cross. What happens at the cross? First of all, at the cross I give Him my sin...
I give him my sin; He gives me His righteousness.
I give him my sin; He gives me His righteousness.
That’s what we see in ...
21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
We give it all to Him, and He exchanges it with His righteousness. That’s a good thing, but then it gets better. Not only do we give Him our sin, He gives us his righteousness, but I also...
I give him my slavery; He gives me His freedom.
I give him my slavery; He gives me His freedom.
The whole picture in the New Testament is we’re slaves to the law, we are slaves to ourselves, slaves to the flesh. That’s what it says in verse 19...
19 For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God.
We are free from the guilt of the law. We are free to live for God. And at the cross...
I give him my defeat; He gives me His victory.
I give him my defeat; He gives me His victory.
It’s not that the law’s a bad thing. It’s just that we can’t live up to it. But there’s one who does live up to it. This is what it says in .
3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Romans 8:
So we can actually fulfill the law through Christ. He gives us the victory over the law. Next...
I give him my judgment; He gives me His mercy.
I give him my judgment; He gives me His mercy.
According to , no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by observing the law. At the cross, Jesus pours out His mercy on you and me.
I give him my death; He gives me His life.
I give him my death; He gives me His life.
This is ...
5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection,
9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.
Romans
What Paul is saying is, “Christ died, and I died. Christ lives and I live. Christ was raised, I’m going to be raised.” We give Him death, and He gives us eternal life, that’s what happens at the cross. He gives us a new identity.
Our will is now lost in Him.
Our will is now lost in Him.
What Paul is saying is, “Christ died, and I died. Christ lives and I live. Christ was raised, I’m going to be raised.” We give Him death, and He gives us eternal life, that’s what happens at the cross.
So does that mean when we unite our life with Christ, and you die with Christ, does that mean we no longer have a will? On the contrary, it’s not that you don’t have a will, it’s that...
David Platt, “The Disciple’s Will,” in David Platt Sermon Archive (Birmingham, AL: David Platt, 2007), 986.
Our will is now lost in Him.
Our will is now lost in Him.
It’s not that Paul no longer has a will, but Christ lives in him. It’s Christ’s will.
Christ gives us a new direction.
Christ gives us a new direction.
Paul’s literally saying, “I’ve surrendered everything. I’ve surrendered my will completely to Him.” This is what it means to be identified with Christ, it means that Christ’s will now directs me; we’ve got to realize this.
David Platt, “The Disciple’s Will,” in David Platt Sermon Archive (Birmingham, AL: David Platt, 2007), 986.
If you are a follower of Christ we’ve got to remember that we have sacrificed the right to determine the direction of our lives. You and I do not call the shots anymore. Our will has been crucified with Christ and we no longer live, but He lives in us.
Christ gives us a new direction.
Christ gives us a new direction.
David Platt, “The Disciple’s Will,” in David Platt Sermon Archive (Birmingham, AL: David Platt, 2007), 986.
Christ gives us a new direction.
Christ gives us a new direction.
There are so many methods people use to try to figure out what God wants. There’s the Random Finger Method, you know, where you ask God what to do and you close your eyes, open your Bible and point your finger to a verse. You laugh, some actually have done that. The problem is you take one verse alone and you run the risk of pulling completely out of context.
The Random Finger Method.
The Random Finger Method.
The Miraculous Event Method.
The Miraculous Event Method.
The Striking Coincidence Method.
The Striking Coincidence Method.
The Cast the Fleece Method.
The Cast the Fleece Method.
Then there’s the Cast the Fleece Method. A biblical method, you think. True, but not all biblical experiences are meant for us to imitate. Remember, Gideon’s fleece experiment was actually showing his lack of faith. God had already clearly told him what to do. The fleece method actually shows a lack of faith.
The Open Door Method.
The Open Door Method.
The Closed Door Method.
The Closed Door Method.
We have the open door method, the closed door method, and then the still small voice method. The thing is, these may leave us just as confused as when we started. Let me give you a...
The Still Small Voice Method.
The Still Small Voice Method.
A biblical method for discovering the will of God…
A biblical method for discovering the will of God…
It’s really not a method at all, but it’s the crux of what Paul is talking about in , let’s call it...
The Faith Method.
The Faith Method.
Here’s the deal, and I know that at this moment there are some of you who are going to start to think, “Pastor, you’re doing this preacher talk—okay, it’s all about faith, like it’s that easy.” But follow with me here. When you get to the New Testament church and the Holy Spirit comes down, not one time do you see them trying to seek to find the will of God using the ways of the Old Testament. In fact, you don’t see any instructions for seeking to find the will of God. The only one people point to is in when they cast lots to try to figure out who will replace Judas, but that was before the Holy Spirit had come down. What you’ve got instead is a picture of the Holy Spirit on His people guiding and directing His people and Paul saying in ,
Here’s the deal, and I know that at this moment there are some of you who are going to start to think, “Dave, you’re doing this preacher talk—okay, it’s all about faith, like it’s that easy.” But follow with me here. When you get to the New Testament church and the Holy Spirit comes down, not one time do you see them trying to seek to find the will of God using the ways to the Old Testament. In fact, you don’t see any instructions for seeking to find the will of God. The only one people point to is in when they cast lots to try to figure out who will replace Judas, but that was before the Holy Spirit had come down. What you’ve got instead is a picture of the Holy Spirit on His people guiding and directing His people and Paul saying in ,
20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
Knowing God’s will is secondary to simply knowing God.
Knowing God’s will is secondary to simply knowing God.
David Platt, “The Disciple’s Will,” in David Platt Sermon Archive (Birmingham, AL: David Platt, 2007), 990.
Faith is not only necessary for salvation, but it’s the only way to live out our salvation is by faith. It’s what he says in , four times in a row he talks about, it’s all by faith, faith alone.
16 knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.
The Christian life is not about us trying to figure out how to live the Christian life. The Christian life is trusting Christ to live for us, really trusting Him to live for us.
Knowing God’s will is secondary to simply knowing God.
Knowing God’s will is secondary to simply knowing God.
What if our job is not to figure out what God’s will is and then go do it for Him, what if our job is to trust moment by moment, day by day, decision by decision, trust the Christ who is in us to live out His life through us that’s what Paul seems to be telling us here, “The one who gave Himself for me loves me enough to live His life through me.”
And at this point, we’re about to dive into a breakthrough that I pray God brings us to in thinking about His will. And the breakthrough is this:
David Platt, “The Disciple’s Will,” in David Platt Sermon Archive (Birmingham, AL: David Platt, 2007), 990.
Knowing God’s will is secondary to simply knowing God.
Knowing God’s will is secondary to simply knowing God.
This is so huge. All these methods we listed before. They’re all shortcuts. They’re looking for a quick fix.
The will of God is not a road map; it is a relationship whereby Christ gradually overtakes our will to become one with His as we:
The will of God is not a road map; it is a relationship whereby Christ gradually overtakes our will to become one with His as we:
But what if God has designed His will, this whole will of God thing so that as you seek Him and as you know Him and as you abide in Him that He shapes you. And through this process, He molds you and He enables you not only to know what His will is so you can go out and do it, He enables you to experience His will.
Here’s the deal, let’s be honest, God has the power. In the decisions you’re trying to think through right now, God has the power to paint in the sky for you exactly what you should do. He has the power to give you a dream tonight or a vision today that says, “This is exactly what you need to do.” But maybe He’s decided not to do that for a reason. Maybe He wants you to know Him and to trust Him and to learn from Him and to lean on Him and let Him use this journey to form you into the image of Christ, to help you understand what it means for Christ to live in you and for you to trust the Christ who lives in you instead of trusting some formula.
David Platt, “The Disciple’s Will,” in David Platt Sermon Archive (Birmingham, AL: David Platt, 2007), 991.
Here’s the thing...
David Platt, “The Disciple’s Will,” in David Platt Sermon Archive (Birmingham, AL: David Platt, 2007), 991.
The will of God is not a road map; it is a relationship whereby Christ gradually overtakes our will to become one with His as we:
The will of God is not a road map; it is a relationship whereby Christ gradually overtakes our will to become one with His as we:
The will of God is not a road map; it is a relationship whereby Christ gradually overtakes our will to become one with His as we:
The will of God is not a road map; it is a relationship whereby Christ gradually overtakes our will to become one with His as we:
We’ll finish this sentence in a moment. Have you ever noticed how God doesn’t always take us on the quickest, easiest route between points A and B?
Trust in His Word.
Trust in His Word.
But what if what matters to God most is not getting you there in the quickest most efficient fashion? What if this is not “fast food” will of God? What if what matters to God most is that He may take you on a bit of a circuitous route, but the point will be to teach you to learn and trust Him completely, to grow you into the image of Christ?
David Platt, “The Disciple’s Will,” in David Platt Sermon Archive (Birmingham, AL: David Platt, 2007), 991.
The will of God is not a roadmap, it’s a relationship whereby Christ gradually overtakes our will to become one with Him as we first...
Trust in His Word.
Trust in His Word.
David Platt, “The Disciple’s Will,” in David Platt Sermon Archive (Birmingham, AL: David Platt, 2007), 991.
Trust in His Word.
Trust in His Word.
This is the beauty, the majority of God’s will for your life and it’s already been given to you, you’re not wondering around in a fog. Now, this is what I believe, I’m convinced 95% of God’s will for our lives is right here in this Word. You open to any part of this Book and you have the will of God guaranteed, and it’s trustworthy.
Pray for His desires.
Pray for His desires.
This is the beauty, the majority of God’s will for your life and it’s already been given to you, you’re not wondering around in a fog. Now, you’ve heard me to say before, I’m convinced 95% of God’s will for our lives is right here in this Word. You open to any part of this Book and you have the will of God guaranteed, and it’s trustworthy.
So He says trust in His Word. Second,
David Platt, “The Disciple’s Will,” in David Platt Sermon Archive (Birmingham, AL: David Platt, 2007), 991.
Pray for His desires.
Pray for His desires.
This is the picture: His Word fills our minds, and He transforms our desires. Listen to ...
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
This is where Christ overtakes our lives and if He changes our minds and if He overtakes our desires and overtakes our passions then we an actually begin to trust the passions of Christ in us. And we can follow our desires if our desires become His desires. This is Psalm 37:4
4 Delight yourself also in the Lord,
And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
Literally, He’ll put His desires inside of you as you’re abiding in Christ. This is the beauty, this is where we’re so freed up, we can begin to trust our passions. We can do what we want to do and Christ is filling us.
Walk in His will.
Walk in His will.
Literally, He’ll put His desires inside of you as you’re abiding in Christ. This is the beauty, this is where we’re so freed up, we can begin to trust our passions. We can do what we want to do and Christ is filling us.
We trust in His Word, we pray for His desires and then we...
David Platt, “The Disciple’s Will,” in David Platt Sermon Archive (Birmingham, AL: David Platt, 2007), 992.
Walk in His will.
Walk in His will.
And you say, “What do you mean walk in His will, Pastor? The whole point is we don’t know what His will is.” This is so huge. Experiencing, following the will of God is not a passive journey where we sit back and just wait for Him to show us something. It’s an active journey where we are constantly taking the will of God that has been revealed to us and walking in it and obeying it.
Instead of trying to figure out His will, God intends for us to become His will.
Instead of trying to figure out His will, God intends for us to become His will.
And you say, “What do you mean walk in His will, Dave? The whole point is we don’t know what His will is.” This is so huge. Experiencing, following the will of God is not a passive journey where we sit back and just wait for Him to show us something. It’s an active journey where we are constantly taking the will of God that has been revealed to us and walking in it and obeying it.
This is what we see all over the New Testament. We see the Apostles taking the gospel to the nations, and where they’ll go at certain times is open to discussion. , you see Paul, it looks like he’s in a pinball machine. The guy goes to one city, gets stopped there. He goes to another city, God checks him there. He goes to another place, “Where am I supposed to go, God?” Paul didn’t always know he was confused sometimes. But here’s what he did know, he did know what he was supposed to do, preach the gospel. He did know why he was supposed to do it, for the glory of God and all the world, and he gave himself to it. And along the way, God checked him here or checked him there to lead him. And I just have got a feeling that God wants His will to be accomplished enough that when we give ourselves to it, He’s not going to let us go wrong.
You see how freeing that is? You don’t have to wander around worrying about whether or not you’re going the right way or not. Just be doing what you already know is right and God will move you around from there. So...
Instead of trying to figure out His will, God intends for us to become His will.
Instead of trying to figure out His will, God intends for us to become His will.
Oswald Chambers said this, “To be so much in contact with God that you never need to ask Him to show you His will is to be nearing the final stage of your discipline in the life of faith. When you are rightly related to God, it’s a life of freedom and liberty and delight, you are God’s will, and your common-sense decisions are His will for you unless He checks. You decide things in perfect delightful friendship with God knowing that if your decisions are wrong, He will always check and when He checks, you stop at once.”
Christ gives us a new purpose.
Christ gives us a new purpose.
Oswald Chambers said this, “To be so much in contact with God that you never need to ask Him to show you His will is to be nearing the final stage of your discipline in the life of faith. When you are rightly related to God, it’s a life of freedom and liberty and delight, you are God’s will, and your common-sense decisions are His will for you unless He checks. You decide things in perfect delightful friendship with God knowing that if your decisions are wrong, He will always check and when He checks, you stop at once.”
This is what God has designed for us. And I call it a safe method here and I don’t want to sound over simple, but that is the point. Not even to trust ourselves but to trust Christ in us to lead us and to guide us, this is the beauty of the new direction that Christ gives us.
David Platt, “The Disciple’s Will,” in David Platt Sermon Archive (Birmingham, AL: David Platt, 2007), 993.
Christ gives us a new identity, a new direction, and...
David Platt, “The Disciple’s Will,” in David Platt Sermon Archive (Birmingham, AL: David Platt, 2007), 994.
Christ gives us a new purpose.
Christ gives us a new purpose.
Christ gives us a new purpose.
Christ gives us a new purpose.
And this is where I want us to take back up again and see the overall context.
The question is no longer, “God, what is Your will for my life?”
The question is no longer, “God, what is Your will for my life?”
20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
And this is where I want us to take back up again and see the overall context. Because what Paul is confronting Peter about is the fact that Peter had missed out on what God was doing among the Gentiles. He had missed out on that. God had a plan for what He was doing among the Gentiles, and Peter, by his actions, by not living out what he believed was calling that picture into question.
Because what Paul is confronting Peter about is the fact that Peter had missed out on what God was doing among the Gentiles. He had missed out on that. God had a plan for what He was doing among the Gentiles, and Peter, by his actions, by not living out what he believed was calling that picture into question.
Because what Paul is confronting Peter about is the fact that Peter had missed out on what God was doing among the Gentiles. He had missed out on that. God had a plan for what He was doing among the Gentiles, and Peter, by his actions, by not living out what he believed was calling that picture into question.
And this is so big for us to realize, this is huge...
David Platt, “The Disciple’s Will,” in David Platt Sermon Archive (Birmingham, AL: David Platt, 2007), 994.
The question is no longer, “God, what is Your will for my life?”
The question is no longer, “God, what is Your will for my life?”
As if the universe revolves around us, and that God’s will revolves around us. Instead of asking, “God what is your will for my life?” we would ask...
The question is now, “God, what is Your will for human history, and how can I align my life with Your will?”
The question is now, “God, what is Your will for human history, and how can I align my life with Your will?”
Now that changes everything.
We live to magnify the grace of Christ.
We live to magnify the grace of Christ.
That’s where we’ve got to get to. God help us to get there. It’s what Paul was telling Peter, “Christ lives in you, He directs, He guides.” What does that mean? First,
David Platt, “The Disciple’s Will,” in David Platt Sermon Archive (Birmingham, AL: David Platt, 2007), 994.
We live to magnify the grace of Christ.
We live to magnify the grace of Christ.
This is what verse 21 said...
21 I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”
Galatians
Paul is point blank telling Peter that if he continues in the way he is acting, he will nullify the grace of God in Christ, and Christ will have died for nothing. If you have to follow all these rules to get to God, you’ve missed the whole point. So you live in a way that magnifies the grace of Christ. Second...
We work to accomplish the mission of Christ.
We work to accomplish the mission of Christ.
Paul is point blank telling Peter that if he continues in the way he is acting, he will nullify the grace of God in Christ, and Christ will have died for nothing. If you have to follow all these rules to get to God, you’ve missed the whole point. So you live in a way that magnifies the grace of Christ.
David Platt, “The Disciple’s Will,” in David Platt Sermon Archive (Birmingham, AL: David Platt, 2007), 994.
We work to accomplish the mission of Christ.
We work to accomplish the mission of Christ.
Paul is saying to Peter, “Peter, you are hindering the advancement of the gospel among the Gentiles, among the nations by the way you are living, by the way you are taking your will into your own hands, you are hindering the advancement of the gospel.” And this is where we’ve got to come back to the seriousness of this issue for us as a church and where God has us as a people. We work to accomplish the mission of Christ, and finally...
We die to spread the Gospel of Christ.
We die to spread the Gospel of Christ.
Paul is saying to Peter, “Peter, you are hindering the advancement of the gospel among the Gentiles, among the nations by the way you are living, by the way you are taking your will into your own hands, you are hindering the advancement of the gospel.” And this is where we’ve got to come back to the seriousness of this issue for us as a church and where God has us as a people.
David Platt, “The Disciple’s Will,” in David Platt Sermon Archive (Birmingham, AL: David Platt, 2007), 995.
We die to spread the Gospel of Christ.
We die to spread the Gospel of Christ.
20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
David Platt Sermon Archive Christ Gives Us a New Purpose
The Word is literally, “surrendered” His life for us. Christ died that He might live in us. We die with Him so that He might live through us. To share His life, we die to spread the gospel of Christ.
The word is literally “surrendered His life for us. Christ died that He might live in us. We die with Him so that He might live through us. To share His life, we die to ourselves to spread the gospel of Christ.
It is not a mechanical formula for figuring out God’s will for your life, but it is the secret to knowing, experiencing and walking in His will on a day-by-day basis. And I pray that God makes us a people who wants it, and who sacrifices everything we have for it, to be crucified with Christ.
David Platt, “The Disciple’s Will,” in David Platt Sermon Archive (Birmingham, AL: David Platt, 2007), 995.