When Is God's Will?

When Is God’s Will?
Genesis 50: 20 and Romans 8: 28 – 29.


Introduction.

Last Sunday I preached about “Seeking God’s Will.” If you missed the sermon, you can watch the video on the church website www.fbclufkin.org, or you can read the sermon on my website, www.andypittman.blogspot.com.

I have been preaching about God’s will to prepare us for our 40 Days of Prayer. On Wednesday, March 9, we will begin praying for our church for the next 40 days. We are going to pray for God’s direction for our church as we plan for the future. Who does God want us to be as individuals and as a church? What kind of church is God calling us to become? Does it really matter what kind of church we are?

On one hand, we have a very clear understanding of God’s mission and purpose for our church. God has called us to “make disciples” of Jesus. We are to witness to those who do not know Jesus as Lord of their lives. We are to baptize new believers. We are to provide instruction and worship for Christian men and women, boys and girls to grow closer to Jesus. AND, we are to provide opportunities for all of us to serve Jesus by continuing the work Jesus did during his life on earth. This much we know.

On the other hand, we don’t really know the best methods for making disciples and carrying out Jesus’ ministry in our twenty-first century context. Our mission will never change. It is our methods which need to be examined and possibly changed to become more effective in Lufkin and around the world.

Therefore, we will be praying for God’s will for our church. In fact, I think our prayers ought to reflect the two times Jesus prayed “Let your will be done.” It will be possible for us to try to place OUR will for OUR church ahead of God’s will for HIS church. Did you notice the difference between those two prayers? MY will for MY church versus GOD’S will for GOD’S church. Whose church is this? Who knows what is best for this church?

An interesting thing happens when we talk about God’s will. We usually think of God’s will as something “out there” in the future. It is something better than what we are experiencing right now…It is something we have to pray for and wait for…Surely, this is not God’s will we are experiencing at this moment in time…

I am going to do something unusual today. I am going to tell you the point of the sermon before I preach the sermon. It will be kind of like ruining a good joke by revealing the punch line too soon. Hopefully this won’t actually spoil the sermon… The point is, this IS God’s will.

With all my heart, I believe God has something better in store for Lufkin’s First Baptist Church. But, at the same time, I also believe God is working in us right here and right now. We don’t have to wait for God to work in our church. We don’t have to wait for God’s will to be done. NO. God is at work right here and right now. He is working in us. He is working on us. God is preparing us for the future.

The best example I can think of in Scripture comes from the story of Joseph in the Old Testament…


Read Genesis 50: 20 … You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. (NIV)


This profession of faith comes at the very end of the Book of Genesis and at the end of what we know about Joseph. It is important for us to remember where these words come from. This is NOT a statement about an easy Christian life. This is not a man who believes if you trust in God, then God will make you healthy, wealthy and wise. Rather, this is a statement about how God works in both the good circumstances and the bad circumstances of life. No matter what trials you are facing today or have faced in the recent past, God has not stopped working in you and the circumstances of life.

The story of Joseph began with the story of his father Jacob. Jacob fell in love with a girl named Rachel. He offered to work for her father for a period of seven years in exchange for Rachel to become his wife. Rachel’s father tricked Jacob and sent his older daughter Leah to the wedding. At the end of the day, Jacob had married the wrong girl! So, Jacob had to work an additional seven years to marry the girl he loved.

Once Jacob and Rachel were married, they discovered that Rachel could not have children. At the same time, Leah was having many children—and boys at that. After many years of trying, Rachel finally gave birth to her first son, Joseph.

Joseph quickly became his father’s favorite son, since he was born to his father’s favorite wife. Jacob made this favoritism obvious by having a special coat made for Joseph. We learned in children’s Sunday School that this was a “coat of many colors,” but it is possible that it was a coat with “long sleeves.” Either way, Joseph’s coat was not well suited for agricultural work.

This coat made Joseph’s brothers very jealous. While the brothers were out working in the fields, Joseph stayed close to the house, dressed in his ornate clothes. This gave Joseph plenty of time to dream. The brothers were too busy working to dream. But, Joseph spent all his time dreaming. And, Joseph didn’t do himself any favors…Because each time he had a dream, he told his brothers about it.

In one of Joseph’s dreams, he dreamed he had been helping his brothers work in the fields. They were all binding up sheaves. When they finished the work, Joseph’s sheath stood up and all the other sheaves bowed down to him. In another dream, Joseph dreamed that the sun, moon and eleven stars all bowed down to him. These dreams made his brothers even angrier. They were so angry that they began to plot Joseph’s death.

One ordinary day, the brothers were out working in the fields, and Joseph was dreaming close to home. Jacob sent Joseph to check on his brothers. The brothers recognized Joseph from a distance and decided it was time to put their plans into action. They captured Joseph and threw him into a well. (This was Reuben’s idea. Instead of killing Joseph, Reuben wanted to scare him by leaving him in a well and eventually helping him get out.)

Before Reuben could rescue Joseph, the brothers decided to sell him as a slave. They sold him to Midianite slave traders, who sold him to an Egyptian official named Potiphar.

According to Genesis 39, Joseph continued to trust the LORD and was able to rise in the slave ranks to become Potiphar’s personal attendant. Joseph was given charge of everything in Potiphar’s house. Well, he had charge of everything except Potiphar’s food and Potiphar’s wife.

It’s beginning to look like Joseph can make the best of a really bad situation. Yet, one day, Potiphar’s wife approached Joseph while no one else was in the house. She wanted him to have an affair with her. Joseph refused her advances for two reasons. It would be a sin in her husband’s eyes and it would be a sin in God’s eyes. Potiphar’s wife would not take no for an answer. She grabbed Joseph by the coat. At this point, Joseph ran away so fast, he ran out of his clothes…Leaving Potiphar’s wife holding Joseph’s coat. When Potiphar found Joseph’s clothes in the house he threw Joseph into prison.

This is perhaps Joseph’s lowest point. At one time he was his father’s favorite son. He had a very easy life. And, most of us have an easier time trusting God when everything is going our way. But, Joseph moved from being the favorite son to being a slave in a foreign land. He remained faithful in his status as slave and was beginning to have a better life. Then, he was falsely accused and placed in prison. There is no obvious reason for Joseph to trust in the LORD. He was not wealthy. He was not happy. Nothing was going his way. Yet, Joseph defied all odds and continued to trust in the LORD.

In fact, the other prisoners began to look up to Joseph and ask him to interpret their dreams. One of those prisoners was the deposed cupbearer for Pharaoh. Joseph listened to his dream and told him that Pharaoh would restore him to his old position in the palace. The only thing Joseph asked for in return was for the cupbearer to remember Joseph when he was back in Pharaoh’s palace. But, the cupbearer did not remember Joseph.

Then Pharaoh had a dream of his own. He called for all the priests and magicians to come and interpret his strange dream. When no one could interpret for Pharaoh, the cupbearer finally remembered Joseph.

Joseph interpreted Pharaoh’s dream as a warning about a coming famine that would affect the entire Middle East. Egypt needed to prepare for the coming famine so they could provide for their own people and for the other nations.

Pharaoh was so impressed with Joseph that he made him the second in command. Joseph was responsible for gathering food before the famine and for distributing food once the famine hit.
This is the point in the story when Joseph’s dreams begin to come true. He is now an important governmental official in Egypt. AND, when the land of Canaan experienced famine, Joseph’s own brothers came to Egypt to ask Joseph for food. Joseph was reunited with his family. Joseph was the one God used to save the lives of all God’s people.



God Has a Plan.

The story of Joseph is a story of how God often works behind the scenes. God knew that the famine was coming. God knew that his chosen people would die of starvation without God’s direct intervention. So, God placed one of his own people in Egypt to store up enough food to save God’s people.

We know this was God’s plan from the beginning because of Joseph’s dreams. God didn’t lose track of Joseph and then devise a plan once Joseph arrived in Egypt. God was not surprised by what happened to Joseph…And God is not surprised by what is going on in your life today. He knows the future.

In the same way that God knew Joseph’s future before it ever happened, God knows your future and the future of our church. He has a plan to use you and me. We don’t know what that future looks like…But God knows.


God Is at Work.

It is usually easier for us to see the hand of God at work in our lives by looking backward over our lives than it is to see it right here and right now. The only thing Joseph really knew during his time as a slave and a prisoner is the fact that he could not get a break. Just when things seemed like they could not possibly get worse…they did. Every time Joseph thought he was going to get a good break, something or someone ruined it for him.

But, in the end…Joseph was able to profess his faith that God was always at work in his life.
This does not mean that God was the one who threw Joseph in the well; sold him as a slave; threw him into prison; or caused the cupbearer to forget. God does not cause evil and is not the source of evil. But God can and does work in evil circumstances.

How often have you used the expression, “God is at work?” God is at work in my life…God is at work in our church…God is at work in our world… The only time we use those expressions is when something good is taking place. That’s not the case. God is at work in the midst of pain and struggle and even in evil circumstances.

The work of God is not limited to favorable circumstances. That was not the case in Joseph’s story. In fact, the story of Joseph makes a good argument that God actually PREFERS to work in non-pleasant situations. That is when it is completely obvious to us and to non-believers that God is the one responsible. If Joseph had an easy life, we would give Joseph all the credit. But the story demonstrates that Joseph had almost nothing to do with the outcome. It was God.
The same thing is true for us individually and as a church. God did not choose us because we were the smartest and wealthiest and best looking. God can use any circumstances. God can use any person.


God Can Be Trusted.

From a purely human point of view, Joseph had no reason to trust in the LORD. God didn’t make him rich. Joseph didn’t have a really good job. Joseph lived as a slave in a foreign land, where it was impossible for him to worship God.

We know Joseph trusted in God because of the way he spoke about God to others. He told Potiphar’s wife that he could not have an affair with her, because it was a sin in God’s eyes. He gave God all the credit for interpreting the dreams of the cupbearer and of Pharaoh.

You and I could learn a lot from Joseph. Usually, we are quick to thank God for all the good things in our lives. Then, we turn around and blame God when things are not going well. We get very happy when life is good. We get bitter and angry when life is not good. Joseph teaches us to trust God no matter the circumstances.


Conclusion: God Will Be Glorified.

Notice the way Joseph gave God the credit when he and his family were reunited. There is a big temptation for most of us to point our fingers at ourselves and say something like, “You thought you could stop me. But I overcame.” “You thought you were hurting me, but I showed you!! I turned out OK, all by myself.”

Joseph did not take the credit for his new position in Egypt. Joseph did not brag about being the one to save the family. He gave God the credit and all the glory.

There is a similar statement about God’s glory in the New Testament:


Read Romans 8: 28 – 30 … And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. (NIV)


These verses do not teach us that Christians will always be healthy, wealthy and wise. In fact, they teach us just the opposite. Despite the circumstances…Even in the midst of pain and struggle…At times when God seems silent…

God has a plan…
God is at work…
God can be trusted…
God will be glorified…

When we read Genesis 50: 20 and Romans 8: 28 – 30, we discover that God’s will is not something we have to wait on. God is at work right here and right now, bringing his plan for our lives to completion.

It is our job to trust God and let him work in us. His plan is better than our plans for ourselves. His plan leads us through good and bad times. His plan shapes us to become more like Jesus.