Well, that was interesting. I never cease to be amazed what poor hermeneutical methods will bring about in the form of questions and ‘free advice.’
Our Adult Bible Class has been taking a very cursory look at how God guides us today. The chief question our material is seeking to answer is this: Who can I know God’s will for my life? Without highlighting everything (‘No, there is too much. Let me sum up.’ – Name that quote), let me give the main principles we’ve examined:
God is sovereign over His created universe, including our very lives. He has a design, purpose and will for all things.
God’s plan for our lives is to bring us to glory in union with His Son.
God, in times past, spoke in many ways, but in these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son (Hebrews 1.1–3). So, God speaks through Jesus Christ in the Scriptures by His Holy Spirit. (That hasn’t changed.)
God has clearly revealed His will for all things pertaining to righteous living in His moral precepts. Therefore, moral obedience to God’s clearly revealed precepts is the fount from which springs accurately hearing ‘the voice of God in other matters. In other words, if we want to discern God’s guidance in other areas of our life, we must first obey God with what He’s revealed to us.
So, given these four principles (there will be two more in the coming Sundays), this statement (not really a question, although it gets framed that way by the inquirer in the class; he makes declarative statements and is fishing whether I agree with him or not) arose: God guides us in life’s long-range goals by His Holy Spirit (the question was– ‘What do you think about how God does this?’) Unfortunately, said inquirer was absent when we went over the first three principles, so he hadn’t heard: ‘God has spoken to us by His Son in Scripture through His Holy Spirit.’ Period.
What I really wanted to ask was this: ‘How do you hear the voice of the Spirit as He’s giving you these life-long goals? In your head? Audibly? And do you trust the voices in your head? Because Satan can counterfeit those voices and does so frequently. And do these goals line up with God’s declarative will clearly revealed in the Scriptures? Or are they simply personal pursuits (morally right or neutral, not contrary to the Scriptures) which require good judgment, counsel from a church body? While I didn’t answer quite this abruptly, my response was very similar in laying out these challenges. God has made His will known for our righteous living (by His Son in the Scriptures by His Holy Spirit). Matters that don’t involve a right-wrong according to that revealed will (in Scripture) require good judgment (give a listen to my sermon series from Proverbs if you want to know how that works – www.cornerstoneefc.com/sermon-audio ). It requires wisdom, knowledge, insight, prudence and discernment. Not all of these can be found in one person. This is why God gives us the Body of Christ: its leadership (elders), its teachers and its people. Any other matters (which car to buy, what dress to wear) are simply trivial at this point. Make the decision and move onward.
This is freedom in Christ: freedom to live, freedom to receive, freedom to praise Him.
How would you have responded?
