Testing and approving the will of God

This is the theme for the Parish Youth 2011/2012 tenure and it is from Romans 12:2b
(New International Version).

This message is in three parts, namely:

Part 1: Why is it important to test and approve the will of God?

Part 2: What is the will of God?

Part 3: How do we test and approve the will of God?

Reference Text: Romans 12:1-2

Part 1 - Why is it important to test and approve the will of God?

There are some references that we need to look at in order to answer this question
correctly and they are Matthew 7:21, Mark 3:35, Hebrews 10:35-36, 1 Peter 4:1-2, 1 John
2:17 and Colossians 4:12. Each reference has a central theme, which tells us why it is
important to test and approve God's will. For Matthew 7:21, the Scriptures say that only
those who do the will of the father who is in heaven will enter into the kingdom of
heaven and not just those who call him Lord, thus establishing identity.

The central theme in Matthew 7:21 is Identity, that in Mark 3:35 is Relationship, in
Hebrews 10:35-36 it is Inheritance/Reward, in 1 Peter 4:1-2 it is Dependence as we
must totally depend on him if we are to live our lives for his will, it is Eternal Life in 1
John 2:17 while in Colossians 4:12 it is Perfection. These portions of the Scriptures give
compelling reasons to test and approve the will of God at all times.

In Matthew 7:21 we see something very interesting though, there are two separate
instances with one mentioning the 'kingdom of heaven' and the other talking about
'heaven'. This tells us that there is a difference between the terms 'heaven' and the
'kingdom of heaven' else, the writer would not have bothered to make the distinction.

The term 'heaven' represents a location while the 'kingdom of heaven' represents
influence. In other words, it is not just about the existence of a location but the effect
that location has on other places away from that location. The kingdom of heaven is all
about exporting the influence and principles of heaven to other places. It is about
extending the authority and influence of heaven to the earth.

Three major factors define the kingdom of heaven and they are People, Government and
Values.
People - The people of the kingdom of heaven are those who have believed in the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ. They are the sons of God. (John 3:16, John 1:12, Romans 8:14)

Government - In the kingdom of heaven, there must be a system of government in

place and a mode of operation. All of these have been put together by the Holy Spirit
who is like the administrator of the kingdom of heaven. Remember that Jesus instructed
his disciples not to leave Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit had come upon them thus
empowering them for the work they had been assigned. (Acts 1:8, John 16:7-11, Isaiah
9:6, Romans 8:29, Matthew 6:9-10)

Values - The people in the kingdom of heaven who have a system of government must
have a value system. We have values that define us; these are what we stand for and what
we believe in. Some of these values include righteousness, peace, joy, faith, love, joy,
patience, kindness, holiness, godliness, endurance etc (Romans 14:17, 2 Corinthians 5:7,
Galatians 5:22-23, 1 Timothy 6:11, Hebrews 12:14)

In essence, the lives we live are like an examination whose syllabus is the Bible and the
marking scheme is of course the will of God!

Part 2 - What is the will of God?

A closer look at Romans 12:2b will give us an idea of what the will of God looks like, we
find three characteristics defined in that mini verse. The will of God is good, pleasing
and perfect. Take note these are the ONLY characteristics that define God's will
(Jeremiah 29:11). I have heard some people say that God has a permissive will, to the
proponents of this theory I pose a question, 'how can God have a permissive will in a
permissive world?' In a world where there is already the freedom to do as you will
(freewill), it will only spell doom, chaos and confusion if God has a permissive will.
Therefore, for there to be balance in the world, God cannot have a permissive will! The
proponents of this so-called truth do not even understand properly some of the portions
of the Scriptures that they attempt to use to buttress their argument. The conclusion here
is that if it is not God's good, pleasing and perfect will then it is someone else's! You can
easily figure out the options!

Now let us consider the types of God's will; two easily and readily come to mind. The
first is what I like to call the situation-dependent will and the second is the situation-
independent will of God.

Situation-dependent will of God (Specific) - As the name implies, this is the will of
God concerning a particular situation. It is also time bound and specific, in other words,
the same situation that presents itself at another time may have God reveal a different
will from the first time (see David and the Philistines in 2 Samuel 5:17-25). If David had
just assumed that God would give him the same answer seeing that it was the same

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situation the second time, he would have committed the sin of being too familiar with
God! For example, you may want to travel to England in September and God's will might
be that you travel or not travel. If God's will is that you travel to England, he might want
you to travel in say September or any other month apart from September. The analysis
continues infinitely! The important point to note here is that God ALWAYS has a will. It
is not in God's nature to sit on the fence! This is so because there is no fence that can
accommodate his weight! If you do not know God's will, it would be wrong to say he
does not have one; rather what you should do is find out what it is just as David did.

Situation-independent will of God (Generic) - Here you do not have to ask God to
know what his will is as it remains valid for ALL situations. This is the will of God
irrespective of what situation it is. Some common examples are in the following: 1
Thessalonians 4:3, 1 Thessalonians 5:18, 1 Peter 2:15. From the above references, we see
it is God's will that we should be holy, thankful and conscious of doing good things in
ALL situations. It is instructive to note that you will have to study the Scriptures to
identify the many forms of the situation-independent will of God. God does not expect
you to ask him about these things as they are already contained in the Scriptures so just
go ahead and do them!

Part 3 - How do we test and approve the will of God?

If we take a closer look at Romans 12:1-2, we see three distinct stages in verse 2. The first
stage is do not be conformed to the pattern of this world , the next stage is be transformed by the
renewing of your mind and finally, then you will be able to test and approve God's will . It is
then understood that for you to be able to be in a position to test and approve the will of
God, you must first refuse to be conformed to the pattern of this world and then be
transformed by the renewing of your mind. You cannot get to stage three, which is
where we are interested in without passing through the earlier stages. Let us examine the
three parts of that verse 2 critically:

Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world - This does not mean you should
ostracise yourself from your community rather there should be interaction without
contamination. When you conform to the pattern of this world you exchange what you
have which is valuable and priceless for what is inferior and worthless (1 John 4:4) The
world seeks conformity to its pattern of doing things but there is a higher call (2
Corinthians 6:14-18, 2 Corinthians 7:1)

Be transformed by the renewing of your mind - The best way to make your mind new is
to feed it the proper food which is the word of God. As you feed your mind with the
word, you transform into the perfect image of Jesus Christ that God wants you to be.
The word paints a perfect picture of the image that God wants us to be conformed to so
every time we encounter the word we get to see those areas of our lives that we need to

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improve on in our bid to be like Christ. (Eph 4:20-24, John 15:3, Eph 5:26, James 1:22-
25)

Test and approve God's will - Testing and approving God's will is a two-step process as
you test first and approve after considering the results of the test. (1 Thessalonians 5:21-
22). With every test there is always a result whether a pass or a fail and if it is a pass, you
are promoted but if it is a fail, you remain on the spot. The point here is that an action is
ALWAYS taken for every test result! For every situation that you experience you must
test it against the word of God. If it passes then you approve it but if it does not, you
withhold your approval.

I would like to share with you five principles of testing and approving the will of God:

Knowledge - We cannot begin to test and approve God's will if we do not know what
that will is this is why we must always ask God to fill us with a knowledge of his will as
this is equal to seeking divine guidance. (Colossians 1:9)

Ask - If you do not know the directions to a certain place say Ibadan, what do you do? If
we do not know the will of God, concerning a particular situation the next best thing we
should do is to ask. God expects us to ask to know his will for he is able to tell us things
(Jeremiah 33:3).

Privilege - The Scriptures say that God has raised us together with Christ and seated us at
his right hand in the heavenly realms. Wow, what a privilege that we have as people of the
kingdom of heaven! Our physical location is here on earth yet our spiritual location is at
the right hand of God! If those at the right hand of God do not deserve to know his will
then I wonder who does. (Eph 2:6, Eph 1:19-20, 1 Corinthians 2:9-12)

Hearing God - When God speaks, we need to be able to identify his voice from the many
voices we will no doubt hear. If we fail to spend time with him, how will we know his
voice? The ability to hear God clearly and distinctly is critical to knowing his will for our
lives. (Job 33:14, Isaiah 30:21, Romans 8:16)

Establishment of a matter - No one has the right to monopolise God's will. That which
God says to one he has the ability to say to another. Confirm what you think to be God's
will by the word of two or three witnesses. (Deut 19:15, Matt 18:15-16)

Author’s note: This message was first preached at the first 2011/2012 Workers' Retreat
of the Parish Youth, Church of the Pentecost (Anglican Communion), 21 Road, Festac
Town, Lagos on Saturday, 19th February 2011 and subsequently as a two-part series on
Sunday, 27th February, 2011 and Sunday, 6th March, 2011 in my capacity as Coordinator.