God’s Will for the Church: A walk through Ephesians

Trevor S. Ferguson

February 25, 2011 

The word "will" occurs seven (7) times in the book of Ephesians (KJV). 

Six of the seven references pertain to the will of God. These are listed below:

o    Eph 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God

o    Eph 1:5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will…

o    Eph 1:9  Having made known unto us the mystery of his will…

o    Eph 1:11 … worketh all things after the counsel of his own will

o    Eph 5:17 Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.

o    Eph 6:6 … doing the will of God from the heart

God’s Expressed Will in Ephesians

1.     Eph 1:4 – We should be holy and without blame before Him in love

2.     Eph 1:12 – We should be the praise of His glory

3.     Eph 2:7 – He desires to show the exceeding riches of his grace in His kindness towards us

4.     Eph 2:10  - We are his workmanship (masterpiece), created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God had before ordained that we should walk in them

5.     Eph 2:16 – He desires to reconcile us unto God in one body by the cross

6.     Eph 3:6 – He desires that the gentiles be fellow heirs, of the same body and partakers of the body of Christ by the gospel

7.     Eph 3:17-19  – He desires that

o    Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith

o    We be rooted and grounded in love

o    We know the love of Christ

8.     Eph 4:1 – Walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you were called

9.     Eph 4:3  - Keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace

10.  Eph 4:12-13  – He desires

o    The perfecting of the saints, the work of the ministry and the edifying of the body

o    The unity of the faith

o    The knowledge of the Son of God

o    That we become the “perfect man” unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ

11.  Eph 4:14 – That we should not be tossed to and fro and carried away with every wind of doctrine

12.  Eph 4: 15 – He desires that

o    We speak the truth in love

o    We grow up into Him

13.  Eph 4:17 – We should not walk as other Gentiles walk (do not copy the world)

14.  Eph 4:22 – Put off the former conversation of the old man

15.  Eph 4:23 – We should be renewed in the spirit of your mind

16.  Eph 4:24 – We should put on the new man

17.  Eph 4:25 – Put away lying; Speak the truth

18.  Eph 4:26 – Be angry and sin not – We should control our anger

19.  Eph 4:26 – Do not give place to the devil

20.  Eph 4:28 – Do not steal; Work with our hands

21.  Eph 4:28 – God desires that we should have to give to those in need

22.  Eph 4:29 – Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth

23.  Eph 4:32 – Be kind one to another; Forgive one another

24.  Eph 5:1 – Be ye therefore followers of God

25.  Eph 5:2 – Walk in love

26.  Eph 5:3 - Do not be involved fornication, uncleanness or covetousness – should not occur once!!

27.   Eph 5:6 – Let no man deceive you

28.  Eph 5:11 – Have no fellowship with the unfruitful work of darkness

29.  Eph 5:14 – Awake thou that sleepest

30.  Eph 5:15 – Walk circumspectly

31.  Eph 5:16 – Redeem the time

32.  Eph 5:17 – Do not be unwise; Understand His will

33.  Eph 5:18 – Be filled with the Spirit; be not drunk with wine

34.  Eph 5:20 – Give thanks always for all things

35.  Eph 5:21 – Submit yourselves one to another

36.  Eph 5:22 – Wives should submit to their husbands

37.  Eph 5:25 – Husbands should love their wives

38.  Eph 6:1 -  Children should obey their parents

39.  Eph 6:2 – We should honour our parents

40.  Eph 6:5 - Servants should obey their masters

41.  Eph 6:9 - Masters should respect their workers

42.  Eph 6:10 – We should be strong in the Lord

43.  Eph 6:11 – We should put on the whole armor of God

44.  Eph 6:18 – We should pray always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit

BETTER THAN BABEL: THE POWER OF GOD-CENTRED UNITY

Trevor S. Ferguson

February 24, 2011

Genesis 11:4-7 (KJV)

⁴ And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

⁵ And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.

⁶ And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.

⁷ Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.

Nehemiah  2:17-20 (KJV)

¹⁷ Then said I unto them, Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach.

¹⁸ Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me; as also the king's words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work.

¹⁹ But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What is this thing that ye do? will ye rebel against the king?

²⁰ Then answered I them, and said unto them, The God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore we his servants will arise and build: but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem.

INTRODUCTION: THE PROJECT AT BABEL

The building of the Tower of Babel is often regarded as a symbol of what can be accomplished when people unite for common action. This is based upon the account in Genesis 11 which details how the generation after the flood came together to construct a tower which would reach up to the heavens. The people had a detailed plan for building the tower; they would use bricks burnt in fire [to give the tensile strength as opposed to sun-dried bricks], and mortar to hold the bricks together. They were united in their efforts and all spoke the same language. The reality though is that BABEL WAS A FAILED PROJECT! Despite having the necessary ingredients for success, their project came to a grinding halt and ended up in ruins.

What was it that the Babel project lacked? Why did this great united effort come to naught? The problem was that the Babel project lacked one central ingredient: GOD

Let us look at the narrative in verse 4 of Genesis 11: Let us make US a city, let us make US a name, lest WE be scatted abroad… The Babel project was about the people, about their city and about their name!

The end result was that God came down and confounded their language and so that they could no longer understand each other and thus abandoned their great building project. In the end they had no city, they had no name and instead of a united people they became a divided – scattered abroad upon the earth.

Today I want show from the scriptures an example of a united effort that was BETTER THAN BABEL and to show that GOD-CENTRED UNITY is powerful in accomplishing tasks and overcoming obstacles as we work in the kingdom of God.

EXPOSITION: NEHEMIAH LEADS ISRAEL IN REBUILDING THE WALL OF JERUSALEM

Nehemiah’s building project does not enjoy the popularity of the Babel story, but it is by far superior to Babel in that while Babel was a failed project, Nehemiah’s rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem was an astounding success! 

Let us recount the story in brief. The story begins when Nehemiah’s brother Hanani, after a visit to Jerusalem, reported to him how that the people in Jerusalem were in great affliction and reproach and that the walls of the city were broken and the gates burned with fire. Nehemiah was moved and eventually requested of the king that he (Nehemiah) be sent to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls of the city. When he came to Jerusalem he went by night to view the walls and the gates of the city for himself, then he gathered the people together and outlined his plans to them; he  then challenged the people “… let us build up the wall of Jerusalem that we be no more a reproach ” (verse 17). The people responded – Let us arise and build! In preparation, they strengthened their hands for this good work!

Soon after that decision they were faced with opposition from Sanballat and Tobiah but Nehemiah responded – The God of heaven will prosper us: therefore we will arise and build (verse 20).

The task was great. It is believed that the wall was about two and a half miles long and enclosed about 220 acres; however Nehemiah appointed 41 groups each with a leader to work on 42 sections of the wall / gates. The end result was that this mammoth task was completed in 52 days!! (chap. 6:15)

REFLECTION: WHY DID BABEL FAIL, BUT NEHEMIAH SUCCEED?

What was the difference between the efforts of the people at Babel and the efforts of the Nehemiah’s team?

We noted above that the Babel project was about the people, about their city and about their name; in contrast Nehemiah’s project was about God’s people, God’s city and God’s name! Babel failed because the builders failed to include or to consider God in their plans. Notice the difference with Nehemiah’s plan: Firstly, it was conceived through prayer (verse 5), secondly, the hand of God (God’s blessing) was upon Nehemiah, thirdly, it was driven by noble and righteous purpose – removal of the reproach from his people, preserving the honour of his forefathers and protecting the interest of the people of Israel and the city of Jerusalem, fourthly, there was a dependence upon God. In addition to the above, Nehemiah had the full cooperation and backing of the people as it was said “the people had a mind to work” (chapter 4:6). Nehemiah also used division of labour and appropriate delegated responsibility. Other factors that contributed to Nehemiah’s success included the following: the people were prayerful and watchful as they worked; the people demonstrated courage, determination and faith in the face of major opposition.

APPLICATION: LESSONS FROM BABEL AND NEHEMIAH

1.       United effort is powerful, but Unity without right purpose will ultimately fail

2.       United effort with righteous purpose and with God at the centre will overcome great obstacles and will ultimately bring great success

3.       United effort is strengthened by a willingness to work and by appropriate delegation of responsibility

4.       We must be determined to complete the tasks that God has set before us

5.       We must be willing to fight (spiritually) when faced with opposition

CONCLUSION   

Let us resolve to work together in unity to build the kingdom of God! As we unite let us ensure that God is in the centre of all our plans. At the individual level let us ensure that God is at the centre of our lives; all of us need to be of a common purpose if we are to accomplish God plans for our lives and for his church.

GOD'S WILL

Trevor S. Ferguson

February 20, 2011

Psalms 143:10 (KJV)

Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness.

Matthew 6:9-10 (KJV)

9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

What is God’s Will?

Most of us are familiar with a will that people make that govern how their estate (money, property etc.) is dealt with after they die. This will expresses the specific desires as to what the person wants to happen to his possession. A properly done will is legally binding and will ensure that the will / desire of the person is carried out.

When we speak of God’s will therefore we are speaking about the desires of God as it regards a specific situation.

Will is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as ‘a deliberate or fixed desire or intention’ or ‘the faculty by which a person decides or is regarded as deciding on and initiating action’.

Note that this faculty to make decisions has been given to man, therefore man has a will and God has a will. There is always a struggle between God’s will and man’s will. Left alone man would always do his own will, but we were created to do God’s will.

One way in which we can express what God’s will means is therefore to say: If God was the one making the decision, what decision would He make? This then is to be the focus of our prayer when we are seeking God's will. The decisions we make as a church – If God was making the decision what decision would he make? The decisions we make in our personal life – If God was making the decision what decision would he make?

It is scripturally correct to pray for God’s will to be done!!

 
 In the Lord’s Prayer (Matt 6: 9-13) after our expression of adoration and praise to God, the second thing we are asked to pray for is that God’s will be done. 

Psalm 143:10 tells us “Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness”

In the garden of Gethsemane Jesus prayed three times for God’s will to be done (see Matt 26: 37- 44). Note that it was not that Jesus did not know what God’s will was but there was a struggle in His flesh – hence he prayed ‘Thy will be done!’

How do we know what God’s will is?

Firstly we go to the scriptures. The bible is God’s declared or expressed will.

We note the bible is divided into the Old Testament and the New Testament. 'Testament' is another name for will. So we could therefore speak of the Bible being divided into the Old Will and the New Will.

All that is written in the bible is God’s revealed will. The first thing we need to do as we seek God’s will is to live by his Word. Whatever is written in the word we must do.

Not every thing that we desire to know from God is in the bible. For these decisions we need to seek God’s direction – we have to ask that he reveals to us what is His will concerning these specific situations. For example Daniel having understood that the 70 years in Babylon were soon to be accomplished, desired to know what God’s plan for Israel in the exile was (see Daniel 9). He therefore set out to seek God with payer and fasting for his will to be accomplished. As a result he received the vision of the seventy weeks. God’s will was revealed.

When we face decisions where there are no specific guidelines in scripture we must pray for God’s will to be revealed.

Let us therefore pray that God’s will be done in His church and in our individual lives.