MCC Podcasts
Romans 12 - Living the Transformed Life: Knowing the Will of God | Jeff Mazzariello
I'm Jeff and one of the pastors and I probably messed up, you know, I just like invited people and then more people came and there's no chairs left in the lobby. No, she's leaving. I mean, Pastor Ben, I mean, Pastor Ben's going to go, no, do they have places? I just feel responsible for that because I'm like, come on in and then there weren't there. We're really glad that you guys are here. Welcome everybody I talked to who was in the back and who was like, wow, there's just a sense of God being at work rather than a sense of irritation that's hard to find a seat. So let's just take that posture. There you go. You can sit like, I love that. If you've got a seat near you, you can make it available in the out. But I think everybody's found their spot now. So welcome, you guys. We're really, really glad that you're here at our church today and that you, especially those of you that are newer to our church. We'd love for you to find your home here. We've been in Romans 12 and I was gone on some traveling and I've been singing the praises of Pastor Shelley and Pastor Ben and their messages and they've been incredible. And everybody's kind of laughing and talking about how the fact is we're still in Romans 12 chapter, I mean chapter 12 verses 1 and 2 and I'm still in verse 2 today. So if you have your Bible, let's turn to that. Here's where we're going to go you guys. We're really talking about this. My title slide says it all. We're talking about living the transformed life. That's what Romans 12 is about and that's what we're about. And my title is Knowing the Will of God. This is what verse 2 in the second half is going to talk about. I just literally saw somebody react like this. That was their reaction because there's something that happens to us. We have a weird relationship with this concept of the will of God. And most of our relationship with the concept of the will of God, I want to say frankly, is a tad biblically uninformed. And so that's why we want to do a little Bible study today. And we want to go like let's get our heads clear about what this is all about. I mean we range from, I have this in my legend, in my own story, I have this legend of an infamous taxi ride I took an Iston bull years ago. And the guy drove like he trusted in the sovereignty of God for his life. And whatever, you know, in Turkish, whatever phrase he would say out loud, he would literally say it out loud while he was careening around blind turns on the wrong side of the road to pass traffic. And he was just trusting that if it was God's will that he survived the ride, then it was God's will and if not, then that was fine. Some of us actually live our lives a little like that with some unhealthy view of this distant God who will. Well, I guess it's God's will. I think there's more to it than that. Others, I've had many people in the time and sure Ben can concur with this in our time in ministry. I remember a woman who had a, it was dating an incredible man and got to the place of like we've been dating a long time. And he proposed and so now I'm seeking God's will for whether this is the man I should marry. Well, that my friends is a lot of pressure and she was waiting for a sign. So was the sign that they had a fight that wasn't God's will or was the sign that she was attracted to him and he turned to a nice restaurant, a sign that it was God's will. Or is that have nothing to do with it? So we have a weird relationship with knowing the will of God and considering what that means. But here's the deal when you look at the text, you cannot avoid this reality. Let's look back at verses one and two and I'll get to the reality I want to talk about. So here it is again, the first two verses, therefore I urge you brothers and sisters in view of God's mercy to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice. Holy and pleasing to God, this is your true and proper worship. Verse two, do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And then this last sentence, this is what I want to camp on. Then, then, you'll be able to test and approve. Is that my grandson? Seriously? I'm preaching. No respect. (Laughter) Then, and I isolated it here on this slide for you, then you'll be able to test and approve what God's will is. His good, perfect, and pleasing will. Sorry, his good, pleasing, and perfect will. And this is what we all really long for you guys, this is what we're longing for. In our hunger for God and our search for the spiritual life, we're really longing to know this. This is what we want, we want to know his plan. The woman who's wondering if he's the man to marry, the guy who's wondering if he's going to be kept safe in a very dangerous world. And we have our own versions of that, whether we're taxi drivers or not. We are longing to know God's plan. And the text promises that we can know the will of God. Look back again, look back at the, look at the, look at the, verse one and two. Would you go back for me, Alex? Sorry. Go to the one before that even, yeah. Right? So offering our bodies as living sacrifices, this is how we worship. Don't conform to the pattern in this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is. Then you're going to be able to know what God's will is. Then you're going to be able to know what God's will is. So here's this promise in Scripture that we're people who can know God's will and yet this wonky relationship we have with this understanding of God's will and God's sovereignty. So what do we do with all that? I do want to go back to that camp on that thought that this is what we really long for in our life, that we would be able to know his plan. Every single, this is at the root, this, this longing is at the root of all of our angst. Any of your existential angst right now, any of the things you're carrying in your life is some version of this question, whether you've articulated and identified that that's true or not. It is. It's about God's will. You're wondering, is this what should be? Is there something that should be? What does God want to do here? Every point of angst in our life, every burden that we carry in our life, every juncture in our life, every kind of significant moment in our life is about this idea. It's what our life markers are all about. Is, can I know what God's will is and what is it and how do I find it? Are you resonating with that? Okay. So then let's keep going and let's talk about it. Here's the one truth that I need you to know. And if you get lost in the rest of the sermon, this is the truth you need to carry away. Okay. When you look at the Scriptures and you go, so what is God's will? This is what you find. First thessalonians 4-3. It's God's will that you should be sanctified. What's that word? It's God's will that you should walk in devotion to God alone, seeking his way. It's very general. But it is the core of the biblical teaching about God's will. It is God's will that you should be sanctified. The verse goes on, the dot, dot, dot, that goes on to say, and you shouldn't be involved in sexual immorality, duh, that it goes there as the first example. But what it's saying is, listen, here's what God's will is. In all of the circumstances you're going to face. In all of the markers that you're facing and all the angst you're carrying and all of the stuff, the one thing you need to know when you're like, what's God's will? It's God's will that you should be more and more like Jesus. That's God's will. And actually a lot of our problems get solved. Now we're going to talk about some other stuff in a minute. But a lot of our problems get solved when we simply ask the question, and forgive me for this trite phrase, would Jesus do this? That actually takes out about 80% of the things that we're wondering about. In fact, I loved, and this was a divine, well I had good worship players who picked the songs, but a divine coincidence as well. I love that we ended with that song. It's like, I want your presence and your will. This is what I long for, because when it really comes down to it, if it's God's will that we be sanctified and walk in holiness, the real question is, do we really want that or not? Or do we want to do our thing? So when we're asking about God's will, it's kind of fun to bandy about the theological ramifications of all of it. But the scriptures are teaching, here's the first and foremost thing, it's God's will that you should be more and more like Christ. It's God's will that you should walk in holiness. It's God's will that you should be transformed to be more like His Son. That's God's will. And so when we face things in our life, we have to go, what is the most holy choice here? What is the thing that aligns with God's heart, God's will, God's revealed plan in the scriptures, et cetera. We'll talk more about that. You should know that one big truth, you guys. It's God's will that you should be sanctified. That's His will. Capital W will. That's His will. It solves all kinds of conundrums in our lives. And now that being said, His will, and this is clear in scripture, and it's certainly clear in our everyday experience, His will is lived out in details in our lives steps that we take. In the end, that person, that woman has to decide if she's going to go to the altar. Right? That's a big step. Some of us have to decide, I've freed him today to work from home or go into the office. What should I do? So His will, His plan for us has actually worked out in the nitty gritty of everyday lives. And I know that scripture actually does teach us that we can know that will as well. We can walk in that will. Capital W, as will as you should be sanctified. And so you ask the big questions about that. Should I sleep with my boyfriend? I'm not married. The answer is no. God's will that we should be sanctified and walk in holiness. But now what do we do with all of the details in our lives? Well, let's talk about that because we need to also talk about these steps, not just being whole. We've got both aspects to pursue and to contend with. God's capital will, walk in holiness. God's small W will. What do I do today tomorrow? These choices that I have to make. Before we get into that, talking about the steps, I want to reflect on the concept of God's will. Like, what does that actually mean? I'm getting it right out of this text, you guys. And so, in fact, just shoot back to verse two. Would you, Alex, for me, so we can see what that's going to say. Then you'll be able to test and approve what God's will is, and then these words. This is good, pleasing, and perfect will. See those three things? That's there for a reason, right? And Paul wrote. When we talk about God's will, he's like, you know, his will is will that's good? His will that's pleasing? His will that's perfect. Let's look at each of those briefly before we talk more about the practicality of the steps of discerning God's will. Number one, his will, it says, is good. His will is good. It's what life is supposed to be. That's what this means. When you see the word good in Scripture, it's intrinsically godly in the kingdom of heaven, in the eternity, in the eternal. Like it's good. It's how it's supposed to be. And I want to awaken in you a hunger to want to live life God's way, church. When we decide to pursue God's will and he reveals it in all the ways that he reveals it, whether it's capital, will, holiness, or whether it's small, w, walking, the individual steps. I want you to know that his way is good. It is fruitful. It's how things are supposed to be. It's how things are supposed to be. It's how life is supposed to be lived. There's a phrase, I don't know who I picked it up from, maybe one of you know the author that I stole this from, but it rattles around in my head a lot, especially in my pastoral care and conversations with each of you about your journeys, and it's this phrase. There's a way things work, and the way that things work in the kingdom of God is good. And so it could be that when things aren't working, that we're out of step, out of a line with God's plan, with God's best, with God's holiness, with God's design. We have to ask that question. Now listen, don't go all the way down that path to it right now. I mean, you can reflect on that later, and I know that some of us are oriented to spinning out and questioning and being like, "Ah, I'm not enjoying my job this week, so it must not be good, therefore it's not God's will, I'm going to quit." Like, hang on, we can move more slowly and carefully with the love of God and the shepherding of Jesus in our lives. But it is worth asking, this relationship is not work, it's not good, it's not how it's supposed to be, is it because it's out of a line with the ways of God? It could be that my attitude about a certain situation is not good, it's not how it should be, it could be, and probably is that some ways I'm out of a line with the ways of God. And so we're always trying to get ourselves back into God's will that you should be sanctified, you should be holy, that I should pursue what God wants. So this idea that is will is good, it's what life is supposed to be, just draws us to be like, "Okay, well I want life and it's fullest, so I want to then align myself with God's will as much as possible." Jesus taught this, He said in John 10-10, it's just one of our favorite verses, right? That the thief comes, this is what the enemy does, the thief comes to steal and kill and destroy. When things are not working as they should, there's a way that things work and then work well, the way God designed things to work well, that's God's way it works well. When things aren't working well, we can blame God. But I'm telling you right now that the Scriptures teach that it's the enemy who steals and kills and destroys. Jesus came, that's not my way, my way is that you would have life, right, and have it to the full. This is life, so I picked that graphic for that screen, just life at its most fruitfulness. His will is good, it's what life is supposed to be. And if we're not experiencing life, and I bet you there's some work to be done to figure out what is your way, Jesus, because this is not going right. I'm aware that some people might be, you might be thinking of A circumstance right now in your life. And I want you to be very, very careful and very quiet spirited and let the Lord begin to speak to you about that thing. It may be that He's ordained you to walk through a trial or some perseverance right now to grow you, to get you to think about some stuff, to change the way that you think. It may be that you've got some correction to do in terms of aligning yourself with God's way. So, his will is good, it's what life is supposed to be. We know that conceptually and generally, that's what we're talking about, and that's what we want. Secondly, the Scripture says that not only is this good, it says it's his good pleasing and perfect will. His will is pleasing, secondly, the Scripture teaches. His will is pleasing. What that means is it's what God longs for. His will in another translation is acceptable to God. And that links right up to verse 1 that Shelly preached on, right? Look at verse 1. Can you find that Alex for me somewhere in your slides? Verse 1, Romans 12, thank you, sorry, pulled a curve ball on you. Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and see it there, pleasing to God. That's what this means when it comes back down to say his good and pleasing, perfect will. It's the same idea. When we're holy, when we're aligned with God, when we're walking in his ways, then it pleases him. It's what God longs for us. And so thank you, Alex, for finding that. I just wanted to go back there, but this second point, his will is pleasing, is to remind us that doing his will is what God's longing for with us. And essentially, that's what we're longing for. You guys, this becomes our motivation. This is how we want to live. We don't want to be people who are like, I want life and blessing and prosperity. That's not our MO at all. Our MO is, I want to please the Father. I mean, it's going to go well for me because that's what happens. But I want to please the Father. I've surrendered my life to Jesus as my Savior, as my brother, the one who's gone before us. As we more and more give our hearts to devotion to the Lord, we want to please him. And so that's what we're longing for in this and understanding God's will. It's like his will is good. It's the way it should be. It's pleasing. That's what God is longing for. This verses are all over the New Testament. I love this. I just pulled a couple out of Ephesians, chapter 5. Look at this. Paul's always talking about you once lived a certain way. That's not you anymore. And he goes, you once were in darkness, but now you're light in the Lord live as children of light. Doesn't that just even buoy your heart? Doesn't it make you go, "Yeah, I want that." For the fruit of light is consistent all goodness and righteousness and truth, verse 10, and find out what pleases the Lord. Isn't that a great little phrase? Find out what pleases the Lord. That's what we long for. It's what we're supposed to be doing. It's what our hearts would want to do. It's what God takes delight in. Find out what pleases the Lord into it. That might be a great life first. Let's get a tattoo. Me and you. Let's get a tattoo that just says, "Find out what pleases the Lord." That's how I'm going to live from now on. Let me find out what pleases the Lord. It's a simple phrase, but it's a whole life of devotion, as Shelley preached on, all in fully devoted, right? Living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. Let's go after that. Well, that's the second thing that he says is, "Will is pleasing, is will is good." It's pleasing, and the third thing he says is that it's perfect. His will is perfect. This is so great. It's going to be the best plan. It's the bull's eye to how we're supposed to live. All these could be interchangeable. The verses I'm using for each point, the concepts, they're all interchangeable. I think that was Paul's point in writing this to the Romans. He's like, "Look at it. It's good pleasing and perfect. It's just this whole picture of it's right. It's the right way to live. It's what we long for. And it's going to be the best plan." It's going to be the best plan for our lives. Here's a very humbling concept, you guys. We'll never, as smart as you are, as capable as you are, you'll never be able to figure out the best plan for your life apart from God. I mean, you'll do okay, but you'll never figure out a better plan than God's plan for you. I always quote Mike Nolan in our church, one of our sages. He's like, "Man, long time ago, I told him I exchanged my plan for my life with God's plan for my life. And that's the best decision I've ever made." And that's what it simply comes down to. There's a brutal verse in Proverbs. It's twice in Proverbs within like two chapters. It says this. There's a way that seems right to a person, but its end is the way of death. Can we be humble enough just for a minute to say there's a really good chance that left on my own apart from seeking God's plan for my life? There's a lot of chance that I could create a disaster. Maybe I got any life story that gives you that testimony. And so this is what God's will is it's perfect. It's exactly the right way to live. And this is the battle of control that we're all going to still experience, even after we've given our lives to Jesus, my way, his way. In the end, we're going to have to settle on it. We know that he knows best. And that's super counter-cultural because we look at our lives when we kind of step away from the devotional life and sort of take our Christianity and compartmentalize it to the daily struggles that I face and the decisions that are in front of me. We literally have these strong feelings. I would even go so far as to say convictions, not godly convictions, but just convictions where we go. This is unacceptable to me, and this is the outcome I want. And so this is what I'm going to do to get that outcome. My friends, we have to be very, well, Ephesians, Paul says in Ephesians, be very careful how you live because his way is best. So this is God's will. All right. So what do we do with that? You guys, it's good, his pleasing and his perfect will. Well, it says in the text that we'll be able to test and approve that. I don't have time to talk about that, but when you look at that verse two, then you'll be able to test and approve what God's will is. Just don't miss the Bible study on that. You'll be able to test it, which means you'll be able, right, to begin to discern what God's will is. That's what test means. And you'll be able to approve it, which means you'll end up being able to confirm that that's what God's will is. So you're just discerning what God's will is, then you're going to kind of get settled that this is God's will. So this promise in that verse is really great. You'll be able to test and approve it. And so you're not going to be like, I don't know, I guess I just just marry him. I don't know. No, you can walk in the spirit and test and then approve what God's will is, this good pleasing and perfect will. So I just want to focus on this real quick. Before you go there, go back to the screen of the text, Alex. Then you'll be able to test. Then, then you'll be able to test. You caught that when you read the whole verse, right? Then. When? When? All right, go back. Let's look at verse one and verse two again. Throwing you all kinds of curveballs back there, bro. Thank you. When will we be able to know? When we've offered our bodies in view of God's mercy. Shelly Sermon. Did you hear that, Sermon? Word. Offer our bodies as living sacrifices. Every room in our house. Every room in our house. Every room in our house. Then we'll be able to know what God's will is. Did you hear Ben Sermon last week? Word. When are we going to know God's will? When we don't conform any longer to the patterns of this world when we're not swept out to see. But we're transformed by the renewing of our minds. Then we'll be able to know what God's will is. It's good pleasing and perfect will. So, we're left with a question. All right, if that's the then, then what does that look like? Jeff, tell me what to do. Here's the way we discern God's will. Back to that list, Alex. This is the way we discern. Now, go all the way back to the beginning. Don't reveal them yet. This is how we discern God's will. This could also be titled, "This is how we get transformed." This could also be titled, "This is how our mind gets renewed." Because that's what verse 1 teaches us. And verse 2a teaches us, right? And here's what it is. Number 1, God's word. We're in God's word. We're in God's word. That's how we've transformed. That's how we've rehearsed. That's how we rehearsed the truth has been phrased it last week. That's how we rehearsed the truth. God's word doesn't tell us everything. God's word doesn't tell you to marry that guy. Unless that guy doesn't line up with God's word and then God's word tells you to run from him. So it doesn't tell you all that kind of stuff. It doesn't tell you about the market and so how you should be putting your retirement funds. It doesn't tell you that. God's word doesn't tell you that. But it tells you a lot about the ways in which God is pleased in how we live. So God's word's going to be part of it, right? That's for sure going to be a thing. We're going to be in God's word. John 17, 17 says, I don't have it on the screen, but go look at it. It's Jesus praying for each of us and Jesus prays for us and he says, "Father, make them holy sanctify them by your truth." Your word is truth. That's Jesus' prayer for you. I'll make your people more devoted and more holy so they can live out this beautiful plan. And then Jesus says, your word's truth. Get them in your words. This is Jesus' prayer for you. Jesus' prayer for you before the Father is that you'd be in the Word. How great is that? All right, the Word. That's how we discern God's will/get our minds transformed/ renew our minds or get transformed. All right, second, promptings from the Holy Spirit. This is part of the weird angst, the promptings. Now, you know, we do a whole sermon on this, but in the end, this is less concrete for you than capital W will. It's God's will that you should be sanctified. So walk in holiness. That will make 80% of your decisions. Now, when you're trying to figure out what to do in the small steps of the day, get in God's words, see if it's easy to something specific. And when it doesn't, then you are going to walk in the Spirit. And the Scriptures do teach that when you walk in the Spirit, in fact, I've got like 15 verses that not on the screen, but I'm going to read a couple of them for you. The Scriptures, the prophet Isaiah, whether you turn to the left or the right, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, "This is the way, walk in it." So the Spirit can and will speak to us. Church, John 847, whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you don't hear God is that you do not belong to God. John 10 is Jesus, the one who enters by the gates, the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him and the sheep listen to his voice. When he has brought them all out, he goes on ahead of them and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. Later in the chapter, Jesus said, "My sheep listen to my voice. I know them and they follow me because they can hear me." So it's in there, you guys. It's all through the Scriptures that we can hear the Word of God leading of us in our specific steps. That is not an exact science, and it is a lifelong journey of discernment. Did I, if I told you to get this morning to be very, very careful? Because the inner promptings of the Spirit to those of us who are not devoting ourselves, every room is shelly preached. A living sacrifice sold out for God. The promptings of the Holy Spirit can not actually be the promptings of the Holy Spirit when we're not sold out. They're us in our flesh wanting what we want. And you're like, "Okay, you just talked for 30 minutes and we're back where I always was stuck." I know, I know. But as we walk this journey of being in God's Word, submitting ourselves in holiness, we're rehearsing the truth. We're being changed slowly but surely, and we can learn to discern best the promptings of the Holy Spirit. If you're wondering more about that, we'd love to have pastoral conversation with you about it. You also should be having conversation with a lot of other people because as you talk out loud, as you're ready to confess your sin, as you're ready to be real before the Lord, then you're going to be getting to these places where you're like, "You know, actually, I don't know that that's the promptings of the Holy Spirit. That's something that I really, really want." Remember the question I said at the very, very beginning that came out of the worship song? Do you really want to know God's plan? It still keeps coming back to getting settled there. By the way, speaking of knowing other people, that's one of the-- or talking to other people, that's one of the things. Wise counsel is a way that we discern God's Spirit. Because when we talk out loud, we process out loud, I'm an external processor, some of you may get that. You're maybe like that. There's other people around that have shared their experiences, other people around that can see things from opposite side because our fears or our wounds or whatever in the way. Wise counsel's so good. Also, wise counsel's good, especially if the person is wise. Oh, are they not wise? Be very careful. Who you're processing with. Because if they're not wise. Okay. Anyway, wise counsel's so good because you may be open to a better argument and that person may give you one. Do you want to know God's will? How great were we ask Jesus for the grace to be able to say, "This is what I want, if I'm honest." But I'm ready to hear something different. Way to look at this. Okay. Ben, I want you guys to be making your way out here. Here we go. There's other ways to discern God's will. Circumstances, right? Circumstances are great because you're like, "Oh, man, should I take this job? Should I take this job? Should I take this job? Should I take this job? They didn't offer me the job. Thank you, Lord. That is God's will. But if I told you, be very careful. Because should I take this job? Should I take this job? Should I take this job? Should I take this job? Should I take this job? They offer me the job. An open door does not guarantee that's God's will. You're going to have so many open doors. Am I right? That can't all be God's will just because it's an open door. Well, I got into that school. I guess I should go. What kind of godly thinking is that? So be very careful. But circumstances do really help us. Thank you, Lord. Here's a good prayer. I'm always like, "Lord, I'm going to step. I'm going to step. I'm going to step. Give me a red light. Would you give me a red light because I'm going to step?" And then I'm like, "Do I tell you I was going to step? Lord, I'm going to..." I'm like, "I want to do your will. I feel like this is like I'm going to..." Give me a red light. Give me a red light." And the Lord sometimes is gracious to work out circumstances. Peace of Christ comes, settles on us as opposed to not the peace of Christ, which is a conviction of the Holy Spirit that I'm walking in the flesh, that I'm walking in sin, that I'm really doing with just what I want to do. But over time, the peace of Christ settles on us. Be very careful. You can fool yourself. And then last I said, this really important point, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Because we discern the will of God by all of the spiritual practices. Why? Because the spiritual practices put us in the way of the Holy Spirit so that we can be transformed by the renewing of our mind, verse 1, then you'll be able to test and approve what God's will is. And it is good and pleasing to Him, and perfect. It's what we want. So what's your next step in getting in the way of the Spirit that He might transform you, that He might have His way so that you can discern God's plan in the big W will and the small steps of daily life? Let's respond in devoting ourselves, you guys, in worship to that final, first and final question. Do I really want His way? And will I settle that issue with God again today and each day from here forward? Let's stand in worship. (gentle music)