When God’s Will Isn’t Ours.

Because I was sure of this, I wanted to come to you first, so that you might have a second experience of grace. I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and to come back to you from Macedonia and have you send me on my way to Judea. Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? Do I make my plans according to the flesh, ready to say “Yes, yes” and “No, no” at the same time? As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been Yes and No. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No, but in him it is always Yes. For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. – 2 Corinthians 2:15-22 ESV

When reading any book in the Bible, but especially the pastoral letters, it is important to recognize that there was an original audience to whom the letters were written. That means there was a particular context which drove the content of the letter. That is the case with our text for today. Paul was addressing an issue that unique to he and his audience in Corinth. In his previous letter to the church there, he had told them that he had planned to come and see them.

I will visit you after passing through Macedonia, for I intend to pass through Macedonia, and perhaps I will stay with you or even spend the winter, so that you may help me on my journey, wherever I go. For I do not want to see you now just in passing. I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits. – 1 Corinthians 16:5-7 ESV

Evidently Paul’s plans had changed and he was not able to follow through on his plans. The result was that there were those in Corinth who began to question his word. So on top of having to deal with a faction in the church who were questioning the validity of his apostleship and therefore, his authority, he was now having to defend his integrity.

Paul wanted them to know that he had been sincere when he told them he was going to visit them. In fact, twice in this passage he claims that his intentions had been to go to Corinth.  “I wanted to come to you first” 2 Corinthians 1:15 ESV). “I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia” (2 Corinthians 1:16 ESV). But his plans had changed. His agenda had been altered by God. We can read in the book of Acts that it was not uncommon for Paul’s plans to be impacted by the Spirit of God.

Next Paul and Silas traveled through the area of Phrygia and Galatia, because the Holy Spirit had prevented them from preaching the word in the province of Asia at that time.Then coming to the borders of Mysia, they headed north for the province of Bithynia, but again the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them to go there. So instead, they went on through Mysia to the seaport of Troas. – Acts 16:6-8 NLT

Paul was a servant of God and as such, he was obligated to do what God wanted him to do. His plans were subservient to those of God. And yet, the Corinthians were viewing his failure to visit them as vacillation or, even worse, disingenuousness. So Paul asks them, “You may be asking why I changed my plan. Do you think I make my plans carelessly? Do you think I am like people of the world who say ‘Yes’ when they really mean ‘No’?” (2 Corinthians 1:17 NLT). Paul insists that his failure to come to see them has nothing to do with vacillation, but everything to do with submission to the will of God. In fact, he claims that he, Silas and Timothy were simply being faithful to what God was calling them to do, just as Christ was faithful to do the will of His Father. Paul’s point seems to be that his will and desires were completely subservient to the will of God. He was completely obligated to do what God wanted him to do, even when it was in direct conflict with his own well-intentioned desires. 

In essence, Paul is boldly claiming that to question his integrity and faithfulness was to question the very will of God. He was simply doing what God was telling him to do, and God is always faithful. His yes is yes and His no is no. He doesn’t lie. His word can be trusted. And because Paul was doing the will of God, the Corinthians were essentially questioning the integrity of God and His Son. In fact, Paul states, “For Jesus Christ, the Son of God, does not waver between ‘Yes’ and ‘No.’ He is the one whom Silas, Timothy, and I preached to you, and as God’s ultimate ‘Yes,’ he always does what he says” (2 Corinthians 1:19 NLT). The bottom line for Paul was that Jesus was the ultimate “Yes” from God. He was the unquestioned expression of God’s faithfulness because through Him all the promises of God had been fulfilled. This wasn’t about Paul keeping his word, but about God keeping His. It was about the gospel and the spread of it throughout the known world. That was Paul’s duty and responsibility and in doing his job, if it meant that his own will had to take a back seat, he was okay with that. And the Corinthians needed to be so as well. Their unmet expectations had to take second place to God’s divine plan. God’s will took precedence over their personal and somewhat petty disappointments.

Rather than being put out with Paul, they needed to remember what God had done for them. As much as they may have desired to see Paul and were disappointed that he had failed to keep his word, they needed to recall that God’s promise was unbreakable and Paul had been the one to bring it to them. 

It is God who enables us, along with you, to stand firm for Christ. He has commissioned us, and he has identified us as his own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first installment that guarantees everything he has promised us. – 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 NLT

People will let us down, but God never will. Even faithful believers, who are committed to and bound by the sovereign will of God, will occasionally disappoint us. But we must remember that God’s word is always reliable and the fulfillment of His will is unstoppable. What appear to be setbacks from our perspective are simply God’s will being done in ways that we can’t understand. What come across as disappointments or delays are nothing more than the will of God conflicting with our own desires. Paul was disappointed that he had not been able to make it to Corinth. But he knew that God’s will was better than his own. He had plans and aspirations, but he knew that God’s plans were superior to His own. We can know we’re learning to trust God when we find ourselves gladly submitting our will to His, displaying dependence rather than disappointment.  

Unity With A Purpose.

I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. – John 17:21-22 ESV

John 17:1-26

Jesus has just finished asking God the Father to sanctify the disciples in the truth, the truth of the Word. But He qualifies and clarifies His request by expanding it to include all “those who will believe in me through their word.” This sanctification process made possible through Jesus' death and resurrection, and based on the truth of God's Word would result in oneness – a unity based on conformity to the Word of God. Jesus is not asking His Father to make it so everyone would just get along. No, He is asking for sanctification – an increasing spiritual transformation in the lives of His disciples and every subsequent Christ-follower to come. He is asking for the same kind of unity that He and the Father share. He is not talking about friendship, but a unity based on a shared will and a common desire to glorify God. The unity Jesus prayed for was based on the kind of unity He knew intimately well. He knew the will of His Father and He desired nothing more than to see it fulfilled – in His life and in the world. I think that is why, in His model prayer, Jesus gave us the words, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10 ESV). Jesus and His Father were completely unified when it came to the divine plan for mankind. There was never any disunity or disagreement between the two as to what needed to be done and what Jesus' role was to be. In the garden Jesus did pray, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done” (Luke 22:42 ESV). His humanity would have preferred a different path than the one chosen for Him by God. But because He and the Father were one, Jesus was willing to submit His will to the One He trusted and loved. Jesus knew the Father well. He knew His heart and was intimately aware of His character. He did not doubt the Father's love for Him. He did not question the Father's plans for Him. They were one.

So Jesus prayed that all His followers would experience the same kind of oneness that He and His Father enjoyed. A oneness or unity based on the truth of God's Word and the unchanging character of God that it reveals. To be sanctified in the truth of God's Word is to be constantly transformed by the growing awareness of God's loving, sovereign, perfect plan for mankind as revealed in Jesus Christ. It is to be increasingly convinced of the supernatural reality of Christ's redemptive work, the Father's love, the world's lostness, and our God-ordained commission to spread the good news of Jesus Christ to anyone and everyone we meet. When Jesus prays for our unity, He is asking for so much more than just a let's-get-along mentality. He is asking for more than just agreement over doctrine and a mutual assent to certain theological truths. He is praying for the same kind of non-negotiable unity that He and the Father share. We can waste so much time debating and disagreeing over issues of doctrine and lose sight of God's plan of redemption for mankind. We can end up arguing over certain theological issues, defending our point of view and demanding our interpretation be accepted, all the while failing to seek that God's Kingdom come and His will be done. The apostle John reminds us, “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8 ESV) and “that he appeared in order to take away sins” (1 John 3:5 ESV). How easy it is to forget those two truths and become obsessed with something other than the will of God.

It is interesting to note that the end result of our unity is not just to be horizontal in nature, but vertical. Our unity is ultimately to be with God and His Son. If our unity is merely horizontal in nature; in other words, if we just get along with one another, but lack an awareness of and submission to the will of God, it is wasted. There are cults, religions, organizations and groups of all kinds that share a oneness that is anything but godly. What Jesus prayed for was a growing godliness based on God's Word and an increasing oneness with one another based on the same oneness He shared with His Father. He wanted us to share a common cause and commitment based on the will of God for mankind. And Jesus knew that when His followers were unified in that way, the world would know that He had been sent by the Father. In other words, when we, as His disciples, become convinced of God's redemptive will and submit to it willingly, we will want what He wants. We will do everything in our power to see that His Kingdom come and His is done on this earth just as it is done in heaven. And the world will know that Jesus Christ truly was the Son of God sent to provide salvation from sin and death and a restored relationship with God the Father.