GOOD, BETTER, BEST

Romans 12:1-2 (KJV)

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

The will of God, probably as much or more than anything having to do with the Christian life, confounds the Christian.

On the one hand we hear phrase like, “The safest place to be in this world, is in the center of God’s will.”

On the other hand, knowing exactly what that will is can be treacherously deceptive.

Years ago I invited an evangelist friend of mine to join our church and be sent out as a ministry of our church.

He was hesitant and asked if the two of us could seek counsel from another preacher - one both of us had great respect for.

When we met with that preacher, after some pleasantries, he said, “I have learned, over the years of my ministry, that it is impossible for me to determine the will of God for another person.”

That was about the end of the meeting.

But later he phoned me privately and advised me not to go through with bringing this particular evangelist into our church.[1]

I have thought about that conversation a lot of times over the years.

I have a tough enough time sometimes, knowing the will of God for myself, let alone for someone else.[2]

Anyone can say anything is the will of God and who is there that can say it isn’t?

I want to address the issue of the will of God this morning.

The Bible tells us that when we present our bodies a living sacrifice unto God, when we submit ourselves to Him - we can prove - it means we can test it out, examine it and determine what is the:

·   Good

·   Acceptable and

·   Perfect

will of God.

There are other ways to interpret this, but most of us believe that we find in this passage that there is: a

·   Good will of God, an

·   Acceptable will of God and a

·   Perfect will of God

By obeying the word of God I can prove or discover what is good, acceptable perfect in the will of God.

I submit to you that,

I. THERE IS ONLY ONE PERFECT WILL OF GOD

That is the Word of God.

Romans 12:2 (KJV)

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

You renew your mind with the Word of God.

"As he thinketh in his heart so is he"[3]

·   We are renewed through the Word of God

·   We are renewed through the reading of it

·   We are renewed through the preaching of it

·   We are renewed through the teaching of it

The perfect will of God is what is found in the Word of God.

Further,

A. We are in the perfect will of God by submitting to it

Romans 12:1 (KJV)

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

Notice the words:

·   Sacrifice and

·   Service

They speak of surrender and submission.

They imply

·   A cost and even

·   Some discomfort

Being in the center of the will of God is not the easy place.

Jim Elliot believed himself to be in the center of God’s will at the very moment an Auca Indian drove a spear through him and killed him.

He left his wife a widow and his children fatherless. Further, he had led four other men to give the same sacrifice, leaving each of their wives without a husband and their children without fathers.

Really?

The perfect will of God was for them to suffer painful deaths and for their families to suffer for years to follow?

There is only one thing we can say for certain is the perfect will of God – that is what is recorded in the Bible.

I am in the perfect will of God only in as much as I am obedient to the Word of God.

·   It is the perfect will of God that a person get saved

·   It is the perfect will of God that the saved are Scripturally baptized

·   It is the perfect will of God that the believers unite themselves into local churches

·   It is the perfect will of God for those churches to give themselves for the Great Commission.

I can go on:

·   It is the perfect will of God that you put off the old man

·   It is the perfect will of God that you put on Jesus Christ

·   It is the perfect will of God that ye be not yoked together with unbelievers

·   etc

But may I tell you,

B. We do the perfect will of God imperfectly

Abraham did the will of God, but he did it imperfectly

Moses did the will of God but he did it imperfectly

David did the will of God but he did it imperfectly

The Apostle Paul, along with Barnabas (and later, Silas) surrendered to the will of God to preach the gospel among the Gentiles.

They are traveling from country to country and city to city preaching the Word of God and planting churches.

At first, there is no indication that God is too particular where they go. They just go, as Abraham, not knowing whither they went and preached the gospel wherever they ended up.

Everything was fine until Paul wanted to go one direction and the Spirit would not let him.

Acts 16:6-7 (KJV)

Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia,

After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not.

The perfect will of God is obeying the Word of God whether it's the direction you want to go with your life or not.

Observation two

II. THE GOOD AND ACCEPTABLE WILL OF GOD ARE BOTH THE WILL OF GOD

Romans 12:2 (KJV)

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

The good, acceptable and perfect will of God is not the same as:

·   Good

·   Better

·   Best

This is not second and third best.

Somebody would say it like this;

·   If you can’t have the perfect will of God, go for the good will of God.

·   And if you can’t have the good will of God, then at least get the acceptable will of God.

I do not believe it works that way and I do not believe that is what this passage implies.

It says that,

·   When you present your body a living sacrifice and

·   When you are not conformed to this world but transformed by the renewing of your mind[4]

Then you can discover all three facets of the will of God:

·   The good

·   The acceptable and

·   The perfect

I would agree that the three are different.

I would agree that the perfect will of God is perfect obedience to the Bible, and I urge you to strive for that.

But in so far as you have fallen short of that,[5] don’t give up and quit.

The good and the acceptable will of God is still the will of God.

It was the Holy Spirit of God who told the church in Antioch to separate Barnabas and Saul[6] for the work whereunto He had called them.

The two of them went out and had a great ministry for God.

When they were finished, they came home, reported to their church.

A doctrinal heresy arose over the saving of the Gentiles and Barnabas and Paul successfully argued their case before the saints in Jerusalem, confirming that salvation for every man is simply by faith and without works.

But when they began to plan their second missionary trip a disagreement developed between Barnabas and Paul.

The argument became so sharp that the two men parted company – as far as we know, never to communicate again.

That could not have been the perfect will of God

But it did not stop them from obeying the Word of God.

·   Barnabas took John Mark and

·   Paul took Silas

And the two of them continued doing what God had called them to do.

It might be that you have forfeited the perfect will of God.

God still has a good and acceptable will for you.

·   Lift up your eyes

·   Hold up your head

·   Open the Word of God

And keep on obeying the Word of God

I have one thing left to say concerning the will of God,

III. THE ONLY THING THAT IS NOT THE WILL OF GOD IS REBELLION AGAINST THE WORD OF GOD

Israel stepped out of the perfect will of God and insisted that the Prophet Samuel anoint for them a king.

The man chosen was a tall, humble, handsome young man by the name of Saul.

Although King Saul started out humble and the people thought they got themselves a good king, his position got the better of him and Saul began taking for granted the will of God.

He had been given specific instructions against which he rebelled.

God’s answer to him was, 1 Samuel 15:22-23 (KJV)

And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.

For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.

·   I don’t know anyone who perfectly obeys the perfect will of God. Because of it

·   I know a lot of people who now obediently obey the good and acceptable will of God

I want to urge you today, if you can’t have the perfect will of God, don’t rebel against God.

Conclusion

Yesterday's mistakes have no bearing on the will of God today.

The only thing that matters – the thing that delights God – is that we obey the voice of the Lord in the Word of God.

---

[1] It occurs to me today, I have no idea what he might have said in a private conversation with the evangelist!

[2] But experience has taught me that I have a “sense” about these things. Very often I can tell when a person is about to make a decision that is dangerous to their spiritual well being.

[3] Proverbs 23:7

[4] Surrendered to and obedient to the Word of God

[5] And we all do in some areas of our lives.

[6] Renamed Paul