Knowing the Will of God -- Part 3 of 4

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The difficultly in making decisions comes when we are confronted with choosing between rights or between evils. The example questions above demonstrate those difficult decisions. However, let me add a few more examples: Which jeans should I wear? Should I eat Sonic or Wendy’s? What color should I paint my wall?

These questions are apparently trivial. In most cases they are trivial. However, if one of the pairs of jeans is too revealing or immodest, you still have a choice between a right and wrong. If one of the restaurants happens to donate a portion of profits to abortion research, the choice is still between a wrong and a right.

If these stipulations don’t exit, should the choice be difficult? Should I spend an hour in prayer to determine the hamburger joint for the night? As moronic as it may sound, there are people who are in bondage to this type of thinking. They look for a heavenly sign to decide which shoes or boxers to wear. They worry if the color of their carpet pleases almighty God—who we all know loves LSU purple and gold. (Sarcasm)

People in these circumstances are in bondage. They do not understand what it means to be free in Christ. Look at Look at Galatians 5:1-12. Paul was directly addressing the issue of legalism, the adding of requirements for any aspect the Christian salvation or living. After Paul’s departure from the churches at Galatia, some Jews began to corrupt the gospel message of “Christ alone!” These Jews were teaching “Christ plus the law.” In order to be spiritual, you needed to be circumcised and eat kosher and observe Jewish holidays, etc. Paul in return tells these corrupting Jews that he wished for their castration. (“cut themselves off” is a polite rendition of the Greek)

Why was Paul so angry? In Christ, we have been set free from the legal requirement of the law. This is not a call for anarchy or antinomianism, nor is this a license to sin. It is call to confidence, realizing that God’s pleasure in us is due to Christ’s work on our behalf on the cross and in our lives—not in our efforts and feeble attempts to win God’s pleasure. In Christ we are free—free from the bondage of our sin nature and free from the obligation of the Law. We live by faith now. Therefore, we don’t need to fret over the every trivial decision we make.

When we fret about nothings, we place ourselves in a bondage that enslaves our conscious to legalism. In Gal 2:20-21, Paul status, “(20) I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ live in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. (21) I do set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, the Christ died in vain.” Paul knew that the work that pleases God is the work that Christ accomplishes through us when we trust Him in faith. Verse 21 not only talks about our position of righteousness in Christ Jesus, but also the righteousness of the works of our hands. In Christ, we stand justified in the eyes of God because He has declared us righteous, and that decree of righteousness on our behalf rests in the atoning work of Christ. However, only in Christ will any good work performed by my hands be pleasing to the Father. No set of laws or regulations or rituals will make my works acceptable.

Fretting over the trivial issues is an expression of doubt. When a man worries about the color of his shirt, he trusts not in the merit of Christ’s work—but rather his own deeds. However, if there is any way other than Christ to stand righteously or to do righteously in God’s sight, then Christ wasted his time dying on the cross. It is offensive to the cross to make mountains out of molehills—to worry frivolously over the smallest of decisions.

Tommorrow, Part 4 of 4. Remembering the Sovereignty of God in both the small and big choices.