Good morning. I suspect, like last week, this
week's sermon will be a little longer. So apologies
if you haven't had your cup of coffee. If the
person next to you starts shutting their eyes,
just assume they're praying. Assume the best
in them. And if they start snoring, then you
can give them a gentle elbow. But let's pray,
let's ask God to help us as we look at his word
now. And I hope you'll see a little longer sermon
today is worth it too. Father, thank you so much
that we can gather as your people. And we ask
that you would comfort us, challenge us, change
us, convict us, help us today as we look at your
word to be made more into the likeness of the
Lord Jesus. And we ask this in his name. Amen.
I want to tell you about two people and my challenge
for you is for you to try and work out what these
two people have in common. The first is Jack.
Jack lives in Cairns over in Brinsmead somewhere.
He grew up going to a Catholic church and a Catholic
school and he hated being there. He did not enjoy
it. And so Jack now is done with Christianity
or anything remotely like Christianity. Too many
rules, too many restrictions. Christianity, that
to me sounds like a straight jacket. And since
he's done that, his life feels freer. Jack thinks
I get to do what I want now. I can sleep with
who I want. I don't have to deal with any of
that Catholic guilt. That's hardcore stuff. Sometimes
he feels like something's missing in his life,
but he ignores it and he tries to get back to
having fun. That's what he thinks life's all
about, is just enjoy it, live in the moment.
The second person is Jill. What do these two
have in common? Jill is a Christian. She comes
to Northern Hope regularly. She believes heaven
and hell are real. believes that Jesus' death
saved her from her sins, but living with him
as her Lord often feels like she's sucking on
lemons. There's all these commands in the Bible
about anger, generosity, sexuality, truth -telling,
a whole range of things, and trying to keep them
all feels like she's carrying a bag of bricks
around. A few of her friends follow Jesus. Most
of her friends live however they want. And sometimes
when she sees that, she resents God. She feels
ripped off. They're getting to live the good
life and here's me, I'm doing what you want,
Lord. I wonder if you can relate with either
Jack or Jill. But did you see what they have
in common? Both of them have serious misgivings
about God's will. I reckon both of them would
struggle to believe the third petition in the
Lord's Prayer. Your will be done on earth as
it is in heaven. They'd be going, really, is
God's will actually that good? Is God's will
actually heavenly? How can God's will be better
than what I want? And you know what, I don't
think it's just Jack and Jill. I think we all
struggle with that, don't we? Sometimes we can
read the Bible and we can wonder, are God's commands
just OTT over the top? Are they from a bygone
era and just irrelevant now? Why are we really
following them today? I think the big one we
ask is, how could God's will be better than my
will? What I want's awesome. How could what he
wants for me be better than what I want for me?
Well, today, let's take a look at God's will
and see if it's all it's cracked up to be. Here's
the big thing I hope you'll take away from today.
I hope this will stick with you, not just today,
but for the rest of your life. God's will being
done is heaven. God's will being done is heaven,
so pray that it'd be done on earth. God's will
being done is heaven, so pray it'd be done on
earth. And there's three aspects in our passage
we're going to look at as to what that means.
Firstly, God's will is heavenly. God's will is
heavenly. Secondly, pray we'd trust God's will.
And thirdly, pray we'd do God's will. There are
three things. God's will is heavenly, pray we'd
trust God's will. And thirdly, pray we'd do God's
will. So let's start with the first one. Is God's
will truly heavenly, because that's what our
passage is saying. God's will is heavenly. But
you've got to ask the question, well, what is
heavenly? What is heaven? How do you picture
it? As a kid, I pictured heaven as fluffy clouds
with chocolate fondue fountains and unlimited
sport and a golf swing like Tiger Woods. My kids,
they once described heaven as a place with superpowers.
So they're thinking Marvel DC, you know, I've
got super speed and I can fly everywhere. Belinda
Carlisle in the 80s, she sang that song Heaven
is a Place on Earth and really for her it was
all about sharing life with a lover. What's heaven?
Well Jesus' view of heaven is different. He says,
your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
God being king, God being in charge, everyone
gladly following what he wants, Jesus says, that's
heaven. Now for some people that sounds like
a dystopian dictatorship hell. And if it were
run by any mere human, it would be. But heaven
is run by God. It's where everyone is like Jesus.
It's the paradise that humans long for and try
to create, but we always seem to somehow ruin
or sabotage it. I've got here a cap that comes
from a hotel that we've stayed at a few times
on the Gold Coast called Paradise Resort. And
the slogan for Paradise Resort is, heaven for
kids, paradise for parents. It's pretty good.
It's awesome. They've got water slides, pools,
laser tags, various food outlets, bars, playstations
in some of the rooms, a gift shop, ice skating.
You're near the theme parks. And the best part
for the parents, there's a kids' club. Just drop
them off. On paper, it should be paradise. It
has everything. But when we've gone there and
stayed, It's good, but it's not paradise. You
look around and you see kids whining, I wanted
the burger, not the chicken nuggets. You see
families fighting. Wives and husbands fighting,
kids fighting with their parents. All sorts of
things, just fighting and selfishness and all
sorts of ugliness. It's meant to be paradise.
Why is this paradise tarnished? Because people
are not acting like Jesus. Imagine if everyone
there thought and acted like Jesus. Loving God
with everything, loving each other as themselves.
Just as Jesus did during his life, a life where
he embodied God's will. then it would actually
be Paradise Resort, wouldn't it? Brendan, what
happens if the water slide goes out, you know,
it's out of order? Or the kids club gets shut,
you know? No, it'd still be heavenly because
everyone would be acting like Jesus. I think
most people would agree, if you ask them, a world
of Jesus carbon copies would be heaven for the
most part. But if you press them, I think you'd
find that on things like sexuality, alcohol or
money many folk would still have some strong
reservations. I think there's a sense in a lot
of people see Jesus as this religious prude.
But you've got to remember even on these things
Jesus lived God's will and it was awesome. Jesus
went and drank with the tax collectors and sinners.
He didn't get drunk, but he did enjoy a drink.
He honoured sex is a good gift between married
people. It's a created thing that God made. And
money, it's a good gift from God. Yes, we've
got to steward it well. Yes, we've got to guard
our hearts. It can easily become an idol, but
it is a good gift from God to be enjoyed as well.
That's Jesus' approach. It makes you wonder,
is God's way possibly better than ours? A while
ago, Laura made delicious noodle stir fry for
our family. And it tasted better than any Chinese
takeaway I've had. And it was nutritious. Win
-win. But one of our boys at dinnertime chose
to have a staring competition with his food.
He'd look at it but not eat it. And we told him,
eat your dinner. It's so good, you'll like it."
And he said, Dad, it looks disgusting. I don't
want it. And he was very happy to go hungry.
But after some warnings and encouragement, he
eventually ate some. Do you know what he said?
This is yummy. He thought he knew better than
us. But he discovered that we actually knew what's
best. He's probably forgotten that by now, but
he discovered at the time we knew best. And I'm
sad to admit, I am often like that with God.
Even though he created me and everything and
knows how it all works best, even though his
infinite knowledge, knowing everything, every
outcome, the essence of all goodness, even though
I followed his will at times and seen firsthand
that it's better than mine, Even though God's
like that, so often I still think I know better
than him. That I'm better off with what I want
instead of with what he wants. You know, whether
I do God's will or not, it all boils down to
one thing. Trust. Do I believe that God can be
trusted? that he really does know best. The guy
dismissing Christianity because it's sexual ethics
and other things are too restrictive, that's
not a behaviour issue. It's a belief issue, isn't
it? The Christian who keeps watching porn, telling
lies, is greedy and stingy, uses their words
like daggers, they don't have a behaviour issue.
If they're going to change, they need to focus
on what they believe about God. And the Christian
who begrudgingly keeps God's commands, they've
got the same problem. They lack joy because they
believe that God is either ignorant or holding
out on them. But is that really the truth about
God? That sounds to me like the voice of the
evil one. Because the God we encounter in the
Bible, is more good and loving than you and I
could ever know or imagine. He's trustworthy,
loyal, caring, good, wise, faithful and generous.
He's a good father. His commands are generous,
freeing and life -giving. But you might ask,
well, Brendan, how do I know God and His will
truly are that good? I mean, you're just saying
it. How do I know? And I'd want to say because
of Jesus. His teaching unpacks the true riches
of God's commands. Just read the Sermon on the
Mount, it's beautiful. His life embodied the
joyful beauty of living God's way. And not only
that, it exposed the frauds, it exposed the religious
leaders of his day as that's not living God's
way and it's horrible, it's twisted. Actually,
his life, Jesus' life was so attractive and profound
that it spread like wildfire, people going, I
want that. His teaching and living transformed
person after person after person right down to
us today. The rich, the poor, the moral, the
immoral, the religious, the non -religious, people
all over the world, all over history changed
by Jesus. God's will is good. But the clearest
place where we see that God's will can be trusted
is the cross. There you see a God so loving that
He'll do what's best for us even when it costs
Him. There you see a God so powerful and wise
He planned that His obedient Son's defeat would
be the greatest triumph in the universe. That
through him heaven would be opened to anyone
who trusts in Jesus You see a God who's so good
that he vindicates all who trust him just as
he did his son Jesus prayed not my will but yours
be done Because he believed God's will is glorious
good and beautiful he believed it was heavenly
God's will being done is literally heaven. Do
you believe that? If you don't, go back to your
Bible and see it again. But what else should
we do then? Well, if you want to experience more
of heaven on earth, then there's two things we
need to pray into. Firstly, we need to pray that
we trust God's will. pray that we trust God's
will. And this is important because the Bible
speaks of God's will in one of two ways. When
we're praying your will be done, there's two
aspects to it. Firstly, we're praying that we
trust God's decreed will, His will of decree.
And secondly, we're praying that we trust God's
will of command, His commanded will. The Bible
speaks of His decreed will like this. But on
taking leave of them, this is Paul, he said,
I will return to you if God wills. And he set
sail from Ephesus. God's decreed will is his
sovereign arranging of all events. Now, sometimes
God's decreed will, his sovereign will, is painful
and unpleasant. It was painful for Paul to leave
brothers and sisters and not know if he was going
to see them again. But it's still heavenly because
he believed that whatever God willed, he'd be
using it to make us more like Jesus. Years ago,
Laura and I ran a holiday kids club called Winterfest
in Perth and it was so much fun. We had about
200 kids, I think it was, and 100 volunteers.
It was awesome. And we did a wilderness theme.
That's what those photos are there. And one of
the things we did was a wood whittling class.
We got this guy to come in and teach the kids
how to whittle sticks with like little peelers
and sticks. It was so fun. The kids had a blast.
I had a blast. In my head, I had dreams of becoming
a great wood whittling artist. It lasted about
a week. But I must admit I have great admiration
for those who can whittle. In Perth there was
this little shop at the Hillary's Boat Harbour
that they had all these wooden things people
had carved and I just thought it was amazing,
you know, little spoons, little figures. Do you
know God's actually into whittling as well? He
whittles every Christian with the events of their
life. Whittle, whittle, whittle. I had this happen
to make you more like Jesus. Here's how Paul
puts it in Romans 8. In the same way the Spirit
helps us in our weakness, we do not know what
we ought to pray for. You know, have you ever
been in that situation where you just don't know
what to pray? But praise God, we have his spirit.
But the spirit himself intercedes for us through
wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts
knows the mind of the spirit because the spirit
intercedes for God's people in accordance with
the will of God. And what is that will of God?
Well, that's what the next bit is. And we know
that in all things, God works for the good of
those who love him, who've been called according
to his purpose. What's God's good purpose? What's
the good things? Well, for those God foreknew,
he also predestined to be conformed to the image
of his son, that he might be the firstborn among
many brothers and sisters. God's good purpose
is that he whittles people to becoming more like
Jesus, conformed to the image of his son. Praying
your will be done involves us surrendering to
God's sovereign ordering of events. It's trusting
Him in what's happening. It's believing there's
a purpose behind whatever is happening that you
will be made more Christ -like. What's it look
like? I mean, you know, we can pray and not know
what to pray, but maybe you can pray. Maybe you
can pray something like this, Father. I don't
know why you gave me cancer. I don't know why
my spouse left. I don't know why I lost my job.
Whatever the thing you're going through is, please
use it to make me like Jesus. Help me not to
lose heart. Help me to trust you in this. Help
me to grow through this. Amen. Is there that
surrender in your prayer life? You know, I was
reflecting on this. So often my prayers are asking
God to change my circumstances. And that's right
and proper and something we should all keep doing.
But it needs to be paired with praying that my
circumstances would change me. Do you need to
pray more often like that? I know I do. But that's
not all your will be done means. We pray that
we trust God's will, but then we pray that we
do God's will. Remember God's will, there's two
aspects to it. His will of decree, His will of
command, and His will of command is about seeking
to do what is pleasing to Him. This is how we
should respond to God's will of command. When
we pray that we and other Christians will do
what God wants. That's praying in line with God's
will of command, with his laws, his rules, his
commandments. We're asking for heaven on earth
to come. That's what we're doing when we pray
these things. And think about what God's will
is in the New Testament. God's will includes
holiness, contentment, Submission to those in
authority. I know some of those things to some
of you might not sound so great, but they are
wonderful. And it always comes in response to
God's mercy. It's seeking to please Him because
He so loved us. But to please Him, we have to
know what's pleasing to Him in different situations
and different contexts. Here's how Paul puts
it in Romans 12. Do not conform to the pattern
of this world, but be transformed by the renewing
of your mind. Then you'll be able to test and
approve what God's will is, His good, pleasing
and perfect will. Don't be a cookie cutter. Don't
be just like the rest of the world. Have your
mind changed. As you encounter God's mercy and
His will in the Bible, may it change your thinking.
As you try and live it out, may it change your
thinking so that you go, I know what is pleasing
to God now. Years ago, I played AFL. Not well,
but I played. I played for a team in Sydney called
the Forest Lions. We weren't very good. We had
one good year where we lost the grand final by
a goal. It still haunts me to this day. But while
I was playing footy, the coaches, they teach
you lots of things. They teach you stretching.
They teach you skills, kicking, handballing.
They teach you about positioning. But there's
a big one that's so, so important. They teach
you about decision making in different scenarios.
Oh, you're injured. What do you do? Do you play
through it? No, you come off and let someone
else who's got a full tank run on the ground.
Oh, you've got the ball in the back line. Okay,
take it out. toward the boundary, because we
don't want to give it to them in the easiest
place where they can take a shot. If you're attacking,
we'll put it in the middle, because then you
can have a good spot to shoot from. Teaching
to think is such a big part of footy. And they
were trying to teach us how to think the coach's
thoughts after him. As the coach thinks it, we're
meant to think in line with that. And that's
what Christians do as well. As we prayerfully
study the scriptures and seek to put them into
practice, we work out what God's will is. We
think God's thoughts after him and we discover
what pleases him. We become more like Jesus and
we form communities that become a little entree,
a little taster of what heaven is like. That's
why it's so important that we be a church that's
deep in God's Word, both in our preaching and
in growth groups and one -to -ones and a whole
range of things. But it's not just that we'd
know and do God's will, it's that we'd joyfully
do it from the heart. Sometimes Laura says to
me, can you take the bins out? There are three
responses I can give. I can please myself and
say, no, I'm not going to do it. I can please
her begrudgingly. All right, I'll take the bins
out. Or I can please her gladly. Yes, my love,
it'd be my pleasure to take the bins out. I reckon
Christians have the same struggle when we're
pleasing God, don't we? Let me give you an example
of what it might look like. Sometimes we take
our kids to the lagoon for a swim and a play,
and I tell you what, that is a hard place for
a testosterone -fuelled male to do God's will.
There are often many stunning women in bikinis
everywhere. What should I do? Not go to the lagoon?
Well, that is a good option. Doesn't always work
though. Sometimes you're just in situations where
you're stuck there. I could go and just give
in to my lusts, but that wouldn't be very pleasing
to God. Or loving to my wife. I could not look
begrudgingly. There's connoisseur. She's so beautiful.
I mean she's just come off the boat from Brazil
and No, no, don't look don't look it's not no
don't look naughty Yeah, that just leads to resentment
doesn't it You know what I can do I can pray
Good Heavenly Father all these women here are
beautiful Thank you for making beautiful women
like that. That's because you're a good God.
You make beautiful things. But I trust you. You
say these aren't for me. And you made my beautiful
wife. Help me to do your will. To joyfully not
look at them. To trust you when you say that's
not for me. Can you see how different that is?
It's so much better, because then it's a delight
to do God's will. It's not drudgery. Are there
scenarios in your life where you need to pray
like that? Father, help me to see how good your
will is. Well, let's draw some threads together.
We started by asking, how can God's will be better
than my will? I hope today you've seen that it
is. That His will is heavenly. And when we see
that and believe it, we become people who pray
that it would be done and seek to do it. Here's
our big thing that we saw today. God's will being
done is heaven. Literally, that's heaven. God's
will being done is heaven. So pray it be done
on earth. And the three aspects that we saw today,
God's will is heavenly. Pray that we trust God's
will. When life events throw things at you, pray
that you trust that God's working it out. He
hasn't fallen asleep at the wheel. He's still
driving the bus. He's doing a great job. But
also get to know God's will. Get to know what
He wants you to do. pray that you'd do God's
will. Now, what's all this mean for us? Well,
if you're here today and you're not yet a Christian,
if you're like Jack from the very beginning,
I want to challenge you. Is it possible that
Christianity is not what you thought? The Christianity
of Bible is so different to what most people
in the public think. You don't do God's will.
to enter heaven. It's not a thing you earn. It's
not some ladder that you climb up to get into
God's good books. No, Jesus has already done
it all for you. Jesus perfectly did God's will
his whole life to save you. Christians do God's
will as worship. As a response to God's love,
and it's such a good will, it's surprisingly
liberating. If you're sceptical of God's will
being good, do this next. This is what I'd encourage
you to do. Ask God to show you the beauty of
His will. Sit down just for five minutes, pray
to Him. God, I don't even know if you're there,
but please, if you are, show me how beautiful
your will is. And then I'd encourage you, go
look at Jesus in the Gospels. See the beauty
that exists in what he teaches and in what he
does. And finally, if you're really hardcore,
really genuine and curious, hang out with some
real Christians who love doing what God wants.
Just watch them. They're not going to get it
right all the time. You know, don't be too harsh.
But watch them, see if they have a little slice
of heaven in the way they live. Watch the joy,
the love, the goodness that exists in the way
they live and then ask yourself, am I better
off as I am? Am I better off doing life my own
way or God's way? But if you're a Christian,
if you're like Jill from the start, Well, I hope
you've seen today all of us should pray your
will be done But if I say you should do you know
what happens when people tell me should It's
another thing to do. I don't want to do it then
or I just resent having to do What stops that
if I say, you know pray your will be done what
will make it a joy for you in a delight See Jesus
in Gethsemane. Do you remember the Garden of
Gethsemane? Jesus heading to the cross. He's
sweating drops of blood. It's intense. He knows
how awful it is to go to the cross. And yet he
could pray, not my will, but yours be done. When
you look at that, here's two things you meant
to see. There's no pressure or fear now for us.
Jesus did God's will for us. For all the times
we failed to do God's will, it has been taken
care of. Jesus died in our place. He took that
punishment. He obeyed his father and was able
to rescue us from our sins. It's a bit like this.
You know when there's a big bush fire? It's destructive,
isn't it? Jesus is like a back burn. That's how
you protect your home from a forest fire, isn't
it? You back burn and you burn it off already
and so you're fine, you're safe. If you go stand
in a burnt -off area, the fire can't touch you,
can it? Well, that's what's happened to every
Christian. Jesus is like a backburn. The cross
is like a backburn. God's punishment for not
doing his will has been poured out onto Jesus
so that you can stand in safety. You are secure.
You are safe in him. You are fully forgiven.
There is no punishment left that God can dish
out to you if you trust Jesus. But then also,
look at Gethsemane and see the beauty of doing
God's will. See that God wants better things
than what I want. That his will was good, pleasing
and perfect. I mean Gethsemane proves it. Because
his will led to the salvation of many and the
glorification of his son. See the joy in doing
God's will. And that mindset makes praying your
will be done. Not drudgery, but delight. If we
want to see heaven on earth, even just a shadow
of heaven on earth, we need to take a gospel
-centred approach. We need to, from our love
of Jesus, pray your will be done. Are you praying
your will be done with joy? Let's pray now. Heavenly
Father, we want to thank you so much that your
will is good, pleasing and perfect, that your
will is heavenly. We ask that you would help
us to be a church that prays your will be done
and delights in doing your will. And we pray
that you would help us to do that from a gospel
-centred place, that we do it in response to
your mercy. Your grace in forgiving us for all
the times we fail to do Your will. Help us with
these things, Father. Your will be done. We ask
this in Jesus' Name. Amen.