Radio Talk given 8-8-99

BY THE WILL OF GOD (Eph 1:1)
Some people are carpenters, some dentists, others teachers. Every one, at some time or other, choses or lands into a certain job, a certain vocation. Your life goes into a certain direction. How does all this come about? Is it just chance? An opportunity arises, a friend gives a suggestion, you look in the paper under job vacancies and you find something you think may be O.K, someone meets you at a party and suggests that you come to work for him or go into partnership with him. Is it all just chance? Sometimes you wonder, don't you, why was it that your life took all those turns, most often unexpected. Is there something behind it all? Surely it wasn't all just "luck".

Was it perhaps that you became a car salesman or whatever because your father was a car salesman. Friends, look around you, many children do not follow in the footsteps of their parents, and, even if they do, their life is hardly the same as that of their father.

What determines our life; and then we don't only have to think of what kind of job we finished up with, but of all our circumstances in life: the family you were born into, the kind of relationships you have entered into, your financial position, your circle of friends, the town and street you live in. Why has all that come about?

Of course, we can start gazing at the stars. Perhaps the stars had something to do with it, maybe they control our life. But is that really possible, or believable? There are millions of stars out there, no more alive, and most probably much more dead than the earth we walk on. They have no voice, no mind, no will, no possibility therefore to make decisions about those millions of people here on earth. If it were to be the stars who controlled our life, there would need to be a another power again behind those stars, wouldn't there?

Some two thousand years ago there was a man named Paul . He hadn't always been called Paul, his name used to be Saul. He had his life all mapped out. He went to the best school in the country, he had the best of teachers, he had a quick and ready mind to learn all that there was to learn: he was going to become a Pharisee, a church leader, an important
and well respected man. He had it all worked out, and for a time it looked very much like a well planned success story. He passed all his examinations with flying colours. He was much talked about and he was starting to gain the favour of highly regarded people in the right places. His future was all but assured. He was careful to do the right things so as to stay in the good books and within the supportive vision of his superiors.

And then came his best chance for promotion. A group of people were greatly upsetting the religious apple cart. They were the fanatic followers of a certain Jesus, people who no longer wanted to obey the church leaders of the day, because, they said, we must be more obedient to God than to man, and they held that their Master, Jesus Christ, was not only man, but also God. Jesus was someone who had attracted a large following during his life, who became a threat to the leadership of the church because He had maintained that all should follow Him to be saved. Just as well, thought Saul, the church leaders had taken action and had got rid of this Jesus, they organised his crucifixion, Jesus died.
But just when they thought that that would have been the end of the matter, the disciples of Jesus had come with the story that Jesus had risen again from the dead, that He was alive, and that he had now gone up to heaven, to rule from there. O dear, o dear, what a trouble for the good church leadership, the Sanhedrin, the high court of the church, trouble also for the High Priest and for the Scribes and for the Pharisees, of whom Saul was now one. These Christians, the sooner they were wiped off the face of this earth, the better.

Well, that was Saul's chance. He organised and lead search parties, sanctioned by the High Priest, to hunt down these despised Christians and bring them to justice. Quite a few already had been imprisoned, some even killed, because of the good work of Saul. Yes, indeed, this was the be the great chance for Saul's promotion and road to fame. And he was doing the work of God, he was absolutely sure of that, no doubt God approved of his actions and work. He was in God's good books. Saul's name was changed to Paul. Something happened that he had not counted on, that he could not have dreamt about in his wildest imagination. His life changed in a most radical way.

This happened, not because of the advice of a good friend, nor because of a chance meeting, certainly not because the stars had something else in mind for Saul, but Saul was changed, his life took one dramatic turn into the totally opposite direction, because of the will of God. Because of the will of God! Because of the utterly unchallengeable, unalterable will of the God of heaven and earth, Who is in ultimate and absolute full control of all things, of all lives, of Saul's life, of my life, of your life.

Friends, let us make no mistake about it, let us not fool ourselves. Jesus Christ went to heaven, and when He entered there God the Father handed all power in heaven and on earth to Him. He is today in full control. He guides and directs the nations, but also my and your personal life. Nothing happens by chance, it all comes from Him. You are where you are and what you are, you are listening now because He decreed it.

Saul became Paul. On his way to the city of Damascus to hunt down and arrest some more of those Christians, Jesus Christ came to meet him, to arrest him. "This is as far as you go, Saul. We will change your name, we will give your life a whole new direction. A long, long time ago already you were chosen to come away from your life of despising the Christians, you will now become one yourself. Not only that, but it has been decided, it is the will of God, that you will become a missionary, a preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ, you will draw many others away from their unbelief, you will see many others like you come out of the darkness of unbelief into the marvellous light of the Lord, to receive salvation, the forgiveness of sins, and life everlasting with you, just like you. Stop struggling, Saul, God has laid His irresistible hand on you, you are His, and your life from now on will be intertwined with the life of Jesus Christ. No, it will not be an easy life, you will have to suffer much, but I will be with you, because I have chosen you, you are
going to do My work."

Later on Paul wrote it in his letters, which have been preserved for us in the Bible: Paul, an Apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God. God had intervened in his life, and had changed it for good. You can read it, for instance in Ephesians 1:1. Paul, an Apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God.

Friends, Paul's life certainly did not become easy. If people come to you and say that life becomes a bed of roses once you turn to Jesus Christ and submit yourself to the will of God, they have their heads in the wrong clouds. Being a true Christian brings you the hatred of the world, brings you into an isolated position, because you will no longer want to join the world in its sinful and questionable activities. Your thoughts will be different, your direction of life will be different, your words and actions will show that you have been arrested by Jesus Christ, changed from darkness to light. Your purpose in life, your aims and ambitions, they all take a turn towards God in heaven, you will have your eyes fixed on the life to come, and for that reason you will be prepared to suffer for the sake of Christ in this short life.

Paul experienced that, he suffered many persecutions. And the marvellous thing was that he was thankful for it, that he was counted worthy to suffer for the sake of his great Master Jesus Christ. "I am, he said, what I am, by the will of God, and what He has done for me is tremendous. He has given me faith, love, obedience, a new perspective on life, a wonderful view to the future, a beautiful task in that I may share the gospel, preach the Word, drawing others to the cross of Christ, to everlasting salvation in the only name given under heaven by whom we must be saved, Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, our Saviour."

My friends, are you still resisting the will of God? Don't you know that He is all powerful, that He is in full control, also of your life? He determined what you are today, He determined that you were also listening this morning to this very message. Submit then to His will. Listen to the voice which has come to arrest you, to change your life,
to grant you a new life, difficult perhaps, but a life with perspective, a life with God in Christ, serving Him, loving Him, doing His will, which alone is good.

May God almighty bless this message, may the seed of His Word fall into fertile soil, so that today's listeners, and that includes you, friend, will come to know His will and ways, to His glory and for their everlasting salvation.

Last modified: September 11, 1999