Skip to main content

God's Will for Jesus


We talk a lot about the will of God. As a pastor people say things to me like, “Pray for me as I try to discern God’s will.” We tell our students they need to find out God’s will for their lives. We have turned God’s will into some deep mystery, but the truth is, we can easily know God’s will. 

 

Jesus knew the will of God for His own life and ministry on earth. In John 6:39-40 the Son of God said these words:

 

“And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

 

God’s will is that people are saved. He wants all who look on Jesus to receive the eternal life He came to make available. The language here reminds me of what Jesus told Nicodemus just three chapters earlier, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life (v.14).”

 

Moses was told to craft a serpent on a pole, and all of the Israelites that looked on it were healed of their snake bites. Looking upon the raised snake was enough to bring them salvation from their fate. They had to trust that it alone was the cure. Jesus connected that to His impending crucifixion, where He would be lifted up. Anyone who now looks to Him in faith will receive the cure—salvation from our sin.

 

But according to Jesus here, God’s will for Jesus’ ministry is not just that people will be saved, but stay saved. It is not up to us, but to Jesus; He is the one who will raise us up on the last day, losing none that have come to Him. So often we fall into the trap that says we must perform well enough to be saved, but Jesus is the one keeping us saved. 

 

Think about it: if we cannot perform well enough to save ourselves, how can we perform well enough to keep ourselves saved? Salvation is by grace, not works (Ephesians 2:8-9), and staying saved is a work of the Son, according to the will of the Father. 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

To Save a Life

(Like my blog about the peace symbol, this blog was written as a default response to all the parents, students, and other people who are asking my opinion of To Save a Life.) By now you have probably heard of the movie To Save a Life, which opened nation-wide in theaters on January 22nd. The movie deals with so many issues that teens face today, like suicide, cutting, drinking, drugs, premarital sex, teen pregnancy, and abortion. At first glance this movie looks like an awesome resource that we should recommend for our teens, parents, youth pastors, and youth workers. But a closer look at the movie reveals a few disturbing things. For starters, according to pluggedin.com, there are 2 uses of the “A” word, 5 uses of hell (used as a curse word), and once the “D” word is used. There are other crude terms used to describe a girl, and crude terms for referring to sexual activity. There is also a bedroom scene that shows a girl removing a boy’s shirt, then afterwards the girl putting he...
38 comments
Read more

Evangelism

“Preach the gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words.” St. Francis of Assisi is given credit for this famous quote (although that exact phrasing does not appear in any of his writings), and a lot of people would think that this is a great philosophy. His actual quote was that everyone should “preach by their deeds.” Preaching with our deeds is not just a strategy, it is a necessity. We are commanded all through the Scriptures to let our light shine and be a peculiar people. People should be able to look at our lives and see that we are Christians. They should see the love of Christ readily on display, and thus feel compelled to live their lives in the same way. The sermon that we should preach with our lives is a sermon of love, joy, peace, patience, self-control, forgiveness, conviction, etc. But this idea that has emerged that says we should ONLY preach with our deeds is a heresy straight from the devil himself. Think about it: who is the one that does not want you t...
18 comments
Read more

All Things To All Men

One of our favorite verses to use in our evangelism methods is where Paul said that he “becomes all things to all men” so that he might “by all means save some (I Corinthians 9:22).” This is certainly a good idea if we keep it in its proper context and application. For example, I remember a time in high school where I knew a kid that loved skateboarding. Being the chicken that I am, I was never a skateboarder. All he would talk about was skating, and I knew none of his lingo. But to help develop a relationship with him (he was new to our church and didn’t know many people), I brushed up on my skating lingo so I could ask if he had done any sick ollies lately (impressed?). This would be like Paul saying “to the skateboarder, I became a skateboarder.” This is effective and necessary. But then there are the people that use this verse to justify doing sinful things in the name of evangelism. The first one that comes to mind is about drinking. Some people will go into the bars to evan...
23 comments
Read more