Standing Perfect in All the Will of God
“Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, saluteth you, always striving for you in his prayers, that ye may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God,” — CoL. iv. 12.
IN the first chapter of the Epistle, we had Paul praying, here we have Epaphras. The prayers of both had reference to this one thing — of such supreme consequence is it in the Christian life — the will of God. Paul prayed that their hearts might be filled with the spiritual knowledge of God’s will; then they would walk worthy of the Lord to all pleasing. Epaphras prays that their lives may be so filled with that will, that they may stand complete in all the will of God. Paul says that he does not cease to pray thus. Of Epaphras, he says that he always strives for them in his prayers. In both cases the relation to God’s will is to be no partial or divided one — but whole and entire, as expressed by the word all. Paul asks that they may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom, to walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing. Epaphras strives for them in his prayers that they may stand complete in all the will of God. Nothing less than all God’s will is to be the standard, the desire, the prayer, the hope of the believer.
To stand perfect in all the mill of God — the believer’s only standard. How can it be otherwise? The will of God is one whole, all equally Divine, and beautiful, and blessed. All, all of equal obligation, equally needful for our peace and perfection, with equal provision made for its performance in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. The will of God is so entirely one with the nature, the perfection, and the love of God, that to neglect or refuse any part of it is making it impossible for God fully to reveal Himself to us and to bless us. As perfect and complete as the will of God is as a whole, ought to be the believer’s acceptance of and surrender to it as his only standard.
Paul and Epaphras regarded this as an attainable measure of perfection among the Colossians. There are many Christians who admit that the words express the Scripture standard of duty, but rob that admission of all its power by counting it impossible. The standard is only an ideal one, not really practicable or practical. They regard it very much as the law of Moses, with its demands that never can be fulfilled. They do not understand the words, ‘’ Ye are not under law,” which demands what you cannot do, and gives no power to do, ‘’ but under grace,’’ which demands only what it will give and work in you, and so enables you to do all it demands. All His will is God’s standard for us actually asked and provided for; let it be ours too. Your Father asks nothing less; let nothing less be what you ask of Him and offer Him.
To stand complete in all the will of God — the believer’s one desire. Desire is the one great power in the world that urges and enables men to undertake I and accomplish what at first sight appears impossi- ’ ble. When a man has set his heart upon a thing, difficulties only rouse his energy and increase his power. Oh that Christians might be taught and trained to set their heart upon ‘’ all the will of God “as their highest and only blessedness, upon ‘’ standing perfect in it” as the one hope of their calling! It is to be feared that the preaching of the will of God has not had the same place as the preaching of the grace of God. Men have not seen that as the grace is nothing but the will of God manifested, and as it came through Christ doing that will, so its one object is to unite us with that will, and have it done In us as it is ‘done in heaven. Doing the will of God has been something additional, a supplement to what the grace of God has done, an expression of gratitude, instead of being the very door into all the love, and salvation, and blessedness out of which the grace came and into which it leads. If we understood this, how every desire for help from God for salvation, and happiness, and the enjoyment of His love, would be identified with the standing complete in all that will in which God is revealed and is alone to be found. Let us set our heart upon this.
To stand perfect in all the zvill of God — the believer’s continual prayer. The teaching about the knowledge of God’s will, and the standing complete in God’s will, comes in connection with the telling of Paul’s unceasing prayer and Epaphras’ striving always. It is not earnest thought, or clear apprehension, or strong desire, that will bring us what we need — but unceasing prayer. Doing the will of God is the life of heaven, because God is there, and works His will without hindrance in ah the holy spirits who are wholly yielded up to Him and ever wait upon Him. It is from God in heaven that this heavenly life of doing His will must come down. And it will come down and be carried on and maintained in us just in proportion as we too wait upon God, yield ourselves to Him, and continue offered up to His Holy Spirit to work in us. Whether it be in the quiet, steady perseverance of our daily prayer, or in the fervent striving in seasons when the need and the desire are specially felt, or in the inward suppHcation of the heart that prays without ceasing — it is only the life that is continually looking upward, and depending alone upon God’s working His own will in us, that will feel that God’s standard is not too high, because what the word of His mouth demands, the power of His hand performs. ‘’’
To stand complete in all the will of God — the believer’s sure hope. Paul and Epaphras were praying out of their blessed experience. We, alas, have grown so accustomed to use words in prayer for things we never expect. They lived so under the power of the Holy Spirit, they saw, notwithstanding so much to grieve and disappoint them, some whom they could call spiritual men, and they knew that in answer to their prayer it would be given — men ‘’ filled with the knowledge of God’s will, in all spiritual wisdom,” men ‘’ standing complete in all the will of God.” Let us pray without ceasing, let us strive always, for the churches or the saints with whom we are connected, that these two prayers may be fulfilled in them. Let us to that end ask God to reveal in ourselves and our experience their full truth and meaning. Amid all disappointment let us say: My soul, hope thou in God! I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance! Let us set our hope upon God, who worketh all things after the purpose of His will. “God must ever be God alone. Heaven and the heavenly nature are His, and must for ever be received only from Him, and for ever be only preserved by an entire trust in Him.’’ God alone can work His will in us. In a heart that prays and waits without ceasing in dependence upon Him, He can and will do it. Oh! let us believe that these precious words of Epaphras’ prayer are not vain; in them the Holy Spirit reveals the sure hope of every believer who will trust God. Let us not doubt, but “stand complete and fully assured in all the will of God.”
XXI
THE WILL OF GOD, YOUR SANCTIFICATION
“For this is the will of God, even your sanctification.” — Thess. iv. 3.
THE Apostle had closed the third chapter of this Epistle with the wondrous prayer for the Thessalonian believers that the Lord might ‘’ establish their hearts itnblameable in holiness before our God and Father,” He proceeds in chapter iv. to urge them to a walk well-pleasing to God. He begins by specially warning against two sins, uncleanness and fraud, iv. 3-7. And then just as he had pleaded with God to establish them unblameable in holiness, so he pleads with them to remember and yield to the blessed truth: “This is the will of God, your sanctification.” ‘’ God hath not called us for uncleanness, but for sanctification.’^ The great plea against sin is that we are called to be holy. And the great power of holiness is that it is God’s will for us.
And what is holiness? God alone is the Holy One. There is none holy but the Lord. There is no holiness but His. And nothing can be holy except as He makes it holy. “Be ye holy, for I am holy.” ‘’ I am the Lord which sanctify you.” Holiness is the very nature of God, inseparable from His being, and can only be communicated by His communicating Himself and His own life. We are in Christ, who is made of God unto us sanctification. The Spirit of God is the Spirit of Holiness. We are God’s ‘’ elect in sanctification of the Spirit,” ‘’ chosen to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit.” The Three-One God is the Thrice Holy One, and Father, Son, and Spirit each share in making us holy. Our part in sanctification consists in our recognising how God makes us holy. We have been sanctified in Christ Jesus. The new nature we have derived from Him has been created in true holiness. Our holy calling is in the power of the new. Divine, holy nature, to act out its impulses and principles. Our justification and our sanctification are equally in Christ, by union with Him, and therefore equally of faith. It is as we believe in God working in us, through Christ and the Spirit, that the inflow of the holy life from above is renewed, and that we have the courage and the power to live out the precepts that reveal the way in which it is to act. Like the whole of salvation, sanctification, or the life of holiness, is the result of man’s co-operating with God. That means first of all his entire dependence on, and surrender to, the Divine operation, as the only source of goodness or strength. And then the acting out in life and conduct all that God has worked within us.
And what is now the help we can get from the words — This is the will of God, your sanctification? The first thought is that of the Divine obligation of holiness, God wills it. It is enough to regard it in the other aspects in which it can be presented. It is indeed an essential element of the Christian life, the great proof of our gratitude for our deliverance from the guilt of sin, indispensable to true peace and happiness, our only preparation for heaven. All this is of great importance. But at the back of all this there is something of still greater force. We need to realise that God wills it. In eternity God predestinated us to be holy, ‘’ we are elect accordmg to the foreknowledge of God in sanctification of the Spirit.’’ (Eph. i. 4; i Pet. i. 2.) God’s whole purpose as a holy God, was to make us holy, as He is holy. The whole of redemption was ordered with a view to this. It is not only one of His commands, among many, it is the command which includes all. The whole being and character of God proclaim it; the whole nature and aim of redemption insist upon it; believers! God wills your sanctification. Worship God in His holiness, until every thought of God in His glory and grace is connected with the deep conviction: This blessed God wills my holiness. Rest not until your will has surrendered unconditionally to the will of God, and found its true destiny in receiving that Divine will and working it out.
A second thought that suggests itself is that of the Divine possibility of holiness. We have learnt in our meditations that the will of God is not only a Divine purpose of what God is to do, or a Divine precept as to what we are to do, but a Divine power that works out its own purpose. All that God wills He works. Not, indeed, in those who refuse to accept or submit to that will. They have the power to resist it. But in those who yield their consent, who love that will and long that it should be done ’ on earth as in heaven, God Himself worketh out all things after the purpose of His will. In every man with a sound, strong will, it seeks at once to embody itself in action, and to effect what had been counted an object of desire. God works in us both to will and to do. When He has worked the willing. He delights, if He be waited on and yielded to, to work the doing. When, by His grace; the believer wills as God wills, when he has accepted God’s will for sanctification as his own will, he can count upon God’s working it. God wills it with all the energy of His Divine being. God can as little cease working holiness as He can cease being holy or being God. He wills our sanctification; and if we will but will it too, in the faith of the new nature in which the Holy Spirit works, and yield ourselves to the will of Omnipotent Love in the assurance of His working in us, we shall experience how true and blessed the message is. God wills, and therefore most certainly works your sanctification.
The third lesson suggested by our text is — the Divine means of holiness. The will of God is your sanctification — that is, all that God wills has this one object, will secure this one result. Whether it be His will in the eternal counsel, or here in time in Providence, whether in mercy or in judgment, whether in precept or promise, all that God wills concerning us is our sanctification. This gives a new meaning, and its true glory, to every command of Scripture. The commands of God have unspeakable value, as marking out for us the path of safety and of life, as guiding us to all that is lovely and of good report. But here is their highest glory:
through them the Holy One seeks to make us partakers of His own hoHness. Do let us learn to regard every indication of God’s will, in Scripture or in Nature, in things great or little, as the will of the Holy One coming to make us holy. Let every thought of God’s will fill us with the longing and the hope to be holy. And let every thought of holiness lead us to the study of, and the delight in, and the faithful doing of, God’s will. Let every sin that God’s Word forbids, such as those Paul mentions of uncleanness and fraud, be put far from us. Let everything that is of the earthly, carnal, selfish nature be put oflf, that the whole spirit, soul, and body may be sanctified. Let every command that points to the true Christ-like life — humility, and love, and self-sacrifice — be welcomed as the channel of God’s holiness. The desire after, and delight and faith in, God’s holiness and God’s will become inseparably one. Let all who would experience this remember one thing. It is because it is God’s will and God’s holiness that there is power, and life and blessing in it. Everything depends upon our knowing God and waiting on Him, coming under the operation of His Holy Presence and Power. As we know Him as the Living God, and have intercourse with Him as the Holy, Loving, Almighty, ever-present and ever-working One, His will and His holiness will become to us heavenly realities, and we shall know how certainly, how blessedly, His will is our sanctification.
XXII
UNCEASING THANKSGIVING THE WILL OF GOD
“In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus to youward.” — i Thess. v. 18.
IN everything give thanks — that means a life of unceasing joy. The bestowment of a gift makes me glad. Giving thanks is the expression of that gladness to the giver. For what in the gift he has bestowed on me, for what he has proved himself to be as a friend, my happiness offers him all it has to give, all he desires — the acknowledgment of indebtedness and obligation and grateful love. Every father does his utmost to make his children happy; he loves not only to see them happy, but to see them connect their happiness with him- / self and his love. It is the will of God that in everything, m every circumstance and condition, the whole life of His child should be one of unceasing praise and thanksgiving. If it be not always so with us, let us set ourselves to learn the lesson: In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus to youward.
In everything give thanks — there is good reason for it. God is not a hard master, who reaps where He has not sown. He never commands joy without giving abundant cause for it. He does not expect thanks where there is nothing to thank for. He would have us remember that, in the most trying circumstances and the deepest sorrow, there is cause for thanksgiving infinitely outweighing the reason for mourning. Whatever we lose, God and His love are still left us. The very loss is meant to make the love more precious; the trial is love seeking to give itself more completely to us. Whatever we lose, there is always the unspeakable gift — God’s own Son to be our portion and our friend. Whatever we lose, there is always a peace that cannot be taken away, a joy that is, unspeakable, a riches of glory that will supply every need, an abounding grace that perfects Christ’s strength in our weakness. There are always the exceeding great and precious promises, and the heavenly treasures that can never pass away. God is educating us, through loss and trial, into the full enjoyment of our heavenly heritage and the perfect fitness for His own fellowship. So let us believe that the command is most reasonable, and say that this will of God, in everything give thanks, is our will too.
In everything give thanks — this is both the mark and the means of a vigorous Christian life. It draws us off from ourselves, and fixes the heart upon God. It lifts us above the world, and makes us more than conquerors through Him who loved us. It places our peace, our happiness, our life, beyond the reach of circumstances. So far from rendering us indifferent to the suffering of our fellow-men, it fills us with hope in seeking to relieve them, it teaches us what joy there is in the kindness and love of God, and makes that the keynote of our life. It gives wings to our prayer, our faith, our love, to live the true heavenly life in God’s presence and worship. It enables us to conquer every temptation with the hallelujah of victory. In everything give thanks. God Himself will work it in you. This is the will of God in Christ ^lesus to youward. We have seen more than once f that the will of God is a living, almighty power,
I working out its own purpose with our intelligent
I consent. We are co-workers with God — that means,
not that He does part and we do part, but that He
does all in us, and we do all through Him. It
means that He works in us to will and to do,
and that we, through faith in His working, in the
power that worketh in us, work out His will. Just because it is the will of God, the believing soul is sure that it can be. It is the will of God in Christ, This expression is so frequent that its meaning is passed over. All that God is and does to us, He is and does through our Lord Jesus. The Father does nothing in us but through the Son. The Son does nothing but as the Father does it through Him. Our experience of God’s work in us depends upon our abiding in Christ, our drawing and remaining near to God in and through Christ. To a soul seeking its life in Christ alone, the will of God ensures a life of unceasing praise and thanks.
In everything give thanks. It needs a life of entire consecration. Many of God’s commands become an unbearable burden, an impossible strain, because we look to the feeble, sickly life to do what only the strength of vigorous health can perform. We cannot take up one part of God’s J will, and do it when we please. A life of undivided and absolute surrender to all God’s will j is the condition of being able to perform any 1 part of it effectively. Every command to perform some special part of God’s. will is a call to inquire whether we have accepted all His will as the law of our life. The soul that has done this, that is learning the lesson of daily guidance for daily duty, and is prepared to meet every new demand with the question as to its implicit submission to that will, and its unquestioning confidence in the provision of sufficient strength, all settled, has found the secret of obedience to this command too. When God is known as our exceeding joy, when a walk in the light of His countenance all the day is counted equally a privilege and an indispensable necessity, the giving of thanks in everything is not looked upon as a hopeless attainment. Because it is the will of a loving and Almighty Father, that will can be done.
In everything give thanks. These are indeed the Christians the world stands in need of. It is the happy Christian — not the happy man who happens also to be a Christian, but the Christian who proves that his happiness is in God, and who lives the life of joy and praise because he lives in God’s presence, — who will find the joy of the Lord his strength in God’s service, and who will be the best witness to what the grace of God can do to give true joy and blessing. It is the will of God in Christ to usward that this unceasing thanksgiving should be our life — let us rest content with nothing less.