Word of Salvation – Vol. 31 No. 47 – Dec 1986
Our Willpower And God’s Will
Sermon by Rev. John Westendorp on Matthew 6:10b
Heidelberg Catechism Lord’s Day 49
Reading: John 6:14-25, Heidelberg Catechism – L.D.49
Text: Romans 7:14-25 & Matthew 6:10b
Singing: How great Thou art (BoW.367)
Have Your own way Lord (BoW.210)
Take my life that it may be (BoW.215)
Forth in Your name O Lord I go (BoW.238)
Introd: I wonder how often you’ve said to yourself or to somebody else:
“Look… it’s really just simply a matter of will-power!”
Anyone who has had trouble sticking to a diet has probably heard it said often:
“Just tell yourself you can do it and you will.”
Maybe you told yourself that when the sweets came on the table.
But there are more serious situations in which we say that.
Times when we are trying to break a bad habit…
or deal with a serious problem in our life.
Someone tries to give up smoking because of their health…
Or you’ve been drinking far too much and its becoming a problem.
Well… of course you can do it… all it takes is a little will-power.
At times we even try to deal that way with our spiritual life.
We’re fighting some secret sin. – Just set your mind to it!. You can beat it!
You’re struggling with your relationship with God.
Well, it’s just a matter of trying harder… a bit more will-power…!
And so it goes in many areas of our lives.
We apply it to all things we know we should do… especially those things we find hard to do.
It’s really all just a matter of will-power.
The only trouble is that this is really nothing but one big lie.
A lie that the Devil would love us to believe.
Because as long as we believe it we are not going to pray the third request of the Lord’s prayer.
May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven!
A] THIS PETITION IN RELATION TO OUR OWN WILL POWER.
1. Actually that saying of ours is really a very man-centred idea.
It is a humanistic philosophy.
Basically it is saying: we can do anything… if only we set our minds to it.
We can solve all our own problems if only we try hard enough.
Just give it all you’ve got and you’ll succeed.
Regrettably, we as Christians have often swallowed that hook, line and sinker!
We’ve done our dieting by exercising will power.
We’ve tried to cut down on drinking… and giving up smoking that way.
We have tried repeatedly to get rid of sin in our lives in that way.
Living the Christian life… but in the strength of our own will-power.
In Romans 7 Paul talks about will-power too…!
About wanting to do good but yet not doing it.
About not wanting to do evil but still doing it anyway.
In other words Paul had given “will power” a go but it hadn’t worked for him.
I can will what is good… but I cannot do it.
I’ve really tried hard… but my will power just lets me down again and again.
When you stop and think about it then it really isn’t all that Biblical to talk about will power is it?
Can you imagine Jesus ever saying: “All it takes is a bit of will power.”?
There is certainly no record of Him ever saying to His disciples:
“The trouble with you fellows is that you just don’t have enough will power.”
Instead, what we do have from Jesus is an encouragement to make our problems a matter of prayer.
Especially when it comes to doing what is right and holy and good.
“Pray then like this… Father… may your will be done on earth as in heaven.”
In other words: Help me to do what is good and pleasing and right in Your sight…
Just as the angels in heaven do what is right and pleasing to You.
2. That prayer is first of all an admission that we on earth do not yet do God’s will.
It is an admission that on our side there is a real crisis of “will-power”.
Of course we didn’t need Paul in Romans 7 to tell us that.
Nor do we really need this request of the Lord’s Prayer to remind us of the weakness of our will-power.
Our own experience has shown us that again and again.
We had a problem with our temper and we decided WE would lick the problem.
You lacked patience but you made up your mind that YOU would turn over a new leaf.
There were those lustful thoughts but YOU decided that from now on it would be different.
From now on we’ll really do what is pleasing to the Lord.
We’ll beat the problem!
We WILL do God’s will.
We’ve really put our mind to it this time!
Famous last words!
Just when we think we’ve solved the problem… crash!
Just as we’re about to congratulate ourselves we mess it up again.
Most of us have learnt by bitter experience that it is not just a matter of will-power.
It’s not just a matter of us putting our minds to it.
So Jesus is showing us that we will only solve this problem in the way of prayer.
“Lord will You help me to do Your will.”
“Father… help me to be obedient.”
3. In fact our problem is far worse than just having a crisis of will power…
It is not just a matter us wanting to do God’s will and not being able to.
Our problem is that too often our wills are directly opposed to God’s will.
Repeatedly what WE want is contrary to what God wants.
His will is for me to be with the worshipping community on Sundays.
My will is that on Sundays I enjoy my sport… my outings… my entertainment.
His will is that I spend time with Him in Bible reading and prayer.
My will is that I must not miss out on my favourite TV programs.
God’s will is that I love my neighbour… my fellow Christians.
My will is to take that person down a peg because I don’t like him.
His will for me is that I forgive whatever grievance I have against her.
My will is for me to hold it against her as long as I live.
Instead of WILL power I have WON’T power.
That’s why we often have to pray this request of the Lord’s Prayer not only in the sense of:
Father, help us not to depend on our will-power to do what right.
But we also have to pray it the way the Catechism puts it:
Father help us to reject our own wills.
Our will is usually exactly contrary to Your will.
So help us to deny our own self will.
B] A REQUEST FOR OBEDIENCE IN THE SPIRIT’S POWER.
1. Okay, so far I’ve mentioned the will of God a number of times.
But perhaps we should stop to look at that a little more closely.
You see, we can talk about the will of God in two different ways.
First there is the will of God by which we mean the REVEALED will of God.
The will of God as He has made it known to us in His Word.
Second, there is also the will of God which we call the HIDDEN will of God.
By that we mean God’s plan for our lives… God’s ways with us.
The will of God when He sends health or sickness, riches or poverty.
The REVEALED will of God requires our OBEDIENCE.
The HIDDEN will of God requires our ACCEPTANCE.
Today we are not dealing with the HIDDEN will of God.
As for example when we pray for healing but there is no change.
It is true of course that in those situations we also need to pray: Your will be done.
But that is not the primary focus of this request of the Lord’s Prayer.
The primary focus here is on the REVEALED will of God.
What we know God wants us to do in the way of Christian living… in our day by day behaviour.
And what we are praying for first of all is obedience.
We are praying:
Help us to be obedient because we don’t have the will power to be obedient.
“We can will to do what You have revealed in Your Word but we cannot do it!”
2. I believe Jesus gave us this prayer so that we will not despair in this matter of obedience.
Our problem is that we rely on our will-power and then fail.
So we try a little harder and use a little more will-power and we fail yet again.
And that brings about a real sense of hopelessness and frustration.
In the end all our talk about will-power becomes self-defeating.
I’ve really tried, but now I’ve proven that I cannot do it…
so one of several things usually happens.
- One is that I just give up in that particular area of my struggles
I’ll just keep drinking or smoking and admit defeat.
I despair of ever solving that problem I struggle with. - A second possibility is that I start making excuses for myself.
Hey, I’m only human! And none of us is perfect.
I may even use Paul’s words to support my excuses.
.. Paul willed to do what was right but he couldn’t do it. Fat chance I’ve got! - Yet a third option is that play down the importance of God’s will.
We say, “Well, this only the IDEAL that God has set for us…!
He knows we’ll never reach it. All He wants of us is that we at least try.”
That is why Jesus gave us this request of the Lord’s Prayer.
So that we might not despair.
So that we might not resort to excuses… like using Romans 7.
And so that we might not play down the importance of God’s revealed will.
In other words: as you struggle with obedience you don’t do any of those things.
Instead you go right on praying.
Praying for the will of God to be done by you as perfectly as it is done by the angels in heaven.
3. Now let me add another important point.
Would Jesus have taught His disciples to pray this prayer if God does not also answer it?
Obviously not! God certainly does answer it!
We acknowledge in this request that we cannot do His will.
We plead in this petition for obedience again and again.
But as we do that God thru His Holy Spirit also answers our prayer.
He answers our cry for help.
God’s answer is to give us the power to be obedient… the power to do His will.
But now I’m no longer talking about our will-power.
I’m talking now about the power of His Holy Spirit… enabling us to live obediently.
Let’s remember that this is also Paul’s answer in Romans.
We must never stop with Roman’s 7 and Paul’s dilemma there.
Paul goes right on to Romans 8 and there answers his dilemma.
Romans 8 is the solution there Paul speaks about life in the Spirit.
In Romans 8:4 Paul tells us that the Christian does not live according to the sinful nature.
Rather he lives according to the Spirit.
So, in prayer we are trusting in a power that is not our own.
Not my will-power… but the Spirit’s power for obedient living.
In fact we could go even further than that.
The Holy Spirit gives us the ability to be obedient to God’s will.
But how does the Holy Spirit do that?
He does that by uniting us to Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ is the only One who was ever perfectly obedient.
He is the only One who walked this earth in harmony with God’s will.
And now the Holy Spirit links us to the obedient Christ.
And it is in our unity with Jesus alone that we solve our problems of Christian living.
Paul said: It is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me!
C] THIS REQUEST IN RELATION TO THE WORLD.
1. We must also note that this request of the Lord’s Prayer is not only something we pray for ourselves:
We are to pray this also for the world in which we live.
It is a prayer for the will of to be done ON EARTH… as in heaven.
And on this earth you live out your Christian life…
but there is also the church… other Christians…
and there are a whole host of other people here on earth whom God also wants to be obedient.
“Father… may Your will be done here on this earth as it is in heaven.”
Think about that and we have a problem of enormous dimensions.
That crisis of will-power is there not only in our own lives…. it is a world wide crisis.
A crisis of enormous proportions.
Because if we who have the Spirit of Jesus have difficulty obeying God and need this prayer
then it is even more difficult for those who do not know God.
Failure to do the will of God is rampant in this world.
It is evident in the problems of injustice and inequality.
The problems of violence and racism.
And if our wills are opposed to God’s will then how much more isn’t that true of this world?
People will not recognise that the will of God revealed in His Word is what is best for us.
Nor will they agree that His will alone is good.
So instead of obedience to God man goes his own way in disobedience.
Decriminalise prostitution into a legitimate occupation! Legalise abortion and euthanasia!
Stop censorship and allow all kinds of horrendous videos.
Because adults must have their freedom.
2. So Jesus taught us to pray this also for this world.
“May Your will be done on this earth…in our world as in heaven.”
Does that seem like a futile prayer for us to pray for the world?
What hope is there of this world ever doing God’s will like the angels do in heaven?
Well…there’s every hope…. in fact it is a certainty.
One day God’s will is going to be done as perfectly here on earth as it is in heaven.
That is when the Kingdom of God comes in all its fullness and glory.
When that day comes, there won’t be a crisis of will-power anymore.
Then all will be harmony between God’s will and our will.
So indirectly this is at the same time also again a prayer for the coming of the Kingdom.
It is – indirectly – a prayer for the return of Jesus Christ.
Because on that day all of creation will be obedient to the will of God.
3. But let’s be careful that we understand this correctly.
When we think of this request in relation to the world then it is not only a prayer for the coming of Jesus.
It’s not so that the only way God’s will can be done on earth is by Jesus coming to bring in perfection.
No! The other way is by people being converted now.
So until that day when Jesus comes this is also a prayer for evangelism.
It is a request for conversions.
A prayer that the Lord will change men and women by His Spirit.
We pray that He will give them a new will.
That He will so unite them to Jesus that there will be in them the new obedience
that He gives to us as a gift thru His Spirit.
The conversion of other people is also the will of God.
So when you pray, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”
then you are not just praying for your own obedience in Christian living
you are also praying for opportunities to witness to others
so that they too may know the will of our Father in heaven
and in the power of His Spirit live obedient lives.
Perhaps next time we hear someone say to us: “It’s really just a matter of will power”
then we should take it as an opportunity to live out the evangelism dimension of this prayer.
That we remind people of our own crisis of will power.
And point them to Jesus and the power of His Holy Spirit.
Let’s pray more and more that obedience of Jesus be seen in us and in others
as we seek to please Him…
not by our own will power but by the power of Him who loves us.
Amen.