Good + Pleasing = Perfect Will of God

I should be able to discern what is the good, pleasing and perfect will of God.

 Why? The bible tells me so!

Good + pleasing = perfect will of God

Romans 12:1-2 Therefore, brothers and sisters, in the view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifce, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship.  Do not be conformed to this age but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing and perfect will of God.

Before we get into the will of God, what is our responsibility in view of the mercies of God?  Think back before you were saved- what was your life like?  What were you like? I always knew about Jesus, but I didn’t know how He applied to my life. I went to Sunday School and knew He was important.  I watched the Jesus of Nazereth miniseries on NBC. I believed in Jesus and what He did for the world and He was a good guy.  But it was a “head” knowledge.  It wasn’t until I was 17 that I realized I had a whole in my heart the size of Jesus and he was the only one to fill it. I had a lot of hurt in my life.  I felt ugly, unloved, angry, lonely, like no one understood me, I never fit in with anyone, and on top of all that I was fat.

Even after I got saved, none of these things resolved themselves, but I knew I wasn’t alone now. I truly felt the presence of God in my life after I was saved.  I didn’t know what that meant, I didn’t know what was next, I just knew I wasn’t alone. And at the time… that was enough for me.

So in light of the mercies of God, what is my reasonable service?

To present my body as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is my true worship.

How do I do this?

 I choose not to be conformed( to fashion like, identify with;follow the same pattern) to this age(world) but be transformed(changed to another form) by the renewing (renovation;complete change for the better) of my mind (comprehension;intellect; feeling;will).

Ephesians 4:20- 24 But that is not how you came to know Christ, ²¹ assuming you heard about him and were taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus, ²² to take off your former way of life, the old self that is corrupted by deceitful desires, ²³ to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, ²⁴ and to put on the new self, the one created according to God’s likeness in righteousness and purity of the truth.

None of this is possible unless we walk in the Spirit.

 Galatians 5:16 I say, then, walk by the Spirit and you will certainly not carry out the desire of the flesh.

Romans 8:4 in order that the law’s requirement would be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Once we have decided we are going to walk in the Spirit then we can tackle the task of discerning(testing,examining) the good, pleasing and perfect will of God.

Lets star with His good will.

Good is the the greek word agathon which indicates to act rightly; do rightly; do something that profits others. An action that beneifts others.

“Good” in this scripture is the action that reflects the goodness of the Father.

Matthew 19:17 Jesus replied, ‘Why do you ask me about a good thing? Only God is good. Nobody else. If you want to have real life, then you must obey God's laws.’(EASY)

We are called to do good.  To be kind and have the qualities of being trusted, honest, with integrity toward our fellow man.

Galatians 6:10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

Doing good is the tangible service reflecting the Character of Christ.

3 John 1:11 Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God.

Galatians 5:22-23;25 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, ²³ Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. ²⁵ If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

What is His pleasing will?

Pleasing is the word evareston in the greek which means fully agreeable-acceptable; bringing delight to the Lord. 

His “pleasing will” is when he delights in us.  When we make our lives a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to him.

 This is when we are actively looking for ways to please him. 

2 Corinthians 5:9 Therefore, whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to be pleasing to him.

Ephesians 5:8-10 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light— ⁹ for the fruit of the light consists of all goodness, righteousness, and truth— ¹⁰ testing what is pleasing to the Lord.

Colossian 1:10 So that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God,

Hebrews 13:21 Equip you with everything good to do his will, working in us what is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

1 John 3:22 And receive whatever we ask from Him because we keep his commands and do what is pleasing in his sight.

 What pleases God?  Spending time with him (Matthew 6:33), obeying him (John 14:15), choosing Holiness (1 Peter 1:16).

 Walking in the Spirit and not the flesh. (Galatians 5:16)

 How do I apply this to my life?  My day to day? 

 GOOD WILL: be kind to others, go out of your way to be kind to others.

Titus 3:2 to slander no one, to aviod fighting, and to be kind, always showing gentleness to all people.

 PLEASING WILL: be kind to Jesus, spend time with him (1 Chronicles 16:11), sing a song to him (Psalm 33:3), if He tells you to do something, do it, and do it quickly (1John 5:2)!

 PERFECT WILL OF GOD: God takes care of this one. Jesus is the only one perfect.

 Isaiah 46:10 I declare the end from the beginning, and from long ago what is not yet done, saying: my plan will take place, and I will do all my will.

 Psalm 139:16 Your eyes saw me when I was formless; all my days were written in your book and planned before a single one of them began.

 Psalm 37:23 A person’s steps are established by the Lord, and he takes pleasure in his way.

 Ephesians 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.

 Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“plans for your well-being, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. ¹² You will call to me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. 

 I don’t have to be perfect.  Jesus was the only one who was perfect. I can’t do any of these things but the Spirit in me gives me the power to do all these things.

 The Holy Spirit in us is the game changer.

 Romans 8:11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, then he who raised Christ from the dead will also bring your mortal bodies to life through his Spirit who lives in you

 Good will + Pleasing= Perfect Will of God

 The sum of the “good will” I strive for and the “pleasing will” I aspire to, will transform to the sum of the “Perfect” will of God.

I must: strive(train/exercise) to know him; have a clear conscience: strive in prayers to God; labor, train and strive for godliness.

Hosea 6:3 Let’s strive to know the Lord. His appearance is as sure as the dawn. He will come to us like the rain, like the spring showers that water the land.

Acts 24:16 I always strive to have a clear conscience toward God and men.

Romans 15:30 Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, through our Lord Jesus Christ and through the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in prayers to God on my behalf.

1 Timothy 4:7-10 But have nothing to do with pointless and silly myths. Rather, train yourself in godliness. ⁸ For the training of the body has limited benefit, but godliness is beneficial in every way, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. ⁹ This saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance. ¹⁰ For this reason we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.

Let’s explore the Perfect will of God for a minute.

Perfect is the word teleion in the greek which means of full age, mature, complete, finished reaching to an end. Going through the necessary stages to reach the end-goal, i.e. developed into a completion by fulfilling the necessary process. (Strongs Greek Lexical Summary)

We all understand the word perfect to mean flawless but that is not true in the bible.

Amomous in the greek means blameless, without blame, faultless/flawless

Paul used the word teleon (mature, complete) in Romans 12:2 not amomous

God is perfect but we are not. 

Which is great news!

Even in the scripture Matthew 5:48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.  The word here is teleios a form of teleon meaning mature/complete.  Not amomous meaning blameless/faultless.

 James 1:17 Every good and perfect (teleios) gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows

James 1:25 But the one who looks intently into the perfect (teleios) law of freedom and perseveres in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer who works—this person will be blessed in what he does.

Jude 1:24 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling or falling into sin, and to present you unblemished [blameless and faultless] (amomous) in the presence of His glory with triumphant joy and unspeakable delight, (AMP)

So we need to retrain our brains.  Perfect in the bible is means mature, complete (teleios).

Perfect does not mean flawless, faultless, or blameless (amomous).  

Ugh! That was a lot.  Thanks for hanging in there with me.  

Philippians 3:12-16  Not that I have already reached the goal or am already perfect, but I make every effort to take hold of it because I also have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus. ¹³ Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, ¹⁴ I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵ Therefore, let all of us who are mature think this way. And if you think differently about anything, God will reveal this also to you. ¹⁶ In any case, we should live up to whatever truth we have attained. 

I  will finish with a small illustration in my own life and how I came to the above conclusions:

When I joined the church, I was so excited to work I decided if there is a call for any service in the church, I was going to jump right in.  My first volunteering opportunity was Grace Kids, the children’s ministry at my church. (HIS GOOD WILL-tangible service reflecting the Character of Christ.)

I’ve served maybe 3-4 times so far and it’s going well.  I received my assignment for April and I made a conscience decision I was going to give this lesson everything I had. I was going to really think about a way to make this fun/impactful for the kids. I prayed about it and asked God what he was thinking. (HIS PLEASING WILL-actively looking for ways to please him/going above and beyond)

After much thought and jumping through a few hoops, I found a friend who had a bunny that could help me convey the subject of the lesson: compassion.  (HIS PERFECT WILL-the end-goal)

Nothing about what I did was flawless (ammous).

But everything God does through me might show what it means to feel compassion and to get a very small glimpse of how Jesus feels about us, will be HIS PERFECT WILL (teleios).