Colossians 1:9-12 –

⁹And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, ¹⁰so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; ¹¹being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; ¹²giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. ¹³He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, ¹⁴in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Introduction

I’ve always found it interesting that God designed things in such a way that there is a concentration of some of the most significant, whole-life-effecting decisions we’ll make right at the beginning of adulthood. We need wisdom and understanding concerning God’s will in droves at the same time we’re just beginning to value and acquire it.

I experienced this in what felt like a nearly overwhelming weight. By the end of my junior year in college, I had only recently come to faith in Jesus, had not yet read through the Bible even once, and had an almost entirely blank slate when it came to a Christian worldview (I didn’t even know what that was yet). And yet, I needed to make some of the biggest decisions of my life—when to get married, what to do for work, whether to stay in the area for another year so Gerri could finish school or jump right into some kind of ministry or ministry prep, where to live, etc.

There were some godly men in my life at the time, but they weren’t much older or further along in life than I was. It was before the internet was much of a thing, so I couldn’t just Google it. And, most significantly, I was only tangentially connected to a local church. In other words, I didn’t know what to do or how to find out.

I worked through much of that as best I could. Gerri and I got married the following summer and decided to spend our first year of marriage working together with a ministry that had us in a different city most days and a different state most weeks.

As that came to an end, about a year later, we were faced with many of the same questions all over again. We were still immature in our faith and had even less access to godly counsel and wisdom this time since we’d been so disconnected for the previous year.

There are few memories more etched in my mind that that of earnestly wanting to know God’s will during that time. Looking back, I can see now that I didn’t really even know what that meant. When it came to trying to figure out what God wanted from me in specific decisions, I only had a vague sense of praying sincere prayers and hoping that God would somehow let me know what to do.

Very sincere, and somewhat desperate, I did the only thing I could think of. I emailed John Piper. I’d never met him or had any kind of communication with him. I didn’t even know someone who had. I’d heard him speak at a conference, read a couple of his books, and read quite a few of his sermons, but that’s it. I just knew that I didn’t know anyone at the time with that kind of biblical insight and wisdom. So, I sent him an email.

Actually, I didn’t have his email address. I must have sent it to some general church (or DG?) email address I’d found. Not surprisingly, I never heard back from him. But to the church’s credit, someone from the church did reply. He pointed me to a book (Gary Friesen’s, Decision Making and the Will of God) that is still, 30 years later, in the top 3-4 (non-biblical) things I’ve ever read in terms of creating an immediate and lasting change in my life.

The short version of the book’s message is that the Bible speaks of God as having two wills (in a sense). One is His providential will and the other is His revealed will. From this, I quickly learned three things: 1) Failing to make the distinction between them was at the heart of much of my confusion and angst, and 2) I had a long way to go to gain the knowledge and wisdom I needed to make good decisions.

All of that autobiography was meant to get us to Paul’s prayer, asking God to fill the Colossians with “the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.” And to help us feel the need to have clear answers on a few questions: 1) What are the two wills of God? 2) Which of the two wills was Paul praying that God would reveal to the Colossians? 3) Why was he asking God for that? And 4) What difference does that make for us?

As I seek to answer those questions from God’s Word, you’ll see the big idea of the sermon: God has revealed to us everything we need to know to know His will, to know what it means to live in a manner worthy of Him. He does so through His Word, with the help of His Spirit and Church. The main takeaway, then, is to be a people of His Word, Spirit, and Church.

The Wills of God

As we turn our attention to the “two wills” of God, I imagine that if you’re not already familiar with that concept (and maybe even if you are), it probably sounds funny. It might sound a little like the two wills of Paul in Romans 7, “I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate” or like God can’t quite make up His mind about stuff.

Indeed, the idea of God having two wills should sound funny because it’s definitely not true in either of those ways and it’s only true in a certain sense. In reality, God has one, perfect will. He perfectly knows what’s best and always wants what’s best. He is truly single-minded in the most significant way.

In what sense do we say He has two wills, then? Only in the sense of our perception. It’s a way of describing two ways in which God reveals His will to the world. Again, then, before seeing how all of this applies to the Colossians and us, let’s consider the two ways God reveals His will to the world.

God’s Providential Will

The first has been called many things: God’s “sovereign will” or “efficacious” will or His “decretive” will or His “eternal” will. I prefer to call it His “providential will.” Whichever name you prefer, the meaning is the same: There are certain things that God has determined to bring about and nothing can stop or even slow Him down from accomplishing those things. God’s providential will is all that He has sovereignly determined to bring to pass.

Perhaps the most succinct and well-known verse on God’s providential will is Ephesians 1:11. There Paul declares that God “works all things according to the counsel of His will.”

Similarly, we’re told in Romans 8:28 that “God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose…”

Proverbs 16:33 The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD.

Lamentations 3:37 Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it?

Isaiah 46:9-10 I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, ¹⁰declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, “My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose…”

Daniel 4:35 [God] does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand…

Colossians 1:17 [God] is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

These are just a few of the many biblical passages that teach the same idea of God having a providential will. Collectively, they reveal the key features of this will of God:

In includes everything that God has sovereignly determined to do in His own power.
It is secret from us until it happens. We simply cannot know it before it comes to pass.
We are not responsible to know it or make decisions in light of it.
Most of what God wills falls under this category. Most of what God does, He does not reveal to us in advance or expect us to take into account when making decisions.

Without really knowing it, most of my angst as a young man came from trying to discern God’s providential will.

My prayers were essentially, “God, which job should I take? Plea...