Heavenly Intent Provides Wisdom
An all-creatures Bible Message

Heavenly Intent Provides Wisdom
 
A Sermon Delivered to
The Compassion Internet Church
 
4 October 2015
 
Frank L. Hoffman, Pastor

Scripture References

Job 2:1-3
Mark 10:1-12
Luke 4:1-13
Hebrews 2:1-12 

Heavenly intent provides wisdom, because it allows us to see beyond the corrupt ways of this world to the way God wants us to live.
 
This is also what the Holy Spirit does in our lives, if we allow Him to truly be our guide.
 
The Holy Spirit always lets us see God’s heavenly intent in the pages of the Bible so that we can separate the things of God from the things of this world.
 
This is how understanding God’s heavenly intent provides wisdom, for wisdom is knowing how to live in the heavenly will of God while still living in this corrupt and evil world with all its pain, suffering, bloodshed, and death.
 
Understanding God’s heavenly intent leads us to eternal life in heaven.
 
But sometimes there is something that can be very confusing, such as what we are told in Job 2:1-3.

1. Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the LORD.
 
2. And the LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?" Then Satan answered the LORD and said, "From roaming about on the earth, and walking around on it."
 
3. And the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man fearing God and turning away from evil. And he still holds fast his integrity, although you incited Me against him, to ruin him without cause."
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Why in all of heaven would the Lord have these kinds of conversations with Satan and even listen to him?
 
As strange as it may seem, when God cast Satan down to earth, He didn’t cut him off from His presence; for since the Fall from grace, we humans live in this fallen world being tested and tempted by the devil, but we must reject the devil and all his evil ways.
 
Note what we are told in Luke 4:1-13.

1. And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led about by the Spirit in the wilderness
 
2. for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days; and when they had ended, He became hungry.

Unlike with the Job story where we are not told how to counter the schemes of the devil, here in this Luke passage Jesus shows us how to overcome the evil ways of the devil.
 
This is the wisdom we receive from understanding God’s heavenly intent.

3. And the devil said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread."
 
4. And Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'Man shall not live on bread alone.' " 

Jesus counters the devil’s scheme by quoting a Bible passage that reflects God’s heavenly intent.

5. And he led Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
 
6. And the devil said to Him, "I will give You all this domain and its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.

Here in the process of tempting Jesus, the devil tells us why he is still able to operate here on earth, for God gave it to him when He cast him out of heaven.

7. "Therefore if You worship before me, it shall all be Yours."
 
8. And Jesus answered and said to him, "It is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.' " 

Again Jesus counters the temptation of the devil by quoting another passage of Scripture that reflects God’s heavenly intent.

9. And he led Him to Jerusalem and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here;
 
10. for it is written,
'He will give His angels charge concerning You to guard You,'
 
11. and,
'On their hands they will bear You up,
Lest You strike Your foot against a stone.' " 
 
12. And Jesus answered and said to him, "It is said, 'You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.' " 

Each of these three times Jesus countered these evil schemes of the devil.

13. And when the devil had finished every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.
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And, we can and should also counter the schemes of the devil in the same manner; we are to use the wisdom that Jesus gives us, and not fall into the traps of the devil.
 
Let’s now look at Mark 10:1-12, and see some other examples of how God’s heavenly intent provides wisdom.

1. And rising up, He [Jesus] went from there to the region of Judea, and beyond the Jordan; and crowds gathered around Him again, and, according to His custom, He once more began to teach them.

Jesus always taught about the kingdom of heaven, and God’s desire for us to live according to His heavenly will here on earth as it is in heaven.
 
This means that we are to live in such a way that we do everything in our power to live at peace with all of our fellow human beings, and all the animals, and the environment in which we all live.
 
In other words, we are to live in peace with all of God’s creation.
 
This is God’s heavenly intent.
 
We should take a stand against all forms of human-caused violence, pain, suffering, bloodshed, and death.
 
This is God’s heavenly intent.
 
We should do everything in our power to help free creation from its present corruption, including ungodly hard of heart teachings coming from our religious institutions, just as Jesus encountered in His time here on earth.
 
This is the wisdom that comes from understanding God’s heavenly intent.

2. And some Pharisees came up to Him, testing Him, and began to question Him whether it was lawful for a man to divorce a wife.

They are trying to trick Jesus into saying something that counters the word of God, but He was not fooled by them, just as we shouldn’t be fooled by those kinds of people today, including those who distort the Bible as a means of trying to justify their own hardness of heart.
 
Look at how Jesus responds, for it shows how God’s heavenly intent provides wisdom.

3. And He answered and said to them, "What did Moses command you?" 
 
4. And they said, "Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away."
 
5. But Jesus said to them, "Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment.

Note very carefully that Jesus is telling these corrupt religious leaders that this commandment didn’t come from God, but from Moses because of the people’s hardness of heart.
 
This is an example of using the wisdom that comes from understanding God’s heavenly intent.
 
So Jesus goes on to explain why.

6. "But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. 
 
7. "For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, 
 
8. and the two shall become one flesh; consequently they are no longer two, but one flesh. 
 
9. "What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate." 

And in the same light, we also need to remember that from the beginning of creation, God created only plant foods for us and the animals to eat, and that it was only human hardness of heart that led to the killing and eating of animals.
 
This is the kind of wisdom that comes from the unction of the Holy Spirit and from understanding God’s heavenly intent.
 
God created everything in His heavenly will, and He declared everything He made to be very good (Genesis 1:31).
 
The whole of creation was free of corruption.
 
And we strongly believe that it is the hardening of the human heart that comes from killing and eating animals that leads to all other forms of worldly living including the divorce issue Jesus is discussing with these corrupt religious leaders.

10. And in the house the disciples began questioning Him about this again.
 
11. And He said to them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her;
 
12. and if she herself divorces her husband and marries another man, she is committing adultery." 
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We need to use this same kind of logic and understanding to recognize and understand the root causes of all of the evil and corrupt practices going on in the world.
 
And no matter what is going on around us, we are to always remain the loving, compassionate, and peacemaking children of God.
 
This is the wisdom that comes from understanding God’s heavenly intent.
 
Think about these things as we look at Hebrews 2:1-12…

1. For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.

The peer pressure of worldly people always tries to draw us away from the heavenly will of God and back into the ungodly ways of the world.
 
This is another example of how understanding God’s heavenly intent provides wisdom.

2. For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense,
 
3. how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard,
 
4. God also bearing witness with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.

And, part of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is the wisdom that comes from understanding God’s heavenly intent.

5. For He did not subject to angels the world to come, concerning which we are speaking.
 
6. But one has testified somewhere, saying,
"What is man, that Thou rememberest him?
Or the son of man, that Thou art concerned about him?
 
7. "Thou hast made him for a little while lower than the angels;
Thou hast crowned him with glory and honor,
And hast appointed him over the works of Thy hands;
 
8. Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet."
For in subjecting all things to him, He left nothing that is not subject to him. But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him.

If we use the wisdom that God gave us, we can see that this applies to both Jesus and to us; for according to God’s heavenly intent, we have been given the wisdom to protect creation from worldly corruption.
 
It is only the corrupt and evil ways of this world that desire to horribly abuse and use the animals that have been subjected to us, and we as peacemaking children of God are to stand against such things.
 
We are to help free creation from its present corruption.

9. But we do see Him who has been made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.
 
10. For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings.

This is why all suffering and corruption should stop upon this earth.
 
Understanding this is understanding how God’s heavenly intent provides wisdom.

11. For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren,
 
12. saying,
"I will proclaim Thy name to My brethren,
In the midst of the congregation I will sing Thy praise."
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We hope and pray that we all have decided to be a part of these brethren, which is what true peacemaking children of God are.
 
This is the wisdom that comes from understanding God’s heavenly intent.
 
Amen.

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