The Goals Of God
What Is God's Desire For Us?
The Goals of God
The topic of this paper is the stated goals of God, or Jesus (they are one with different functions.) as applied to his children, the church, the Kingdom of God, and all men.
The first goal stated is the overall goal and is undergirding all other goals of God. The reason for this first goal is stated in John 3:16. God's love for humankind is so great it moved him to provide opportunities for and provisions for his goals for mankind. God's goals become effective when mankind accepts the conditions or opportunities He plans for us. God's first and foremost goal for mankind is their salvation. 1 Tim. 2:4 says, “God our savior who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”
All other goals that God has for mankind relate to this one goal in one way or another.
Eph. 4:1 1-16 contains information about God's working towards accomplishing His goals. It says, "It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining the full measure of perfection found in Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work."
Some key phrases that show God's goals for us are the following.
1. To prepare God's people for works of service.
2. That the body of Christ may be built up
3. until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God.
4. -- become mature. (As children of God.)
5. --attaining the full measure of perfection found in Christ.
6. We will no longer be infants.
7. --we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head.
These are all goals that God has that relate to the body of Christ, the church – the earthly kingdom. God wants everyone in His church to grow, mature, and have a common unity.
What we call "The great commission" is found in Matt. 28:18-20. This passage contains several basic thoughts that we should consider. The verses contain some of his goals and provisions to enable humankind to respond to God correctly to fit into his goals.
Matt; 28:18-20: “Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I will be with you always, to the very end of the age’.”
The first thing to consider is that Jesus has all authority. These verses also state how God had planned to carry out His goal of saving people through Jesus' death. People in all nations were going to be able to be disciples of Jesus (followers and learners of Jesus) and be baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. All three, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, authorize the baptizing of believers. They would then be taught to obey everything Jesus commanded the apostles while he was with them.
In Acts 5:42, we have one of God's methods of reaching his goals given. It says, "... they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ." So when teaching occurs, and the good news is proclaimed, people know that Jesus is the Christ or Messiah. People then can respond to the good news and turn, in response, and therefore, God's desire for people to be saved will be fulfilled.
In Acts 6:1, we see a situation that points out several of God's desires and goals for humankind. So let's look at it.
Acts 6:1 “In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against those of the Aramaic-speaking community because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.”
The setting of this scene is in Jerusalem. Some of the money given to the apostles was for food for any in need. For some unknown reason, what had taken place was the overlooking of the Grecian Jewish widows. It may have been more than just language differences. They were not receiving a portion of needed food and complained to the Aramaic-speaking community. We don't know the reason for this negligent act, but it did show up as a fault for those in charge of the food distribution. This situation shows some of God's goals and desires for mankind. He wants people to be supplied with those items necessary for daily living. He also wants people of different languages to be concerned for each other, love each other, and care for each other. Through this, we see that even though we know that God has created all things for us to use, sometimes we receive His blessings from the hands of those around us.
In Acts 8:1, we see something take place that we might think was not God's plan or will. If we take a closer look at it, though, we will see that this is one of those examples in which God is causing all things to work out for the good of those who love the Lord or who would love the Lord. It says, "On that day, a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria."
As we look at this tragedy, we might say something terrible is taking place, but taking a second look at the result, we can see that it was perfect for those in outlying areas where the good news was still to come. Now, the good news was spreading to many more places. More and more people were getting to hear the good news. People were telling people and fulfilling God's goals.
Acts 8:26 shows how universal the goals of God are. The objective of having people come to believe in Jesus was not just for the Jews who lived all over. It was also for all those who were proselytes to the Jewish way of life. This included those of a different nationality and even a different skin color.
It says,.. "Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, 'Go south to the road – the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. He met an Ethiopian eunuch,'." The Ethiopian eunuch was a worshiper of God but needed to know about Jesus to come to the goals of God. He had to respond to the Lordship of Christ and obey His teachings. Phillip taught the Ethiopian eunuch, so he fulfilled God's plan to save him.
We will sometimes see that God has specific goals. It may take unusual events to reach these goals. We read of one specific goal, Saul's conversion, in Acts 9. Acts 9:15 has the specifics of this goal.
We read, "... Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel."
God's specific goal was to use this particular man to help God further reach His goal of having the good news preached worldwide.
We find in Act 9:31 an exceptional desire of God. This desire is for his children, the church, to live peacefully.
It reads, “Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace. It was strengthened; and encouraged by the Holy Spirit; it grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord.”
Here, we see that part of the work of the Holy Spirit was to strengthen and encourage the believers.
1 Timothy 2:1-3 contains thoughts that are related to this. It reads, " I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone – for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth."
God's ideal is to have us live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. But this is not always possible because we, His children, do not live in all godliness and holiness. Also, God brings us some unpleasantness that causes us to reevaluate our lives before Him.
In this article, I have not tried to get down to the individual characteristics of God's goals for our lives. I have yet to list all of Jesus' teachings. Understanding these is gained as we study Christ's life and the apostles' teachings in the New Testament's books.
Started 7/29/94 Rewritten 1/9/96
Copied to a new hard drive on 10/26/2018
Larry E. Whittington
Some thoughts are longer than others.