How To Approach Decision Making Series

Making Good Decisions - Luke 6:12-15

Gladstone Baptist Church - 14/11/04

What do you do when you are facing a large decision? It may be a decision about your career. Do I pursue a promotion or not? Should I look for another Job? Should I get a job? For you students, maybe you have to decide what subjects to take at school or what you want to do when you leave school - A doctor, a baker a boilermaker?

What about big decisions in relationships ... Should I ask that person out - what if they say no? If you are asked out, the question is ... Should I go out with that person - Am I attracted to them? Then it’s, do I want to marry them or not? Then when the first argument comes along - Do I want to stay married to them? How do you make good decisions about relationships?

One of my grandfathers had a stroke and was in an unconscious state for a couple of months before he died of pneumonia. The immediate family all gathered from around Australia after the stroke, but Grandpa lingered on for weeks and they all returned home to wait it out. But before they left, the family had to figure out what course of treatment they wanted for their Dad. Should they maintain medication for him or let him just slip away. If he did stop breathing, should he be resuscitated or not? Would they want life support if it was necessary or not? Tough decisions to make. How do you go about making good decisions in circumstances like that.

It may be that you have to face big decisions about money or finances ... What should I do with my savings - all $15 of it? Should I buy a new car or an old car? What sort of car should I get - a sports car or a family wagon? Should I buy a house here in Gladstone or rent? How do you make good decisions about money?

At some point in your life everyone has some big decisions to make, You might be in the middle of a big decision right now. And you are wondering “How should I handle this? What’s the right answer? Where do I turn for help?” Tonight I want to look at what Jesus did before he made a big decision because he made some good decisions.

Luke 6:12-16

One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. 13 When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles: 14 Simon (whom he named Peter), his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, 15 Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the Zealot, 16 Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

Pray

In this passage, Jesus was faced with a decision that would shape the rest of history. Have you ever been faced with such a decision - probably not. Jesus at this time was selecting 12 men who would be trained and carry on his ministry when He died. But what if he made the wrong decision? Selecting the wrong men and everything he worked for while here on earth might just fizzle. Think about it for a while. Where would Christianity be today if the apostles had failed - just given it all up as a failed experiment and gone back to their old professions of fishing and tax collecting and the like after Jesus had died. We definitely wouldn’t have the NT as it is today. We probably wouldn’t even know much about Jesus Christ at all. There would have been no Christian church. God’s plan of salvation would have been lost to all generations. Given that Christ was going to entrust the truth of his ministry and the health and well being of the Christian church into the hands of these 12 men, this selection was critical - talk about pressure. I hope I never have a decision like that to make.

This was a big decision Jesus had to make and to make it worse, He was under immense pressure in other areas of his life. His enemies were breathing down his neck and plotting against Him. As we’ve looked through the book of Luke, we’ve seen again and again that Jesus seemed to step on toes everywhere he went. What he taught, his attitudes, behaviour and all that he stood for seemed to be offending the establishment. He was a bit of a revolutionary and the Pharisees and the leaders of the Jewish Temple were upset. Actually they were so peeved that the verse before this passage says that they “began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus”. And don’t be fooled, they weren’t planning a surprise party - they were wanting to get rid of this trouble maker for once and for all.