Healthy Choices
Matt 7:13-16, 21-23
When I’m on a road trip, do you know what my top two questions are? Where am I going to eat and how can I eat healthy? Here’s the thing: I always start off with the best intentions to eat healthy. I usually work out first, I take water to drink, protein bars to tide me over, a yogurt or two. But it happens to me every time. We pull off the highway and I usually end up getting a cheeseburger, fries and a large Diet Coke. I say to myself, “I’m on vacation after all.” But my original intent to eat healthy isn’t totally lost. I commit to eat only one or two bites of fries. But before I know it, I’m digging in those fries and then my hand goes down in the bag one last time only to find that I’ve eaten every one. Choices. There are always choices on the road. Last week, we learned that we are all on a journey but are called to the Road Less Traveled. This week, we’re talking about the choices we make along the journey.
We are a product of the choices we make. Our lives today are literally the result of 1000’s of choices we’ve made over the years. But what’s the most important choice we can make? In our Scripture today, Joshua has led the Israelites from the desert into the promised land of Canaan. Throughout their time in the wilderness, the Israelites had remembered the faith stories of their ancestors and experienced God’s mighty acts. But now that they had entered the promise land and their newfound freedom, some were making the decision to live like the Gentiles around them and even worship their gods. So, Joshua gathered them together to remind them all God had done: how God had blessed them in miraculous ways and that God had given them this promise land. He reminded them that God had answered the cries of their ancestors, led them out of Egypt and parted the Red Sea. It was God who brought them to this place. And then he pleads with them to turn away from their false idols, stop choosing to serve those things that don't lead to God, and serve one true God who brought them along the journey. Joshua realized the Israelities had to make a choice. “But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourself this day whom you will serve.” Then Joshua says something that provides the basic foundation on which all healthy choices on the road less traveled must be constructed: “But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
All healthy choices on the road less traveled start with the decision to serve God. Everything else stems from that. In short, giving our heart to God and God alone is the prerequisite of making healthy choices. Every other decision should flow from that. This is the question on the road of life: who you will serve?
Second, healthy choices come with challenges. For the Israelites, it was the temptation to live as the Gentiles did in their newfound land. And who can blame them? They knew how to live and thrive in their new home and had done so for generations. Following their ways would be so much easier. What you’ll find is that your mind and peer pressure from others try to convince you to take the easy road. They’ll will tell you the narrow road is too hard. Healthy choices can be painful at times. When you make a decision to follow Christ, problems and difficulties always arise and when they do, you’ll be tempted to take the easy road.
To serve God is not a one-time decision. There are always choices we face. This is a decision we must make every day: who are we going to serve this day? Are we going to choose God's path for our lives and serve Him or choose the world’s path. Not just on sunny days but rainy days, in sickness and in health, when we feel like it and even when we don't. Not just in big decisions like, “What am I going to do with my life?” but in small ones too like, “How am I going to treat the person who just cut me off in traffic?” In every moment, you’re going to have to decide who you’re going to serve.
Jesus faced these days to day decisions as well. When Jesus was asked by the Pharisees whether it was lawful to work on the Sabbath and then a man with a shriveled hand was brought to him, who was he going to serve? When the Sadducees asked to see a sign from heaven, who was he going to serve? And when Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane wrestling with whether to go to the cross, who was he going to serve? And his response was, “Not my will, but thine be done.” This is about giving your heart to God, and God alone. It’s the road less traveled. It is the right road but it’s not an easy road. And it is a road that will have to be chosen every day in every moment and in every decision: who am I going to serve?
Third, healthy choices come with doubts. At times, just like the Israelites, our mind will question whether the narrow road is worth it or not. Sam Dixon was the General Secretary of the United Methodist Committee on Relief. He died under the rubble in the Montana Hotel of Haiti, serving God while meeting with other relief agencies to work together to better help the Haitian people. When one serves God so faithfully and suddenly is killed, you’re tempted to ask, “Is it worth it?” My father served God as a pastor for 43 years. Six months into his retirement, he went on dialysis and then developed circulation problems in his legs. Over the next three years he had one leg and then the next amputated and twice was forced to learn to walk again with prosthetics, which he did but only on a limited basis. He never really had a retirement to enjoy and died 7 years later. And sometimes I want to ask, “Is it worth it?” Has anybody ever been there? We pray to God, give all of ourselves and then face hardship or even limited effectiveness or even personal attacks, and then the enemy causes us to question, “Is it worth it?” At times, it can appear not. The Bible cautions us against going through life and making decisions based on “appearances: "trust in the Lord with all of our heart, and lean not your own understanding and all our ways submit to him. And he will make the path straight. Do not be wise in our own eyes. Fear the Lord and shun evil. This will bring health to our body and nourishment to our bones.” Proverbs 3:5-8 This is God's promise.
Fourth, healthy choices requires decisions based on faith and leaning on the promises of God. God can use and redeem even the worst of circumstances, even death on a cross. Understand that you and I don't have all the answers. But God does. That seems simple but it’s huge. If God has all the answers and you’re wrestling with what to do, make a healthy choice. Do what God wants. Lean not on your own understanding and trust him in all your ways. Ravi Zacharias tells the amazing story of a young Christian Hien Pham whom he met in Vietnam who served as an interpreter with the American forces. Shortly after Vietnam fell, Hien was imprisoned on accusations of helping the Americans. His jailers tried to indoctrinate him against democratic ideals with daily readings of Marx and Lennon and it began to take its toll. ‘Maybe,’ he thought, ‘I have been lied to. Maybe God does not exist. Maybe the West has deceived me.’ So Hien determined that when he awakened the next day, he would not pray anymore or think of his faith. The next morning, he was assigned the dreaded chore of cleaning the prison latrines. As he cleaned out a tin can overflowing with toilet paper, his eye caught what seemed to be English printed on one piece of paper. He hurriedly grabbed it, washed it, and after his roommates had retired that night, he retrieved the paper and read the words, ‘And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him for I am convinced that nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.’ Hien wept. There was not a more relevant passage for one on the verge of surrender of his faith. He cried out to God, asking forgiveness, for this was to have been the first day that he would not pray. And every day since, he has chosen to live by faith and stand on the promises of God.
Fifth, making healthy choices means being led by God. We must empty ourselves and surrender to God allowing Him to lead us by the Spirit. Tony Campolo tells about speaing at a Pentecostal college. Before the service, 8 men had him kneel so they could place their hands on his head and pray. Tony was glad to have the prayer, but each of them prayed a long time, but the longer they prayed, the more they pushed on Tony’s head. And then they even seemed to wander in their prayers. One of the men didn’t even pray for Tony but for some guy he was concerned about. “Dear Lord, you know Charlie Stoltzfus. He lives in that silver trailer down the road a mile. You know the trailer, Lord, just down the road on the right-hand side.” Tony wanted to interrupt and tell him that God already knew where they guy lived and didn’t need directions, but he just knelt there trying to keep his head upright. The prayer went on: “Lord, Charlie told me this morning he’s going to leave his wife and three kids. Step in and do something, God. Bring that family back together.” With that, the prayer time ended and Tony went out to preach at the college chapel. Things went well and he got in his car and began to drive home. As he drove onto the Pennsylvania Turnpike, he saw a hitchhiker and felt compelled to pick him up. “We drove a few minutes and I said: ‘Hi, my name’s Tony Campolo. What’s yours?’ He said, ‘My name is Charlie Stoltzfus.’ I couldn’t believe it I got off the turnpike at the next exit and headed back. He got a bit uneasy with that and after a few minutes he said, ‘Hey mister, where are you taking me?’ I said, ‘I’m taking you home.’ He narrowed his eyes and asked, ‘Why?’ I said, ‘Because you just left your wife and three kids, right?’ That blew him away. ‘Yeah, that’s right.’ With shock written all over his face, he plastered himself against the car door and never took his eyes off me. Then I drove right to his silver trailer. When I pulled up, his eyes seemed to bulge as he asked, ‘How did you know that I lived here?’ I said ‘God told me.’ When he opened the trailer door his wife exclaimed, ‘You’re back! You’re back!’ He whispered in her ear and the more he talked, the bigger her eyes got. I said with real authority, ‘The two of you sit down. I’m going to talk and you two are going to listen ’ Man, did they listen . . . That afternoon I led those two young people to Jesus Christ.”
Sixth, Healthy choices involve choosing faith over fear. Joshua was sent with the 11 other spies to go into the promise land to see what it was like and report back to the people. When they came back, they all agreed on everything, but the God thing. They agreed the people were powerful and the land was fertile and flowing with milk and honey. But when they were asked whether the Israelites should go in and take possession of the land, 10 spies shouted out, “Are you crazy? We can’t attack those people. They’re stronger than we are. All the people we saw were giants.” But Joshua and Caleb didn’t see the problem. They saw the promise that God was giving them in this land. They saw the situation through God’s eyes.
Too often we see the situation or problem rather God’s promise and the possibilities and that leads to fear and unhealthy choices. We have to move our eyes from the immediate to the big picture, from the short term to the longterm and the world’s sight to God’s vision. This is what it takes to live by faith and make Godly decisions. Joshua responds, “Look, if we’re in this alone, we should go home right now because it would be a hopeless situation. But we’re not. The very One that gives us breath is with us. Look past what you see and look to what God has for us. God will give it to us.” Don’t fear the problem in front of you, respond with faith by clinging to God’s promise. It’s God’s spirit that takes us from the immediate, that is our limited ability and understanding, into the big picture of the vastness of God’s possibilities for our lives.
In 1988, Carl Lundquist, former president of Bethel College was told he had a rare form of cancer called mycosis fungoides, which would eventually end his life three years later. Upon hearing the diagnosis, he wrote: That day in the hospital room, I picked up my Bible when the doctor had left. I turned to the joy verses of Philippians, thinking one might stand out. But what leaped from the pages was Paul’s testimony in chapter one, "I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed but will have sufficient courage so that now, as always, Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or death. For me to live is Christ and to die is gain." And I discovered that a verse I had lived by in good health also was a verse that I could live by in ill health. To live - Christ, to die - gain. But by life or by death, it’s all right either way ... So I simply trust that [God] in His own way will carry out for me His will which I know alone is good and acceptable and perfect. By life or by death. Hallelujah!” He chose faith over fear. Amen.
