Making Godly Choices
Pastor Jamie Wright * April 27, 2005
Deut 30:19 “…therefore, choose life that both you and your descendants may live…”
Joshua 24:15 “…choose for yourselves this day who you will serve; but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord.”
Adam and eve had a choice. Noah had a choice, Jonah had a choice, Zaccheaus had a choice and Paul had a choice.
Don’t let the devil convince you that you don’t have the power to choose.
“DAMNED IF I DO DAMNED IF I DON’T
God gave you the power to choose.
ANYONE EVER MADE A BAD CHOICE!
I did a little research and came across some bad decisions of History:
a: Sam Philips sold a small recording company to RCA in 1955 for $35,000. It included an exclusive contract with a young man called Elvis Presley. Unknowingly he forfeited millions of dollars in royalties.
b: Tom Sellick turned down the lead role for Indiana Jones.
c: A thief in America tried to steal 2 live lobsters and he decided to stick them down his pants.
d: In Germany a bank robber pulls out a gun and demands money. The teller says she needs to se his ID So he gets it out, takes the cash and leaves the Id behind.
e: A south African hang gliding instructor saw a beautiful woman sun bathing on a roof below his flight pattern. He decided to make an obscene gesture at her. The woman’s husband appeared with a rifle and blasted him out of the sky.
f: The girl who told Bill Gates (Microsoft) it’s the computer or me.
g: The Leyland P76.
h: Pausing for a moment when your wife asks, “ Do I look fat in this?”
All bad decisions.
What is the key to making wise decisions? Listen to God.
Proverbs2:5 & 9 “If you want better insight and discernment, learn the importance for reverence for the Lord and of trusting Him. He shows how to distinguish right from wrong and how to find the right decision every time.”
If you want to make good decisions listen to God. Today I want to give 6 very practical ways to test a decision.
1: The Ideal Test: Is it in harmony with the word of God?
Is what I am about to do ok with what God says in the Bible? This is always test number 1. In life you have to decide what’s going to be the thing you base your life on - what is going to be your ultimate authority for what you do. There are 2 choices: You base you decisions on Gods word or on what society values. What God says or what people say.
If you base your life around what the popular opinion of the day is your always going to be out of date. Things are constantly changing. What was in vogue 10 years ago is not today. Society’s opinions are constantly changing. There is no solid foundation it is always on the move. If you base your life on opinions, popular culture, political correctness or opinion polls you don’t have a life foundation to build on. You don’t have principles to live by.
On the other hand if you base your life on Gods word, the truth never changes. Truth is always truth. If God says something was wrong 10,000 years ago it was wrong 5,000 years ago, 500 years ago and today. I don’t care hat the opinion polls says, I don’t care what political correctness says. I don’t really acre what is given to us on the media. If God says it’s wrong it’s wrong. We have a choice to build our life on a shaky constantly changing foundation or you can build your life on what God says which never changes which gives you a solid foundation while everything else is up in the air.
If you reject, disobey or ignore Gods principles you’re the one who gets hurt.
The first question in a decision is what does God say about it. If God says its ok then I go for it if he doesn’t then I don’t.
The oldest temptation know to mankind is to doubt gods word. Whenever we find something in the bible we don’t’ like, think is a little restrictive or outdated, old fashioned we start to doubt God and say does the bible really say you can’t do this. Did god really say, did god really mean. Any time you start thinking that question you’ve fallen for the oldest trap in the world. It was satans original temptation, the one he used on Adam.
So when making a decision the first test is, what does God say about it in His word?
2: The Integrity Test: Would I want everyone to know about this decision I am making?
If you’re making a decision and you worry about what others will think about it then it’s probably a good indication that it’s not the right decision to make. Bad decisions always lead to secrets and those kinds of secrets will lead to pain in our lives.
Proverbs 10:9 “The man of integrity walks securely but he who takes crooked paths will be found out.”
Note is doesn’t say might be found out or even if there’s a high probability of being found out. You will be found out.
When making decisions you have to have the integrity test.
We’ve all done it: your about to make a bad choice, you know its wrong and that it’s a choice you shouldn’t make but you think no one will find out about it. Immediately you make that decision you start thinking someone’s going to find out and you feel the fear that comes from that. That’s when you’ve violated this integrity test.
The test of integrity is that your public life and your private life match. What’s in your heart and what’s in your life are the same thing. That your walk and your talk are the same thing. The truth is when it comes to integrity, even if you fool everyone else, you can’t fool yourself. If you violate your conscious you have to pay for that.
James 14:7 Knowing what is right to do and then not doing it is sin.
There are times we think like this: We know we’re about to do the wrong thing - we know we shouldn’t do it. This enters our brain “ Even though its wrong I’ll do it anyway because God will forgive me.”
God isn’t stupid. If we think we can go ahead and do something that he says is wrong and there won’t be any consequences - were fooling ourselves. That’s the very reason he doesn’t want us to make that decision. There are consequences to every decision we make and every bad decision always leaves scars.
The Bible says what we reap we sow.
That’s how it is in life. The truth is God does forgive us for all the wrong things we do. But that forgiveness doesn’t free us from the pain and consequences that come from bad decisions.
You can be forgiven and still struggle with the low self esteem from that decision. You can be forgiven and still have the broken relationship because you made that decision.
When we think about things that we know are wrong, it’s easier than with gray areas. How do you decide with the gray areas and the integrity test?
Romans 14:14 If someone believes that something is wrong then he shouldn’t do it because for him it is wrong.
This verse is really simple, when in doubt – don’t. It’s a violation of the integrity test.
3: The Improvement Test: Will it make me a better Christian?
1st Corinthians 10:23 Everything is permissible - but not everything is beneficial - but not everything is constructive.
Notice the freedom we have here as Christians. Everything is permissible but not everything is beneficial and not everything builds you up. Paul is saying that some things are not necessarily wrong they’re just not necessary. They’re not essential. It’s not a case of good or bad but rather it’s a matter between what’s good and what’s the best. Many of the choices we make in life are not a case of good verses evil. Most of us don’t get up in the morning and say will I read my Bible or will I become an international terrorist.
The issue is what’s really best for your life. A lot of things are not necessarily, they are morally neutral - but they are not necessary. You need to go to a higher standard and ask is what I am going to do make me a better person. That’s the improvement test.
I may skating on thin ice but I’m going to say it anyway. Some of you, your lives revolve around certain TV shows. And you are wasting your life. You know more about fictional characters on TV than you do about Peter and Paul, the disciples, Jesus and what God wants to do in your life. You are wasting your life; it’s not making you a batter person.
Some of you are reading books/novels that are trash and you have no business reading and you’re filling your minds with all sorts of junk. Some of you are reading books that are all that trashy they’re just stuffing. You spend hours in a world that doesn’t’ exist, that doesn’t make you a better person in any way shape or form. Or you read magazines. It’s amazing how many Christians know great things, trivia, all about celebrities. They know all about whose dating who and who went to what show with whom and what she wore and on and on. These people live very shallow lives and you’re investing your life reading about it instead of making your life matter. It’s a waste. Are these things evil Ate they bad? No they are not. Are they a waste of time if you spend too much time on them? Absolutely! Will they make you a better person? No way. In no way shape or from do they make you a better person? You’re giving your life for something that is a second-class cause.
Many activities in life a morally neutral. They are not right or wrong. It’s just they are not helpful. They are unnecessary. You say nothings wrong with it. You’re right but that’s the wrong question. The question isn’t, is there anything wrong with it? The question is, is it making me a better person? Am I making something of my life?
I want to warn you. None of us approach the bible neutral. When we come to read the bible we always read it from our bias. Form our background, temperament. We like to read into the bible what we want to say instead of letting it speak to us. So we pick out the verse we like and ignore the one we don’t. Instead we need to come to gods word with a humble attitude and say God you know what’s best for me, you know what’s right for me and I’m going to do what you say whether or not it makes sense because I want to be a better person.
4: The Independence Test: Could it become addicting to me or could it begin to control or dominate my life?
No matter how appealing something is or how cool it seems or how much fund you have - if something starts to dominate your life and control it it’s a bad decision. No matter how popular something is, no matter how good something is for someone else if it dominates your life, if it becomes addicting to you, it’s bad decision.
1st Corinthians 6;12 All things are lawful for me but I will not be dominated by anything.
I’m going to decide not to do anything that dominates my life. I won’t let anything master me, consume me or control my life.
Why is this so important? Because whatever dominates your life becomes your God. The big 10 – Gods 10 commandments – the very first 1 God said You will have no other God before me. God knew how easy it is to get addicted to our idols. We think idols are those little stone statues that people put on a shelf and worship – like hose little bhuddas. We still have idols today. There are lots of things we can become addicted to. Can you become dominated by your work? Can you become addicted to sex? Can you become addicted to money? Can you become addicted to the Internet? Of course you can.
There are over 2,000 classified addictions. You can become addicted to almost anything. Some of you are addicted to chocolate, some to coca cola. It’ starting to dominate your life.
How do you know if you’ve fallen into that kind of addiction? How do you know if something’ starting to dominate your life? The number 1 question to ask is this: What do I think about the most? What is when you’re alone, when you’re relaxed you find yourself thinking about again and again. This is a hard thing to admit, the things that begin to dominate our lives. It’s really difficult for us to be honest with ourselves. If right now you’re thinking this is not what I’m addicted to, it couldn’t be that. Guess what? It’s probably that. That’s probably the thing you’re struggling with. Paul said I’m not going to let anything control my life like that.
1st Corinthians 6:12 I can do anything I want to if Christ has not said no. But some of these things aren’t good for me. Even if I’m allowed to do them. I’ll refuse to if I think they might get such a grip on me that I can’t easily stop when I want to.
Only Jesus Christ should have that kind of place in our lives – the first place in our lives. He’s the only one worthy of that place in our lives. Anything else we put into that place will eventually dominate, control and ruin our lives.
5: The Influence Test: Will it harm other people?
One of the biggest mistakes we make in life is we forget how much our actions will influence and effect other people. Everyday you are tempted to make decisions that may be the best thing for you but could have a devastating effect on the people around you. You need to take the 5th test, will it harm other people? Will it be a stumbling block
Our way culture says to think of yourself - what you need - what you desire. The truth of it is God expects you to think more than just of yourself. The Bible says that one day we will have to front up to God and give an account of how our decisions affected others. God takes this seriously.
Romans 14; 12-13 Each of us will give an account of himself to God. Try to live in such a way that you will never make your brother stumble by letting him see you doing something he thinks is wrong.
You might not want to hear this but whether you like it or not you are being watched by other people. There is no such thing, as it will only affect me. Everything you do has an affect on others either directly or indirectly.
To Illustrate: All in the same boat, it’s called humanity. If I drill a hole in the bottom who is going to be effected. Everyone. We’re all in the same boat its called life.
Those of you who are parents be aware that little eyes are watching you. You need to be careful what you say and do because you are influencing not just your life but also the next generation.
The influence question says how is what I’m doing going to hurt someone else. As a neighbor you need to ask, am I a good neighbor to the people around me. As a Christian you should be interested in how you live because you are influencing other people. People are watching you. E.g. There are going to be times in life when you get crappy service and you want to say something smart to the person serving you. Don’t do it because sure enough someone around you who is not a Christian will know you’re a Christian and will say if that’s what a Christian is forget it. We have a word for it hypocrite. You can’t just live your life the way you want to. You have to be aware of how it affects other people. That’s very important.
Romans 5:1-2 Even if we believe that it makes no difference to the Lord whether we do these things, we still cannot go ahead and do them to please ourselves. We must bear the burden of being considerate of the doubts and fears of others.
Mature people limit their freedom for the benefit of others. Immature people don’t. In situations where there are gray areas you ask how will it affect others?
6: The Investment test: Is it the best use of my life or time.
Ephesians 5:15-17 Be very careful how you live. Don’t live like those who are not wise. Live wisely. I mean that you should use every chance you have for doing good because these are evil times. So don’t be foolish with your lives. Learn what the Lord wants you to do.
If you want your life to count, if you want to make the best use of your life, if you want to make an impact with your life, you’ve got to do one thing. You’ve got to control your time. Your time is your life.
Everyone of us has been given the same amount of time each week - 168 hours. Time is the one thing in life we can’t get more of. We can get more money, possessions etc yet we only have a certain amount of time and once we waste it we can’t get it back. If you waste time you waste your life. You need to stop and say is the best use of my time? Is this best use of my life?
You’re making decisions without a purpose. Do this today, that tomorrow. You don’t have a basis for your decisions.
Effective people figure out what is essential in life and what’s trivial in life and they spend more of their time doing the essential things and less time doing the trivial things. You can’t eliminate all the trivia in your life but you can reduce it. It sounds easy but it isn’t. Often it’s difficult to choose between what best for my life and what easiest for my life. It’s not an easy thing to choose.
Especially when you’re tired, then you don’t want to do the best thing. You want to do what’s easy. You don’t want to do what’s right; you want to do what’s comfortable. That’s why if you’re really going to make something of your life you have to learn to get some rest. If you’re not rested, you’re tired, if you’re tired you don’t have the mental, emotional, physical, spiritual ability to say I’m going to do the right thing instead of the easiest.
As your pastor I want to urge you don’t waste your life. Don’t settle for second best. Don’t go through life just existing, coping, getting by. You were not put here on earth to just get by. God made you for a reason, for a mission a purpose. That starts by asking the question is this the best use of my life?
These are 6 principles. To close I want us to do a small self-evaluation quiz.
1: The Ideal test: Am I being tempted to do something, which goes against god’s word. You know you shouldn’t do it but you’re thinking about doing it anyway. Are you doing things that you know God wants you to do or are you just procrastinating? What has God told you to do?
2: The Integrity test: Would I want everybody to know? Are you exactly what you appear to be? Or are you living a double life? Saint and sinner. Sunday person and weekday person. Do you know how to act but you’re not living up to it? Does your walk match your talk?
3: The Improvement test: Are you filling your mind & life with less than the best materials?
4: The Independence Test: Who or what is controlling your life? Your schedule? Your temper? Your words? Your habits? What dominates your thoughts most of the time? What is it in your life that you say I could stop anytime, but you haven’t. You can’t without gods help.
5: The Influence Test: Have you considered how your actions may be hurting other people? Or are you just thinking of yourself?
6: The Investment Test: Are you investing your life & time wisely? Are you investing in things that are going to matter? Or are you investing your time on things that aren’t going to last 5 years from now, much less 50 years or eternity
