Decision! Decision!
John 10:10
April 23, 2017
If you recall last week, I started my message with some really strange and tricky questions and you had to come up with the strange answers to those questions. So, today I want to start with a really easy straight-forward question.
I felt bad, so I want to start out really simple and really easy. I have a simple math problem to ask you and it’s not a trick question, it’s straight forward . . .
5 frogs were sitting on a log, 4 of them decided to jump into the water . . . how many frogs are left on the log?
See it’s pretty easy! 5 - 4 = ???
Actually, the correct answer is 5! They are all still on the log. WHY? Because they were deciding what to do . . . and deciding is different than doing!
I want to talk to you this morning about decisions!
In fact, decisions and taking action . . . or deciding and doing! They are not one and the same. They are in fact very different.
Have you ever told yourself or confided in a friend that you need to go on a diet, or you need to pray more, or learn patience, or get a new job - - - or whatever it is that you can think of?
Have you ever been there?!?! You know you need to do it! You’ve made the decision. In many respects, it’s a no-brainer - - - BUT, you don’t do it.
My best friend is a pastor in Dubuque, Iowa. He and I talk on a very regular basis. We’ve talked about our personal lives, our families, our churches, pretty much everything. And we’ve both talked at various times about our spiritual lives. We need to pray more, read more, spend more time in spiritual disciplines. Yet, a year later, we seem to be saying the same things . . . again and again!
I hope you’ve been there, because that makes me feel like I’m not the only one who’s struggled.
Now - - here’s a really crazy thing - - - Paul tells us in Colossians 3 ~ we are God's chSLIDEosen people, holy and dearly loved.
Think about that, consider that in your heart and spirit. God chose you! He said, “I want you for mine. You are my child! I chose you from all of the people I could have chosen, and I wanted you, you to be my child!
And you are more than my child, you are holy, you have been set apart, you are different than the world, because you are mine . . . you are loved so much that I was willing to send my only Son into this crazy sin-filled world to cleanse you, to forgive you, to give you abundant life, to help you to realize just how much I love you!”
That’s what God does for us. He sent His Son for you and I. Jesus left the joy, the perfect love and power of heaven and came here and lived. He suffered and died . . . then He rose again.
As Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:21, the Father sent Jesus into the world to be sin for us, even though He never sinned. He became our righteousness. It’s called forensic justification.
And it’s a big, big deal, because this is how God showed us He loves us. Jesus became sin for us. Literally, it’s our legal standing before God. God who is the righteous judge, now looks at us, not as guilty, not to condemn us . . . BUT, instead of condemnation and death . . .
God sent Jesus into our world and Jesus’ death means God now views us as righteous even though we are not righteous. It’s all because of what Jesus did for us in His sacrificial death.
Remember those frogs who were deciding what to do? Now, here comes the decision time . . . you would think we would be the most happy people in the world, but it seems too many of us are angry, stressed, bitter, envious, jealous and just not happy Christ followers - - - - you get the drift. Do you know a few folks who are that way!?
But why? Aren’t we supposed to choose the great life Christ offers us? After all, you and I are God’s kids. And we believe God loves us - - - don’t we?
One of my favorite scriptures is John 10:10 ~ 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.
We know the thief is satan. He’s out to steal, kill and destroy us. He wants to steal our hearts, our spirit and our soul. He is out to destroy you. He wants to take away your hope, your faith and your trust. That’s his job!
But Jesus then adds these words - - -
I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. – ESV
Jesus gives us an offer and we have to decide if we want it . . . because there are lots of contingencies with it.
The NLT finishes that passage this way - - - My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life. John 10:10 (NLT)
That’s why I like certain versions better. That’s a pretty generic and not a good translation. Would you rather have an
ABUNDANT LIFE or a SATISFYING LIFE?
I want ABUNDANT!!
The word Jesus used for abundantly literally means beyond what is anticipated, exceeding expectation; more abundant, going past the expected limit, over and above, more than’s necessary, superadded
So, that’s the life Jesus offers us. He offers us the super abundant life, the life which is filled with more than. Paul tells us in Ephesians 3:20, God is able to do more than all that we ask or think.
I’m not a huge fan of The Message, but I like the way Eugene Peterson paraphrased this verse, saying,
10 I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of. – John 10:10
Isn’t that what we all want? A more and better life than we’ve ever dreamt of. The big question for so many people is HOW? HOW DO I DO THAT?
MY STORY - - - MY DECISION
Well, Jesus tells us in John 15:5 - - He said ~ 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. – John 15:5
So, Jesus tells us we need to remain in Him. We are called to emulate Jesus, to imitate Him, to live our lives as He lived His. Paul reminds us we are to imitate Paul, as He imitated Christ. But that just seems so difficult to do, doesn’t it?
It sounds simple on paper, but when we try, we end up falling on our faces. OK, Jesus, I’m supposed to abide or dwell in you, and you’ll dwell in me. Great, so how do I do that when I’m struggling?
Again, this is where decision time comes in. We must decide what this means. I can imitate all I want, but is that going to get me anywhere.
Don’t we want that wonderfully refreshing phrase from Jesus in Matthew 11 - to be real and true in our lives . . . “Come to me all how are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest!”
How do we draw near to Jesus and experience this rest, this refreshment? I believe it comes through spiritual disciplines. You see, what we try to do is shortcut the disciplines . . .
Think of it this way - - -
We do not have the strength we should have, and Jesus’ commandments become overwhelmingly burdensome to us, and we fall glaringly short!
I grew up in the northern Chicago suburbs, and I loved the Cubs. When I was playing baseball, my neighbor was a pitcher for the Cubs, named Phil Reagan. I could imitate his delivery, I could imitate other pitchers and players on the team. I could swing like Ernie Banks, but I never hit 512 home runs like he did.
After all, I imitated all of them. Why not, because the athlete didn’t achieve his excellence by trying to behave in a certain way only during games. Instead, he chose to prepare his body and mind, pouring all of his energy into that total preparation.
A baseball player who expects to excel in the game without all of the behind the scenes practice is not going to make it. I coach football and basketball, and it’s the practice that makes the player, not the games.
Think about you and I . . . me thinking I could hit like Ernie because I could imitate his swing without taking thousands of swings in the batting cage is as ridiculous as the Christian who hopes to be able to act like Christ when they don’t do the hard work behind the scenes as well.
We think following Jesus is all about turning the other cheek, walking the extra mile, giving our cloak, suffering patiently and we will experience His power and joy.
The problem is that we do all of this on our own power. Our actions are good and correct, and we intend what is right, but we avoid living the life that would make it a reality.
As a result, we try to live the right way, experience the easy yoke and lightened burden, but we have not completed the training to experience the easy yoke and light burden.
We’re called to imitate Jesus, so we try to imitate Jesus, doing all He did, but we don’t do the exercises of learning and growing in all aspects of our being (heart, soul, mind and body)
Jesus doesn’t expect us to simply turn the other cheek, walk the extra mile, give our cloak, sacrifice and suffer if we have not prepared for these experiences.
We don’t watch a great pianist and simply play the piano.
We don’t watch a pole vaulter go over 18 feet, and think we can.
We don’t watch a painter paint, then think we can create a masterpiece.
If we want to live the life of Christ, then we must live His overall way of life as our way of life in totality.
The secret of the easy yoke, is to learn from Christ how to live our lives, how to invest all our time and our energies, our heart, spirit and mind as Jesus did. We must learn how to follow His preparations, the disciplines for life in God’s rule that enabled Him to receive His Father’s constant and effective support while doing His will. We have to discover how to enter into His disciplines from where we stand today, and no doubt, how to extend and amplify them to suit our needy cases.
The question, the decision again for us is are we willing to trust in Christ? We think we do, but do we? We say we believe, but do we really believe?
Let me close with this illustration.
People were watching a tight rope walker walk on the rope. He was 50 feet high. There was no net beneath him. If he fell, it would be really, really nasty ugly. The wind was blowing, yet he made it every time.
He walked by himself, he road a unicycle across, he walked across with his assistant on his shoulders. He walked across with his assistant on his shoulders while riding that unicycle.
Finally, he came down to where the people were standing and marveling at his amazing feats. They were awestruck. So, he looked at the people and asked if there were any volunteers to go up with him and get on his back and he’d walk across . . . with no net.
Nobody said YES! So, he asked them did you see me walk across with my assistant? They all said YES. So, you believe I can do it. Again, they all said YES! Now he asked them the critical question . . .
Do you trust that I can walk across with you on my back!?
The answer? NO!
Decision time - - -
What is God calling you to do?
Who is God calling you to be?
What do you need to change to be that person!?
Will you make that decision which changes your life forever!?
