Decisions 101 (Part 1)

Thanks for tuning in to No Compromise Radio with pastor and author, Dr. Mike Abendroth. Today on No Compromise Radio, we'll be hearing Pastor Mike open the Word of God in a recent message he preached at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

Now let's join Pastor Mike in progress as he preaches through the scriptures, verse by verse, with No Compromise.

Bad Ways Christians Try to Make Decisions

My question for you this morning is, how do you make decisions? You've got a big decision to make. What kind of thought process do you go through? How do you make a decision? Well it seems like just yesterday, but in 1974 I had a decision to make.

And so what do you do when you have to make a decision? You ask your mom or your dad. Dad wasn't around, so mom said, well, I know what to do. She said, come over to the kitchen table. I still remember it to this very moment.

We sat down, she opened up this board, and she put her hands on one side of this little plastic thing that was kind of pointed and had a compass looking thing on it. I put my hand on the other side of the compass thing.

We started asking this board questions, hoping for the answer on the Ouija board. Come a long way, baby, right? People have a hard time making decisions. People have a harder time making good decisions.

Does the Bible address decision making? Actually there are a lot of bad decisions in the Bible. Ezekiel 21 talks about Nebuchadnezzar, how he would make bad decisions. One of the ways he made bad decisions is something called rhabdomancy, and you would take a quiver and put in two different arrowheads.

If you're at a fork in the road, Jerusalem's over here and Rama's over here, you put the names on the arrowheads, shake them, and then roll one out. If it said Jerusalem, go that way. Bellomancy was the same thing.

Do I marry Jill or Julie? Write their names on the arrowheads, shake it, and when everyone comes out first, thus says the Lord. Ezekiel 21 also talks about Nebuchadnezzar consulting household idols. Just get a little mini GI Joe version of your great-grandfather and pray to him.

Ancestral worship. Ezekiel 21 also talks about Nebuchadnezzar looking at the liver. How do I make a decision? Let's go down to Hannaford, buy some liver, and look at it. That's called hepatoscopy, the study of the liver.

They didn't think the mind really resided here or here. They thought the mind resided in the belly, in the splenum, in the guts, and so let's look at that. Hydromancy. That was another way Nebuchadnezzar and others tried to divine the future.

Just take a little gold dust, put it on the top of a water bowl, and then look. And for those of us that don't have any extra gold dust around, you pour some oil on the top and how the lights would come down.

You look at it and you say, yeah, that's what God wants. Or Isaiah chapter 47, God lives in heaven and maybe the way he's trying to talk to us is through stars. And maybe if Jupiter aligns with Mars and I can kind of figure out what's going on, I'll go to astrology.

That will help me understand the future. And if none of those work, bad decision making 101 ends with, let's put a fleece out. So the question is this morning, how do you make decisions? We have so many decisions to make a day, one after another, after another.

And some of us have big decisions to make. How do we make decisions? One potato, two potato, rock, paper, scissor, shoot, flip a coin, horoscope, Dionne Warwick psychics hotline. I memorized that number by the way, 1 -800-I-am-foolish, it's an easy one for me to remember.

But you know, here's the thing, Christians have their own bellomancy kind of techniques. They read livers too by praying about something and saying, I have a piece about it, therefore it must be God's will.

Christians have their own way of reading the stars by saying, well, I just heard from God. God literally told me to my spirit that I was to do such and such. Sometimes Christians say, well, I'm just going to play Bible twister and I'm just going to try to find a verse that matches up my theology, my decision and left hand on this chapter, right foot on that verse, there it is.

It's bellomancy is what it is. No, I think I'll know what I'll do. God, if this happens in my life, then this condition that I put up there, if that happens, I'll know it's time to go forward. No, let's see, I've got another idea.

I just won't eat for like four days and then try to make a critical decision. That'll work. I kind of have an impression. I know, I know the Bible says something different, but God's speaking to me, I have this impression.

Biblical Decision Making Starts with the Will of God

So this morning we're going to look at biblical decision making. What does the Bible say? And you know, God in his goodness and his generosity, he has not just left us to try to figure out the world without any decision making.

What father, what mother would just say, all right, seven year old, just hope you make it. No, there's leading and guiding and scriptural wisdom. So let's turn our Bibles to first Corinthians chapter 16.

Here's the plan today. The plan today is we're going to look over about six verses, seven verses found in first Corinthians that talk about Paul's travel plans. Now, since these verses aren't directly applied to you, that is, they're not instructions written for a church, something like to the church of Thessalonica, rejoice always again, I say rejoice.

They're not that they're describing Paul's travel plans. It's like opening up Paul's itinerary. You're opening up Paul's eye calendar, his outlook, his day timer. We're going to look at Paul's day timer.

But you'll see laced through these plans. Paul was saying, I'm going to submit to God's word. I'm going to submit to God's will. If God wants me to do this, I'll do that. So here's what we're going to do this morning.

We're going to just teach through these verses because I'm committed to teach through every verse of the Bible, even about Paul's travel plans. Then when we have time after that, and we will have time, we're going to look at biblical decision making.

The biblical principles aren't necessarily found in these verses, but the idea is there and then we'll run with it. So first Corinthians chapter 16 verses five to 11 this morning, and then biblical decision making.

Good. Is that a good choice? Good decision. All right. Now to set the stage a little bit, let me say this. Paul was criticized by the false teachers as being fickle. Paul says he's going to visit. He doesn't visit, but Paul wanted to visit, but circumstances prevented him.

He wasn't sovereign. He didn't rule the universe. Remember, Paul wanted to go to Thessalonica in first Thessalonians 2 .18. It says, Satan hindered me because when he was wanting to go to Macedonia. And so Paul says earlier in first Corinthians chapter four, some are arrogant as though I were not coming to you, but I will come to you soon if the Lord wills.

So you think I don't keep my word. You think I'm fickle. You think I don't love you. I do keep my word by the grace of God. I do love you, but God sometimes doesn't allow our plans to come to fruition.

And so you'll feel that here as we read these verses in Paul's travel plans. I don't have these verses underlined in my Bible, but I think there are parts of these verses you can underline because you'll see how Paul is submitting to the sovereign king and his plans and his will.

Paul's Travel Plans and Submission to God's Will

First Corinthians 16 .5, here's Paul's travel plans. I will visit you after passing through Macedonia. This is news to them. They didn't know he was going to do this, so he informs them, for I intend to pass through Macedonia.

And for us, pass through might be I'll spend the night, I'll spend the weekend. Here it's a little longer. I'm going to Macedonia. I'll pass through. I'll stay there for a while, but I intend to come to you soon enough.

I intend. Verse six, and perhaps I will stay with you or even spend the winter so that you may help me on my journey wherever I go. I've got a new plan and that plan is I'm going to go through Macedonia and then I want to come to you before winter.

Right around September, the storm started coming on the sea. You couldn't travel in a boat, so wherever you were, you were all there. So Paul says, I'm going to stay with you and you can help me with my missionary support, with me bringing money to other churches that need it.

And certainly Paul probably thought, and you guys have enough trouble, it's going to take me months to fix it. But there's no definiteness to his plan. That is to say, he knows God is sovereign and if God wills, I'll do this or do that.

Well, what actually happened? Second Corinthians tells us that he made an emergency voyage to Corinth and that was a disaster. Paul called that in Second Corinthians, the painful visit. Verse seven goes on to say, oh, you know what I'd like to do?

Read Second Corinthians chapter 1, 15 to 17 in your Bibles as I read it out loud. Second Corinthians chapter 1, 15 to 17, maybe a little bit farther, you'll get the idea of what Paul was battling against when it comes to these false teachers, trying to say he doesn't keep his word.

Second Corinthians 1, 15, it says, because I was sure of this, I wanted to come to you first so that you might have a second experience of grace. I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia and to come back to you from Macedonia and have you send me on my way to Judea.

When I was vacillating, was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? Do I make my plans according to the flesh, ready to say yes, yes, and no, no at the same time? As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been yes and no.

For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not yes and no, but in him is always yes. And then he just launches off into this mini doxology. For all the promises of God find their yes in him.

That is why it is through him we utter our amen to God for his glory. I'm not being fickle, I'm not saying some lies or fib, I wanted to come to visit you but God prevented me. That's the point. Now back to 1 Corinthians 16, verse 7.

And again, we're just going to work through this quickly so you understand the context. If you ever read it again, we'll talk about some decision making shortly. For I do not want to see you now just in passing, verse 7, I hope to spend some time with you and then see it again, if the Lord permits.

I'm submitted to God's will. I want to show up but I'm God's servant. He calls me and I go. He says yes, I say yes. He says no, I say no. I'm submitting all my plans to God. Verse 8, but I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost.

We think of Pentecost now with the coming of the spirit of God in Acts 2 but really Pentecost was the 49 days after Passover. 49 plus the 1, 50 days. Pentecost is the Greek name for the feast of weeks.

But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, late May, early June, for a wide door for effective work has opened to me. Usually we think open doors, that's the easy way. For Paul, when there's an open door for gospel ministry, there must be what?

There must be a lot of people after him. There must be opposition because where God's word is to be found and God's gospel is to be preached, Satan is there with his minions. And there are many adversaries.

Now what this particular thing was, we don't really know. Probably it was Acts 19. Remember Paul comes along and says, you know all those little silver goddesses that you have around that Demetrius makes?

Those don't really represent anything except the idolatry in your heart and they didn't like it because they were worshiping Diana of Ephesus, right? Artemis, and there's a huge riot there. Lots of opportunities to preach the gospel, but many adversaries.

I do find it interesting if you look at the verse, the door is open, perfect tense, and stands open. There is this great open door for gospel ministry. I think some of us underestimate just how precarious it was to preach the gospel in those days, at the risk of your life.

Then he says in verse 10, here's a request on behalf of his son in the faith, Timothy. When Timothy comes, see that you put him at ease among you, for he's doing the work of the Lord, as I am. So let no one despise him.

Remember what he said to Timothy when he wrote the pastoral epistles because he was young? Timothy, don't let anyone despise you because of your what? Youth? Yeah, he's young, but he's doing the work of God, he's doing the work of the ministry, he's all about Christ Jesus.

Help him on his way in peace. What does that mean? Help him? How do you help a missionary who's with you? Be warm, be filled. How do you help a missionary? Food? Clothes? Funds? Help Timothy with gospel ministry.

That he may return to me, that's what verse 11 says, for I'm expecting him with the brothers. He's going to show up, don't intimidate him because you're older, don't intimidate him because you're the leader of the patriarchal system, double honor for those elders who preach and teach the word, study hard, don't despise him, honor him.

Not because of him, but because of the work. Now if I was kind of a funky Bible exegete and interpreter, I would say, now when you go to Ephesus for Pentecost, your spiritual Ephesus, here's what I'd like you to do.

But this was for Paul. So what do we do when it comes to preaching it? I want you to see over and over and over again, look back at verse 6, perhaps, verse 7, if the Lord permits, verse 9, open door, wide door is open to me.

That kind of language makes me want to say, do you know, the elders at Bethlehem Bible Church, we want you to make good decisions. We have some examples in our church of people that have made great decisions.

They've made decisions in an honoring way to God. And when we see that, we just rejoice. You know what I'm going to say next though, right? We've seen some people here who have made tragic decisions, horrible decisions.

Now, God's grace is greater than all our sins and all our foolish decision-making. But all this talk about decisions and I'll do this if God permits. In the time we have left, let me give you a biblical paradigm for decision-making that will help you, I think, the rest of your life.

Now, if you're a visitor, I'm not a Southern Baptist, but this is going to be alliteration. I usually don't do alliteration. I don't always alliterate. But the Bible actually does use some alliteration for helping.

And so, let me give you six W's, six considerations in making godly decisions. You know, here's the great news. Think about this. If you've made a sinful decision in the past and you're a Christian, guess what, forgiven.

Guess who we worship? We worship Jesus Christ, the risen Savior, who never made a bad decision, never made a sinful decision, never had a regret with his decisions. And so, the great news is when we come to this, I hope you say in the future, I'd like to do this by the grace of God.

But if you've got decisions that you've made in the past that have long-affecting negative consequences, the good news is they won't last forever. The other good news is we have been forgiven of those bad decisions that we have made, the sinful decisions.

And guess what God does? God is so powerful and so generous and so gracious to his children, he can take what we meant for evil, what we meant for sin, what we meant for stupidity, and turn it out for his glory and what?

Our good. So, if you say, yeah, I've made some tragic decisions in my life, well, then learn from them, ask God for forgiveness, live under the consequences, temporally, and then here we move forward.

Six considerations in making biblical decisions, and beloved, let me say this, these are in order. If you've ever made a list of ten things and you say, no particular order, this is a very particular order.

It starts here. Sometimes we bypass it, we want to go to number five first. I'm sorry, it is alliteration, but I don't have three points, nor do I have a poem. Six points. If you must have three points, then you can count each of these as half a point.

I listened to S. Lewis Johnson the other day, he said, I always have to have three points, and he said, my sermon only had two points today, so I numbered number one, one, and I numbered point two, three, just so I felt better about having three points.

So you can do these by halves, if you like, if you must have three points. In order of importance, we start here at the top, six W's to help you when you need to make a decision. Do I leave a church? Do I join a church?

Do I marry this particular person? How about confronting this person? How about covering the sin of this person? What do I do interpersonally? What do I do at work? Do I take this job? Don't I take this job?

Do I move? What do I do? I think it'll be helpful. W number one, the will of God. Consider the will of God. Turn to Ephesians chapter five, please. We do with the Bible what we always do if we're not careful.

God's will turns into God's will for my life. Let's think about God's will first. Let's turn to Ephesians chapter five. I was a kid. I loved this verse because in the Greek it says stupid, and so there's a time to say stupid and this is the time.

Ephesians chapter five, verse 17, so then do not be foolish. Don't be stupid. Paul likes to do this antithetical thing. He says in verse 15, be careful, don't walk as unwise, but walk as what? Wise. He likes to teach this way.

And here he says, don't be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Not what the Lord's will for my life is. That would be more foolishness. It would be stupid to say God's will, now I turned it into some Mike Center thing, God's will for my life.

Don't be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. That's interesting. He says imperative, present tense, don't be foolish, stop being foolish, senseless. But do understand present tense what God's will is.

How would we know what God's will is? How do we decide if we were a Bible student? I'm supposed to be knowing what God's will is. What is it? Well, here's the great news. It's found in chapter one of Ephesians.

If you can't understand a certain verse in the Bible, then the best thing to do is to read the whole book that it's in. And if that doesn't work, then read the book that's before it and read the books after it and keep going.

It's only 66 total. Here the answer is found in Ephesians chapter one. How great is this? If decision making starts with will of God, what is the will of God? Verse nine of Ephesians one, making known to us the mystery of his will according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ.

NAS says he made known to us the mystery of his will. Paul says early on here, let me tell you the mysteries of the world. And he pulls back the curtain of the Godhead and says, this is the mystery of his will.

This is something that's happened, but you would never know by eating spicy food, staying up late at night and then having a dream. You have to be told by God. He pulls back the curtain and what's the mystery of God's will?

God saves people. Then Ephesians chapter one, verses four through six, he elects people in eternity past. And then in verses seven to 12, he sends the son to die for them in a substitutionary death. He raises them from the dead.

And in time, he brings the spirit of God to make people born again, to make them alive. The whole world that revolves around Jesus is glorified. The world exists to say, ascribe glory and honor to Jesus.

Now, what does it say in verse 10? It gives us a little more information as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. The creator of this universe has a purpose for this universe.

And the goal is the exaltation of Jesus Christ, the elect coming in. We come to what's God's will for my life. There's a bigger issue in the world than your life or mine. Listen to what O 'Brien says, the commentator.

The will of God is closely related to even identified with God's gracious saving plan. The Lord's will is frequently understood by Christians to refer to matters of personal guidance, but rather God's gracious saving plan.

And as a significant element of this, the formation of a people into the likeness of Christ who will be pure and blameless on the final day. No wonder Ephesians 26 times, Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord.

Everything exists for the exaltation of the Lord Jesus Christ. So for us to say, well, I've got a decision to make. Here's the first thing that you consider. Which decision of the two or the three or of the many will exalt Christ more contribute to the saving gospel?

It's not God's plan for my life, but the eternal plan of God. Does this factor into the eternal plan of God? That's a completely different perspective. Basing your decisions on God's eternal saving plan, reflecting the son's glory in my decision.

No wonder Jesus said, doesn't this seem to make sense now? But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things shall be what? Added unto you. We shoot too low. We're thinking too much about ourselves.

Not personal guidance, but does this give God the most glory? Everything falls into that umbrella.

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life transforming power of God's word through verse by verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 8 .30 and 11 a .m. and Sunday evenings at 6 p .m. We're located on Route 110 in West Boylston, Massachusetts. You can check us out online at bbcchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

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