Part 1: Words
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Teaching Series: Making Wise Choices
There is a life skill that every person needs to learn – how to make wise choices. Whether you are young or old, wise or learning, ready or not – each one of us has the responsibility to make wise choices. This is a serious responsibility. There is a life principle that says, “Casual living leads to casualties.” It’s up to us to make wise choices.
In the book of Proverbs it talks about the simple. The Bible talks about simplicity in terms of immaturity, but also as a growth phase. Everyone must go through the “simple” phase of life. Simplicity passes and grows into something else. You either become wise or a fool. Foolishness leads to stupidity, which results in casualties. God does not want that for you.
[Jesus said] The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come so that they may have life, and may have it abundantly. (John 10:10)
Simplicity is not remedied by time, but by choice. Wisdom does not evolve; it’s not a product of time and chance. Wisdom comes by a conscious decision to forsake foolishness and to pursue wisdom as a precious treasure.
How Do We Make Choices?
Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure, hidden in a field, that a person found and hid. Then because of joy he went and sold all that he had and bought that field” (Matthew 13:44). Why does that man sell everything he’s got? Why is he having so much fun getting rid of everything he’s got? Because what he’s seen in the field is worth more than anything else he’s ever seen in his life. That’s the way people make choices. We pick things because we perceive this is more significant and more important in value than anything else.
Theologically we call this free will. Free will has to do with our freedom. But that freedom is determined by our own character. You can freely choose, but that choice is determined by who you are, which is determined by other circumstances. So what are those determining factors in our life? How is our character developed? How do we change our character? These are important questions, because our character directs our life. Your character will take you to your destination. Where you are at in life and how you respond to today’s circumstances is determined by your character. So how is our character developed?
Throughout the months of January and February, we will be looking at seven steps in developing the life skill of Making Wise Choices. And this is the process we are looking at:
Words will determine your thinking. Your thinking will determine your emotions. Your emotions will determine your decisions. Your decisions will determine your actions. Your actions will determine your habits. Your habits will determine your character. Your character will take you to your destination.
Words Produce a Harvest
In order to make wise choices the first step is to evaluate words. Life is the harvest of the words that you have received. Your life turns out based on the words and knowledge that you have. So we have to ask ourselves: “What have I been hearing? What words have I been listening to? What do I surround myself with everyday?” Because words planted in your heart will produce a harvest – either negative or positive.
Mark 4:3-9, 14-20 – Parable of the Sower
The seed is the Word of God. Our life is the soil. The exact same seed is planted, but there are difference responses.
You Reap What You Sow
Words produce a harvest in your life. The Bible says, “A person will reap what he sows.”
“Don’t be misled – you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirt will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit” (Galatians 6:7-8).
Our life is the soil in which words are planted. If you allow sin and selfishness to be planted in your heart, then your life will produce sin and selfishness. The passage said that you will harvest decay and death. Be careful of who you let speak into your life.
You might be saying, “But I’m okay. I can listen to that. It won’t affect me.” Really! You think so? You must be more perfect than Adam and Eve were then. God created Adam and Eve perfect and without sin. The only words they had were God’s words. All knowledge they received was truth. Then one day Satan came and spoke lies. With just a few words they were deceived. So don’t be misled. Be careful of who you let speak into your life.
Also, be sure to receive God’s words. If you want to harvest the abundant life, then you must plant God’s Word into your life. “Those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit.” It is not enough to know God’s Word or to listen to God’s Word. We must live out the message. We must do what it says.
The Seed that Never Fails
What does the Bible say about God’s Word?
“You have been born anew, not from perishable but from imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God” (1 Peter 1:23).
“The living and enduring word of God” is the incorruptible seed, a seed that can’t die. God’s Word is a seed that will produce every time. It never fails. The incorruptible seed planted into your life will produce a fruit that cannot be stopped. We must get the Word of God into our life in order to produce the life that God has for us.
Look at the life of King Josiah. He was only 8 years old when he became king. He grew up in a family that didn’t love God. His family did what was evil in the sight of God. He didn’t have God’s Word to read, but he wanted to please God. He thought he was doing good. One day, he found God’s Word and realized that he wasn’t. And it changed his life, but not only his life – the nation as well. There was a revival in the nation.
Get God’s Word in You
Spend time in the Bible so that it changes your life. The Bible says, “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2). Once you get God’s Word into your life, you’ll be changed from the inside out.
“Never stop reading this Scroll of the Law. Day and night you must think about what it says. Make sure you do everything that is written in it. Then things will go well with you. And you will have great success” (Joshua 1:8). “I have hidden your word in my heart so that I won’t sin against you” (Psalm 119:11).
The starting point in Making Wise Choices is God’s Word in you. You are going to have to spend time in the Bible so that it changes your life.
Making Wise Choices series