Decisions
have consequences. Would you agree with that
statement? Sure, I think most people can see that the decisions we
make can affect us and others for good or for bad. And we all have
to make decisions, big and small, so it’s important to know how to make wise
decisions.
A
husband and wife, prior to marriage, decided that he'd make all the major
decisions and she the minor ones. After 20 years of marriage, he was asked how
this arrangement had worked. "Great! In all these years I've never had to
make a major decision." (www.sermonillustrations.com)
I
try not to spend too much time watching the news because, I don’t know if you
have noticed, but good news never makes the news. Only bad news is
news anymore. Just a quick glance at some headlines this week will
prove that.
Toronto
Mayor Rob Ford to enter drug rehab
I
could go on and on. These are dark times. This is a nasty
old world and it is getting worse. People don’t even try to justify
their sins anymore. They don’t even see them as sin. They
don’t even see them as doing anything wrong. When you hear of some
celebrity “marrying” their same-sex partner, it’s not even news because they
are the same sex. It’s just good news that they are getting “married”.
When
we find out that some politician is a pervert or that an athlete has contracted
AIDS from sleeping with thousands of women, their actions are never
condemned. Only their decision to seek help is applauded. And
I’m glad when they make that decision to get help but they should have known
that the original decision to do those things was going to have
consequences.
How
ironic it is that people will go completely against what the Bible says is
moral and pure and right and good and then claim there is no God because how
could God allow such horrible things to happen? Sometimes horrible things
happen because we, all of us, practically go begging for them to happen with
the way that we live our lives. When God said, “Thou shalt not…” He
wasn't just making some stuff up to keep us from being happy.
In
fact, it’s just the opposite. While some people see the Bible as a
rule book full of things that we are not supposed to do and that will suck all
the fun out of our lives, God actually wrote it to show us that doing those
things will have consequences and He loved us too much to allow
that. The Bible is not written by a big ole meany-head who hates
us. It’s written by the Creator who loves us.
Now,
it’s true that this old world is a nasty place to live. It always
has been since Adam and Eve got evicted from the garden. But as you
look back over history there have been some times that are better and some
times that are worse. There were positive aspects of the Reformation
or the time of revival that swept through Europe in the late 1800’s or even
September 29th, 1967. My birthday was a time of great
rejoicing.
But
there have also been other dark periods as well. Our passage this
morning was set in one of those periods and so should be quite applicable to us
today. It’s amazing how the Bible can be so relevant to us even
though it was written so many years ago. Our passage is from the
book of Ruth and it was written sometime about 1000 years before Jesus
lived. And yet while the culture has changed immensely, the themes
of the book could be written today. Let’s turn to the book of
Ruth. Ruth is a very short book stuck in between the book of Judges
and 1 Samuel in the Old Testament. It was set during the period of
time when Israel was ruled by the judges as we will see in the first verse.
Let’s
read Ruth chapter 1, verses 1-18. In
the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. So a man from
Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a
while in the country of Moab. 2 The man’s name was
Elimelek, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon
and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab
and lived there.3 Now Elimelek, Naomi’s husband, died, and she
was left with her two sons. 4 They married Moabite women,
one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten
years, 5 both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was
left without her two sons and her husband.6 When Naomi heard in
Moab that the Lord had
come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she and her
daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. 7 With
her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set
out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah.8 Then
Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s
home. May the Lord show
you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me. 9 May
the Lord grant that each
of you will find rest in the home of another husband.” Then she kissed them
goodbye and they wept aloud 10 and said to her, “We will
go back with you to your people.”11 But Naomi said, “Return
home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more
sons, who could become your husbands? 12 Return home, my
daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was
still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to
sons— 13 would you wait until they grew up? Would you
remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for
you, because the Lord’s hand
has turned against me!”14 At this they wept aloud again. Then
Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her.15 “Look,”
said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go
back with her.”16 But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you
or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will
stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where
you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so
severely, if even death separates you and me.” 18 When
Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.
We
see in that first verse that this was during the time of the
judges. Now just to show how similar those days were to the dark
days we are living in today, I want you to turn left just a page or two to the
end of the book of Judges and look at the very last verse of the whole
book. It says in Judges 21:25, “In those days Israel
had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.” Does
that sound like us today? Everyone is doing as they see fit.
And
it’s not for a lack of laws that people do as they see fit. The laws
have been changed to suit the lawmakers who make the laws…as they see fit! Is
it any wonder these are dark days? People want to make their own
decisions, live their own lives and then wonder why their lives are filled with
bad consequences. But this story of Ruth and her mother-in-law is
not all about bad decisions. In fact, it’s a love
story. Not only do Ruth and her mom-in-law show true love for each
other but Ruth winds up with a sweetheart. Everybody likes a story
with a happy ending.
Adrian
Rogers tells about hearing about some college girls at a Christian college who
were praying one night. And, they were praying, “Lord, give us pure
hearts. Lord, give us clean hearts. Lord, give us sweethearts.”
And, all the girls said, “Ah-men.”
The
book of Ruth is a great love story. Ruth is a picture—in the Old
Testament—of the Church. And, she marries a man named Boaz, who was a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ, our kinsman Redeemer. We may have a chance
to talk about that tonight at 6 but this morning I want us to see just 2
things: the consequences of our choices and the confidence of our
choices.
We
don’t have to look very far to see the consequences of choices in the book of
Ruth. It says there was a famine in the land of Israel and so Elimelech
took his wife Naomi and his 2 sons and moved to Moab. Now that makes
sense, right? Not enough food over here – we’ll just move over there.
My
grand-dad used to say that the best illustration for a scripture is another
scripture. And these verses just scream out another verse from Proverbs
14:12 that says, “There is a way
that appears right to a man, but in the end it leads to…death.” And death is exactly what we find
for the men in Naomi’s life when they move to Moab.
It seemed like a wise thing to do but the problem is that
God had told them through Moses not to have anything to do with the
Moabites. Moab was the enemy. Moab was unclean. They were
unlawful. Moab was boo, hiss! They were not to be trusted or to be
made allies, much less were they to move over there and marry them. For
years and years, Moab had been Israel’s sworn enemy and it didn’t matter what
was happening or how green their grass was, moving there was not only being
disobedient but showed a complete lack of faith in God.
But Elimelech made that choice and he paid the price for
that choice. But not only did Elimelech pay for that bad choice but his
sons paid the same price, their lives, and his wife and his sons’ wives paid a
price as well. It may be true that there are two sides to
every decision, but it is also true that there are two sides to a sheet of
flypaper, and it makes a big difference to the fly which side he chooses.
And
aren’t you glad we are free to make those choices? I am. I’m glad
we live in a country where we are free to choose most things. We are free
to choose where we live and how we worship and how we will raise our
kids. If we want to drink Dr. Pepper or drink something inferior, that is
our choice. J And every law that gets passed is a slow erosion of our
freedom; a disintegration of our rights to choose and the consequences of those
choices.
Some
people are more comfortable with somebody else making all their decisions for
them but I like living in a country where I am free to choose and I am free to
live with the consequences of my choices. And I especially like to be
able to worship as I please and I thank God for the rights we have here, at
least for a little while longer.
And
I am going to give you an opportunity to make a choice at the end of the service.
I’m going to give you the choice of joining the church, of renewing your
relationship with the Lord, accepting some responsibility in the church or even
to accept Christ into your life. And if you have never made that decision
then you can choose to accept Him or you can choose to reject Him. But
you have to make a choice. And choosing not to make a choice is still
making a choice.
But
how do we know how to make right choices? How can we be sure that the
choices we make are wise? I like to be able to make my own choices but
how can I minimize the negative consequences of my decisions? Well, I have
a few ideas that I would like to share. And since I’m not smart
enough to come up with any answers on my own, forgive me but I went to the
Bible to help answer the question of how do I make good decisions?
The
problem is that these won’t necessarily help everybody. If you are
not a believer and follower of Jesus; if you have never accepted Him into your
life to be Lord of your life, then I’m not going to be much help
today. See, because we as believers…now don’t tell anybody…but we
can cheat. Seriously, when you accept Jesus to be your Lord and
Savior then you get the Helper to come and live in your life. That
is one of His names.
Jesus
told His disciples in John 14:15-17, “If you love me, keep my
commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you
another Advocate (or Helper) to help you and be with you forever— 17 the
Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor
knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.” The
word “advocate” or “paraclete” means one who stands beside. It has
the meaning of a helper, an attorney who pleads your case, or just someone who
teaches or helps. And that is what the Holy Spirit is and we have
Him living in our lives when we accept that Jesus died for our sins and we ask
Him into our lives.
So,
the first way that we can make good decisions is by having the Holy Spirit to
guide us as we go through our daily lives. The second way is to ask
specifically for wisdom. James 1:5 says, “If any
of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without
finding fault, and it will be given to you.” It’s that
easy. Now my definition of wisdom is simply to make the decision
that God would make.
Mark
Twain said, “It is wiser to find out than
suppose.” And it is that finding out that is
the trick. So making the decision that God would make comes first
from having God in your life and the Holy Spirit as your guide. You
can also get wisdom from other Christians. Psalm 37:30 says,
“The mouths of the righteous utter wisdom, and their tongues speak what
is just.” And lastly, you can make the decision that God would make by
having His Word – the Bible - in your heart. The psalmist said
in Psalm 119:11, “I have hidden your word in my heart that
I might not sin against you.”
So,
the secret to making good choices and minimizing the negative consequences of
our decisions is to attain wisdom from God. The consequences of
our choices are changed with wisdom. Now, let’s look at the confidence
of our choices. Let’s go back to look at Ruth in verses 15-18. “Look,”
said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go
back with her.”16 But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you
or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will
stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where
you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so
severely, if even death separates you and me.” 18 When
Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.
Do
you see the confidence that Ruth has? She didn't stutter or say “uh, I
think I should…” No, the words just flew out. I picture them
standing in the road and Ruth grabs hold of Naomi’s shoulders and she looks
deep in her eyes and she pours out what she knows is best for her. And
how could Naomi argue with that? Ruth has made up her mind. She has
obviously given this a lot of thought and it has become obvious to her what she
is supposed to do.
Don’t
you wish you could make major decisions with that kind of boldness and
confidence? Well, you can. When you have done everything you are
supposed to do; when you have the Holy Spirit living inside of you and you have
asked specifically for wisdom about the situation; you have gotten advice from
other mature Christians and you have studied to see what the Bible says, then
you can rest assured that you are making the right decision.
In
fact, like in Ruth’s situation, it may not seem like the right choice to people
in the world. Most people would have advised Ruth to stay right there in
Moab, in her home country. Her chances were better of finding another
husband among her own people. Her friends and family, I’m sure, were telling
her otherwise.
And
it’s going to be the same way in your life. In fact, I can guarantee you
that, if He hasn't already, God is going to ask you to do something that the
world says is crazy. And you are going to wonder if you heard Him
right. You are going to wonder why God hasn’t told the other people
around you what He is telling you. And maybe He has and maybe He hasn’t but it
doesn’t matter.
Now
you have a choice to make. And it’s real simple. Do you put your
money where your faith is or do you disobey? We talk and sing and share
about how much we love God and we trust Him when things are easy. But
when He asks you to do something difficult, are you still singing?
Now,
some of you consider yourselves to be thrill-seekers, adrenaline junkies or
adventure-lovers. Maybe you have a need for speed or maybe you like to
play the stock market. You like to take a chance, knowing that it might
backfire and you get hurt or lose some money or get a little embarrassed.
I respect that person! Life’s too short to be bored, right?
Well,
what more exciting adventure could you go on than to do something that the
world says is crazy when you know that God has told you to do it and has promised
that He will be with you? I don’t want to hear any more singing about you
being a friend of God or wanting a closer walk with thee if you don’t do what
He tells you to do.
Some
of you have met my brother-in-law Terry’s mother, Mrs. Caywood. Terry
said he went to visit her in her hometown one day and they went somewhere to a
store or restaurant and there they saw a bunch of bikers in the parking
lot. Rough group of folks but Mrs. Caywood, who is closer to 4 feet tall
than 5 and is 80-something years old just marched right over to them.
Before Terry could stop her she had strode right into the middle of them and
was being hugged by every one of them.
Come
to find out, every time Mrs. Caywood saw them around town she would witness to
them and invite them to church and tell them what God was doing in her
life. She didn’t care what anybody else thought or how they looked.
She was confident that God had told her what to do and she was confident that
God was going to be with her.
I’m
not advocating doing something stupid and then blaming the results on
God. I’m saying that when God asks you to do something with your time,
your talents or with your treasure, then you have a choice. You can
suffer the consequences of that choice by being disobedient. Or you can
experience the adventure and blessing of having the confidence God gives in
your obedience.
But
you can only have that confidence when you have given your whole life to
God. You say yes to Him, repent of your sins, and assure yourself a place
in Heaven for eternity today and He will give you confidence in that choice as
well as any other. Don’t wait. We are not guaranteed another
breath.
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