Northside Church - Sydney
Moments of Decision
You're listening to another great message from Northside Community Church. Hey, moments of decision, they happen all the time, and they can be little ones, or they can be big ones. They can be big decisions like some of these guys here, like Moctezuma II, who was the king of the Aztecs. He mistook a Spanish conquistador for the return of their god, Quetzalcoatl, and decided to welcome these conquerors into his city with welcome arms. What about the decision of this guy to enter into the worst deal ever made? John DeWitt swapped Manhattan Island for a Spice Island, somewhere. What about these guys? By deciding to steal from the settlers, Lord Frederick North and George III's Tea Party lost Britain's American colonies. We resonate with this one, close to the home. Thomas Austin decided to bring rabbits into Australia for recreational purposes. And hundreds of years later, he pretty much wrecked the most of the domestic species of our lovely nation. Or his mate, his lifeboats, he decided in the Titanic to put lifeboats on the unsinkable ship, but unfortunately, he failed to carry enough lifeboats for the passengers that were on it. Or the final decision, that guy, whoever decided to assassinate Franz Ferdinand, decided to ignite World War I. Now, lots of different decisions. What do they got all in common? I believe it's that we're all free up until the point of choice, after which point, the choice controls the chooser. And we come to New Year's Day right, and it's just another day, isn't it? It's just a difference between two different days on the calendar, but there's something special about New Year's Day, isn't it? We make resolutions. We've got lists in the back of the diary. We're thinking about the decisions that we're going to make for this year. And we feel like there's just some fork in the road as we look into 2012 when we leave 2011 behind us. And so it's a big day, and we're going to make lots of decisions. In fact, one study suggests that we're going to make 200 decisions a day as we move into 2012, and that's just on food alone. That's 73,000 decisions about food that you're going to make in 2012. I'm hoping to make a few less decisions about food in 2012, so hold me to it. But no wonder we struggle with New Year's resolutions. And this could be one of the reasons why, is because a study in the Los Angeles Times, the LA Times, said that some researchers did a study of shoppers, and you might have experienced this when you went shopping this Christmas, that they suffer from a syndrome called decision fatigue. And so basically the way it works is more decisions you have. It takes effort to go think about the choice between A and B, and if you make so many decisions, you actually become fatigued. Characteristics, such as you end up making poor decisions, you become more dissatisfied with your choices, or you even become paralyzed that you don't choose at all, according to Professor Barry Swartz. That's one of the things that are likely to occur. Now, here's a question I want to ask us tonight as we had end of 2012. Will you suffer from decision fatigue when you move into this New Year? Could it cause you to make poor decisions, all the choices that we've got ahead of us as we move in this New Year? And I want to ask you tonight, if you could just make one big decision this year, just one big decision that would affect all the other decisions in your life, would you be interested in knowing what it is? I believe this passage we're going to read from tonight gives us exactly that. We're going to read from John's Gospel in chapter 1. It pretty much gives us one big decision either way, either the decision to come and see, or the decision to come and follow. Let's read what it says from God's word, John chapter 1 verse 35. The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. John the Baptist, that is, not John the writer of this book. And when he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "Look, the Lamb of God." And when the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following him and asked, "What do you want?" And they said, "Rabbi," which means teacher, "where are you staying? Come," he replied, "and you will see." And so they went and saw where he was staying and spent that day with him. It was about the 10th hour. And Andrew Simon Peter's brother was one of the two who had heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, "We've found the Messiah," that is the Christ. And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon, son of John. You will be called Cephas," which when translated is Peter. The decision first later come and see. You guys probably know the scene, right? You're down at Circular Key. You were supposed to have been heading towards the Museum of Contemporary Art, which is here now it's got a few asbestos issues going on. But you were supposed to go down that way and somehow you've ended up halfway to the opera house. And it's because you've heard this music and you've seen this giant crowd gather and something has caught your curiosity and you see this crowd gathering around and you go up and you peel through and you see what is happening here and then of course there's a busker. And it seems to draw our attention and we just want to come and see what's happening. Look, people often encounter Jesus the way that we encounter buskers. They, this sort of time of year you might be checking things out. There could be this church that's on the corner thinking, "What the heck are they doing meeting for church at six o'clock or news day?" There's this sense of there's a crowd gathered around. There's intrigued. There's curiosity with what is happening. Now the Human Rights Commission in their Freedom of Religion report, which was released last year, that's 2011, asked the question. When asked the question, they talked about this in their introduction, "How important is religious faith or spirituality in shaping your life's decision such as career, relationship and lifestyle?" You know, 38% of people either thought it was important or very important. That's almost 50% in past to speak of this nation, things, things that faith is an important factor in shaping all of the decisions of life. And yet then we see anecdotal evidence that, you know, what, 3%, 5% of people in this nation are in our churches. Why is there such a difference? If almost half think that faith is such an important thing. I think it goes like this because I see it all the time in my ministry. People often go like this, "I'm cool with spirituality. I have a spirituality, but I'm not a religious person. I'm not into the religion stuff." And what is really interesting is we're seeing this more and more. People have an openness to God in their life, but this passage is showing us that in the beginning of the world's first Christians, the first disciples, that we see something totally different that is offered and it's neither a new spirituality and it's neither a new religion form of practices. Because when you come and see Jesus, you encounter a person, not practices. You know, John doesn't say, "Look, here's the Lamb of God points to them." He didn't say, "Look, here's the pathway to enlightenment." He points to Jesus. He doesn't say, "Here's the principle of how to become a good person." Right? He points to a person they could see and Jesus is neither of spirituality. He's neither religious practice because he's a person. He's radically different from both of those things. And here's what a person does. He's not a person that's verse 37. He says, "What do you want?" I'm thinking, "If I'm trying to start a movement of people, I would at least be a little bit nicer, wouldn't you?" I'd find a new way to sort of recruit people into my movement. How can I offer you a cup of coffee or something like that? Not what do you want? Now, why is he asking this question? Is it for his benefit? Remember, we've just come out of John's gospel where it says, "Jesus is God." Jesus knew what these guys were after and he knew what they needed. It was not for Jesus' benefit to ask them, "What do you want?" I believe it's for their benefit because they were seeking Jesus for all sorts of different reasons. You look at the ways that they talked about in the Lamb of God, the Messiah, the thing and the one that could come and liberate Israel, a great liberated King. They came to Jesus with all sorts of misconceptions and he says, "What do you want? You want it to be clear in their mind?" I believe in the same way we can read this passage tonight and we can get a lot out of it because I believe we see Jesus for all sorts of different reasons, right? Some people might be this time of year and we think, "Hey, it's time for new resolution. I'm going to make Jesus a new resolution." We might want to feel that sense of approval, "Am I right with God? I better do this Jesus thing." We could feel guilty and maybe Jesus can make it feel a little bit better. Maybe in the other end of the spectrum, we could think, "If I just follow Jesus, I'll feel right, I'll feel superior. I've got my religion." But in light of the motives and the misconceptions, listen to what Jesus' response to all of that is. He says verse 39, "Come and see." So come and check me out. See what I'm on about. And here's the thing, when you first encounter Jesus, you will have all sorts of ideas and misconceptions about him and you know what? That is perfectly okay. He simply says, "Come and see." And I want to say to you, if you're here tonight because you've seen these spiritual buskers on the corner of Paul Lane and Oxley Street here tonight gathering for this strange reason, you've ended up in this auditorium thinking, "You know, I want to check this Jesus thing out. Can I encourage you?" It's his invitation to come, just simply come and see. Hang with us for a couple more months. Hang with us for a couple more weeks and see what Jesus is all about. That's the first thing, the first decision, just one decision this year that you could make. Don't suffer from decision fatigue. Come and see. Just come and see. And then there's the second decision, another one that he offers to his disciples and that is to come and follow. Verse 43, it says, "The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee and finding Philip, he said, 'Follow me.'" And the thing is that to come and follow means it's a decision to no longer observe, no longer sit on the sidelines. If Jesus is a person and not religious principles, it won't work just to observe. You see, if Jesus is a person and can't work just to observe him, you see, because you can observe principles. You can observe a principle because a principle doesn't do anything to you. A principle doesn't require anything of you. A principle doesn't call you to anything. But if it's a person and they call you to follow, it creates a moment of decision. And Jesus was constantly doing that, right? Come and see. Come and follow. Who do you say that I am? When it's a person, they call you to some form of action, some form of shift of intention on your part and look, the best place to see this is Woolworths, of course. I'm sure we've got some parents here tonight, but if you've ever watched parents, there is one aisle in Woolworths that they will avoid like the plague. And it's really good because there's now an iPhone app that you can have to go to Woolworths. And they can tell you exactly what is in each aisle. But there is one aisle they will avoid like the plague. That is the toy aisle. And if you've taken a little toddler shopping, you are head through all the fruit sections navigating it like some form of maize. And as you head into the toy aisle, they just become mesmerized. They start playing with all the bits and pieces. And most parents, you can see them affording about 30 seconds to a minute's worth of enjoyment. And then, of course, comes the moment of decision. Come on, time to go. And you can almost see in slow motion with these kids between the Barbie doll and mum. And the Barbie doll and mum. And often it's just back to the Barbie doll. And what does every parent do? They sort of just keep walking up the aisle. I'm going, come on, I'm going, they stay stand transfixed. It requires a moment of decision on the kids part. And look, that's what it means to follow. You see, you will encounter all sorts of Barbie dolls in your life. And Jesus Christ walks down the aisles of your life and he says, "Come and follow, time to go." And this year as you move in the 2012, you will be stuck in slow motion like that little kid. Do I stay? Do I go? It requires a choice and a shift you can no longer observe. That's what what it means to follow. The move from where I am to make a choice. So the difference between to come and see and come to follow is a massive one, guys. It means to no longer observe. You've been there watching and there's a shift. Look, I want to ask tonight, have some of you been observing for a little while? Two is maybe 2011, been a year of you where you've observed. You've been part of our community here, not a follower of Jesus. You've just been watching from the sidelines. Can I say, Jesus is not religion and he's not a spirituality. He can't sit on the sidelines with the person. He's moving. He's saying, "Come on, I'm going." You need to make the choice to come and follow. And it's a big difference. It's a difference between, I've said this before, knowing Jesus and knowing of Jesus. Some of you might know of Jesus tonight. Lots of people know of Jesus tonight. But few know Jesus. It sort of goes a bit like this. It's like if you were part of the JK Rowling Club. Anyone know who JK Rowling is? She wrote Harry Potter. I said Harry Potter in church. Oh my goodness. But it's just an illustration. I haven't read Harry Potter, but if you were part of the JK Rowling fan club, you would get so excited and you would try and wonder what she meant behind the words of what Harry was really saying here and what this meant here and what she meant behind this game of credit or whatever it's called and you would get really excited about it. And maybe if you were really, really, really lucky in a JK Rowling fan club is, you could even get her to come and speak at your fan club. And she would be there and you could shake a hand, you'd get a little photo, a little snapshot, put it on YouTube, Facebook, and you would feel so close to JK Rowling and you'd feel like you really know her. But if you're married to JK Rowling, like I mean, when I got married, first morning I woke up and wanted to go down to the beach. I found out I had to actually tell someone where I was going. I've changed. There's a big difference between sort of knowing of someone and knowing someone. And in the same way Jesus Christ works the same way he's a person and it's the same with the relationship with you and when you become a follower of Jesus Christ, you know him, you are wedded to him. You know, I'm just getting the poll reads with him. So I want to, we've come to a moment of decision tonight friend. If you were sitting there, do you know Jesus Christ tonight? Not just know of him. Do you know him tonight? He calls you to come and follow. Move in from the sidelines and it's radically different from spirituality at one end and religion at the other because spirituality says add this onto your life to make you feel warm and fuzzy, but you still make the decisions and you're not really following anyone. And religion on the other hand says, well, you better do this. You ought to do this. You're following, but you're following just principles. You're not following a person. Jesus is totally different. He says, come and follow, watch how I do life, watch how I interact with people. Come and see and come and follow shows us his principles and that is not that you ought to do it. That's what religion says to you, but it says, you ought to come and learn from me how to do it. Come and find out how to live this life to the full. And it's all here in this book because the good news is that the first thing that these guys did, these first followers was right down the patterns and the frameworks and the rhythms of his life. So here's the thing, if over one third, almost 50% remember of our country thinks that faith is important or very important in shaping their decisions and being a guiding principle for their careers and their family principles. Can I ask you, what is going to be guiding your decisions as you move into this 2012? And we put it to the surefire way to avoid decision fatigue, this 2012, is to ask at each moment of decision, not see it all the time on the bracelets, not what would Jesus do, but here's the thing, by asking how would Jesus lead my life if he were I? Not what would Jesus do, but how would Jesus lead my life if he were I? And so that way people who follow Jesus say, how would Jesus make this business decision if he were I? How would Jesus treat my body if he were I? How would Jesus use my money if he were I? How would Jesus interact with others if he were I? You see, for the follower of Jesus, the greatest challenge for him in 2012 is going to be, am I willing to shift my lifestyle to learn his rhythms and his patterns of life, right? Biggest challenge to us, because this stuff didn't happen in a vacuum, what did they do? They went and stayed with him, they learnt from him, this stuff doesn't happen overnight, you don't sort of graduate from discipleship school, discipleship is a constant learning from him how to live your life as if he were you. So let me ask, some of you have been observing, are you ready to follow, you can follow tonight, you can place your trust in Jesus Christ, come and chat to us after the service. The greatest adventure you could ever step into and some of you have been following and you have just been happy observing as well, are you ready to really follow, it means a decision to shift, means a decision to ignore the barbie dolls and the remote control cars in the aisles of your life and follow Jesus Christ right down the center. Why? Why come and see, why come and follow, let me finish with this and that is because you will be different, you will be different. We see it all the time in this place, but in verse 41 it says the first thing that Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him we found the Messiah, that is the Christ and he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, you are Simon son of John and you will be called Cephas which when translated is Peter. Now we read that and we go, so what? What's that therefore? But names were a big thing in the first century, names meant pretty much it was a representation of your character, it was a way to describe who the entire person was and when you look through the meaning of Simon, a lot of debate but the Hebrew word for Simon actually meant read like a read in a pond. So, ready or shifty, he was shifty, he was trying to imply that he had an unstable character and here along comes Jesus comes up to him and says you shall be called Cephas when translated meant rock. Now no one in the first century was called Peter, funnily enough, no, he sort of didn't go through the baby names and look, or Peter was a nice name, like not many people were called Peter, or as it was really translated, rocky. Jesus was using a little nickname there, he's calling me, he's saying your name is Simon, I'm going to call you rocky, come on rocky, follow me. And notice Jesus doesn't, he doesn't say I want to call you into a venture but get your life together, Simon and get yourself together and prove yourself to me and get yourself right and then I'll change your name. Now Jesus says, I know your nature, I know my nature and if you hang out with me long enough, let me work with you, rocky, after a while they're going to have to give you a new name. To come and follow him means that you are going to be transformed, you will be different. It's one of the great givens of the Bible that when God comes and calls you in love, he makes you by his call, what he calls you, Peter, he comes and says I'm going to call you rocky and he came the pillar of the church. Jacob in the Old Testament went from hill grabber to struggle with God, whenever you encounter God, he will change you. If you decide to come and see or if you decide to come and follow Jesus Christ in 2012, you will be different and we see that all the time in this place. For these first Christians, they had no idea that what they were getting into, right? They had no idea the sorts of pain and the struggles and the hardship that they would eventually face when they first went to go out and hang out and have a cup of tea with this guy. They gave birth to the greatest movement this world has ever seen. All of them bar one would be killed and a hundred years later, the sayings and the teachings and the things that they taught about turned the Roman Empire upside down. You think that happens just from a matter of principles? In count of Jesus Christ and you will be different, it's no different for Christians today. There is something about this person that will change you. And so guys, we are all free up until the point of choice, after which point the choice controls the chooser. And what I want to say tonight is the good news is that Jesus Christ is the one choice that won't control you. He will liberate you. He will give you freedom to live the life that you were built for. This new years, I'm hoping that we'll all make one of the best decisions in history, not the worst, like rabbits in Australia. Hey guys, will you avoid decision fatigue in 2012? You just need to make one big one right now. We either come and see or we come and follow. It's his invitation to you. I'll leave it with you tonight. Let's pray.