Upside Down Decisions

INTRO

Hi, I’m Bruce.

Welcome, welcome back.

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Series in Acts, where we follow a group of people who turned the world upside down.

We learn how we can too.

Two weeks ago, Pastor John “STRONG START”

They started strong in Prayer together...

This is super important! But a strong start only goes so far.

It’s great for something like the 100 meter dash, but when you get to a 1600 or a marathon, the strong start is mostly important because of the momentum it starts you out with.

It’s not just about how you start start, but it’s also about how you endure along the way.

For us, this is most easily recognizable in decision making.

January 1st hits, “NEW YEAR, NEW ME!!”

You have some great resolution, with some really good intentions behind it, but then life hits you in the mouth.

You have to decide whether or not you’re going to continue on the path you set out on. And many of us decide not to.

Or in the last three weeks, Citylight Church went through 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting.

Many of you DECIDED to fast from something, and as the days went on, you had to decide whether or not you’d open up Instagram, eat that dessert, or do whatever it is you vowed not to do.

And that’s just 21 days!

You can ride through 21 days with the momentum of a strong start, but a lifelong pursuit of Jesus Christ is a marathon, and you cannot rely only on a strong start. You need learn to make the decisions that will help propel you forward when the initial momentum from your strong start isn’t what it used to be.

Many examples of people in the Bible who had a strong start but a weak finish:

King Saul

King Solomon

Samson

Judas

They started off strong, they showed promise and potential, but forks in the road appeared before them, and they ultimately made the wrong decisions a lot and went the wrong way too many times that they fell off course.

You don’t want to be like them.

The way to make good decisions that help you maintain the momentum you started with is to flip the way you make decisions upside down.

When you poll young adults, your generation, many say that their decisions are based mostly on:

Values

What gives you the most influence/makes you stand out

Fear (FOMO, outcomes, failure, disappointing people, etc.)

Instant gratification (do what makes you feel good/hedonism)

Mental Health (do what’s comfortable)

Money/stability (do what’s “safe”)

Follow your heart (do what makes you feel good)

Those should not be the primary factors for our decision making.

The heart is deceitful above all things (Jeremiah 17:9)

So for us to make good decisions, we need to flip the world upside down and start making decisions based on things that the rest of the world around us would not consider as they make their decisions.

That’s the whole point of this sermon series.

To turn the world upside down, we must value the most what the world values the least, and that is true with decision making too.

We pick up in Acts 1, where the disciples make one of the more important decisions that they’ve had to make so far in their ministry.

Who will replace Judas, the 12th disciple?

What we’ll see is that the disciples did three things to help them make this important decision.

Three Keys to Godly Decisions

Lean on the Like-minded --— they surrounded themselves with people who were like them in the MOST important things.

Feast on the Facts — they held to what the Scripture said; they knew and trusted the Word.

Depend on the Divine — they trusted God to lead them to the right decision.

Open your Bibles to Acts 1!

LET’S GO!!

Acts 1:15–26 ESV

15 In those days Peter stood up among the brothers (the company of persons was in all about 120) and said, 16 “Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas (Psalm 55:12-13), who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. 17 For he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.” 18 (Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness, and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. 19 And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their own language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) 20 “For it is written in the Book of Psalms, “ ‘May his camp become desolate, and let there be no one to dwell in it’; and “ ‘Let another take his office.’ 21 So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22 beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.” 23 And they put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justus, and Matthias. 24 And they prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen 25 to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” 26 And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.

Lean on the Like-minded

This is how the world works. We all seek to find people who are like-minded with us.

You’ve heard the sayings.

Birds of a feather flock together.

If you’re on the same playlist, you’re in the same group chat.

That’s how life works. That’s how relationships work.

If someone doesn’t match your vibe, then you’re more likely to not hang out with them, and they’re less likely to become part of your circle.

You know this. That’s how friend groups and cliques are created.

But what we see in Acts Ch. 1 is that there is a very intentional method that the disciples used to choose who is considered like-minded or “counted among them.”

They didn’t just choose the guy they got along with the best.

Or the guy who had the skills they needed to get the job done.

They were looking for very specific criteria.

Acts 1:21–23 ESV

21 So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22 beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.” 23 And they put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justus, and Matthias.

The ones who are counted AMONG them are:

Those who were there from the beginning.

From the baptism of John until the day when Jesus was taken up from them.

They had to have witnessed the resurrection.

There was a particular set of guidelines for what determined whether someone was counted among them or not.

Justus and Matthias were the two men that they considered, and they didn’t consider any others.

NOTE:

They’re not choosing who to hang out with or who will tell them what they want to hear.

They’re choosing a replacement for Judas, who was appointed by Jesus, Himself.

When choosing a replacement, they prioritized WHO the candidates knew more than WHAT they knew.

This is where our decisions become upside down.

It’s not just checking to see if someone matches your wavelength on a multitude of things that don’t really matter in the grand scheme of things.

It’s much deeper than that.

It’s checking to see if their heart beats for the same thing that your heart beats for.

If their heart is driven by the knowledge of the same savior you know.

And when it comes to making decisions in life, you ought to seek the counsel of somebody, first and foremost, whose heart beats in synchrony with your heart for the things of God.

Otherwise, you’ll get mixed messages, and you’ll be confused.

If you go to somebody who cares more about financial stability, they’ll say that your pursuit of God is going to lead to financial ruin or that you’ll never be able to afford retirement if you’re living on a measly salary doing mission work your whole life.

If you go to somebody who cares more about relationships, they’ll say, “You know guys will think you’re crazy because you spend so much time doing Jesus things. Maybe you should chill out a little bit, find yourself a husband, and then do church things.”

The reason you think it’s so difficult to make godly decisions in life is because you put a bigger stake on the opinions and advice of the people in our lives who aren’t truly likeminded.

You listen to the advice of people who match your frequency on secondary and peripheral things over the advice of the people who align with you on the most important thing.

You need to flip that UPSIDE DOWN!

The world around you thinks, “Same vibe, same tribe.”

But what you should think is “Same shepherd, same flock.”

The person who is counted as like-minded among you is not about their vibe. It’s not about their personality, how easy it is to get along with them, or how interesting or attractive they are. It’s about a person.

That person is Jesus.

Jesus, God who became man. Lived a perfect life. Did not sin. Died and paid the consequence of sin. And He rose to give new life.

Jesus left the place where He belonged to bring you into a place where you don’t belong.

That’s living upside down.

It’s not about how much a person fits in with your ideal, or how well you get along with them. It’s about how much that person understands the love of God in his or her life.

A person who is well-positioned to receive the love of God is a person who is well-positioned to give advice to people like you and me, who are on a mission to turn this world upside down.

So we lean on the like-minded.

Truly like-minded.

Not just people who are similar in age, interests, and ethnicities, socio-economic level.

No, people who are SET | ON | THE | THINGS | THAT | GOD’S | HEART | IS | SET | UPON!

When you lean on the like-minded, you’re led to the Savior.

When you are led to the Savior, you naturally begin to make decisions that glorify Him.

So we lean on the like-minded.

Feast on the Facts

How did they know that they needed to get a 12th?

They knew what the Word said.

Acts 1:16 ESV

16 “Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.

Acts 1:20–21 ESV

20 “For it is written in the Book of Psalms, “ ‘May his camp become desolate, and let there be no one to dwell in it’; and “ ‘Let another take his office.’

Not only did they know the Word? They KNEW the WORD.

Jesus, the Word of God in the flesh...

John Ch. 1, “In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God… and the word became flesh.”

THAT’S JESUS!

THey didn’t just know the word in a scroll, they knew the word in a person.

They literally knew the word of God intimately.

They walked with the word of God.

They spoke with the word of God.

They ate with the word of God.

They knew the word of God.

1 Cor. 1:18 says, “the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

It’s clear that these two things are in opposition. It’s either foolishness or the power of God.

Those who don’t believe will be quick to say that your faith is not based on fact.

But not even scholars today will argue that Jesus didn’t exist. Not even scholars today will argue that the people who were persecuted as believers of Jesus didn’t actually believe that Jesus resurrected.

To trust the Word of God is to flip the world upside down.

But to trust the word of God you must KNOW THE WORD OF GOD.

Study the Bible. Trust the word of God, know the word of God, and study the word of God.

But don’t just stop there. Have a relationship with Jesus.

And I don’t just mean a saving relationship with Jesus, but I mean one that desires to spend time with Him.

For all of you young adults who are single that long to be in a relationship with another person, that’s the kind of desire that we all should have to be with Jesus.

We should want to be with Him more than anything else.

That’s hard to do.

Listen, I understand that that’s hard. You can’t just fake feelings.

But you can move in the right directions even if the feelings aren’t there.

I’ll let you in on a little secret.

I’ve been married for close to three years now.

And there’s not a person in this world who I love more and desire to be around more than my wife, Gwen.

But I don’t always want to be around her.

I’m still Bruce.

I’m still an introvert who doesn’t really like talking, which I know is weird to hear from someone who is literally standing in front of a hundred people... talking.

I still have things that I want to do or don’t want to do that make it difficult to always be in a conversation with Gwen.

But what marriage does is that it takes two human beings, fuses them together into one flesh, and now we are both simultaneously dying to ourselves. EVERY HOUR OF EVERY DAY.

So that sometimes, when I’d rather be watching a Laker game than talking to Gwen about some 6th grader in her class who did something inappropriate that day, I choose to be fully present with Gwen in that conversation hearing about these kids even though I’d rather be watching a 40 year old Lebron dunking on some 20 year old.

And this is the same for your relationship with Jesus.

The church, you and me, is the bride of Christ.

We are literally married to Jesus, fused together as one flesh. We are Christ’s body, and He is the head.

Christ has died to Himself for us, and we, too, die to ourselves for Him

That’s this marriage we are in with our Savior.

So in those moments when we don’t desire to pursue Jesus, we choose to do it anyway. That’s LOVE.

In the same way that Jesus didn’t desire to be crucified. We see Him pray that the cup be removed from Him. He didn’t desire it.

But we see in Hebrews 12, that “we fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the JOY set before Him He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

He endured opposition from sinners so that we would not grow weary and lose heart.

So Feast on the Facts.

Know Jesus and know the Word.

Fight to know Jesus. Do what it takes to know Him better.

Many of you have or will put yourselves through hell to earn a degree, to land a job, and to make money that you cannot take with you after you die.

Yet you’re unwilling to put in the same effort to read, to study, and know the Word of God.

Isaiah 40:8 says, “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.”

Flip our understanding upside down, and know that:

Degrees decay, jobs come and go, money disappears, but the word of our God endures forever.

Feast upon that which will never let you down.

So we have “Lean on the like-minded” and “Feast on the Facts”

Our last point tonight is to “Depend on the Divine.”

Depend on the Divine

Acts 1:24–26 ESV

24 And they prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen 25 to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” 26 And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.

Again, things get flipped upside down.

Don’t you think the disciples had a preference?

Why didn’t they take a vote?

There were only 11 disciples left, so a tie would have been impossible.

Couldn’t they have trusted their judgment to make this decision?

But that right there is beside the point.

It’s not about whether or not they were capable of making the decision on their own.

It was whether or not God desired for Justus or Matthias to replace Judas.

So instead of determining it themselves, they cast lots to see who God had already chosen.

Proverbs 3:5–6 ESV

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Making the decision on their own would have been them leaning on their own understanding.

They chose, instead, to lean on the Lord’s understanding.

To Depend on the Divine.

This is something you can do today. God has given you the ability to reason, which is a good thing, but ultimately, our trust needs to be placed on God and not our ability to make the right decision that we think is best for us.

Now, I need to make a very important point here.

None of you should be carrying around a pack of sticks with one shorter than the rest and casting lots everywhere you go to see what God has desired for you to do.

Casting lots is an ancient tool that the Israelites used to determine the will of God, but we’re reading this in Acts 1.

Does anyone know what happens in Acts 2?

The Holy Spirit comes to the disciples. They were filled with the Holy Spirit.

God came to live in them, to empower them, to give them wisdom and discernment.

Today, as a believer, you have the Holy Spirit living in you, and you do not need to cast lots to determine the will of God.

What does Romans 12:2 teach us? It says Romans 12:2

Romans 12:2 ESV

2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

As the Holy Spirit works in you, your mind is renewed, and as your mind is renewed, you are transformed, and when you are transformed you are able to test and approve the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God.

You don’t need to cast lots, the Holy Spirit, God is living in you.

This is specifically for those of you in the room who have trusted Jesus in your hearts. I’m sorry to say, but if you’re in here seeking the will of God, but you have not accepted Christ in your heart, then your mind is not being renewed, you are not being transformed, and you are not able to discern the will of God.

This comes from knowing Jesus, knowing the Word who became flesh, the man who died to give you life. Only if you know Him will you be able to truly know God’s will for your life.

And that can begin tonight if you want to. If that’s you, I encourage you to come talk to me afterwards. Or come talk to Pastor John, or really any of the leaders here. We’d love to help you take a step toward Jesus tonight.

So to close, how do we make good, godly decisions?

How do we ensure that our strong starts don’t flicker out like a fire without any fuel?

We lean on the like-minded, people who know the love of God and desire the things that the Lord desires.

We feast on the facts, trusting the word of God and FIGHTING to know the word of God - Jesus - deeper tomorrow than we did today.

And we depend on the divine, knowing that the divine Spirit of the Lord, if you’ve trusted Jesus in your heart, is living in you.

And by doing that, we can watch God restore this world by turning it upside down, ONE | DECISION | AT | A | TIME.

Let’s pray.

Discussion questions.

1.How do you feel about your ability to make good/godly decisions? Does it come easy to you, or is it tough? What things have helped you make the right decisions?

2.We looked at some of the things that the Young Adult generations base most of their decisions on (financial stability, others’ opinions, what feels good, what’s comfortable, etc.). What are some of those that you find yourself leaning on?

3.Do you have any truly like-minded people that you go to for counsel when making decisions? Who are they, and how do they help you?

4.How do you think knowing the Word (Feast on the Facts) impacts your ability to “Depend on the Divine?”