Decisions, Decisions | Choosing Your Best Life

Welcome to Christ Journey Church from wherever you may be joining us today, whether here at our Gables campus, with our brothers and sisters to the south at our Kendall campus, or somewhere on this beautiful planet through church online, I greet you today in the name of Christ and extend grace and peace on your new year.

***At the Reed Home, our family is preparing for a new experience of our own in a couple of weeks with the birth of our third child, Jacob. We’re officially crossing over into zone defense against our kids, so keep us in your prayers.

New year, new kid for me. New year, new what for you? What decisions await you this new year?

Certainly that question must raise all sorts of anticipation within you. Some good and exciting, some anxious and difficult.

Though new years bring new beginnings, some new years feel a lot like the same old:

The same old relationship weighing you down.

The same old job leading you nowhere.

The same old friends influencing your bad behavior.

The same old hopes falling flat.

The same old junk cluttering your soul.

Same relationship, different girl. Same dead end, different job. Same argument, different day. Same old life, different year.

Singer/songwriter Jon Foreman posed it like this: “Is this a new year or just another desperation?"

What is this for you? A new year with new beginnings? Or a new year with the same desperations?

How will you make different decisions this new year so that you don’t carry over the same desperations from one year to another?

The Apostle Paul, in one of his earliest letters written in the New Testament, ended his letter to the church in Galatia with a concrete, practical charge for how your decision making now matters today and forever... beginning, in chapter 6, verse 7:

Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. 8 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 Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. 9 So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. 10 Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith.

Unlike Ephesus, the crown jewel city of Asia minor and a letter to whom we studied together a couple of months ago, Paul’s letter to the church in Galatia was written to a crew of roughneck farmers living in the northern hill country of the region, who migrated there from the ancient Celtic lands during the first and second century BC...

My people. Red bearded, handsome, warriors. Interestingly, from my own family lineage research, my last name Reed is Gaelic for ‘Red’ and my mom’s maiden name, Kelley, is Gaelic for Ceallaigh... which means ‘strife.’ Red and strife. Doesn’t get more Irish than that.

The Celtic people prided themselves in their agricultural prowess and warring tribal culture. In fact, during the time at which Paul wrote his letter to their church, the Roman army was cherry picking these men to fill their version of the Roman Navy SEALS.

These people were not a cosmopolitan, refined people. They were brutish people of the land. And in the couple of decades after Jesus‘s resurrection, they faced a particular problem. Leaders from other Jewish factions were teaching that to join this new movement, one must follow the old customs of the law and be circumcised. These teachings contradicted Jesus’ message, and also made conversion less enticing for grown men.

Paul’s letter to the Galatians confronted these issues. He re-oriented their attention back to Jesus using common day imagery of reaping and sowing that immediately linked in the urgency and significance of their decisions with Christ Jesus.

For the Galatian people, however, these images of the land conjured up everyday life, and Paul strategically used this language to convey an absolutely essential idea about Christ and decision-making.

My great grandfather, Ashford Broadwater, a man who’s own lineage stems back to this ancient Celtic line, knew well the significance of sowing and reaping.

As a young boy, he taught me more about making decisions working alongside of him in the garden than he ever did with his words.

[Ash 1, Ash 2]

Through my high school years until he passed away, I visited with him often. He reminded me of an old rugged cowboy... earthy... wrinkled from decades working the land under the sun. He was larger than life for me. He was recruited to play professional football with the Pittsburgh Steelers, but he declined because he wanted to raise a family and a garden.

[Ash 3, Ash 4, Ash 5]

I helped him in the garden in exchange to play pool.

He taught me how to hustle… He taught me how to pay attention to the seasons… and what his fruits and vegetables needed to thrive. It was hard... and tedious... and long... and hot... and intentional work.

For my generation, gardening is a novelty. It’s a buzzword. 'Farm fresh to table.’ But for my great-grandfather, as well as the church in Galatia, stewarding the land was a way of life that required literal blood, sweat, and tears day in and day out, day in and day out. It’s dirty, difficult, repetitive, and common, but it is essential work for survival.

It was to these Celtic Galatians, warring farmers, red-bearded immigrant brutes living in a foreign land, who Paul wrote:

You cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. 8 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 Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. 9 So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.

Do you think Paul's closing charge resonated with these folk? Absolutely! We tend to read this like a story book with cute pictures of corn stalks off to the side. But for the Celtic-Galatians, sowing and reaping the land meant survival. Paul’s concluding words to the church in Galatia connected their obedient decision-making in Christ with their very survival.

Your decisions now matter for your soul’s survival. They matter forever.

You are sowing into your life and legacy now, as well as into the future generations of your family. If a moment of awe washed over you now, then feel it. Feel the significance of your decisions.

Your faithful, healthy decision-making requires getting your hands dirty, breaking sweat, bleeding, using the right tools, and waking every morning committed to make decisions with character and integrity.

Do you make decisions about your faith and legacy based on that sense of urgency?

At the time in which Paul wrote this letter, sowing and reaping mattered for health and survival. Our perspective is so far removed from this way of life. I can go to Publix and buy avocados every day of the year, regardless of whether or not they are in season. So many of our decisions react to the immediate and are disconnected from the wave of repercussions into the future.

For the Galatians, sowing and reaping the land meant life or death, health and prosperity. Paul is emphasizing here that your decisions mean the same. Depending on what you prioritize will determine whether you experience everlasting life or decay and death. Thus why Paul states, no one can mock the justice of God. A seed yields a crop. Spirit-led decisions yield eternal life. Self-led decisions yield decay and destruction.

This isn’t rocket science. It’s farming.

On my great-grandmother, Tillie’s, kitchen counter aways sat a rhubarb pie because my great-grandfather loved rhubarb pie.

[show pic of rhubarb pie]

I can still show you to this very day the exact location on the southwest corner of his garden where he planted rhubarb. How do I know that? Because he showed me the seed, taught me how to plant it, and I helped him harvest it. Of all the plants in his garden, he cared most for his rhubarb.

When he planted rhubarb seeds on the southwest corner of his garden, what do you think he expected to grow there? Not peas, not corn. He planted rhubarb, and he harvested rhubarb.

I am saying this because your decisions work the same way. Do you really believe that gossip will settle your conflicts? Do you really think that cheating will grant you greater success? Do you really believe the lying will create new opportunities for you? Do you really think rage will convince your partner?

All of us will reap what we sow. Four times Paul mentions reaping a future harvest in this passage. One day a harvest will come for each of us. Now is the time - this is your year - to sow into life that pleases the Spirit for your freedom and redemption.

Your decisions now matter forever.

These rich images deeply connect us into the character traits of our Creator God:

1. We learn that God is one of ORDER. If one cannot plant peas and expect carrots to grow in our natural world, then likewise, you cannot sow immorality and expect to reap a pure heart.

“For God is not a God of disorder but of peace.” 1 Corinthians 14:33

In the beginning, God made order from chaos, and desires to give order to your world, leading you into a place of peace, saturated with satisfaction. That is a promise from God for those who trust and live to please the Spirit. God is a God of order and consequences. Your decisions do not exist in a vacuum apart from the created order of the world. Each one bears a consequence.

What new decisions do you need to make this year to begin sowing a life that pleases the Spirit, pleases yourself, and pleases those for whom you love and care? Your decisions have consequences.

2. And yet, God is also one of GRACE. Your consequences do not define you. The good news of how God ordered this world is that you are not the result of your poor decisions. God made that clear on the cross. Your decisions made in the name of the self may very well lead you to decay and destruction, but so long as you have breath in your lungs, those decisions do not have the final word on your life. In Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit at work within you, you can make change and sow satisfaction in the Spirit.

You can make the change.

But know that real repercussions may still result from your poor behavior. We do live in an ordered world, but the grace of God heals and provides new life no matter what kind of bugs live in your past.

At times, bugs infested my great-grandfather’s crop. When this happened, though, he simply rooted out the bad crop and sowed good seeds into new fertile soil.

Let the Holy Spirit root out those bad bugs from your poor decisions so that you may begin anew and sow good seeds into a fertile heart for everlasting life.

3. We also observe God as a God of PERSEVERANCE. Our sin naturally bends toward instant gratification. The gravity of your decision making will always pull you towards your own desires.

Yet, faith in Christ requires a long obedience in the same direction. My great-grandfather kept after his garden everyday rain or shine for more than 50 years. He persevered and persisted through pain, adversity, and discomfort. How different from our culture of ‘whatever.’ Don’t live a ‘whatever’ kind of life. Show up and decide to stake your life here and now on what matters most!

This kind of life-satisfaction requires a day in and day out perseverance to the way of Christ for your soul survival through those vulnerable moments when your sinful nature from within whispers, “Do it. No one will know.”

Don’t do it. Sin always gets found out. Stay faithful and true. God is a God of perseverant strength and courage, and God promises to provide it for you as you live in that long obedience in the same direction toward Christ.

Make this year your year to discover the rare joy that few find on the long obedient journey in the same direction with Jesus. Put to rest your compulsion for immediacy, and take a breath.

Just as sowing and reaping from the land is for your physical survival, sowing your life into the Spirit is for your soul’s survival into eternity. Your decisions now matter forever.

4. Last, God is a God of JUSTICE. If you plant rhubarb, then you get rhubarb. We cannot mock this for our own desired outcomes. And though we all try, we end up mocking our ordered world, along with those on the receiving end of our deception. I am the chief one among us!

The Psalmist said: “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.” (Psalm 19:7-8).

God is a just God whose act of merciful Justice on the cross righted our broken hearts… and whose gracious act of love restores it back to life.

Your decisions now matter forever.

In his first letter to the church in Corinth, Paul offered 4 basic questions to ask when making Spirit-filled decisions.

1. Is this beneficial? 1 Corinthians 6:12

2. Will this master me? 1 Corinthians 6:12

3. Will this honor Christ? 1 Corinthians 10:31

4. Will this cause others to stumble? 1 Corinthians 10:32-33

Anyone can apply these questions to any decision. These questions can help you think about your decisions with clarity and sensitivity to both your life and the lives of those who depend upon you.

You control whether or not you sow into death or life. You make that decision. No matter what hurts have been done to you… or what hurts you’ve done to others… or what hurts you’ve done to yourself… those hurts do to define you, and only you and you alone can sow into a life satisfied in the Spirit.

I am one of 42 percent of all children in the United States who grew up in a divorced home without a father present. 42 percent. As a younger man, I gave way too much power to my hurts, and I used to believe that someone owed me something for my hurt.

Listen, your hurts do matter, but they do not wield any power over you. With Holy Spirit dynamite energy living inside of you, you can begin anew today. You may long for forgiveness and restoration from those hurts.

I longed for it for more than 20 years. I wanted so bad an apology from him and reconciliation. I wanted so much to go to a baseball game and do the things that fathers and sons do. But that day has not come. I am almost 34, and it probably won’t.

But I am content. I am satisfied. Because I know my forgiveness and reconciliation came on the cross, and I know a peace with these hurts that transcends all understanding, even without reconciliation on this side of heaven. I know God’s justice and mercy because I am forgiven.

True freedom is found when you discover that on the cross, Christ set you free from the power of those hurts. You can make that turn today.

How do you build a garden? You make the first swing of the pick. Everyone starts with a first swing! My great-grandfather built his garden over 50 years with a first swing. Make the change today and decide to let Jesus tend your heart as you sow into abundant life. Christ alone defines you, not your hurts, nor do the consequences of your past - good or bad. Christ alone does and your freedom begins with turning from your own way. This year, filter your decisions through a few simple questions from his Word that can offer guardrails to your life this year:

1. Is this beneficial?

2. Will this master me?

3. Will this honor Christ?

4. Will this cause others to stumble?

And then consider doing the kind of good that transforms over time. Drive-by charity can make you 'feel good’ and meet a need for a moment, but it doesn't transform. Do the kind of good that sows into a life that pleases the Spirit over the long haul.

A theologian once said, “You are an ancestor to someone yet to come. If you live your life knowing you are an ancestor, that will change the way you make your decisions and live your life." Albert Mohler

You are an ancestor with a legacy and eternal destiny. Life transformational decisions take a lifetime to accomplish. On the day of my marriage, I made a decision to promise my wife my unwavering love and faithfulness. Was that the one and only time I made that decision? Of course not. Everyday, I make it again and again. The same with my kids, my work, my faith, my friendships. Some decisions require daily sacrifice, daily sowing, and daily tilling for the one day when the reaping comes!

Exactly one month ago from today, my kids planted a small tomato seed in this cup.

[Show pic of Hannah and Levi]

[walk into the crowd] Today, what do you see? A sprout. One day, it will be a juicy tomato, but what if I want it today? If you talk to the plant and encourage it, will it grow any quicker? No. If you stuck a few dollar bills into the soil, will it grow any quicker? No. What if you yelled at it and gave it an ultimatum to grow faster, will it grow any quicker? No.

Then, may we come to discover how God ordered our decisions to work in the same way.

[stay in the crowd] In John 21, after Jesus died on the cross, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb, only to discover that the tomb was empty. She ran to alert the other disciples. When she had returned to the tomb, she saw Jesus standing there, but she didn't recognize him, for she thought he was… the gardener.

Friends, your Lord takes great delight in gardening your soul, forgiving your sins, redeeming you from death, and reconciling you with your Heavenly Father. None of this happened instantly. Jesus sowed, tilled, and harvested new life with his literal blood, sweat, and tears… for you, for the world.

Your decisions now matter forever, so sow seeds of life into your family, work, church, and city! And let’s get our hands dirty together.

Lord, thank you...