Creekside Church Sermon of May 11, 2003 "The Choice Is Yours" John 10:11-18	Rev. David Bibbee
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To live is to choose. Our lives are a product of the choices we make. I don't know if we are what we eat, but I do know we are what we choose.

Robert Fulghum came up with what he calls , "Fulghum's Recommendations." He says they lie somewhere in between the Ten Commandments and Murphy's Law; somewhere between, "Do this or face the consequences," and "Do what you want, but whatever it is it probably won't work out anyhow." Here are his nine recommendations (He is still working on number ten)

1. Buy lemonade from any kid who is selling.
2. Any time you can vote on anything, vote.
3. Attend the twenty-fifth reunion of your high school class.
4. Choose having time over having money.
5. Always take the scenic route.
6. Give at least something to any beggar who asks.
7. Give money to all street musicians.
8. Always be someone's valentine.
9. When the circus comes to town, be there.

To live is to choose. Obviously, not all choices carry equal weight. Choosing a brand of deodorant is not like choosing a college or choosing a career change. But every choice we make, consciously or not, contributes to make us what we are. One of our big concerns as parents is the people our children call friends. You don't choose your kid's friends, but your parent permit requires you to challenge the notion that "…Just because all my friends are doing doesn't mean I'll do it." Over time people will either rise or sink to the character quotient of the company they keep.

The people with whom we choose to associate matters. The way we use our time and who gets how much of it matters. The books we read and the things we do for entertainment matters. The code we choose to live by, the way we treat others, and how we use our money…it all matters. We are what we choose, and by far the biggest choice of our lives is who we will follow. How does "He" fit into the choices we make? Do we consult Christ before big decisions are made? Do we cup our ears to hear his counsel?

The fourth Sunday of the Easter Season the church looks to texts which describe Jesus as the Shepherd and the church as his flock. "I am the good shepherd." It seems to me that Jesus is too modest about the quality of his shepherding. Good is better than average. To say that Jesus is a better than average savior doesn't pack the punch as when the gospel of John says he is "…the way, the truth, and the life." He should have called himself the "Great Shepherd." But great doesn't do his shepherding justice, either.

"The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." Doesn't this strike you as being somewhat…"drastic?" I John 3: 16 says that when the love of Christ is in us we ought to lay down our lives for others. We can think of situations where we would sacrifice our life to save the life of another person. But dying for a herd of sheep, which, by the way, are not the smartest of God's creatures, is extreme. What happens if he defends the sheep to the death? Who is going to care for them then? What are the contingency plans?

Jesus said you couldn't count on a hired hand to do the job. At the first sight of a wolf, he would run like the wind. The flock would scatter and the wolf would have lamb chops for supper. The little wimp doesn't give a hoot about the herd. But not the extremely good shepherd. He knows each sheep by name. They know him.

No one put Jesus up to it. God did not twist his arm. "No one takes my life from me. I lay it down of my own free will," Jesus said. His life was given…not taken. He "chose" to sacrifice himself. Have you ever wondered what life would be like if someone gave their life so you could live yours? What if someone pushed you out of harms way and died doing it? Their choice would place a burden upon you. You would no longer live just your life, but theirs as well. More thought would be given to decisions that used to be made casually. The passage from I John 3: 16 I shared moments ago…"we ought to lay down our lives for one another," alone doesn't give us the motivation. The preceding sentence does. "This is how we have come to understand and experience love: Christ sacrificed his life for us. This is why we live sacrificially for other believers." If we claim the name Christian, then his choice for us is the light by which we make our choices.

What would the world be like had Mother Teresa remained a school teacher in Romania? What would our country be like had Rosa Parks obeyed the bus drive and sat at the back of the bus? If there was no Rosa Parks, would we have known of Martin Luther King, Jr.? Choices that don't seem like much at the moment can matter greatly, and all the more so for those who are Christians.

Listen to these words from C. S. Lewis in Mere Christianity:
"…every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different than what it was before. And taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowly turning this central thing either into a heaven creature that is in harmony with God, and with other creatures, and with itself, or else into one that is in a state of war and hatred with God, and with it's fellow creatures, and with itself."

So, in every day terms what does this mean for us? It means you are responsible for yourself. This is the age of responsibility avoidance. If something goes wrong, it's someone else's fault. If people are poor, it's the Republican's fault. If businesses are failing, it's the tax and spend Democrat's fault. I'm not to blame for my problems. My father never showed his emotions. My mother rushed me through potty training. There wasn't a lifeguard on duty to pull me out of my family's gene pool.

Reaping the consequences of bad choices, we protest, "It's not my fault. I'm a victim. I was born when the moon was in the fourth house on the astrological chart." It is called the blame game.

One of the gifts God has given us is the freedom to choose. The life we will live comes down to the choices which we make of our own volition. William Bennett is the former administrator of the Health, Education, and Welfare Department in the first Bush administration. He wrote a best selling book called, The Virtues. He is a respected and outspoken advocate of family values, and roots much of what he believes in the Bible. Last week, Bennett admitted publicly that he has a gambling addiction. In the past twelve years he has lost $8 million dollars! The choices we make can be our undoing. But William Bennett accepted responsibility for his problem.

Let's apply responsibility to the issue of spiritual growth. In churches which place an emphasis upon personal discipleship, the responsibility for spiritual growth rests upon the shoulders of each person. Many people hang on to the myth that if their spiritual life is stuck or "on the skids," it is the pastor's fault. "He's just not feeding me." The education department is to blame, or its the direction the denomination has taken. Sometimes there are problems in these areas which need to be addressed, but the complaint of not being spiritually fed is code for wanting someone to provide a spiritual pacifier to suck on.

In his letter to the Philippian church Paul wrote, "... work out your own salvation in fear and trembling..." (2:12). He doesn't mean we should try to save ourselves. It means that no one can be responsible for another's spiritual growth. "How to's" can be taught. Experience can be shared. The collective wisdom of the church can become a tool for our growth, but each one of us must chose to walk the spiritual path and take advantage of opportunities to strengthen it.

Keith Miller says that in each of our minds is a gold-plated throne. From that throne we make decisions about what is best for us. But when we learn more abut Jesus and decide to follow him it sets up a struggle. He is now in your mind with you. There is only one throne and he wants it. At times we are glad to hand it over and let him make the calls. At other times we don't want to give up our seat. Miller says this struggle is the essence of the Christian life. It he is the Lord of our lives, then the throne belongs to him. No, none of us allow him to occupy it all the time. It is a struggle we will have all our lives, and always we must choose who will be enthroned.

Let me ask the question again: "Do we cup our ears to hear Christ's counsel before the choices me make?" Once we become Christians its no longer a matter of making up our own minds, but asking what is on Christ's mind for us. I want to challenge us today to be more mindful of our choices. This week, keep a mental journal of all the choices you will face, or maybe keep a written record. Discipline yourself to ask, "What would he want of me in this situation." Don't bother consulting him about whether you should or shouldn't have bacon on your cheeseburger, but upon those choices which shape who you are.

In the book of Deuteronomy, the issue is put before the people of Israel in very succinct terms. "Look at what I've done for you today: I've placed in front of you Life and Good. Death and Evil.... I call Heaven and Earth to witness against you today: I place before you Life and Death, Blessing and Curse. Choose life so that you and your children will live. And love God, your God, listening obediently to him, firmly embracing him. Oh yes, he is life itself, a long life settled on the soil that God, your God, promised to give to your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." (30:15,19-20)

Choose life. It's not hard to do when all is well. The challenge is choosing it when it would be easier to cave in to the circumstances at hand.

In the book, The City of Joy, Dominique Lapierre describes life in Calcutta, India's worst slum. It is wedged between a railroad, a highway, and two factories. At the beginning of the last century the jute factory owner lodged his workers on a reclaimed mosquito and fever-infested marsh and gave it the cruelly ironic name, Anad Nagar, "City of Joy." The factory shut down, but the area expanded. In the 1980's more that seventy thousand people lived in a space not much bigger than three football fields. It had the densest population of anywhere on the planet.

In this slum you could not find a tree, a flower, a butterfly, and except for the crows and vultures, there were no birds. Sulfur and carbon dioxide pollution killed at least one member of each family. During the eight months of summer the slum baked in the sun's torrid heat. The monsoon rains turned it into lakes of mud and excrement. Dysentery, tuberculosis, leprosy, and malnutrition reduced the inhabitant's life-expectancy to the lowest in the world. Eighty-five hundred cows and buffalo tied up to dung heaps provided germ-infected milk. Nine out of ten of its inhabitants didn't have a single rupee per day to buy a half pound of rice.

If anyone could be bitter at life; if anyone could feel like the worst of life's victims; if anyone could justifiably blame their plight on the political powers, or feel that fate had done them in, it was the people of the City of Joy, but this wasn't the case. Lapierre lived among these people for two years and was humbled by how the people "chose to live" in such a terrible place.

He said that in the City of Joy, people put love and mutual support into practice. They were tolerant of all people and castes. They gave respect to strangers, they showed charity toward beggars, lepers, the crippled, and even the insane. "The weak were helped, not trampled upon. Orphans were instantly adopted by neighbors and old people were cared for and revered by their children."

In giving us Jesus Christ, God made a choice for us. "We are a chosen race, a holy priesthood, God own people called to declare the marvelous works of him who called us out of the darkness and into the light." (1 Peter 2:9) "I am the good shepherd.... I lay down my life for the sheep... No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord." (John 10:14-18). Extreme shepherding.

The Greek writer, Nikos Kazantzakis tells of a Bedouin traveler who was crossing the desert when he came upon a well. He was dehydrated and anxious if the well held water. As he lowered the bucket he prayed for water, but when he pulled it back up it was filled with silver coins. He dumped them on the ground and again lowered the bucket. It came back the second time filled will gold coins. He poured the glittering treasure on the ground and looked to the sky.

"My Lord God, I know how powerful You are and what miracles You can work. I am thankful for the silver and gold, but, right now, if I am to live I must have water." As he stood waiting for a response, he began to smile. He scooped up all the silver and gold and dropped it into the well. Then he lowered his bucket a third time and heard it splash! To live is to choose.

Jesus gave us his best. What will we give him? He gave his life, willingly, for us. What will we give him? Like his first disciples, he chose us from the foundation of the world to go and bear fruit. The only question left to ask is, "Will we choose him and try to make our choices in the light of his life." The choice is ours.

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