Rev. David Holwick E [based on sermon on James 1:5-8 preached on May 26, 1991]
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
February 2, 2003
Proverbs 2:6-11
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I. Many Christians struggle over decisions.
A. High interest: 62% want to know, "Does God have a plan for my
life, and if so, am I living it?" (David Neff)
1) Decisions are a problem for many Christians.
2) What happens if we make a wrong choice?
a) Do bad choices doom us forever?
b) How do we know if we made the right choices?
B. Choices vs. evaluations.
1) Young people are interested in choices.
a) What college to go to.
1> My Sarah is starting to think about this...
b) What career to devote life to.
c) Whom to marry.
2) Older people are interested in evaluation.
a) Have I made the right choices?
b) Have I done well?
II. Does God have a specific plan for each person?
A. God has an intimate interest in our lives.
1) Plans from conception: Judg 13:5, Ps 139:13-15, Jer 1:5
2) He counts our hairs. Matt 10:30
3) Paul and Philip received direction from Spirit.
a) Acts 8:26-29; 13:1-7; 16:6-7,10
4) Everything must be done in accordance with God's will.
B. Does God map out every detail in our lives?
1) Not a necessary implication.
a) Parental love doesn't have to force its hopes on young.
b) Parents give guidelines, impart good habits.
2) God gave Adam & Eve a few limitations, many possibilities.
a) "Don't eat from tree."
3) The Bible emphasizes the moral nature of God's will.
Matthew 7:1, 12:50, 1 Thess 4:3-7
a) Even guidance is usually directed to moral development,
not day-to-day decisions. Psalm 25:9, John 16:13
b) Lives led by God's Spirit are free, not tightly
controlled. John 10:10
c) There can be more than one right choice.
III. Views on divine guidance.
A. Supernatural approach.
1) Biblical examples.
a) Urim and Thummin. 1 Sam 28:6
b) Elijah and "still, small voice". 1 Kings 19:12
c) Gideon received direct guidance from God. Judg 6:37,39
1> His fleece was secondary, and not in faith.
d) Paul and vision of Macedonian. Acts 16:9
2) Problems.
a) Possible, but not ordinary or promised by God.
1> Paul was surprised by his call, not seeking it.
b) Many want God to tell them exactly what to do.
1> They are unable to live with uncertainty.
2> They don't know how to handle freedom.
3> Note that Abraham received a call, but few details.
B. Rational approach.
1) Many important decisions are not difficult.
a) The choice is obvious.
b) Guide yourself by moral principles contained in Bible.
1> If choice is immoral, don't do it.
2> "God, I am broke and need money. Should I become
a prostitute? If you want me to be a prostitute,
turn this light green..."
2) For tougher decisions:
a) Ask God for help. James 1:3-5
1> Pray.
2> Search Scripture for insight.
3> Direct answer from God possible, but rare.
b) Consult trusted Christian friends.
c) Make decision.
d) Leave results to God.
3) Leave decisions behind you.
a) Do not worry about them.
b) Confess sinful ones.
IV. Guidance versus relationship.
A. Dissatisfaction with both supernatural and rational approaches.
1) They leave basic questions unanswered:
a) God's sovereignty.
b) God's readiness to impinge on human affairs.
2) Rather than focusing on how we can choose, it is better to
ask how an infinite God can guide finite human beings.
B. Faith, not magic.
1) Distinction between magic and religion (Malinowski):
"Magic is when we manipulate the deities so that they
perform our wishes;
Religion is when we subject ourselves to the will
of the deities."
a) True guidance must be religion and not magic.
b) "How-to's" are misdirected.
1> Americans want shortcuts.
2> God offers a lifetime of intimacy.
2) God usually guides in subtle ways.
a) He feeds ideas in our minds.
b) He gives us a sensation of dissatisfaction.
c) He wants us to take him seriously.
C. Divine guidance - relationship rather than technique.
1) Comparison with marriage.
2) The Bible contains very little specific advice on the
techniques of guidance, but much on the proper way to
maintain a love relationship with God.
V. God's character helps us make decisions.
A. God is characterized by covenant faithfulness.
1) When he decides to make a commitment, he keeps it.
a) He knows our weaknesses.
2) Yet he expects us to live according to conditions.
a) God is tolerant.
b) Guidance is more than choosing correct multiple choice.
B. Christians should remain faithful to their covenants.
1) Hosea decided to marry wife, stuck with it.
2) Instead of seeking God's will out of a situation, seek
his will "in" it.
a) Compare Jesus in Gethsemane. Luke 22:42
"Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me;
yet not my will, but yours be done."
C. God brings victory out of failure. Gen 50:20, Rom 8:28
1) Christians must be creative when facing hard choices.
2) Follow Spirit, not flesh. Eph 5:1-2
=========================================================================
SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
Though not illustrations in the traditional sense, this sermon draws upon
these sources:
# 651 "Have I Done Well?" David Neff, Christianity Today magazine,
February 17, 1989, page 22.
# 811 "Visions, Voices, And Choices," Kenneth Kantzer, Christianity Today
magazine, April 21, 1989, page 8.
#3601 "Finding Out God's Will For Your Life," Philip Yancey, Christianity
Today magazine, September 16, 1983, page 24.
Sermon also draws upon earlier message titled "How To Find God's Will For
Your Life," based on James 1:3-5, dated May 26, 1991.
These and 25,000 others are part of a database that can be downloaded,
absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
=========================================================================
Study Notes
Christianity Today, 4/21/89, p.8 Kenneth Kantzer
A. Miracles of special revelation.
1) Rare. "Still, small voice"
2) Possible, but not ordinary or promised by God.
B. Most decisions are not difficult.
1) Choice is obvious.
a) Or we have no control.
2) Ask God for help, make decision, commit results to Him.
C. Leave decisions behind you.
1) Do not worry about them.
2) Confess sinful ones.
D. Fleeces are wrong.
1) Not promised by God.
E. How to handle difficult decisions.
1) Write out details, pros and cons, on paper.
2) Postpone decision to think about it.
F. Decisions are just as difficult as we get older.
1) We see how they affect others.
2) We are more cautious.
Christianity Today, 9/16/83, p. 24. Philip Yancey
A. Old idea - God has a plan for us, we need to discover it.
1) Gideon's fleece. Judges 6 & 7
a) His guidance was clear but he doubted it.
2) Paul's Macedonian call. Acts 16:6-10
a) Paul was surprised by it, not seeking it.
b) An aberration from normal experience.
B. Rational guidance.
1) Use resources like Bible, inner prompting of Spirit,
external circumstances.
2) Idea that God has an "individual plan" is sometimes disputed.
a) Bible reveals God's moral will.
b) We are free for details.
C. Dissatisfaction with both approaches.
1) They leave basic questions unanswered:
a) God's sovereignty.
b) God's readiness to impinge on human affairs.
2) Rather than focusing on how we can choose, it is better to
ask how an infinite God can guide finite human beings.
D. Lady Helen Oppenheimer's approach on divine guidance.
1) We ask some people's support for the decision we are already
leaning toward.
a) But asking God for his stamp of approval is blasphemy.
2) We go to some people because we truly want to be told what
to do.
a) Core of guidance issue: Why doesn't God just flat-out
tell us what to do?
b) Maybe such a response would jeopardize human freedom.
1> God does not want to run our lives but have us offer
our lives in obedience to Him.
3) Sometimes we simply want a chance to think aloud. (Rogerian)
a) But "one cannot go on forever being grateful for silence."
E. Guidance and God's Omniscience.
1) Problem: If we go to God in line with #2, he could give us
perfect advice. We would not need faith.
2) C.S. Lewis hints at God's hesitance to intervene directly:
"God seems to do nothing of Himself which He can possibly
delegate to His creatures. He commands us to do slowly
and blunderingly what He could do perfectly and in the
twinkling of an eye .... Perhaps we do not fully realize
the problem, so to call it, of enabling finite free wills
to coexist with Omnipotence. It seems to involve at every
moment almost a sort of 'divine abdication.'"
3) Problems with Oppenheimer's three models:
a) God is the other party. He can't be a rubber stamp or
a passive listener.
b) God doesn't want to "tell us what to do."
1> (There are exceptions, like Gideon)
F. Does God guide?
1) Guidance should be thought of as relationship rather than
technique.
a) Comparison with marriage.
b) The fact of communication is as important as the content.
2) The Bible contains very little specific advice on the
techniques of guidance, but much on the proper way to
maintain a love relationship with God.
a) The Psalms and guidance.
b) They act as spiritual journals, ranging from triumph to
despair and pleading.
G. Not magic, but faith.
1) "How-to's" are misdirected.
a) Americans want shortcuts.
b) God offers a lifetime of intimacy.
2) God usually guides in subtle ways.
a) He feeds ideas in our minds.
b) He gives us a sensation of dissatisfaction.
c) He wants us to take him seriously.
3) Guidance is overrated.
a) The Bible doesn't devote much to it.
b) Distinction between magic and religion (Malinowski):
"Magic is when we manipulate the deities so that they
perform our wishes; religion is when we subject
ourselves to the will of the deities."
c) True guidance must be religion and not magic.
Christianity Today, 2/17/89, p. 22. David Neff
A. High interest (62%)- "Does God have a plan for my life, and
if so, am I living it?"
1) Problem for many Christians.
2) Joan of Arc heard voices.
3) Approach is often youth-oriented.
B. Choices vs. evaluations.
1) Young people are interested in choices.
a) Whom do I marry?
b) What career should I choose?
2) Older people are interested in evaluation.
a) Have I made the right choices?
b) Have I done well?
C. Erroneous ideas.
1) Missing God's preferred choice in a situation by choosing some
other, but equally God-honoring and moral, path will lead to
spiritual ruin.
2) The special guidance given to apostles is the norm for us.
3) God's scriptuarl revelation of right, of wrong, and of
principles to live by is not sufficient information for us
to please God.
D. How it affects our lives.
1) Older believers may give up on God, or turn to their subjective
impulses and claim God's blessing for the turmoil.
a) Give up on marriage, have affair, remarry, see God releasing
them from bondage and bringing them a blessing in the
guise of a new spouse.
b) However unwise our early choices, there is never an excuse
for trying to improve the situation by violating the
clear and inspired commands of Scripture.
E. The intimate God.
1) God has plans for some from conception.
a) Judg 13:5, Ps 139:13-15; Jer 1:5
b) He counts our hairs.
c) God wants good things for us. We are valuable to him.
d) Paul and Philip received direction from Spirit.
1> Acts 8:26-29; 13:1-7; 16:6-7,10
2) Does God map out our lives?
a) Not a necessary implication.
b) Parental love doesn't have to force its hopes on young.
1> Parents give guidelines for safety.
2> Parents try to impart good habits.
c) God gave Adam & Eve a few limitations and many possibilities.
1> In OT, a few moral and spiritual laws given.
2> In NT, free life in the Spirit.
A> God wants us to choose wisely.
F. The search for God's favor.
1) Many want God to tell them exactly what to do.
a) They are unable to live with uncertainty.
b) They don't know how to handle freedom.
c) They may be desperate God will abandon them if they aren't
obedient at every juncture.
2) The crisis of midlife.
a) We hold to an idealized view of the past.
G. God's character helps us make decisions.
1) God is characterized by covenant faithfulness.
a) He knows our weaknesses.
b) Yet he expects us to live according to conditions.
c) God is tolerant.
2) Christians should remain faithful to their covenants.
a) Hosea.
3) God brings victory out of failure. Gen 50:20, Rom 8:28
a) Christians must be creative when facing hard choices.
b) Follow Spirit, not flesh. Eph 5:1-2
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