Making decisions
Notes
Transcript
80000 Starbucks choices
In his TED Talk, "The Paradox of Choice," secular psychologist Barry Schwartz claims that many of us live by this unspoken but "official dogma": maximize your happiness by maximizing your individual freedom. And according to Schwartz, "The way to maximize freedom is to maximize choice."
Schwartz points to his local supermarket as an example—a place that offers 175 different kinds of salad dressings. Even our personal identity has become a matter of choice. "We don't inherit an identity," he says. "We get to invent it. And we get to re-invent ourselves as often as we like. And that means that every day, when you wake up in the morning, you have to decide what kind of person you want to be."
Schwartz ended his talk by pointing to a picture of two fish in a fishbowl as he said:
The truth of the matter is that if you shatter the fishbowl so that everything is possible, you don't have freedom. You have paralysis. If you shatter this fishbowl so that everything is possible, you decrease satisfaction … Everybody needs a fishbowl … The absence of some metaphorical fishbowl is a recipe for misery, and, I suspect, disaster.
Possible Preaching Angles: This would also work well as an object lesson illustration with a real fish in a fishbowl.
Source: Adapted from Rankin Wilbourne, Union with Christ (David C. Cook, 2016), pages 137-140
This is God’s world and it’s all about His Gospel.
Wisdom - living with skill rather than living in sin
7 All the toil of man is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied.
8 For what advantage has the wise man over the fool? And what does the poor man have who knows how to conduct himself before the living?
9 Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the appetite: this also is vanity and a striving after wind.
Grasp grace
Grasp grace
18 But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day.
19 The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know over what they stumble.
1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar.
3 You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
5 You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.
Don’t grasp at decisions. Don’t force your game.
Does this help me walk by faith and grow in confidence of grace?
Embrace discretion
Embrace discretion
October 27, 1962 was the day the world almost ended. One man, Vasily Arkhipov, displayed the virtue of self-control. He was the second in command of the Soviet submarine B-59 during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Located deep underwater near Cuba and unable to receive outside communication due to mandated radio silence, the crew had not heard anything from Moscow in days when they were detected by the US Navy. The Americans released explosives intended to force B-59 to the surface.
The crew was unsure how to proceed. Battery power in the submarine was dwindling, and the extreme heat in the vessel became unbearable. Some members of the crew suspected that war had broken out and wanted to launch nuclear warheads toward the US mainland to aid the Soviet offensive. Of course, if war had not broken out, this action would certainly begin one and likely result in global devastation.
The captain and the third-in-command both wanted to launch the missile, but Soviet protocol required that all three officers make the unanimous decision to strike, and Arkhipov wanted to think about it. He eventually decided that he wouldn't agree to the launch, but instead would wait for orders.
As Arkhipov’s cooler head prevailed, the sub surfaced. The US Navy surrounded them and forced them to return to the Soviet Union in shame. For years, Arkhipov endured taunts in his home country for choosing to surface. However, in 2002, Robert McNamara, the former US Secretary of Defense, publicly acknowledged that Arkhipov's decision prevented a nuclear war at “the most dangerous moment in human history.” Arkhipov is a notable example of someone who displayed self-control and integrity despite direct pressure to do the opposite.
Source:D. Michael Lindsay, Hinge Moments (IVP, 2021), pages 111-112
9 Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce;
10 then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.
Pride thinks you form things or manipulate things. Discretion realizes you are formed by things. Deal with the small concrete things in front of you.
bidirectional - giving and receiving forms you
Phone, Movies, Books
privately for publicly
In a multitude of counselors there is wisdom...
What is end goal I believe will result? What am I practicing toward? What can I do right now to move this forward?
Will this honor God?
Activate curiosity
Activate curiosity
The city of Detroit was in a campaign to reforest its streets after decades of neglecting its depleted tree canopy. However, the tree-planters met stiff resistance: Roughly a quarter of the 7,500 residents declined offers to have new trees planted in front of their homes.
Researcher Christine Carmichael found that the rejections had more to do with how the tree-planters presented themselves than it did with how residents felt about trees. The residents understood the benefits of having trees in urban environments—they provide shade, absorb air pollution, increase property values, and improve health. But the reasons Detroit folks refused was not that they didn’t trust the trees; they didn’t trust the city.
A couple of African-American women Carmichael talked to linked the tree-planting program to a painful racist moment in Detroit’s history, when the city suddenly began cutting down elm trees in bulk in their neighborhoods. As the women understood it, the city did this so that law enforcement could have better surveilance on their neighborhoods from helicopters after an urban uprising.
However, the government’s reason was that the trees were dying off from the Dutch elm disease. But it was the women’s version that led to their decision to reject the trees. It’s not that they didn’t trust the trees; they didn’t trust the city.
11 My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline or be weary of his reproof,
12 for the Lord reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.
curiosity - awareness of what’s happening in the room and in my head
keeping others and God out sometimes
Can I approach this with curiosity and growth?
Reach for true joy
Reach for true joy
After his ordination in 1969, author and pastor Phillip Johnson received a call to serve one large church and ten smaller churches on the northern coast of Newfoundland, Canada. On the first day of his new circuit ministry, Johnson learned that in order to get to the smallest of the churches, he would have to travel 40 miles by snowmobile to a tiny village. When Johnson arrived, only one person had shown up for worship—a fisherman who had traveled about 20 miles to get there.
Johnson initially thought about just saying a prayer and calling it a day. But then he realized that together, he and the fisherman had already logged 60 miles of travel and had 60 more miles to return home. With that in mind, Johnson decided to conduct the whole service as if there were a few hundred worshipers. They did it all: the hymns, the readings, the prayers, the sermon, the Lord's Supper, and the benediction.
It was during the sermon that Johnson wondered why he had bothered. The fisherman never looked up. But when Johnson greeted the fisherman at the door and thanked him for coming, Johnson received a pleasant surprise. The fisherman said, "Reverend, I've been thinking about becoming a Christian for about 30-odd years. And today's the day!"
Source: Lee A. Dean, Plainwell, Michigan
23 Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.
19 A desire fulfilled is sweet to the soul, but to turn away from evil is an abomination to fools.
20 Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.
Don’t try to walk the fence. Always know which side is more important.
Aragorn - This is not that day.
What’s worth spending my life on? How will this affect my joy? How will this affect those I love?
Community Group questions
Where do you find it difficult to make decisions (distractions, how it affects others, lack of courage, anxiety, not enough info, not enough time)? Why?
How does knowing God’s grace surrounds you help with decisions?
What decisions have you made that you somewhat regret? Why?
How difficult is it for you to accept your own limitations when it comes to decisions? How does that affect your decision making?
Why is being curious about how God will work in your next decision so important for how you approach it?
There’s a lot of talk about keeping things around that “spark joy” vs those things that don’t. How difficult for you to know what sparks joy for you? Why do you think it’s difficult for some people to follow through on getting rid of things?
How can you walk in wisdom in making decisions this week?