Making Godly Decisions
Tom Shrader continues his series on finishing strong by examining how to make godly decisions using God's Word as the foundation. Drawing extensively from Psalm 119, he demonstrates that the Bible serves as our lamp and light for decision-making, while the Holy Spirit provides understanding and guidance. Rather than seeking mystical signs for God's individual will, believers should apply biblical principles, gather facts, pray for wisdom, and make decisions within the freedom God provides.
“God speaks to you through His Word, through the Holy Spirit, and through other people.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: Tools for Finishing Strong
Recorded: October 03, 2018
Duration: 46 min
Themes: decision making, wisdom, guidance, aging, retirement, preparation, finishing strong, biblical living, approaching retirement, senior adult, making major decisions, seeking gods will, preparing for aging, facing life transitions, empty nester, struggling with uncertainty
Scripture: Psalm 119:1, Psalm 119:5, Psalm 119:9, Psalm 119:15, Psalm 119:24, Psalm 119:33, Psalm 119:36, Psalm 119:38, Psalm 119:44, Psalm 119:47, Psalm 119:50, Psalm 119:55, Psalm 119:66, Psalm 119:71, Psalm 119:88, Psalm 119:93, Psalm 119:105, Psalm 119:113, Psalm 119:143, Psalm 119:153, Psalm 119:160, Isaiah 55:8-9, Philippians 1:6, 1 Corinthians 2:14, Acts 2:22-23
Theological Themes: biblical authority, holy spirit guidance, sanctification, spiritual maturity, biblical principles, divine will, scripture application, christian living
Full Transcript
Glad you are here. We are in, I think, week four of a series that the title has changed every time I talk to Sharon. But I'll give you, remind you of the premise, and just be patient as we develop it. It came out of the aging phenomena that we saw.
I got interested in aging when I got old. I think I told you my first trip, I knew there were a lot of people who were old. I'm at Walgreens, and I'm buying Preparation H, Depends, and don't be looking down there. And what else? I had something else. Preparation H, Depends, something else. I'm checking out with a little girl about 20. She bags it and gives it to me and says, have a nice day. And I said, does this look like the components of a nice day to you?
So I literally, I don't mind sharing this. I'm going to Fry's to buy my first box of Depends. And I thought, how am I gonna do this? How am I gonna find them? Where are they? I know Fry's store pretty well. So I said, well, they'll be to the right. They're not going to be with the Pampers. But I thought, I'll never find them. So I come around the corner, and there is a wall, if you have not had this experience yet, there are tons of these things. Then I couldn't figure out how much I had to absorb. I couldn't figure out what size I was. I needed a shopper to help me. But I just saw this is everybody. And there's a little bit, and I'm comfortable in here, there's a little bit of embarrassment and it's awkward, but it's all around you.
The Reality of Aging
Just to remind you, today, 10,000 people turn 65. That's every day between now and the year 2030. That is just a ton of people. That's a ton of people who are counting on others to keep working to pay for that Medicare and social security, and that can't happen. So I don't want to get into that.
I started working on the aging and here's what we saw really quickly. This is a giant point. I started talking with old people. So don't be offended by that. I mean, people like me and like many of you. And I realized that the majority had not prepared financially for retirement. I think I told you the last stat I saw said at age 55, 50% of people have saved nothing for retirement. At 65, the average savings is around $10,000. So that'll get you a one way Viking cruise somewhere.
Well, here's what I just got. And I knew that going in. Here's what I discovered when I started dealing with Christians is that became a material picture of how they were spiritually prepared for retirement. When I started hanging out with guys that were retired or getting close to their aging. And it was just us. They would say, this is the toughest time of my life. My kids are screwed up. They don't want to see me. My friends are dying. I don't have any money. Nothing works. My hands don't work. I'm at the doctor's office. Sandy and I had a little experience this week. I'm adding a new doctor. So I'm up to 10 doctors right now. It just goes on and on. You got to be prepared for that when it happens.
The Need for a Plan to Finish Strong
And so what I discovered, and I think it's pretty accurate, is that we need some basic tools to finish strong. Because every Christian says, I just want to finish strong. What does that mean? I just want to finish strong. Hey, I have no clue. I want to hear well done, good and faithful servant. What would you have to do to hear that? I don't know. I want to hear it. Well, you need a plan.
But then I realized if it's not too late to start at 50 or 55, it's not too early to start at 25. So I developed this series with the idea of reaching us, encouraging us, but giving you tools that you can pass on to your kids or your grandkids or the kids you're mentoring. And I hear all that going on. And what I love about this in a world that seems all upside down to me, I have such a hard time following conversations. Nothing seems linear anymore. In that world, I developed a series that makes sense. It goes like A, B, C, D. In a world that goes A, Q, F, W.
Building on the Foundation
So it started with the Bible is the Word of God. I got to have that as my baseline. Nothing's going to build from that. That doesn't settle every issue, because I can still view that differently. Just like I can take the Constitution of the United States and give one copy to Ruth Bader Ginsburg and another one to Judge Scalia and get two different views. But I handpicked those two people because they still traveled together, went to the opera together, had dinner together. We can differ, but at least we're differing over this document. That was week one.
Week two is I need to keep learning. I never stop. It grows and grows and grows. What we saw last week, and I confess, I don't know how they figure this stuff out, that knowledge doubles now about every two years. Just the quantity of it. And one scientist speculated that with the proliferation development, accelerated development of the computer, get this, this is staggering. This can't be true. But they say knowledge will double every 12 hours. How can that be? I don't know. But I do know it's changing. And I need to change with it.
Embracing Change and Learning from Others
It does no good to stand back. I heard somebody the other day, all these newfangled computers and these things. Listen, you got to be an idiot to not be able to work a smartphone. All you got to do is punch some buttons. This is not hard. The basics to search the internet, text your grandkids. And to stand back and say all this newfangled stuff. Here's the answer. Hey, if you're young, teach me.
I have my grandboys all the time. We're in fantasy football right now. We're 4-0, this can't last long. But we're in fantasy football right now. And I have the boys every week, today. Today at 2 o'clock, they'll be at the house. And they'll be going, Papa, we need to do this, we need to do this. I go, I don't know how to do that. And they'll show me these things. And it connects us. I don't remember what they said, I don't know what they said, but it values them and it
deepens us. Obviously I want to learn the new stuff, but I want to go back to the Bible, which tells me that it's good for—remember, it's fundamental—teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness. The Bible tells me what's right, what's not right, how to get right, how to stay right.
The Need for Godly Decision-Making
Third—this is today, this is new—I need to make godly decisions. I got the book and I'm learning. When I reach 65, there's never a time when I'm done making decisions. I make decisions every day, and they vary in importance.
Your life—you don't need to write this down—life is tough. As John Wayne says, and it's tougher if you're stupid. Stupid is making bad decisions over and over again.
I'm one day at Costco and I'm walking and I see this guy walking and He makes eye contact and it's clear that I should know this guy. But it's out of context—I don't know who He is. But I couldn't wait to get home to make the notes.
A Painful Encounter
He sees me and He stops. He gets this boyish look on His face, like He's going to the principal's office, and He said, "I assume you heard what happened." I said, "No, I didn't." He said this: "I did something really stupid. I haven't been to your thing in a while, but I went every week for five years. And I violated every principle you teach. And it's stupid. And I'm in real trouble."
Now I'm a sucker. I feel—I mean, I hurt for that. There's not any way I would make fun of that, mock that, look down on that. Every dumb thing there is to do, I've done. Everything.
This week, this Saturday is my 50th high school reunion. I got out my high school yearbook and discovered—I don't think I'm ever going to be on the Supreme Court. I'm ashamed. I'm embarrassed.
The Transformation God Makes
But once God saved me, that pile of stupid decisions went from here to here. Not because I got smarter. God just gave me a heart that wanted to obey Him. And if I want to know what's going to make life work, He's going to tell me.
Now I want you to grab this phrase and grab it—we'll touch on it the rest of the day, and it's going to be the basis for next week. Most people believe in God, but don't believe God. The numbers are varying. They're actually getting lower. When I started, it was like 90%, now it's like 81%. But most people will say, "I believe in God." If you start to define that, that number gets small fast. But most people will say, "I believe in God." If that's true, then I should believe what He says. It should start to play itself out in my life.
God's Higher Ways
Isaiah 55 verse 8 and 9: "My thoughts are higher than your thoughts, my ways are higher than your ways." God is saying, "Listen, I see stuff you don't see."
I'm sitting with my grandson the other day, and I so want to shape His life. It's funny—I didn't have this feeling with my girls as much, which may be sexism, it may be age, but I so want to say to Him, "Buddy, look. I know you really want to hit." Sunday He threw His first no-hitter, and He's all excited, and His brother caught it, which is cool, but He's not going to be pitching for the Dodgers. It ain't going to happen. Instead of hitting lessons, you need computer lessons.
You need to understand—if there's anything that's kind of good about the whole Kavanaugh thing, every parent in the world ought to be sitting down with their 17-year-old boy and girl and say, "Look, 38 years later, people are going to look at this stuff, and it's way worse now because you got social media." I have no real written log of my depravity. I've got memories—some of them are kind of cool—but I got memories. And God says, "Listen, I don't want you to—don't do that, Tom, don't do that. Not because I want you to not have fun. I want you to have life, and have it abundantly. I want you to avoid the consequence of making these stupid decisions."
Consequences of Poor Choices
We had a guy that years and years ago came to this study, and He tattooed a spider web on His cheek. I have a friend who is a little more bold than I am, and the guy actually said to me, "Do you notice anything different?" I said, "Yeah, I do." And my friend sat next to Him and said, "You should have tattooed on your forehead, 'I will work for minimum wage all my life.'" Now that's not necessarily true, because He could be an artist, but those are huge decisions that have long-term consequences.
Going into my freshman year of college, we had orientation day, and I met with my academic advisor. I didn't know what I was doing. She told me to take some stuff, and she said, "Do you have any questions?" And I said, "What grade point average do you need to graduate?" And she said, "2.0." And for the first time in my life, I had a goal. Now, first semester, I didn't reach it. I was freshman class president, and this is funny—I ran for re-election. It's hard to do. But I look back, and I wasted those four years.
Practical Wisdom for Life Decisions
I have kids all the time—kids don't want to go to college anymore, and I'm saying, "Look, you don't have to go to Harvard, you don't have to go to Stanford." And they said, "I know. I think about it. I'm going to go to MCC and take a class." And I said, "Don't do that. Go to MCC, ask them how many hours you can take, take the maximum amount of hours you can, get your C's, and get out of there. If you take a class, you're going to take a class, then drop it. Ten years from now you're going to be a sophomore." You got to have the degree. I used to tell my girls, "I can get you a job at State Farm, but I can't get you an interview without a degree." You need to figure these things out.
The Power of God's Word
You have Bibles—many of you, turn to Psalm 119. Just a little advice: if somebody says, "Let's memorize a chapter of the Bible," don't pick Psalm 119. It's the longest chapter in the Bible. And it's essentially about God's Word and the power of God's Word.
The Spirit of God Applies the Word of God
What happens when the Spirit of God applies the Word of God in our life? When we take it seriously. I'm just going to do a flyover, and you can make some notes.
Verse 1: "How blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord." So we'll see the Word of God—we would say Bible—referred to as the law, the Word, ordinances, testimony, commands, decrees, statutes, precepts. You'll see it all the way through.
Verse 5: "Oh, that my ways may be established to keep your statutes." Verse 9: "How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to your Word." Verse 15: "I meditate on your precepts and regard your ways. I delight in your statutes. I shall not forget your Word."
Verse 24: "Your testimonies are also my delight. They're my counselors." They're my guidance. I need counselors and input and all that, but it needs to flow from this basic understanding of God's Word. Verse 33: "Teach me, O Lord, the ways of Your statutes, and I shall obey it to the end." Verse 36: "Incline my heart to Your testimonies." Verse 38: "Establish Your Word to Your servant."
Finding Comfort in God's Word
Verse 44: "I will keep Your law continually." Verse 47: "I shall delight in Your commandments, which I love." Verse 50: "This is my comfort in my affliction, that Your Word has revived me." I'm in life, I'm in affliction, I'm in hardship—it's inevitable. My comfort comes from Your Word.
Now that flips me into next week. I'm not just believing in God, I'm believing God. Verse 55: "O Lord, I remember Your name in the night." Verse 66: "Teach me good discernment and knowledge, for I believe in Your commandments."
Verse 71: "It's good for me that I was afflicted." How weird is this to say? "It's good for me that I was afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes." It's good for me that I suffered this hardship, because I've learned Your Word is true. That's essentially what the book of Job says. Job goes bad, badder, baddest, terrible. And then when it's all over at the end, in chapter 42, he says, before God, "I heard about You, now I've seen You."
The Faithfulness of God in Scripture
Where did I see You? In Your faithfulness to me. Remember what we talked about? Our hope is in the promises of God, the faithfulness of God, the character of God, the sovereignty of God.
Verse 88: "Revive me according to Your lovingkindness." Put life back into me. Verse 93: "I will never forget Your precepts." You get the sense here. It can go on and on. Verse 105: "Your Word is a lamp to my feet, a light to my path." It shows me how to go, where to go, what to do.
Verse 113: "I hate those that are double-minded, but I love Your law." How do I become double-minded? Well, I'm holding two competing value systems. You can't have a value system of the world and a value system of God without them colliding eventually. And always—this word has been hijacked—always God's Word trumps the Word of the world. This is where I go.
God's Word in Times of Trouble
Verse 143: "Trouble and anguish have come upon me. Your Word, Your commandments are my delights. Your testimonies are my righteousness forever. Give me understanding that I may live." Verse 153: "Look upon my affliction and rescue me." Don't forget me. He's not going to. It's just the cry of His heart.
Verse 160: "The sum of Your Word is truth." It's total. God's spoken to us. I get on my phone, I have a Bible app, and every once in a while, I'd say every two months, I get a Bible update. And I'm always going, what are they updating there? Because this thing is complete. Done. Closed. Everything God either wants you to know or thinks you should know is in here.
And so now, it's time to figure out a decision. It's time to take it and move it from Word to reality.
Moving from Word to Reality
I think this has been my deal. I've just been doing so much reflection this week, which doesn't mean anything other than I'm thinking a lot. But I've been reflecting about the last 38, 39 years of following Christ. And what happened for me, and God was so good, is right away, He gave me a mentor who saw that the Word of God was not the end, but a means to the end. He showed me that there's practical application.
There's a wonderful man by the name of George Washington Carver. He was born to slaves in 1860. He was sickly, so he never had to work in the field. He worked around the house. He was a house slave. He did a lot of gardening. He became infatuated with plants. He ended up attending Iowa State College of Agriculture, which is now Iowa State, about the fifth best college in Iowa.
You know his story, many of you. He began to work, and I want to make sure I get the numbers right for you. His research developed 325 products from peanuts, 108 applications for sweet potatoes, 75 products derived from pecans. At one point, Thomas Edison offered him a six-figure income. He said no.
The Carver Story
Booker T. Washington, who was the president of Tuskegee Institute, wrote him a letter and said this: "I cannot offer you money, position, or fame. The first two you have, the last from the place you now occupy, you will no doubt achieve. These things I ask you to give up. Come to Tuskegee."
At one point in 1921, in a much more congenial environment, he was invited to appear before a Senate subcommittee. I'll read you the dialogue—it's brief. The senator, a bit stunned by all of this, said, "How did you learn all these things?" Carver: "From an old book." The senator: "What book?" Carver: "The Bible." The senator: "Does the Bible tell about peanuts?"
This is so good. Carver: "No sir, but it tells me about the God who made the peanut, and I asked Him to show me what to do with it, and He did."
Practical Application
That's our life. So practical. I don't know how to make this call. I don't know what to do at this point. I can't guarantee that God's going to intervene, but I know God's speaking to you.
When Sarah was eight years old—Sarah's my daughter, she's now 39—when she was eight years old, we were in the car one day, and I said to her, "Does God..."
God Speaks Through His Word
I was talking with my daughter when she was around seven years old, and I asked her, "Does God speak to you?" She said yes. I said, "How?" And she said, "Through His Word, through the Holy Spirit, and through other people." Now, just so you don't think there's something weird there, about a week later I said, "Does God speak to you?" And she said, "I don't know." But in that moment, she nailed it cold.
God speaks to you through His Word. You can go sit out on a rock and contemplate the rainbow over downtown Phoenix and say, "God, speak to me," but He's speaking to you. He speaks through nature in a broad, generic way. Just the universe—I saw something recently where they figure there's billions of miles of space beyond Pluto. Well, that means, to me, Pluto's a dog at Disneyland. I got no clue. I have no idea what they're talking about.
Here's what I know: as they study, the universe gets bigger and bigger. What that tells us is God is big. He created it. He holds it together. He speaks to you, but He speaks to you directly through this book right here.
Nowadays, you don't even have to buy one. I personally think you should. I think you should buy it and have a hard copy, and you should bring it to church. This is not to offend anybody—get rid of that electronic stuff and bring a hard copy. But that's me, and I'm old-fashioned, but I'm right. John Wooden, Coach Wooden, once said, "All progress is change, but not all change is progress." That's one of those little things that slipped away at church, I think.
The Holy Spirit's Role in Decision-Making
God's got this, but this is just the beginning. God also gives you the Holy Spirit. Paul tells us in Philippians 1:6 that "He who began a good work in you will continue it till the day of Christ Jesus." We're studying right now in the redemption churches the book of Ephesians, and it starts that first chapter with that phrase "in Him" or "in Christ." I'm in Him, and He's sealed me. What's that mean? He has a hold of me. He'll never let go.
There's nothing I can do—we say these things so often that my fear is they become commonplace—but there's nothing I can do to make God love me more. So I'm not on probation. He's not waiting for me to perform. He's not checking my stats. Conversely, there's nothing I can do to make Him love me less. I'm His kid, and He's given me this Spirit.
That Spirit—there's an amazing scene in John's Gospel, I think it's in chapter 16, where Jesus said, "I'm going to leave you, and it's to your benefit that I leave." I remember, every time I read that, I think, that blows me away. If Jesus were to walk through that door right now, we would cling to Him, I think, or approach Him, whatever is appropriate, and never let Him go. We'd say, "Don't go. Don't leave." He says to the boys, His guys, "I'm going to leave, and you're better off, because I got something for you that you need more than me. You need the Holy Spirit, who comes into your life, who convicts you of your sin."
Growing in Holiness Through the Spirit's Work
I have this theory—I don't know that I can prove it—but I have this theory that the holiest I should feel is at the moment of my conversion, because from that moment on, God is gradually revealing my sin to me.
There's a great old preacher, some of you are old enough and around long enough to remember him, J. Vernon McGee. J. Vernon McGee was this old Baptist pastor that ended up in Pasadena, and he tells a story about being in his office one Monday and getting a call from a lady in the church. She was about 95 years old, and she said, "I need to see you right away." He said, "Well, it's Monday, and I'm typically not here." She said, "I need to see you right away. I have sinned grievously."
Well, just curiosity alone made him want to meet with her. So she came in, and she sat down, and she said, "I have sinned so bad." He said, "Well, what did you do?" And she said, "Well, yesterday when I left church, I told you your sermon was good. It wasn't." And that ate her. Think about that, because you get that. I have 100 people lie to me every time I teach. "Oh, it's great. I can't be here for a while."
She is so walked with God and so in tune with Him that that kind of off-the-cuff comment that you've made 100 times kept her up all night. The closer I walk with Him...
Understanding Scripture Through the Spirit
Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 14, that natural man—that means an unbeliever—cannot understand spiritual things. But now, I have the Holy Spirit, so I can understand this Word. Am I going to get it all? No. But I now have the book—cut me slack on the illustration—and I have the decoder in my mind, so now I can make sense of it.
So now it's time to make a decision. What do I do? I don't know what you do, but here's what I do: I get the facts. I pray. I check the Scripture. I examine my life. I talk to my friends. And here's the hardest part: I do what I want to do. I take all that input, and I pray for wisdom.
The Question of God's Will for Your Life
So what job should I take? We get that question all the time. "I want to know God's will for my life." What do you mean by that? Most people mean, "I want to know what job should I take? What house should I buy? What car should I get? I'm thinking of moving. Who should I marry?"
Well, there's an underlying—and I think false—premise in that. And that is that God has a knowable individual will for your life. So you're out there—let's say you're a kid. You're graduating from high school, and you've got scholarships and admission to Stanford and ASU. Let's get ASU out of there. Let's keep it at Stanford, Harvard, and Princeton. Where should I go? Well, for me, weather would drive that decision.
But all of a sudden, we meet high school seniors every year, and they're paralyzed. "I don't want to go," because they're afraid of making the wrong decision. Here you go: there's no wrong decision. Stanford's good. Princeton's good. And whatever the third one was I said is good. They're all good. If you're so worried about finding—thinking that God's going to show you Stanford...
You're going to wake up some morning and Condoleezza Rice is at your front door, knocking on your door. I don't even know that that's a sign from God. And here's what happens in that—all the joy is gone.
If you got an offer from Stanford and Princeton and Harvard, you ought to be a happy guy, a happy gal. Those are great choices. And here's what's going to happen: You're going to pick Stanford and the first time you have a problem you're going to go, "I knew it, God wanted me at Yale." And then you're going to go to Yale, second semester, and you're going to have a hard time. You're going to get a bad professor. And you're going to say, "I knew it, He wanted Harvard." He didn't care in a noble way.
Developing a Decision-Making Grid
So here's how you make a decision. This is a big one: I'm going to get married. Who should I marry? Well, what's the Scripture say? The Scripture says I have to marry a believer. So that's an entry level position. If you're going to violate that one, expect trouble.
And in the rules, guys, you got to love her. Wives, you have to come alongside, submit to him. So guys, you better get somebody who's lovable—not just pretty, not just a health nut. She's nice. And you got to follow this guy.
So here's a tip I used to tell the girls: If you go on a date and you're at a restaurant and it's time to order and the server says to your date, "What would you like?" and he says, "Can you come back?" And they come back five minutes later. "I have a cheeseburger." "What kind of cheese would you like?" "I don't know. Swiss?" "I don't like Swiss." "Cheddar?" You don't want to marry this guy. If he can't figure out lunch, he can't figure out life.
Common Ground and Compatibility
So you develop a grid. You develop the things that are important to you. You should have interests in common. Sandy and I have nothing in common, and we knew that going in, but it would be nice if we had something in common. I used to joke, "We'll be okay because we do have one thing in common—we both love me." But unfortunately, that was true and that's not enough.
So you've got to try to figure out who to marry. It's real simple: You develop the grid based on the Word of God. You let the candidates fall through and then you take the one that's prettiest, most handsome, best job. That sounds so crass, but that's how you do it.
Understanding God's Will
When I want the will of God, here's what the Bible gives me: God's sovereign will—Acts 2:22-23—which is a mystery. God's moral will. So God says in His Word, "Don't be drunk with wine." He's not saying, I don't think, "Don't drink." He's saying, "Don't get drunk with wine." And I think we could expand that to say He pretty much doesn't want you smoking dope and dropping acid and doing all the other stuff. Don't steal.
So if you've got a job decision and one of them is at Intel and the other is fly in a Cessna 150 to Mexico to pick up drugs and bring it back, take the Intel job. It's not that hard. You see how that is? And the freedom—there's so much freedom available to you in the middle of that.
That's how you make decisions. It's really that simple. And you make decisions. Think that through. If you need a book, which I doubt you would read, but there's a book and it's really good called "Decision Making and the Will of God." It's by a guy by the name of Gary Friesen, and I think it's spelled F-R-I-E-S-E-N. It's thick. It's cumbersome. The first 150 pages you can blow through them, but he gets to the end and he nails this: God's given you great freedom, which should translate to great joy and great gratitude.
Looking Ahead
Next week, I want to dig deep on this idea of most people believe in God, but don't believe God. When I begin to believe God, I don't just have joy—I have a boldness and a confidence that allows me to live life. There's all this stuff coming at me. We'll look at it next week.
Father, thank You for this truth. Put it in our hearts and our minds. Let us be men and women who love You and reflect who You are. We pray in Christ's name. Amen. Have a great week. I'll see you next week.