No Choice But To Choose (From 9-28-25 Worship)
Opening Illustration: Fukushima & Costly Courage
- Nuclear plants run continuously; when support systems fail, they’re like a “temperamental 2-year-old”—they’ll meltdown if not supplied.
- 2011 Fukushima: Plant manager Yoshida faced failed cooling and chose a controversial lifesaving action—pump seawater (which would ruin reactors) to prevent a total meltdown.
- Principle: Sometimes the right choice is costly and unpopular, but it protects lives. Our spiritual choices carry eternal stakes.
Life as a Road: Two Paths
- Life is a journey; you’re moving whether you notice or not.
- There are two ways: the broad, easy road to destruction and the narrow, hard road to life.
- Matthew 7:13–14 (ESV): “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction… For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”
The Narrow Way Must Be “Built”
- The narrow path isn’t just “there”; we build it with God’s plan—cutting down obstacles, filling valleys, straightening what’s crooked (repentance lived out).
- Luke 3:2–6 (ESV) (selected): “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight… every valley shall be filled… the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places shall become level ways…”
The Real Decision Point: Whose Voice Will You Hear?
- Our world is noisy; two voices call constantly:
- Wisdom (God) cries out in the streets.
- Proverbs 1:20–23 (ESV) (selected): “Wisdom cries aloud in the street… ‘If you turn at my reproof… I will make my words known to you.’”
- Satan roars, seeking someone to devour; we must resist, sober-minded and watchful.
- 1 Peter 5:6–10 (ESV) (selected): “Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion… Resist him, firm in your faith…”
- Wisdom (God) cries out in the streets.
- To hear God, we must be still amid the noise.
- Psalm 46:10 (ESV): “Be still, and know that I am God.”
Testing Wisdom: Earthly vs. Heavenly
- Earthly wisdom breeds jealousy, selfish ambition, disorder.
- Heavenly wisdom is pure, peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruit.
- James 3:13–18 (ESV) (selected): “This is not the wisdom that comes down from above… But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason…”
Expect Resistance While You Build
- Doing good often meets nearby evil; the work is hard but holy.
- Romans 7:21 (ESV): “So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.”
- Yet God cares for and sustains the righteous.
- Psalm 37:25 (ESV): “I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread.”
On the Same Road: Help Fellow Travelers
- Like the Good Samaritan, those in a strong position lift the wounded. A rising tide lifts all boats; Jesus repeatedly stopped to help.
The Non-Optional Choice: Slaves of Sin or of Righteousness
- You will serve something—sin leading to death, or obedience leading to righteousness. Neutrality is a decision.
- Romans 6:16–18 (ESV) (selected): “You are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness… having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.”
Takeaway
- Like Yoshida, you may face choices that cost you—but save lives (including your own).
- Build the narrow road daily by repentance and obedience.
- Choose whose voice you’ll heed. If you “don’t decide,” you’ve already decided.
- Invitation: Be set free from sin and walk the narrow way with Christ.
