“The Book of James
Pastor Mike Barnett, July 16, 2006
13Now listen, you who
say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year
there, carry on business and make money." 14Why, you do not even know what
will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a
little while and then vanishes. 15Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the
Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." 16As it is, you boast and
brag. All such boasting is evil. 17Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to
do and doesn't do it, sins.
1Now listen, you rich
people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. 2Your
wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. 3Your gold and silver are
corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like
fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. 4Look! The wages you failed to
pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of
the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. 5You have lived on
earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of
slaughter.[a] 6You have condemned and murdered innocent
men, who were not opposing you. James
James 4:13-14 says:
13Now listen, you who
say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year
there, carry on business and make money." 14Why, you do not even know what
will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a
little while and then vanishes. James
4:13-14
·
The
underlying Greek verb, (lego) means to say something based on reason or logic.
·
James rebuked
those who __________________________(logically) think through and articulate
their _____________________(plans) as if God did not exist or care.
·
In this
context, the desire to make a profit has become such a towering priority that
it has overshadowed everything else.
NOTE: James is not
arguing against the making of money or even against the desire to make money,
rather, he is against the attitude of self-contained certainty with little
regard for God.
·
Wise planning
and strategizing in business is not, of course, sinful in and of itself, but
commendable.
·
No spiritual
principles are violated by anything the businessmen said.
·
There is
nothing wrong with talking about future plans.
·
The problem
lies in what they did not do.
·
They did
extensive planning, but in the course of their planning, they totally ignored
God - God was no part of their agenda.
·
We sin we do
not involve ______________(God) is our future
_________________________(planning).
·
There is no
sin in planning to make money.
·
James is not
attacking their profit motive, but their _________________________(exclusion)
of God.
·
The allusion
to traveling to other cities and making allot of money and being influential
can be ploy of the devil to ________________________(distract) the Christian
from doing God’s will.
NOTE: Life is far from
simple. It is a complex matrix of forces, events, people, contingencies, and
circumstances over which we have little or no control, making it impossible for
anyone to ascertain, design or assure any specific future.
1
Do not boast about tomorrow,
for you do not know what a day may bring
forth. Prov. 27:1
·
Life is
_________________________(unpredictable) and to make it seem understandable
100% of the time is _______________________(arrogant) in God’s eyes because he
wants us to ___________________(trust) him on a _________________(daily) basis.
Matthew
34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow,
for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Rom.
28And we know that
in all things God works for the good of those who love him,[a] who[b] have been called according to his purpose.
Rom.
Psalms 37:3-5 says:
Prov. 3:5-6 says:
5 Trust in the LORD
with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways
acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight. Prov. 3:5-6
Job 8:9 says:
6 "My days are
swifter than a weaver's shuttle,
and they come to an end without hope.
7 Remember, O God,
that my life is but a breath;
my eyes will never see happiness again.
8 The eye that now
sees me will see me no longer;
you will look for me, but I will be no
more.
9 As a cloud
vanishes and is gone,
so he who goes down to the grave [a] does not return.
Job 7:6-9
Isa 40:6-8 says:
6 A voice says,
"Cry out."
And I said, "What shall I cry?"
"All men are like grass,
and all their glory is like the flowers of
the field.
7 The grass withers
and the flowers fall,
because the breath of the LORD blows on
them.
Surely the people are grass.
8 The grass withers
and the flowers fall,
but the word of our God stands
forever." Isa 40:6-8
1 Peter
24For,
"All men are like grass,
and all their glory is like the flowers of
the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall, 1 Peter
·
It is a wrong
response to think we will outlive our plans.
·
Just leaving
God out of your life is itself _____________________(sin).
TWO WAYS TO SIN:
1) Sins of ________________________(commission)
2) Sins of ________________________(Omission)
·
Those who
know God’s will are responsible to obey it, and if they fail to do so they sin.
·
Sins of
omission are rarely isolated from sins of commission.
INSTEAD, YOU OUGHT TO
SAY, “IF THE LORD WILLS, WE WILL LIVE AND ALSO DO THIS OR THAT”
·
God is to be
the center of all the Christians Plans.
19I hope in the Lord
Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive
news about you. 24And I am confident in the Lord that I myself will come soon.
Phil 2:19,24
Deut 32:39 says:
39 "See now that I
myself am He!
There is no god besides me.
I put to death and I bring to life,
I have wounded and I will heal,
and no one can deliver out of my hand.
Deut 32:39
Job 12:9-10 says:
9 Which of all
these does not know
that the hand of the LORD has done this?
10 In his hand is
the life of every creature
and the breath of all mankind. Job 12:9-10
Psalm 39:4-5 says:
4 "Show me, O
LORD, my life's end
and the number of my days;
let me know how fleeting is my life.
5 You have made my
days a mere handbreadth;
the span of my years is as nothing before
you.
Each man's life is but a breath. Psalm 39:4-5
Heb
27Just as man is destined
to die once, and after that to face judgment. Heb 9:27
Rom 12:1-2 says:
1Therefore, I urge
you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living
sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual[a] act of worship. 2Do not conform any longer
to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing
and perfect will. Rom 12:1-2
Prov. 27:1 says:
1 Do not boast about
tomorrow,
for you do not know what a day may bring
forth. Prov. 27:1
Hosea 13:3 says:
3 Therefore they
will be like the morning mist,
like the early dew that disappears,
like chaff swirling from a threshing
floor,
like smoke escaping through a window.
Hosea 13:3
·
Making plans
without considering God is evidence of a proud
_______________________(unsurrendered) life.
·
The fact is life
here on earth is ____________________(short) and ____________________________(transitory).
Luke 12:16-21 says:
16And he told them
this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. 17He
thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.'
18"Then he
said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones,
and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19And I'll say to myself,
"You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy;
eat, drink and be merry." '
20"But God
said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you.
Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'
21"This is how
it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward
God." Luke 12:16-21
·
For James the
real question is how to ____________________________(approach) life when the
outcome is uncertain.
·
His answer is
to trust in God’s __________________________(sovereignty), not in human plans.
Prov
21 Many are the
plans in a man's heart,
but it is the LORD's purpose that
prevails. Prov 19:21
·
James is not
against planning - boasting in our own accomplishments and/or our plans, on our
_________________ ________________(own terms) is the issue.
·
The attitude
God desires is one that seeks his ___________________________(favor), not the
praise of the world.
·
Boasting is
not a ____________________(trivial) matter – God despises it because it usurps
his authority over our lives!
·
THIS BOASTING
IS THE SIN MENTIONED IN
·
The merchants
plan and carry on as if God were unimportant or do not even exist.
·
Instead they
should have made their plans in prayer and in the anticipation that God may in
fact change these plans.
·
PLANS SHOULD
BE MADE IN __________________(PRAYER) AND IN
________________________(SUBMISSION) TO GOD’S _________________(Will).