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Sermon Notes on James 4:13-18

Once again my recording device malfunctioned and I could not record the audio from this sermon, but here are my notes from it:

7/28/13- James 4:13-17- Boasting About Tomorrow

Intro: Pilot who was originally scheduled to fly plane that crash landed on 9/11 and was switched with other pilot night before. He realized he was living on borrowed time.

Context: Starting in verse 13 and going through 5:6, James begins targeting the wealthy that refuse to honor God with the way they spend wealth. In the first few verses of this section, we’re going to see how Christians ought not boast about the future but should depend fully on God throughout the days of their short lives.  

How we relate to this: We’ve all put a period or an exclamation mark in our planner where we ought to have a question mark. Although we should not presume to be certain about our future, we have all walked forward when God has called us to stop and pray. How many times have we all gotten up and gone about the day only to realize around the late afternoon that we haven’t so much as sought God in prayer about the day? Praise God that, “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”. God’s planner had scheduled the death and resurrection of His Son to make us right with Him, even while we were sinners. Jesus’ death on the cross covered over all of our arrogant boasting about the future and has given us a heart that leans upon Him instead of one that leads without Him.

Main Point: Boasting about tomorrow puts us, not God at the center of the universe. So we should live our daily lives in complete dependence upon God’s grace.

James shines light on who is at the center of our universe then calls us to a life of dependence upon God and not independence from God.


Boasting about tomorrow makes life about us (13-14)
(13) These individuals go wrong not only in that they plan today and tomorrow, but an entire year in advance. In their planning, they treat it as though nothing hindered their plans from happening. Their plan entails:
Where they will go and live for a year
Acts 17:26 says God has determined where we will go and live all our lives.
Psalm 139:16b states that everyday of our lives are planned out by God before they occur.
The irony is that we cannot guarantee our next breath and yet these individuals claim to know the certainty of the next year.
Ill: I’ve heard it said that we see things come into our lives like a person watching a parade from the street corner…they see things only when they are right at them. God views the parade of our lives like someone watching it from a blimp…He sees every event to happen from beginning of history into eternity.
What they will do for a living in this town for a year
They assume circumstances will suffice for them to perform their trading work.
What success they will have while making a living in this town for a year.
This is perhaps the worst of all planning, because none of us can know what sort of success we will find in anything we do. 
Ill: This would be like a fisherman saying, “I’m going to go catch 25 bass and will be back after lunch”…you can plan to go fishing, but how can you plan your success?
And notice that their goal is profit for themselves. They planned to gain what they thought was theirs, not give away what was already God’s.
Context: the same folks that James condemned in the last text for desiring things more than God, he now condemns here for desiring wealth more than God.
Like the rich fool in Jesus’ parable, these people were wanting to hoard up wealth for their own selfish enjoyment. After that parable, Jesus told us the attitude to have with any wealth we may earn: “Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.” (Lk. 12:33)
App: What are you living for? Are you living for the gifts or for the Giver? You are living on borrowed oxygen as it is. Don’t plan ways to spend God’s resources on yourself. Instead, plan ways to spend God’s resources on giving Him glory (Mt. 25). One of the best ways to see idols in a person’s life is their bank statement. How we spend our money reveals what we treasure.
(14a) The reality? We can’t even forecast tomorrow.
Context: These people’s plans were presuming upon God’s grace. They thought their plans were as sure as the rising sun, but God’s Word says, “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.” (Prov. 19:21).
Ill: Not even the most skilled meteorologist is right about tomorrow’s weather 100% of the time. 
Ill: The only certainty to plans is that they are uncertain. Rainchecks abound in human planning. There is never certainty about a date or event that we schedule, so then why do we sometimes seem so confident that God is going to bless our tomorrow without even seeking what His will is for today?
(14b) And on top of that…our entire lives are very short.
Ill/App: We’re like the mist of a spray bottle that lasts 0.5 seconds and fades away never to return. Don’t live like a fountain that keeps on spraying when you’re just a mist. Embrace your mist-like life and use it to God’s glory.
Ill: People on death row don’t make plans about their future…they count life by the hours.
As one has said, “If it doesn’t matter in 100 years, it doesn’t matter
Ill: Some of us live like we’re CEO’s of our own souls, but James calls us to live like we’re on life support.
Ill: I always thought it was so arrogant for evolutionists to always talk about how many billions of years old the earth is when the longest any of them will live is one hundred. They look into the distant past with confidence while ignoring the Bible’s account of God’s creation, while many of us look into the distant future with confidence while ignoring the Bible’s account of God’s control of all things.
Ill: The Make-A-Wish Foundation blesses families with children who have terminal illnesses and are not expected to live much longer. They give the children whatever they wish (trip to Disney World, an all-expense paid cruise to the Caribbean, a chance to visit another country). The thought is to allow these kids and their families to enjoy the last moments instead of worrying about everything else.
App: Those who truly live life to the fullest are those who realize they do not have long on this planet. You and I should not live our lives presuming that we are going to wake up in the morning. We should live our lives constantly on our spiritual knees, aware that God has us here for a purpose and that we won’t be here long.
Ill/App: I’ve heard it said that many Christians are practical atheists. By this it is meant that they profess belief in God’s existence, but do not live as though God were truly in control. We can go to church, pray, read our Bibles, and witness without God. We must come back to realizing we can do nothing without Him as Jesus said in John 15:5.
App: So is it wrong to jot dates in your planner or to save for retirement or your children or grandchildren’s college fund? No. Paul planned his missionary journeys often, but always acknowledged that God had the final say. James is not condemning thoughtful planning like this. He is condemning the attitude that refuses to acknowledge that God has the playbook and we are fully dependent on His final say-so regarding the future.
Boasting about tomorrow fails to see life is about God (15-16)
(15) So we shouldn’t arrogantly plan the future as though we controlled it. But what should we be like? Acknowledge that God owns the plans of every human’s life and lean on Him in your every decision, realizing He can call “game over” any moment.
Ill: If you borrow my cell phone to call someone, I determine when to take it back because it’s my phone. At any moment in your conversation I can take back my phone and end your call. God owns our very lives and determines what He will do with us.
Ill: Nobody plans when and where to be born or to whom they will be born…and no one plans when and where they will die (except those who commit suicide, and even then its dependent on other circumstances out of their control)
App: If we can’t be certain of our next breath, why do we often plan out our weeks, months, and years without giving God glory?
(16) What does God think of our plans without humble dependence on Him? They are arrogant and evil boasting.
To plan without God is no small matter. It is a clinched fist shaken in God’s face and tells Him, “You can’t tell me what to do. I serve nobody but myself”
Ill: One great man of God that taught Emily and me much about how to keep our marriage strong had his life taken from him while on a bike ride one morning a few weeks ago. He had just had a date with his wife the night before and was planning on going to the beach with family for a vacation that day when all the sudden his heart stopped beating while on his bike ride that morning. God reminded me through his death that our lives are at the mercy of His will.
Ill: Many people hate flying on airplanes. Although I am not fearful of flying, there is nothing you can do if something terrible were to happen. When the plane lifts off, you’re all trusting the pilot and the plane even if their not trustworthy. This is how we should live life…completely trusting God to take us where He wants us. 
In James 1:11, James told us that our lives are like a flower and like grass that withers and fades away as it is scorched by the sun. 
Ill: Remember when Job was informed of the terrible news that his ten children all died, his livestock was no more, his livelihood was swept up, and his wife told him to curse God and die? What were the words that came from his mouth? "The Lord gives and the Lord takes away…blessed be the name of the Lord". Job acknowledged what James wants us to acknowledge: God is in control of our very breath.
Ill: Daniel described God as: "the God in whose hand is your breath, and whose are all your ways" (Dan. 5:23b)
James concludes this section by calling us to live lives totally dependent upon God...
Practical application: Live in total dependence upon God (17)
Knowledge is accountability. To not obey a command is to disobey the Commanding Officer.
Sins of omission (not doing what God commands) are just as guilty as sins of commission (doing what God warns against).
Ill: If you were to discover that your neighbors were being held hostage by a gunman, you would not be able to sleep at night without calling 9-1-1. A witness to a crime is also guilty if they refuse to testify. So we are guilty if we know God is sovereign over every aspect of our being and yet continue planning life without Him in mind.
App: So how do we plan life with God in mind? We must be a people who lean on, depend on, cling to, call on, hope in, and live by His sovereign grace alone. This means that we must stop living for our own selfish plans and agendas and start seeking God's will for our every step. How do you tell God that you need Him to guide your every step? 
By reading, meditating on, and praying His Word. Do you read the Bible everyday? When you commit to seeking God's guidance by reading His Word, you are telling Him, "I need you to tell me how to live for you today". When you don't read the Bible, your life is telling God, "I've got this today and your plans for me can be put on hold for a while." 
Also, we can tell God we need Him by prayer. How often do you pray? If you don't pray during each day, you are basically telling God, "I don't need your guidance". Praying tells God, "I can't do anything without you…help me". When you pray, how do you pray? Don’t just give God your laundry list of things, but come to Him like a hungry beggar comes to a wealthy family at Thanksgiving…needy and on your knees. Also, before you go out to work for Jesus, pray that His Spirit would empower you with boldness to work for Him.
Lastly, we can tell God we need Him by fellowship with other believers. When you lean on your brother and sister in Christ, you are telling God, "I need the help of your church body".

Conclusion: I was a substitute teacher for four years in Louisville, KY and could choose each day to either sub elementary, middle, or high school. I eventually learned that being the sub of elementary school children was much more demanding than the others because they were very needy. When you have kids clinging to your leg all day and asking, "What are doing next?" every 10 minutes, it takes everything in you to simply not freak out. Why did Jesus tell us in the gospel accounts to be like little children then? Because He wants us to stop acting like we have it all together and come to Him in desperate need. 

If you have never turned from your sins and trusted in Christ, you are acting like you are the captain of your soul and the reality is that you can't even ensure that you'll wake up in the morning. Do you not realize God is in charge? Turn from your sinful arrogant living to Jesus who took your sins on His shoulders to make a way for you. Come to King Jesus with childlike faith.

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