We Are Not In Control Series

We are not in Control!

Squid Game Part 4

James 4:13-17

Steve Meenho Kang

www.evergreencommunity.org

We are in part four of the sermon series, “Squid Game.”

During the last three weeks, we examined some lessons that we can learn from the drama, “Squid Game.”

Today, as we finish this series, we will think about the fact that we are not in control of our lives.

The Netflix drama “Squid Game” became the number one show on Netflix in all 83 countries where Netflix streams.

But why is this drama so popular all over the world?

One of the reasons is that it reflects the sentiments of the present age.

People in the world are going through many difficulties.

Especially, because of the COVID-19 crisis, people all over the world are experiencing difficulties.

Many are feeling like they have lost control of their lives.

And this drama reflects how people are feeling nowadays.

In “Squid Game,” all of the participants have experienced unexpected misfortunes in their lives.

Then, they unexpectedly meet a person who invites them to the game, and their lives totally change.

Anyone who participate in the game could win the grand prize of 40 million dollars if they win six games.

So, they enter the game to win the prize money.

However, there was something that the participants did not know.

Those who are eliminated from the game do not get to go home.

But they literally lose their lives

Therefore, the game was changed from a fun game to a life-and-death battle.

They experience the bloody principle of losing and dying in the game.

They faced unexpected outcomes.

We too face unexpected outcomes in life.

Life is full of surprises.

We experience unexpected events all the time.

We do not know what will happen tomorrow.

We expect one thing but something totally different happens.

The fact that life is full of surprises shows that we are not in control of our lives.

Yet we plan everything as if we are in control.

Therefore, if James, the brother of Jesus, saw this drama, this is what he would say.

I. We must remember that our lives are uncertain (vv. 13-14a).

Verses 13-14a say this.

13 Now 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.” 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow.

“Now listen” is calling for attention.

He is about to talk about something very seriousness.

James talked about business people.

The present tense “say” indicates that the situation under consideration was common practice.

Business travel in the first century was very common just like nowadays.

These people had a good plan.

They would “go to this city,” “spend a year there,” “carry on business,” and “make money.”

The starting time is arranged—“today or tomorrow.”

The city has been selected.

But God was not in their plans.

They made no allowance for unexpected circumstances.

They were confident that they would be able to carry out their plans through to completion.

Therefore, James pointed out their fallacy.

They do not even know what will happen tomorrow.

If they do not know what will happen tomorrow, then they certainly do not know what will happen in a year.

They planned as if they knew exactly what the future holds.

They forgot the fact that life is uncertain.

They forgot the fact that they are not in control of their future.

Of course, James was not criticizing making plans for the future.

It is good to make some sort of a plan for our future.

However, what James was criticizing is the kind of horizontal thinking that we are in control of our future.

He is saying that tomorrow’s circumstances are beyond our control.

An unexpected injury, the sudden death of a loved one, the loss of a job—these and many other surprises can change our lives.

In “Squid Game,” people thought that they could control the outcome of games.

Therefore, they tried to outsmart others.

They tried to guess what the next game would be.

They tried to come up with all kinds of strategies to win the game.

They tried to pick “the right people” who will help them to win.

However, in the end, nothing they did really mattered.

Most of them guessed the next game wrong.

Every game had an unexpected twist.

In short, they were not in control of the game.

That is why the participants of the game died unexpected deaths.

Their lives were taken away from them unexpectedly.

What is true in “Squid Game” is also true in life.

We are not in control of our lives.

The world has been in this pandemic for two years now.

Who could have guessed that we would face something like this?