How To Face Tomorrow Series

A. My older daughter Shonda’s FAVORITE MOVIE growing up was Annie, based on the comic strip Little

Orphan Annie. She watched that MOVIE multiple times and is still a big FAN.

1. On her 7th birthday Shonda was given a big Annie doll, Annie watch, and even had an Annie Birthday

Cake.

ILLUSTRATION:

The story of ANNIE is quite touching and inspirational. I mean who wouldn’t be touched by the story of a LITTLE GIRL, raised in a mean, cruel ORPHANAGE, and yet despite her CIRCUMSTANCES, for the most part, she always possessed HOPE. And her HOPE was fulfilled

when she was finally ADOPTED by her Daddy Warbucks and she went off to live happily ever after.

And who can FORGET the hopeful song that she sang, “TOMORROW”! (SHOW CLIP)

The thought of TOMORROW is inspirational, don’t you think? I mean it gives us something to look FORWARD to, a sense of a NEW BEGINNING. It gives us an OPPORTUNITY to perhaps redeem ourselves from the current day’s FLOPS and FAILURES.

2. However, the fact is, there is a somewhat NEGATIVE side to TOMORROW—not about

TOMORROW itself, but at least about our humanly faulty UNDERSTANDING of TOMORROW!

COMMENT:

The truth is we all know that TOMORROW is not a GUARANTEE. None of us are GUARANTEED tomorrow. It doesn’t matter how RICH, SMART, GOOD-LOOKING, YOUNG or OLD, whatever, nobody is guaranteed a TOMORROW. All we POSSESS is the HERE and NOW.

B. TOMORROW even though it might be only A DAY AWAY, is still an ETERNITY AWAY.

ILLUSTRATION:

Some years ago, The Associated Press ran the story of Andre-Francois Raffray, a real estate ATTORNEY in France. In 1965 at the age of 47, Raffray worked out a REAL ESTATE deal with Jeanne Calment, age 90. He would pay her $500 each month until her DEATH, in order to secure OWNERSHIP of her APARTMENT in Arles, France. This is a common practice in France, benefiting both buyers and seniors on a FIXED income. (REVERSE MORTGAGE.) This DEAL allowed Jeanne to stay in her APARTMENT until she DIED, and upon her death Raffray would

ASSUME ownership.

Unfortunately for Raffray, Jeanne Calment OUTLIVED him. He passed-away in December of 1995 at the age of 77. Jeanne was still LIVING at 120 years of age. (In this PHOTO, she is a SPRY 117-year-old.) Raffray paid $184,000 for an APARTMENT he never LIVED in. According to the contract, Raffray’s SURVIVORS had to continue payment until Mrs. Calment died. In fact,

she lived in that apartment for another year and 8 months, when she finally DIED at the age of 122.

Mr. Raffray thought he was looking into the FUTURE and making a shrewd investment. But

the fact is he could not IMAGINE what TOMORROW had in STORE for him.

1. In our passage this morning, James addresses the whole issue of TOMORROW.

COMMENT:

He was writing to those Christian who were so focused on the BUSINESS of TOMORROW that they were spending a considerable amount of time just thinking about their FUTURE and all the many ways that they could make more MONEY and get more STUFF. However, in the process, they were failing to take ADVANTAGE of TODAY with which God had BLESSED them.

2. James 4:13-17 (READ) There are three concepts about TOMORROW that James addresses:

MESSAGE:

I. THE BOAST OF TOMORROW (vv. 13 and 16)

A. Apparently James is addressing the WEALTHY businessmen in the churches.

1. Basically, James is confronting and challenging those who BOAST about what they HAVE and what they can GET, thus implying that they themselves were the MASTERS of their own DESTINIES—that they can CONTROL their own FUTURES.

2. These were Christians who had an UTTER DISREGARD for God when it came to their FUTURE.

a. God is not in the PICTURE.

b. They go about their BUSINESS and make PLANS for their FUTURES without SEEKING God in PRAYER and putting Him in their PLANS.

B. By rehearsing their plans James reveals that they TREAT the FUTURE as something that they can not

only KNOW, but have CONTROL over.

1. And from a BUSINESS standpoint, they had a fairly good PLAN in place.

a. They had most everything figured out—the “WHEN, WHERE, HOW, WHAT, and WHY.”

WHEN: “today or tomorrow”

WHERE: “this or that city”

HOW: “spend a year”

WHAT: “do business”

WHY: “to make money”

b. They were all set. Well, except for one DETAIL.

c. In all their PLANNING, they left out the most important aspect . . . “THE WHO”. God was not in their PLANS.

2. Like so many today, the “WILL of God” is not even considered.

COMMENT:

These men were undoubtedly DECENT, RESPECTABLE, and even consider themselves RELIGIOUS men, but in their DAILY LIVES they live as if God had no place in their PLANS.