Passage: James 4:13-17
Intro: There are two distinctly different ways to view the world.
1. and they produce very different results in a persons life, and in the life of a nation.
2. one view is very common, the other somewhat rare.
3. one view is very safe, the other very dangerous.
4. James is a big picture guy, and using one example, he gives us here a very large picture that we can immediately apply.
5. it is very easy to fall into the most common viewpoint; it is sold to us all the time.
6. in fact, some people demand that we have that viewpoint.
7. it should be no surprise to us that these differing viewpoints concerning God and His place in our world.
8. but we may be surprised at the incredible power these viewpoints have to impact our lives and our eternity.
9. in life planning, it is the most important and the most ignored factor.
I. Taking God Out of The Equation
1. it’s easy to look at James 4:13-17 and conclude James is criticizing merchants.
2. but as we’ve learned, James loves to use examples.
3. this time, he starts with the example and draws principles.
4. break down this statement, see the problem.
5. starts rather forcefully, “Listen up!”
6. wrong to plan? No!
7. but these guys are planning for the future in a godless vacuum.
8. set a specific date, (today or tomorrow)
9. use of future tense, emphasizes certainty. “we will go, spend a year, carry on business, make money.”
10. nothing in their statement that recognizes what James points out in v14.
11. don’t know, understand, what will happen tomorrow.
Il) Chandler family of four dies in terrible crash on loop 101 on their way to church, September 2006
12. we are contingent beings, dependent on a agent outside our world for our very existence.
13. our existence has no substance outside of the will of this incredible Being who calls Himself “I am” and who the Bible calls God.
PP) we are like the steam that comes out of a boiling teapot
13. but there are people who refuse to recognize that reality, the incredible frailty of our lives.
14. they prefer, even insist, on living in a world in which God is not welcome.
PP) Jan and I watched “Judgment Day..”
15. here is the bottom line for evolution, which is portrayed in this documentary.
PP George Wald Harvard quote concerning Creation: “I will not accept that philosophically, because I do not want to believe in God. Therefore, I chose to believe in that which I know to be scientifically impossible, spontaneous generation arising to evolution.”
Richard Lewontin quote. Both quotations deal with their absolute commitment to materialism and rejection of the possibility of God.
16. it is a very serious mistake, this arrogant refusal to recognize that our life and plans and present and future is completely dependent on the will of God.
17. and one day those vaporous life will end, and plans will be revealed for what they were; the arrogant statements of someone who both does not know, and cannot control what he does not know.
18. and all that self-confidence and pride will be revealed to be the vain imaginings of the fool who has said in his heart, “there is no God.”
19. the very foundation of sin in our lives is removing God from the equation.
20. there are no laws, if He exists at all He does not care and will not judge.
21. and v16 says this kind of boasting is evil. It cannot produce anything good.
II. Leaving God in the Equation
1. on the other hand, there are those into whose life God is welcomed.
2. it is the person who, according to v15, recognizes that his life is under God’s sovereign control.
3. does not mean he sits and waits for writing on the wall.
4. but every decision he makes, every plan he attempts, is made with the calm acceptance of the God factor.
5. God is the king of her life, not her.
6. she feeds her children well, takes them to the doctor
7. knowing that their lives, like hers, are ultimately in God’s hands and not hers.
8. they have been entrusted with those children, but they belong to God.
9. they can plan for their retirement, save for it, but they know they may not live to enjoy it.
10. they can hope their children are missionaries, but they may not be called.
11. but they also recognize something about those who are resistant to God.
12. they factor God into that understanding as well, recognizing that these people have been taken by the lie, and so they do not hate them.
Il) Judgment Day, the saddest thing was that the people on the “other side” received death threats, tons of hate mail.
13. the person who factors God in accepts that God is the Judge, that people are not the enemy.
14. we recognize that God is still reaching out to them, still telling them the truth, still revealing Himself in His creation and His Son and His word and His children.
15. so then, as frustrating as it is to see people not only believe the lie but stonewall God’s truth, we respond with love and grace and not with animosity and threats. Why?
16. because we factor God into every area of our lives, and He has willed that our lives and words are part of His revelation.
III. Our National Path
1. we are a nation that has “In God We Trust” as our national motto.
PP Coin with “In God We Trust” visible
2. it is one thing to have a slogan, another to act on that slogan in our national life.
3. every time we make a ruling legalizing abortion or restrict the teaching of God’s truth in our country, we are on our way to becoming a country of fools.
4. and it is not only the government that is doing this.
5. when the church promotes a materialistic world view through and the behavior of its preachers, our country is in deep trouble.
6. when the U.S. Congress has to launch an investigation into the abuse of gracious tax exemptions for religious non-profits, by those who buy and write-off $32,000 toilets along with the ever-popular Lear Jets, God’s church has become man’s organization, because God’s plan has been set aside.
7. when those who have been called to lead people to God lead them by example into a “religion” that focuses on material prosperity, the wise have joined ranks with the fools, and our nation will fall, perhaps suddenly and without warning.
8. it will most certainly not be part of our plan.
Conc. So we all have a choice, every day, in every decision we make.
1. in career choice, in choosing a mate, a the car we buy, in our use of leisure time.
2. we can make plans without consulting God’s word, without prayer, without wise Christian counsel.
3. we can live as though God does not exist, as if He has no interest in our plans.
4. or we can involve Him, seek Him, yield to Him, put His will at the very top of our priority list.
5. the fools says there is no God, and his decisions reflect that faith.
6. the wise man builds his life, his plans, his decisions, on the wisdom of the One who knows all, controls all.
