DON’T STOP THINKING ABOUT TOMORROW
James 4:13-17
INTRODUCTION
When I started preparing my preaching calendar for May, I realized that on May 20, I had a problem…This was the day we wanted to honor our high school seniors, recognizing them for their accomplishments and encouraging them for the future…At the same time, it was the day we had set aside to have our congregational meeting to deal with issues relating to our move towards autonomy, and I wanted to use this time during our service to acknowledge this significant milestone in our church’s history.
At first, I was a little bummed…I thought about preaching two sermons—or one sermon, twice as long—but then I came to my senses…But as I pondered this dilemma and prayed about it, it suddenly struck me how similar the situations are for our church and our graduating seniors.
Both are entering a new phase of their lives…Both are becoming more independent of their “parents”—in our case, our sponsoring church, Olathe Bible Church…This phase of our lives represents a time of growth and a recognition of maturity…And both our seniors and our church are facing the future with a strong sense of enthusiasm and excitement.
Some of you are no doubt familiar with a Fleetwood Mac tune called, Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow… The song says:
Don’t stop, thinking about tomorrow,
Don’t stop, it’ll soon be here,
It’ll be, better than before,
Yesterdays gone, yesterdays gone.
As with most things in modern culture, there is some truth in that song, and some things that aren’t quite so true.
It is true that tomorrow will soon be here…It has been said that the difference between youth and the aged is:
• the youth says, I can’t wait for tomorrow.
• the aged says, Is it tomorrow already?
It is also true that yesterday’s gone…While we may have memories of yesterday, it is a day that will never be repeated.
But then we come to the words, It’ll be better than before…
If you’ve lived for more than—oh say, two minutes—then you know that’s a promise that Fleetwood Mac might not be able to keep…Tomorrow may hold more adversity, more heartache and more sorrow than today…But of course, you wouldn’t sell many records trying to write a song around those thoughts.
And besides, we want to believe that tomorrow will be better, don’t we?...We want to believe that tomorrow will bring us more hope and joy and peace than today… And there’s nothing at all wrong with that…But such optimism needs to be tempered with a Godly perspective on the issue, and this is what we find in the wise counsel of James.
Join with me in reading from JAMES 4:13-17
Let me make clear that James is not suggesting that it is wrong to make plans or to prepare for the future…Our Seniors were not wrong to stand up here today to share with us their plans for future schooling and careers.
It is not inappropriate for us as a church to make plans to add staff or buy land or build a building.
But James’ advice echoes that of the Proverb which states: Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails. (Proverbs 19:21)
Again, we don’t find a condemnation of making plans, but it is important that we seek to align our plan with God’s purpose.
Basically, James tells us here that when it comes to making plans, we have three choices.
I. DISREGARD THE WILL OF GOD
This certainly is the approach that most people in the world adopt, but I’m sad to say that it is pretty common even among people of faith…After all, James is addressing his comments to believers, and it is these believers that are making plans for the future with little concern for what God wants.
v. 13
I think part of the problem is that we divide our lives into compartments, and we decide there are certain compartments that either don’t interest God, or that we don’t need His help with…We’ll pray over that which we deem to be spiritual, but there are huge chunks of our lives where we simply give no thought or concern as to what God may want.
I hope that our seniors have been earnestly praying over the next step in their lives—whether to further their education, and if so where…What field to go into, not just because it might be lucrative financially, but because it is really where God can use you for His purpose.
I hope you pray over who to hang out with as your lives transition and new friends come along…Pray over such things as where to live, and who to date and ultimately who to marry.
As a church, I trust that we’re praying over things like staffing and land…I hope we’ll pray that God will bring our way those people who need to hear the Gospel, as well as those who can bring giftedness and resources that will help us to minister more effectively.
It’s sad to say, but I think many times, even in church work, we rely too heavily upon our own resources…We undertake only those ministries that we can feel we can accomplish on our own, when we ought to be seeking out those opportunities that we can only accomplish with His help.
But as James points out, when thinking about tomorrow, it is a foolish thing to DISREGARD THE WILL OF GOD.
A second approach we often take to the future is to DISOBEY THE WILL OF GOD.
II. DISOBEY THE WILL OF GOD
This is what happens when we know God’s will—we clearly see where He is leading and sense His guiding, but we defiantly refuse to submit to His will…We insist on doing things our way.
You know, there are a lot of things about God’s will for your lives that I can’t tell you for certain…I wish I could tell you what verse to look up so you’d know what college you were supposed to go to, or who your roommate should be, or what job you should take, but it’s not that simple…Those are the types of issues that you need to seek out God’s will about—pray and meditate upon the Word…And once you get a sense of His direction, you need to move in that direction…And if you DISOBEY THE WILL OF GOD, just know that you are in rebellion against the God of Heaven and Earth.
That’s what James says in v. 17 Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins.
Similarly, as a church, I wish we knew exactly what the future holds for us, but there are a lot of uncertainties…But as God reveals His will to us, we are seeking to obey it…When we started meeting together last Fall, I doubt that many of us really thought we’d be autonomous within a year…Probably three, if things went well, maybe two, but not in just 12 months…But our Core Value Team feels strongly that this is the direction we should go, and so today we will ask you to affirm the Constitution, Covenant and Confession of Faith as the first step in the process.
As God opens door for land, and buildings and opportunities for ministry, they may be steps that require a great deal of faith…But like Abraham being instructed to leave the land of his fathers or offer his only son Isaac as a sacrifice, we would do well to follow the leadership of God’s Spirit in these matters.
Of course, we know that there are certain things that are always God’s will…It is always God’s will for sinners to confess sin and accept Christ as their Savior… It is always God’s will for those who are saved to be baptized…It is always God’s will for saved, baptized people to actively serve Him through His Church…As a church, it is God’s will that we worship Him, and teach the Truth and show His love…SO HERE IS WHERE IT ALL BEGINS…Don’t expect God to reveal more and more of His will to you in the gray areas of your life if you aren’t obeying Him in the black and white areas.
The third option available to us as we think about tomorrow is to DO THE WILL OF GOD.
III. DO THE WILL OF GOD
If we don’t ignorantly disregard the will of God and don’t stubbornly disobey the will of God, then we will submissively DO the will of God…We will obey…
v. 15
And we have to be willing to acknowledge that Tomorrow may not turn out exactly as we had hoped or planned…Let’s be honest, Tomorrow may not be better than today, if you are looking at things strictly from a worldly perspective… But when you look at things with an eternal eye, if you look at things from a heavenly perspective, then Tomorrow will be better than today, regardless of how they turn out for us individually.
Think about Stephen, about whom we studied a few weeks ago…Many would look at his situation, being stoned to death for preaching the Gospel, and conclude that things didn’t work out so well for him…But we know that he was greeted by Jesus and that his situation ultimately led to the Gospel being preached all over the world.
Moms and Dads, Proverbs 19:21 could say, Many are the plans in a dad’s heart… or Many are the plans in a mom’s heart… But do you seriously want the Lord’s will to prevail?
• Even if it means your child pursuing a different course than you’ve imagined?
• Even if it means your child moving to a far away place (Except for Kacie)
I know you have high hopes for your children…You may have some strong ideas about what they should study or what job they should take or where they should live…And don’t hesitate to share your wisdom and your experience with your kids…But in the end, you’ve got to be willing to let them follow the direction God is leading them, even though it may not be at all what you thought it would be.
And as a church, I hope we are prepared to yield ourselves to God’s leadership, even if it means we radically depart from preconceived notions of what we should do…If we sense that we’re on the wrong track, I trust that our leadership will put on the brakes until we know that we’re back on track…I hope that we’ll acknowledge closed doors, and not try to force them open…I hope that we’ll recognize open doors, and proceed with haste through them.
I hope the desire of every child of God here today is to DO THE WILL OF GOD.
CONCLUSION
I want to close with three final thoughts that aren’t on your outline, but which I think provide a great summary for what we’ve been talking about here today.
Don’t stop planning for tomorrow.
• Dream your dreams…Cast your hopes high.
Don’t stop preparing for tomorrow.
• Planning ≠ Preparation
• The people to whom James wrote were preparing for tomorrow.
o Bus tickets bought
o Hotel reservations made
o Merchandise shipped
If you’re going to plan for tomorrow, then you need to prepare for tomorrow.
Don’t stop praying about tomorrow.
