God’s plan is the only plan.
I remember lying on the bed, the hot, humid air pressing down on me, and wondering, “What was I doing here?” I was on my first mission trip to the Philippines. I was serving for 10 weeks working in the housing complex, Villa Carolina II on the outskirts of Manila. I was helping a local church with evangelism and various programs. At least I was supposed to be helping. I had visions of how I would be involved in evangelistic Bible studies, leading scads of Filipinos to Christ. I had some success in leading evangelistic Bible studies in university and I heard that in the Philippines people were really hungry for the gospel. In reality I found that when I went door to door with the local pastor people weren’t interested in hearing the gospel, let alone studying the Bible. Even the church ministries I was involved with seemed to going poorly. I was tasked to lead the youth group, but I found that most of the youth, though they seemed friendly on the outside, often didn’t follow through on their commitments. I’d arrange meetings and they wouldn’t show up. I’d set up appointments for Bible studies, but when I went back to their houses, they would be gone. I began wondering why God had brought me to the Philippines at all. Many people had given money sacrificially so I could go on this missions trip and I felt I was doing absolutely nothing of value.
In my life I often have found that my plans don’t work out the way I want them to. I’ve envisioned some kind of future and it rarely turns out the way I thought. Many of us are facing major decisions in our lives. Some of you have graduated from high school. Congratulations by the way. You have a major change coming, whether you’re planning to go to university or college or get a job or do something completely different. Some of you have graduated from university or college and you’ll be looking for a job or maybe grad school. Then after that you may be wrestling with who to choose for a life partner or even to get married or not. And when you get older, the important decisions don’t stop, they just keep coming. Do you have a plan for your life? If you do, how did you come up with that plan? That is an extremely important question to answer correctly because if we make our plans in the wrong way, then we will be on the path to disaster. That’s exactly what the passage we’re looking at today says. Look at James 4:13-17 (read verses).
Verse 13 describes how most of us make decisions in life (read verse). The passage begins with an attention getter. Have you ever been in a sermon or speech and the speaker says something like, “I want you to pay special attention to this,” or “If you just remember one thing from this message, remember this.”? That’s what James is doing here. This is an important topic that he doesn’t want his readers to miss. He addresses how we make important decisions in life. Take a look at this decision. The decision is that sometime in the near future, either today or tomorrow the people described here will go to a different city. Okay, that sounds pretty simple going to a different city right, but how long will they be there? A year. This isn’t just a short business trip, this is a move. This decision has huge implications. These people have to leave their jobs, their homes, their friends, their church and move to a totally new place. This is a major decision, a life changing one. James isn’t talking about making decisions like what clothes to wear in the morning or what model of refrigerator to buy. He’s talking about choices that change our lives.
What motivates these people in their plans? Why do they make their choice? According to this verse the motivation is to make money. That’s the one factor that powers this decision. There is absolutely no indication that these people have asked God what He wants them to do. They haven’t considered in any spiritual factors at all. They just let money decide for them.
Now before we go ahead and condemn these people for being so shallow in letting money guide their life choices, I think we should look at ourselves. How do we make our life plans? If you’re thinking about going to university or college, how do you make your choice? Most people go about it this way. They pick a career that they think is pretty sure to have job openings when they graduate. Then they try to pick the school that is recognized as the best in that field. They choose it because they know that employers will offer the job to a graduate from that school over one from another school. Do you agree with me that is the process a lot of young people go through to pick a school? What’s the motivation for making this choice? It’s making money. And unfortunately, since many young people pick a school without any spiritual consideration, they end up being in a very spiritually dangerous place. I think one of the most ungodly places in North America is in university dorms. I lived for two years in dorms, both my first and last year, as a floor senior, and those places are filled with drinking, partying, drugs, sex, you name it. It’s very, very difficult for a Christian young person to stay pure in those kinds of environments. Sometimes I think we parents, are very, very foolish in how we encourage our kids once they get out of high school. When they are young we send them to Christian schools or if they are in public schools, we fight against legislation like Bill 13. When they become teens we make sure they go to youth group. We encourage them to go to their high school Christian group. We do our best to help nurture them in the faith and keep ungodly influences away from them. And then suddenly when they graduate from high school, we encourage them to go to a university out of town and live in dorm. We let them leave every Christian friend and godly influence we spent so much time nurturing over the years and then we throw into one of the most ungodly living situations you could imagine, all with our blessing. And the motivation is so they can get a good job. It’s money that makes the decision.
But it’s not just young people. What about us? People move all over the country to find a job. It’s funny, but I’ve heard Christian people say to parents of missionaries, something like, “O, it’s a shame that your children moved to the other side of the world. You never get to see them or the grandkids.” Meanwhile many of them have children who have moved to different cities to find work. And they might only see their kids and grandkids once or twice a year. But it’s all right because they have good jobs. You see the double standard there. It’s all right to move around the world for a job, for money, but it’s not all right to cross the globe for missions, for God. Something is wrong with us and the way we make our life plans.
To make the right life plans, the place to start is having a right perspective of who we are. Look at verse 14 (read verse). This verse lists the hard truths about life planning. There are three truths that stand out to me as I read this verse. Once we understand and accept these truths, they will revolutionize the way we make life plans. The first truth is this: We are not in control of the future. Like this verse says, we don’t even know what’s going to happen tomorrow. We can make all of the plans we want, but they may never come about. So much of life is out of our control. We can’t hold our plans too tightly. Circumstances beyond our control can demolish them in an instant.
There once was a fellow who, with his dad, farmed a little piece of land. Several times a year they would load up the old ox-drawn cart with vegetables and go into the nearest city to sell their produce. One morning, bright and early, they hitched up the ox to the loaded cart and started on the long journey. The son figured that if they walked faster, kept going all day and night, they’d make the market by early the next morning. So he kept prodding the ox with a stick, urging the beast to get a move on.
"Take it easy, son" said the old man. "You’ll last longer."
"But if we get to the market ahead of the others, we’ll have a better chance of getting good prices," argued the son.
Twilight found them in what looked like a huge, colorful garden. The old man breathed in the aroma, listened to the bubbling brook, and pulled the ox to a halt. "Let’s sleep here," he sighed.
"This is the last trip I’m taking with you," snapped his son. "You’re more interested in watching sunsets and smelling flowers then in making money!"
It was almost eight o’clock that morning by the time they got back on the road. Suddenly, a great flash split the sky. What sounded like thunder followed. Beyond the hills, the sky grew dark.
"Looks like big rain in the city," said the old man.
"If we had hurried, we’d be almost sold out by now," grumbled his son.
"Take it easy ... you’ll last longer. And you’ll enjoy life so much more," counseled the kind old gentlemen.
It was late in the afternoon by the time they got to the hill overlooking the city. They stopped and stared down at it for a long time. Neither of them said a word. Finally, the young man put his hand on his father’s shoulder and said, "I see what you mean Dad."
They turned their cart around and began to roll slowly away from what had once been the city of Hiroshima.
We can make all the plans we want, but the truth is you are not in control and neither am I.
The second truth we need to grab a hold of is this: We are only here a moment. This verse compares our lives to a vapour, that appears for a moment and then disappears. It’s like on a cold winter day when you go outside and you let out a breath. The vapour comes out and then disappears. That’s what our lives are like. We are here for only a moment. Because our days are so few, we have to be very careful how we live those precious few days. Will you spend all of your time making money? It’s been said many times before, but I think it bears repeating, nobody comes to the end of their lives and says, “I wish I spent more time in the office.” What do they say? They say, “I wish I had spent more time with my family.” Or they say, “I wish I had done more for God.” We need to make our life plans in light of the fact that we only have a precious few moments to invest.
The third truth we need to understand is this: We are really pretty insignificant. Think of vapour, how much of an impact does it have? What does it change? It doesn’t hardly do anything. It appears and then is gone. When we look at our lives and think of our plans, we have to understand that in the big picture, in the history of this universe, we are all pretty insignificant. We have only lived 15, 25, 45, or 65 years on this earth. That’s just a blip on the radar screen for the God of eternity. Don’t you think that the eternal, all powerful, all knowing, all wise God, could fulfill His perfect plan without us?
I remember in the movie, “Grand Canyon”, the two main characters are discussing the meaning of life. One of the characters played by Danny Glover urges the second played by Kevin Kline to go visit the Grand Canyon. When Kline asks why, Glover says that seeing the Grand Canyon makes you feel like you’re a fly on the backside of a cow, standing in a field that people pass by in their cars at 100 km/h.
I’m going to show you a short two and a half minute video from a message called “Indescribable”. In this segment the speaker, Louie Castelo talks about the Voyager space prove that was sent out to scan the planets of our solar system. As Voyager left our system it was given the command to turn around and photograph our solar system as it travelled farther and farther away. (Show video). Louie said, “I’m not trying to make you feel small. I’m trying to make you understand that you are small.” Really all of our plans don’t mean much when we take a look at the big picture.
The truth is that we can make all the plans we want to make, but really the only plan that matters is what God has determined to happen from the creation of the world. Nothing that we do will derail God’s plan and nothing we do will accelerate it. God’s plan is the only plan. That’s exactly what it says in verse 15 (read verse).
The only question that matters is: What is God’s will? We can’t control the future, but there is One who is in control. The Lord God Almighty holds the future in His hands. We can make all the plans we want, but if those plans don’t align with God’s plans, then we will be in store for a lifetime of frustration and disappointment. I’ve just finished reading through the Book of Revelation. Now there are a lot of details in the book that I don’t understand, but I am sure of one fact. God will one day bring history to an end. What if I made this great 7 year plan for this church to grow and start a number of church plants all over the country and the world? I could even give it a great name, like “20 churches by 2020”. But what if it was God’s plan to bring the world to an end in the next 2 years? Whose plan do you think would prevail? You see, God doesn’t want us to dream up big plans to accomplish for Him. He already has plans, plans He has established from the foundation of the world. Instead of trying to think of our own plans, we need to listen to discern what God’s plan is and then and join Him. That’s exactly what Jesus Christ did.
Take a look at John 5:16-20 (read verses). Jesus was healing people on the Sabbath and the Jews became very angry because they thought He was breaking the commandment. Jesus answers that His Father is always working, even on the Sabbath. He is just imitating His Father. In fact, Jesus goes on and says that’s how He lives His whole life. He watches the Father and sees what He is doing and then Jesus joins Him. You see the pattern? This is how Jesus made His life plans. He knew that the Father was always working. God has His plans from all of eternity. He is putting those plans into effect. God is at work in every situation all around us. What Jesus does is He waits and watches until the Father reveals what He is doing, and then Jesus joins God in the Father’s plan. Jesus does nothing on His own. He doesn’t go ahead and make a plan for His life and then work to fulfill it. Instead, He sees the Father at work and then joins with Him.
The only question that matters is: What is God’s will? This is true because God’s plan is the only plan. We need to follow Jesus’ pattern in making our life plans. We need to look and see how God is working in our situation and then join Him.
How does this work out in practice? First and foremost, we have to draw close to God. It is only through our personal love relationship with God that He reveals His plans to us. And really the most significant thing we can do in terms of life plans is learn to love God with all of our hearts, minds and strength. Next we need to keep our eyes open, to prayerfully watch and see how God is working around us. In the book, “Experiencing God”, Henry Blackaby gives an illustration of this process in action. This is what Blackaby says:
Our denominational student ministries department recommended we begin with a Bible study in the dorms. For over a year we tried to start a Bible study in the dorms and it did not work.
One Sunday I pulled our students together and said, "This week I want you to go to the campus and watch to see where God is working and join Him."
I went on and to explain. "No one will ask after spiritual matters unless God is at work in his life. When you see someone seeking God or asking about spiritual matters, you are seeing God at work."
I told our students, "If someone starts asking you spiritual questions, whatever else you have planned, don’t do it. Cancel what you are doing. Go with that individual and look to see what God is doing there."
On Wednesday one of the girls reported, "Oh, Pastor, a girl who has been in classes with me for two years came to me after class today. She said, ’I think you might be a Christian. I need to talk to you.’ I remembered what you said. I had a class, but I missed it. We went to the cafeteria to talk. She said, ’Eleven of us girls have been studying the Bible, and none of us are Christians. Do you know somebody who can lead us in a Bible study?’"
As a result of that contact, we started three Bible study groups in the women’s dorms and two in the men’s dorms. For two years we tried to do something for God and failed. For three days we looked to see where God was working and joined Him. What a difference that made!
When we try to follow our own plans, even when those plans are for God, we will always fail. Why? Because God already has His plans in motion. He doesn’t want us to make up our own. But when we join God’s plan we can be assured that it will come to pass because God is in control of all circumstances. We will know that we’ve invested our short time on earth wisely. And we can have lives of significance because God empowers those who join Him and live for His plan.
When we make our own plans without consulting the Lord we show our underlying pride. And the Bible says that this pride is evil. Look at verse 16 (read verse). We all have the desire in our hearts to be independent and set our own course in life. In the movie about Nelson Mandela’s life, we learn that the title of the movie is from a poem that motivated Mandela through the darkest times when he was imprisoned. The title of the poem is "Invictus". The last two lines of that poem say: "I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul." That’s the natural desire of our hearts. We want to control our own fate and destiny. We don’t want anyone else to tell us what to do. In some ways this kind of attitude seems laudable. Isn’t it good to be independent, to be able to forge our own path in the world? Isn’t it good to have a set of goals and then to push ahead and achieve those goals?
But this verse says that this kind of attitude, this kind of pride is evil. Why is this self-sufficient attitude called evil? Because this kind of attitude keeps more people out of heaven than just about any other obstacle. When we are self-sufficient we don’t depend on God. We don’t trust Him but instead put our trust in ourselves.
When people have self-sufficient pride they feel like they don’t need God. A few weeks ago I was talking with a fellow who was visiting the UCF group. I asked him about his spiritual journey. He basically said he was happy with where he was in life and he really didn’t see any need in his life for God. He said he really didn’t depend on anyone but himself. The gospel was lost to him because he felt like he didn’t need to any help. He didn’t think he needed to be saved.
Think about what were you like before you were a Christian. Didn’t God have to bring you to a point where you came to the end of yourselves and finally you had to cry out to God because there was no where else to turn? Often that’s what God has to do to us to break our self-sufficient pride. I think we have no problem understanding that pride blocks us from the grace of God. We cannot receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour unless we confess our absolute need for salvation. We have sinned and deserve punishment. We can’t save ourselves and we need a Saviour. Jesus Christ is the only One who can save because He is the only One who is holy enough and who loved us enough to die on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin. That’s the penalty that we could never pay ourselves. If you are a Christian, you understand that and believe it.
But after we become Christians, after we receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour, there is the temptation for that self-sufficient attitude to creep back in. We think that we can continue to map out the course of our lives, to continue to make our own plans, except now, as Christian we have God’s help as well. But that’s not how the Bible tells us how to live the Christian life. Col. 2:6-7says: "So then, just as received Jesus Christ as Lord, continue to live in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness." This verse says that just as we received Jesus Christ as Lord, that’s how we must live our Christian lives. How did we receive Jesus Christ? We received Him through faith and trust and absolute dependence. You see the picture of a Christian life isn’t getting the gift of salvation and then living an enhanced life from then on, like Jesus Christ is an upgrade, an important upgrade, but still only an upgrade. The biblical picture of the Christian life is to come into an intimate love relationship with Christ and then to remain in Him getting our direction, strength and comfort from Him. We stay dependent on Him.
Unfortunately we have the tendency to stray away from our dependent love on God and step out to live our lives using our own strength and wisdom. In Galatians 3:3 Paul gets so upset when he sees the believers living in self-sufficient pride that he says: "Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you trying to attain your goal by human effort?"
How are you living your life? Do you have a plan for your life? How did you figure out that plan? Are you part of what God is doing? Is your life aligned with God’s plan? That’s a crucial question because God’s plan is the only plan.
This passage ends with a warning in verse 17 (read verse). I have often used this verse when I witness to non-believers to show people that sin includes not only acts that we do, but it also includes things that we neglect to do. If we are walking along a river and see a person drowning and there is a life ring close by and instead of throwing in that ring, we walk away, that is sin. Even the law recognizes that such inaction is wrong.
I think that it is true, there are sins of commission, bad things we do, and sins of omission, good things we neglect to do. But in this context, this verse is a warning to us about living our plans. If we set our life plans using worldly wisdom, for our own benefit, then we sin. We know that God has bigger plans for us than to get a good job, live in a nice house, and enjoy a happy life. At least I hope we know that. What are God’s plans for you? I don’t know. That’s something you will find out in your relationship with Jesus Christ. He will show you His plan and how He wants you to join Him. But we can easily discern the general thrust of God’s plan when we look at the commands He gives us in the Bible. What are the two greatest commandments? We are to love God with all of our hearts, minds and strength. We are to love our neighbours as ourselves. There are the two greatest commandments and there is also the great commission. What does that say? It’s found in Matt. 28:18-20 (read verses). I don’t know what the exact plan should be for your life, but I know that whatever the plan is, it will focus on you coming to an absolute love relationship with Jesus Christ. It will also be focused on loving other people and being involved in their lives. And it will also incorporate some aspect of making disciples. That’s the good that we know we ought to be doing. If we don’t do it, we sin. If your life plans do not revolve around these great plans of God, loving Him, loving others, and making disciples, then I think you had better remake your plans. If not, then, according to the Bible, you sin.
God’s plan is the only plan. I wanted to spend the last part of this service giving each of us time to examine the plans that we have made for our lives. This is your opportunity to surrender again your plans and ask God to show you His plans.
Let’s pray.
