“Future Tense”
James 4:13-17
In the film Back to the Future, Michael Fox plays the role of a guy named Marty MacFly who suddenly is thrown back into time 30 years earlier. Because he knows what the future hold for his family he feels compelled to make sure things happen the way they are supposed to. His future Mom and Dad actually now go to high school with him so he makes sure that they go to the prom together and fall in love with each other. It was the most successful movie of the year in 1985. How many of you have seen it?
The movie has prompted other shows such as a TV series called "Early Edition." Did you ever watch it? I only saw a few programs, but its storyline was about a young man who somehow was able to read tomorrow’s newspaper today. In other words, he was able to know what was going to happen a day before it actually happened. So let me ask you a question. If you were suddenly thrown back in time and you were able to know what was going to happen before it happened, what would you do? How would you use that knowledge? If you knew where the winning lottery ticket was going to be sold, would you go there to hopefully buy it? If you knew that the stock market was going to go up, would you buy low & sell high, & make a lot of money? if you knew that someone was going to be in trouble & needed help, would you run to help them? Maybe you would be a hero. You knew someone was in danger & would die, would you be there to prevent that from happening? What would you do if you knew what was going to happen tomorrow?
Many people today are obsessed with the idea of trying to learn the future. They look into crystal balls, read tea leaves, & check their horoscope. I saw a fortune cookie this week and the note inside said, don’t believe what fortune cookies tell you. They got it right. The truth is, none of us really knows the future here upon this earth. And that is exactly what James is saying to us in this passage today.
Dwight Pentecost was a long time faculty member at Dallas Seminary. He is considered to be one of the premier scholars on the subject of Bible prophecy. He stated that when he would speak on some subject other than prophecy the attendance was always lower. But if he spoke on prophecy it would be higher. He stated that he had made a study of the NT of every reference to the 2nd coming of Christ and in every passage he was reminded that as believers our first priority is not to know WHEN Jesus sis coming back; remember that while on earth Jesus said He didn’t even know. Our first priority is to live a holy life. Knowing the future is not nearly as important as being prepared for the future.
In this passage today we find a story that deals with the future and it tells the story of a businessman who was making plans but he was going about it in the wrong way. And there are several mistakes he made.
The first mistake he made is that he failed to include God in his planning. V. 13
Now remember James is the one speaking here and he is speaking directly to the people in Jerusalem but he is also speaking directly to anyone who refuses to include God in his/her plans. In other words he’s talking to you and me. James is not telling us that this man is defying God ….in other words he’s not rebelling. Rather he is disregarding God. It is this attitude of being self-sufficient. This happens with no believers every day but it should never happen with us as believers—but the truth is we disregard God all of the time. James says to those who do this, “Come now.” Today we would say… come on now… you can do better than that! James is saying, take a 2nd look at your priorities and you need to reexamine your life. Because what this individual is saying here is this; I not only know what the future holds for me but I also have complete control over the future. They have decided on
A precise time--- today or tomorrow
A particular place—such a city
How long they will stay—will spend a year
Planned their activity---carry on business; buy and sell
Planned the outcome—they will make dollars/money
So they have selected a time, place, length of their stay, their activity and the outcome and they have done all of it without even asking God for His opinion. And that is the way many of us plan our lives. That is mistake #1.
Mistake #2. The 2nd mistake is that he presumed to know the future. V. 14. In our country many people have developed a fascination with psychics and with knowing the future. From movie stars to those who live in the white house, including Nancy Reagan people have paid large sums of money for advice as to what the future holds for them. According to one source, Psychic hot lines reported an income of over 300 million dollars last year. Many people develop an addiction to them and spend an average of 6-7000 dollars a year.
The key word here to understanding verse 14 is the word “know.” In the Greek it gives the idea of being absolutely certain about something. He is saying that you and I can’t even be absolutely certain about what will happen TOMORROW. And I see at least 3 reasons for that.
1. We fail to understand how complex life actually is. In Proverbs Solomon said “do not boast about tomorrow for you do not know what a day may bring.” In the gospel of Luke chpt. 12 Jesus tells the story of a rich man who was so wealthy that his barns were filled to overflowing. He said to himself, “I will pull down my barns and build greater ones and they will store all my crops and goods. But the Lord said, you fool this night your soul will be require of you.” In the parable the man is called a fool; not because he was planning for the future but because he thought he could control the future.
2. We fail to understand the uncertainty of life. You see in this story the merchants have not only assumed that they will be alive tomorrow. Underneath this whole attitude is the assumption that the length of our life is actually guaranteed. We wrongly assume that life and our health are actually guaranteed. James reminds us that life is like a vapor. The word “vapor” is used to describe a puff of smoke. Like your breath on a cold day (if you’ve been outside of Florida)
The Bible uses other terms to describe the shortness of life.
Breath Job 7:7
Cloud job 7:9
Grass Psalm 103:15
Shadow Psalm 102:11
Smoke Psalm 102:3
Yet we continue to believe that somehow we’ve got this all under control. David the Psalmist said “so teach us to number our days that we many gain a heart of wisdom.” Psalm 90:12
3. We fail to understand our purpose in life. If you have never read the book The Purpose Driven Life, buy it as soon as possible and read it. I am currently reading it for the 3rd time.
James says here, “what is your life?” To me it seems that James is saying your life is a gift. One person has put it this way. What you are is God’s gift to you. What you become is your gift to God. And the way we look at life makes all the difference in the world.
Dr. Alfred Adler used to tell a story about an encounter that took place in Austria back in the 1930’s.
A well-dressed businessman was traveling and when he got off the train that day he was walking through the terrain station when a beggar stopped him, the beggar was drinking heavily and he asked the businessman for enough money to buy one meal. He usually didn’t respond to requests like this but said he would help on one condition. He said tell me how an intelligent looking person as you appear to be allowed yourself to get in this position? The beggar became angry and he said, “listen, if what has happened to me had happened to you, you wouldn’t be asking that question.” You would be exactly where I am. I was one of several children…my mother died when I was young and my father was abusive. The state finally stepped in and put all of us in a orphanage. During the war the building caught fire and I had to run away and I never saw my family again. To this day, I don’t know whether they are dead or alive. He said and every time I get on my feet, life just knocks me back down. If you had all of that happen to you, you would be in these very shoes. The businessman said, “it’s interesting that you say that because my story is very similar to yours.” The beggar was shocked. As they continued to talk they discovered they were actually brothers. Separated years ago and now they had met again. Here were two people with the same genetic background, they had pretty much the same things happen to them and yet one had allowed his circumstances to crush him and the other had somehow used the events of his life to move forward. You have to ask why did they respond in such a different way?
It is how we look at life that makes all the difference in the world. We often run across people in life who have an attitude problem. Know any? We see people young and old who have been doomed to a life of misery all because of their attitude. Life is a gift. The Lord gives and He can just as easily take away.
Mistake #1. We fail to include God in our planning.
Mistake # 2. We presume to know the future.
Mistake #3. We delay what should be done today until tomorrow. We procrastinate. Here is how James words it…”to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.” Sin is not only doing something wrong, it is the failure to do something right.
There is an old fable that tells of 3 demons who came to earth to do their work. They were talking to Satan and they were telling him of their plans to ruin all of mankind. The first one said I have a plan. I will tell them there is no God. Satan said, that will work for some but not for everyone. The 2nd one said I will tell them there is no hell. Again that will work for some but not for everyone. The 3rd one said I will tell them there is plenty of time. There will always be a tomorrow. And he said, “go and you will ruin them by the thousands.”
What do you need to do today that you have been putting off?
