Christianity For Dummies: Boasting About Tomorrow - The Good, The Bad, The Ugly (James 4:13-17)
I. Introduction
A. After a 6 week long hiatus, we return to our study Christianity For Dummies based on the Book of James. As we've discussed, like the books in the For Dummies series, James is a book full of practical wisdom and simple "How To"s that wonderfully instructs us on how to live out our faith. Last time we looked at How To Start and Stop Church Wars, and so this AM we come to the subject of boasting about tomorrow - The Good, The Bad, The Ugly.
B. How many of you are guilty of boasting about tomorrow? How many of you have plans for today? Tomorrow? This week, next week? Next month? 2014? Surely at times we all are guilty of boasting about tomorrow. Perhaps there is no more a time of the year that brings this out than the holidays. We make plans of ALL kinds - go here, go there, do this, do that, buy this, buy that, cook this, cook that, eat this, eat that, so on and so on.
C. And yet not ONE of us has a CLUE what the next second is going to bring - a phone call that someone has been in an accident, a cough that quickly turns into high fever, body aches and the flu, a text message from your daughter that her stomach is killing her. Suddenly, like a puff of smoke, all those carefully thought out and well laid plans go down in flames!
D. Which begs the question, is it wrong for Christians to make plans? NO! Scripture does not condemn planning for the future. What Scripture, particularly James in Chpt 4, does condemn is practical atheism - living our lives and making our plans as if God doesn't exist. Such conduct is inconsistent with genuine, saving faith. And so James outlines for us both a good attitude and a bad attitude when it comes to the subject of tomorrow and future plans. 2000 years later, James' words are as equally timeless truths as the very day he penned them! Not only that but they are also wonderfully simple, as easy as ABC - for each attitude, James first Addresses the attitude, then gives its Basis, and finally Condemns or Commends it. He also throws in at the end a brief discussion on an ugly attitude when it comes to boasting about tomorrow. So let's explore what James says about boasting about tomorrow - The Good, The Bad, The Ugly.
II. Scripture Reading & Prayer
A. Read James 4:13-17.
B. Pray - Father, we acknowledge that you alone know the future, you alone know what tomorrow brings. Yet all too often, we are guilty of boasting about tomorrow. Convict us now through the preaching of your Word that instead we should speak with humility and submit to your will.
III. Tomorrow: The Bad Attitude (13-14, 16)
A. The Bad Attitude - James' Address (Read and explain James 4:13.)
- James begins with an address to those with a bad attitude toward planning for the future...Come now, you who say,
- Dr. Moo says James' language here carries a very brusque tone. We might say "Sit down and pay attention to what I'm about to tell you!"
- These businessmen whom James addresses are characterized as deliberate and self-confident planners. Discuss say is present participle - continuous, repeated action. Look at the great detail of their planning:
Plan Is Constructed: go, spend, trade, make; Place Is Chosen: such and such a town; Period Is Calculated: a year; Purpose Is Considered: trade; Profit Is Computed: make a profit.
- Such meticulous planning is not only easily recognized by us as modern readers but also praised, promoted and rewarded! The American Way!
B. The Bad Attitude - Its Basis (Read and explain James 4:13a)
- Again James tone tells us that he is VERY concerned about these plans. James is not anti-Capitalism! It is not the desire to make a profit that James criticizes. Nor is it the planning itself - again Scripture does NOT condemn careful planning...Proverbs 16:3 says "Commit your actions to the Lord, and your plans will succeed." What concerns James is the basis of their attitude about tomorrow - a foolish presumption that summarizes their plans! Today or tomorrow WE will. These folks are guilty of practical atheism - living their lives and making their plans as if God doesn't exist. We see no regard for God in their plans. We see no committing of their actions to the Lord. Thus, James is going to condemen such foolish presumption with a rebuke and a reprimand.
C. The Bad Attitude - James' Condemnation
1) James begins his condemnation of this attitude toward tomorrow with a Stirring Rebuke! (Read and explain James 4:14)
- James presents four arguments in rebuking the foolish presumption of those with a bad attitude toward tomorrow and future plans:
#1 The Complexity of Life (v. 13): Proverbs 19:21a says "Many are the plans in the mind of a man," Think of all that is involved in life. Take one day - alarm clocks, breakfast, showers, picking out clothes, getting kids off to school, minute to minute decisions at work (discuss - phone calls, late patients, denied tests, labs to call, ME calls), supper plans, homework, sick parents, problem after problem. Now multiply that by years - college, career, marriage, kids, where to live, unexpected expenditures, job changes, aging parents, wills, funerals. Life is COMPLEX...simply consider the details that went into the plans of the people James has outlined in verse 13. Look at the second half of Proverbs 19:21 - "but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand." Life is too complex not to factor God into our future plans!
#2 The Uncertainty of Life (v. 14a): Proverbs 27:1 says "Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring." These businessmen were making plans for a whole year when they couldn't even see ahead into one day!! Look at their confidence - "We WILL go. We WILL stay a year. We WILL buy and sell. We WILL make a profit." Their attitude reminds me of the farmer in the parable of Jesus in Luke 12:16-21. Read Luke 12:16-19. What was God's reply to this man's boasting? Read Luke 12:20. Life is not uncertain to God but it is uncertain to us. Discuss Miranda's hospitalization. Robert Frost once said "The afternoon knows what the morning never suspected." Life is too uncertain not to factor God into our future plans!
#3 The Brevity of Life (v. 14b): This is one of the repeated themes of Scripture. Need an alarm clock to wake you from your slumber as you let life pass you by? Consider these verses...
Read Job 7:6-7, 16; 8:9; 9:25; 14:1-2; 30:15. Read Psalm 39:4-5; 90:1-2, 3-6, 10, 12; 102:3; 103:15. Read James 4:14.
To us life seems long and we measure it in years, but in comparison to eternity, life is but a vapor. We count our years at each birthday, but God tells us to number our days (cf. Ps. 90:12). Since life is so brief, we cannot afford merely to "spend our lives," and we certainly do not want to "waste our lives." We must invest our lives in those things that are eternal. Give personal testimony about January Bible study and John MacArthur commentary on Eccl. 1:3 - "The only lasting efforts are those designed to accomplish God's purposes for eternity." Life is too brief not to factor God into our future plans!
#4 The Frailty of Man (v. 16a): "As it is you BOAST..." Man's boasting only covers up man's weaknesses. "Man proposes but God disposes," wrote Thomas a' Kempis. Solomon and the Psalmist wrote it first. Proverbs 16:33 (LB) says "We toss the coin, but it is the Lord who controls its decision." Psalms 146:4 (NLT) says "When they breathe their last, they return to the earth, and all their plans die with them." Man cannot control future events. He has neither the wisdom to SEE the future nor the power to CONTROL the future! Nothing has taught me this more forcibly than the past 15 years spent as a physician, particularly the past 15 months spent as the county medical examiner! Discuss cases - check-ups with clean bills of health followed by cancer dx and death 6 months later, seeing a new patient at 10am in the office and the same one dead at 1pm on the side of Hwy 51. We as humans are too frail not to factor God into our future plans!
2) James started his condemnation of this attitude toward tomorrow with a Stirring Rebuke. He now ends his condemnation of this wrong attitude toward tomorrow with a Strong Reprimand! (Read and explain James 4:16) Life is complex, uncertain, brief, and frail...as such we have NO idea what tomorrow holds. We can't see the future little less control it! Given that how is it that we BOAST about tomorrow?! James pulls no punches and calls a spade a spade...he says such arrogant boasting is EVIL! John deplores such an arrogant sense of self-sufficiency and self-importance as characteristic of the world - read 1 John 2:16. Dr. Warren Wiersbe writes: "How foolish it is for people to ignore the will of God. It is like going through the dark jungles without a map, or over the stormy seas without a compass. When we visited Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, I was impressed with the maze of tunnels and the dense darkness when the lights were turned off. When we got to "Pulpit Rock," the man in charge gave a five-word sermon from it: 'Stay close to your guide.'"
It's a sermon that James' readers in the 1st century ignored...guilty of practical atheism, they were living their lives and making their plans as if God didn't exist. It's a sermon that is still applicable today in the 21st century for anyone with a bad attitude toward tomorrow and planning for the future! We instead should seek to cultivate a good attitude toward tomorrow.
IV. Tomorrow: The Good Attitude (15, 17)
A. The Good Attitude - James' Address (Read and explain James 4:15a.)
- Having addressed those with a bad attitude toward tomorrow, James now addresses what a good attitude toward tomorrow and planning for the future looks like...Instead, you ought to say
- Just as we saw a very brusque tone in James' language with respect to a bad attitude, here we can hear more a loving, fatherly tone. "Hey, I'm not going to thump you over the head with the Bible and beat you into submission, but trust me God has your best interest at heart and you really should listen up and be a doer of the Word. PLEASE, don't leave Him out of your plans." Thus,
B. The Good Attitude - Its Basis (Read and explain James 4:15b)
- say, If THE LORD wills The true Christian bases his or her plans not on foolish presumption but faithful perspective. That perspective is that God alone controls the future and thus we should always submit our plans to the lordship of Christ. If we do so we will be in good company for this is what the Apostle Paul did. Read Acts 18:21, 21:14; Romans 1:10, 15:32; 1 Cor. 4:19, 16:7.
- This is NOT some magical incantation we simply add to the end of a sentence that suddenly changes OUR plans to GOD'S plans! Dr. Moo points out that "what James encourages is not the constant verbalization of the formula 'If the Lord wills,' which can easily become a glib and meaningless recitation, but a sincere appreciation for God's control of affairs and for his specific will for us." Dr. Wiersbe put it this way, "'If the Lord will' is not just a statement on a believer's lips: it is the constant attitude of his heart." Jesus in John 4:34 said "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work." The same should be said of us - our food should be to do the will of God and If the Lord will should be the faithful perspective upon which we base our plans!
C. The Good Attitude - James' Commendation (Read and explain James 4:15c)
- Notice how powerfully with this attitude that God's Sovereignty is recognized! #1 We will LIVE This person acknowledges the fact that their very next breath comes only at the hands of the One, True, Living God...Yahweh! Without Him, you nor I live one more second. Why would we then live our lives and make our plans as if God doesn't exist, upon whom we are dependent for our every breath? It's sheer nonsense! #2 and do THIS or THAT What is exactly is this or that? The will of God...which is not some unattainable mystery. Every commandment in the Bible adddressed to you and I is part of the will of God and must be obeyed. Yet God does not call each of us to the same work in life, or to exercise the same gifts and ministry. The will of God is "tailor-made" for each of us!
V. Tomorrow: The Good, The Bad, The UGLY
A. If we're honest, James seems to have a pure ADD moment and just randomly threw verse 17 into the mix. Yet as Dr. Constable points out, James concludes each major section of his epistle, each chapter, with what could be said to be a proverbial statement. It summarizes James' point in the preceding section and states it in a pithy way that is easy to remember. James' big idea in this section is Instead of boasting about tomorrow we should speak with humility and submit to the Lord's will. Given that, whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, that is not boast about tomorrow, for him it is sin! This attitude could be said to be the UGLY of The Good, The Bad and the Ugly. Why? Because it expresses even more pride than the wrong attitude (The Bad). The person essentially says to God, "I know what You want me to do, but I prefer not to do it." As Byron would say, they give God the finger. Look at what the Apostle Peter wrote about such behavior...read 2 Peter 2:21-22. Now that's a very graphic image of practical atheism.
B. Folks, sins of omission are just as heinous, damaging and UGLY in our lives as sins of commission. As Dr. Moo stated "They cannot take refuge in the plea that they have done nothing positively wrong; as Scripture makes abundantly clear, sins of omission are as real and serious as sins of commission." The servant in Jesus' parable who fails to use the money he was entrusted with (Luke 19:11-27); the "goats" who failed to care for the least of these (Matt. 25:31-46) - they are condemned for what they failed to do. Another teaching of Jesus very forcibly reminds us of James' words here: "And that servant who knew his master's will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating."
C. Let me give you a modern day example - discuss Matt Atkinson, Sept 2006, three friends plotting Columbine-style attack on their school. Atkinson was torn...one day before attack he told his principal, police found shocking confirmation. Atkinson was lauded a hero - "Do the right thing. That's all I can say; do the right thing." Article said Matt "did the right thing because he had a proper view of the consequences of his inaction." When I read that I asked myself - do I, do you? Do we honestly have a proper view of the consequences of our inaction? Aren't we in 2013 often guilty of this very thing that James wrote about in the AD 40s? Knowing the right thing to do and yet fail to do it?! Is that how we want Jesus to find us when He returns at an hour we do not expect? Not with a good attitude or a bad attitude but an ugly attitude. Still boasting about tomorrow?
VI. Conclusion
A. Woody Allen once said, "If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans." The Cook family could have given God a hernia from laughing so hard had we shared all of our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day plans with Him. One text message changed everything - "Dad, my lower stomach has a really sharp pain and the rest of my stomach just hurts." I never envisioned spending Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with my baby girl hooked to a pain pump, praying she wouldn't have to have major surgery. Discuss Matthew's comment.
B. As I told Byron, the next time God wants to give me a sermon illustration, He doesn't have to be so personal or do it on such a grand scale! I know one thing, I'll never preach on the subject of tomorrow without thinking of James Chpt 4, my baby girl and Christmas 2013. And I'll no doubt approach tomorrows with a good attitude.
C. Which attitude toward tomorrow are you cultivating in your life? Bad one - foolish presumption that James condemns? Good one - faithful perspective that James commends? Ugly one - knowing the right thing to do and failing to do it that James calls sin?
VII. Invitation
A. I think the worst way ANYONE could boast about tomorrow is to put off a decision for salvation. Discuss Hebrews 9:27 - "Appointed for man to die once and then the judgment." None of us is guaranteed the next second. That is why Paul in 2 Cor. 6:2 said "today is the day of salvation." It's been said some people will miss heaven by 18 inches...it's sadly true that many, boasting about tomorrow, have already missed it by a mere second.
VIII. Lord's Supper
A. Partaking of Elements
B. Blessed Be The Tie That Binds
