"Back to the Future"
James 4:13-4:17
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. The goal for Marty when he went into the past was to make sure things turned out as they should. The problem was when he went back 30 years the young woman who was supposed to marry his father, instead, fell in love with him.
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? If you could do it all over again what would you do different? How would you use that knowledge? If you knew where the winning lottery ticket was going to be sold, would you go there in hopes of be able to purchase 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?
In my opinion there are two areas where we are not supposed to live. One is the past and the other is the future. We have to learn to live in the now. 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 and the note inside said, “don’t believe what fortune cookies tell you.” They got it right. The truth is, none of us really know the future here on this earth. Life is brief and we must live every single day to the fullest. And that is exactly what James is saying to us in this passage today.
Dwight Pentecost just a year ago went home to be with the Lord, 99 years of age, 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 wrote over 20 books and lectured all over the world on many topics in the Bible, mostly on Bible prophecy. He made this statement…he said 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 is coming back; remember that while on earth Jesus said He didn’t even know. Our first priority a believers is not to know when Jesus is coming back; our first priority is to live a holy, separated life. Knowing the future is not nearly as important as being prepared for the future.
Now in this passage today we find a story that deals with the future and it tells the story of someone who was making plans but he was going about it in the wrong way. So let’s try to learn from his mistakes.
The first mistake we make is that we leave God out of our planning completely. V. 13. Remember that James is the one speaking here and he is speaking directly to the people in Jerusalem …that was his audience but he is also speaking to us today. In other words James is talking to you and me.
Now this man described here in this passage is not really rebellious; he doesn’t mean to be fighting against God….what he is doing is more neutral…he is disregarding God. It is this attitude of being self-sufficient. It is the attitude of saying I can do this all by myself. We sound like children. Now this happens with nonbelievers every day…that does not surprise me but this passage is not directed at nonbelievers. It is directed at those who have placed their trust in Jesus. The church. And it surprises me that the Lord God Almighty; creator of the universe wants to help us and we simply brush Him off …….thinking we have a better idea. A better way. James says to those who do this, “Come now.” Today we would say… come on now… you can do better than that! Every single one of us need to stop and take a good long look at our priorities; reexamine our lives. We are too much like the individual found in this passage…we are saying… “I not only know what the future holds for me but I also have complete control over the future.” Look at verse 13 with me. 13 Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.”
They have decided on
A precise time--- today or tomorrow-in the next two days
A particular place—such a city-we pick out the 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 pride at its highest level. We leave God out of our planning. That I mistake #1.
2nd Mistake. The 2nd mistake is that we presume to know the future. V. 14. James says, you don’t even know what tomorrow will bring.” In America we have developed a fascination with psychics and with knowing the future. Large sums of money are paid by individuals who call the psychic hotline to find out what the future holds for them.
I called two of them this week for the very first time in my life. I learned right away they are not cheap. About a dollar a minute however one of the two I called was 3 dollars a minute. Don’t have to remind you that is $180.00 an hour. That gave me a problem right away and then before we could begin they had to have my credit card information… My deal with that was simple…if you’re a psychic I shouldn’t have to tell you. Shouldn’t you already know??? Get this according to one source, Psychic hot lines reported an income of over 300 million dollars last 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. James is saying that you and I cannot even be certain about what will happen TOMORROW….much less way out in the future.
There are 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. The rich man 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 required 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. In this story the merchants have not only assumed that they will be alive tomorrow…… they have made the mistaken assumption that the length of our lives is actually a guarantee. James reminds us that life is like a vapor. Like 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
With all of this emphasis in God’s word on the brevity of life we continue to believe that somehow we’ve got this all under control. David the Psalmist said “teach us to number our days that we may 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 have read it 3 times. James says here, “what is your life?” 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. And you live all of your life and never really discover what God’s purpose for you is…..it is possible you have wasted it.
It is how we look at life ….our perspective 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. Never take it for granted. The Lord gives and He can just as easily take away.
Third Mistake. 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. In that respect procrastination is actually a sin.
3 questions you need to be able to answer.
(1) How many of you believe that God knows everything that has happened in history? From the time of Creation to now, do you believe God knows everything that has occurred? If you do, raise your hand.
(2) How many of you believe that God knows everything that is going to happen in the future? From now until He comes back. If you believe He knows all of those things, raise your hand.
(3) How much of your past have you included God in and how much of your future will you include him in? When you made plans in the past how many times did you include God in the planning? In the future how many times will you include God in your planning? Think about it. He knows everything that has happened and everything that will occur. Every step you will take before you take it and what the outcome will be. Doesn’t it make sense that we would include him in our plans? Some of you already do. Some of you probably never do. All of us can do better. Can you imagine what your life could be like if you included God in every major decision you make? Today is a good time to start.
