We are not in Control!
Squid Game Part 4
James 4:13-17
Steve Meenho Kang
www.evergreencommunity.org
We are in part four of the sermon series, “Squid Game.”
During the last three weeks, we examined some lessons that we can learn from the drama, “Squid Game.”
Today, as we finish this series, we will think about the fact that we are not in control of our lives.
The Netflix drama “Squid Game” became the number one show on Netflix in all 83 countries where Netflix streams.
But why is this drama so popular all over the world?
One of the reasons is that it reflects the sentiments of the present age.
People in the world are going through many difficulties.
Especially, because of the COVID-19 crisis, people all over the world are experiencing difficulties.
Many are feeling like they have lost control of their lives.
And this drama reflects how people are feeling nowadays.
In “Squid Game,” all of the participants have experienced unexpected misfortunes in their lives.
Then, they unexpectedly meet a person who invites them to the game, and their lives totally change.
Anyone who participate in the game could win the grand prize of 40 million dollars if they win six games.
So, they enter the game to win the prize money.
However, there was something that the participants did not know.
Those who are eliminated from the game do not get to go home.
But they literally lose their lives
Therefore, the game was changed from a fun game to a life-and-death battle.
They experience the bloody principle of losing and dying in the game.
They faced unexpected outcomes.
We too face unexpected outcomes in life.
Life is full of surprises.
We experience unexpected events all the time.
We do not know what will happen tomorrow.
We expect one thing but something totally different happens.
The fact that life is full of surprises shows that we are not in control of our lives.
Yet we plan everything as if we are in control.
Therefore, if James, the brother of Jesus, saw this drama, this is what he would say.
I. We must remember that our lives are uncertain (vv. 13-14a).
Verses 13-14a say this.
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.” 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow.
“Now listen” is calling for attention.
He is about to talk about something very seriousness.
James talked about business people.
The present tense “say” indicates that the situation under consideration was common practice.
Business travel in the first century was very common just like nowadays.
These people had a good plan.
They would “go to this city,” “spend a year there,” “carry on business,” and “make money.”
The starting time is arranged—“today or tomorrow.”
The city has been selected.
But God was not in their plans.
They made no allowance for unexpected circumstances.
They were confident that they would be able to carry out their plans through to completion.
Therefore, James pointed out their fallacy.
They do not even know what will happen tomorrow.
If they do not know what will happen tomorrow, then they certainly do not know what will happen in a year.
They planned as if they knew exactly what the future holds.
They forgot the fact that life is uncertain.
They forgot the fact that they are not in control of their future.
Of course, James was not criticizing making plans for the future.
It is good to make some sort of a plan for our future.
However, what James was criticizing is the kind of horizontal thinking that we are in control of our future.
He is saying that tomorrow’s circumstances are beyond our control.
An unexpected injury, the sudden death of a loved one, the loss of a job—these and many other surprises can change our lives.
In “Squid Game,” people thought that they could control the outcome of games.
Therefore, they tried to outsmart others.
They tried to guess what the next game would be.
They tried to come up with all kinds of strategies to win the game.
They tried to pick “the right people” who will help them to win.
However, in the end, nothing they did really mattered.
Most of them guessed the next game wrong.
Every game had an unexpected twist.
In short, they were not in control of the game.
That is why the participants of the game died unexpected deaths.
Their lives were taken away from them unexpectedly.
What is true in “Squid Game” is also true in life.
We are not in control of our lives.
The world has been in this pandemic for two years now.
Who could have guessed that we would face something like this?
We thought this was something that happens only in the movies.
As I get older, I go to more funerals every year.
When I go to funerals, I always hear families say, “He died so suddenly.”
“She passed so unexpectedly.”
This is the fact of our lives.
Life is uncertain.
We cannot know what will happen in our future.
We are not in control of our lives.
We must remember that our lives are uncertain.
II. We must remember that our lives are short (v. 14b).
Verse 14b says this.
What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
Not only is life uncertain, but life is so brief.
In order to point out the briefness of life, James used an example from nature: “You are a mist.”
In the morning it covers the countryside.
But before noon it is gone.
But some make plans as if they are going to be here forever!
And that is a mistake.
Life is short, and there is no assurance of a long life.
Moses expressed the same idea in Psalm 90.
Psalm 90:3-6 say this.
3 You turn people back to dust,
saying, “Return to dust, you mortals.”
4 A thousand years in your sight
are like a day that has just gone by,
or like a watch in the night.
5 Yet you sweep people away in the sleep of death—
they are like the new grass of the morning:
6 In the morning it springs up new,
but by evening it is dry and withered.
Our lives are short.
We will all die one day.
It can be sooner than we expect.
This is why in order to escape from the sense of futility of our lives, we must focus on God who reigns eternally in heaven.
Our lives are short, but God is eternal.
Even living up to be 70, 80, 90, or 100 is relatively short.
Some of us who are older can testify that time is passing faster and faster as we get older.
When I was young, I thought that living to be seventy or eighty was so long.
I am now over sixty, and I feel that our time in this world is so short!
Does this mean that we should never make plans for our future?
Of course, not.
Because we know that our lives are short, we must have plans for our future, so that we will not waste our brief lives.
However, when we plan, we must keep in mind that our lives are brief.
So, what should we do in light of the fact that life is uncertain and brief?
Should we eat desert first?
No!
We must plan for the short term and long term.
Each week I write sermons I will preach.
I plan ahead for the series, come up with passages, study the passages, write the sermon, and meditate on them.
I spend about 35 to 40 hours on each sermon.
I would feel so empty if I preached my sermons and they were forgotten forever.
Since I know that my time on this earth is uncertain and short, I wanted to leave sermons as my legacy.
My goal is to leave my sermons to hopefully benefit other pastors.
This is the reason that I am writing books and uploading sermons onto the web.
I do this because that is what I am called to do.
Your call is different than mine.
Therefore, you must plan according to your calling.
However, when you make your plans, you must always remember the fact that your life is short and God is in control.
Otherwise, all your plans are futile.
In “Squid Game,” all participants made plans concerning what to do with the prize money of 40 million dollars.
But they did not realize that their lives would soon be over.
Without knowing that only one would get out of there alive and the other 455 would ultimately die, they made future plans.
But their plans were useless.
Life is unpredictable and very short, so it is important to plan accordingly.
We must remember that our lives are short.
III. We must remember that our lives are His (vv. 15-17).
Verses 15-16 say this.
15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil.
Instead of saying, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city... and make money,”, they “ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, I will do this.”
We cannot assume that we can live independently of God.
We cannot leave God out of our plans because we cannot live independently from God.
Whether we recognize it or not, we “will live and do this or that” only “if it is the Lord’s will.”
We must always condition our plans on the will of God.
However, some of James’s readers, rather than subjecting their plans to God’s will, made it their practice to “boast and brag” about their plans.
To make plans without considering God’s plan is the same as claiming to be in full control of their future.
They had proud confidence in their own knowledge of the future.
In other words, they were arrogant.
James says, “Such boasting is evil.”
It not only lacks the quality of being good, but it is aggressively wicked.
Therefore, the question we must ask ourselves is this:
If we know that our life is uncertain and short, what should we do?
Verse 17 says this.
17 If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.
James pointed out that if we know what we ought to do, then we must do it.
If we know what God commanded us to do, then we must do it.
If we do not do what we ought to do, then we have no excuse.
Knowing what should be done obligates us to do it.
Therefore, the fact does not change.
Our life is uncertain and short.
Therefore, rather than worrying about the uncertainty of life and the briefness of our lives, we must do what we ought to do.
Then whenever our lives come to the end, we will be at peace.
We must do what we ought to do while we are in this world.
God is the Sovereign Lord who is in control of our lives.
We all know this in our heads.
Yet in our hearts, we want to be in control of our lives.
This is why we make plans for our lives without God.
In “Squid Game,” the participants of the game planned and schemed to win the game.
However, everyone except one failed.
And even the person who won faced an unexpected outcome at the end.
This is the reality of our lives.
We are not in control of our lives, but God is.
We do not live in a closed system without God.
We have God who created the universe and sustains the universe.
He is the Sovereign God who is in control of everything, including our lives.
We must remember that our lives are His.
I know so many people who are health fanatics.
I agree that we should eat healthy, sleep enough, and exercise regularly.
I try to do that as well.
However, it is foolish to believe that we can extend our lives even for an hour by doing that.
When God calls, we go.
We should try to eat, rest, and exercise to stay healthy because we must do our part to be healthy while we live our God-given lives here on earth.
But even that is ultimately under His control.
We must remember that our lives are His.
Conclusion
During the last four weeks, we asked this question.
What would James, the brother of Jesus, say if he saw “Squid Game?”
He would say, “Money can’t buy happiness.”
We must not hoard what we have.
We must gain our wealth honestly.
And we must use our wealth for others.
He would say, “Do not create a win-lose world.”
We must stop fighting according to our desires.
We must seek blessings from God.
And we must make God the Lord of our lives.
He would say, “Be a true friend.”
We must not just hear the Word of God.
We must experience God’s blessing by putting words to action.
And we must share the blessings with others.
He would say, “We are not in control.”
We must remember that our lives are uncertain.
We must remember that our lives are short.
And we must remember that our lives are His.
Let us learn from what he said and live accordingly.
In order to make this possible, Jesus came into this world 2,000 years ago.
This is why we celebrate Christmas.
This is how we can live as the followers of Jesus Christ.
