Today, our focus will be on James 4:13-17. One of the interesting things about this passage is that there two pretty different ways of reading it. Both approaches take the verses seriously. Both issue a call, and a challenge, that the church needs to hear. But they differ in what exactly that challenge is.
The disagreement basically comes down to whether we should read these verses as their own separate, distinct little section, or if we should read them as building on what James has been teaching throughout chapter 4 (I think the approach of reading these verses as a prophetic type challenge, not addressed to the actual church, just doesn't work here, fwiw-- contra Dibelius, Luke Timothy Johnson, Patrick Hartin).
Last week, when I taught on just James 4:11-12, I was working on the assumption that we should break James 4 up into three different sections. But one commentator I read-- Steven Runge-- forced me to reconsider (and rewrite everything). I'm not completely sure that Runge is right, which is awkward, but I'm running with it.
So let's start by rereading James 4:1-10. Here, James challenges us to live as God's friends, and not as the world's friends:
(1) From where [are] wars,
and from where [are] battles among you ("you" is plural here, and throughout)?
Is it not from here: from your pleasures/passions waging war among your members?
(2) You desire,
and you don't have.
You murder
and you strive,
and you aren't able to obtain.
You fight and you wage war.
You don't have because you don't ask.
(3) You ask,
and you don't receive,
because wickedly you ask,
in order that on your pleasures/passions you may spend [it].
(4) Adulterers, don't you know that friendship with the world, hatred/hostility/enmity with God, it is?
And so then, whoever wishes a friend to be with the world, an enemy of God he makes himself.
(5) Or do you think that for nothing Scripture says,
"Jealously He desires the spirit,
whom He has caused to dwell among/in us."
(6) Now, greater grace, He gives."
Therefore, it says,
"God, the proud, He opposes/resists ("the proud" is focused).
Now, to the humble He gives grace."
(7) And so then, subject/subordinate yourselves to God.
Now, resist/oppose the devil,
and he will flee from you.
(8) Draw near to God,
and He will draw near to you.
Cleanse/purify [your hands] O sinners,
and consecrate/make holy/purify [your] hearts, O double-minded ones.
(9) Your laughter, into mourning, it must turn,
and your joy into unhappiness/shame/dejection.
(10) Humble yourselves before the Lord,
and He will exalt/lift you up.
Each of us, as we go through life, have to make decisions about what gets our time, and attention. We have to make decisions about what's important to us. We have to decide how we spend our paychecks.
When you think about these things, what you are doing, in the end, is making a decision about whether you will live as a friend to the world, or as a friend to God. It's one or the other.
Our natural tendency is to try to live as both. We want everything-- we want God, and the world. But this just doesn't work. If we do this, we've become adulterers. We are unfaithful to a jealous God. We may desire the things God made, but God desires us.
Now, how can you tell if you've drifted into this? How can you tell if you've become an adulterer?
By looking at what you crave. If you find yourself consumed with thoughts of money, and things, you've become an adulterer.
What's the solution?
James says, "Submit to God. Resist the devil. Draw near to God. Cleanse yourself."
So that's what we learned two weeks ago. And when you read these verses, you maybe found yourself feeling a little squirmy, and nervous. Part of you wondered if you've become a little unfaithful. You check your investments a little too often. You find yourself eyeing that new pickup every time you drive by the dealer, wondering how soft the leather is. You wonder if you're spending a little too much time fighting for the American dream.
But in the end, maybe, you got through this part of James's letter without making any radical changes to your life. You toughed it out, and moved on.
What James does, in today's passage, is build on those verses, by painting us a picture of what it looks like, to be an adulterer with the world. And when we see what he's painted, it's maybe going to look uncomfortably like us. And we will find ourselves wrestling, a second time, with whether or not we are mirroring God's faithfulness to us, with the same type of faithfulness and commitment to him.
Let's read James 4:13:
(13) Come now, the ones saying--
"Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city,
and we will do [=spend] a year there,
and we will buy and sell,
and we will profit,"--
Picture the world, filled with people. And what James does here, is reach into the world, and pull out a specific group. This group is made up of people who talk in a particular way. It's their speech that marks them apart. And what this group talks about, is their future plans.
The richest guy I've ever personally met, at least to the best of my knowledge, owned a chain of high-end, well-respected pools across the Twin Cities. These pools weren't the kind you'd go to for water fights, or goofing off. These pools were where you'd go if you wanted to get in great shape, and become great swimmers. The owner had hired gifted coaches who would work with you, and turn you or your kids into dolphins. It wasn't so much his pools that set him apart, as the training programs that could be found there.
On top of this, he had at least one patent for something to do with lifeguarding equipment. He had plans for that as well.
One day, he talked to my then-girlfriend (now wife) and I about the importance of having a one year, and five year, and ten year plan. Have a vision for what you want your life to look like, and live in a way that works toward that goal. The life you want, won't just automatically happen.
When he said this, he spoke from experience. He had a keen sense of how fast he could grow, without sacrificing the quality of his programs, and without taking on more risk-- more debt-- than he should. And the pools did great. He's a gifted businessman.
If you listened to him talk about his pools-- or if you listen to the words of any successful business person-- they will probably sound at least a little bit like James 4:13 (although he didn't actually talk about himself at all, or his plans. He was solely focused on helping us, and wasn't disobeying God in what he said to us).
So where exactly is the problem? We read James 4:13, understanding that there is something off about the way this group talks. But, at the same time, if we weren't in church, or reading this from our Bible, I'm not sure our radars would go off. We know we should say these are bad, sinful words. We can give the Sunday school answer. But what's wrong about them, really?
Based just on verse 13, I think that part of the problem is the level of certainty expressed in the words. People who talk this way act like they are in total control of their lives:
They are the ones who decide the "when"-- either today, or tomorrow.
They decide the "where"-- this or that city.
They decide the "how long"-- for a year, in this case.
They decide the "what"-- in this case, buying and selling.
And they are the ones who determine their success. "We will profit."
At this point, let's start from the top, verse 13, and add verse 14:
(13) Come now, the ones saying--
"Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city,
and we will do [=spend] a year there,
and we will buy and sell,
and we will profit,"--
(14) [you] who don't know what will happen tomorrow-- of what type of life you'll have.
For smoke/vapor you are-- which for a little time becomes visible. ["smoke" focused in Greek]
Then [it] also disappears.
No matter how big, and thorough, your planning is, the reality is that your control over your future is far from perfect. Nearly every week on Facebook, my wife reads about a tragic story among her friends. Someone was in a terrible car accident, or has cancer, or lost her job. None of these people, when it first happened, expected it. Most people assume they'll get their 70 or 80 years in-- unless you have a terrible family medical history. Most people assume their life will more or less work out. And sometimes, it just doesn't.
You don't know "of what type of life you'll have." On a bigger scale, we could look at the news from Sri Lanka right now, where the government has collapsed, and the nation has fallen apart. You never know what spark will destroy a nation. And you don't know what the nation will look like, on the other side, or how your life will look in that nation.
So James here hits three different cautionary notes, for this group of people (put in outline).
(1) In the end, you don't know your future.
(2) In the end, you don't know what type of life you'll have.
(3) In the end, you are like a smoke or vapor. You make plans, like a morning mist makes plans.
In verse 15, James offers a better way to talk:
(15) In place of this, you should say,
"If the Lord/Master wants/wills/consents, we will both live and do this or that."
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A.K.M. Adam, James: A Handbook on the Greek Text, argues that verse 15 would be better translated as a continuation of the last sentence. "in place of saying, 'If the Lord wills, we will both live and do this or that.'" In this, he follows Scot McKnight's commentary on James (which I don't own). I'm not sure if he's right, but it's easier for teaching (and translating) to follow the majority, so I've stuck with that (and I'm not sure the sense really changes).
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It's in verse 15 that the two different readings of James 4:13-17 start to branch off.
If we read these verses by themselves, what James is saying, is that all of our plans for the future should reflect an awareness that God is our Master. You can have plans to continue living, and not die. You can have plans to do this or that. But those plans will only come into effect if God signs off on them. You need a Parental consent form. As God's children, living in God's house, we should understand and accept that God gets the final vote.
So it's not that having a plan is sin. But when you make your five year plans, you do so with an awareness of your frailty, and the temporary nature of your life on this earth, and of the truth that God is your Master.
So that's one way to read these verses. I think that reading is fine. It's broadly biblical.
But if we read these verses in light of James 4:1-10, and the letter as a whole, then James is making a bigger point.
God gave us new life, so that we, as a church, could be a type of first fruits among God's creation. We are God's people, living in God's kingdom, under God's kingdom rules. God is our Master. He's the one with a vision for what we as a church can be in the world.
Since this is the case, my focus needs to be on what God wants. What does He desire for me, for us? [This approach basically makes a much bigger deal over the little phrase, "If the Lord desires," and works harder at pulling in James 4:1-10].
So I can make plans for the future, and I can talk about them, but I do so understanding that those plans aren't set in stone (Acts 16:6-7). God may have something completely different for me, or maybe just a little different, and I need to be open to that, and available to him.
Let me give you a picture of what this maybe looks like, from the past three weeks of my life. My wife and I decided that we would go on vacation to Oregon and Washington this year. It felt a little like we sat down in front of a map, and tried to pick out the least safe cities in the U.S. to drive through, and settled on Portland, Spokane, and Seattle. But we wanted our kids to see the ocean, and Mt. Ranier, and all the other cool stuff along the way. So that's we did. We decided, in James's words, that we would do "this or that."
During the trip, God put at least four people in front of our family for us to minister to for healing. Maybe He put more. I'm not sure. But we obeyed God, in offering to pray for these four people (and maybe disobeyed for one).
When this happens, it often feels like a remarkable string of coincidences comes together, to make these things possible. A gas station worker, through a simple conversation about coffee, ends up telling us about a neurological problem he has that gives him tremors. A young woman selling tea ends up telling us about her eczema and food allergies. A guy tells us about his hip and knee problems. And a lady with a badly messed up foot ends up using two of my kids, who had gone to pray for her, to take a picture of her and her family.
Those four people were not part of our family vacation plan. But when we saw those four, and heard those four, we felt compassion for them, and God created an opportunity to pray for them-- or at least, to offer to pray for them. And if we look back on our trip, I wonder if God didn't orchestrate the whole thing, to put in particular places, at particular times, so that we could bless the people around us.
When we make our plans for the future, they have to be flexible. We have to be open to the Spirit's leading. We have to be willing to set aside what we want, for what God wants. And I think with our vacation, God maybe took our desire to see the ocean, and Mt. Ranier, and orchestrated it so that we could be a blessing to specific people.
So when James writes that we should say, "If the Lord desires, we will do this or that," I don't think it's just a matter of using pious words. Our starting point in life, is God's vision for us and the world, and figuring out our own role in that vision. We can make our plans, but we are flexible, and open to the Spirit's leading. In the end, our main question isn't, "What should we do?" It's, "What does God want? What does God desire?"
In verse 16, James takes a little step forward:
(16) Now, you now boast in your pretences/posturings/braggings.
All such boasting, evil, it is. ["Evil" is focused]
What we see in this verse, is that part of the problem James is addressing here, has to do with the words themselves. It's one thing to have a plan-- to decide what you want your life to look like, and intentionally aim in that direction.
It's another thing to talk to others about it.
Now, sometimes in life, people find themselves in a spot where they have to make big decisions about what comes next. High school grads need to have a plan. And when you go to their grad parties, everyone wants to know that plan.
That's not really what James is talking about here. If you're a high school senior, telling people where you want to go live, and what you want to study, and what you hope to do, isn't really boasting usually.
I think the situation is more like, you find yourself in a conversation with people, telling them about your big plans.
Why would you do this?
1) You want people to understand that you are more than your current circumstances.
Some of us have a lot more money, and financial wealth, than others. Some of us, by worldly standards, have far better, and more prestigious jobs, than others. And if you're working an ordinary job, you're maybe self-conscious about it. People always ask, "What do you do?" And you have tell them, you do the kind of job that no one wants to do. It's a moment of embarrassment, as people try to respond to you by saying something positive. You can see it in their faces. You can see it, when they struggle for kind words to say.
So what you could do, maybe, is say something like this: "I work as a janitor at such and such a business, but I'm going to school to become a nurse." "Or, I pay the bills by working as a janitor, but really I spend a lot of my free time fishing."
You want people to see you as a future nurse, or as a dude who likes fishing. You work, to make sure they don't see you as a janitor. You boast, in the hopes that people will respect you. And I say this as someone who was a janitor for five years, and would go back to it if that's the job that's available to me.
Let me give you another example:
Some of you have really nice houses, while others of you live in very modest apartments. If you live in a modest apartment, you might be tempted to say, "I'm just here until the lease is up, because I've saved up money to buy a house in the nice part of town." You want to make sure that when people think of you, they think of you living in the NE.
You boast about your future plans, because you want people to know you are more than your current job, or house, or car.
2) You want people to be impressed by you.
A few of you, maybe, have "made it," by worldly standards. You have the nice houses, and cars, and toys, and clothes. You have the good jobs. But all these things aren't enough, by themselves, to make you happy. What you also crave, is honor and prestige. You want people to know that you've made it, and treat you accordingly. And so you brag about your plans. It's important to you, that we understand how important you are.
Or, maybe, it's other things that you want people to be impressed by. You want people to know where you got your schooling, and what degrees you have. You want people to know you have politician's numbers stored on your phone. If you own a business, you want others to know how many people you employ, and provide for.
Part of the problem James is addressing here, is the temptation to present yourself as being a big deal. You can't fight for the type of honor the world gives, by bragging about yourself.
This brings us to verse 17. Here, James stops painting his picture of the boastful, big deal people. Instead, he gives us a challenge (that builds on the entirety of James 4):
(17) And so then, to the one who knows to do good, and doesn't do it, sin to him it is. ["Sin" is focused]
[It's this verse that convinced me that Runge is probably reading this passage right. James here is making a broad point, and summing up what we should learn from this picture he painted of the planner.]
It's really easy to make our way through the world, living a somewhat compromised, somewhat unfaithful life.
You can do a lot of what God wants. You can avoid being stained by the obvious, big sins. You can give to God, maybe even generously, without feeling a terrible sting. You can do all of this, living in many ways a righteous life, while at the same time, being a friend to the world, and craving the world's things.
You do this, by placing limits on your faithfulness to God. You will serve God, up to a point. You will do some good, but not as much as you should. You'll let opportunities to do good go, despite the Spirit putting them on your heart.
And if this is you, James says, this is sin. If you know to do good, in a specific situation, and don't do it, it's sin. [You're choosing to live, not as the Good Samaritan].
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This is a passage that probably hits some of us really hard. My guess is that some of us, who held tough for the first part of James 4, completely fall apart here.
The main idea, I think, revolves around three things: God, us, and our plans for the future.
God expects us to be entirely faithful to him. We are in a covenant relationship with God-- like a marriage-- and God wants us to be as committed to him, as He is to us.
Now, the question is, how does this work in the real world, at a practical, day to day level? How does it impact the way we live our lives? How does it impact the way we plan our lives? What does it look like, to be faithful to God, while we do the things humans do-- eat, work, play, buy, sell, make a living, raise children, grow old, and die?
Most people, when they plan for the future, do so out of the desire to make a better, easier, more prosperous life
for themselves, and maybe for their kids. They've planned their life out to look a little bit like a rainbow. And at the end of the rainbow, there's a little pot of gold, a nice house, a comfortable retirement, and an inheritance for their children. And you know, if this is your plan, that you don't automatically find yourself at the end of the rainbow. You have to actively move in that direction, by working hard, by gaining skills, by being promoted, by making good financial decisions.
What does God think about our plans?
I think how God feels about our plans, comes down to how He feels about us, and our commitment to him.
If our plans are rooted in love for worldly things-- if they are rooted in a deep friendship with the world-- God views us as adulterers. If that's us, we shouldn't expect God to bless those plans, or make them happen.
But let's say that we are single-hearted, single-minded, in our devotion to God. Let's say we seek God, His kingdom, and His righteousness first.
We do this, and, at the same time, we also make plans for the future. Life doesn't just happen to us. We don't float through life. We plan vacations. We plan for a better life financially, by going to school, or learning new skills, or getting a second job.
How does God view our plans, in this situation? How does God view our desires?
I think the Bible is pretty clear, that God takes our desires seriously, and sometimes works them into his plan.
Sometimes.
A good example of this, is with David's desire to build God a temple (read 2 Samuel 7:1-3). David looked at his palace, and he looked at God's tent, and he knew that God deserved better (2 Samuel 7:2). So he talked to God's prophet, Nathan, about it. And Nathan, understanding how God viewed David, and viewed David's desires, and works with David's desires,, says this: "Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for the Lord is with you" (NIV).
If God is with you, and you are a person who lives after God's own heart (1 Samuel 13:14), you can go ahead and carry out your plans, and God will be with you.
And what we see, if we keep reading, is that God consented to David's desire. David's son Solomon ended up being the one to build it. But God had a temple in Israel, because David wanted God to have one.
Another well-known verse also teaches basically the same thing. Psalm 37:3-4:
"Trust in Yahweh,
and do good.
Dwell in the land,
and enjoy security,
and take your pleasure in Yahweh,
and He will give to you the desires of your heart."
If we delight in God, above all else, and take pleasure in Him, Psalm 37 says that God will give us the desires of our hearts. Many of those desires will be rooted in what God wants. They will be God-focused, church-focused, kingdom-focused. But some of them, I think, will also reflect our desires.
My wife, ideally, would like to serve God while living a little bit outside of some town, on a few acres of land, with a garden, and fruit trees. She doesn't need or want a nice house, or car. She doesn't really care if she gets to travel. She just wants a big garden, and some fruit trees. She wants to be able to bless people, by giving them part of what she grows. Her desire in all of this, looks a lot like the ideal future God promised to Israel through the prophet Micah (Micah 4:4). She wants to serve God in the rural U.S., and not in Seattle, or New York City. And this is something I'd like to give her, at some point, somehow. Her desire for this, is part of my desire for her.
And I'm making plans in this direction. [Somehow here I could also pull in, "You don't have, because you don't ask."]
But here's the catch. In making these plans, or any plans, James says that there are three temptations we have to fight against, that will make us unfaithful, and that will make us friends of the world instead of God.
(1) The first, is the temptation to build our lives around our financial plans.
The American dream, in a nutshell, revolves around getting nice stuff, living in a nice house, and spending your golden years not working, living in a nice place.
The path to that American dream runs through a 5 year plan, a 10 year plan, and a 30 year plan. You chart out what you want to become professionally, and how much it will make you. You figure out how you can end up in a place of prosperity.
How does God "fit" into that plan?
I think the answer, usually, is "poorly." This type of planning, almost by definition, has the wrong starting point. We are not our own. We belong to our Master. And the important thing is what our Master wants for us. What does He desire? How long does He give us on earth, and what does He want us to do while we are here?
We all need to work, and be productive, and provide for ourselves and our families. We can make decisions that will probably lead us to becoming more prosperous financially. We can get better jobs; we can work more hours. People can move to a part of the country, like North Dakota, where it's easier to pay the bills. But our focus, every day, needs to be on our Master. We need to be flexible, and open, to what He would have us do.
And most of the time, specifically, this has to do with loving your neighbor as yourself. God expects you to love the people right in front of you, every day, in practical ways. And what you'll find, if you focus on this, is that your life starts to go down a very different path.
So I can make plans for a few acres, somewhere outside of town. I can desire that. But it can't be my first, or main, desire. I need to delight in God, not in acreage. And I have to be flexible, and open to God wanting something very different for me and my wife.
(2) The temptation to "be" someone.
Part of the reason some of us make plans, and boast about them, is because we want to honored and respected by the world. We want to be viewed as a success story. We want our opinions to be valued. We want our voice to be heard. We want people to see our lives, and be impressed.
And right now, that maybe doesn't happen as much as we like. People don't view us, the way we want to be viewed.
God expects us to be okay with this. What really matters is how God views us. And if we are disrespected, or ignored, or looked down on, by people, it is what it is.
We can't make plans, to gain worldly honor. And we can't boast about who we are, and what our plans are, to lift ourselves up. Part of what makes the tongue a restless evil (James 3), is our desire to boast about ourselves.
We have to bridle our tongues, and treat them ruthlessly, and not brag.
(3) The temptation to hold back.
The thing about five year, and 10 year, and 30 year plans, is that they often only really work if you hold back. You will do good, to a point. You will do good, from the margins of your life. From the excess of your time and money. But there are limits to your do-gooding (to your "true religion"). And if you find yourself in a situation where what God desires, and what you desire, are at odds, you'll pick yourself.
What God expects, is that you will live flexibly, without limits for him. All of this is verse 17:
(17) And so then, to the one who knows to do good, and doesn't do it, sin to him it is.
You can make your plans, but God would like, sometimes, to change your plans. Most of the time, what this means, concretely, is that He will put people in your life who need your help. Maybe, they need help financially. Maybe, they need someone to just listen to them. Maybe, they need someone who will intentionally, and sacrificially, disciple them.
If you listen to the Spirit in these situations, you'll find that your plans have detours, and speed bumps. Sometimes, your plans will completely fall apart. I may never get a few acres, a big garden, and fruit trees.
And if that happens, God expects me to be okay with that. God is our Master, who we delight in. And our main desire, is to please him, and do what He wants.
Translation:
(13) Come now, the ones saying--
"Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city,
and we will do/spend a year there,
and we will buy and sell,
and we will profit,"--
(14) [you] who don't know what will happen tomorrow-- of what type of life you'll have.
For smoke/vapor you are-- which for a little time becomes visible.
Then also disappears.
(15) In place of this, you should say,
"If the Lord wants/wills/consents, we will both live and do/spend this or that."
(16) Now, you now boast in your pretences/posturings/braggings.
All such boasting, evil, it is. ["Evil" is focused]
(17) And so then, to the one who knows to do good, and doesn't do it, sin to him it is.
