First Baptist Church
August 12, 2001
James 4:13-17
My Plans or God’s
I would like to ask you a few questions. Please raise your hand if you answer yes. How many of you have purchased homes in your lifetimes? How many of you have worked? How many of you have taken a vacation or will take a vacation this year? Who has ever bought a car? How many have gone are will be going to college? How many of you are married or plan to get married? Who has children or would like to have children? How many plan to have a great retirement? For the youth — have you bought a scooter, bike, play station games, or anything like that? I don’t think I have left anyone out!!
Thanks for participating in my little survey. Now, I have one more question for you, it is one I want you to think about, because it is what this scripture is about. I also don’t want you to raise your hands. When you bought your last car, your house, began a new job, or decided on a vacation — did you pray about it? When you believed you met the right person and wanted to get married, did you pray about it? Have you prayed about your retirement -- what you’ll do or how you’ll finance it? Have you tried to discern and understand God’s will?
The scarey thing is that most of us don’t consider God in the midst of our everyday plans, unless of course, it is prayer for healing. The majority of us, me included don’t seek God’s guidance and will in our purchases -- let alone in the major events in our lives. I’m not talking about what color socks should I wear, I’m talking about marriage, having children, career changes, new cars, houses, vacations and so on. How do you make those decisions and plans?
Debbie and I have been in the market for a new television and VCR. The VCR doesn’t work and the television is 21 years old and doesn’t have very good color. Until I began to look at this scripture I didn’t really think about praying whether or not we should buy a television and VCR. Normally, if the money’s there, we just do it. But now I have to stop and reconsider what God wants us to do. Are these new luxury items in His plans for us, or are they simply our plans.
I was appalled this past week when I was in Wal-Mart, Sam’s and Shopko. Each store said that you could bring in your government rebate check and sign it over to the store. Shopko even offered an additional 10% off, if you used that check. But what would God want you to do? Have you ever asked that question?
Of course, making plans is normal and acceptable. We must make plans in life if we would like to succeed. It is said that if you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll never get there. We must make plans for retirement, saving money for homes and cars and college tuition. We seek the proper college to attend and we plan on finding a career that is fulfilling. Plans are a vital, vital part of life. But the question James is asking us is God involved in those plans?
Making plans is biblical. Paul often made plans regarding his travels. See Acts 15:36; 18:20-21; 1 Co 16:5-9. In 1 Corinthians 16:7, Paul states, he hopes to spend some time with the people of Corinth, "if the Lord permits." And in Acts 18:21, he adds, ‘he will return to Ephesus if God wills.’ Do you see what Paul was doing? He wanted his plans to be contingent upon the Lord’s plans.
Even in many of his letters Paul would remind the people to be filled with the knowledge of God’s will (Colossians 1:9) or ‘not to be foolish, but to understand God’s will’ (Ephesians 5:17). When we make decisions we must seek God’s will and learn to understand the plan He has for us. Even Jesus reminded us in Luke 14:28 that we must make plans when we build a home or go to war. So God has nothing against making plans.
Let’s look at what James is telling us in these five verses. People were making plans about how they were going to accumulate more money. They had plans to go to this town and that town, make a few million and move on and make a few million more in the next town. Their plans were set. Understand, James is not against making money, he is against making definite plans and not allowing God to have any say in those plans. The people were making plans as if God didn’t exist. Instead, they should be prayerfully making their plans. They need to be alert to the possibility that God will change those plans, moving them in a new direction . One they had not anticipated, but one that will ultimately prove more fruitful.
Generally speaking, we don’t want to be open to God’s guidance. Oh, sure we say we do, but being open to God’s leading, is contingent upon our giving up control. And we desperately cling to control. So, we make our plans for things we believe are good, but we don’t understand that God may have better things in store for us. In the end we accept what was second best and reject what would have been better, God’s plan.
The people were making plans without considering what God wanted for them. Then they would boast about what they were going to do. James reminds them that they don’t know what tomorrow may bring, in fact, tomorrow may not come for many of them. This thought is similar to Jesus’ parable of the man who has an abundant harvest and builds new barns so he could retire, relax, eat, drink and be merry (Luke 12:16-21). The point of the parable is that this man made plans without regard for God and was only counting on what he could personally do.
So James reminds the people that life is like a mist or a vapor. We are here one minute and gone the next. Have you met people like that? They have great plans for the future, unfortunately they are not here for the future. It does not mean that the person was bad, just that their dreams were never realized. Think about all those who were coming to America to get a new start on the Titanic. They had good and legitimate hopes and dreams, but many of them never made it. Do you remember the space shuttle in 1986 when we sent a school teacher, Christa McAuliffe into space. It was a great idea, but we know the ending.
Remember hall of fame football player Walter Payton, nobody could stop him on the field. He was a giving man, but cancer ended his plans.
We could go on about our get rich quick schemes that never succeeded, but we’d be here all day. James is reminding us that we can make all the plans, some great, some lousy, but we have no guarantee of the future.
But if we know God is in control, then we don’t need to fear the abrupt changes in our plans. Listen to the wonderful words God told the prophet Jeremiah, "For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future" (29:11).
You see dear friends, God has a plan for us. They are very real and very definite plans. If you were to read letters that Christians wrote 100 years ago, you would have noticed the postscript: D.V. These two letters stand for the Latin words, "Deo Volente," which means "God willing." That goes right along with verse 15, James tells us, "We ought to say, "If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.""
The point is simple: we cannot live, learn, or look unless the providential will of God deems it. Maybe we should take up the practice of the believers of the last century, and say, D.V., "If the Lord wills." And funny enough we do make similar statements. You know, we talk about tomorrow saying, ‘if the Lord wills and the creek don’t rise.’ We joke about it. We joke about God’s plans for our lives. We aren’t to distant from the people James is writing to when he tells them instead of asking for God’s will, they boast and brag about their plans.
The point isn’t to make you walk out of here feeling guilty and disconsolate. The hope is to bring us just a little more closer to God — to help us become more authentic in our faith in Christ — to be Christians with character.
Gloria Pitzer, the famous columnist, expressed it best in a clever little poem:
Procrastination is my sin,
It brings me naught but sorrow,
I know that I should stop it,
In fact, I will…..TOMORROW!
So, how do we begin to make changes so that God becomes a priority in our lives? How can we make statements like Deo Volente -- God Willing? Very simply put, I believe it all comes through daily discipline.
In many respects doing the basics will get us there —
1. As you read the Bible you’ll discover and uncover more of God’s truth in your life. As you learn, you’ll begin to apply what you’re learning and seek to please God more than yourself.
2. As you pray, use the acronym PRAY — Praise, Repent, Ask & Yield. Note the last one, YIELD. When you yield to God you are seeking Deo Volente, His will, not yours.
3. Be in relationship with other Christians. As you trust other brothers and sisters in Christ, you may find these people are passing on God’s message to you, His will.
There are a few things to take away from this wonderful passage from James —
1. Life may be short, your greatest plans may not come true.
2. Make plans for your life. But seek God’s will in them.
3. Don’t boast about your accomplishments, because you didn’t do it alone.
4. Read the Bible. Come to Bible Study.
5. Pray and seek God’s will.
6. Be still and listen to God.
7. Be in relationship with other Christians.
It sounds like a great deal of hard work, yet once we discipline ourselves, finding God’s will won’t be so foreign to us. It will come easier than we think. My dear friends, leave this place excited about the future God has planned for you -- plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Let’s pray. . .
