Shirley MacLaine, the Oscar-winning actress, is a spokeswoman for the self-consumed philosophy of our day. The Los Angeles Times reported an interview in which she said:
The most pleasurable journey you take is through yourself…the only sustaining love is with yourself. When you look back on your life and try to figure out where you’ve been and where you’re going, when you look at your work, your marriages, your children, your pain, your happiness, what you really find out is that the only person you really go to bed with is yourself…. The only thing you have is working to the consummation of your own identity. And that’s what I’ve been trying to do all my life.
Ms. MacLaine’s heresy is so common that much of the public unthinkingly nods assent to her silly comments. A world governed by such selfish beliefs would be nothing less than chaotic. The mastery of an arrogant, self-centered life is a major concern of James in this short epistle.
Jim Dobson tells a classic story about human conflict. Ten-year-old Robert was an obnoxious terror creating tumult wherever his passive mother took him. One day, this mother along with Robert, kept an appointment with an older dentist who understood children and was not about to be intimidated by the boy. Dobson recounts the event:
Robert arrived in the dental office prepared for battle.
“Get in the chair, young man,” said the doctor.
“No chance!” replied the boy.
“Son, I told you to climb onto the chair, and that’s what I intend for you to do,” said the dentist.
Robert stared at his opponent for a moment and then replied, “If you make me get in that chair, I will take off all my clothes.”
The dentist calmly said, “Son, take ‘em off.”
The boy forthwith removed his shirt, undershirt, shoes, and socks, and then looked up in defiance.
“All right, son,” said the dentist, “Now get in the chair.”
“You didn’t hear me,” sputtered Robert. “I said if you make me get on that chair, I will take off all my clothes.”
“Son, take ‘em off,” replied the man.
Robert proceeded to remove his pants and shorts, standing totally naked before the dentist and his assistant.
“Now, son, get in the chair,” said the doctor.
Robert did as he was told, and sat cooperatively through the entire procedure.
When the cavities were drilled and filled, he was instructed to step down from the chair.
“Give me my clothes now,” said the boy.
“I’m sorry,” replied the dentist. “Tell your mother that we’re going to keep your clothes tonight. She can pick them up tomorrow.
Can you comprehend the shock Robert’s mother received when the door to the waiting room opened, and there stood her pink son, as naked as the day he was born? The room was filled with patients, but Robert and his mom walked past them and into the hall. They went down a public elevator and into the parking lot, ignoring the snickers of onlookers.
The next day, Robert’s mother returned to retrieve the clothes, and asked to have a word with the dentist. However, she did not come to protest. These were her sentiments: “You don’t know how much I appreciate what happened here yesterday. You see, Robert has been blackmailing me about his clothes for years. Whenever we are in a public place, such as a grocery store, he makes unreasonable demands of me. If I don’t immediately buy him what he wants, he threatens to take off all his clothes. You are the first person to call his bluff, Doctor, and the impact on Robert has been incredible!”
The first 10 verses of this chapter indicate that selfish desires are the source of all human conflict. Peace comes from a quiet submission to a God who will supply our needs in His own time. “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up” (v. 10).
An ugly self-assertiveness raises its head in each of our lives apart from such humility. James identifies two spheres of life as yardsticks for humility. The first is the relationship we have with other people, especially in what we say about them. The second is the goal or plans we have for the future.
I. HUMILITY IS MEASURED BY YOUR ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHERS — RESIST JUDGMENT…vv. 11-12
James literally says, “Stop speaking against your brother.” He uses a verb tense that implies such speech was ongoing, and even habitual. They continually “ran down” others. The NIV accurately describes this sin as “slander.” It is cruel, critical, sarcastic speech.
Any attitude that disdains or discredits another reflects an arrogant pride attitude. At times we need honest discussion and constructive criticism in any body of believers. James would probably even applaud the ouster of those who are deliberately destructive with their tongues. His point however, is that angry and debasing slander has no place in the church.
Carefully chosen words tell us how we are to regard one another. “Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother ... who are you to judge your neighbor?” A brotherly relationship puts us on the same level. No one can claim superiority, because we are equals in a family. One who is a true neighbor expresses love through care and concern. If I judge someone else I put myself above him. Christian humility will not allow looking down on another.
The Bible unsparingly rebukes the sin of irresponsible and malicious gossip. James condemns it because it violates the royal law that is summed up in Jesus’ command, “...Love your neighbor as yourself” (Mt 22:39). It is a terrible presumption to elevate ourselves above the law. When we presume to judge another we infringe on God’s prerogative and usurp His authority. He has not relinquished the right of judgment to anyone else!
Only God is qualified to judge properly. We never know all that is necessary to judge a person correctly. We can’t know one another’s inner thoughts and motives. Ruth Calkins skillfully describes our limitations in this poem:
I spoke to her at the bus stop
But she turned the other way.
My immediate reaction:
A rush of resentment—
She’s ignoring me
She really doesn’t like me
I’ve always suspected it
Now I know.
Suddenly she looked toward me
Startled, but sincere:
“Forgive me — I didn’t see you.”
(Until then I hadn’t noticed the agony lining her face.)
A hesitant pause
A catch in her voice —
“I just came from the doctor’s office,
Our little boy has leukemia.
It’s all a terrible nightmare.”
Lord, Lord
What loathsome selfishness.
A mother stricken with grief
Her heart soaked with pain
An hour of black catastrophe
And I thought only of me
Cleanse me, Lord
Sensitize me
Until my first concern is for others
And my last concern is for me.
It’s impossible to judge another’s motives from our limited perspective. It is a severe lack of humility that tempts us to play God with others’ lives.
II. HUMILITY IS MEASURED BY YOUR ATTITUDE TOWARD LIFE — RESIST PRESUMPTION ... vv. 13-17
Verses 3-4 indicted self-indulgence as spiritual adultery or worldliness. An arrogant attitude of self-sufficiency with no regard for God is the peak of worldliness as we attempt to play God with our own lives and assume that we have final authority.
James condemns neither planning nor profiting. There are many good reasons to plan and to profit in our work. James condemns the attitude that disregards God as we pursue any legitimate activity. An attitude that says, “Who needs God? I can manage myself. I am in control of my life!”
The people of verse 13 laid out an elaborate blueprint for their lives that reveals an arrogant belief that they are in control. Every detail is assumed, even to the profits from the year’s trade. With great presumption these merchants declare, “We will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money” (v. 13). As far as they are concerned, their destination is set, and a year’s time is theirs to do with as they please. They have a game plan that presumes destination, time, activity and the profit at the end. The fatal flaw is their failure to include God in their strategy.
There is a decidedly modern ring to the whole account. We travel greater distances and more quickly through modern transportation. Our business activities differ from theirs, but we are still concerned about the “bottom line.” James was not concerned however, with their desire to make a profit. He was troubled by their presumptuousness. They ignored the fact that “even the small print of life is in the hands of a sovereign God” [Alec Motyer, The Message of James, The Bible Speaks Today, ed. John R. W. Stott, (Downer’s Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1985), 160}.
An arrogant presumptuous attitude is faulty because no allowance is made for unforeseen circumstances. “Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow” (v. 14 a). They planned an inflexible future, when they couldn’t be sure they would draw another breath. We cannot predict the events of a day, much less a year. Our lives could be radically changed by circumstances beyond our control. In this very congregation we have seen the transforming effects of tragic accidents, and sudden debilitating illnesses. How dangerous it is to disregard the Bible’s clear word, “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth” (Pro. 27:1). There is no certainty that we will even be alive tomorrow. Death is, after all, the ultimate statistic: one out of one die.
I recently read of a young couple that had hoped to have a child for eleven long years. Finally, that young woman conceived and gave birth to a beautiful little girl. The day came when they stood before their local congregation to dedicate the baby to the Lord. Following the morning service they gathered with friends and family back at their home for brunch. When the mother brought the baby into to house she laid her on the bed, still in her infaseat, wrapped in a blanket. When the meal was underway someone said, “Where is Darlene?” They mother went to get the baby and discovered to her horror that someone had mistaken the blanket as a bed covering and had thrown their coat over the baby. Other guests had done the same and now the baby was smothered to death beneath the coverings.
When I was a newly married student in Bible College I went to a Systematic Theology class one day with another young married man. He had been married a year longer and had a little baby. That day we talked about wives and children. Following class he went to his job on the Dallas Texas police force. He took a chill and was sent home with a fever. During the night he became delirious and his wife to him to the little local hospital in our town. He was admitted to the hospital and his wife went home for his toiletries. When she returned a nurse met her at the door and said, “I’m sorry Mrs. Shumate, your husband is dead.”
I was planning for ministry and thought I had many years ahead of me. But Don Shumate was also preparing for ministry. He was bright and talented. His ministry would surely have been fruitful, but his life was ended. We have a hard time imagining our own deaths and assume so easily, “My life will continue.” James exposes this presumption, “What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes” (v. 14 b). Life is precarious. J. B. Phillips paraphrases this verse, “Your life is a puff of smoke.”
The Bible likens life to things that are short-lived and insecure: “an evening shadow” (Ps. 102:11); “a breath” (Job 7:7); “a cloud” (Job 7:9); and “grass” (Ps. 103:15). In view of the frailty of life, how foolish it is to ignore God in our life plans. The psalmist rightfully wrote, “...I trust in you, O Lord; I say, ‘You are my God.’ My times are in your hands” (Ps 31:14, 15).
That was James’ point in emphasizing the sovereignty of God: “...you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that” (v. 15). The Lord is the absolute ruler in our lives. Secular society has a world-view that ignores God and flouts His Word. It exalts humanity and rejects God. The Roman philosophy of Seneca was more accurate. He said, “How foolish it is for a man to make plans for his life, when not even tomorrow is in his control.”
We must acknowledge God’s will for our lives. We can plan and propose our future, but God always has the last word. We “boast and brag” when we fail to acknowledge this. And James says, “such boasting is evil” (v. 16).
We are called to “humble ourselves before the Lord” (v. 10). There is no humility in taking our lives into our own hands. Indeed, if we make our plans as if we control our destiny, we are classic fools. Jesus emphasized this truth in His graphic parable of a rich man who was so wealthy that his barns were filled to overflowing. “He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I’ll say to myself, You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you... ‘“ (Lu 12:17-20). The boast of “many years” and ultimate control of our lives is foolish as well as evil.
God has made us aware of His Lordship in our lives. He is king of our tongues and our plans and of every purpose. We must humbly submit each area of life to His authority. We know that is true and James concludes, “Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins” (v 17).
God has you and me, and the wind and the rain, and the tiny little baby in His hands. He also has yesterday’s failures, today’s challenges, and tomorrow’s surprises, right there in His hands. God will not gasp in surprise at the events of our lives. He is unshockable. He is immutable. He’s got the whole world in His hands. Humbly trust Him with your life and plans.
