A Plan For Life
Text: James 4:13-17
Introduction
1. Read James 4:13-17
2. Illustration: There was an officer in the navy who had always dreamed of commanding a battleship. He finally achieved that dream and was given commission of the newest and proudest ship in the fleet. One stormy night, as the ship plowed through the seas, the captain was on duty on the bridge when off to the port he spotted a strange light rapidly closing with his own vessel. Immediately he ordered the signalman to flash the message to the unidentified craft, ’Alter your course ten degrees to the south.’ Only a moment had passed before the reply came: ’Alter your course ten degrees to the north.’ Determined that his ship would take a backseat to no other, the captain snapped out the order to be sent: ’Alter course ten degrees--I am the CAPTAIN!’ The response beamed back, ’Alter your course ten degrees--I am Seaman Third Class Jones.’ Now infuriated, the captain grabbed the signal light with his own hands and fired off: ’Alter course, I am a battleship.’ The reply came back. ’Alter your course, I am a lighthouse.’ No matter how big or important any of us think we are, God’s Word stands forth as an unchanging beacon. All other courses must be altered to His.
3. While it is true that if you fail to plan, you plan to fail, it is also true that if you leave God out of your plans, you still plan to fail.
4. Yet despite his frailty and the uncertainty of his life, man still ignores God and walks upon earth as though his future is totally in his hands.
Proposition: If we want to succeed in this life and enjoy the next we must always put God first in all that we do.
Transition: James tells us that...
I. Self-Sufficiency Is Planning Without God (13)
A. Come Now
1. There is nothing wrong with making plans. We should plan and prepare for the future. In fact, we should never fail to take the time to plan.
2. Rm. 12:11 not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;
3. Planning before we act is not what this Scripture is talking about; it is warning us not to plan without God.
4. Go to now, compares to our expression, "Come now!"
5. It is a pointed call for attention that indicates the seriousness of what follows. - Expositor’s Bible Commentary, The, Pradis CD-ROM
6. Yet, despite the warning of Scripture—and Scripture gives warning after warning—most men plan their lives without God.
7. They plan as if their own wills and desires controlled the destiny of life.
B. Make God First Priority
1. Illustration: Professor Lowell of Harvard University was speaking many years ago to a gathering on Columbus Day. He said that there were three profound things about Christopher Columbus’ discovery of America: First, when he left Spain he didn’t know where he was going. Second, when he arrived in the New World he didn’t know where he was. Third, when he returned to Ferdinand in his court he didn’t know where he had been. ’And he did it all on borrowed money!’
2. Every time we make plans without asking God for guidance we are asking for trouble.
3. Every time we attempt to do something without first bathing it in prayer we are flirting with disaster.
4. I like to call it "doing my will in God’s name."
5. All too often we walk out ahead of God instead of following His leading, and then when it all falls apart we blame it on Him.
6. If we want the blessings of God we have to stay in the will of God.
Transition: James also tells us...
II. Self-Sufficeincy Is Failure to Recognized the Uncertainty of Life (14)
A. You Do Not Know What Will Happen
1. There is a problem with these well-made plans--no one can know what will happen tomorrow, to say nothing of a year in the future.
2. Proverbs 27:1 Do not boast about tomorrow, For you do not know what a day may bring forth.
3. There are two reasons why tomorrow is uncertain. First, Our minds and nature are limited.
a. We just cannot know the future.
b. No matter what we may plan or think, we do not know what will happen tomorrow; we are completely in the dark.
c. We do not know about tomorrow. In fact, we do not know what will happen one hour from now.
d. The point is this: we forget and ignore our nature—who we are, how limited we really are, how uncertain life with all its happenings and events really is.
4. Second, Our lives at most are only as a vapor that appears for a brief time and then vanishes away.
a. Not only is our knowledge limited, but our very lives are uncertain. We may not be here next year. - Expositor’s Bible Commentary, The, Pradis CD-ROM
b. Life is short no matter how long we live. We shouldn’t be deceived into thinking we have plenty of time left to live for Christ, to enjoy our loved ones, or to do what we know we should.
c. Today is the day to live for God! Then, no matter when our lives end, we will have fulfilled God’s plans for us.
B. Life is Uncertain
1. Illustration: The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it. Richard L. Evans
2. One of the beauties about seeking God first in our life is that we may not know what tomorrow holds, but he does.
3. We may not know what will happen next week, but God does.
4. We don’t know how long we will be here, but God does.
5. If we want a future that is certain then we must put our lives in God’s hands and depend on him for everything.
Transition: James also tells us...
III. Self-Sufficiency is Failure to Acknowledge God (15)
A. If the Lord Wills
1. James says we should say "If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that."
2. For a believer to leave God out of his plans is an arrogant assumption of self-sufficiency, a tacit declaration of independence from God. - Expositor’s Bible Commentary, The, Pradis CD-ROM
3. We must make sure those plans include the clause, if the Lord wants us to. We are to plan, but we are to recognize God’s higher will and divine sovereignty.
4. This means far more than simply saying, "If God wills," whenever we speak about future plans, for that too can become meaningless.
5. It means planning with God as we make our plans.
a. Our plans should be evaluated by God’s standards and goals, and they should be prayed over with time spent listening for God’s advice.
b. Such planning pleases God.
B. Is It God’s Will?
1. Illustration: Once a man stopped to talk to a farmer who was erecting a new building. He asked the farmer what the building was for. The farmer replied, "Well, if I can rent it, it’s a rustic cabin. If I can’t rent it, it’s a cow shed."
2. Prov. 19:21 There are many plans in a man’s heart, Nevertheless the LORD’S counsel--that will stand.
3. Prov. 3:6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.
4. We must acknowledge that God is soverign.
5. We must acknowledge that he holds everything in his hands.
6. We must acknowledge that without him we can do nothing.
Transition: The forth thing that James tells us is that...
IV. Self-Sufficiency is Boasting (16)
A. Boasting
1. James says "But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil."
2. The word "boastings" (alazoniais) means an empty boaster (A.T. Robertson. Word Pictures In The New Testament, Vol. 6, p.56).
3. That is, it is a person who boasts about something he thinks he has, but he does not really have it.
4. Any person who goes through life without God is just like this.
a. He lives and plans, thinking that he controls his life and the future.
b. His life is one big boast of self-sufficiency, and it is wrong, totally wrong.
5. Instead of focusing on God’s will in our plans, we arrogantly boast as though they could control their own destiny.
6. Such boasting is evil because it takes no thought of God.
B. Pride
1. Illustration: Two Texans were trying to impress each other with the size of their ranches. One asked the other, ’What’s the name of your ranch?’ He replied, ’The Rocking R, ABC, Flying W Circle C, Bar U, Staple Four, Box D, Rolling M, Rainbow’s End, Silver Spur Ranch.’ The questioner was much impressed and exclaimed, ’Whew! That’s sure some name! How many head of cattle do you run?’ The rancher answered, ’Not many. Very few survive the branding.
2. Ps. 52:7 "Here is the man who did not make God his strength, But trusted in the abundance of his riches, And strengthened himself in his wickedness."
3. To make plans leaving God out of the equation is pride, and no matter how you slice it, pride is sin.
4. "If you think you stand take head lest you fall."
Transition: James gets to the heart of the matter when he says...
V. Self-Sufficiency is Sin (17)
A. To Him It Is Sin
1. In verse 17, James says "Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin."
2. This is a striking definition of sin: to know that we should do something and to refuse to do it is sin.
3. Although this statement may apply to any number of situations, James intended it to refer to the immediately preceding context. - Expositor’s Bible Commentary, The, Pradis CD-ROM
4. It is like saying, "Now that I have pointed the matter out to you, you have no excuse." Knowing what should be done obligates a person to do it.
5. We tend to limit sins to specific acts--doing wrong. But James tells us that sin is also not doing what is right.
a. It is a sin to lie; it can also be a sin to know the truth and not tell it.
b. It is a sin to speak evil of someone; it is also a sin to avoid that person when you know he needs your friendship.
c. It is a sin to disobey God; it is also a sin to act without seeking his guidance.
B. Doing the Right Thing
1. Illustration: Elizabeth Elliot tells of two adventurers who stopped by to see her, all loaded with equipment for the rain forest east of the Andes. They sought no advice, just a few phrases to converse with the Indians. She writes: "Sometimes we come to God as the two adventurers came to me -- confident and, we think, well-informed and well equipped. But has it occurred to us that with all our accumulation of stuff, something is missing?
She suggests that we often ask God for too little. We know what we need--a yes or no answer, please, to a simple question. Or perhaps a road sign. Something quick and easy to point the way. What we really ought to have is the Guide himself. Maps, road signs, a few useful phrases are things, but infinitely better is someone who has been there before and knows the way.
2. To make a decision without seeking God’s will is sin.
3. To fail to seek God’s will because you’re afraid his answer will be "No," is sin.
4. To know that God’s answer is no and do it anyway is sin.
5. The wages of sin is death!
Conclusion
1. Self-sufficiency is planning without God (v.13).
2. Self-sufficiency is failure to recognize the uncertainty of life (v.14).
3. Self-sufficiency is failure to acknowledge God (v.15).
4. Self-sufficiency is boasting, bragging, and arrogance (v.16).
5. Self-sufficiency is sin (v.17).
6. The next time you need to make a decision what will you do?
a. Will you seek God’s will?
b. Will you seek your will?
