Introduction:
A. One day a doctor called one of his patients into his office to deliver some very important news.
1. “I have received the results of your tests and I have some bad news and some good news.”
2. The patient was quiet for a moment, sensing the gravity of the announcement, “Let me have the good news first, Doc,” said the patient.
3. The doctor took a deep breath and said, “You only have 24 hours to live!”
4. “Oh my goodness,” shouted the patient, “If that’s the good news what could the bad news possibly be?”
5. The doctor replied, “I was supposed to tell you the good news yesterday.”
B. Very few of us live as if there is no tomorrow.
1. Most of us live as if there will be many tomorrows.
2. Like the popular musical song from Annie – “The sun will come out, Tomorrow…Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya’ tomorrow; you’re only a day away.”
3. And don’t get me wrong, in some respects living as if there will be many tomorrows is good, but in other respects it can be very bad.
4. If we look forward to tomorrow with hope, then that is a fine perspective.
5. But if we look forward to tomorrow with a haughty spirit, then we are in danger.
C. As you know from our study of the book of James, he speaks very directly and practically to the challenges we face in our everyday lives.
1. As we come to the end of chapter 4, James addresses the arrogance that we sometimes display in our lives.
2. After having reminded all of us that we are not the JUDGE, and that we need to be humble before the Lord, James applies that same spirit to our future plans.
3. He begins verse 13 with a parental or authoritarian tone – “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.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow.” (vs. 13-14a)
4. The truth of the matter is – None of Us is in control of the future, nor do we know what will happen in the future.
5. It amazes me how much effort and time we spend trying to predict the future.
a. The weatherman has his 7 or 10 day forecast.
b. The talking heads on TV make their predictions about political elections, and the outcomes of sporting events. The NFL season has not even begun, but you can buy magazines that predict who is going to win the Super Bowl.
c. Then there are the daily horoscopes and the psychic hotlines.
d. We want to know the future so badly, that we will pay big money for a glimpse into the future.
6. But James wants to make it clear to us that we cannot know the future.
7. None of us knows for sure what will happen tomorrow, let alone what will happen tonight.
D. Now, before we get too far, let me make this clarification: The fact that we cannot predict the future, does not negate the need for planning.
1. There is nothing wrong with making plans.
2. Being a good steward of our lives necessitates the making of plans.
3. Jesus advocated planning. He told the person who was getting ready to build a building to sit down and figure the costs to be sure he would have enough to finish the project.
4. Jesus told us to plan for the future by laying up treasure in heaven.
5. So, James is not against planning, but he is warning us to be sure to keep God in our plans.
6. Unfortunately, far too many of us plan our lives without an eye to God.
7. James encourages us to be thinking, planning and saying, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” (vs. 15)
E. James asks a very important question – “WHAT IS YOUR LIFE?”
1. His answer is: “You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”
2. Here is a picture of a teapot with steam coming out of it.
a. When we boil water in a teapot the water turns into steam, but the steam doesn’t fill the kitchen.
b. Before it even gets a foot or two away from the teapot it disappears.
c. The vapor appears for a few seconds and then vanishes.
3. The other picture that came to mind is a foggy valley.
a. When I was younger and the trees at Camp Hunt were shorter, we used to see amazing displays of fog in the valley.
b. But no matter how thick or heavy that fog was in the early morning, it didn’t remain very long. Within an hour or two it was gone.
4. Brothers and sisters, that is our life – we are just a mist, a fog that appears and then a short time later it vanishes.
F. Life is short, no matter how long we live.
1. Psalm 90:10 reads, “The length of our days is seventy years – or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.”
2. And 90 12, “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”
3. So, King David says the average life is around 70 years, some see 80, but even so, those years go quickly.
4. But none of us are guaranteed to receive 70 years.
5. We cannot bank on 70 years worth of tomorrows.
6. We just don’t know when this day or this moment will be our last.
I. Examples of the Uncertainty of Life
A. I’m sure all of us remember where we were when we heard about the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.
1. I was at the office when Diana arrived with the strange news that an airplane had flown into a building in NYC.
2. I immediately turned on the television and then watched in horror as the rest of the events unfolded.
3. Here is a picture of the twin towers of the World Trade Center as they looked before the attack.
4. Here is the ominous picture of the second plane as it prepares to collide with the second tower.
5. Here is a picture of the collapse of the first tower.
6. And a picture of people running as the first tower collapsed.
7. And finally a picture of the skyline without the towers and the billowing smoke from the destruction.
8. Now here is the most sobering point for me – no one who boarded those planes or went into those towers that beautiful morning had any idea that they would die that day.
9. All of them had plans for the day, and for later that night, or the next weekend, or the next year.
10. But thousands of people went to meet their Maker that day.
11. Our life is just a mist and we never know when it will vanish.
B. On December 26, 2004 a very large earthquake occurred under the Indian Ocean that resulted in a devastating tsunami.
1. Hundreds of thousands of people were caught unaware and were swept away in the ensuing flood.
2. A Canadian couple named John and Jackie Knill of North Vancouver were frequent visitors to that Asian region and were on the beach when the tsunami hit.
3. Their digital camera was recovered in the cleanup and the final images show a sequence of ocean shots as the effects of the tsunami became a reality.
4. Look at this sequence. They, like so many had no idea what was taking place.
5. There they were enjoying a beautiful, tropical Christmas vacation.
6. They went to the beach that morning with no thought that their life would soon be over.
7. Our life is just a mist and we never know when it will vanish.
C. John F. Kennedy, Jr. was a handsome, talented 38 year-old, who had been born into wealth and opportunity.
1. He had a promising future.
2. But the news of July 16, 1999 seemed inconceivable, and yet somehow dreadfully familiar:
3. A small private plane piloted by John F. Kennedy Jr. and carrying his wife and sister-in-law was missing off the coast of Massachusetts.
4. They were on their way from New Jersey to Martha’s Vineyard, and then they were to continue up to the Kennedy compound in Hyannisport for a family wedding Saturday.
5. No one on that plane had any idea that they would not live to attend that wedding.
6. Our life is just a mist and we never know when it will vanish.
D. I could go on for hours with example after example from around the world, but let me give one more example and bring it a little closer to home.
1. Our dear sister Evelyn Labulis died unexpectedly just a few weeks ago at 79 years of age.
2. She was not in terribly poor health, even though she was living in nursing home.
3. The most wonderful, and yet sobering thing about the timing of her death was this: just the day before she died, she attended a picnic sponsored by the nursing home and all of her children were present for the grand day, even her son who lives on Long Island.
4. No one, including herself had any idea that that would be the last time they would be with her.
5. It was a wonderful day. Many pictures were taken which now will be treasured.
6. We thank God that she lived a full and faithful life, and did not suffer in death.
8. But she is a good example of the fact that our life is just a mist and we never know when it will vanish.
E. I have officiated at over 50 funerals during my ministry.
1. The oldest was a 94 year-old (Nancy Altic’s father), and the youngest was a 5 ½ week-old (My sister Cindy’s son, Noah).
2. The youngest ones are always the hardest ones.
3. I’ve had far too many funerals of people in their 40s and 50s.
4. Listen again to the words of James, “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.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”
II. Sins To Avoid
A. So, what should we do about this fact? James tells us that there are three sins that we need to avoid.
B. First, there is the sin of PRESUMPTION.
1. The sin of presumption is an arrogant or maybe not so arrogant display of pride.
2. Presumption may carry itself with a swagger as did the rich fool in Luke 12 who thought he had many years to flaunt and enjoy his wealth.
3. Or presumption may simply be the quiet, understated presumption that motivates many of our lives, causing us to think we have all the time in the world to do whatever we plan.
4. We must not act like we are the ones who determine our future.
5. We must learn to humbly acknowledge that all that we are and all that we might be is in the hands of God.
C. A second sin is the sin of BOASTING.
1. The Greek word used here has its roots in the characteristic of a wandering quack, which is not unlike the medicine man of the frontier days in America.
2. These quacks offered cures which were not cures. They made promises and boasted of things that they were unable to do.
3. This sin of boasting is based on the invalid assumption that we are able to control our own destiny.
4. Proverbs 27:1 says, “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth.”
5. How many times have we heard the boasting of young, ambitious individuals – “I’m going to be somebody.” “I’m going to make a million before I’m 40.” The boasting bug can even bite those in ministry…”I’m going to build the biggest church in the country!”
6. James says, “As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil.” (vs. 16)
D. The third sin is the sin of OMISSION.
1. Verse 17, “Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.”
2. To know a better way and not to live that way is sin.
3. This, of course, is the most subtle sin of all.
4. We know what it is to sin when we do what God has told us not to do.
5. But we are not as inclined to realize that when we don’t do what God has told us to do, this is also sin.
6. James has been urging us to be “doers” of the Word, not just “hearers” of the Word.
7. Every minute that God gives us to live is a gift.
8. But it is not a gift to be used selfishly. It is a gift to be used in service to God and others.
9. We are privileged to serve as God’s ambassadors of love and grace, and we must not fail to fulfill this mission.
10. He has given us his marching orders, and to fail to do what he tells us to do is as serious a sin as to do what he has told us not to do.
III. A Plan of Action
A. Let me bring this lesson to a close by encouraging us to do three things.
B. First, Let’s Trust God with our lives and futures, and to live one day at a time.
1. Most of us are too young to remember an earlier generation that used to add the initials “D.V.” when writing letters that included future appointments.
2. The initials stood for the words Deo Volente meaning “God willing.”
3. James says we should say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” (vs. 15)
4. The Apostle Paul often spoke and wrote that way.
a. In Acts 18:21, he told the church at Ephesus, “I will comes back if it is the Lord’s will.”
b. 1 Cor. 4:19, “But I will come to you very soon, if the Lord is willing.”
c. 1 Cor. 16:7, “I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits.”
5. I’m not arguing that we should literally add these words to every communication we make, but it needs to be the attitude of our hearts and the sentiments of our words.
6. Deo Volente, “God Willing,” is our reality and must be our mindset.
B. Second, Let’s Appreciate the Moment.
1. Let’s not rush through the present while we move into the future.
2. In Thornton Wilder’s play, Our Town, Emily Gibbs, a young mother who had died giving birth is allowed to “go back” to watch herself living one day of her past life.
3. She chose the day of her 12th birthday, fourteen years before her death.
4. With the excitement of return, she sees the town as it had been on that winter morning of 1899.
5. With nostalgia, she watches as her then younger mother cooks breakfast, and as her father, hiding a surprise gift, calls for his “birthday girl.”
6. With wonder tempered by sadness, she softly cries, “I can’t bear it. They’re so young and beautiful. Why did they ever have to get old?”
7. With mounting frustration she pleads, “Oh Mama, just look at me one minute as though you really saw me!…Let’s look at one another!”
8. Sobbing in grief, Emily cries out: “I can’t go on. It goes so fast. We don’t have time to look at one another.”
9. As she asks to be taken away, Emily reflects, “I didn’t realize. So, all that was going on and we never noticed.”
10. Life truly is a vapor that appears for just a little while.
11. Before it vanishes, take notice and take time to thank God for life and for people, before they are gone. Let’s appreciate every moment.
C. Third, Let Us Not Delay Obedience.
1. There is an old fable that tells of three apprentice demons who were coming to earth to finish their apprenticeship.
2. They were talking to Satan about their plans to tempt and ruin men.
3. The first said, “I will tell them there is no heaven.” Satan replied, “Ah, they’ll never believe that. This book of Truth is full of messages about the hope of heaven.”
4. The second said, “I will tell them there is no hell.” Satan replied, “No good. Jesus, while he was on earth, talked more of hell than of heaven. They will know in their hearts that their wrong will have to be taken care of in some way.”
5. The final demon said, “Then I know the answer. I’ll just tell them there’s no hurry.” Satan said, “Go, and you will ruin them by the thousand.”
6. The most dangerous delusion of all is that there is plenty of time.
7. None of us know the day or hour of Christ’s return.
8. And none of us know the day or hour of our own death. We must not delay our obedience!
D. Ultimately, the brevity and uncertainty of life should not cause us to fear, but should cause us to give our lives to Christ and trust Him.
1. We don’t know about tomorrow, but we know about him who holds tomorrow!
2. We need to hold to God’s unchanging hand.
