If the Lord Wills

The title of today's study, If the Lord Wills. If the Lord Wills. So let's open our Bibles and turn to James chapter 4. And we'll be reading in verses 13-17. James 4, verses 13-17. Here we come to this passage that will be before us today. And here we will find the words of the title, If the Lord Wills. Over the last months or so, we have delved into the book of James as we've gone along. And again and again, what we find in the book of James is that he is constantly and consistently putting his finger on the areas of our life that are so clearly in need of God's attention, God's correction, and perhaps no more so than this little section that we're about to read from here. Let's see James' words to us. We begin our study today. James 4, verses 13-17. He says, Come now, you who say, tomorrow, today or tomorrow, we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell and make a profit. Verse 14. Whereas you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life?

It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that. But now you boast in your areas. All such boasting is evil. Verse 17. Therefore to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

Let's stop there.

Just a few weeks ago, this earth of ours completed another one of its long journeys around the sun. Another year has passed, and as we measure it on the calendar that we use today, of course.

We, as these little beings living on the earth's surface, mark another completion to another year. And if everything goes according to plan, it will of course happen again next year, just like last time. You can almost say, just like clockwork. Just like clockwork.

In fact, you could say of the years that come and go, these years can be likened to that of a hand of a clock. A hand of a clock that turned in its circle.

And if you remember, not too long ago, there was a song that addressed time, the passing of time, in those exact terms.

Turning like a circle. One of you recall that. It was a song that suggested that time, the passing of time, the history itself is cyclable. In other words, reoccurring, moving in circles. And it was given to us in the lyrics of the song and the movie, The Lion King. How many of you remember that? The courtesy of Elton John. Now, I'm not endorsing Elton John, of course, because he's a good singer. Some of you might recall that song from The Lion King. I won't sing it to you. You'll be happy to know. But I'll read you the lyrics of the song. Here they are. For the day that we arrive on this planet, and blinking, step into the sun, there's more to see that can ever be seen.

More to do than can ever be done. There's far too much to take in here. More to find than can ever be found. But the sun rolling high through the sapphire sky keeps great and small on the endless ground. It's the circle of life. And it moves us all through despair and hope, through faith and love. Can we find our place on the path, unwinding in the circle? The circle of life. I can't tell you how tender that was to say that. Did you see how strong I am? Now, clearly we understand that the planets spin, and that the Earth it revolves, and so on. But contrary to this perspective of this song, which really owes more to Eastern religions than it does to Biblical Christianity, contrast in this song, the Bible makes it clear that the years do not circle. They do not circle. But rather, the years are in a straight line. Straight line. The years go in a straight line. The Bible states that there is a beginning and there is coming an end. A straight line, if you will. As all is moving toward a conclusion. An end. Rather than moving in some continuous circle. A line. There goes a beginning of us and of creation. And all things since that beginning are working toward a conclusion. All things are working toward an end. That's what's described to us. The Scripture. And so it is to that line that we wake up to each new day. And we don't wake up to by natural necessity. We don't wake up by mechanical law or by our own right or by our own choice. We don't wake up, nor by the courtesy of nature. But rather, we wake up to each new day only by the covenant-lit mercies of God. In other words, there is a distinctly biblical Christian view of time. Telling us that time is a gift from God. Created by God. A gift like every other good and perfect gift that He gives us. It comes from Him and it should not be taken for granted.

Now, the passing of time ought not to cause us panic. Nor should it be presumed upon at any point. If you think about men and women, as they look at their watches, as they look at their clocks, often they're either distinctly panicked by the passing of time. Or, you find them presuming upon it. And somewhere in between those two positions, the words of the Psalmist come ringing out. Where it says, teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. That's Psalm 90 verse 12.

In other words, a wise man or a wise woman is the man or the woman who is reckoning correctly the nature of time that is passing. The man or the woman who has a correct view on time.

And these opening verses here that we read at James, James is providing to us, his readers, we will see, the correct way to face the future. He's providing the correct way to conduct our planning for it.

If you are a planner, then you already have your 2018 planner. Whether it's in a binder form, whether it's in an electronic form. How many of you depend on a planner often? Quite a few. So I'm speaking to the right crowd here.

If you're like me, you had that 2018 planner sometime around mid-2017 and you were a little bit mature that it didn't come out earlier. And we have that planner making entries into it, adding little bits and pieces, plans to be here, plans to be there. It's all perfectly sensible. We're creatures of time.

There are places to go, things to do, people to be this. It's right and proper for us to plan our time in that way. So what is the problem here with James chapter 4 in this passage here?

Well, James is concerned and he understood by noticing first two things here.

James first says, this is what you say, and then he says, this is what you ought to say. Did you notice that? So verse 13, you who say, you see that? You say, and then look at verse 15. Instead, you ought to say, you who say, instead you ought to say. So this is the concern of James. So what does he say at first that people are saying? Look at verse 13 again. What are people saying? Come now, you who say verse 13, today or tomorrow, we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit. Do we save people? Today or the city? Today or tomorrow, we'll go to the city and spend a year there, carry out activities, do business, make money, and so on. He says, this is what you say. That begs the question, what's the problem with this? You read this scripture, you think, well that's just normal human activity, isn't it? It's normal human behavior that's described. It's very ordinary. It's everyday human routine, really. After all, mankind, our objective here on earth, is basically laid out for us. We're here to make money. We have to make money. And we go here and there to make the money. After we make the money, we go here and there to make our plans according to it. Often we frame it within a year. This is what we're going to do in this upcoming year. That's what it says there in verse 13. We develop our plan for the upcoming year. But you'll notice, it is in light of this seemingly ordinary routine that James begins in a particular way. How did he begin? He says, come now. Did you notice it? In other words, listen now. Pay attention now. What does he say? Before you go on planning your next year, which you say you're doing, there's something I need you to consider first. You ought to stop and consider the fact that you're competently planning the upcoming year, and yet you don't even know what's going to happen tomorrow.

That's the first part of verse 14 there. He says, whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. Let's read verse 13 and the first part of 14 there together. Come now, you who say, today or tomorrow we will go to sections of the city, spend a year there by itself, make a profit, whereas you don't even know what will happen tomorrow.

You've got your plans for a year. Well, tell me. What's going to happen tomorrow?

So, James is giving a particular word here to the plans. All those that raised your hand.

He's giving a word to those who clutch onto their smart phone very tightly, and they clutch onto it until that door finally closes onto the airplane. They reluctantly put it away, and then they scramble it forward again once the wheels get the runway once again. He's talking to those who maybe don't have those electronic contractions, but they carry around their big, thick binder and stuff in it. They've got a zip on the clip of different things. And it's not that we're so driven by these plans, these bits and pieces, that they're able to tell you not only what's going to happen today or tomorrow or next week or the next month, but they're able to go on a year, a year past, well beyond that. And so James is giving a word to those individuals who are caught up in the song.

James is giving a word to those who are in this circle of life existence, living as if the world's just going to keep turning on and on again, over and over again and again. So what he's doing, we'll see, is he's confronting the tendency of men and women to act in such a way as to suggest that we can safely make all our plans without any reference to God, or any reference to Him, or a lead in Him out of the equation altogether. So he's not addressing the issue of planning in and of itself. There's nothing wrong with it. He's not charging that there's something wrong with any plans or that it's unhelpful.

What he's doing is he's confronting the peril of presumption. In verse 13, we say today, in the realm of this city, that city, and he's speaking to those circle of life thinkers. And he's speaking to those individuals who are established on their plans, on their own ability. And really, the focus here is the we, if you notice. Oh, we will do this. We will go there. We will achieve this, and so on. And he's placing that in context with the absence of dependence on God. That's what he's doing here. And to do that is presumptuous, James says. Because you're highlighting all your plans on the strength of your own perceived ability without any reference to human thrills.

And so this focus is to be the self-made man, self-made woman. James says, I want you to think about it a moment. Come now. You're making all your plans. Think about the way that you're framing your plans for this next year. You should be framing your plans in light of the inherent problem that faces all of humanity.

What's the inherent problem that faces all of humanity?

It's the problem we don't even know what's going to happen tomorrow to. Let's do it. We don't really know. So you've got big plans for tomorrow, you don't even know what's going to happen tomorrow. And it is in that light that you should be framing your life. The future is unknown. That cannot be denied. You know, can we really say that it's going to be sunny tomorrow? Can we really say that the thunderous clouds won't roll in? Can we really say that the flag won't be delayed or your car won't break down? Waiting to go home today?

Can we really say that there's going to be sufficient milk in the refrigerator? Will you put it on your cereal when you get home? Or that the kids got to it before you can get to it? Can I really say that's that future for me? The fact is we don't know the future. That's what he's pointing out here.

And he's saying it really ought to humble us. You know, if there's a theme in the Bible, it's that. How do you build it? These things really ought to humble us. Because no matter what amount of planning, one clap of thunder, one clap of thunder, we will go, we will spend, we will carry on business, we will make money, all blown away in a moment. Isn't it? The best laid plans blown away. So when we acknowledge, he's saying come to you, this humbles us. And we think that we're really not in control of it very much in this physical life.

And the fact of our ignorance of what tomorrow will bring, it should be an occasion to humble us. But I was thinking about this. You know, it is humbling. But there may even be, it may even be helpful that we don't know of some of the future. If we knew some of the things, if it was laid out for us, it might not be a helpful thing to think about it. It may not be helpful, even if we, it might not be helpful to us that we don't even know the good that may happen to us down the road.

Why? Why would it not be helpful to know what may be awaits us? Well, we might become unbearable. Driving our feathers, walking around with a big smile on our face, and I'm waiting every morning. You know, if you all knew what was going to happen to me.

You know what I'm about to become. And there might be a temptation at hitting immediate, because the success is not fully enjoyed right now, that we become distrustful of people. We see it's good we don't know success, and it may be even more obvious, it's good we don't know what awaits us in aches, heartaches, or disappointments.

Fears, future fears, failures, bereavement, illnesses become. What advantage would it be to know those things in the future? That would be an unimaginable burden to carry around. So it is humbling. It's a humbling thing, nevertheless not knowing what will happen tomorrow. And when coming to the second half of verse 14, James says in light of that fact, he wants his readers, us, really think about life.

Think about this physical life. Look what he says in the second part of verse 14. But what is your life? It's even a vapor that appears for a little time, and it vanishes away, he says. What is your physical life? He says, let me tell you what your physical life is. I'll give you one word. Vapor. Your physical existence is but a vapor. Some translations have it as mist. Mist appears for a little while that vanishes an acre of mist, frail.

One moment you're here, the next minute you're gone. We understand mist. I'm sure when we looked out into the morning time, we looked out into the slow-down here, you would see a mist. Before you know it, then it's gone as the sun comes up. No need to try to collect it. It's not there. It's insubstantial. It's inconsequential in the morning sense. What is this physical life? A vapor of mist. Appearing for a little bit, it's not vanished. So I want you to see what James is doing here. He's taking verse 13, and he's really saying that in juxtaposition to verse 14. He's wanting the reader's mind to paint this picture. See if you can put this in your mind.

Verse 13. City, one year, make money. Then transpose onto that, superimpose onto that, vapor, little while vanishing. What he's doing here, vapor, little while vanishing. So that in all my visits to the city, in all my making money, in all my going here and there, all my plans, all of that needs to be set in the larger perspective of the fact, James says, that you're a mist. You're here for a little while, and then you're gone. Now, if you come up to this point, you know, you have to know, it's not James' desire to make people feel uncomfortable here.

He's not opposed to future planning, making plans. He's opposed to circle thinking, we will see. Again, painting is he's got to be. He's opposed to being self-sufficient. He's opposed to the self-supportive individual. No reference to God. As if we're the master of our soul destiny. As if to think that all that matters, and I know we've all found it at a certain period of time, all that matters is we make the perfect plan. Oh, we just got to make the perfect plan for this next year. We do that, everything will work out fine.

No, we don't even know what's more of a ring. James says, let me ask you this question. What is your life? All you're going to and fro, anybody, let me ask you this question. What is your life? Maybe you even asked that question, we asked the reader. We asked what is your life. And unless we find the answer to that question, regardless of the perfect plans, unless you answer correctly to that question, your life will end in utility.

Without answering that question, you come to the proper answer, all is Utah. What is your life? The poets had that down, that life was Utah. They had that back down. Shakespeare had it down very well in Macbeth. What does he say? He says, life is but a walking shadow. Out, out, brief candle. Life is but a walking shadow. The poor player who comes out on the stage, comes out and says his lines, does his best, out there for a little bit, finally exits, left a stage.

Shakespeare says the poor player who struts and frets for an hour upon stage, and that he's never heard. After that, he's heard no more. That's utility. Now again, James isn't calling for a life of forbidding, or that we move around in some kind of a worse existence. He's purposeful in speaking at how he does, as he says, come now. Come now, you who say these things, you're making your plans.

Don't approach life in that way. He says, rather, let me tell you the right way. Let me tell you how to approach time, and time passing, and your future. Let me give you the right perspective, and that comes to us in verse 15.

Verse 15. Instead, he says, Instead, you ought to say, If the Lord wills, we shall live, and do this or that. Isn't that profound? So instead of dealing it with the way I've just outlined, James says, you ought to live, and you ought to say, If the Lord wills, we will live, and do this or that. In other words, if we presume upon our days that we view life as if it was our right, that each day, the new dawn, that it came as a courtesy of our right or by nature, we'll be thinking incorrectly.

Rather, we come to each day on this earth as a gift from God every morning. So when you wake up and you open your eyes, when you take that first breath of consciousness, that is an indication of the fact that God has willed that breath to you.

That's an indication of the fact. That's how we should raise up every morning. It's the realization that every day only comes to us if the Lord wills it for us. Spurgeon addresses this. He says, let it be clearly understood, let it be conspicuous in all your arrangements that you recognize that God is over all and that you are under His control. He says, let it be conspicuous. Let it be obvious in all your arrangements, the way we speak, the way we make our plans, the way we reflect upon our lives, the way we tell others about our dreams and our hopes and what we hope to do and plan to do.

Let it be conspicuous that God is in it all. He's recognized it all. And when we say, if it is the Lord's will, when we say, if it is the Lord's will, just know we're not moving into some realm of the unknown. Not at all. Because God has, in His revelation of Himself, and in His revelation of His law, identified for us what His will is. He's identified it for us certain things, and how we regulate our lives, and how we move, and our attitudes.

We know what God's will is. We reveal it to us. So, when we say we're going to do something, we need to be saying, I will do this, as long as it doesn't violate God's will. We ought to say, if it is the Lord's will, I am going to do this. In other words, if it's not the Lord's will, I'm not going to do it. If God wills for me to live righteously, then it's not His will for me to live unrighteously. If it's God's will for me to be content, which it is, by the way, then I refuse to live my life in discontent.

We know God's will for us. Verse 15 says, we need to say, God to save the Lord's will if we should live, and do this or that. And that might be just an absolute revolution for us in our lives. As we enter into this new year, 2018, if we can get a hold of what James is saying here, a revolution will occur in our lives. Because it will mean that our dependence on God, and God first in that way, and His will, be in every dimension.

All of our relationships, all of our plans, all of our family and business, all of our hopes of retirement, all of our relocating, all of our planning for our possessions, all of our plans for relationship with our children and grandchildren. Every aspect James says should not be for the approach that, this is my life, and I'm going to do it the way I want, and I will take care of this, rather approach it if the Lord wills. If the Lord wills. Boy, do you have a plan? I don't know if you can do it on your electronic device. You ought to write that across all, every day. If the Lord wills. Write it across all your plans, all your drinks, all your hopes, all your days.

Because otherwise, to do otherwise is evil, James says. Look at verse 16. Verse 16, he says, But now you boast in your ignorance, arrogance, evil. Now you boast in your arrogance. All such boast is evil. So there can be a certain thrive in ourself, he says, and planning our future with confidence in this prideful way. Such arrogance individuals lead God out. So James is saying, I came across this this week.

Do you know what the number one song is that's asked to be played or sung at secular periods? Do you know what's asked, the number one song that's asked to be played, the melody or sung, number one for secular periods? Does anybody know? Yes.

You're right. I did it my way. I did it my way. See, I couldn't resist this whole life. I'm only... Oh, I did it my way. The number one request is solved. So as the coffin sits there, I did it my way. Can you imagine? Can you imagine?

I've lived, I've laughed, I've cried, I've had my fill, oh, my sheer of losing, and now as tears subside, I find it all so amusing to think that I did all that. And may I say, not in a shy way. Oh, no, oh, no, not me. I did it my way. God, James says, such boasting. Let's brag. This is evil. It's evil. So in verse 17, James says, Now look, in light of all that I've told you, give me the perspective here. Anyone who knows what they ought to do, doesn't do it. It's in verse 17, therefore to him, who knows to do good, does not do it, to him, this and that. I just told you the right perspective you ought to have. So if you go forward differently, and you and I go forward differently, in 2018, just know, James says, you'll be guilty of sin. You will be guilty of sin. And he punctuates it all. There's a warning here. What will you rely on yourself? I've given you the call to walk humbly in your days, with God. You know to do this. And as we often say, as we look at the book of the letter of James here, you just always hear an echo of his brother, Jesus Christ. Don't you? He's always an echo. Even though James didn't believe Jesus Christ was a messiah for a long time, he finally guided all those words that he heard from Jesus. I think it finally came back to his mind. We know we won't turn there, but Matthew 6, his brother Jesus Christ said, Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Seek first the kingdom of God. And Matthew 6 goes on to say, No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to one and his hate the other. And he says, you cannot serve God and manmen.

It can't be God and manmen.

It can't be, I'm going to go do this and do that and this and all. God is kind of a sidekick or an extra.

The Christian is distinctive in this culture, and they're distinctive by saying, God first, God willing. That's how we're distinctive. God first, God willing.

God first with my time, my money, my talents, my mind. Everything. God first. And here's what I hope to do, and these are the plans I hope to fulfill. God willing.

I'm only affording to his will. So, the distinctive nature of a Christian is not that they're absent of a plant, or a fenght of this, or a driving force.

It's just they got the right perspective in their days. They know that life is but a miss. And the fact that life is but a miss doesn't cause us to, or give us an excuse to go outside his will. We try to just snatch all the pleasure we can. All life is short, we've got to snatch all the pleasure we can. No. The Christian is distinctive by saying, No. We are but a miss.

But today matters, yesterday matters, tomorrow matters too. And it is God first and God willing. James says, you say this, let me tell you what you ought to say. And he finishes with the series and the subits. Anyone operating in the mentality of verse 13? Anyone operating solely in the circle of life mentality?

We're in trouble. And they're moving into dangerous territory. If you're living in that circle of life mentality, who takes this, you need to realize. You need to realize, life is not a circle. Actually, it's a straight line. It's all moving to a conclusion. The days you're living will come into account. One day, there is a conclusion coming.

Your days are going to be judged. It's not a circle. It's not a circle.

Though, if you found yourself planning, planning, planning, unable to check off the completed box in your life to know what your life truly is, it may be because you haven't fully included God in with your plan. Some of us come frustrated today. The reason we remain frustrated is because we're maybe searching for satisfaction in certain living.

Satisfaction of what the world has to offer.

And just know, this is what I long to really tell our young people.

I live that circle of life living.

And there is nothing in the going to and fro which will satisfy the deep longings of your heart.

Never will.

Why?

Why?

Well, it's more the fact, whether we want to acknowledge it or not, that we remain for His pleasure, God's pleasure, not our own pleasure.

And we will remain forever dissatisfied until we find ultimate pleasure in knowing that we were created by God, for God, and we were created to glorify Him.

Which is your life?

What is your life? You were created to glorify Him.

Until one day, He's going to share all His glory with you.

In this lifetime, what is your life? You're here to glorify Him.

So, God first, God willing, in all of our days.

And the beautiful thing is, one day, He's going to share all His glory with us.

If you want to get out of the frustration you feel, start with acknowledging that you are, but amiss.

If you're prepared to admit that first, then you may be prepared to admit that God made you for Himself, and you may begin to live for Him and not yourself.

God made you for a grand purpose.

So, if you're living circle-dipping, you know, those individuals, you'll get up in the morning, and you won't even know why I did not get up this morning.

It just feels like I'm willing to wait my days. That's how it all feels.

God made you for the express purpose, to experience the fullness and the others' blessings and the wonder of His love.

Augustine put it this way, You, God, have made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in You.

You, God, have made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in You.

So, I know I now move forward. I go to and grow. I make all my plans, but I can make sense of my days now.

Yes, my days are but a mess. My life is fading. I understand that.

Eventually, of us all, they will say, what was His name?

We'll be in order of His name. All fave. We'll turn it.

But I know that if I write, if God wills, across every page of my life, I know that God never forgets the name of His child. Never.

And, oh, does He have plans for me.

You see, this little passage here of James, it's good news.

Throughout the book of James, we just say, thank you for that reminder.

We should have this admonishment.

Let's conclude today. I'd like to actually conclude with a psalm. Let's turn to Psalm 39.

Turn with me now, if you will.

We're going to make it turn a little bit today, a little bit of work.

Psalm 39.

And I think this Psalm 39 is fascinating, because I like to believe that James might have been reading this as he penned this portion that we focused on today, this letter.

The Psalms were continually used by the New Testament writers to help fix their gaze upon God, to help God's people do the same.

Maybe James was looking at this particular passage here in Psalm 39, and he was painting that part of this letter.

But this will conclude.

Psalm 39, let's read verse 4-7.

Psalm 39, verse 4-7.

Lord, make me to know my end, and what is the measure of my days, that I may know how frail I am.

Indeed, you have made my days as hand-pressed, and my age is nothing before you.

Certainly every man at his best state is but paper.

Surely every man walks about like a shadow.

Surely they visit themselves in vain.

He keeps up riches, does not know who will gather them.

And now, Lord, what do I wait for?

My hope is in you.

Let's stop there. I love verse 4 there.

Lord, make me to know my end, and know the measure of my days.

May I know how frail I am, he says. That's incredible. Oh, that I may know how frail I am.

Why is it important for a man or a woman to know that at their best state they are but a baker?

Even at their best state, they're just a baker.

Why is it important for a woman to know that?

Why is it important for a man or a woman to know just how inadequate they are?

Why is it important for us to know we're so inadequate, we don't even know what tomorrow's going to bring?

Why is that important to know? How inadequate we are?

Well, it's so that we might turn to him for all the adequacy he provides.

That's why. That's a... Get these things sorted out while they're time.

Oh, how quickly life passes us by. The opportunities, the investments of time, the things God's given us, the things he has for us, the plans for us.

All of it, all of it is set in just this very short timeframe, isn't it?

Like a morning mist comes in, the next moment it's gone.

Oh, Lord, let me know how frail I am, how fleeting my life is.

Let me know that so that it might drive me to you.

May we embrace it, live in the light of James' words here for the next year.

May we all say, if the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or do that and dedicate all of our days to Him.