James 4 Grief Sermon

James 4:13-16

“The Reality of Life and Death”

James 4:13-15, “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit;’ whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For 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 arrogance. All such boasting is evil.”

Tom Heyman, in his book, In An Average Lifetime, shows what the average American will do in his or her lifetime: 3 years in business meetings, 13 years watching television, $89,281 on food, consumes 109,354 pounds of food, makes 1,811 trips to McDonalds, spends $6,881 in vending machines, eats, 35,138 cookies and 1,483 pounds of candy, catches 304 colds, is involved in 6 vehicle accidents, hospitalized 10 times, and spends 24 years sleeping. Now friends, those statistics only apply if you and I live an average lifespan. The average lifespan for an American citizen is around 79 years, but you and I do not know if we will live an average lifespan.

God’s Word does not declare that you and I will live an average lifespan; in fact, God’s Word declares that we do not know what tomorrow holds, nor if we will live to see tomorrow. James is writing to believers in the Jerusalem church. His letter is very practical about what Christ-like living is and what it is not. And from his writing, particularly in the passage we have read this morning, he obviously had some important business people in his church. These business people were planning for their future endeavors. The text states again, “They would be going to a certain city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit.” And on the surface, there was nothing wrong with this. There is nothing wrong with being in business to make a profit. There is nothing wrong with planning where to go and do business, nor is it wrong to plan ahead on how and where one will conduct that business. We should plan. We should plan for the future. However, from the reading of this text, they have the wrong outlook on life. These men, according to verse 16, were arrogant and boastful. In a nutshell, they were trusting in their own abilities, they were in control of their own destiny, and they were leaving the Lord out of the equation. You see church, from the way James approaches this, these men were depending on themselves, and not depending on the Lord or His will for their life.

These men were being foolish in their thinking because James says in the beginning part of verse 14, “You do not know what will happen tomorrow.” They thought they were so sure in what they would be doing a year from now, but the preacher tells them, “You don’t even know what will happen tomorrow!” These men desired to carry out a plan, but according to the 1st century preacher, they didn’t even know or could predict what tomorrow held for them. They were limited in their understanding. They could not see the future.

In calling out their arrogance and boasting, James gives them an object lesson on life and death that should not only opened up their eyes, but it should open up our eyes today as well. James asks a question, “For what is your life?” For them, in this context, they would probably reply to be successful in business. What about us this morning? What is your life? The kids and teachers in the house may say, “Just to make it so summer break!” Some of the adults may say, “I go to work to provide for my family.” The retirees may say like the farmer in Jesus’ parable, “To live a life of leisure.” Yet, God’s Word answers it for us this morning. The Bible basically states, “Life is short and uncertain, but death is so certain.”

1. Life is Short and Uncertain (vs. 14).

James states this about life, “Life is but a vapor.” According to God’s Word, life is very short, and life is very fragile. Life compared in light of eternity is but a vapor. We all know a vapor does not last long at all. Technically speaking, dew is just tiny drops of water that form on cool surfaces at night when atmospheric vapor condenses. When you came to Sunday school this morning, there was dew on the ground. When you leave in just a little while, that dew will be gone. Many mornings on the weekends, I get up and walk outside. When I begin my walk, there is dew on the ground, when I finish my walk, the dew is gone. So is your life according to the Lord.

You may have had a cup of coffee this morning when you got out of bed. When you went to take a sip of that coffee, you noticed steam rising from that cup that soon disappeared. So is your life according to the Lord. When winter comes, you can go outside and when you breathe out you can see your breath for such a few moments before it vanishes. So is your life according to the Bible.

My life and your life, not matter how young or old you or I may be, is very short from God’s point of view. Job 7:9-10 states, “As the cloud disappears and vanishes away, so is he who goes down to the grave. He shall never return to his house.” Job 9:25 states, “Now my days are swifter than a runner, they flee away.” Psalm 39:5 says, “Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths, And my age is nothing before You; Certainly every man at his best state is but vapor.” Psalm 103:15 says, “As for man, his days are like grass.” Isaiah 40:6-8 says, “All flesh is grass and all its loveliness is like a flower in the field. The grass withers and the flower fades, because the breath of the Lord blows upon it. Surely the people are grass.”

All of these verses point to the fact that life is very brief. What is like the grass, and what is like the flower that fades? Our lives according to the Scriptures! Church, life is short and precious. Put your finger in a glass of water and pull it out. Does it make an indention? Sure, but only for a moment! So are our lives on this earth. You and I will not live on this earth forever. Our lives will come to a close before we realize it.

These men in this text failed to realize the uncertainty and brevity of life. They were boasting about what they were going to do in the future, yet they did not even know if they had a tomorrow to live. Solomon warns in Proverbs 27:1, “Do not boast about tomorrow, For you do not know what a day may bring forth.” Experts estimate that a lightning bolt last 45-55 microseconds, the average running shoe lasts 350-500 miles, a pencil can write up to 30,000 words, a ball point pen can draw a line 7,500ft. long, a 100 watt incandescent bulb lasts 750 hours, a 25 watt bulb will last 25,000 hours, and a one dollar bill lasts 18 months in circulation. Yet, the Scripture says our life is but a midst, a vapor. Church, life is short and very uncertain.

2. Death is Certain (vs. 14)

James states, “For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.” Not only is life short and uncertain according to the biblical text, but death is so certain but its time so uncertain. Life is short, and then it vanishes away. Vanishing away carries the idea of ceasing to exist. In this context, it means ceasing to exist in this life. Paul R. Williams states, “Statistically, one out of one dies. Currently, some 56 million people die each year; that is over 6,000 per hour, over 100 a minute and almost 2 a second. And as long as the Lord tarries, we too will become part of that sobering statistic.” Death is not only a reality for all of us, it is certain. Benjamin Franklin is famous for saying, “In this world nothing is certain, except death and taxes.” Indeed, some may evade the IRS, but no one will evade death. Hebrews 9:27 states, “And it is appointed to men to die once.” Every one of us will eventually die. The word appointed actually means something to be laid up so it can be counted on. We can count on the fact that we are not going to stay on this earth forever. Quite frankly, the only way to get off this earth is by death. Billy Graham puts it like this, “No matter how much you exercise, no matter how many vitamins or health foods you eat, no matter how low your cholesterol, you will still die – someday.” He also states, “Death reduces all men to the same rank. It strips the rich of his millions and the poor of his rags…Death knows no age limits, no partiality.”

Sooner or later we will face death. You will face it, and I will face it. And we need to be prepared by having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. He is the hope of our salvation, and He is the hope of our future. He is the difference maker for everyone who has placed their trust in him. We need to be prepared, because throughout the Bible, we see that life is short and death is certain. David states it this way in 1 Samuel 20:3, “There is but a step between me and death.”

But before we close out this morning dealing with the reality of life being short and death being certain…I want you to think about it from this angle. Death is not only a reality for you, but look at the person to your left and right. Look at the people in front of you, and look at the people behind you. We put ourselves in this story, and we should. However, have you ever came to the place and thought about this…Death will come for you, but death may come for the one sitting beside you before it does you. Church, I am not trying to be morbid by any means, but sometimes we fail to realize God may call our loved ones home before he calls us home.

We never know when we will draw our last breath on this side of eternity, but we also do not know when our loved ones will draw their last breath as well. God only knows the future and what it holds, and we need to come to the realization that we are not bulletproof and our loved ones are not either. We all have an appointment, but their appointment may be before ours. Life is short and death is certain for all of us, even those we love.

I know death is certain not only for me, but for those I love. At the young age of 48, Laney’s mother passed unexpectedly. They talked Sunday night, and she didn’t live to see the next morning. As Vance Havner rightly states, “Gone – and the chilling, numbing awareness that it can never be again down here.” Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 states, “To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven: A time to be born, And a time to die.” Not only do you and I have a birthday and a death date set in the future, so does our loved ones.

According to the Associated Press and the Chicago Tribune, in the span of one year, tragedy struck twice in one family. In 1994 Ali Pierce, the fourteen-year old daughter of John and Anna Pierce of Massachusetts, was diagnosed with liver cancer. She fought the disease bravely for two years, but in November 1996 she succumbed.

Her parents of course were grief-stricken. To deal with the loss, the father sought a constructive way to help others. He started running and set the goal of entering the 1998 Boston Marathon. He intended to take pledges for his run in support of the cancer center where his daughter had died.

On October 11, 1997, Pierce entered a half-marathon of thirteen miles in Hollis, New Hampshire. It was the longest race he had ever run. He was fifty-one years old, and so before the race he had a medical exam and was given a clean bill of health.

He almost finished the race. Just ten feet short of the finish line, wearing a ball cap that said, “In Memory of Alie Pierce,” John Pierce crumbled to the pavement, dead of a heart attack.

My beloved church family, life is short and death is certain not only for us, but our loved ones as well. One of the great difficulties of life is death, and at some point the grasp of death will catch up with us all. The difference in how we cope and deal with death is by holding onto the promises of God. Since Christ has conquered death, so will those who have placed their faith and trust in Him. Are you and your loved ones prepared if tomorrow never comes?

I would like to close by sharing what is written on a tombstone in a cemetery in Indiana. It states, “Pause, stranger, when you pass me by, as you now are, so once was I. As I am now, so you will be.” Life is short, death is certain.