Pure Faith isn't Boastful

James 4:13-14

Pure Faith isn’t Boastful

Sunday, October 9, 2022

Pastoral Prayer

Nations: Northern Thailand in light of a tragic shooting this week where 36 were left dead

Church: Emmanuel Baptist Church (Doug Williams) as they consider the gospel in Leviticus this morning

Lord in your word we read, “Deal bountifully with your servant, that I may live and keep your word. Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law. I am a sojourner on the earth; hide not your commandments from me! My soul is consumed with longing for your rules at all times.” Lord would you give each of us here this morning this longing desire for your word. And as we sit under your word this morning, we ask that you would indeed allow us to see your glory this morning and be consumed with your ways. And we ask that you not only give us eyes to see wondrous things, but hearts that desire to walk in the things you call us to. We pray and ask that you will do this for your glory. Amen.

Introduction

As 2020 began, plans were already being made for vacations, trips, and to do lists. Resolutions were either slowly being completed or neglected, like any other year. And then March came. And everything seemed to be put on hold as the shut downs began. At first it seemed as if it would be a quick passing thing, and then it wasn’t. Plans were forced to change. At least for a season, everything looked different with persistent adjusting on the fly. Covid 19 altered the way life looked for us in many ways. And yet, there was once great lesson that it should have taught us, everything can change within a moment. Be flexible, hold your plans loosely.

And while the Covid-19 pandemic was tragic with the many who suffered and died from the disease, there were things we should have learned through it. Namely this reality that our plans can quickly change, so we need to hold them loosely. And that is what we are going to see this morning as we resume our study in the book of James.

In this letter to those who are in dispersion (that is scattered), James has been teaching what it means to have a pure and whole faith in Jesus. How it calls us to not be merely hearers, but doers of the word. Therefore, this call to a pure faith affects how we treat one another, how we speak to one another, how we examine wisdom, where our friendship lies, and now we see this morning even the way we make plans are to be affected by our faith….You can find our section of text this morning on page ____ in the Pew Bible in front of you or follow along in your own copy of God’s word.

Main Idea: The best laid plans are nothing compared to the Sovereign plans of the LORD. Therefore, Christian, plan accordingly, but submit those plans to God.

Making plans in arrogance

Making plans in humility

Making plans in arrogance

James has given some hard warnings so far. If you remember though from last week in our time, we had seen that James had still been using the affectionate phrase, brothers and sisters while addressing those he was writing to until chapter 4, verse 4 when he calls them adulteress people. But now, James adds another address here for his audience in James 4:13 when he says, “Come now, you who say…

This phrase is then repeated in 5:1 in regards to the rich, which is where we will turn next week. But here in 4:13, James appears to be writing to a group he seems to have a hope that are followers of King Jesus. But their arrogance is making him doubtful, and he hopes they will hear this strong warning and repent.

While James 5:1-6 is clearly regarding the rich, James 4:13-17 is in regards to those doing business, those working in the world of trade. But it is not their business of trade that is being brought under evaluation here. It is their assertive plans that they make in regards to their trade business. We see this there in verse 13. It says….

They make plans to go and establish their trade business, which again is not the issue. The issue is that they presume they will go to this or that city and make a profit there. They assume that they will have success. They assume their plans will not be interrupted. They assume they are sovereign over their own lives.

Friends, it is one thing to make plans, it is another for us to assume our plans are to be carried out and not capable of being interrupted. To make such assertions, to make such bold and arrogant claims is to miss who we are as finite beings who are not omniscient, that is all-knowing. We like to think we are. We even like to pass it off as confidence in the making of certain plans. But to make such plans with such an arrogant heart reveals our folly. The folly of our blindness to recognize our frailty. For look at what James tells us in verse 14 in regards to these plans. He writes…

We as mankind are finite beings. Our lives are as a vapor, a mist. They are here but for a little while and then gone. And we are unable to know when that end will come. Nor do we know what circumstances will come along the way. If we are unable to know what tomorrow will bring, how then will we know what a year will bring? How are we to know if profit and success will come?

Going back to our introduction, as we entered 2020, we did not know that 3 months in, everything would look so differently. Plans for our home life, the work world, even church life would all come to an abrupt halt. Even those who tried to adjust wisely with their plans saw how those plans still came tumbling down.

Some friends of mine who serve overseas were due to have a time of furlough. For any who are unfamiliar with missions, a furlough is where missionaries come home for an extended period of time, typically anywhere from 3 months to 6 months after being gone for 3 to 4 years. With lockdowns where they were, and their church unable to meet, they, along with the other elders in their church decided it was best for them to go ahead and take their furlough a little earlier than planned. So, they came home, aimed to be here for 3 months getting refreshed, encouraged, and then aimed to head back. Unfortunately as time passed, they realized they were not able to return to the home they had left, to the people they loved. They were forced to make other plans to go elsewhere and serve the nations, to another people, to another nation.

Our plans are unstable in the best of circumstances, let alone when things are already challenging in living scattered and isolated as James’ original audience was. Yet, despite the unknowns, despite their limited knowledge, the people wanted to make plans that they presumed would not be interrupted. Again, what is being addressed is not the making of plans; it is the arrogant heart that boasts with certainty in these plans. Hearts that presume that their plans will not be hindered by anything. Hearts that presume the results will be prosperous, without any realization that they could fail in their endeavors. Hearts who live as if there is no God.

Just consider all the things that could affect the plans of those going to do trade in another city. They for one could run into difficulty along the way and not reach their city. Sickness or death could strike these tradesmen before they make it or after they barely get started. As they make it to their destination, what they brought to trade in business might not trade well in the area they end up.

Just think about someone who has a massive snow removal business in the Northwoods Wisconsin or even the suburbs of Chicago moving here to Centralia with that business. They might do really well for one week of the year, but other than that they will not make it.

The presumption of going somewhere and thriving in the trading business is pure arrogance with all these unknowns. Instead of making assertive plans, James writes in verse 15, “Instead you out to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.’”

Their arrogance in making plans shows as they do not consider the Lord Almighty, the Sovereign Lord over all of creation. And in failing to consider the Lord, they fail to ensure their plans line up with his. They are living, at least functionally outside of God’s rule. They are attempting to live as their own rulers in the way they are making plans. And this boasting of their plans is in arrogance. In verse 16, it says….

Friends, when we attempt to make plans without remembering who we are and who God is, we are living as if God doesn’t exist or as if he isn’t the Sovereign Lord. We are living a life where we have elevated ourselves to being equal with God in assuming we are in control over all that takes place. This is why James has stated that this kind of boasting is evil.

Therefore, in hearing that such arrogant boasting of plans is evil, we must ask ourselves, where are we boasting in our own plans as if we are sovereign? What plans are we making without bringing them before the Lord to ensure they line up with who he is? And with what he has called us to do? Where are we guilty of such evil arrogance?

As we see in the issue with the original audience of James, this arrogant boasting of plans can be in the business world. But it can also be in our own lives or in the church. To make plans and presume our plans are the final authority is evil. We must repent of such arrogant boasting in our planning and make our plans in humility. And that is where we turn in our second point this morning.

Making plans in humility

Make Plans

Once more, friends, making plans isn’t the issue. We should be diligent to make plans. In Proverbs 21:5 we read, “The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty.”

While planning in arrogance is evil, to be one who fails to plan is careless and will result in poverty. So we should be diligent to make plans in our lives. We should make plans and goals in our families. One of the things we as a family labor to do is to carve out intentional time together. One of those times is around the dinner table. We try to be intentional in sitting down at the table to eat dinner together. Even now with little children, we try and ask what was the highs and lows of the day. That is, what did you enjoy today and what has not been enjoyable or difficult today. And I must admit, my wife is much better at this than me. Likewise, we try and intentionally plan to follow up family dinner with family worship. During this time we plan to read the Bible or Bible stories together and then sing a hymn together.

But the reason for these plans and prioritizing is that we know that apart from making those plans, we are likely not to follow through with them. If we say it's something we should do, but do not make plans for it, it is likely it will not happen. Making plans is important to make sure that things actually get done and take place.

Now, even as we make these plans, our plans never go as planned, especially with young children. Interruptions happen, busyness comes in. Then there are those nights where kids are screaming and fighting through it. But that is the difference between making plans in arrogance and making plans in humility.

Those who make plans in arrogance leave no room for these interruptions. Making plans in humility means that you leave room for the unexpected, for interruptions. Sure, those interruptions are frustrating, but you know that is part of it. You don’t begin to fret when your plans fall apart. You pick up and adjust as best as can.

But it is not just in our families that we make plans. We make plans in the pursuit of business endeavors. Again, it is okay to make plans in the business world. For 8 years I worked in College Athletics, four as a university student, and four professionally. College Athletics according to recent reports is a four billion dollar industry. Part of my role in that four billion dollar industry was to make plans. Planning for game days whether on the road or at home. Making plans for packing all the equipment to go down the road to our game day facilities or to another city or state.

It was my job to plan to make sure we had the right uniforms for every player, along with all their equipment. But not only did I need to make sure that I planned accordingly to have every players jersey, pants, and the right combination. I had to plan for ripped jerseys or players who might have to switch jerseys in a game for a variety of scenarios. I had to plan for fans or heaters on the sidelines depending on the season or both in some scenarios with unpredictable weather. We had to plan on arrival times to ensure everything was ready when the team arrived for walk thru and ready on gamely.

Without planning, this four billion dollar industry doesn’t survive. Yet, as an equipment manager in planning for this, we learned the phrase “Just in Case”. We always tried to plan for the unexpected. We would overpack like crazy, we would plan for as many unseens as possible. Planning is essential in the workplace. It is essential to make sure things can go as smooth as possible. Yet, even with such diligent planning, it must be done with humility in recognizing our finiteness in those plans. It is okay to make plans, that in itself is not the sin issue at stake.

And the same goes with making plans in the life of the church. Each week there are plans that are made for our regular Sunday gathering. There are plans that are made in the planning of the yearly church budget. There are plans in the life of the church for making sure that we have workers in the nursery and Sunday School teachers. There are various plans made for both our church and other local churches. Plans are essential to the carrying out ministry.

Plans are made in ever facet of life. And what we are being taught here in James 4:13-17 isn’t to stop making these plans. In fact, James would encourage us to continue making those plans, but to make them and then submit them to God and his Sovereign will.

Make Plans but Submit them to God

Those who make plans in arrogance never submit their plans to God. The humble, however, submit their plans to the LORD. They do so by echoing verse 15 of our text, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”

Having the heart, if the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that, is to acknowledge that the Lord is God and we are not. It is to say, here is what we have planned in our diligence, but you alone O Lord are sovereign and able to carry these plans out. This is why we read in Proverbs 16:3, “Commit your work to the LORD, and your plans will be established.”

Unless we commit our work and our plans to the LORD, our plans will not succeed. For again, we are finite creatures. We are not the sovereign one, the LORD alone is Sovereign over everything.

Friends, we can plan all day long and have the best laid plans, but these are nothing compared to the plans of the Sovereign LORD. For in his Sovereignty, he will ensure his plans are carried out fully and perfectly. We cannot say the same for our plans. It is only in submitting our plans to the LORD that we can be sure our plans will be established. For it is the LORD who guides our steps, for this is what we read in Proverbs 16:9, “The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.”

To submit our plans to the will of the Lord means that as we make plans, we are understand that our plans and the plans of the Lord may not align. Therefore, we who have a pure faith are to trust in God’s plans over our own. And this is why the posture of our heart in the making of plans should be, if the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.

I use here, the phrase, posture of our heart, because it is not necessary that we must use the phrase if the Lord wills, every single time in our verbiage as we make plans. But while the phrase doesn’t need to be coming off the tip of our tongue, this truth must be engrained in our hearts. This truth that God alone is sovereign and all our plans are subject to him and him alone. And the reality is, this fact that our plans are to be submitted to the Sovereign Lord should be of great comfort to us.

Our plans being submitted to the Lord allows us great freedom and great hope. We have a great freedom in this, because we can labor to make plans, but have room for our plans to fail. Friend, because we are not expected to be sovereign as we make plans, there is room for us to make poor plans, to fail at those poor plans. There is freedom that we don’t have to be perfect here. It’s okay when our plans don’t go like we expected them. That my friends is freeing.

At the same time, we know that because the Lord is sovereign, none of his plans shall fail. As already stated, the Lord's plans are going to be carried out fully and perfectly. And because of that, we have a great hope. God’s plans for his kingdom to advance will not be stopped. His plans to bring every nation under him will succeed. His plans to draw people from every nation, from every tribe, from every people, from every language to himself will succeed. The Lord’s plan to bring about the new heavens and earth will succeed. And so will his plan to judge all the peoples of the earth accordingly.

Because God is the Sovereign Lord, his plans and his alone are guaranteed to succeed, to come to completion. And this is why as Christians we should submit all our plans to him alone. For only then can we be sure we are faithfully and humbly walking with the Lord.

But we must return here in closing to a warning given to us in verse 17. A warning that it is not enough to simply know this. We read in James 4:17….

It isn’t enough for us know that we should make our plans in submitting them to the Lord, but fail to do it. To fail to do it is sin. And it is here we must look to the cross, to the one who perfectly submitted his own life to the plans of the Lord, even as it meant that he would suffer and die and be buried.

In Mark’s account of the gospel, in the 14th chapter, the 36th verse we read, “And he (Jesus) said, ‘Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.’”

Jesus submitted himself to the will of the Father in going willingly to the cross where he was crucified and died. Jesus’ body was buried, he remained dead for 3 days, but then arose from the dead to bring about God’s perfect plan of redemption. That is so that all who would believe in Jesus for salvation should not perish, but have eternal life.

Salvation comes because of the the Son of God’s perfect submission to the plans of God the Father. Christian, you have no hope apart from such submission to God’s Sovereign Plans. Therefore rejoice in such humble submission to his will and his plans. Your very life is in debt to those plans.

And friend, if you have been here with us this morning and listening in as we consider plans and God’s sovereignty, we are glad you have been with us. But I want to urge you to see your own desperate need to not delay at submitting your own life to God this morning. While you might be tempted to think I don’t really need to do that now, I can wait until later. Friend, what do you not get that we do not know what tomorrow will bring? Our life is but a mist that will soon vanish away in death. And we know not when death will be knocking at the door. Acknowledge your sin, confess that sin to God and cry out to him to save you in Jesus Christ. Believe that Jesus died to take away our sin, if we will but come to him. Make this faith your own today! Come to Jesus and find rest in him, because he submitted to God’s plan to bring about salvation through his own sacrificial death on the cross. And the assurance of this plan is made known in the fact that he is risen from the grave and currently seated at the right hand of the Father.

Conclusion

Plans can be a good thing. But our plans are not always perfect, for we have a limited knowledge. But we cannot rightly see the frailty and arrogance of our planning unless we look to God, the Sovereign Lord. For only when we see him in all his beauty and majesty and power can we rightly grasp our folly and the depth of grace we are offered in Jesus. For when we look to God and his perfect plans, we see that the most certain place for us is not our plans, but his.

Let’s pray…