Walking through James (12)

What is your life?

IF I HAD BUT ONE SERMON TO HEAR

In 1906 Charles Reynolds Brown was preaching in the San Francisco Bay area of California. That spring, on the Sunday generally designated as Easter, he and the other preachers of the region spoke to full houses. Years later, he mentioned that particular Sunday in his lectures to the young men at Yale University and said, "How differently I would have preached, if. I had only known that many of those in my audience were hearing the last sermon that they would ever hear."

Neither the preachers nor their listeners could possibly have known that the great San Francisco earthquake was to come on the following Wednesday morning and that many of them would be killed before another Sunday had arrived.

SOURCE: If I Be Lifted Up, Batsell Barrett Baxter, p 19

So often we make plans, but where does God fit into our plans. This is what we are going to hear from James.

Let’s read tonight’s Scripture.

James 4:13–17 NIV

13 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.” 14 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. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. 17 If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.

I want to start by saying that God is not calling us to fly by the seat of our pants. He’s not even calling us not to make plans. He is calling us to submit our lives to Him.

Proverbs 16:1–9 NLT

1 We can make our own plans, but the Lord gives the right answer. 2 People may be pure in their own eyes, but the Lord examines their motives. 3 Commit your actions to the Lord, and your plans will succeed. 4 The Lord has made everything for his own purposes, even the wicked for a day of disaster. 5 The Lord detests the proud; they will surely be punished. 6 Unfailing love and faithfulness make atonement for sin. By fearing the Lord, people avoid evil. 7 When people’s lives please the Lord, even their enemies are at peace with them. 8 Better to have little, with godliness, than to be rich and dishonest. 9 We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.

We need to walk by faith. In everything that we do, God needs to be the center of it.

James 4:13 NLT

13 Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.”

We live in a society where we need resources, we need a certain amount of money to survive. God is not opposed to money. He isn’t opposed to us making plans.

You’ve maybe heard the saying, “Those who fail to plan, plan to fail.”

James was addressing people that made their plans and neglected to get direction from God.

Deuteronomy 8:17–18 NLT

17 He did all this so you would never say to yourself, ‘I have achieved this wealth with my own strength and energy.’ 18 Remember the Lord your God. He is the one who gives you power to be successful, in order to fulfill the covenant he confirmed to your ancestors with an oath.

It can be so easy to take the credit when we succeed, and yet without God’s blessing, we can do nothing.

I’ve heard it said that there is only one place where success comes ahead of work, and that’s in the Dictionary. (John Hagee)

We can be so quick to make plans but

We don’t even know what will happen tomorrow.

James 4:14 (NLT)

14 How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow?...

I don’t think that I’m the only one that can fall into the trap, but it can be so easy to take tomorrow for granted and we really don’t know how today is going to finish.

James asks the question,

What is your life?

Have you ever thought about your life?

When I think of life, when I was young, a year seemed so long. As I got older, time just seemed to speed up, and before I could figure it out, my life was more than half over, and I could ask the question,

“Where has the time gone?”

Chuck Swindoll in his book, “Living on the Ragged Edge” shared this,

Swindoll stated this in His book Living on the Ragged Edge” … about the importance of our time:

“Every morning someone who loves you very much deposits into your bank of time 86,400 seconds of time-which represents 1,440 minutes-which, of course, equal twenty-four hours each day.

Now you’ve got to remember the same stipulation applies, because God gives you this amount of time for you to use each day. Nothing is carried over on credit to the next day. There is no such thing as a twenty-six-hour day (though some of us wish there were). From today’s dawn until tomorrow’s dawn, you have a precisely determined amount of time. As someone has put it, “Life is a coin. You can spend it anyway you want to, but you can spend it only once.”

One of the most fascinating (and, I might add, frustrating) of all subjects is this four-letter word TIME. It’s amazing. We all have the same amount of time. Whether we are penniless or whether we happen to be the richest person on earth, whether we are young or old, single or married, employed or without a job, an adolescent in school or the President of the United States of America-we have exactly the same amount of time.” (page 67).

What is your life?

It’s a mist that vanishes. It’s a morning fog. It’s here for a while and then it’s gone. It’s a vapor.

When we think of these things, we see the brevity of life. We see how quickly it is here and then it is gone.

What are we going to do with the time we have each day?

Psalm 90:12 NIV

12 Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

The NLT says teach us to realize the brevity of life...

The Bible doesn’t teach us to go and hide away because of the brevity of life, but it teaches us to make the most of every day. It teaches us to keep God as our focus.

Ephesians 5:15–16 NKJV

15 See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, 16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

Ephesians 5:15–16 NIV

15 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.

Days can seem long, weeks go by quickly, and the next time we look, the month is gone.

James 4:14 (NIV)

14 ...What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

We are here for a little while and then we are gone.

When our focus shifts from us to God, instead of saying. “I’m going to do this… Then, I’ll do that...”

James 4:15 NIV

15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”

or if the Lord wants us to...

Let’s trust in the Lord with all of our hearts, and lean on His understanding. He has promised that He will direct our path.

Planning is crucial in life. Having focus is important. We can’t be running around like chickens with our heads cut off. Jumping here and there. God is a God of order. He is not a god of confusion, but a God of peace. In our planning, we need leave room for God to move, and God to direct, but commit our plans to Him so that He can bring them to pass and cause our ways to prosper.

Having a last will and testament

isn’t saying that you think you are going to die right away, but it helps others to know what your plans are with the things that God has placed in your care when you die.

Some people don’t want to think about death. If I do something bad is going to happen. The problem is that if we don’t plan for death, it leaves a mess for others to try to clean up.

Each of us needs to plan for life after death. We need to know that we are ready to meet the Lord after we die. The relief we have when we know that our sins are forgiven and that our name is written in the Lamb’s book of life. Jesus is the Lamb, and He died to pay for our sins.

So many people think that everybody goes to heaven. That’s wishful thinking. Only those who have given their lives to Jesus Christ are going to heaven, we need to acknowledge that we are sinners. Believe that Jesus died for our sins. Confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord.

We have time each day to run this race called life, and the only thing that will last is what we have done with Jesus.

When we make our plans without Christ, we are actually proud thinking that we can do it on our own.

James 4:16 NIV

16 As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil.

James made it very plain. We are arrogant to plan our lives without asking God to lead us. It’s like saying, “I can do this myself.”

Sometimes, I’ve found out the hard way. It’s like God saying, “you want to do this by yourself, try it and see how that works for you.”

I don’t believe that I have seen success in my life when I’ve done things in my own strength without God.

Let’s close with verse 17.

James 4:17 NLT

17 Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.

There are two categories of sin.

Sin of Commission and sin of omission.

Sin of Commission is when we actively sin. This is when we lie, steal, cheat, envy or covet. These are things that we do that break God’s law.

On the other hand, sins of omission is when we know to do something and we choose not to do it. We might not lie but we say nothing, even when we know the truth.

It could be something like not taking the time to help somebody when it’s within our power to help them. We have the choice to make whether or not we are going to do good to others. Let’s make that choice.

Proverbs 3:27–28 NLT

27 Do not withhold good from those who deserve it when it’s in your power to help them. 28 If you can help your neighbor now, don’t say, “Come back tomorrow, and then I’ll help you.”

Let’s never forget the value of our time, and let’s use each day to bring glory and honour to the Lord. Let’s fix our eyes on Jesus as we make our plans, and ask that He would guide our steps, and finally, let’s be willing to help those in need, because it pleases the Lord when we do. Jesus wasn’t too busy to go to the cross, so when we think we don’t have time, let’s remember His great sacrifice for us.

Let’s pray.