Your Calendar is Fragile
Notes
Transcript
Opening Illustration:
A few weeks ago I was working from home. I had a lot to do that week so I had planned out my week to a fairly strict calendar. Tuesday is normally my service planning and Sunday school day. Thursday and Friday are normally blocked off to sermon prep. That week I did not have my normal Wednesday morning meeting so I was working from home that morning. I had a specific plan to finish a certain message by 11 am… then 10 am came and it was clear that wasn’t going to happen - but I knew I could get it done by lunch. Then 11 o’clock came and the doorbell rings.
We weren’t expecting anyone.
I open the door, and there are two men standing there who say “Good morning, we would like to share a encouraging word from the Word of God with you.”
Now I already knew who these men were, yet when the man turned his book over and I saw the JW logo on the back of his book - it was confirmed that they were indeed Jehovah’s Witnesses.
At some point they ask me “These are tough times. What hope do you have for the future?”
I was currently reading through 1 Cor. 15 so my response was to recite back what I was reading in verses 20-28. So I told them “That Jesus is seated at the right hand of God risen and reigning as king” and “that he will reign until he puts all of his enemies under his feet.”
Oddly enough they didn’t know what to say about that. Which gave me the opportunity to take charge of the conversation. So I immediately pressed into the differences between what we believe - and how they do not actually believe what is in the Bible.
So I pressed them on Jesus eternally existing as God. He has no beginning or end. We went back and forth for a few minutes. I pointed them to Revelation 1:17-18, and Rev 22. Colossians 1 and 2. John 10 and various other passages of Scripture. It was actually the most pleasant conversation I have ever had with JWs. I invited them to the men’s bible study that was that Saturday… they didn’t show up. But they did ask if they could return… which is much more positive than the cursing I received from JWs I talked with in California.
However, I have to admit that a small part of me did think… well there goes my calendar for the week as I opened the door.
This was an unexpected interruption in my plans… but I was given the opportunity to preach the gospel, and boldly proclaim the Scriptural truth that God became a man.
THIS WAS NOT WASTED TIME. BUT THIS WAS NOT PART OF MY PLAN.
It was however, clearly part of the will of the Lord.
It reminded me of a sign that my mom used to have when I was growing up. She had one of those desks that had a spot for every part of the computer. This was back when computer towers were massive, monitors were heavy… and no one else could use the phone if you needed to use the internet.
Some of you think that was last week… that was 25 years ago… life is but a vapor.
So the tower was here… the desk had a tray that pulled out with a spot for the tray and the mouse. And then the monitor was lifted up above that. And this sign she had sat on a shelf right above the monitor - so you saw it whenever you would get up. The sign read:
“If you want to make God laugh tell him your plans.”
Now there is no chapter or verse for that - but we can easily see how that statement comes from this text.
I do want to add that Psalm 2:4 does tell us that God looks at the plans of the wicked and holds them in derision, and Psalm 37:13 tells us that God laughs at the wicked. So while I wouldn’t be too dogmatic about the sign - I think we can see how it is not too far from the truth.
The text that we are looking at this morning is not a condemnation of making plans.
This isn’t the proof text for God hating calendars. Nor is James teaching us “Thou shall not plan.”
Rather this is a condemnation of arrogantly thinking that you are God and are in control of everything.
You are not God. Stop living like you are.
Last week’s text was about being humble before God submitting to him, and being humble before our brothers and sisters in Christ. We further learn from this text that humility before God, and submitting to God also means submitting our calendar to God.
I’ve heard it said that if you want to find out what you love then you should look at your calendar and your checking account…
What do you spend time on? What do you spend money on?
James is concerned with both.
Next week’s text deals with a warning to the rich.
This text deals with James addressing how only the kind of plans you make but how you make them.
Humble Planning
Humble Planning
As we look at James 4:13
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—
James isn’t railing against making money, or doing business. This isn’t some proof text against capitalism. Though some have suggested that it might be. Once again, a reminder to read and understand the Bible in context.
James is also not merely speaking of short term plans - he makes reference to someone spending a year in a place to do business. So the principles of this text most certainly apply to both long and short term plans.
We notice that James does not condemn commerce, or making a profit, or even going into such and such a town. But instead in verse 14 we read the issue…
14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.
You cannot have arrogant confidence in what the future will hold - because you are not God. This is a further extension of humility.
How often have you made plans only realize that your calendar is fragile? You make plans and have no idea what tomorrow holds. I’m sure every married man in this room has done this… you make plans to go golfing, or you make plans to sit on the couch and do nothing, or you make plans to do work around the house only to find out that your wife has made other plans. You do not know what tomorrow holds. You cannot guarantee that your calendar is perfect. Your calendar is fragile.
It is foolish to be arrogantly confident in your fragile calendar.
Understand that your time here is limited. Consider the question that he asks there “what is your life?”
Then he answers it. Your life is but a mist. Here one moment and then gone then next. This is either extremely comforting or extremely frustrating.
In the grand scheme of time your life is relatively short. Most of you have lived a little bit more life than I have yet this is the language of the Scriptures.
10 The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.
15 As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field;
Resist having a bold over confidence that the calendar will bend to your knees… and lets be honest, we all know it doesn’t. I’m sure we can all think of a time that we set plans that we were looking forward to and they were cancelled by things outside of our control.
Verse 10, teaches us that we ought to humble ourselves before the Lord. Hold on to that as your plan. Approach your planning with humility knowing that God’s sovereign hand is working. God’s sovereignty - his divine rule - is over his schedule as well. And your schedule ultimately subjects to God’s schedule.
God’s Sovereign Schedule
God’s Sovereign Schedule
Take comfort in knowing that even when you hate what God is doing because it’s hard - it is for your good. So approach your plans with humility.
James advises us in how we ought to handle our planning:
15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
While James is telling us that we ought to say “Lord willing” when making plans this does not mean that we need to tack this on to every conversation we have. If every time you make lunch plans with someone after church you say “Lord willing we will go get a burro” it will eventually sound stale and superficial.
This text is not advising your to routinely tack on “If the Lord wills it” to everything you are to do. James does not want empty routine talk… this is part of taming the tongue. This isn’t about mindless repetition of a phrase when making plans. James is conveying the identifying marks of an attitude.
Have this mind about you when you make plans.
It reminds me of the overconfident seminary student who plans to graduate and plant a church in Southern California only to later find out that the Lord would have a very different direction for him… and that he doesn’t have the personality (nor the passion) of a church planter.
James wants us to understand that God is sovereign over the calendar. The one who hung the stars in the sky and tells the sun to rise each morning and set each night is working all things according to the counsel of his will. (Eph. 1:11). Frankly, God does not care about your plans as much as he cares about his will.
So when we make plans we should do so with reverence to God’s sovereignty and God’s will.
This also shows us that what we do in business, in work, where we live, where we retire, when we retire, where we raise kids… all matter to God. We ought to seek to do please God, and do those things in accordance with God’s will.
Even the mundane matters to God, as the mundane should still be done to his glory.
Boast Boldly
Boast Boldly
16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
James then gives us a condemnation against boasting. The NT is pretty universally against boasting. This coming out of a text on humility is important. You cannot be boastful in things of your own doing when you understand that you’re calendar is fragile, your life is fragile. James specifically tells us not to boast in our arrogance. This form of boasting is evil - there is but one form of boasting that is encouraged in the Bible:
We read from Paul in Gal. 6:14 to boast only in Jesus.
14 But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
Do not boast in your own plans because you can’t control them.
Do not boast in yourself instead humble yourself before the Lord.
Instead boast boldly in Jesus.
Proclaim that savior who at the right time died for the ungodly.
6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
God does everything at the right time. When Jesus came the first time it was at the right time - the inn with no room was part of God’s perfect timing. The cross was no happy accident - but Jesus was crucified as part of his perfect plan.
In the time when Jesus was arrested, on the cross and in the grave - the disciples plans were ruined… or so they would have thought. They returned back to fishing… But God’s plan was still working in his perfect schedule to change everything…
He rose from the dead on the third day as God’s perfect plan.
James, then concludes this section with what seems like an odd statement but it is still very much connected.
17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
When you know what God’s will when it is clearly revealed by his word but still attempt to make a different decision with your life - that is sin.
When you make plans for your life that are contrary to the will of God, and you know better that is sin. When you ignore what God has revealed is his will and you ignore it that is sin.
You should submit to God in the kind of plans you make as well as how you make them.
James warns us not to boast about our plans for tomorrow.
And on the other side of that Jesus warns us not to be anxious about tomorrow.
Specifically:
34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Do not worry about your life… but also do not boast about tomorrow.
Instead take hope in God’s schedule.
Jesus teaches us not to worry about our life, and James on the other end teaches us not to boast about our life.
Looking at this text we can also make the conclusion that not only does your calendar demonstrate what you love - but it will also determine whose kingdom you are living for. Whose will are you seeking? How do you respond when your schedule is disrupted?
When your plans are ruined that is the opportunity to step back and ask “Do I really believe, “your Kingdom come, your will be done”?
And this isn’t just when your weekend plans are ruined… but when career aspirations fall through, unexpected health issues arise, you lose you job, your 5 year plan is disrupted, an unexpected event sets your whole year… or decade… or life into a different trajectory that’s when we respond with “not my will, but your will be done”…
Take comfort to know that When God interrupts your plans with his, it is not wasted time.
This morning we began reading Psalm 119, we will continue to read that for the next 10 weeks. It is the longest passage of Scripture in the Bible at 176 verses. As I mentioned last week, the whole Psalm is about the law of the Lord, and the writers love for the law of the Lord. This Psalm teaches us that while God has not given us a crystal ball into a future, but he has given us a light unto our path. (Max Lucado, Traveling Light)
105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
I may not know exactly what tomorrow holds - but to return to the question that those two gentlemen who came to my door asked me… I have hope in the future because I know that Jesus has risen from the dead - at the right time he died for the ungodly - and though my life is but a vapor - on the last day when he returns he will raise the dead in Christ…
He will gather his church to himself…
He will wipe away every tear…
He will judge the living and the dead…
every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. And those who do so with joy and rejoice in the King will be declared righteous.
I do not know what tomorrow holds, I can make plans with the attitude that “if the Lord wills, this is what I plan to do.” But even if those plans to not come to fruition I can trust that God is still good - and that he is working all things for our good and for his glory.
Do you have that hope for the future?
