Doing God’s Will
Notes
Transcript
The Uncertainty of Tomorrow: Trusting God's Will
The Uncertainty of Tomorrow: Trusting God's Will
Bible Passage: James 4:13–17
Bible Passage: James 4:13–17
Have you guys ever made big plans before?
I know I sure have, I actually had pretty big plans yesterday with Mikaela. With church being on Wednesday and her birthday being today, we went out to eat yesterday. She had no idea, I called her at work, said I am picking you up, we are going out to eat, tell me what you want to wear and I’ll bring it to you.
Plans are fun.
Have you guys ever over planned something?
Like you knew you were going to go somewhere so you made a schedule and when it came down to it, you were like why did I put so many events on here?
Or you are so detailed orientated and you are like at 12:02 the cake is going to be cut, and at 12:43 everyone needs to be done eating.
Well today we are going to be talking about plans, how our plans are not always God’s plan, and sometimes we can plan too much.
Life is Uncertain
Life is Uncertain
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will travel to such and such a city and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.”
Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring—what your life will be! For you are like vapor that appears for a little while, then vanishes.
So James sets the scene of a businessman who is going to make a plan to make money.
This man says that he is going to go to a city, so he is moving to a place for business.
This man next sets the time that he is going to be there - 1 year
Finally he is going to do business, he has his plan on how he came make the most money in a year and bring a profit.
This man is planning out all of these details about how his life is going to go.
Whats the problem with this?
We don’t know.
We do not know the things of this world.
We do not know what they are going to bring.
Has anyone ever had anything sudden happen to them? or if you are willing something suddenly bad?
I feel like breakups are generally sudden.
Car breaking down.
Injuries.
That is where the biggest one for me is, there I was in college thinking I am going to be this starting line backer that will be all conference, have tons of tackles, show everyone how great I am.
I had all of these plans but where did they leave me?
With a blown knee, crutches for over a month, plans ruined.
This is the point that James is getting at! WE DO NOT KNOW!
He is saying we are so easily consumed with other things, it is so easy.
With money, a job, a girl, a guy, we are like a dog when we see a squirrel, we want things.
but it goes back to last week.
Our motive matters.
God is not anti-planning, but wants you to consider him.
The problem with the man James is not that he planned, but that he had his “winning formula” to get money, he knew what everything was going to look like “he” knew.
But he made plans that had no place for God.
We cannot have a spiritual blinders on, be so set on something and leave God in the dust.
God has a plan and will for your life, but we are called to obey him.
Give us today our daily bread.
Jesus tells us that we need daily bread.
We have to go to him each day and say what do you have for me.
It is not a weekly bread, a monthly bread, or like some of the people coming on Easter their yearly bread.
God wants us to consult him every day. We need him everyday.
God knows what tomorrow brings, we do not.
So why trust ourselves, when we can trust his will.
First we talked about how “you don’t know”
Now, We don’t last
We are like a vapor.
We are here now, but we will soon be gone.
Guys, we do not know when our last breath will be.
Here in Missouri when its cold we see our breath. We go “haw, haw” and we are like oh there is my breath, oh its gone.
For them they were in Jerusalem, hot, dry, so the morning dew would be out, then the sun would come up and boom, its gone.
But either way we have to know that we do not last.
Every breath that we take is God’s grace.
It is his will for us to have breath in our lungs.
Just as easily as he gives it, he can also take it.
Our lives our too short not to follow God’s will.
We do not know if we have tomorrow to follow God’s will.
We could have 80 years left, or 80 seconds left.
You don’t know, but we do know that we don’t last.
This world is not our homes.
Earth is temporary.
Y’all know Trip Lee? Like the Christian rapper?
He said it like this:
Imagine you didn't know how much money was in your bank account whatsoever, and when that money was gone, it was just gone.
You could do nothing to make any more.
You know what you would do?
Every single purchase you made would be careful and calculated.
You would get nothing more than you needed to.
You would think really carefully, because you don't know when you're going to be out of money.
Scripture is telling us our time we have on earth is something we should budget carefully for and we do not know how much of that time we have.
Man I love Trip Lee, I like his preaching more than his rapping, but he is right.
With our life being a vapor, we do know know our timeline.
We have to budget our time carefully.
How would you live if you knew today was your last day, if tomorrow was your last day?
It might change somethings.
But guys I want you to know that life is so unpredictable.
Life is too unpredictable to plan without God in mind.
Include God's Will
Include God's Will
Instead, you should say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
So instead of trying to plan for ourselves we should say if the Lord wills.
We have to know that God’s will is vital in planning.
It once again, goes back to our motive.
Are we living for Christ and listening to his will.
We might now know his will all of the time though. Sometimes it is hard to tell, if this is God or if this is me.
We have to be walking with God either way.
When we are walking with God he is going to give us wisdom, he is going to lead us, and direct us to his will.
Everything we do and everything we accomplish must be in God’s will.
So how? How does this work?
It says he we wills, we “do” this or that.
So this passage brings up two things that we have seen before.
Our Speech
Our Action
Our Speech -
We talked about several weeks ago about being slow to speak, but quick to listen.
Well here we go for round two of this discussion.
This is not only to people in the world, but also to God.
We have to be listening to God.
Quickly or all the time.
When we do this, we will speak in ways that honor Him.
We will be able to say “if the Lord wills”
Our Action -
If it is of the Lord, we have to act.
James loves to talk about action, we might be in round 5 of talking about action.
We cannot be couch potatoes.
We cannot say well the Lord’s will is going to be done either way, so I might as well sit back, eat ice cream, not do anything because the Lord is in control and it will all pan out.
No. James makes it clear over and over again, we cannot just be hearers of the Word, but we have to have action.
To know God, we have to know God’s word, to know God’s word, we have to spend time with God.
When we spend time with God we learn that he calls us to act.
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.
On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, drive out demons in your name, and do many miracles in your name?’
Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you lawbreakers!’
Even Jesus says the one who will enter is the one who does the WILL of the Father.
We have to put our trust in Christ, grow in Him, and find out his will so we can follow it.
When we trust God in action and speech we will start to become shaped by his will.
His will is greater than ours.
I also want to give a warning when it comes to this passage.
It tells us to say “if the Lord wills”
This is a good saying and we should make it a practice.
Jesus even says it.
Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Jesus wants the will of the Father to be done.
but this does not mean that we have to say, “if the Lord wills” after everything.
Instead it should be a state of being. Doing the Lord’s will, being in his will.
What we cannot do is use it as a filler line.
Y’all ever heard someone say no offense then say the most offensive thing to mankind?
Some thing, we can’t say, “if the Lord wills” then keep living in the World, chasing after our own desires.
We have to have it as a state of mind, knowing that we truly want the Lords will to be done, so we are seeking after him trying to fulfil it.
Boast in God's Name
Boast in God's Name
But as it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
So it is sin to know the good and yet not do it.
James finishes by calling these people out.
He is saying why boast in these things.
Why brag about your plans when your plans are not honoring Christ.
He says that it is arrogant.
He is saying:
Do not live like you have forever because you do not.
Stop boasting in the things of this world.
Because if they are not from God, they are from the world, and if they are from the world, it is rooted in evil.
Do not boast in the world, but rather in God.
Boasting in the world does not good.
if we have become friends with the world we are arrogant.
if we become friends with God, we will find out his will.
When we follow God we become humble because we know without him we are nothing.
And scripture tells us that when we become humble, the Lord lifts us up.
Then we see verse 17
So it is sin to know the good and yet not do it.
This is convicting.
If you know it is good and you do not do it, then it is sin.
Let that sink in for a second.
It hammers home the point that…
God must be in everything.
This “good” is still the things of God, because things that are “good” to the world are not always good.
but we do not think like this.
we think in a way that says, “God said do not lie, so I will not lie.”
But disregarding what God has said is just as big of a sin.
This is hearing the word and deciding not to do it.
To a definition.
God said to clothe the poor, and I went on with my day,
I knew it was right, but that does not affect me.
No, James said it is sin, and that is hard.
Do not disregard God’s word.
It is an easy thing to do, but live in action and in God’s will and it will put you on the right path.
In conclusion.
We are called to do God’s will
His will is so much greater than ours.
On our own we will be lead astray, but with God, we can put our hope in his good, pleasing, and perfect will.
