Appetite
Leading & You - Following God’s Plan For Your Life • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Introduction
Introduction
Many times in our lives, we are faced with making a decision, direction is something we desire on a daily basis. What should I do here, when should I do it? e.t.c.
Why? At every point in time, we are faced with a decision to make, sometimes, it is even like, “what job to take when you have multiple offers etc”. What country should I live in? Choice of a spouse? Even, when everywhere seem quiet, like life itself has no direction, for example, “I met a man recently that expressed much frustration, leaving his home country, coming to the Netherlands, and having to do jobs that is not what he wanted”. He sounded pained, unhappy etc. Sometimes, we look at life and begin to wonder, DID I MAKE THE WRONG DECISION? DID GOD LEAD ME?
Some of us have probably even resolved to whatever will be, will be (Qua sera sera), hence, I might as well live my life the way I deem fit, or the way I choose it to be. We have our own clear plans for our lives, AT THIS AGE, I HAVE TO BE MARRIED, AT THIS POINT, I MUST HAVE THIS ACCOMPLISHMENT e.t.c.
13 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”; 14 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. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” 16 But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
Now, let us look at this text carefully, as this will lead us into the focus of this study together;
There is a way we could read this text in isolation and it would sound like this;
“Well, I have my plans and if the Lord wills, I will carry out my very plan”. Since, I know we are like vapour and our lives can probably end anytime. Is James saying well, Lord I need your permission to do this, i.e. May we do this thing? Therefore putting the focus on the thing we want to do.
For example, I want to get married to this person, so we come with “Lord, is this the person I should marry? I want to do this business, so we ask, Lord is it this business I should be doing? So the focus is on the thing we already want to do, we are only asking if the Lord approves or not.
But, is this what James was really teaching? Let us look into it abit more;
The conversation in James began with two words; “Come now”
Come now, which is like me calling someone to pay attention to what I am about to say; it is in context a continuation or further point on what he has been explaining, or the point he has been making;
Let us begin from the context;
1 Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? 2 You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. 4 Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”?
Verse 1 — James was pointing to what leads to conflict among us, what leads to division among people, he said, the root is from the desires for pleasure that war in our members.
If you read it in the ESV, it becomes even more clearer;
1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?
He is saying, what causes quarrels and fights among us is that our passions are at war within them (and us). It is easy to blame the conflict on other people i.e. you are the cause of why we are fighting etc, but James is pointing us to something deeper, that the source of our conflict with others are from within us, which is our strong passion for things.
Verse 2 — He gave us some examples of this;
2 You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask.
Lust — ἐπιθυμέω (epithymeō). vb. to desire, to yearn for. Describes having affections for something; it can be used in positive and negative senses.
So, he was still discussing same passions for pleasure he mentioned in verse 1, that they can be strong enough that it leads us to murder! Whilst this might be an hyperbole, it still gives us a good understanding of the extreme nature of our desires, it can lead to something so strong as murder.
It can also lead us to fight and war.
Now, in the second part of verse 2, he mentioned something that flows into verse 3;
Yet you do not have because you do not ask.
Meaning, it is possible not to have, because I simply did not ask. Jame have here in mind, the request to make of the Lord, I am asking the Lord for this very thing;
3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.
Verse 3 — But there is another twist, I can ask, and not receive, why? You are asking to spend it on your pleasures. Meaning, the issue ongoing here, is still about this pleasures, passions, and strong yearn for, that seems to lead us to conflicts and war, and murder and even hinders us from receiving from the Lord.
So far, James has not presented our passion and our desires in a positive light, he has said it is the very root cause of the trouble we have, the conflict we experience, the envy and self-seeking passions.
Look at James 1:13-15
13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.
Notice, James has previously said, the root cause of man’s sin, are his desires, he said they draw him away.
Away from what? We will get to it;
4 Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
Adulterers and adultresses — Why will he call them this? Because people who give themselves to an uncontolled pursuit of their desires are called adulterers.
In Scripture, adultery often symbolizes covenant betrayal. Israel was called an “adulterous nation” when they pursued idols or worldly passions (see Hosea 1–3, Jeremiah 3:6–9, Ezekiel 16). So James is echoing the prophets: anyone who loves the world’s systems, values, and self-serving pleasures over God is being unfaithful to Him.
6 The Lord said also to me in the days of Josiah the king: “Have you seen what backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and there played the harlot. 7 And I said, after she had done all these things, ‘Return to Me.’ But she did not return. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it. 8 Then I saw that for all the causes for which backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a certificate of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but went and played the harlot also. 9 So it came to pass, through her casual harlotry, that she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees.
So James was echoing the prophets here, that his audience in pursuit of their own endless passions, world systems, values, self serving pleasures have made themselves an enemy of God, by making themselves friend of the world.
Meaning, whilst on the surface, my uncontrolled desires, might look innocent, it might look like I AM DRIVEN, it might look like I am passionate, James said, when we have this uncontrolled desires, they lead us to become ENEMIES OF GOD (i.e. We are hostile to God).
But you will ask, Who would willingly make themselves the enemy of God? Well some, but not us believers, we love the Lord, but James here is saying, our uncontrolled desire and our decisions, eventually can make us enemies of God.
Verse 5 — James 4:5
5 Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”?
So, James alluded to an old testament text, for us to see that whilst we are in this world, God has put his spirit in us, and that spirit yearns for us to focus on the Lord.
Hence, in light of this, in light of him redirecting his audience to focus on the Lord, he said in verse 6;
Verse 6 — James 4:6
6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”
God gives more grace.
This is a very encouraging thing that as we see the deepest conflict in our hearts of our passion which leads us away and make us enemies of God, God gives grace to the humble.
Notice, not to the proud, not to the high minded, only to the humble does he give grace, he describes this in verse 7-10
7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.
Submit to God, resist the Devil and he will flee from you.
Verse 8-10 — In contrast to the previous verse of 1-5, James offered some comfort here, howbeit, we yet make a choice.
It is a choice to either yield to this endless passion, and desires, and it our choice to choose to yield to God, humble ourselves, draw near and receive his grace.
One leads to becoming an enemy of God, the other leads to becoming a friend of God, to draw near to God.
God aids my inadequacies, he aids my insufficiency, as I draw near to him, he lifts me up!
Next week we will get into this, But Enemity with God, is actually yhe supplanting of God’s plan and desire for us. i.e. walking contrary to HIS PLAN and DESIRE FOR MAN.
Back to verse 13-16
Back to verse 13-16
13 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”; 14 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. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” 16 But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
The context of James 4, is that we run into all forms of issues when he has an uncontrolled appetite, passions and desires, when he doesn’t govern his passion and desires.
13 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”;
So, he began with a quick request for them to sit up, to focus on what he has to say!
Now, The question we started with, is James teaching;
“Well, I have my plans and if the Lord wills, I will carry out my very plan”. Since, I know we are like vapour and our lives can probably end anytime. Is James saying well, Lord I need your permission to do this, i.e. May we do this thing? Therefore putting the focus on the thing we want to do.
This will already contrast all that James was teaching about our own passions and how it might lead us into envy and strive etc, he is asking us to focus on something… more, a higher standard.
James is asking us to actually consider something else, which is rather than focusing on my plans and then asking the Lord to bless it, or Can I do what I want, and simply asking for the seal of approval from God, James is saying “IF IT IS THE LORD’S WILL, WE WILL DO THIS AND THAT”, that is,
In other words, we ought to ask is; “IS THIS WHAT GOD WOULD HAVE ME DO, OR SOMETHING ELSE?”
Rather than boast in my own plans, and pursuit, I ought to seek to find out, “is this God’s plan?”
Brother Hagin will say often;
“Don’t make your plans and ask God to bless them. Discover God’s plan, for it is already blessed.”
The emphasis isn’t on getting God to endorse our plans — it’s about submitting our plans to His direction.
In other words:
Asking permission keeps me at the center — “Can I do what I want, God?”
Asking direction puts God at the center — “What would You have me do?”
James wants believers to live dependently, not presumptuously — to see life as participation in God’s unfolding plan, not management of our own agenda with divine approval.
Hence, what our passion and uncontrolled desires eventually lead us to, is where we make our own plans, we boast in our own arrogance, we then sometimes, if we try to be Christian, think, well, God, do you approve of my plan.
See, this leads me to something I saw that got me thinking alot; He was talking about making martial decision, and said, the problem we often have is we set out praying about marriage, when someone is already on the scene, but rather, when we ought to pray is when we don’t have someone in mind, or in view, when we can indeed submit that desire to God early on in life.
Uncontrolled desire masked as piety will be, me making my own plans, my own decisions and trying to seek an approval from the Lord, I already have my mind set on the very thing I want, what we ought to do, is lay our very lives before him, not seeking permission, but direction.
What would God have us do? This is the heart of this study we will get into from next week;
Let us hear Jesus;
25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me. 26 But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you. 27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.
Notice, they hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.
“The voice of the good shephard, I hear and I follow”
“The leading of God, is not strange to me”
Notice something, following already shows you that you are not the one to lead your own life. You follow another. His plan, his will, his desire for your life.
This is what James is also calling us to;
Are we going to lead our own lives, following our passions, or are we going to say “If the Lord wills” — Are we going to seek direction or just approvals?
What is God’s plan for our lives, why are we saved, called his own? What about certain decisions that we cannot escape? Can opportunities be what lead me? and much more.
