James 4:13-5:13

James 4:13–5:12

Main Idea

Faith entrusts its plans, possessions, and future to the Lord because He alone controls tomorrow

Introduction

Have you ever noticed how much of life is spent trying to control tomorrow?

We make plans.

We fill our calendars.

We save for retirement.

We purchase insurance.

We prepare for every possibility we can imagine.

None of those things are wrong. In fact, many of them are wise.

The problem isn't planning for tomorrow.

The problem is believing tomorrow belongs to us.

Most of us know God is sovereign.

We would affirm that without hesitation.

Yet our lives often tell a different story.

When our plans fall apart, we're shaken.

When our finances become uncertain, we're anxious.

When life doesn't change as quickly as we'd hoped, we become frustrated.

Why?

Because we like to think we're in control.

The problem isn't that we want certainty.

The problem is that we're looking for it in ourselves instead of in God.

As James begins to close his letter, he addresses a struggle every one of us knows well.

It's a struggle that hides beneath our ambitions, our worries, our schedules, and even our prayers.

It raises a question we all have to answer:

Who—or what—am I trusting with my future?

Point One

Our Plans Must Be Submitted to God's Will

James 4:13–17 “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”— 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. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”

Exposition

James isn't condemning planning.

Scripture actually commends wise planning.

The problem is planning as though God is unnecessary.

Notice how confident these businessmen are.

"Today or tomorrow..."

"We will go..."

"We will spend a year..."

"We will make a profit."

Every detail has been accounted for—except God.

James interrupts with one devastating statement:

"You do not know what tomorrow will bring."

Their greatest assumption wasn't believing they would make money.

It was believing they owned tomorrow.

Then James reminds them of reality.

"You are a mist..."

Life isn't permanent.

It's brief.

Fragile.

Dependent.

James isn't trying to discourage us.

He's trying to humble us.

The appropriate response isn't to stop planning.

It's to plan with open hands.

"If the Lord wills..."

That isn't simply a phrase Christians tack onto the end of a sentence.

It's a posture of the heart.

Every tomorrow belongs to God.

James drives that point home in verse 17.

James 4:17 “17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”

Some people read this verse as a general principle about personal convictions:

"If I feel convicted about something, then it's automatically sin for me."

While Scripture does teach us not to violate our conscience (Romans 14),

that's not what James is talking about here.

Notice how the verse begins: "So..." or "Therefore..."

James isn't changing subjects, he's drawing a conclusion.

He has just exposed the arrogance of living as though tomorrow belongs to us.

He has shown us the right response:

to hold our plans with open hands and acknowledge, "If the Lord wills..."

Now James says, therefore,

if you know this is how you ought to live and yet continue making plans as though you are in control,

boasting in your certainty and living independently of God—that is sin.

Once God has revealed the proper posture toward tomorrow

refusing to live that way becomes sin.

Faith doesn't merely agree that God is sovereign.

Faith lives as though He is.

Application

What does this look like?

It’s recognizing that we do not control the future, He does.

We may plan wisely and work diligently,

but we hold every plan with open hands.

If our plans succeed, we thank the Lord.

If they are interrupted, redirected, or even ruined,

we may be disappointed, but we are not destroyed.

Our security is never in our plans;

it was always in the Lord.

We are dependent upon His control, not our own.

Point Two

Our Possessions Cannot Secure Our Future

James 5:1–6 “1 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. 2 Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. 4 Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. 5 You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.”

Exposition

James suddenly sounds like an Old Testament prophet.

His language becomes severe.

Why?

Because wealth has become someone's functional savior.

The rich believe money has protected them.

James says the very things they trusted are becoming evidence against them.

The point isn't that wealth is sinful.

The point is that wealth cannot survive God's judgment.

James then exposes how they accumulated it.

They withheld wages.

They lived in luxury.

They ignored the suffering around them.

v6: “You have condemned and murdered the righteous person."

That can sound like an overstatement.

James isn't necessarily accusing every wealthy person of literal murder.

He's speaking prophetically.

Like Amos and Isaiah before him, he describes economic oppression in the strongest possible language.

James echoes the prophets because oppression may not leave blood on your hands, but it destroys people made in God's image.

When powerful people exploit the weak,

withhold what is just,

and crush those who cannot defend themselves,

they become responsible for destroying lives.

God hears the cries of those who have been wronged.

No injustice escapes His notice.

Application

Uncertain times expose where we place our confidence.

If our confidence is in Christ, uncertainty drives us to prayer.

If our confidence is in money, uncertainty drives us to our bank account.

Money is a wonderful servant.

It is a terrible savior.

Point Three

Our Patience Reveals Our Trust

James 5:7–12 “7 Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. 8 You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. 9 Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door. 10 As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful. 12 But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.”

Exposition

James now turns back to believers.

After exposing those who abuse power, he encourages those who suffer under it.

Three illustrations shape this section.

Farmer:

He cannot force the rain.

He works.

Then he waits.

Prophets:

They obeyed God and still suffered.

Faithfulness never guaranteed comfort.

Job:

Job couldn't understand God's timing.

But he eventually learned he could trust God's character.

Each one waited.

Not passively.

Faithfully.

Patient endurance isn't inactivity.

It's steadfast trust while waiting for God to act.

The reason believers can wait is because the Lord is coming.

History is moving somewhere.

God will make all things right.

Then James suddenly says,

"Do not grumble against one another..."

It almost feels like he changed subjects.

But he hasn't.

Waiting is difficult.

And when people suffer...

they often begin attacking each other instead of trusting God.

The pressure outside the church creates tension inside the church.

James reminds believers that the Judge is already standing at the door.

Since God will judge perfectly, we don't need to become judges of one another.

Faith waits...

without turning fellow believers into the enemy.

James gives one final picture of what patient faith looks like.

James 5:12 “12 But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.”

At first, that almost feels like another change of subject.

But James is still talking about waiting.

When life becomes difficult...

when suffering continues...

when God doesn't seem to act as quickly as we'd hoped...

we're tempted to make rash promises.

"I swear I'll never..."

"I promise if God gets me through this..."

"I'll do whatever it takes..."

James says faithful people don't need exaggerated speech.

Patient faith is steady faith.

It doesn't manipulate.

It doesn't bargain.

It doesn't overpromise.

It simply tells the truth.

Your "yes" is yes.

Your "no" is no.

Because people who trust God's control over tomorrow don't need to manufacture certainty with their words.

Application

Faith doesn't just wait for God.

Faith waits like God calls us to wait.

Conclusion

Every one of us walked in here carrying something about tomorrow.

For some, it’s a decision you have to make.

For others, it’s a financial burden keeping you awake at night.

For others, you’ve been waiting so long that you’re wondering whether God even hears your prayers.

James doesn’t promise that you’ll know what tomorrow holds.

He doesn’t promise that your plans will work out.

He doesn’t promise that your bank account will always be full.

He doesn’t even promise that your suffering will end today.

He reminds us that the God who holds tomorrow is worthy of our trust today.

But if we are honest, none of us has trusted Him as we should.

We have made plans without Him.

We have looked to possessions to save us.

We have grumbled when He did not act according to our timetable.

We have tried to take control of a future that never belonged to us.

And that is why we need more than advice about trusting God.

We need a Savior.

The good news is that Jesus Christ entered our uncertain world and trusted His Father perfectly.

When the cross stood before Him, Jesus prayed, “Not my will, but yours, be done.”

He did not cling to earthly riches but became poor for our sake.

And when He was mocked, oppressed, and condemned, He patiently endured

not because He was powerless, but because He had entrusted Himself to the Father.

Jesus lived the life of faithful dependence that we have failed to live.

Then He went to the cross and received the judgment our proud, self-sufficient hearts deserve.

The Judge who stands at the door is also the Savior who stood in the place of sinners.

And on the third day, He rose from the grave.

That means the future of everyone who belongs to Christ is already secure.

We may not know what tomorrow will bring, but we know who will bring us through it.

We may lose possessions, plans, comfort, and even life itself

but we cannot lose the Savior who has promised to raise us with Him.

So if you have never trusted Christ, stop trying to secure a future you cannot control.

Turn from your sin and entrust yourself to the One who died and rose to save you.

To those of us who are Christians,

make your plans—but hold them with open hands.

Use your possessions—but never place your hope in them.

Wait on the Lord—without losing heart.

Because our confidence has never rested in knowing the future.

Our confidence rests in Jesus Christ

the One who holds our future,

the One who has secured our eternity,

and the One who is coming again.

OFFERING

Kennen

What was one moment on the trip where you clearly saw God at work?

How did God use this trip to change or challenge you personally?

What’s one thing you would want our church family to know or pray for as a result of this trip?

Kennen Pray

Closing Announcements The college students are hosting a baked potato bar lunch fundraiser after the second service on Aug 9! Freewill donation.

Today there is basketball in the gym from 4-6pm. If anyone can stay after to help pick up chairs, that would be amazing!

Next Sunday is promotion Sunday for kids/students! 5th graders will officially move up to the middle school classes, 8th graders will officially move up to high school classes, and some moving up will happen in kidsway! Reach out to Belle or Laura is you have any questions.

Wednesday Night Groups will start back Aug. 12th

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