Sermon Tone Analysis
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Introduction
Planning and making decisions for the future are important skills you have to learn.
Some of you are good at planning, but some of you may not be good at planning.
Next week, Canadians have an important decision to make as to which political party to vote for.
We may have already made plans for the rest of the day, which may include going out for lunch and taking our afternoon naps.
Who knows, some of you may have plans to go home and do homework this afternoon.
But, there are some important planning and decisions to make.
Some of you may have plans to get an honour roll this term.
Some of you may have plans to get healthier.
Some of you may have plans to make new friends at school.
Some of you may have plans to try new things that you have never done before.
For me…I have plans to go on vacation with my family.
I have plans to do further doctrinal studies (e.g.
Master of Theology and Ph.D)
Wisdom In Planning
It is almost not possible to have the desire to do something or have something happen without plans.
For instance, going on a youth retreat requires a lot of planning.
Let me just give you a snippet of what happens behind the scene:
Talking to Jeremy and planning activities.
Draft up a registration package with the price on it.
Find reasonably priced tickets
Plan a roundtrip for the bus ride.
Make reservations for the ferry.
Recruiting volunteer drivers from our church
Design the booklets.
Adding content and print them
Packing list.
Planning games and preparing equipments.
What I just described barely got into the little details of the planning.
But, all this to say is that making plans is wise.
All this to say is that making plans is wise.
It is almost not possible to have the desire to do something or have something happen without planning.
As you mature, you will slowly realize that wanting something to happen does not work.
For instance,
The Bible tells us that a wise person plans:
All this to say is that making plans is wise.
Jesus tells us to make plans to follow Him because there is a cost:
Luke 14:27-
Exposition
However, we must have a bigger perspective when it comes to planning our lives.
Before we get into our passage in James, I want to talk about God in relationship with planning.
1.
We Acknowledge Who God Is When Planning
a.
The Sovereignty of God
The Bible is clear that God is sovereign.
What do I mean by the sovereignty of God?
The Bible is clear that God is sovereign.
The Sovereignty of God means that “All things are under God's rule and control, and that nothing happens without His direction or permission.”
God is sovereign in a sense that He is free to do all He wills and is able to whatever He wills.
As we are talking about planning for “tomorrow” or the future, we must remember this next point......
b.
Human Plans Are Subject To God’s Will
Every plan that people make, whether if it’s for good or if it is for evil, is ultimately under the sovereignty of God’s will.
If God permits those plans to happen, then He will do so.
If God does not permit those plans to happen, then He will stop it.
:
Having those ideas about God in relation with planning at the forefront of your mind, we can proceed to reading .
READ.
BIG IDEA: Since God is sovereign, we should have a biblical attitude to planning.
What do I mean by biblical attitude?
What I mean is your conduct or your lifestyle or your behaviour towards planning should reflect on what the Bible teaches us.
If there are lessons we can learn about planning in the Bible, then we are to learn them and apply them in our lives.
BIG IDEA: Since God is sovereign, we should have a biblical view of planning.
2. Be humble in your planning.
James addresses some of the Christians who were businesspeople.
Back in those days, they were called merchants.
A merchant is a person who buys and sells merchandise in order to earn a profit and make a living.
These people may be in the upper-class; they might be rich.
Hence, in the beginning of chapter 5, James gives an indictment against the rich.
In verses 13-14a, James challenges and invites these people by saying “Come now, you who say.”
The tone that James is giving to these people, “Look.”
“Now Listen To Me.” It’s like parents giving a strict instruction or rebuke towards their children.
James is challenging and rebuking the people 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,” to consider what they’re doing.
Verse 13 is essentially telling us that these people made plans to travel, do business and earn money.
But, James rebukes them in verse 14 that these people don’t even have a clue what the next day would look like.
If you only read verses 13-14, then it would make it sound like James is totally against people planning their lives.
Also, it seems that James is outraged that these merchants are doing business and earning money.
But, we learned that the Bible teaches that planning is very wise according to Proverbs.
Making money is actually not bad…because we all need to work and earn our living.
So, what seems to be the problem that James is addressing.
Read verse 16.
READ.
The attitude was the issue with their planning.
James explains that these merchants were prideful and arrogant.
The root of the problem is in their arrogance.
They were bragging and boasting about their planning.
James explains that these merchants were prideful and arrogant.
What does it mean that these people were boasting in their arrogance?
Arrogance could also be translated as “pretentious pride” meaning that these people are “constantly talking about how great they are.”
These merchants were bragging about their future plans, as if they their plans will truly be fulfilled.
They probably had so much confidence in becoming filthy rich from this business trip, come home, buy a place and live in luxury.
James says “all such boasting is evil.”
He’s not saying, “all boasting is evil,” but he is specifically talking the kind of boasting that directs to their arrogance.
Why do I say that he’s not saying, “all boasting is evil?”
In brief, there is a legitimate reasons to boast.
For instance, we can boast in God.
We can take pride in God.
We can take pride in the fact that we know God and have a relationship with Him.
But, boasting in our arrogance is evil and sinful.
You can think of sports game where one team brags about its strength and its high percentage of beating another team, only to know that at the end of the game, they were put to shame by the other team.
What can we learn here?
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