Surrender Your Destiny

Just as Proverbs is full of wise sayings to live by; James fills his book with practical wisdom in light of Christ and specifically applies them to Christian living.

With this in mind, I want to talk about James 4:13-17 today, which speaks about our destiny, or rather, who’s in control of it.

James 4:13–17 (ESV)

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.

James 4:13–17 ESV

Chuck Swindoll says we often put God in His own box in our lives:

We allow Him into our religious issues, the moral matters of our life, international conflicts that seem so great and even questions of faith.

BUT we stop there and neglect Him from our personal finances, relationships, we keep Him away from our business decisions and even our marriages or parenting, we definitely don’t give Him the small day to day decisions because we don’t want to burden Him.

By doing this, we become “Masters of our own destiny”.

Likewise, James is teaching us that this is not wise, that true wisdom is to be a steward and let God be the master of our destiny.

I’m Not in Control (v. 13, 16)

God is the master; you are His steward.

Verse 13 gives us a glimpse of what it is like to play God in our own lives:

James 4:13 ESV

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”—

Walk through this verse with me phrase by phrase:

“Today or tomorrow...”

We set our own schedules

“…we will go to such and such a city...”

We select our own paths

“…and spend a year there...”

We place our own limits and constraints

“…and engage in business…”

We arrange our own activities

“…and make a profit...”

We plan our own outcomes

Before we object, it may be helpful to note what James is not saying.

He is not saying that it is wrong to make plans for travel, for business, or for making a profit.

There is nothing wrong with planning ahead or organization, that is otherwise called good stewardship of God’s gifts.

Rather, he challenges self-assured confidence in our own human plans.

The heart of the issue is that we neglect to include or consult the Lord first with our plans.

Prioritize God’s plan over your own.

We don’t take the time to listen to Him before we listen to ourselves.

We don’t leave room for God’s plan to interrupt our own plans.

We don’t prioritize to follow God’s plan and only set to accomplish His will if it happens to coincide with ours.

Luke 12:16-21

In Luke 12:16-21 Jesus tells us a parable regarding this concept:

Luke 12:16–21 ESV

16 And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17 and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ 18 And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” ’ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

Jesus says that the rich man was a fool for not planning far enough ahead.

But you say, what do you mean?

The rich man planned years ahead, he was planning for retirement!

Yes, but that is not far enough;

he only accounted for temporal treasures here on earth;

but his plans did not include God’s eternal treasure’s in heaven.

How much different would God’s words have been to the rich man if he had heeded the wisdom of the Bible and, instead of hoarding his excess, he had used it to fill the needs of others?

Not only is this foolish; James says it is “evil” in verse 16.

James 4:16 ESV

16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

The arrogance James is speaking of is to live as if you are God: commanding your life forward as if the power and the say is all yours.

There are several modern examples of this lifestyle:

Practical atheism -

external forms of religion are maintained, but the substance is discarded.

Superficial practice of religion, but essentially bypassing God in day-to-day living.

Managing our lives:

wealth (temporal/eternal),

thought-life (anger, lust),

appearances (church circles / social media, school, work circles),

calendar (Mon-Sat / how you spend your time)

Pew dusters:

To be consoled by a message of grace without following Jesus into different ways of living.

Are there certain parts of your day-to-day living where you are essentially bypassing God?

What I’ve discovered and what James is reiterating is that life is short and it’s better to do what God is calling you to do than to go life living out your own plans.

Life may turn out okay by your plans,

but living out God’s plans are so much more fruitful and filled with blessing.

When we live for material things, we need to realize they either don’t last or they outlast us and we can’t take them with us.

We are responsible to the convictions God puts in our hearts

Furthermore, we are responsible to the convictions God puts in our hearts.

God is in Control (v. 15)

How might our daily life change if our mindset shifted from ‘I am in control’ to ‘God is in control’?

James 4:15 ESV

15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”

In ancient times, it was commonplace to say “if the gods will.”

It is interesting that James uses Lord rather than God.

It may be that he altered the well-known phrase with a title that more directly points to the God of the Bible—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—and to the Lord Jesus.

Have an inner attitude of submission to the Lord’s will

James means for us to think with inner attitude of submission to the Lord’s will;

which leads for us to say: outward acknowledgement of the Lord’s sovereign rule.

This is the complete opposite of what the culture is doing.

Most people are out trying to plan out their lives or make a quick buck, not giving the Lord a thought.

Many Christians, some I know personally, are terrified about the future or the end times.

They live in fear and often make life decisions based on that fear, not on the Lord’s will.

“Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness”

Matthew 6:33-34

Matthew 6:33-34 reminds us that we should not worry so much about tomorrow because we’ve got enough worries but the most important thing to do is “Seek first God’s kingdom and His righteousness.”

Matthew 6:33–34 ESV

33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

I love this thought, do you know why?

Because when we’re seeking His righteousness, we don’t seek the world’s view of corrupt righteousness, or even our own.

Instead, we commit all our our current and future plans before the Lord and submit our will to His.

Live with confidence that the Lord has a will in regard to your life

Live with the confidence that:

The Lord has a will in regard to your life. Whether you have a long life or a short life, God has a purpose for you.

This Life is Short (v. 14, 17)

In fact, verse 14 tells us that whether our years are long or short on this earth, they are still just a blip in relation to eternity:

James 4:14 ESV

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.

There are unplanned events in life that change forever how we prioritize our cares - health crisis, job layoffs, an accident, death in the family, financial challenges.....

Don’t delay doing the things God has planned for you

However, wisdom teaches us to prioritize our lives according to God before any such event happens.

Don’t put off until tomorrow the most important things. As the old country song says: “If tomorrow never comes”

My passions vs. God’s purpose: What is God’s bucket-list for your life?

We must begin to put God’s bucket list above our own.

We can understand better God’s bucket list for our live by remembering what he tells us about

Christian virtues (

kind,

humble,

generous,

patient,

faith-full,

loving,

merciful)

and Christian service (

caring for the poor,

the fatherless,

the homeless,

the sick /

missions /

sharing your faith /

church ministry).

This is so important to the Christian life, that James puts a point of emphasis on it in verse 17.

James 4:17 ESV

17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

So basically, as believers, if we are delaying God’s plans for our own; if we are not submitting our plans to the Lord first, we are sinning.

Period.

To go further... it’s a sin when we do what we shouldn’t AND it’s also a sin when we don’t do what we should.

Know the right thing to do.

Start doing the right thing.

I love the advice that Swindoll gives us on how to stop playing God:

Know the right thing to do.

Start doing the right thing.

It’s not a hidden code, it’s cut and dry and simple for us to understand.

Know the right thing to do and do it!

When Satan can’t tempt us into sin, he simply makes us too busy to do God’s will.

How often do we pass by someone in need and not stop because we are in a hurry to get somewhere?

How often do we have the opportunity to touch a life, but don’t because the person looks “sketchy”?

How often do we feel the Spirit tugging at us to share Christ’s love with us, but don’t because we feel it is “inappropriate”?

Being a Christian often means doing what you do not want to do.

It often means sacrificing your passion or pleasure for God’s will and purpose.

On the night before He was crucified, Jesus fell on the ground in sorrowful prayer:

Mark 14:36 ESV

36 And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

Jesus surrendered to the plan of God—a plan that makes for our salvation.

Where would we be without His submission to the Father’s will?

If we are NOT submitting to God’s will, we can be confident that we WILL go down a path that leads to destruction and chaos.

Here are a few questions that we can look at to evaluate our current situation:

Where in my life, right now, do I go it alone without God?

What decisions did I make this week that didn’t include God?

What future decisions do I need to bring before God and seek His will?

A few weeks ago, in “A Match Against Temptation”, we learned from Matthew 4:1-11 that Satan has many different ways to tempt us into sin and how to combat them. Well, the devil has one more final trick up his sleeve: When he can’t tempt us into sin, he simply makes us too busy to do God’s will.