Deo Volente (DV)!
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Aren’t you sick and tired of this virus? (No pun intended!)
Oh well, you can stop worrying!
Not long now, and we will have a vaccine!
The Deputy Prime Minister, Michael McCormack, MP, guarantees it:
"One way or another, there will be a vaccine and when that vaccine comes along, Australia will be right at the front of the queue to make sure our Australians get access to that vaccine free of charge. We'll also make sure that it's available for our friends in the Pacific Islands."
I wonder what James would think of that, if he was still around?
Actually … we know!
He would say the Deputy Prime Minister is presumptuous!
Listen:
13 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.”
14 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.
No, Honourable Deputy Prime Minister!
14 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.
Yes, loved ones, even Deputy Prime Minister’s lives
are like a vapour,
a mist
… … … … … ...
like the mist that hangs for a short while over Sydney harbour
… every now and then ...
but now … there is no sign of it!
(I was thinking of catching a jar full of morning mist
to illustrate the point
but … there was none to capture!
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(That is the main idea of this sermon, loved ones!)
Here in the last part of James 4, James, the brother of Jesus, has had to come to terms with an uncomfortable truth:
We can so easily become presumptuous
- as if we knew what the future holds -
and we shouldn’t!
Which ties in with the theme of this chapter:
Seek true wisdom - heavenly wisdom
- so that you may be the blessing to the world,
that God intended you to be!
Husbands, wives, seek this wisdom!
Parents, seek this wisdom!
At the birth of your child, seek this wisdom
so that you may teach it to your children!
And at the deathbed of a loved one - or your own -
seek with your last dying breath
the wisdom of God!
But when, loved ones, will we start to seek this wisdom?
And how will we know that we have found it!
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13 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.”
Our will
Our will
Our will: “Today and tomorrow, we… will!”
We plan (“places to go to, people to meet ...”)
We will “go” Travel (danger, breakdowns
“places” City (worldly cities_ Babylon/Jerusalem
Plans and “people” to meet
To make a “Profit” (money, wealth)
That is what we will
We … … who do not know what morning tea will bring!
Don’t talk like that, says James!
Instead, say:
15 Instead, you should say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
God’s Will
God’s Will
God’s will: Who outside of time, made time
the very time by which we measure our short little lives
(which we do say, with our mouths, that God alone knows our days)
but then we go on living as if we knew how long we will live!)
God’s will!
His decrees, WCF
Travel (How are you travelling! “How are you?” day!
To this city or that City … - … Babylon or Jerusalem
Profit (“what good is it that you will profit the world, and lose your soul”
Profits and losses!
34 Calling the crowd along with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.
35 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me and the gospel will save it.
36 For what does it benefit someone to gain the whole world and yet lose his life?
37 What can anyone give in exchange for his life?
38 For whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
That is the wisdom of God!
And yet, we scheme … .... ...... and we talk!!!
O God, how much we talk.
Blasphemous talk! Hate talk! Gossip! Lies ...
6 And the tongue is a fire. The tongue, a world of unrighteousness, is placed among our members. It stains the whole body, sets the course of life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
And it springs from self-righteous, proud, wordly wisdom!
Pardon me please, if you will, for being frank:
14 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.
15 Instead, you should say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
Because that is a sign of wisdom
heavenly wisdom
gentle, humble, heavenly wisdom
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Who has this wisdom?
One can tell, brothers and sisters!
Surprising as that statement may be, it is possible to tell who is wide
… wise from above!
13 Who among you is wise and understanding? By his good conduct he should show that his works are done in the gentleness that comes from wisdom.
Not brash! Self-important! Self-wise! Worldly wise!
14 But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your heart, don’t boast and deny the truth.
15 Such wisdom does not come down from above but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.
16 For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there is disorder and every evil practice.
No!
Seek ye first the kingdom/the city/the wisdom … of God
and all of the things you desire - spiritual things
wisdom things
will be added unto you!
What is this wisdom?
Picture this, friends:
A lonely man
with the wounds of a whipping, a flogging still bleading
walks down a city street
He is being escorted out of the city
to the place where rubbish is disposed of
He growns under the weight of the crossbar of a roman cross
the crossbar to which, he knows, he will soon be nailed
… and he looks around him
strains, to look upwards, as much as his pained posture allows
and he prays...
42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me—nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”
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Last Sunday, we bore testimony that God was not willing!
That His will be done!
What is God’s will for us?
That our lives will bear testimony that Jesus drank the cup
on our behalf
because God would be glorified by it!
And that we be saved to do just that … forevermore, glorify God!
And … brothers and sisters, loved ones...
we do not know when our turn will come to enter into God’s glory!
Conclusion
Conclusion
13 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.”
15 Instead, you should say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
And may God be glorified
in your living!
Mike and the mechanics puts this heavenly wisdom
in worldly wisdom words, like this:
Every generation
Blames the one before
And all of their frustrations
Come beating on your door
I know that I'm a prisoner
To all my Father held so dear
I know that I'm a hostage
To all his hopes and fears
I just wish I could have told him in the living years
17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peace-loving, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without pretense.
Amen!