2019-09-08 James 4:13-17 Practical Atheists

PRACTICAL ATHEISTS (James 4:13-17) September 8, 2019 Read James 4:13-17 – The theme of James is saving faith works. Saving faith exhibits itself in real life. Each section asks, Does my faith show in this situation? Today, Jas targets practical atheists – people who profess faith but who live as tho God didn’t exist. If there were no God, their lives wouldn’t change at all. Jas asks, “Is that be you?” If so – your faith may not be real. Pres Lincoln in announcing the first Thanksgiving in 1863 said, “We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But – we have forgotten God.” Maybe we have, too! Do our lives reflect Bart Simpson’s prayer: “Dear God, we pay for all this ourselves. So thanks for nothing”? We’d never be that blunt, but many of us live with never a thought of God except in emergencies. That could be a sign our faith isn’t real at all. To plan is wise. To do so without considering God’s will is to be a practical atheist – living as tho He didn’t matter. Like the atheist, who, realizing he was drifting toward Niagara Falls began to pray. Later someone asked him why pray to a God he didn’t believe in. He replied, “It suddenly occurred to me while atheism is a okay to drift down river; it’s not a good thing by which to go over the Falls.” Truth is, ignoring God is never a good thing! I. The Foolishness of Ignoring God’s Will (Two reasons) A. We are not Omniscient – 14) yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring.” Our plans are always contingent. Why? Bc we don’t know everything. When we candidated here, Patty asked about tornados. We were told it never happens. We barely got home and all the news was of the Windsor tornado. We don’t know what tomorrow may bring; He does. So, the wise man lives with this attitude: “I’ll do this or that – Lord willing.” You don’t have to say that every time, but that is our attitude. “I’ll do this or that, Lord willing!” The operating premise is: All my plans are subject to the intervention of a God who knows more than I.” My plan, subject to His will! Jesus gave a parable in Lu 12:16b: “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.” This guy had “I” trouble! Is he wrong to plan? No. But he planned without God! 1 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?’ He planned to enjoy the fruits of a lifetime of labor. But he was not omniscient He reckoned without God – trusting the actuarial table. But his time was up! And he’d made no preparations for that contingency. B. We are not Eternal -- A 2nd reason it’s foolish to ignore God’s will is we’re not eternal. We have an expiration date. A shelf-life. Yet we often live as though we and our treasures here are forever. One day we’ll find we’ve invested everything in a short-term venture. Eighty years looks pretty long when you’re 25, but I promise when you’re 79 you’ll be asking, “Where did the time go?” That moment is just around the corner. So Jas says: 14b: “What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.” It goes fast! And if that is all you’ve lived for, you are going to feel short-changed. In fact, you will be short-changed – by yourself! King Louis XIV, the sun king, reigned for 72 years as one of France’s most accomplished rulers. He forbade the word “death” in his presence – denying the inevitable. He died anyway. Contrast that with Philip of Macedon. One of his servants stood in his presence every day and said, “Philip, you will die.” I don’t know if that made him more aware of God’s will, but it was a step in the right direction. Ancient merchants wrote memento mori – “think of death” in large letters on the first page of their accounting books – a reminder, this life is temporary. It should be writ large in all of our minds, reminding us to seek the will of the One who alone can give eternal life and perspective. It’s foolish to ignore God’s will – because we are not omniscient and we are not forever. We don’t want to end up like the nobleman who had a deist chaplain (God is uninvolved) while his wife had a Xn one. On his deathbed he said to his chaplain, “I liked you very well when I was in health; but it is my lady’s chaplain I must have when I am sick.” Practical atheism works in good times; not so much when eternity nears. Wise people love God’s will always – seeking His grace throughout this life and into the next. II. The Arrogance of Denying God’s Will Some people just ignore God. Others deny there is such a thing as God’s will. They are boastfully arrogant. 16) As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.” This is the person who says, “Today or tomorrow I will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a 2 profit” in complete denial that God has any say in the matter. They are absolutely confident in their own plans and abilities. How we exult such self-sufficiency – like the hero of Wm Ernest Henley’s poem “Invictus”: “It matter not how straight the gate, / How charged with punishments the scroll, / I am the master of my fate: / I am the captain of my soul.” You know the modern version of that, right? “Regrets, I’ve had a few; / But then again, too few to mention. / I did what I had to do / And saw it thru without exemption. / I planned each charted course; / Each careful step along the byway, / And more, much more than this, / I did it my way. . . “For what is man, what has he got? / If not himself, then he has naught. / To say the things he truly feels; / And not the word of one who kneels. / The record shows I took the blows - / And did it may way.” Who needs God? I’ve got me! I can get myself into trouble, and I can get myself out! But I’ll never kneel. I’ll do it may way. We think that’s commendable. Not God. The Greeks called this boastful pride hubris. Homer depicted it when Achilles succumbed -- going into battle thinking he was invulnerable bc Mom dipped him into the River Styx. But she’d held him by his heel. It never got dipped, and Paris kills him with a shot in the heel. Arrogance couldn’t cover a perpetual vulnerability. One will survives in the end; God’s! Remember, Jas remarks are written to professing believers. But those who plan without regard for God in any area of life – not just religious ones – are arrogantly denying God’s will. Practical atheists. To boast of your plans as tho you could bring them about without God is arrogant, foolish and evil. Augustine says we were made to bring glory to God by reflecting the qualities of His being He’s chosen to share (communicable). But since the Fall, we’ve been trying to assume qualities He’s reserved to Himself (incommunicable). So, when we say, “Tomorrow I will do this or that” without regard for God, we are trying (unsuccessfully, of course) to usurp His omniscience, eternity and omnipotence -- the opposite of what we were made for. We don’t care about righteousness, but we care a lot about omnipotence. We don’t care about holiness, but how desperately we want self-existence. We’re happy to sacrifice truth, but we want omnipotence. No wonder God calls it arrogant and evil. Jodie Foster advised the graduates at the U of Penn in 2006, to take this attitude: “From now on, this life will be what I stand for. Move over – this is my story now.” Really?! Pretty arrogant. Better to say with Paul, ”For to me to live is Christ.” All plans go thru Him. No boasting except in Him. 3 III. The Sin of Disobeying God’s Will Sin is wrong things we do. But it’s also the things we know to do and don’t – sins of omission. An exam question at a Xn school was: “What is a sin of omission?” One student wrote, “A sin I should have committed but didn’t.” He didn’t quite have it right, but Jas did: v. 17: “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” This person didn’t do anything wrong. Just forgot God. Doesn’t sound too bad, right? But it is one of the most serious sins of all. It’s so pervasive eventually we fail to notice it at all. Go to a mortuary. What do you smell? Carnations. You leave and you don’t smell them, but go back in the room and you smell them again. Small smells you never miss. But how about a big smell. A town with a mill of some kind. It’s a big smell. Every house. Every apartment; every room. Inside and out. A huge smell. But soon you can’t smell it anymore. Little smells you smell. But big, pervasive smells; you adapt. Soon, you don’t even notice. It’s part of the atmosphere. Well, there’s a sin so pervasive, so huge, so natural, requiring no effort, that we don’t even see it. What is that sin? It is to simply go on about your life, make a plan, operate, make a schedule and forget God. It’s one of the worst sins, the most fundamental of sins – but so pervasive we don’t even notice it. You’re not breaking any commandment – just going about life forgetting God. But God has a response. Isa 17:10-11: “For you have forgotten the God of your salvation and have not remembered the Rock of your refuge; therefore, though you plant pleasant plants and sow the vine-branch of a stranger, 11) though you make them grow on the day that you plant them, and make them blossom in the morning that you sow, yet the harvest will flee away in a day of grief and incurable pain.” Forgetting God has consequences. Mickey Mantle had just completed his triple crown season in 1956, but said, “There wasn’t much danger that I would get a fat head with teammates like Yogi Berra.” Just before the World Series, a broadcaster interviewed Yogi and said, “We’ll do free association. I’ll throw out a name and you say the first thing that pops into your mind.” Yogi said, “Okay.” So the interviewer says, “All right. Here we go. Mickey Mantle.” Yogi says, “What about him?” That is what some of our lives are saying about God. “God – what about Him?” When was the last time He was part of any decision you made – given any thought between Sundays. “Whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to 4 do it, for him it is sin.” The sin of indifference – a sin of omission – practical atheism. Widely practiced; seldom recognized for what it is. IV. The Blessing of Acknowledging God’s Will Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” You want authentic living. Here it is. Recognize the hand of God in everything. Acknowledge Him before, during and after every event in life. This is life with God – relationship, not duty. 15) Does Jas mean we always say, “If the Lord wills?” The Puritans used to say “Deo Volente” – God willing all the time. Even used “D.V” as initials on calling cards etc. Is that what Jas is getting at? Well, there are places where we find that. Paul told the Ephesians on his 2nd journey in Acts 18:21, “I will return to you if God wills.” He tells the Corinthians in I Cor 4:19, “I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills.” And there are other examples. But most times, Paul and the other apostles do not say that where it would be appropriate. It wasn’t the jargon that mattered; it was the mindset. There’s nothing magical about the words. Jas is just urging that we live coram deo – before God! Always desirous of His will. Living in His presence. Like Jesus. Jer 2:32, “Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten me days without number.” I’ve done a lot of weddings. Never yet saw a bride come down the aisle and suddenly say, “Oh, I forgot to put on my makeup.” Never happened. Probably never will happen. Why? Bc it’s important. If ever a girl wanted to maximize her beauty, that’s the day! So God is saying, “You see, you remember the things that are important to you, but I’m not important to you. You’ve forgotten me.” And Jas’ point is not say the magic words. His point is, “Don’t forget God. Live life in humility before Him.” That’s where the blessing is. Don’t forget Him. Jonathan Edwards used to get up in the morning and say to himself, “I must remember this, that everything I enjoy today which is better than hell is strictly by the mercy and gracious upholding of God.” Do you realize how different your life would be if you actually believed that – and did that. It’s not about religious jargon -- always saying “Deo Volente,” “Lord willing I’ll do this or that.” Or worse, “The Lord is really leading me,” or, “The Lord has shown me.” That’s the kind of arrogance Jas is speaking against. “Well, I’ve been praying about and I think the Lord is leading us to do this.” 5 We make it impossible for someone to say, “I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Sure the Lord leads us. He does. But He leads others also. We have to be careful that our speech doesn’t reflect an unhealthy self-righteousness. What Jas is urging is what Edwards did. Simplify his statement and just say, “It’s all grace. This is all grace. This good thing that happened. It’s all grace. This bad thing that has happened? Grace. All grace. This thing I’m proposing? Whatever happens will be by God’s grace.” You don’t say it out loud, but that attitude pervades your life. All grace. Let me tell you. Live like that and your blood pressure will go down; your worry index will fall and your enjoyment of life will increase. This is the way to live before God. Conc – We need practical atheism out; God in! Driven like Jesus. Jn 4:34, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me.” He repeated that constantly. And He taught us to pray the same way: “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Always living for His purposes, not ours. Redd Harper was a Hollywood singing cowboy who came to Christ during the BG LA crusade in 1949 -- thoroughly converted, he began to use his talents in BG films and YFC meetings. Thus, he ended up in our home in Hutch one night. I never saw anyone more aware of God. He’d open the door and say, “You first, Lord.” His first thought for any decision was to check in with the Lord. It made an indelible impression on this 13-year-old boy. Now, Jas isn’t looking for us to be so outward in every expression, but to carry that attitude in all we do. “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” Let’s pray. 6