Regarding God- does He make your decisions
Regarding God- Does He make your decisions – James 4:13-17 EBC 2/1/09
In James 4, James shows man’s disregard for God. In VS. 1-10 he shows man’s pleasures of the world. In. VS. 11-12 he shows man disregard for God is the judging of his brother. In VS. 13-17, he shows a disrespect for the providence of God. Proud man forgets God when he makes his plans.
Ye that say- plural tense-talking to many individuals. He is speaking to us individually but he also wants us to know that we have plenty of company. Spiros Zodhiates - as we toil and labor we can’t forget the increase comes from God.
John MacArthur- they did extensive planning, but in the course of their planning, they totally ignored God; God was not part of their agenda. God honors a plan but He is quite displeased when our plans for the future don’t include Him.
I. Our Desires (13)
A. Notice the desire of the Jewish merchants- we are going into a city and stay there for one year and make a profit. Profit making had become their life-
1. Christians become caught up in this type of thing.
2.We base our success on what we make- how about on the lives we touch by making a difference in them. People call about our school. I tell them making money is not our desire – but changing lives.
B. Profit making is essential in any business but not when it becomes our passion. (7-11- if store doesn’t produce enough profit they will close it up). Let the business man watch least he not do it for the glory of God.
C. Isa. 14:13-14- notice the self will of Satan
D. John MacArthur- “they chose the time (today or tomorrow), the location (such and such a city), the duration (going to spend a year there), the goal (make a profit)”.
E. Luke 12:16-21-
II. Our Understanding (14a)
A. God has endowed us with many things among them memory but one thing he didn’t give us was the ability to foresee the future.
1. Spiros Zodhiates- “think of the evil things we might do and the good things we might leave undone if we knew exactly what the future held for us”.
B. Another paraphrase might say- “you that knows nothing about tomorrow”.
1. Prov. 27:1-
C. The only thing we know for sure is that we can’t know for sure.
1. Tomorrow may bring health or sickness, it may bring wealth or poverty. It may bring success or failure.
D. In light of this we need to live each day to the fullest.
1. Each day we ought to live as thou it’s our last day on earth. How many take today for granted.
E. John Bate- today is given us by Him to whom belong days. We have the power to use it as we please; we compass our salvation or our damnation within it; we can travel twenty-four hours of time nearer to heaven or to hell. We are responsible for its proper use. How important that we do the proper work of today in the sphere of today. That man is blessed who, at the close of today, can look upon all his work as done, and anticipate tomorrow as bringing nothing with it but the things which legitimately belong to it. Today God speaks to us in His Word, that we harden not our hearts. Today is the day of salvation. All duties, all privileges, all trials, all joys, all sorrows; in one word, everything we have, we have today. Yesterday is gone, tomorrow is not, only today is ours, and only in today do we hold all our possessions.
III. Our Life (14b)
A. This is one of the greatest questions ever posed- what is your life?
1. What- poyos- what is your manner of life? What is the nature of your life? We need to understand that life is a gift from God- the length of life is as a vapor. To us life is long and we measure it in years but compared to eternity it is a vapor.
2. Job 7:6; 9:25-26-
B. A millionaire in New York came to the end of his journey and died. On his deathbed he gave continual expression to his remorse for what his conscience told him had been an ill-spent life. “Oh,” he exclaimed, “if I could only be spared for a few years, I would give all the wealth I have amassed in my lifetime! It is a life devoted to money-getting that I regret. It is this which weighs me down and makes me despair of the life hereafter!
C. James wants us to understand at the beginning of life that the man didn’t understand until the end of his life. Life is short and we must invest our lives in the things that are eternal.
1. The span of conscious life on earth is merely a preparation for the endless and eternal conscious life in heaven or hell.
2. A Greek philosopher was once asked why he thought he was born – his answer was “that I may meditate upon the glories of Heaven. We are here to prepare for eternity.
D. What conflicts there would be in the building of a house if the architect had one set of plans and the builder had another.
E. Since death is unavoidable and life is unpredictable, the only course we can safely take is to yield ourselves into the hands of God and walk by faith in His Word. We don’t live by explanations; we live by promises. We don’t depend on luck but on the providential working of our loving Father as we trust His promises and obey His wil
1. Do you have a different set of plans from what God has?