God's Will: Ignoring it
Book of James • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 13 viewsWhen it comes to God's will for our life, we have three options in response: ignore, obey, disobey. Too often, by default, we ignore God's will by not even seeking His will for our life. We become presumptuous and take pride in self rather than boast in His grace, provision, and will.
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Introduction
What do we normally plan for? How do we plan these events/trips? Should faith be apart of the planning process? If so, how often is it included in our planning process? If faith is not involved in the planning process, is this a sign of pride and boastfulness?
Focus Passage
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” 14 Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. For you are just a vapor that appears for a little while, and then vanishes away.
16 But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.
Outline
Four Reasons to not Ignore the Will of God
The complexity of life
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.”
James, once again, addresses the wealthy within the church. He has already previously addressed them and the rest of the congregation in addressing favoritism and lawsuits. Now, he addresses another matter. It is based off of a previous passage. James previously wrote, You do not have, because you do not ask (v.2). The issue within our text is similar in nature to what James was addressing within our present text. Once again, James is addressing the issue of leaving God out of our plans.
Why do you think we leave God out of our plans so often? Why are we surprised that things do not work out the way we planned, when we leave God out of our plans?
I would submit, as James does, life is to complex to seek God’s will or worse, ignore God’s will for your life. We must be reminded of Paul’s declaration of what God’s will is. He writes...
2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
As we begin to look at the will of man (our will/our plans) we often forget that God’s plan may not be our plans. Most often they are not.
8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord. 9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.
As we look at our text, we see that the man/woman in this text had made plans. They acknowledged the complexities that were before them. We see from the text they made plans to address some of these complexities.
They planned where they were going
They planned where they were going to live (housing)
They planned what they were going to do while there
They planned on a surplus and blessing from their business
What did they leave out of their planning? It is what we often leave out of our planning.
They left God out of their planning. Within the complexities and distractions of life we often forget the most important need, the seeking of God’s will. There was nothing wrong in them making preparations. When you begin any business, organization, or ministry you always want to know where you are going and then you work back from that point to find out how to get there, but if prayer in seeking God’s will is not at the center of all you do, you will fail every time. All that effort will before naught. James is wanting his readers and hearers to understand this truth. This is why we he says, Come now, you who says. This can also be understood as, Think about what your saying. There are too many complexities in life to not seek God’s will for your life.
Not only do we have complexities in life, we have uncertainties in life.
The uncertainty of life
James 4:14a (NASB 2020)
14a Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow...
These business men/women were making plans for tomorrow. However, they did not know whether tomorrow would ever come. James points this out when he writes, you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow.
How many of us have had our day/week planned and then it turned out nothing like we planned?
How many of our lives ended up like we had it planned? With that said, how many of us included God in our plans as we were planning out our future? How many of us kept God near as we were making decisions?
Many of us are like the rich land owner, who decided that things were so good that he would build a great barn and store up for the future and then take it easy. He did not know what God had planned nor did he care. God’s plans were different than this. God told him he would take his life that night.
19 And I will say to myself, “You have many goods stored up for many years to come; relax, eat, drink, and enjoy yourself!” ’ 20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is demanded of you; and as for all that you have prepared, who will own it now?’
We need not barrow from the troubles of tomorrow. God has not given us enough strength for today and tomorrow. He has given us strength for today. We must realize the truth in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.
34 “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
We must learn to include God in the plans of today and tomorrow. It is only through Him that we can endure and succeed. We have too many complexities and uncertainties not to include God and His will for our life. Not only is life complex and uncertain, it is brief.
The brevity of life
James 4:14b (NASB 2020)
14b ...For you are just a vapor that appears for a little while, and then vanishes away.
We see life through the confounds of time, space, and matter. As we see life through years, life seems long. However, when life is compared to eternity, it is brief. It is as that of the vapors that are found in the morning dew of Palestine. It appears at rising of the sun, but only after a few shorts hours is gone. This is the vivid picture we find in relation to James’ warning of the brevity of life.
Dr. Wise once told of a little girl being asked why she worked so very hard. She replied, “My candle is almost burned out; and I have not got another.” Life is as a candle burning out. Sometimes there is a thief in it, a disease consuming it more quickly; or it may be blown out, suddenly extinguished: and we have not got another. - Elon Foster, 6000 Sermon Illustrations: An Omnibus of Classic Sermon Illustrations, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1972), 419.
It is similar to the old Reebok slogan, Life is short. Play hard. I believe is life is short, pray hard!
Why do we number our life by years? Why do we celebrate our birth year? Does the Bible encourage us to number our years or number our days?
12 So teach us to number our days, That we may present to You a heart of wisdom.
Life is complex. Life is uncertain. Life is short. All are good reasons why we should seek God’s will for our life. However, there is one other reason, the frailty of man.
The frailty of man
16 But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.
Why do we boast about that which we do not know of or have control of (i.e. the future)?
We must boast about much in reality control little. This boasting is not of God but evil, of the devil, all such boasting is evil. As Thomas Aquinas wrote, Man proposes, but God disposes. Our boasting simply is used a cover for our weaknesses, you boast in your arrogance.
What is the point behind a boast?
When we boast, who gets the attention and credit?
Is it not pat ourselves on the back. Is it not to give ourselves a that-a-boy? It is not to place ourselves above those around us? Truly, if we are going to boast, let us boast in the Lord, the cross, not ourselves or our achievements.
14 But far be it from me to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
17 But the one who boasts is to boast in the Lord.
As the apostle Paul wrote, But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me (1 Cor 15:10 NASB).
Conclusion
Let us not fail to place God at the forefront of all that we do. Let us seek His will in all that we say or do. As the Apostle Paul wrote, Whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father (Col. 3:17 NASB).
As James wrote earlier, we have not, because we ask not. How our lives would be different if we sought God’s will over our will. Life is to complex, to uncertain, to short, and frail not to seek God’s will.