(James 016) The Folly of Presuming on Tomorrow (part 1)
Notes
Transcript
Handout
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”—
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.
Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
Introductory thoughts…
What James is NOT saying.
He is not saying don’t plan.
We are told to be diligent.
We are told to be intentional.
We can’t do that without planning.
They were planning presumptuously.
We need to take note.
We are a planning people.
Plans for college.
Plans for jobs.
Plans for vacations.
Plans for retirement.
Plans for ministry.
What does this passage have to do with the rest of the chapter or chapters?
Where does it fit.
James is pulled apart and used for what we want.
We like to strip James for parts.
That leads to taking verses out of context.
Yet each passage ties together.
James’ audience was following worldly wisdom.
They were chasing their own selfish desires.
That led them to where they are in THIS passage.
James started the chapter talking about war with God.
He is ending it talking about the will of God.
If we are a war with God we will not live according to the will of God.
God has a very specific plan for each of our lives.
It may include material gain.
But it is never exclusively about that.
God’s plan involves our service for Him.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
I want to give you the main points so you know where we are going.
The presumption in our planning. (vs 13)
The perspective in our planning. (vs 14)
God’s providence in our planning. (vs 15)
The pride of presumption. (vs 16)
The problem of presumption. (vs 17)
1. The presumption in our planning. (vs 13)
1. The presumption in our planning. (vs 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”—
(1) A. Presumption in our planning is a big deal.
(1) A. Presumption in our planning is a big deal.
“Come now”
Listen up.
I’ve just pulled the car over now listen to me.
Look at their planning.
When - today or tomorrow
Diligent
who - we
where - such and such a town
He’s done his research.
He knows where he wants to go.
how long - a year
He dedicated
He has planned this thin out.
what - make a profit
There is not prayer.
There is nothing about God’s will.
Their priorities were off.
(1) B. Presumption is the problem, not planning.
(1) B. Presumption is the problem, not planning.
Part of the presumption is assuming it will happen.
Life is complex and frail.
When you plan something there are many things that can go wrong.
Balancing calendars.
Traffic.
Vehicle problems.
Sickness.
Other people.
Then we are planning months and years out.
Even without adding in God’s plan, why would we be so sure things will happen.
Part of the presumption is assuming our plan matters.
Paul was a planner.
And after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us return and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.”
When they asked him to stay for a longer period, he declined.
But on taking leave of them he said, “I will return to you if God wills,” and he set sail from Ephesus.
I can have all the plans in the world. If they are not God’s plans they will not work.
The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.
Life is much easier when we understand and embrace this truth.
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
(1) B. Presumption is the problem, not planning.
(1) B. Presumption is the problem, not planning.
Yet, the heart of man plans his ways…
We need to plan the right way.
We need to plan loosely.
2. The perspective in our planning. (vs 14)
2. The perspective in our planning. (vs 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.
Having revealed the their presumption he points out the folly of it using two arguments.
(2) A. We must understand the uncertainty of life.
(2) A. We must understand the uncertainty of life.
Their presumption was wrong because of the reality of basic human ignorance of the future.
We do not know what tomorrow will bring.
A humorous but practical look at this.
In 1800, Dr Dionysis Larder, Professor of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy at University College in London, commented on predictions of high speed rail travel in the near future: “Rail travel at high speed is not possible, because passengers, unable to breathe, would die of asphyxia.”
In 1859, associates of Edwin L. Drake responded to his suggestion to attempt drilling for oil: “Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil? You’re crazy!”
An 1876 Western Union internal memo mused, “This telephone has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication.”
Four years later, Henry Morton, president of the Stevens Institute of Technology, commented about Edison’s lightbulb: “Everyone acquainted with the subject will recognise it as a conspicuous failure.”
Eighteen months prior to the Wright brothers’ flight at Kittyhawk, Canadian-American astronomer and mathematician, Simon Newcomb, predicted that “flight by machines heavier than air is unpractical and insignificant, if not utterly impossible.”
The president of the Michigan Savings Bank in 1903 advised Henry Ford’s lawyer not to invest in the Ford Motor Company: “The horse is here to stay, but the automobile is only a novelty, a fad.”
This simply proves that we don’t have the knowledge to understand the future.
Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.
(2) A. We must understand the uncertainty of life.
(2) A. We must understand the uncertainty of life.
You are planning way down the road and you don’t even know what will happen tomorrow.
Solomon had some things to say about this.
For there is a time and a way for everything, although man’s trouble lies heavy on him.
For he does not know what is to be, for who can tell him how it will be?
In the morning sow your seed, and at evening withhold not your hand, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good.
(2) A. We must understand the uncertainty of life.
(2) A. We must understand the uncertainty of life.
Visiting the 9/11 museum.
It was a normal day.
They all thought they were going home.
They had plans for dinner.
Plans for the weekend.
People were days from retirement.
Frozen in time.
I remember saying I wanted to take my family.
(2) B. We must understand the brevity of life.
(2) B. We must understand the brevity of life.
What is your life.
You are a mist that appears for a little time then vanishes.
There are several passages that remind us that life is short.
A voice says, “Cry!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.
The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it; surely the people are grass.
“Remember that my life is a breath; my eye will never again see good.
Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath! Selah
Surely a man goes about as a shadow! Surely for nothing they are in turmoil; man heaps up wealth and does not know who will gather!
Moses says:
So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.
(2) B. We must understand the brevity of life.
(2) B. We must understand the brevity of life.
Help us understand how short life is so we can live wisely!
Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,
making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.
Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,
addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart,
giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
(2) B. We must understand the brevity of life.
(2) B. We must understand the brevity of life.
Walk very carefully and make the best use of your time.
Live intentionally.
Make your life count for eternity!
Be filled with the Spirit.
Make people and their spiritual lives a priority.
Discipleship is a priority.
Delaying obedience means we may never obey.
Christians will often delay our obedience.
We have every intent to obey.
We just have reasons we can’t do it now.
Tomorrow may never come.
Delayed obedience should never be an option!
James asks: “What is your life.”
That is the question we need to answer.
What is my life?
If it ended today, what did I accomplish that lasts for eternity?
Opposite from James’ audience is Paul.
For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come.
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.
(2) B. We must understand the brevity of life.
(2) B. We must understand the brevity of life.
Paul is convinced he ready to meet Christ.
Why?
What was Paul’s life?
Here is what we have learned in our study.
People in Paul’s life.
Onesimus
I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment.
Timothy
To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
Titus
To Titus, my true child in a common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.
Epaphras
Silas
Priscilla and Aquilla
Just to name a few.
For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you?
What was Paul’s life?
People to present to Christ.
Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.
(2) B. We must understand the brevity of life.
(2) B. We must understand the brevity of life.
What is your life?
Questions for the week:
Do my plans align with God’s will?
What is my life?