Sermon Tone Analysis

*FACING TOMORROW*1 \\ *By Lorin Cranford*

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!

*Introduction*

"Facing Tomorrow" -- That's our theme today.

Most of my 59 years I've spent more time "facing yesterday," that is, having to answer for past actions.

As a college student during the anti-Vietnam war era I've often enjoyed bucking the system way more than I should have.

My background in West Texas ranch life instilled in me a rugged individualism that doesn't tolerate taking commands from anyone very easily.

But "facing tomorrow" has a certain fascination about it.

Especially in the climate we're living in today.

It creates a particular curiosity.

With my personal struggle over the past few months with major health issues, it takes on a much more serious tone for me.

James touches on this in 4:13-17.

Listen to his words: 13  #Age nu'n oiJ levgonte", Shvmeron h] au[rion poreusovmeqa eij" thvnde th;n povlin kai; poihvsomen ejkei' ejniauto;n kai; ejmporeusovmeqa kai; kerdhvsomen: 14 oi&tine" oujk ejpivstasqe to; th'" au[rion poiva hJ zwh; uJmw'n: ajtmi;" gavr ejste hJ pro;" ojlivgon fainomevnh, e[peita kai; ajfanizomevnh.

15 ajnti; tou' levgein uJma'", jEa;n oJ kuvrio" qelhvsh~/ kai; zhvsomen kai; poihvsomen tou'to h] ejkei'no.

16 nu'n de; kauca'sqe ejn tai'" ajlazoneivai" uJmw'n: pa'sa kauvchsi" toiauvth ponhrav ejstin.

17 eijdovti ou

kalo;n poiei'n kai; mh; poiou'nti, aJmartiva aujtw'~/ ejstin.2

In this part of his "sermon" he evidently does what many preachers today often do.

He targets individuals beyond his readers in order to give preventative 'medicine' to his readers.

James picks up on a frequent Old Testament condemnation of the Jewish merchant who often represented the worst of ancient Jewish society.

They frequently symbolized the most irreligious group among the Jewish people.

This passage has echoes in Amos, Ezekiel and several other OT prophets.

Out of this warning comes a challenge about "facing tomorow."

James suggests two stances: leaving God out of tomorrow, or else, building tomorrow on God's will.

These two emphases have importance to each of us today.

I want to dwell on them for the time we have together.

!

*I.

Are you a Christian atheist?*

Notice James' accusation in verse 13: #Age nu'n oiJ levgonte", Shvmeron h] au[rion poreusovmeqa eij" thvnde th;n povlin kai; poihvsomen ejkei' ejniauto;n kai; ejmporeusovmeqa kai; kerdhvsomen:3

Nothing is wrong here with making plans for tomorrow.

Taken by itself, out of the immediate context, what these merchants are planning has nothing wrong with it.

Making plans, mapping out strategies for the future -- all these actions are both correct and important to do.

One of the best courses I had in 1960 as a beginning college student was Freshman Orientation 101 and 102.We met at 7:00 every Thursday morning for the entire academic year.

Among the many topics covered in the course was planning a daily schedule.

Our professor required us to set up a chart with 15 minute segments from the time we typically woke up until the time we usually went to bed.

Over a seven day period we had to fill in planned activities, and then make an honest effort to follow it for a week.

At the end of the week we had to write an evaluation and indicated changes that we found were needed.

Although most of the students just went through the motions and immediately forgot about it after the completion of the assignment, I tried to take it seriously.

Out of that assignment came a life altering pattern that I have followed to some degree or another now some 41 years.

To be sure one has to be flexible in planning.

Circumstances change, unexpected things happened.

But to have a basic plan for each day with things in mind that you want to accomplish gives each day much more meaning and a clear sense of direction.

If planning for tomorrow is good, what is wrong with the planning expressed in verse thirteen?

When James begins to elaborate on the implications behind the planning in verses fourteen through sixteen, the wrongness in these plans comes clearly to the surface.

Note the first elaboration in verse fourteen: oi&tine" oujk ejpivstasqe to; th'" au[rion poiva hJ zwh; uJmw'n: ajtmi;" gavr ejste hJ pro;" ojlivgon fainomevnh, e[peita kai; ajfanizomevnh.4 James accuses these individuals of ignorance about the nature of life, especially is fragility.

"You don't understand tomorrow, that is, what your life is like."

What a temptation that is for all of us! Life is fragile and uncertain.

Don't believe it?

Pick up the morning newspaper and read just the front page.

Story after story illustrates just how fragile life is.

You and I have Sept. 11th burned into our very being as Americans.

Almost 6,000 people began a normal day at the office or at the airport, but never lived to see the sunset that evening.

Wow!

What a vivid reminder of just how uncertain life can be.

Indeed, in James' words, life is but a vapor that appears for a moment and then vanishes.

For many of you this morning, this may be a difficult personal lesson.

Yea, life in general is uncertain, but not for me.

Most of you are just leaving the so-called invincible years of teenage life, when most teenagers both consciously and unconsciously feel they're invincible.

"Nothing is going to happen to me.

I've got my whole life ahead of me."

Yet, I dare say that most of you have high school friends or acquaintances who didn't live to see graduation.

Old age is an eternity away.

I remember thinking in 1960 as a college freshman that there was no way I could imagine ever being 60 years of age, which I will be in two weeks.

It seemed like such a long time away.

The duration of a lifetime seems unmeasurable to many of you now.

You're young; you live in the present, not in the future.

Why bother with planning out a life anyway.

And then there's that decision the university forces me to make; I have to declare a major.

Some sort of life time planning needs to go into that decision.

So I'm forced to make plans.

But isn't it a matter of what I want to do with my life?

Anyway, who has any right to tell me what I have to do?

But I don't really know what I want to do -- apart from a career that earns big bucks and enables me to realize the American dream of material success.

Ah!

So a part of the wrongness of the planning expressed in verse thirteen is based on ignorance of life itself.

Plans are made with no consideration of life's uncertainty.

Sensitivity to life's uncertainty should impact what we decide to do.

What does that mean?

For one thing, this kind of planning doesn't include "Oh, eventually I'll get around to it."

Procrastination is excluded in the awareness of the nature of life.

Now, I've quite preaching and gone to meddlin', haven't I?

For the moment, let me skip over the second elaboration in verse 15 and go to the third one in verse 16: nu'n de; kauca'sqe ejn tai'" ajlazoneivai" uJmw'n: pa'sa kauvchsi" toiauvth ponhrav ejstin.5

Here James accuses his merchants of arrogant boastfulness.

The plural form of the word for arrogance emphasizes concrete expressions of arrogance, not just the attitude itself.

The old Frank Sanatra song popular in my early college years, "I'll do it my way," captures the spirit behind this planning.

These plans reflect a spirit of pride and arrogance that insists on having one's own way and planning out exactly what I -- and I alone -- want to accomplish.

Now the wrongness of these plans becomes even more clear.

But how does that apply to us as a Christians?

We're committed to God's leadership over our lives.

Self-centeredness is obviously not right.

Arrogance certainly has no place in the Christian's life.

Yet, over the years I've struggled constantly with doing ministry "my way."

I couldn't count the number of seminary students whom I heard say, "I want to serve in a church close to where I grew up."

Or, "My wife is insistent that we will move back home when I finish seminary.

I have to find a church near her parent's home."

We can easily put boundaries on our service to God -- geographical, vocational etc.

We can limit God on our educational plans as well.

I've often wondered how much poorer the Kingdom of God because of our refusal to follow God where ever He leads.

We sing the hymn "Wherever He Leads I'll Go" but I'm not sure we always mean it.