8. What Is Your Life?
All Day, Every Day • Sermon • Submitted
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Welcome to part eight of our sermon series, All Day, Everyday where we are using the book of James as a guidebook to help us follow Jesus well in every part of our lives.
Have you heard of the Tikker wristwatch that counts down your life so you can make every second count. You answer a basic questionnaire and they deliver to you a watch that is essentially a countdown clock to what you will die. The effect is sobering, a sort of incessant grim reaper reminding you that time is running out.
Tikker's inventor is a 45-year-old Swede named Fredrik Colting. He says he invented the gadget not as a morbid novelty item, but as an earnest attempt to change his own thinking. Colting, a former gravedigger, said, "The occurrence of death is no surprise to anyone, but in our modern society we rarely talk about it. I think that if we were more aware of our own expiration I'm sure we'd make better choices while we are alive." That's why he calls Tikker "the happiness watch." It's his belief that watching your life slip away will remind you to savor life while you have it.
Do you think a Tikker watch would be helpful? Have you ever stopped to consider how you are using your time? I just read an article this week that said, the average American is going to spend almost three hours a day on their smart phone. That number is much higher for younger generations, those are over five. But here is what got me about the article. If you use the national average, in 2022 Americans are going to spend 44 days on their phone. This year you are going to spend over a month and a half on your phone. Some of you are going to spend over two months on your phone.
So maybe a Tikker watch would help us better prioritize our time. While this whole concept may feel a bit depressing, maybe Mr. Colting is on to something. If we realize we only have so much time left, we would use it differently.
Here is a very important question you must answer: What is the best way to use those seconds you have left? Who knows the best way to use them? Wouldn’t that seem like a really important question to answer?
This is what James is addressing in the last part of chapter four. If you have a Bible or device, find James 4. You can also follow along on the screen or, if you are using the YouVersion Bible app, look for Events. Then look for Iowa City Church. All the Scriptures and sermon notes will be available to you there.
Here’s what James writes. James 4:14
James 4:14 (NIV)
14b What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
Did any of you notice the little bit of fog that was out early this morning? Did you pay attention to the little bit of dew on the grass? You did for a moment, but it’s gone now. According to James, that’s like your life. It’s here today and gone tomorrow. Quickly forgotten. You die. There’s a funeral. Then we go back to the church and have a lunch of sandwiches and potato salad. You think to yourself: Well, this is getting really depressing!
Do you want your life to count for something? Do you want your life to make a difference in this world? Here’s how you do it: Daily decide to live a life in pursuit of God’s will.
You essentially have two options when it comes to how you are going to live your life: Pursue God’s will or pursue your own will.
I can feel a bit of tension enter the room as we wrestle with this idea. Am I pursuing God’s will for my life or am I pursuing my will?
As followers of Jesus we may want to seek his advice here, correct? Jesus had a few things to say about living according to God’s will.
Jesus taught us to pray: Matthew 6:10
10 your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
We are to pray for God’s will be done on earth, just like it is in heaven. It would make sense then, that as citizens of heaven we would not only pray for God’s will to move here an earth, but that we would live our lives in alignment with that will. If we were living according to our will there wouldn’t be a pray. There would be this attitude, “My kingdom come and my will be done.”
Here’s another example from Jesus. John 4:34
34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.
The driving force for Jesus’ life was to pursue and carry out God’s will. You are here today, transformed because Jesus aligned his life with the will of his Father. Would it be any different for you and me? If the best life lived comes through following Jesus, and Jesus devoted his life to doing the will of his father, should it be any different for you and me?
Probably the big question we need to answer before we dive into the text is this: What is God’s will?
Here’s a very simple, workable definition: God’s will is his work to make his creation good again.
As you look back through Scripture you can see that plan unfold. Especially in the person of Jesus, his death and resurrection and the establishment of God’s kingdom here on earth. We see this in words like redemption, reconciliation, and restoration. While it may not always feel like God’s will is unfolding and moving forward…it is. And, God’s will, will be done…whether we want it to or not. If there is one thing that we can guarantee that will happen with everything moving forward is that God’s will, will be done.
So, here is the moment of decision. If I want my life to make a difference, I must seek to align myself to God’s will. If I want to make an eternal difference, I must live my life on mission with what God is already doing in the world. So what does that look like? What does it look like if you a farmer, a teacher, or a nurse? What does it look like if you are retired or starting a career, or you just want to settle down and raise a family? What does it look like to live a life seeking God’s will?
This leads us to James chapter four.
James wraps up chapter four by addressing the struggle Christians have with aligning their lives to God’s will. So he’s going to provide two typical responses to God’s will and the conclude with the best way to pursue God’s will.
Many People Simply Ignore God’s Will
13 Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
Again, James is writing to Christians. Specifically Christians of wealth and influence. One of the most harmful things about money, and why it’s such a barrier to our relationship with God is because when we have money we think we are in control. We have more freedom to do what we want. So with money or any power comes the temptation to ignore God’s will and pursue our will. This is the issue for these Christian business men who are making plans.
However, James warns us as to why this is a foolish notion. He gives two reasons:
Life is too complex, too uncertain. There are too many variables. Are gas prices going to go up or down? Interest rates up or down? Hot summer or cool? Drought or plenty of rain? Life is too complex to think are will is the best way to live.
The brevity of life. You are not guaranteed another moment. Saint Isaac the Syrian, from the seventh century wrote this: Prepare your heart for your departure. If you are wise, you will expect it every hour. It’s foolish to live in ignorance of God’s will because tomorrow is not guaranteed.
James also notes Christians who disobey God’s will in a surprising way.
2. Others Without Realizing It Disobey God’s Will
16 As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. 17 If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.
One of the biggest issues that James is addressing throughout the entire letter is that of arrogance and pride. The last two Sundays we addressed how what we say and the conflict we find ourselves in comes primarily from our own arrogance and pride. It’s safe to say that there isn’t a sin God’s hates more then pride.
So James dives right in and says that if a Christian is going to boast about their plans for success and what they want to do to promote their name, he says, that evil. Maybe the readers of this letter, and maybe even yourself, you push back and say, “What we are going isn’t hurting anyone. We aren’t doing bad things, we aren’t sinning!” James says, not so fast! If God’s will is to accomplish good and all you are focused on is not doing bad, it’s still sin. You may take a look at your day and say, “Well, I didn’t really do anything bad today. I didn’t hurt anyone. All I did was my job. All I did was watch some TV and do yard work. All I did was play video games and went to the grocery store. But in carrying out those actions, did you walk by opportunities to do good. Well, that’s sin.
James isn’t letting anyone off the hook when it comes to God’s will. You can’t be ambivalent or ignorant of what God is doing in this world. You are either for it…or you are against it.
Okay, those are two ways Christians typically respond to God’s will.
Here’s What It Looks Like To Pursue God’s Will:
15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”
Before we go any further, I just want to remind everyone about the big, overarching theme that James is teaching Christians. Here’s your refresher. Go back to James 4:7
James 4:7 (NIV)
7 Submit yourselves, then, to God.
Submitting ourselves to God is daily coming under his authority or Kingship. God is in control of our lives. So James in wrapping up this chapter is reminding Christians that their lives in every way, shape and form must come under the direction of God and his will.
Be mindful of God’s Will
Then live - pursue the giftedness, time and resources God has given you, with his will as the driving force for your life.
Do this or that. There isn’t one perfect set plan for you. You could be a teacher or nurse. Run your own business or work for a company. The point is that whatever you do, you are working in alignment with God’s will.
“If the Lord will” is not just a statement on a believer’s lips, it is the constant attitude of his heart. To obey God’s will, I have to find my place in God’s plans, rather than make my own little plans and then ask God to support them.
John Powell in his sermon, “Prayer as Surrender” describes his strategy for living out this type of life.
I have a sign in the mirror of my room I see it every morning in my groggy condition, when I first wake up: WHAT HAVE YOU GOT GOING TODAY, GOD? I'D LIKE TO BE A PART OF IT. THANKS FOR LOVING ME.
Here are some ways to practically live out God’s will in your life.
By doing good things that point people to our good God. That could look like looking for opportunities to serve, to be generous, to share the gospel, pray for a friend, disciple a co-worker, bring a meal to a family in need. Any good we do to point people to our good God is a life lived in pursuit of God’s will.
Being mindful of God when making your plans. Take time to pray and fast over big decisions. Seek God and his wisdom and will when making the big decisions of your life.
The closer you grow to God, the more his will becomes your will. What is one step you can take to grow closer to God?
Author Randy Alcorn recalled a two-month missions trip that he and his family took some years ago that included a visit to Egypt. While in Egypt, Alcorn's hosts took him to visit an abandoned graveyard located at the end of a garbage-lined alley. The host pointed out one tombstone in particular—that of William Borden (1887-1913), heir to the Borden dairy estate. William was a millionaire by 21, but he renounced his fortune, giving nearly all his wealth to missions. His heart's desire was to take the gospel to Muslims in China. On his way to China, William stopped in Egypt to study Arabic, but four months later he contracted spinal meningitis and died at the age of 25.
Alcorn writes:
I dusted off the inscription on the headstone of Borden's grave. After describing his love for Christ and his commitment to and his love for the Muslim people; and his sacrifices for God's kingdom; the inscription ended with some words I wrote down on the spot—and I have never forgotten them to this day. The inscription ended with, "Apart from faith in Christ there is no explanation for such a life."
Then Alcorn wrote, "And I thought, Lord, what's the explanation for my life?"
What is the explanation for your life? The pursuit of your will or God’s?