Planning for the Future

In his letter to the Church – or as the James calls his readers -  the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad – James gives practical advice regarding how to plan for the future ---

If we were to outline the 4^th Chapter of James’ letter it would look somewhat like this:

Long-range Plans (verse 13)

Uncertainty of Life (verse 14)

According to Your Own Will (verse 15)

Boasting is Evil (verse16)

But he also considers three specific sins which would keep us from preparing for the future – according to God’s will.

I.             First, he teaches about the Sin of Presumption – or the Sin of Assuming – vss. 13-15.

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.” Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.” But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.

James is describing here an arrogant display of pride.

His warning comes in familiar life situations that we are engaged in nearly every day of our lives – those of travel, buying and selling; and the hope of making a profit for ourselves to improve the quality of our physical lives here.

The fellow in James’ story presumes that his plans are his to make. No one else needs to interfere with his plans.

He thought that not even God should interfere with his plans. They are his plans and God has no right to interfere or questions them.

Look at Proverbs 27:1ff: “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth. Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger and not your own lips.”

We do not know about tomorrow. Only God knows what tomorrow will bring.

We can plan, but when we plan, we must understand that what we plan may not be in God’s will for our lives.

There is a great Gospel song that says:

“ I don’t know about tomorrow, I just live day to day. I don’t borrow from its sunshine, for its skies may turn to gray. I don’t worry o’re the future, for I know what Jesus said, and today I’ll walk beside Him, for He knows what is ahead. The chorus says: Many things about tomorrow I don’t seem to understand, But I know who holds tomorrow, and I know who holds my hand,”

James 4:14 tells us we don’t know what tomorrow will be like. We are just a “vapor” – something that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.

What that means as we view our own lives here on this earth is that our lives are in God’s hands, not in our own.

Now that does not mean that we have no control or power over the direction our lives take, because God has granted us some “free will” – we have the ability and freedom to make our own choices – good or bad.

But it is presumptuous of us to think that we can live and make plans disregarding any dependance on God’s will for our lives.

Presumption denies who we are – who God is – and how much we need God day by day.

Indeed, life is a gift from God which comes to us by His love and mercy.

II.             Aside from the sin of Presumption, James speaks of the sin of Boasting(verse 16) – “you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.”

The word boasting comes from a Greek word – its roots are in the characteristic of a wandering “quack”.  Like the “medicine man” who wandered around the country during America’s frontier days selling his “tonic” that was a cure for whatever ails you.

He offered cures that were not actually cures. He boasted of things that the tonic could not accomplish.

If we boast, we are saying that we are able to control our own destiny.

And that is an invalid assumption. Although we can set goals and make plans, we do not have the power to determine the course of our own lives.

Again, James says boasting is evil. And John, in his New Testament letter says in

1 John 2:16 :calls this  “.....the boastful pride of life is not from the Father but is from the world.”

III.          And then, Thirdly,  James writes about the Sin of Omission in verse 17: ”Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.”

This sin is the most difficult to deal with or to overcome.

What is sin? A right definition of sin is that it is “missing the mark”. And we miss the mark when we do wrong; or by our failing to do what is right.

James gives us the solution or the way to hit the mark rather than miss the mark.

He does this by telling us what sin is --- sin is missing the mark --- and how do we miss the mark?

We miss the mark by doing what is wrong; and when we do what is wrong, we fail to do what is right.

So, James urges us to be “doers”. Doers of what?  Doers of the Word.

God does have commands He expects His followers to hear and obey.

Very often people – yes, even Christians – ignore it. We simply fail to do His will and obey His teachings.

God gives us so much – so many blessings – so many opportunities – to do His will and to be His ambassadors here on earth – daily.

Do we see all those opportunities? Do we seek what He wants us to do with those opportunities?

You know, a huge amount of the  sin that people are guilty of committing is not what we do --- it is rather what we don’t do with the opportunities He sets before us.

And so, our not-doing becomes our sin.

James gives us a simple formula or guideline for us to live by in verse 15:  “Instead, you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.”

That means that we must commit ourselves to the Lord and to doing His will.

His will should be the conviction of our lives.

Our lives are His --- and the future is His.

So, we have some questions for each of us to ponder today:

Where is my treasure?

What is my purpose in life?

Is it my purpose in life to do the things for myself?

Or is my purpose in life to do the things that will allow me to serve God and in the act of serving Him, will I serve others as well?