Click here to view the entire service
Bob Saget died this past January 9 in his hotel room. Many remember him from Full House or America’s Funniest Home Videos. At 3:42 AM he ended his last tweet with these words, “Check Bob Saget.com for my dates in 2022.” He had no idea he wouldn’t live to see another day. A reporter wrote:
One of the most remarkable things about humanity continues to be our willingness to make plans and preparations for anything and everything, even though there’s absolutely no guarantee we will ever see them.
The author went on to say:
Wouldn’t it be wise of us, in the course of making our plans for the future, to spend a bit of time making plans for our eternal future? (Peter Heck)
This is precisely what James is getting at in our passage this morning. After rebuking us for how we are so prone to slander and judge others, now, in verses 13-17 he rebukes us for how we plan for our future. How are you planning for your future? What are your business plans? What are your marriage plans? What are your academic plans? Are you planning on being a teacher, lawyer, engineer, doctor? What are your investment plans? What are your plans for buying a house or moving to Augustine, Florida? What are your retirement plans?
YOU SHOULD PLAN FOR YOUR FUTURE
How do you go about making plans for your future? What does God have to do with your planning? How do you know if your plans are fulfilling God’s will? We’re going to take a couple weeks to look at God’s will for your life.
Planning is biblical. God made His plan and then worked His plan. Isaiah 46:10, “Declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’” The whole universe is the product of God’s carefully worked out plan. Creation, the seasons, all of history are the unfolding of God’s sovereign plan. Ephesians 1:11 says God works all things according to the counsel of His will. Christ came on schedule, according to God’s plan, to accomplish God’s predestined purpose to accomplish redemption for sinners.
We see God’s sovereign plan unfolding every moment. And God expects us to make plans. To refuse to plan is to waste one of God’s most precious gifts – time. That’s why Psalm 90:12 says, “So teach us to number our days, plan for each one, so we can present to You a heart of wisdom.” Proverbs 21:5 encourages us to thoughtful planning, “The plans of the diligent lead surely to advantage, But everyone who is hasty comes surely to poverty.”
So how do our plans and God’s plans work together? James is going to give us clarity in this passage which divides into four very practical truths.
THE WRONG WAY TO PLAN FOR YOUR FUTURE
James 4:13, 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.”
“Come now” is James’ way of saying, “Listen up, people, you who are in the habit of saying…!” We’re in for a good rebuking. Then he describes how wrong they are in making their business plans. In a nutshell, they are planning like atheists. God isn’t in all their thinking. Oh they had a lot of God talk at church on Sundays, but Monday morning they were thinking and talking just like the world. Their planning was godless; atheistic.
The problem isn’t in trading or commerce or even making a ton of money. The Bible actually encourages investing and profiting, what we call capitalism. But not as an atheist. The commentator Hiebert describes it as “side-stepping God’s will while planning for the future.” There they are, sitting around the table talking about what they’re going to do. They’re carefully scheming and planning. “We’ve heard about this new Roman colony where there are great opportunities for trade. Now’s the time to get in on the ground floor. Maybe we’ll spend a year there and make tons of money!” This is how the godless world thinks. Think about giant corporate board meetings, as they discuss future investments and endeavors. Imagine if someone piped up and said, “I think we ought to pray about this before we proceed with this plan.” Most in the room would probably be thinking, “Hey, go ahead and pray. We know what we’re doing!”
Remember Proverbs 3:5-6? “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and don’t lean on your own understanding. In all your ways – including your future plans – acknowledge Him, and He will direct your steps. Don’t be wise in your own eyes.” What these Jewish believers are doing is leaning on their own understanding. They were thinking like atheists – no God in the picture. Religion is good for Sundays, but on Monday we too often do our own strategizing. When? Today or tomorrow. Where? Such and such a town. How long? Maybe a year. We’ll get this business going and we’re guaranteed a profit. They were so excited! Like Bob Saget – “Check my 2022 event calendar to see where I’ll be performing.”
Think of all the planning details you could put in this verse:
I’m going to go to college, get a degree, set up a business, and make money.
I’m going to date girls, find a wife, marry her, and have a big family.
I’m going to invest in high risk funds, make a lot of money, and retire early.
I’m going to….Fill in the blanks – what, where, when, how long, how much?
One author said, “The man who makes plans for the future without taking account of Providence is not far removed from the fool who says in his heart, ‘There is no God’” (Psalm 14:1).
WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW ABOUT YOUR FUTURE
James 4:14, 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.
You don’t know two things about your future. First of all, you don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow. Proverbs 27:1, “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.” You have no control over the future. You may break your leg in the shower or some texter may cross into your lane and send you to the hospital or you may easily have a heart attack. Not to scare anyone, but isn’t it the pure goodness of God that He keeps our hearts beating with that electrical shock every second or so? Or our plans can change in a moment, as happened to me. I was driving to USI to speak to a group of students when a deer ran in front of me, made a sharp u-turn to avoid an oncoming car, and jumped through the windshield right in front of me, and deposited his innards on my dash and in my lap. My plans quickly changed. You don’t have ultimate control over anything for tomorrow.
Second, you don’t know if you’ll even be here tomorrow. Look how God describes your life – a mist or vapor. The Greek word is “atmis”, our “atmosphere.” Like that disappearing vapor off your coffee mug, here today, gone tomorrow. Remember the foolish farmer in Luke 12 who said to himself, like an atheist, “Soul, you have many goods for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry.” Then God said to him, “You fool! This very night your soul is required of you!” Remember this: The death rate for the world is 100%. We just don’t know when. In the mid-1800s a group of fortune seekers sailed from England to Australia to dig for gold and found lots of it. When they returned in their ship the Royal Charter in 1859, not only was plenty of gold safely stored in the hold of the steam clipper, but some of the passengers even sewed gold into their pockets to prevent losing it. What they didn’t realize was their life was a vapor. They came along the western shoreline of Wales and ran into a severe storm. The ship broke up and their gold and most of the people never made it back home to enjoy all their gold! Out of 452 passengers, only 41 survived. Their profit sank to the bottom of the sea.
Here’s how the Bible pictures our lives. Psalm 144:4 – a mere breath, a passing shadow; Psalm 102:11 – an evening shadow; Job 9:25 – a swift runner; Psalm 90:9 – like a sigh; Psalm 39:4 – Lord, let me know how transient I am.
So to plan like an atheist as if you are in total control of your future, of your tomorrow, of your life, is foolish. While we who love God don’t know the future, we do know that our sovereign, omniscient, omnipotent God of the universe controls every event and circumstance of our lives. In a recent Q & A John MacArthur said these priceless words, “I wouldn’t want for one second to run my life. Every day is divine providence.” Amen!
Many people have refused to follow God’s will in the Bible and pushed their own agenda thinking, “I don’t care what God or the Bible says, I’m doing it anyway.” They went after the big bucks, married against all counsel, invested heavily in some get-rich-quick scheme, went in debt up to their eyeballs, when things suddenly changed. Now they are hurting, angry, bitter, and questioning or even blaming God. You don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow, or if you’ll even be here tomorrow.
THE RIGHT WAY TO PLAN FOR YOUR FUTURE
James 4:15, Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.”
So how do you plan for your future? James is plainly going to tell us. What doesn’t he say? He doesn’t say to put out a fleece, like Gideon. He doesn’t say to read your circumstances like tea leaves and depend on getting all green lights as you cross the Lloyd to mean God wants you to go ahead and do it. James doesn’t say to trust your inner feelings, mental impressions, or promptings from the Holy Spirit. Don’t look for mystical experiences, visions, voices in your head, even what you may think is God’s voice. I like what Voddie Baucham said, “Let’s quit saying ‘God told me.’”
No, none of these are how God wants to guide our lives. Calvin said, “All our need for guidance is in God’s sufficient word.” And right here in James 4:15 is one of God’s ways of leading us. As you make your plans for the future, here’s what you ought to say, “If the Lord wills.” Think like a true believer in God, not like an atheist. Make your plans, but then submit them to God. “If the Lord wills….” Instead of trusting your big idea plans, James says you need to plan according God’s will given in the principles of Scripture and trust God.
“If the Lord wills.” That’s living like you really believe in God! There’s no problem in planning, or with sales, or investing to make a profit. Make your plans, strategize, ask what is the best way of investing my time and energy here in this life. Draw up your plans, but then submit them to God for Him to affirm or subtract or add or totally change those plans. The whole time and every day you should be thinking if not actually saying, “We’re going to do this, DV, Deo Volente, God willing.” Daily, moment-by-moment, do things that please God and trust Him.
“If the Lord should will it.” He may or He may not. James is saying we need to renew our thinking to see God actively involved in our planning. What are the possibilities for God’s will in your plans? He may want you to proceed. Go for it. He may want you to change your plans; things didn’t work out as you thought. You thought she was the one, but now you’re not so sure. Slow down. God’s not going to tell you which one to marry, but in 1 Corinthians 7:39 He does tell you which ones not to marry. It is not God’s will for you to marry an unbeliever. So you are heading down this path trusting God. If He changes your course, thank Him and learn from it. Say in your heart, “If the Lord wills….” Pray about your plans, “Lord, not my will but yours be done.” Constantly remind yourself and others that God is running this world and He has something to say about your plans. “If the Lord wills” means several things.
- “If the Lord wills” means you want to do God’s will. Your goal every day is to glorify and please your God in “all your ways.” Even the apostle Paul applied this principle to his decision making. In 1 Cor. 16:7 he told the Corinthians, “I’m coming to see you and want to stay a while with you if the Lord permits.” He wrote to the Philippians in 2:19, “I hope in the Lord to send Timothy to you.”
- “If the Lord wills” means you know God is involved in the details, the daily decisions in your life, at the office or at home or in your workmanship as well as at church. It doesn’t mean your plans will succeed or you won’t have troubles. There’s nothing magic about this. It doesn’t even mean you have to add, “Lord willin,” to everything you say. “Well, we’re going to go home now, Lord willing.” “Lord willing” is a mindset of trusting God.
- “If the Lord wills” means you are willing to ask the basic questions about your plans. Will this plan help or hurt my relationship with God? Will this season ticket keep me from church throughout the season? Will this plan help or hurt my family? Will it help me be more faithful in my church? Will this plan make me too busy or too tired to grow in the Lord? Will it somehow keep me from doing the right thing? If your plan takes you from God, you’ve got the wrong plans.
- “If the Lord wills” means you are willing to let a sovereign God have total control over your plans. “Here’s our plan, Lord, we submit it to You and if You change it, make it difficult, completely wipe it out, we will cheerfully accept Your sovereign plan.” What did Job say? Job 1:21, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked I shall return there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD.” Jesus faced a horrendous tomorrow and prayed, “Lord, if possible, take this cup from me. Yet, not My will, but Yours be done.”
THE EVIL OF PRESUMPTUOUS PLANNING
James 4:16-17, But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. 17 Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.
Now James brings this convicting point of God’s truth. To think that you are in control and can make plans apart from trusting God each step of the way is boastful arrogance. This is thinking and planning like an atheist, as if there is no God and you don’t need God. The world’s movers and shakers sit around tables or stand at podiums and spout out their grand plans as if there is no God and they are the ultimate in the universe. They may be “trusting their lucky stars.”
That’s how Satan planned. “I will…I will…I will…I will…I will make myself like the Most High” (Isaiah 14:13-14). That’s how atheists and secularists and pagans think. Listen to the big mouths at the World Economic Forum bragging about how they are going to bring in a new world order. The anti-Christ will shoot off his mouth too (Daniel 7:8), but he won’t last long! God only gives him 3 ½ years. Never forget, even evil is under God’s control. God is sovereign even over the devil.
James 4:17 says the right thing to do is to commit your plans to God. To fail to do that is living like an unbeliever, like an atheist, as if there isn’t a God who providentially is involved in your life. So to make plans without submitting them to God is a sin of omission.
James is calling us to submit to God, to humble ourselves under God’s mighty hand in all of our daily pursuits. This is what Proverbs 16:3 means when it says, “Commit your works to the Lord, and your plans will be established.” God planned His work and now is working out His plan. He made us to plan our days also. There’s no virtue in passivity in the Christian life. But are your plans submitted to God’s sovereign will? Do you live every day with the attitude, “If the Lord wills we’ll do this or that?” Are you willing to let God “red pencil” your plans? Are you blessed to know God is concerned about your daily Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday plans? Can you say along with Paul in 1 Corinthians 10:31, “Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
Charles Bridges on Proverbs 3:5-6 gives excellent counsel. “In all your ways acknowledge Him” means this.
Take one step at a time, every step under Divine warrant and direction. Ever plan for yourself in simple dependence on God. It is nothing less than self-idolatry to conceive that we can carry on even the ordinary matters of the day without his counsel. He loves to be consulted. Therefore take all thy difficulties to be resolved by him. Be in the habit of going to him in the first place—before self-will, self-pleasing, self-wisdom, human friends, convenience, expediency. Before any of these have been consulted go to God at once.