‘IF THE LORD WILLS …’
Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on August 29, 2024 under AM Bible Study |
AM Bible Study Group: August 28, 2024 from James 4:13-17
Theme: We live faithfully in the light of God’s sovereignty when we submit our plans to His will.
(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).
There’s an instructive scene in the classic book The Swiss Family Robinson. The family had just been shipwrecked; but had all managed to get safely to the shore of an island. After a good night’s sleep, the father took one of his sons with him to go out and explore their situation. They got their supplies and weapons and some food items ready; and were just about to go …
`Stop!’ I exclaimed, `we have still left something very important undone.’
`Surely not,’ said Fritz.
`Yes,’ said I, `we have not yet joined in morning prayer. We are only too ready, amid the cares and pleasures of this life, to forget the God to whom we owe all things.’
That seems to highlight a problem we perpetually face as believers; doesn’t it? We’re all in such a hurry to fulfill our own plans in life that we easily forget the One to whom we owe thanks for the ability to do anything at all. And remembering our complete dependence upon God is what James 4:13-17 is all about. Pastor James wrote;
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin (James 4:13-17).
Note how James tells us that, if we know we ought to stop and pray and express our dependency upon the Father—and then fail to do so—it is sin. It’s the same as willfully living as if God isn’t even there. And so, as this passage teaches us, we live faithfully in the light of God’s sovereignty when we submit our plans to His will.
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Consider the people to whom James would have written these words. They were Jewish Christians who were scattered throughout the known world because of persecution. In being dispersed throughout the world, they would have—as best they could—also brought their trades and business with them. In his day—just as in our own in many places in the world—merchants and tradesmen would gather the goods and products of one city and take them to some other, distant city; and would remain there for some time until they had sold those goods and products. Then, they’d use the profits to buy up some other goods and products in that city, and take them to yet another city to sell. They’d repeat this process—perhaps over a considerable number of years—until they became rich enough to return home and live prosperously. There’s nothing necessarily unusual or inherently wrong about such a plan.
But the people to whom James wrote these words were followers of Jesus. They’re to do all things to the glory of God. They were not to behave as the people of this world do—that is, to keep spiritual matters in the ‘spiritual realm’ of life, but deal with business matters in a strictly ‘material realm’ of life. They weren’t to divide life into the strictly ‘sacred’ and strictly ‘secular’ categories; but were to approach all areas of life with a complete dependency upon the heavenly Father.
Pastor James wanted his dear brothers and sisters to see how wrong it would be to come up with, develop, and attempt to carry out their business plans as if God the Father wasn’t even there. He wanted them to see that this—in effect—would be to say, “In this area of life, I am my own god. When it comes to business, I am the master of my own fate.” And so, in this passage, he calls them to humble submission to God’s sovereignty by committing their plans to His will.
Now; it’s important to understand that …
1. IT’S NOT WRONG TO MAKE PLANS (v. 13).
James began by writing in verse 13, “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit …” He says, “Come now …”, or as it is in the original language, “Go now …” This is his way of calling their attention away from the pressing demands of the fulfillment of their plans long enough to evaluate the attitude in which they pursue those plans. But what he went on to describe—with respect to actually making plans—is not necessarily wrong in and of itself.
In fact, the Bible teaches us to make plans. Proverbs 6:6-8 says;
Go to the ant, you sluggard!
Consider her ways and be wise,
Which, having no captain,
Overseer or ruler,
Provides her supplies in the summer,
And gathers her food in the harvest (Proverbs 6:6-8).
It even warns us that it’s reckless to fail to plan. As it says in Proverbs 21:5;
The plans of the diligent lead surely to plenty,
But those of everyone who is hasty, surely to poverty (Proverbs 21:5).
And what’s more, what we find in our passage this morning almost seems like a model for good planning. First, a date is set. Second, a location of the work is established. Third, a time limit is fixed. Fourth, a plan for the execution of the work itself is drafted. And fifth, the objective is set. It’s got the “what”, the “when”, the “where”, the “how”, and the “why” all laid out. The problem is not with all that was included in the plan. Rather, the problem was what was missing from it. Nowhere in it is there any acknowledgment of dependency upon God. It’s a plan that, for all intents and purposes, was drawn up as if God didn’t even exist.
The problem shows itself—in practice—through a failure to stop and pray. When we become that confident in our plans, or that confident in our ability to execute those plans, then we’ve become presumptuous in our plans. To such people, James says, “Come now …!”
So; it’s not wrong to plan. But it’s very wrong to plan as if we don’t need to turn those plans over to God. James goes on to show us that …
2. CERTAIN REALITIES HUMBLE US IN OUR PLANS (vv. 14-15).
First, James reminds us of the uncertainty of the future. He wrote in verse 14 that we can only make our plans with limited human knowledge; “whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow.” We all plan to show up for things we’re responsible for; but we don’t really have the ability to know for certain whether we’ll be able to do so or not. We all plan to celebrate Christmas this December, or to come to church this Sunday. But none of us really knows for certain that we will. We just don’t know what tomorrow may bring; because tomorrow is in God’s hand and not in our own. This is true of all areas of life—our health, our tasks, our work, our possessions, our very life. We make plans about these things as we should. But we must not presumptuously boast about our plans as if we could authoritatively declare the future; because we can’t. Only God can do so; and we’re utterly dependent upon Him for tomorrow.
Just think of the man in our Lord’s parable. He made his plans without God—and without knowing the future.
“The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God” (Luke 12:16-21).
Second, James reminds us of the frailty of our lives. In verse 14 he wrote, “For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.” In Psalm 39, King David wrote;
“Lord, make me to know my end,
And what is the measure of my days,
That I may know how frail I am.
Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths,
And my age is as nothing before You;
Certainly every man at his best state is but vapor. Selah
Surely every man walks about like a shadow;
Surely they busy themselves in vain;
He heaps up riches,
And does not know who will gather them (Psalm 39:4-6).
And in Psalm 90, Moses wrote;
The days of our lives are seventy years;
And if by reason of strength they are eighty years,
Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow;
For it is soon cut off, and we fly away (Psalm 90:10).
You almost get a sense that James was thinking of those words from the Psalms when he wrote that our lives are mere fading vapors. For us to make long-term plans on the presumption of the durability of our lives is as unwise as building a structure on a foundation of smoke.
And third, James reminds us of the supremacy of the will of God. As he wrote in verse 15, “Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.’” James wasn’t saying that we may only make our plans if they are in accord with the Lord’s will. Rather, he was saying that only if the Lord wills will we even be allowed to live and breathe and do anything at all! This is the most humbling factor of all making our plans. Our life, our health, our possessions, even our mental abilities, are all in the hand of the God of providence—and it can all be taken away from us in an instant if God so wills. It is His will alone that is supreme, and not our own. As someone once wisely said, “Man proposes; but God disposes.”
So; these are the three realities that impact and limit our ability to make our plans: the uncertainty of the future, the frailty of our own lives, and the absolute sovereignty of God over all things. And so; this means that …
3. WE MUST MAKE PLANS WITH HUMBLE SUBMISSION TO GOD (vv. 16-17).
To do otherwise would be sin. As James puts it in verses 16-17, “But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.” To knowingly, willingly, arrogantly boast of our plans without regard to our absolute dependence upon God is to engage in the sin of treating God as if He wasn’t there—or as if we didn’t want Him in the picture.
How then should we bring those three great realities to bear in our planning? How can we plan in such a way as to rightly acknowledge God? First, we should always submit our plans to the word of God. The very first thing that we should do is to hold up our plans against the unchanging standard of God’s revealed will in the Scriptures. We should ask, “Is what I intend to do within the framework of God’s expressed will?” We should seek godly counsel from those who know God’s word well, and ask them to advise us on what God has already said on the subject. The ultimate guiding principle in our plans shouldn’t be what we want in the outcome, but rather what God would want from us.
Then, we should invite God’s involvement in our plans from the very start. As King Solomon—one of the greatest planners of all time—wrote in Psalm 127:1;
Unless the Lord builds the house,
They labor in vain who build it;
Unless the Lord guards the city,
The watchman stays awake in vain (Psalm 127:1).
And as King David wrote in Psalm 37:5;
Commit your way to the Lord,
Trust also in Him,
And He shall bring it to pass. (Psalm 37:5).
And as it says in Proverbs 3:5-6;
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths (Proverbs 3:5-6).
Asking for God’s help in our plans at the start will help us avoid having to cry out for His forgiveness and mercy in the midst of disaster in the end.
Also, we should learn to seek God’s interests first in our plans. So often, we make our plans according to our own agendas, and then try to persuade God to endorse those agendas. But what God wants for us to do is to—instead—get behind His plans. As our Lord Jesus taught us with respect to the things that concern us;
“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).
Whenever we make our plans, we need to stop at the beginning and ask, “How will what I’m seeking to do advance the kingdom of Jesus Christ?” If our final goal is to live and provide for ourselves so that we’re freed up to serve the kingdom of Jesus Christ better, that’s a worthy goal that’s in keeping with our Lord’s kingdom-purposes. But if our goal is to be able to hold on to our riches for their own sake, and to be able to live a self-indulgent life, that’s a plan that serves the wrong kingdom … and that God will not bless.
And finally, we need to humbly bow to our heavenly Father’s providence. If we can look things over and say that (1) our plan is clearly within the revealed will of God, that (2) we’ve sincerely invited God’s superintendence over our plan, and that (3) we’ve made the advancement of His kingdom our great priority, then we should go forward and work hard, act wisely, and pray continually … but always leave the outcome to God’s good will.
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We have a great example in the apostle Paul. Few men were as much of a ‘planner’ as he was—and few men worked their plans as diligently as he did. Listen to what he often said in his plans:
“I must by all means keep this coming feast in Jerusalem; but I will return again to you, God willing” (Acts 18:21).
“Now some are puffed up, as though I were not coming to you. But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord wills …” (1 Corinthians 4:18-19).
“Now I will come to you when I pass through Macedonia (for I am passing through Macedonia). And it may be that I will remain, or even spend the winter with you, that you may send me on my journey, wherever I go. For I do not wish to see you now on the way; but I hope to stay a while with you, if the Lord permits” (1 Corinthians 16:5-7).
“But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, that I also may be encouraged when I know your state. … But I trust in the Lord that I myself shall also come shortly” (Philippians 2:19. 24).
May we—like Paul—acknowledge God in all our plans. And may we—like the God-reverencing father of the Swiss Family—pause to express our absolute dependence upon God in every endeavor through prayer. And may we learn—as Pastor James urged his readers—to continually remember to include in the clear, humble provision, “ If the Lord wills …”
AE
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