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VAPORS & VANITY. James 4:13-17. 11/3/2024. #17.
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow [a]we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; 14 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. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” 16 But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.
1. Arrogance on display
a. James moves from the topic of judging one another to making plans without seeking God’s will
b. Scriptures are replete with examples of willfulness
a1. Jacob tricked his father into blessing him
a2. Joshua attacked Ai without God’s direction
a3. David stayed home from battle
a4. Paul went to Jerusalem
c. James addresses the businessmen
a1. They are very confident that they will be able to go to a select city, transact business for a year, and then make a nice profit
a2. These businessmen don’t know the future and have no control over their destiny
d. On top of the arrogance of assured planning, they boast of what they will accomplish
a1. Notice that James declares such boasting is evil
a2. Nothing can be accomplished apart from the permission and will of God (Jn. 15:5)
e. I Corinthians 10:31 unless God receives both the credit and glory for what we do, all of it is in vain (Ecclesiastes 2)
2. Advice to the haughty
a. James starts with an undeniable truth: life is but a vapor, a short appearance and then a disappearance
b. Psalm 90:1-12 Moses advised that we need to learn to number our days (make them count)
a1. If man survives his youth his days are no more than 70-80 years on average
a2. The days go by swiftly
a3. Isaiah 65:17 all that is accomplished on this earth will not be remembered
b. James also admonishes that we should seek the Lord’s will in our plans
a1. Matthew 26 Jesus preferred that the cup he had to drink pass from him, but he desired that God’s will be done and not his own
a2. Mary submitted to God’s will
c. Humility and realism go together
a1. We have no control over our lives, events, length of days, completion of our plans…
a2. Only by submission to God’s plans can our paths be certain, productive, and fruitful
a3. Matthew 6-7 only through seeking the Lord and his will can we find fulfillment and purpose
d. We have nothing in which to boast
a1. Our lives, opportunities, talents, and time are gifts from God and not our own doing
a2. Only by seeking the Lord’s will are our lives not wasted and futile
3. To do or not to do
a. James admonishes his readers that they know what to do (not a mystery)
a1. EVERYDAY DOING – morality, worship, sub mission, study, prayer, fellowship, love, and grace are all obviously the will of God
a2. EXISTENTIAL DOING – as we go through life the Spirit leads us to people who need help, care, instruction, encouragement…
a3. ELECTIVE DOING – God chooses each believer to do certain tasks for his kingdom
b. The will of God is mostly clear and to those who seek him truly it will always become clear
c. Those who refuse to do the will of God or even seek it, it is sin (sin is more than just doing evil, it is also not doing good)
Psalm 90:1-12
1 Lord, You have been our [a]dwelling place in all generations.
2 Before the mountains were brought forth,
Or ever You [b]had formed the earth and the world,
Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.
3 You turn man to destruction,
And say, “Return, O children of men.”
4 For a thousand years in Your sight
Are like yesterday when it is past,
And like a watch in the night.
5 You carry them away like a flood;
They are like a sleep.
In the morning they are like grass which grows up:
6 In the morning it flourishes and grows up;
In the evening it is cut down and withers.
7 For we have been consumed by Your anger,
And by Your wrath we are terrified.
8 You have set our iniquities before You,
Our secret sins in the light of Your countenance.
9 For all our days have passed away in Your wrath;
We finish our years like a sigh.
10 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.
11 Who knows the power of Your anger?
For as the fear of You, so is Your wrath.
12 So teach us to number our days,
That we may gain a heart of wisdom.