If The Lord Wills

James 4:13-17
July 11, 2021
Abraham Hong

Sermon Script

This passage is simple. James begins with an invitation. The phrase “Come now” is an invitation to listen and think. James continues with a quotation. A group of people - perhaps merchant traders - are quoted talking about their timely plans to travel and make money: “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit.” James then confronts the listener and thinker with two truths. Life is uncertain - “you do not know what tomorrow will bring.” And life is short - “you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.” James then corrects the listener and thinker with the right words to say. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” James then gets to the bottom of it all. It all comes down to boastfulness, arrogance, evil, and sin. And then, finally, James warns against failing to do what is right. “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” This passage is simple.

But dear Highland, I want you to understand what is happening in this passage. This passage was humanly written by James. But it was divinely breathed out by God. This means that your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ invites you. He invites you today to listen to him and think after his own thoughts and draw near to him. “Come now.” This means that the Lord knows you. He knows your plans, your hopes, your you. “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit.’” This means that Jesus is telling you the truth about your life. “You do not know what tomorrow will bring…. you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.” This means that Jesus is teaching you and disciplining you in his love. “You ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.’ You boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.” This means that Jesus gives you wisdom and warning. “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” Highland, this is what is happening. You are in a covenant relationship with God.

And we all need to hear this. We may not have the same job as a merchant trader. But we often have the same heart. We make plans and we often expect our plans to work out just the way that we expect. We find ourselves calculating variables and managing risk and forecasting the outcomes of our decisions. We can be confident in our work and in our wisdom.

And so we say to ourselves things like: “I’m pretty confident that I’ll be able to settle down and make good money soon” or “I’m pretty sure that she likes me too and that we’re meant to be - so I think I’ll ask her out tomorrow night” or “With Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Kyrie Irving, the Brooklyn Nets will be in the finals for sure.” We say to ourselves things like: “If I invest such and such money over such and such amount of time with such and such average percentage gain, then I will have such and such profit - nice, let’s do this” or “I hope that this kid will turn out this way and that kid will turn out that way” or “2020 is going to be an amazing year.” We say to ourselves things like: “The next church event is going to be awesome” or “My parents will live a long life and I will too” or “I’ll be home for Christmas.”

It can come as a surprise to us that underneath all of these words is, to some degree, boastfulness, arrogance, evil, and sin. But here’s why. When we say such things, we assume that we know the future. When we say such things, we believe that we will live long and that we are in control of our lives. When we say such things, we forget about God. It is boastful to assume that you know the future. It is arrogant of you to believe that you will live long and that you are in control of your life. It is evil and sinful to forget that God is sovereign, that the will of the Lord is of greatest importance, that you exist for Jesus’ glory, that the number of days of your life on this old and fading earth is in his hands.

There is nothing wrong with making plans. Paul made plans for his evangelism in the book of Acts. And we are not saying that we shouldn’t make plans at all. The book of Proverbs teaches that it is wise to makes plans (and, besides, not making a plan is still a plan). There is nothing wrong with making plans. But there is something wrong with making plans without the fear of the Lord. The problem is not planning. The problem is prideful planning. And remember, God opposes the proud. But he gives grace to the humble.

Dear Highland, the Lord calls you to humble yourselves. Humble yourself again as we start this new week. Humble yourself more than ever before. Because you do not know what tomorrow will bring. You think you do. But you do not. Life is not as certain as you think it is. You are not in control. And that’s okay. Because you know how it’s all going to end/begin. You may not know what tomorrow will bring. But you know what Jesus will bring. It’s fascinating and it’s kind of funny. A) God tells us basically nothing about what is going to happen in our lives right now. B) God tells us basically everything about what is going to happen in our lives at the end. We think way too much about the former and way too little about the latter. We are so overly concerned about what is uncertain. And we are so not concerned enough about what is. Highland, humble yourselves and fear the Lord. You do not know what tomorrow will bring. Remember, God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.

Dear Highland, the Lord calls you to humble yourselves. Humble yourself again as we start this new week. Humble yourself more than ever before. Because you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. You are like steam evaporating from a pot of boiling water. You are like the breath you see on a cold winter day. You think that your life is long. You think that you have time. Time to do what you want. Time to write and live out your life story. But you are wrong. Your life is short. Soon and very soon, in a flash, in a blink of a eye, you will die or Christ will return in your lifetime. Your life on this old and fading earth is nothing compared to the life that you will have in the new heavens and new earth. That life will be long. That life is eternal. This life will be short. This life is transient. Highland, humble yourselves and fear the Lord. You are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. What is your life? What is your life on this old and fading earth? What is your life in the new heavens and new earth? Remember, God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.

And Highland, boast in the Lord. Jesus will bring his kingdom. He will bring forth a new heavens and a new earth. You know this. Jesus will bring us resurrection life. He is victorious over death. We died with him and we have been raised with him. You know this. Jesus will bring forth completion in us. He will present us as a church fully sanctified and cleansed, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, and we will be holy and without blemish. You know this. Jesus cannot wait to meet you face to face. He loves you. You know this. Boast in all of this. Boast in what you know about the Lord. Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me” (Jeremiah 9:23-24). Do not boast in yourself and say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit.”

Instead, boast in the Lord and say something like, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Instead, boast in the Lord and say something like, “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” Instead, boast in the Lord and say something like, “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted…. I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know…. I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” Instead, boast in the Lord and say something like, “For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.” Instead, boast in the Lord and say something like, “But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. ‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I will hope in him.’” Instead, boast in the Lord and say something like, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!”

Therefore, Highland, let us repent and change the way that we speak about life. Instead of saying, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit,” you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” You may have heard the abbreviated version of “Lord-willing.” I invite you to add this to your normal vocabulary and start talking about Jesus more and more in your life. When you say “If the Lord wills,” you are putting his will and his kingdom first. When you say “If the Lord wills,” you will be better at dealing with things when they don’t go according to your plan. It’s really a completely different way of life than the boastful, arrogant, evil, and sinful way of life. So do it. Practice it. And love it. Welcome to the pilgrim wisdom of Christ. But don’t reduce this to just a religious incantation that you sprinkle on top of all of your plans. Don’t overdo this and add “Lord-willing” to literally every single thing that you say.

And don’t fail to do what is right, especially when you know what is the right thing to do. We often think that sin is about doing what is wrong (sins of commission). But sin is also about not doing what is right (sins of omission). I hope two things happen at the same time for you. First, you do less and less of your will. And second, you do more and more of the Lord’s will. Or in the words of John the Baptist: we must decrease, Christ must increase.

At the end of the day, our repentance involves a change in our hearts and minds. It is really all about the dying of the old nature and the coming to life of the new. Let us grieve with heartfelt sorrow that we have offended God by our sin of prideful planning, and more and more hate it and flee from it. And let us have a heartfelt joy in God through Christ, and a love and delight to live according to the will of God in the good work of humble planning. If the Lord wills, our church will be fully out of this pandemic and back to normal by the end of this year. If the Lord wills, your plans will unfold for his glory. If the Lord wills.

Soli Deo Gloria