Posted By Teresa Han
1st November, 2009
James 4:13-17
Main Idea: Order your life to do God’s will.
Objectives:
a. To teach that God has sovereignty over our life.
b. To teach that we need to order our life to do God’s will.
A. Introduction.
- Who is in control of your life? Most people, may be even most Christians will say of course we control our own life. We make our own decision to get married; to further studies; to accept Jesus as our Saviour; to do business with so and so; to enter into a boy-girl relationship, etc.
- We are in every sense in control of our life. This is absolutely true and we have no doubt about it because God has given us a life and we need to be responsible for it and we need to decide how to use it.
- However, at the end of the day, especially, things which are beyond us, we have no control. Take for instance, we do not know when we are going to leave this world. We do not know whether our children will grow up to be God fearing and become a faithful disciple or not. For those of you who are not married, you do not know who is the best husband or best wife for your life. When you go to a place by plane or by car, you may take for granted that you will arrive but in actual, anything can happen in the air and on the road.
- But for us Christians, we believe that although we cannot be in control of our life beyond us, God has control over our life. This is because God has sovereignty over our life. He has the final say about things which are beyond our control. Do you believe this?
- The word of God today has very strong words about God’s sovereignty over your life.
B. God’s sovereignty over your life.
- Let us take a close look at today’s passage to see how God has the control, the sovereignty over our life. I pray that upon your discovery, you will recognize it and you will trust God more and you will grow in your faith. You will love Jesus more.
- The preceding passages in this chapter dealt with the major theme of work, the rich and their sins, which result from the love of the world. The passage today is not directly linked to verses 1 to 12 but it has a flow of thought that moves to this passage. This passage deals with 2 distinct classes of people: merchants and landlords. They have been mentioned in 1:9-11, 27; 2:5-7.
- Now, let us examine what James has to say about them in detail.
- James’ complaint about them is that they are secular. In verse 13, James criticized them that they thought they could plan for their business, destinations of cities and their chief value of life was financial profit. They were simply worldly Christians, who are no different from the rest of the business people and landlords.
- With that complaint, now, James came out with strong words to question them and told them life was not in their control. That is why James says in verse 14, “Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow...” And then, he went on to remind them that life was very temporary. It is just like “mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” (verse 14b)
- In fact, Jesus our Lord says almost the same thing about how temporary is life in Luke 12:16-20. It talks about a parable where Jesus says a rich man could store up lots of grain for many years and enjoy life; but God says it is stupid because what if God takes away your life tonight. And Jesus says that we may be rich on earth by storing up but we not rich toward God.
- In view of the temporariness of life, we need to look to God who has the sovereignty over life and allow Him be the ultimate concerns of our life on earth.
- This is where James without hesitation, he says we must order our life in terms of God’s will in verse 15. Whatever these rich people would do, they had to make sure whether it was God’s will or not. Because at the end of the day, we are not in control of life but God is.
- Next, you see how he condemned the rich for not doing God’s will. Because these people planned and acted as if God did not exist and as if they were in control of their own life, James said they were boasting about how they made money and they were very evil in verse 16. This was despite the fact they could be holy in church and at home. God was not in their commercial lives.
- Very naturally, James emphasized to these business men and of course all of us today, business interests led them to forget God in their life. No wonder he levelled those who know the good and not doing it, it was a sin in verse 17. Hopefully, this would deter them from boasting about how good they were at making money. Instead, they must do good to bless others.
A. Introduction.
- Who is in control of your life? Most people, may be even most Christians will say of course we control our own life. We make our own decision to get married; to further studies; to accept Jesus as our Saviour; to do business with so and so; to enter into a boy-girl relationship, etc.
- We are in every sense in control of our life. This is absolutely true and we have no doubt about it because God has given us a life and we need to be responsible for it and we need to decide how to use it.
- However, at the end of the day, especially, things which are beyond us, we have no control. Take for instance, we do not know when we are going to leave this world. We do not know whether our children will grow up to be God fearing and become a faithful disciple or not. For those of you who are not married, you do not know who is the best husband or best wife for your life. When you go to a place by plane or by car, you may take for granted that you will arrive but in actual, anything can happen in the air and on the road.
- But for us Christians, we believe that although we cannot be in control of our life beyond us, God has control over our life. This is because God has sovereignty over our life. He has the final say about things which are beyond our control. Do you believe this?
- The word of God today has very strong words about God’s sovereignty over your life.
B. God’s sovereignty over your life.
- Let us take a close look at today’s passage to see how God has the control, the sovereignty over our life. I pray that upon your discovery, you will recognize it and you will trust God more and you will grow in your faith. You will love Jesus more.
- The preceding passages in this chapter dealt with the major theme of work, the rich and their sins, which result from the love of the world. The passage today is not directly linked to verses 1 to 12 but it has a flow of thought that moves to this passage. This passage deals with 2 distinct classes of people: merchants and landlords. They have been mentioned in 1:9-11, 27; 2:5-7.
- Now, let us examine what James has to say about them in detail.
- James’ complaint about them is that they are secular. In verse 13, James criticized them that they thought they could plan for their business, destinations of cities and their chief value of life was financial profit. They were simply worldly Christians, who are no different from the rest of the business people and landlords.
- With that complaint, now, James came out with strong words to question them and told them life was not in their control. That is why James says in verse 14, “Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow...” And then, he went on to remind them that life was very temporary. It is just like “mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” (verse 14b)
- In fact, Jesus our Lord says almost the same thing about how temporary is life in Luke 12:16-20. It talks about a parable where Jesus says a rich man could store up lots of grain for many years and enjoy life; but God says it is stupid because what if God takes away your life tonight. And Jesus says that we may be rich on earth by storing up but we not rich toward God.
- In view of the temporariness of life, we need to look to God who has the sovereignty over life and allow Him be the ultimate concerns of our life on earth.
- This is where James without hesitation, he says we must order our life in terms of God’s will in verse 15. Whatever these rich people would do, they had to make sure whether it was God’s will or not. Because at the end of the day, we are not in control of life but God is.
- Next, you see how he condemned the rich for not doing God’s will. Because these people planned and acted as if God did not exist and as if they were in control of their own life, James said they were boasting about how they made money and they were very evil in verse 16. This was despite the fact they could be holy in church and at home. God was not in their commercial lives.
- Very naturally, James emphasized to these business men and of course all of us today, business interests led them to forget God in their life. No wonder he levelled those who know the good and not doing it, it was a sin in verse 17. Hopefully, this would deter them from boasting about how good they were at making money. Instead, they must do good to bless others.
C. Applications.
- In view of the God’s word today, can we apply the teaching into our lives and allow God’s word to transform our lives.
- The first point of application is this: As James has taught, you need to use your life in terms of God’s will; you need to do God’s will. It is life time challenge. You as a business man, a teacher, an accountant, general manager, a doctor, a dentist, a clerk, sales agent, lawyer, a student, a lecturer, a husband, a wife, a son, a daughter, at the end of the day, what is your ultimate concern? Is it just profit making, money making, and the salary? If this is so, then, you will do anything to get money, wealth, benefits, etc, you will have no God, no Jesus in your dealing. You will do things which are not ethical, you will lie; you will go for dishonest gain; you will use crooked means, you will hurt people; you do not fear God, etc. You will not ask what is God’s will in this matter. You will not consult God on what is the right thing to do. You do not think of the punishment of God for the sins you committed.
- The second point of application is this: In view of God’s sovereignty over your life, do not labor for what is temporary and evil; labor for whatever that pleases Jesus and last eternally. We are in the midst of the evangelism movement, have you labored to reach out to the lost and the backslide. Do you invite people to come to church.
D. Conclusion.
- As Jesus has sovereignty over your life, you need to define your life in terms of what Jesus desires you to do for the rest of your life.
