Willful Intentions

Because I begin to wonder about
what good word I could bring from the Bible regarding all
of our planning and our intentions for the year ahead. And I realize
that I’m a little bit behind. Some of your resolutions were
already declared. In fact, if you’re like most
people, your resolutions have already been broken. The New Year begins with a fresh
start. And with it, it changes, or at least the desire
for changes come with it. We make New Year’s resolutions,
whether it is to break some bad habit or reform our ways in some
area, to lose weight, to begin working out, Again, usually it’s
an attempt to address our doctor’s wishes or orders. Doctors always
seem to want us to do more of this and less of that. And so the new year is an intensified
season of planning, a time of looking at the upcoming year
and making big plans and dream vacations and executing some
lofty goals. And so I decided to draw out
our break from Colossians at least another week in order to
refresh a piece of wisdom from God’s word. And I landed on a
passage of scripture that speaks to this annual ritual of planning. And we find it in the epistle
of James and chapter four, if you would please turn there this
morning. James, the half brother of our
Lord, who was actually converted after Christ’s resurrection,
was powerfully drafted by God into the Christian ministry and
greatly used. He became one of the main leaders
of the Jerusalem Church. Paul called him one of the church’s
pillars. In his epistle, James is writing
primarily to an audience of Jewish converts to Christianity. And
his angle in this letter is to address an apparent disparity
between those believers’ profession of faith and their actual living
out of their Christian faith. In the first 12 verses of chapter
4, the whole theme is worldliness. the preference over the world,
the preference for the world over God himself. And it’s really no different
here in verse 13. Only here, instead of the world’s
allures or elevating our own reputation over others, here
it’s our own plans that James is addressing. And his overarching
question to these readers seems to be, do they know or care about
God’s mind on the arrangements that they are considering? One
of the chief ways that worldliness or a worldly mentality manifests
itself in our planning, either we will be humbly trusting submitting
ourselves to our sovereign Lord in all things, or we will exhibit
a thought pattern that is steeped in pride and presumptuousness. It’s a very fine line. Webster’s
defines presumptuousness as overstepping due bounds, taking liberties
that are not ours to take. And so with regard to planning
in biblical terms, presumptuousness disregards God’s hand of providence. We may disregard him. and his
providence prior to our planning by refusing to seek his counsel
through his word or prayer. We may disregard his providence
in the midst of experiencing his guidance by refusing to recognize
it as such. And we may disregard God’s providence
after the fact by refusing to express due gratitude Presumptuousness
is, it’s one of those slippery tendencies that we all know is
prevalent, but none of us thinks that it’s true of us. This is
the challenge, the James issues here in verses 13 through 17. Would you follow along as I read? James 4, 13 through 17. Come now, you who say, today
or tomorrow we should go to such and such a city and spend a year
there and engage in business and make a profit. 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.
Instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we shall live
and also do this or that. But as it is, You boast in your
arrogance. All such boasting is evil. Therefore, to one who knows the
right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is a sin.” Well,
with this very abrupt introduction, James begins to address the great
and prolific sin of presumptuousness. I say great sin because it is
a direct offense against God himself. I say prolific in that
it is so common, commonly committed by believers. We’re quick to
plan. We so easily set our sights on
some date. We circle it in our calendars.
and we hold it as a given. Here in verse 13, James sets
forth the sin of presumptuousness. We recognize it as such because
this mindset is so familiar. As we begin to look this morning
at the sin of omitting God from the equation of planning, I want
to point out three things from this passage, the nature of godless
planning, the nature of godless planning. And the first thing
that I would have you to notice is that presumptuousness here
is exemplified and confronted and described really here in
verses 13. James says, come now you who
say today or tomorrow we should go to such and such a city and
spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.
In a book and a section of scripture, a chapter that contains strong
language, James doesn’t hold back here a bit. He addresses
his concern forcefully. Come now, he challenges. These
words strike with the same directness with our common phrases. Come
on, let’s be real. It’s a very direct challenge
to the mindset and behavior that James is about to address. The plans that James is about
to cite, I will tell you, are theoretical. It’s a very general
example. But he does draw the reader in
by identifying the offender as you who say. And essentially
he calls us all into account because we’ve all done this kind
of thing. He wants us as readers then to
examine our hearts in this matter. And he begins to reference these
hypothetical plans. Look at it in its context, if
you would. James begins by mentioning the
timing of this individual’s departure. Today or tomorrow, he says in
verse 13. It’s presented as indefinite. Maybe today, maybe tomorrow.
Either way, he says, I’m going, I’m leaving. And this only adds
to the absurdity of his plan, because if you think of it, it’s
almost funny. Coming from someone who has his
upcoming year entirely mapped out, he doesn’t even know when
his trip will start. He’s got a general idea, but
he doesn’t know when he’s leaving. And yet he’s very definitive
on all the rest of the year’s details. James doesn’t explain
why the man is hedging. We don’t know whether he maybe
still needs to pack, whether the delay is due to finances,
a lack of preparation, or maybe the trip was born out of whimsy,
a last minute deal, or perhaps some contingency has arisen.
He only indicates that his plans are fluid. And I don’t take this
as a statement of humility at all, today or tomorrow. Because regardless of when he
leaves, he’s certain that his plans are going to succeed. He
can’t even control the time of his departure, but a year from
now he knows exactly how much money is going to be in his pockets.
It’s arrogance, really. the very first place where we
typically see God’s sovereign providence, if we’re trained
and prepared to observe it as such, the very first place that
we see God’s providence is in the timing of our departure,
right? We plan, we prepare, but things always seem to creep in
and delay our well-timed, carefully orchestrated, meticulously scheduled
departure. Look at the way that James presents
this hidden pitfall of human nature. The planner announces
his agenda as if it’s already unfolding. In his mind, it’s
as good as done. Notice how full and complete
his plan is. He’s almost giddy with excitement.
He can scarcely take a breath because of his enthusiasm. I’m
going to do this and this and this and this. With the articulation of each
new element of his plan, his anticipation builds. Presumption is piled on top of
presumption, on top of more presumption. Everything is laid out. Nothing
is left to chance. Nothing is open to providence.
Nothing is contingent upon God’s sovereignty. Everything is as
good as in the books. This person knows where he’s
going, what he’s going to do, how long he’s going to do it,
and even how much he’s going to make. All the details are
schemed out. The only question is, when are
we leaving? Success is guaranteed because
he has planned it. No room is given to the contingencies
of life. No caution is afforded unforeseen
circumstances. No humility is exhibited before
the sovereign providence of Almighty God. I’m going, and this is what
I’m going to do. James’s whole point is that nothing
in this statement is dependent upon God. God is nowhere figured
or mentioned in the course of this blueprint. Look at his plan
there in verse 13. He says, today or tomorrow, we
shall go to such and such a city. Let me please clarify something
here before we get too far. His destination is not undefined. It’s not as if it doesn’t matter
where he goes. It’s not as if the man is suggesting
that any city will do. When James says such and such
a city, he’s merely generalizing his illustration. The one planning
this business venture has a very particular destination in mind,
as if he circled it on the map. Here. This is where we will go. But James leaves it undefined
in order to make this illustration universal. The man’s presumptuousness
begins with this statement, and any way you emphasize it, it’s
sinful. I am going there. Or, I am going there, or I am going there. Every aspect of that statement,
no matter how it’s emphasized, is sinful. It’s presumptuousness.
There’s no pause to consider the potential of political changes,
robbers, thieves, sickness, calamity, weather, finances. Today or tomorrow,
we will go. But his arrogance is really just
beginning. He doesn’t know when he’s leaving, but he declares
that we are definitely going to this certain place. And once
there, he speaks of it as a certainty that he’s going to accomplish
great things. He even knows, or so he thinks,
exactly how long it will take. We’re going to spend a year there,
do business, and profit. It will take a year for us to
accomplish our mission, There’s no humility in the statement,
no potential for anything to be adjusted. It’s all firmly
established, at least in his mind. The bottom line here for
James’s friend is that he doesn’t even really know if he will arrive
there. There could be transportation
contingencies, sickness, redirection, political upheavals, bad weather,
earthquake, fire, any number of disasters. All kinds of things
could keep him from even arriving at his destination. And even
if he makes it there safely, then he would have to establish
his business and somehow stay there for the obligatory 365
days. Usually, our well-established
plans are as good and as valuable as the paper on which they are
scribbled, right? And yet, the man’s presumptuousness
grows. He says, we’re going to engage
in business and make a profit. And here the man’s specific purposes
become very clear. This is a business trip. The
Greek word here is that from which we get our word, Emporium.
The word came to be used to speak of business travel, buying and
selling, making money. And please know, James isn’t
speaking ill of the practice of business. It’s no sin to make a profit. The problem is still in the man’s
presumptuous attitude. He lacks humility. Even if he
arrives at such and such a city, his business adventure has only
really just begun. He has yet to determine who is
the competition. Are there supply issues? How’s
the workforce? What is the economy? I remember
way back when I first came here, I had a manager in our bivocational
effort. I had a manager who had moved
here from the East Coast. And he came here to very dry
Colorado, and he was very sure of himself. And he was ready
to teach us a lesson in salesmanship, And so he ordered
500, an entire trailer load of dehumidifiers. For all we know, James’s friend,
his business plan is just as questionable. But James’s friend
is certain that he’s going to turn a profit. In a list of outlandishly
presumptuous statements, this may be the most presumptuous
of all. Because it’s contingent upon the success of all the others,
his departure, his safe arrival, his supply chain, his workforce,
little or no competition, economic stability, physical health, stamina,
absence of crime, natural disaster, And still, he’s going to turn
a profit. It’s guaranteed. After the bills are paid, after
high rent, employee theft, insurance, he’s going to turn a profit.
James isn’t saying that business ventures are bad, that business
is bad, making money is bad. He’s not saying that at all.
That’s business. I always enter into this discussion
when playing Monopoly. You think of the game of Monopoly. The way most people play it,
it’s like a game that becomes an opportunity to stretch it
out as long as you possibly can. Just keep putting cash in free
parking and hope that you land there. And it perpetuates the
game. The goal of the game is to make
deals and arrangements that impoverish your opponent. It’s not about making friendships
and mutual prosperity for all. The game is to win by owning
everything and seeing that everyone else is bankrupt. That’s the
goal. And so it is in business. Profiting
is the goal. So let’s be clear. There’s nothing
wrong with planning. There’s nothing wrong with evaluating
markets, determining to go to a particular place or city. There’s
nothing wrong with forecasting a business plan. There’s nothing
wrong with labor or business industry making money. There’s
nothing wrong with determining the going rate of a market, setting
your price, making a profit. The entire underlying concern
of this whole thing is presumptuousness. presuming that you will go, presuming
that you will last an entire year, presuming that you will
profit. Presumptuousness is a disregard
of God. God is completely left out of
the equation. The sin of presumptuousness is
a tendency to which we’re all subject. It’s the foolish inclination
to look way ahead in life and establish a plan that is absolutely
assured, or so we think. We begin to think that as soon
as we can get going, everything will begin to fall into place.
The course that we’re taking, the place we’re going, the plan
we’ve developed, success is ours. And we do this
all the time. We overstep our boundaries when
we intrude on God’s sovereignty. And we do this by refusing to
lay our plans before him in prayer. When we run ahead of God, we
do something without justification, without God’s blessing. We do all of these things with
great confidence. That’s presumptuousness, the
sin of certainty about the future. But it’s ill-informed. It’s not
guided by biblical principle and sound reason. Proverbs 27.1
provides an appropriate caution. Do not boast about tomorrow,
for you do not know what a day may bring forth. The Apostle
Paul held himself, carried himself humbly through this process. He had some very grand ambitions,
intentions to take the gospel of Christ to specific cities,
If there ever was anything to which God in His sovereignty
might overlook man-made plans and allow them to stand, that
would be it. But even God, through the course
of Paul’s ministry, was regularly guiding him and steering him
to places that he hadn’t intended to go. And in the end, Paul’s
journeys read like a seemingly ill-planned, haphazard crisscross,
a hopscotch of ever unfolding adventure. It’s as if the travel
agent was an intern. But in God’s providence, that’s
how he wanted to steer Paul’s ministry. James is confronting this sin
of presumptuousness head on. He’s well described it in verses
14 and 15. He moves to challenge and correct
such thinking. Would you glance at those verses? Not only is presumptuousness
exemplified, confronted and described in that first verse, in verses
14 and 15, it’s challenged and corrected. Yet you do not know
what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears
for a little while, then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say,
if the Lord wills, we shall live and also do this or that. You
see, having set forth with great clarity the example of the sin
of presumptuousness, James issues a challenge to that kind of thinking.
James begins here with a direct reminder to those who presumptuously
map out the details of their lives without conference, without
affirmation, without the approval from God himself. Those who omit
God from the equation of their planning are blindly disregarding
God. And in so doing, they reveal
their utter forgetfulness of just how fragile life is. We
have no assurances of tomorrow morning. How can we set our sights
so confidently on a year from now? Such mindset completely
leaves God and his sovereign providence out of our consideration. It’s not only absurd, it’s sinful.
You remember, of course, the parable of the rich fool. We
quoted it here several weeks ago. This was exactly his sin. He presumed upon God’s sovereign
providence. God had obviously blessed him.
And he presumed upon him further that he would even be alive to
enjoy the bounties of his life. What shall I do? This is what
I shall do. Soul, you have many good things
laid up. Take your ease, eat, drink, and
be merry. And you know the result. There
was no thought of God whatsoever. He’d earned it, it was his, and
now he was going to enjoy it. Or was he? Because as the parable
ends, God said to him this very night, his soul was required
of him. This is a great truth. This is
a perspective on which we as God’s children should dwell.
God is in absolute control and he will do as he wills. Our times are not in our own
hands. We’re not in control of our own
destiny. God in his awesome sovereignty
overrules all. We serve at his pleasure by his
divine appointment and we must be yielded to his will If we
actually subject all of our plans and hopes to Him, we cannot be
caught off guard or be disappointed when life unfolds differently.
There’s no chaos with God. There’s no confusion. There’s
no uncertainty. There’s no bad luck with God. There’s no misfortune. He’s considered
all. He’s measured all. And his purpose
for all is our good. Beyond the challenge, the reminder
here of how prone we are to forget how fragile life is, that we
do not know what life will be like tomorrow. We’re not even assured of another
day, let alone another year. James provides here some absolute
clarity about our nature. Glance at verse 14 if you would.
We are no more than a vapor. What a terrifically humbling
truth. Your life is like a vapor, a
puff of smoke, or even more graphic, no more than a shadow cast by
a puff of smoke. There’s also a play on words
here in the original of this second line. typically gets lost
in translation, it literally is shine and then unshine. And
perhaps the best we can do is render it here appear and then
disappear. It just adds to the fleeting
nature of this idea of vapor. It’s here and then suddenly it’s
gone. If scripture is clear on anything
regarding our existence in the flesh, it is clear that we are
fleeting. Job 7, 7, my life is but breath. Psalm 39, 5, every man at best
is a mere breath. Psalm 103, man’s days are like
grass as a flower of the field, so he flourishes when the wind
has passed over it, it is no more. But please know that doesn’t
mean that our life is unimportant to God. We are made in God’s
image. But this metaphor of a vapor
does accurately capture the fragileness of our existence. We’re a momentary
mist, like that produced by the exhale of our breath on a cold
morning. James moves here in verse 15
to provide a corrective. And he doesn’t just want us to
identify wrong behavior or challenge wrong thinking. He wants to correct
it. Look please at verse 15, instead
you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we shall live and do this
and that. I have to note here at the outset,
this is not a verbal formula. Like a phrase that is mindlessly
added to the end of our assertions. If the Lord wills. It’s an entirely different mindset. Merely uttering this phrase doesn’t
necessarily affect our thinking. But a transformed mindset will
affect our speech, what we promise, what we say. James says that
there should be a conscious yieldedness to God’s sovereignty. To the
child of God, the thought of their heavenly father’s sovereign
control of all things is a comfort, not an inconvenience. And so
the first word of James’ corrective is if, if the Lord wills. It sweetly and trustingly lays
all of our plans at the feet of one’s sovereign Lord and says
simply if. God may choose to bless my efforts,
my plans, my longings, but equally surely he may not. There may
not be anything morally wrong with my intentions. It may seem
like a perfectly good idea, humanly speaking. They may be attended
with a history of success. Look at everyone who’s made big
money doing this. But God is under no obligation
to bless it. He’s under no obligation to see
our plan through, to honor and guarantee our man-made plans. What a small word, if, is with
such huge implications. And even in that little word,
it is the trusting acquiescence to the heavenly Father’s will.
The child of God trusts in his loving God’s plan. The Christian
can ask and hope and express and plan, but he does so ultimately
with a conscious acceptance of God’s endorsement of his plan. He trusts God in the if. He embraces the if because it’s
bound up in God’s will, not his own. And the child of God knows
that God causes all things to work together for good, for those
who love him and are called according to his purpose. There are two
elements here upon which everything else is contingent, his life
and his plans. If the Lord wills, we shall live. That’s a big if. And if the Lord
wills, we will do. Our entire life and all of our
plans are subjected to the sovereign determination of the will of
God. And so this little phrase, if the Lord wills, it’s not a
formula. It’s not something we mindlessly append to the end
of our statements. It’s a mindset of submission
to the God of providence. And our mindset will appear in
our speech. The apostle Paul uses this phrase,
if the Lord wills, speaking to the Ephesian elders with whom
he’d had such a great start to ministry. In Acts 18,
he promised a return visit, if God wills. To the Corinthians,
he promised to come and see them, if the Lord wills. 1 Corinthians
4.19. At the end of that same epistle,
he expressed his hope for a lengthy stay with the Corinthian church,
if the Lord permits. Luke carefully guarded his own
speech in order to avoid this presumptuousness. In Acts 19.21,
he noted that Paul purposed in the spirit to go to Jerusalem.
There was no guarantee. It was his intention, his desire. What a humble and wise way to
speak. I endeavor to do thus and such. I purpose to do this
or that. What freedom, what freedom this
gives the child of God. What confidence he or she enjoys,
not a confidence in self or a confidence in our well-laid plans, but a
confidence in Almighty God and His ability to oversee and ordain
all things. What a liberation we experience,
what a freedom we enjoy when we are able to know and express
an absolute dependence on God. Not as a verbal tag to the end
of our grandiose plans, but a heartfelt confidence in the God that we
know loves and cares for us. This little phrase, if the Lord
wills, becomes more than a stamp to our plans. Even though unspoken, it is imprinted
upon all of our endeavors as believers. Considering the nature of godless
planning, James not only points out the presumptuousness exemplified
and confronted in verse 13, challenged and corrected in verses 14 and
15, but presumptuousness rebuked and condemned in verses 16 and
17. Would you glance at those verses?
But as it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting
is evil. Therefore, to the one who knows
the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin. Here in verse 16, James reverts
back to the statement of verse 13. He evaluates it not as just
a bold statement of plans, but as a boast that is proclaimed
from an arrogant and evil heart. The word boast may be surprising
to us here, but it’s not out of place. The word boast, to
take pride in, to exalt, appropriately captures the arrogance and the
pretentiousness of the declaration of his plans. Originally, the
word was used to refer to a wanderer. One source observed its use of
the wandering quack, who offered cures which were not the cures
not actual cures, and he boasted of things he was not able to
do. But in time, the word began to
be used much more generally of anyone who hollowly declared
things which he had, over which he had no control, which he could
not rightly promise. He was boasting. He was arrogant. And so it’s more than interesting
that the same word is used in 1st John 2.16 to speak of the
pride of life. This is the substance of the
boastful man’s plans. James indicts such proud thinking
and speech. Not only does he consider it
boastful and arrogant, he plainly declares it as sinful. All such
boasting is evil. To engage in such is to live
the life of a practical atheist, living and acting and speaking
as if God did not exist. something of which, as identified
by James, must be repented of. This is the speech, the attitude,
the mindset of an ungodly man, not the child of God. James urges
that things need not be so. We must learn
to think and speak with humility and dependence and a thankful
submission to our God. And in verse 17, James draws
and declares his conclusion. It’s an application really of
the truth about God’s providence and presumptuousness. For the
person who knows the Lord and yet makes plans independent of
Him, that’s sin. To know the God of creation and
to leave such a one entirely out of our planning and goal
setting is the essence of worldliness. Self-assurance, self-confidence,
self-focus must give way to a humble and healthy trust in God’s sovereign
providence. That the future, including our
own future, is in God’s hands, not our own. And so I would put before you
this morning, do we struggle and stumble into presumptuousness? Do we declare magnificent results
due more to our own planning than a genuine trust in our Creator?
If we come upon a biblical principle that stands in the way of our
well-laid plans, do we disregard it? insisting instead on our
own way? Do we consider that much of our
planning is not even with ourselves in view, but rather for those
who will remain when we are gone? Do we undertake the beginning,
the course itself, and the final end in humble prayer, seeking
the blessing of God and evaluating His redirection along the way? Do we leave the success or failure
of our endeavors to God Himself and to His glory? Do we embrace
the challenges that we face as God’s providential direction
to our course? Those are some good questions
to ponder. When we look forward, Seeking to plan and prepare for
the future. We must consult with God in his
word and through prayer Pleading for the gentle guidance
of his spirit We draw on sound biblical principles to lead us
in a good direction we ought to lovingly consider God’s ways
and his faithfulness and Even as we plead for His leading in
our lives, we should express our complete dependence upon
Him, His guidance, His grace, His providence, every step of
the way. We may even submit ourselves
to Him ahead of the twists and turns of His providence so that
any contingency Any contingency that comes will be seen as welcome
and not an enemy. I would challenge you to try
that this week. When considering or proposing
any plan, expressing any intention, run the thought through this
grid. If the Lord wills, prayerfully
consider your plans. Submit them to God. See how presumptuously we tend
to live. Would you humble yourself before
Him?