Studies from the Book of James
“If the Lord Will” Ch. 4 v 13-17

Preached by Pastor Jack Anderson
Bethel Church Isle of Man

Introduction James begins chapter four by speaking about war with God. In the concluding paragraph he now speaks of the “Will of God”. The two themes are related; for when a believer is out of the will of God, he becomes a troublemaker instead of a peacemaker.

James now deals with a very common sin; Practical atheism, making plans without taking God into account.

A Presumption that is arrogant v 13,14

James does not condemn wise business planning; he condemns planning that leaves out God. He condemns those who plan their lives as if their own wills were final and supreme.

James 4:13 Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:

This is a presumption, which is really arrogant. It gives no thought whatever to divine providence; the will of God does not enter into the equation. The person described in verse 13 is one who has materialism as his master. He is self centred, self-confident, goal orientated, and profit motivated. I can do it on my own is his mentality, and God’s will is never on the agenda.

Such conduct is inconsistent with the life of faith, which submits to God and His will.

This kind of mentality takes the believer out of the will of God and into dangerous waters.

Lot moved to Sodom and brought great shame to himself and his family. Jonah fled from the will of God and almost sent a shipload of heathen sailors to a watery grave. These things happened because there was a wrong attitude to the will of God.

God has a plan for our lives and he alone knows all that the future holds for us. As a God of love, He ever desires the best for His children.

Yet, sometimes Christians look upon the will of God as a bitter medicine to swallow, when His will is the gracious evidence of His love.

The Counsel of the Lord standeth forever and the thoughts of His heart to all generations.

It is evident that the persons, here addressed, are businessmen, merchants, and employers, who are giving careful planning to their business dealings. James is not condemning industry and commerce out of hand. The Bible never condemns honest initiative, hard work or profit making.

James has only certain businessmen in mind and he isolates them with the phrase “ ye that say” These words refer to spirit as well as speech. Their words were an outward sign of their whole attitude.

Men in their arrogance presume a lot of things, and acts as though nothing is able to come between them and the plans that they have made. Notice what fills his their minds.

A) The Plan they make--- v 13

They are making plans for the future. Now there is nothing wrong with planning ahead, it can benefit us in our personal life, business life, and in our Church life.

Rom 12:11 not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord;

The problem being, these men were engaged in a dangerous practice. They were looking at tomorrow and far beyond omitting God completely. This was their sin.

They measured success by what they had accomplished in the past and by what they had planned for the future.

Like others before them and others since, in their arrogance, they thought that tomorrow would be like today and even better. The sin was not in their planning but in excluding God from their plans.

b) The Place they chose. V 13 we will go to such a city

We can imagine them looking at a map, and discussing the population, the possibilities, and all the relevant factors which would bring them prosperity in this venture.

C) The Period they defined. V 13 we will go to such a city, and continue there a year.

Men discuss timetables but they forget that God’s timetable might be different. Jesus told a parable that illustrates such foolishness.

Luke 12- the ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:

17 And he thought within himself, saying, what shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?

18 And he said, this will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.

19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.

But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?

This man had really prospered! He sat down on his easy chair and makes his plans for the future with a false sense of security that was based on a foolish presumption. He planned for the future without consulting God.

When historian H.G. Wells died in 1946, many newspapers quoted the last words he ever spoke. Friends and nurses were working about his bedside trying to be helpful, adjusting his pillows, pulling up the covers, administering sedatives and so on.

Wells turned to them and said, "Don’t bother me! Can’t you see I’m busy dying?" It was the last flicker of humour from a gallant spirit. The way people die says a lot about the way they have lived; in fact it says almost everything about the way they lived.

Those men to whom James was speaking—They made their plans. Picked their Place, allotted a Period of time and they set their Program.

We will go to that city, spend a year there buying and selling and making gain.

In arrogance people make foolish presumptions as to where they should go, what they should do, drawing their own conclusions, forgetting that God’s ideas may be different from theirs.

This is how the unregenerate man acts. He is insensible to the changes of providence and to the will of a Sovereign God.

Christians must not be guilty of such folly. James condemns the foolishness of a Presumption that is arrogant.

James 4:16 But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil. ( Amp) but as it is, you boast falsely in your presumption and self-conceit. All such boasting is wrong.)

Presumption—will drag the believer down. Jonah’s foolish presumption caused him to fall. God’s will for Jonah was Nineveh, but he went in the opposite direction toward Tarshish. He went down to Joppa. He went down into the ship. He went down into the sea. He went down into the belly of the great fish.

Once a person allows their own foolish presumptions to take control, they are on a downward spiral. No one ever rises to great spiritual heights when they rebel against their God and his will.

Often it is when men begin to prosper and increase in material goods that their spirituality decreases. It was after Moses had described the wonder and the bounty of the land of promise, which lay before them that he charged them. Deut 8V 10—14

The warning is clear to all! When things are going well for you, beware lest you forget the God who has redeemed you.

Illustration. It is said that when Napoleon Bonaparte was considering invading Russia, a friend tried to persuade him not to do so, by saying to him “ Man proposes but God disposes”. Napoleon responded, “ I dispose as well as propose”

A Christian who heard this said, “I set this down as the turning point of Bonaparte’s fortunes, for God will never allow the creature to usurp His prerogative.

This forecast was absolutely true, for the Russian campaign marked the beginning of Napoleon’s downfall. Man Proposes but God Disposes.

The Bible says—A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.

We need to be sensitive to God’s sovereign leading and to submit to His will for our lives.

He leadeth me, O blessed thought

O words with heavenly comfort fraught

Whatere I do, wherere I be

Still is God’s hand that leadeth me.

A Presumption that is Arrogant v 13

A Delusion that is Apparent v 14

James 4:14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

Having condemned the arrogance of these businessmen, James goes on to show them the right attitude that they should have in life and he highlights, truth they ought to Remember. Apart from the will of God life is a mystery.”

“What is your life”? Scientist and philosophers have sought for centuries to answer this question. The Bible gives the answer

It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

1. Remember the Brevity of life---

The moment we are born we begin to die. We will all pass away if Jesus does not return first. Men make their plans for a whole year ahead, when they cannot even see one day ahead. We do not know when our earthly pilgrimage will be over. Life is like a vapour, like a mist that is here one moment and gone the next.

1 Chr 29:15: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.

Job 7:7 O remember that my life is wind: mine (like a puff of breath

Job 9:25 Now my days are swifter than a runner: they flee away,

Psa 102:3 For my days are consumed like smoke

Job 14:1 Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble. 14:2 He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.

We count our years at each birthday, but God’s word tells us to number our days. Since life is so brief, we cannot afford to merely spend our lives, and as believers, we dare not waste them. We must seek to invest them in those things that are eternal.

Corrie Ten Boom said, “ It is not the duration of life that is important, but the donation”.

How are you spending your life? Are you wasting your life or are you investing your life in the extension of the kingdom of God? Some are so busy trying to make money, trying to make a living that they have forgotten to make a life.

There is only one life and it will soon be past, and it is only what is done for Jesus will last.

2. Remember the Uncertainty of Life. V14 Whereas ye know not what will be on the morrow.

This statement is based on Prov 27:1 Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.

Life is not uncertain to God but it is uncertain to us. It is only as we are in His will that we can be confident of tomorrow, for we have the assurance that He is leading us.

The Delusion that is apparent. Men and women live in this world as though they are never going to leave it. They fail to see the Brevity of life and the Uncertainty of life.

3. Remember The Frailty of Man

Man is not here to stay he is here to go.

All flesh is grass, and all the goodlines (glory)s thereof is as the flower of the field:

The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.

Knowing and obeying God’s word is the only way to a happy successful life.

Josh 1:8 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

The people James is addressing were not only guilty of leaving God out of their plans they were boasting of what they were doing.

V 16 But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.

Man’s boastings are evil and only seek to cover up his own weakness.

Someone has said “Boasting is nothing more than whistling in the dark, trying to make one’s way through the graveyard of his own failure and fears.

Man’s boastings in the flesh are not a sign of his confidence and security, but are the evidence of his insecurity.

A Presumption that is Arrogant v 13

A Delusion that is Apparent v 14

An Expression that is Appellant v 15

This verse is calling believers to get their priorities right, for many have forsaken the priorities of God’s will and God’s way for their lives.

The Apostle Paul said to the Church at Collosse

Col 1:9 For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;

James wanted to make sure that God’s will is our plans as Christians.

Illustration. The story is told of a man who was riding his motorcycle along a country road. He stopped to talk to a preacher who was cutting the grass at the Manse.

The preacher asked him where he was going? The man informed him that he was going to town to sell his bike. The preacher said to him, you should say “I am going to sell my bike if it be the Lord’s will. The man laughed and mocked the preacher’s words, and got on his bike and headed for town.

Later that day, the preacher saw a man who was staggering and stumbling from one side of the road to the other. Soon he recognized that it was the biker whom he had been speaking to earlier.

His face was badly swollen, his arm was in a sling, and his legs were badly skinned.

“What happened to you”? Asked the preacher. The man then related his sad story

“As I was going round a big bend, I hit some loose gravel on the road and the bike slide from under me and I skidded for more than an hundred feet along the road. I managed to get to my feet but my bike is a total wreck.

Then I managed to stagger to a near by farmhouse, but as I walked to the door a frightened old woman pointed a shotgun in my direction. I started running and she started shooting. Then a thunderstorm broke and the rain came down in torrents. Eventually I found a tree to shelter under. As I stood there picking the buckshot out of my back, lightening hit the tree and knocked me out.

Eventually, I came to and in a daze; I started walking down the road. The Preacher then asked, “Where are you going now”?

The man replied, “I am going home if it be the Lord’s will”

James is teaching us, that the right attitude to life is to recognize that God is Sovereign and in control. Therefore our lives should be characterized by being in the will of God. Whatever our work is or what our plans may be the will of God should characterize our lives.

We should follow the example of Paul who wrote to the Corinthians

1 Cor 4:19 But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will, and will know, not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power.

Writing to the Roman believers

Rom 1:10 Making request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you.

When seeking God’s will Paul was led to Macedonia

Acts 16:10 And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them.

“Assuredly gathering ) soom-bib-ad'-zo; It all came together-- knit together

It is the picture of a sweater being knitted and finally coming together, or a jigsaw puzzle being completed.

When we are in the will of God, the pieces of our lives will come together. Being in the will of God is the secret of victory. We need to seek God’s will as we make our plans. His desires should become our desires.

Psa 37:4 Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

Henry Ward Beecher--- There is not a heart that has not got its moments of longing, yearning for something better; nobler; holier than it knows now.

What is your ambition in life today? Is it to get rich? Is it to make a name for yourself? Is it even to do some wonderful thing for God?

The highest desire that any human heart can possess is a longing to see God, and to live in the center of His will. Life for the Christian is not to be a game of chance, and the road to ruin is always kept in good repair.

James 4:17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

God wants His people to know His will and to prove His will. But James is pointing out that there are those who know the will of God but choose to disobey it.

Anyone, who knows the good that he ought to do and doesn’t do it sins. Lord I know what you want me to do, but I don’t want to do it.

God’s will is not is not an optional extra it is an obligation. We cannot take it or leave it, because He is the creator and we are the creatures, he is the Redeemer and we are the Redeemed.

He is the Saviour and Lord and we are to obey Him.

God wants us to understand His will and to prove His will for responsibility accompanies knowledge.

May we ever make our plans by seeking God’s will and knowing that our times are in His hands?

My times are in Thine hand,

My God I wish them there

My life, my friends, my soul my all,

I leave entirely to Thy care.