May the Arrogant Stand Up
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Have you ever interacted with someone who always had his nose stuck in the air? He thought he was better than everyone else. He had everything together and didn’t need anyone’s help. He was arrogant. We all can think of someone. Some of us might even say that this described us in the past.
Arrogance. No one likes to be around an arrogant person.
This is the 2nd group that James turns to as he discusses those who are friends of the world and not following God. The arrogant man has not humbled himself before man.
James is writing to a specific people in the congregation. They are a group of business people who were arrogant in their planning. However, as we will see, though James is writing to a specific group, his warning is given in general terms, showing that the warning can be applied to all his readers and to all of us.
A friend of the world, and an arrogant man, is not humbling himself before the God.
A friend of the world, and an arrogant man, is not humbling himself before the God.
We are all arrogant.
James is writing to a specific people in the congregation. They are a group of business people who were arrogant in their planning. Though James is writing to a specific group, his warning is given in general terms, showing that the warning can be applied to all his readers and to us.
1A. We are arrogant
1A. We are arrogant
1B. We are arrogant in our schemes
1B. We are arrogant in our schemes
We all make plans. City-dwellers tend to make more concrete plans than rural folk. But, we all make plans, especially in the realm of travel or money-making.
November through December is my big planning season. During these months, I plan out my preaching schedule for the next year. At the beginning of January, I submit to the Board the days that I will be gone during the year, so that my replacements can prepare.
At the beginning of January, I submit to the Board the days that I will be gone throughout the year.
We all plan. It is good to plan. However, James is writing to people who think that they are in control. They arrogantly think that they are solely in control of their travel, their time, and their trade relationships. They believe that by their own effort they can grow rich. By the connotation of the phrase here, since they attribute their own success to their own efforts, their wealthy is theirs to do with as they wish. They are obligate to no one and nothing. Therefore, they are obligate to do nothing with it for anyone.
Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.”
Arrogance is when we think that we can plan out the future, that we can be sure of what will happen.
Jesus told a parable about this:
schemes involving travel, time, and trade relationships
“Carry on business” is from a compound verb (emporeusometha, from en, “in,” and poreuomai, “to go”) from which the English word “emporium” has come. It is related to the noun (emporos) which could be translated “merchant,” “trader,” “drummer,” or “one who goes in and gets the trade.” A vivid picture of the Jewish merchant James tried to correct is a go-getter salesman out drumming up business for the bottom-line objective: “Make money!”
Parallel with ; rich perishing right in the midst of financial activities.
And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’
“Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” ’
“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
“This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”
James talked about this briefly in chapter 1.
But the rich should take pride in their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wild flower. For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich will fade away even while they go about their business.
J; rich perishing right in the midst of financial activities.
Even the most wealthy cannot control the future. Arrogance.
The biggest arrogance is not just thinking that the future can be planned, but thinking that God is not in control of the future, that we can make plans without God. We who are followers of Christ must admit, as Esther did, that
Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary Sovereignty of God
God rules and works according to His eternal purpose, even through events that seem to contradict or oppose His rule.
In their hearts humans plan their course,
but the Lord establishes their steps.
This arrogance can show up no matter what business we are in, whether office work, newspaper work, grain farming, ranching, mechanics, school work. We think that everything is up to us, and we forget God’s control in every aspect of our affairs.
If we are not careful, we can be arrogant in our schemes.
2B. We are arrogant in our speech
2B. We are arrogant in our speech
Not only did these people plan out in their hearts arrogantly, but they boasted about it. “Look what we are going to do!”
James seems to belabor the subject of speech. But, he does so with purpose. Speech often reveals our heart. The speech of these men revealed the arrogance in their schemes. Doubly arrogant: speech and schemes.
Speech often reveals our heart
James says that
As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil.
I have to note that boasting itself is not bad. Many times in Scripture we are actually told to boast: Christ’s death, our own weakness, God’s strength, and other things.
The problem is boasting in our own arrogance or pride. Consider the parable which we just covered about the foolish man and his barns.
These men were arrogantly planning their future without God’s input, thinking that they were in control, and they boasted about it.
Boasting in arrogance (some boasting is ok: Christ’s death, our own weakness, God’s strength, etc.)
We do this too.
If we are not careful, we can be arrogant in our speech, as well as in our schemes.
3B. We are arrogant in our Savior
3B. We are arrogant in our Savior
Our arrogance points to a lack of understanding of who our Savior is and what he does. We expect Christ to do our every whim as we approach him in prayer as a vending machine. But, we insist that we are autonomous. We are in control. We can fix. We can plan. And Christ will provide what we want.
Arrogance. We are not like this all the time. But, we all have the possibility of being like this.
We should not boast, brag, and seek independence. Instead, we should trust in Christ.
We expect Christ to do our every whim? But, we insist that we are autonomous
We should not boast and brag, but trust in Christ
2B. We should rely on Christ
2B. We should rely on Christ
James tells us, instead of our arrogance,
Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”
Before I continue, I need to highlight that these are not words for a charm. James was not giving us the words that we are to say all the time, like pious Christians of old. These words “If it is the Lord’s will” is not a secret phrase that will help us be right with God, anymore than the Lord’s Prayer is a prayer that we are supposed to repeat verbatim in order to make God pleased.
Scripture is not given as a charm or a talisman.
Instead, James is giving us the formula for a realistic attitude.
Not words for a charm (Scripture was not given as a talisman), but a realistic attitude
One commentator said it this way:
James Explanation of Text
This expression should be interpreted neither as a pious addendum to be repeated mindlessly nor as an expression of fatalism that excuses us from taking responsibility for our actions. Rather, it ought to convict our hearts of God’s sovereignty in every area of our lives even as we seek to please him by following his will as best as we can discern it.
They are not words to be repeated, but an attitude to be imitated.
1B. We rely on Christ for life
1B. We rely on Christ for life
Every day that we wake up we are given a new gift. We are not guaranteed another day to live.
James says “if the Lord lives, we will live.”
The Psalmist wrote:
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
Psalm
We don’t know the end of our life, but God does. James calls our life a mist. This word is used for smoke from a fire. It is fun to watch a fire. See the flame dance around and try to run away from the smoke. But smoke is only there for a second or two. It fades away and is replaced by more smoke, until the fire dies out. Then, no more smoke.
You have made my days a mere handbreadth;
the span of my years is as nothing before you.
Everyone is but a breath,
even those who seem secure.
Vapor. Here today, gone tomorrow. In the grand scheme of things, our lives are very short. And that short life is a gift. We are dependent each day on our God. To my shame, I don’t wake up each morning, thankful for another day to live and serve him.
This reliance on Christ for life teaches us to live in reliance.
Our life is a mist
2B. We rely on Christ for plans/prosperity
2B. We rely on Christ for plans/prosperity
Since we don’t know whether we will actually be alive in the future, the plans that we make are necessarily reliant on our Creator.
James says that “If the Lord wills, we will do this or that.”
We don’t know what will happen tomorrow. We are each only one person in a 7.6 billion piece puzzle, if we can trust the estimate of the world’s population. Our lives, plans, and choices are affected by the lives, plans, and choices of the 7.6 billion pieces around us. And, ultimately, by the God who is soveriegnly in control of it all.
So, each day that we live, we have a choice in our planning. Knowing that it is by God’s grace that we are alive, will we seek our own will in our planning, or will we seek God’s.
Jesus taught that all who seek to follow God should seek God’s will to be done.
“This, then, is how you should pray:
“ ‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
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You might say, “that is well and good, but how do we know what God’s will is, so that we can plan for it? Or should we just not make plans?”
Making plans is good and necessary, since we live in a world surrounded by other humans. The amazing thing about our sovereign God is that as we make plans, but hold them loosely, God will work and change our plans so that his will is done.
We don’t know what will happen tomorrow
As we seek his will, by holding our plans loosely, we can face everything that happens with confidence, knowing that He is ultimately in control and everything will happen to his glory.
This doesn’t mean not to make plans, but to leave room for God’s will to overturn ours.
Any success that we have, and prosperity that comes, is a blessing from God. Therefore, we get to rely on Christ for what we do with it. We can’t boast about what we have, and we can’t control what we have. They are the gifts of God to be used for God.
There are some that say, “if we have a mindset of relying on God, our plans will work and we will get prosperity.” This verse is not a name-it-and-claim-it charm. Our plans and desires are not guaranteed to come about. What is guaranteed is this: if we seek God’s will, his will will happen.
Not a name it and claim it command
Does this mean that every time we tell someone our plans that we have to tack on the phrase: “If the Lord wills”? No, James is pointing to a heart issue. His goal is to change our attitude to rely on Christ.
We rely on Christ for our lives and for our plans/prosperity.
3B. We rely on Christ to produce good
3B. We rely on Christ to produce good
As we rely on Christ for our lives and for our plans, we get to rely on him for living our lives.
James says
If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.
This is an odd closing to this section. The phrase is too general to apply to just arrogance and bragging. James is probably summing up everything that he has said to this point. If we know what we are supposed to do: Rely on Christ, seek reconciliation, follow God, learn wisdom from above, bless others, welcome all people, practice what is written in Scripture, endure hardship; if we know what we are supposed to do and we don’t do it, we are sinning. We are not living according to God’s character.
We all have a tendency when we think of sin to think of doing bad things: lying, cheating, stealing, immorality, worshiping false gods, etc. We don’t necessarily think of sins of omission: not doing the things we are supposed to be doing. So, when we spend time in confession, we often only talk about the bad things that we did, rather than about the good things that we didn’t. In God’s economy, sin is sin, whether it is something we did, or something we didn’t do.
The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Letter of James A. Arrogant Planning Ignores God’s Providence (4:13–17)
Perhaps I did not reach out to help a “neighbor” in need; or perhaps I failed to bear witness to a co-worker when I had the opportunity. These also are sins for which I must seek God’s forgiveness.
While all of these things are probably in James’ view for application, he places this sentence right in the middle of a discussion on planning and finances. So, planning and finances are definitely within James’ application.
To those who know the good that they ought to do with their material possessions and do not do it: it is sin for them.
Consider the last verse of :
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
Since all our plans, all our productivity, all that we have, is not due to our own efforts but to the blessing of Christ, we are to use what we have for the good of those around, for the glory of God.
This applies also to what we do with our material possessions. Interesting. Last verse of
This applies also to what we do with our material possessions. Interesting. Last verse of
Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due,
when it is in your power to act.
Do not say to your neighbor,
“Come back tomorrow and I’ll give it to you”—
when you already have it with you.
Do not boast about tomorrow,
for you do not know what a day may bring.
Let someone else praise you, and not your own mouth;
an outsider, and not your own lips.
Stone is heavy and sand a burden,
but a fool’s provocation is heavier than both.
Anger is cruel and fury overwhelming,
but who can stand before jealousy?
Better is open rebuke
than hidden love.
Wounds from a friend can be trusted,
but an enemy multiplies kisses.
One who is full loathes honey from the comb,
but to the hungry even what is bitter tastes sweet.
Like a bird that flees its nest
is anyone who flees from home.
Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart,
and the pleasantness of a friend
springs from their heartfelt advice.
Do not forsake your friend or a friend of your family,
and do not go to your relative’s house when disaster strikes you—
better a neighbor nearby than a relative far away.
Be wise, my son, and bring joy to my heart;
then I can answer anyone who treats me with contempt.
The prudent see danger and take refuge,
but the simple keep going and pay the penalty.
Take the garment of one who puts up security for a stranger;
hold it in pledge if it is done for an outsider.
If anyone loudly blesses their neighbor early in the morning,
it will be taken as a curse.
A quarrelsome wife is like the dripping
of a leaky roof in a rainstorm;
restraining her is like restraining the wind
or grasping oil with the hand.
As iron sharpens iron,
so one person sharpens another.
The one who guards a fig tree will eat its fruit,
and whoever protects their master will be honored.
As water reflects the face,
so one’s life reflects the heart.
Death and Destruction are never satisfied,
and neither are human eyes.
The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold,
but people are tested by their praise.
Though you grind a fool in a mortar,
grinding them like grain with a pestle,
you will not remove their folly from them.
Be sure you know the condition of your flocks,
give careful attention to your herds;
for riches do not endure forever,
and a crown is not secure for all generations.
When the hay is removed and new growth appears
and the grass from the hills is gathered in,
the lambs will provide you with clothing,
and the goats with the price of a field.
You will have plenty of goats’ milk to feed your family
and to nourish your female servants.
The wicked flee though no one pursues,
but the righteous are as bold as a lion.
When a country is rebellious, it has many rulers,
but a ruler with discernment and knowledge maintains order.
A ruler who oppresses the poor
is like a driving rain that leaves no crops.
Those who forsake instruction praise the wicked,
but those who heed it resist them.
Evildoers do not understand what is right,
but those who seek the Lord understand it fully.
Better the poor whose walk is blameless
than the rich whose ways are perverse.
A discerning son heeds instruction,
but a companion of gluttons disgraces his father.
Whoever increases wealth by taking interest or profit from the poor
amasses it for another, who will be kind to the poor.
If anyone turns a deaf ear to my instruction,
even their prayers are detestable.
Whoever leads the upright along an evil path
will fall into their own trap,
but the blameless will receive a good inheritance.
The rich are wise in their own eyes;
one who is poor and discerning sees how deluded they are.
When the righteous triumph, there is great elation;
but when the wicked rise to power, people go into hiding.
Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper,
but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.
Blessed is the one who always trembles before God,
but whoever hardens their heart falls into trouble.
Like a roaring lion or a charging bear
is a wicked ruler over a helpless people.
A tyrannical ruler practices extortion,
but one who hates ill-gotten gain will enjoy a long reign.
Anyone tormented by the guilt of murder
will seek refuge in the grave;
let no one hold them back.
The one whose walk is blameless is kept safe,
but the one whose ways are perverse will fall into the pit.
Those who work their land will have abundant food,
but those who chase fantasies will have their fill of poverty.
A faithful person will be richly blessed,
but one eager to get rich will not go unpunished.
To show partiality is not good—
yet a person will do wrong for a piece of bread.
The stingy are eager to get rich
and are unaware that poverty awaits them.
Whoever rebukes a person will in the end gain favor
rather than one who has a flattering tongue.
Whoever robs their father or mother
and says, “It’s not wrong,”
is partner to one who destroys.
The greedy stir up conflict,
but those who trust in the Lord will prosper.
Those who trust in themselves are fools,
but those who walk in wisdom are kept safe.
Those who give to the poor will lack nothing,
but those who close their eyes to them receive many curses.
When the wicked rise to power, people go into hiding;
but when the wicked perish, the righteous thrive.
For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
Pr
This applies in business practices, as well as normal life practices. Will we all care for orphans and widows, will we avoid discriminatory practices, will we show mercy?
This applies to business practices, as well as normal life practices
caring for orphans and widows, avoiding discriminatory practices, showing mercy
We have a tendency, when we think of sin, to think only of those things we have done that we should not have done.
There are so many good things that we are to do! But, all these good things are not natural. Left to ourselves, we will not do the good things that we should do. Well, we might do some...
For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.
The essence of the Gospel is that we cannot do good. We need Christ. As Paul says:
What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
When we turned to Christ, we said that we couldn’t do anything without Christ. We needed him, not just for our eternal state, but for every day that we live. As we rely on him for life and for plans, he produces the good works in us to do.
not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Eph
He prepares the good work, he produces the good work. We follow him into it, relying on Christ’s help to accomplish the good work.
We are still human. We won’t follow as we should. But, that is the great thing about the Gospel: When we sin in omission (not doing the good we are supposed to do), Christ offers us forgiveness. He died for those sins too! He forgives us and leads us back into the good works that we should do.
Gospel: we cannot do these good things: We need Christ’s help for them. When we don’t do them: Christ brings forgiveness and leads us back in to the way we should go.
In our confession of sin, do we include the ways that we failed to do what God has commanded us?
We are arrogant people, but God is molding us to rely on him for life, plans, and good works. Let us follow him, humbling ourselves to trust.
The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Letter of James A. Arrogant Planning Ignores God’s Providence (4:13–17)
Perhaps I did not reach out to help a “neighbor” in need; or perhaps I failed to bear witness to a co-worker when I had the opportunity. These also are sins for which I must seek God’s forgiveness.