Living Presently in God's Will
Notes
Transcript
The Warning of Focusing Completely on the Future
The Warning of Focusing Completely on the Future
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: 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.
Go to now - Come now
“Don’t count your chickens before they are hatched”
James here pictures people making plans
He himself was a businessman working with his father as a carpenter
What is the problem with making plans?
And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? 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. 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? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.
A rich man had a great harvest - he looked at the market, and knew that if he sold his crops now that his profits would not be as good as when the market wasn’t as saturated, and he could sell for increased values when the demand was greater
He was rich. He could afford to wait for the prices to improve.
I’ll build bigger barns, so I can make even more money.
While there is nothing sinful in being a good, ethical investor; there is a problem with neglecting what God desires to do.
So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.
This rich man had no thought or care what God desired
Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day: Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein; And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied; Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage;
And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth. But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day. And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the Lord thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish.
There are times God wants those whom God has blessed to consider those around them
If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother: But thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth.
Thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him: because that for this thing the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto. For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.
Toilet roll last year near this time - people buying loads of it, and selling it for a much higher price
The sin with this rich man was his neglect for what God had desired
The rich man foolishly neglected his spirit
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.
His focus was only upon what his physical needs were, and failed to recognise his spiritual needs for eternity
He was confused and negligent about body, soul, and spirit
Took for granted his time
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? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.
The foolishness of making all these plans by not knowing what is going to happen is tragic.
He made grand plans, but not once in this story did this man consider what God’s will was.
James takes up this approach in his wise counsel to Christians. We make plans, but do we ever consider if this is what God wants?
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: 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.
John Philipps tells the story of a:
A traveling preacher used to come our way once in a while when I was a boy. My parents were hospitable people, and traveling preachers from all around knew that they were good for a meal at our place, even in the war years when everything was heavily rationed. This particular preacher told us of an encounter he had recently had with an old gypsy woman.
“Cross my palm with silver,” she said to him, “and I’ll read your fortune for you, mister.”
“Do you mean to say,” replied the preacher, “that if I give you some money you’ll tell me what is going to happen to me in the future?” She assured him that she would.
“Well,” he said, “let’s get specific. If I give you some money, can you tell me what I’ll be doing this time tomorrow?” She assured him she could.
“Ah!” he said, “but you see, my friend, I don’t believe you can tell me what I’ll be doing tomorrow. But I’ll cross your palm with silver twice if you’ll just tell me what I was doing yesterday!” The deal was off!
So many have tried to tell the future: soothsayers, psychics, astrologers, spiritists
They have been proven to wrong so many times
So-called prophets that have forecasted when the rapture will take place
When the year 2000 came some said that at the instance Jesus would catch away in rapture the saints and the church
Others said that the banking system would crash and utility companies would stop providing services
All these things have come and gone. They were wrong.
The frailty of our lives and trying to discern our lives is impossible. No one knows when they are going to die.
It is like a vapour, unpredicted and only for a moment of time.
God knows. God knows what the future will be.
The Wisdom of Completely Focusing Upon God’s Will
The Wisdom of Completely Focusing Upon God’s Will
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. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.
When we think of the vapour, there is the momentary and unpredictable nature of it, but also there’s a nature of great power
Vapour
One day a scientist saw the vapour of water in a boiling kettle generate enough force to move the lid off of the kettle that was much heavier and stronger than the vapours within.
Yet, the frail vapours inside when they were channeled properly would begin to be used to turn mighty wheels of steam engine pulling trains down long tracks of metal.
Steam would begin to operate heavy machinery, doing things man could not do alone
The weak, simple, momentary vapour could do what seemed impossible.
Such is the case with a life, as James teaches us in vs. 15 that is yielded to the Lord’s will. When one follows the direction of the Lord, can use our lives that are here one moment and gone the next to do great and mighty things when channeled through His will.
Our Saviour, Jesus Christ, gave us this example of the power of living in the Lord’s will:
Came back from fasting and praying for 40 days to resist the Satan temptations and then be baptism - HS anointed Him for His ministry
Luke 5 - Jesus retreated to the desert to pray, and came back ready to face the Pharisees and doctors who would question and accuse His teaching and ministry
In Luke 6 Jesus sough the solitude of the mountain to pray to then appoint 12 men to be His apostles
In Luke 9 Jesus withdrew from the thousands to pray, and then return to challenge the hearts of His disciples asking Who He is - Peter - The Christ of God
8 days later we find Him again praying on a mount called Hermon where He would be transfigured before a few of His disciples and then began preparing them for His crucifixion
The disciples knew Jesus’ prayer life, and would ask Him to teach them to pray
In Luke 22 we find Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane praying what James teaches us here
Luke 22:42
Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.
Even on the cross we find Jesus praying
Jesus sought the will of His Father through every point of His life here on earth. His example is our teacher.
The Words of Understanding Given to Guide Us
The Words of Understanding Given to Guide Us
But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.
James warns us like the wisdom of Proverbs warns us in:
Boast not thyself of to morrow; For thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.
A colleague of James had given this testimony:
Peter said, “If I should die with thee, I will not deny thee in any wise.”
Yet we find him asleep when Jesus asks him to pray.
The sword Peter had gotten earlier would swing out in defensive fear cutting the ear off of one of the priests
Jesus would tell Peter to put the sword away
Peter would follow a distance away from the soldiers taking Jesus away, and find himself denying Jesus not once but 3 times using an oath and cursing words.
Peter boasted that this would not happen, and yet it did.
We don’t know what is going to happen tomorrow. Our prideful boasting exposes our attitude and trust in our own plans and preparations.
Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
Good Samaritan
Priest:
Handling holy things
Officiating at the altar
Advising people regarding their sacrifices
Helping with offerings
Maybe even ministering in the sanctuary itself
He saw this man, and passed by on the other side
James 1:27
Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
Levite
He knew the law - Deu 22 and Ex 23 - speaking of helping one another out in areas of lesser importance like a ox that was hurt, lost, or stuck
Here was a man of far more importance than an ox or farm animal
Passed by on the other side
Religion was vain, empty, and futile
Jonathan - Out playing, come home, and mum is lying on sofa ill, the dirty dishes are filling the sink, and toys are scattered around the living room
God desires for us to live in the present, following His will and obeying His leading.
Nothing wrong with planning for the future, but if we plan for the future at the expense of God’s will for the moment then that is when it becomes sinful.