Title: Pride and Presumption Pt 2

Text: James 4:13-17

Date: 8-8-04.am

Thesis Statement: One of the natural outcomes of pride is presumption. By presumption we mean an arrogant disrespectful attitude. That’s what James is talking about in verse 13-17 an arrogant disrespectful attitude towards God that manifests itself in leaving Him out of our plans.

In verses 11 and 12 we talked about pride in the negative sense of being full of oneself. James talked about that kind of pride manifesting itself in speaking down to others and about others exercising self-righteous judgement towards others which put them down. In particular James condemned having that kind of attitude towards other believers. In verses 13-17 James condemns the arrogant attitude of leaving God out of our plans.

James 4:13-17

13 Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow, we shall go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit."

14 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.

15 Instead, you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we shall live and also do this or that."

16 But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.

17 Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do, and does not do it, to him it is sin. NASB

This subject is very relevant for us today, because we all make plans of one kind or another... Plans for college, or careers; Plans for marriage and family; Plans for vacation, retirement.

Making plans, in of itself, is not wrong...

Paul often made plans in regard to his travels - Ac 15:36-41 we find Paul and Banabas making plans to return to the churches they planted in Asia; In 1 Co 16:5-9 Paul informs the church in Corinth of his plans to visit with them after he visits Macedonia..

The truth is making plans (or setting goals) is an important key to success in

any venture we may undertake in life. We’re making plans right now for the renovation and expansion of our facilities. It would be the ultimate exercise in futility if I were to announce that next Sat we’re going to have a work day and we’re going to remodel the sanctuary and build a new building. Everybody just show up with whatever you have and we’ll get right to work. It doesn’t take much imagination to figure out what would happen without planning.

Of course planning is not an exact science, what was it john Steinbeck said about the best laid plans of mice and men? Things don’t always work out like we want. About this time last year Deborah and I were planning our vacation, little did we realize things were about to take a far different direction, our plans were about to fall by the wayside. Now a year has come and gone and we are again making plans for vacation in a couple of months. Two years ago we had plans for a mission trip in Brazil that included some vacation time, but things didn’t happen according to our plans.

James wants us to know that while making plans isn’t wrong there is a "right"way, and there is a "wrong" way for believers to plan.

First of all James uses a conversational style to get the attention of his readers. He says “come now.” It is a form of address, used as an attention getter. The UBS Handbook says there are a number of equivalent expressions that can be used to clarify it’s meaning, for example, (TEV), "Now listen to me," (Phps),"Just a moment, now," (CEV)."You should know better than..." It’s a negative way of chiding or rebuking his readers with the idea they will pause and consider or examine what they’re doing or how they are doing their planning. While he writes in a negative way his implication is for a positive application in their lives and ours.

You see he also meant to get our attention as well. We are too often guilty, just as they were, of leaving God out of our everyday plans and out of our decision making process. What we often do is make up our minds about something and then pray that God will agree with our decision.

I remember reading the story of a pastor who was particularly frustrated with his current church. He was being criticized and everyone was complaining about what he did or what he didn’t do and the deacons seemed to be on his case all the time and he got a letter from another church who wanted him to come be their pastor. He shared the letter with his wife and suggested they pray about the decision. His wife said that’s fine you pray and I’ll pack. Her mind was already made up and her plans were to get on with the moving.

William Barclay referred to this as mistaken confidence. It’s the “I” problem. That I know what’s best, that I know what’s right, that I can blah, blah blah. We find an example in Isa 14:12-14 where Isaiah describes the fall of Satan.

12 "How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, You who have weakened the nations! 13 "But you said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north. 14'I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.' NASB

James is warning us about the “I” problem. Here’s what’s happening, remember what I said before, many of these dispersed Jewish Christians were business men, shop owners and merchants. James isn’t condemning business or profit or planning but here’s what he’s pointing out, like Satan they are presuming upon God. First they are choosing their own time frame (today or tomorrow). Second they are choosing their own location for doing business (such and such city). Third they are setting their own duration (a year). Fourth their own agenda (to engage in business) and last they are choosing their own objective ( to make a profit).

Now there is nothing intrinsically wrong with what they’ve done. Nothing wrong with wanting to go where your business will flourish and you can make a profit. The Greek text reveals those who say this are those who habitually live without regard to God’s will. James’ rebuke is directed towards those who make it a habit of carefully and logically thinking through an issue, make plans and set goals as if God did not exist or wasn’t involved in their lives. This is another way the negative aspect of pride manifests itself. I know what to do and how to do it so I don’t need to consult God about it.

Jesus told a parable out this kind of presumption in Luke 12:16-21

16 And He told them a parable, saying, "The land of a certain rich man was very productive. 17 "And he began reasoning to himself, saying, 'What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?' 18 "And he said, 'This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19'And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry."' 20 "But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?' 21 "So is the man who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God." NASB

There are two things we discover in this parable about the rich man and that James points our in his warning of leaving God out of our planning process. One is our ignorance of the future. We don’t know what our lives will be like tomorrow holds or tomorrow holds for us. I can certainly relate to that and I imagine most of you can too. The other is the briefness of life itself. James says you are a vapor that appears for a little while and then is gone.

The older we get the more we realize how brief life is and how quickly time passes. I remember after I became a Christian in 1982 and made plans for college how long it seemed that it would take, and then when we headed off to seminary we had that same kind of feeling even though it seemed as if we had just started college and now how long it seems like those days have been passed.

The point James makes is this: in lite of the brevity, and uncertainty and the frailty of human life it is the pinnacle of foolishness to live it as thought God didn’t exist and without any consideration for His will. It is not only arrogant, James wrote, it is evil!

And to that he adds, Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do, and does not do it, to him it is sin. Those who know God’s will are responsible to obey it. This is a strong, strong statement. It is like a blanket covering not only our plans but every single area of our lives. There is arrogance and evil in making plans and decisions without considering God’s will, but it is even worse to know God’s will and not consider it. It is a sin against God and God will not bless the life of a person who deliberately discounts and ignores His will. This fall we’re going to restart and finish our Bible Study on knowing the will of God. We started that just before summer, but I want us to go all the way through it, I believe it’s important for us to study that. There are some outlines for that on the table if you want to take one in preparation for our fall Bible study. There are some aspects of God’s will we struggle with knowing, but there are other things such as stewardship, church attendance, righteous living, Bible study and prayer among others that are very clearly revealed in the Word of God that we have a responsibility to apply in our lives and to deliberately disregard them is arrogance, rather than ignorance it is evil and that word in the Greek basically means to identify with the devil. Here is a scary thing about what James says, we identify those who worship the devil as Satanists. But what James says is those who presume upon God’s will are in fact practical Satanist. Now hear me right on this don’t think I’ve said that everyone who disobeys God’s will is a Satanist. When Jesus said to Peter get behind me Satan. He didn’t mean Peter was the devil. He was making a point and that’s what James is doing here. This is a book about practical active faith. James has been telling us that our actions our way of life identify us. I’m a Christian not just because I have been cleansed by the blood of Christ but also because I identify with Christ through following Him. So James is saying in a very strong way that when we don’t follow Jesus we have an identity crisis, and the one we most identify with in disobedience is Satan. And that should never be.

As Christians we must first of all SUBMIT AND SUBJECT OUR PLANS TO THE WILL OF GOD.

1. We can make our plans, but we should make them contingent to God’s will. Saying "if the Lord wills" is like praying in Jesus name, it doesn’t mean just mouthing the words but actually believing God has a will for our lives (even in the ordinary matters) and acting accordingly, and that God can because of His sovereignty and Lordship intervene in our plans and in our lives to accomplish His will.

1. How do you plan your life? If you plan without considering the will of God, then the bible says you are foolish, arrogant, and sinful! On the other hand If you make plans subject to the approval of God, then the Bible says you are wise, submissive, and righteous in God's sight! If we endeavor to plan our lives within the framework of God's will, then we increase the likelihood of successful lives by God’s standards. That planning also involves eternity.

What about your "plans" for eternity? There is no doubt what the Lord's will is on this subject He wants you to trust Him and live obediently to Him in all areas of life. (Mt 28:19-20; Mk 16:15-16; Ac 2:38; Ro 10:9-10; 2 Pe 1:5-11; Re 2:10) We can be certain of "successful lives" though not necessarily as the world views success if we submit to God's will living faithful Christian lives! Will you surrender all to Jesus today and live daily in His presence? That’s our invitation to you this morning, surrender everything to Jesus in complete obedience and faithfulness.