Lets open our Bibles up to James 4 (page 1198 of pew Bibles). This is our last time in Chapter 4, and were going to hit Chapter 5 next time we are in James together. Its good to know we will finally be in Chapter 5. Well finish Chapter 5 sometimes around that first weekend in November. Then-Im just going to let the cat out of the bag a little bit-were going to have a special service on November 14th. Somewhere in our city, maybe at Craig High School or maybe at Pontiac Convention Center, but somewhere in our city, were going to have one service that Sunday to kick off Phase 4, and thats exciting. Well be a part of history that Sunday. All four services will combine in one facility, and were nailing down where that is going to be this week; so thats going to be fun. Every time we do that, its a good time. In James 4, were going to begin reading with Verse 13. James begins by saying, Now listen… Were going to stop right there for a second. I really want you to understand what James is communicating here because we miss a little bit of it. This is the only Passage in the entire Bible-this phrase, this verbiage-appears, and its an idiom. Its an expression. The way it is most accurately translated would be, Come on! Thats why I say wed understand it best if it was translated as, Oh, come on! Come on now! If somebody is really thinking a crazy way or doing something ridiculous and you are listening to this person and trying to respond to what theyre doing or thinking, and its so out there that you begin your reply with, Come on! Are you serious? Have you thought this thing through? Come on now! Get real! That is in essence what James is saying. Hes going to talk to a group of people who look at tomorrow as an entitlement, who see tomorrow as something that is guaranteed. Theyre making plans for their future, and theyre excluding God from those plans. James is like, You cant be serious! Come on now! Lets think a little bit here, okay? So understand this phrase is said and understood with an exclamation point, 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. Just as a person makes plans, Well, were going to go here, were going to do this, were going to stay this long, and heres what the result is going to be. James says, Come on! Hes going to first talk about the unpredictability of life. We can make plans, but often the outcome of those plans-where those plans themselves will come to fruition-is in question, isnt it? Its very uncertain. You cant plan anything with that degree of certainty because James says, You dont have tomorrow as a promise. Its not a guarantee. I am taking up the sport of golf for the sake of my son. I have played now eight or nine times, and I still dont like it; but Im out there. I have flashes of average. Im normally just terrible, and then occasionally, Ill do something average. When youre that bad at something, of course, you look forward to the company and being outside; but its often a very frustrating sport because I have a plan of hitting this ball toward the green. Often, it does the exact opposite of what Im telling it to do. I dont know if youve ever played golf, but its extremely frustrating. There are so many variables that come with that ball going into the air and going straight, and seldom do they come together for me. You have the variables of the wind. You have to consider what the condition of the grass is; the lie of the ball, what trees are around you-I find those; how you hit that ball; the speed of the club when you hit that ball; what angle your club is facing. Are you trying to chip it into the ground and knock it up? Are you driving? What are you trying to do, and how does the place of that club make contact with that ball? So Ill be trying to hit it one way, and the ball will literally go the opposite way. It defies the laws of physics. I mean I dont know how to get it over there. Im trying to, yet I manage to do that; [its not that Im] trying to. The ball just goes in a lot of places. I think, Whats on the face of my club? Is there some dirt or grass on the face of my club thats throwing it off? Whats the position? Where am I distributing my weight on my legs? All of these things, Am I swinging? Am I keeping that left arm straight? Am I keeping my eye on that ball? There are so many things that are inside of my control and some that are out, but seldom does that ball go where I want it to. Sometimes I find life is like a golf ball. Ill plan something, but it doesnt work out the way I planned it to. When I was a young man, I became a Christian at the age of 17, and I began to plan out my life. I was going to be a psychologist. As a Christian counselor, Id be able to help people and guide them with issues of life, and it seemed like that would be a good fit for me. I also would tell anybody who would listen that I wasnt going to get married for a long time. I was going to stay single until late in my 20s because I wanted to focus on my education and on my career. Then I picked out a school which I thought would be good for this career. Then when I turned 18, the school said, We dont want you, so I had to find another school. I met and fell in love with a young lady whom I married. I met her at age 18, and I was married by age 21. Then I prayed one day when I was having a frozen yogurt in the parking lot of a business. I remember reading my devotions, praying to God, and saying, Lord, Ill do anything You want me to do. Ill be anything You want me to be. Just dont ask me to be a pastor. Dont call me to be a pastor because pastors dont make any money. Im not going to comment on that one, but I thought Id live in the poor house if I were a pastor. Then God began calling me into the ministry, so God has a sense of humor, right? Then I went off to school, and I found out I was going to get a job at my home church. I made a decision that I was going to stay in Rockford for the rest of my life. That was where I wanted to be. I wanted to be doing youth ministry, and I wanted to live in Rockford forever. At that time, we were a young married couple, and we werent going to have any children until later on in our marriage. We wanted to enjoy being a young couple and enjoy our freedom. Children-that was something for the distance future. Right then, we just wanted to be young and enjoy our freedom before we were tied down with children. A year and four days later, our first child was born. Then about six years after, God called us to move to Wisconsin-to the land of the Green Bay Packers (congregation cheering)-our mortal enemy. My point is that youve made similar life plans that you thought were set, and something altered that-a variable altered that. We have all received news. It happens in a moment, a blink of an eye, a phone call, an event that happens that rocks your world; and all of the sudden what you thought was so sure, what you thought was so certain, is gone. Its no longer on the radar. Its no longer possible. Someone dies; someone gets sick; someone gets a divorce; something happens to you-you lose your job. Somebody says no-they reject you. Whatever the plan was, its gone, and everybody in this room has had major life plans altered and changed that we thought were so sure. Thats what James is saying. Hes saying life is unpredictable. Therefore, do not live with an entitlement mentality. Do not live with a certainty of tomorrow. He says, Because you dont have tomorrow. Remember the theme of this chapter is humility. James is trying to drive home, Submit to God. Humble yourselves before God. Hes trying to drive home what a humble life looks like. In this chapter, he said, A humble life is not a selfish life. Its not driven by the things of this world. A selfish life does not judge others, and a selfish life does not take tomorrow as a guarantee. This will help us to make wise decisions. Hes also going to talk about the sovereignty of God, that we incorporate God-not that we dont plan-but that we incorporate the Lord into our plans. Because He wants us to be humbled, he is going to use an analogy. Hes going to create a word picture that really makes you humbled. Look at the next Verse. He says, What is your life? That is a cosmic reality question, an ultimate reality question. Religions try to answer this; philosophy tries to answer this. Almost every thinking person has asked this question, What is my life? One of the things he wants to point out to us is the brevity of life, so he says, You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. The word mist is the word atmis, from which we get the word atmosphere. You think about a fog that comes up and dissipates and is gone. That, he says, is our life. Our life on this planet is brief for all of us. I wish I would have brought it from home, but I think about these little egg timers that you use for Scrabble or something. When you start to play Scrabble, and you tip that, it seems like you have all day to come up with your word, doesnt it? It just seems like even though you can see the grains of sand are moving, it seems like it never goes down-especially if thats your opponent. It seems like, Man, when is that sand going to go down? It seems like its taking forever! When were born, it just seems like life is so long. I heard a comedian, and one of his lines he was saying proudly to his audience, I was once the youngest baby in the world. Think about that; so were you…for a millisecond, a microsecond. You were the youngest human being on the face of the planet. Now, you arent now. You need to understand that, but there was a moment in historys past when you-for just a brief passing moment-were the youngest human being on planet earth. Isnt that a weird thought? Then when you grow up, it just seems like life moves by so slowly, doesnt it? It seems like, Boy, I cant wait until Im age 10. Im age 10; I have two digits…I cant wait until Im 11. Then you cant hold my age on two fingers anymore…I cant wait until Im 13 because then Im a teenager…I cant wait till Im 16. I dont know why, but I cant! Then comes 18, Then I can vote…Then Im 21, and it just seems like life goes so slow. We always want to get older, and at some point, that changes, doesnt it? I mean there was a time when we were shaking that sand clock, tapping it, and trying to get that sand to move faster. At some point, we changed to how does it slow down? How do you get this to slow down? It just seems like at a certain point when there is more sand in the bottom of that hour glass than at the top of that hour glass, then it starts going faster and faster, doesnt it? For me it was like late 20s, 30, when life just kind of took off. Ill be 50 next month-50 years old! Isnt that old? Yeah (congregation laughing). I just cant believe how fast life has gone by. It just seems like now that hour glass is just going really fast! Theres a very common article I read in the news quite often. The headlines go like this, Oldest person in the world dies. I read that all the time-oldest person… There was a time I read that article like three times in a row, three weeks in a row, because the oldest person kept dying. James is saying, Even the oldest person, even if youre around 100 plus years, in light of eternity, you are a mist. You are a vapor that appears for a little while and is gone. So the end result of that is we number our days. Thinking of ultimate reality-because Im not trying to be a bummer to you this morning; Im really not-but thinking about ultimate reality questions how we live our lives. It changes our priorities. It changes our actions, how we treat people, what we think is important, and what we value. There is a song thats playing on the radio right now. Its getting air time both on Christian radio station and on secular radio stations. I happen to like the song. The problem with the song is its sung so fast, often times I cant catch what theyre saying. I wanted to use the song this morning, but I wanted us just to get the lyrics. I didnt want images, video, or anything like that. I just wanted us to read it because some of you have heard this song before, and youre going to go, Oh, I didnt realize thats what he was saying. This is a song by a young artist, a Christian young man by the name of Kris Allen who happened to win American Idol a couple season ago. The song has a very pertinent message, especially in light of the topic were addressing this morning. The song is called, Live Like Youre Dying. I want us to listen to the song and pay close attention to the words of the song, the meaning of the song, and well come back and talk about it (link to video and lyrics can be found here: http://lyricsmusicvideo.blogspot.com/2009/09/kris-allen-live-like-were-dying-lyrics.html). Theres a good message to that song. How many of you have heard that song and heard some new words that you thought, Oh, thats what hes saying there. Yeah, me too. But you know theres an article that came out in the news this week about an atheist who has cancer. Hes an author, and his name is either Hutchins or Hitchens. Ive not read any of his books; I do sometimes read some of the books like Dawkins or [books from] other atheists. I want to hear where theyre coming from. Im not afraid of those books, so Ill read them-God-delusion and other books. Ive not read this gentlemans books at all, but there was a friendship that he formed in his debate with a Christian pastor. Even though they were at odds theologically, through these series of debates, they became friends. So he organized a prayer time, Lets pray for this atheist author who attacks Christianity and religion as a whole. Lets pray for him and that God would heal him and that God would save him. He was asked how he felt about that. He said, Well, you know, if youre praying because you love me and you care for me, thats okay if it makes you feel better. Of course, your prayer wont do any good. Im not going to receive Jesus, and Im not going to be healed; but if it makes you feel better, go ahead and pray. He said, But when you mention that Im dying, so are you. So are you. Im dying faster. I have cancer, but youre dying too. Every one of us is aging, the grains of sand are falling through. For some of us, it seems like its going faster and faster, but the reality is that time hasnt gone any faster for any of us; but it does go. Im not trying to be a doom and gloomer today. Im trying to get you to think about questions of ultimate reality because when we do that, it brings about life change. When we start doing that, we get on the stick. I was listening to a sermon, and the pastor said, Procrastination only works when you know the deadline. Think about that. You and I dont know what the deadline is, so act on it while there is time. Act on it before its too late. There was a gentleman I wanted to call and thank. His name was Dr. Steinhauser. He is a Christian professor, and he really had shared some good things when I was starting off in college in Rockford. I wanted to call and thank him, so I looked up his number. I made the phone call and left a voice mail. Then I got a call back, and it said Steinhauser on my phone. I was a little nervous, Is he going to remember me? What will he say? Sadly, I think it was his son-in-law that said, Harold passed away, but we appreciate your phone call. He would have loved to have heard from you. I was too late. We have all been too late, havent we? Weve procrastinated. Weve thought about things that we should do, we wanted to do, and we didnt do. That's one of the side notes of this message. Because life is uncertain and because life is brief, its important we act, and its important we act now. Its important we make life count. James is not teaching, Dont make plans. Thats not what hes saying. Hes not saying that at all. Hes telling us how we should make plans. Look at the next Verse. He says, Instead… instead of leaving God out of the equation when we make plans, Instead… you ought to say, If it is the Lords Will, we will live and do this or that. As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesnt do it, sins. He misses the mark. In other words, you might naively be making plans. Youre excited and enthusiastic about the future, so you dont include God kind of in an innocent way-almost in a child-like way, but he says, Now you can see that thats wrong. Because you see that thats wrong, from now on, if you make assumptions about tomorrow, thats sin. That's missing the mark. Its not we make a plan and then take that plan to God and say, God, bless this. Its us saying, God, what is Your plan that I can walk in it? I know I have His blessing if its in His Will. We have a big game Monday night. What if hypothetically those quarterbacks, Jay Cutler, and whats his name? (Congregation laughing.) Aaron Rodgers, yeah. Im just teasing you, giving you a hard time. In case youre new to the church, Im from Illinois, so okay… What if those respective quarterbacks bypass their coaches and go to their teammates and say, Heres the game plan for today. Here are the plays were going to run on our first series. Here is how were going to attack the defense. Heres what were going to do. The coach gets wind of that, and the coach says, What? They have a game plan? Well, thats not the game plan we have. Thats not the game plan weve talked about. The coach-if hes worth a grain of salt-is going to go to that quarterback and say, Thats not how it works. Thats not your job. Your job is to execute the game plan that I and the coaching staff come up with. Your job is to do what I and the coordinators tell you to do. You are a player. You are a position player. You have a role, and you are to do the plays we tell you to do and run them in the way we tell you to run them. You call the plays that I send in and execute the game plan that I give you. I am the coach; and if you dont do it this way, Im going to pull you off the field, and Im going to put in the next string guy to do what I want to do. Thats what hes saying. If you take and put the game plan in your own hands and bypass authority, usurp authority, that's arrogance. James says, Dont be arrogant. He says, Understand that we say, God, what is Your plan? He says, We learn from this. Its like if I say to my child, Honey, can you get Daddy a glass of water? This is hypothetical. I dont know if this has ever happened, but my child comes and hes carrying the glass like this (with his fingers in the glass), and he has his dirty little fingers in the glass. I say, No, honey, can you go get Daddy another cup of water? This time carry it like this because when you put your fingers in the water, all of the stuff thats been on your fingers gets in Daddys water; so can you bring it to me this time like this? That way Ive corrected him. Later on in life-when they now know better, when theyre a teenager-and I say, Honey, can you get Daddy a glass of water, and they come back like this (carrying it with fingers in the glass), I know thats defiance not childish irresponsibility. Theyre trying to send a statement to me. James says, Now that Ive taught you, understand that if you continue to plan without God in those plans and acknowledging the sovereignty of God in those plans, that's defiance. That's sin. Its not irresponsibility. He says, Heres how you plan instead. Now lets take a look at the Apostle Paul. He was a guy that was always making plans, right? He was traveling around the world, spreading the Gospel. Certainly you have to make plans. You dont do that haphazardly, but lets look at a couple Passages on the screen here. This is Paul in the Book of Acts 18:21 (page 1099 of pew Bible), and he says, As he left, he promised, I will be back if it is Gods Will. Then he set sail from Ephesus. [What he was saying was], If God allows it, I will come back and see you. Lets look at Corinthians together, just the first part of Chapter 4:19 (page 1130). It says, But I will come to you very soon if the Lord is willing. Hes saying, I would love to come and see you. Id love to spend time with you. From the same Book, the same church in Corinth in Chapter 16:5 (page 1141), he writes what follows. At first when we read this, it seems like a contradiction to what James has told us in Chapter 4. Paul says, After I go through Macedonia, I will come to you for I will be going through Macedonia. Perhaps I will stay with you a while or even spend the winter so that you can help me on my journey wherever I go. It sounds like hes just making all these plans, right? I do not want to see you now and make only a passing visit. I hope to spend some time with you if the Lord permits. Notice everything Paul does-every plan he makes-is tentative. Its all tentative. Its based on the sovereignty of God, so its okay to plan; but if youre a Christian, then that means God is sovereign in your life. I had plans as a young man, and God changed almost every one of those plans. See, understanding the sovereignty of God means He is in control and not you. Thats what it means to be a Christian. Being a Christian doesnt simply mean I ascribe to a set of doctrines and say, Okay, because this, this, and this is what the church believes, I believe that. Therefore I am a Christian. That's not how it works. There was a heresy in the early church called Gnosticism. Gnosticism was based on the Greek word for knowledge, and it was based on salvation on knowledge. You could live any way you wanted to live as long as you had the right beliefs, knew the right secrets of salvation. It was a knowledge-based salvation. Friends, if you are trusting your salvation to be based on an intellectual set of beliefs that you ascribe to, that is a form of Gnosticism because Biblical Christianity means that Christ is not only your Savior, but Hes your Lord. Hes your Master. Hes at the core. You want to do what He commands you to do, what His Will is. You want to discover what His Will is. Do not let this Passage diminish your value and significance because you might read that at surface value and say, Oh, Im just a mist. Im just a vapor. No, no, no, youre missing the point. James is saying, Look, if youre making a plan for your life, make that plan and make sure the attitude of your heart is if God permits. If God allows because what James is teaching us is God in His sovereignty has a plan for you individually-not just for the church or not just for human beings, but for you as a person. There is a will; there is a purpose; there is a destiny for you to fulfill, and you should want nothing more than to discover and fulfill what that plan is because its the best plan, because its the right plan. So examine your life today and just say, How am I living my life? The grains of sand are ticking. Time is going faster. What are my priorities? What are my plans? Am I seeking to establish the Will of God when I make those plans? Am I making those plans knowing that they are tentative, knowing that God can change those plans; and when He changes those plans, what is my response? Do I submit to Him or do I resist Him? If you are saying, Well, Im resisting or Im not even including, then James words ring true to you. He says, Come on! Come on! Wake up! Life is a vapor. Youre here for a moment, and its gone. Lets pray together: Father, we thank You for the frankness of James. He is in our face in this text. This is a wake-up call to each and every one of us here because weve all treated this planet like its our forever home instead of the fact that were just passing through, that its just the blink of an eye in the light of eternity. Lord, weve all made plans and not consulted You or sought Your Will. Lord, help us to be people like Paul, who make our plans at the same time though were acknowledging that Youre in control and were yielding to Your Lordship. Father, I pray for each and every one of us here today, that we can live out these words, these principles in our walk. We will make the most of the days weve been given because life is fleeting. Time slows down for none of us. Help us to make it count. In Jesus name, we pray, Amen.