James series – “The Litmus Test for life”

James 4:13-17

¹³ 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.”¹⁴ 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. ¹⁵ Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” ¹⁶ As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. ¹⁷ If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.

Not only is presumptive pride arrogantly self-sufficient and selfishly self-promoting but lastly it is:

3. Sinful instead of serving – Vs 17

There are two basic ways we sin, which theologians call the sins of commission and the sins of omission. Sins of commission is a sin we take action to commit, whether in thought, word, or deed. Where sins of omission are those in which we knew we should have done something good, but refused, this is the sin that James is focusing on here. The reality is that most of the time our problem isn’t that we don’t know the right thing to do. God has given us a conscience, He has also given us His Word, His Spirit and His church. He has even given us the law of the land to let us know what is right and wrong. There are very few instances where we can truly say, we didn’t know. The problem isn’t knowing what’s right, the problem is doing what’s right. And what’s right is submitting your wants to His Will. It’s what Jesus did in the Garden of Gethsemane in Luke 22:41-42 “He walked away, about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, ⁴² “Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” Jesus asked the Father to let the cup of suffering pass Him by, but He asked based on God’s Will not His. How many times have you prayed for God to remove the pain and the problems in your life, but was your prayer one where your pain was in submission to Gods plan? Most of us today are making our pain and our problems preeminent to God’s plan. Because we refuse to accept that part of God’s plan may include our pain. We have bought into the lie that a loving God not would let us experience hurt and heartache. But what came out of Christs suffering our Salvation. Our problem is that we have limited God’s plans to anything that will bless and benefit me. In the pain do you trust God has a plan? It’s easy to submit your plans when things are perfect but what about in the pain? Jesus placed God’s Will ahead of His wants. None of us want to walk the path of pain but sometimes it is profitable, not just for us but for others. Are you willing to suffer if it serves others, are you willing to endure problems if it brings profit to others. Are you willing to trust God in the trials of life? It’s easy to say we are walking out His Will when things are wonderful but what about in the hard and hurtful times when the winter winds blow? He said, I know the plans that I want. But I am placing my plans under your plan. So, what are your plans this year? I hope they’re big plans. I hope they’re bold plans. But I hope they’re not presumptive prideful plans. Otherwise, no matter how successful they might look, they will ultimately end in failure. If you want truly successful plan, one that is guaranteed to succeed then submit your plans to God’s Will for your life.