Active Faith (Part Eighteen): An Arrogant Appendage

Transcript

JRNT 18
04/02/2023
Active Faith (Part Eighteen): An Arrogant Appendage
James 4:11-17
Jesse Randolph

In seminary I took a first-year Greek class called “Gladiator Greek.” It was taught by a man named Dr. David Farnell who preferred that we call him, not Dr. Farnell, but rather Maximus, after the old movie, “Gladiator”. And to this day, I have incredibly fond memories of Dr. Farnell. Not only because of what he taught me about parsing verbs, but what he taught me and countless other men about how to pastor people. And I mention Dr. Farnell this morning because one of the very standard lines, the many memorable lines that he used in his classroom as he was drilling Greek vocabulary into our minds at 6:30 a.m. three mornings a week was this, “Repetition is the key to learning, and the key to learning is repetition.” “Repetition is the key to learning, and the key to learning is repetition.” “Repetition is the key to learning, and the key to learning is repetition.” He would say it over and over, just like that, interspersed with paradigms and vocabulary and all the rest. “Repetition is the key to learning, and the key to learning is repetition.”

Well, James, the human author of our text for this morning, was apparently a proponent of a similar learning method. “Repetition is the key to learning, and the key to learning is repetition.” Because in the section of his letter that we’ll be in today, he takes us back to a topic he started quite memorably and quite vividly back in chapter 3, that topic being the tongue. Turn with me in your bibles, if you would, to James 4 and we’re going to pick it up in verse 11 and read all the way down to verse 17, “Do not speak against one another, brethren. He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge of it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy, but who are you who judge your neighbor?

“Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.’ 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. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.’ But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.”

As we prepare to finish up chapter 4 of this letter today, what we’re going to see James doing is bookending the section that he began at the start of chapter 3, with the text I just read for you, James 4:11-17. And if you look at this section of scripture as a whole, James 3 and 4, it highlights some of the most sad and reprehensible behavior that can happen in a body of professing believers. James has called out the sins of the tongue in James 3:1-12. He’s called out “bitter jealousy and selfish ambition” in James 3:14. He’s called out arrogance and lying in that same verse. He’s called out the pursuit of wisdom that does not come from above, but instead, which is earthly, and natural, and demonic in James 3:15. He’s called out “disorder and every evil thing” that marks a fractured fellowship in James 3:16. He’s called out “quarrels and conflicts” in James 4:1. He’s called out misdirected prayers in James 4:3, “you ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.” He’s called out spiritual adultery. He’s called out “friendship with the world.” And as we saw last week, he has issued these ten imperatives, these ten marching orders, these ten commands, about how the Christian who finds himself stumbling into sin is to conduct himself with the Spirit’s help, as he or she steps off the path of disobedience and back onto the path of obedience. We saw those ten commands in James 4:7-10: submit, resist, draw near, cleanse, purify, be miserable and mourn and weep, let your laughter be turned into mourning and you joy to gloom, and last, humble yourselves. And we do so, recalling that the Lord, James 4:6 says, always “gives a greater grace.” And that we can, as Hebrews 4:16 says, “find grace to help in time of need.”

And now, as we turn to the remaining verses of James 4:11-17, we find James coming back to the start of where he was in this section before all the way back in James 3. Which is to address the matter of the tongue, to address the wickedness that the tongue is capable of, and to address the trouble that our tongues can get us into. “Repetition is the key to learning, and the key to learning is repetition.”

And as we’re going to see, James here is ultimately identifying for us, in this section of James 4 as he zeroes in on the tongue once more, the sin of sitting in judgment over God Himself and the sin of living as though God is not there. Both sins are wicked, both sins are evil, both sins are arrogant. And both sins are expressed through that powerful, pink, little fleshy muscle that sits at the bottom of your mouths. I’m speaking, of course, about the tongue and that’s why I titled this morning’s sermon, “An Arrogant Appendage.”

In the final verse that we covered last week, James 4:10, James told his audience, look at James 4:10, “Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.” Well, in contrast, in the verses that we’re seeing this morning, James is now going after the arrogance of his audience. Not commending their humility but going after their arrogance, their heart-level pride which comes through their words as those words tumble off their tongues. It will be a two-point sermon today and the two points are going to highlight the two sins that James is flagging here. Those sins, again being sitting in judgment over God Himself. And this is going to be a mouthful, I’m going to warn you, point #1 is this, “The Arrogance of Presumptuous Adjudication.” We’ll get there in a second, you’ll see what I mean. That’s in verses 11 and 12. And then the second sin that James flags is the sin of living as though God is not there, which we’ll call, “The Arrogance of Practical Atheism,” which will cover verses 13-17.

Now, as we work through our text today the terrain is going to be familiar to many of you, because we’ll be covering verses that I’m sure many of you have read, have memorized, and perhaps you’ve even shared with others as you’ve ministered to other people. Verses like, “You are just a vapor,” or “If the Lord wills…,” or “Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.”
And while surely these are verses that we can all draw general applications from, and share with fellow believers, I don’t want us to lose sight of the context in which James gave us these words. It’s important to note that James here is not just stringing together a series of random and otherwise disassociated thoughts. We don’t have here a list of disjointed admonitions from James. Rather, this section, James 3 and 4, represents a cohesive and unified whole. And in this section James is going after those internal heart-level sins which were rife in this community of early believers. And he’s going after their tongues yet again. “Repetition is the key to learning, and the key to learning is repetition.” But ultimately, he’s going after their hearts, because out of the abundance of the, what? The heart, the mouth speaks.

With that, let’s get into our text this morning. And, again, our first point, many syllables, is this, “The Arrogance of Presumptuous Adjudication.” We’ll pick it up in verse 11, he says, “Do not speak against one another, brethren.” Let’s start by noting that James here is continuing to address his audience as “brethren.” And he’s been unwavering in doing so throughout this letter. James 1:16, “Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.” James 2:14, “What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him?” James 3:1, “Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren.” And then here, in James 4:11, “Do not speak against one another, my brethren.” And what that means for us, as we work through this text this morning, is that James here is very clearly referring to Christians. People who like you and me have a hope that is anchored in the death, the burial, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. People like you and me who continue to battle against sin of various types. People like you and me who have been sealed and indwelt by the Holy Spirit. But now have the ability to walk by the Spirit, rather than gratifying the desires of the flesh. To them, to his “brethren,” James says here in verse 11, “Do not speak against one another.”

Now, those words, “speak against,” sound a bit soft, sound a bit muted in English. But the word there is actually a single word in Greek, and the word is not soft or muted at all. The word is “katalaleo,” which literally means to speak down against, to speak down against. It’s a word that describes critical, derogatory speech. Speech which is maliciously intended to influence others against the person whose being spoken about. It’s the word that highlights the person who is great at pointing out the faults in others while minimizing their virtues. It’s a word that is focused not so much on the truth of the matter that’s being expressed, but instead, is focused more on the heart orientation, the heart posture, of the one who is saying whatever is being said. That word is broader, this word for “speak against” is broader than the word “slander.” But it certainly can include the word slander. And it can include the word maligning, and disparaging, and criticizing, and backbiting.

If I may, a brief rabbit trail . . . There’s a serious problem in Christian churches today which is rooted in this underlying assumption: that it is okay for one Christian to say something derogatory about another Christian with whom they are in fellowship so long as that matter is true. If its true, its not slander. If it’s true, then everybody in my home bible study needs to be made aware of it. It it’s true, then it must make its way to the all-church prayer sheet. Well, not so fast! Because it may not be slander technically speaking, but it may still be, to use the word that James is using here in James 4:11, “speak[ing] against one another,” which is what he’s flagging and calling out here.

Let me illustrate, if I may, the difference between slander and “speaking against” one another. A couple of months ago, I took my family to the Husker basketball game. It was that game against Wisconsin, where we were down 17 points, and came all the way back, in the third quarter. (Or the second half, I guess its college basketball.) Anyway, one of our older boys was in the restroom. And as we all waited for him, I was standing there with our youngest boy, Asher, holding his hand. And as I’m holding Asher’s hand, this middle-aged couple is walking by and the husband in this couple is completely bald. So, Asher, as this guy is walking by, let’s go of my hand, points at said man, and says “Where is that guy’s hair? He has no hair!” (audience laughing) I was mortified. The man certainly heard it. His wife was laughing uncontrollably. But thankfully, that man was very kind. He said something like, you know out of the mouth of babes, right? But it could have gotten ugly. I mean, could you imagine the headline? “Local Pastor Involved in Brawl at Pinnacle Bank Arena.” Thankfully, it didn’t get there. But here’s the point. Were Asher’s words against that man slanderous? No. They were true, the man had no hair, he was completely bald. Asher was simply observing that fact and pointing it out. But could Asher’s words be construed as speaking against that very obviously bald man? For sure. The point is, you can speak against someone without slandering them.

And bringing it back to the church context, that’s what James is addressing here, speaking against one another, speaking against fellow believers and followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. James isn’t drawing here at least distinctions based on whether what is being said is true. He’s not saying, “Stop speaking against one another only if the information is false.” He’s not saying, “Get your fact straight, and then you can share it with everybody.” No, even if the subject-matter is true, James here is warning against speaking against one another, and especially - and this is key - calling out those who do so with evil intentions and with hostile motives. It says, “speak[ing] against one another,” and as James will call out later in verse 11, to “judge” one another is totally inconsistent with James’ charge back in verse 10 to “Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord.” It’s totally inconsistent with mirroring the example of humility shown by us by our Lord Jesus Christ. It’s completely inconsistent with showing the love of Christ to our fellow believers.

Now, James could have stopped there and just said, “Do not speak against one another, brethren.” “Stop demeaning and disparaging your fellow believers, stop being so openly and rebelliously loveless to your fellow brothers in the Lord.” But he takes it multiple steps beyond that. Look at the next part of verse 11, it says, “He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law.” So, here James is broadening his focus, to not only calling out those who “speak against” a fellow believer, a brother, but also those who “judge,” their brother.

Now, this point in this passage, is where many in our day, professed Christians and non-Christians alike, would suddenly find themselves being hyper-supportive of what the bible is saying. “See, there it is! James say, we can’t judge, just like Jesus says we can’t judge. Judge not,” Matthew 7:1. Well, Jesus did say, judge not. But do you know what He also said right after that? “So that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge,” that’s presuming judgment, “you will be judged.” In other words, the Lord never laid down some sort of blanket prohibition against judging, or judgment. He certainly did lay down some cautions that we need to make as we render or give our judgments. “For in the same way you judge, you will be judged.;” then He says, “and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.” And that’s why Jesus would say elsewhere in John 7:24, that we are to “judge with right judgment.” Not no judgment -- “right judgment.”

And that call on believers to exercise proper judgment is found not only in the words of our Lord, but all throughout the scriptures. We’re told in 1 John 4:1 to test the spirits, that is, to test against scripture, those things that are taught to us by those who teach us spiritual things. We’re called to judge as accursed in Galatians 1:9, those who would preach or profess or proclaim a different gospel. Hebrews 5:14 says, the spiritually discerning are to constantly make these judgment calls between what is good and that which is evil. 1 Corinthians 2:15 talks about the Christian’s duty to ‘appraise,’ that’s a fair comparator to the word “judge all things.” All that to say, Christians are commanded to judge! And practically speaking… I mean, just think about it. We make judgments all the time. From our major life decisions, who to marry, what church to attach to, where to send our kids to school -- to minor decisions, whether to turn right or left, whether to go to Runza or Culver’s after church today, whether to put down spring fertilizer this week or next week as the weather starts to warm up.

Bringing it back to James though, he’s not ruling out all judgment, nor could he, in light of what scriptures teach elsewhere. What he is forbidding though is having a judgmental and harsh and condemning attitude. And what he is going after is having a critical spirit which judges everyone and everything, and seeks to run everybody else in the body down. See, what was apparently happening here in James’ context was that there was these professed believers who were not only “speaking against” one another, but they were judging one another. That’s why he calls out both here in verse 11. He’s calling out “He who speaks against a brother” and he who “judges his brother.” And note, that the way that James describes these activities. He’s not describing them as separate activities, like speaking and judging are different. He’s actually rolling the two together. They’re indicating the same activity, albeit from different angles. They’re happening simultaneously, at the same time. When you “speak against” a brother, you at the same time are “judging” that brother. Acting as their judge and jury. “He never…” “She always…” “He really shouldn’t…” “She really shouldn’t…” “He’s struggling with…” “Be praying for so-and-so…”

And here in James 4:11 he’s calling it all out, calling out those who speak against a brother or judge his brother. But why? What’s the big deal? Why is this such a problem? Well, to get our answer, in the next part of the verse, verse 11, where he says, such a person “speaks against the law and judges the law.” What does that mean? Well, to answer that question, we need to answer an even more fundamental question. Which is which law is James here referring to? Is he referring to the Old Testament, Mosaic Law, thou shalt not this and thou shalt that? The answer to that is “no.” James here is writing to Christian believers who like us were no longer under the Mosaic Law. So, James here is not saying that when we speak against a brother or judge a brother, that we’re back under the Mosaic Law, or he’s not measuring that by the Mosaic Law.

No, to get an answer to which law he’s referring to, we need to back up in James to James 2:8. In fact, turn there with me, if you would, to James 2:8, we were here a couple of months ago. James 2:8, it says,
“If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you are doing well.” Now, that “royal law,” we saw several weeks ago when we studied this text, is rooted in that supreme and sovereign edict that the Lord Jesus Christ gave to His followers back in the Gospel of Matthew. In Matthew 22:37-39, it says, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and will all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment,” then he says, “The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ” That’s the “royal law,” we see the “royal law” there.

We see echoes of this same “royal law,” first given by Christ to His followers, in the writings of the Apostle Paul. In Romans 13:8-10, Paul says, “Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. For this, ‘You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet,’ and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ” We see this “royal law” also wrapped up in the writings of the Apostle John. 1 John 4:7 “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” The chief, the greatest commandment, as spoken by our Lord Himself is to love God supremely. But the second, He says, is like unto it. And it was given to us not only by Jesus, but reaffirmed by the apostles Paul, and John, and of course, James who in James 2:8 calls it “the royal law.” The “royal law” is that we are to love our neighbors as ourselves.

So, bringing it back to our text for today, James 4:11, what is James saying here, what is he after here when he says, “He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law”? The answer is pretty straightforward. Such a person who “speaks against” his brother, who “judges” his brother -- the person who seeks to demean his brother, or destroy the reputation of his brother, the person who gossips about or slanders his brother -- isn’t loving his neighbor as himself. He has the royal law, he knows the royal law. He knows what he’s been commanded by Christ to do through the royal law, which is to love his brother. But such a person decides, somewhere deep in the recesses of their heart, though they would never vocalize it this way, that they know better. So, they place themselves above the law, the royal law. And when they speak against their brother, as James 4:11 says, they “speak[] against the law and judge[] the law.”

Well, that’s a problem, because look at what James says next, at the end of verse 11. “But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge of it.” Now, there’s some familiar parallelism being brought in here. In fact, turn with me back to James 1. James 1:22, familiar passage for sure, we covered this several months ago. James 1:22 – “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.” Now, recall that the title of this series, our study of the book of James, is “Active Faith,” which is tied to this central thread of argument that James is making in this book as a whole. Which is that true and abiding faith is not relegated to sideline-sitting passivity. But instead, it is demonstrated and devoted and dedicated and consecrated activity. And consistent with that central theme, here in James 1:22 James exhorts his audience and us to be “doers of the word.” And if we flip over to James 4:11, James is warning about not being “doers of the law,” meaning the royal law, the royal law of James 2:8, but instead, being “judge[s] of that law.

And that’s really an unwise and foolish place to be, to not only not be a doer of that law, but to find yourself a judge of that law. Because look at what is said in James 4:12, our very next verse,
it says, “There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy.”
I don’t want us to miss the flow of James’ argument here. He’s saying, “Don’t speak against your brother, because when you do speak against your brother, and judge him, you are speaking against the law, this royal law. Showing yourself not only to not be a doer of that law, but installing yourself as a judge of that law.”

But here’s the problem, verse 12, “There is only one Lawgiver and Judge.” That’s a reference to God Himself. So, teasing out the argument here, when you refuse to obey, refuse to live out this royal law, that this “one Lawgiver and Judge” has given, you are usurping the authority of this divine Lawgiver and Judge. You are saying, in effect, “I know better than you. Had I been given the opportunity I would have enacted a better law, but because I wasn’t given that opportunity, God, I’ll go ahead and live by my own law. I’ll live by my own standards and my own prerogatives and my own rules.” Well, that’s lawlessness, that’s sin, 1 John 3:4,“Sin is lawlessness.” And it’s arrogant. Going back to our heading for this part of the sermon, this highlights “The Arrogance of Presumptuous Adjudication.”

When we use our arrogant appendages, meaning our tongues, to speak against a brother, to unjustly judge a brother, we are ultimately - hear this now - placing ourselves in judgment over God. The One who is described here in verse 12 not only as “the one Lawgiver and Judge,” but “the One who is able to save and to destroy.” Meaning the One who has the authority and the power over life and death, the One who dictates who lives and who dies, the One who dictates who will survive and who will be destroyed. 1 Samuel 2:6, “The Lord kills and makes alive.” Or Psalm 75:7, “But God is the Judge; He puts down one and exalts another.” And the Lord, that Lord, lays down the precepts that His people are to follow, which are embodied in His royal law.

And so, how utterly rebellious and prideful, and ultimately foolish, it is to think that we, mere creatures, sinful, fallen creatures, blind and rebellious creatures, weak and impotent creatures, desperate and needy creatures, but for the grace of God, hell-bound creatures, could sit as an appeals court over the courts of heaven, or somehow override the counsels of God, or somehow reverse the royal law. And use our tongues, these arrogant appendages, to “speak against” and “judge” our brothers and sisters in the Lord. And not only that, to speak against and judge the “royal law” which the Lord has given us. And in doing so, to speak against, and as though we could do so, judge the Lord Himself. It’s utter folly, it’s arrogant, it’s prideful, it’s lawless. And it’s sin, “The Sin of Presumptuous Adjudication.”

Which brings us to the end of verse 12, where we see this simple, yet stinging question, “But who are you,” James says, “who judge your neighbor?” After calling out their folly, in speaking against and judging their fellow brothers, and presumptuously placing themselves above the royal law, again as though they could, above God Himself. James here provides the ultimate “mic drop” moment. When he rounds off his accusations in this whole section with this question, “But who are you who judge your neighbor?”
To paraphrase, “Who do you think you are? Oh, I know who you are, James says. You’re the ones who I just told need to be miserable and mourn and weep. You’re the ones who I just told need to humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord. You’re the ones I’ve been referring to as sinners and adulteresses. Who do you think you are?” His words have this intentional bite and sting to them. He’s being characteristically bold and blunt. And demolishing any notion that the recipients of his letter would have that they have the right to speak against one another, or to sit in judgment over fellow believers there in the assembly.

Now I have a question for you, dear brothers and sisters at Indian Hills. As you sit here this morning, as you reflect upon your life and your own practices and your own habits, how does this text sit with you? What is the text exposing? Are you the person who speaks against your brothers and sisters in the Lord? Are you the person who judges your brothers and sisters in the Lord? And in doing so, not only sits over your brothers and sisters, but sits over the royal law which Christ has given His followers? And not only doing that, but sitting over the Divine Lawgiver who gave the royal law for people like us to live out with fellow believers? Whatever happened to showing true wisdom? Whatever happened to showing by our good behavior our deed in the gentleness of wisdom”? (James 3:13) Whatever happened to pursuing “the wisdom from above,” meaning that which is “pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, [and] without hypocrisy,” (James 3:17)? To put in James’ words, “Who do you think you are?”(James 4:12 paraphrased). I’m going to get e-mails this week. Well, we’ve looked at the arrogance of presumptuous adjudication. An arrogance which is expressed outwardly through our tongues. But ultimately is rooted in these deep waters of pride which still slosh around our sinful hearts.

Next, as we turn to verses 13-17, we come upon our second point for this morning, which is “The Arrogance of Practical Atheism.” I’ll read the text as a whole, and then we’ll take it line by line. James says, “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.’ 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. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.’ But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.”

Now, you can picture the scene that’s being described here. There’s this group of merchants in the body of believers that James is addressing here. They’re potentially gathered around a table and there’s a map of the Mediterranean region that’s spread before them and they’re excitedly pointing to the places they’re going to go and where they’re going to go next as they look to turn a profit and make their riches. And James here comes with these passages and just throws a cup of cold water on all of their plans. And why? Is James anti-business, anti-planning, anti-profit? Is he a spread-the-wealth socialist? No. James here, is going after something deeper. He’s going after, again, this arrogant appendage of the tongue. But this time in a different context, he’s going after those who “say.” And that verb “say” is used multiple times in these verses, to those who say that they’re going to go do such-and-such, in a place of their choosing, on a timeline of their choosing, with an expected outcome of their choosing. Without so much as considering what the Lord would have them do. Now, what we saw just now in verses 11-12 was the arrogance of sitting in judgment over God, sitting over His royal law. Now, what we see in verses 13-17 is the sin, the arrogance, of functioning as though God is not there, “The Arrogance of Practical Atheism.”

Let’s look again at verse 13, he says, “Come now.” Now, those are words of summons. And in the New Testament, we only see those words here and in a few verses down in James 5:1. It can also be translated “listen now” or “listen up.” It’s an interjection which implies disapproval. It would have immediately gotten the attention of James’ audience. And he follows it with, “you who say.” So it’s “Come now, you who say.” Again, he’s going after the tongue here. These people use their tongues to “say” things. And what is it that’s being said? Well, we read on in verse 13, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” So, the quotation here suggests that there were people in this congregation who were merchants of some sort, merchants who were deliberate and meticulous and self-confident in their planning. I mean, they’re planning out the timing of their venture, they say it’s going to happen “today or tomorrow.” Now, you might read that at first, and say, “Oh, today or tomorrow, they’re leaving some space there, for God to work and to lead them, how humble, how patient, look at them waiting on the Lord. But that’s not the implication here. By James’ day that phraseology, “today or tomorrow,” did not mean today as opposed to tomorrow, rather, what it meant was at some point in the near future. Which here means on their timetable, whenever they deemed was best. Not only were they planning out the timing of their venture though. They were confident and purposeful as they looked forward to this trip.

We’re just going to work through this, word by word here. It says, “Today or tomorrow we will go.” Now note, it’s not “we may go” or “we hope to go” or “we’d like to go;” it’s “we will go,” we’ve got this, they were self-assured that their journey would be completed. Not only were they planning out the timing of their venture, not only were they confident and purposeful as they looked forward to their trip, they already had purposed to go to a specific place. They say, they’re going to go to “such and such a city,” this or that city, some city or another. They had already put their pin on the map, they already plugged in the GPS coordinates. There was no thought of heading somewhere else, or being re-routed. They knew exactly where they were going, and they had decided where they were going. Not only had they already planned out the timing of their venture, not only were they confident and purposeful as they looked forward to their trip, not only had they already purposed to go to this specific place, they’d already decided how long they would be there. Look what it says,” and spend a year there.” There’s no thought of potential disruptions which either cut short or prolong their stay in this city. They were going, it says, to “spend a year there.” It was fixed in their mind that that entire year was at their disposal to do whatever they deemed was best. Not only were they planning out the timing of their venture, not only were they confident and purposeful as they looked forward to this trip, not only had they already purposed to go to a certain place, not only had they decided how long they would stay there, they’d already decided what they were going to do there. Look what it says, “and engage in business.” There were no thoughts of other matters that might take them away, or derail them, or distract them, or threaten them. They were there to “engage in business.” Not only were they planning out the timing of this venture, not only were they confident and purposeful as they looked forward to this trip, not only had they already purposed to go to this certain city, and already decided how long they would be there, and what they would do there, they’d already decided what they were going to take away from there. Look at the last few words of verse 13, they were going to “make a profit.” They weren’t going to sputter along, they weren’t going to lose money, they certainly weren’t going to fail. They were there to earn, they were there to make gains, “make a profit,” it says, they were calling their shot.

Now, what James here describes -- I have to share this -- it reminds me of an experience I had as a 21-year-old law student, many, many years ago. I remember sitting in one of my classrooms taking notes in that law school classroom on my legal pad. Yes, I’m that old, and half of my class was still using legal pads back then. And as the professor was droning on and on in that class about whatever he was droning on and on about, I remember taking that yellow legal pad, flipping over to like one of the back pages, and starting to sketch out my roadmap for my future. At 23, I’m going to graduate from law school. At 24, I’m going to land my first big-firm, law position. At 30, I’m going to make partner in my law firm. At 35, I’m going to be elected to Congress. At 45, I’ll be moved up to the upper chamber, I’ll become a Senator. At 58, the year 2036, I’ll be elected President of the United States, and of course, I’ll serve two terms, which will take me to the age of 66. But noble statesman that I am, I’ll take a few years off. And by the time I’m 70, I’ll accept a nomination to be a U.S. Supreme Court Justice. I’ll serve all three branches of government in this life.

It's really funny to think of it now, to think of the divine re-routing that the Lord has worked. But what’s really important and why I bring that up is I was an unbeliever at that time. As I mapped out my various ambitious plans about where I thought I was going to be, in that law school classroom, I had no thought of God. I was pledging no allegiance to God. The very thought of invoking God and getting Him in the way of my plans seemed silly to me at that point.

Well, James here, is not writing to unbelievers; again, he’s writing to believers, to Christians. And the Christians that he’s mentioning here in verse 13, had a way of thinking which was sadly and strikingly similar to mine as that unbelieving law student all those years ago. And what is the condition, the mindset, the world view, that James here is calling out? I’ve used the word already, it’s practical atheism, it’s that smug sense of certainty about one’s plans and destinations which leaves no room for what God might have to say in the matter. It’s that self-made, self-assured, self-willed world view. It’s that perspective which gives no thought to dependence upon God or the uncertainty of life. It’s a foolish way of thinking, a prideful way of thinking, it’s an arrogant way of thinking.

And James pushes back on it, as we keep reading through the text in verse 14. Look what he says in James 4:14, he says, “Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow,” that can also be translated, “you don’t know what will happen to you tomorrow.” It reminds me of a Robert Burns line from 1785 when he says, “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” Think of the economic crash of 2008, the sudden loss of a loved one, that shocking medical diagnosis, or that car accident. Think of the pink slip, or think of the earthquake in Turkey, or the recent tornado in Mississippi. Were any of those people angling for those outcomes, hoping for those outcomes? Of course not. Emergency rooms and cemeteries and unemployment lines are filled with people who had other plans. It’s no wonder Solomon would say in Proverbs 27:1, “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth.”

James though here in verse 14 builds on the thought and he uses a metaphor in the rest of verse 14. He says, “You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.” Your life is a vapor, your life is a mist, it’s transitory, like dust in the wind. It’s like a mist that hovers over a lake at sunrise and by mid-morning especially in the summertime that mist is gone. We’re here one second and gone the next. We may have tomorrow, we may have another year, we may have another decade, we may have another fifty years. But only if the Lord allows, only if it’s the Lord’s will. And what a humbling reminder that is. That none of us is guaranteed to make it to the pillow that’s laying on our bed tonight. And that for those of us who do make it to that pillow tonight, none of us is promised that we’ll be waking up tomorrow morning. Just as we can’t keep a mist that hovers over a lake from evaporating, we can’t keep the mist of our lives from evaporating.

Our lives are short lived and the scriptures speak clearly to the brevity of our lives. Job 7:6, “My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle.” Psalm 102:11, “My days are like a lengthened shadow.” Psalm 103:15, “As for man, his days are like grass.”

Life is short, though it’s unpredictable, at least from our vantage point. However, we know from scripture that our lives, indeed each of our days, is fully under the care and control of an all-wise and all-good and all-sovereign God. Psalm 39:5 says, “You,” meaning the Lord, “have made my days as [few] handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing in Your sight.” And because our days are short, and they are appointed, and they are unpredictable, what we need to do, as what Moses said we need to do back in Psalm 90:12 where he says, help us God to “number our days,” to consider how many are left, to reflect on how much sand is left in the hourglass. Not to be morbid, not to be fatalistic, but instead, to redeem the time that’s left, and to live faithfully for Him, so that we can “present to Him,” Psalm 90:12, “a heart of wisdom.”

Back to James, verses 13-14, he’s called out this prideful, arrogant way of thinking, which we’ve called practical atheism, functioning as though God is not there. Well, James not only gives us the problem, he gives us the solution in verse 15, he says in verse 15, “Instead, you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that,’ ” To those who would make presumptuous plans without involving or consulting the Lord James here gives his prescription. He gives us this God-honoring alternative where he says, “Instead, you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.’ ” He says, “If the Lord wills.”

Now, we see that expression “If the Lord wills” multiple times in the New Testament.
For instance, Paul told the Ephesians, in Acts 18:21, as he was preparing to sail off from Ephesus he said, “I will return to you again if [the Lord] God wills.” Paul told the church in Corinth, in 1 Corinthians 4:19, “But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills.” That’s not as though we have to use that specific set of words, it’s not some sort of magical incantation, it’s not this ridged verbal formula that we must follow at all times. In fact, the scripture gives us different examples of word formulations that we can use to express our dependence upon God and the will of the Lord. 1 Corinthians 16:7, Paul says, “I hope to remain with you,” to the church at Corinth,” for some time, if the Lord permits.” Philippians 2:19, he says, “But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to your shortly.” And then in Hebrews 6:3, it says, “And this we will do, if God permits.” In other words, its having the correct perspective, the right mindset, one that is rooted in a complete and total dependence on the Lord and His will, that’s what’s most important, more important even than using those four words, “if the Lord will.”

And note where James takes this next in the middle of verse 15 as he gives his audience proper perspective as to how they should be thinking about making plans in the future. He says, “If the Lord wills, we will live.” Now, that harkens back to what he said back in verse 14, that our lives are “just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.” Well, that “vapor,” meaning our life, doesn’t just vanish randomly, that “vapor” doesn’t vanish simply for physical and natural reasons as our bodies begin to physically break down. The ‘vapor”, our lives, vanish because the Lord wills them to vanish, in fact, He’s allowed these “vapors” to exist as long as they have.

And then, moving from the greater to the lesser, here in verse 15, James notes that it’s the Lord’s will, not only that we live for however long we live, but that we do the various things we do, including the plans that we make, and it’s ultimately according to His will, to use the last few words of verse 15, that we “do this or that.” And that’s a good reminder for us this morning, that the greatest of our plans will only come to fruition if the Lord allows, if the Lord wills them to happen. Lord willing, I’ll spend my time doing this or that. Lord willing, I’ll get accepted to that college. Lord willing, I’ll secure that job. Lord willing, I’ll get married someday. Lord willing, we’ll be able to have x-number of children someday. Lord willing, I’ll be able to save… Lord willing, I’d like to serve in some capacity here at church. Lord willing, my children will come to know the Lord. It’s not wrong to make plans like that. In fact, it’s wise and it’s commendable to make plans. The scriptures commend the making of certain plans. Think of Proverbs 6:6-8, which says, “Go to the ant, O sluggard, observe her ways and be wise, which, having no chief, officer or ruler, prepares her food in the summer,” that sounds like planning, “and gathers her provision in the harvest.” But any plans we ultimately make have to serve that heart-level confession that God is sovereign. That His plans are higher and better than any plans we ever could have made. And that we as frail and ignorant and dependent creatures are totally and fully reliant upon Him to accomplish His perfect plans in His perfect timing. “Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed by Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done,” [Matthew 6:9-10]. Or as James here says it in verse 15, “If the Lord wills.”

Well, he’s not quite finished in developing his thought here. Look at verse 16, he says, “But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.” Apparently, there were people in this assembly who were not only making plans apart from any notion or awareness of God, and apart from any seeking of God’s will for their life and their plans, they were actually proud of it. And they were boasting in their independent streaks, they were boasting in their abilities, they were boasting in their accomplishments. Look what I’ve done. I did it all on my own. Sure, God created me and God gave me life, but really it was my brains, and my plans, and my energy that took this thing across the finish line. This is like the Philippians 4:13 attitude that passes in our day, isn’t it, that we see so prevalent among athletes. This idea of giving that token nod to God’s existence, but really crediting yourself, not Him, for your glittering resume, or your public accolades, or that shelf full of trophies or awards.

Well, as he always does, James calls it out for what it is, he calls it, verse 16, arrogance, “You boast in your arrogance.” And he calls it evil, “All such boasting,” he says, “is evil.” Now, is James here, calling out and condemning all forms of “boasting” by Christians? Most certainly not. The scriptures speak to those situations where a person can and ought to legitimately boast, but it is always in reference to the work of God in that person’s life. Galatians 6:14, “But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” Or 2 Corinthians 10:17 says, “But he who boasts is to boast in the Lord.” And in those passages Paul surely had in mind what was said back in Jeremiah 9:23-24 where it says, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,’ declares the Lord.”

But this isn’t the kind of boasting that James is referring to in our passage. The people he’s writing to, were boasting arrogantly. Boasting not in the Lord, but rather, boasting in themselves. This is the kind of boasting that King Nebuchadnezzar got busted for, right, when he was driven to his knees to eat grass like cattle, back in Daniel 4. And of course, none of us I hope would be so crass as to boast outwardly like Nebuchadnezzar. You know, he says, “Is this not Babylon the great, which I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?” [Daniel 4:30]. But inwardly what happens? Do we boast in ourselves or do we boast in the Lord? Don’t answer that question out loud. The Lord knows the answer.

James here though is calling out our boasting and our practical atheism for what it is. It’s not a moral neutral, it’s not a net positive, rather, it’s rooted in the wrong assumption that we are in control. And it takes no account of what God’s will might be. It’s arrogant and it’s evil. It brings to mind the words of Psalm 10:4 which describes not a follower of Yahweh, but instead an unbeliever. Psalm 10:4 says, “The wicked, in the haughtiness of his countenance, does not seek Him. All thoughts are, ‘There is no God.’ ”
Now, that passage is describing one who openly declares that there is no God. Not a practical atheist, but an actual atheist!

Let’s not be those Christians who confess that there is a God and that we have a relationship with that God, but who function as practical atheists, living and plotting and planning as though He’s not there. Let’s not be those Christians who like the ones James is calling out here, somehow forget God and somehow think that we’re the master of our own history and the captain of our own ships and the subjects of our own sovereignty. Let’s not live so shortsightedly and blindly. Let’s instead, remember that we have surrendered (assuming we’ve surrendered) our lives to the One true Sovereign and it is His will, His way, His commands, that we are to follow. Proverbs 19:21 says, “Many plans are in a man’s heart, but the counsel of the Lord will stand.”

That brings us to our final verse for this morning and the final verse for this section, and in fact, the vinal verse in chapter 4:17. It says, “Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.” Now, that word “therefore,” as normally is the case, is linking what James is about to say with what he’s just said. And in the verses that we’ve just worked through, what James has told us, is that we are not to “speak against one another” or to judge one another, because when we do so, we “speak[] against the law and judge[] the law,” and in effect, we place ourselves over the royal law. But in doing so we also place ourselves over the “one Lawgiver and Judge”, God Himself. We call that “The Arrogance of Presumptuous Adjudication.” And then in the verses that we just covered, verses 13-16, James has warned against the arrogance of practical atheism, making plans as though God is not there; ignoring the brevity of life and God’s sovereign and providential ordering of our lives; boasting in ourselves and our abilities arrogantly which James calls evil, rather than boasting in the Lord.
It's against that backdrop that James says what he says here in verse 17, “Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.”

Now, again, James has these arrogant boasters of verses 11-17 in his crosshairs as he makes that statement in verse 17. But that statement certainly does have broader reach and application, because James here is giving much-needed perspectives, and basic but helpful reminders for us about sin in general, and that distinction between sins of commission and sins of omission. See, we tend to think of sin in terms of sins of commission, doing what God has said not to do. God says, “Do not lie,” so we don’t lie. God says, “Don’t steal,” so we don’t steal. That’s how we often think of sin, not doing bad things. But James reminds us here that just as serious as lying or stealing or doing anything else that God has instructed us not to do, are these sins of omission, meaning disregarding those things that God has said to do.

And we see examples of sins of omission being flagged and called out by our Lord all throughout the gospel accounts. Luke 12:42-48, describes the slave who knows his master’s returning but fails to ready himself for his master’s return. Luke 19:11-27, describes the slave who fails to put his master’s money to work in his master’s absence. Matthew 23:23, the Pharisees, are described as tithing of their mint and their dill and their cumin, but at the same time “neglect[ed] the weightier provisions of the law.” Matthew 25:31-46, there are those who are described as facing condemnation at Christ’s second coming, because they failed to care for various outcasts in society.

When we’ve been given a command to do something, such as the command to admit our dependence on Him when we make our plans, James 4:13, but then choose not to do it, what James here is saying is, “it is sin.” Sins of omission are as real and consequential and serious as sins of commission. Sin is more than doing what is wrong, sin is also not doing what is right. When we know the right thing to do, and do not do it, he says here, “it is sin.”

Well, those last few words there, “it is sin”, are a fitting place to end this morning. Because they present a great opportunity to remind us all here that, praise the Lord, Jesus Christ is a sin-bearing Savior. And if we’ve trusted in Him we not only have had our sin forgiven with its penalty being paid at the cross, but now we are no longer under the power of sin, because we are in Christ, because we have been sealed with the Spirit, and because we are now children of God. And now, we have this ability, for we who are in Christ, to put off the ungodly habits that James has flagged here and to put on these new, righteous, and God-honoring ones. We really can overcome the temptations that are put before us, by this arrogant appendage, the tongue. And we really can steer clear of the pride that still exists in our sinful hearts as we seek to follow the perfect example laid out for us by our Lord Jesus Christ.

Let’s pray. Lord, thank You so much for this chance to be in Your word this morning. Thank You for the reminders, hard as they are to hear that for we who are in Christ, for we who have trusted in Jesus Christ, we who have been indwelt by the Spirit, we who are children of God, we who have the hope of heaven to look forward to and the hope of glory, that we will still battle sin in this life, that we will still fight against sin. That there is a real enemy who prowls around like a roaring lion. That we are enticed to sin. That we do not have to sin. We can follow the example of our perfect Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ. We can submit to the Spirit and yield to the Spirit and walk in the Spirit as we read His word. We can walk a better path, we can find a better way, one that honors You, God. So, I pray that for those of us who are a bit broken by this text, that we would find hope, hope at the cross. And for those who are here this morning, who may not know You, either by their own admission, or because of self-deception, I pray that they would see that what we read here this morning, what we worked through here this morning, is not a way to start living a better life. What we read this morning is a way to see that they fall, ultimately, short of the glory of God. That their greatest hope and their greatest need is to be reconciled to You, God by trusting in the finished work of Christ on the cross. To come to Him humbly and in repentant faith, bowing the knee to Him and placing all their hope in His death on the cross and His victorious resurrection. God, thank You for Your word, thank You for communicating to us through it. Thank You that we have Your word to guide us as a lamp to our feet and a light to our path to navigate us through this dark and ever darkening world. Thank You. It’s in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.