Self Confidence Exposes Worldliness

Transcript

GR 1655
10/21/2012
Self-Confidence Exposes Worldliness
James 4:13-17
Gil Rugh


We're going to the book of James in your Bibles, so if you want to turn to James 4, then we're going to leave that for a moment. We'll have a couple of comments and look at some other Scriptures and then come back to James 4.

James is concerned about the possible worldliness of the Jewish believers that he is writing to. So he writes a rather stern or severe letter. He is exhorting them to be doers of the Word and not hearers only, the danger of self-deception. Because I hear the Word, I listen to it, I'm in that kind of setting; therefore, I'm doing well. So James started out warning about the importance of being doers of the Word and a living faith that has transformed the heart and mind will manifest itself in our conduct and behavior. At the end of James 3 he was talking about worldly wisdom versus heavenly wisdom. James 3:15, this wisdom is not that which comes down from above but is earthly, natural, demonic. That's a contrast with the wisdom from above in verse 17. Then we came into James 4 and he spoke very harshly to them in verse 4 when he said, you adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God. Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. That firm, fixed line. As Jesus said, if you are not with Me you are against Me. For James worldliness is trying to be a friend of the world. And if you would try to be a friend of the world, that makes you an enemy of God. And that is an ongoing battle for us today as believers as well, not just for these first century believing Jews. We live in the world, the world presses in on us and the constant pressure to adjust to the world, to fit with the world. And then the next step, to become like the world, to see ourselves as being able to maintain a friendship with the world.

Come back to some passages we looked at, one is John 15:18, Jesus speaking. If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would loves its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. So you see the situation. Jesus addressing it here from the other side, if you will. James writes about if you would be a friend of the world, you cannot be the friend of God. Jesus writes here, you are hated by the world because you don't belong to the world. We live in the world as we talked about, but we are not of the world. And since Jesus has chosen us out of the world, made us new creatures conformed to the character of His Father, we don't belong to the world anymore.

So we live in a hostile environment. And when we begin to make friendship with the world which is hostile toward our Savior, hates our Savior is what Jesus said, if the world hates you, you know it hated Me before it hated you. That opposition is there, it's not just a soft realm of disagreement. It is a love/hate relationship. And since Christ loves us and has chosen us for Himself, the world hates us because the whole world lies in the evil one, as we have seen in 1 John.

Turn over to Romans 12:1, therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. We must always guard against the pressure of the world to shape us in our thinking and then out of our thinking in our conduct, in our behavior. And the more that happens, the more dull we become toward the will of God in our lives and a life of obedience to Him.


One other passage on this before we come back to James. Come to the end of your New Testament to 1 John 2:15, do not love the world. Now if the world hates our Savior and hates us, what kind of thinking would cause us to think that we could love the world? Enter into a friendship with the world? That would be a one-sided relationship with no future. Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. That same kind of contrast. You can't love God and love the world. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away. James is going to talk about some of these matters. And also its lusts. But the one who does the will of God lives forever.

So this world, this world system, we're not talking about trying to make ourselves look different by locking ourselves into a certain style of dress or things like that. But the thinking of the world, the attitude of the world and the lifestyle of the world is contrary to where we are.

Come back to James 4. In contrast to when he gave his series of commands in verses 7-10, which we looked at in a previous study, you'll note that last one in verse 10 was humble yourself in the presence of the Lord and He will exalt you. We're going to talk about that contrast with humbling ourselves and having an exalted self-confident pride. That's where James picks up in verse 13. He's going to address a matter of compartmentalizing our lives in an unbiblical way. We live in a world that says we ought to do that. It's fine if you have your faith, but you ought not to bring that into the work world, into your life outside the walls, for example, of your church. You can believe what you want to believe, but keep it to yourself. James says that's not a new attitude, Christ is addressing that in the passages we read. We sometimes think we live in a secular society. Well, another way to say that is we live in an unbiblical world, a world that hates God, a world that hates the Savior that our God has provided. And so we have that constant tension. And the world is not looking to resolve that tension. So when we take it upon ourselves to resolve it, we end up looking to make friendship with the world. And that begins our whole thinking gets turned around.

So the way I view life, the way I view my job, the way I make my plans and decisions now is coming from a world view, a worldly view, a worldly mindset. So James picks up with that and he has addressed them as adulteresses who are trying to maintain a friendship with the world that would put them in a position of enmity or hostility toward God.

So he says in verse 13, come now. That's a forceful demand for their attention. It's used one other time in the New Testament, that expression, two little words like we have in our English translation. The only other time it is used in the New Testament, it starts James 5:1, come now. And really what he is demanding is pay attention, listen carefully to what I have to say here. Come now you who say. And so those who would reflect this kind of attitude and conduct. Today or tomorrow we will go into such-and-such a city and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit. What he is addressing in this context is that self-confident, self-assurance of making my own plans; that confidence I can carry them out as though the future was in my control. What we're reflecting here is an attitude that characterizes the world. We hear it promoted all over, see it sometimes in the Sunday paper. They have a little magazine kind of section with pictures and if you have been married for 50 years, your picture is there; if you graduate, your picture is there. And the family says things. And how often I note for young people who are graduating from high school or college, they'll put in there, congratulations. We are so proud of you and we know you'll be successful in whatever you decide to do. Or you can do whatever you want. And we have the world's emphasis on that, that you can be whatever you want to be, you can accomplish your goals. It's all me. And that kind of thinking begins to seep into us and we begin to talk this way and think this way. If I plan carefully and if I put enough thought into it, I know I can get it done. I'm a person who can get things done. I can take us where we ought to go. And we've suddenly picked up the idea that we are the ones who determine the future.

So here is a businessman who is talking about his plans—I'm going to leave today or tomorrow and I'm going to another city and I'm going to spend time there, a year or so. And I'm going to engage, I'm going to build a business there and make a profit. And the plans are well laid out, the way it is stressed here. It 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. You see that progression. I know where I'm going, I know how long I'll be there, I know what I'm going to do business wise, and I know the result. That's reflecting.

You know the wisdom of the world back in James 3:14, if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, then you have arrogance and you are lying against the truth. That's self-focus, that's self-pride. Now James is not talking against making plans and so on, he's going to make that clear as we move along. Look at James 4:14, yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. The problem with the plans of verse 13, they don't take into consideration we have no control over the tomorrows of our lives. We make plans but will they come about? I can't tell you for sure that I will get out of bed in the morning, I may be gone. We had one of our members called into the presence of the Lord this week. He was significantly younger than I am. What about the plans for tomorrow? You don't know what your life will be, I don't know. That doesn't mean we don't make plans for tomorrow, the plans aren't what is wrong. But it doesn't take into consideration my true condition.

What does he say? You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. The Bible stresses, and it uses similar kinds of pictures. Our life is just like a puff of smoke, like a cloud. You look at the cloud and it is gone, a vapor. Something that is there and it's gone. To take into consideration what the real condition of my life is. There is no excuse for these Jewish believers to be confused on this, just as there is even less excuse for us. These Jewish believers had the revelation of the Old Testament and the beginning of the unfolding of new revelation from God, but it is consistent.

Come back to the Old Testament, to Job 7:7. Job talks about the reality of life. Verse 7, remember that my life is but breath. My eye will not again see good, the eye of him who sees me will behold me no longer. Your eyes will be on me, but I will not be. When a cloud vanishes, it is gone. So is he who goes down to Sheol, to the grave. He does not come up, he will not return to his house nor will his place know him anymore. When you die, people may come and look at your body, but you're not there. And you know what? You're not coming back, you won't be returning to your house, that won't be your place of residence anymore. That's the picture. My life is but breath, gone. That's all it amounted to. Take a breath, gone. That's you, that's me. That's what he is saying.

Turn over to Psalm 39. The psalmist writes, verse 4, Lord, make me know my end and what is the extent of my days. Let me know how transient I am. Behold you have made my days as handbreadths, my lifetime is nothing in your sight. I mean, just measure it out, it is nothing. Surely every man at his best a mere breath, surely every man walks about as a phantom, an image, just something you see and is gone. Surely they make an uproar for nothing. He amasses riches and does not know who will gather them. Our life is transitory, you can measure it by handbreadths, it's a mere breath. There really is nothing to it in that ultimate sense. You are here and you are gone. And you look back as you get older and you say, life has gone by quickly. Where is it? Do you know what happens? A loved one dies, a parent dies, a grandparent dies. I can remember by grandparents, they have been gone for many years. Sorrow at their passing but life goes on. They are just a distant memory.

I was sorting through some pictures, we're at that age, going through the pictures and sorting them out. You say, I've forgotten about that, forgot about them. They're just here and they're gone. They are like a phantom, just like an image that passes by. The brevity of life.

Come to Psalm 102. Isn't this encouraging? Again the psalmist writing, verse 11, my days are like a lengthened shadow and I wither away like grass. The psalmist says, I'm just like a shadow, a shadow is on the ground and then it's gone. You see the shadow there that you cast, it doesn't last. Or you are like the grass, it withers away. Just here and gone. In the contrast, but you oh Lord abide forever, your name to all generations. That's the contrast that James will be bringing in, in a moment, but first you have to have a proper view and understanding of yourself and your place in life.

Look in Psalm 103:15, as for man his days are like grass, as a flower of the field so he flourished. When the wind passes over it, it is no more and its place acknowledges it no longer. I mean, talk about how beautiful the flowers are and the trees and they're gone. A little bit and they'll be gone. They just are no longer there, the beauty has passed. You'll note the contrast, the lovingkindness of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting to those who fear Him. Verse 19, the Lord has established His throne in the heavens. His sovereignty rules over all.

What James is driving home, the thinking of the world begins to impact us and we begin to see ourselves in a different light than the Scripture puts us.

Psalm 144:3, oh Lord, what is man that you take knowledge of him or the son of man that you think of him? Man is like a mere breath, his days are like a passing shadow. David acknowledges his insignificance, how in reality he is nothing. And then in comparison to the eternal God, why would the eternal God take knowledge of this one who is a mere breath? Take a breath, that's all you are. Why would God even be interested? Why would He care? What is man that you take knowledge of him or the son of man that you would think of him? He is a mere breath, his days are like a passing shadow. That repeated emphasis.

One other, we get out of this literature and come into the prophetic literature. Isaiah, we'll just take one passage here, a very familiar passage. Repeats the same ideas that we've looked at. Isaiah 40:6, a voice calls out. And this is in the context of the preceding verses, they've talked about the coming of the Lord's servant, the Lord's Messiah. But to see ourselves in proper perspective. A voice says, call out. Then he answered, what shall I call out? All flesh is grass, all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows upon it. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever.

Come down to verse 17, all the nations are as nothing before Him. They are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless, empty. The view that God has of us, what we really are. Man elevates himself, talks about how important he is. I made reference to one of the magazines, it does the list of the 400 richest people or something. And I got that in the mail and I immediately went to look through it to see if my name was there. It wasn't. And they talk about these people and how much they have, how much they are worth. Most of them don't have a view. They talk about the conferences they are at and what they are doing with their money and the difference they are making. They see themselves not in light of Scripture but as somebody important, significant, doing something. And really that's just a breath, they'll be gone. Their money will go to wherever. But they are a breath.

James made this same point, come over to James 1:9. Remember the contrast, the brother of humble circumstances is to glory in his high position because of the exalted honor given to him to be a son of the living God and have a heavenly inheritance. And the rich man is to glory in his humiliation because like the flowering grass, he will pass away. The sun rises with the scorching wind, withers the grass, its flower falls off, the beauty of its appearance is destroyed. So, too, the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away. James will have more to say specifically about the rich man in James 5. Remember we talked about James addresses some of these matters, then he comes back to them and elaborates on them later.

We all need to have a proper perspective and see ourselves as God says we really are. The more successful we are, the more well off we are, the harder it is to have a right view of us. We look at our country as we have prospered, as we have been blessed materially. Has it caused people to say, God has been gracious to us. We sing songs, God bless America, and when a tragedy comes we talk about we're praying for God's comfort or blessing. As soon as that has passed you shouldn't be mentioning God, you shouldn't bring Him up, don't talk about Him in the schools, don't talk about Him in the business, don't talk about here. Which means what? We handle this on our own. And if you believe in God, that's fine, keep it to yourself. In the meantime we're going to get something done. That's the thinking of the world. We as believers begin to think, if my kids get this education, if my kids do this, if they do that, then they'll be . . . If I do this and I plan this, then I'll . . . Well, wait a minute. Again planning is not wrong, education is not wrong, preparing ourselves. But be careful.

One other passage before we move on in James. Come back to Luke 12:16, Jesus told them a parable. The land of a rich man was very productive. He began reasoning to himself saying, what shall I do since I have no place to store my crops? Then he said, this is what I'll do, I'll tear down my barns and build bigger ones; I will store all my goods and grains there. I will say to my soul, soul you have many goods laid up for many years. Come, take your ease, eat, drink and be merry. God said to him, you fool. This very night your soul is required of you. Now who will own what you have prepared? So is the man who stores up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. What do you have if you haven't taken God into consideration? Your breath, you may be here for another week, you may be here for another year, you may be here for 50 years. You may live to be 100. My mother-in-law was blessed with a long life, she lived to be 100. That's a long time. Nothing, now she is gone. If she didn't have a relationship with the living God, hadn't submitted her life to Him with faith in Christ, what would she have? She had a long life, and it's gone. She is not coming back. She lived with us but she is not there, not returning to the house. So what really matters is what she has now, right? Not what she had then. If all your thinking does not have God at the center, you are a fool. You may be the wealthiest man in the world, you are simply a wealthy fool. Not to be disrespectful, but that's God's opinion and He's not a respecter of persons. You are a fool.

Come back to James 4, verse 15. All right what should we say? Instead you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we will do this and also do this or that. So what James is rebuking here is not making plans, is not being as wise as we can. But it's realizing we are not in control, God is. I can make my best plans, but tomorrow is in God's hands. My very life tomorrow is in God's hands. I don't know whether I have tomorrow or not, you don't know. So you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we will do this or that. What we are acknowledging is God is sovereign. I mentioned my mother-in-law. I remember one of her favorite expressions, it was more common I think perhaps in past days, she would always say, we're going here, Lord willing. We'll be doing this tomorrow, Lord willing. And they put that expression on. And the point here is not that we should say Lord willing all the time. Wouldn't hurt us to say it sometimes to remind ourselves. But it's the attitude here. These are my plans, this is what I hope to do, this is what I anticipate doing. But it's in the Lord's hands, Lord willing.

That's different than the thinking of the world as we want to build self-confidence in our children. We want them to know they can do it. We want to raise our young girls today, there is a strong emphasis on women's rights and so on, to know that they can be whatever they want to be, they can do whatever they want to do. That's not how we want to raise our kids, not the thinking we want them to have. You can be everything God wants you to be as you submit your life to Him, as you determine to live in obedience to Him, to be pleasing to Him. This expression, if the Lord wills we will do this or that. So again important to see the context. He is not rebuking planning, you should plan. Proverbs tells us to consider the ant and so on. There is wise planning, but we never do it with a self-confidence, but always in submission to God. This is the plan, if the Lord wills.

We'll finish the remodel of the auditorium and move in there and enjoy the comfortable setting if the Lord wills. We may not. That's our plan but I don't control the future, you don't control the future. Doesn't mean we don't plan for the future. Any plans we take must be done in the context of God's will.

Sometimes this is expressed in Scripture, sometimes it's not. Just look at a couple of examples. Acts 18, and this is the Apostle Paul, his travels here, comes to Ephesus and spends some time there. Verse 20, when they asked him to stay for a longer time, he did not consent but taking leave of them and saying, I will return to you again if God wills. That recognition. This is my plan, he had a plan, he will return to them again. But it's in the Lord's hands. I'll be here. We ought to have that in context all the time. We make commitments to people and sometimes we can't keep those commitments. You didn't do what you said you would do. Well, it was my every intention to do it when I told you, but I don't control the future. I say, I'll have lunch with you on Thursday and I have a heart attack and am in the hospital, I won't be there Thursday. We say, well, you said you would be, meaning you should have delayed the heart attack. You say, I can't do that. What are we saying? God is in charge, I don't control it. So even Paul, if God wills.

Come over to 1 Corinthians 4. Paul writes, verse 19, this is in the context, some have been arrogant because Paul said he was going to come and they say, he won't come. So Paul says, verse 18, now some of you have become arrogant as though I were not coming to you. But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills. My every intention is to be there and people are saying he won't come, as though Paul really doesn't want to come or doesn't intend to come. But the Lord could change the plans. And some false plans do get changed because you know how his plans are going to get interrupted and he's going to be arrested and taken to Jerusalem. Some plans are adjusted by God.

One more passage, 1 Corinthians 16:7, I do not wish to see you now just in passing. I hope to remain with you for some time, same idea, if the Lord permits. I mean, it's in the Lord's hands. Now we won't take the time to go back through and look at other passages where Paul just says what he is going to do because it's not using that expression, though we tack it on everything we say. But it is in our mind all the time. In other words it's an attitude of living in submission to the Lord and recognizing in my mind and in my heart that ultimately my life is in the Lord's hands and my plans don't always coincide with what I thought they would be. To the best of my ability I have plans for the week ahead, but they are not fixed in concrete, as we would say. Because only the Lord knows what Tuesday will be and where I will be on Tuesday and what my condition will be. That doesn't have to do with age. You say, at your age you ought to be glad if you see Monday. But even young people have to take this into consideration, it's in the Lord's hands, you don't know. That's the point.

Come back to James. How easily we pick up the thinking of the world and we think this is a good thing, we're confident, we're assured, we speak with confidence as though it is a good thing. I can say, I'm good at this, I know I can bring it off, I know I can do it. Give me a chance, I'll show you what I can do. Well wait a minute, we want to be careful here. That doesn't mean we haven't trained and in some of our training and preparation we say, yes, this is a task I can undertake, I can do. But we don't lay out our own future. I plan, I went to school to prepare for the pastorate, I was in training to prepare myself the best I could, believing that some day I would be pastoring a church. But it's in the Lord's hands. I went to school with a young man, shortly after graduation he was in an accident and lay paralyzed for 20-25 years before he finally died. Never got out of the bed, never really gained the consciousness of knowing who he was anymore. His plans were changed, but as a child of God he could be secure knowing God was in control.

So James says, you ought to say this, James 4:15, if the Lord wills we will live and also do this or that. My life is in the Lord's hands. Isn't that our confidence as believers? To know that the Lord has me in His hands, us as believers? His will is being worked out even in an unbelieving world.

As it is you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So this self-confidence that the world so admires is an attitude of rebellion against God. They don't acknowledge God, we see it all around us. People aren't saying this is what I'm going to do, they want to demonstrate. The people we admire, they are people that take charge and do things. Not that we just sit back and say, I'm waiting for the Lord. No, James is addressing issues here firmly, but it's all in submission to the Lord. As it is you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

James 4:6, He gives a greater grace, therefore it says God is opposed to the proud. We see the situation. If you're boasting in your arrogance and self-confidence, God is opposed to you. That's the same thing he said at the end of verse 4, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. We think, I let myself be shaped by the world and I have established this friendship with the world and now I'm thinking like the world in this area. And we have to be careful. We are a little bit successful and that feeds the arrogance. Why is it harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom than it is for a camel to go through the eye of a needle? Well, that success breeds arrogance, pride. It helps solidify me in my self-focus and just makes it all the more difficult to be humbled before the sovereign God.

All such boasting is evil. This word you boast in your arrogance, it is used one other time in the New Testament. We read it at the beginning. Now come back to it again in 1 John 2:15-17, which was what we read. The word we want to talk about is in verse 16, all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life. That word translated boastful pride, the other use of that in the New Testament—James 4:16, you boast in your arrogance, your boastful pride. All such boasting is evil. So there we are talking about do not love the world. All that is in the world is that arrogant boastful pride. Well if you boast in your arrogance, that self-confidence, it's a manifestation of friendship with the world, loving the world. Is it any wonder James is so concerned here? So forceful in what he says? They have allowed themselves as professing believers to be shaped by the world. Even we as believers can take on more of the world's attitude at times than we realize, or than we like to acknowledge because there is a certain comfort in fitting into the world. And if we find ourselves successful within the world system, then we begin to drift more and more. All such boasting is evil.

We have to go to the Old Testament one more time, not new material. Proverbs 27:1, do not boast about tomorrow for you do not know what a day may bring forth. Doesn't say you can't make any plans for tomorrow, we all have to. Everybody here has some kind of plan for tomorrow, whether you have to be up and go to school, get up and go to your job, get up and do this, that and the other thing. We all have plans, but there should not be that self-confidence, that arrogance that tomorrow is in our control, our power. You can make tomorrow whatever you want it to be. I can't make tomorrow whatever I want it to be. Otherwise every day of my life would be “a good day,” a happy day, an easy day, a healthy day, a successful day financially. It's just not that way. So don't boast about tomorrow, you don't know what a day may bring forth. That attitude is there, I have plans for tomorrow, I tend to do this. But whether I express it or not in my mind, Lord, my tomorrow is in your hands. That's where our prayer for tomorrow, good reminder to us. Lord, these are what I have planned for tomorrow but only you know tomorrow. Prepare me for what you are going to do in my life tomorrow. These are my plans, but it's your plans that must be carried out. And often our plans are what the Lord has planned for us.

Back to James. That being the case, verse 17, therefore to the one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin. Now here is a principle that is expansive but it pulls together what he has been talking about. Sin is more than doing what is wrong, sin is not doing what is right. You can have it from both sides. 1 John 3:4 says sin is lawlessness. You are breaking God's law. Not talking about the Mosaic law, but it is breaking God's law. If you lie, God says you have broken His law. You commit adultery or are immoral, that's . . . So we can look at it that way. Sin is what we call an overt act of sin. But sin is also a failure to do something. I'm proud, I don't commit adultery, I don't steal. I definitely haven't murdered, you'd know about that. So I think I'm leading a pretty good life. No, the one who knows to do the right thing and doesn't do it, to him it is sin.

So in light of what James has just said, if we don't conduct ourselves with this mindset and recognition of God's sovereignty in all that we do, that's sin. That's why he said all such boasting is evil. We say, I didn't think of that. That's not in the same category as immorality and stealing and those kinds of things. Yes it is, it's sin. The one who knows to do the right thing and does not do it, to him it is sin.

Come back to John 13:17, Jesus here instructing His disciples during this last night before His betrayal. In verse 17 as He has been instructing them, if you know these things you are blessed if you do them. The blessing is not in knowing them, the blessing is in the doing of them. It's not enough to know God's will, but we must live in obedience to it. So knowing the Scripture is a benefit, but it's not a benefit if we don't obey it. That's the same point James is making. So sin and worldliness can infect us when we think, I'm not doing any sins, there is nothing here where you'd say, he's practicing sin there. But in my attitude I can be guilty of evil before the Lord. Why? I'm self-confident, my confidence is in myself. I'm making my plans and I don't really give much thought. I've made all these plans and all these preparations for . . . I haven't really given God a thought. My week is busy, I have so much on my mind and what I'm going to get done here and how I'm going to do it. I never even stopped to think about . . . I know the Lord is there and I have that general idea. Wait a minute, that's sin. The Lord just doesn't want to be recognized He's in the room. He wants my recognition that He is sovereign and in all I'm doing. And that's one of the things that prayer brings to our minds, we come and talk to God about the week before me. Lord, these plans that I've made, I make them because I want to be a good steward of the time you have given to me and how I use my time and what I should be doing and how I should get done what I need to get done. But Lord, I come and lay these matters before you and acknowledge that you are the One who will determine whether this gets done or something else. And Lord you may be bringing into my life some things that will change my plans. Prepare me in my heart and mind to be receptive to what you would do, what would be most pleasing to you. I may get hit by a drunk driver tomorrow. I'm driving very carefully but the accident happens. Lord, what happened? I had all these plans. It's a comfort to me to know there are no accidents going to take place. There may be change in my plans, there may be things from the human perspective that are not what I would have desired for myself. But you know what? I want God's will for my life, I want to have a life that is pleasing to Him.

So you can't live for the Lord, young or old, unless you come to grips with there is a sovereign God, He is ruling, His will is being done in the world in the lives of unbelievers and in the lives of believers. But it is being done in the live of the unbelievers as they rebel against Him. But for His people His will is to be done as we submit to Him. That's what is pleasing to Him. If it's not, we're living in sin. We can be a people who are proud that we don't sin like other people. Like the Pharisee's prayer, I thank you, Lord, that I am not like other men. I don't do this and this and this. But if I'm not doing what is pleasing to God, if I'm not making my plans and living my life acknowledging His sovereignty, my submission to His will, take the frustration out. Because you know what happens when we make our plans and sometimes they get thwarted? Frustration, irritation, anger. I had this all laid out, I had it planned, there is no excuse. Wait a minute, Lord, I did have it planned but you had a different plan. I live my life with a confidence. That doesn't mean that I am tolerant of things that shouldn't have been done, and they weren't done right. Doesn't mean as an employer I don't expect certain things of those who work for me, that I don't have to deal with if they don't do their job. Well, it's in the Lord's hands. We're not fatalists. We are living our lives in obedience to the sovereign God.

So what does God have for this week? I'm not sure. I could tell you what some of my plans are for this week, but that's if the Lord wills. He may change my plans, may change them in drastic ways. I know, though, that as I submit myself to Him, I want His will to be done. His will is revealed in two ways. One clearly in the Word, I know He doesn't will me to do sin. I know His will for me is to do what He has instructed me. And though in those areas the Word hasn't addressed do I drive to this intersection and turn left and go over this way on my trip tomorrow? Do I go this way? I'll make the decision. But it's in the Lord's hands, and how it all comes out, He will determine. It's great to belong to a God who is sovereign, isn't it? We're coming up on elections, just relax. Everything is under control. What my concern is to submit to the Lord today, live in obedience to Him today and He will guide me each day a step at a time. It's in His hands.

Let's pray. Thank you, Lord, for your sovereign grace. We are in awe of your greatness. We don't understand everything, in one sense we understand little. You have been pleased to reveal yourself, make known the certainty of our ultimate future. Lord, we can be confident and assured that someday we will stand accepted in your presence in the fullness of your glory. We will dwell in your presence for all eternity. These are certainties. But Lord as we live our lives day by day you have not unfolded the details of your will. We are satisfied to live in obedience to you, trusting you and recognizing that your sovereign will is what is best for us as you prepare us for what you have promised us. May we keep that in mind as we live for you in the days of the week before us, we carry out the plans that we have. Lord, plans that we must make in light of your will and the readiness to accept your change in our plans. We pray in Christ's name, amen.