No Place for Boasting

Text: James 4:13–17 ESV

My wife just had a baby two weeks ago. I want to tell you, talk about the Lord’s providence in having this passage to preach this morning. It's so timely. Two Saturdays ago, I was going to bed, and there was no baby yet. I think to myself, alright, well tomorrow I'm going to church. I’ll here early set up things like I do most Sundays. That was my plan. Well, 5 am rolls around and my wife thinks her water broke. But you know, we weren’t certain, until the contractions started happening, and we are thinking, all right, this is the real deal. 

Long story short, we had a plan. We were planning to give birth at a birth center. We'll get out of the car, and my wife says, “No we can’t go, the baby is coming.” I mean this is only 30 minutes after the first signs. We waddle back inside, a couple minutes later Emery Grace is born in our living room. 

We didn't have time to go anywhere. We don't have time to do anything. You know, luckily, the fire department and paramedics showed up, everything was good. Mom and baby are healthy. But man alive, I had a plan in my mind how this is going to go. In fact, I was planning on being here that morning. It didn't go according to plan. 

James has something to say to me who was fairly confident in my plan. He has something to say to every one of us who have a tendency, and not a bad tendency, to plan—to think about what's coming. You might feel like James starts out as a masterclass on how Christians should plan and think about the future. What I think you're  going to see is, it's actually a bit of a masterclass in our hearts. Because James is far less concerned about whether we use a digital planner, a paper calendar or nothing at all when thinking about tomorrow. He's far more concerned with the heart. He wants our hearts to know our God is sovereign, and we're not. 

Here’s my one sentence summary of where we are going this morning: God is in control. so plan accordingly. 

Today, we have the classic three point sermon, and do another classic sermon move — an alliteration with “p’s.” 

• Presumption (13–14). 

  • Problem in the passage is presumption. 

• Providence (15)

  • Proper response is to remember God’s providence 

• Pride (16 –17).

  • Prognosis is pride. 

Whether that alliteration is helpful or not, I think James wants us to see that God is in control. so plan (talk and live) accordingly. Let's begin by seeing the problem — presumption. Look at verses 13 with me. 

“Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit” (James 4:13 ESV)

James opens up with what I think, if we are honest, a statement that just feels like a normal statement. I'm sure you hear its own version almost every day of your life. Tomorrow, yeah, tomorrow, I'm going to go see this person. And today, what's your plan? Oh, I'm planning on working on these few projects. And Sunday, so I'm going to go home and blow up my sprinklers for the winter, and so on and so forth. It's just a common thing. But James goes on to acknowledge the faultiness and our logic there. Here's what he says in verse 14:

“yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.” (James 4:14 ESV)

Let me just pause and say, That's true for everyone in this room. You have no idea what's  going to happen tomorrow. If 2021 and a Coronavirus taught us anything, it’s that we have no idea what's coming.

James clarifies: What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. I think you can see why presumption is the problem. The problem is not that you have an idea of what's coming tomorrow. No, this person in this story is so confident, so sure. As we're going to see, what it reveals is that there's no spot in their heart for a sovereign God who can do whatever he wants with tomorrow. 

I was just reminded of this again this week. My wife had a baby, and shortly after, well, a house came on the market. We said, we're not going to look at any houses unless one is dynamite. It turned out to be dynamite. So we got through them accepting our offer and our inspection contingency adjustment. And now onto the next thing. Was I planning that? No. That wasn't the plan. I'll have a baby. You know, going through the crazy stress of trying to figure out if we want to buy this house. Then in the middle of it our boys get sick. And was I planning that? No, over and over my week was a reminder, I don’t know what's coming tomorrow. I have a plan. I want it to try and look like such and such. But I don't know what's coming. 

I want to illustrate it to you this way. So hopefully you can catch what James is trying to point out. 

How many things happened this week that you did not plan on happening? Let me ask you another question. How many things did you plan to do that you weren't able to do? That didn't happen? 

Here's what James is trying to call out. He's saying, look, you don’t know what’s coming tomorrow. In fact, your life is like a vapor. Your knowledge about tomorrow is so limited that you don't know if you, as a vapor, could just evaporate and your life would be no more.

What is James trying to get at? He's trying to sound the alarm, the wake up call, which is to say, “Look, you don't know what's coming, so act like it.” Or in my words, God is in control, so plan accordingly. 

It takes zero imagination for us to think of all the things that didn’t go as planned this week. Yet what's stunning is we can so easily approach next week as if we know what’s going to happen. You think you've got it on lockdown. Well, at least this person James is talking to feels that way. I was reading this week in my Bible reading plan, and came across this in 1 Samuel 15:23:

“For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry.” (1 Samuel 15:23 ESV)

This is Samuel talking to Saul and the next line is Samuel breaking the news to Saul that God has rejected him as king. Presumption is a sin. To presume you know what's coming or that you know best, is sin. 

Okay, what's James's solution? We've seen that presumption is the problem. Now we're going to go to point two the proper response by remembering God’s provenance. Look at verse 15: 

“Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”” (James 4:15 ESV)

We have now met James's two examples. One person says, tomorrow, I'm going to do this. He's got a one year plan that he's got on his calendar. And the other person says, “You know what, yeah, I have a one year plan, but only if the Lord allows will I be doing what I’m planning tomorrow.” Notice, James is not against planning. He is against a certain arrogant heart in planning. 

James's point is not necessarily focused only on the words we use, but on the heart, behind what's happening. What's the difference between the two? This person over here is presumptuous, thinking they know. This person is acknowledging, “I don't know what's coming tomorrow. I am planning on doing this. But my God is in control. My God is sovereign.” 

Here's the warning from Proverbs 27:1: 

“Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.” (Proverbs 27:1 ESV)

We have no idea what tomorrow will bring, but God does. God knows. This is how Paul thought and lived. Here is Acts 18:21: 

“But on taking leave of them he said, “I will return to you if God wills,” and he set sail from Ephesus.” (Acts 18:21 ESV)

Or 1 Corinthians 4:19

“But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power.” (1 Corinthians 4:19a ESV)

The one is living in presumption. The other is living under providence. Now, here I am the question you might be asking. For James, is this a matter of just speech? Are we supposed to go around and always say “if the Lord will.” 

You sit down at the dinner table, but forgot to grab the rolls. Do you need to say, “Alright I'm  going to get up and get the dinner rolls on the counter, and come back and sit down if the Lord will.” Or should Table Rock during our welcome, say, “Hey, we're  going to have some snacks downstairs if the Lord wills.” Are we disobedient if we're missing this statement “if the Lord wills” in all of our future talk?

I don't think it comes down to this catchphrase that James wants us to insert at every moment we can. But before we go further, I will say I do think it's totally fine and helpful to get that phrase in your vocab. Sometimes what you say reminds your heart (and others) about what is true.

I was just talking to a business owner who said that using this phrase “Lord willing, or if the Lord wills” was probably more important than you think in setting a right tone. I do think James is more concerned with the heart than with how often you put In this catchphrase in your speech, so let me show you why. Take a look at verses 16–17 as we move to our final point: the prognosis is pride.

“As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” (James 4:16–17 ESV)

That first person in verse 14 who is so confident in what tomorrow will bring, they're boasting in their arrogance. Then you see in verse 17 that a person who fails to do the right thing is sinning. If you fail, for example, to acknowledge that God is sovereign, that he has changed “your plan,” but you are so stubborn and refuse to follow the Lord in the changed plan, you sin. 

Notice how James just jumped to language of sin and heart issues. In other words, James understands that the way you're speaking is revealing what is in your heart. 

So what does pride with arrogance mean in this? I think James is trying to get us to see there is pride in the man or woman who stands with 100% confidence on what's coming tomorrow. They have pride in who they are, and they have lost sight of God's providence. 

In fact, it seems that James is saying they are living as if there is no God. They are saying there is no God who controls these things because I know exactly what is going to happen. I control my future, what I want to do happens. 

I heard a pastor say this week that pride and unbelief and arrogance can be revealed by the person saying, “There is no God, or I’m driving to Atlanta for Christmas.” Here's how Psalm 10:4 puts it:

“In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, “There is no God.”” (Psalm 10:4 ESV)

They don't seek God. They're not concerned with what God thinks. They're not concerned with what a sovereign God would have them do, or what is going to happen. All his thoughts are there is no God, so he plans his year with confidence. They think they're in control. 

The opposite is true about those who are trusting God. What does that look like? The person who is trusting God's providence looks far different than verse 14—at least at the heart level. They look like the person who says, “Tomorrow, I don't know what's going to come. I got plans. I think I know what's  going to happen, but God is in control.” They make plans, but they hold them loosely, knowing God can do whatever he wants. They're the person who prays and plans and then ends their prayers like this from Matthew 6:10:

“Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10 ESV)

They make their plans but they have no idea if that is going to come to fruition because it's up to God. They then pray that far better than their plans would be for God’s will to be done on earth. 

Here's how I want to help us, maybe dig into this. It might be easy to think, “Oh, I hold my plans loosely. There isn’t much for me here.” Well, if that’s you, I want you to think about how you react to what happens in your life. The reason being, I think that pretty closely reveals how we feel about our plans versus God's providence. A few weeks ago, I quoted a pastor who said, it's easy to seem like a Christian but it’s hard to react like one.

Here's what I mean. You're serving dinner and you set the plate on the table, but you get too close to the edge and it falls off. All the food is on the floor. How do you feel about your plans being broken to pieces? Are you chill as you remember that the Lord is doing what he wills even if you planned to eat that food on the plate? Or are you frustrated that “your” day was ruined. 

How do you feel, when a drought comes? When the stock market crashes? When an epidemic breaks out? Does anxiety flood you? Does anxiety come because it has so destroyed what you thought was  going to happen. Compare that to the person who whenever things come, whatever it may be, they're so confident in who God is that they have perfect peace. 

They live out the truth that whatever comes tomorrow, it will be God's will. They're so confident that whatever hits them, they are at peace. And this is what struck me this week. I came before the Lord asking for him to help me grow here — to help me grow in grasping his sovereignty over everything. That no matter what I plan for tomorrow, whatever happens, God is in control, and it means that he’s doing good for me and my soul. Then I can tackle it with the fruit of the spirit — with the fruit of peace.

I pictured it like this. I was talking to my wife about how we can both get riled up and stressed about stuff. I said to her, I think we need a godly surfer mentality. This was a helpful image from me because when I was in seminary my wife and I took a trip to Costa Rica with our small group. The trip was to a surfing town called Jaco. 

Remember that my wife and I spent three and a half years in Nicaragua. In that culture, especially if you're a Christian, you wear pants whenever you leave your house. Yeah, it’s hot all the time, but Christian men don’t wear shorts. Naturally, then I prepped our team for this. I had them all pack a bunch of pants to wear. I was way wrong because Jaco is a surfing town. Literally everyone was wearing shorts and flip flops. I remember going down to Jaco and you just met surfer bros and gals, and even the speech was so foreign to me— Gnarly, hang ten, all this stuff. And they were just so chill. 

I just want to ask you when things happen to you in life, trials and hardships, because this is the first part of a longer section in James about suffering. So when hard things come you are like a godly surfer: “Like it's alright, bro. God knows. He's in control. Yeah, I wasn't planning on that. That's fine. It's chill.” Or are you a bit more like me? Who's like, what is going on? I'm so nervous. I'm so scared. Because for some reason, and here's the kicker, I had found security, that I could control things — that I could predict things.

When it went my way, it was right. And I'd forgotten. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. No. God is in control. Feel free to take or leave the surfing analogy. I am just trying to help us see how much James wants God’s sovereignty to inform how we plan, how we respond, how we live. 

James is reminding his readers, you don't have infinite knowledge. Back to my week, I had no idea what was coming. I didn’t know the day and time the baby was going to come. I didn’t know my boys were going to get sick. I didn’t know we're  going to see a house put in an offer, and get it accepted. I had no idea. And I have no idea if the housing market is going to crash tomorrow or if it will skyrocket. No idea. 

James wants you to know, you don't have infinite knowledge. So don't go boasting like you know what's  going to happen. There's a far better thing. You have a God, who does have infinite knowledge. And you can now get this. He loves you. And He cares for you. And so whatever comes tomorrow, it's good news. 

Now, if you came into this room today and you have not yet accepted Jesus as your savior, I want to talk to you for a minute. I hope you can see that no matter how much you think you know, you really have no idea what is going to happen in the next minute. You are not in control. But there is actually something far better than you being in control. It’s a sovereign, all powerful God who loves you to be in control. And God holds out a promise to you, if you would come to him and trust in his Son, he will welcome you into his family as he forgives you of your sin. And that comes with a promise. That promise is that no matter what happens tomorrow, you can rest assured that you have eternity with God promised to you. 

To those of you who did come in trusting the Lord, I want to close by pointing you to a Proverb. I want to try and point you to a practical way to remember that God is sovereign, so plan accordingly. 

Here’s what I want to challenge you to do this week. Or at least to do some version of this. Write down what you think you're going to do this week. Actually write it down. Then write over the top, “If the Lord will.” Then take a minute, whether you do that literally or not, fine. But then pray to this proverb. 

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight paths.” (Proverbs 3:5–6 ESV)

You can change it to a prayer by adding me statements. This would be my encouragement: “Lord, help me to trust you with all my heart to not lean on my own understanding with my plants. I'm wanting, right now, to acknowledge you in all my ways, and everything I'm doing. I am trusting and knowing you will make my paths straight, even if I feel like they're crooked.” Try that this week and see what happens.