Study of James
Lesson # 15
The Sin Of Presuming Upon The Future
Introduction
Man has always wanted to be the master of his own destiny. Even the basic documents outlining our freedoms as Americans speak of the rights we have to pursue our own goals & ambitions freely. However, man must always remember that he is not in control of his life; in fact so much of his life is beyond his control. As much as we try to predict the future, we are left with the reality that we have no knowledge of what the future might bring.
1. The sin of self-sufficiency
a. It’s a terrible sin in God’s eyes for several reasons
1) Man is so frail – subject to disease & accidents at the snap of the finger
2) Man is nothing more than a spec before the all knowing & all powerful
God who created us.
b. This is that basis of the philosophy of humanism – we control our destiny
c. Self-sufficiency is planning without God.
1) There is nothing wrong with making plans. We should plan and prepare
for the future.
a) Scripture is very clear about this: we are not to be slothful in
business or in any endeavor (Romans 12:11).
b) Believers are to plan and think about their ventures and behavior
before they act.
2) Planning before we act is not what this Scripture is talking about; it is
warning us not to plan without God.
3) Most people just feel little need for God. They feel that their destiny
lies in their hands; that they control their future.
4) Man feels self-sufficient, perfectly capable of handling his own life and
work.
a) Therefore, he lives and works with little meaningful trust being
placed in God. Man just does not acknowledge much if any
need for God.
b) Note James 4:13: it pictures man’s attitude rather descriptively.
Man feels so self-sufficient that...
he plans the day of his departure: today or tomorrow.
he plans to seek his future in a particular city.
he even plans how long he will seek success in his efforts:
one year.
he plans the details of his endeavor and work: he plans to
buy and sell.
he plans and projects his costs and profits, the very gain he
can expect at the end of the year.
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d. Note the great error of self-sufficiency, of planning without God.
1) How can a person ever be sure...
·that he will ever reach the city or place of his plans?
·that he will not have an accident or be stricken with some disease?
·that something will not cut into his plans?
·that he will be able to continue in his chosen city or place?
·that people will recognize and support and patronize his work and efforts?
·that the economy and money and business will hold and continue to be successful?
2) A thousand possibilities exist; a thousand things can happen to our
plans. Utter disruption of our future is no farther away than a split
second in an automobile accident or within a doctor’s routine
examination. The future of every person on earth is at most a small
boat on the stormy and uncertain sea of life.
2. Background of the text
a. The Jews were great traders of the ancient world.
1) The dispersion of the Jews gave them connections all over the world &
tremendous opportunities for business.
2) This was an age of the founding of cities.
a) Often the founders of those cities looked for people to occupy
them.
b) Favored citizens were given citizenship freely.
c) Because where the Jews went, money & trade went with them,
they were often given such status.
b. James pictures a man looking at a map – pointing to a certain spot & saying
1) Here is a new city & a great trading opportunity
2) I’ll go there & get in on the ground floor – trade a year or so & make
my fortune.
c. No man has such a right to make confident plans about the future
1) He doesn’t even know what today might bring much less a year
2) Man may purpose, but what happens is ultimately in the hands of God
3. Other scriptures
a. Prov.27:1 – don’t boast of tomorrow
b. Mt.6:19,20 – futility of laying up treasure on earth
c. Lk.12:13-21 – rich fool
4. Life is so uncertain
a. We are so limited – no knowledge of or control over the future
b. Our lives at most are brief when compared with eternity
c. Life’s uncertainty should not be a cause for fear or for inactivity – instead it is a
reason for complete dependence upon God
d. God does not want us terrorized or paralyzed by life’s uncertainty
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d. Paul’s attitude
1) 1 Cor.4:19 – come shortly if the Lord wills
2) 1 Cor.16:7 – will tarry with you if Lord wills
3) A curious thing is that there was no such phrase as “if the Lord wills”
used among the Jews
5. The person who plans for the future without God is guilty of arrogant boasting
a. Word describes the character of a wandering quack – offering cures that are
not cures & boasting of things he is unable to do.
b. James ends with a threat – know wrong & continue do so = sin
1) You have been warned – such arrogance is sin
2) The future is not in your hands – God controls it
c. Consequences of presuming upon the future
1) Worry, Anxiousness, Fear
2) Tendency to build life around things – greed
6. Discuss Lk.12:13-21
a. Man asks Jesus to settle a dispute between him & his brother
1) Law gave 2/3 to the older & 1/3 to younger
2) He felt that he didn’t get his legal share
3) Mans focus was the world – Jesus’ was spiritual
b. Life does not consist in things
1) Beware of covetousness – desiring more & more
2) The covetous man was aggressively self centered – I = 6X; my = 5X
c. See the man
1) Tremendously blessed but unthankful
2) Called the fruit of the ground his possessions
3) Even called his soul his – not given to God
4) Extremely puffed up thinking bigger & bigger
5) His sole purpose to be at ease
d. See Deut.8:11-14
e. Wealth is not a permanent possession – someone else gets it
1) Man left every penny behind – 1 Tim.6:7
2) We take with us only what we lay up in heaven – 1 Tim.6:17-19