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Good morning. You got a Bible? Open up the book of James. We’re in chapter four together. We’re going to pick up in verse 13. We are studying through the book of James on the series called Be Bold. James is really all about maturity in Christ, standing for your faith, being bold, and walking for the Lord in this world. He he wrote his book to the Jewish Christians. Those that were Jews that came to know Jesus put their faith in Christ. He refers to that in the opening chapters as the diaspora. The Book of James is commonly referred to as the Book of Proverbs for the New Testament, sometimes because James quotes the Proverbs, but mainly because James uses these the the Book of James to make emphatic statements on the Christian life. This is what it looks like to follow Christ. So in your life, examine. Determine if if you’re growing in maturity, in your walk with the Lord. And and together we’ve we’ve studied several topics that James has. James has discussed when he when he talks about the maturity of the believer. If anyone should know what it means to walk with Christ in maturity with him, I think James’s life gives testimony to us of of an individual who really stood for the truth that was in Christ, to the point that he even lost his life. James was a martyr for the Lord. One of the things you’ll never know when you read about the Book of James is that while James refers to himself as a bond servant, a willing slave of Christ, he never refers to himself as also the half brother of Jesus.
James was a skeptic during the life of Christ, so much so that at the end of Jesus’s life, he encourages Christ to to go and make his ministry known in Jerusalem, because James and along with his other siblings couldn’t couldn’t stand being around Jesus and knew that ultimately and sending him to Jerusalem, it would it would bring about some some heartache for Christ, maybe even encourage him to stop doing what he was doing a couple of times within the Bible, it tells us that his family goes, goes and looks for Jesus to to stop him from his ministry because they had considered him mad. James. The. The Bible tells us by the time of Jesus’s crucifixion and resurrection. In acts chapter one, you read that James and the family of Jesus is in the upper room with the saints praying as the coming of the Holy Spirit takes place at the resurrection of Christ. We know that Jesus’s family had definitely put their faith in him as as Lord and Savior. James becomes the leader of the early church and gives his life for following after Christ, and he writes to the Jewish Christians of the time. This is the first book of the New Testament recorded for us, and he writes for them how to stand and grow in maturity in Christ.
He talks about trials and temptations that we’ll all go through. He shares the need to love widows and orphans, knowing that they they may not be able to give anything in return, but out of love for Christ. We love them just as Jesus loved us, not expecting anything in return. The Bible tells us that in our sin that God demonstrates his love towards us in Romans five eight. James goes on and says in chapter two, the way that you treat the wealthy and the poor, if you differentiate between those two, you aren’t bearing the maturity of Christ, because God has created all of us in his image. And to the end of chapter two, he tells us faith without works is dead. Meaning, if if Jesus comes to your life, what Jesus brings in your life is a heart change. And as Jesus transforms your heart, Jesus transforms your life. And the indication that we have on the external part of the life and of individual, of whether or not they put their faith in Jesus as if their life demonstrates one that displays Christ in their living. Meaning if we don’t see Jesus on the outside as Jesus really made the transformation on the inside. James then goes on and talks about the maturity of the believer. From there he he shares about the tongue and he talks some about your prayer life as a way of examining how we are growing in him.
Greg Laurie says this as it regards with maturity. It says those that think about the next life do the most in this life. We saw last week there’s a battle that takes place in the life of the believer. There’s this old nature and new nature making war with one another. And what God desires for us is to follow him in the spirit, rather than living for the world in the flesh. And it’s when our identity is shaped in Christ, and our longing belongs to him that we look towards living for him, as James refers to himself as bond, servant, willing, slave. So we become one for God’s glory as well. And those I think most of the next life make much of this life. As James continues the discussion on the maturity of the believer, he then talks about for us at the end of chapter four, this idea of planning all of us in our lives are in different places and positions when it comes to our relationship with God. All of us make plans for life, for things that are important and impactful in the course of the life that we live. You plan around the areas of your life that you would consider big when it comes to where you might receive your education, or college or career, or retiring, or child rearing or buying things, or moving up the corporate ladder, or just moving in general, doing things for your future, all of your hopes and dreams.
You make plans according to those things because they are important. But what James Marks in chapter four is to examine within our lives is is there maturity displayed in our walk with God as we make those plans in light of who he is? As James talks about the planning of a believer and the maturity of a believer, he identifies his illustration with the life of one who has a career. Many times. For those of us who establish careers in this world, we dictate our value and purpose and meaning off of that career. And so in light of that, we live for the career itself. When James gets to James chapter four and and verse 14, this is what he says to us. And starting in verse 13, now listen, you who say, today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money y y y. You do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes as it is. You boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. If anyone then knows the good they ought to do and does not do it, it is sin for them. This type of individual that James describes is maybe one by worldly standards that we would say is an individual that leads a good life.
I mean, you think of the planning that’s taking place in verse 13 and 14. This is this is a guy that’s got his head on straight. At least he’s thinking about providing, right. And maybe as a society, we would look at him and say, you know, this guy’s got got a good life because he’s successful, he’s got a career, he’s got a steady income, he’s got his his needs met. And then James says no. This guy’s doing, but he’s forgot the very reason as to why things are getting done in his life. He’s doing without purpose. James point to us in verse 14, is this a career? Is is not a get a better guarantee of a better tomorrow, a career. Let me say that again, is not a guarantee of a better tomorrow. Maybe an abrupt way he would say it like this to us. What? What are you doing? Planning careers without God? Maybe he would stop and say, this is the examination point for us as believers. Here’s here’s how you know if God is in control, as if you let him have control. There’s no distinction in our life between that which is secular and that which is sacred. It’s all sacred because it’s all created by God. And just as we give God Sunday, so God is to have Monday through Friday in your 9 to 5. The maturity of a believer is marked this way. That even outside of church on Sunday, when it comes to planning the course of your life, you always pause for for an intervention with God.
Saying, God, as I make these plans, are you in control? Lord, is this what you desire? Yes, we can look at this verse and say, at least this man is providing for his family. But the idea of James chapter four is this that we keep Christ at the center of everything that we do. Do you know it’s possible within our lives to live good, but not live godly. And the Life of James chapter four. This individual that James is describing as a man who lives good but not godly. When you get to chapter five, James goes a step further and he explains to us what it looks like as a as an individual. And a career moves further and further away from God. Because when God doesn’t have control, the one who sets up on the throne as me. And then when I plan my life, I plan my life according to my own desires, not for the purpose of which God has created me. Goodness isn’t godliness. A couple of weeks ago. We talked about the use of of the tongue. And we we distinguish the difference between when we use the tongue for good and for bad meaning this that James, when he when he talks about using the tongue, he he warns us against using it for negative ways that God didn’t create it for.
But just because you don’t say bad things doesn’t mean you’re using your tongue for godly reasons. Religions. Leniency is to tend to say this to us. It’s, it’s it’s about avoiding the bad things. That’s what makes you a good person. And Christianity tends to say this to us. It’s about pursuing Jesus. That’s what makes you a godly person. It’s not about how good you were, it not doing the bad things, but how much you give Christ control in all things. And so he comes to chapter 14 or excuse me, chapter four and verse 14, and he says, this is this is the real indicator for us as, as maturity is, is coming upon us as believers, and we’re giving into the growth that we have in Christ, is that you’re allowing God to have control in all things. Psalms verse nine, chapter 90 and verse 12 says this God teach us to number our days. I love the way that James says it in verse 17. If anyone then knows the good they ought to do and does not do it, it is sin for them. You know, in the Bible there are two distinctions of sin that’s discussed for us. There’s one called the sin of commission and another called the sin of omission, sins that we commit and sins that we omit. And what it means is this sometimes we deliberately disobey God. We commit sins against God. But then there’s other times we just ignore it.
In verse 17. This is this is what James is saying to the believers here. It’s not it’s not that you’re doing bad things, but that you’re just omitting God from your plans. And that course of action still leads to the same place. It’s a life without glorifying God and living with him in relationship. It’s as if you get to passages in the Bible that say the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness. And so you start living love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness. But you, you forgot that it’s the spirit that gives the fruit, not your goodness. It’s the difference between goodness and godliness, is that godliness has the willingness to lay itself down before Christ, that Christ may move and work within you. Goodness works on its own power to prove its own worth. James is looking at this individual in chapter four and verse 17, and he remarks that as an individual that’s doing it all on his own power apart from God. You know, the scary thing is for us as believers, that as we look and examine the individual in his life, in that circumstance, we could say without knowing the details, that James reveals that he looks like a godly individual. Faith without works is dead. And this guy has works, so he must be all right. And James in this passage is rooting down to the heart and saying to us, it’s possible to have the look without the relationship.
It’s possible to take control of what God desires to have control of in your life. Sin of omission is still sin. It still drives us apart from Christ, and maybe even worse than than that. We fool ourselves into thinking that God is really in control. I mean, these are the type of people that say, you know, God is sovereign, God rules. God has all things. But when it comes to their own life, they’ve never taken the opportunity to practice giving God the authority and position. They’ve learned the christianese words to say about the sovereignty of God, but not demonstrated it within their own lives. And so in verse 17, James says this. It’s a sin of omission. It’s not taking the time to recognize that God is in control. And so James says this in chapter four and verse 15. Now skip that in the passage. But here it is and said, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that. It’s according to his plans. This passage isn’t saying to us, don’t make plans, right? I mean, first Timothy chapter five tells us that if as men, if you don’t provide for your own family, you’re worse than an unbeliever. I mean, God’s desire for you is to sweat by your brow, to be a provider. He created you for that reason. And so we should strive to do so.
And so James isn’t saying this passage don’t make plans, but rather what he’s saying is, as you make plans, hold your hand open before the Lord. Let him control and guide. Make the plans. But if God redirects, just know and walk with Jesus enough to see where he’s directing your life. Make open plans before the Lord that he may have control. We do it in verse 15 as it says, according to his will, and this is how we do it. We we recognize that there is no guarantee of a better tomorrow, that our career does not ultimately control the future. But God does. And every day is a gift of his grace. We don’t live our lives as if we control what tomorrow holds. God’s willed us. Confused on God’s will. Let me let me just read some of these thoughts from scriptures that relates to God’s will. So we gather an understanding for what God desires. In second Corinthians eight five it says this. It is God’s will that you yield yourself to him. First Thessalonians four three. It’s God’s will that you avoid immorality. First Thessalonians 516 to 18. All Christians should rejoice and pray and be thankful before the Lord in Colossians one nine, filled that we be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. In Ephesians 517, God wants us to understand his will in Romans 12 two, that we would prove the will of God.
And the Greek text. The word prove means to prove by experience. As you examine the word will as it relates to God within Scripture. What we discover in reading about his will, we find that everything related to God’s will deals with us relationally, relating to him. God created you that you may know him and enjoy him for all of eternity. The purpose of life is all about relationship, which is why when Jesus came, he said, love the Lord your God with all your heart is the greatest commandment. And when God created you in Genesis, he breathed into you His Spirit, that you as a created being might be able to communicate with your creator. Life is all about relationship with him and understanding God. Whatever it takes that I may come to know you and grow in you and enjoy that relationship with you, that is what it’s all about. So when we read James four and five instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that. What James is describing is the life of an individual who walks in relationship with God, and in and enough understanding to see how God directs his life, and this is the result of his will. You enjoy deeper fellowship with Christ. You have the privilege of knowing God’s truth. You’re seeing your prayers answered. First John 514. There’s an eternal quality to the life and the works of the one who does the will of God.
And when Jesus returns in Matthew 25, you have the opportunity to hear, well done, thou good and faithful servant. When you talk about God’s will. I think for some of us, we don’t delight in the understanding that we even have the privilege of doing so. Meaning, sometimes when we say God’s will, we look at it with a sour face, wondering what in the world God is going to place upon you and expectations. But when the Bible describes God’s will, Jesus says things like this in John 17 that my joy may be in you, and your joy may be made full. The very purpose for which you are created is discovered as you rest in the will of God. It’s not that you look at God’s will and you’re afraid of what God might call you to do, but you understand that the safest place that you could live your life is at the center of God’s will. We measure the success of individuals by their plans, and we look at a person like this and we say, you know, he’s exactly what I want to be. He’s got money he’s provided. He he has things taken care of. He has the house, he’s got the car, he’s got the boat, he’s got everything. But what he doesn’t have is the most important thing. And that is a walk with God. I mean, if we just separate the distinction this morning, I would say to you, would you rather have all material things in this world or joy resting within your heart? Would you rather experience the turmoil of the upkeep of those things, or peace that comes through resting in Christ? Would you rather have a family that understands what it means to walk in wisdom and love and joy, or one that just treats the material things of this world as created for their own personal pleasure apart from God.
Because when you live that life separate from him. That’s what you build. The maturity of a believer understands the importance of putting Jesus at the center of all things. Everything we do is sacred and identification to who we are in light of who Christ is. Can I tell you, I think one of the indicators of where this gets misconstrued for the life of the individual that James describes in chapter four? I think it all happens right here in verse 14. This is coming out of the NIV translation. I want you to know, as I get ready to read this verse to you, there’s two translations of the Bible that I think get it more accurately in this. One is the ESV and the other is the NIV. The punctuation of the Greek text doesn’t come across well in the NASB. The new American standard. But but what happens here is there’s there’s in the Greek text, there’s a question that gets posed. And I think that that this question that’s posed within this verse is where this individual misses the entire point, that when we can define this question right, it gives purpose and meaning to life.
And so he says this why you do not even why you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a while and then vanishes, maybe to get life on track. The. The very definition of our identity helps us to live for its purpose. What is your life? If we were to ask the individual in James chapter four, I wonder how he would answer. My life is my career. So that way when I retire, I completely lose my identity and I go for a tailspin and have to buy a Harley because I don’t know what I’m doing right now. By Harley, if you can afford it. But not not because you’re in a midlife crisis or. And if your wife allows that. Guess my mind. I’m still working on where is she? What is your life? What gives you identity and meaning? And why did God even make you? I mean, did God create you really just to do things? Is that why he made you? I mean, I just look at God and I think today, if God really made you to do things, wouldn’t it be better if God just did it himself? Anything I can do, he can do far better. Is that why God made you to take your identity and what you do or do God make you to take your identity and what other people say that you are? No.
Do you know within our society today? The thing that we miss completely in American culture, we we don’t define this. I mean, where do you teach this? In school. Who are you? I don’t know, I just show up in school and I just do my work, right? I mean, what’s your identity? I don’t know, listen to television programs and the advertising that exists, right. That’ll tell you. Watch some love story. You get all your kicks off that that’ll that’ll define your identity. You need someone. Well. Who are you? In light of who God is, who are you? I think within the practice of our life, if we can keep this question at the forefront of our identity and answer it in light of who Christ is, then we live life for the purpose that he intended. Who are we and what is your life? When you make your plans, when you understand that you’re created for relationship, that God created you for his purposes. When we we desire and plan our world, we do so with open hands that knowing that whatever God desires is far greater than my own desires. And so whatever God needs to do to transition my plans, I live my life with open hands. I didn’t plan that to rhyme, but it did.
Living in light of who Christ is. Just so happens that when we live in light of who Christ is, the way that we do that is we demonstrate it in our living. Faith without works is dead. So in all that we do, we live to glorify God. Internally, we understand it’s about relationship. As God transforms us, it manifests itself externally in the way that we demonstrate. Our love for God is seen through the way that we love one another. God created careers so that we could be a blessing to the world. In Genesis, when God made man and woman, he said, be fruitful and multiply, meaning go, serve, demonstrate my glory in this world, bear my image, show evidence of the transformation that I bring on you. Don’t just give me lip service, but give me life service. As Christ affecting your head, heart and hands. When you see Jesus as he lives his life in this world. He was one who demonstrated a life that loved those that were in need. Matter of fact, in the Old Testament, when you read it, shares with us in in the Old Testament our heart of God. Listen to this, this law. In Leviticus 23 he told the nation of Israel, when you weep, when you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner residing among you.
I am the Lord your God. Meaning, meaning, take care of your fields. But but when you get to the edges, just stop for those in need. And Leviticus 1910, it says this do not give over your vineyard a second time, or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner. I am the Lord your God. So not only not only do you do the edge of your land, but you also only go across your land one time and whatever’s remaining, you help those in need. In Psalm 22 it says this the poor will eat and be satisfied. Those who seek the Lord will praise him. May your hearts live forever. Jesus on the sermon on the Mount. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And Jesus answered and said this in Matthew 19 two, if you want to be perfect, go sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me. Jesus, in that passage is talking to the rich young ruler who lived his life for his wealth and found his identity in his wealth. And so Jesus is solution to him is get rid of your wealth and reshape your identity in me. What do you live for? Maybe the warning is you jump into James chapter five is this living life without God is not good, even though a life without God may look good.
James then begins to share what a godless life looks like as it lives apart from God. He says in James chapter five and verse four, behold the pay of the laborers who mowed your field and which has been withheld by you, cries out against you. And the outcry of those who did. The harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord our Sabbath. You have condemned and put to death the righteous man. He does not resist you. Meaning when the godless continued to grow in their godlessness, that they began to use their wealth to serve their purposes rather than God. And in verse four, ultimately, what James comes to a head to is describing an individual who lives his life now completely of any moral inclinations. And he’s because he’s divorced his thought of God leading. And so in verse seven he says this. He’s treating people as if they are his slaves for no payment. And in verse six he says this. He manipulates the courts for his purpose, that people can’t receive justice. In verse three, let me back up. It says, your gold and your silver have rusted, and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasures. Behold the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields and which has been withheld by you, cries out against you, and the outcry of those who did.
The harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabbath. You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. The individual lives his life for godless spending, as if the wealth that he has received is for his own purpose. But the Bible tells us in Second Corinthians that we are stewards accountable to him. Excuse me. It’s it’s first Corinthians four. It says, moreover, is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. The way that the Bible describes me and the resources that God gives to me is that I don’t really own anything in this world, that I’m simply a steward of everything I possess. Meaning God holds me accountable with what I do with what he has given me. I am a steward. Godless spending results in this. They stored up wealth for themselves and it all ended with them losing it. The they kept it from benefiting others. And in verse five, they they lived in luxury. The word luxury here illustrates just waste. They had their needs met. Then they went well beyond their needs and they just wasted it all, not thinking of the benefit of other people. The last is this it produces godly results or godless results. Excuse me. Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth eaten. Your gold and your silver have rusted, and the rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire.
You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure. You have fat in your hearts. In a day of slaughter the riches vanish. Verse three like a fire, their character erodes and James warns. At the end of James five and verse five that judgment is certain. Follow the path of a good life. That’s a godless life. And when you make yourself your own king, the results can go as James five says. A good life isn’t a godly life, but a godly life produces goodness not just for yourself, but throughout the world. The warning may be in James four. Is this. Be careful in the way that you measure success and our society today. We are good at elevating the success of everything apart from what God would call successful. You think of the way that we educate children today in society. You get get really intelligent, or you work well with with your hands or you play sports. And that’s what life is about. And little education, the way of character and wisdom. I don’t know, the last time I went into school and and I saw a character class. The identity of how God has made us in that we think. Think about love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and gentleness. The fruit of the spirit produces that in our lives, in our hearts and our minds.
That’s God’s desire and God’s will for us. But little do we measure success that way. Be careful not to measure success in the way of the world. In Proverbs 19 and 17 it says this he that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord, and that which he hath given will he pay him again. Your career doesn’t determine your success. Let me get to the end. I’m going to share this passage with you. Just a story that Jesus gave Matthew chapter 26. Let me just say this the solution to a life that lives good but not godly isn’t give your money away, okay? I’m not going to stand here and then say, okay, now to make everything right, let’s bring the offering plate back out and everybody give everything that is not the solution. All that does is produce goodness again with no godliness. I think the solution Jesus gave to us in Matthew chapter 26, when he has his disciples gathered together with Mary, and he’s being anointed in this passage of Scripture, and it says this to us, it says, now when Jesus was in Bethany at the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster vial of very costly perfume, and she poured it on his head as he reclined at the table. But the disciples were indignant when they saw this and said, why this waste? For this perfume might have been sold for a high price and the money given to the poor.
But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, why do you bother the woman? For as she has done a good deed to me, for you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me. For when she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be spoken of in memory of her. I think the solution to James Ford is in Matthew 26. I mean, we answer the question that verse 14 talks about, but Jesus also answers that question here in chapter 26. You look at this passage of Scripture and you say, okay, I get that. I give my heart to to Jesus, as this lady did. But Jesus isn’t physically here and I’m out of perfume, right? And what am I going to do? The solution to a life that lives good but not godly, or lives life without godly planning isn’t just to then give everything over. The solution is this give your heart to Christ. Give your life to Christ. See his infinite worth before you and allow him to control your plans. You look at this passage of Scripture and say, well, how are we going to do this? Because we can’t do it like this lady did. And my answer is this we don’t physically love Jesus like this lady did in the passage of Scripture, but we love Jesus through the way that we choose to love others.
And Jesus said this, what you’ve done to the least of these, you’ve done into what? Me? And Jesus says, love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. Well, Jesus isn’t physically here for me to do that, but one of the ways that I demonstrate my love for Christ is the way that I display my love for him towards each other. In order to give Jesus control. It’s about surrendering myself to him and allowing the glory of God to be displayed in my life in all things. There is nothing secular in this world, but all of it is sacred and light of God. He’s created it for his glory and purpose. He’s designed you in his image that you might display it, and his desire is that you would demonstrate it in this world by seeking him relationally and living for him in his glory, in the way that you choose to live in relationships in this world. Display his goodness. Do your plans belong to God? It isn’t good living, but godly living. Are they open handed? Do you know his will? Every day is a gift of his grace. Every thing is sacred. Sins of omission are still sins. And let your worship of Christ steer in all that you do. May we pursue Jesus in all things.