He was an unkept gangly kid with long waist-length dirty black hair, dirty clothes, and a guitar slung over his shoulder...
Life Is A Vapor
Let’s pray- “Lord, we are here to be taught by you, and ask that the Holy Spirit give us His instruction and understanding now that we have spent some time worshiping you; continue to water our hearts with the precious Living Water. Jesus, you said, in John 14:26, "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.” We look to you now for this function of the Spirit, in Jesus' Name.
James 4: 13-17 Life is a Vapor
I’ve told two stories in the past: One about a demon-possessed man in his mid-20’s who followed me to my workplace, and one about a young teenage boy who came to visit me there. The way my encounter ended with each story sounds the same because the end result was similar. Today I’ll tell you about the teenage boy as it pertains to our lesson.
I worked for Fox Photo in a kiosk very similar to what you see up here. The store was strategically placed in a parking lot where people could conveniently drive up and drop off their film for developing; then later, pick up the pictures. How many of you remember these or a Fotomat?
It was my second job and a welcome change from the Sub Sandwich/Donut Shop previously (about 50 yards from the kiosk) and was a perfect job for me then; being a self-motivated individual this allowed greater opportunity to share Christ uninterrupted during a lull and privacy to read and pray in the spare time. This little store was awarded #1 in our district because we worked hard, kept up with our customers, kept it clean, and we're very good at customer service. I say,” we”, as it took two girls to work it. One morning girl (myself) and one afternoon girl, (my sister-in-law, Kathy) usually. We both loved being a light for Christ. At my shift, I loved bringing a Bible and devotions, so in my spare time, I could read and pray in this mini sanctuary.
I valued time with anyone who stayed a while, most often using it to share Christ face to face, one on one until other customers came. In the afternoon, kids walked by going home from school, and one kid, in particular, liked to come by, hang out a while and talk. He was an unkept gangly 13ish kid with long waist-length dirty black hair, dirty clothes, and a guitar slung over his shoulder. He looked homeless, but he wasn’t. This boy, (Eddie was his name), was often high and notably without real purpose, so my concern for him was great.
At some point, he asked me not to talk to him anymore about Jesus, so I reluctantly agreed. Time passed, and on occasion, he’d stop to say hello. But after months passed, I became extremely concerned for his salvation; so much so I quietly cried out to the Lord for him.
Then one day he came strolling by and stopped to say hello as he had done before; His eyes were floating like he was high, again. The weight in my heart now was very strong, so unbearable that I told him I was very burdened for his soul; knowing that he could leave our conversation and maybe die that day. I told him I remembered I had agreed not to mention Jesus anymore, but I felt such an urgency to bring Jesus up again. I asked if he even knew where he was going if he should die? He listened. I asked him, “If Jesus came and stood right next to you, looked you right in the eyes with His amazing love, and asked if you’d go with him, would you go?” Much to my surprise, he said, “Yes.” Shocked but pleased, I asked him to pray with me, and he agreed. Taking his hands, I prayed with him. After leading him in the sinner's prayer, he lifted his eyes to look at me, no longer foggy or floating, but clear, bright, and sound, much like the eyes of another young man who had a God encounter I’ll share another time, Lord willing. Eddie smiled, "I feel different!" he said touching his chest. We both smiled, and I told him, " The Bible says when one person comes to the Lord, the angels in heaven rejoice!" He liked that. Shortly he left, but I was still rejoicing! That experience made my day!
I later learned the next day from one of his friends that after he had been at the Fox Photo kiosk, he had hopped on a motorcycle with a friend for a ride and was killed instantly in a collision! Now the whole burden and sense of urgency made perfect sense. I was sad he was gone but so relieved that he finally received Jesus in the nick of time! I knew where he was now, and I was at peace. We do not know the day tomorrow!
James is right! Our life is a vapor!
(This message is an adaptation, customized for the ladies in our church Bible Study, from Pastor Steven J. Cole @Bible.org. an online message; permission granted to me for its use.)
Now let’s look at our text:
James 4: 13-17
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
13 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.” 14 [a]Yet you do not know [b]what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. 15 [c]Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.” 16 But as it is, you boast in your [d]arrogance; all such boasting is evil. 17 Therefore, to one who knows the [e]right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.
Like a morning mist that soon vanishes, so life is short and uncertain. There are no guarantees about tomorrow, let alone next year or ten years from now. You may be young and healthy this morning, but you easily could be a corpse by sundown tonight. You may be thinking, “That’s morbid! I don’t want to think about such things!” But if you ignore these things, you will not live your life properly in light of eternity. James wants us to know that…
Because life is a vapor, we should humble ourselves before God and obey His will.
James is beginning a new section, but the connecting theme through chapters 4 and 5 is humility. True faith judges pride by humbling oneself before God. In 4:1-12, James hit the need for humility to resolve conflicts and have harmonious relationships. Now he turns to the subject of humility with regard to the future. He is confronting an arrogant spirit that he had observed among the churches. Although these people professed to know Christ, they were living with a worldly attitude that the apostle John calls “the boastful pride of life” (1 John 2:15). They were making plans without taking into account their own mortality and God’s sovereignty. Like the prosperous man in Jesus’ parable, they were saying, “I’ll build bigger barns to store my goods,” and “I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.’” “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’” (Luke 12:19-20).
James makes four points:
1. Life IS A VAPOR.
This means three things:
A. LIFE IS FRAIL.
James writes (4:13-14a), “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.’ Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow.” Or, the text may read, “You do not know what will happen tomorrow.” We don’t even know what will happen ten minutes from now, let alone tomorrow or next year! These Christian businessmen were arrogantly assuming that they would wake up tomorrow, that they would safely get to the city, that their business venture would be successful within a year, and that no one would rob them of their income. They were presuming all of these things about an unknown future that they had no control of and no guarantees about!
As I said, the healthiest young person among us could easily be dead by nightfall. There are so many unexpected ways to die! Remember Eddie.
Again, you may protest that to think about such things is morbid and depressing. I’m not suggesting that you obsess on these things. But if you don’t ever think about them, you will not live in proper dependence upon God. You will proudly make plans and go on about life as if you will be forever young and healthy. James says (4:16) that “all such boasting is evil.”
B. LIFE IS SHORT.
A vapor is short-lived. You see the mist at one moment and a few minutes later it’s gone. You see the steam coming out of your coffee cup and in just a second, it disappears into the air. Life. Is. Just. Like. that.
In Psalm 90, Moses laments the brevity of life. He compares life to the grass of the field that sprouts in the morning and by evening, it has faded under the hot sun. He writes (90:10), “As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, or if due to strength, eighty years, Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow; for soon it is gone, and we fly away.” Even if you live to be a hundred, how quickly life flies by! There is a wisecrack that life is like the roll of toilet paper—the closer you get to the end, the quicker it goes!” You may not care for the analogy, but it’s true!
That’s why Moses prays (90:12), “So teach us to number our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom.” On September I turned 62! Wow! I have approx. 4,500 days or 416 weeks until I’m at my allotted seventy if I even make that. Only God can give the wisdom I need to spend those days profitably in light of eternity.
C. DEATH IS CERTAIN.
George Bernard Shaw astutely observed, “The statistics on death are quite impressive. One out of one people die.” You would think that because death is not just probable but certain, that it could happen at any minute, that each person will stand before God, that every person would be desperate to know how to get right with God. But, strangely, people put it out of their mind and go on with their existence as if they will live forever. They can watch a disaster on TV or the internet one moment, and in the next go one with daily routine as if nothing happened. I think we all are guilty of that from time to time. In fact, we are so saturated and bombarded in this Millenia with worldwide access to news that it’s hard to process it all. You would think that those who are lost, might think about their life eternally and perhaps repent and get right with God.
Now Jesus taught us how to think when we hear about disasters. Some people reported to Him about some Galileans whom Pilate had slaughtered. Jesus responded (Luke 13:2-5), “Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”
When you hear about disasters, whether human-caused or not, if you do not know Christ as your Savior, you must be sure to put an active faith in Christ, because if you do not, you will die in your sin and perish. Not to be ready for something that is 100 percent certain will be really foolish!
2. GOD IS SOVEREIGN.
This means we are not sovereign! The problem was not that these businessmen were making plans for the future. Nor was it a problem that they were capitalists engaging in business to make a profit. Planning is commended to us in Scripture (Luke 14:28-32; Rom. 15:20-28). Financial planning is good stewardship if it is done in dependence on God and with regard to biblical priorities. It is wise to have a will or living trust. It is wise to have some savings to cover possible future expenses or the potential loss of a job. The Bible commends hard work and being rewarded financially for it.
The problem that James hits were, they were planning as if THEY were sovereign and were not bowing before the only Sovereign God. They were arrogantly making plans for their future financial security, but their plans did not include God. Their trust was not IN God, but in their business ventures and in all of the money that they supposed they would make. They were assuming they were in control of their future and presuming everything would go according to their plans. Instead, they needed to acknowledge (4:15), “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.”
James is not giving us a trite formula that we need to tack onto every sentence. Sometimes Paul used the phrase, “if the Lord wills,” when speaking about the future (Acts 18:21; 1 Cor. 4:19; see also, Rom. 1:10; 1 Cor. 16:7; Phil. 2:19, 24), but sometimes he did not (Acts 19:21; Rom. 15:28; 1 Cor. 16:5, 8). But he always depended on the Lord and bowed before His sovereignty with regard to the future. So, James is giving us a mindset that needs to permeate all of life. We need continually to be aware of our finiteness and dependence on God and His sovereign purpose in every aspect of life. Sometimes we should say, “if the Lord wills,” but even if we don’t say it, we should think it.
I’ve often said, “God is God; I am not God!” He is sovereign; I am not sovereign. He controls the future; I do not in any way control the future.
Another example is: while I believe we should carry a modest life insurance policy to protect our spouse if one should die (1 Tim. 5:8 supports this), no amount of life insurance will give us financial security. Saving for the future is wise when we may be too feeble to work (Prov. 6:6-8), but there is simply no such thing in this world as a fiscal guarantee. It is impossible to cover ALL possible eventualities. Our economy may crash. Our country may be overrun by terrorists. Our retirement investments may fail. Trusting in God is the only true source of security for the future.
Note also that James assumes that you should acknowledge God as the sovereign over your life. The idea that church is one sphere, but business is an altogether different area is not biblical. Jesus is Lord of our life, from the boardroom to the bedroom. Your ethics should reflect that you are not in charge of your business or personal affairs; Christ is! You must make all your decisions with a heart that pleases and glorifies Him.
So James states that:
1. Life is a vapor and
2. God is sovereign over every aspect of life.
His words imply the third truth:
3. PRIDE IS A GREAT SIN THAT EASILY PLAGUES US ALL.
Verse 13 reeks with arrogance: “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.” There is a lot of mention of what we will do, but there isn’t any mention of God! In 4:16, James directly confronts the sinful attitude behind the comments of 4:13: “But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.” “Arrogance” (4:16) was originally used to wandering hucksters who were full of empty and boastful claims about their cures and other feats that they could accomplish. It came to apply to any braggart. It is used in 1 John 2:15, “the boastful pride of life.” It refers to the arrogant self-sufficiency of the world apart from God.
We see this attitude in the powerful Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar. While walking on the roof of his royal palace, he said (probably to himself, Dan. 4:30), “Is this not Babylon the great, which I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?” Daniel 4:31-32 continues,
While the word was in the king’s mouth, a voice came from heaven saying, “King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is declared: sovereignty has been removed from you, and you will be driven away from mankind, and your dwelling place will be with the beasts of the field. You will be given grass to eat like cattle, and seven periods of time will pass over you until you recognize that the Highest is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whomever He wishes.”
Napoleon Bonaparte was a military genius, but his pride led to his downfall. He was about to invade Russia, but a friend tried to dissuade him. When it became apparent that Napoleon would not be budged, the friend shared the familiar proverb, “Man proposes, God, disposes.” Napoleon angrily snapped back, “I dispose as well as propose.” A Christian upon hearing this remark said, “I set that down as the turning point of Bonaparte’s fortunes. God will not suffer a creature with impunity to usurp His prerogative.” Sure enough, Napoleon’s invasion of Russia was the beginning of his downfall.
Probably James’ readers, who were professing Christians, were not as crass as Nebuchadnezzar or Napoleon in proclaiming their own greatness. But it is possible for a Christian to fall into practical atheism, where he proudly thinks, “I have decided to do this, and nothing is going to stop me. I’m a man of strong will! I will succeed!” He chuckles at his own resolve and strength of character.
James says that all such boasting is evil. Or, it’s easy for us as Christians to think, “I have succeeded because of my own hard work and smart business sense.” We disdain the poor, thinking, “If they would only work hard as I’ve done, they could succeed, too.” But we’re forgetting Paul’s pointed question to the proud Corinthians (1 Cor. 4:7), “What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?” Everything we have comes from God by His grace. We fall into pride when we do not keep that in mind.
How then should we live in view of the fact that life is a vapor, that God is sovereign, and that we’re so prone to pride?
In Review:
1. Life is a Vapor
2. God is Sovereign
3. Pride is a great sin that easily plagues us all.
4. Humble obedience to God’s revealed will is our only sane course.
At first glance, verse 17 seems somewhat disjointed from the preceding context. It may refer to all that James has said up to this point. But, the word “therefore,” connects it to what James has just said: “Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.” Douglas Moo explains the connection: “He has urged us to take the Lord into consideration in all our planning. We, therefore, have no excuse in this matter; we know what we are to do. To fail now to do it, James wants to make clear, is sin.”
This verse applies to all areas of the Christian life pertaining to what are called “sins of commission”. A focus on sins where we have violated some direct command of God. Perhaps we disrespected our husband, lied, or stolen.
But, we also sin when we fail to do something positive that God has commanded us to do called “sins of omission”. He commands us to love our neighbor as ourselves but we may violate that command when we hate our neighbor or ignore them and live selfishly. In the final judgment, Jesus condemns those who did not help the poor and the needy (Matt. 25:41-44). Their sin was not that they actively abused these people. Rather, they ignored a hurting person while they pursued their own pleasure or personal goals (see also, Luke 10:25-37; 16:19-31).
Obviously, we can’t do everything or there simply wouldn’t be enough hours in the day. Unfortunately, many Christians are not actively pursuing what God has called them to do; they’re not using the spiritual gift He has given out of fear, apathy, or disinterest. But God has given you & I gifts He wants us to use for His glory. To knowingly neglect that is sin.
Ministry is first a mindset and secondarily an activity. We are all ministers. If we come to church to take in and never give out, or just to meet with our friends, we do not have a ministry mindset. We are using the church to meet our needs, with no regard for how God wants to use us. We’re a religious consumer, but we’re not doing what God calls every believer to do. And no matter our age, we can be fruitful one way or another. Whether cleaning the bathroom or praying for the pastors, we all have something to give.
A ministry mindset means that every day you pray, “Lord, here I am, ready to do your will. Give me eyes to see people as Jesus sees them, like sheep without a shepherd (Matt. 9:36-38). Give me a heart of compassion as Jesus has, to love those who are distressed or downcast. Use me today as a worker in Your harvest, for Your sovereign purposes.” And by the way, we begin to serve God in our home!
Now we know that God wants you and me to serve Him (Matt. 6:33). Not to live that way, is sin.
Conclusion
1. Life is a vapor,
2. God is sovereign,
3. Pride is a constant battle,
4. Humble obedience to God’s will is the only sane course…
So let us aim to number our days so as to present to the Lord a heart of wisdom (Ps. 90:12). We know that we ought to do these things. James says that if we don’t do them, to us it is sin.
Let's pray: Father, we understand our life is very short, so short you liken it to a vapor. Help us to ever be mindful of this fact, and make wise choices daily to count them for your glory. In Jesus' name, Amen.
If this article/Bible Study blessed you, please comment. Thank you, Merry
Life Is A Vapor
Let’s pray- “Lord, we are here to be taught by you, and ask that the Holy Spirit give us His instruction and understanding now that we have spent some time worshiping you; continue to water our hearts with the precious Living Water. Jesus, you said, in John 14:26, "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.” We look to you now for this function of the Spirit, in Jesus' Name.
James 4: 13-17 Life is a Vapor
I’ve told two stories in the past: One about a demon-possessed man in his mid-20’s who followed me to my workplace, and one about a young teenage boy who came to visit me there. The way my encounter ended with each story sounds the same because the end result was similar. Today I’ll tell you about the teenage boy as it pertains to our lesson.
I worked for Fox Photo in a kiosk very similar to what you see up here. The store was strategically placed in a parking lot where people could conveniently drive up and drop off their film for developing; then later, pick up the pictures. How many of you remember these or a Fotomat?
It was my second job and a welcome change from the Sub Sandwich/Donut Shop previously (about 50 yards from the kiosk) and was a perfect job for me then; being a self-motivated individual this allowed greater opportunity to share Christ uninterrupted during a lull and privacy to read and pray in the spare time. This little store was awarded #1 in our district because we worked hard, kept up with our customers, kept it clean, and we're very good at customer service. I say,” we”, as it took two girls to work it. One morning girl (myself) and one afternoon girl, (my sister-in-law, Kathy) usually. We both loved being a light for Christ. At my shift, I loved bringing a Bible and devotions, so in my spare time, I could read and pray in this mini sanctuary.
I valued time with anyone who stayed a while, most often using it to share Christ face to face, one on one until other customers came. In the afternoon, kids walked by going home from school, and one kid, in particular, liked to come by, hang out a while and talk. He was an unkept gangly 13ish kid with long waist-length dirty black hair, dirty clothes, and a guitar slung over his shoulder. He looked homeless, but he wasn’t. This boy, (Eddie was his name), was often high and notably without real purpose, so my concern for him was great.
At some point, he asked me not to talk to him anymore about Jesus, so I reluctantly agreed. Time passed, and on occasion, he’d stop to say hello. But after months passed, I became extremely concerned for his salvation; so much so I quietly cried out to the Lord for him.
Then one day he came strolling by and stopped to say hello as he had done before; His eyes were floating like he was high, again. The weight in my heart now was very strong, so unbearable that I told him I was very burdened for his soul; knowing that he could leave our conversation and maybe die that day. I told him I remembered I had agreed not to mention Jesus anymore, but I felt such an urgency to bring Jesus up again. I asked if he even knew where he was going if he should die? He listened. I asked him, “If Jesus came and stood right next to you, looked you right in the eyes with His amazing love, and asked if you’d go with him, would you go?” Much to my surprise, he said, “Yes.” Shocked but pleased, I asked him to pray with me, and he agreed. Taking his hands, I prayed with him. After leading him in the sinner's prayer, he lifted his eyes to look at me, no longer foggy or floating, but clear, bright, and sound, much like the eyes of another young man who had a God encounter I’ll share another time, Lord willing. Eddie smiled, "I feel different!" he said touching his chest. We both smiled, and I told him, " The Bible says when one person comes to the Lord, the angels in heaven rejoice!" He liked that. Shortly he left, but I was still rejoicing! That experience made my day!
I later learned the next day from one of his friends that after he had been at the Fox Photo kiosk, he had hopped on a motorcycle with a friend for a ride and was killed instantly in a collision! Now the whole burden and sense of urgency made perfect sense. I was sad he was gone but so relieved that he finally received Jesus in the nick of time! I knew where he was now, and I was at peace. We do not know the day tomorrow!
James is right! Our life is a vapor!
(This message is an adaptation, customized for the ladies in our church Bible Study, from Pastor Steven J. Cole @Bible.org. an online message; permission granted to me for its use.)
Now let’s look at our text:
James 4: 13-17
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
13 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.” 14 [a]Yet you do not know [b]what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. 15 [c]Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.” 16 But as it is, you boast in your [d]arrogance; all such boasting is evil. 17 Therefore, to one who knows the [e]right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.
Like a morning mist that soon vanishes, so life is short and uncertain. There are no guarantees about tomorrow, let alone next year or ten years from now. You may be young and healthy this morning, but you easily could be a corpse by sundown tonight. You may be thinking, “That’s morbid! I don’t want to think about such things!” But if you ignore these things, you will not live your life properly in light of eternity. James wants us to know that…
Because life is a vapor, we should humble ourselves before God and obey His will.
James is beginning a new section, but the connecting theme through chapters 4 and 5 is humility. True faith judges pride by humbling oneself before God. In 4:1-12, James hit the need for humility to resolve conflicts and have harmonious relationships. Now he turns to the subject of humility with regard to the future. He is confronting an arrogant spirit that he had observed among the churches. Although these people professed to know Christ, they were living with a worldly attitude that the apostle John calls “the boastful pride of life” (1 John 2:15). They were making plans without taking into account their own mortality and God’s sovereignty. Like the prosperous man in Jesus’ parable, they were saying, “I’ll build bigger barns to store my goods,” and “I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.’” “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’” (Luke 12:19-20).
James makes four points:
1. Life IS A VAPOR.
This means three things:
A. LIFE IS FRAIL.
James writes (4:13-14a), “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.’ Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow.” Or, the text may read, “You do not know what will happen tomorrow.” We don’t even know what will happen ten minutes from now, let alone tomorrow or next year! These Christian businessmen were arrogantly assuming that they would wake up tomorrow, that they would safely get to the city, that their business venture would be successful within a year, and that no one would rob them of their income. They were presuming all of these things about an unknown future that they had no control of and no guarantees about!
As I said, the healthiest young person among us could easily be dead by nightfall. There are so many unexpected ways to die! Remember Eddie.
Again, you may protest that to think about such things is morbid and depressing. I’m not suggesting that you obsess on these things. But if you don’t ever think about them, you will not live in proper dependence upon God. You will proudly make plans and go on about life as if you will be forever young and healthy. James says (4:16) that “all such boasting is evil.”
B. LIFE IS SHORT.
A vapor is short-lived. You see the mist at one moment and a few minutes later it’s gone. You see the steam coming out of your coffee cup and in just a second, it disappears into the air. Life. Is. Just. Like. that.
In Psalm 90, Moses laments the brevity of life. He compares life to the grass of the field that sprouts in the morning and by evening, it has faded under the hot sun. He writes (90:10), “As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, or if due to strength, eighty years, Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow; for soon it is gone, and we fly away.” Even if you live to be a hundred, how quickly life flies by! There is a wisecrack that life is like the roll of toilet paper—the closer you get to the end, the quicker it goes!” You may not care for the analogy, but it’s true!
That’s why Moses prays (90:12), “So teach us to number our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom.” On September I turned 62! Wow! I have approx. 4,500 days or 416 weeks until I’m at my allotted seventy if I even make that. Only God can give the wisdom I need to spend those days profitably in light of eternity.
C. DEATH IS CERTAIN.
George Bernard Shaw astutely observed, “The statistics on death are quite impressive. One out of one people die.” You would think that because death is not just probable but certain, that it could happen at any minute, that each person will stand before God, that every person would be desperate to know how to get right with God. But, strangely, people put it out of their mind and go on with their existence as if they will live forever. They can watch a disaster on TV or the internet one moment, and in the next go one with daily routine as if nothing happened. I think we all are guilty of that from time to time. In fact, we are so saturated and bombarded in this Millenia with worldwide access to news that it’s hard to process it all. You would think that those who are lost, might think about their life eternally and perhaps repent and get right with God.
Now Jesus taught us how to think when we hear about disasters. Some people reported to Him about some Galileans whom Pilate had slaughtered. Jesus responded (Luke 13:2-5), “Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”
When you hear about disasters, whether human-caused or not, if you do not know Christ as your Savior, you must be sure to put an active faith in Christ, because if you do not, you will die in your sin and perish. Not to be ready for something that is 100 percent certain will be really foolish!
2. GOD IS SOVEREIGN.
This means we are not sovereign! The problem was not that these businessmen were making plans for the future. Nor was it a problem that they were capitalists engaging in business to make a profit. Planning is commended to us in Scripture (Luke 14:28-32; Rom. 15:20-28). Financial planning is good stewardship if it is done in dependence on God and with regard to biblical priorities. It is wise to have a will or living trust. It is wise to have some savings to cover possible future expenses or the potential loss of a job. The Bible commends hard work and being rewarded financially for it.
The problem that James hits were, they were planning as if THEY were sovereign and were not bowing before the only Sovereign God. They were arrogantly making plans for their future financial security, but their plans did not include God. Their trust was not IN God, but in their business ventures and in all of the money that they supposed they would make. They were assuming they were in control of their future and presuming everything would go according to their plans. Instead, they needed to acknowledge (4:15), “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.”
James is not giving us a trite formula that we need to tack onto every sentence. Sometimes Paul used the phrase, “if the Lord wills,” when speaking about the future (Acts 18:21; 1 Cor. 4:19; see also, Rom. 1:10; 1 Cor. 16:7; Phil. 2:19, 24), but sometimes he did not (Acts 19:21; Rom. 15:28; 1 Cor. 16:5, 8). But he always depended on the Lord and bowed before His sovereignty with regard to the future. So, James is giving us a mindset that needs to permeate all of life. We need continually to be aware of our finiteness and dependence on God and His sovereign purpose in every aspect of life. Sometimes we should say, “if the Lord wills,” but even if we don’t say it, we should think it.
I’ve often said, “God is God; I am not God!” He is sovereign; I am not sovereign. He controls the future; I do not in any way control the future.
Another example is: while I believe we should carry a modest life insurance policy to protect our spouse if one should die (1 Tim. 5:8 supports this), no amount of life insurance will give us financial security. Saving for the future is wise when we may be too feeble to work (Prov. 6:6-8), but there is simply no such thing in this world as a fiscal guarantee. It is impossible to cover ALL possible eventualities. Our economy may crash. Our country may be overrun by terrorists. Our retirement investments may fail. Trusting in God is the only true source of security for the future.
Note also that James assumes that you should acknowledge God as the sovereign over your life. The idea that church is one sphere, but business is an altogether different area is not biblical. Jesus is Lord of our life, from the boardroom to the bedroom. Your ethics should reflect that you are not in charge of your business or personal affairs; Christ is! You must make all your decisions with a heart that pleases and glorifies Him.
So James states that:
1. Life is a vapor and
2. God is sovereign over every aspect of life.
His words imply the third truth:
3. PRIDE IS A GREAT SIN THAT EASILY PLAGUES US ALL.
Verse 13 reeks with arrogance: “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.” There is a lot of mention of what we will do, but there isn’t any mention of God! In 4:16, James directly confronts the sinful attitude behind the comments of 4:13: “But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.” “Arrogance” (4:16) was originally used to wandering hucksters who were full of empty and boastful claims about their cures and other feats that they could accomplish. It came to apply to any braggart. It is used in 1 John 2:15, “the boastful pride of life.” It refers to the arrogant self-sufficiency of the world apart from God.
We see this attitude in the powerful Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar. While walking on the roof of his royal palace, he said (probably to himself, Dan. 4:30), “Is this not Babylon the great, which I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?” Daniel 4:31-32 continues,
While the word was in the king’s mouth, a voice came from heaven saying, “King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is declared: sovereignty has been removed from you, and you will be driven away from mankind, and your dwelling place will be with the beasts of the field. You will be given grass to eat like cattle, and seven periods of time will pass over you until you recognize that the Highest is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whomever He wishes.”
Napoleon Bonaparte was a military genius, but his pride led to his downfall. He was about to invade Russia, but a friend tried to dissuade him. When it became apparent that Napoleon would not be budged, the friend shared the familiar proverb, “Man proposes, God, disposes.” Napoleon angrily snapped back, “I dispose as well as propose.” A Christian upon hearing this remark said, “I set that down as the turning point of Bonaparte’s fortunes. God will not suffer a creature with impunity to usurp His prerogative.” Sure enough, Napoleon’s invasion of Russia was the beginning of his downfall.
Probably James’ readers, who were professing Christians, were not as crass as Nebuchadnezzar or Napoleon in proclaiming their own greatness. But it is possible for a Christian to fall into practical atheism, where he proudly thinks, “I have decided to do this, and nothing is going to stop me. I’m a man of strong will! I will succeed!” He chuckles at his own resolve and strength of character.
James says that all such boasting is evil. Or, it’s easy for us as Christians to think, “I have succeeded because of my own hard work and smart business sense.” We disdain the poor, thinking, “If they would only work hard as I’ve done, they could succeed, too.” But we’re forgetting Paul’s pointed question to the proud Corinthians (1 Cor. 4:7), “What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?” Everything we have comes from God by His grace. We fall into pride when we do not keep that in mind.
How then should we live in view of the fact that life is a vapor, that God is sovereign, and that we’re so prone to pride?
In Review:
1. Life is a Vapor
2. God is Sovereign
3. Pride is a great sin that easily plagues us all.
4. Humble obedience to God’s revealed will is our only sane course.
At first glance, verse 17 seems somewhat disjointed from the preceding context. It may refer to all that James has said up to this point. But, the word “therefore,” connects it to what James has just said: “Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.” Douglas Moo explains the connection: “He has urged us to take the Lord into consideration in all our planning. We, therefore, have no excuse in this matter; we know what we are to do. To fail now to do it, James wants to make clear, is sin.”
This verse applies to all areas of the Christian life pertaining to what are called “sins of commission”. A focus on sins where we have violated some direct command of God. Perhaps we disrespected our husband, lied, or stolen.
But, we also sin when we fail to do something positive that God has commanded us to do called “sins of omission”. He commands us to love our neighbor as ourselves but we may violate that command when we hate our neighbor or ignore them and live selfishly. In the final judgment, Jesus condemns those who did not help the poor and the needy (Matt. 25:41-44). Their sin was not that they actively abused these people. Rather, they ignored a hurting person while they pursued their own pleasure or personal goals (see also, Luke 10:25-37; 16:19-31).
Obviously, we can’t do everything or there simply wouldn’t be enough hours in the day. Unfortunately, many Christians are not actively pursuing what God has called them to do; they’re not using the spiritual gift He has given out of fear, apathy, or disinterest. But God has given you & I gifts He wants us to use for His glory. To knowingly neglect that is sin.
Ministry is first a mindset and secondarily an activity. We are all ministers. If we come to church to take in and never give out, or just to meet with our friends, we do not have a ministry mindset. We are using the church to meet our needs, with no regard for how God wants to use us. We’re a religious consumer, but we’re not doing what God calls every believer to do. And no matter our age, we can be fruitful one way or another. Whether cleaning the bathroom or praying for the pastors, we all have something to give.
A ministry mindset means that every day you pray, “Lord, here I am, ready to do your will. Give me eyes to see people as Jesus sees them, like sheep without a shepherd (Matt. 9:36-38). Give me a heart of compassion as Jesus has, to love those who are distressed or downcast. Use me today as a worker in Your harvest, for Your sovereign purposes.” And by the way, we begin to serve God in our home!
Now we know that God wants you and me to serve Him (Matt. 6:33). Not to live that way, is sin.
Conclusion
1. Life is a vapor,
2. God is sovereign,
3. Pride is a constant battle,
4. Humble obedience to God’s will is the only sane course…
So let us aim to number our days so as to present to the Lord a heart of wisdom (Ps. 90:12). We know that we ought to do these things. James says that if we don’t do them, to us it is sin.
Let's pray: Father, we understand our life is very short, so short you liken it to a vapor. Help us to ever be mindful of this fact, and make wise choices daily to count them for your glory. In Jesus' name, Amen.
If this article/Bible Study blessed you, please comment. Thank you, Merry
