Thank you, this is my father's world and it's because of that truth that he is sovereign and we plan the way we should. So turn to James chapter four as we study proud planning. James chapter four and we finish the chapter today as we read verse 13 to verse 17. Verse 13 says, come now, you who say, today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit. Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that. But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin. You have probably all heard of Napoleon Bonaparte, the great conqueror, the great emperor. Napoleon Bonaparte, many would say, his downfall came when he decided to attack Russia. It's happened to many world dictators. The choice to attack Russia really brought the end of their campaign. And in fact, a friend of Napoleon's tried to dissuade him from attacking Russia. Napoleon, though, wouldn't change his mind. He was set on his plans. He said, I'm going to attack Russia. The friend, though, gave up trying, and then as he left, he quoted the old proverb. He said to Napoleon, well, man proposes, but God disposes. To that statement, Napoleon angrily replied, I dispose as well as propose. One Christian who heard that remark said, I set that down as the turning point of Napoleon Bonaparte's fortunes. For God will not allow a creature with impunity to usurp his prerogative. The moment that Napoleon turned around and usurped God's place as the sovereign Lord, his downfall began. When his plans were dipped in deep pride, they became his undoing. Of course, everybody here plans. In fact, it's one of the marks of being a human being that you plan. Only animals live completely in the present moment, and that's because they have no language and no ability to think about the present moment. You think in words, and animals don't have that kind of word to think about the past moment, the present moment, or even a possible future moment. That's a unique ability given to mankind. So it's part of being made in God's image that we think in advance. We think not only about now, and now is already gone, it's just fleeting, but you think about the next moments. You plan what you'll do in advance. But friend, how you plan is one of the most revealing things about you. Because how you plan reveals volumes about your worldview. It reveals so much about what you think about God, what you think about who rules the world, what you think about possibilities, what you think about actions. And so, when we plan, we're making a statement about how much God's will matters to us, about what we believe about His sovereignty, how we discover God's will, or even if we care that He has a will. And here, James turns his attention to the topic of planning. You remember that we're in the place in the book where he has already hit the climax, and the climax was live the Christian life the way you got it. humble yourself, submit to God, repent and believe. The same way you came to Christ, where you humbled yourself, you embraced Christ, live your Christian life that way with humility and faith, repent and faith. And he said, that's the way you overcome partiality. That's the way you overcome the sinful tongue. That's the way you overcome worldly wisdom and sinful conflict. That's the way you overcome all of those things he's been dealing with, including last week's proud judging, judging in a proud fashion. But he's not finished showing us the ways that worldly pride manifests. He's still got a few. And one of the clearest ways that our pride can manifest is in planning, the way we plan. And what you've got in front of you is James rebuking proud planning. The same pride that leads to conflict, the same pride that leads to an evil tongue and partiality and evil judging, that same pride leads to a particular kind of planning in your life. A planning that dishonors God, a planning that is not fitting for Christians. So what you're going to see in front of you is James is going to rebuke proud planning, and then he's going to ridicule that proud planning with some reality, and then he's going to replace it with what it should be. So let's look at our text as we see proud planning rebuked. Firstly, verse 13. Come now, you who say, today or tomorrow we'll go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell and make a profit. James is beginning to explain and describe this proud planning and he says, come now, which means, listen up, look here. You people, he says, who strut around the world in proud independence, you make these loud, self-confident boasts about what you're going to do and when you're going to do it, today, tomorrow, we're going to go to such and such a city, we're going to do this and that, we're going to buy and sell, and this is going to be the result. So what's wrong with that? Well, James is telling us about pride, isn't he? And what he's condemning here is a boastful, arrogant, God-denying planning. Look closely at this verse, and you'll see how atheistic this planning is. Put your finger on that text. Look at verse 13, and you'll see five areas of proud planning. Look, firstly, what has the man done? He's firstly planned when he's going to do something. He says today or tomorrow. He's got his own calendar. He's got his own schedule. God doesn't feature. Secondly, he's planned where he's going to do something. He says we'll go to such and such a city. He's decided where he's going to go, the geography. He's got no sense of God's calling, no sense of God limiting the bounds of our habitations, calling us to particular places at particular times. Third, what does it say? It says, we'll go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell. He's planned what he's going to do. We're going to buy there, we're going to sell. He's determined the actions. God doesn't seem to have been consulted. Fourth, he has planned the duration. Look what he says. He says, today or tomorrow, we'll go to such and such a city, spend a year there. Apparently he knows the future and he can decide independently exactly how long he's going to be in this place. And fifth, he's even planned the outcome. Look what he says. We'll go to such and such city, spend a year there, buy and sell and make a profit. The results are in his own hands and arrogantly he tells the universe what's going to happen. Now, James has no problem with people making plans for tomorrow. He has no problem with people traveling. He has no problem with people planning journeys or trading or even making a profit. The problem here is the profound independence. What, where, when, how long, the outcome, all without reference to God. If you make this kind of plan, it's something that only the proud do. Because you are assuming something that only the proud assume. Life is promised to me. I can control where I end up, I can plan the exact timing, I can plan and predict the result. This is proud planning. The person who's most at risk for this kind of planning is really somebody who's, well, frankly like me, a pragmatic person. A person who likes to make things happen and is used to planning and getting results. And if you're a pragmatic person, then that's the way the universe works to you. You make plans, and then stuff happens, and especially when it happens well, then it reinforces. Well, you know, I'd plan, had success, let's do more of that. And so what happens is the more good results a pragmatic person gets, the more assured he feels that pragmatic planning is the way to go. So he lives in a cycle of planning pragmatically, getting decent results, feeling vindicated for doing so, doing it all over again. But in the end, friends, it's ultimately worldly. It takes us right back to the Tower of Babel that we read this morning. What happened there? Was there a problem with building a tower? Are towers innately offensive to God? No. It's the fact that the mankind got together and said, come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly. It says, let us build ourselves a city, a tower upon the face of the earth, which is a tower in the heavens. Let us make a name for ourselves. There was the offense. Independent, arrogant planning. In fact, it's the attitude of the hoarder that you find in Luke 12. Keep your hand in James and turn back just to Luke 12 for a moment. See the scripture because this is from the mouth of our Lord Jesus. Luke chapter 12. Luke 12 and verse 15. Jesus said and he said to them take heed and beware of covetousness for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses Then he spoke a parable to them saying the ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully verse 17 And he thought within himself saying what shall I do since I have no room to store my crops? So he said, I will do this, I will pull down my bonds and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods, and I will say to my soul, soul, you have many goods laid up for many years, take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said to him, fool, this night your soul will be required of you, then whose will those things be which you have provided? You see what the person is doing? He leaves God out. That is not a parable against saving money. It's not a parable against planning for the future. It's a parable about independent hoarding, leaving God out, having this attitude that I can insulate myself against life, I can make the plans, and God says, and if I kill you tonight? Arrogance. If we have any doubt that planning independently without God is proud, look back in your text in James 4 and verse 16. Because verse 16 tells you exactly what God thinks of this. James 4 verse 16, but now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. James doesn't have a problem with planning. He has a problem with us pretending that we are gods on the earth. When he says, boasting in your arrogance, this is not humbly making a plan, this is conceited evil pride. You don't just plan, you glory in how independent you are. You enjoy your strutting self-confidence. You feel exalted about how you can speak confidently about the future. You speak loftily and knowingly about what you're going to do and how it's going to be done. And you enjoy that conceitedness. You enjoy the swagger and the posture. You know you're putting it on, but you love it. He says that is sin. That's boasting. There was once a zealous advocate of health foods named J.I. Rodel. When he was 72 years old, he claimed that he would live to be 100. And so once everyone had heard that boast, obviously they wanted to interview him. So he got onto a television program that interviewed him about the boast. And on the television he said, my bones have never been stronger. And moments after making the claim to be as strong as ever, he died of a heart attack there and then. You know, sadly, there's even a false theology out there which teaches that you're supposed to do this kind of thing in the name of Jesus. And they say, you must speak out what's going to happen, and as you positively confess, then that's going to somehow shape reality to be according to your desires. And so, to use a little bit of grammatical terminology, they say, don't speak in the subjunctive, which means would, could, if the Lord wills. You must speak in the indicative. It shall happen. It will happen. I'm looking forward to my Mercedes-Benz at home. I am feeling better, and I'm feeling wonderful today, and I have no sickness in my body. Except the sickness that you have in your body, right? And they say that if you don't speak that way, you're actually lacking in faith. And we say we're going to do it, and then of course they quickly add, in Jesus' name, which supposedly will make that arrogant boasting sound like humility. But it's still arrogant boasting. It's false. Whether you coat it with, in Jesus' name, or whether you just do the raw atheistic self-will of the world, it's still boasting. And quite frankly, if you're going to boast, just take Jesus' name out of it. Just boast. Don't connect Him with that. And so James is going to help us repent of this kind of thinking, because it comes into all of us. And what he's going to do now, he's going to show us our true condition. He's gonna show us the ridiculousness of proud planning. He's rebuked it, but now he's gonna show you why it's foolish, why it's silly. Look at proud planning ridiculed. Look at verse 14 of James 4. He says, whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. James says, listen, not only is this evil, it's foolish. How arrogant, how ridiculous to speak confidently and knowingly about what you're going to do for the next 365 days when you can't guarantee the events of the next 24 hours. I mean, can you? Can you perfectly predict what's going to happen in the next 24 hours? I mean, we can quote story after story of people who said they're going to stay in bed and just pull the covers over themselves and lock the doors, and then nothing can happen to them. And then what happens? Fire, heart attack. meteorite through the roof, you know, anything can happen. You can surround yourself with every possible security and have the one closest to you betray you. You could plan things down to the nth degree and have what never imagined happen. A sinkhole opens under your house. The car engine explodes, a freak car malfunction puts you in hospital. You see, your and my life is swarming with what we call contingency, what may happen, and what might happen. And do you know, I hope this doesn't keep you awake tonight, we know only a fraction of what could happen to us. You say, no, no, I'll think it through. I'll make a list. You're one of those people, okay. You see, in this kind of world, where you and I can barely predict the certainty of the next hour in our life, it's a kind of insanity to act with cocksure certainty about the next year, 10 years. Now folks, nothing against planning. Ask the leadership team, we sit together at the end of the year and we make one, three, five, and 10 year plans for the church. Nothing wrong with planning, but there's a kind of planning. Because James wants us to know this proud planning is so ridiculous, because not only can you not plan the next 24 hours, but he takes it further. Look at your text. He says in verse 14, what is your life? It is even a vapor. Your whole existence from beginning to end, what is it like? Now just think for a moment, James is a writer, and he can choose at this point to put any image in place to compare human existence to. So, what does he compare us to? He says, what is your life? You are like a mountain. Here today and tomorrow. Right? No, he doesn't choose mountain. Okay, how about tree? You know, a good old solid oak tree, it begins, it grows solid, you know, you're there for a good sturdy long time, hundreds of years maybe. Does he compare us to a tree? What physical phenomenon does James, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, compare you and I to? He compares us to that phenomenon that you have seen in the kitchen and the bathroom. That wisp of steam that just appears above the kettle and then disappears. That little gathering of steam above the pot of boiling water, the wafting steam above the hot water of the bath, you see it and just almost as if you've glimpsed it, it goes. It disappears. It's there and then it vanishes. Friends, that's the human condition. You begin, and just the moment you think, yeah, I've got my roots down. I'm gonna make some cement footprints in history. Just the moment you think that, disappears. Another wisp, here and gone. George Bernard Shaw said, the statistics on death are quite impressive. One out of one people die. The psalmist, 39 verse 5, indeed you made my days as hand breaths and my ages as nothing before you. Certainly every man at his best state is but vapor. Do we believe this? See, it's hard to get our minds around how temporary and frail we are. According to those who count, and it is a morbid practice, but those who count, around 157,000 people die every day, which is 6,390 per hour, or 107 per minute. That is, and we can't get our minds around this, while I'm speaking, every second, two people are going into eternity. That's your life. We're dependent beings. Do you know that? Dependent beings. We live on a planet hurtling through space at 108,000 kilometers an hour that happens to sit the precise distance between the sun and the earth that allows a mean temperature of 15 degrees Celsius, which is perfect for us, and allows liquid water to exist. We're shielded from deathly solar radiation. We're shielded from meteors and asteroids that would end our lives immediately. We have this atmosphere that is precisely as thick as it needs to be. It's only six kilometers thick that's breathable, and it has just the right mixture of nitrogen and oxygen so that we can breathe. You know, everything about our existence says we should be dead. Everything about the universe says God has created this little life support system so that you can live in a deathly universe. A fractional change would kill us. And God wants us to meditate on that. He wants us to think about the fact that our lives are not like mountains or oak trees or granite rocks. He wants us to think we're wisps of steam that disappear in the blink of an eye. We're frail creatures. We're 70% water and we're ready to evaporate at any moment. Why does he want this? Not because he wants us morbid or depressed about immortality. Instead, he wants the reaction we read in Psalm 90 this morning. So teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Wake up, God says, out of this dream world of immortality. Snap out of the pride that says death happens to other people. Yes, one day it will happen to me, but not anytime soon. I've planned too well. We have to repent of the pride that says accidents, diseases, calamities happen to other people. It won't happen to me. It won't happen to my children. It won't happen to my parents. It won't happen to those I love because I plan too well. I'm in control of what happens to me. No, friend. I have no idea how much more time on earth God will give me. Decades, maybe. Years, months, weeks, days, hours. Don't say amen after I say hour. Let it be so, Lord. Listen, however wisely I may take care of my body, however much security I can get around my house, however much insurance I may have, however many precautions I take to be safe and provided for and healthy, God has literally thousands of ways to pull me out of this life any day. So what should we do in light of that? Right? We get the knowledge, God, we're not mountains, we're steam. What should we do in light of the fact that we're steam? Look what he says in your text. Verse 15, instead you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that. Proud planning replaced. Instead of boastful, arrogant, self-sufficient pride towards the future, we replace it with a humble attitude. James says we look at the future and we say, if the Lord wills, if God desires that we shall, we shall live in such and such a place and do such and such a thing. Now friends, I don't think at this point you should close your Bible and go, oh, okay, I'll add that to my sentences. I don't think James meant that if you simply add a verbal caveat to all your statements about the future that you're being obedient to this. Certainly it's good to do that. And we see that in the Word of God several times. I mean, Paul, Acts 18.21, I must by all means keep this coming feast in Jerusalem, but I will return again to you God willing. Romans 15.32, that I may come to you with joy by the will of God. 1 Corinthians 4.19, but I will come to you shortly if the Lord wills. So yes, this is a scriptural attitude. The writers of scripture, the people there used it. But we've got to be careful because you have not exhausted the meaning of this verse because you add a few words to sentences that refer to the future. You're not being obedient just because every time you speak in the future tense, you go, God willing, God willing. And by the way, nor are you disobedient if you speak of the future without adding these words every time. James is not seeking us to teach us to use the words Lord willing like some kind of spell or worse, some kind of good luck charm. That if I use this little formula, it's going to ward off the spirits of calamity. You know, if I don't use it, God's going to strike me because I didn't use it. So I'm just going to quickly say it. Yeah, we're going to do that. God willing, God willing, God willing, we're going to do that. And as if it's some kind of luck charm. No, that's not what the verse means. James says, make your plans humbly. Make your plans with truth about God and truth about yourself. so that that kind of thinking is so much in you that it even shows up in your speech. Plan in such a humble way that it becomes natural for you at certain times to add God-willing, God-willing to your speech. So, what would that look like? What does it look like to plan in a humble, God-submitted way? What does that mean? You know, the book of Proverbs gives you a pretty full and clear theology of humble planning. And will you turn there while we just walk through several scriptures in Proverbs that teach us what humble planning looks like. And then we'll finish up in James in a moment. Look at Proverbs chapter 16. I want you to see these scriptures, jot them down, because here is a mini theology of planning humbly. Here's five ways for you to plan humbly. Look at the first one, Proverbs 16, verse three. Commit your works to the Lord and your thoughts will be established. First principle of humble planning, pray about your plans. Commit your works unto the Lord. Humble Christians take their plans to God in prayer. They ask God for direction. Sometimes when you're praying, you have to wrestle yourself a little bit because you realize that what you've been planning is out of the revealed will of God. And you've got to pray, God, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, not my will be done on earth by heaven. And so you pray, you submit yourself, you ask God for grace, for wisdom. That's the first principle. Second principle, look at Proverbs 21, verse 5. 21, verse 5. He says, the plans of the diligent lead surely to plenty, but those of everyone who's hasty surely to poverty. The second principle is diligently gather information. The plans of the diligent. Those who want to plan humbly submit themselves to the hard work of gathering truth before they plan. See, it's a kind of laziness to expect God to give you perfect direction, perfect guidance through some kind of prophecy, through some kind of mystical leading, through peace in your heart, through circumstances that just sort of are supposedly transparently readable, and some other means, and we say, this is how God will direct me. It's a kind of laziness to expect God to direct you in that way When you live in a world where you can readily gain the knowledge that you need by study, you can gain the knowledge that you need to make a good decision. So you say, what must I study? There's two things you must study, the word and the world. You study the word To find out, does God have an explicit command or prohibition? Has God said, you must do this, or you must not do this? If so, then your plans are already made for you. It's not, well I'm going to start a casino, Lord willing. God has explicitly ruled on that. You already know the answer. Or it's not, well, I'll see if I should worship God with His people, Lord willing. He's already told you that that is His revealed will. But more often than a prohibition or a command, what God is going to give you is a principle. And a principle is a truth that can be applied very particularly. General truths. Because whether you're considering buying a house or pursuing marriage, changing jobs, going to another country, beginning a business. You've got to evaluate using principles from scripture, because scripture more than often won't give you an explicit command about an investment, or about buying a certain car, or choosing a school for your child, moving to another area. He's not going to give you that. But he is going to give you principles that if you use those principles, if you're diligently studying, you can answer them. You say, what kind of principles? Well, typically, actions, consequences, So you're gonna ask, is this action, according to scripture, a blameless action? Will this action lead to wrong associations? Will this action yoke me in some kind of bondage, either to an unbeliever? Will this action lead to any kind of slavery in my heart? Will this action be a good stewardship of what God has entrusted me with? And then consequences, we ask, What does the Bible say that this kind of thing will be on my testimony? What effect will it have? What do I have to lose or give up to get this thing? And biblically, is that the priority? And then the third thing that scripture can help you with with principles is your motives. Is this pleasing to God? Why do I want this? Is this really important to God? Is this a need or a greed? Is this a biblical priority? As I study the word of God, I can gain information. You know why this is important? Look at Proverbs 21 verse 30. Look at verse 30 of 21. It says, there is no wisdom or understanding or counsel against the Lord. You know what that means? It's very simple. There is no such thing as a good plan that violates a biblical command. There is no such thing as a good idea or a good decision that violates a biblical command or principle. That's what the text says. There is no wisdom or understanding or counsel against the Lord. If what you're doing opposes a scriptural command or principle, it's not wisdom. And that's why the diligent person searches out the word. And then secondly, not as diligently, but certainly as much as you need to, you search out the world. That is, you read your circumstances, you read the meaning of the activity, you read the risks, the opportunities, the threats, the strengths, the possibilities, the resources. You say, what does this activity or this thing or this idea mean in terms of associations and how it's used and what effects it will have? I read the word, I read the world, and I bring them together. the plans of the diligent. Don't throw the bones. Don't do some kind of Christian version of glassy, glassy. That's not how God's gonna lead you, okay? He is gonna lead you through a diligent search of the word and the world. That's humble planning. Third thing, look at Proverbs 15, 22. Proverbs 15 and verse 22. He says this, without counsel plans go awry, but in the multitude of counselors they are established. Third principle, gather good counsel. You've seen in James the danger of self-deception. We're sheep, we follow our noses right off a cliff. And so what humility does is I don't assert myself as brilliant and able to figure things out independently. I don't strut around and go, I'm not like those people who can't think for themselves. I can think for myself. Instead, what I want to do, I want to get counsel from people of proven judgment. And I seek out counsel to find out if the way I read the word and read the world is correct. Are my plans rightly applied and interpreted? And so I look for counsel, and notice what your text says, how many. A multitude. See, I don't just go to my favorite friend who always tells me exactly what I want to hear. Yes, David, you're right. Good idea. I don't go there. I look for it in spiritual leaders. I look for it in Christians who are mature. I look for it in Christian books. I look for it in excellent sermons. I look for it in the sermons of godly teachers of the past and present. And I look for a pattern of repeated counsel amongst those who have a track record of seeking God's will first. Do that, friends. Let godly counsel modify, confirm, or even replace your plans. Godly counsel. Remember how Psalms begins? Blesses the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the seat of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful, stands in the path of sinners. I don't want to do that. I want to stand in the path of the righteous, the counsel of the godly. Make that your delight. Here's the fourth principle. Look at Proverbs 3 in verse 5. Many of us have memorized these precious verses. It says, If you have already gone through this process, you've prayed, you've gathered good information diligently, you've sought good counsel, what happens if when you've finally done that, you have more than one option that seems equally good? Well, this text tells you that when you're submitted and you're trusting in God with all your heart, then do what you want. In other words, if you're acknowledging God in all your ways, you're knowing Him, you have a promise that He will direct you as you seek to do what is best in Him. Sometimes you're gonna have decisions or plans with equal amount of advantages, disadvantages. When you are at that place, and those are rare situations, but if you are, follow your consecrated desires. Augustine said, love God and do what you want. Finally then, number five, look at Proverbs 16, verse nine. He says, and these are such comforting verses, Proverbs 16, verse nine, and we'll read three verses here. A man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps. Look at chapter 19, verse 21. It says, there are many plans in a man's heart, nevertheless, the Lord's counsel that will stand. In Proverbs 20, verse 24, it says, a man's steps are of the Lord. How then can a man understand his own way? So number five, understand that God oversees and overrules your plans. Even the humblest plan can be replaced by what God wills. But that doesn't make you passive. It doesn't make you cynical about planning. It doesn't make you say, well, it doesn't matter. Instead, it leads us to confidently plan humbly, knowing that even if we make a mistake, or even if we're not where we need to be, God is going to oversee it. If I accept this reality, it's another way I show I'm planning humbly. So I make my plans in pencil. I give God the eraser, and quite frankly, I give him the pencil as well. I plan the destination, but I accept that God sits in the driver's seat. These are five ways that we, when we do them, we're planning humbly and not arrogantly. So James wraps it up for us then in verse 17 of James 4 by simply saying, therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin. Once you know the right way of planning, once you've been exposed to truth and you don't do it, you can no longer say, I'm a baby Christian. You can no longer say, well, I'm just immature because now there's responsibility. You can't say you forgot, you can't say you didn't understand, because once there's light, there's responsibility. Jesus said, if you were blind, you would have no sin. But now you say we see, therefore your sin remains. Once we've been exposed to truth, we have a responsibility to do it. So, now that we have been exposed to the truth about humble planning, we can't be satisfied anymore to plan without prayer, to plan without a diligent search of the Word, to plan without getting counsel. We now have light, and we must follow it. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your revealed will in your Word, and we ask that you would help us to humbly yield and submit to it. knowing that Your perfect will does lead us into those still waters, the green pastures. We pray that we would be those kind of sheep that diligently seek out Your will. So Father, deliver us from the arrogance of thinking that we can plan independently, and help us to plan in this way. We love You, we praise You for who You are. In Jesus' name, Amen.