THE BOOK OF JAMES

a stuDy in putTING our faith into action

Sermon Notes Wk6 THE WIll OF GOd

JAMES 4:13-17

THE BOOK OF JAMES

Sermon Notes Wk 6 // The Will of God // James 4:13-17 02 4472 9419 | 0433 161 422 | info@wearecrosscentral.com Sunday Sept 16. 2012 James 4:13-17 Where Theres a Will, Theres a Way // Week 6 of 7 Date: Text: Title: OUTLINE: A) Ignoring Gods Will B) Disobeying Gods Will C) Obeying Gods Will INTRODUCTION:
James 4 begins by talking about ghts and quarrels. James continues to unpack what it means to be at war with God, and then he ends chapter 4 with how we respond to the will of God. The two themes are related, because when we are out of the will of God, we become troublemakers and not peacemakers. Lot moved into Sodom and brought trouble to his family. David committed adultery and murder which brought fracture and brokenness to his family and his kingdom. Jonah stepped out of the will of God and almost sent a ship of unbelieving sailors to their watery deaths. In each case there was a wrong response toward the will of God. That God would have a plan for each of us our lives is an unmistakeable truth. He is a God of order and wisdom. He knows what ought to happen and when it should happen. And because He is a God of love, He only ever desires the best for His children. Too many times we mistakenly view the will of God to be a bitter pill we must swallow, rather than the gracious evidence of the love of God towards us. Psalm 33:11 shows us that the will of God comes from the heart of God. We need never be afraid of the will of God, because His will is the expression of His love.

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James 4:13-14 James 4:17 James 3:15

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Sermon Notes Wk 6 // The Will of God // James 4:13-17 02 4472 9419 | 0433 161 422 | info@wearecrosscentral.com
In our text this morning, James points out to us three attitudes that we can have towards the will of God Of the three there is only one that we must all cultivate as followers of Jesus.

WHERE THERES A WILL THERES A WAY - KEYS TO PLANNING AHEAD.

1. IGNORE GODS WILL // ( James 4:13-14 )
Perhaps James was talking to the wealthy merchants in the assembly. They might have discussed their business deals and boasted about their plans. There is no evidence that they sought the will of God or prayed about their decisions. It appears that they measured their success in life by how many times they got their own way and accomplished what they had planned. But James presented four arguments that revealed the foolishness of ignoring the will of God. a) The Complexity of Life ( James 4:13 ). Think of all that is involved in life: today, tomorrow, buying, selling, facebook, twitter, racing here, going there. Life is made up of people and places, activities and goals, days and years; and each of us must make many crucial decisions day after day. Apart from the will of God, life is an unknown quantity. When we know Jesus Christ as our Saviour, and seek to do His will, then life starts to make sense. Even the physical world around us takes us on new meaning. There is a simplicity and unity to our lives that gives us a deep sense of understanding and condence. We are no longer living in a mysterious, threatening universe. b) The Uncertainty of Life ( James 4:14 ). This statement is based on Proverbs 27:1 . These businessmen were making plans for a whole year when they could not even see ahead into one day. Look how much of an assumption they were willing to make: We will go. We will stay a year. We will buy and sell and make a prot. b e l i e v e b e l o n g b e c o m e b e y o n d

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Sermon Notes Wk 6 // The Will of God // James 4:13-17 02 4472 9419 | 0433 161 422 | info@wearecrosscentral.com
Their attitude mirrors the farmer in Jesus parable in Luke 12:16-21 . What was Gods reply to this mans boasting? Fool! This night your soul is required of you. ( Luke 12:20 ). Life is not uncertain to God, but it is uncertain to us. Only when we are in His will can we be condent of tomorrow, because we know that He is leading us. c) The Brevity of Life ( James 4:14 ). This is one of the repeated themes throughout Scripture. To us life seems long and we measure it in years; but compared to eternity, life is just mist. James borrowed this imagery from the Book of Job where we nd many pictures of the truly nite nature of life. ( Job 7:6 , Job 7:9 , Job 8:9 , Job 9:25 , Job 9:26 , Job 14:1-2 ). We count our years at each birthday, but God tells us to number our days ( Psalm 90:12 ). The reality is, we can only live one day at a time, and those days rush by faster as we get older. Since life is so short, we cannot afford to merely spend our lives ; and we certainly do not want to waste our lives. We must invest our lives in those things that are eternal. God reveals His will through His Word, and yet most people ignore the Bible. In the Bible God gives us precepts, principles and promises that can guide us in every area of life. Knowing and obeying Gods Word is the surest way to fulll our God given purpose ( John 1:8 . Psalm 1:3 ). d) The Frailty of man ( James 4:16 ). Whenever we boast, many times it is only to cover up our weakness and insecurity. Thomas a` Kempis once wrote Man proposes but God disposes. Prov 16:33 reveals this truth. We cannot control future events because we have not the wisdom to see the future, or the power to control the future. When we boast it is sin because we are trying to take the place of God.

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Sermon Notes Wk 6 // The Will of God // James 4:13-17 02 4472 9419 | 0433 161 422 | info@wearecrosscentral.com

2. DISOBEY GODS WILL // (James 4:17)

These are people who KNOW the will of God, but willfully choose to disobey it. This attitude is similar to ignoring Gods will, but expresses even more pride, because the person says I know what you want me to do Lord, but I prefer not to. I really know more about this You do. 2 Peter 2:21 says it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness. WHY DO PEOPLE WHO KNOW THE WILL OF GOD DELIBERATELY DISOBEY? a) PAIN - Many people are hurt in church, and despite knowing Gods will and purpose for their lives, they allow the pain and offense to be greater than Gods destiny unfolding in their lives. b) PRIDE - We like to think that we are the master of our fate and captain of our soul. When in actual fact we are the creature, and God alone is The Creator. Man has accomplished so many amazing achievements that there is the temptation that we can do anything. The tower of Babel is a good example ( Genesis 11 ). c) PRIORITIES - When Gods will gets choked out by the busyness and noise of our fast paced world, then obeying His prompting can take a lower priority to to the tyranny of the urgent screaming for our attention. This is why church and regular fellowship is so important. It keeps us coming back to His purpose remaining our priority. Disobeying Gods will today may not seem a serious thing, but it will become very serious when Jesus returns and examines our work ( Col 3:22-25 ).

3. OBEY GODS WILL // (James 4:15)

If the Lord wills... is not just a statement that we say here at cross Central, it must the constant and continual attitude of our hearts. Jesus said in John 4:34 that His food was to do the will of Him who sent Him.

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Sermon Notes Wk 6 // The Will of God // James 4:13-17 02 4472 9419 | 0433 161 422 | info@wearecrosscentral.com
Often in his letters, Paul referred to the will of God as he shared his plans with his friends ( Rom 1:10 , Rom 15:32 , 1 Cor 4:19 , 1 Cor 16:7 ). Paul did not think of Gods will as chains that locked him down; rather it was the key that opened the doors and set him free. Everything in this universe operates according to laws. if we cooperate with these laws and abide by them, then the universe works WITH us. But if we ght these laws and disobey them, the universe will wrk AGAINST us. For example there a certain laws that govern ight. The engineer that follows those laws in his design of the aircraft, and the pilot who obeys those laws in ying the plane will both have the joy of seeing their A380 soar in the sky. But if they disobey the basic laws that govern ight, the result will be a crash and loss of life and money. Gods will for our lives is comparable to the laws He has built within the universe, with this exception: those laws are general, but the will he has planned for our lives is specically designed for us. No two lives are planned according to the same specic pattern. Yes there are things that must be true of all Christians. We are to give, ourselves to God ( 2 Cor 8:5 ), avoid sexual immorality ( 1 Thess 4:3 ) and rejoice, pray and be thankful to God ( 1 Thess 5:16-18. Every commandment in the Bible is for us to obey. But God does not call each of us to the same work in life, or to necessarily have the same gifts and ministry expression. The will of God is masterfully tailor-made for each of us. Gods will is not a cold impersonal machine. We do not determine Gods will in some mechanical way, like a vending machine. His will is not as if God starts it going and its up to us to keep it functioning smoothly. If we disobey Him in someway, the machine grinds to a halt, and we are out of Gods will for the rest of our lives. The will of God is a living relationship between God and His children. This is not DESTROYED when a believer disobeys, for the Father still deals with His child, even if He must use discipline. b e l i e v e

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Sermon Notes Wk 6 // The Will of God // James 4:13-17 02 4472 9419 | 0433 161 422 | info@wearecrosscentral.com
At Cross Central, we see Gods will as a warm, living, growing body. If something goes wrong with my body, I dont die: the other parts of the body compensate for it until I can get that organ working properly again. There is pain; there is also weakness; but there is not necessarily death. When we get out of Gods will, it is not the end of everything. We suffer, to be sure, but if we repent and return to Him, He is able to compensate for our malfunctions and work all things together for good ( Romans 8:28 ). God is able to use every experience to bring us back into His will again. We see this in the lives of Abraham and Jonah. Our relationship to the will of God is as a growing experience. It ows like this: i) WE MUST KNOW HIS WILL - Acts 22:14 // Gods will is not difficult to discover. If we are willing to obey, He is willing to reveal ( John 7:17 ). It has been said that obedience is the organ of spiritual knowledge. This is true. God does not reveal His will to those who are curious or careless, but to those who are ready and willing to obey Him. ii) WE MUST UNDERSTAND HIS WILL - Eph 5:17 // This is where spiritual wisdom comes into play. A child may KNOW the will of his father, but he may not UNDERSTAND his will. The child knows the what but not the why. Because we are now called friends of Jesus, we have the privilege of knowing why God does what He does ( John 15:15 ). Psalm 103:7 shows us that the Israelites knew WHAT God was doing, but Moses understood WHY God was doing it. iii) WE MUST PROVE HIS WILL - Rom 12:2 // The Greek verb means to prove by experience. We learn to determine the will of God by working at it. The more we obey, the more we create a forward trajectory in our life to discover what God wants us to do. We prove by experience what the will of God is. We learn from both the successes and failures. Matt 11:29 - the yoke gives us the picture of doing something, putting into practice what God has taught us.

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Sermon Notes Wk 6 // The Will of God // James 4:13-17 02 4472 9419 | 0433 161 422 | info@wearecrosscentral.com
iv) WE MUST DO IT FROM THE HEART - Eph 6:6 // When Jonah did the will of God, he did not do it from his heart. What Paul said about giving can also be applied to living: not grudgingly, or out of necessity for God loves a cheerful giver 2 Cor 9:7 . The secret to a happy life is to delight in duty. When duty becomes a delight, then burdens become blessings ( Psalm 119:54 ). There is an eternal quality to the life and works of people who do the will of God ( 1 John 2:15-17 ). There is the expectation of reward at the return of Jesus Christ ( Matt 25:34 ).

Conclusion:
Which of these three attitudes do we have towards the will of God? Do we totally ignore Gods will as we make our daily plans and decisions? Or, do we know Gods will and yet refuse to obey it? Each attitude is wrong and can only ultimately lead to sorrow and ruin. But when we know, love and obey the will of God, then we nd ourselves in place where we can truly enjoy the blessings of God. Our lives may not be easier, but we will be holier and happier. Our very food will be the will of God ( John 4:34 ); it will be the joy and delight of our heart ( Ps 40:8 ).

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