HOW DO WE LIVE ACCORDING TO GOD’S WILL?

James 4:13-17

o Sometimes called “the Proverbs of the New Testament,” the book of

James practically and faithfully reminds Christians how to live.
o Written to the persecuted church.
o From perseverance to true faith to controlling one’s tongue, submitting
to God’s will, and having patience, this book aids readers in living
authentically and wisely for Christ.
o Possibly one of the earliest of the New Testament writings, the book is
believed to have been written by Jesus’ brother James (Gal. 1:19).

• Even as we enter into today’s passage, James is talking about worldliness

and warning his readers against worldliness. Don’t be proud, stay humble
God will exalt you, do not speak evil against anyone, purify yourself and
submit to God.

• Read James 4: 13 - 17

James 4:13-17, “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into
such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—
yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are
a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to
say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in
your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to
do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”

• BIG TALK: What would be the equivalent of that in our day – to – day
lives?

• How do we introduce ourselves? I work in so and so company, I studied

in so and so college, I studied so and so course!!

• Illustration of the Armed Forces, the designation & rank is very high.

• I stay in a 3 BHK house with a private pool, jacuzzi

 • I have a Mercedes Benz
• I went to Bali for last summer vacation

• So, James is riding a very thin line, a nuance of the Christian’s life
embedded with perseverance in midst of trials, overcoming temptation,
controlling your tongue, submitting to God’s plan, two types of wisdom
etc as to how can one be humble in the way one speaks about their work.
or how one speaks about their plans.
• Most often we are talking about our plan rather than allowing God’s plan
in our lives.
• My ambitions, my goals, my retirement goal rather than what God wants
to accomplish in our lives.

• I will list out few aspects of walking in God’s will from this passage of
James chapter 4.

1. OUR PLANS ARE FLEETING.

Jam 4: 13 & 14a, “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go
into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a
profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring…”

• Illustration of the builders of the Titanic…. The ship was in many ways,
state of the art for the day and trumpeted by her owners, the press and
others as "practically unsinkable,"

• “If am successful in one thing, I can be successful in anything.”

• So, we look upon forming projects with assurance of success,

• Often our focus is on success, because we want to derive our identity from
what we do and how successful we are.

• Our time at any location is very limited and for that matter our time in this
world is not in our hands but the disposal of God.
• Revelation 1: 17 & 18, “…. I have the keys of Death and Hades.”

• Our plans may seem to work but eventually they fall away.
• Boasting in our plans are termed as evil. In a way our plans could also be
evil.

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 • Luke 12: 13 – 21, Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my
brother to divide the inheritance with me.” But he said to him, “Man,
who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” And he said to them,
“Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life
does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” And he told them
a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he
thought to himself, What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my
crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build
larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will
say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years;
relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ But God said to him, Fool! This night your
soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will
they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich
toward God.”
• We are not sure of when our lives will be taken away and therefore
boasting in our possessions, our plans, our achievements are worthless
and meaningless.
• Illustration of Japanese driving a taxi in Mumbai….Cars going
past…..very Fast…like Toyota, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Honda…. 500 rupees…
meter made in India.
• Most of our boasting happens because of our insecurities or perhaps
mostly due to pretensions or just we want to match up with others or
compare ourselves with others around us.

AM I BOASTING OVER MY PLAN, SUCCESSES, AMBITIONS & GOALS OF MY

LIFE?

2. GOD’S PLANS CAUSES US TO BE ALWAYS CONNECTED TO HIM.

James 4: 15, “Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do
this or that.”

• Our plans are fleeting but God’s plans are stable.

• Illustration of plans for Summer vacation in 2020…. Excel sheet…same
plan but with a changed heart.

Jeremiah 23:13, “In the prophets of Samaria I saw an unsavory thing: they
prophesied by Baal and led my people Israel astray.

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Jeremiah 23:14, “But in the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing:
they commit adultery and walk in lies; they strengthen the hands of evildoers,
so that no one turns from his evil; all of them have become like Sodom to me,
and its inhabitants like Gomorrah.”

• People have strayed away and have become unfaithful.

• The prophets had the responsibility to tell the truth and direct them to
life of godliness but they weren’t neither turning from evil, nor their
listeners were turning from evil.
• Our plans should cause us to be connected to God. To be faithful to God
only.

• Illustration of a Marine after a bomb blast… Full of pipes, can’t move his
body…’Semper Fi’…’Forever Faithful’.
• Paul writes to Timothy, to whom should he entrust: -

2 Timothy 2: 4, “No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is
to please the one who enlisted him.”

2 Timothy 2:5, “An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the
rules.”

2 Timothy 2:6, “It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share
of the crops.”

• God was looking at the fruit of the prophets. What they were doing with
what they have. The prophets were making the people of Israel to walk in
evil.
• God was looking at the fruit of the prophets and the faithfulness of the
prophets.
• When we introspect our lives in the midst of our plans, we need to
introspect two things playing out in and through our plans; fruit of our
lives; faithfulness in our lives.
• Fruit is reflection of who we really are.
• Faithfulness reflects our commitment to bear good fruit.
• Illustration of a good tree, good fruit, bad tree, bad fruit…

• How do we choose to walk in God’s plan vis a vis our own Plan.

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 PURSUING MY PLAN PURSUING GOD’S PLAN
Choose whatever is easy Go for it even it is difficult
Choose what stretches my faith in
Choose what is in my comfort zone
God
Choice by numbers Choice for mission
Choice for Influence/ Intentional
Choice for Survival
living

Jeremiah 30:22, “And you shall be my people, and I will be your God.”

• God’s plan for our life is that we will be connected to Him.

AM I SURRENDING MY LIFE TO GOD’S PLAN OR AM I PURSUING MY PLAN?

3. GOD ENABLES US TO LIVE OUR LIVES ON PURPOSE.

James 4: 14, “yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your
life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.”

o Illustration of a person I know (Jim & Leena)…Leaving aside the

great American Dream

o ‘You could skip as to what God is doing in our times and in our days,
if we are not connected to God.’

"More men fail through lack of purpose than lack of talent." – Billy Sunday

• Our Purpose is Now and not necessarily in the distant future.

• “You cannot fulfil God's purposes for your life while focusing on your own
plans. ”

• Honestly speaking, all of us are in different directions. We have different

vocations, but it is not God’s purpose.

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 • You can be assured that your vocation is God’s purpose for you if this
vocation has helped me to become godly or has your vocation taken you
away from God.

• Not failure or success, has this vocation helped me to reflect godly values.

• Illustration of Aunty Dixon (Sunday School Teacher) … Till she died…

always carried a tract and regular for everything in the church…. She
lived on purpose…always asked this question ‘Are you saved?’

Philippians 3: 7 to 10, “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake
of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of
knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things
and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him,
not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which
comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on
faith—.”

• I want Christ more than anything else.

• Everything I have achieved is rubbish.

“Without God, life has no purpose, and without purpose, life has no
meaning. Without meaning, life has no significance or hope.” ― Rick Warren

• Our lives find meaning only when we have a purpose.

• And this purpose for us is truly found when we know God’s purpose for
our lives.

• If you find God, you have begun to be in the direction of your life purpose,
without God, you haven’t even begun.

• After sin entered the world, all of us are doing things what suited us and
whatever we wanted. When Jesus came into our context, into our time &
space, He changed our course of life.

• Now when we believe in Jesus, we are embarked on His journey and not
our journey for our lives.

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 • When Jesus died on the cross even after living a perfect life, He caused us
who are living imperfect lives to change our course of life and live a
purposeful, faithful and a truthful life.

AM I LIVING MY LIFE ON PURPOSE?

4. OUR CHOICES REFLECT THE GOD WE WORSHIP.

James 4:17, “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for
him it is sin.”

• What we choose reflects our values and our values reflect the God we
worship.
• Our choices in our workplace should ideally reflect the Living God.
• Most often it is not, so it is good for us to introspect and reflect of our
choices that we take at our workplace.
• If we know it is right thing to do but don’t do it, then it is sin.
• Illustration of quiet quitting. Doing the bare minimum job so as to keep
the job. I will not do and so and so work because I am not paid for it.

• How do ‘ME’ centered choices and God centered choices look like in our
workplaces?

ME CENTERED CHOICES GOD CENTERED CHOICES

Do bare minimum to keep the job. Do more than what you are expected to do.
Do work that is in Job Description. Volunteer to do outside my Job Description.
Do work only if you compensate for Do it willingly without expecting anything in
me. return.

ARE MY CHOICES REFLECTING THE GOD WE CLAIM TO WORSHIP?

1. AM I BOASTING OVER MY PLAN, SUCCESSES, AMBITIONS & GOALS OF

MY LIFE?
2. AM I SURRENDING MY LIFE TO GOD’S PLAN OR AM I PURSUING MY
PLAN?
3. AM I LIVING MY LIFE ON PURPOSE?
4. ARE MY CHOICES REFLECTING THE GOD WE CLAIM TO WORSHIP?

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“Our greatest fear should not be of failure… but of succeeding in things in life
that don’t really matter” – Francis Chan

So, what do we do?

• Look to obey God and give priority to God even in small things.
o God’s will in marriage. Obey in small things. You walk into the will
of God.
• Wait for only God’s affirmation and don’t trust on own instincts.
o Have constant check on if you are pursuing own purposes or if you
are pursuing God’s purposes.
• Surrender and commit to God’s plan over your own plan.
• Make choices that reflect Jesus.

Let’s pray…

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