James #13

“A Living Faith”
James #13
Pastor Ben Fleming
March 22nd

How do you know God’s will for your life? Have you ever asked that question? At first you might see nothing wrong with the question. You have asked that and you have even thought it – I know I have….. But it is the wrong question to ask. If you ask the wrong question you are going to get the wrong answer. In his study, “Knowing and Doing the Will of God”, Henry Blackabee says the right question is “What is God’s will?” In other words, what is it that God is purposing where you are. Once you know what God is doing, then you know what you need to do.” slide Your focus needs to be on God, not your life. 2x

During the US civil war Abraham Lincoln met with a group of ministers for a prayer breakfast. Lincoln was a man of deep, deep radical, faith. At one point one of the ministers said, "Mr. President, let us pray that God is on our side". But Lincoln responded to him , "No, gentlemen, let us pray that we are on God’s side."

An old Scottish woman went from home to home across the countryside selling thread, buttons, and shoestrings. When she came to an unmarked crossroad, she would toss a stick into the air and go in the direction the stick pointed when it landed. One day, however, she was seen tossing the stick up several times. "Why do you toss the stick more than once?" someone asked. "Because," replied the woman, "it keeps pointing to the left, and I want to take the road on the right." She then dutifully kept throwing the stick into the air until it pointed the way she wanted to go!

Turn in your bible to the book of James. We have been studying a letter written to God’s people to enable them and to encourage them to experience and pursue a living faith. We have been learning from James that the marks of a living faith is a controlled tongue – it is a humble attitude – it is a life of prayer --- victory over temptation - and it is a genuine faith demonstrated through good works. Today --- James says that a genuine believer has a sincere desire to do the will of God. Stand as we read James chapter 4

In Psalm 40:8 David wrote, “I desire to do Your will oh my God; Your law is within my heart.” but we find later that David struggled with doing the will of God. In Psalm 143:10 he writes, “Teach me to do Your will for You are my God; may Your good Spirit lead me on level ground.” David needed to be taught to do God’s will. Jesus gave a sober statement about doing the will of God in Mark 3:35 “Whoever does God’s will is My brother and sister and mother.” So – doing the will of God says something about your faith. It says something about belonging to Christ. You cannot claim to be one of His followers and yet you do not do… nor do you have a desire to do the will of God. I did not say that…. Jesus did…………In Matthew 7:21 Jesus warned “ Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.” So doing the will of God has much to do with a person having saving faith.

Jesus is our example of doing the will of God. Jesus said, in John 6:38 “For I have come down from heaven not to do My will by to do the will of Him who sent Me.” And then when His followers wanted him to eat some food in John 4:34 Jesus said back to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent Me and to finish His work.”……….. Being fully man as well as being fully God – Jesus Christ had to choose to do the will of God and not His own will. You have to choose to do the will of God --- I have to choose to do the will of God.

Now --- so far we have only been looking at doing the will of God. The question for us is not “What is God’s will for my life – the question is “what is God’s will.”……...Knowing the will of God is easier than doing it. Everyone of you know that. We have been given God’s will – it is right here in this paper thing called the bible. God does not hide His will from us ---- He has given us all that we need to be able to know His will. We are not going to address what is God’s will but we are going to examine our responses to the will of God.

James addresses the will of God in his letter to the believers in the church in the same practical way that he has been writing throughout this letter to believers. James uses the illustration of a businessman who pulled out his blackberry and checked his schedule and made 6 phone calls to book up sales meetings in 6 different cities for the next week. James gives us 4 insights into how people respond to the will of God. 3 of those insights are negative and 1 of them is positive. We are going to look at the negative responses first. POINT #1

1. You are foolish when you ignore the will of God. (vs. 13 -14) “Now listen you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money. Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”

James says, when you and I ignore the will of God we are foolish. When you live as if God does not exist or with the idea that God is indifferent to how you live or what you do – you are foolish. The phrase James begins with in (verse 13) is the words (“Now listen”) they appear here and in chp. 5:1. He is saying --- listen up --- get this!!!! The illustration of the businessman he uses is referring to those who live their lives without regard to the will of God. His illustration would have been familiar to every believer who was reading his letter. Many Jewish people who were dispersed around the ancient world were successful businessmen and merchants in trade cities. James is not saying that it is wrong to plan and strategize in business and in your life --- these guys were not breaking spiritual principles in what they were doing but the problem lied in what they did not do….. They planned, but in their planning God, was totally ignored. God was not part of their agenda. God was nowhere on their priority list. God was a last min thought. When all else failed they would turn to God. You know people who would think like that and maybe you have thought like that?????

We all know that God is not part of the agenda of many today – inside the church and outside of the church. We do what we want to do ---- when we want to do it -----and how we want to do it without involving God in our activities and plans. When what we want to do conflicts with the Word of God we simply go ahead and do what we want with an attitude that God is understanding and full of grace and He will overlook our ignoring His will…………….James says that is foolishness……..

Jesus warned people about the foolishness of leaving God out of ones life by telling a parable: On your outline. Luke 12:16 – 21 “”The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops. This is what I will do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and goods. And I’ll say to myself, you have plenty good things laid up for many years. Take life easy: eat drink and be merry. But God said to him, You fool. This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself? This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich towards God.” ----------- Did you notice that it is God who calls the person a fool who ignores the will of God……
Now go back to James 4 -- notice in verse 14 of chapter 4 that James says when you ignore the will of God there are two reasons why you must not: First he says – “you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow.” You do not know if today is your last day – you do not know if your house is going to burn down tonight -- you do not know if tomorrow you will be alone or you will be a quadriplegic as a result of a car accident or you will be diagnosed with cancer----- this is one of there reason why it is not God’s will for a believer to presume and go into consumer debt --- buy now ---- pay later---- and then Second, James says “you are just a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”

---- the bible says life is as quick as a puff of smoke ------ life is like steam rising from a cup of coffee or your breath on a cold morning. When you live your life without any consideration of the will of God – you are foolish. So – this is negative – lets make it positive with two application questions. ----- write them in

Application:
*. What have you given up or changed in your life this past year so as to obey the will of God?
*. How could you seek to make God a bigger part of the agenda of your life? Second response to the will of God…………………………..

2. You are arrogant when you deny the will of God. (vs. 16) “As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil.” The first group of people James wrote about in verses (14 -15) live as if God does not exist and God has no will……. now this second group knows that God exists and that God has a will but they arrogantly reject it. Perhaps this second group is what characterizes many in the church today? My goals – my plans – my desires are more important than what God’s plans are for me. God wants me happy so I am going to do what I enjoy. I am going to set aside God’s will for my desires in favor of mine. Many many do that today. Those whom James was writing to were doing it. James says that there are believers in the church who are boasting about what they are doing and how they are living. The NIV gave us the word brag. It should be arrogance. I think it is a better translation from the greek word (alazoneia) Write this in on your outline:

Arrogance = comes from a root word meaning to wander about. It was used as well to describe someone who traveled around selling phony goods. If you take the word boast and arrogance – it gives you the picture of something that someone does not have and can’t obtain and they intern deny the will of God. They will do anything or say anything regardless of how it hurts others and how outside the will of God it is in order to get or do what they want.

William Henley wrote a famous poem that really describes the person James is writing about in this verse. Let me try and re sight it for you:

Out of the night that cover me. Black as the Pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance – I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance --- My head is bloody, but unbowed. Beyond this place of wrath and tears --- Looms but the Horror of the shade, And yet the menace of the years -- finds, and shall find me unafraid. It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul. ------------ you are arrogant when you deny the will of God. Where or how has that been happening in your life?????????? 3rd negative response to the will of God.

3. You sin when you disobey God’s will for your life. (vs. 17) “Anyone then who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it sins.” All of us are guilty of this response to the will of God. You know the right thing to do and you do not do it. You know what God’s Word says and you do not obey it. You rationalize it --- you avoid it ---- you run from it ---- you talk yourself out of it --- The bible tells us 2 Peter 3:9 that it is God’s will that you be saved – some of you sitting here are disobeying God when it comes to your salvation – you still have not come to Christ even though I am telling you it is God’s will that you be saved. You put it off ----- you see no reason to respond and come to Christ even though the bible says it is God’s will.

The bible tells us in Eph 5:18 that it is God’s will that every believer live their Christian life filled with the Holy Spirit – how many believers do you think obey God’s will in this area? The bible tells us in 1 Thess 4:3- 8 that it is God’s will that every believer live their life set apart and be actively engage in the sanctification process from the world and in 1 Peter 2:13 – we are told that it is God’s will that every believer live submissive lives – how many believers do you think arrogantly disobey God and rebel? Reminds me of an illustration I read….

Illustration: A mother took her 4 year old son to watch her older teenagers sons basketball game. As the game progressed – the 4 year old kept running out on to the court while the game was in progress. She grabbed her son and showed him the out of bounds line and explained in no uncertain terms that he was not to step over that line. No sooner had she backed away --- he stuck his toe over line and looked at her like, “I don’t care what you want, I’m going to do it my way!” We laugh but at heart, we are all like that boy. We’re rebels. And nowhere is that rebellion more apparent than in our relationship with God. God draws the line and says, “here is my will.” Something rises up in me and says, “I don’t care. I want it my way!”

1 Peter 3:17 tells us that it is God’s will that the believer suffer. You got to be kidding. We believe it is our right not to suffer. We are told – “how can suffering be God’s will?” When we know God’s will we are responsible to obey it and do it and when we do not we…. sin. If you think about it --------- the sin of this third group of people who respond to the will of God is perhaps more serious than the first two groups. Jesus put it this way in the parable of the faithful steward in Luke.

Luke 12: 47- 48 “The servant who knows his master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what his master wants will be beaten with many blows. But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows.” ---- Jesus told that parable --- pretty strong is it not? Hard to stomach? The servant who knows his masters will and does not do it will be beaten with many blows. The parable lines up exactly with what happened to Jonah when he knew the will of God and he refused to do it. Only after being severely disciplined by God did he submit to obeying God’s will. Those who disobey God’s will – they will suffer the consequences. Many of you know that experientially personally or with someone close to you.

4. You are blessed when you acknowledge and pursue God’s will. (vs.15) “Instead, you ought to say, ”if it is the Lord’s will, we will do this or that.” A strong desire to do God’s will is the mark of a transformed life. Acknowledging God’s will – obeying God’s will is the response of a true believer.

If someone does not care about the will of God ---- the do not care about discovering the will of God and most of all they care nothing about obeying the will of God….. then you have to ask if they have a genuine living saving faith.

Doing God’s will for the believer is an act of worship. It is to be done with the right heart and as a way of life and Jesus said in John 13:17 when a believer does the will of God --- “Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.” We all want God to bless us and we want the blessings of God but the blessings of God come with premise ----- doing the will of God.

Summary: The will of God is more about who we become. God’s primary will for a believer is to be totally and completely surrendered to him and not conformed to the pattern of this world. I know that it would be nice if God would reveal his will for us on every aspect of our lives, but God’s will is more about who we become than what decisions that we make. It would be so easy if through hearing this message I could give you an answer to the tough decisions that you are making in your life. I believe that knowing and understanding what God’s will is for our lives begins with who we are. If we want to know what God wants us to do, then we must first strive to live a life of conformity to Him. You could look at the will of God in three aspects. Briefly

The Will of God

. God has a moral will. The Scriptures teach that God has a moral will or a will for each and every one of us. In Second Peter we learn that God’s will is that all be saved and come to repentance. There is no person that it is not the will of God that they are saved. But not all are going to be saved. I Thessalonians 4:3 says It is God’s will that each of us strive to live a holy life so that our daily life may reach outsiders with the good news of Jesus Christ. We need to strive to be in God’s moral will for us. Many people want answers and direction to every aspect of their lives, but I believe the bible tells you that if you remain in the moral will of God other answers in your life will be more clear.

2. God has a circumstantial will. I think that God also has a circumstantial will that can change with the circumstances. It was God’s will at one point to destroy all the Israelites and begin again with Moses. God’s will though changed due to the circumstances. It was God’s will that King Hezekiah would die, but God’s will changed due to the circumstances. It is very interesting as well that both of those times God’s will changed with his people praying. But that does not mean that we must fall into the trap of thinking that praying changes God. In Acts 16 we learn that Paul and his companions did not enter a city called Bithynia because the Spirit would not let them because of some unknown circumstances, but rather God wanted them to go and preach in Macedonia. The will of God depends much on the circumstances surrounding a decision that we may make.

3. God has a permissive will. I believe that there are also decisions that we may make in life where God does not have a specific will for your decision. A lot of decisions we make fall within what God allows us to do and decide to do with our own free will. I do not believe however, that God’s will is the same for every person. What God’s will is for me may be different than God’s will for you. We are very unique people; each one of us is different and has different gifts and abilities, much of God’s will for what he would have us do depends on those gifts and talents that He has given to us. Perhaps today you are sitting here thinking over a decision that you are in the process of making. Perhaps you are sitting here wondering what God’s will is for your life. Perhaps you are wondering what God’s will is for you to do for Him or how you can serve Him. Maybe some of the teenagers here are wondering what God’s will is for them to do with their lives. I think that seeing the will of God depends on our character first of all and secondly on our willingness to follow the will of God. For some you may not like what you think God’s will is for you. The reality is we need to be willing to be open to the will of God and do it in our lives.

Prayer: