The Wonderful Will of God

Take your Bible and turn with me to James. We are still in our study in the book of James. Good works flow from good faith This morning we will be in James chapter 4 We're finishing up chapter 4 we will be in verse verses 13 through 17 James chapter 4 verses 13 through 17 In introducing this text this morning. I was reminded of a conversation that I had with a friend this week I was talking to him about some Christian things Bible things church things and and in the course of that conversation I began to reminisce and explain to him how God worked in my life What I mean by that is I begin to tell him how when I was saved I have given you my testimony many times I think that's something that we should never get over by the way But I was reminiscing about when God saved me it was in 1989 it was February the 9th of 1989.

I was saved on a Saturday night Now on Friday night, I'll tell you a team of wild horses couldn't have drug me to church But after Saturday night, I was ready to go to church and I got saved on that Saturday night I went home I I found that Bible in the top of my closet that someone had given me as a gift and I tell you that next Morning, I was in Sunday school That's my next morning I was there in the church and I had my Bible and my pen and I was ready to listen to what the man of God Had to say and I began to explain to my friend how nobody had to come find me I'm telling you Sunday morning. I was there Sunday night.

I was there Wednesday night I was there my church had an outreach and outreach and visitation every Tuesday night. I was there I'm telling you I was either sick or providentially hindered if you know what that means a lot of times people abuse that If we had revival meetings, I was there it didn't matter. I Was there at God's house with God's people doing God's work? And I'll tell you that is the will of God for all Christians. Is it not?

You know, I was reminiscing also with him and I thought about how that progressed and I was just serving God in the life of the church Volunteering after a period of time and just serving in whatever capacity It didn't matter if I got paid or got patted on the back I was serving but in the midst of that God called me into the gospel ministry I've shared that with you many times in the past But I never forget that night I was sitting there in the bleachers of Highland Baptist Church in the gym and the Lord had been using me in the student ministry And God singled me out and he used a portion of scripture and he spoke to my heart and he called and and I didn't wrestle With God resisting no, I wrestled with God over some personal things in my life.

And what am I sharing with you? I was able to hear the will of God discern the will of God and Step out into the will of God in gospel ministry Now what am I illustrating? to you this morning I Was able to discover the will of God as a new Christian I was able to follow the will of God in my life for the call of God on my life as I Walk with God and what I mean by that is each step of the way in my life I can sit you down and I can explain to you how I have followed the will of God in my life Not perfectly no But this morning what we're going to look at is the will of God for our lives and how it pertains to Us plugging into the life of the church.

I Ran across a good introductory statement by the Bible commentator John MacArthur He says nothing more clearly summarizes the character of a genuine believer than a desire to do the will of God This morning in James we're going to see and this is the title of the message the wonderful will of God which James is helping these Christians right here to understand Remember our context.

I know that can be that resounding gong for you These are Christians who've been scattered these are many different fellowships And what James is doing is he is teaching them correcting them rebuking them and he's helping them to understand now listen not just do but understand the Wonderful will of God for their life now I know you see the title of the message on the screen I trust that you would jot that down and you see our main truths this morning We see the main truths out of the text there on the screen and we will get to those here after we read the text So let's look at the scripture together Let's look at the scripture that together James chapter 4 starting in verse 13 Notice what James says he says come now you who say today or tomorrow We shall go to such and such a city and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit Then verse 14 yet.

You do not know what your life will be like tomorrow You are just a vapor that appears for a little while while and then vanishes a way Verse 15 instead you ought to say if the Lord wills we shall live and also do this or do that But as it is you boast in your arrogance all such boasting is evil Therefore to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it to him it is sin Like I said earlier we're going to understand and see the wonderful will of God And I'm gonna help us understand how it pertains to our Christian lives being plugged into the local Church just like James was doing to those local believers in the local church So let's look at main truth number one.

There was a tremendous Apathy and you can flesh that out a little more you can say there was a tremendous apathy There in the lives of some of these Christians look at verse 13 with me He says come now you say today or tomorrow we shall go to such-and-such a city and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit Now all of the translations that I refer to and you know, that's my habit I like to do that for you for your benefit Some of you have different translations in your hands and that's okay but all of the translations that I refer to Basically say the same thing there is not necessarily a particular keyword or a particular key phrase here in James's language Basically what we see here is James is trying to communicate a key idea James is trying to communicate a key thought Some of the Bible commentators that are read said that he seemed to be using again another Hypothetical situation but yet it pointed to a real issue in some of their lives I don't know if it's hypothetical or not But what we see is James is pointing out an apathy that is in their lives So let's break this verse down and let's see what he's saying.

I want you to notice first James was forceful in his approach James he was forceful in He is approached go back to the scripture. Look at the language. He says come now Come now now in the original this language is stern It's very stern James is calling for their immediate attention. It wasn't soft in our language You could say it like this James would have been saying listen, you better pay attention and you better get this What am I trying to show you? James's approach was forceful not rude not arrogant not berating But James was forceful.

It wasn't a suggestion Also, I want you to notice that they were ignoring God's will go back to the text He says come now you who say if this is hypothetical or not It really doesn't matter because he's identifying a real problem Notice what he says you who say this is in quotations in your Bible today or tomorrow? We shall go to such and such a city and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit What James is showing is that there were those they were ignoring the will of God and what this?

Possibly hypothetical situation is saying some of you are going off and you're doing your thing And James is showing that they were apathetic to the will of God. They were ignoring the will of God Now the language tells us that they were living their lives now listen in their everyday business with no regard to what God's will They were busy. They were busy in their everyday lives and it was a distraction Now here's my question. This goes back to the fact that James is trying to communicate a key idea What was the great sin here? We must ask ourselves that what was the great sin here? They were apathetic You can write that word down.

They were ignoring they were apathetic to the will of God They were ignoring the will of God for their lives They were too busy in their own affairs. I like how Warren Wiersby said it He says perhaps James is addressing the wealthy merchants in the assembly They might have discussed their business deals and boasted about their plans again. This is Hypothetical possibly but yet a real situation. I like how Warren Wiersby says it maybe using a little bit of imagination Maybe there were some wealthy individuals and they were just talking about how they were busy So what do we see here? What is their great sin? It was apathy.

It was ignoring the will of God now I want to ask you ask you a question Could we fall into this trap as well? I? Mean really let's be honest with ourselves Could we fall into the trap of being apathetic towards God's will even ignoring God's will Even ignoring God's work in God's plan in God's purpose I'll be honest with you.

I think this can be one of the greatest hindrances now listen to us as American Christians Why because we are blessed so much we have good jobs We have plenty of material possessions as a matter of fact we have plenty of food plenty of clothes in our closets We have plenty of opportunities for work and for pleasure We are busy are we not and I think that this can be really one of our greatest Distractions this could be one of the greatest traps to causing us to be Apathetic and cause us to ignore the will of God for our lives Now every culture struggles with different things by no means am I a Sociologist and I understand the different cultures on the face of the earth I have not traveled extensively But I think it's pretty easy to see that there are some people in the on the face of the earth They don't have many of the things that we have the many opportunities that we have But I don't think that it means that to face with the struggle with this it means you're rich Whether you're rich or poor you can fall into this trap now.

What was their trout? What was their sin there was an apathy they were ignoring the will of God? Now I want to pause here and take a little trip back This is to help us understand to help us apply remember When we were in James chapter 1 and remember when we got into verse chapter 1 verse 2 and we got into the three messages on trials and remember we learned that a trial can be positive or negative and Many of you have never heard it that way What I mean is many of you would have assumed that a trial is always negative But yet many times a trial can be positive a negative set of circumstances comes along that can be a trial but yet positive Circumstances can come along Opportunities can come along and those can be trials as well and remember the trial.

What was it to do? It was to test us it was to prove us and in that testing and in that proving It shows us for who we really are Go back to the verse our verse 13 Come now you say today or tomorrow We shall go to such and such city and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit This is all positive. Is it not? But yet it was obvious that there were some people in these fellowships. They had grown what?

Apathetic and they were ignoring the will of God the works of God why because they were just too busy doing some good things Maybe they were saving for retirements Maybe they were saving for a rainy day Maybe they were investing in their business. Maybe they were looking for that promotion What am I showing you? many things can what distract us and cause us to be Apathetic can cause us to ignore the will of God. Let's move on. Let's look at main truth number two Main truth number two there was a rebuke there was a Rebuke go back to verse 14 Notice how James changes a little what does he say yet?

You do not know what your life will be like Tomorrow you are just a vapor and appears for a little while and yet Vanishes away look at verse 15 instead you ought to say if the Lord wills We shall live and also do this or do that. He's building on what he said in verse 13 This turns into I believe a rebuke I think in verse 13 He is exposing the problem and now I think he is beginning to rebuke These people now again all of the translations that I have read say the same thing now I do like what the amplified Bible says it says yet you do not know The least thing about what may happen tomorrow What is James trying to communicate?

You say you're gonna travel here. You say you're gonna go there You're gonna spend a year here. You're gonna have business over there, but yet you do not know what tomorrow holds You don't even know what next week is gonna be like and your life is so short James is moving from revealing their apathy and ignoring the will of God. I think to a pretty strong Rebuke and he's revealing foolish behavior and foolish thinking again. This language is bold. It is direct He's not being soft-handed now.

Let's look down into these verses and let's notice some things first I want you to notice that James is saying that life is unpredictable Life it is unpredictable look at verse 14 yet. You do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. I Mean it's almost like if we could hear his voice he raises his voice Maybe he does use voice inflection to communicate. He's saying come on now you say tomorrow you say today You're gonna go here.

You're gonna go there, but you don't even know what tomorrow may hold This is a lengthy quote John MacArthur says some good stuff here, and I want you to listen Life is a metric matrix of forces events people contingencies and Interstances over which we have little or nor no control Making it impossible for anyone to ascertain design or assure any specific future Despite that some people foolishly imagine that they are in charge of their lives is that not true What is James saying life it is unpredictable I Want you to notice what he also teaches and that is life.

It is short look at verse 15 instead you ought to say Excuse me go back to verse 14 you are a Let me read verse 14 all of it the beginning of it yet You do not know what your life may be like tomorrow notice now You are just a vapor and appears for a little while and then it what it vanishes away What is he teaching life is short life is unpredictable But yet now life is short. I want you to listen to what the psalmist says as a matter of fact.

This is King David Psalm 103 verses 15 through 16 David says as for man His days are like the grass as a flower of the field and so he flourishes Yet when the wind has passed over it it is no more David understood that life is short As a matter of fact it goes on to say in the scriptures in the book of Job Job chapter 7 verse 6 Job says my days are swifter than the weavers shuttle and come to an end without hope James understood excuse me job understood that life is short And there are numerous places in the scripture that talk about the brevity of life. What am I trying to show you?

James is Rebuking them what was James trying to teach them what was in this rebuke? It is very very Simple you do not know what tomorrow holds and as a matter of fact you don't even know how quick your life will be gone It would appear that some of them and the fellowships had a lot going on It would appear that they had their lives well planned their futures charted It would appear that many there would have said they got things right there in the palm of their hand But yet James is issuing a strong rebuke saying you don't have a clue You have fooled your sales Now I want to ask you a question Can we fall into this wrong thinking as well?

Can we fall into thinking that you know we just have it all planned out. We have our future Mapped we know what tomorrow will be like next month will be like next year will be like Could we be falling into the same trap? I? Think that many of us as good hard-working Americans can fall into this trap You know we know just how long our career will be we just we know just when the retirement age will be We know what our investments are going to be like we've got everything planned out.

We've got our funerals planned out We've got our wheels written we we know when we're going to transition into that retirement home And you know are all those things bad know are all those things are in our innately evil No, but what James is attacking is this? Misunderstanding that you can have everything under control James is saying you don't even know what tomorrow will hold you don't even know how long your life will be Again, I've mentioned this lately just because it's been on my mind and brother Keith mentioned it earlier my friend Ray who lost his wife I went to that funeral this week on Thursday Brother Keith went to the funeral home Wednesday night when he mentioned her age and he mentioned her length of sickness She was 47 battle cancer for 10 years so therefore she had it when she was 37 and was married for 27 years so young So young but yet life was gone life was taken away.

Did they plan for that? No? What am I showing you? Examples like that show us that in a moment Everything can be different Here recently we heard of several young people who died in a terrible automobile accident They had life in the palm of their hands one minute and yet it is tragically gone the next moment those life real life Examples show us what that life is unpredictable and life is short But yet we must now listen close get to what the word of God says It's one thing for circumstances to tell us that but yet when the word shows us this and we truly believe it It will cause us now listen To adjust our apathy to the will of God And I think what James is saying is you better tighten up You better get neck deep in the will of God because you might not have tomorrow to do it Let's move on let's notice main truth number three I Want us to see that there was a rejection You might even write it down that there was a terrible rejection Let's notice verse 16 What does he say but as it is you boast in your arrogance all such boasting is evil Therefore to the one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it to him to him it is sin Now again all of the translations that I read basically say the same thing But all of the translations use the word boast there in verse 16 and all of the translations use the word sin in verse 17 James is still revealing James Listen is still rebuking and James is still exposing and again.

He is being bold and he is being Confrontational now I want you to notice first They were boastful go back to the text But as it is you boast But as it is you are arrogant is what he's saying They were boastful the amplified reads, but as it is you boast falsely in your Presumption and in your self conceit these words just fall on top of one another to show us that they were boastful They presumed they were conceited they were prideful They were boastful now this word boastful now listen in the original it means to speak loudly it means to brag They seem to have it all they seem to have it all figured out and listen they were bragging about it We're gonna go do this we're gonna go do that we got it all figured out Warren Riersby says that their boasting only reveals their weakness But yeah, they didn't even know it so I want you to see that they were boastful they were Rejecting the will of God and they were boastful and didn't even know it also I want you to notice that that they were sinful They were sinful go back to the verse, but as it is you boast in your arrogance now notice what he says all Such boasting is evil They were sinful verse 16 tells us James says that their behavior is evil The English Standard Version the King James it reads the word evil now just how evil was this behavior?

I mean go back to the verse, but as it is you boast in your arrogance all such boasting is evil I mean was James saying that it was naughty Listen that word evil when it in the original language this word is always Used as a title for Satan all through the scripture. That's context So what do we see here go back to the verse? But that but as it is you boast in your arrogance all such boasting is Evil and not only is it evil. It's the same word that is used to describe Satan.

That's how evil it is That's how sinful it is But also still thinking about this fact that they were sinful notice in verse 17 Therefore to one who knows the right thing to do and he does not do it to him it is sin James says that they knew the good to do, but they were apathetic and they ignored it But I want you to see that James in verse 17 is telling us that there are two types of people involved in this sinfulness See they were boastful then they were sinful verse 16 shows us that they were sinful They were acting evil, but verse 17 shows this that some of them knew the good But some didn't and I want you to see this there were two people in verse 17 There were those who knew better They knew what James was saying They understood what James is saying when they read or they heard preach what James was saying the Spirit of God's Convicting them and God's saying son you knew this But yet there's the other person who did not know it and they were sinning in ignorance Go back to verse 17 therefore to the one who knows the right thing So James is alluding to the fact that there were some who knew what James was saying, but yet they understood it But yet some that didn't know they were sinning in ignorance But yet it was still sin So what am I showing you?

I'm showing you that they were sinful They were boastful and in that what they were doing was they were Rejecting the will of God it wasn't just that they were apathetic and ignoring James goes on the show to show us just how sinful their behavior was it was evil James was trying to teach them that they were rejecting God's will and it was a terrible condition of the heart and I like how he uses these words Arrogate boastful why because it shows us that they were loudly Proclaiming we've got it all figured out now again a question Could we fall into this type of behavior? Could we reject God's will and be arrogant and boastful?

Could we be in a place where we say, you know, we've got it all figured out We're gonna do this and we're gonna do that and therefore ignore the will of God and therefore reject the will of God. I Would think that there were two types of people here some of you know better Some of you you have walked with God and loved God and serve God long enough To be able to discern the will of God and do the will of God and love God and be in the center of God's will But yet I think that there are some of you that you possibly might not see that you could be Distracted that you could be engrossed in the things of life and have an apathetic attitude and without even know it Ignore the will of God for your life and be in sin and not know it And I'm gonna tell you this is a terrible thing Because listen if we do not live in the center of God's will Then we will never be all that God wants us to be But yet I also want to say it like this if we are not in the center of God's will and Running our race to win the race Then we are being Disobedient to what James is teaching right here the time of the message this morning is what the wonderful will of God?

But what makes it so wonderful is when we are in the will of God and we are Striving hard to do the will of God. We are just like Paul. We run the race not to finish Not not to finish but to win See in the introduction I use myself in illustrating God's will in relating to church and church life now listen What is the context the context is the life of the local church?

And I want to remind you the center of God's working on the face of the earth is the local church That is the point of origin for all of God's work God starts in the work of the local church, and then he spreads out into the world That's why when I talk about our friend Luke is he does missions work in India That's why when we're involved in that work there. Where is the point of origin? It is the local church He goes out from his local church. He has sent over He is sent out into the farm mission field and he comes back to that local church.

It has an origin the local church And see the context right here is the local church And let me show you where I'm trying to go these principles and these truths Listen, they can be applied to so many places in our life But it all comes back to our involvement the listen in doing the will of God Serving God loving God being involved in kingdom life and let me tell you something church If you are walking with God if you're in the center of God's will you will be plugged into the local church?

Let me repeat that if you are walking with God and you're serving God and you're in obedience to God You will be plugged into the local church It might be a big church. It might be a little church might be a city church might be a rural church It might be a house church. It might be a church. It has a building. It doesn't matter You will be in the center of God's will in plugging your life into the local church See that's the context See the mistake a lot of people make is is they read these scriptures and they learn these principles and they run out They apply the things in their life and they miss the point James is dealing with people in the church and what is he saying?

You're off doing this you're off doing that You're running here. You're running there and you're not doing the will of God Now in conclusion I Want to show you some areas where people now listen miss? God's will now. Let me repeat this. I Want to show you some areas where people miss God's will and look in missing God's will in certain areas of their life It robs them of their ability to be useful to God I Think if I were to take a poll here this morning every one of you would say yes I want to be useful to God and look I want to show you Areas of your life where if we miss the will of God we will not know it, but we'll be off doing business We will be all for a year and we won't be useful If you take notes write this down I want you to write one word relationships relationships See I've seen Christians many times they will have friends and They will have friends who will distract them in their wall They will distract them in their life and they will distract them from their ability to do the will of God now as born-again Christians we must relate to many different people as we live our life We relate to those people who were Christians and we relate to those people who are neighbors And we relate to those people who are lost and we relate to our old friends Maybe from high school or our new friends, but what we must do is we must make sure that our Friendships do not distract us from pursuing the will of God for our lives I Think about another word under this relationships and that is family You know this can be the most difficult Sometimes your own family will distract you from doing the will of God sometimes the ones that you love the most But yet what happens is you have to come to a point you have to come to a point where you will say I Love God more than my mother more than my father more than my brother more than my sister more than my grandparents I love God more than my family But isn't that what Jesus said if you're gonna follow me you must love me supremely But yet I've seen it a Lot of times, you know people just don't want to disappoint mama.

Oh They just don't want to disappoint daddy. Oh They don't they just don't want to disappoint their siblings. What am I showing you? These are relationships that can hinder you in being obedient to the will of God I Think about another word that deals with this relationships And that is marriage You know most young people want to grow up and get married some of the young girls want to get married a little sooner And some of those young boys might not they just are a little hesitant to get caught sometimes But you know a lot of times people who say they love God end up marrying the wrong person I Tell you what if you want to ruin your life for doing the will of God you marry the wrong person I Never forget years ago before I was married and before God called me in the ministry My wife and I helped teach the college Sunday School class and I remember we had a young lady in that class She used to cry and lament and I never counsel young girls unless I was with Christie And she would cry and lament and talk about warning the things of God morning the things of God But yet she just didn't want to walk with God and live for God and I used to listen to her cry and lament and Crying lament and finally I just got bold with her one day and I sat down we were talking and I said sweetheart What you're wanting God to do is bring you a great and wonderful guy He loves God serves God wants to do the will of God you're wanting God to bring that guy to you And you're wanting God to curse him Because you don't want to love God you don't want to serve God and you don't want to walk with God you want to hold On to your sin she looked at me Marrying the wrong person will ruin someone's ability to do the will of God listen relationships Will ruin you rob you it will cause you to walk with a limp in doing the will of God I'm gonna tell you I ask you you evaluate Relationships in your life and if one relationship Causes you not to be able to do the will of God wholeheartedly You must question that relationship now you can't walk out of a marriage.

No You can't be abusive to your mom and your dad no You can't stick your tongue out at him and say I love God more No, you honor them and love them respect them But yet you got to love Jesus and his work and his church and the will of God more What's the context the life of the local church? These people were being sucked out of the church why because they were going to this city They were going to that city.

We're gonna stay over here and do this and do that So that word relationships, I want you to write down another word and this word is job Now work is good I'm for it Somebody should work rather than be a leech off the church and leech off society. Let's don't go there We'll get into politics and we'll be here all day But our jobs sometimes can hinder us from doing the will of God I've seen people through the years now And I'm not against progress. I'm not against advancement. I'm not against moving up the ladder I'm not against going from an employee to the boss man.

I'm not against the pay raise No, I'm not against those things but yet we must always evaluate those opportunities and ask ourselves and ask the Lord if that will hinder us from doing the will of God Now I'm not gonna sit here and say that if you have God's job you're gonna be here every week There are some people who have certain professions. Maybe they're a nurse, you know, there are times that that's just that's life That was going on in the first century But we must ask ourselves if our jobs hinder us from doing the will of God I've known people they work way off.

They just couldn't do the will of God but yet I've known people who who sacrificed and made good decisions So they can be close to their church and close to the work of God and close to where God's put them Why so they could do the will of God? And I want to ask you evaluate your job. Is the paycheck worth it? Is the raise worth it? Is the promotion worth it? I'd rather be dirt poor and be able to do the will of God Now I can say this because I live it I'm my vocational I'm proud of it and I'm thankful But I do what I do because it does not hinder me from doing the work of God in my life. I've had job opportunities. I Don't say that arrogant.

Yeah, I've sat down with men and they've offered me jobs. I want you to come do this I want you to come do that. I say no, I can't do it. I Had a man about a year ago offer me a job. It was something I would have loved to have done It would have been an enjoyable field It would have been right up my alley and I looked at him and I said I could pray about doing it But I can only work three days a week in doing that.

He said no, I gotta have you full time Because my job cannot hinder me from my call The third word I want you to write down is the word hobby You know, we're Americans we love our hobbies in there, right There's nothing wrong with a hobby I Can be a good thing we need it sometimes Matter of fact my first church where I served the pastor that I had his name's Allen Woodward. He's passed on I Never forget Allen Woodward. He had been having some health problems and he went to the doctor and the doctor gave him Check up the doctor looked at him and said well, Alan you're in your mid 50s. You work seven days a week You work all the time.

You don't have a hobby and you never take a day off And he said start taking a day off and get a hobby The next thing I know I looked up and the preacher on Fridays would come through and walk through the church he'd be in his fishing clothes He needed a hobby But you know our hobbies sometimes can distract us from doing the will of God can they not I Don't want to go down that road too far because of time I could keep going I just jotted those three words down relationships jobs hobbies I Think the Holy Spirit of God could teach you and lead you a little more. What am I trying to show you?

We must Examine those things that are in our lives They can pull us here and there and everywhere and these can be good things These can be things that we can be proud of I'm telling you But if we're not careful, they will pull us over here. They will pull us over there and we cannot do the will of God and let me tell you if you Organize your life purposefully if you pray over every aspect of your life Diligently if you evaluate if you turn over every rock and you allow the Holy Spirit of God to shine in every dark corner Every motivation every decision every choice every desire and you perfectly line up your life in the will of God for you Let me tell you It's nothing more than wonderful That's why I call it the wonderful will of God Because when I am in the will of God when I am walking with God and serving God I might not know what tomorrow holds.

It's wonderful It's beautiful It's something to be cherished and see let's go back to the text. What does he say? Come on now Come on you say I'm gonna go here tomorrow. I'm gonna go to this city. I'm gonna spend a year over here I'm gonna be involved in this business. What is he saying? He's saying what are you doing? You're missing out But instead verse 15, what does he say instead you ought to say if the Lord wills We shall live here if the Lord wills will do this and that what what is he saying there in verse 15 as I conclude It's under his lordship So the wonderful will of God Let's buy our heads.

Let's close our eyes We're going to sing a Verse Wrapping up our service in a moment