Books of James & Jude - Self sufficiency vs. reality - James 4:13-17
James 4:13-17 · Bob Eckel · Aug 18, 2013
James & Jude, No. 32
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926359276281

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Alright, so we're going to be looking at James 4.13-17 today. We're going to finish it up. But what I'd like to do today to read into this is we're going to begin with verse 13. We're going to read down through James 5.5. This is a real transition in James. And, you know, the chapters and verses are not eternally given. I mean, that's a human thing, right?

Where James 4.17 becomes James 5.1. So we've got to keep in mind the theme that we're about, and we'll be picking up two weeks from now on James 5 as a continuation of the theme that we're looking at today.

So, Al, could you read that for us, James 4.13 through James 5.5, please?

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. Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you, and will eat your flesh like fire.

You have heaped up treasure in the last days. Indeed, the wages of the laborers who mow your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury. You have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter.

Alright, good. Do you see that theme being kind of continued into chapter 5? I mean, these verses are all kind of in a way. All right, so verses 13 and 14 are combined because the thought here is a continuous one. It says, come now, you who say today or tomorrow we're going to go to such and such a city, spend a year there, and we'll look at such and such a city as what that specifically refers to, buy and sell and make a profit, whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. from what is your life.

It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. We were up at a neighbor's house for dinner last night and this issue of how life can be brief came up and I said, gee, it's interesting. I'm talking about this and I didn't seem to get a lot of attention. I thought maybe that was an open door but it proved not to be.

The question here is, have you noticed this transition? What were we dealing with last week? Remember? Well, this whole issue of judging the brethren, right? And now we're transitioning into materialism. And that's why going through James 5.5 finishes this little section of James in terms of dealing with that aspect of the human existence. Now, there's some interesting questions that come out here. I really want to have a discussion this morning about what some of your thoughts are.

Anyway, this theme, again, continues to James 5.5, a point I just made, and that's what we read this morning. What do you think is the audience or who is the audience to which this is being addressed? Is this all believers? Who's James' audience? Well, we know at the very beginning he talks about the Jewish believers who are scattered abroad. And then certainly he talks to the brethren. But actually this section, you begin to wonder if he's really talking to believers here.

Because it comes out very hard. Some of the actions seem to be like, wow. Is that a believer? Well, here's what Macaulay thinks. Macaulay suggests that this refers to the itinerant Jewish traitors within the ecclesia who have serious doctrinal errors. Now, whether these are believers or not, or whether or not they're unbelievers who are cloaked in, quote, the body, is unclear, but at least if they're believers, they're clearly doctrinally unsound. That's what Macaulay thinks, and I found some other evidence for that, too.

It's kind of interesting as we were thinking about the Jewish nation as we know it today in terms of the historic tradition of the Jew in terms of their interest in economy and finance and profit. It does kind of fit this itinerant Jew with a worldly view, doesn't it? Many of them were engaged in foreign traffic and for this purpose made long journeys to distant trading cities. And some of the examples that were given in some of the commentaries were Alexandria, Antioch, Ephesus, Corinth, Phoenicia, Thessalonica. So these are all places where these itinerant Jewish leaders, presumably flawed in a bit in terms of doctrine, were going to look into investments and ultimately profitable engagements.

And today means, by the way, this very day. And tomorrow means tomorrow. That means the very day after today. This is not saying, oh, today means sometime next week. I mean, this is kind of an impromptu activity that these Jewish traders, in fact, would, in fact, be engaged in. So this, although written to, presumably, the entire body of Christ, I think in context, it seems to be written to a minority, perhaps, or maybe a major minority or a significant minority of the body. that James was addressing here.

Go to is kind of interesting here, and it's in James 5.1, so I'll read James 5.1 again. You got that in front of you? Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you.

Okay, so that's James 5.1, so the go to is probably come here.

And three times in Genesis 11, 3 through 7, concerning the building of Babel, We don't have to go there, but this concept of a tower and profits and gain is really ingrained here. Thus this could represent the apostate Jewish system of worship, a city and a tower in the midst of its vineyard. And in the Isaiah and Matthew passages, I don't think we need to turn to them, but they're both kind of planting a vineyard and ultimately resolving in the profits that relate to building a tower. And so this kind of concept of Gain is one of economic and non-spiritual gain. So I think that's kind of in context what we're probably dealing with here.

This going to the city to make a profit really deals with this concept of earthly strength and power and obviously margin, financial margin. And all Jewish temples were built using Gentile labors, of course it was Babylon. I think that's kind of interesting.

I mean, Babel was built by Gentiles. Of course, the Jewish nation wasn't in existence when Babel was built. So I mean, the Jewish nation didn't come until later. But in terms of the tradition of powers, it was not those who were called of God as a nation initially before Abraham, before Moses, but those who in fact had this type of aspiration, were in that line or lineage of the Lord Jesus Christ through the Jewish nation, ultimately used Gentiles. And I think that in context kind of relates to the tradition that we think about today a little bit in terms of the Jew, his power, and his financial status. But the question that we have here, does any of this depend on God? I mean, there's no evidence that this type of activity is really eternally based. This is really entirely a human kind of materialistic approach that doesn't seem to be ingrained in spiritual direction.

Bob, in that verse 13, he really has a plan. He has a goat today, tomorrow. He has it all mapped out from manly's perspective. I'm going to do this, I'm going to make gain and God's not in the equation at all in that passage. You had a question that comes up in terms of earthly goals and gains and things like that. We have to put that into perspective and I think we're going to get there at the end of the verse in terms of washing in vapor. That doesn't mean I think we don't make plans, but I think the basis of our plans and what the source of them is the issue here, not necessarily making a profit.

To know here is to be acquainted with or to understand. If you look back at the first Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. So this knowing is kind of really any in-depth understanding about what tomorrow is going to bring. That's true of each and every one of us. None of us know or are acquainted with what tomorrow is going to bring.

We can have some expectations. And I don't know about you, but when I have expectations, they're often disappointed. So over time, that tends to put a little bit of a damper on being overly expected of either behavior or things, including my children, or maybe even a martyr.

OK, so the question I ask is a fairly redundant one. Is the intent here anything but rash and presumptuous? I mean, no. I mean, the intent is anything but godly. And that's where the criticism is coming from James in the epistle. And I've seen some label it as the sin of distraction. Anybody get bogged down with the sin of distraction? Like Kappa Kappa Gamma parties? That was recorded too.

It's amazing in our world. The world system is very distracted. It's busy, busy, busy, going this way, going here. Throughout the Bible. particularly in the Old Testament, where God refers to himself as a jealous God, and idols are talked about. And many people read that and think, oh, we don't have idols because they're thinking about little statues like the Buddhists sitting in shrines over in Asia. And that isn't it at all.

I like your saying, sin of distraction. Anything that takes away your focus from the life that you have in Christ, And sometimes those can be very good things. They don't have to be what people think of as the bad. Right, we're going to come to the way we overcome these kind of sins of distraction at the end of the lesson. I mean, you know, we can't get overly legal about this either. I mean, you know, there's reason to believe that a prophet's not always bad, you know, with the feet of our household and other things. I guess the question is where are the priorities and what manner are you walking in here, right?

Jesus kept pointing back to the attitude. And his disciples, of course, were all hung up on the idea that The rich were rich because God blessed them. And Jesus pointed out, no, that wasn't necessarily true. They were rich because they took advantage of opportunities, whether legally or illegally, morally or immorally.

And the same today. You can have somebody who piles up millions and gives 90% back to God in Thanksgiving, like a liturno. And you can have others pile it up and say, it's still not enough, I need a dollar more, like Rockefeller's famous quote. We're naming names here. Well, sometimes it helps cement it in place, but I'm not a judge of where they are today. We happen to be watching on the History Channel, we get Netflix, and so Rockefeller's in there, and he's kind of a There's a big point where he goes to meet with Carnegie and that's kind of changed his life because he made this deal with Carnegie.

But he has this event where his life is spared. The train he was going to go on goes off a cliff and everybody dies in the train. So he's profoundly affected by that. But his whole interaction with people is just... Doggy Dog, he just revenges much of his life. I think he taught Sunday school. He definitely had a disconnect between his personal and business life. His spiritual life and his business life.

Boy. What church was this? I don't know. Baptist, I think it was. It was Baptist. I'm not sure. Oh boy. Let's get back to James here. We're going to talk about him anyway. So Isaiah 5611 is a nice verse that I kind of thought was really related to this text.

They are greedy dogs which can never have enough and they are shepherds that cannot understand. They all look in their own ways, every man for basically for himself. Everyone for his own gain from his quarter. So the concept of a very self-focused existence here.

I think we all today get reminded of this kind of mindset. It's all in the flesh, it's all in the Adam nature. And remember Israel is an earthly nation. So this is really appealing to the itinerant Jew who in fact is inadequately doctrinally based. I mean you can kind of see where this goes. But I think it exists in the body today. I mean this is unique to this particular time.

How often do you think your life is a vapor? As you get older, I think... This is a modifier, a constant, an equation, right? Age always plays into this. I think you do. I think young people take life for granted more so than older people. But yet, things can happen quickly, can't they? Well, you see your infirmities as you get older. You see how quickly you can go from... you know, reasonably good help, and just like that, it seems like something will appear and all of a sudden you're, you know...

Well, we learned about it. I probably, after the clinic, I was opening my email before I went home, and I learned of the death of a fairly good friend in Los Angeles, a black man, who was very capably effective and very pleasant and... and congenial who worked for a company that makes an LVLA phoresis machine.

Those are machines that remove cholesterol in people that can't get their cholesterol down. Anyway, he became not only a person I worked with professionally, but also a friend. When you come in town, ultimately we can't have companies take us out anymore. Margaret and I would take him out. We must have had five or six meals over the years with my shiny diet.

Suddenly, And I mean, there's a vapor. I mean, unexpected death versus that that's expected. Different kind of equations and different kind of expectations and outcomes, but yet still the vapor, right? When I think of a vapor, I think it can be quick, right? I mean, what's a vapor? I mean, that's the way the Lord has stated that our lives are like vapors.

Of course, that's in terms of eternity. And in eternity, remember, no timeline. So, compared to eternity, which is infinite in terms of understanding, the vapor is just for a second. So, I think we need to reflect on this more often, not in a negative sense, but more in a positive sense. Each day we are thanked for the Lord leaving us here, but as Paul said, for me to live is Christ and die is gain, so either way you win. For a believer, the idea of a vapor is a good thing because in terms of eternity, it's a brief time. But in fact, in terms of being with the Lord Jesus Christ, it's not. So let's look at a few of these. I think these are reflective. So I'm going to go around the room and let's go from back to forward.

So James 1.10, Job. Inger, why don't you take all the verses of Job.

So 7, 9, and 14 in Psalm 90. 1 Peter 1.24.

So who had James 1.10? Go ahead Pat. because as the flower of the field he will pass away. Okay, so Job 7, 6, and 7. My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle. They come to an end without hope. Remember, O God, that my life is but a breath. My eyes will never see happiness again.

Okay, Donna? Okay. Job 9, 25 and 26. Now my days are swifter than a run. They flee away, they see no good. They slip by like reed boats, like an eagle that swoops on its prey. All right. I don't want to walk in 14 minutes. Job comes after Genesis. Just go to Psalms and then back up. Yeah, I know. I was trying to do that.

Man who is born of a woman is short-lived and full of turmoil. Like a flower, he comes forth and withers. He also flees like a shadow and does not remain. Psalm 90, 5-7. Now carries them away, and out of blood they are as of sleep. In the morning they are like grass, which groweth up. In the morning it flourishes and groweth up. In the evening it is cut down and withereth. For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled.

And now the final verse, 1 Peter 1.4. poetic license and add the end of it. All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers and its flower falls away, but the word of the Lord endures forever.

Okay, good. I wanted to have the context. It's good. It's good to remind us of what the ultimate truth is. The vanishing away is, you know, in just the literal translation, a snatch out of sight, destroyed consumes. I mean, it's pretty pretty immediate and also its ultimate termination.

You know, in fact this vapor, remember the appeal of this passage is not to the one walking in the Lord Jesus Christ. I mean, we can be reminded that life is like a vapor, but I think we're lifted up by the power of the Spirit. It's those who are led astray and in fact not focused in on the truth of the Word of God and His great grace, ultimately they need to be reminded. And maybe that reminder of life being a vapor can redirect them spiritually. It's been my experience, and I'm sure yours too Bob, that people outside the war don't want to look at things like this. They want to go to some other topic. They don't want to talk about this.

I mean the three basic questions I think that every man who has the intelligence to ask them needs to ask. Who am I? Where did I come from? And where am I going? I mean everybody must be asking that question sometime, someplace. I guess if you live in Thailand, I guess you turn to Buddha for those answers. I mean the question is related to your culture and your parents and your environment. The Lord says, I'm the only way. I'm the way, the truth, and the life. Nobody comes to the Father except by me.

As Christianity, we have to be narrow-minded. That's really tough, I think, evangelistic in terms of if we turn to an unsaved world. We seem dogmatic. We seem arrogant. We seem like we have all the answers. In fact, as we have the answers, we're made more humble. We don't have them all, but we certainly know that what we believe in is the only path.

But this question of life being a vapor has to come up in everybody's mind at some point in time. And this kind of relates to what I just said. Does this produce fear or comfort, the idea of life being a vapor? Not to quibble with your word, but I know for me, it might be a comfort in the sense of thinking that my physical disabilities are not It's going to be long term, Ingrid's mom situation, things like that. But I think more commonly, it brings humility. Sure. And tied in with this passage, I think. That's an appropriate thought because the rich get arrogant, as this passage says. Look what I've done. Look what I've accumulated. Look at all this stuff I have. I see that bumper sticker.

He who has the most toys wins. I have a son who believes that. Sadly, he's made a shambles of his life so far because that's his direction and not The question comes up here is what I have on the screen next. Is there anything wrong with making a profit? I mean, so we put that in perspective. Let's discuss that for a second. It's really the motives in it. I mean, I think the Lord expects those who have been more successful financially in their lives ultimately are in a better position to give unto the ministries.

Remember the principle of giving for the body is being a cheerful giver. That's the only principle. Isn't that neat? The fact that we don't pass an offering plate here is one of the greatest evidences of the sound doctrine we operate in at this church.

The Lord's going to meet the needs of the ministry by free and cheerful giving. Just personal testimony. Since I retired and started looking for things that would be useful to do now that I'm don't have any responsibilities. No wives, no pets, no problems. This has been a very real thing and the Lord has emphasized it in my heart and brain strongly.

To whom much is given, much is required. There's all kinds of principles in scripture that relate to, if God's given you talent, you use it for Him. If He's given you money, use it for Him. It doesn't really matter whether it's something in your personality, or your training, or your retirement fund, or whatever. It's all really the same principle in operation.

And God asks us, each one, to see that and to realize we are a conduit through which we can bless those around us and can build up the faith in the brothers and can bring others to faith who don't know the Lord. It's a wonderful shared thing in the body to use all the expressions of all the people to accomplish God's work.

I think you brought up something that's really critically important and that's that we're under grace not law, but yet God's principles from Genesis to Revelation never change. So we're not tied to his principles through law, we're now tied to him through grace which is a greater capability than under law. The law is meant to really condemn and convict. When we are under law we always fail. The concept of a cheerful giver is God's principles played out under grace. Grace is the vehicle. And that's a whole different ballgame.

So I don't think, in answer to the question, I don't think there's anywhere in scripture where a profit is wrong. It's just the motives by which it's achieved and kind of what we do with it. Okay, good. And by the way, gain, interestingly enough, that term gain is only really used for financial gain here in the New Testament.

All the other gains really relate to spiritual gains. Let's look at 1 Corinthians 9, 21, 22. Pat, could you take a look at that? And, Devani, how about Philippians 3, 8? These are exemplary of other places in the New Testament where, in fact, gain is spiritual gain. 1 Corinthians 9? 9, 21, and 22, Pat.

To those who are without law, as without the law, not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ, that I might win those who are without law. To the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might be, that I might by all means save some.

Yeah, and that win there is the same word as gain. So he's winning them spiritually, those under law, how interesting in relationship to this passage. I mean, even though these iteric Jews, presumably, the law wasn't even working in their lives. But nevertheless, I mean, that winning that Paul talks about is getting people out from law under grace, but also winning souls for the Lord Jesus Christ. Avani, walk us through it.

More than that, I count all things to be lost in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ. Again, the principle of gain for the believer is gaining the Lord Jesus Christ and all that he's about. And of course it's just not gaining Christ, it's the spirit led by faith that ultimately that life is demonstrated in each and every one of us. The principle is God calls us to himself by faith and the underlying foundation is grace. So what are the motives? And I think that's the issue here for the Prophet. It's the motives for the Prophet, ultimately, not the Prophet itself. There's nothing here criticizing Prophet. It's just the underlying motives that we're dealing with.

James 4.15, for that ye ought to say, if the Lord will, ye shall live and do this or that.

So this is the alternative to verse 13. And what does verse 13 say? come now, you who say today or tomorrow will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell and make a profit. And this says, for you should have said, if the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that. So this is kind of the contrary to what was said in verse 13.

And the verb tense is really important. Say, for that ye ought to say is active present. This is what you should be saying, present active. and will is active-error subjunctive, it could be, and shall live and do is active-future indicative, that's factual. So I think the verb tense is, if the Lord wills, and by the way he could will and doesn't will, based on your ability to receive his will, and then the shall live and do is active-future and indicative. that we shall live and do this means that it's going to happen, you're part of it and it's factual. So if the Lord wills and by faith you accept his will, this is going to occur. Because that's the way the body lives. By act of faith, the Lord willing. Now by the way, the Lord doesn't will whether we buy a white Chev or a black Ford. I really think he gives us a lot of freedom.

We were talking on Friday night about Paul in Romans 7, talking about things I want to do I don't do and the things I do are things I don't want to do. Who's talking there? It's not the old man or the new man, it's Paul the person. And if you will, Roy had a lot of trouble with this, but I think Paul is amoral there. It's Paul the person. You know, Al, you're a person in Christ and in the old man. You're still Al. And Vani's Vani. She's a woman who's got a personality and she's in the Lord Jesus Christ, but we all have an old nature. Paul would like to do what the Lord is directing me to, but I, Paul, am doing this other stuff because I've fallen to the law. I think that's what we're talking about here.

I, by faith, look to God's will to be working out in me every detail of my existence. We have a mind. God knows we have a human mind and a brain to make decisions that are based on information. Nothing sinful about that. That's just the action of the human nature living in the flesh. But I think it's really important. God's will isn't to be perfected in every last detail. He gives us a lot of freedom to make choices. And the question is, who's operating within us to make those choices? I think you can really get overly technically detailed about how God's will is manifested and we'll talk more about this.

The verb tenses after we indicate our dependence on him. So these verb tenses we just reviewed relate to that relationship. Now the question, how do we know God's will? I mean this section of James we could spend months on, right? Like Hal spent three years on Galatians 2, twenty years on it. Barth says there is nothing on which the success of our plans depends over which we have absolute control. There is nothing, therefore, on which we can base the assurance of success but his favor. Agree or disagree with what Barnes has to say.

No response. Students are always afraid there's some catch somewhere. I don't have the answer today. I'm not sure I know exactly what he's trying to get across here. I put this up as a quiz. Let's go on. I have a question. I'm okay with some of this, but we have Lord and helper here, so let's go. We'll come back to this if we want.

First Corinthians 419, but I will come to you shortly if the Lord will and will know, not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power. So Paul is saying if the Lord wills that I would come to you, but in fact does the Lord create the circumstances for Paul to go? I don't think, the Lord is allowing us to make choices and the circumstances worked out that it was the Lord's will because Paul responded to his ability to make the decision. You know, getting home from church today, you're going to have to get in the vehicle, turn on the ignition, and push the accelerator. The Lord is not going to take you to your home. And I think that doesn't mean God can't do that. It's just that's not the way He operates.

People often talk about open and closed doors. And sometimes along the way, some young people who are just starting out on their careers say, well, how will I know whether to take this job or that job? And I tell them, If it's in line with Scripture and the door opens, take it as God's will.

And if He doesn't want you to do that, He will redirect you as you're moving. I always liked the Scripture that talked about why you are moving. I endeavored to go over into Macedonia or into Asia and the Lord hindered me and then I had a vision of man of Macedonia saying come Lord.

So Paul was active, he was doing, but he was sensitive to God's working in his life to direct. If you look at 1 Corinthians 11, Paul says, Be ye like me as I also am in Christ. So Paul's life was energized by the Holy Spirit. He was created a new creation in Christ Jesus. And by faith, the power of the Spirit ultimately helped him make decisions. It proved to be God's will.

So are we waiting for God's will to show up and tell us exactly what to do? I don't think so. I think Christ himself said about his will, I mean, actually Paul said it reflected what Christ himself said, and we'll turn to that in a second about the work of God. Romans 8, 28, 29, we don't need to turn there. Do we all know those verses? What's God's will? He conformed to his image?

Yeah, it's very simple. And the life experience is fairly complex. Because there's a lot of trial and error, isn't there? But yet God's will is to conform us to the image of his Son. I think that's what Paul meant when he said, be ye like me, not because I'm such a great guy, it's because I'm in Christ and that's what I want of the brethren. And his will isn't a nice smooth path. His will is bumpy and trials and tribulations. but that's all part of His will to conform you to the image of Christ.

So it's not the smoother path or the rough path, that while I'm on the wrong path, it's not smooth. No, you're probably, maybe you're on exactly the right path, but it has bumps. And there's nobody that talks about trials and tribulations perhaps as much as James does, right? I was going to say, you're going right back to James 1, count it all joy when you're on, because God is not testing it for your downfall, He's testing it for increasing your faith and dependence on Him.

But remember, I think whenever we can be simplistic and reductionist in terms of our faith and our life in Christ, we need to be here. So God's will isn't again a white Chevy or a black Ford. God's will is to be conformed to his image. And that's a life. That's not trying harder or working under a legal system to be like Christ. This is in fact the Lord Jesus Christ being worked out in us.

But now you rejoice in your boastings. All such rejoicing is evil. Both rejoice and is are present tense and indicative. This is factual. Boastings are evil. So rejoicing and boasting is evil and is evil is factual. This is hard facts, right? Okay, boastings. What are boastings? Empty, braggart talk, another couple of definitions.

An insolent and empty assurance which trusts in its own power and resources and shamefully despises and violates divine laws and human rights. An impious and empty presumption which trusts in the stability of earthly things. These are all kind of things of boastings.

It relates to the earthly world system and our ability to control it and gain from it. So evil, boastings are evil. I think it's something we need the spirit to remind us of in times where that may seem to be occurring. And rejoicing is actually the act of glorifying. So the boastings in the earthly system are glorifying the earth and the self. They are doing nothing to glorify God.

1 John 2.16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but of the world.

Romans 7.13 was then that which is good made death unto me, God forbid, but sin that it might appear sin working death in me by that which is good, that sin by the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. So I think as we grow in grace we increasingly see the source of sin is in fact in the atom nature and ultimately now those things do appear for what they really are, they are evil and sinful.

1 Corinthians 4.7 For who maketh thee to differ from another, and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now if thou didst not receive it, why do you glory as if you had received it?

I love that passage because whenever we take credit for something ourselves, it says where did you get the ability to do that to begin with? I think we all in our workplace, I think men maybe more than women, but I think we have an ego about performing well, getting raises, getting promoted, getting tenure. There's an earthly system that ultimately the credit, that's where the will of God is played out in our choice of life work. Now, I mean, chemistry, geology, everything you've been about in your earthly sphere, your teaching.

Oh, I've got a plaque that says faculty of the year, and that's right up there on the wall of my bed, so I can see it every night when I go to sleep. It's easy, it's easy to get sucked into. Well, and I got a ton of them on my wall, too. And the question, should I take them all down?

I said, well, no. Praise the Lord that this is what he's allowed me to do in my workplace. And so you just need to put it in perspective. Again, it's profit from a human perspective, but God gets the glory because he's allow that path to continue and by faith, I don't take credit for this, but he's changed my life. He's created me anew in Christ Jesus and that has to be the motive.

And sometimes in our spirituality we falsely exclude all the physical things as though they don't have any part of it. You know, the business of being so earthly-minded you're no earthly good. I think God does these things for a purpose. I mean, go back to Matthew 5, 16. So shine before men that they may see your good works. But the result is, praise the Lord, he gave me intelligence or opportunity.

I could have been born in Somalia, you know. I didn't do anything to make myself be who and what I am. And it's good to be reminded that it wasn't about me. I was thinking another good reason for having those diplomas, because when I go to a doctor, I study them, I look at them and say, where did they graduate from?

So is that the new man or is that the new woman? It could be both, I don't know. It's funny, her surgeon happened to make the cover of 5280. We were in the grocery line and she looks, That's my surgeon. Maybe that was an Italian Jewish trader looking for profit and gain. He paid the drill. Okay, so let's wrap up now.

James 4, 17. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin. Boy, this gets you into the first John mindset. Basically, if you sin, you're not of him. Of course, the person who looks at that literally thinks, gee, I must not be saved. I sinned yesterday once.

And we have to put that in context. Therefore, I'll quote J. Bernard McGee, therefore, what's it there for? So why is therefore, therefore? Well, let's go back and look at the previous verse. But now you rejoice in your boastings and all such rejoicing is evil. So now what's it there for? Well, it compares to boastings and their source. So because boastings are evil, therefore, what?

Well, to know is to perceive. Here's iado, perceive and factual. This is a different kind of knowledge than the word we looked at before. Were there some who didn't know here, perhaps in this body? therefore him that knoweth to do good. Maybe some of these people didn't know to do good and that relates to the point either they're uneducated believers with flawed doctrine or alternatively maybe they weren't saved. I believe he's referring to the brethren and I think there's plenty of examples of people who claim to be saved who are milk only and haven't grown and now are off on that tangent. Who knows?

What a burden this is, or is this a burden? Therefore to him that knows to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin. How are you doing with this, knowing to do good and not doing it? Where does that stop? You put this cloud of legality over this. What does doing good mean?

I think the way I've always thought about that verse is when the Holy Spirit is kind of prompting you to do something, or here's an opportunity, and you really feel like it's of the Lord, and you just say, nope, don't feel like it. Well, the Spirit typically doesn't give up then, does he? Maybe not, or I don't know. I guess you can quench the Spirit and ultimately ignore the Spirit.

Yeah, right. Okay, well, I've been doing good. Well, let's look at that in more detail. I'm saying, doesn't this sound kind of legal? And what's the metric here of doing good? Now, how'd you do yesterday? How much good did you do yesterday? Well, I lost at games with Nita. This was good. It was better to lose than win, right? I think about doing good. When Jesus was confronted with this idea of doing good, he did things like tell the story of the Good Samaritan.

Who's your neighbor? Love your neighbor as yourself. What are the greatest commandments? Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and your neighbor as yourself. And so it seems to me that the doing good comes back to this attitudinal thing again. Like you say, the Lord sometimes prompts you to do something. A prompting this week and hopefully I'll follow through because it's something hasn't. Remember always. a wretched man that I am.

It is Christ who delivers us from a wretched man and ultimately there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. So if we had an opportunity to do good and do it, it is called sin, we confess it and move on. This is not going to take Christ back on the cross. This does not make us question our salvation.

Remember it is a life we have, not a series of good works or good acts and deeds. Jesus answered the questioning Pharisees, and he said, this is the work of God that you believe in him who he sent. Boy, there can't be anything more true of a principle of God himself in terms of ultimately his prophecy to the Lord Jesus Christ coming, dying, being risen and resurrected. to the message to the believer. So the good works are the Lord to measure in terms of wood, hay, and stubble versus silver and gold. Ultimately we're not trying to achieve rewards, we're trying to live by faith.

And that's ultimately, I think, what the task. We don't want to confuse James and the epistles to John with ultimately Pauline truth. The Bible is there for us, we have to interpret it in context, but nevertheless, you can get paralyzed by thinking I didn't do good because then you get hung up in a legality that ultimately becomes really desperately despairing and not really uplifting. So let's go back to this, farms. I thought we might have time and we have a few minutes here. There's nothing on which the success of our plans depends over which we have absolute control.

What do you think about the first part of that? I would agree with that. Particularly with that word, absolute. That's the human mindset, isn't it? That everything is under our control. And I think a lot of times we really personalize that. Particularly sometimes when you disagree with your spouse or a friend or a family member about something, you feel that you're right and they feel they're right. I'm in control because I know the right.

The point is that this really can be taken to the extreme in terms of everything is under our absolute control. And it's not. I mean I think that ultimately there's someone else who's involved here and it's the Lord himself. Now the second part, there's nothing therefore on which we can base the assurance of success but his favor. What do you think about that?

If I qualify the word success, yes. Because the word success implies that I'm looking at and saying it was a success. I've had days when I gave a wonderful chemistry lesson, but no one understood it. So the question is, was that a success? Well, if I'm looking at me, it was a success because, boy, did I give a good presentation today. But if I look at success in terms of an outcome that honored God or moved people toward a goal, no, it wasn't.

So if I put success in quotes there and kind of define it, successfully following God's leading, then okay. But success gets defined so many different ways. I mean, what is success in God's eyes? Growth in grace and conform, being more conformed to the image of his Son. What Hal said, I think, is ultimately our predominant purpose is to glorify God, right? Isn't that the bottom line?

And to do that, it takes a new nature. And as Paul learned, it takes the power of the Spirit working by faith. to enlighten the old nature in each and every one of us. Again, I've said this so many times, but I'll say it again. I think this is not a nature we pay attention to as we walk, taking credit for being in the new nature. This is a life played out by faith. The requirement on our behalf is to live by faith. That faith is that we are transformed and created in new images. Then you walk by grace, not by law. Success is that God gets the glory.

Again, your diploma or your acknowledgement of being the greatest teacher of the year, you know what the source of that is. You still had to respond. But you have an intellect, you have a job, you need to meet the needs of your job. I'm not sure what you do. Everybody has a job, has a requirement as part of the job place. And if you're not performing adequately, somebody above you is going to let you know about it.

But yet any success we get earthly is one in which we give the credit to where it's due because he's the one that gets the glory for any earthly success. Everybody okay with where we went with this passage? Remember the beginning of this issue of materialism is one in which we probably have people with flawed doctrine who are looking for self-gain only. To boast about those gains really is evil. The source of that is anything but the spirit-energized new man in the life of a believer. And that can hit home sometimes for each and every one of us.