How many of you would call yourself planners? Like you already know what you’re going to be doing on this date next year? And how many of you consider yourself to be spontaneous, as in you didn’t even know you were coming to church today until about 30 minutes ago? I like to think of myself as mostly a planner who happens to love spontaneity at times. I am a little obsessive when it comes to planning. I live out of a life plan. I am also married to a planner. No kidding; I think Shauna and I enjoy planning a trip more than we like taking the trip. Do you believe God intends for us to make plans?

We’re deep into this series we’ve been calling When Faith Wakes Up. And today, we’re going to cover the last 5 verses of James 4. Next week – Aaron Graham, the pastor of the District Church in DC, is going to be here teaching on James 4:1-12. We’re going to look at James 4:13-17 today. And here’s the question we’re asking as we get into the teaching today:

When it comes to planning for your future, what role are you taking and what role are you assigning to God?

What if we don’t have to be in charge of our future? And rather than allowing that discovery to bring more anxiety, what if it could actually take the pressure off of us as we stay curious about the future God has for us. I’m calling this message, “Should We Make Plans?”

James 4:13-17 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. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.

It is not hard to imagine James talking to a group of business men and women about their money-making ambitions. One of my favorite things to do in San Francisco is to find myself in a coffee shop and overhear entrepreneurs trying to convince the person they’re meeting with that their company is going to be the next big thing. And I get it – if you’re going to get the funding you need, it’s imperative to cast a compelling vision regarding your future success. James is not making the point that all planning is bad. He’s making the point that we should not be presumptuous when it comes to knowing exactly how the future will go.

presumptuous – too confident in an expectation or assumption

Today or tomorrow – presumptuous about timing

Go there – presumptuous about the exact destination

Spend a year – presumptuous about how long a season will be

Carry on business and make money – presumptuous about the result being success

Later in the text, James calls this boasting in arrogant schemes. What makes these schemes arrogant? Self-sufficiency is assumed; that you can make it happen on your own without any divine help. And you live with the faulty assumption that you are in control of everything that happens in the future.

James reminds us that the future is unknown by saying that “you don’t even know what is going to happen in the next 24 hours; how could you possibly insist on knowing exactly what will take place over the next year?”

You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. To be clear, James isn’t saying you will cease to exist after a little while. He’s making the point that your earthly life is so short compared to your eternal life. This is where we want to receive the following admonition from Moses in Psalm 90:

Psalm 90:12 Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

When we discover that our future is unknown regardless of how specific our plan is, it can lead us to think it doesn’t matter what I do today since I cannot control tomorrow. That could not be further from the truth.

Do you know you can position yourself for the future without having to know the future?

I often teach that there are two specific ways we can position ourselves for whatever future God has in mind for us.

Psalm 78:72 And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them.

Lean into your character weaknesses and into the skills that go with God’s anointing and calling on your life. They both matter, but we tend to emphasize talent and skill over our character. Someone who has recently become a mentor to me said this:

“Live your life with your talents trying to catch up to your character.” -David Branker

James gives us a better way to make plans. We should say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”

Do you want to know God’s will for your life? Do you want to do God’s will for your life?

It is common for people to tell me, “Ben, I just want to know God’s will for my life.” I love hearing this. And when I ask for specifics, it usually goes something like this. “Am I doing the right work? Should I marry this person? Do I need to stay in San Francisco or go somewhere else?” These are really important questions to discern God’s will for.

Why would God reveal His hidden will to us if we aren’t interested in doing His revealed will?

Here are just a few places in Scripture where God’s will is explicitly stated.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

2 Corinthians 9:7 Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

1 Thessalonians 4:3 It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality.

Now that we know a little more about the explicit will of God for our lives, do we want to do God’s will for our lives? James says that if we know the good we ought to do and we don’t do that, then we are sinning. There are two basic categories of sin – sin of commission and the sin of omission. Commission is an act of sin you commit. Omission is you sinning by knowing what’s right and choosing not to do it.

Okay, so we’ve learned not to presume upon the future as we make our plans. But I want to spend the rest of our time giving practical wisdom for how to make plans. Planning for the future is literally part of my role here at Epic. If I’m not thinking about, praying about, and planning for our future together, then I don’t get to keep my job. And at the same time, I want the Spirit of God directing our plans and I want to make sure we’re submitting our plans to God. “If it is the Lord’s will, we will do this or that. We will launch this ministry. We will open 491 Post Street one day. We will hire this role.”

That’s my work life. In my personal life, I have plans. If you were to read my overall life plan, you would know the following: What % of my income I intend to give away, where my wife and I would love to buy a home one day, the close friends I plan to spend time with in this season, and so much more. But the caveat over my entire life plan is this – If it is the Lord’s will. In other words, God – here are my desires. But I want something more.

God, here is what I want. But more than what I want, I want what you want.

John 4:34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.”

Are you pursuing God’s will for your life? Are you doing the work God has assigned to you? How do you think God responds to the person who wants to do whatever God’s will is for him or her? And how can we begin to know the specific will of God for our lives? Through developing intimacy with God.

Psalm 25:14 The LORD confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them.

The idea is there is a secret communion God gives to those who fear Him, who draw near to Him, and who worship Him.

Romans 12:2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.

We want to practice Spirit-led discernment as individuals and as a community.

“Discernment is the gift and practice of attuning to God’s voice amid the competing counterfeit noise.” -Tyler Staton, The Familiar Stranger

Responses:

Before we seek God’s specific will for our lives, will we do His revealed will? Is there anything God has said to you in His Word or by His Spirit that you haven’t obeyed yet?

Surrender: God, here’s what I want ______________. But more than what I want, I want what you want.

Engage in the practice of Spirit-led planning and discernment – personally and in community.

We have not been called to put our faith into some version of the future. We have been invited to put our faith in the God who holds the future. There’s something that takes the pressure off when you realize it’s not up to us to make the future happen in a certain way, at a certain time.

Will you trust God with your future?

Can God trust you to do His will for your life?

Prayer: Plans. Discernment. Surrender.