As you read through James’ letter to these saints it is clear that he cares
very much about them. For one thing, he repeatedly appeals to them as
brethren. It is because he cares so much that he says some striking and even
shocking things. We see this, once again, in our text. Consider verse 16,
‘But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.’ What a
thing to say! But he’s right, of course. The shocker that we are going to
look at today is found in verse 14. ‘What is your life? For you are a mist
that appears for a little time and then vanishes.’ How depressing! What
happened to the high view of our humanity, the image of God and all of that?
And what about the optimism of ‘Whoever believes in Me will never die’?
James isn’t denying any of that. He’s just making what should be an obvious
point. You’re here today, but you just might be gone tomorrow. I remember,
in the days of my youth, how traveling evangelists would use this kind of
argument to get people to take the Gospel seriously. I don’t think that it
ever really worked. I’m not sure that even the evangelist really believed
what he was saying. That’s why it felt like manipulation. But James isn’t
trying to manipulate anyone. He really believes what he is saying. And just
a moment’s reflection will confirm his comments. You are a mist. Your life
is so very fleeting. You might be here today, but you really don’t know
about tomorrow.
James uses this perspective on life in order to challenge some of the flock
when it comes to how they plan their lives. In this same context James
writes about planning your life with submission to God’s will squarely at
the core of that plan. We’ll come back to that next week – God willing, of
course. This week we’ll be content with examining this idea that your life
is a mist.
What if I could tell you the date of your death? It’s been determined
already, you know. God has already decided when it will happen. What if I
could tell you when it is? I’m sure that it would make a big difference to
your plans. As the day approached, you’d be sure that all was in
preparation. All the important things would be done, all the good-byes, last
words of encouragement and all the rest. Of course, being prepared would
include being ready to face God. ‘… it is appointed for man to die once, and
after that comes judgment…’ [Hebrews 9:27] This is when Jesus evaluates your
life. It’s the final exam. If you knew when it would be, I’m sure that you’d
be all studied up for it. Well, James is saying, ‘It’s going happen one of
these days. You just don’t know when. But it must be figured into your
expectations for the future. One of these days it is going to happen. You
will die.’ It seems quite appropriate to say those final good-byes and last
words if you are on your deathbed. It might seem a bit odd, however, to do
that when you appear to be hale and hardy. But it is certainly not odd
always to be ready for that final exam, when Jesus evaluates your life.
I think that it’s fair to say that the exam won’t be long and drawn out. In
fact, I think that the whole thing can be boiled down to one question. Jesus
gets to ask that question. But what you also need to recognize is that it’s
Jesus who gets to answer the question. So, what’s the question? The question
is simply this. ‘Has your life been a success?’ That seems appropriate. Now,
remember that you don’t get to answer this question. Jesus does. Do you
understand what that means? The answer is given not according to what you
might think success is. The answer is according to what He thinks success
is. And this test is not based on what you might say or write on the day of
the final exam. The test is based on what you did during your life.
Listen to one of Jesus’ parables. ‘The land of a rich man produced
plentifully, and he thought to himself, 'What shall I do, for I have nowhere
to store my crops?' And he said, 'I will do this: I will tear down my barns
and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And
I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years;
relax, eat, drink, be merry.' But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your
soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they
be?' So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward
God.’ [Luke 12:16-21] Here is someone who enjoyed a measure of prosperity.
And remember that there is nothing wrong with that. But the problem here is
that this man misunderstood what a successful life is. So, rich as he was in
terms of this world’s goods, he was not rich toward God. And that’s why he
didn’t pass the test. He didn’t understand what true success is.
The story of the Bible is the revelation of Jesus’ idea of a successful
life. Sometimes He uses words to describe such a life. Other times He uses
pictures. Sometimes He uses prose and other times poetry. Sometimes we see
examples of what success looks like and other times we are shown examples of
what it isn’t. Right now, I’d like to take you to one place in the Bible
where there are some reflections on the successful life. Psalm 90 was
written by Moses sometime during his days in the desert with Israel. The
first part of this Psalm is James’ comment about life being a mist but
expressed in poetic form. Let me read you a sample. ‘You sweep them away as
with a flood; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the
morning: in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it
fades and withers.’ [5-6] After expressing in different ways the same
thought we find in our text in James, Moses comes to a conclusion. ‘So teach
us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.’ [12] Moses gets
it. Life is a mist, a bit of grass in the dessert. And what is his response?
He prays that all the people of God might also get it and, as a result, they
might seek a heart of wisdom. For Moses, this lies at the heart of a
successful life. This is his response to understanding that life is a
passing mist and that the final exam is coming.
Here’s one, simple, definition of wisdom: viewing life as God does. At the
core of wisdom is Jesus. When I say that, I do include the thought that
Jesus is the only perfect example of someone who lived wisely. Here we’re
back to the importance of watching Jesus in action. But gaining a heart of
wisdom will require more that taking notes from Jesus’ life and then trying
to imitate Him. The only way that you will get wisdom is as your life
becomes more and more wrapped up in Jesus’ life. It is so much more than
some academic study of your Bible or even the careful listening to the
weekly theological lecture. Your life must become wrapped up in His. And as
the two of you become one the result is a heart of wisdom. As your life
becomes increasingly wrapped up in His, you become a success.
So, let’s get a little practical. What are you supposed to do with all of
this? Well, if James is right – and he is – then you need to see how
fleeting your life is. You are a mist that one day will disappear. One day
you will die. Are you ready for that? Are you ready for the final exam? This
morning, I have looked at that exam in terms of one thing: wisdom. So,
preparing for the exam isn’t difficult. How are you doing at gaining a heart
of wisdom? Please be careful as you consider this question. The world does
its best to muddy the waters at this point. For one thing it will confuse
wisdom with smarts. Jesus doesn’t care about how much you know. There will
be many very intelligent and very knowledgeable people who will spend
eternity in hell while so many unlearned folk will be rejoicing around the
throne. Wisdom is not smarts! It’s viewing life as God does: His standards,
His priorities, His goals, His methods. And don’t be misled into following
the example of the man in the parable of Jesus that I read to you. He
thought of success in terms of external things. Big mistake. Another thing
that blurs the question is the world’s tying the idea of success with the
notion of perfection. You’re only really successful if you’re perfectly so.
That’s just more rubbish. When Jesus evaluates you He isn’t going to ask,
‘Have you arrived?’ The answer to that for all of us will be easy. ‘No.’
Perfection will never be within our grasp. Instead, He’s going to ask, ‘Have
you been making progress in this process of gaining wisdom?’ Then, there is
this one last bit of confusion. Obviously, if you really get what James is
talking about, what you need to do is develop a better plan of attack. You
need to get more organized, establish a better schedule and all the rest so
that you can gain this heart of wisdom, right? Wrong! What is this but just
another variation on saving yourself. Where’s the grace in that? The right
response isn’t looking to yourself. The right response is prayer. ‘Lord,
here I am. I want to please you by working at being a success as You define
that. But left to myself there is no hope. So, please grant me the grace
that I need so that I can gain this heart of wisdom. Wrap my life into Yours
and change me.’
