This morning we come to a passage that I think is familiar to most of you. I
don’t expect to tell you much of anything that you don’t know. And I think
that’s normal. But I do want to remind you of what you do know and,
hopefully, have the Spirit impress these things on your heart.
It’s important to bear in mind the larger context of this passage. James is
still dealing with the problem of worldliness. In different ways throughout
this section of his letter he has been exhorting the church to distance
itself from the ways of a world that is in rebellion against God. Here, the
problem is not that the saints are making plans for the future. Jesus made
plans. Paul made plans. The faithful are always making plans that there is
nothing wrong with that. That isn’t the problem that James is addressing.
The problem is that they were making plans in the way that the world makes
plans. So, James is insisting, here, that they become more faithful as
disciples as that relates to this area of planning for the future. And James
explains what he means in verse 15. ‘Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord
wills, we will live and do this or that."’ This is the attitude that we are
to have.
Now, you need to see what’s included in this. For one thing, it’s clear that
we are not in control of our lives. Proverbs reminds us, ‘Many are the plans
in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.’
[Proverbs 19:21] You might be thinking, ‘For vacation, this year, we’ll go
to the mountains and enjoy some hiking and camping.’ And maybe that is a
great idea. But the fact of the matter is that, ultimately, whether you
actually do that depends not on you and your choices but on your God. Now,
as I said at the beginning of the sermon, this is not news. You all know
this. But the problem is that we so easily forget what we know and, as a
result, make our plans just like the world does. Now the solution to this
problem is not that we become very careful always to add, ‘God willing’ to
everything that we say. The solution is building the truth behind that
phrase into our planning. Now, it just might be helpful to include that
little phrase in our conversations and thoughts. But mere words never saved
a soul from sin.
There is another assumption built into James’ command. The assumption is
that we will submit to God’s will. That’s not an automatic. There are people
who really do understand that God is in control of this life – and they hate
Him for it. Life isn’t turning out as they had planned. And, obviously, it’s
God’s fault. And so, their souls are filled with anger and bitterness. For
James, what is at issue is not the mere mental agreement with some
theological truth about God’s will. The point of this passage is that we are
to submit to the God who wills what happens. We are to submit to the God
whose plans for the future trump ours. We will either submit or rebel.
Here, it would be good to pause to ask a question. And it is a simple
question, but sometimes it’s the simplest of questions that reveals
important truth. And the question is, ‘Why?’ ‘Why should you submit to God’s
version of your life? Why submit to His will?’ Some answer that by saying,
‘We’re supposed to. He’s God and we’re not. And, anyway, why try to fight
Him? It wouldn’t do any good.’ Now, that’s an answer that speaks reams. Who
is God for this person? It sounds like God is a ‘Blue Meany’, and He has a
bigger club than anyone else around. Is that how the Bible explains
submission? I hope that it’s clear that that way of thinking is nowhere near
the truth. When the Spirit calls for submission the motive is clear. The
motive is love. You submit because of love, the kind of love that exists
between a Father and His child. And that cuts two ways. First, you submit
because you are convinced, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that your Father
loves you. ‘How great is the love of the Father that we should be called the
children of God.’ [1 John 3] Being thoroughly convinced of this, you know
that His will is not harsh. You know that He doesn’t view you as some pawn
to be used, abused and then tossed away. You know that His will is an
expression of His love for you. It is the path that He has chosen to get you
to the goal He has for you: happiness. He wants you to be happy, happier
than you can imagine. Believing this you willingly submit to His plan. To do
that will require a level of trust. Your plan was to take the left fork
which looked really good. But His plan took the right fork instead. And
right now it feels really bad. But what do you tell yourself? ‘My Father
loves me. His plan for me is good. So, I’ll trust Him even though…’ You
submit because of the Father’s love for you. But you also submit because of
your love for the Father. His plan throws you a curve and things are not
turning out as you had expected. So, what else do you tell yourself? ‘This
isn’t what I wanted. But I know that, somehow, this will bring glory to the
Father. Somehow, He will use this to advance the cause of the Gospel. It’s
going to cost me, but that’s okay. It’s more important to me that He is
honored than I have my way. So, I’ll freely submit to His will.’ The
Christian submits to God’s will because of love. He submits because of the
Father’s love for him. And he submits because of his own love for the
Father. All of this is behind James’ instruction.
Now, this is not just some theoretical idea that you might ponder at some
point when you have the time. It is a key aspect to Christian living. It is
one of the crucial markers that distinguishes Christians from the world
around them. So, I thought about how to drive it home. I decided to do what
I have consciously avoided doing in my sermons. I’m going to talk about
Linda’s death. I do this in the hope that the Spirit will use it to help you
get the point of our text.
Linda’s death has been and continues to be the most difficult thing that I
have ever dealt with. It is not something that I will ‘get over’ some day.
It’s been almost two years since she died, and I am still sorting things
out. Clearly, it was not part of my planning. I assumed what most of you
have assumed. I assumed that we’d get married, have kids and, after they had
grown up, we’d live out our days together for many long and happy years. But
that didn’t happen. God took from me the person whom I loved more than any
other. But, I have been able to submit to that. I am not angry at God. I am
not bitter about what happened. In fact, I don’t even say, ‘If only…’ When
Verne Marshall was here during the missions conference he spoke with me
about Linda’s death. He expressed his condolences and then asked me how I
was able to handle it. I told him that the only way I was able to deal with
it was by clinging to this one truth: God’s plan for me is good and wise and
loving. Without that I really don’t know if I would have made it. But that
was not some truth that I learned in the midst of my pain. You cannot learn
something new to deal with a crisis when you are in the midst of pain like
that. All you have is only what you already know. So, fortunately, I had
learned, to some degree, that important lesson about God’s will before the
dam burst. And that’s why it could function as the lifeline that it was. I
knew that my Father loved me and that what He was doing was a good and wise
expression of that love.
Now, I’ve asked myself what I would do if I could change it all so that
Linda didn’t die. Would I change it? And my answer is, ‘No.’ I would not
want to change God’s plan for my life. And the reason for me is clear. Even
from this vantage point, I can see something of God’s wisdom in what He did.
I see how He used that event to bring about some very dramatic changes in
me. I am a very different pastor now. My perspective on so much has been
altered. I believe the Gospel today in a way that I didn’t before. Because
of what I now understand I can serve Christ better, in a way that I
definitely could not before. And so, I willingly submit to His plan because
the results include good things for His kingdom. I know that Jesus will be
honored in all of this. Being convinced of His love for me I respond by
expressing my love to Him.
Now, I didn’t get to this point because I’m smarter, tried harder or because
I’m more ‘spiritual’ than others. I got here only because of the grace of
God that is mine because of Jesus. And it wasn’t some zap that hit me when
Linda died. It was something that was growing over the years. The Spirit
dealt with me in the other, smaller disappointments of life. At each point I
had to decide to submit or to rebel. By His grace there was progress. And
that all led up to that crisis point.
You face disappointments all the time. Your plan is to go in one direction
and God decides that you should go in quite another. You need to see that
these are opportunities for you to learn how to submit to God’s will because
of love. The key, of course, is grace. But remember, Jesus freely gives
grace to all who seek it from His hand. As you receive His grace you’ll find
yourself willingly submitting to His will. As you do that you’ll be
advancing the cause of the Gospel. Is there anything more important than
that? But also, as you receive His grace and submit to His will, you’ll be
protecting yourself from the bitterness that can poison your soul. So, as
you make your plans, remember this instruction of James: ‘If the Lord wills…
’
This was the final hymn. It seems appropriate to include it here.
Whate'er my God ordains is right:
Holy his will abideth;
I will be still whate'er he doth;
And follow where he guideth:
He is my God: though dark my road,
He holds me that I shall not fall:
Wherefore to him I leave it all.
Whate'er my God ordains is right:
He never will deceive me;
He leads me by the proper path;
I know he will not leave me:
I take, content, what he hath sent;
His hand can turn my griefs away,
And patiently I wait his day.
Whate'er my God ordains is right:
Though now this cup, in drinking,
May bitter seem to my faint heart,
I take it, all unshrinking:
My God is true; each morn anew
Sweet comfort yet shall fill my heart,
And pain and sorrow shall depart.
Whate'er my God ordains is right:
Here shall my stand be taken;
Though sorrow, need, or death be mine,
Yet am I not forsaken;
My Father's care is round me there;
He holds me that I shall not fall:
And so to him I leave it all.
