A good morning to you again. We will continue our study on the epistle of James. So, this morning, now please turn with me to James chapter 4. James chapter 4. Alright today we’re going to look at verses 13 through 17. So let me first read the text.

James chapter 4 beginning in verse 13. “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and 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 vapour 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.”

Alright this passage that we are considering this morning, now I do not think that it is a very hard passage to understand. But I do think that it is a very hard-hitting passage. And just reading through in whatever translation you are holding, I think you come to have a sense of what James is saying. Alright let us now consider what James writes about here in this text. Now he begins in verse 13 with these words. He says: “Come now”. Now I am not sure whether you get a kind of sense of the tone of this passage, the tone of James here.

But I think perhaps the NIV (I’m not sure whether any one of you is still using the NIV), the rendering gives us probably a clearer sense of what James is doing in this passage, for in the NIV it translates: “Now listen”. I think that is what James is saying here at the start of this next section of his letter. In other words, he’s calling for attention. He said pay attention to what I am saying here. So now listen. Now you see, what James is trying to tell us in this passage, now I believe is captured in the title that I have put up here and that is “What Is Your Life About?”.

Now what is your life about? And James wants us to think about this. Now perhaps we would like to begin this morning by asking ourselves the same question: So, what is your life about? What is your life about? Now listen to what Jesus says as to what His life is about in the gospel of John and chapter 4 alright- John 4:31-34. John 4:31. It says here: “In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” (And then Jesus answered in verse 32) and said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.” Therefore, the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?” Jesus said (in verse 34) to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.””.

Now that is what life is about. For Jesus, He said My life is about doing the will of God. Now that is what My goal in life is. That is what My life is about, and that is what He is saying here. My food is to do the will of My Father who sent Me. Later on in the gospel, chapter 6 and verse 38, Jesus kind of repeats this. Verse 38 of John 6, “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.”. Now Jesus has a very clear idea as to what His life is all about. He said My life is about doing the will of God. That is why My Father sends Me.

Now the apostle Paul was also clear about his life, what his life is about in Acts 20:24. Acts 20:24, and Paul said this: “But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, (and that is) to testify the gospel of the grace of God.”. There is a purpose for my life. That is what Paul is saying here. And I know what that is. I know what my life is about. My life in the words of the apostle Paul is to finish my race with joy and the work or the task which I receive from the Lord Jesus. That is what his life is about.

And therefore, towards the end of his life when he wrote his letter to his spiritual son, Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:7, now he wrote this famous line. 2 Timothy 4:7- “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”. I have done what I am here to do. That’s what he’s saying. I know the reason of my existence. I know what my life is about. My life on Earth is to do the will of God. It’s to do what God wants me to do. Jesus, our Lord was clear as to His purpose in life. The apostle was clear as to his purpose in life. The question for us this morning is: What about us? What about us Christians?

Now remember in James chapter 4. In fact, in the epistle of James, James was writing to Christians. He is not asking whether the people of the world know why they are living. Maybe they know. Indeed, they know, but what about us? What about us? Do you know, we who are disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ know the purpose of our existence, or are we living life just like the rest of the world? Now so back to James chapter 4, writing as I say to the believers. He kind of presses this question upon them and challenges them.

And that’s why I say that James in this section, what he writes here is not hard to understand but it is hard-hitting. He is challenging us. He is challenging these people whom he sees as I pointed out in the study of this chapter- people who are worldly, people who are going after the world, who are materialistic, who are friends of the world. And that accounts for the way many Christians live their lives. He points out in verse 1: “Where do wars and fights come from among you?”.

Now you are fighting among yourselves as it were. We are competing. Where do all this come? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure, for passion, for lust in your life? Now that is our problem. Now remember, he said that is our problem, the problem of believers. And then he says in verse 2: “You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain.”. Therefore, you fight. Therefore, you live like all the other people in the world. We live in a dog-eat-dog’s world. And we come to the church, we have to look at Christians and their behaviour, we see not a lot of difference from our friends who do not know Jesus Christ, from people, our neighbours who do not know God.

He says you know what? That is our problem. And that’s why he charges them in verse 4: “You adulterers and adulteresses!”. You ought to be pure. You ought to seek God alone. You ought to love God exclusively and intensely. Therefore, he says that, but you are not. “Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? For whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself a friend of God (Mistakenly mentioned “a friend”, supposedly “an enemy”).”.

Again and again in the Scripture we are urged not to love the world, nor the things of the world. But you see, that is where James was coming from. He is looking at the people of God and he sees that there is something wrong with the people of God. And he wants to challenge them. He says look at your life. Look at your life and how you live your life, the kind of things that you’re pursuing in your life. What are these things? What is your life about?

Now in the remainder of the time, I’d like to break this passage into two sections. I believe that is how this passage is broken up into, and the first is in verses 13 and 14 where James said: “You who say”. “Come now (or now listen), you who say”. And that will be the first part. And the second is in verses 15 through 17, where James says: “Instead what you ought to say” is this. So, let’s look at you who say. Verse 13: “you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such (a town or) a city” and trade or buy and sell, and then make more money.

Now you who say this. To many Christians, that is what their life is about. What is your life about? And that is what James begins by charging them. He said that is what your life is about. Your life is about come, let us go to this place and that place and make more money. Now is that not true that this is not only a problem in James’ day, that James could see that believers are as materialistic, as worldly as the people of the world, that they are together with the world, they are friends with the world? Now we see that this is a problem that is raised very often in the Scripture. What is your life about?

Now Jesus talks about that in one of His parables in Luke chapter 12. In Luke chapter 12, and listen to what Jesus says here about this man in verse 17. He talks about a man who thought within himself in verse 17 saying: “And what shall I do”. That is exactly the question that James is asking here. Now I believe that James had this story in mind when he wrote to the believers. That is what a lot of rich people, this is how a lot of Christians think. What shall I do? Just like this man. And since I have no room for my crop, this is what he says he will do in verse 18: “So he said to himself, ’This I will do”. Come now.

Now listen, James says: “you who say” these words, This I will do. I will go to such and such a city, and make more money. I will tear down my barn, I’ll build a greater barn. I will store my goods. This is what I will do. Verse 19: “And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.”’”. That is what I will do. That is what I will do, and that is what James is thinking about that that is a lot of people and that is a lot of Christians.

That is what a lot of Christians is about. This is what I will do. Every day in my life I will go out. Every day in my life I will exert all my energy. I will do whatever I can to make more money, to build a bigger barn, to buy and sell and make a profit. Listen to Jesus here, Luke chapter 16. Now you see in the gospel of Luke as I mentioned when I was in Monash to the student there that there is a lot of rich man’s story here.

And you noticed that James does the same thing. He hears from the Lord Jesus Christ and he hears that Jesus tells a lot of rich man’s story. You have a rich man’s story in Luke 12. You have a rich man story in Luke 16:1. He also told His disciple: “There was a certain rich man”. Rich man. Now, what about them? What about rich people? Well, it is our model. They are our goal. Everybody wants to be an Elon Musk or Jack Ma.

Now, that is what probably we’ll tell our children. That is what life is about. Look at these people. Look at their life. These are the people we should emulate, our goal in life. There was a certain rich man, Jesus said. And then Jesus gave this warning in verse 13 to His disciples. And He says: “No servant can serve two masters.”. You who has come to trust in God have come to surrender your life in God and make God your Master. Jesus say you cannot have two masters. You cannot try to serve God (He says here) and mammon, “for you will either hate one and love the other”. You cannot alright- you cannot try to serve both.

Now you see, we are told here in verse 14, Luke chapter 16, now the Pharisees were lovers of money. There you see, Jesus knows that the people are in front of Him and they were listening to Him that these are people who loves money. And James knows when he writes to his fellow believers that there are many, many, many, many Christians and that I’m not sure whether it’s an understatement even to say many Christians are lovers of money. Now that is why I say that here in in James 4, it is hard- hitting. That is what he is thinking about. He is thinking about Christians who are lovers of money.

And that’s why in Luke 18:18 He had another rich man’s story there in verse 18: “Now a certain ruler asked Jesus, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?””. And we know from the other gospel that this certain ruler was a rich young man. And Jesus says now let me tell you another story of a rich man. And then in the following chapter (chapter 19 of Luke), and here we read: “And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. And now behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich.”. He was rich. Rich man. Riches. That’s what these people think about: money. And that is what a lot of Christians think about. What is your life about?

Now that is the question. What is your life about? Be honest about it. Well, James says that is what your life is about. What your life is about is revealed in the choices you make in life. What your life is about is revealed. People can know what your life is about. Actually, you don’t really have to tell people. When people look at you and how you live your life and how you make decisions and the choices you make, they know whether this person is money-minded or not. When you want to make more money rather than coming to church, now I know what that decision is about. It’s about money.

I mean it’s kind of a straightforward to everyone else except to yourself. But except to yourself. You say that well you know, yeah, I need to make more money, but church just I can go another time. No need to go every week. Now that is what James is saying here in James 4. Now listen, you people. He says: “(who say such things) today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city”. Why? Money. That’s why your decisions as I said reveals what really is in your heart. Now we can think of many examples alright. I’ve already given you one. I’ve given you one.

What are we getting of other examples? A person said to himself I will increase my investment portfolio. Or maybe another person, a young person says to himself or herself that I will study medicine. Or someone says to himself: I’ll take up that job in New York. Or a person may say to himself: I’ll buy another house. Now all this seems much, seems innocent enough alright. So, what is the problem or always a problem with people who want to go to New York and take up their job offer? And what is the problem with studying medicine?

Now here’s the problem. The problem is when a parent tells the children we grow up and study, be a doctor, and make a lot of money. Now that is the problem that you know the ending part is not said alright what the second half of the sentence is not said. But everybody knows what that decision is about. It’s about money. That job offer that is all about money, whether it means leaving your family behind. Whatever it is, other sacrifices- church life and so on, it really doesn’t matter. Bottom line, does it make more money?

I say that is a problem that James is addressing here. Many Christian parents have not thought through very carefully what their lives are about and what the lives of their children are about. And the way they counsel their children and when they encourage the children to go overseas and don’t come back because better prospect. There is a better future there. What future are they talking about? What prospect are they thinking about? The spiritual life where some parents even consider the children (their daughters especially) that they perhaps should marry a rich man now reveals what James is talking about here. Or when the daughter brings back a boyfriend and tells the parent that he is a doctor.

So, I said, you better not miss this golden opportunity. But really go alright, it’s really golden. That is what James is talking about. You people, we see the way you talk, the way you make decisions, the choices in your life all reveals one thing and one thing only- profit or money. So, what is the problem here? You might ask James: What’s the problem you know if my daughter married a rich man? What’s the problem which? Well, here’s a problem. James says the problem is that there is this assumption that rich man and God’s will are one. And the same thing rich man and God’s will are one of the same things or anything that improves your lifestyle and make your life better or more system, make you more successful or more prosperous.

That is what life is about- prospect, prosperous. That is what life says about this. All that you care about. So, you see, verse 13 is not just about the people in James’ day. It’s not just their problem. Verse 13 is about our problem as well. I say many people want to be rich. And as far as the Bible is concerned, that is a huge problem alright- that is a huge problem because that means that you are trying to serve God and mammon. That is a huge problem because as Paul writes when he wrote to Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:9-10, he said: “But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition”.

That is the problem. When you love money, when you desire money, when you desire to be rich, does anyone here has a problem with desire for wealth? You might be surprised that very few Christians has a problem alright. They said what is wrong with desiring to be rich? What is the problem? Have you ever asked yourself that that as far as the Bible is concerned, there is a huge problem with desiring to be rich? And yet that is true of so many Christians that in all their life, in all their decision making is all about wanting to be rich. This was a problem. Paul tells us this thing: “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil”.

That is the problem. It is the root of evil, all kinds of evil for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness and pierced themselves through many sorrows. It is destroying. So many Christians, that is a problem and so what James writes here when he writes to his people, who his fellow believers say you people who are always thinking about money. That your life as you go about every day rushing here and then, it’s all about profit. It’s about making your life better as the world is pursuing the good life, that the world encourages us to. They say this is the problem. This is the problem.

So, what does James say to them, these people whose life this is what it’s all about. His life is all about pursuing money, pursuing a good life on earth. What does James say to them? I say this is really hard-hitting. Verse 14, James chapter 4. James 4:14, he says: “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.”. Now to put it another way, what James is saying here to these people and to anyone of us who thinks like these people, now this is what James is saying. He’s saying, stupid. Can you see that?

Now I say I believe that because James as someone should as I mentioned before is a good student of his older, of his other brother alright Jesus, of his half-brother, Jesus. And he alluded a lot to Jesus’ teaching. I believe that here again is what he remembers, what Jesus said about the parable of the rich fool where God said to this rich man who is pursuing wealth, who detach his barns and build greater barns, whose philosophy in life is to eat, drink, and be merry. And God said to this man: Fools. Fool, for tonight your life is required of you. And this is what James is talking about.

Fools, people who live like this. For people who think that life. That is what life is all about. They are fools. Why? Because they have not come to this. They have not come to this realisation as they although is being told to them times and times again that your life is short. Times and times again that your life is as a mist. Times and times again that we don’t live forever on earth. And yet, we live life as if we are going to be here forever and ever and that we will never die. James comes back to this again. They say what is your life? Have you carefully pondered upon it?

And James says let me tell you. It is like a mist or a vapour that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Is a mist or vapour being a powerful image that James is using here? Now James could not use other imagery, but he’s probably using imagery that is being used regularly and frequently in the Bible James could have used the imagery of a car animated. Oh, a car yesterday, someone asking me how many years can the car last. I said maybe fifteen years, twenty years. It is quite a long time. But the mist is different. And that is an epic picture of our life. It is here today and gone tomorrow. We are here just for a short while.

And so that is what James is telling us here that we have to think about this fact about the shortness of the brevity of our lives. And therefore, John when he writes to the people, he writes here in his first epistle in chapter 2 verses 15 to 17. He says: “Do not love the world or the things in the world.”. I put in another way: Do not love money. Do not love money. All the money that we see around here, “If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.”.

You want to be friends of the world? You are an enmity with God. Verse 17: “And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”. So that is what James is saying in verse 14 to these people, whose life is all about this world. They say look at your life. It’s only here for a short while. It’s like a mist. It’ll be gone tomorrow. You’re gone soon. So, what then should your life be all about? Like John, says your life should be about the will of God because the world is passing away. All the things that people are chasing in this world, all the things that they’re accumulating, James says here they will all be gone alright- they’ll all be gone.

John says the same thing. The world is passing away. Only those who just do the will of my Father abides forever. So that leads us to the second thing here in James 4:13-17. So, the first thing is James says what you say alright. You who say. And then in verses 15 through 17, he says now what you ought to say. Now this is what you ought to say. You people who are saying this, James says I have issue with that. Now this is what you ought to say. Verse 15: “Instead (he says) you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.””. This is how a Christian lives his life. This is how a Christian lives his life.

And this expression here: “If the Lord wills”. Some of you might know that in the Latin is “Deo volente” or “DV”. Or maybe in I’m not sure is it Arabic, “In sha’ Allah”. Now you see, that is what James is saying. That is what your life ought to be about. That’s what your life ought to be about. Now we see as I say these expressions elsewhere in the New Testament. For example, in Acts 18:21. Acts 18:21, it says here: “but took leave of them, saying, “I must by all means keep this coming feast in Jerusalem; but I will return again to you, God willing”. Now that is what James is talking about here. But I will do that if God willing.

Or in the 1 Corinthians 4:19. 1 Corinthians 4:19- “But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord wills.”. If the Lord wills. That is how a Christian lives his life because that is what the Christian life is about. The Christian life is about the will of God. So, what is your life about? What is your life about? Now Jesus shows this contrast in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 6. Now listen to what Jesus said here, pressing the same question: What is your life about? Matthew chapter 6, beginning in verse 31. And Jesus says: “Therefore do not worry, saying, ’What shall we eat?’ or ’What shall we drink?’ or ’What shall we wear?’”.

Don’t be so preoccupied with the things of this world- what we eat, what we wear, what we drink, where we live. He said don’t let these things kind of stress you out and let everything be the all in all in your life. Verse 32: “For after these things the people of the world seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need of these things. But (for you, verse 33, you) seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness”. That is what your life is about. Your life is about seeking God. Seek first His kingdom. Your life is to seek after God, to pursue Christ, to seek after His righteousness.

And that is the perspective that Jesus puts here. That is what your life is about. Our life is in other words, it’s about doing the will of God. You see, most Christians have never considered seriously the will of God in many of their decision making. They perhaps have never seriously considered the will of God in choosing a career. It’s more about what they want and about how the world guides them rather than the will of God. Many Christian parents have never seriously considered the will of God in raising their children. They have never really considered seriously that there is such a thing as God wants us to raise our children in the way He wants us to raise them.

They’ve never consider seriously Ephesians chapter 6 where we are commanded to bring up our children in the training and the instruction of the Lord. We will do it our way or we will do it the world’s way. The way we raise our children is no different from the way our non-Christian neighbour raised their children because we’ve never seriously consider the Word, the will of God. Many Christians have never seriously considered even the will of God in choosing a church. They will look at the church and they look at all the interesting program and see whether those things interest our children or not. The kind of factors they would consider are so different and so on.

Now we can go on to think about how many Christians make decisions without seriously considering the will of God. And so, James says that is wrong because our Christian life is about God. It’s about doing what He wants. Why is that so? Why is that so? Because God has saved us. And because there is a Day of Judgement where we have given an account to God. So, what are the implications? What are the implications? James 4:17. James 4:17, and James now come to the implication of all that he is saying here in verse 17. Therefore, now this is what it means in practice. “Therefore, to him who knows to do good (or who knows to do what is right) and does not do it, to him it is sin.”.

To him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin. Now remember, he is writing to the Christians, say do you know what you ought to do? Do you not know the kind of life you ought to live? Do you not know the will of God? Have you not studied His Word? Have you not heard the preaching of the Word of God? Do you not know what is good? And if you know and you do not do that, now that is sin. That is sin. So, your life, he says, is not about yourself. It’s not about pursuing the world. It’s not about money. It’s not about pleasure. Your life is about God, and God has revealed to us His holy Word. He has revealed His will, the revealed will of God to us, to believers.

We know, we’ve study. Therefore by implication it means that if your life is about doing the will of God, you need to continue to grow in the knowledge of His will. Isn’t that Paul’s concern for believers, for churches? When he wrote to the Colossian church, he tells them that even though he had never met them, he prayed for them. And the things that he prayed for them is this in verse 9 of chapter 1: “For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will”.

How often we pray for one another, we pray for believers that we will all grow in the knowledge of the Word of God? Why? Why? Why is it necessary that we study the Word? Why is it necessary that we go to a church where the Word of God is preached? Why is it necessary that you study the Bible and read the Bible? Why is it necessary that you come and attend the Bible study? Why? Oh, it’s not because some people like these kind of activities.

No, it’s not because we like or don’t like. That is not the issue. It is because that is what our Christian life is about. It is about knowing the will of God and doing His will. So, what are your plans tomorrow or afterwards? What are your plans next Sunday? Back here again? Somewhere else? What are your plans concerning your kids? What are your plans concerning your own spiritual growth? That’s what James is talking about. Let us pray.

“Our Father in heaven, again we thank You for Your Word to not only remind us but as well as to challenge us to think more deeply about our own Christian life. And Lord, we know that every time we come to Your Word how we have constantly been exposed about our sin, our shortcomings, of our weaknesses, and how perhaps like the people in James’ time that we too have fallen into this sin of thinking that our life is all about the things of this world. It’s about money. It’s about profit. It’s about enjoyment and pleasure. Forgive us, O Lord, and help us to remember and to know that our life ought to be about You and Your will, that we can say with Paul that our aim in life is to be pleasing to You. For these, we pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.”

This transcript has been lightly edited for readability.