Sermon Text: James 4:13-17
Date: December 31, 2023
Event: New Year’s Eve, Set 2
James 4:13-17 (EHV)
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into this or that city, spend a year there, do business, and make a profit.” 14You do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? Indeed, it is a mist that appears for a little while and then disappears. 15Instead, it is better for you to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live, and we will do this or that.” 16But right now you are boasting in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17So, for the one who knows the right thing to do and doesn’t do it, this is a sin.
What Will Tomorrow Bring?
The end of year and beginning of a new year always seems to include a lot of looking back and looking forward. Top 10 lists and online subscription service summaries try to wrangle the events of the year past, down to what music you listened to or what movies you watched. But it is also a time of looking forward. As I was browsing headlines this week, I saw more than one article aimed at trying to predict what new styles and trends may be coming in various disciplines such as graphic design or electronic hardware. Just what will 2024 bring?
The easy answer is we don’t know. We can’t predict the future with any sort of accuracy. We can make some educated guesses. We can look at trends from the past and extrapolate to make a pretty solid guess. But no matter how informed those guesses are, they are still just guesses. The immense amount of amazing brain power, math, and technological advancements that go into predicting the weather is a great example. It’s usually pretty good, but sometimes the unexpected happens. Sometimes, that rain that was forecasted for the week never materializes. Sometimes, that break from extreme temperatures never comes.
But, there is one who does know, right? God knows what is going to happen. His omniscience means that he knows the decisions every person is going to make, even if he’s not specifically causing that to happen. It means that when he promises to work things out for our good, and he actually can because he is uniquely able to know and ensure things work as he wishes.
But as we plan for a new year, how often do we rest those plans on God? How often do we plan or set goals with God’s will in mind? How often do we remember that tomorrow, even later today, is an unknown and that our plans may not always align with God’s plans?
In his brief New Testament letter, James reminds us where our focus should be during this transition to a new year. As we consider what tomorrow will bring, we can be assured that we don’t know and that God’s will will be accomplished.
Let’s review our Second Reading: Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into this or that city, spend a year there, do business, and make a profit.” 14You do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? Indeed, it is a mist that appears for a little while and then disappears. 15Instead, it is better for you to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live, and we will do this or that.” 16But right now you are boasting in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17So, for the one who knows the right thing to do and doesn’t do it, this is a sin.
Does James’ description sound like you? I know it desribes an approach that I often. I assume that as I lay out events on my calendar, they will probably happen and that my poor organization or time management is the most likely cause for them not happening. If I plan to do something, of course, it will happen.
But James right rebukes that line of thinking. Is that so sure? Can we be so confident? Will the plans we make be what we end up doing? Maybe, but maybe not. You do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? Indeed, it is a mist that appears for a little while and then disappears. We don’t like to think of our plans or even our entire lives as a mist, do we? Something so temporary and fleeting. Like the fog rolling in off the ocean in the morning and is gone by midday, our lives and plans are temporary.
What might happen to make those plans disappear without a trace? Well, situations around my plans may change, making them impossible. I may recognize that the plans could have been better thought through and see reason to change them. And, in the most extreme cases, my life might suddenly and unexpectedly come to an end, or Jesus may return on the last day. We were reminded regularly throughout the end of the last church year and in the recently completed Advent season that we have no idea when the end will come. So, if it could be any time, my plans for the summer, or thoughts for next week, even the rest of this service printed in the bulletin may be something that never happens.
And while planning in and of itself is not bad, James points out there can be a certain amount of hubris in those plans, especially if we don’t acknowledge God’s role in our lives. Can I make anything happen? Can I ensure that my health will be great, that I’ll be financially prepared, and that everything will work as I want it to? I can do my best on all those fronts, but it is a great arrogance to think that I can make those things happen.
And so, James urges us to see our plans from God’s perspective: Instead, it is better for you to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live, and we will do this or that.” Maybe you’re in the habit of doing that already. Maybe you amend “Lord-willing” to any plan or schedule. But how regularly do you take it to heart, even if you do that? Do you always have at the forefront of your mind that your times are in God’s hands? Do you always acknowledge your weakness and God’s strength?
As we wrestle with these matters on the brink of a new year (and, Lord willing, throughout the year ahead), we do well to remember Jesus’ sacrifice for us. There was something we couldn’t do and had no power over. There was something we desperately needed, but it was completely out of our control. We couldn’t get rid of our sins. We couldn’t make our lives right with God. And yet, what was the Lord’s will? It was the Lord’s will that Jesus take our place. It was the Lord’s will that the punishment of hell that we deserved be placed on him. It was the Lord’s will that we not suffer for our sins but be with him forever in heaven. There’s the Lord’s will.
And because that was the Lord’s will, we can look back at all the times that we have not considered what God wanted, where we have arrogantly and presumptively laid plans for the future that we had next to no control over, and in Jesus find forgiveness for all those sins. Our poor consideration of God’s will, timetable, and plans need not haunt us; we don’t need to have a burdened conscience as we go into 2024 because Jesus has freed us from those sins. They are forgiven, gone, and done.
But these thoughts give us things to consider as we move forward into this new year. If this has been a place where we have struggled, if we get a bit of tunnel vision on the here and now and lose sight of eternity and God’s role in our lives, maybe now is the time to attempt to shake those bad habits, to be able to uncouple our desires and plans from the certainty that they will happen, and instead keep Jesus in the forefront of everything. To approach every day confident of his care, protection, and guidance, and with the prayer and the heart that says, “Lord, your will be done.” If our plans do not succeed despite our best efforts, that’s not necessarily a failure on our part. It is, instead, very likely that that particular thing was not God’s will, but something else probably is.
In all things, let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, on his manger where he humbled himself to serve us under the law, on his cross where he paid for our sins, on his empty tomb where he assured us of his victory over sin, death, and hell, and also to the skies where he will return to bring us home to be with him. He loves us and forgives all our sins so we can have the confidence and peace of his abiding care.
So, what will tomorrow bring? We can confidently and boldly say, “I don’t know.” But what we do know is that whatever happens, our loving Savior will be by our side. His will for us will be done in earthly things, all with the end goal of eternal life with him. So uncertainty in the future doesn’t need to be scary; it’s simply another opportunity to rest our hearts in Jesus’ perfect work and promises.
Lord keep us ever focused on you today, and by your will, in the year ahead. Amen.
