Ep. 114 | Let God be God? | James

Listen in as Pastor Eddie Blalock shares today’s daily devotional featuring James 4:11-16. Let’s be Formed by The Word together!

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Transcript

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Welcome to Formed by the Word. Many people have a faith that works well on Sunday but struggles on Monday. The book of James was written to bridge that gap. This letter speaks directly to real life: our struggles, our relationships, our speech, our priorities, and our response to difficult circumstances. Over the next several weeks, we'll be walking through James, a practical and challenging letter often called the Proverbs of the New Testament. James doesn't just teach us what to believe, he shows us how genuine faith works in everyday life. James calls believers to a faith that is visible, active, and genuine. A faith that doesn't merely hear God's word but puts it into practice. As we journey through this powerful book together, my prayer is that God would shape us into people whose faith is seen not only in what we say, but in how we live. After all, faith is more than words. It's a life that is being formed by the truth of God's word.

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I tease my wife all the time about being what we often call a backseat driver. You know what I'm talking about. Almost everyone has ridden with one. It's someone sitting in the passenger seat or the backseat saying, Slow down, turn here. You missed it. I wouldn't go this way. I also had some fun with her saying that she needs a brake pedal on her side of the car. Anytime there's a need to brake, it seems that she is trying to push down her brake on her side. When there's a backseat driver along for a ride, eventually the driver often says, If you want to drive, you can. Well, many of us become backseat drivers with God. We critique his timing. We critique his plan, his people. We even critique his decisions in our lives. Well, in our text today, James reminds us, you are not in the driver's seat. God is. In this section of the letter that we're going to read today, James is talking about control. More specifically, who is in control. You see, many people teach these paragraphs, one dealing with judging others and one dealing with boasting about tomorrow, as two unrelated topics. I'm not sure James intended for that to happen. In fact, I'm convinced the two have a connection, and that connection is pride and control. In verses 11 through 12, that first paragraph, Pride says, I'm qualified to judge you. In the next paragraph, verses 13 through 16, Pride says, I'm qualified to control tomorrow. Both assume a role that belongs only to God. So I want us to approach these verses this morning or this afternoon or this evening, whenever you're listening, through two very clear questions that James asks. Question one, who made you judge? Or we might say, Who put you in charge? Verses eleven and twelve, James writes these words, Don't criticize one another, brothers and sisters. Anyone who defames or judges a fellow believer defames and judges the law. If you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one lawgiver, and there is one judge who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor? Our will, God's will. Think about what James is saying. This is a powerful section in this letter that addresses two related manifestations of pride and worldliness in the Christian community, judgmental speech toward others, and presumptuous self-reliance and planning for the future. Now, if neither of those address your issues, then I guess you could just turn this off now. But I'm pretty sure we both struggle with these same two things. Well, this passage fits nicely within James 4's broader call to humility and repentance in verses 1 through 10. After addressing quarrels from selfish desires, friendship with the world, and the need to submit to God and resist the devil, James turns to interpersonal sins now and to future planning. These flow from the same root. This problem that he reveals in these flows from the same root, and that root is pride, a pride that elevates self above others and even God. I like Gusick's commentary here. He quotes William Barclay as saying, This word that we've translated to speak evil of is the sin of those who meet in corners and gather in little groups and pass on confidential information which destroy the good name of those who are not there to defend themselves. Sound familiar? This sin is wrong for two reasons. First, it breaks the royal law. When we judge others unfairly, when we judge others, we break the royal law that we should love one another. Second, it takes a right of judgment that only God has. James says, Who are you to judge? James guards against the illusion now that we might be right with God, yet evil towards our brother. No, it can't be. He says there's one lawgiver and one judge, and by the way, that lawgiver and judge is not me and it's not you. This doesn't mean we can never exercise discernment. James himself has been correcting sin throughout the letter. He's talking about assuming God's authority over people. He's talking about trying to take over the will in regard to other people. There's a difference between speaking truth and speaking with contempt. There's a difference in discernment and in judgment. So question number one's clear. Who made you judge? Who put you in charge of the world? All right? Question two, who told you tomorrow belongs to you? James four, thirteen, sixteen, here's what he writes. Come now you who say, Today or tomorrow we will travel to such and such a city, spend a year there and do business and make a profit. Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring, what your life will be. For you are like a vapor that appears for a little while, then vanishes. Instead, you should say, if the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that. But as it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. Wow. Well, James rebukes the kind of heart that lives and makes its plans apart from a constant awareness of the sovereignty of God, and with an underestimation of our own limitations. You see, you do not know what will happen tomorrow. We never know what will happen tomorrow. I'm just reminded as I say that, I just attended a funeral for my aunt, and it was amazing. She went to work one morning, got off work, and went home and died that afternoon. We just never know, do we? We don't know what tomorrow holds. Then James adds this humbling thought. He says, For you're like a vapor that appears for a little while, then vanishes. I don't think James is trying to belittle us our life, but he is asking us to consider the fragility of human life and the fact that we live and move only at the permission of God. He does not discourage us from planning and doing, only from planning and doing apart from a reliance on God. You see, James says, instead of saying I'm going to do this and that, he says what we ought to say is, if the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that. It's nothing but sheer arrogance that makes us think that we can live and move and have our being independent of God. This boastful arrogance is the essence of sin, a proud independence, the root of all sin, as it was in the case of Lucifer we read about in Isaiah 14, or the case of Adam that we read about in Genesis 3. Both sought their independence from God and both learned a valuable lesson. You cannot live that way. The Apostle Paul provides a great example of how we should think. In Acts 18, 21, he said, I will return again to you, God willing. In 1 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 19, and in 16, verse 7, he wrote to the church at Corinth and he said, All such boasting when life is so precarious is worse than absurd. It's wicked. The word arrogance Paul used originally described a wandering quack who boasted of cures he couldn't deliver. Maha. He's so clear, isn't he? Many of us want to make plans, and we do make plans frequently and freely. So let me be clear. There's nothing wrong with planning. The problem is planning without acknowledging God. James isn't condemning calendars, he's condemning arrogance. Again, the common thread with these two sins is pride. Notice what pride does. One writer said it really well. He said, pride climbs onto two thrones. First, it sits in God's courtroom by saying, I'll judge. Second, it sits in God's control room, saying, I know tomorrow. James says, Neither chair belongs to you. Every time we judge, my friend, we're climbing into God's chair. Every time we presume upon tomorrow, we're climbing into God's chair again. We need to have humility. Humility steps back down into our right position. So quickly let me make some application. One, I would take from this that it's important to guard our speech relentlessly. Examine your words carefully to avoid gossip, displaying a critical spirit, or developing an online discernment that tears down brothers and sisters. Second, plan humbly. Good planning is important. Business plans, career plans, travel plans are all helpful. Having clear goals is a good thing. James is just saying hold these plans with open hands. Incorporate Paul's phrase into your conversation. That phrase, Lord willing. Don't use it just as a spiritual phrase, but as a posture of prayerful dependence. Lord willing, I will do this or that. Third, think soberly. Recognize life's brevity. This will help you prioritize eternal values. It'll also help you to make the most of your opportunities and time today. Work hard to foster communities marked by grace rather than judgment and by dependence rather than self-promotion. So our takeaway today, this is something I want to try to remember. When I try to take God's place, I lose my own place. When I try to take God's place, I lose my own. We could all do well to learn to hold our opinions with humility and our plans with open hands. One final thought. James doesn't tell us to stop planning, right? He tells us to start trusting. Make your plans, work hard, dream big, but always leave room for powerful words if the Lord wills. Humility doesn't make us passive, it makes us dependent. I will forever be in debt to my Bahamian friends for reminding me every summer to always include Lord willing in the course of my conversation. Let's pray. Lord, for this day, I pray that your will will be done in my life and not mine. I pray today, Lord, that you will take complete control of my heart and my life, of my decisions, my actions, and that all might be pleasing in your sight. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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Thanks for joining us today. We are so glad that you chose to spend a few moments with us in God's Word. If this episode has encouraged you, we ask that you leave us a review or maybe share this episode with a friend. Also, would you consider sending us a note to let us know what God is doing in your life? Pastor Eddie would love to hear from you. You can find this email in the show notes. Until next time, stay in the Scriptures, keep following Christ, and allow your life to be formed by the Word.