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"If the Lord wills..."

Text: James 4:15

ADDING GOD INTO ALL OUR PLANS

It is common to see people turn to God in their times of distress. It is less common to see people include God in their business plans! But this was the emphasis that James suggested.

“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.”
James 4:15-17

1. “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this and that”

a) The Lord God ought to be acknowledged.

b) He is the Giver of life.

c) All plans should be made with this humble acknowledgment of God’s role in life.

2. “But now you boast in your arrogance”

a) This was the root problem that James had to point out.

b) The root problem had two elements:

i) Arrogance

ii) Boasting

c) This thought underlies the common saying- “A self-made man”.

3. “All such boasting is evil”

a) The word “boasting” is simply “bragging”.

b) The “successful individual” boasts about how he became wealthy.

c) There is no acknowledgment of God in any way.

d) This kind of boasting is “evil”.

e) Unfortunately, few realise that arrogant boasting is to be considered “evil”.

4. “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin”

a) The person who is instructed concerning good and evil.

b) He knows the good that he should do in his life.

c) However, he fails to do that which is good and right.

d) The neglect of doing that which is good is in fact “sin!”