Word of Salvation – Vol.52 No.27 – July 2007

 

The Sin of Presumption (Deo Volente)

A Sermon by Rev Gerald Vanderkolk

on James 4:13-17

Scripture Reading:  Isaiah 14:12-20

Suggested Singing:  BoW 358

 

 

Topic: Who controls the future? Us or God?

Theme: James warns us against making bold and boasting predictions about the future because we do not have perfect knowledge in regards to the future, and we do not even know the length of our own life.

Aim: To help us understand that thinking we can control our own future, is in reality sinful. This sermon is against the sin of presumption.

 

Introduction:

How do you like to be presumed upon?

I wonder how you like it when people presume upon you.

Suddenly you have some unexpected visitors who decide that they will spend the night at your house. Imagine if they tell you that they are spending a week with you and you haven’t even asked them. They just presume that you will put them up!

I wonder how you feel when someone just presumes that you would take them somewhere or drop them off again at home without asking whether you would or not.

Your next door neighbour asks to borrow the lawn mower because his is broken. You say, “Yes”, but the following Saturday morning you hear the sound of him mowing the lawn, and then you discover he has just borrowed your lawnmower again. In fact he seems to like the arrangement! Not only that but he returns it without cleaning it or replacing the petrol he has used.

The boss just assumes you will stay back late from work and complete that job.

Your child rings you up from a party and says, “I am ready to be taken home.”

Your child tells you that they are going to a meeting on the other side of the city and you had better be ready by 4 o’clock.

Your child tells you, with displeasure in their voice, that he doesn’t have any clean socks or undies. You might inform them in turn that if they put the ones scattered over the floor of their room in the washing basket, that this would be a good first step.

The list can get rather long. I am sure that no one here likes to be taken for granted and yet so often we presume upon each other. If presumed upon too often, we get our backs up and think bad thoughts. Sometimes it is a slow and steady build up of anger and resentment!

What we are talking about today is the sin of “Presumption.”

Do you think it is a sin to presume upon God? Do you think it is a sin to take God for granted? Do you think that God is always willing to fall in with your goal or plans?

Read James 4:17. That gives us the short answer to the question.

One of the things that we as Reformed Christians have held dear over the years is that we live life before the face of God. We believe that every inch of this world belongs to God and that Christ is Lord of all. Yet, it is so easy to live life without reference to God. Kent Hughes in his commentary makes the point that Christians attend church, marry, choose their vocation, have children, buy and sell homes, expand their portfolios, and numbly ride the currents of culture without substantial reference to the will of God. It is as if we think that God only belongs in a church and for the rest we can live and direct our lives any way we like.

It would truly be a sad indictment of Christianity if we thought that we could confine God to a couple of hours on a Sunday morning and for the rest live life as if there were no God! James tells us that this is simply sin!

This arrogance and pride in regards to our futures is something that is also in the category of a “speaking” sin. James, we assume, is echoing the words and thoughts of some of the Christians he is addressing in this letter. James has been writing that we need to be very careful about how we speak. In verse 11 he has been telling us not to slander one another; not to defame or put each other down. In chapter 4:3, we read that James is telling the Christians about the content of their prayers. The words that have come out of their mouths are words demanding that God give them more. They are not words of humility but words of greed.

James tells us in verse 16,

“As it is you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil.”

Proverbs 27:1 says, “‘Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth.”

1. Boasting about one’s life

a. When we boast about our life we presume. We presume that we can continue alive – today, tomorrow, next year.

Read again with me the words of our text (verse 14).

The man James is painting in our text is a man full of pride and he, of course, has a touch of arrogance. He presumes first of all that he will live long enough to achieve what he has set out to achieve. He presumes that he will live today, tomorrow and next year. He presumes that he is master of his own life, but the reality is that he is not master of his own life.

When you think about this man’s words, your mind goes to Jesus’ parable of the man who built bigger and bigger barns for himself and assumed that he would live to enjoy the fruit of those barns (Luke 12). He said to himself, “Take life easy, eat, drink and be merry.” Yet, in this parable of Jesus, God said, “You fool” and immediately took the man’s life.

James tells us that we are nothing more than a “mist” that is here today and gone tomorrow. Solomon, in his book of Ecclesiastes, tells us very much the same thing. We might hear that baby boomers are living longer lives than ever before and assume that we too are going to live to be 70, 80 or 100 years old.

At times we attend funerals. A funeral more than anything else, reminds us that life is precious and can be taken from us at a moment’s notice. Numerous people die each year on the roads. We all know of people who have died. I don’t doubt that each and every one of us has been close to having an accident that could have been fatal.

We often read these words at a funeral: “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.”

Kent Hughes recalls that a long time ago now, Eastern Emperors were crowned in Constantinople, and one of the first acts required of him was that he choose his tombstone from a number of marble slabs. What a great reminder of the brevity of life and also how we are to spend that life!

The fact that God can call us home at any moment should temper our words.

b. Boasting about what we are going to do with our lives

Not only should we be careful about assuming that we will live a long life, we need to be careful about making great boasts about what we are going to do with our lives. The man James characterises for us is a man who thinks he will go to a certain city, do business and make a great profit. He makes the presumption that he is the master of his own choices!

I cannot help but think that this sin is something that we are encouraged to do more and more by our society. We live in a society where sports persons are told to think positively about their chances of success. They are encouraged not to allow a negative thought to cross their minds.

I have to admit that I hate it when people assume that they will win a game of soccer or that it is all already wrapped up before the whistle has even blown for the start of the game. At the end of the day, we are not God!

How often do you hear of those who are successful in a certain field telling us that if they can do it, anyone can do it! Not only do they say that, they also tell us that “you can be whatever you want to be.” The newspapers could report that a man with a prosthesis, an artificial foot, has successfully climbed Mount Everest. They report the words of the man who says, “You can do whatever you set your mind to do.” Unfortunately, the man who climbed Mount Everest is walking past an icy cemetery where literally hundreds of determined climbers have met their deaths. The fact is that we cannot all be whatever we want to be. It is even arrogant to assume that we can achieve our own destinies. While there might be a place for positive thinking, positive thinking will not win the day.

c. When we boast about our life we presume that we will succeed and make a great profit

Not only is it arrogant to think that we will live today, tomorrow and next year and that we can achieve whatever we want to achieve but that we will make a profit in doing it. I am sure that God has nothing against you making a profit, but to think that life will always turn out for the best is also arrogance. It too is the sin of presumption.

2. Deo Volente

One of the things that have disappeared from many of our cards is the letters “D.V.” Deo Volente, God willing. An invitation to a wedding, or any other important engagement used to have the letters D.V. on them. While some people might still use these letters, it is a habit that seems to have died. If genuinely written, it allowed for the fact that man has his plans but God has his way.

Proverbs 19:21 says, “Many are the plans in a man’s heart but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.”

The whole of chapter 4 of James is on the theme of humility. The theme of humility in this chapter, centres on our ambitions, our words, our prayers, our relationship with other Christians and now more importantly, in regards to our relationship with God. We lack humility in relationship to God when we attempt to map out our futures without regard for the one who created us and bought us, through the blood of Christ.

Read verse 15 of chapter 4.

It is a wonderful line, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this and that.” If our words are a window to our hearts these words reveal a humble character. These words assume that God might have other plans for our lives, plans that are yet to be revealed. These words assume that we are not in control of our own destinies, that God can change our lives and redirect our footsteps as he pleases.

The mark of Christ’s ministry was his willingness to submit to the will of his Father. Even facing a cursed death on the cross he said, “Not my will be done but yours.” His desire was to do the will of his Father in heaven.

In the third beatitude we read the words, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth” (Chapter 5:5). The word “meek” has everything to do with humility in regards to our relationship with God. The word “meek” points to our submission to the will of God.

So if you are at school, thinking and planning your future, write above these plans, “If the Lord wills.” As you consider your work, future life partner, retirement, keep the refrain in mind, “The Lord willing.”

I like this children’s prayer,

“Now before I go to sleep I pray the Lord my soul to keep,

if I die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.”

What a humble attitude is in a prayer like that! No wonder Jesus tells us that we need to have faith like a little child.

3. Do we have a right to plan and command?

Before I conclude, let us think about the right attitude to planning for the future. I dare say that even by thinking about these words some of our plans might already be changing. Some of our ambitions might see us struggle spiritually and are therefore unhealthy. For instance, you might be aiming for a promotion and yet, will that promotion lead you closer or further away from God? The right attitude to plans and ambitions is to come before God and pray, seek his will and plead for light.

The first thing we need to take to heart is the well known verse in the Sermon on the Mount, “Seek first the Kingdom of God and the righteousness of Christ and everything else will be given to you.” The compass is given. How will what I do advance the Kingdom of God and my own righteousness in Christ?

Secondly, we ought to bring our plans to God in prayer. One Old Testament story we might be familiar with is the story of Achan and the destruction of the city of Ai. Joshua sent a small army to defeat this town after the sack of Jericho. They were defeated. The Israelites couldn’t understand it. There were two problems. First, some of Jericho’s treasures had been stolen from God and secondly, they had not prayed about it. They had not sought the Lord’s Will. We need to pray. We need to bring our plans to God and ask for guidance.

Conclusion

James tells us that to presume on God is a sin. To think that God will just fall in with our plans is a sin. I would say that we need to repent of this sin. I would say that we often make plans without reference to God. I would say that we often assume that what we are doing is God’s will.

James tells us to humble ourselves before God and he will lift us up. If you are a bragger or boaster, repent. Even if you don’t say it, but think it, repent. Remember the words, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Jesus humbled himself before the will of God and died for our sins upon the cross. He died, the perfect for the imperfect, the humble for the proud, the one who followed the will of God for those that do not, and yet we need to continue to realise that pride, arrogance and boasting is sin. He died for you and me to make us right with his Father. He was lifted up. He was raised as King. He has been given all glory and honour and praise.

We too need to bow before the will of God to receive forgiveness and to know that God gives grace to the humble. Now that you know the good you ought to do, do it.

Amen.

Possible Children’s Talk

Objects: Calendar and boiling kettle.

Hold up a calendar and ask the children to identify some events that will happen in the year to come. E.g, Easter, birthdays, Christmas.

Show the kettle with steam rising out of the spout.

What can you see coming out of the kettle? (steam, mist)

Can you see it near the ceiling? (No)

The Bible says that we are like a mist – here today and gone tomorrow. We don’t know when we are going to die, or how long we will live. We can’t make those decisions. Only God can. He is God and he is in control of our lives. This morning we are going to remember that we are not in control, but that God is. We don’t have a crown on our heads, but God does. That means that we should always say, “I will do this or that, if God wills it – or if he allows it”, or “God willing”.