“7 Today Principles For Victory Tomorrow"
James 4:13-17 & Matthew 6
In a Peanuts cartoon strip, Charley Brown says to Linus, “Life is just too much for me. I’ve been confused from the day I was born. I think the whole trouble is that we’re thrown into life too fast. We’re not really prepared.” And then Linus says to Charlie Brown, “What did you want…a chance to warm up first?”
Some nuggets of wisdom that someone thought up…
- A day is a span of time no one is wealthy enough to waste.
- A day is a miniature eternity.
- The day will happen whether or not you get up.
- It’s the little things in life that really count.
- What good is a bathtub without a plug?
- He who provides for this life, but takes not care for eternity is wise for a moment but a fool for eternity.
1. The Folly of Counting on The Future. Vs. 13
A doctor called one of his patients into his office to deliver some very important news. "I have received the results of your tests and I have some bad news and some good news", said the doctor. The patient was quiet for a moment, sensing the severity of the announcement. "Let me have the good news first, doc", said the patient. The doctor took a deep breath and said, "You only have 24 hours to live." "Oh my goodness", shouted the patient, "If that’s the good news what could the bad news possibly be?" The doctor replied, "I was supposed to tell you yesterday."
This phrase, “now listen,” occurs only here in the Bible. James is saying, Come now, pay attention! It’s a pointed phrase that indicates the seriousness of what follows. It’s as if he is saying, “Come on now, you who are strutting around like you own the place.”
In your life, do you know anyone like this?
This is addressed to the wealthy merchants who traveled all over the ancient world, buying and selling in the major trade centers of that day. Because of the extensive shipping involved, it could easily take a year or more to set up a business. Their sin was not that they engaged in business, but that they were counting on the future, without any recognition of the God who controls the future.
Their business plan was pretty good. They had everything figured out or almost everything:
When: “today or tomorrow”
Where: “this or that city”
How: “spend a year”
What: “do business”
Why: “to make money”
In all their planning, they left out the most important the Who. God was nowhere in their plans. Like the rich farmer in the parable that Jesus told, who wanted to tear down his barns so he could build bigger ones, these businessmen were not bringing God into the details of their life.
Key: Planning is great, but planning without prayer is presumption.
Psalms 90:10 “ Seventy years are given to us! Some may even reach eighty, but even the best of these years are filled with pain and trouble.”
Our whole existence is a gift from God. From the day of our birth until the day of our death we are blessed with life!
2. The Frailty of Life. Vs. 14
These businessmen made no allowance for unforeseen circumstances because they mistakenly thought they were going to be around forever. None of us know what will happen in the future.
We are given two very significant reasons why we should never presume upon the future:
a. Life is unpredictable.
We don’t even know what will happen tonight, much less next week or next year. The truth is that no one can predict the future. Last Sunday morning at this time, no one could have guessed all that was going on with some of our members.
Count on it! Life is just one big if. Right in the middle of LIFE is IF.
Any way you look at it, life is pretty if-y.
Proverbs 27:1 “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.”
b. Life is unmeasurable.
Our lives are like a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
The Greek word here is the word atmos, from which we get the word “atmosphere,” which is that invisible layer of water vapor that encircles our planet. Our lives are like a mist in the grand scheme of things. [Spray an aerosol can]
This life is compared in scripture as:
- The wind. Job 7:7
- A shadow. 1 Chronicles 29:5
- The width of a hand. Psalm 39:5
- A weaver’s web. Isaiah 38:12
- A vapor. James 4:4
Psalm 90:12 “Teach us to make the most of our time, so that we may grow in wisdom.”
1 Samuel 20:3, David said, “Yet as surely as the Lord lives and as you live, there is only a step between me and death.”
Think about this…
· A lightening bolt lasts 45 to 55 microseconds.
· The average running shoe worn by the average runner on an average surface will last 350 to 500 miles.
· A hard pencil can write up to 30,000 words or draw a line more than 30 miles long. Most ballpoint pens will draw a line 4,000 to 7,500 feet long.
· Leather combat boots have a wartime life span of six months, a peacetime life span of eight months.
· A group of subatomic particles known as unstable hadrons exists for only one one-hundred-sextillionth of a second (10 to the negative 23 second)—less time than it takes light to travel a single inch.
· A 100-watt incandescent bulb will last about 750 hours; a 25-watt bulb, 2,500 hours. The number of times a light bulb is turned on and off has little to do with its life-span.
· A one-dollar bill lasts approximately 18 months in circulation.
The atheist says there is no tomorrow; the Christian says that there is plenty of hope for tomorrow; the teenager says tomorrow can’t get here fast enough; the senior says tomorrows here already!
3. The Faith Needed Today For Tomorrow. Vs. 15-16
I know some who try to obsessively control their today in order to ensure their tomorrow! This is a false security! My Dad…
LifePoint: Our faith tomorrow is only as good as it is today! We must major on faith today so that faith will be adequate for tomorrow!
We need to realize that we are not in total control of our lives God is. No amount of money, influence, power or planning can guarantee tomorrow. Only God can grant us another sunrise or another breath.
Instead of saying, “I’m going to do this and that and make this much money here and there,” we should say, “If God wills it for my life and provides the opportunity, I will go there.”
He holds the entire universe together by His word alone. He can take our lives at any moment and He would still be a good God. He is God and we are not. He is in charge, not us.
James is challenging us here to demonstrate an attitude of submission to God, to acknowledge that all of our life is to be lived out in recognition of the fact that God is sovereign and in charge of everything. He commands the future and He runs my life.
So, we’ve learned … The Folly To Count On The Future, The Frailty Of Life, and The Faith Needed Today For Tomorrow. Which leads to our last point...
4. The Fervency of Today’s Obedience. Vs. 17
Let’s look at: Anyone who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.
Did you know that you can sin by doing nothing?
Someone has put it this way…
Procrastination is my sin,
It brings me nothing but sorrow,
I know that I should stop it
So I will…tomorrow.
Have you noticed…when you procrastinate doing the right thing, you end up doing the wrong thing. Knowing what should be done obligates a person to do it.
Key: Delayed obedience is disobedience.
Every parent knows that delayed obedience is really disobedience. If you tell your child to wash the dishes and they say, “Sure dad, we’ll do it in two days,” that’s not obedience. That’s disobedience.
Some need to be baptized. Some need to put the Lord first in your finances. Some need to love their kids more. Others need to start serving others by using the spiritual gifts God has given you.
Whatever your next step of spiritual growth is, do it now! Don’t put it off. No one has the promise of tomorrow. All we have is the moment.
7 Today Principles For Victory Tomorrow:
Matthew 6
a. Remember our loyalty to Christ. Vs. 24
Mark 12:30 "And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength."
It’s very hard to serve 1 master today and serve another master tomorrow.
b. Make no provision for worry. Vs. 25,2,31
Worry = to be anxious
To worry about tomorrow is to be unhappy tomorrow!
Close your eyes as I read this verse…Philippians 4: 6,7 “Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be known to God, and the peace of God which surpasses all your understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
c. Consider yourself worthy of God’s care. Vs. 26
The old Song...His Eye Is On The Sparrow:
Why should I feel discouraged,
Why should the shadows come,
Why should my heart be lonely,
And long for heav’n and home,
When Jesus is my portion,
My constant Friend is He;
His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me.
Chorus:
I sing because I’m happy,
I sing because I’m free;
For His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me.
Let not your heart be troubled
His tender word I hear,
And resting on His goodness,
I lose my doubts and fears,
Tho’ by the path he leadeth,
But one step I may see;
His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me.
Whenever I am tempted,
Whenever clouds arise,
When song gives place to sighing,
When hope within me dies,
I draw the closer to Him;
From care He sets me free;
His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me.
d. Develop faith today. Vs. 30
e. Seek first the kingdom of God. Vs. 33
We’ve been praying “Lord let me be a boundary breaker, expand our fence line”, and he’s starting to do it! Why? Because the kingdom of God is becoming #1 again in our hearts! Satan hates this!
f. Conquer troubles today. Vs. 34
g. Treat family as if today was the last time you’d see them.
I guarantee we would see our family totally different!
“If only he’d say, just once, “all right Tommy lets do it together, right now.” But it’s always, “Wait a little, can’t you see I’m busy? Just a minute, better yet wait until tomorrow.”
But tomorrow I’ll be big. Now is when I need you, Daddy not tomorrow, or in a few minutes.
May I have some of your time Mom, please? Perhaps I should make an appointment, because you always keep your appointments! Or maybe I’ll go away a while until I’m a stranger, because I’ve noticed you always welcome a stranger! I wonder if that will work?
Daddy, will you…will you play with me today because tomorrow I’ll be big!”
We can choose to live our lives in one of three ways: spend our lives, waste our lives, or invest our lives!
Life is short … let’s make the most of it by pouring ourselves into the people we love.
