Dakota Community Church
June 22, 2008
Facing the Future
It is Graduate Sunday here at Dakota Community Church and we are looking forward with these fresh faced young adults to the exciting times that lie ahead.
People love to wonder about the future; don’t they? I mean we dream about it, we tell stories about it; we fantasize about how it will be different, after all:
One day our generation is gonna rule the population
So we keep on waiting, waiting on the world to change – John Mayer
Most of all when it comes to the future, we try to predict it.
Many of us even in this modern age will read our horoscopes every day, some try to read tea leaves or get their palms read; you may have even called one of the many psychic hot lines or visited a tarot card reader because we long to know what the future holds for us.
The future represents the great unknown and while it is sometimes a little scary, most of us envision our futures in a positive light.
The Church loves to focus on the future as well, after all we wouldn’t want to get left behind, am I right? My favorite Christian best seller was “Eighty-eight Reasons the Rapture Could Happen in 1988”. January 1, 1989 must have awkward around that house eh?
This morning I want to talk about mistakes we typically make when it comes to facing the future.
James 4:13-17
Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that." As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.
1. Planning without God.
You who say, “Today or tomorrow we will…” You ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will…”
There is nothing wrong with making plans, in fact it is really foolish not to make plans for the future, the problem for many of us is that we make our plans independent of God.
Luke 14:28-32
"Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, ’This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’
"Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace.
In this passage Jesus is talking about making the choice to follow Him and saying that even that choice should not be made without first considering what it means to be His disciple.
Proverbs 16:1
To man belong the plans of the heart, but from the LORD comes the reply of the tongue.
Proverbs 16:9
In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.
Do you say you believe in God but plan your life as though he did not exist?
As you answer that often asked question; “So, what are you going to do next year?” Have sought the Lord at all on the issue?
Have you made your plans and asked God to bless them or are you seeking His plan.
There is a huge difference between the two!
Seek God for your direction.
Psalms 119:105
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.
2. Making arrogant presumptions.
The next thing we tend to do wrong when it comes to facing the future is allowing our foolish pride to presuppose on everything.
We just assume that all is going to go well, that there will be no real problems and if we even take a moment to consider potential problems we assume that we will overcome them without too much pain.
James 4:14 &16
Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil.
James 4:6
"God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."
A farmer is out working his fence line near the road when he sees a neighbor from a few farms down walking toward him with a cow. “Where are you headed with that cow?” the farmer asks.
“I’m heading into town to sell it.” Comes the neighbors reply.
“You mean; if it’s the Lord’s will you are going to sell it,” corrects the farmer.
“Well,” says the neighbor now feeling a little perturbed by the rebuke “I don’t much recon the Lord has anything to do with it. I bought her, I raised her, I milk her, and now I’m gonna sell her, and nobody is going to stop me from doing it.”
“Oh, alright” says the farmer, and off down the road goes the neighbor with his cow.
About twenty minutes later here comes the neighbor back the other way only now his clothes are ripped, his eye is black and he is missing a few teeth.
“What happened to you?” asks the farmer.
“Well, the neighbor replies, I got a few miles down the road and some guys jumped me, beat me up, and stole my cow.”
“Oh no, says the farmer, what are you going to do now?”
“Well, comes the reply, I’m going home to bandage up my wounds… if it’s the Lord’s will!”
What is the big deal?
- Life is a mystery we should not be so arrogant as to make assumptions.
- Life is brief; we need to walk with God and to recognize His ultimate Lordship.
Matthew 6:34
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Follow God today!
3. Delaying discipleship.
When facing the future after graduation many young people decide to take a little break from serving God. This is especially tempting to those young people from Christian homes that are getting out from under Dad and Mom’s watchful eyes for the first time.
I want to remind you about what James says about this.
James 4:17
Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.
Early I mentioned the line from the John Mayer song:
One day our generation is gonna rule the population
So we keep on waiting, waiting on the world to change
This is a catch little song that I think most of us can relate to. It does seem like there is nothing we can do about how the world is, and so for those who are young the easy thing to do is to blame the older generation and wait for change. Believe me I have been there and done that.
The problem is that the world doesn’t change by good people “waiting”, the world changes by good people getting involved and effecting change.
In three years Jesus changed the lives of 12 key men and the changes He made are still transforming the world 2000 years later.
If you see the wrong and you do nothing, James teaches us that that is a sin.
Are you going to waste your time? Are you going to spend your life?
I challenge you to invest your life!
Hosea 13:2-3
Now they sin more and more; they make idols for themselves from their silver, cleverly fashioned images, all of them the work of craftsmen.
Therefore they will be like the morning mist, like the early dew that disappears, like chaff swirling from a threshing floor, like smoke escaping through a window.
Don’t be blown away!
Don’t wait for change, become an agent of change. Maybe you will change the world and maybe you will only change the lives of a few people you contact… but who knows what one of them may do as a result of your influence.
Include God in your plans, admit that your life is in His hands, and start following today.
PowerPoint available (Free of charge) on request dcormie@mts.net
