I wanted to share with you a sermon I preached recently at my church. Someone asked me for a copy of it, and I thought it might be helpful for others too. You can read it below: Self-sufficiency presumes control over tomorrow. Such planning shows a fundamental misunderstanding of our place in God’s universe, leading us to chase worldly treasures.
Imagine John, a successful businessman. His thriving company allows him to dream big – a new branch office, a luxurious lake house, and early retirement. He feels a satisfying sense of control over his life.
Then, a routine doctor’s visit reveals a life-threatening illness, shattering his carefully laid plans. John’s story strikes a chord because we all recognize something of ourselves in his plight. In full disclosure, literally just about 30 minutes ago, right before this service began, I got a text from my mom that one of my childhood baseball coaches was found dead this morning.
How often do we meticulously plan our lives, drawing out intricate blueprints for the future as if we have total control? It’s easy to slip into the mindset that we’re guaranteed the next day. And our society reinforces this illusion. We’re bombarded by messages of self-reliance that tempt us to believe we can control our future.
We chase after fleeting successes and possessions, forgetting they offer no true protection from life’s uncertainties. We’re constantly told to chart your own course, be the master of your destiny. And then we turn to the book of James, and James challenges this worldly wisdom.
James, the half-brother of Jesus, wrote to Jewish believers who were scattered by persecution. His epistle is a cornerstone of New Testament wisdom literature, offering practical guidance for Christian living. He urges unwavering faithfulness in the face of trials and worldly temptations. His audience lived under the iron fist of the Roman Empire, a society obsessed with success, worldly wisdom, and self-promotion. James cuts to the heart of the matter, asking the question: Is this what life is truly about?
The apostle James answers this question in James 4:13-17. Let’s look at the passage together:
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will travel to such and such a city and 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. So it is sin to know the good and yet not do it.
Sinful self-sufficiency presumes upon tomorrow (vv. 13-14).
Self-sufficiency presumes control over tomorrow. Such planning shows a fundamental misunderstanding of our place in God’s universe, leading us to chase worldly treasures.
The Sin of Worldly Focus
We become like the businessmen in James 4:13, fixated on profit. But when we build our lives solely on worldly success, we neglect our souls. We create a spiritual void. Remember Jesus’s words in Matthew 16:26: “For what will it benefit someone if he gains the whole world and yet loses his own soul?”
God doesn’t condemn hard work, but He calls us to a life where His plans take priority.
True fulfillment lies in seeking God. When we make Him the focus of our plans – planning around Him – all else falls into place.
The Sin of Overconfidence in the Unexpected
We crave control because the ground beneath our feet feels firm. What the Bible tells us is that it’s sinking sand. We desperately desire a sense of predictability.
I grew up in a household with a planner, Mark Taylor, my daddy, is a planner. I’ll never forget growing up as a kid; we had this one family we were really close with. We did life with the Perkins family. Ronnie Perkins is like my second daddy. He had a son named Jordan, who was a year younger than me, and Jordan and I did everything together. Now, you would think sharing so many family values, that I could go over to Jordan’s house anytime I wanted. But not in Mark Taylor’s household. If I came up to my daddy after church and said, “Hey, can I please go over to Jordan’s house today?” He would say, “You should have asked me two weeks ago, son.” “Well, daddy, what have we got planned?” And he’d say, “Oh, nothing. We’re going to go home, and you’re going to sit down in front of the TV and watch NASCAR with me… You just got to know I got to have a plan.” That was my dad. Nowadays, I’m laid back. If you want to take one of my kids home from church, have at it.
But we all crave that kind of control deep down. We fill our calendars with plans, yet we know life is completely unpredictable. Boasting about tomorrow reveals a dangerous forgetfulness of your fleeting existence. The Bible repeatedly emphasizes this – your life is a vapor, a mist, a puff of smoke. The image I always conjure in my mind is on really cold mornings, you go out, take a deep breath, and exhale. That air billows out, and then it’s gone. That’s the nature of our existence. Yet do we live with the urgency that reflects this reality? Or do we live under the delusion that we will be on this ground for eternity?
Planning with God, not Apart From Him
We can fall into the trap of assuming we’re immortal, forgetting the fleeting nature of life. We put our faith in our own abilities and plans, ignoring that the future isn’t in our hands. God holds the future, we don’t.
Now, to avoid misinterpretation: God doesn’t condemn planning itself. It’s the self-sufficient, God-ignoring spirit behind it that He finds wicked and evil. It’s when you exalt yourself over God’s throne that’s the problem.
Remember, Jesus encourages us to sit down and count the cost of our actions; even wanting us to realize that following Him will cost us something. Look at what it says in Luke 14:28, “For which of you wanting to build a tower, doesn’t first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?” Jesus isn’t upset that you plan things. The problem comes when you don’t include Him as a fundamental part of the equation.
Sinful self-sufficiency plans without God (vv. 15-16).
Self-sufficient plans ignore God. James offers a powerful alternative with those two little letters: “if.” Have you ever considered how your mapped-out life might be completely different from what God desires? Just those two letters can turn everything upside down. But what if what you’re planning on, your big success, isn’t actually God’s will?
We become so entangled in our own plans that we forget who we are. It’s easy to forget – when we’re working hard and using our talents – that everything, including the breath in our lungs, is a gift from God. Yet God is the author of our lives; we’re simply the ink. Living as if we were the sole orchestrators of our destiny robs us of a relationship with our Creator. So what does James tell us is the antidote to this? Humility.
Humility Is the Antidote
Humility means seeing ourselves clearly – limited and dependent on God, not groveling, but understanding who we are in relation to God. And God’s perspective is always the truth. Humility means acknowledging your limits. Pride wants to deceive you into thinking you’re more capable than you are. But when you recognize true humility, you can say, with James, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17).
We may not immediately see the consequences of prideful planning, but they are coming. Do you understand what happened with the businessman in our text? He didn’t commit a heinous public sin by proclaiming himself above God. He simply sat down with his calendar, made his life plans, and completely ignored God. God looks at that and calls it wickedness! You didn’t even say anything, yet your actions revealed where you think your life comes from. And God resists the proud. Look at Proverbs 16:18: “Pride comes before destruction, and an arrogant spirit before a fall.” God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Do you want God to be antagonistic towards you? Then don’t exalt yourself above Him!
A Linguistic Change: “If the Lord Wills”
We can fix this with a simple phrase – “if the Lord wills.” Don’t think of it as a mantra, but as a simple prayer inviting God into your plans and your life. This humility is actually quite straightforward. It’s about giving God His proper place.
Sinful self-sufficiency puts things off (v. 17).
Many commentators focus on the last verse of the passage. It can feel like a hanging thought. But notice that word at the beginning of verse 17: “So.” It’s a conjunction, a connection. James is still talking about that prideful businessman focused on profit instead of God’s plan. And James drops powerful knowledge – it’s not your life, and it’s not about profit. There’s something better God has for you. So he says, “So the one who knows to do good and does it not, to him it is sin.”
Sin is deceptive. While we often focus on overt wrongdoing, the Bible exposes a more insidious form of sin: the sin of omission. We neglect the good things we know we should do. We may feel good about ourselves, avoiding scandalous sins, but God calls us not just to passivity but to action.
Omission can look different for each person. Some of you are delaying a difficult conversation of reconciliation. Some of you know there’s an act of kindness you need to do. Some of you are failing to share your faith with someone you have the opportunity to. Don’t underestimate the corrosive power of neglecting what we think are small sins. These little omissions will chip away at your conscience and weaken your effectiveness in your walk with God.
Jesus and the Inactive Christian
Now, I’m about to make a lot of you upset. Here’s my warning: James and Jesus have no such category as an “inactive Christian.” If you claim to know Him, then your life should actively reflect that. Let’s look at Jesus’ parables:
The Parable of the Fig Tree (Luke 13:6-9):
Jesus tells of a man who had a fig tree planted in his vineyard. He searched for fruit and found none. Note that he wasn’t looking for different fruit – like apples – which would represent an opposite and obviously wrong outcome. He simply came to his tree expecting what a fig tree should produce and found nothing. The vineyard worker pleads for more time and mercy. “Maybe with extreme care, we can get a fig out of it next year.” The owner replies, “If not, I cut it down.”
What does this mean for believers who claim to know Christ but show no fruit? If we understand the analogy, it has serious implications. Let’s look at another text.
The Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:24-30):
Remember the servant who buried his talent? His master called him evil and lazy, emphasizing that he should have put the resources to work. Is God expecting a return on the gifts and abilities He has given you for His glory? Yes! Throwing the inactive servant into outer darkness (a clear reference to hell) shows that Jesus knows no such thing as a servant who does nothing for Him.
The Parable of the Vine and Branches (John 15:1–6):
Jesus’ parable highlights that inaction reveals the state of our souls and has eternal consequences. And even if we ignore the clear eternal consequences, think of the earthly spiritual consequences.
Just like King David, whose spiritual downfall began with idle time instead of being on the battlefield, some of our worst sins may come when we aren’t about God’s business.
2 Samuel 11:1 says, “In the spring when kings march out to war, David sent Joab with his officers and all Israel. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah, but David remained in Jerusalem.”
A neglected marriage withers; a stagnate church dies. Inaction erodes the vibrancy of our spiritual lives.
The Easiest Sin to Hide
The hardest thing about the sin of omission is that it’s easy to hide. We can look perfectly fine to other Christians as long as we don’t cause a public scandal. Sadly, many churches will tolerate an unrepentant lifestyle of inactivity. But if you claim to know Christ, your life is no longer yours. You handed that life over when you gave it to Jesus. We don’t like to think about that, but that’s what the Bible teaches. So the one who knows to do good and does it not, it is sin. And many of us are living in unrepentant, omitted sin.
God wants you to walk with Him; not ahead of Him!
Here’s what God wants from you: He wants you to walk with Him, not ahead of Him. God desires that you not live a life independent of your Creator and Maker. He loves you! He truly delights in each and every one of His creations. You are fearfully and wonderfully made. True wisdom, biblical wisdom, lies in surrendering control to the One who holds all things together. Listen to what Paul said about Jesus in Colossians 1:17: “He is before all things, and by him all things hold together.” What a resume for the person you need to give your life to!
Practical Steps
How do we integrate God into our lives?
Pray Before Planning.
This is simple, but powerful. Pray. Remember what James told us: “Now, if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given to him.” Also, remember Jesus’s teaching on prayer: let your will be done. Give your life and plans to the Lord each day.
Be Sensitive to His Guidance.
God guides us in several ways:
Scripture:
The Bible is clear: “Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105). If God’s Word says don’t do it, you shouldn’t. If it says do it, you should. That covers a wide range of decisions.
Wise Counsel:
Proverbs 15:22 says, “Plans fail when there is no counsel. But with many advisors, they succeed.” Seek out mature Christian brothers and sisters to help you discern God’s plan for your life. If those you trust have concerns about your plans, pay attention!
Circumstances:
Proverbs 19:21 tells us, “Many plans are in a person’s heart, but Yahweh’s decrees will prevail.” Sometimes, God will close doors, and no amount of prayer or advice-seeking will change that. When life doesn’t go according to your plan, we need to remember the next step.
Celebrate Surrendered Plans.
What happens when you’re faced with a closed door, an unchangeable circumstance? This is where we find the joy of surrender. See, when you truly surrender to God, there’s comfort in knowing that He has the final say. We petition Him, share our desires, and surrender them to His will, saying, “God, this is what I want, but ultimately, I want what You want.”
When the outcome isn’t what we’d hoped for – the job, the diagnosis, the relationship – we can trust that God is working all things together for good. Those who love Him and are called according to His purpose can rest in that promise (Romans 8:28). You can actually celebrate the closed door, saying, “God, thank you!”
You can’t do that without surrendering your plans first. When they’re in your hands, you can’t enjoy what you consider a failure. But when they’re at His feet, every closed door reveals a better path.
Act Now
Christian, what’s the one good thing you’ve been putting off? Today’s your day to do! Procrastination is a sign of misaligned priorities and affections. Have you ever noticed that when you’re passionate about something, you don’t put it off? But those things we delay often reveal that we’ve found something we’d rather do instead. Nothing is better than what God tells us to do. So go do it!
The Urgency of Salvation
I want to be honest with you – your time on earth is limited. None of us, unless Jesus returns beforehand, will escape death. Have you thought about that? That this life doesn’t come with a warranty? God tells us that when our time is up, it’s over. This isn’t fear-mongering, it’s simply the truth. Don’t gamble with eternity. Your salvation cannot wait because God’s judgment could come at any moment.
Remember, every time you put God off, you risk two dangers. One, you might not get another opportunity. And second, as Hebrews 2:1-3 and 3:15 warn, your heart will grow harder with each ignored prompting from the Holy Spirit. Don’t just drift away from God; that’s just as dangerous as outright resistance. If God is speaking to you, believer or unbeliever, don’t put it off! Respond today!
If you’re an unbeliever, don’t presume that you’ll have next Sunday to respond to the gospel. Today is the day of salvation!
If you realize that your time is running out – no more excuses, no more putting things off, no more living under the delusion of control – and you’re ready to come face to face with your Savior, confessing your sin and need for salvation…
God, in His love, came to this planet and lived a sinless life, dying on the cross for all of your sins so you can be forgiven. And God raised Him from the dead to prove that if you’ll call out to His Son for forgiveness, He will come into your life right now. If you’re ready to turn away from sin and live your life with Christ, will you pray this to Him?
”Dear Jesus, I confess that I am a sinner and deserve judgment and hell. I cannot save myself. But I believe that You love me, came to this earth for me, lived a perfect, sinless life, and died on the cross for my sins. I believe that God raised You from the dead to forgive me and grant me eternal life. Just as I am, I place my soul in Your hands! I trust You! Please forgive me, come into my life, and grant me everlasting life in Your name. Please help me to live for You! In Jesus’ name, amen.”
A Prayer of Surrender and Trust
Finally, Christian, I leave you with a prayer from Psalm 90:12 – “Teach us to number our days carefully so that we may develop wisdom in our hearts.” May we all live in the present, focused on God and trusting His plans for our future. Let’s pray together:
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your Word, which guides us and reveals our fallen nature. Forgive us for the times we have placed our trust in our own plans, failing to seek Your will.
Teach us, as Psalm 90:12 reminds us, to number our days, understanding our limited time on earth. Help us to live in the present with full focus on You, trusting Your plans for our future.
May we have the discernment to know when to go, to do, or to wait patiently upon Your timing. In this spirit of humility and trust, we pray, “I’ll go, do, or stay, if it serves You, Lord. Show me how, show me when.” In Jesus’ name, amen.
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