The Facts Of Life (And Death)

Take your Bibles this morning and turn to the book of James. As you're turning, I'm not going to ask you really to raise your hands about an answer to this question, but how many of you are kind of hoping that you could stay home today and just kind of read the Bible with your family and have a nice... Don't raise your hands. That wouldn't be fair, would it?

All right, James chapter 4. Let's pray, shall we? Lord God of heaven, now we come to you. You are the sovereign of life and death, the sovereign of all that happens in this universe. I pray that you would teach us today. Lord, not just accumulating more knowledge, but becoming wise as we understand exactly the things you would have us to understand about life.

We confess to you that we are too often, we do not heed your word. And when we do heed it, it's for the purpose of just becoming more precise in our system. Instead, Lord, I pray that today you would help us to become wise as we hear your word. Help us now, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. In the summer months of 1941, the guys from around Shenandoah, Iowa, which is out towards the west side of Iowa, close to the Missouri River, were the guys in the National Guard there were going through their training, their weekend training, doing the things that National Guardsmen do.

But within a few months, the guys from Shenandoah, Iowa, were dying in the deserts of North Africa. never occurred to them that would be happening. Most of the folks in Paradise, California, were looking forward to Christmas, but in November, almost all of them lost their homes to a fire. They weren't expecting that. Last Sunday night, a 19-year-old from our community, Alex Buckner, died in his sleep.

No one was expecting that either what going to happen to you in the next couple days What going to happen to you this coming year And you have to answer me, honestly. You have to say, well, frankly, I really don't know, Pastor. And the point is, of course you don't know. Nobody knows what's going to happen. Nobody has any idea how life is going to unfold.

So this morning, as you're looking at James chapter 4, As we begin, we'll be looking at chapter 4, verses 13 through 17. Realize this, James is a book of wisdom. It's a revelation from God as to how to understand life and how to live life with understanding. It deals with such things as hardships, faith, anger, favoritism, oppression, and even life and death.

James chapter 4 beginning in verse 13 you follow as I read come now you who say today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring what is your life for you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes instead you ought to say if the Lord wills we will live and do this or that as it is you boast in your arrogance all such boasting is evil so whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it for him it is sin in these verses God gives us the facts of life we need those facts especially in the face of things that we don't expect especially in the face of the unexpected things that just roll over us in the course of life. God intends us to be wise and to understand the issues of life and death and everything in between. Here's the first thing we want to look at today.

Be careful that you do not miss the facts of life. Be careful that you do not miss, miss, miss, miss, that you do not miss the facts of life. Verse 13. People miss the facts of life because they look at life without the revelation from God. Revelation from God. I mean revelation.

I'm talking about what God reveals as truth. People look at life without the help of that revelation from God the truth that he reveals It like looking through life without glasses When I take off my glasses I cannot distinguish anybody here I can't distinguish who's even sitting on the front row. It's merely these blobs of color and light out there.

Frankly, I just can't see anything right now. I can't even see my notes. That's what it's like living a life in this world without the Word of God, without seeking to understand that life from the Word of God. It's just going to be, it's not going to be understandable. You're not going to be able to make out what you need to make out. Without the revelation of God, we can look at life, but we'll miss much important detail, and in fact, we'll have blind spots. they're things that we will not know at all we end up like this merchant in verse 13 that's pictured in this verse come now you who say today or tomorrow we'll go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit says you're like that you you you're like that merchant you look at the map of your life as it stretches out before you and you start plotting its course.

We'll spend a year in San Francisco, get the business up and running, and two more years after we make a profit, we'll open another office. Or when I get done with high school, I'm going to go to Ohio State, and when I'm done with Ohio State, I'm going to go to law school. Then I'm going to come back, and I'm going to open a law office in my town. Now, there's nothing wrong with plotting a course.

There's nothing wrong with making plans. But when you plot your course without reference to these facts of life that God gives us here in this text, you get into trouble. If you don't know God's facts of life, you're going to miss important details. If you don't know those facts of life, you're going to miss some things. You're going to have some blind spot.

What's more, when things like tragedy and the unexpected intrude in your life, you end up dazed and confused and walking around in darkness because you have not taken into account what God says is important in life, the facts of life. So the next thing we need to do is to grasp the facts of life. We find that in the remaining verses verses 14 through 17 Here fact number one Your life is short Your life is short How long is your life What does he say here He says it's a vapor.

It's a vapor. Now I know there's some tea drinkers in our congregation. In fact, I live with a couple of them. and you fill up the pot with water, you put it on the burner, and it starts to boil, and pretty soon you hear this screeching from the tea kettle as this steam starts shooting out that part of the lid. All right? And the steam starts shooting out, and it's there just for a moment, and it disappears. doesn't it?

It's just there for a moment and then it's gone. The vapor lasts a matter of seconds. It goes up a few inches and then it disappears. Your life is no more than a vapor. You've got to understand that your life is no more than a vapor. The length of your life is no more than a mist.

The length of your life is no more than a breath. That's it. You young people, you listen to me. It seems like life is stretching before you like forever. I'm telling you, it is going to be short. You high school seniors, do you remember Dad's Night Out in kindergarten?

Do any of you remember that? Wasn't that just yesterday, right? It was just yesterday when the PASMAs and the Greens were the young married people here. And like Elaine Haas was like that tall. now elaine now the paths of the greens are old grandparents and elaine is a mom of her own that was just yesterday i can remember the first time i met elaine her mom came into our house which is right over there and she was just barely walking she's that that little that was just yesterday right you know mary beckel is 95 years old she's the oldest member of our church and i realize one day I am older now than Mary was when I moved here she was 62 when I came here I was I'm 65 I don't know I'm 63 I even wrote it down as 65 I'm telling you that's what age does to you it seems 65 will be here in no time right I read a letter I wrote to my wife before we were married, and I said something about my grandpa is going to be 85 next week.

If my father was alive today, he'd be in his 100th year. My dad. And that was just yesterday when I was writing those letters. How do you see life? It's a vapor. It's short.

It comes and it goes. Get that fact down. Fact number one, your life is short. Fact number two, your life is unpredictable. Do you see what he says here? He says in verse 14, yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring.

Right? You don't know what tomorrow is going to bring. Your life is unpredictable. Think back ten, five, or even one year ago Ten years ago, what did you think you'd be doing now? Are you doing it? Five years ago, what did you think you'd be doing now?

Are you doing it? One year ago What did you think you'd be doing this year? Are you doing that? Life is unpredictable In fact, James says, well you don't even know Life is so unpredictable you don't even know what's going to happen tomorrow. You think you're going to get up and go to work tomorrow, right? You don't know.

Life is, fact number two, life is unpredictable. You just don't know what's going to happen. When I was in sixth grade, I decided to be a fireman. When I went to high school, I planned to get into college. When I was in college, I got the idea that I'd love to teach history in American schools overseas. That's a dream of mine.

You know, go to those American schools on army bases? Overseas, I get to see the world. But then in college, in fact, near the end of my junior year, my plans changed and I decided to go to seminary. In seminary, I planned to find a church and to minister. But when I got out of seminary, nobody wanted me. And that's no lie.

Four years of looking for a church, no one wanted me. you know what I was doing then I was driving a fork truck loading trucks right that's what I was doing it not what I planned and then I decided to pursue a PhD at Notre Dame that was my next step and instead I ended up in LaRue pastoring at LaRue Baptist Church where I thought I was going to spend quiet years here not ever expecting that I'd end up in Romania and Mongolia and Azerbaijan and places like that. Life is unpredictable. You never know what's going to happen.

My father-in-law began the walk next door with some mail to the grandkids. He tripped and he fell, and it was just a short trip to eternity then. my friend rick was sitting at the table drinking coffee with his wife and his daughters and his son micah called and the last thing he said to his mom was hey tell dad i love him 15 minutes later rick was in glory life is unpredictable you have no idea what's coming god says you don't even know what's going to happen tomorrow you see fact number three your life is entirely in god's hands right fact number one life is short fact number two life is unpredictable fact number three your life is entirely in God's hands. Notice what he says.

Instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that. That phrase, if it is the Lord's will, clearly indicates that every plan that you make, every moment of your existence depends on God's sovereign purpose and plan. Now, James is not indicating here that if you say, if the Lord wills, it's like a magic formula that's going to ward off the unexpected, right?

That's not what he meant. It's not some kind of magic formula. Rather, he speaks here of your attitude. Do you realize that given the shortness of life and given the unpredictability of life from your viewpoint, every moment depends on what God has planned and what God has purposed. Life is unpredictable, yet it's entirely in the hands of God. Now, he says, if the Lord wills.

This is not the if of doubt and uncertainty. This is the if of confident reliance on the loving care of your Heavenly Father. If the Lord wills that be what will happen I going to plan this and if the Lord wills that then it will happen If He doesn it won It not the if of concern or fear it's the if of confident reliance on the loving care of your Heavenly Father.

If? You know, I plan on preaching this time next year, if the Lord wills. if something doesn't happen to me and I still have the physical ability to preach. But if something happens where I don't have the physical ability, I can have confidence in God because he is a loving, wise, heavenly father. And tragedy is included in his plan. Yet, remember this.

This is the father who gave his son to purchase a people for himself. So how will he not, along with him, give us anything that's good? If he gave his son, he'll take care of you. You cannot doubt the love of the Father. I read in the Marian Star one time as it quoted a mental health expert, and this is what the mental health expert said. People, he's talking about tragedy.

People in dealing with this kind of tragedy want to feel safe. They want to connect with their loved ones and they want to feel in control because this tragedy makes life seem so random and unfair. Well, thank you for telling me that I'll do well if I operate with the illusion that I'm in control. Yeah, we all desire control, but not one human being controls his life. the time of your departure and what happens tomorrow is not in your control.

It just isn't. And unlike this mental health expert, life is not random and unfair because a wise, loving sovereign rules the events of this life, working all things according to his infinite wisdom. don't ever can i parents you young folks here are going to be parents soon don ever ever ever say to your children well life is unfair what you have just done is said the sovereign of the universe who controls the events of life is not fair Don ever say life is not fair Don ever say that to your children Why Because God is in control of the events and he is wise and loving Right If we got fair from him if we got fair from God right now the earth would open up and all of us would drop to hell because we don't deserve what we have no no we're not in control and life is not random if we remember that our lives and plans are subject to the sovereign will of God then we will not believe that our plans are final, nor will we be surprised when the unexpected events of life overtake us. Fact number four, how you respond to life reveals your heart.

How you respond to life reveals your heart. Fact number one, life is short. Fact number two, life is unpredictable. Fact number three, yet life is entirely in the hands of God. And then fact number four, how you respond to life reveals your heart. Verses 16 and 17.

As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. If you continue to make your plans as if you will live forever, you are guilty of arrogance. If you continue to make your plans and plot your course without reference to God, you are guilty of arrogance. Most people facing the brief and unpredictable nature of life act as if they control all events in an endless life.

John Calvin once said, men act as if they're going to live forever. Now you think about that. You think about that. Men act as if they'll live forever. They go on in life acting as if this is just going to go on. It's never going to end.

Right? get a heart of wisdom doesn't go on forever and there is an ending point there is a termination point and you need to be thinking about that and with that in mind how you respond to that reveals your life if you continue to go on act as if you're in control acting as if you're not in control But as you go on and you act as if you're controlling, you are arrogant. You are boasting. You are in the face of God boasting.

You see? That's what he's saying. God calls it bragging and boasting. And he hates pride. Well, he says that's sin. Right?

That's sin. You know it's right. Don't act that way. If you do, it's sin. Now here's a question I want to end with, the last point. How do you communicate the facts of life?

How do you communicate those? How do you grasp them? Let me just give you a few suggestions here. Well, suggestions that come from God's Word. Get a right view of God. get a right view of God. Here's the first.

Here's the first. God is loving enough that He sent His Son to rescue you. That's the first thing you have to... Hey, if you're looking... Right now, you're starting to lose hope and you're starting to say, wow, you're right. Pastor Tim, I'm getting it.

Life is short. It's unpredictable. It's hard. I have to act as if I've been in control. Well, how then should you look at God? Is he going to beat you over the head?

Is he going to say, fine, you want to act that way? Look, here's what he says. You know, this is real familiar. I'm not sure if you've heard this before, though. Here's the way you ought to look at God. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. Here's the first thing you've got to get in the face of the facts of life. That is, in this short life, God says to you, there is eternal life and the only thing you need to do is believe in His Son. That is, entrust yourself to Him. and when your vapor disappears and it going to disappear your life is short your life is unpredictable where are you going to be It ends here but it goes on somewhere else Where are you going to be?

How do you see God? You know, God is graciously saying to you, Hey, your life is short. Stop acting the way you're acting. Stop being so arrogant. Your life is short. You better do something about that.

You can't make it any longer. But you can escape the judgment that comes when the vapor disappears. You just entrust yourself to my son. You see? That's the first thing. You've got a God who's actually loving when he tells you these things.

Second thing. God's not playing games with you. Look at Lamentations chapter 3. Lamentations 3, 31 to 33. Now Lamentations is a book written by a prophet named Jeremiah who's standing on the hill looking down on the smoking ruins of his home, his country's capital. He has seen some of the most horrendous things a human being could possibly see. he has seen cannibalism in the midst of a siege he has seen people wiped out by the thousands and he's left alive and as he reflects on this here's what he says for men are not cast off by the lord forever though he brings grief he will show compassion so great is his unfailing love for he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men when it says he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men what he means by that is god's not playing games like boy i love doing this i just love inflicting tragedy on those people oh this is fun it's not the way he is he's a He's a God of unfailing love.

And He brings tragedy into our lives for purposes. If you're a believer in the Lord Jesus, He brings tragedy in your life to grow you and to help you and to form you into Christ. If you an unbeliever He brings tragedy into your life to show you some important facts Like your life is short and it going to be miserable unless you come to christ here here tragedy has come to point you to jesus to point you to somewhere else for comfort so god's not playing games here's the third thing Hebrews chapter 4 verses 14 through 16 Hebrews 4 here's what we read since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens Jesus the son of God let us hold fast our confession for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted, as we are, yet without sin.

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. You see what he says here? No matter what you have faced, listen carefully, no matter what you have faced, Jesus has been through it. Whatever you have faced, Jesus has been through it. You've experienced tragedy, so has he. You've experienced betrayal, so has he.

You've experienced parents who don't understand him. That was his life, right? No matter what you've experienced, Jesus has experienced it already. He has experienced the unexpected just like you. He was without sin, but he's been through the same thing. And you know what that tells me? that when he tells us to do things, it's not coming from a distant, detached deity who sits on his throne and says, Hey, do this!

It comes from someone who's walked in your shoes and he's telling you what to do. He's not detached at all. He's walked where you've walked. And when he calls you to do something, he knows what it's like. he knows what it's like so in the unexpected events of life know that jesus was experienced the same things there's one more place that we need to go all right romans 8 verses 31 and 32 when the unexpected and the tragic overtakes us what do we need to remember Romans 8, 31, 32.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? God has guaranteed his love. How do I know God loves me? Because he says, if he gave his son, how can you possibly doubt that he'll give you whatever you need?

You can't doubt it. He gave his son for you. See, he's arguing from the greater to the lesser. If this is what he did for you, then you can count on the fact that he'll give you whatever you need every day, even in the tragedies and the unexpected events of life. You can count on the love of God. Those are the sorts of things we need to know as we communicate the facts of life, right?

So here's the question. Do you know the facts of life, right? Do you know those four facts of life? Life is short. Life is unpredictable. Your life is in the hands of God.

Your life is in the hands of God. And lastly, how you respond to life reveals your heart. Do you know those facts? Learn them well. Learn them well. As I look at this congregation, I have no idea what's going to happen this year.

I have no idea. I have no idea what hospital room I'm going to be in this coming year. I have no idea if all of you are going to be sitting here the same time next year I don't even know if you're going to see me in this pulpit by this time next year you see but we know this the sovereign who controls it all is wise and loving and for his people there is an unfailing love guaranteed by the giving of his son and for those of you who have never entrusted yourself to Jesus listen to what he says life is unpredictable and when tragedy comes think of what was said here today and run to Christ.

Run to Christ. We need to live then as wise people who glorify our Sovereign Lord and Redeemer in the midst of the unexpected in this life. Let's pray. Father, we've just lived through a year when so many things happened that we never counted on. You've walked with us through them all. I pray, Father, that you would help us to remember these things.

Lord God, as I look over the events of this last week, I'm reminded of these things. Father, give us, help us to gain a heart of wisdom, to number our days and to gain a heart of wisdom. Help us to do that, we pray. As we leave here today, help us to think carefully about what it means to be wise in the face of life beyond our simplest control. I pray for those who are here today who have never surrendered to Jesus I pray that they would see the truth of these words and find that you are a God who welcomes them with open arms as they rest in what Jesus has done now Father we pray again for wisdom and we'll thank you in Jesus name Amen