What Is Your Life?

Introduction

A. I have mentioned before that James is extremely practical. It isn’t that James needs a great deal of explanation; it is that we need the courage to listen to his words and follow them. Such is the case with our text this morning. James is writing to those who have been dispersed because of persecution. Having been scattered some are challenged economically; others, however, have prospered in their new location. James has instructed that it is important to assist one another. He has instructed how important it is to treat one another equally without regard to wealth status. He has instructed how important it is to teach—keeping one’s tongue silent and to seek heavenly wisdom.

B. Then he has instructed that conflicts are arising because some are becoming too secure in this world. Instead of remaining faithful with God, they have become more interested in aligning themselves with the desires of the world. It is in this context that James now writes what is probably one of the better known sections of his letter—What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. The point—life is too brief to align yourself with the world and leave out God’s will.

C. Some have taken James’ words to mean that we are to live for the moment. Since life is short, “carpe diem”—seize the day. Is that what James is suggesting? We will look at his words in context and see that James has a more spiritually motivated purpose in his writing. Let’s be reminded today in song of the brevity of life and the importance of keeping our minds focused on God’s plans and purposes.

The Text

A. James begins this section by using an expression that my mother used often “Now listen..” When mom said those two words there was no doubt that I was supposed to hear the next words. I was to stop what I was doing and give my full attention to my mother’s voice. James is doing the same thing. He is speaking to those who need correction. What he has to say is designed to correct thinking and actions that are not as God wants them.

B. James chides his readers for acting as if tomorrow is assured. They lay out their plans on how they are going to live and prosper all the while forgetting that tomorrow is not promised to us. Life is unpredictable James tells us. We plan and look toward the future but things happen and without warning life changes dramatically.

C. Most of us who are old enough can remember what we were doing on September 11, 2001. We have seen the destruction of the twin towers numerous times via tape and that day changed the political nature of our country. But do we recall the prior months. How unpredictable life is. In one of the August issues of Time magazine that year the New York Mayor, Rudy Giuliani was being described in politically lame duck terms. He was a man on the way out of power and political influence. In one of the July issues of Time a man by the name of Ted Olson was seen as one of the up and coming political stalwarts of the Bush administration. Ted was the Solicitor General of the U.S. He argued cases before the Supreme Court. Then came 9/11. The unpredictability of life raised its ugly head. By early January of 2002, Rudy Giuliani had been named Man of the Year for his role in dealing with the 9/11 crisis and Ted Olson was just days after 9/11 on television burying his wife who was on the airplane that crashed into the Pentagon. Life is unpredictable.

D. Is James against planning? Absolutely not. He will speak of such planning in the next chapter. So what is the problem? It is perspective about priorities. He is addressing those who make plans without thinking about God’s will. He is addressing those who presume that life is to be lived for themselves rather than thinking “what is it that God wants.” He is addressing those who arrogantly pursue life for its own sake rather than realizing that life is too short to get caught up in short term vision.

Application

A. In very simple terms, James is speaking to those who live with arrogance and human confidence in this world. He is speaking to those who think that they will do whatever they want to do and prosper. This may be in the area of finances, health, education, or power, but the point is the same. To live life as if it is a given that the sun will rise tomorrow is to live arrogantly. To live life as if it is a given that money will keep flowing is to live pridefully. To live life as if completing educational plans is a right to ignore those who haven’t been so blessed is to live boastfully.

B. So listen!! From the teenager who thinks that nothing can harm him to the middle aged adult who lives life in relative ease to the older adult who thinks that there are fewer tomorrows but surely tomorrow will come, quit living life as if it is all about what you want. The life that God has given you is too short to live as if all that matters is what you want. Live life thinking about what God wants. Make your plans realizing that if tomorrow comes it will be lived for God and be received as a gift from God.

C. In 1969, in Pass Christian, Mississippi, a group of people were preparing to have a “hurricane party” in the face of a storm named Camille. Were they ignorant of the dangers? Could they have been overconfident? Did they let their egos and pride influence their decision? We’ll never know. What we do know is that the wind was howling outside the posh Richelieu Apartments when Police Chief Jerry Peralta pulled up sometime after dark. Facing the Beach less than 250 feet from the surf, the apartments were directly in the line of danger. A man with a drink in his hand came out to the second-floor balcony and waved. Peralta yelled up, “You all need to clear out of here as quickly as you can. The storm’s getting worse.” But as others joined the man on the balcony, they just laughed at Peralta’s order to leave. “This is my land,” one of them yelled back. “If you want me off, you’ll have to arrest me.”

D. Peralta didn’t arrest anyone, but he wasn’t able to persuade them to leave either. He wrote down the names of the next of kin of the twenty or so people who gathered there to party through the storm. They laughed as he took their names. They had been warned, but they had no intention of leaving.

E. It was 10:15 p.m. when the front wall of the storm came ashore. Scientists clocked Camille’s wind speed at more than 205 miles-per-hour, the strongest on record. Raindrops hit with the force of bullets, and waves off the Gulf Coast crested between twenty-two and twenty-eight feet high.

F. News reports later showed that the worst damage came at the little settlement of motels, go-go bars, and gambling houses known as Pass Christian, Mississippi, where some twenty people were killed at a hurricane party in the Richelieu Apartments. Nothing was left of that three-story structure but the foundation; the only survivor was a five-year-old boy found clinging to a mattress the following day.

G. What will you do with today? Invitation.

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