Mike Davenport's sermon 'Planning or Presuming' examines James 4:13-17, emphasizing the difference between planning and presumption. The sermon warns against presumptions that must be abandoned, such as assuming control over time and success without acknowledging God's sovereignty. It highlights the uncertainty, frailty, and brevity of life, urging believers to incorporate the acknowledgment of God's will into their planning. Davenport outlines three key elements of acceptable planning: recognizing God's sovereignty, our dependence on His will for life, and for every action. The sermon concludes by stressing that presumptuous planning is evil and encourages believers to humble themselves before God, integrating biblical principles into their resolutions and plans.

Scripture text is from James chapter 4, James 4 starting in verse 13 through verse 17. God's sovereign hand in the New Year, he's put this text before us. Come now, you who say, today or tomorrow, we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell and make a profit. Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life?

It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, if the Lord wills we shall live and do this or that. But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin." Let's pray.

Thank you, Lord God, in your loving, sovereign hand you've brought us to this passage. And Lord, Every week you bring us to the passage you want for us Lord, your leading guide as to where we will be. So Lord, may we approach this time with confidence that you have a word for each and every one of us Lord, young and old, to consider. May you speak through our brother and elder, Mike, this moment, fill them with your spirit. We pray God in Jesus' name, amen.

The fall of the city had been swift and it had been great. Unless one had seen it with their own eyes, the way it happened would have seemed unbelievable. The people were still bubbling with excitement, with awe, and with wonder. There was also a heightened sense of the power and majesty of Jehovah. The darkness of the day closed in.

Several men were gathered in a private place. One who seemed to be the leader spoke to the small band of men who were gathered there. There was a mission set before these men, go up and spy out the country. And so this band of men went forth on this mission of espionage. They returned to camp with a quickness in their step.

Their mission had been successful. They had all the needed information for the strategic planning of an invasion. This campaign would be swift and it would be easy. So sure to them was the victory that the advice given was only to send about two or three thousand troops. More than that would be unnecessary.

There was no need to weary all the troops. And so leaning on the side of caution, 3, 000 men were dispatched to take the city. The rest remained at camp, awaiting the return of their comrades, hoping to possibly join in on the plundering that was sure to follow. But the taking of the city proved to be otherwise the 3000 fled for their lives as the men of the city chased them back down the hill killing 36 of the troops in the process The campaign against Jericho had seen the people attentive to the will of God and following his word to the very detail. But such wisdom and counsel for such a small city as AI was thought unnecessary.

Planning for Jericho had given way to presumption concerning AI. Well, today we find ourselves in our expositional study of James and James 4, 13 through 17. Not only is this the case, but we also find ourselves gathered here together on the first Sunday of the year 2018. And so our passage today has much relevance as we consider the year that lies before us. The title of my message is, Planning or Presuming?

And I hope to cover this passage before us under the following headings. First, presumptions that must be abandoned. Presumptions that must be abandoned. Secondly, principles that must be acknowledged. Principles that must be acknowledged.

Thirdly, planning that is considered acceptable. Planning that is considered acceptable. And then fourth, a provision of sobering applications. A provision of sobering applications. So first, presumptions that must be abandoned.

Verse 13, come now you who say today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell and make a profit." James opens up his discussion about planning for the future with the words, come now. He is trying to arrest their attention and to direct it to right thinking. The root meaning of the Greek word used here indicates to lead by laying hold of or to move or impel. In our present time, we could almost substitute our modern phrases, come on, or listen up. He next identifies who it is he is challenging.

Ye who say. It's you who say. The word you in this particular verse is in the singular. James is most likely addressing ones who had authority or positions of influence. The word you, or the word say rather in Greek, refers to words actually spoken.

So there's a single individual here who's speaking words. Now as we have seen already, James deals much in his letter with the use of the tongue. And although it seems obvious to me that he is referring specifically to words actually spoken here, I think we do have the witness of Scripture in other places that what is uttered by James here can also be applied to the inclinations and thoughts of the heart itself, much like the fool who said that there is no God, Maybe not verbally, but certainly inwardly in his heart and in his actions as dictated by his heart. These were not people who were denying the existence of God. They were not even denying His providence or His sovereignty.

These were professing Christians, men and women whom James calls over and over in his epistle, brethren. But their words revealed something. You see, the mouth reveals what is actually in the heart. Matthew 12, 34 and 37 records the following words from Jesus. For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

For by your words you will be justified and by your words you will be condemned." So James is directing his thoughts toward those whose words were condemning them. So what exactly is being said by his hearers that has stirred up the pen of James as an instrument to move them away from their present thinking and use of words? Well, he identifies five specific presumptions in what they are saying. First, there was an anticipated departure, an anticipated departure, an anticipated departure. They said today or tomorrow.

You see, they know the right time to go. There is this anticipated departure. They know the time, today or tomorrow. There's this window and this is it. Secondly, there's an anticipated destination.

An anticipated destination. Where are they going? To such and such a city. They not only know the right time to go, they know the right place to go. To such and such a city, that's where we're going.

So there is an anticipated destination. Third, there's an anticipated duration, an anticipated duration. We're going to spend a year there, spend a year there. They know how long they need to stay there. Fourthly, anticipated dealings, anticipated dealings.

What are they going to do? Buy and sell. They have thought through their purpose for the trip. They know what things would be worth buying. They have an idea of what things would sell.

So they have anticipated dealings. And then, fifthly, in their presumption, They have an anticipated degree of success, an anticipated degree of success. We'll make a profit. That's what we're going to do. We're going to make a profit.

This is a can't miss opportunity. And so they have their departure time, their destination, the duration, the dealings that they'll be going through, and a degree of success is sure to come. They have it all planned out. They have done their homework. They have got it down to a science and it all looks good on paper.

Now at this point we need to ask and then answer the following question. Is James condemning the act of planning itself? Is James condemning the act of planning itself? Is he suggesting that it is better not to plan at all? Matthew Poole in his commentary on the book of James, answers that question.

James does not condemn merchants traveling into other countries nor trading there, nor designing gain by their trade, nor forecasting their business. But they're promising themselves the continuance of their life, the accomplishing their designs, and the success of their labors without respect to God's providence and direction as If their times and their works were in their own hands, not in his. And so it's not so much the planning, the trading, the designing gain, or the forecasting. It's the promising themselves, the continuance of life, the accomplishment of their designs, the success of their labors without acknowledging the providence or direction of God. So it is not their planning itself that James is speaking out against.

It is their presumption. It's their presumption. In fact, we shall see shortly that it is not so much a sin of commission that they are guilty of, but a sin of omission. It's not what they were saying as much as what they were failing to say. If we speak in the same fashion that James Reader's spoke, we fail to acknowledge the sovereignty of our God.

We fail to acknowledge His hand of providence in all things. In so doing we seek to take the reins. We seek to take those reins into our own hands as if we could control time, as if we could control matter. We act as the wicked in Psalm 10 verse 4. The wicked in his proud countenance does not seek God.

God is in none of his thoughts. This time of the year is a season for reflections, for resolutions, and for careful planning. Has your planning crossed over into the arena of presumption? Has it? Did you seek the wisdom of God in your planning?

Did you seek the smile of God upon your planning? Are you seeking the blessing of God upon the unfolding of that planning? Is God in your thoughts? Is he in your thoughts? But not only does James tell us that there are presumptions that must be abandoned There are also secondly principles that must be acknowledged.

Principles that must be acknowledged, verse 14. Whereas, you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Now James is not here trying to convince his hearers of the veracity or the truthfulness of certain principles.

The reality of these principles is undeniable. We all know it. His readers knew them to be true and we know them to be true. But their problem and our problem is a failure to acknowledge these principles in thought and in speech. We tend to go about our day as if these principles were not true or as if they did not exist.

What are these principles? They are the uncertainty of life, the frailty of life, and the brevity of life. Let's look at these individually. First, the uncertainty of life. James says, we do not know what tomorrow will bring.

We do not know what tomorrow will bring. Have you ever stopped to consider the endless possibilities of what could happen tomorrow? The endless possibilities of what could happen tomorrow? If any man had the power, had the wealth, and the time to bring his plans to pass, it would have been Solomon, king of Israel, living in a time of peace, having everything at his disposal, and having the wisdom of God that surpassed every man that had lived or ever has lived, short of Jesus Christ the God-man. If any man had the power, the wealth, and the time to accomplish his purposes and plans.

It was Solomon. Yet note his words, his wise words found in Proverbs 27.1. He says, do not boast about tomorrow For you do not know what a day may bring forth." Consider the life of Job. After portraying to us the godliness of Job and all the wealth He had acquired by the hand of his God the book of Job describes him in the following way This man was the greatest of all the people of the East But the narrative in Job 1 changes in verse 13. Against this beautiful backdrop of faithfulness and God's blessing, We read these ominous words, now there was a day when.

That's how verse 13 changes the whole, up to that point, what a life. But then those words, now there was a day when. What happened on that day? Well first, It was reported to Job by one of his servants that Job's 500 yoke of oxen and 500 female donkeys were stolen in a raid by the Sabians that Resulted in all the other servants except this one who brought the report all the other servants were killed by the sword." While Job was hearing this report the words were still in the mouth of his servant. Another servant came and reported that fire came down from heaven and burnt up his seven thousand sheep and all the servants who kept them, except the one who brought the report.

While the second servant was still giving his report, a third servant told Job of his narrow escape from the hands of the Chaldeans who had swooped down and killed the other servants of Job and stolen 3, 000 camels. And while this servant gave his report, another came to tell Job of the death of his seven sons and three daughters, that a great wind had arisen from the east and caused the collapse of his oldest son's house while they were gathered there for a feast. None survived. None survived. Now there was a day when...what will the year 2018 bring?

What will tomorrow, January the 8th, bring? We do not know. We do not know. It's the uncertainty of life. Secondly, the frailty of life.

The frailty of life. Like a vapor that appears for a short time and is redirected by the smallest movements of air. When we think of vapor, our minds are often drawn to fog or mist or steam. Children, this is the time of the year when it's so cold outside, right? The temperatures drop so low that you can actually see the moisture in your own breath as you breathe out, right?

It's that that smoke that vapor that comes out of your mouth. You breathe out And this moisture appears and it's taken away by the wind or Or maybe you children have have seen something when you're helping your your mother or one of your siblings in the kitchen and they said watch this pot and let me know when it starts boiling and you're watching there and you start to see bubbles form that start at the bottom and rise to the top and then it starts boiling and then what happens You see steam start to rise from that water, right? Have you ever tried to catch that moisture from your breath? Have you ever tried to catch it or capture somehow in a jar that steam where does it go you see it's it's frail it's it's not substantial it's nothing that you can capture it's nothing that you can keep it's nothing that you can really build with anything final, right? It's frail and so is life.

It's just like that vapor. It's like that vapor. You see it but it's as if it's not even really there but third Not only do we see the uncertainty of life and the frailty of life But we see here in these words the brevity of life the brevity of life It's like a vapor vanishing away as if it were never there to begin with. You blink and it's gone. Going back to our analogy of the vapor that appears from our breath in the winter, where does it go?

Where does it go? How long can you actually view it? That vapor coming from the boiling water, where does it go? How quickly does it vanish? Even so, James describes our lives in the same manner.

In light of eternity, our lives quickly vanish and are no more. And then we end up, as Solomon tells us in Ecclesiastes, leaving everything we have behind to someone who comes after us. His life is short. Matthew Henry comments on the foolishness of such boasting that these people were involved with. We will go to such a city, say they, perhaps to Antioch or Damascus or Alexandria, which were then the great places for traffic.

But how could they be sure when they set out that they should reach any of these cities? Something might possibly stop their way or or call them elsewhere or cut the thread of life. Many who have set out on a journey have gone to their long home and never reached their journey's end. But Suppose they should reach the city they designed. How did they know they should continue there?

Something might happen to send them back, or to call them vents and to shorten their stay. Or suppose they should stay the full time they proposed, yet they could not be certain that they should buy and sell there. Perhaps they might lie sick there, or they might not meet with those to trade with whom they expected. Yay. Suppose they should go to that city and continue there a year and should buy and sell, yet they might not get gain.

Getting of gain in this world is at best but an uncertain thing, and they might probably make more losing bargains than gainful ones. And then, as to all these particulars, the frailty, shortness, and uncertainty of life ought to check the vanity and presumptuous confidence of such projectors. The psalmist felt the need to keep these realities at the forefront of his thinking and so in Psalm 39 4 through 6, he said, Lord, make me to know my end. And what is the measure of my days that I may know how frail I am? Indeed, you have made my days as hand breaths, and my age is as nothing before you.

Certainly, every man at his best state is but vapor. Surely every man walks about like a shadow. Surely they busy themselves in vain. He heaps up riches and does not know who will gather them. And it was a prayer, Lord, help me to keep these things at the forefront of my thinking.

Well, as we enter into this new year, let us do so with these inescapable realities before our eyes. The uncertainty of life, the frailty of life, and the brevity of life. These are principles that must be acknowledged, not only by our minds but by our hearts and as our hearts flow out into our actions. And you young people, you young people, let me speak to you just a moment. You may be thinking that you have the rest of your lives before you, or that you have the world by the tail or that your sins cannot destroy you or that you will get serious with God tomorrow.

Remember that the Bible recognizing the realities of our days in the world, says that today, today, today is the day of salvation. The Bible knows nothing of the phrase tomorrow is the day of salvation. Tomorrow is always the devil's day. Do it tomorrow. Do it tomorrow.

We heard in our hearing already the scripture read from Scott, right? There was the rich young fool. You have the rest of your life ahead of you. Take your ease. Sit back.

Enjoy. You've got enough to last you for a long time. God said, you fool, today is the day of salvation. Life's uncertain. Life is frail.

Life is brief. And so with all presumptions abandoned and with biblical principles acknowledged, we are now ready to receive from James thirdly his exhortation regarding planning that is considered acceptable. Planning that is considered acceptable. Verse 15, instead you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that. Instead, Instead, that is to say in contrast to the atheistic manner of planning, because that's what it is.

If you plan without God in your thoughts, it's atheism. It's saying that there is no God. Oh, I would never say that with my mouth, but how often can we say it in our planning, in our thinking, and in our actions? You see, the Christian is to plan their days, their years, their life in a different way. You may recall an earlier statement I made.

It's not what these readers of James Epistle were saying so much as what they were failing to say. It's what they were failing to say. It's what they were failing to say. In verse 15 gives us three key elements that were absent from their speech. Are they absent from your speech as well?

First the acknowledgement of the sovereignty of God's will the acknowledgement of the sovereignty of God's will, if the Lord wills." They had not said that before. Now, these are believers, and if you had asked them, is God sovereign, I know the confession, absolutely. I know the catechism, absolutely. God is sovereign. But it wasn't coming across in their speech and in their planning.

So first, the acknowledgement of the sovereignty of God's will. Secondly, the acknowledgement of our dependence upon that will for life itself. An acknowledgement of our dependence upon that will for life itself. If the Lord wills, we shall live. If the Lord wills, we shall live." No such acknowledgement was made earlier in what they had said.

And then thirdly, an acknowledgement of our dependence upon that will for every action, not just for life itself, but a dependence upon that sovereign will for every action if the Lord wills We shall do this or that James points out that this is how a Christian is to speak This is how a Christian's life is to be directed and lived out. He declares here not simply the way you are to speak but also the way you are to operate, the way you are to carry out the daily activities of your life. The same Solomon that said we should not boast about tomorrow because we don't know what a day will bring forth also says in Proverbs 16 9, a man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps." You see, it is right to plan. It is good to plan, but it is wrong to presume. And we have apostolic examples of the use of such language, Acts 18, 20, and 21.

When they asked Paul to stay a longer time with them, he did not consent, but took leave of them, saying, I must by all means Keep this coming feast in Jerusalem, but I will return again to you, God willing." And he sailed from Ephesus. First Corinthians 4, 19. Paul writing again, but I will come to you shortly if the Lord wills and I will know not the word of those who are puffed up but the power. I will come to you shortly if the Lord wills." Third, Romans 1, 9 through 10, Romans 1, 9 to 10, for God is my witness whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without Ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers Making requests if by some means now at last and I may find a way in the will of God to come to you and Then Hebrews 6 3 this short phrase and this we will do if God permits. This we will do if God permits.

We must not fall prey, we must not fall prey even looking at these texts to a use of mindless repeated phrases as though the addition of such phrases makes us more holy or makes our plans acceptable to God. The use of such phrases as if God wills or Lord willing are meant to flow from a heart that is acknowledging the presence of God and is Acknowledging his right to orchestrate things as he sees fit It's to be a mindset that permeates our thinking and our planning, not a tack-on phrase, but a real and vibrant conviction of the heart. Here's a quote from Andrew Bonar's commentary on Leviticus, taken from Leviticus 5-4, in speaking of a vow. In speaking of a vow, the careless way of doing even what is right, taking a vow, is here condemned. Inconsiderateness, doing what I do without thought or consideration is a heinous crime, for the man is appealing to God, and especially so when the thing vowed is evil.

There is a solemn lesson taught us in regard to the mode of doing even right things. Approach the Holy One with fear and reverence. But alas, How plentiful is the flow of hidden sin committed in our dedication to God or in resolutions to be His, expressed to Him in prayer and praise. Even saying or writing, God willing, d.v., the Latin, this secret sin may be oftentimes chargeable upon our unconscious souls. Have you bathed your resolutions or your plans for two thousand teen in the realities that God is sovereign and you are dependent?

When you speak of those plans or those resolutions, does your speech reflect these realities that God is sovereign and I am dependent? Are People you share these plans with left with a deeper impressiveness to what you are able to plan and maybe accomplish, or are They going away with a deeper impressiveness of the God with whom you have to do. That man, that woman, they seem to be acknowledging God in all of their planning and acknowledging His sovereignty in the unfolding of those plans. And so we have seen most appropriately here at the beginning of the year, presumptions that must be abandoned, principles that must be acknowledged, and planning that is considered acceptable. Now fourthly and finally, a provision of sobering application.

James doesn't leave us to ourselves. There's a provision of sobering applications. James ends this chapter by providing his readers and thereby providing us with these two applications. He says in verses 16 and 17, but now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin." So the first application that James gives us, presumptuous planning with no thought of God is evil. Presumptuous planning with no thought of God is evil. Presumptuous planning with no thought of God is evil. It's wicked. It is of the devil.

He speaks of it as a boasting in your arrogance It's not a small insignificant thing arrogance in and of itself is despised by all Certainly by God who is not impressed with any of our plans or any of our claims, but to boast of such arrogance? How ridiculous, how insane, how foolish, how evil. The prophet Isaiah talks about what God does to the proud and what we should do in response to God's plan of action for the proud in Isaiah 2 verses 12, 17, and then 22. For the day of the Lord of hosts shall come upon everything proud and lofty, upon everything lifted up, and it shall be brought low. The loftiness of man shall be bowed down, And the haughtiness of men shall be brought low the Lord alone will be exalted in that day Sever yourself from such a man whose breath is in his nostrils for of what account is he There are those who are proud God says, sever yourself from such a man.

And might I add, that's hard to do when you are that man, when you are that woman whose breath is in your...what are we promised? What do we know? The very breath that we just inhaled is all we know. That's all we have. That's all we can bank on.

God just gave us that breath. Sever yourself from such a man whose breath is in his nostril. What pride should he have? So have you humbled yourself in the sight of God? James just talked about that.

This flows right out of that. Humble yourself in the sight of God. Humble yourself in terms of your planning. Humble yourself. Do your plans or your sharing of those plans with others.

Does it reflect such humility? Presumptuous planning with no thought of God is evil. The second thing James tells us, you are without excuse. You are without Excuse. Having been confronted with the message of James, this God-breathed message, any failure to put these three things regarding planning into practice, failure to do so becomes sin.

God gives great weight to sins of omission. It's not just what we do that's wrong. God's concerned about the things that we don't do. You know now what God would have you to do. Even if you've never seen this passage before, you've never read it, you now know what God would have you to do.

You know the good and the proper way. Will you persist in presumption and thereby sin? James would have us here remember his admonitions back in the first chapter of his epistle. Much of what he writes about in his letter goes back to these verses, but be doers of the Word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, He is like a man observing his face, his natural face is in a mirror.

For he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one, this one will be blessed in what he does if anyone among you thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is useless. So are you planning? We don't know what a day will bring forth. It may be those trials spoken about in chapter one.

Has your planning taken the consideration trials? I hope so because you're to take joy in them What about temptation James has talked to us about temptation and how we're to handle it where it comes from it comes from within Lusting are those things that are set before us. Are you planning any spiritual good, any spiritual battle in 2018? What about the Word of God? James here says there's only one who will be blessed.

You want to bless 2018? Don't simply plan well. Plant yourself before the Word of God and be a doer and not just a hearer of the Word of God. And on and on it goes in James telling us the things that should be included in our planning, the use of our tongue, the use of our body, and the works that follow the profession of faith that we make, the wisdom. What wisdom shall we have in the planting of peace?

Are we sowing in peace? Are we planning to sow in peace in the year 2018? Are we planning to humble ourselves in the year 2018. Do you want to be blessed? Then follow James' exhortations.

And may God truly make this a year of growth, A year where we as God's people are changed from one degree of glory to another. How? By beholding in Jesus Christ all of that glory, all of that glory, and drawing near to Him. Let us pray. Father, we thank you for your goodness and your mercy to us.

We thank you for your word. Lord, we're thankful that it tells us what we need to hear. But Lord, we would do more than just hearing. We would desire to be doers of what we hear, but we need your help. Come by your Spirit, make it to be so, we pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.