What Does Tomorrow Hold?

What does tomorrow hold? 

What if I had asked you that question one month ago?

The realities of the past two weeks changed all of our lives and reminded us that we know far less about the future than we often think.

Our passage today is a strong reminder that God is in control, and we are not.

 

You are not in control of your days. In a variety of ways, our text today confronts us with the reality that we are not in control of our days, or nearly as many aspects of life as we might think. Notice the various ways that James makes this clear.

You do not know what will happen.

In vs. 13-14a, James reminds us of our uncertainty regarding what will happen in the future. He says, “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’; ¹⁴ whereas you do not know what will happen” We may think we know what tomorrow holds, but we do not. As the present circumstances surrounding COVID-19 have taught us, everything about our lives can change in a moment.

COVID-19 and Toilet paper. We go from being so confident about tomorrow to not knowing where our next roll of toilet paper will come from.

Proverbs 27:1. “Do not boast about tomorrow, For you do not know what a day may bring forth.”

You do not know how long you have.

In vs. 14b-15a, James goes on to remind us that we do not know how many days we have left on earth. He says, “For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.” Our life seems to be so long because we have not seen any days before it. But in the grand scheme of things, our lives are so incredibly brief, and their duration so uncertain.  

I almost died three years ago. I had just turned 40, never giving a single thought to the possibility that my time is short. After nearly bleeding to death, my entire frame of reference was rearranged.

Luke 12:16-21. “Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” ’But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

You do not know what is valuable.

In vs.13-14, James also critiques the one who lives life seeking earthly treasures. He says, “you who say, “. . . we will go . . . buy and sell, and make a profit.” The point here is not to ridicule wealth per se. James is not critiquing capitalism. Rather, he is critiquing self-confidence and selfishness. His point is that those who fixate on earthly treasure don’t have eyes to see what has real value. It’s not the passing pleasures of this world, but the eternal investments for the Kingdom that are truly valuable.

Matthew 6:21-23. “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”

God is in control of your days.

Therefore, repent.

In vs. 8-9, James instructs us to “Cleanse your hands you sinner; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” Pastor Bo covered this well last week, but we should note that all of this ties together. James is here confronting our arrogance and pride. The uncertainty of our days should humble us and cause us to repent of our sin.

James 4:9. “Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.”

Therefore, submit.

In vs. 7 & 15, James calls us to submit our lives fully to God. He says, “Therefore submit to God . . . Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills . . .” What James shows us here is that we can do nothing without the Lord granting it to us. If so, every detail of our lives needs to be in submission to the Lord. Posturing our actions with the disposition of “if the Lord wills” reflects a life that is in complete submission to God.

Proverbs 16:9. “A man’s heart plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps.”

Therefore, depend.

In vs. 7 & 15, James’s statement that “Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills . . .” also reminds us that everything that we do in our lives we do in dependence on God. Indeed, what can we do without Him? We cannot:

• Exist without Him.
• Sustain without Him.
• Breathe without Him.
• Succeed without Him.
• Be saved without Him.
• Provide for our loved ones without Him.

What we do we do only if the Lord allows us. Therefore, we must recognize our dependence on God and live in that posture. 

Psalm 16. “Preserve me, O God, for in You I put my trust. . . O LORD, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You maintain my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; Yes, I have a good inheritance. . . I have set the LORD always before me; Because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.”

Therefore, be humble.

In vs. 16, James instructs us to be humble before God. He says, "But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.” In other words, now that he has shown us the folly and sin of pride, the only natural response is to humble ourselves before God.

Proverbs 22:4. “By humility and the fear of the LORD Are riches and honor and life.”

Micah 6:8. “He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?”

Luke 18:10-14. “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Therefore, obey.

In vs. 17, James closes the chapter with a word about obedience. He says, “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him, it is sin.” In other words, we have no excuse. God has made it clear that there is no place for haughty arrogance. To continue in that disposition is sin against God. We are to be obedient, and obedience, in this case, is humility.

John 14:15. “If you love Me, keep My commandments.”