“If the Lord wills” - what comes to mind when we hear this phrase? What do we ourselves think of when we say it? Admittedly this is one of those Christianese phrases that we may use lightly or find annoying — right up there with the rest of the Christian greatest hits “I’ll pray about it”.
Yet as much as Christian cliches can be unhelpful, I’d like us to consider tonight what this phrase really means - If the Lord wills. Unlike many other cliches, this phrase actually comes from the Bible in its entirety, fully in context.
This study deals with two main things — the often prideful posture of our hearts, and the sovereignty of God. Put together, these have everything to do with your Christian worldview. It deals with how you think, it deals with how you live, it deals with how you plan. But more than anything, it deals with how you see yourself, and how you see God. It is our hope that through this study, God would shine so bright a light on the dark and prideful parts of our lives that hide so easily in our regular daily life, and that this fundamental worldview shift would cause us to live radically different lives as humble children of God.
Before we unpack these verses, it is important for us to situate ourselves in James’ letter. This is not the first time James speaks of pride. In fact he talks quite extensively about it as he weaves his argument about worldliness in together with this issue of pride. This passage is framed by James’ teaching on pride, both before and after, in James 4:5-7 and James 4:8-10, 12. In James 5, he addresses the rich who have laid up treasure in the last days, who fraudulently withhold wages, who are self-indulgent. James has a strong word about pride.
(A) Man’s Pride: Living without regard for God, as if we ourselves are God (jas 4:13-14, 16)
In James 4:13, James is addressing a specific kind of person, the the kind of person who says “today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”.
This person presumes a number of things. Hhe or she presumes that they are in control of::
When they do things
Their movements
Destination
Duration of work
What they will do
Their succes or what the outcome is
How would we describe such a person? A Type A person? One who is in control and even god-like?
We know how James describes him because we read the rest of the passage. He is one who boasts, is arrogant and is evil (Jas 4:16).
Is it really that bad though? Doesn’t sound that bad? If we just read this verse alone, without the rest of the passage, doesn’t it sound a lot like how we make our plans?
Next year I will go and start a business and work hard for the next 10 years and build a company and make lots of money
Next month after my exams I will go for my grad trip to Bali for 5 days and have fun
Next week I will need to work long hours and weekends because it’s a big project and I’ll do it well so I can get a good performance grade and bonus—
Do you see it? Fill in those blanks with whatever plans you’ve made and you will realise that this is how we often plan. We might be tempted to read this from a distance, but James is addressing exactly people like us. We are not too far off from this, and this word is for us. You will find that’s often true of God’s word. This word is also for us!
If we do plan this way, if we have been trained and conditioned to think this way, which we have, James’ claim is that something is fundamentally wrong with our worldview and it needs correction.
James also makes an argument in James 4:13. He has two statements here: You don’t know what tomorrow will bring, and you don’t know what your life is. These two statements argue the same thing — you who do not know or control tomorrow, you who do not understand your life, how dare you be so presumptuous?
Look at these references to brevity and mist. Our life is likened to a breath in cold air that fades as soon as it leaves your lips. This echoes the Psalmist as he considers his days — “My days are like an evening shadow” (Psalm 102:11). The shadow is there, but in a minute its shade fades, and it is swallowed before one’s eyes by the night and is gone forever. Again in Psalm 1023 and Psalm 103:15. Man’s days pass away like smoke and like grass too — sprouts, greens, withers and is gone. What is James’ argument?
Life is short, life is fragile, and life is not in your control. If you think otherwise, you are presumptuous, and you will think and speak as in James 4:13.
Before we dismiss this completely, let us pause and consider this verse and our hearts. We do a fantastic job of self-justification. Our hearts are so good at deceiving ourselves as we mask our presumption behind pragmatism and excellence — but what happens when we lose control of our plan? What happens when our plans are taken out of our hands? We hate it, we react, we are distraught, because we have lost control - how dare you be so presumptuous to believe you were in control in the first place? Beware the lie of practicality and excellence that hides our prideful hearts.
Let us also be clear that James is not saying that we should not plan. What matters rather is how we plan We plan with clarity and certainty and dependence on a sovereign God who holds all things according to His good will — distinctly different from what we see in James 4:13-14.
Ultimately, what we say and how we make our plans reveals what we believe. James’ point is a simple one : Who do you think you are? We are a presumptuous people, very happy to live with no regard to God.
As we read James 4:16, what do we really believe wen we say and think like this? This is boasting and arrogance. It is pride, which goes beyond just living without regard for God. It is a fundamental shift — you not only think there is no God, but you think you yourself, are god.
This is why James describes this behaviour as evil. It is not just a harmless boasting, but a boasting that reveals our hearts. It is a boasting that rejects God’s rule and sovereignty, His lordship and authority, His goodness and wisdom, and replaces it with our whims, fancies and desires. It is a boasting and arrogance that says to God “you are not my God”.
If you are listening closely, this is the same rejection we saw in our study last week. This is the same usurping of God that we saw in Genesis 3 in the fall. It is the same pattern of behaviour that rejected God’s good commands, and the same posture of the heart that is defiant against God that we see in all of the Bible. Let us not mistake this for anything less — James says this is an evil thing. Christians have a specific term for this — not just idolatry, not just pride, but godlessness.
Now before we think this is overstating and jumping the gun, let us trace the logic again — you who say today or tomorrow we will go, we will, we will. Peeling back the layer here, we find presumption - of control, of rejection of God, of degodding God, of godlessness.
We do not need to look very far for real life examples of godlessness. Isn't it true that we often live our lives without regard for God? Think about the Singaporean young adult experience:
Students aim to study hard, take exams, find an internship, travel a bit during summer and graduate.
Then, we seek to get a job, work hard, do well, get a promotion. Or if it does not work out, we have a backup plan — quiet quit and do the bare minimum. We work so we can take leave, travel every couple months.
Somewhere along the way, we plan to find a partner, date, get married, get a house, maybe have children, and travel some more.
Where is God in any of that?
Maybe we try to insert God into our lives by attending a Bible study, prayer meeting, church services and serving in a local church. But, are we that different from the person that James is writing about here? Do we care about God’s purposes and His desires for us?
Are we a presumptuous people? It is much simpler to pray that God blesses our plans, instead of saying Lord as you will, take me. Tell me where to go, tell me what to do, and as you will, I will do. But to this question — we are presumptuous in how we plan, because we do not think that life is short, we do not think that life is fragile, and we think that we are in control. That is the attitude that James is addressing here, and that is so often our attitude.
Herein lies the problem of our passage, and in fact, the problem of our world. Left to ourselves, we are all a godless people, living with no regard for God, as if we ourselves are gods. Man’s pride works itself out by living without regard for God, as if we ourselves are god.
(B) God’s Sovereignty: Living and doing if the Lord wills, at His mercy and in His time (Jas 4:15-16)
James offers an alternate approach — “Instead you ought to say” vs “come now, you who say” earlier. The phrase — If the Lord wills” — can be paraphrased as “if it is in God’s will” or “if that is God’s plan and desire for you”. It is plain to see what this means — if God, in His cosmic plan for past present and future, has willed you to do this, thus it will be so. So what’re the blanks? If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.
Notice that there is some humility in saying this. It is a posture of recognising that we do not have full knowledge of what God is planning to do. There is a subjection of the self to God and coming under Him. This is consistent with what we see in other parts of Scripture.
First, if the Lord wills, we will live. The converse is also true — if he does not will you to live, you will not live. If the Lord wills you to live, you will not die. How many different ways can we say this? Life is completely and fully in God’s hands. Every moment that we have is not ours.
Piper said it well - “every beat of your heart, every breath you take, every thought you make, is because the Lord has decided you would. You are not your own. You are owned by the Lord, He created you, He sustains you He will decide the day you live and the day you die. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord (Job 1:21) - we should feel it, and we should say it as a testimony to his total governance of our lives.”
Second, if the Lord wills, we will live and do this or do that. Whatever we do, falls within His will. If you do this, God has willed it. If you do that, God has willed that too. You may make plans and you may see them through — if you did, God willed that. You may make plans and they may not happen and you may do something else — if you did, God willed that too. This speaks to God’s complete sovereignty — whatever we do, is because the Lord has decided that we do this or that.
But what happens to our free will!? Consider this: our free will and God’s sovereign will are not mutually exclusive events. In fact, based on what James says here, our free will operates within the confines of God’s sovereignty. The two things can be true and exist together — there is no contention.
In James 4:16, we see here two ways of saying this statement, and indeed, two distinctly different worldviews. The former is one of pride, of arrogance, of boasting, of godlessness. The latter is one of humility, of being subjected to, of meekness, of dependence, of God-centeredness. One is a dependence on a good and sovereign God, and one is an independence of God in favour of a self-sufficient, self-sovereign and self-reliant me.
Do we struggling with living under God’s sovereignty? Friends, James wants us to see that if we have a problem with living as the Lord wills, this is boasting, it is presumptuous, proud, has nothing of God. It has nothing of submission to the Lord’s will, it is a godless worldview, and it is evil.
How do you live? Do you live in light of God’s sovereign will every dady? This might be a struggle for some of us as we contend with our pride.
How do we spend our time? Our money? I God is our all powerful creator, and if God is infinitely good, and if God does not change, and God loves you - why wouldn’t we want to sit under God’s sovereign will? Left to ourselves, we will end up a wreck and will also make wreck of our lives. Thank God that He is in control, thank God that this is His plan, and thank God that He has been so merciful to save me to Himself, that I am His and He is mine.
James offers us an alternative to destructive and godless pride — living and doing if the Lord wills, at His mercy and in His time.
(C) Our Obedience: Living as the Lord wills in humility, assurance, boldness, agency, joy and hope (Jas 4:17)
James concludes by stating the law and indeed by this measure all have sinned (Jas 4:17). Our calendars and wallets testify against us, even right now. Thank God we have not been left to ourselves and our sin but that He send Jesus Christ. All the threads come together in Christ.
As we read in Luke 22:42, Jesus said,“Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” Jesus suffered, struggled, knew what was right and persisted in obeying. He subjects Himself to God’s sovereignty.
What can we learn from Jesus’ example? What then does obedience look like? What does “doing the right thing” here look like? To understand that, we must understand what the right thing to do is in this text — and that is to reject the lie that excludes God and sees Him as irrelevant to life.
It is to know the truth that our life is short and fragile and out of our control, which spurs us to humility, relying on a sovereign God — knowing who we are and who God is and trusting His character — that He is good, unchanging, eternal, all-powerful, and ultimately in control. The world and everything that is going on in it is not beyond Him. It is by His will the world continues to turn and the sun rises and sets, and that His will is good, because He is good.
It is a glorious thought that we are are fully and completely saved if we have received Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour. Obedience looks like living with assurance, resting in a sovereign and good God who has fully saved us. We are purchased by the blood of His son, and cloaked in His righteousness. We stand before God as His son, justified, forgiven and loved deeply. What more can we look to for assurance, and what else do we need to lean on? Reject the lie that we are what we do, or what we have, or who we date and marry, or what our experiences are. We are first and foremost and most importantly a child of God, precious in His sight.
It is knowing that whatever God wills will come to pass that allows us to live with boldness. What a thought, that we will not die until the good Lord wills us to! Friends, how would life change for us if we lived this out? What would our ambitions be like? What would we work towards? May we not believe the lie that world tells us that, God wants us to have a stable job, a happy family, a nest egg and a comfortable life. Are those bad things? No — but where in the Bible do we see that? Instead we see pictures of godly ambition — godly men and women seeking God’s glory for His purposes that more may know Him, that healthy churches would be established, that more would know Jesus. Friends, what if our ambitions looked like that?
The Christian life is a joyful one — because we are living as God designed us to be!
Obedience looks like living with agency and urgency - if the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that. Not do nothing, not plan nothing. We have grossly misunderstood the text if that’s our understanding -
If you knew you would see Christ again in a year, what would you do? What would you do differently? What would you not do? Now why would you presume you even have a year? The Christian lives with joy and hope today because they know that their future is secure.
How are you living?