If the Lord Wills…

James 4:13-17

About the Sermon

This week we come to an especially memorable passage in James’ letter, 4:13–17. Here James offers us a memorable line to speak as we make our plans: “If the Lord wills…” It's a misused phrase, sometimes to bless our own plans and at other times as a mindless mantra. But far worse, we neglect to acknowledge the Lord in our plans for the future. According to James, one of the most evil things we can do is to make careful plans for tomorrow without accounting for the Lord who holds all of our days. This is a convicting truth. But equally as comforting.

About the Series

The book of James is beloved of Christians for its famously practical wisdom and instruction. But James is no less painful as it is practical, addressing our many problems with a simple diagnosis: double-mindedness. Our fractured relationships, James says, are symptoms of our fractured souls, souls in a fractured relationship with our Father. But James offers more than this searing diagnosis but a program and prescription for wholeness: “draw near to God and he will draw near to you.” The message of James is this: God offers double-minded people the possibility of wholeness through repentance and faith. Our God “yearns jealously” over us and “he gives more grace.”
The book of James is beloved of Christians for its famously practical wisdom and instruction. But James is no less painful as it is practical, addressing our many problems with a simple diagnosis: double-mindedness. Our fractured relationships, James says, are symptoms of our fractured souls, souls in a fractured relationship with our Father. But James offers more than this searing diagnosis but a program and prescription for wholeness: “draw near to God and he will draw near to you.” The message of James is this: God offers double-minded people the possibility of wholeness through repentance and faith. Our God “yearns jealously” over us and “he gives more grace.”

Sermons in the Series