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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadJabez Burns Sermons: 846. Jam 4:13-15. The Uncertainty of the Future
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Jam_4:13-15. The Uncertainty of the Future
"Go to now, ye that say, To-day or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain; whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that."—Jam_4:13-15.
Man, in many respects, is a paradoxical being. His powers are capable of an almost infinite expansion. There are no limits to the range of his knowledge, or the imagery and of the ideal within him. He can contemplate things material and immaterial, past or present. Earth in its deepest strata, the numberless things on its surface, the air we breathe, and the heavens above us, are all open to his investigation. He can chronicle the history of all past ages, form his system of Ethics or Philosophy, detail the rise, progress, and ruin of dynasties, the foundation and fall of empires. More than this, he can analyze distinctly the laws of life, and can show in the aggregate the principles of longevity. How great and marvellous are the powers of man! Yet as it respects one all-important subject, he knows nothing: That one subject is the Future. This God reserves to himself. It is one of the secret, things which he has never given, except by direct predictive inspiration, to mortals. It is likely that all created beings are equally ignorant of the future with ourselves.
To this subject the text refers.
Observe,
I. A reprehensible course, which is commonly adopted.
To say, "To-day or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain."
II. A solemn truth, too generally neglected.
"Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow."
III. A godly principle, which should direct our conduct.
"For that ye ought to say, if the Lord will, we shall five, and do this, or that."
Notice, then,
I. A reprehensible course, which is commonly adopted.
To say, "To-day or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain."
It can scarcely be necessary to say much,
1. To establish the truth of this charge. That men are in the habit of doing so, is most evident. It is unhappily the rule, and not the exception. Most men do this; the buyer, the seller, the merchant, the politician, and the traveller, in fact all classes and orders of men do it. We see this in the domestic circle in reference to children. Parents often speak as if the destiny of their children was in their own hands. Hence they speak of disposing of, and establishing them, as if they could infallibly do it. Everywhere, with regard to plans and arrangements for the future, do men act thus.
2. The chief causes of this state of mind. Worldly absorption—want of reflection— inconsiderate levity of spirit; then as the results—established presumption. But the line of demarcation is confessedly very fine between the right and wrong. It is proper in a thousand things to act as if we expected to live tomorrow, and for many years. In business—indeed in every thing—this must in one sense be recognized. Now, this necessary prudence becomes an evil, when at length it takes away the remembrance of the mutability of every thing around us. We often do so from the experience of the past. We have acted thus for years with impunity; and therefore we conclude, as it has been, it will still continue; forgetting that every year narrows the margin of life, and renders the things we calculate on in the future less certain.
But notice,
3. The evils of this state are manifold.
We may just hint at a few.
Dependence on God is withdrawn—our reason and intellectual powers abused—for, if consulted, they would teach us better the claims of the soul neglected, or a general spirit of procrastination cherished. In addition to these, eternity is mostly forgotten. Therefore this evil is most fearfully fatal to the highest interests of our deathless souls. We ought to live, and think, and act, in reference to our highest interests, and our everlasting well-being. But just as the future is shut out of our thoughts, is this impossible.
Now such is the evil reprehended. But observe, in the text,
II. A solemn truth too generally neglected.
"Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow." To-morrow is a period near at hand. Yet it is beyond the ken of the most sagacious mortal, as to how it will dawn, progress, conclude! Indeed, though so near, yet it is as really concealed as the most distant period of time.
Its incidents with respect to ourselves are utterly unknown. We cannot even, with any probability, guess what these will be. Whether health or sickness—safety or peril—joy or sorrow. It may be a day of unequalled felicity, or of unexampled misery. It may be fraught with all that can bless us, or connected with all that can distress us. Its hours and moments may all bear witness to the liveliest enjoyment, or the most poignant grief. For observe, life itself is held on a tenure the most uncertain. "For what is your life? it is even a vapor." Human life is not as oak, but as the grass, yea, the flower of the grass. Is it not like rock or iron? No, it is a vapor, a thin misty exhalation. A breath of wind scatters it, and it a gone.
Now this is the case with all men; not only with the delicate, but the robust; not only with the old, but the young; not only with the sickly, but the hale, the vigorous, and the strong. Man, like the vapor, appeareth but a little while, and then vanisheth away. The longest life is as a short drama. Man appeareth on the stage of life, acts a few parts for good or evil, and then retires, and is seen no more.
How this truth has been admitted, and pondered, and illustrated, and expressed by philosophers, moralists and politicians of all ages! How it is presented to us in the proverbs and maxims of all nations, and of every age of our world's history! Yet, alas! how feeble the impression it makes on our heart's and lives!
Observe, then, in the text,
III. A godly principle which should direct our conduct.
"For that ye ought to say, if the Lord will, we shall live, and do this or that."
Observe,
1. Our lives are contingent on God's will. He can sustain the weak and ailing, or cast down the strongest. His will alone decides the momentous question. But do not imagine that the divine will is capricious, much less ever despotical. No, it is the will of your infinitely wise, and holy, and good God; but still he, as the Governor of the universe, decides the condition and tenure of our lives. He abridges or lengthens, extends or concludes, our probationary state.
2. This truth we should constantly cherish.
To forget it, is so absurd as to be irrational. Even nature would teach it. All the mutations of earth, the varying seasons, the falling leaves, the withering flowers, the ending day, the impress of death we see on every thing; all, all, should teach us this solemn truth. And moreover, it ought to be confessed in our phraseology: ye ought to say, "If the Lord will."
How wise and proper to use a phraseology which may remind both ourselves and others of our transitory and uncertain state. There can be no affectation in this—no sickly cant; for it is just matter-of-fact truth; and, as such, should be remembered and uttered.
Then we remark,
3. This principle would exert a most beneficial influence upon us.
It would produce moderation in all our worldly affairs. See how this is urged by the apostle: "But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none; and they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not; and they that use this world, as not abusing it; for the fashion of this world passeth away."—1Co_7:29-31.
It would most assuredly lead to seriousness of mind; and this would be favorable to the habitual preparation for death, and thus sanctify life itself. For there can be no right and wise application of life, where the probable approach and the final certainty of death are not realized. Pride, ambition, hate, worldliness, and vanity, would not thrive in such an atmosphere.
Then let the text lead all classes of persons to solemn reflection.
The unconverted should not delay immediate repentance, and should trifle no longer with the soul and eternity.
The true Christian should beware of a presumptuous self-confident spirit. They should feel and act as strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
This is not their rest, it is polluted. Life is just a journey towards the eternal world. Every day abridges it, and brings it nearer to a termination. Our forefathers, and many of our friends, have finished it; they have reached the city of habitation. But we are still sojourners, pitching our tents here today, and elsewhere tomorrow. But speedily we shall be gathered to those who are gone before; to the same mother earth our remains will be committed. Let it be our daily desire and unswerving purpose, to make the most of life, by a wise and pious employment of it, in glorifying God, cultivating our moral powers, and doing good to our fellowmen. And that we may do so, let our probationary and responsible state be ever remembered. How beautifully did the pious ancients think of these things!
Hear Moses, the man of God. Psa_90:8-9. Psa_90:12. Hear Job, Psa_7:6; Psa_14:1-2. Hear the evangelical prophet. Isa_40:6-8.
But this is the consolation of God's people, that amidst all the mutations of earth, "the word of our God abideth forever."