Don’t Worry - Timothy Keller Sermons

we're going through the Book of James and we get to James 4: 13 to1 17 we're going through the book consecutively piece by piece and tonight we read this passage now listen you who say today or tomorrow we will go to this or that City spend a year there carry on business and make money why you do not even know what will happen tomorrow what is your life you are a Mist that appears for little while and then vanishes instead you ought to say if it's the Lord's will we will live and do this or

that as it is you boast and brag all such boasting is evil anyone then who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it sins all right this is the passage this is God's word for tonight now what is it telling us about it's uh we're going through the Book of James James is the most practical letter and today tonight we see him get to a subject which is so unbelievably mundane so unbelievably practical that it sort of takes my breath away as I think about it what is he doing he's talking about

not going and making money I mean there later on and and previously and later in the passage in the in the chapter in the book James talks about what it means for a Christian to relate to possessions and wealth and business but you see he could have just as easily said let uh now listen you who who say uh this year I'm going to school for three years and after that I will go into a such and such a career or those of you who say uh in the next two years I'm we're going to

start a family and we will have so many children in other words he's not so much talking about money in business he is talking about uh one of the most normal things that we do we try to exert some control over our circumstances we plan we play we plan tomorrow I'm going to go do this and that this year I'm going to go to New York City and I'm going to accomplish this it's just natural it's just absolutely normal to try to get some control over the circumstances of your life by setting goals setting up

a schedule look today or tomorrow we will go to this or that City Place and spend a year there a time and carry on business and make money a goal so setting goals time periods and so forth is something we do all the time some of is very formal some of us uh very uh uh elaborately for our job and our business but everybody does it now is James saying you shouldn't do that oh if only we that easy if only he were saying now listen you who say today or tomorrow we will do this

or that and if he turn around and says but I say to you as Christians never say we will do this or that that's not what he says see in verse 13 He says now many of you will say we will do this we will go and down in 15 he says instead you ought to say and he does let us say we will go and do but he says there is a fundamental difference between the way we ordinarily do it and the way we should do it and see at this point James tells us

that the normal way in which we go about making our plans for a day or for a week or for a month or a year or for our life the normal way we operate the normal way we make plans is fundamentally Wicked evil arrogant and boastful that's what he says uh and you know when you get to verse 17 where he says anyone then who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it sins and when you first look at that it seems like uh it doesn't seem connected to the rest of the

paragraph it seems like he's laying down some kind of principle but notice the little word then in that sentence it's very connected what he is saying is there is a sin which is so huge that you can't see it it's so huge and you can't see it and it's so pervasive because to commit it is not to exert any kind of energy at all you commit it by simply going with the flow you commit it by simply not doing anything by not exerting yourself if you don't exert yourself if you go with a flow if

you do what comes naturally you're sitting in this regard uh I I know there's a there's a town a small town in the South that I lived in for many years and since some of the people some in in that little town get these tapes I don't know whether they'll be in insulted by this or not you know you can always tell a little smells you know a little smells a smell small enough that's contained in a room or an apartment and you you never you never miss a smell like that if there's a bad

smell in one room you smell it when you come into the room and then you leave the room and then you're not there when you come back you smell it again or if it's an apartment but but a big big big smell I mean a smell so big that the whole town smells of it every room smells of it every apartment every house inside outside I mean you can be in a town with a factory or Mill or something creates that kind of smell a huge smell an enormous smell you can't smell little smells you

can smell but not big big big smells because after a while you just adapt you can't smell it anymore I mean that's true of anything that is that you just slop around in that's completely pervasive in the environment uh as as I one of my favorite quotes is if you want to know something about water just don't ask a fish because if you ask a fish to describe water the fish will say what's that I what's water I mean a fish won't know what water is because the fish is completely enveloped in water and what

James is saying here is there's a sin that's so pervasive it's so huge it's so natural that just to not exert yourself is to do it that you probably don't even see it what is that sin it's simply to go about your life make a plan operate uh you know make a it's simply to go about your life and forget God that's what he's talking about he says one of the worst sins one of the most serious sins one of the most fundamental sins is simply to forget God not to break this in that commandment

but just simply to go about your life forgetting God it's one of the worst it's one of the most ruinous it's one of the most pathological it's one of the most fundamental see it's one of the most guilty and and terrible and dangerous sins of all to Simply do something conduct a relationship conduct an appointment make a decision go about your life set goals work your schedule and just without reference to God no reference not thinking about him in other words here's the sin the sin that he's talking about is living or planning or working

or operating without continual and Relentless reference to God intellectually and emotionally the sin he is talking about is to fail in any regard to connect what you're doing what you're thinking and what you're feeling right now connect vitally with who God is and what he's done for you it's a pretty astonishing thing it's one of the most you know as I started reading this and thought about it I it it took me a little time to figure out what it was what he was getting at and then I realized what he's getting at he says

to Simply say tomorrow I'm going to do that is a very Wicked thing you have to say God willing I will do that see the difference between verse 15 13 and 15 is not that you it's not like in verse 13 you say tomorrow I will and in verse 15 you don't no in verse 13 you say tomorrow I will and in verse 15 you say tomorrow I will of course you make plans you have to make plans of course you try to exert control over your circumstances of course you do the difference is and

in the um in the Latin you know the Latin edition of The Bible it's a very famous phrase in here he says instead verse 15 instead you ought to say Deo Valente we will live and do this or that what does that mean God willing so he says to ever say anything to ever think anything to ever do anything without saying God willing is a terrible thing it's terrible to God it's terrible to you it's destructive in your relationship with God it offends him it's it hurts him and it also destroys you so let's ask

my let's ask ourselves in what way first of all in what way is this so bad for God and in what way is this so bad for us and then how can we avoid it how how can we avoid this sin how is it so bad for God how is it so bad for us and then how can we avoid it well here it goes first of all what's so bad about it how do you like to be forgotten there's there's almost nothing worse you can do you know I I think I may have quoted

this before but I read somebody once he was a writer who said he says there's something far worse than having terribly bad reviews of your books people attacking you people saying what a terrible book what a terrible essay this is awful I don't agree with any of it it's poorly reasoned it's D dtive it's bad he says there's something much worse than hostile book reviews it's no book reviews at all much worse much worse there's something much worse than being criticized is to be ignored because when you're ignored you're treated as a nobody a nothing

you're treated as a vapor you're treated as breath you're treated as something transitory and temporary there's nothing worse than being forgotten to be forgotten from a list of people that is being invited to a party especially to be forgotten by somebody that you love somebody that you respect somebody who you really have a uh you know A love for somebody who owes you there's nothing worse than being forgotten it's the one of it's the worst thing you can do and therefore in the Old Testament you'll see many times that one of the great sins that

God denounces is forgetting him forgetting him just obliviously going through life forgetting him only thinking about him on Sundays only thinking about him for 15 minutes in the morning forgetting him there's this wonderful place in wonderful why do I say that there's this there's this intriguing and penetrating place in Psalm 9 where he says where it says the Lord is known by his Justice the wicked will be sent to the grave and all those who forget God what does it mean to be Wicked to forget God and then in the next verse it says but

those who are afflicted and who remember God will not be forgotten and you see what it's going on here's what God says and it's perfectly Fair he says if you forget me I will forget you the for those who for forget God will be forgotten those who remember God will be remembered and what does it mean to be remembered it means to be recognized it means to be treated as someone of substance it means to be focused on you see it means to be ascribed Glory because see the word Glory means weight and the opposite

of Glory to glorify is to forget God says if you forget me I will forget you if you remember me I will remember you if you acknowledge me if you focus on me you see I will acknowledge and focus on you it's perfect Justice and there's this this place this wonderful and awful place in Jeremiah chapter 2 where where God says this does a maiden forget some of you remember I preached a sermon on this in the morning service oh at least a year or so ago does a maiden forget her jewelry or a bride

her wedding garments or her pardon me her wedding ornaments start over does a maiden forget her jewelry or a bride her wedding ornaments yet my people have forgotten me days without number what is he's saying I know what he's saying I mean I've done a lot of weddings and I've never ever ever seen a bride come down the the aisle and suddenly say I forgot to put my makeup on it's never happened probably never has happened and probably never will why well you know you see it's important there's nothing more important on that day than

to be presentable nothing more important than to be as beautiful as you can possibly be nothing and God says you see you remember the things that are important to you but I'm not important to you see you remember but you haven't remembered me my people have forgotten me they've forgotten me days without count Jeremiah chapter 2 to forget God you see is to be how would you like it you know what it's like it's terrible to be ignored to be treated as a vapor you see hear God hear his cry you've forgotten me now but

let me really tell you how it works what's so interesting here is the structure of this forgetting if it's not just it's not just that James says to forget God to go about without reference to God is evil of course it's evil it hurts it it's terrible it's inappropriate it's trampling God you see just to forget him to treat him as unimportant when he's important it's to be out of touch with reality it's evil but it's also notice what Elsie says it's not just evil it's boastful it's arrogant it's proud now here's what's so interesting

when you forget God by definition you assume God's place that's what's so bad because he says when you make a plan without reference to God how do you know see you don't know you aren't you don't what's he saying here's what he's saying there's a place in Augustine's confessions where he says we were made in the image of God and God built us to reflect him that's what we're about we must reflect God we must resemble God but Augustine says our sin has distorted us so that now even in our sin we seek to resemble

God but we seek to resemble him in a sinful way here's how most theologians over the years have always divided the attributes of God into two categories the incommunicable attributes and the communicable attributes now we don't use those terms except with diseases and that's fine because that helps you understand what the theologians mean communicable attributes are are attributes or characteristics of his character Holiness love truth Grace wisdom see Holiness Grace love Mercy wisdom and those are attributes of his character and we those are communicable attributes we can catch them and when we come near him

through the Holy Spirit we catch them we become gracious we become truthful we become wise we become righteous we become holy but the incommunicable attributes are attributes that belong not so much to his character but to his being and they belong to him by virtue of his being a Creator and they are incommunicable in that because we're creatures and we're we're definite and he's you see we're we're finite we have we have finitude finitude he is infinite and he is the Creator and therefore he has these incommunicable attributes what are those well they tend to

be the things that start with omna because and and they all are wrapped up for example you've heard of omniscience God's omniscience means omnos science means he's all knowing he knows everything everything at once and he doesn't have to think about it well I think I know it somewhere he doesn't he knows everything at once he has to know everything at once because if he didn't know it it wouldn't exist and then there's omnipotence which means there's no limits into what he does and he wants to do something it's it happens and his om then

we have of course his omnipresence which means he's everywhere at once there's no limitations but it all is wrapped up in what's called not his Omni but what the theologians called his aay and as a say he means he's self-existent God is the only being that is unpend he needs nothing he has no beginning why does he have no beginning because what could have possibly brought him into into being he is absolutely self-existent he is absolutely self-sustaining he needs nothing he is unconditioned being no conditions no contingency no dependency utterly and absolutely Sovereign and free

and you know what Augustin is saying Augustine is saying sin even we have to resemble God but if you see what happened in the garden what the serpent did to us is under the influence of sin we reject we don't care about trying to resemble him in his communicable attributes but what we really desperately want more than anything else is to resemble him in his incommunicable attributes we don't care about righteousness but we care a great deal about omnipotence we don't care about Holiness but how desperately we want that self- exist existence and when you

forget God by definition you are assuming his incommunicable attributes you are stepping into place and acting as if you have the right to call the shots in your life and you have enough knowledge to know what's going on and you you see that you have omniscience and you have omnipotence and you have these things so by definition to forget God is to assume the place of God in your life in the world now what's so bad about about that oh my goodness think about it for a second what's so bad about that for us what

do you think worry is let me tell you what worry is worry is a frustrated aspiration to omniscience worry is saying exactly what James says we cannot say and that is here's what worry when you some of you are eating up with worry tonight about something you're eating up with worry and you know what you know why you were eaten up with worry to the degree that you say I know I know with tomorrow I know what is good I know what is right I know what has to happen I know how history has to

go I know what has to happen in my life I I know what has to happen in their lives I know now if you say that you will be eaten up with worry because you're aspiring to omniscience I know and I'm sure God has to do this and if he doesn't do it it'll be a disaster I know and I'm afraid God won't get it right that's worry that's worry what is that that's forgetting God that's forgetting who he is and it's assuming incommunicable attributes do you know listen what if you said I would like

to get into this school I would like to marry this woman I would like to marry this man I would like to have this career I would like these things I'm hoping for them I'm praying for them I've set a goal but I don't know I don't know I'm a I'm a I'm cos COs in terms of the cosmos I'm a child I'm a baby I don't know what's best for me I don't know what's right and wrong I don't know and you know if you say that you're remembering that's why he says you say

today or tomorrow we will do this or that I know exactly how things ought to go but you don't know if you forget God you've also forgotten who you are you don't know to the if you're able to say I don't know way do you see you'll still be anxious of course you'll be anxious but it won't kill you it won't eat you up it won't destroy you I could go on but I can't why are you bitter about your life why are you why are you so why do you feel like such a failure

you know why you feel like a failure you say look at all these other people they worked hard and they've gotten this place in life and I haven't you know why you're so down on yourself you know why you're kicking yourself it looks real humble but it's it is an aspiration to omnipotence it is a it is a mistaken belief it's forgetting God and assuming God's place it's a mistaken belief that those people who have made it better than you that they did it by their own skill that's ridiculous this is saying you do not

make life life makes you you're not in control you are not in control what are you you don't know what is your life you're forgetting God and therefore you're forgetting who you are and that's the reason why you're bitter that's the reason why you're worried you ought to be saying what should be saying and we have to get to that you see if you forget God you'll be anxious and you'll be proud you go back and forth you say I know what's going on here so you some you'll go back and forth between superiority complexes

and inferiority complexes all of your life Whiplash back and forth you have to you see when things are going well you say I know and when you find out that you don't know you'll feel like a vapor you'll feel like a breath it'll be traumatic because you'll be learning it the wrong way you'll be learning about your finitude without Grace you'll be learning about it without the gospel and and you won't be able to handle it it'll just destroy you now how can we avoid this here's how we can avoid it what I love about

this I it it took me quite a while to meditate on see notice in verse 13 He says what you're not supposed to say he says today or tomorrow we will go to this or that City and spend a year there and carry on business and money then in verse 15 he says but instead you ought to say if it's the Lord's will and he doesn't jump right into it we will do this or that he says if it's the Lord's will we will live live now let me this is this isn't a trick this

is what works very well for me what he is trying to say is you must take any situation you're in any plan any condition any emotional state and you must at that moment remind yourself that the only reason you're even standing there breathing is by the grace of God Jonathan Edwards I think used to get up in the morning and sometimes used to say to himself I must remember for this that everything I enjoy today which is better than hell is strictly by the mercy and upholding gracious power of God have you do you realize

how different your life would go I mean how different your attitude toward life would go if you actually believe that some of you don't believe it I mean that's what I like about New York a lot of you think this is ridiculous and I'm trying to get you to think about I'm trying to get you to think of what's what your alternatives are what are your Alternatives but some of you believe it but you don't use it and that's what he's saying when he says by the way when he says You must go around saying

God willing he is not saying we now have to sprinkle our language with Pious jargon he is not saying we what what I want to hear people at Redeemer now doing is saying well I'll see you on on Tuesday at 3:00 day of Valente he doesn't want you to Spring and let me tell you by the way I'll go this far John Wesley in his in his directions to his young preachers goes out of his way to say avoid Pious jargon uh there are people that feel that what James is saying is we're supposed to

be constantly saying well if the Lord wills and the Lord is really leading me and the Lord is really telling me this and so it's sprinkled everything you say instead of just saying this is what I think you say the Lord has shown me instead of saying this is what we're going to do and say say well I think the Lord will want us to do this God willing and so on let me tell you something it's not just irritating to non-christians to hear somebody talking like that James is against arrogance and when you talk

like that you whether you know it or not and I think you do at some level you're putting yourself 10t above contradiction when somebody says well the Lord has uh I've been praying about this so much and the Lord has really worked on my heart and I think that you ought to do this what are you doing you're making it impossible for somebody to say I don't think that's a good idea well who am I to question if the L you know been so you sprinkle the Lord over everything it's the very opposite of what

James is saying James is saying your whole problem is you're putting yourself in the place of God and if you make yourself hard to contradict said the Lord has shown me this what you're really do the Lord has given me this you're refusing to take responsibility for your opinion you are refusing to say I'm not God you're actually saying well I am I mean I mean I'm telling you exactly what God Said No no no no no no James is not saying sprinkle everything you say with these Pious phrases oh no what he's saying is

what Jonathan Edwards did he says look at your life and every part of your life and say this is all of Grace the fact that I'm alive the fact that my heart's beating it's all of Grace all of the gracious love if God gave me what I deserved I'd be wiped out it's only by God's grace that I'm living if God Wills I will live it's only by his will it's only by his grace that I'm living and here's what's so wonderful about that it will transform everything and I'll tell you I have a little

list in my quiet time notebook in which I take depending on my emotional state I use this is all of Grace on myself and it changes it when things are going bad and I'm starting to get worried I have to say this is it's all of Grace your success was nothing but Grace God is in charge of this you don't hold yourself up what are you worried about and it gets rid of the worry when things are going very well and people say what a wonderful job you've done what do you have to do you

have you Don't You Dare Forget God at that moment either you have to go into your closet or go off to the side or go into the corner and say this is nothing but Grace this happens strictly by the grace of God you don't hold yourself up don't get a swelled head so what if God helped you do that NE tomorrow he might not it's all of Grace you know settle down you see the pride this is all of Grace pulls you down the the despair this is all of Grace pulls you up complacency complacency

you know you're just sort of walking through life you're not praying you're not you're not disobeying you're not obeying you're just sort of complacent and sort of spiritually bored this when you say to yourself this is all of Grace that should scare you it'll scare you out of your complacency don't you you don't hold yourself up how dare you presume on God to say this is all of Grace takes the pride down takes the despair up takes the boredom you see into alacrity and into into you know out of indifference you everything you do if

you're able to tell yourself this is nothing but God's grace doing this it doesn't mean you won't ever be concerned of course you'll weep over people and You Weep over things and you'll have all sorts of goals but it won't eat you up there will no longer be superiority complexes or inferiority complexes there will no longer be complacency nor will there be an a workaholic intensity no all of Grace all of Grace you don't hold yourself up don't you see how can God do that how can God be so good why does God hold us

up doesn't it say in Psalm 9 that if we forget him he'll forget us but we have forgotten him so how in the world is it possible for James to say remind yourself it's strictly God's grace I'll tell you how there's nothing worse than being forgotten but you know actually I I just heard this the other day it struck me my I listen my old Jesus Christ Superstar album and I mean an old album I mean a record you remember record records and at the end they have Jesus giving the seven words of the on

the cross you know his last words and if you listen carefully you'll hear the way Tim Rice angeloid Weber whoever wrote it uh the word said they have Jesus saying my God my God why hast thou forgotten me because that's what happened to Jesus on the cross he was forgotten he was utterly cosmically ignored by the only person in the universe who mattered to him and it was hell but don't you see because Jesus was forgotten for us he got the forgetting he got the Forgotten this that we should have had that's the reason why

God can say in in the book of Isaiah can a woman forget the baby that nurses at her breasts yay she may forget but I will not forget thee see I engraved you on the palms of my hands how could he not forget us how could he be a god of Grace because he forgot his son so he could remember us and because he always remembers us we can remember him constantly and live a life of Triumph and sweet joy all day Moment by moment let's pray father as we go to the table we ask

that you would meet us here and remind us as we see the bread broken that this was the way in which Jesus Christ was forgotten so that we could be remembered help us to remember that's what the Lord's suppers about remembering reconnecting every part of our life to what you are and what you've done help us to remember how you forgot your son that you would never have to forget us we pray this in Jesus name amen [Music] all [Music] for [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] he h [Music] [Music] [Music] oh oh [Music] [Music] [Music]

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