James 4.13-17

Test Case #2: Wisdom for Financial Planning (James 4.13-17)

13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17  So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

What is wrong with making financial plans? Every month Monica and I set aside 10% of our income in a savings account for retirement. I am 23, we won’t retire till we are 65 or so. Are we sinning by doing this? These were the first few thoughts that come to my mind when I first read this passage. But I think there is a caveat, a key to truly understanding what James is getting at here. Let’s take a closer look:

13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. 

This idea of going to a town for a year to trade and make money was a common practice for Jews in the first century. Jews were known as master tradesmen, and were even given special privileges of citizenship in new cities just so that they would move and start businesses. Jews were an economic tool to boost a new cities business, and the Jews knew it. It was very common for Jews to look for a new city being built and to go there for a year, make a ton of money, then leave and do it again at another location. This is what James is referring to, that these Jewish Christians are making financial plans for their own gain. His point is that they do not have any control of what happens in the future, so why do they keep trying to take control of it, financially? Look what he follows up this with:

What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

We are just a mist, we barely make a dent in the history of the world, so why do we think we are or can try to take control of our future? The key is that we plan for the future within God’s will. Look at what he says next:

15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”

We are God’s stewards of everything he has given us. God is the owner, we are just to use what he has given us for his glory and the advancement of his kingdom. That is how we are supposed to plan financially for the future. Now let me ask you a question...is there anything that God has NOT given you, that you got all on your own? The answer is no. So everything, our money, our house, our families, our children, our lives are given to us to use for the advancement of God’s kingdom and for his glory. If we try to make ANY plan for the future for the advancement of our own kingdom of for our own kingdom, we are sinning. And that is the warning that James leaves us with. He says:

16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17  So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

We now know what the right thing is to do, and if we don’t do it, we sin. So what does this look like in our everyday life? I have four financial challenges for you. 

1. Tithe

If you are not tithing at LEAST 10% of your income, this is a discipline that you need to start immediately. Jesus said, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.” And Paul said, “the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.” Money is a very dangerous thing. It is a very good thing that can be used for the advancement of his kingdom, but if misused, it very easily becomes an idol. Wealth is a curse from the pits of hell, UNLESS it is used for the advancement of God’s kingdom. Tithing, giving 10% of your income to God, is a discipline, a training that God has given us to help train ourselves to not rely on money, but to rely on God. So my challenge is to tithe for 90 days straight. I guarantee you that God will use your money to bless the nations. 

1. Write James 4.13-17 on your credit/debit card. 

We constantly are using our credit or debit cards to buy things. The average credit card debt per household is $15,956. There are 609.8 million credit cards held by U.S. customers, which has blew up the total U.S. revolving debt (which credit card debt makes up 98% of) is $801 billion, as of December 2011. People are spending money like crazy for their own gain and kingdoms, not for God. So my challenge to you is to take a sharpie and write James 4.13-17 on your credit cards and debit cards. Each time you pull them out to pay for something, ask yourself if you are using this money for your kingdom or for God’s. 

1. Big Purchases questions

My next challenge is to ask this question before you buy anything that is above $200. “What is the purpose for buying this and how will it advance God’s kingdom?” I had a friend who was going to buy a house, and he started with asking this question. His wife and him came up with three purposes for buying a house:

1. They want to house a College Student at all times
2. They want to be able to house a single mother and her family at all times
3. They want to live in intentional community with other Christians

Because these are the way they want to use their house to advance God’s kingdom, they are building a house with an extra bedroom for a College Student. They also are building a basement that they are going to turn into an apartment for a single mom and her family to live in. And lastly, they are building with two other couples who are Christians and they are not going to have any fences, but one big back yard. This will enable them to share a lawn mower, play together and live life together. So ask yourself this question before you make ANY big purchase. 

1. Write a Budget

If you have never lived within a budget, start now. Budges don’t handcuff you from fun, they enable you to give. Budgets allow you to tell your money where to go each and every day instead of money passing through your hands and you don’t know where it is going or how much is being wasted. As you write this budget, ask yourself this question: “What can I sacrifice financially in order to bless others?” 

Financial planning is ok, as long as it is planning to advance God’s kingdom, within his will. Anything else is simply sin.