Hear the Title/James 4:13-17
Listen to the sermon title
Preacher Kim Jo
Bible verses James 4:13-17
Even the mountains change into beautiful clothes to prepare for winter, and in a good season when the abundant fruits of autumn are desirable, they receive the power of God's love, and God's great grace and abundant blessings and power of God to all the saints who run to this place and worship together. I wish you full.
Our lives today are precarious because the times are chaotic and the future is uncertain. I pray in the name of the Lord that you will not live with worries, worries, and discouragement in this time of uncertainty, but that you will be refreshed by the sure words of God, rejoice in true peace and comfort, and become saints who overcome the world.
In the book of James, James, the bishop of the Jerusalem General Assembly, overcame all hardships in hope of the Lord's return to the Jewish believers who were scattered due to the harsh persecution of the Roman Empire, and revealed the active act of faith in their lives. This is a book that emphasizes how to do it in your life. It seems to downplay faith because it emphasizes works, but it is actually a book that emphasizes perfect faith. Among them, today's text is a coercive warning to “listen” in a compulsory, commanding way, telling us about an uncertain future with certainty, washing away our anxiety with a life of preparation and living a precious life of true peace.
A warning is not a threat, but a voice of love that instructs us not to face danger or difficulties. I want to become a wise person who listens and prepares properly, so I hope that you will have a blessed life in which you think about and prepare for what God is about, using the word “listen” as the title of the sermon.
1. How long will your remaining time be? (verses 13-14)
“Today, tomorrow, you who say you want to spend a year and make money, what is your life, isn’t it a life like a mist that will disappear after a while?” When you stand before God, you are to be praised and prepared to receive a reward. Beloved saints! How much time do we really have left? No one can know it. Being young doesn't mean living long. Just because you're healthy, good-looking, studied a lot, or a chaebol, you can't live your life the way you want. When God calls you, you have to let go of everything and go.
That is why the saying, “Human life is wealth,” is saying that a person’s destiny is in God’s hands. It's not that you're worried that you don't know the rest of your life, but you must stand before God at the end of your life. If you prepare a life that pleases God, you are truly full of joy. He said, “Without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6). What is faith, to believe that it was in our stead that He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross in order to save us, who were spiritually dead in our sins and trespasses. He gave hope as the firstfruits of the resurrection, so believing in him, we also live again, we die of our old self, and we believe that we have been saved and have eternal life.
Even though a person may do many good deeds, it is impossible to please God without this faith. Now is the time to prepare for the rest of faith and to be rewarded with works. Jesus promised that he would come again just like when he ascended into heaven, but no one knows when that time will be (Acts 1:7). I hope that today will be the day to prepare for that time and become a saint who enjoys true peace.
2. Where are you going? (in verse 13)
“You who say you will go out to any city to trade and see” He warns of where you are going, where you are going. Because people do not know where they come from or where they are going, many philosophers have said, and the Yonsei philosopher Schopenhauel said, “Life is a being thrown without a purpose.” Really? There is nothing in the world without purpose. Then, as the lord of all things, He does not make man, a masterpiece created in the likeness and image of God, live without purpose.
Since we were created to glorify God, that is, to please God, we must return to God when our mission is accomplished. However, forgetting the place to return to and following money, fame, power, and pleasure, you become an anxious and restless wanderer. Saints! We are not wanderers without a destination, but we must look forward to the new heavens and new earth with faith, remembering that we are sojourners and passers-by on this earth that we live happily in the world and go to our hometown of heaven (1 Peter 2:11). It is a place of eternal joy, where there will be no more mourning, crying, or pain (Revelation 21: ). Although this country of hope is certain, we cannot be discouraged and there is no setback. Deacon Stephen, a martyr of the early church, was stoned and bleeding, but when he saw the kingdom of hope, his face was like an angel (Acts 6:15). I believe that new strength and power will be given to us when we make the kingdom of heaven clear.
3. What kind of heart do you have now? (verses 15-16)
They say with their mouths that they will live or die if it is the will of the Lord, but they say that all of these things are evil and wrong because you have false pride, that is, you are self-centered and have a heart. That is why you need to be right from the beginning and live with a good heart about what you have in your heart right now. what would your mind be? The mind, thoughts, and will are all similarly the sources of thoughts, feelings, and actions. If you have good thoughts and a beautiful heart, good actions will come, and if you keep doing it, it will become a good habit, and if you keep it, you will become a good person. Hatred, envy, jealousy, lewdness, infidelity, and lust become the root of social evil and destroy oneself.
A good person brings good things out of the good stored up in them, and an evil person brings forth evil things out of the evil stored up in them (Matthew 12:35). 4:23) said. From a young age, Daniel was determined not to defile his body because of what he ate (Dan. 1:8), so a captive person became the prime minister. I pray that you will become a saint who creates a bright society and this land where you can live by having a good heart about how to make God, the church, your neighbors, and your family better in my heart right now.
I will finish speaking.
In verse 17, “Therefore, if a man knows how to do good and does not do it, it is a sin” means that it is a wrong sin to live according to one’s thoughts while knowing that it is God’s will. So listen! In response to God's urgent warning, we must enjoy true peace by realizing what God wants in His Word and preparing for it. “Listen, you do not know the time remaining, so prepare for the faith and reward in the last days. Listen, what do you have in your heart right now? Live a blessed life with good thoughts and intentions.” The saints who enjoy the joy Hope to be.
Title: Listen
Bible: James 4:13-17 Hymns: 370, 162
1. What causes anxiety in our lives?
Because the future is uncertain because there is no faith.
2. What kind of book is James?
3. Why did God keep us unaware of the rest of our time?
- Tell each one. Obviously there is the last one. So it means prepare now.
4. What if we stand before the Lord (if we die) now?
- There are people who are confident and there are people who are embarrassed. Let's each speak and prepare to receive the reward and faith to meet the Lord correctly today.
5. Where is our destination and is it clear? tell me
- Is the hope of heaven clear? Let them answer and let them go to heaven.
6. Summarize what we have on our minds right now.
- Ask yourself whether you think you are pleasing to God, let go of the wrong things and have a good heart.
7. Interpret the words in verse 17.
- It means that it is a sin to live according to one's own will even though they know that it is God's will.
8. Tell me what you realized and resolved in today's Word.