Well, I wonder, do you have your summer holiday booked? Do you know what you're doing this afternoon? Do you have plans after Easter? Children, do you have plans for your school holidays at Easter? I know they just have half time, but when Easter comes, you've got plans? Those are still a bit older, have you got your pension sorted out yet? Do you know when you can retire? If you'll ever be able to retire?
Are you the sort of person who likes to book things up? Or do you prefer to look on lastminute.com and see what you can get cheaply at the end? What sort of person are you? They're not unreasonable questions, are they? It's true because we live our lives thinking a bit about the future, don't we?
So as we look at these verses in James, I want us to understand first of all what James is not criticising. What he's not criticising. Look at verse 13.
Come now, you who say today or tomorrow, we'll go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit. He's not criticising having some sort of plans for the future.
Proverbs 15, verse 22, assumes we will have plans. It says a plan fails. Without counsel, plans fail. But with many advisors, they succeed. We're expected to plan someone. If you read through the New Testament, you find the apostles planning. Romans 15, verses 24 and 25.
Paul talks about his plans to come to Rome and then on to Spain. And all through the Bible, we see people planning. In Luke chapter 19, Jesus tells a parable in which a king going after the crown gives his servants, some miners, to invest.
And the one who gets told off, the one who gets judged at the end, is the one who had no plan. He had no plan of what to do, so he didn't do anything. And he was judged for it.
So if you don't have plans, we just drift and waste. If we're going to be good stewards of what God has given us, we do need to plan. That's one of the implications of that parable, even though it's not the main point.
So the sense which we need to plan. Some of you right now are planning what you're going to choose for your GCSEs, or planning what ALMS you'll choose.
Some of us are maybe planning what we hope will happen work-wise.
Financially, you need to have some plans, otherwise we'll never pay off mortgages.
Or pay our rent.
So as human beings, we have to plan, because we do not know everything, and cannot control everything.
So James is not criticising planning in itself.
So is he condemning travel?
You who say, we'll go here, we'll go there, and make some money.
Well then he's not condemning travel either.
In itself.
Again, read through the Bible, you see people travelling.
In the book of Ruth, you see Naomi leaving her homeland, travelling and travelling back.
In the book of Acts, we see people travelling left, right and centre.
Yes, to communicate the Gospel.
But in some cases, Acts chapter 16, we make a Mussolini called Midian, who had moved from her home in Thyatira in modern Turkey, to Philippi in modern Greece.
She moved to make money.
She was a business lady.
James isn't condemning travel necessarily.
So is he condemning making a profit?
That's all these people are doing, is that we'll spend a year here and trade and make a profit.
Is that the problem?
Certainly there's a lot of people critiquing making profits, aren't they?
They occupy Wall Street and occupy London movements.
Saying capitalism is a terrible thing.
And certainly Jesus makes some warnings about money, doesn't he?
He warns us our life does not consist in the abundance of what we have in our possessions.
He warns us we cannot serve God and money.
So yes, there's a danger there.
But making a profit in itself is not necessarily a bad thing.
What if you want to eat?
So James isn't condemning planning, or profit making, or travelling.
So what is he condemning?
Well look at verse 14, we get a bit of a clue.
You've got these plans, he says, yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring.
What is your life?
You're a mist that appears for a time and then vanishes.
So what James is condemning here is these people's self-confidence.
They have their plans, they think it's all going to work out.
They make their plans entirely in their own self-confidence, with no reference to God whatsoever.
As if they're completely independent from God.
As if they do not need God.
As if they were utterly in control.
So James is saying, hang on a second, who are you?
You're like a mist that is here today, gone in a moment.
Now of course James is not talking about the average British mist.
Which if it was there in the morning, could still be there at night.
He's talking about the Middle East, isn't he?
For us it's perhaps better to think of the vapour from a kettle.
Look at a kettle boiling and some water of April appears and it's gone, isn't it?
Fleets it.
He says that's what human life is like.
You cannot guarantee anything.
Look at these people.
Look at verse 13.
They're confident of their health, aren't they?
We'll go here, we'll stay there a year or two.
We'll live that long.
They're confident of their health.
They're confident of their choices.
We know this place or that place.
They're confident of their own ability.
We will pray and make a profit.
I wonder how many people heading up to the city tomorrow morning would love to have that confidence
in the current economic situation.
As John Calvin put it, their minds were drunk with vanity, so they forgot God.
They were drunk with vanity, so they forgot God.
And James makes that even clearer in verse 16.
As in the East he said, you boast in your arrogance.
Now that word boasting in the original language can be positive or negative.
It's the word Paul uses in Galatians chapter 6.
It's about I boast in the cross of Jesus Christ.
It's about having your confidence in something.
Well, these people have their confidence.
They boast in their confidence in what?
Their own arrogance.
Their own self-sufficiency.
Their own self-confidence.
That they are in control.
That's an easy trap for us to fall into, isn't it?
Because it's the way of the world around us.
Self-confidence is seen as a value.
Something to be prized these days, isn't it?
You can read books about how to boost your children's self-confidence.
You can hear a sportsman, they interviewed, saying,
I had to back myself.
I had to be confident.
When you look on millions of websites.
Here's one I read this week.
LiveStrong.com
That's a great website title, isn't it?
To achieve even the smallest goals.
And to get through life's daily duties and responsibilities.
You have to have self-confidence.
Self-confidence is something people aspire to.
And yet James wants us to see what that really is.
A self-confidence that assumes we do not need God.
But assumes that God does not matter.
What is it?
Verse 16.
What does James call this?
As it is, you boast in your arrogance.
All such boasting is evil.
All such self-confidence that thinks we do not depend on God is evil.
That's a bit of a theme here.
If you look up to verse 4, James has warned his readers
that their ambition, their desires
are actually a sign of friendship with the world
which is enmity with God.
And that then carries on with the self-confidence,
this boasting, this planning as if God didn't matter.
It is evil, says James.
One writer puts it like this.
He says,
How astonishing how sobering it is
to hear this criticism
of our self-confident planning.
He says,
What we might consider an insubstantial
and passing feature of life,
forgetfulness of our utter dependence on God,
James sees as the hard core of the vaunting pride,
which is the mark and curse of fallen man.
This kind of living as if we are independent from God,
as if we don't need God,
is the heart, the mark and curse of fallen man.
For these readers of James' letters,
it was another symptom of their double-mindedness.
Twice in this letter,
chapter 1, verse 8,
and chapter 4, verse 8,
he's called them double-minded.
They live as Christians with one half of their mind,
but in the other half of their mind,
they live as if God doesn't answer prayer,
as if it doesn't matter if they read something in the Bible
and then don't do it.
And yet,
they're happy on a Sunday to see hymns in church,
they think they'll be excellent teachers,
chapter 3, verse 1.
They think they're mature.
James says,
you're double-minded.
What you're doing is evil.
You're falling into the very sin of Adam and Eve.
When Satan disguised the serpent,
tempted Adam and Eve in the garden,
what was the heart of that temptation?
The temptation to eat the fruit from the tree
God had told them not to eat from?
Part of the temptation was this,
to live as if they were independent from God,
as if God didn't really matter.
And that's the way of the world around us, isn't it?
It tells us we should have confidence in ourselves,
and people believe God doesn't matter.
Yes, lots of people believe God doesn't exist,
but lots of people say they do believe that God exists,
but they do not believe God matters.
And that is the heart of sin,
and that is why this attitude James is writing about,
he condemns as evil.
So how can we resist those pressures?
How can we resist the pressure
to feel we have to have confidence in ourselves,
and that we actually can live independently from God?
How do we resist those pressures?
Paul, writing for Romans, chapter 12, verse 2,
tells us we're not to be conformed to this world,
not to be moulded by the attitudes and ambitions
and beliefs of this world,
but be transformed by the renewing of our minds,
that we discern what is the will of God,
who is good and acceptable and perfect.
And James here, that's a general principle,
not to be conformed, but to be transformed.
And James, back in verse 6,
has really told us how we need to respond.
If you look up to verse 6 for a moment,
it says,
God gives more grace,
therefore it says,
God opposes the proud,
but gives grace to the humble.
God opposes the arrogance
that says we can live life on our own,
but he gives grace, help,
to the humble who will submit,
who will have the right attitude.
So how can we humbly submit?
How can we get this right attitude to God,
as we inevitably plan for the future
and think about the future?
Well, let me give us three questions to ponder,
to help us get that right attitude.
First of all,
who do you think you are?
Who do you think is in control?
And thirdly,
how then should we live?
Who do you think you are?
Who do you think is in control?
And how then should we live?
So let's look at them in order.
First of all,
who do you think you are?
We'll go back to verse 14.
James more or less asks the same question,
isn't he?
You do not know what tomorrow will bring.
What is your life?
You're a mist that appears for a little time,
then vanishes.
You are ignorant,
you are transient,
and therefore,
you are totally dependent.
That's what James is saying.
You're ignorant.
You don't know what's going to happen tomorrow.
You might have all sorts of plans,
but you do not know what will happen.
I know that every day.
I start off with a list of things I'm hoping to do,
and it never works out,
because other things always happen.
We don't analyze what will happen, do we?
A bus might run a saver,
a plane might land on your house.
It might not land on your house,
it might land on my house,
run on the boat halfway to the North London,
so they go every 45 seconds at peak times.
We just don't know.
We are ignorant.
Over the next few months,
we'll have politicians on either side of the debate
telling us what will happen
if we vote yes or no
to the in-out referendum.
The truth is,
no one knows.
No one knows.
They'll do their best to try and persuade us.
I'm sure we have to plan
and listen to the argument,
but no one knows.
We do not know.
We are ignorant.
And we are transient.
We're at the vapour from our kettles.
We're here one moment,
and gone another.
We don't know how long we'll live.
And where do we get our abilities from anyway?
James' readers have these plans
of making money,
but who gave them the ability?
To make money?
To trade and profit?
Who gives you or I the ability to think?
To work?
To learn?
To sow?
It all comes from the Lord God, doesn't it?
And yet how easily we forget,
especially when life is going well,
we forget, don't we?
That's why Moses,
addressing the people of Israel,
was there preparing to move into the promised land.
In Deuteronomy chapter 8,
he said this to them,
Beware, lest you say in your heart,
my power,
and the might of my hand,
have gained me this wealth.
You shall remember the Lord your God,
for it is he who gives you power
to get wealth.
Our abilities all come from the Lord God,
who are utterly dependent upon him.
That's why Jesus teaches us to pray for our daily bread.
It does not just come automatically
for our employees' benevolence
to pay our salary.
Ultimately, it comes from God,
upon whom we are dependent for all things.
In Luke chapter 12,
Jesus tells a famous parable
that illustrates our transience,
and our ignorance,
and our total dependence.
The parable of the rich fools,
we tend to call it.
There's a man,
a rich farmer,
who has a bumper crop,
who thinks,
what can I do?
Oh, I know,
I'll build even bigger barns.
I can store all my food
in those bigger barns,
and then I can relax.
I can enjoy myself.
I can go on a luxury cruise.
I can play golf every day.
I can enjoy my retirement.
I'll have all the money I need.
I can eat, drink, and be merry.
And God appears to him and says,
you fool.
This very night,
your life is required of you.
We are ignorant.
We do not know what tomorrow holds.
We are transient.
We're here today and gone tomorrow.
We are utterly dependent on God
for our lives,
for our abilities,
for everything.
So who do you think you are?
Who do you think you are?
And secondly,
who do you think is in control?
Well, James makes it clear
in verse 15, isn't he?
Instead of having these plans
and saying,
I'm going to do this,
I'm going to do that.
Instead, verse 15,
you ought to say,
if the Lord wills,
we will live
and do this or that.
You see the emphasis here.
It's if we live,
if the Lord wills,
we will live.
It's not just if the Lord wills,
we'll do this and that.
If the Lord wills,
we will live.
If the Lord spares us another day,
then yes,
we'll go and do something.
But we're dependent on God
for how long we live.
Psalm 139,
verse 16,
your eyes saw my unformed substance.
In your book
were written every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there were none of them.
I don't know how long I'll live,
I don't know how long you will live.
But God knows.
He had them all written down in his book
before any one of them came to pass.
We're dependent upon him.
So James says,
we have to say,
if the Lord wills.
Now that's not a magic formula
with a dear,
retired,
missionary friend of ours
who sends us Christmas cards.
I actually got a car from her this week
which didn't have this saying
for the first time ever.
And she writes,
DV,
at least once,
DV,
Deo Volente,
if God wills.
Now I'm sure that was actually
meant very sincerely in her case.
She's a godly elder lady.
But it's not just a kind of magic formula.
If God wills,
I'll do this.
If God wills,
I'll do that.
There are plenty of people
in the first century Palestine
that did the era when James wrote,
who wrote things like God willing,
if the gods permit,
on their statutes,
on their documents.
The people today,
who say,
oh,
I'm going to get a promotion,
I'm going to get a payroll,
touch wood.
And they touch wood,
if somehow that makes a difference.
There are plenty of people
who believe in fate
or believe their stars
have something to do with
the outcome of their lives.
But James isn't saying
any of those things.
He's willing to cultivate
an attitude of true dependence
on the one who really has control.
Notice three things
about this one who is in control.
First of all,
he's personal.
That's why James says,
if the Lord wills.
He doesn't even say,
if God wills.
He says,
if the Lord wills.
That's the word used
in the Greek translation
of the Old Testament.
To translate a personal name of God.
The Lord.
Of course,
the name
that is used
of the Lord Jesus Christ.
God is personal.
He's not like the
impersonal force
in Star Wars.
May the force be with you.
He's not like the
impersonal force
of Hinduism.
He's not like the
distant deity
of Islam.
Oh,
if Allah wills,
we'll do this.
Impersonal.
And distant.
No,
he is personal.
He's come in the flesh
to reveal himself to us.
We see that
through the Lord Jesus.
So firstly,
he's personal.
Secondly,
he is sovereign.
He is utterly
in control of everything.
Those words,
if we have our call to worship
at the start of the service.
Whatever the Lord
pleases,
he does.
Psalm 135,
verse 6.
Whatever the Lord
pleases,
he does.
In heaven and on earth,
in the seas
and all deeps.
In other words,
everywhere in the universe,
God does what
he pleases.
Ephesians chapter 1,
Paul says,
he works out all things
according to the purpose
of his will.
He is personal.
He is sovereign.
Thirdly,
he is good.
He is good.
Hard times come,
don't they?
Difficult things happen.
When illness strikes,
when a loved one
is lost,
when our hopes
are dashed,
when dreams
don't work out,
life can be hard,
there can be grief
in many trials,
and yet,
God is good.
And we know
he's good.
We know he's good
because he sent
his own son
to live the life
that we couldn't live,
to die the death
that we deserve to die,
so that rebels
like me and you
could become
his children.
And if he has given
us his son,
as Paul says
in Romans 8,
will he not graciously
give us all things,
all things we actually need?
He is good.
In Romans 8,
28,
Paul says,
we know that
for those who love God,
all things
work together
for good
for those who are called
according to God's purpose.
God's purpose.
So who do you think
you are?
You're in this.
Who do you think
is in control?
The triune God,
the good,
sovereign,
personal God.
So how then
should we live?
How then should we live?
Well, look back
at verse 15.
James sets us
in the right direction
here, doesn't he?
Instead of having
your own plans,
instead of living
with an attitude
of independence,
be independent,
you should say,
if the Lord wills,
we will live
and do this
or that.
So to submit.
God opposes the proud
who gives grace
to the humble.
We humbly submit.
And there are two
aspects to this.
We submit
to God's providential
ordering
of events
in our lives.
We submit
to God's providential
ordering of events.
And we submit
to God's revealed
will
in the scriptures.
So first of all,
we submit
to his providential
ordering.
If the Lord wills,
he'll keep us alive.
If the Lord
wills something else,
we'll submit to it.
I was speaking
to someone the other
day who told me
about when they'd
been given a diagnosis
of Parkinson's disease
many years ago.
So I wanted to
throw myself under
a bus.
Because I knew
what that does.
I think another
friend of mine,
a very fit man
in his early 60s,
recently retired,
who was running
one day,
he ran marathons,
just tripped up,
and thought,
that's strange.
And he noticed
one or two other
things.
He started to look
into what was
going wrong with
himself.
Within a couple
of months,
he had a diagnosis
of motor neurone
disease,
which is a terrible
degenerative disease.
After about three
years,
he died last September.
It's not easy
to submit
the providence
that God brings
into our lives.
Some may be hard,
those diagnoses,
may be hard
when we don't
go to the school
we want to go to,
or the university
we think we'd like
to go to.
What are we going
to do in those
moments?
Well,
James has told
this,
hasn't he?
We can submit
ourselves to God
in verse 10
of chapter 4,
he says,
humble yourselves
before the Lord
and he will
exhort you.
Instead of finding
faults with God's
providences,
we can lean into
him,
we can trust in
him,
we can look at
his good promises.
Remember,
he is personal
and good
and sovereign.
even when our
prayers aren't
answered,
even when the
healing doesn't
come,
even when we
live with
degeneration and
decay in our
bodies,
we know he is
good.
We know that
the one who
could bring
ultimate good
from the ultimate
tragedy,
the ultimate
tragedy of the
death of his
innocent son,
the ultimate
good of salvation
for all who
will believe,
the one who
can do that
can bring good
and give grace
to us in the
midst of our
heartaches and
disappointments.
William Cooper,
the poet,
who suffered
a depression
and tried to
take his own
life several
times,
and it's him
the Lord
works in
mysterious ways,
but it's
this verse,
Judge not the
Lord by
feeble sense,
but trust him
for his grace.
Behind a
frowning
providence,
he hides
a smiling
face.
God gives
more grace,
James tells
us in
verse 6.
Grace to
live for the
things he
sends to
our lives,
grace to
raise us
up on the
last day.
So we
submit to
God's
providences,
to the
things he
sends into
our lives.
But secondly,
submitting to
the Lord
means submitting
to his
revealed will,
submitting to
what he
commands us,
what he
teaches us
in the
scriptures.
There's
nothing we
get hung
up
about
questions of
guidance.
Perhaps
some of you
are thinking
that right
now.
What should
I do for
my GCSEs?
Which
university
should I
apply to?
Which job
should I
seek to
do?
Should I
seek to
move jobs?
Should I
move
habits?
Lots of
questions,
we want
guidance.
Well God's
guidance is
not primarily
about do I
do A or
B, do I
go to
place A or
place B.
God's
guidance
primarily is
about how
we live,
not where
we live.
So for
example,
Psalm 23,
verse 3
says,
he leads
me in
paths of
righteousness
for his
name's
sake.
He leads
us to
live his
ways.
And as we
do that,
he directs
us in the
paths he
wants us
to be in.
And we
know what
God's will
is generally,
don't we?
It's not
complicated to
understand it.
It's his
will that we
love God
with all our
heart, soul,
mind and
strength.
It's his
will that we
love our
neighbours as
ourselves.
It's his
will that we
don't worry
about what
we'll eat
or drink
and what
we're going
to wear.
Jesus says
the pagans
run after
these things.
No,
seek first
God's
kingdom and
his
righteousness
and all
these things
will be
added to
you.
Now that
gives us a
fair amount of
guidance,
doesn't it,
about what we
need to do.
As we think
about decisions,
we think about
plans for the
future.
Will this
help me to
love God
with more
heart,
soul,
mind and
strength?
Will it
help me to
love my
neighbour as
myself?
Will it
help me to
seek first
God's
kingdom and
his
righteousness?
If we find
that our
plans are
mainly concerned
with making
money purely
for our
own comfort,
getting a
good pension
so we can
purely retire
from God,
of course,
not doing
anything ever
again,
then probably
that's not
seeking first
God's
kingdom.
Probably
that's not
actually loving
our neighbour
as ourselves.
So probably
that's wrong.
Probably
that's not
God's will.
So submitting
ourselves to
God means
submitting
ourselves to
purposes he
brings into
our lives.
And submitting
ourselves to
his revealed
will of the
scriptures.
Life is not
about building
our own
kingdoms,
but about
being part
of the
kingdom Jesus
is building.
And of
course that
can be
costly,
can't it?
That can
be costly.
I know
people from
in this
moment,
stepping out
of the
rat race,
stepping out
of potential
promotions,
so they've
got more
time to
give to
serving
our family
or serving
in our
church.
For some
it will
mean giving
up on
jobs or
looking at
jobs which
keep them
employed
on a
Sunday
because they
want the
cost,
they'll
take the
cost so
they can
be with
God's
people
Sunday
by
Sunday.
We have
an example
of following
this,
don't we?
Our
great high
priest knows
what it
is to
make costly
decisions to
obey the
father's
will.
Jesus,
in the
night that he
was betrayed,
knelt in
Gethsemane,
sweating
blood,
praying,
take this
cup from
me,
yet not
my will
but your
will be
done.
And he
went to
the cross.
And so
now as our
great high
priest in
heaven,
we find
grace in
our time
of need
as we
go to
the one
who's
made
costly
decisions,
the one
who knows
it's hard
to trust
and obey
sometimes.
He has
been there
and done
that for
us.
So if we
submit to
the Lord's
will,
we find
grace,
grace from
the Lord
Jesus to
help us
in those
times,
grace when
it is
hard,
hard to
live,
hard to
obey.
That is
how we
should live.
There's also
a warning
here back in
verse 17.
Verse 16,
as it is,
you boast in
your arrogance,
all such
boasting is
evil.
In verse 17,
listen to this
warning.
So whoever
knows the
right thing
to do
and fails
to do
it,
for him
it is
sin.
In the
immediate
context for
us and for
James'
readers,
if we keep
on carrying
on,
organising
our lives
and planning
our futures
as if God
didn't exist
or as if
God didn't
matter,
as if we
weren't
dependent
upon him,
then that
is sin.
That is
rebellion
against God.
If we
keep trusting
our own
self-confidence,
not humbly
submitting to
the Lord,
that is
sin,
James says.
We can't
hide the
fact that
we haven't
done anything
wrong.
James says
you know
better,
you have
done
something
wrong.
That's a
specific
point.
That's also
a broader
point in
life,
isn't it?
If we
know what
God wants
and we
do not
do it,
that is
sin.
Paul
in
preaching
on the
Viscals
a few
weeks ago
reminded us
about sins
of omission,
which we
often take
quite lightly,
don't we?
Confess the
wrong things
we have
done.
We often
don't confess
the good
things,
the right
things we
fail to
do.
We have
it in our
confession
Sunday by
Sunday.
The good
we have
left undone
to confess
this morning.
So what
are some
of the
things that
you and
I know
are right
but do
not do?
Children,
what about
you at
school?
You know
it's right,
don't you,
to love and
be kind to
other children.
Perhaps
there's
someone in
your class
who's
neglected
and bullied
a bit
and left
out.
Perhaps
sometimes
you just
ignore them
or go
along with
that.
If you
know it's
right to
show love
and kindness
to them,
then that's
something you
can do
tomorrow.
You can
pray today,
pray that
you're
mum and
dad,
mums and
dads
tonight,
that God
will give
you grace
to love
that child
and befriend
them.
Not exclude
them.
Perhaps we
know there
are things
we haven't
sorted out
yet.
We know
the son
we haven't
said sorry
to.
Some sin
we haven't
repented
of.
Perhaps we
know money
should not
be gone in
our lives
and yet we
haven't yet
got round to
sorting out
our giving.
So easy to
take that
drift,
isn't it?
I know
it's easy to
take that
drift.
I hate
giving the
money.
Yet if we
know things
that haven't
done,
James says
that is
sin.
We know
we should
talk to
our neighbours
about the
Lord Jesus.
We know
we should
pray for
people to
come into
the kingdom.
Yet do
we do it?
So whoever
knows the
right thing
to do and
fails to
do it,
for him
is sin.
Now I
don't know
about you,
but I can
feel very
overwhelmed
as I look
at the list
of good
things I
haven't done.
It can be
very overwhelming,
can't it?
That's why
we need to
finish with
this great
promise back
up in
verse 6.
Do
look at
chapter 4
verse 6
again,
let's read
it again.
But God
gives more
grace,
therefore it,
the scripture
says,
God opposes
the proud
and gives
grace to
the humble.
Submit
yourself
therefore to
God,
resist the
devil,
and he
will flee.
If we
humble
ourselves
before the
Lord,
he gives
us more
grace.
Grace to
forgive,
grace to
cleanse us
from our
sin,
grace to
make us
new.
We are
the first
fruits of
God's new
creation,
as James
says back
in verse
18.
Grace to
cope with
the illness,
with the
grief,
with the
pains,
with the
trials.
We will
submit ourselves
to
faith rather
than fault
finally with
his providence.
God gives
grace.
And see the
ultimate promise,
verse 10,
humble yourselves
before the
Lord,
he will
exhort you.
That's what
happened to
Jesus,
wasn't it?
He humbled
himself,
became obedient
to death
on the
cross,
and now
is exalted
to the
highest place
and has
the name
above all
names.
And that
is the
pattern of
the Christian
life.
We humble
ourselves
now.
We humble
ourselves and
submit our
plans to
God.
We will
not exalt
ourselves,
but he
will exalt
us.
And our
exaltation
will be
complete when
Jesus comes
back.
We live
forever with
him.
And every
tear is
wiped away,
every grief
forgotten,
and every
joy complete
for all
eternity.
So Jesus
suffered for
sin,
so that we
can be God's
children.
So we
submit ourselves
to him
now.
We can be
exalted
there.
The
sovereign
Lord holds
the future,
so he
must humbly
!
submitting
to his
rule of
the field
and scriptures,
and knowing
one day we
will be
exalted
with him
as prayer.