Here's Something Worth Remembering, Part 2

On behalf of Chuck Swindoll and the entire team at Insight for Living, Happy New Year. Who among us hasn't been longing for this day to come?

Most of us are happy to see 2020 disappear into distant memory, and we're hoping this milestone day triggers a new beginning for you. Today on Insight for Living, Chuck invites us to open our Bibles to James chapter 4. This passage offers wise counsel to guide us in this new year.

Chuck titled today's message, Here's Something Worth Remembering. We realize, our Father, that when a woman of God dies, nothing of God dies. When a woman of God passes, nothing of her life passes.

But a memory is established like stone, like etchings in a stone. And we relive the things we learned from her, and we give you thanks over and over for her life, and her faithfulness, and the goodness of her work, and the kindness of her character. I remember also those who grieve the passing of their loved ones, and with the fading of an old year and the dawning of a new, often those feelings of grief return. Give great mercy and deep inner strength to those who relive and regrieve the loss of the one they loved. I pray for those who suffer today, set aside for whatever reason, unable to be in our midst, I pray that you give relief, and healing, and hope, and a renewal of their spirit that they might press on, and press on, and press on. Help us all, we pray, as we live this year, to live it for one reason, and that is for your glory. Teach us how to get out of the way, and release our will to yours as we let you have your way in our lives, just as we release our gifts now with gratitude. And by the way, Lord, thank you for sustaining our lives, and helping us exchange our youth for truth. We give now, gratefully, in the name of Jesus, and all God's people said, amen. You're listening to Insight for Living.

To search the scriptures with Chuck Swindoll, be sure to download his Searching the Scriptures Studies by going to insightworld.org slash studies. Today's message is titled, Here's Something Worth Remembering. You are not in charge of others, you are not in charge of yourself. That is what James chapter 4 verses 11 through 17 teach us. James is not a dreamer, he's a very practical mind, so he speaks bluntly, and I will do the same.

James isn't worried about whether you like him or not. He isn't worried about whether you feel good after you read what he writes. I feel the same after telling you what I say. My responsibility is not to make you feel good. My responsibility is to tell you the truth.

Because only on the basis of the truth can you deal with reality. So that's where we're going in these few minutes we're together learning about this something that's worth remembering. I hope you will say to yourself each week through the next number of weeks this year, I am not in charge.

Just five words, easy to remember, hard to practice. To begin with, I'm not in charge of others. Verses 11 through 12 talk about that. When I try to take charge of others, what do I do? Well, I speak against them and I judge them.

James addresses both. Look at it, verse 11, don't do that. Stop doing that. Since you are not in charge of anyone else, do not speak evil against or criticize dear brothers and sisters. You see, when you do that, you not only ignore your own faults and failures, you do that behind the person's back. And that's a cowardly thing to do.

If it's so bad and if something needs to be confronted and it's for the good of the other individual, wait until you're alone and at the right time and in the right tone, confront the person to his or her face. Which takes us to the word judge. That means to bring condemnation on another and only one is qualified for that. Who are you to condemn another? You don't control destiny. And if you wonder about judging, check out Matthew chapter 7. Remember the log in your own eye as you look for the speck in your brother's eye?

Don't go there. If you criticize and judge each other, you're criticizing and judging God's law. That's not your call. You see, we step into a role that only God is qualified to fill, only he knows everything.

Only he knows all the facts. Second, as I said earlier, we ignore our own faults and failures. And third, I will add, we assault our love relationship when we do that. I know this when I really pray faithfully for another, I cannot say things ugly about them. So I know when I say things ugly or someone else says something ugly, I know prayer isn't going on. So for this year, let's you and me agree, since you and I are not in charge of others, let's agree that we will not operate as though we are. And we'll stop putting people down and judging them. We would be miles ahead in relationships if we would just cover those two bases. How wonderful it would be to have that kind of verbal integrity.

That's first. Now the second reminder, we're not even in charge of ourselves, verses 13 to 16. Look here, James begins this 13th verse. And in this 13th verse, he puts his finger on five things an individual does who attempts to control his own life or her own life.

Number one, look at how he puts it. You who say today or tomorrow. So we begin by setting our own hard and fast schedule.

Now wait, wait a minute, wait, wait a minute. There's going to be someone hearing this that's going to say, well, you mean we're not supposed to plan? We're not supposed to organize our lives? Well, that's not what he's dealing with.

So let me clarify that. There's a proverb that says a man's heart devises his way, but the Lord directs his steps. Is everything right about devising your way? Every New Year's Day, you wouldn't know this if I didn't tell you, so I'll let you in on a little activity I do virtually every New Year. I do because some things have come up and I haven't been able to. But I take my day timer, small book I carry, which is the calendar of every day in the year, and I enter into that calendar the events of that year.

It takes me about five to six hours to complete my day timer. I go through it meticulously, all the while, if not saying it aloud, thinking, Lord, at any time, I'm at your disposal. You want to bring any change to any part of this? Please do. I invite you to do that.

Nothing here is in concrete. This is as best I can plan my life because I have a number of responsibilities I juggle in my roles as an individual. And I need to keep some of them separate. I need to make sure there aren't conflicts, that I don't plan an event on top of another one or too close to another one.

I need to organize my life. He's not addressing that wise kind of devising of one's way. He's talking about an individual who declares or sets in concrete hard and fast. This will be my schedule today or tomorrow. Remember that word tomorrow.

I'll get back to it. Look further in verse 13. We are going to a certain town. So the second an individual does, when he thinks he controls his or her own life, we declare our own destination. That is where we will be. That is where we will move. That is where we are going. We are going to a certain town.

Notice how it's written. And we'll stay there a year. Third, we determine our own limits. We're going to be there a year. That's the plan. That's what I want. That's what I plan. That's what I'm going to do. We will stay there a year.

Fourth, we arrange our own agenda. We will do business there. That's the plan. My plan.

I'm going to do that. We will do business there. And notice he wraps it up with, and we'll make a profit. We predict our own outcome. When we're in charge, that's what we're going to do.

That's going to be the result. Observe what's preeminent in verse 13. I, my, me. I mean, after all, remember the song?

I like that song. Somewhere over the rainbow bluebirds fly, so why can't I? Well, part of the reason is you're not a bluebird. So you're not going to be flying over some rainbow.

That's written by some dreamer who thought of it while he was sitting on a hilltop somewhere strumming a guitar in torn jeans and barefoot thinking up a song. Okay? That's not James.

James doesn't do that. Here's another one. I did it my way. You heard that one?

Old blue eyes. I did it my way. And you're proud of that? Is that what you want?

You want your way? How many people planned a profit and didn't make a profit? Don't answer out loud. How many planned to do business and it never really materialized?

How many planned that year but it wasn't a year? Because you're not in charge. See, this is mistaken confidence. It's presumption. Because I am not in charge, I have no right to do those things.

In fact, he really does dig in in verse 14. Look at the question. How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your Bible probably reads you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow.

You don't. How are you going to feel tomorrow? You don't know. What will happen as you're driving tomorrow? You don't know. What will that phone call be that comes in the middle of the night tonight? You don't know. What will be the outcome of that surgery that's planned for tomorrow? You don't know.

When it comes to tomorrow, three words fit. I don't know. That's why I am not in charge. Only one knows.

Only one. That's why he's in charge. When will we learn this?

I hope in this new year we learn it early. Lord, you're in charge. This is your day. It's on loan to me. Thank you for allowing me to live it, but it's yours.

It's got your name written all over it. I want it to be for your glory. I don't want to be involved in anything that you don't want. So stop me. Turn me.

Reverse my plan. Because we're mere humans, we have no idea what the future includes. A rude intrusion changes everything. That's why one of the most uneasy words in our language for us to deal with is unexpected. Tomorrow has that word written all over it.

How can you know what to expect until you have lived it? Unexpected diseases. Unexpected accidents. Unexpected delays.

Unexpected financial reversal. Unexpected stroke. Unexpected phone call. Unexpected email.

Unexpected letter in the mail. Unexpected shooting. Unexpected tornado. Unexpected fire.

Unexpected response. If I may, to go where James is going, unexpected death. Death. You do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. Your life, now he gives a good analogy.

Look closely. Your life is like the morning fog. Like a mist, says one of the renderings. Another renders it a puff of smoke. Boom. Boom. Here's eternity forever and ever with a limitless end.

There's no ending. That's life on this earth. Believe me. Hear me. More importantly, hear this. Your life is like the morning fog.

Here a little while, then it's gone. The beautiful part about all of this is with the one who's in charge, there are no surprises. There are no surprises. My mother and dad had two children, a boy, a girl, and they thought that was it. Alpha, Omega.

Two kids. Perfect. Hi. Out of the blue, they found out. Well, you know what? Earl, my mother must have said to my daddy, Earl.

Number three is coming. I understand from my folks a cute story. I never met my paternal grandparents. My dad's father died while he was in high school, and he had to quit school so she wouldn't starve, and he went to work to help his mother have something to eat and help the family survive. But his mother lived on through the births of my dad's three kids, and they were visiting my paternal grandmother, who I understand was really a hot dog.

Probably not a good word to use, but she's gone now, so she won't slap me. She stood about four feet seven, a little southern rebel, and my daddy used to tell stories on her. And so they were there visiting, and their little boy, Orville, my brother, was just out of diapers. Lucy was still in diapers, and I was in the oven, about ready to make my entrance. My grandmother was kind of waddling through the house, and my grandmother, I understand, looked at my mother and said to my dad, Earl, come here to me.

So he's six feet one, she's four feet seven. She goes, Earl, listen to me. He goes, yes, ma'am. The Bible says to be fruitful and multiply and to fill the earth, but he never expected one woman to do it all.

Leave her alone. I guess he did. I was the last child.

And I understand he said, yes, ma'am. I was not a surprise to God. I was certainly a surprise to them. Maybe you were a surprise.

I've never let that bother me. I was born, I was never abused or mistreated. I wasn't wanted, but, you know, here I was. And I was told earlier that I was a mistake. And I thought, hey, I would like that. I'm going to show them who I really am.

And so I got a lot of whippings and had to learn how to live life correctly, still working on it. But my dad knew our family would have three kids. That is, my God knew that. My dad thought they would have the two. My mother figured they'd have maybe one. And here she was with three kids.

She didn't do really well with the little kids. Hi. Here I am. Now I'm having a little fun with this, but that's the way it unfolds. If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that. Some babies don't live. Some children don't live. Some die what we call prematurely. There is no such thing. God, nothing is premature.

His plan is perfect. But because we like to control our lives, we put a timetable on things and we're born so we'll live a long life. You have no hope of that. You don't know if you'll be here this time next year.

I don't know that either. We hope to be. We want to be. But we don't know. God knows because he's in charge. Now I think you've gotten the point very clearly and I'm overworking it because it's a tough one to believe and obey. Because when this meeting is over and we've all gone to our places of residence, maybe even on our way home, we quickly tend to forget. And before we know it, we're bad-mouthing someone or we're planning our own way and putting it in concrete.

And we're disappointed because it didn't happen. Nobody gave you the right to call your own shots. You see, we live in such a me-ism day that when we don't get our way, there's something wrong with it. Or with you for telling me I don't have a right to do that or think like that.

I'm not telling you. I'm just reading you what James says. You ought to say, if the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.

What else does that mean? If the Lord wants us to. I plan to attend a funeral tomorrow. I hope I'm able to be there. I certainly hope to bring encouragement and comfort to some who grieve. I hope we make it to the funeral and get back and we've had a chance to be with those we love. But that's my plan.

And I hold it loosely because it's not my life. I hope to be here next Sunday. I hope that will unfold.

I'm planning on it, but it's all written in pencil with a big eraser. That's how we live our lives. All for His glory.

All for His pleasure. The book of James is dripping with timeless wisdom. And there's much more from this passage Chuck Swindoll wants to show us. You're listening to Insight for Living and a message prepared especially for New Year's Day. Chuck titled his presentation, Here's Something Worth Remembering. To learn more about this ministry, you can visit us online at insightworld.org. And then I'm pleased to inform you that Chuck has mapped out his teaching schedule for the new year.

And to give you a sneak preview, let me mention the subject we'll tackle together in 2021. After the final message in this series, we'll resume our study in Ephesians titled, Becoming a People of Grace. And then our attention turns back to the first book in the New Testament, when Chuck presents a brand new series on the Gospel of Matthew. Concurrent with his new teaching series on Matthew, you'll be glad to know that Chuck just completed an exhaustive commentary. It's titled, Swindoll's Living Insights Commentary for Matthew. The Matthew commentary comes in two hardbound volumes. Both are ready right now and we encourage you to purchase your copies in time to begin the study with us. To purchase Swindoll's Living Insights Commentary for Matthew, call us.

If you're listening in the U.S., dial 1-800-772-8888 or go to insight.org slash store. Many of us are making every effort to understand our changing times. And we're learning how to communicate truth with the next generation. Well, Chuck has been impressed with the insight in a new book he's recommending to you. It's called, A Practical Guide to Culture.

The authors, John Stonestreet and Brett Kunkel, provide a biblical view on key issues in our culture that all of us face, such as sexual orientation, gender identity, and racial tension, to name a few. You can purchase a copy right now by going to insight.org slash store. Or if you're listening in the United States and you wish to call us, dial 1-800-772-8888.

Or again, go online to insight.org. Well, we're grateful to have you along on New Year's Day. And we invite you to join us again Monday to hear the Bible teaching of Chuck Swindoll on Insight for Living. The preceding message, Here's Something Worth Remembering, and the sound recording were copyrighted in 2020 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.