James 4:13-17 Go to now, you that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:… I. WHAT IS THE INTENTION OF "LIFE"? NO man of any consideration can look on "this life" for a moment without connecting it with "the life that is to come." It is evident that the first great intention of this "life" is education — so that as in a man's "life," there is a portion upon this earth allotted to what is strictly preparatory to the rest — so is the whole immortal existence of a man arranged, that there should be a period of instruction and cultivation, to be the education-time for his eternity. God deals with us here as a father deals with the children he is training: nothing is final; but everything has a direct influence upon something else that is to be final. And if it be so, can you wonder that there is so much that is mysterious to our present view? Can a child, while he is a child, understand his own discipline? Allowing, then, that this "life" is education, education is made up of two parts — probation and cultivation. And when I say probation, I mean by that word, that a man is to know himself, and to show to other men what he really is. The circumstances in which he is put are exactly those the best to unfold his real character. He is treated as a perfectly free agent. He is placed between good and evil. Opposite influences bear upon him. He has such tendencies that, if he follow them, he will be bad and miserable; and he has such convictions and assistances that, if he uses them, he will be good and happy. Every trial-every happiness — every event of life — is to develop character; and, as soon as ever the character is fully developed — be it what it may — then comes death — then comes judgment — which judgment, be it remembered, will not be to decide a man's state — that is decided by his daily actions, i.e., while he lived here; but it will be the public declaration of the decision, made to commend itself to the minds of the whole universe: because, when the decision is made, it will appear to be in strictest conformity with all that every man manifested himself to be while he was down here, in this probationary "life." That is probation. But education is also cultivation. Partly by instilling knowledge, but still more by drawing out powers, and by establishing good habits, and exercising right feelings, a child is educated for his after-life. Just such is all machinery which surrounds us in our present state. Every variety of fortune — every little, minute occurrence of life — the Bible — the Holy Spirit — the very atonement itself — are all calculated to train: they are all means to an end. Now, if this "life" be thus education, let us see two inferences. In the first place, they are quite wrong who think that the "life" and character of a man are to undergo some great change and some remarkable metamorphosis when he dies. And again, is "life" indeed education — education for eternity? then I draw my reasoning back from that higher world — What is the great character of heaven? It sees, it loves, it reflects, God's glory. Do you wish to know, to-night, how your education is getting on? I ask, How far could the past year bear witness to your having lived under the influence of a desire to promote God's glory? II. But now I pass to the second thought which lies coiled up in the great question, "What is life?" — ITS DURATION, NOW, we would have you, brethren, in this matter to distinctly understand and remember in your minds that, however uncertain the term of "life" may seem to us, it is most determinately fixed by Almighty God. Perhaps I should not be wrong to go further than this, and to say that probably, at this very instant, that course of events is already in progress, and that disease is already existing in your body, which is to be God's instrument to remove you. It is likely that, for many years, we, most of us, carry about with us the seeds of our own dissolution. And is not it to be believed that that period of death is determined according to the preparedness of the soul? and that as soon as ever a man's spirit has become sufficiently assimilated to its final state — be that state which it may — then the word is spoken — the thread is cut — the ripe saint and the ripe sinner are both cut down! Men talk and men plan for the future, and who that visited our world as a stranger would ever guess, from people's ways and people's words, that there were such a thing amongst us as old age — that there were such a thing amongst us as death? Every one seems to see somebody who is older than himself very well, yet alive; and then he thinks, "Why should not I live as long as that man?" Then, "What is your life?" At the most a span; and that span is held by a thread. There is no certainty of "to-morrow"; and many years are out of the question! And, with the "angel of death thus in the air, can you sit down at your pleasures, and no "blood" on "the door"? If that "blood" is once there, upon your heart — which is a man's "door" — the "door" of his existence — if "the blood of Christ" has ever been applied — everything is changed age is happy — death is joy. And yet, "What is your life?" Short in nature; but how much shorter in grace! Who shall fix how near will be the hour when the Spirit, who has been striving So long, shall depart, and with Him all that makes "life" worth living? Oh, brethren! what would this drear "life" be if the Spirit were gone? III. WHAT IS THE REAL NATURE OF "LIFE"? It is a part of God's teaching that "the life" of every creature is "the blood"; and when God said that, He said it in reference to "the blood of sacrifice." There must, therefore, be some antitype to man's "blood" which constitutes "life." And what is that antitype — which I do not say gives "life" to anything, but which is "the life" of everything — what will it be but the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ? I may follow that a tittle further. As soon as a man is really united to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit actually enters into that man's soul. A new power and principle of "life" is in him: new affections breathe; new energies spring up; and so there comes a certain secret, hidden "life," which consists in communion with God — is fed by hidden manna — exercising itself in hidden thoughts, in hidden places. And that is "life" because all the other "life" — everything that is worthy the name — is only the acting out of that first inner "life." Then, from that "life of God" within — which dates itself from the application of "the blood of Christ" — there comes a noble expanding of the intellect of a man, and the affections of a man, and the whole being of a man, out into the service of God. (James Vaughan, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: |
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