Nothing But a Vapor – James 4:13-17
Pastor Tan Thai · Sep 4, 2021
Preached on the 14th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks, this sermon reminds the congregation that human life is as fleeting and fragile as a vapor. Only God is the true Master of the future, and every person must live within His will rather than boasting of self-sufficiency.
The sermon opens with the image of New Year's Eve 2000 at Times Square, when the world entered the new millennium with great hope and celebration. Yet less than two years later, the September 11, 2001 attacks shook America and the entire world, causing trillions of dollars in economic damage and sparking wars that continue to this day. The collapse of the Twin Towers becomes a vivid illustration of the fragility of what humanity considers most secure.
The pastor identifies the common human error of viewing oneself as the master of one's own life, captured in the famous line 'I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.' James 4:13-14 warns that no one knows what tomorrow will bring, for life is nothing but a vapor that appears for a moment and then vanishes. The parable of the rich fool in Luke 12 is cited as a sobering warning: the man who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich toward God finds his soul demanded back that very night.
The sermon develops the theme of life's brevity through rich imagery from Job and the Psalms: life passes faster than a weaver's shuttle, dissolves like a cloud, flickers like a shadow, and speeds by like a swift boat. Psalm 90:10 reminds us that human life spans only seventy or eighty years, while before God a thousand years are like a day already gone. Real-world images of the Syrian war, the refugee crisis, modern-day slavery, and the Kurdish toddler found on a beach are woven in to illustrate that suffering and death remain inescapable realities of human existence.
The application centers on James's instruction: 'If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.' The pastor explains that God is the One who holds the future, foreknowing all things from eternity, and who determines the number of each person's days according to Job 14:5. Yet God also grants human beings freedom of choice, which can lead either to obedience or to actions contrary to His will, as seen in the examples of Adam, Cain, and King David.
The sermon closes with the prayer of Psalm 90:12: 'Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.' The message calls the congregation not to boast about tomorrow, but to live each day recognizing that life itself is a gift from God. Every believer is urged to invest in the eternal kingdom of heaven rather than merely accumulating earthly wealth, since only what is done within God's will carries lasting value.