A woman
walked into her bathroom at home.
As she did,
she saw her husband weighing himself on the bathroom scales, sucking in his
stomach. The woman thought to herself,
"He thinks that he will weigh less by
sucking in his stomach." So, the woman rather sarcastically said to her
husband,
"That’s not going to help."
Her husband said, "Sure it will. It’s the
only way I can see the numbers."
This is the
time of year folks always look back on the holiday onslaught of eating and
realize that they have to loose weight.
Common New
Year’s resolutions always include loosing weight, exercise, or eating right.
I like times
like New Years because it affords us the opportunity to take inventory.
It is a
great time to take a spiritual inventory of our lives.
The end of
the year always gives us opportunity to stop and reflect on our past as well as
look at our future.
Sometimes
that future is brighter and sometimes that future is bleak.
The good
news is that Christianity and our life in Christ is about renewal.
We belong to
a faith that is all about renewing and starting fresh and giving life a fresh
start.
As a matter
of fact at theme that runs all throughout the Bible is death and renewal.
Or better
explained – darkness and resurrection.
When things
look the bleakest that is when God comes in and revives and brings back to
life.
Adam in the
Garden was lonely and had not counter part – it was not good for the man to be
alone. God puts Adam into a type of death sleep, rips flesh from his side and
makes a new being a woman his help meet Eve.
Adam goes to
deep sleep is opened up or divided and now new life comes
The world
looks like in the day of Noah like there is no hope with the evil and violence
– God brings a flood and Noah and his family start a new creation – a new
humanity – a new start.
From death –
a new covenant with mankind and the rainbow.
Israel is in
despair in Egypt and cries out to God – God hears – God rescues Israel from
slavery and sends a deliverer.
In the Exile
Ezekiel sees a valley of dry bones which represents Israel, a wind comes into
the valley – we need to remember that the word Ezekiel uses for wind is Ruah
which is the same word for the Holy Spirit.
IN Ezekiel’s
vision found in Ezekiel chapter 37 these dry bones – very very dead bones in
other words, are brought back to life by God’s life giving Spirit.
That same
Spirit that breathed the breath of life into Adam is now breathing life back
into the nation of Israel.
So you see
that the Bible continually paints a picture of hope – when all is lost – when
it seems like the worst is happening and things cant get much worse – God steps
in and new and wonderful things occur.
God always
surprises us when we least expect it.
Why does God
do things this way?
2 Corinthians 1: 9
"But we
had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves,
but in God which raiseth the dead"
God doesn’t
want us to trust in ourselves – but we should trust in God who raises the
dead.
We can look
at this past year nationally as a country and say man it looks bleak.
So is this
why our country is coming apart in our hands?
Is this why
popular entertainment is so corrupt?
Is this why
our justices despise the gift of life?
Is this why our laws cannot make out the
reason God gave us boys and girls?
Is this why
Congress does not understand the concept of red ink?
Yes -- so that we would stop trusting in
ourselves.
Is this why our fathers devise various means
to run out on their families?
Is this why
wives are terminally disrespectful to them, doing what they can to chase them
out early?
Is this why
our children are so sullen and unhappy?
Yes -- so that we would stop trusting in
ourselves.
Is this why
pulpits are treated as bunkers to hide in, instead of cockpits to fight from?
Is this why we call theologians conservative
if they condescend to believe most of the Bible?
Yes -- so
that we would stop trusting in ourselves.
All hope is lost? Good.
Because it
is at those moments that God steps in.
Today I want
to share with you some hope full messages from the New Testament as we look
forward.
We will see
a beginning and an ending – a look back and a look forward.
And I think
there is no other time better than now to look at these themes of starting and
looking forward.
Today I want
to share two themes that we need to take into this new year.
1)
Courage or absence of Fear
2)
Joy
3)
Worship
A new year
marked by our church that is marked by great courage among our members, great
joy in our salvation, and an attitude of worship that marks our Church.
These three
themes find their way into Luke’s Gospel and Matthew’s Gospel.
Luke’s
Gospel begins with the idea of not being afraid but to have courage and it ends
with the same idea.
It is the
bookends of Luke’s Gospel and it is intentional – Luke is telling a story and
is telling us to not be afraid but take courage.
Matthew’s
Gospel is bookended with two concepts, and they are joy and worship.
Matthew
begins with the idea of Joy and ends with the idea of Joy
Matthew
begins his Gospel with the idea of worship and ends with the idea of worship.
1)
COURAGE
It is a
natural state for people in a fallen world to be fearful.
The natural
order of things has been turned upside down.
Death has
entered the equation – we have to fear physical breakdown of the body.
We have to
fear violence and bloodshed.
We have to
fear falsehoods –we live in a time when just plain ole telling the truth to
each other is not very common.
But God
comes into this situation and cuts through all of this.
We see it in
the birth of Christ – when Jesus is born we see a new situation – a time to
stop being fearful.
To take
courage.
When the
Angel comes to Joseph in a dream we see that obviously Joseph was fearful of
what to do with Mary his betroved who had been found to be with child.
In Matthew 1:20 we see:
20 But when
he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a
dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as
your wife ; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit
When the
angel appeared to Zacharias to announce the coming of the great prophet John
the Baptist we read in Luke 1: 13
13 But the
angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has
been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him
the name John.
When the
angel appears to Mary to tell her that she will have a son he tells her
Luke 1:30
30 The angel
said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary ; for you have found favor with God
When Jesus
calls his first disciples he tells them
Luke 5:10
"Do not
fear, from now on you will be catching men."
In the old
way of doing things we would be fearful of what is to come – our lives would be
like a fog bank not knowing what will happen.
But things
have changed in Christ and we know our destiny.
After the
crucifixion of Jesus the disciples represent how we look at the world.
John 20: 19-21
19So when it
was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were
shut where the disciples were, for 29fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in
their midst and said to them, "30Peace be with you."20 And when He
had said this, 31He showed them both His hands and His side. The disciples then
32rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21So Jesus said to them again, "33Peace
be with you; 34as the Father has sent Me, I also send you."
True peace
came when the realized that Jesus had risen from the dead.
That is
where we live today – we live on the other side of the resurrection.
Now we have
become the ones sent.
Now there is
no longer room for fear because God has commissioned us to go out and to know
that we have a future with Him.
IF we get
sick or die we will be resurrected- if we have lost our loved ones we will be
reunited to them and this life will be like a blip compared to eternity.
Things have
changed in Christ.
There are
reasons that we are fearful today – as we stand post-resurrection – there are
reasons that we still have fear in our condition.
The one
reason that we don’t have courage is that Satan stands and accuses us and tells
us that we are not good enough.
He reminds
us of our weakness and never lets you see what you are in Christ.
Courage
comes from two realizations.
1)
your life is hidden in Christ.
Colossians 3: 2-3
2Set your
mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. 3 For you have
died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
When you
have repented and died to your self – you are a dead man – and now your
identity is in Christ.
You are in
Christ – God no longer sees the rags of sin that once beset us but God sees
Christ.
We are
literally in Christ.
That is why
we can offer our lives as a spiritual sacrifice to God.
The only
reason our lives are acceptable to God is because we are in Christ – if we are
not in Christ then no works that we do will ever be acceptable to God.
So we have a
new identity in Christ.
When we
realize that then we can be courageous – we are hidden in Christ and He will
sustain us.
2)
God can take your greatest weaknesses
and turn them into a strength through His power.
We are still
fearful because we see our own weaknesses.
The Apostle
Paul understood this better than anyone.
He had some
type of physical problem that held him back – it hindered his preaching of the
Gospel.
He wanted
God to remove this thorn in the flesh.
2 Corinthians 12: 7-10
7 Because of
the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from
exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan
to torment me-to keep me from exalting myself! 8Concerning this I implored the
Lord three times that it might leave me. 9 And He has said to me, "My
grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most
gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power
of Christ may dwell in me. 10Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with
insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's
sake ; for when I am weak, then I am strong.
Paul
explains to us that in weakness God is glorified.
God can take
what we think is our weakness and use it to His glory.
I read
recently the story of a 10-year-old boy who decided to study judo despite the
fact that he had lost his left arm in a devastating car accident.
The boy began lessons with an old Japanese
judo master.
The boy was doing well, so he couldn’t
understand why, after three months of training, the master had taught him only
one move.
"Sensei," the boy finally said,
"Shouldn’t I be learning more moves?"
"This is the only move you know, but this
is the only move you’ll ever need to know," the sensei replied.
Not quite
understanding, but believing in his teacher, the boy kept training.
Several months later, the sensei took the boy
to his first tournament.
Surprising
himself, the boy easily won his first two matches.
The third match proved to be more difficult,
but after some time, his opponent became impatient and charged; the boy deftly
used his one move to win the match.
Still amazed by his success, the boy was now
in the finals.
This time,
his opponent was bigger, stronger, and more experienced.
For a while, the boy appeared to be
overmatched.
Concerned that the boy might get hurt, the
referee called a time-out.
He was about
to stop the match when the sensei intervened. "No," the sensei
insisted, "Let him continue."
Soon after the match resumed, his opponent
made a critical mistake: he dropped his guard. Instantly, the boy used his move
to pin him. The boy had won the match and the tournament.
He was the
champion.
On the way home, the boy and the sensei
reviewed every move in each and every match.
Then the boy
summoned the courage to ask what was really on his mind: "Sensei, how did
I win the tournament with only one move?"
"You won for two reasons," the
sensei answered.
"First,
you’ve almost mastered one of the most difficult throws in all of judo.
And second,
the only known defense for that move is for your opponent to grab your left
arm."
The boy’s biggest weakness had become his
biggest strength.
3)
JOY
Another
thing that we need to realize as we look at a new year – Christians are to be
people of great joy.
We should be
joyful people in the Lord.
The theme of
Joy brackets Luke’s Gospel.
Zacharias is
told in the announcement of the birth of John the Baptist in Luke 1:14 that great joy will
come with the birth of John.
When Mary
goes to visit her cousin Elizabeth the baby in Elizabeth’s womb – John the
Baptist leaps for joy in the womb at the announcement of Mary. Luke 1:44
When the
Angel announced to the Shepherds in the field about the birth of Jesus he said
the following:
Luke 2:10
10 But the
angel said to them, "8Do not be afraid ; for behold, I bring you good news
of great joy which will be for all the people
We see the
very end of Luke’s Gospel When the risen Christ ascends back into Heaven the
joy and happiness among the disciples.
They realize
things have changed.
Luke 24: 51-53
51While He
was blessing them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven. 52 And
they, after worshiping Him, returned to Jerusalem with great joy, 53 and were
continually in the temple praising God.
Heaven has
opened up for business, when Christ ascended into Heaven the doors of Heaven
are open to us.
The Hebrew
writer will elaborate on this by telling us that by the flesh of Christ we can
enter the most Holy Place in Heaven.
In everyday
human terms – God wants a relationship with you.
A living
breathing –vibrant relationship with us.
To have true
joy that is what we must understand and have a relationship with Christ.
“A miserable
looking woman recognized F.B. Meyer (preacher and teacher) on the train and
ventured to share her burden with him.
For years
she had cared for a crippled daughter who brought great joy to her life.
She made tea
for her each morning, then left for work, knowing that in the evening the
daughter would be there when she arrived home.
But the
daughter had died, and the grieving mother was alone and miserable.
Home was not
"home" anymore.
Meyer gave
her wise counsel.
"When
you get home and put the key in the door, say aloud, ’Jesus, I know You are
here!’ and be ready to greet Him directly when you open the door.
And as you
light the fire tell Him what has happened during the day; if anybody has been
kind, tell Him; if anybody has been unkind, tell Him, just as you would have
told your daughter.
At night stretch out your hand in the darkness
and say, ’Jesus, I know You are here!’"
Some months later, Meyer was back in that
neighborhood and met the woman again, but he did not recognize her. Her face
radiated joy instead of announcing misery.
"I did
as you told me," she said, "and it has made all the difference in my
life, and now I feel I know Him."
That is the
way to true joy is to have a living relationship with God through Christ.
When Christ
died, was resurrected and ascended into Heaven it opened up the possibility for
us to be children of God –to be part of
God’s family.
When God’s
Spirit was sent into the world He was given to us as a downpayment as to what
is coming in our future – the resurrection from the dead.
2)
WORSHIP
This new
year needs to be a year of worship.
A year that
we commit ourselves to corporate worship as a body of believers but also
individual worship.
I see
worship happening on three levels – the corporate – ecclesia – Church level,
the family level, and the individual level.
I believe
that a healthy spiritual life will stem from regular Church corporate worship
with the body of believers on Sunday,
Also within
the family unit,
And
individually in your prayer life, study and devotional time.
Why do we
worship?
Francois
Fenelon was the court clergy for King Louis XIV of France in the 17th century.
One Sunday
when the king and his attendants arrived at the chapel for the regular service,
no one else was there but the preacher.
King Louis
demanded, "What does this mean?"
Fenelon
replied, "I had published that you would not come to church today, in order
that your Majesty might see who serves God in truth and who flatters the
king."
This theme
is found in the Gospel of Matthew –
This the
reaction we see to Jesus all through the Gospel of Matthew and Matthew is
really asking you a question in His Gospel.
In Matthew 2:10-11
10 When they
saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. 11After coming into the
house they saw the Child with 9Mary His mother ; and they fell to the ground
and 10worshiped Him. Then, opening their treasures, they presented to Him gifts
of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
They fell
down before Jesus, Jesus is just and infant- God become flesh, Immanuel.
But these
men from the East these Wise men – worship Jesus
What is
Matthew telling us – if you are wise like these men- if you have true wisdom,
if you have true knowledge you will worship Jesus.
Matthew 14: 32-33
32 When they
got into the boat, the wind stopped. 33 And those who were in the boat
worshiped Him, saying, "You are certainly 25God's Son !"
Jesus stills
the storm and His followers worship Him.
The realize
WHO Jesus is because they are with Him everyday.
Jesus is the
very incarnate God – He is Yahweh Jehovah God that we read about in the Old
Testament and now he is enfleshed in Jesus of Nazareth.
He is worthy
of our worship.
Matthew
leaves the end of his Gospel with a question for us.
We see at
the end of Matthew’s Gospel just before Jesus ascends back to the Father, he is
about to give last minute instructions to His followers:
Matthew 28: 16-17
16 But the
eleven disciples proceeded 16to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had
designated. 17 When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but 17some were doubtful.
The question
is today – do we worship Jesus – Do you believe Jesus is the Son of God – do
you believe that HE is who he claimed to be.
He is the
Son of God – and because of that our attitude should be one of worship.
We fall into
one of two categories today – either we worship or we doubt.
Some even at
this point of Jesus ministry even after the resurrection were doubtful – that
is how it has always been.
Some believe
and some doubt – some worship and some doubt.
Who are you
today?
Do you doubt
or do you worship?
Today as you
look at this new year I want to challenge all of us to look forward in Courage
knowing that God has gained the victory in Christ – we all have a future.
Also to have
great joy in your relationship with Christ – walking daily with him talking to
Him, communing with Him
And let us
mark the year of 2013 as a year that we worship – we worship the King- we
worship individually, as a family, as a church.
