A Christian View of New Year's

Blondie New Year’s Eve 2023

Humor-Going to the Wetumpka Fireworks tonight at Midnight.

Listen to some News Articles dated December 28, one day in given news related to the New Year.

CBS News

How to tweak New Year's resolutions for success, according to experts

Story by Sara Moniuszko 2024 is almost here, which means people are starting to focus on their New Year's resolutions — despite research suggesting these annual vows of self-improvement only work a fraction of the time.

Forbes Magazine

Making New Year’s Resolutions You Will Keep: Base Them On Purpose

Associated Press

(AP) — According to a recent Forbes Health/One Poll survey, more than half of Americans abandon their New Year’s resolutions within the first three months.

Every year, as the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve, millions of Americans make promises to themselves – promises of change, self-improvement, and newfound habits. These promises, known as New Year’s resolutions, pledge a fresh start and a better future.

Montgomery Advertiser, December 30th

It’s out with the bad at NY pre-New Year’s event

Robert Bumsted

ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK – One person wanted to get past anger issues. Others sought to turn the page on medical bills, work stress, insecurities, taxes, regrets, bad habits, bad hair days, COVID-19, worrying about what other people think, and “all negativity of 2023.”

People hoping to shed those and other problems converged Thursday on Times Square for “Good Riddance Day,” a promotional pre-New Year’s Eve event that offers a chance to, at least symbolically, cast away burdens, peeves and bad memories.

“The whole world is going through this. There’s lots of people going through bad experiences. Wars, inflation, life has been rough. I’m just hoping for 2024 to just give everyone a break from those terrible things,” Angel Villaneuva of Washington said after watching his personal banes – bad relationships and negative energy and experiences – go up in smoke. The point of the reflection of these news articles is to be keenly aware of where the world’s mind is stayed at the end of a year and the beginning of a new year.

The question we might want to ask is why do so many people fail at their New Year’s goal? I believe we will discover that our success in our endeavors of life have all to do with who is leading us in those endeavors.

As my son in law stated,

“What better way to begin a New Year that to follow in Believer’s baptism and set my life on the right course this New Year.” I would agree that is a great mindset. Amen.

He, like millions of people as I highlighted in these new articles are considering the New Year and planning for their future.

Is it wrong for us to plan? Is it wrong to dream?

Acts 2:17 “17 ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams.”

Are we wrong to be a visionary? to set certain goals for our lives, to set time frames to accomplish certain thresholds of measurement in our lives? Is it wrong to have bucket lists times of reward and celebration for the victories God has provided in your life? Good things.

One said that “a person who fails to plan, plans to fail.”

Jesus stated:

Luke 14:28 “28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it—”

We are bombarded with a worldview of what one places their focus in the New Year. The greater question is how should a Christian look at the New Year? Where should our minds be stayed? Should Christians have goals for their life? Should Christians act like bouncy balls living aimlessly with a total trust in God to provide and having no direction in life independent of trust in Him? IN other words, throwing our hands up in an almost slothful lifestyle, living reactionary to the obstacles life sends and trusting God that He will deal with the matter?

Are we to just wake up each day and see what the day has in store rather than making plans and attempting to take control over certain outcomes in the New Year? Interesting questions and important questions as we consider:

What are your plans in the New Year?

James 4:13-17

James 4:13–17 “13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; 14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.

15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” 16 But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.”

Prayer

Oh Heavenly Father, in these last hours of 2023 before we close out a year and begin a New Year and we think of all the celebrations that will be tonight, oh that we would go out of 2023 with praises for you and humility to call upon your guidance for 2024.

Lord, we thank you how you brought us to this point. We thank you for your protection, your providential hand in our lives and your mercies and grace in guiding us when we befall You. Lord, we praise you when You had to chastise us, when you comforted us in our bereavements, our sickness, and guided us in our trials and tribulations.

Oh Lord, thank you for providing mountaintops, laughter, and victories in this life. Thank you for our refuge found in Your precious Son, Jesus Christ and the promise that when our day of journey on this earth is over that you have a home in heaven awaiting the believer.

Thank you for your abiding and eternal love. In Jesus precious name we pray, Amen.

Message

James, the brother of Jesus, was of Jewish decent. James was gloriously saved and became a leader, a pastor of the early church. His converts were namely of Jewish decent, they were namely poor, and we they were new converts. In other words, they were babes in Christ. They were attempting to live this new Christian life wedged in social tensions and the culture of the day.

In Jame’s letter we learn that they were oppressed by wealthy landlords in 5:4-6, hauled into court by rich people in 2:6 and scorned for their Christian faith in 2:7. James reminded those early converts to be patient and reminded that the coming of the Lord was eminent, His judgment and deliverance was close at hand.

All through these trials James instructed those early Christian followers to walk steadfastly and maintain Christian maturity and character in the process.

In a nutshell, James was challenging these early believers to not succumb to a worldview of living a self-seeking life and to fall trap to the mindset of the world they lived in and the same world we live in today.

Listen for example:

James 3:13–17 “13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. 15 This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic.

16 For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. 17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.”

Just following our text this morning listen to James’ words:

James 5:1–4 “1 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you! 2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days. 4 Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.”

You can tell from the tones that Pastor James wrote that he was offering direction to not become overzealous and drawn into the world’s view of what life is really all about. There was too much consideration for self, self gain, self agendas. etc.

This morning we want to gain an understanding of what does a Christian view of New Year’s looks like. Again, this morning we study a stewardship lesson of this life God has offered us. How do we manage it? How do we plan? What should we consider in our planning?

Over Confidence in Planning V. 13

James 4:13 “13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”;”

James’ heart as a Pastor recognized at every turn the pressure on his new followers of Christ to perform in business based upon the counsel the Lord gave him in this epistle. God gave him eyes to see that the new Jewish converts lived in a culture of self achievement and the pressures to succeed and get ahead were ingrained in daily lifestyle.

Today, things are no different. Those articles reflect that our world is bombarded with the pressures of succeeding, but succeeding by the world’s standards. “The person with the most toys win.”

Those new converts were reared and cultivated into their DNA that type of lifestyle and making changes to that mindset was difficult based upon the pressures of society.

What does the Bible say about planning?

Proverbs 21:5 “5 The plans of the diligent lead surely to plenty, But those of everyone who is hasty, surely to poverty.”

Proverbs 6:6–8 “6 Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise, 7 Which, having no captain, Overseer or ruler, 8 Provides her supplies in the summer, And gathers her food in the harvest.”

Proverbs 6:9–11 “9 How long will you slumber, O sluggard? When will you rise from your sleep? 10 A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to sleep— 11 So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler, And your need like an armed man.”

There is nothing wrong with planning. The struggle is when you leave God out of your plans then the struggles begin.

“Come now”

Come-ago which means to lead with one’s self.

James is stating by the Greek word chosen that the plans made that are totally independent of God is living on dangerous ground.

The verse exudes at attitude of such overconfidence in the who, what, when where and how that there is no mention of God in the equation.

As we read verse 13 the example James mentions in an individual is that there business plan specifies the day when something will happen, where it will happen, how long they will spend there, the actions taken and the results of their efforts.

Proverbs 16:9 “9 A man’s heart plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps.”

Proverbs 19:21 “21 There are many plans in a man’s heart, Nevertheless the Lord’s counsel—that will stand.”

Psalm 33:11 “11 The counsel of the Lord stands forever, The plans of His heart to all generations.”

Write this thought down:

Planning is Great, Planning without God is Gambling

Quickly, how do we plan with God?

In your planning, plan Him first and He will plan the rest. In other words when we begin our day in our devotional time and our prayer time, He will plant seeds of thoughts that will guide your day, guide your month, guide your year. Allow Him that window of your mind to get first dibs on your thought process and direction for the day. What you will find when you do that is that your priorities will change. What you found important to accomplish may not be as important.

You will filter out activities you historically have done just because you did them. In other words, we have lists of what I will call tradition.

I will give you a perfect example. Our home has elaborate Christmas decorations. That is a self imposed responsibility. But when Jane and I determine that there really is other things more important, we might address how far up the food chain of importance is that? Focusing on God first will help you align those things that really count and begin to ask yourself what are you doing that is just doing something.

Why is all of this important in the first place?

Dangers of Presumptuous Planning

Making plans in the New Year, looking back and learning from the prior year, setting goals to accomplish to overcome some failures or mistakes of past are all wonderful goals. But, there is a danger in presumptuous planning.

Presumptuous means overstepping due bounds, taking liberties.

Listen to verse 14:

James 4:14 “14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.”

There are two elements that you and I have no control over. The unknown and the undefined. We have no idea what will happen in our future and we do not know when it will happen.

Dearly beloved, lets all become very sober right now. Our lives are one event from death every moment we live.

Car accident, tornado, hurricane, earthquake, sickness, disaster.

The first part of verse 14 is very obvious, we do not have a crystal ball on our future. Only the Lord in His omniscience knows our future.

But when he describes “life as a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.” Think about these cold mornings down here in South Montgomery County. I believe our bottom Saturday was 29 degrees. When you breathe outside you will see vapor come from the difference in your body temperature as you breath and that breath meets the cold air, we see those vapors. Attempt to grab and hold that vapor and preserve it. You can’t it goes almost as quick as you inhale for the next breath. That is the way life is.

It happens more times than I would want to admit as a Pastor that I am in discussion with someone one day and the next day they are dead.

1 Peter 1:24 “24 because “All flesh is as grass, And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, And its flower falls away,”

If we understand that this is really a stewardship lesson on managing life you would be accurate. If we realize that being presumptuous in our planning, meaning that we plan with an overconfidence that everything will turn out exactly as we plan. We know that is dangerous ground.

Look at verse 16:

James 4:16 “16 But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.”

Simply stated, we take the place of God in our lives and we plan without any consideration to Him, have we not become a God?

What does the Bible state when we attempt to compete with God?

Exodus 20:5 “5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,”

In other words, when we get overly confident about the outcomes of our lives as if we have some form of control in what happens, the Lord will use those as teaching, rebuking times, chastising times to draw us to Him and to remind us of our desperate need for Him.

So, how do we go about our planning knowing that life is stewardship, managing this life God has given us? And yet, not falling victim to an overzealous and overconfident attitude in the plans we make?

The Answer: God Centered Planning

James 4:15 “15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.””

The Origin of planning is with the Lord. Should we plan?

Absolutely we should plan! We should plan all the more. Our lives should be great time managers and make use of the time God has given us. In fact, we should be redeeming the time by our management of our schedules, our agendas, our tasks and making sure we do not overload ourselves that we can’t serve the Lord when He calls on us to serve Him.

Paul writes to the churches at Ephesus and states:

Ephesians 5:15–18 “15 See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, 16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,”

We are to be wise in our planning but to get our plans right, we must know what the will of the Lord is. How do we know the Lord’s will for our lives?

Be filled with the Spirit.

In closing, you might ask these questions or make these comments. I know I should plan as a Christian. I know that I do not need to be overzealous or overconfident in the turn out of my plans because only God knows my future. If only the Lord knows my future, it would only make sense that He be in the center of my planning. You are dead on target.

Because I am going to make myself available to serve Him and live to seek His will for my life, that motivates me to plan and to be a steward of this life all the more. Amen! You are all over it.

Pastor Luke, before we leave. What verse is the guidance to pull all of those aspects you mentioned and direct my path in the days ahead?

May I empathize with you this morning and say that for me to keep balance and do all of those things I need to do is a almost insurmountable task. I will admit it.

1 Corinthians 6:19 “19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?”

I realize that I should maintain proper exercise and diet, proper amount of sleep, that I am a social being and I need to give proper time to spouse, children, friends.

I know that I am a breadwinner:

1 Timothy 5:8 “8 But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”

I know that I am a spiritual being:

Matthew 6:33 “33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”

You may ask this question this morning, how can I know God’s will for my life is best?

Jeremiah 29:11 “11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

The Lord is more concerned about your future than you may ever realize? Because He knows your future, he know you sinned. Sin separates us from Holy God. God knew you were dead in your trespasses.

John 3:16 “16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

Here is a simple question I ask as we close.

Is this your life? Or, do you acknowledge that you are living a life He gave you?

Oh dearly beloved, living real life is living life eternal and accepting the life He offers in His Son Jesus by accepting Him as Lord and Savior, asking Him to forgive you of your sins, and asking Him to lead you in the remainder of this life He offers you here on earth, but He offers a life eternal to join Him in heaven the day he takes you home.

Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations 6728 Another Year

6728 Another Year

Another year is dawning—

A path unknown, untried.

’Twould fill me with foreboding,

Had I no hand to guide;

But He who walked beside me

All through the yesteryear,

Whatever may betide me,

Has promised to be near.

Another year with Jesus!

Ah, then, no dread I know.

His love is ever precious,

Howe’er the winds may blow.

E’en when the storm is fiercest,

In Him my soul may rest,

And find sweet peace and comfort

Upon His loving breast.

Another year to trust Him—

Yes, I can trust Him still,

Who never yet has failed me

As I have sought His will.

His rod and staff He giveth

To be my strength and stay,

And tenderly He Leadeth

Along the homeward way.

Another year to serve Him,

To labor for Him here,

E’en while the shadows lengthen

And night is drawing near.

I know not when He’ll call me

To lay my sickle by—

Oh, may I then be faithful

While now the moments fly!

Another year to love Him,

Whom I have loved so long;

Another year to praise him

In glad, triumphant song.

Whate’er the future holdeth

Of sorrow, toil, or pain

His precious Love endureth

Forevermore the same.

Another year with Jesus!

I thank Thee, Lord, today

For Thy unfailing presence

Along life’s rugged way.

Guide me, O blest Redeemer,

Teach me to do Thy will,

And Thine own perfect purpose

In me each day fulfill.