Sermon Tone Analysis

Our Scripture lesson this morning is taken from Mark 14:26-31:

Each New Year, Resolutions are Made

Each New Year, resolutions are made.

Some resolve to lose weight and eat healthier.

Others resolve to read more books and watch less television.

Still others resolve to be a nicer person.

The list of resolutions is probably as long as there are different people.

Of course, resolutions are not only made at New Years, they are made year-round.

Our Scripture lesson is an example of such resolutions.

It was the Spring of the year, the Passover Feast, and Peter and his fellow disciples resolved to never deny Jesus, even if it cost them their life.

We too make resolutions, not just on New Year’s Day, but throughout the year and all of these resolutions have one thing in common: We break them!

Each New Year, Resolutions are Broken

In the case of Peter and His fellow disciples they broke their resolution that very night!

Let me continue reading from Mark 14 at the place I left off.

Let me pause here and make a few observations.

Peter and the other disciples were not the only ones who made a resolution that night—Jesus made a resolution as well.

On final time, Jesus resolved to obey His Heavenly Father and offer Himself as a sacrifice for sin upon the cross.

Luke describes Jesus’ resolve in this way:

There was much confusion that evening among the disciples as to what was going to happen, but Jesus did not share in their confusion, He knew exactly what was going to happen: He would be betrayed one of His very own, He would be arrested, condemned and then crucified.

This I believe is why He prayed.

Returning to His disciples, Jesus found them asleep and he said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep?

Could you not watch one hour?

Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation.

The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

I believe it is here that Jesus identifies for us the reason we so often fail in our resolutions.

Our spirits sincerely desire to keep the resolutions we make, but there is a weakness to our flesh.

When the Scripture writers refer to the “flesh,” they usually use it in one of two ways:

First, they can be referring to our physical, flesh and blood, nature.

Of all the creatures God has made we are unique in the universe, we are the union of the physical and the spiritual, and as long as our spirits remain in our bodies, we share in all the limitations and weaknesses of the body.

During His first Advent, Jesus shared in all these limitations and weaknesses.

This teaches us that this inherit weakness is not sinful, (because Jesus was without sin), it is just weak.

This is one of the reason Jesus so frequently prayed.

He knew better than we will ever know, how weak our physical flesh is.

There is however, as second way the Scripture writers use the word “flesh.”

Frequently, they are not referring to our “flesh and blood,” but rather to our fallen human nature.

I believe that when Jesus said, to Peter, “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak,” He was also referring to this fallen nature.

Peter and the other disciples needed to pray even more than Jesus did, because they did not just have weak “flesh and blood,” they had a fallen sinful nature, that made them even more prone to sin and temptation.

This is why our resolutions, sooner or later always fail.

No amount of will power or self-discipline can overcome the weakness of our flesh; both its inherent weakness and its sinful weakness.

But there is hope, although we fail in our prayers for strength, Jesus prays for us and He never sleeps.

Although Mark chose to not include these words of Jesus in his gospel, Luke records them in his:

This teaches us that what we need this New Year is not will power, but God’s power!

This brings us to the final point:

What You Need this New Year is a Restoration!

After the Resurrection and Pentecost, Peter was a new man.

No longer was he the man who would boldly step out of the boat, only to sink helplessly a few moments later.

Now he was the man who boldly preached to thousands on Pentecost, bravely stood his ground before the Jewish Sanhedrin and in the end was crucified upside down by the Romans.

What happened?

Jesus prayed for him and he received power.

Before His Ascension, Jesus said this to his disciples:

Peter was a powerful man, but he learned the hard way that his power was no match to sin and the Devil, but in his failure, he learned where true strength comes from.

Writing to some unnamed congregation, Peter states:

Then a few verses later he writes:

Do you see what Peter is doing here?

Yes, there is a place for effort and will power, but only after we have been filled with God’s power!

So, don’t start the New Year off like the rest of humanity by making resolutions founded on the strength of your will, come to Christ in faith that He might pray for you, so that you will be restored.

Let us pray.