Nuggets For A New Year

NUGGETS FOR A NEW YEAR Spring Valley Mennonite; January 5, 2020; Proverbs 4:23, John 15:5, Hebrews 3:13; Psalm 32 I woke up early on New Year’s Eve, made a pot of coffee, and settled comfortably into my recliner for a time of devotions. As it was New Year’s Eve, I spent a considerable amount of time reflecting on the last year reading over my “hit-and-miss” entries of my journal. I say “hit-and-miss” because I will go weeks without writing anything, then write several pages to catch up. It becomes part diary and part record of impressions I have gotten from my devotions. By the way, I would recommend keeping a journal as part of your devotional times—I assume you do have a regular devotional time…hopefully, this hour on Sunday morning isn’t your only spiritual input for the week; that would be like eating only one meal a week! You wouldn’t be very healthy if that was your only food for the week. Laying that thought aside, this morning’s message, the first of this new year, is going to be rather random in nature. I want to share some of my best thoughts and impressions that the Lord gave me over the last 12 months. First, a word of encouragement: I. The Value of Daily being in the Word I have made it a practice of reading through the entire Bible every year. This practice began with my getting fed up with not knowing what to do during my morning devotions. Often, I’d waste time, reading a verse here and a verse there. So, I came up with this plan which works for me. I combine this with reading the Psalm which corresponds to the day of the month, then I add 30 to that number and continue to add 30 so I read five Psalms every morning. I realize that I have a unique schedule as your Pastor and perhaps have more time available in my schedule, but I feel it is to your advantage and mine to spend considerable time in the Word each day. If you, like me, have had difficulty with what scripture to read for devotions, I’d recommend beginning with the Psalms. They are, by nature, devotional in design. Here is the first nugget the Lord wants me to share with you: it came as I was reading Ephesians 6 and Paul’s discussion of the armor of the Lord, specifically the breastplate of righteousness. The breastplate covered the vital organs of a warrior, the most important of those being the heart. Proverbs 4:23, (NASV) “Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.” The NLT puts it as “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.” The heart in scripture represents our inner being, the conscious self, our psychological self. Our “heart” is what makes me “me”. It is the heart of the non-believer that is described in Jeremiah 17:9 as “deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” Jesus said, recorded in Mark 7:20-23, “That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.” It is the heart that is regenerated when a person is saved, and with the heart one believes. So, we can see the need for us to “guard our heart.” It is within our inner being, within our hearts that the Holy Spirit resides: Romans 5:5 “…the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who was given to us.” How do we guard our heart? This is specifically what the Holy Spirit told me regarding guarding my heart: I have only so much emotional energy, held in something like a reservoir within me. I have the choice in how I spend that emotional energy, but when it is depleted it takes time for it to build back up. I can spend my emotional energy on profitable, positive things or on negative and unprofitable things. This year has been challenging for me as I observe how the culture is going, especially reflected in the Political world. I can easily get caught up in spending all my emotional energy in worry over the state of affairs in Washington. The Lord has been continually reminding me that after I pray about the situation, I need to let it go and trust our Sovereign God to do whatever He wills. I am not “guarding my heart” when I get so worked up and upset over the political situation! This will be a challenge during this election year. For me personally, I must limit my exposure to these things. But there are many other things which can affect my heart: my choice of entertainment is one thing. By way of application, where are you spending your emotional energy? Think about it, and purpose with me to avoid negative and dead-end energy wasters. II. The Fruit of the Spirit is for others. I told you this sermon will appear somewhat random! The next subject relates to the Fruit of the Spirit, the love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, faithfulness and self-control spoken of in Galatians 5. My thought is this: when a tree or vine or plant produces fruit, it isn’t primarily for the benefit of that particular plant or tree. Let’s focus on the example of a tree: A tree’s nature is to produce fruit. The fruit contains seeds which, if they fall on favorable soil, will result in a new tree. The purpose of the fruit, as far as the tree is concerned, it to reproduce itself. The fruit of the Spirit is not for my personal benefit, but for the benefit of others! It is not MY joy or love or peace that is primary, but these things are for the benefit of others. AND your joy, peace and love benefit me! Now, granted that we are much more complex than a simple plant, and personal joy, peace and love are also poured out within our lives, but I got this idea from how the fruit and the plant that produces it relate. Fruit is for the purpose of reproduction, and when we are exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit, it draws others to the Lord Jesus. This week I was working on my Life History, an autobiography to pass on to my children, and I was reminded of a time when this came true. It was in a hotel in Singapore, and I was part of a group of people on the way home from a mission trip. We were all enjoying dinner together, laughing and sharing how God had blessed the trip. Afterwards, one of the waiters stopped me and asked what kind of a group we were. He remarked how everyone seemed so happy. I explained that we were all Christians and how Jesus fills our hearts with joy and purpose. He was curious about the Lord Jesus, and as I shared the Good News of the Gospel, he responded by asking Jesus into his life. I gave his name to our Campus Crusade staff there in Singapore so they could follow up on his decision. The fruit of our lives sowed seed which resulted in spiritual reproduction. This principle of how the fruit of the Spirit is shared speaks volumes about how the church operates. We need one another, and when someone is absent, we miss the benefit of their fruit! A believer who doesn’t have a vital connection to other believers through a church is undernourished—he isn’t getting any fruit in his spiritual diet. We need one another. III. Item 3: Lasting Impressions from the Book of Revelation. We completed our study of the Book of Revelation this past year. There were many lessons I personally learned, and I would be interested at your lasting impressions from that study. One significant thing Revelation taught me is that this present world and all that is in it is temporary. The Book gives us a proper perspective as a believer. Revelation points us toward the future and the fate of both the righteous and the wicked. The Book of Revelation simply does not allow us to live only for today, to shrink our thoughts to this moment. God has created us for eternity; this world is not all there is, and we have a glorious future awaiting. This perspective has tremendous value for everyday living. As a believer, my present problems and issues, whatever they might be, will be gone in our future destiny. We will be dwelling with God in a world with no tears, or sorrows, or death, or mourning or crying or pain—there will be no sin, nor any of the effects of sin! Our bodies will be perfect and eternal! Practically speaking, the present world-wide political system will go down in flames, so I shouldn’t be overly concerned with “wars and rumors of wars”; on the other hand, I should be involved in meeting the needs of the poor and oppressed and persecuted. I believe that the only nation guaranteed to survive is Israel, from which our Lord Jesus will rule the world during the Millennium. Knowing this gives we believers a much different perspective on the world we live in. The truths found in the book of Revelation keep me from getting overly concerned about such things as global warming, the depletion of available resources, or whether we will ever get to Mars or not. My focus is to be on living for the Kingdom of God and of preparing as many people as I can for an eternity with the Lord Jesus. There is surely a day of judgment coming and there is a heaven to gain and a hell to avoid. Revelation guarantees that God is keeping track of the deeds of the unrighteous and “vengeance is Mine, saith the Lord.” My task is not to “get even” with those who have wronged me, but to forgive, extend mercy to my enemies and leave justice in the very capable hands of God. All accounts will be settled in the end. Justice will prevail. IV. Switching gears again, I was reminded that My choices bring consequences. We had two automobile accidents this year, one we were responsible for as a result of my carelessness and getting in a hurry (I backed into my daughter’s car in my driveway); the other one was something completely out of our hands and was a result of the poor choice of someone else (Alice got run off the road by an 18 wheeler). Both cost us the deductible amount of our insurance policy. My choices often affect more than just myself. I am reminded that my sin has ripple effects, it affects those around me. Sometimes those wrong choices have more serious consequences than we can imagine. I am reminded of a man in a former church who took his own life. His choice affected many more people than just his immediate family. V. Truths from our study on Hebrews, specifically Hebrews 3:13: “But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called today lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” This again teaches us how much we need one another here in the church, and also that we should be ready to exhort one another. Many new car models have a safety feature called a “blind spot monitor” which lights up when a car is in your blind spot, invisible in your side mirror. It would be a rare driver who has not begun to pull out to pass someone while someone was in your blind spot. We all have “blind spots” about things which we don’t realize is hurtful to others. It is our responsibility to help one another with such areas. This also relates to the next thing the Lord reminded me of: VI. Our spiritual battle is to be fought daily. There are some recurring areas of temptation in my life of which I think by now I should have overcome after 60 years as a Christian. These things keep cropping up and lead to discouragement with myself. I have to realize that Satan never leaves the playing field; he is never going to stop tempting me in my areas of weakness, and I need to focus on today and not worry about the temptations of tomorrow. Every day I need the strength and power of the Holy Spirit to turn away from sin. And when I yield to temptation, I should confess it immediately and go on walking in righteousness. If you will, turn to Psalm 32. I was reading this Psalm and verse 6 caught my attention: It tells us we should seek the Lord when He can be found! “Therefore, let everyone who is godly pray to You in a time when you may be found; surely in a flood of great waters they shall not reach him.” At the first glance, this verse might be understood to say that there are times when God will not hear our prayers—there are times when our prayers will reach Him, when God “can be found” and times when He cannot be found. Here is when scripture is valuable in interpreting scripture. God is ever present, a very present help in time of need. There is never a time when God is unavailable or will not answer our prayer. There is a very profound truth here, one of the most valuable principles in experiencing the blessing and guidance of the Lord in our lives. The key to understanding this verse is found in the context in which it is found, look at the preceding two verses: (Read vv. 1-5). David has sinned and has delayed in dealing with it. We don’t know the particular situation, and that doesn’t really matter. But when he kept silent before God, delaying the repentance and confession of that sin, he experienced the discipling hand of God. God loves His children too much to let us continue in sin. Hebrews 12:6 instructs us, “For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines.” Verse 10 and 11 of Hebrews 12 adds, “…for He disciplines us for our own good, so that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.” In Psalm 32, David’s life was in turmoil until he confessed his sin. Psalm 32 is instructing us that when we sin, the “acceptable time when God is closely listening” is right as and after we sin. The Holy Spirit convicts of sin and we need to stop and admit that sin and acknowledge that it is wrong. THEN we avoid the discipline of God and continue experiencing His blessing. We need not carry our sin any longer than a moment. Then God’s blessings and close companionship and all the wonderful lovingkindness can continue to flow. I would say that knowing how to deal with our sin—and we will and do sin—knowing how to deal with our sin is crucial in our Christian walk. It is the key to answered prayer, as Psalm 66:18 instructs: “If I regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear.” Such “regarding” means I am refusing to deal with sin, and it becomes a barrier between God and myself. Quickly dealing with any sin is also the key to God’s guidance in our lives, and the assurance of His protection, as Psalm 32:6 continues, “Surely in a flood of great waters they shall not reach him. I will be tempted to sin daily, especially in those areas of my weakness, for “Satan has our number” and he is persistent, and will never give up. But realizing my daily need leads me to daily dependence on the Lord, and as I lean on the Lord Jesus, I fulfill my main purpose in life which is to reflect the glory of the Lord. I will let my light shine in the darkness of a needy world. I have a small mirror I keep in the drawer by my bathroom sink. Occasionally I need to wipe that mirror clean, as it gets dirty and fails to reflect very well. Unconfessed sin in the believer’s life restricts our ability to reflect God’s glory, which is our purpose in this world. This is why God is so concerned, and why He is quick to correct us. I will finish my New Year’s ramblings with reading the rest of Psalm 32: (Read vv. 7-11).