Putting the New in New Year
Notes
Transcript
Each year thousands of people make New Years resolutions. These resolutions vary from person to person but they are all about doing something better. It could be about being more healthy, or more committed to something. Maybe it involves quitting a bad habit, addiction, or some other practice. It could involve adopting more healthy practices like dieting, exercise, or relaxation.
Still others will make resolutions to be more committed to God. Some will commit to reading their Bible daily. Some will resolve to be more faithful in prayer. Some will decide they want to be more committed in their church attendance. Some may even chose to read through the Bible in a year.
Is there a Biblical premise for New Year’s resolutions? Is New Years even mentioned in the Bible Probably most are unfamiliar with a passage about New Years in the Bible.
Turn in your Bibles to Exodus 12.
1 And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 2 This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.
I. Sacrifice in the New Year (v. 3-7)
3 Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house: 4 And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb. 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: 6 And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. 7 And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.
II. Diet for the New Year (8-9, 15, 19-20)
8 And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. 9 Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof.
15 Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.
19 Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land. 20 Ye shall eat nothing leavened; in all your habitations shall ye eat unleavened bread.
III. Cleaning Up in the New Year (v. 10)
10 And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire.
IV. Moving on in the New Year (v. 11)
11 And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the Lord’s passover.
V. Remembering in the New Year (v. 14)
14 And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.
VI. Resting in the New Year (v. 16-18)
16 And in the first day there shall be an holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be an holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you. 17 And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever. 18 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even.
VII. Resolutions in the New Year (v. 12-13)
A. God’s Resolution
12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord. 13 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.
VIII. Commitment in the New Year (v. 29, 30)
29 And it came to pass, that at midnight the Lord smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle. 30 And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead.
Conclusion:
In God’s view, New Year is about a New Creation. It is about redemption. He resolved to save his creation from the destruction we brought upon ourselves. Each year the children of Israel were to look at their past, present, and future.
They were to look back on who they were in bondage and how God had delivered them.
They were to look at the present leaven in their lives and remove it.
They looked forward to their arriving in the Promised Land and the end of their wandering.
This is true for us as well. We remember who we were in our bondage to sin and what Christ did to redeem us.
We look at who we are and remove sinful practices from our lives in the present.
We look forward to that day when we will arrive in our Promised Land of Heaven and our journey here on Earth is over.
That is what God established New Years for. New Years should be a time to be still and reflect on God. It should be a time of worship and adoration. It is not a break from God, but time to focus on and spend more time with God.