Sunday Morning 11:00 A.M. Resolution

How many of us made a New Year’s Resolution? According to goskills.com, millions of people will make resolutions this year, but over half those who make resolutions will fail. So, why do we do it? Well, maybe we want to lose weight, save money, exercise more, learn a new hobby or skill, travel more, read more, or maybe we want to read the bible more, attend church more regularly, tithe, you know, all the things we should be doing but just get to busy or ignore it completely.

Dr. Glenn Miller, a Board Certified Psychiatrist, writes that “psychologically, the start of a new calendar year creates changes in our mind set.  We hearken back on prior year’s events that have passed and our thoughts drift to what could have been, what we could have done better.  A new year marks the revival and new beginning.  There is something wonderfully vitalizing about making resolutions on the first day of the New Year, something invigorating and stimulating about the clean, unblemished days ahead that promotes a “can do” feeling of optimism.  The New Year is a great time to look at the changes we would like to make in our lives and how to accomplish them.  A resolution is like a promise to us to improve our lives and to make the New Year a better one for ourselves and others.  Wanting to make resolutions is a good thing.  The fact that so many people keep making resolutions year after year, even when they do not, or cannot, always follow through on them indicates they have hope and a certain level of belief in their ability to facilitate change, becoming more of who they truly want to be.”

Interestingly, Eric Zorn, a former writer for the Chicago Tribune said “Making resolutions is a cleansing ritual of self assessment and repentance that demands personal honesty and, ultimately, reinforces humility.  Breaking them is part of the cycle.”

Now, the first part of that is interesting. We are looking for a revival, a renewal, a hope for change along with the second quote for a cleansing ritual of self-assessment and repentance that demands personal honesty and, ultimately, reinforces humility.

What that tells me is we are searching for something that WE can do to honestly change who we are. But there is something missing from this equation…without understanding where TRUE renewal comes from we will miss the mark. They got it partly true, many of us are looking to make changes. Why? Because we have let ourselves down in the past. We continue to fail. And through self-assessment we realize we can’t do it on our own. Sometimes it’s because we have failed and we can’t forgive ourselves for what we have done.

Instead of looking for the world’s answer though, we should be looking to God. As Christians, many times we fail God. We are human, we continue to sin, and we beat ourselves up over our failures. We ask God to forgive us and repent, but then we can’t forgive ourselves for our failures. As we enter into a new year, if we truly want to make a resolution, let’s look at our comfort, our blessings, and our identity through the forgiveness God provides to those who place their faith in Him.

Comfort

Philippians 3:12–14 ESV

12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Leading up to these verses, Paul is pleading for unity between the Jewish and the Gentile believers. Paul spoke of his Jewishness, how he followed all the laws, how he had failed God in so many ways even though he was perfect according to the law. Everything he had accomplished, was nothing compared to knowing Christ Jesus as his Lord. In essence, trying to be “religious” had done nothing for him compared to his experience on the Damascus Road where he met Jesus Christ.

We can try to do all the right things, even the “religious” things but it is not until we realize the need to completely turn our life over to Christ and realize that nothing is as important as fully investing in Christ that we truly find the meaning to life.

Paul had been a Christian about 30 years before he wrote Philippians. From the time of his conversion to the time he penned this words, think of all he was able to accomplish during this time, HOWEVER he still was honest in his assessment of himself. In 30 years of being a Christian Paul said he still had not arrived… he still was pressing on, striving towards the goal. He knew the goal of righteous perfection was attainable…just not in this life…and he continued to TRY to be like Christ, yet he still was not perfect.

Romans 7:18–19 ESV

18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.

Paul even goes as far as saying he doesn’t even have the ABILITY to be good, even if that is his earnest desire. He struggles with being a human every day, even though he wants to do good he doesn’t. Even though he doesn’t want to do evil, that’s what he continues to do.

Doesn’t this sound like the same struggles many of us deal with daily? We want to do good, but we beat ourselves up when we sin! We get to a point in our life that things seem to be going well, then everything falls to pieces. Then we ask God what we have done wrong, why we are being punished, why He would allow things like that to happen to us when we are trying to follow Him more closely. My dad had a sage piece of advice for me when I would get down because of life's unexpected turns. “Son, that’s life, you have to learn to deal with it.” If I could add to that, it would simply be “that’s life, you have to learn to deal with it, and during the tough times lean even more on God”. We find Christ giving us this same comfort in Matthew 11:28-30

Matthew 11:28–30 ESV

28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

There is a peace that comes over us when we realize we are going to have failures in this life. That, even when we are trying to do the best we can do, and fail, we have a Savior that is willing to take the burden of our sin from us and give us rest.

In Romans 3, Paul even says we ALL have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God. Robert Mounce makes this comment “The righteousness God provides has its origin in what God did, not in what people may accomplish. It is received, not earned. It depends upon faith, not meritorious activity.”

Mounce, Robert H. Romans. Vol. 27. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1995. Print. The New American Commentary.

Paul arguably was one of the most impactful men who ever lived when it came to spreading the Gospel of Christ. Yet each day he KNEW he was going to fail Christ and felt the need to pursue a life that emulated Christ for one simple reason: Christ had made him HIS.

Many of us struggle with our past simply because we feel we fall short of God’s expectations. And honestly, we do. There is not one of us who will achieve perfection here on this earth.

Regardless, we are going to fall short of God’s glory, but THANKFULLY we are in good company. Everyone who has ever drawn breath has fallen short of the glory of God. But, as Paul reminds us…that’s not what is important. What is important is the choice we make to see past our failure and look forward to the end goal; the finish line, where we will finally attain the prize won for us through Christ - our transgressions are forgiven and our sins are covered.

Blessings

Psalm 32:1–2 ESV

1 Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. 2 Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

David is another human who commited, what we would view today as some “HUGE” sins: adultery, murder, coveting, theft, yet God said of David:

Acts 13:22 (ESV)

22 And when he had removed him (Saul), he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’

Even though David was human, a sinner, he was a man who had his heart set on God and on His will.

This flows over into the 32nd chapter of Psalms when David speaks of the blessings God can give when you repent. Instead of focusing on all his past sins, David chose to praise God for His forgiveness. How could David, knowing his past sins, find peace in God?

Stress brings on unneeded and unwanted strains in our relationships. Whether it be with our spouse, sibling, parent, child, or even coworkers, these personal conflicts cause stress and can lead to many sleepless nights, anxiety, depression, and even physical illness.

We can also find a strained relationship that leads to stress when we continue to sin and find ourselves far away from God. You see, sin against God is also a sin against ourselves. We know God knows, and we feel the guilt, the shame, and the remorse of sinning against God. How do we get rid of that feeling?

In our personal relationships, communication can help clear us many personal conflicts. In many cases, it is something we “think” someone feels, a misinterpretation of something that was said, or moving us out of a comfort zone that adds additional stress to our lives and disrupts the relationship we have with others. By talking things through, by opening our dialogue, we can overcome many of these feelings.

The same things are true for God. REPENTANCE is key in restoring the personal relationship we have with God. Having a strong ability to communicate with God, and to ask forgiveness for our sins against Him is the only thing that restores our relationship with God. David knew what it felt like to be forgiven by the Father. He calls that feeling “blessed”. This word can be further described as “highly favored by divine grace”. How do we receive high favor from God? By trusting God without hesitation, without fear or anxiety, without expecting, without the feeling that we can “fix” things ourselves. By being blessed, we understand it is given to us freely from God simply for yielding to His authority.

This blessing can only come to the person when they realize they have NOTHING to do with what “they” can do, but it only through God who forgives their sins. THAT is where true joy and peace and comfort can come from.

David found himself in sin, he knew that he had failed God, but he also knew what it felt like to receive the full forgiveness of those same sins. But notice it took time. David tried to hide those sins, tried to smooth things over and make them seem okay, justify it in his own mind…and it brought stress and strain on his relationship with God.

Psalm 32:3–4 ESV

3 For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah

It was not until he confessed his sins that God took away the guilt of sin. That is why he is singing this praise to God!

Too often, I think we get overwhelmed. We sin, we ask forgiveness, we sin again, we get disgusted with our failure and we act like David. We want to forget our shortcomings. We want to convince ourselves that everything is okay. We want to justify our sins as “not that bad”. But the whole time, our relationship with God is strained because of the stress sin brings to our relationship with God. Then, we wonder why we are so miserable! It is not until we confess our sins and repent that we, too, will feel blessed and know the true feeling of forgiveness. We should never take that for granted.

Identity

Galatians 2:20 ESV

20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

There is a freedom that comes from this verse when we realize the true meaning. “I have been crucified with Christ”. If we could receive forgiveness of our sins through works or the law, then why did Christ die? Nothing we can do can ever lead to true forgiveness. We can only be saved when we place our faith in Christ, acknowledging that His death is what gives us life when we believe in Him and He lives in us. “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me”.

You see, we must die - the old sinful human spirit - so that we can live - with a resurrected power when the Holy Spirit resides in us. Knowing the fullness of forgiveness is what Paul is reminded of when he said “and the life I now live in the flesh”…a post-conversion life! We have a new life after salvation. We are given a new outlook, a new perspective, a new reason for living… we can now know what true LIFE is because we are filled with the Spirit of the one who GIVES life.

BUT…and this is where there is a condition…BUT we must learn to live BY faith IN the Son of God. In faith contrasts with in the flesh. You see, true life comes from FAITH. Faith in what? In the Son of God, Jesus Christ. Why? Because he LOVES me, and He gave (freely offered) Himself up in death to pay the debt (tab) of our sins for each and every one of us.

John 3:16 ESV

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Not only can we experience true life while we are here on earth, we can experience ETERNAL life.

Paul makes it extremely clear what happened to each of us the moment we were saved. We no longer were required the death of a sinner, eternally separated from God. Christ died as our substitute, and his death in our place gives us the opportunity to live eternally. We no longer live as a sinner, but Christ lives in us - this is the greatest example of the substitutionary life of Christ. We now have our identity in Christ and that becomes the most important thing about us.

Too often, the world tells us who we are is the most important thing about us. I am a son, a brother, a husband, a father, an extension agent, a pastor…but NONE of these things are more important than my identity in Christ. I am a Christian. Today, I want YOU to know…you can make a New Year’s Resolution to find your comfort, your peace, and your true identity in Christ.

Conclusion

Maybe the best resolution we could as for this year, is to know the true feeling of forgiveness from God. His comfort, His blessings, and our identity in Him. Once we are able to feel the relief of God’s forgiveness, then, MAYBE THEN, we will be able to forgive ourselves and become the faith holder, the gospel spreader, and the soul winner God has called us to be.