Strength for a New Year

When the songwriter asked the musical question, “What are you doing New Year’s Eve?” I doubt the answer he expected to receive was “I’m going to church.” But here we are. And it is absolutely appropriate to be here, to gather around God’s Word, to remember our baptism and to eat and drink at our Lord’s Table. I don’t have to tell you, many people will celebrate to excess this evening. We are here to celebrate the excessive generosity and grace of God. I’m bold to say that ours will be the more satisfying celebration.
Tonight you may get the sense that you are standing with one foot in the past and the other in the future. If you were here on Christmas Eve, then you may remember we talked about the tension between “What’s Next” and “What Just Happened?” Maybe we feel that more intensely at the transition from one year to the next. It’s not a bad idea to take a few moments tonight to ponder; to reflect; to ask yourself, with regard to the year now past, “What Just Happened?” My hope is that you will have many reasons to give thanks to God when you do that. We don’t do that nearly enough. Stop and remember and give thanks tonight. Great is His Faithfulness indeed.
At the same time there is also “What’s Next,” and it’s good to be prepared. A new year can symbolize a new beginning, if we want it to be. It can also just be more of the same. Regardless of your mindset going in, there are some things you can count on in this new calendar year. I’m pretty sure you will be surprised at some point by good news, or bad. Things are going to happen that you didn’t see coming. Life is going to throw you some curve balls. When that happens, what will you rely on? What is going to give you stability? Tonight we are going to dip our toe into each of the readings you’ve heard, and by doing so, my prayer is that you will see and trust the strength that is available to you in God’s Word.
We begin with the Old Testament Lesson from Isaiah chapter 30, and when you first listened to it, you might have thought, “that it’s kind of a downer.” Well, it is, because it describes reality. You may sometimes hear people say that you can learn from negative examples how NOT to do things. That’s what we’re invited to do with this passage. We’re introduced to “a rebellious people, lying children, children unwilling to hear the instruction of the LORD;” people who ask God’s preachers to tell them “smooth things” and “illusions” so that they don’t have to deal with the Holy One of Israel. They’re basically saying, ‘Tell us what we want to hear; tell us that’s we’re basically OK; tell us that everything is going to be all right and that we don’t have to take God seriously.’ But God’s not having any of that. He says, “If you’d rather have man’s lies than my truth, here’s what I would compare your lives to: A bulge in a wall that breaks and collapses, or a clay pot that is shattered so violently that it’s totally useless.”
What does that mean to you and me? It’s simple. When a person ignores God’s Word and does his or her own thing, the outcome is predictable. God himself compares it to collapse and destruction; a shattering. The human preference is for smooth things, illusions, easy-to-swallow teachings that give us permission to do whatever we want. You and I are challenged to ask ourselves, number one, will I be a hearer of God’s Word this year; and number two, being a hearer of God’s Word, will I be a doer of God’s Word? In verse fifteen, the Lord says “In returning and rest you shall be saved.” Did you hear that? You can return to the Holy One; the door is always open; the invitation stands. The result of hearing and doing the Word of God is rest—the deep soul rest of being right with God. The alternative to that is personal collapse. Is that really a difficult choice?
Next we have Romans 8, and the encouragement given by the apostle Paul. Here Paul writes to tell us that God is fundamentally for us. He is on your side. His allegiance is to you. The way you can know that for sure is to look at Christ, conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried and who rose again on the third day. He went through all of that to exchange your sin for his holiness, and nothing can take His holiness away from you. Paul gives us that big list: tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, sword, death, life, angels, rulers, the present, the future, nothing can separate you from the love and forgiveness of Jesus.
Do you see what Paul is teaching us to do? So often we live as surface dwellers; we just look at the surface level of things. What I mean by that is that we tend to interpret God’s love for us based on our current circumstances. If things happen to be going well for us in general, we tend to think we have God’s blessing. And if we’re really being honest, we would admit that we feel we deserve everything going well. We expect it. But if things start to go wrong; when problems come our way (and you know they will) then what’s a common reaction? God must be mad at me! Right? God must be punishing me for something I did! God must really have something against me—a person can really feel that way. But did you hear that list Paul made? Do you see what he’s teaching us to do? He’s teaching to not be a surface dweller. Don’t interpret God’s love for you based on your current circumstances. He, of all people, should know! As a missionary of Jesus Christ, he was beaten with stones, flogged with whips, mobbed and left for dead, lived through a shipwreck, endured assassination attempts, and lived under house arrest. If he interpreted God’s love for him based on his circumstances, he could’ve easily come to the conclusion that God hated him! But that was not His conclusion. Why? Because Paul could look past his circumstances to see Christ. He could see beyond the surface level to the Savior. You can do the same. This is what the Gospel of Jesus is! It is the news that you are loved; you are accepted; you are forgiven; you are a priceless treasure to God! How do you know? He gave up His own Son to get you! Paul’s words come down to you at the beginning of this year, and he says, “Do you ever wonder if God really loves you? Then look to Christ on the cross. Don’t look to your circumstances. Those will always be bad. It’s a sinful world. Jesus died for you. God is for you. Don’t ever doubt it. This is precisely the resource we need to face the future.
One more way to approach the new year from a position of strength—that comes from tonight’s Gospel lesson. There Jesus uses words like “action,”” readiness,” and “service” to describe what his followers ought to be like. He paints a picture of servants in a constant state of preparedness for the master’s return. The servants understand their mission, and they are carrying out that mission with urgency. The master could show up anytime, so they’ve got to be ready.
The application is pretty obvious, isn’t it? Do you understand your mission as a Christian? Do you have a sense of urgency about that mission? Or are you letting other things take priority in your life?
One of my favorite movies is a Japanese film called “Ikiru” that tells the story of an office worker who only begins to really live when he is diagnosed with stomach cancer. He realizes his days are numbered, and only then does he begin to think about doing something of lasting value with his life.
In the closing hours of 2011, please hear me. Don’t wait for bad news to shock you into a sense of urgency. Develop that urgency now. You are here for a reason. Do you know what it is? It is to show God to people. It is to be the hands and feet and mouth of Jesus wherever you go. If you can lock onto this mission in the coming year, it will fill you up. When you do the good God has prepared for you to do, of course it feels right; of course it feels meaningful. It’s what you were meant to do. So go after it.
It’s almost 2012. What has God said to us tonight? He’s said: “Be a hearer and a doer of My Word. Remember that I am fundamentally for you, and if you forget, look to Christ. And commit yourself to the mission I’ve given you with urgency.” Strong Advice from our Source of Strength; in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.