A New Year

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered on Sunday morning, the 31st of December and New Year's Eve, 2023, at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  A recording of our service should be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

https://www.youtube.com/@pilgrimreformedchurch1992/streams.]

It seems the older I get, the faster time passes by.  Here we are, on the verge of a new year.  The way things have been going, we might be a little worried about where we may land when we take that next step.  The world has been a crazy place the last few years.  And I’m not all that sure it will change much for the better in 2024.

But we as individuals can change for the better, we can make something better of ourselves.  And if enough of us do make that effort, then the world can change for the better.  It all starts with us, with me and you, making a determined effort to be a better person.  Now the neat thing is, we Christians already have a head start.

In Jesus’ time on earth, the Pharisees were the religious leaders of the Jewish people, even while under the oppressive occupation of Rome.  They did God’s bidding - at least in their own minds they did - and they enforced God’s law.  In their positions of authority, they controlled the people, and acted like superstars or celebrities, or royalty.  And then Jesus came along.

He was a rather simple man, from up around the Galilee area, with nothing all that special about His appearance or how He acted.  Sure, He had a few followers, but nothing like the multitudes that kowtowed to the Pharisees.

But then the multitudes started coming and clamoring around Him, hanging on to His every word.  This carpenter’s son was attracting bigger crowds and more attention than even the leaders of the Pharisees.  And they were jealous.  They were fearful of losing their hold over the people.  So they began to test this Jesus, trying to trap Him into some obscure infraction of the law.  They plotted together of ways to put an end to Him, or at least His popularity.

But not all the Pharisees felt this way.  Some actually listened to what Jesus was saying, and came to believe in Him as the Messiah, even if they had to keep their belief a secret.  Some were unsure and had questions.  One in particular, a leader among the Pharisees, arranged to meet with Jesus under the cover of darkness, to seek answers and gain understanding.  Please listen and follow along as the Apostle John tells of this late night clandestine meeting that the beloved disciple recorded in the 3rd chapter of his Gospel account, verses 1 through 21, and I’ll be reading from the New King James Version of our Holy Bible this morning…

1 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”

3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

9 Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?”

10 Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? 11 Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

--John 3:1-21 (NKJV)

Let us pray…  Heavenly Father, when we accepted Your Son Jesus as our Lord and Master, we became new creations, baptized by Your Holy Spirit who came into us to dwell within us.  Even though born of the flesh, we are now also born of the Spirit.  Thank You, Father, for blessing us with the gift of Your Spirit.  And thank You for choosing us to follow Your Son.  But Father, sometimes we lapse back into our old ways.  We forget our new birth, our new beginning, and act like our old selves with all our past hatreds and prejudices.  Please forgive us, Father.  Help us remain steadfast in our new inner beings, separate and distinct from the rest of the world.  Help us stand stronger in the face of adversity.  Help us begin this new year with a stronger conviction to be better and to make our corner of the world a better place.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit within us and better understand what You tell us this day.  Please protect us from those who serve Satan and carry out his evil deeds.  And Father, please keep us strong in our faith, of one mind and one purpose in our love, worship, and service, and healthy and safe in the days ahead.  This we pray in the precious name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

I may have used this before, but I think it bears repeating.  It was written by Frances Ridley Havergal, an English religious poet and hymn writer of the mid-1800's:

Another year is dawning,

Dear Father let it be,

In working or in waiting,

Another year with Thee.

Another year of progress,

Another year of praise,

Another year of proving

Thy presence all the days.

Another year of mercies,

Of faithfulness and grace,

Another year of gladness,

The glory of Thy face.

Another year of leaning

Upon Thy loving breast,

Another year of trusting,

Of quiet, happy rest.

Another year of service,

Of witness for Thy love,

Another year of training

For holier work above.

Another year is dawning,

Dear Father, let it be,

On earth, or else in heaven,

Another year for Thee.

Another year is dawning, and Mr. Havergal prays that it will be another year of progress in serving God, in praising Him and glorifying Him, another year of trusting Him.  Of course, asking for another year of these things assumes that they have been carried out in the year now ending.

But that’s the beauty of the New Year in our culture.  It gives us the opportunity to do what we may not have done in the previous year.  It gives us the chance to improve ourselves, to improve our performance, to do better than we did before.

We celebrate the coming of a new year and the chance to get things right this time around, to make something better of ourselves.  But God already made us into something better, something new, when we first accepted Jesus as His Son and our Lord.  So let’s not make this just another year of worshiping and serving God.  Let’s make it a better year of greater service and more heartfelt worship.

Many, many people in this world are familiar with John 3:16, believers and non-believers alike.  You don’t even have to repeat the words, but just say “John 3:16” and they’ll know immediately what you’re talking about.  I remember a number of years back, you couldn’t watch a football game on TV without seeing someone holding up a poster that merely had “John 3:16” printed on it.

But many of those folks who know the verse don’t know the full story.  They don’t know the circumstances under which Jesus made that statement, who He was talking to, what He really meant by it, or the rest of His words surrounding it.  They only know that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”  But there is so much more, for “God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”

Nicodemus was a leader among the Pharisees a ruler of the Jews.  And His name should be familiar to you.  John mentions him three times in his Gospel account, with this instance and two others.  The next is in chapter 7: as the Pharisees are plotting against Jesus, Nicodemus recommends they exercise caution and at least hear what Jesus has to say.

The third comes in chapter 19, after Jesus is crucified.  Joseph or Arimathea, a secret follower of Jesus, asked Pilate for the body of Jesus, so that it might be prepared for burial.  Pilate agreed to the request, so Joseph took the body.  But one other man accompanied Joseph.  It was Nicodemus, the same Nicodemus who met with Jesus at night.  He brought a significant quantity of a mixture of expensive myrrh and aloe, about a hundred pounds, to anoint the body for burial.  This last act especially speaks to Nicodemus having been born again of the Spirit, and made into a new creation.

We are born of the flesh, but the flesh will not last.  God wants us to spend all eternity with Him, but we can’t do that in the flesh.  So we must be reborn of the Spirit, for God’s Spirit is eternal.

The Apostle Peter tells us we have been born again and this time we will not perish.  Hear Peters words as written in the 1st chapter of his 1st letter to the early church, verses 22 through 25…

22 Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, 23 having been born again, not of perishable seed but imperishable, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, 24 because

“All flesh is as grass,

And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass.

The grass withers,

And its flower falls away,

25 But the word of the Lord endures forever.”

--1 Peter 1:22-25 (NKJV)

Yes, we believers have been born again, and not of perishable flesh this time, but of God’s imperishable Spirit, through the word of God which lives and abides forever.  And don’t forget that John tells us that Jesus is the word of God, the Word come to man as flesh.  By the sacrificial act of Jesus, through our faith in Him as the Christ, we are born anew of God’s Spirit so that we may live forever with Them in paradise.

In our invocation this morning, I read from Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth where he said that we who are in Christ are new creations.  The old things have passed away and all things have become new.  Well, family, this is all by God’s grace and mercy.  We have accepted His Son Jesus as our Lord and now what was is no more.  For you see, God makes all things new.

The beloved disciple John was in exile on the prison island of Patmos when the Lord came to him in a vision, and commanded that he write down all that he was about to be shown.  Hear what John recorded in the Book of Revelation, chapter 21, verses 3 through 5…

3 [And] I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. 4 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”

5 Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.”

--Revelation 21:3-5 (NKJV)

God makes all things new.  He sent His Son to cleanse us of our sin.  He sent His Holy Spirit to live within us and be with us throughout our days on earth.  He has made us new.

No matter what happens to us in this life, no matter what the new year might bring, we have nothing to fear, for our future is assured.  By our faith and our belief, we will live forever in the house of the Lord.

So let us face the new year with a smile, and with the promise to ourselves and to God to be that new creation He made of us.  Let’s work hard to be a better version of ourselves, doing more to serve our Lord, sharing His word with the lost souls of this world.  Let’s take full advantage of this new year.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord, the Son of God, who came to us, to redeem us, to make us new.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, thank You for making all things new, and especially for making us new.  Thank You for baptizing us by Your Holy Spirit.  Thank You for giving us a new birth, new life, and one that will last forever.  Father, we admit that too often we don’t act like the new creation we have become.  Too many times we revert back to our old ways, our old life, repeating our past mistakes.  We forget that we are supposed to be different from the rest of the world so that the world might see You in us.  Forgive us those times, please Father.  Please show us the reflection of what You want us to be.  And please help us do a better job of sharing our Lord Jesus with others so that they too may be saved by Your mercy and His sacrifice.  

Father, please shield us from Satan as he attacks our faith, trying to make us his own.  Help us be better servants, glorifying You in all we do so that the world can see You in us, through our deeds, in how we live.  And help us remain strong, faithful, and true to You in all things, no matter what the world throws at us or holds out before us.

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment to speak to You through Your Spirit within us, promising to be more obedient to Your commands, and seeking Your help to do so…

Lord Jesus, You not only washed us clean of our sin by Your own precious blood, but You had our heavenly Father send His Holy Spirit to live within us, to be our constant Companion and Guide, our Helper.  By Your love and our belief, we are made new.  Thank You, Jesus!  Thank You for coming to us as one of us.  Thank You for giving of Your mortal life that we might live forever in heaven.   Please help us, dear Lord - help us be more like You.  Help us make the most of this coming new year by being better servants.  Help us reach out to the non-believing world, sharing the Gospel message, showing Your love through our love.  Give us the words to say, show us what to do to help bring the lost to You.

And Jesus, please shield our minds and our hearts from Satan’s lies and the world’s empty promises.  Guide us around all the devil’s traps and snares.  Help us see though his temptations.  Please help us be faithful and true to You, putting all our trust in You, all our hope in You.  Heal the hurts that separate and divide us one from another.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on anything this life might offer.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.