[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered at Pilgrim Reformed Church on Sunday morning, the 2nd of June, 2024. A recording of our service should be available on our YouTube streaming channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@pilgrimreformedchurch1992/streams.]
Family, last Sunday was a time of celebration for us. We recognized two fine young men as recipients of our scholarships, and we congratulated all our young ladies and gentlemen who have graduated some level of schooling. All these young people will soon be starting out on a new and different phase of their lives, entering the world as adults. Many will be leaving the nest for the first time, taking wing on their own, with much love and support from home, of course.
And then we also welcomed two of our own back into fellowship with us; two who had been away from us for a while but had now returned. In a way, they are starting over by renewing their membership, digging back into the life - and the work - of the church.
In our invocation, the Apostle Peter spoke of starting over when he instructed us to repent of our sins and turn to God. This also applies to those just starting out, for we all sin, we all have fallen, we all bear the sin of Adam.
The Apostle Paul also speaks of starting out in his 2nd letter to the church in Corinth, who in many cases were just getting started in their new-found faith. Please listen and follow along as I read from the 5th chapter of Paul’s 2nd letter to the Corinthians, verses 14 through 21, and I’ll be reading this from the New Living Translation of our Holy Bible…
14 Christ’s love urges us on. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. 15 He died for everyone so that those who receive His new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.16 So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know Him now! 17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!18 And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to Himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to Him. 19 For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And He gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. 20 So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making His appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” 21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.
----2 Corinthians 5:14-21 (NLT)
Let us pray… Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your loving kindness and mercy. When we were stumbling around in the darkness of our sin, You sent Your Son to shine Your light and give us new life. Thank You for allowing us to start over again. Sadly though, Father, too many people simply do not believe that Jesus is Your Son, that He came to save us, that He died and rose again from the grave. Satan is hard at work in this world, keeping people blind to the truth. Please help us reach out to the non-believers of the world, sharing the Good News of salvation available only through Jesus. Help us show Your love to all we encounter. And please forgive us when we hesitate to serve You and Your Son.
Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit within us and better understand Your message today. Thank You for letting us start over and start out on this new life in Jesus. Help us share Your love with all the world. This we pray in the precious name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
The first electric light was so dim that a candle was needed to see its socket. One of the first steamboats took 32 hours to chug its way from New York to Albany, a distance of 150 miles. Wilbur and Orville Wright's first airplane flight lasted only 12 seconds. And the first automobiles traveled 2 to 4 miles per hour and broke down often. Carriages would pass them, with their passengers shouting, “Get a horse!”
Beginnings, like childbirth, are often painful. It can take a long time before they begin to gain traction. We just have to be patient, learn to walk before we can run, take time to get things right.
We’re in an age of microwave ovens cooking dinner in minutes, instantaneous communications, connections to the world’s knowledge on our arms and hips or in our purses, everything faster, everything now. But none of this came overnight. Everything had a beginning, and most of our technological advances had many start-overs to get to the point of what we see now. It’s really not a bad thing to start all over again, to get a fresh perspective while not losing sight of what didn’t work before.
I can’t even count the number of times I’ve started over or started out on some new journey. I’ve tried quite a few different careers and professions in my life, a couple of them being completely new and different from anything before. My last new job choice was by far my best, finally responding to God’s offer and leading me to here.
I’ve taken up new hobbies quite often, getting bored with one and moving on to the next. I’ve even started out on new relationships, not always with the best results. Sometimes I’ve learned from past mistakes, while too often just repeating them.
But starting over, and starting out on something new, gives us anther chance at living the way God will see as pleasing. We just need to pay attention to what we’re doing so we don’t blow it.
In our scripture reading, Paul speaks for himself and Timothy when he says, “We believe that Christ died for all of us, and so we also believe that we have all died to our old life. He died for everyone so that those who receive His new life will no longer live for themselves, but will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.”
We receive this new life Paul speaks of when we accept Jesus as the Son of God and our Lord. We can never repay Jesus for what He did for us, but we can pay it forward – to use the popular phrase – by living our new life for Him, by serving Him, by carrying out His command to spread the Gospel and make disciples.
Part of living this new life means we must stop evaluating each other from a human perspective, a human point of view. We need to try to look at others in the same light that we look at ourselves. Do we forgive ourselves for our flaws, faults, and failures, especially the little, insignificant ones? Then we should forgive others of theirs, and stop treating their flaws as greater than ours. It’s like Jesus scolded us, to stop being overly concerned about the speck in someone else’s eye while walking around with a plank in our own. We can’t really start over or start out on something new until we rid ourselves of our old habits and attitudes.
Long before Jesus came to renew us by taking on our sin, the great prophet Isaiah gave as some insight into starting over. Hear what Isaiah wrote in verses 18 and 19 of the 43rd chapter of the book bearing his name…
18 “Do not remember the things that have happened before. Do not think about the things of the past. 19 See, I will do a new thing. It will begin happening now. Will you not know about it? I will even make a road in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.
--Isaiah 43:18-19 (NLV)
Now Isaiah isn’t saying to forget all about what’s happened before, but instead just don’t dwell it. Don’t live in the past - put it behind us, because we can’t change it. God will give us the chance to start over fresh, starting right now, if we’ll let Him. He will open new roads, new pathways for us, bringing encouragement and strength to our spirits just as a river flowing in the desert.
I said earlier that new beginnings can be slow and painful, and this applies to beginning again, too. Starting over simply means that we’re starting out again. It may not necessarily be an entirely new experience, but we should be approaching it with a new perspective, a new plan of action, a new heart, while hoping and praying for a new outcome.
When we start over, we need to remember what we did wrong the first time so we don't make the same mistakes all over again. We need to forget about past hurts, especially those hurts that were caused by others. This is the only way we can be successful.
When we accept Jesus, God wants us to be new, to be different, to not be the same as we were before. He gives us the opportunity to start over, and this time, to get it right. We’ll never get it right until we throw off our old ways, our old life, and fully embrace the new life God gave us. Stop looking at others – judging others – through our old eyes, our human perspective, and try seeing them through Jesus’ eyes, through the eyes of love. We must quit harping on what we think are someone else’s faults and start giving more honest consideration to our own.
Let’s reboot and start all over again, and this time let’s approach everything, and everyone, in a loving manner. For this is God’s will for us. In the blessed name of Jesus our Christ, the Son of God. Amen.
Let us pray… Heavenly Father, You are the God of second chances, and we thank You for giving us a second chance to get things right. You sent Your Son into the world to offer all of us new and eternal life. Sadly though, Father, not all believe. Some refuse to believe, and we aren’t always willing to try to help them see the truth. We too often fail to approach others with the Gospel. We’re too timid, too shy, too afraid to tell someone about Jesus. Please forgive us these times, Father. Help us share the Gospel message. Help us start anew in our mission work for Jesus. And as we do so, please help us be more forgiving, more merciful in our dealings with others. And Father, guide us around any pitfalls in this life and strengthen our spirits to do Your will. And please help us do a better job of sharing 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 said that You are the Living Water, and that all who drink from You will never thirst again. Lord, the Living Water is now welling up within us, bringing us eternal life. Help us lead others to this well. Help us tell them the truth, the Gospel, and to do so in a loving way. Help us be more understanding, more merciful, more giving and forgiving of others, knowing that this is our Father’s will for us. Help us reach out to the non-believing world with 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.
Lord 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 and all the false teachings. Help us fend off his attacks. 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.
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