Just Another Day

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered at Pilgrim Reformed Church on Sunday morning, the 29th of December, 2024.  A recording of our service should be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

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

Family, we’re still in the Christmas season, and Epiphany is coming up soon, but we also stand on the doorstep of a new year.  In just three days we’ll boldly stride out into 2025.  Considering the state of the world these days, we may not be so bold, preferring instead the simpler times of yesteryear.

But we can’t go backwards in time, only forward.   So let’s go forward with the idea of making the world a little better, even if only in our little corner of the world.  Instead of making resolutions and promises that we probably can’t keep, let’s consider that the New Year is another new opportunity from God to get things right and do good as we go about the year.  We’ve been given another chance, so let’s make the most of it.

The Apostle Paul often speaks of new things in his letters to the early church – of the new life we have been given, of the new creation we become when we fully believe in and accept Jesus.  And he encourages us to take full advantage of this newness we enjoy.  At the same time, he discourages us from reverting back to our old ways, back to our old selves, back to our sinful lifestyle.

Please listen and follow along as I read the first 17 verses of the 3rd chapter of the Apostle Paul’s Letter to the Colossians, and I’ll be reading from the Easy-to-Read Version of our Holy Bible this morning…

1 You were raised from death with Christ. So live for what is in heaven, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Think only about what is up there, not what is here on earth. 3 Your old self has died, and your new life is kept with Christ in God. 4 Yes, Christ is now your life, and when He comes again, you will share in His glory.

5 So put everything evil out of your life: sexual sin, doing anything immoral, letting sinful thoughts control you, and wanting things that are wrong. And don’t keep wanting more and more for yourself, which is the same as worshiping a false god. 6 God will show His anger against those who don’t obey Him, because they do these evil things. 7 You also did these things in the past, when you lived like them.

8 But now put these things out of your life: anger, losing your temper, doing or saying things to hurt others, and saying shameful things. 9 Don’t lie to each other. You have taken off those old clothes — the person you once were and the bad things you did then. 10 Now you are wearing a new life, a life that is new every day. You are growing in your understanding of the One who made you. You are becoming more and more like Him. 11 In this new life it doesn’t matter if you are a Greek or a Jew, circumcised or not. It doesn’t matter if you speak a different language or even if you are a Scythian. It doesn’t matter if you are a slave or free. Christ is all that matters, and He is in all of you.

12 God has chosen you and made you His holy people. He loves you. So your new life should be like this: Show mercy to others. Be kind, humble, gentle, and patient. 13 Don’t be angry with each other, but forgive each other. If you feel someone has wronged you, forgive them. Forgive others because the Lord forgave you. 14 Together with these things, the most important part of your new life is to love each other. Love is what holds everything together in perfect unity. 15 Let the peace that Christ gives control your thinking. It is for peace that you were chosen to be together in one body. And always be thankful.

16 Let the teaching of Christ live inside you richly. Use all wisdom to teach and counsel each other. Sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 Everything you say and everything you do should be done for Jesus your Lord. And in all you do, give thanks to God the Father through Jesus.

--Colossians 3:1-17 (ERV)

Let us pray…  Heavenly Father, You raised Your Son from death back to life, to become the firstborn among many.  By this act You showed that we too will be raised to new life once this life is over for us.  And You have already raised us to new life, in this life, when we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Master.  You made us new again, giving us another chance to get things right while we still walk this earth.  Thank You, Father, for always giving us another chance, for we do tend to mess up often.  Help us to look at the coming New Year as another new opportunity to serve You.  Help us not get distracted and anxious by all the hustle and bustle of everyday life.  Please forgive us when it does happen, Father, for we are all too easily distracted and our spirits often grow weak.  Help us see all the opportunities You present for us to spread the Good News of salvation through Your Son Jesus.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit within us and better grasp the message You have for us this day.  Please keep us strong in our faith, of one mind and one purpose in our love, our worship, and our service.  And please keep us healthy and safe through the coming days.  This we pray in the precious name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

Let me share a few interesting facts about New Year's.  The very first known New Year's celebration dates back 4000 years to when Julius Caesar, as emperor of Rome, declared January 1st as a national holiday.  Around 45% of Americans make New Year's resolutions, with losing weight, getting more organized, spending less and saving more money,  getting more fit and healthy, and quitting smoking being at the top of the list.  Sadly, half of them give up on their resolutions by the second week of January.  And of course, there's the New Year's Day meal.  Tradition has it that the more leafy greens a person eats, the more prosperity they will experience.  Beans and peas are also supposed to bring prosperity because they somewhat resemble coins.  Sounds like a pretty good incentive for eating a more healthy meal.  And lastly, the Times Square New Year's Eve ball drop came about because of a ban on fireworks.  The first ball, in 1907, weighed 700 pounds and was lit by 100 25-watt light bulbs.  Thanks to advances in technology, and the human desire to always do bigger and better, the current ball is covered in 2688 crystals, is lit by 32,256 LEDs, is 12 feet in diameter, and weighs 11,875 pounds!  How'd you like to use that for a backyard decoration?!?

Like so many of our holidays, New Year’s Day has become a day for entertaining ourselves.  First there’s New Year’s Eve, with all the parties and music and TV shows counting down to midnight.  Then there’s the ball drop and fireworks all over the world – I’ll be enjoying some of those down at the beach.  And come New Year’s Day we get parades and football games, on TV and even in our own backyards.

But we sometimes overlook the aspect of the new beginning the new year brings.  Yes, in a way, it is just another day.  The calendar simply clicks from December 31st to January 1st, even if we do hang a new one on the wall.  And then we have all those resolutions I mentioned.  They’re made with the hope and desire of making ourselves a little batter in one way or another.  But they’re too often broken and forgotten.  Oops…  I didn’t do my exercises today.  Oh well, it’s just another day.  There’s always tomorrow.

In our scripture reading, Paul says we were raised from death with Christ.  Now I mentioned that when we accept Jesus as our Lord, we are made new - in effect, raised from the death of our sin to new life.  But there is another meaning behind Paul’s words, and it also bears on our accepting Jesus.

Our baptism is an external sign of our internal faith.  It is our way to show that we believe in Jesus as the Christ and accept Him as our Lord.  And it is also a symbolic act that reflects the death and resurrection of Jesus.  When we are dunked beneath the water – or have it sprinkled on our head as the case may be – we symbolically die with Jesus, die to our sin.  And then when we are raised from the water, it symbolizes being raised to new life with Jesus, just as He was resurrected to new life.  Listen to how Paul explains this in the 6th chapter of his Letter to the Romans, verses 3 through 5…

3 Did you forget that all of us became part of Christ Jesus when we were baptized? In our baptism we shared in His death. 4 So when we were baptized, we were buried with Christ and took part in His death. And just as Christ was raised from death by the wonderful power of the Father, so we can now live a new life.

5 Christ died, and we have been joined with Him by dying too. So we will also be joined with Him by rising from death as He did.

--Romans 6:3-5 (ERV)

There’s that promise: we will be joined with Jesus by rising from death as He did.  We’ve already been raised from our death in sin to life anew in Jesus.  And someday we will be raised from mortal death to life eternal.

So now maybe we have a little better understanding of what Paul means when he says we have been raised from death with Christ.  And hopefully it will impress us more with the importance of his instructions.

Our old self has died with Jesus.  We’re new creations now, so we must act like it and not go back to how we were.  Part of that is that we should quit worrying so much about what we have or don’t have here on earth, in this mortal life.  Instead, we should focus on what is important to God.  We need to put evil ways, and evil thoughts, out of our minds and our lives.  We must exercise more self-control of our lust and desires, our anger and hatred, our wants and our greed, our telling falsehoods and gossiping, and our chasing after anything other than God.

It’s like taking off our old, ratty, torn and filthy dirty clothes and putting on an entirely new outfit.  And to do that, for at least a moment we will be completely nude, just as we stand stark naked before God who sees everything we are.

We have been chosen by God and given faith to believe in Jesus as the Christ, the one true Son of God.  We are His holy people, representatives of Jesus, and we need to act and live accordingly.  Just as God loves us, we need to show our love to others.  Just as God is merciful to us, we must extend mercy to others.  Just as God forgives us, let us forgive others.

Focusing on the things of heaven, let us strive everyday to be more like Jesus.  Let His words and His teachings live inside us, as we live for Him.  Let everything we say and do be done for Jesus, giving thanks to God our Father through Jesus our Lord.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus, the Son of God, our Savior, who came to us once and is coming again.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, thank You for giving us so many second chances.  Each new year, and really, each new day, You give us another opportunity to get things right and make ourselves better, ever closer to a likeness of our Lord Jesus.  Thank You for loving us enough to give us so many new chances at serving You.  And thank You for the promise of raising us from the dead when this life is over, just as You raised Your Son Jesus.  Father, sometimes we let the things of this world steal our focus from the things of heaven and what pleases You.  Too often the busyness and turmoil of life swirling around us distracts us from remembering all You do for us.  Forgive us those times, please Father.  Please help us remember that each new chance is a gift, an opportunity to do the right thing, to do good.  Let us this year not treat New Year’s Day as just another day, but as another chance to serve You by sharing our Lord Jesus with others so that they might be saved by Your mercy and His sacrifice.  And help us remain strong, faithful, and true to You in all things, no matter what comes our way.

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 gave of Yourself to us, even giving up Your mortal life for us.  Even Your death was for our benefit, for You did not stay dead but were raised from the dead by our heavenly Father.  And this became our promise, too, that we would be raised from the dead to new life with You, symbolized by our baptism.  Thank You, Jesus, for washing us clean of our sin.  Thank You for showing us how to love, how to give.   Please help us be more like You in our daily walk, Lord.  Help us love all others, even those who hate us and wish us harm.  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 the deeds to do to lead the lost to You.  Make sharing love and joy be the highest priority in our lives.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.