“New Year’s Resolve”

Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:4-9; Hebrews 3:1-19

Written and preached by Luke Richards

        You’ve almost certainly heard the old saying, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”  I’m not sure how old that saying is; I assume it’s not as old as the New Testament, but even so, I think the writers of the New Testament were familiar with the spirit of that old saying.  The Apostle Paul starts that first letter to the church at Corinth by saying some very nice things about them, even though I suspect he really had to wrack his brains to figure out what to say.  If we were to read through the entire book of 1 Corinthians we would see that it was a mess of a church and Paul spends most of his time scolding them for the variety of abuses and errors that they were engaged in.  But even though this was an incredibly dysfunctional church full of obvious problems, Paul begins his letter with some really nice things: “I always thank God for you; you have been enriched in every way; you do not lack any spiritual gift…”  It’s certainly true that Paul is being tactful here because he knows he has some difficult things to say later on in his letter, and so he wants to build up some rapport with the Corinthians before he scolds them.  But even though he’s being a good politician by opening with some nice comments, he’s not lying to them: he really does want to encourage the Corinthian Christians in the things they’re doing right.

        And that principle of encouraging one another is something that is consistent throughout the New Testament.  Much of the New Testament is made up of letters that early Christian leaders wrote to different churches, and even though most of those letters are addressing some sort of problem, it’s rare for them not to say something encouraging to the churches they’re addressed to.  And it makes perfect sense: the message of the gospel is primarily optimistic in its focus.  Christians ought to be mostly optimistic people because we know that our God has been victorious in Christ.  We are bonded together in Christ regardless of whatever else divides us, and so we can be fearless in encouraging one another to press on toward the goal.  Time and time again in the New Testament, we see instructions such as “bear one another’s burdens,” “encourage one another,” “lift one another up,” because we are part of one family and one body.  The members of the body ought to encourage one another.

        That’s what we saw in our reading from Hebrews 3.  The author of Hebrews is giving an incredibly profound description of what Jesus has done, and chapter 3 focuses on how Jesus was faithful with what God the Father had entrusted Him.  Specifically, Hebrews says, Jesus was faithful with the church, and therefore we should also be faithful with what God gives us to do.  Hebrews uses the story of the Exodus as an example, when the people of God were powerfully saved from slavery and yet hardened their hearts and failed to trust God when they were tested.  And so “encourage one another daily,” Hebrews says, “so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.”  Because of what God has done, in other words, we need to encourage one another to be faithful.  We need to point one another toward the goal of loving God and help one another to hold fast to what matters.

        There are a couple of reasons for why this is our focus for today.  This is the first Sunday of the year, of course, and lots of people are talking about New Year’s resolutions.  The assumptions behind those resolutions are usually negative in one way or another if you think about it: I’m overweight, so I’m going to lose weight this year, or I didn’t do something right last year, so I’ll do it right next year.  What’s more, there’s often this sort of pessimistic attitude to the whole concept.  A lot of us talk about New Year’s resolutions with a wink, knowing that our good intentions are likely to be forgotten within a month or so.  But as we begin this year as a church and think about where God might be taking us, it seems more appropriate to focus on the things we’re doing well and encourage one another to keep on faithfully doing those things than it does to start listing the things we’re doing wrong and need to change.  We have a lot of reasons to encourage one another because many of you have seen God’s faithfulness in your lives and you have responded faithfully in return.

        The other reason we’re focusing on being faithful and encouraging one another today is because we’re taking a bit of a break from the series we started in the weeks before Christmas.  Our theme for Advent was “No More Normal,” and it came from recognizing that the claims we make about the world and about God imply that we should be anything but normal.  We shouldn’t be comfortable with average, and we shouldn’t look forward to the same old same old.  Simply put, our God is just too big for us to be normal.  And so we spent Advent together asking questions of ourselves so that we could sincerely examine whether we’re comfortable with normal or whether we want to make “No More Normal” our cry to God.  We’re going to be returning to that series in a couple of weeks so that we can begin to explore what sorts of things the people of God have been doing when God has shown up and taken them beyond normal.

        But of course it’s unsettling to be in this place, deliberately asking God to take us beyond normal without necessarily knowing what He will ask us to do or how He will change us.  We’re playing with fire.  Change is always difficult, especially when it’s out of our control.  And so before we launch into the sorts of things that might take us beyond normal in our spiritual lives as individuals and as a church, I thought we should first take some time to calm some fears.  The cry of “No More Normal” does not necessarily mean that we have to throw out everything and start from scratch, because the truth is that we wouldn’t be here if God had not already been at work in us.  You are sitting in that pew right now because of the prayers of your ancestors, and because of the prayers of long-dead saints of the church before them, and because of the prayers of the Apostles, and because of the prayers of Jesus Himself.  You are here today because God has already started to take you beyond normal and you have responded, even if you don’t realize it.

In other words, as we make the cry of “No More Normal,” we need to do so aware that we may already be doing some things that are worthy of encouragement, and maybe we need to be persistent and faithful in those things as God takes us beyond normal.  There are some things we may need to change, but there are other things we should probably be faithful in continuing.  The trick will be discerning between the two.

        Sometimes it’s helpful to define something by first looking at its opposite.  Let’s contrast some of the things we should make sure to be faithful about with some of the things that really don’t matter, in other words.  If we’re going to make sure to encourage one another to keep on doing certain things, what are some things that won’t be on that list?  You can probably guess some of those sorts of things.  The color of the carpet in the church building is not something we need to be very worried about remaining faithful.  Or the color of the paint on the walls.  Or the landscaping outside.  Or even the chair that great aunt So-and-so donated to the church years ago.  Those may be important things, but we don’t need to be worried about keeping them faithful to the way they’ve always been.  The reality is that if this building burns down, if we lose all our books, all our technology, and all our property, this church can still be faithful to the things that matter because the church doesn’t depend on any of those things.  We can still be the same church even if we’re meeting out in the woods somewhere, because we can still be faithful to what matters.

        All right then, what does matter?  What are some things that we as a church need to be encouraged to remain faithful in doing?  What do we need to make certain stays consistent even as we cry out to God to take us beyond normal this year?  It begins with God, because once again, our faithfulness flows from His faithfulness.

        First of all, this is a church that is optimistic about what God can do.  We believe He is able, and therefore this is a praying church.  That is something to be encouraged, and we need to keep up the good work.  We have some prayer warriors in these pews, and I love that about this church.  We have a prayer chain that is always on standby to pray for urgent needs.  We have a weekly prayer meeting to lift up the needs of our community and world.  We have a prayer room that we open up a couple of times a year, and you get excited about that.  And I know that many of you are constantly in prayer every day.  This is a praying church: be encouraged about that, and praise God.

        Not only are we optimistic about what God can do in general, we’re optimistic about what He can do in us.  This is a church that believes in holiness.  God really can take the foulest sinners and make them into the brightest saints.  He really can give us victory over sin.  He really can grow us into the image of Christ.  This is a church that has seen the beauty of the gift of holiness and loves it, and that is something that you should be proud of and should remain faithful in.

        But this is a church that is not only optimistic about what God can do in us, this is a church that is also optimistic about what God can do through us, and that’s fantastic to see.  You are generous people; you have been faithful in giving to missionaries, to the needs in Haiti, and to the needs in our community through the food pantry and through Family Promise.  Keep up the good work.  You are hardworking people, because you know God can take your time and your gifts and use them for much more than you’re able to do.  Whether it’s helping get things ready for Christmas caroling or working with children or helping maintain the church’s property, you are willing to work hard in tangible ways because you know God can make an impact through you.  Praise God for your faithfulness!

        And because this church is optimistic about what God can do through you, this is also a church that is optimistic about what God can do in others.  And that means you are compassionate and welcoming.  You are willing to embrace people who are hurting and seeking.  It’s simply fantastic as a pastor to hear people talk about how they felt at home the first time they came here because they were so loved.

        Therefore, be encouraged in these things.  Stay faithful in them.  Keep persisting in prayer, in holiness, in generosity, in hard work, and in compassion, because this is the result of God working in this church, in you.  As we continue forward in this new year, be encouraged because of God’s faithfulness.  As we cry out together that we are no longer satisfied with being normal, we can do so trusting that He will give us the strength to remain faithful in who we are as His church while He leads us beyond normal.

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