The New Year

Intro.

A. As the old year ends and the new year begins - reminds us that we are a year closer to: our death, the second coming (we do not know the date of either, but this we do know).

B. Time of retrospection (looking back) and  introspection (looking within) as well as prospective outlook.

1. Has my relationship with God and Christ grown in the past year?  (Jas. 4:8)

a. Have I learned more of His revelation? Have I grown in grace and knowledge? (2 Pet. 3:18).

b. Not only listen to God - through His word, but talk with Him - in prayer (1 Thes. 5:17).

2.  Have I grown in relationship to my brethren? (1 Thess. 4:9-13) 

a. How hospitable have I been? (Rom. 12:13).

b. Have you learned the names of others? (3 Jn. 14).

C. Think about some goals for the new year.

Body:

A. Goal to be a more loving church.

1. First, love for God (Mk. 12:30 “Love the Lord thy God with all....”).

2. We should grow in our love for Christ (Jn. 8:42).

a. Jews looked for lion, a warrior - He came as a lamb and peacemaker - they missed Him.

b. Looked for a military king, who would liberate them from Rome - He came as a servant, to save the lost - they missed Him.

c. Looked for material/temporal needs being met - He met their spiritual needs - they missed Him.

d. For what are we looking in Christ? Will we miss the real Jesus?

3. We should love one another (1 Pet. 1:22).

a. David felt alone - “there is no one who acknowledges me; refuge has failed me; No one cares for my soul” (Ps. 142:4).

b. Love for brethren is mark of discipleship (Jn. 13:34,35; 1 Jn. 4:12).

c. Sign we have passed from death to live (1 Jn. 3:14,15), cannot love God and hate our brother (4:20-5:1).

B. Goal to be a more loyal church.

1. We should be loyal in our attitude - that’s where it begins - commitment of the heart.

a. Avoid self-righteousness (Lk. 18:9-14).

b. Avoid indifference (Rev. 3:15,16).

c. Avoid the critical spirit - unrighteous judgment (Mt. 7:1-5; Mk. 7:2 “Now when they saw some of His disciples eat bread with defiled, that is, with unwashed hands, they found fault.” They found what they were looking for!

d. Have the mind/attitude of Christ (Phil. 2:5; 1 Pet. 2:21-23).

2. We should be loyal in our attendance (Acts 2:42,46; 11:15).

a. Forsaking carries serious consequences (Heb. 10:24-27).

b. We need to be together (Ps. 34:1-3; 122:1).

3. We should be loyal in stewardship (1 Cor. 4:2).




a. We think of material blessings - giving (2 Cor. 9:6,7; 1 Cor. 16:1,2).

b. We are to grow up into Christ “from whom the whole body joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love” (Eph. 4:16).

c. An Aesop’s fable: “One day it occurred to some of the members of the body that they were doing all the work and that the belly was having all the food. So they held a meeting and after a long discussion decided to strike and not work until the belly consented to take its proper share of the work. So for a day or two the hands refused to take the food, the mouth refused to receive it, and the teeth had no work to do. But after a day or two, members began to find that they themselves were not in a very active condition. The hands could hardly move, the mouth was all parched and dry, while the legs were unable to support the rest. Thus, they found that even the belly, in its dull quiet way, was doing necessary work for the body, and that all must work together or the body would go to pieces.”  (1 Cor. 12:20-22)

C. Goal to be a laboring church.

1. Our faith is shown by our works/actions (Jas. 2:18-22).

2. Christ came to “seek and to save that which was lost” (Lk. 19:10); we are to “be steadfast..

always abounding in the work of the Lord” (1 Cor. 15:58).

3. God’s people in Nehemiah’s day worked when opposed by enemies from the outside (Neh. 4:1-6), some criticized the efforts (4:10,11,14,15), some within were not doing right (5:1-9). The work was completed in 52 days (6:15), because the people had a mind to work (4:6).

4. Ancient story about a king that needed a faithful servant - chose two candidates and fixed their wages. Told them to carry buckets of water from a nearby cistern and dump them into a large basket which he had place a short distance away. He said he would come in the evening and inspect their work. After dumping a few buckets of water into the basked, one of the men said, “What is the good of doing this useless work? As soon as we pour the water in, it runs out the sides.”

The other answered, “but we have our wages, don’t we? The reason for the work is the master’s business, not ours.” The complainer replied, “I’m not going to do such fool’s work” and throwing down his bucket, he went away.

      The other man continued until he drained the cistern. Looking down into it, he saw something shining at the bottom. It proved to be a very valuable gold ring that had been lost in the cistern. The servant thought:”Now I see the reason for pouring water into the basket! If the bucket had brought up the ring before the cistern was dry, it would have been found in the basket. Our work was not useless.”

5. We may not understand why God told us to do some things - but the servant serves and leaves the rest to his Master!

Concl.

May we strive to be a more loving, loyal and laboring group. That is why we are in God’s vineyard and the crown of gold awaits the faithful (Rev. 4:4; 21:7,14-27).