Better: A Call To Goals & Growth

Preached 1/5/25

I do want to say Happy New Year to all of you welcome to 2025, and as a church, we are so glad that you are here with us kicking off this new year being a part of God's family here in Riverton.

You know personally I think I've always kind of been a little confused about why people love celebrating the New Year so much and it's probably because you know I'm such a party animal, But at the same time I also do kind of get it because people are celebrating that turning of a page into a new year for various reasons maybe it's because they're excited for the future or they're just happy they survived another year. and one of the things that I actually admire a lot that comes with the new year is when people make New Year's resolutions.

sometimes I wonder why it takes people the change from a Tuesday to a Wednesday with a different number at the end of the date to do something they want to do in their lives, but no matter what the catalyst is like a a new year changing the idea of resolving to do something or change something in the new year is really powerful to me.

because every time that somebody makes a New Year's resolution, they are making a goal for growth in their life, In other words in this new year they want to be better.

You see this in the type of resolutions that people make, Nobody makes resolutions for the next year like they want to start drinking more, or they want to work up to smoking a pack a day, or lose a bunch of money, and gain weight…. But instead, they sent goals to grow as a person they want to stop drinking and stop smoking, make better investment,ss, and lose weight… and see it's those resolutions to become better that I really admire, To me it doesn't matter if it takes the change of a calendar year or not… whatever you do consistently to grow and be better is worth it. so I actually really like celebrating the New Year especially if it causes you to make a resolution to be better, to set goals and to grow.

And a lot of people use the new year as an opportunity to focus on the value of growth in their life.

but something that I am consistently coming across that makes me very sad is the fact that people can see the value of goals and growth in their life from a worldly standpoint but yet when it comes to our Christianity to our faith and to our churches it's almost like we have an aversion to the idea of goals and growth.

And when I say that I totally mean to step on your toes Church.

Because false teaching doesn't always come in the form of words it can also come in the form of actions and when we are living out the action of a lack of growth, a lack of goals to be a better Christian we are falsely teaching exactly what Satan wants us to. And in saying that this faith I have doesn't continually change me, doesn't make me more like Jesus every day, I have arrived at Salvation and I have no need to grow.

A false teaching that is often taught by our attitudes and actions.

And so the call and the challenge that I want to give us today as Christians and as the church is the call that we have to be better to grow to set goals. And this is not a call that I just came up with to give a New Year's sermon, but rather it's one that is found throughout the entirety of the existence of the church and the New Testament.

Peter wrote to Christians and he challenged them to grow in Grace and knowledge of Jesus.

2Pe 3:17-18

You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

See here Peter is challenging the church to the call of growth he says to grow in Grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, meaning what meaning you have not arrived at knowing all that Jesus has taught you have not arrived at having the full knowledge of scripture, you have not arrived at perfecting and living out the greatest, you have growth to do as a Christian Church, and in fact that is our Glory as we live until the day of Christ's return and our life in eternity.