New Years Resolution: A New Beginning

Judges 11:29-40

James 5:15

John 3:1-15

Isaiah 43:18-19

Ezekiel 11:18-22

Rev. 21:5-7

Opening

We are about to start a new year in the next few days. Where does the time go? 2019 already. It seems the older I get the faster the time goes.

I remember as a child, we’d open presents on Christmas eve, but only after we ate supper, the dishes were cleaned and put away, and everyone got sat down.

We knew the time was shortly coming, but it stilled seemed an eternity before we could start to open presents. And the ironic thing is in just a blink of an eye it was over. Then after the dust settled, we generally went back to do what we had been doing before. The Old Ways.

Another example was summer vacation from school. The closer we came to the last days of school, the longer the hours seemed to tick away. Then came that glorious day…The day we were freed. But again irony set it in and within a few weeks we grew bored and our parents had to yell at us to go outside and play or find something to do or they would find something for us, which usually meant some sort of labor intensive chore.

Then came a few weeks before the new school year. We got our school things ready and in order, got our class schedules and we were actually looking forward to the new school year. We promised ourselves we’d study harder and do better than we did before. We were looking to close the chapter of the old and looked forward to a New Beginning.

Main Body

Many of us will make some sort of new years resolution such as eating healthier, quit smoking, go to church more, HINT HINT. Maybe our vows will be to not gossip as much this coming year or use less cuss words when getting behind a really slow driver when trying to get somewhere, or to quit taking potshots at passing airplanes. There are about as many different resolutions as there are people making them.

In any case, what we are looking at are resolutions involving a New Beginning

"Resolution" Definition:

NOUN

1. a firm decision to do or not to do something.

"she kept her resolution not to see Anne any more" · [more]

synonyms:

intention · resolve · decision · intent · aim · aspiration · design ·

2. the quality of being determined or resolute.

"he handled the last French actions of the war with resolution"

synonyms:

determination · purpose · purposefulness · resolve · resoluteness ·

3. the action of solving a problem, dispute, or contentious matter.

"the peaceful resolution of all disputes" ·

I never took much stock in new years resolutions. Mostly , I suppose, I knew it would be rare to actually follow through with them. To me New Years eve was the day to drink myself into oblivion and New Year’s day was the day to nurse the hangover or wait to get bailed out of jail, or both

Then came the day I quit drinking. It was this same day that I bowed down to Christ and asked for him to take away the pain, the emptiness I was feeling, and he freely took it away from me. And since then, haven’t looked back.

For me, this was The New Beginning.

In secular language, a “VOW” is much like a contract between 2 people. Person A needs or wants something from Person B…... Person B will give Person A what they need as long as Person A fulfills the contract.

In the Biblical context a ‘VOW” is usually between some person and God

Lets check out just what the meaning of “VOW” is in both New and Old Testament

(vow or its form occurs 93 times)

NT:

2171/2172

e??´??µa?

euchomai

yoo'-khom-ahee

Middle voice of a primary verb; to wish; by implication to pray to God: - pray, will, wish.

O.T.

H5087

?????

na^dar

naw-dar'

A primitive root; to promise (positively, to do or give something to God): - (make a) vow.

Whats the Bible say about vows?

(READ JUDGES 11:29-11:40 …explain foolish vows )

According to the Jephthah’s narrative, does this mean all vows are bad? There are some things to ask yourself about making vows.

• Is your vow in conflict with God’s Word?

• Is your vow a selfish or self-fulfilling vow or will it serve the Kingdom of God?

• If it passes these 2 tests, is your vow achievable, realistically?

Jephthah’s vow was a poorly chosen vow that in fact had a negative impact on his and his family’s life. In any case positive or negative, Jephthah had a New Beginning.

There are also positive Vows. In the New Testament we read: