“A New Tomorrow” Revelation 21:1-6
Introduction
They have a saying in Vienna, Austria: “The situation is hopeless, but not serious.” It’s an interesting contradiction in terms. Yet life is truly a mixture of optimism and pessimism, of hope and despair, of sunshine and shadow.
Sometimes the same situation can have both elements in it at the same time! But faith is finer than optimism. It has none of the distortions of optimism. It is more lasting; less fragile. It’s fine for us to be optimistic but far better to be full of faith for a new tomorrow.
Transition
This morning I want to talk about what it means to have faith for a new tomorrow. So often in life we get stuck. Our life runs into snags that we can’t seem to get out of. Hard times come and we don’t know how to move on. We lose a job, struggle in our careers, face unexpected financial or family burdens, and go through difficulties in our relationships…
The lists of things that sometimes come against us in this life are endless. This morning I want to give you some very practical insights into living a life of much more than optimism. This morning I want to share with you three principals which can help us to live a life of faith for a new tomorrow.
Honor your Past
A past is a hard thing to shake. For some of us, the past is a something we are trying to live up to. We recall glories of days gone by, we remember the way things were and we busy ourselves trying to recreate the good old’ days. In our longing for days gone by, we forget to live in today.
For others, the past is something we are trying to live down. Our past may contain hurtful memories that we would rather forget. Sometimes we may find ourselves spending time and energy self-pitying in regret. And that’s all that regret is really good for. It is a terrible waste of energy; you can’t build on it; you can only wallow in it.
Some of us are proud of our pasts, but many of us are prisoners to our pasts. We have never learned how to honor our past without living in the past. We have never learned how to learn from our past without dwelling on it.
We have to learn to forget those things which hold us back while at the same time honoring the experiences which shaped us. God has used everything your past to mold you into the person you are… and He has forgives you for every mistake which you have made. You are His forgiven child. You are beautiful to him.
Bruce Larson tells the true story of a Catholic priest living in the Philippines, a much-loved man of God who once carried a secret burden of long-past sin buried deep in his heart. He had committed that sin once, many years before, during his time in seminary. No one else knew of this sin. He had repented of it and he had suffered years of remorse for it, but he still had no peace, no inner joy, no sense of God’s forgiveness.
There was a woman in this priest’s parish who deeply loved God, and who claimed to have visions in which she spoke with Christ, and He with her. The priest, however, was skeptical of her claims, so to test her visions he said to her, “You say you actually speak directly with Christ in your visions. Let me ask you a favor. The next time you have one of these visions, I want you to ask Him what sin your priest committed while he was in seminary.”
The woman agreed and went home. When she returned to the church a few days later, the priest said, “Well, did Christ visit you in your dreams?”
She replied, “Yes, He did.”
“And did you ask Him what sin I committed in seminary?”
“Yes, I asked Him.”
“Well, what did He say?”
“He said, ‘I don’t remember.’”
This is what God wants you to know about the forgiveness He freely offers you. When your sins are forgiven, they are forgotten. The past—with its sins, hurts brokenness, and self-recrimination—is gone, dead, crucified, remembered no more. What God forgives, He forgets.
The only proper way to deal with the past is to learn from it. In learning from our past we not honor the past but we free ourselves to live in today and for tomorrow!
Rather than trying to live in the past or trying to run from the past, honor your past.
All that has happened in your life has led you to this exact moment in time; the good things that made you smile… and the bad things that taught how important it is to smile. All of your sins are forgiven. Today, you are free from the past!
Live In the Present
Ours is a faith of the present tense. Christianity is a “here-and-now” religion. Christianity is a process. There is a sense in which we are ever “becoming” Christian, as we become more and more like Christ. We look forward to the promise of each day, having discovered the secret that the good old days are… in fact… here and now.
My 18 month old son Sebastian is a hard worker! Now, he doesn’t usually get much accomplished in a constructive way, but boy is he busy! A couple of days ago Christina and I were outside raking the yard in front of the parsonage and cleaning up the area.
The whole time Sebastian was hard at work too. He had a small rake, just his size, although he did eventually take the big rake from us and we were left using the little rake… and just as we got the twigs and debris and things in a pile Sebastian would come along with his rake and scatter them back around!
This went on for quite a while and a job that should have only taken a very short time a lot longer than it needed to. My favorite though is after Christina or I clean up Sebastian’s play room… he makes sure not to let that last for long!
He will follow directly behind us and empty every one of the little toy boxes in him room back onto the floor! Sebastian is busy all the time… but being busy doesn’t necessarily equate to being productive. God hasn’t called us into random activity… He has given us genuine purpose.
Colossians 3:23 says, “Whatever your task, put yourselves into it, as done for the Lord…” Our purpose is to glorify God in all that we do. In the work that we do… in our relationships… in our church… whether you are a cook, a baker, or a candlestick maker… your purpose in life is to bring honor and glory to God.
“A task without a vision is drudgery; a vision without a task is a dream; a task with a vision is victory.” (Author unknown) We long to see the victory of the Lord declared in this place and in our personal lives. Whatever you do, do it as though it has eternal significance… because it does. Your cheerful doing of the task assigned… whatever it may be… is a witness to the loving presence of God in your heart, motivating you...
A. W. Tozer once wrote, “It is not what a man does that determines whether his work is sacred or secular, it is why he does it.”
Live For a New Tomorrow
Revelation 21: 3-4 says, “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.”
We serve a God of hope… a God of promise… a God of limitless possibility! The Christian life can… and should… be filled with something far greater than optimism… Optimisms’ big brother is faith! Faith doesn’t fail because it isn’t based on circumstances… It is based on the promises of God… it based on the assurance of God’s Holy Word… it is based on the promises of a loving-eternal Heavenly Father…
Negative thinking guides the decisions and attitudes of many people. They choose to accept the premise that the worst is yet to come…. And they will get what they wish for if they are not careful. Our thoughts and attitudes dictate much of what will happen in our life.
If we are full of hope, God has given us the power to create a hope-filled tomorrow… no matter what comes our way… if things are wonderful then we ought to praise God for His goodness and if things are not then we ought to praise God for the good that He will ultimately bring out in us through adversity.
Where there are problems… choose to see possibilities…. think about the possibilities for tomorrow. No matter whom you are… no matter how young you are… no matter how old you are… God still a plan and a purpose for your life. I like to think that these are the good old days the next generation will hear so much about!
Conclusion
Christianity is a verb. It is about what God has done, is doing, and will do. It is about what we were, are, and shall be. It is more than an institution; it is an action… it’s a state of being.
Today, I encourage you to be something far greater than an optimist. Be a faith filled doer of the will of God… do not wait for things to improve them; improve them… do not wait for a new tomorrow… fill your heart with faith... and bring a new tomorrow into being.
Let us pray.
