December 30, 2007
Morning Worship
Text: Galatians 2:20; 2 Corinthians 5:17
Subject: New Year’s Resolutions
Title: There’s Going to be a Change In Me
I have to be honest with you all about something. I love Christmas and what it is all about, but I grow weary by the time Christmas day is over. Like many of you, our Christmas is full of travel, family, gifts and fellowship. So what is there not to like? For many of us Christmas can also be a time of sadness. Loved ones have passed away and gone to their heavenly reward. The stress of strained family relationships seem to rise up and at times put everyone on edge. There are the family members who have moved away and cannot be with the ones they love. There is the stress of trying to buy the right gift for someone who already has everything they need. There’s the struggle to juggle your time so you can be in three different places over a twenty-four hour period. Add to that the stress of wondering if anyone is going to be a church for our Christmas program – will the snow ever stop? When it comes right down to it much of the stress caused by Christmas essentially comes from the worldly influences that have been introduced to the real meaning of Christmas. I love the blessed holiday, but I’m always glad when it is over.
On the other hand, I love New Years. No I’m not a big partygoer. It is a struggle for me to stay up till midnight. I’m a creature of habit and anything after 10:00 is late for me. But what I really like about New Year’s Day is the fact that it brings out something really good in people. Not talking about partying all night, but I’m talking about the sincere desires in people’s hearts to change their lives in the New Year. I’m talking about New Year’s resolutions. Nearly everyone I know will make some sort of resolution for 2008. Many Christians will determine to have a better spiritual life in the coming year. I’m going to read my Bible more, pray more, attend church more regularly etc. the fact is that a very small percentage of resolutions are ever kept. But I like New Year’s anyhow, simply because there is a desire there and where there is desire there is always hope.
I want to share with you today about how God wants you to become something special in this upcoming year. His desire for you is to come closer to Him, to walk with Him, and to be continually under His anointing in 2008. Are you ready to do that?
Turn your bibles to Galatians 2:20. Keep your finger there and then turn to 2 Corinthians 5:17. Going back to my original train of thought, the thing that makes Christmas difficult for me is the fact that the world has changed the meaning of Christmas. To them it’s all about presents and food and family gatherings. We know that the real Christmas is about Christ. The thing that also hinders most from becoming the man and woman of God that they desire to be in the New Year is the worldly influence that we have allowed to creep into our lives. Our quest for more of the world keeps us from receiving more of God.
Galatians 2:20, I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
2 Corinthians 5:17, 17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
I want to help you to see today that for you to be what God has intended you have to eliminate the worldly influences from your life.
I. CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST. I have been crucified with Christ… When you hear that what do you think of? What does it mean to you? Are you literally nailed to a cross with Christ? Let’s look at the Greek word that is translated “crucified with”. It is the word sustauroo, which is a compound word. The two words that it is derived from mean,first, “union; with or together, that is, by association, companionship, process, resemblance, possession, instrumentality, addition, etc.; beside, with. When used in compound words it has similar applications, including completeness. The second part of the word means to impale on the cross; figuratively to extinguish (subdue) passion or selfishness:—crucify. Now we know that Paul isn’t talking about being literally crucified with Christ – Paul wasn’t crucified; he was beheaded. But what he is talking about is the true meaning intended. Paul says that like Christ and with Christ I have extinguished or subdued my worldly passions and desires and have become complete in Him. Worldly passions and desires refer to the lust of the flesh. Lust is not a sexual problem only. Lust is a world problem. Lust is covetousness. I want stuff and I will do anything to get it – even if it means borrowing money beyond my means to repay. You see the problem is not with having possessions. The problem is with your heart. Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” But Paul says he has been crucified with Christ. He is no longer concerned about having things. He knows that you have to have money to live in the world. That is why he worked as a tentmaker by day and preached by night. But he was never consumed by desire for earthly possessions. Unfortunately the church has allowed the lust for the world to enter into its theology and now we are inundated with feel good preachers who tell us that we can have everything the world has to offer and still be OK with God. Look at the words of John in 1 John chapter 2. 15Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. 17And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever. John uses the Greek word “Kosmos” that is translated “world” and one old commentary says that Kosmos refers to the whole of the created universe viewed apart form God and extends to the organized resistance to the will of God. So when we speak about the lust of the world we speak of the desire to have the things that are contrary to the will of God. That comes from satan, the god of this world. So when Paul says he has been crucified with Christ, he is saying that he does not allow the things of this world to distract him from the life Jesus has made for him.
II. LIVING IN CHRIST. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. "Paul’s meaning is not that the flesh, with its affections and lusts, is no longer present at all with those that have become Christians, but that a walk in the flesh should not any longer exist in the case of Christians. A walk in the Spirit might be rightly expected of believers. This is only possible for those who have crucified the flesh. The word is not slain, but crucified. It is a task of the Christian to be accomplished only by continual effort (Colossians 3:5). "In ’crucified’, however, the simple slaying is not the main idea, but the condemning, giving sentence, surrendering to infamous death. This has necessarily taken place in becoming Christ’s. Fellowship with Christ involves a crucifixion of the flesh for the very reason that it is fellowship with Christ’s death on the cross. "Christ indeed has only suffered what people have deserved on account of their sinful flesh. Whoever appropriates to himself Christ’s death upon the cross regards the flesh to himself no longer. For him, in Christ’s death, the flesh has been crucified." (Daily Walk, May 7, 1992.) We set aside the flesh in order that we may walk in Christ. There is no room for the Holy Spirit to dwell in you if you have the lust of the world in you. Christ can only abide to the fullness of His desire when you make room for Him by emptying yourself of your fleshly desires. With Christ living in you the life you live should be a reflection of His holiness. The life I live in the body, I live by faith… If you are living in Christ – if He has taken up residence in you – it happens in the physical body you inhabit right here and right now. And because the Spirit of God is in you, you are called to live a life that is exemplified by your faith. You see, you don’t need the things that the world tells you are good. You don’t have to give in to the lust of the flesh. By faith you understand that “My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus…” I don’t need a bigger house, a better car, more money, better toys. Everything I need I have in my relationship with God through Jesus His Son!
III. LOVED BY CHRIST. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Why should you be willing to place your entire life under submission to God? Why would you want to live your life free from the outside influences of the world? Why would you not want to have all the good things the world has to offer? Let me answer that in this way. There are two masters that you can follow – the god of this world – satan, or Jesus. satan comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. Jesus came that you might have life and have it more abundantly. The enemy comes to take away your peace and your joy and your faith and your healing. Jesus loved you and died for you that you might have eternal life. Romans 5:8, 8But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. John 14:21, 21Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.” Satan is the god of this world and wants to keep you bound to his kingdom. Jesus has set you free from bondage and has seated you in the heavenlies with Him. Stan is a liar and the father of all lies. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. Satan hates you. Jesus loves you with an everlasting love and has called you with his lovingkindness.
IV. CREATED BY CHRIST. 2 Corinthians 5:17, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! Let’s get back to your New Year’s resolutions. Do you want to live your life in a way that is pleasing to God? Do you want to enhance that personal relationship you have with Him through Jesus His Son? Do you want to draw closer to God in every area of your life? Good! That is just the way God wants you to be. If you are in Christ – if you have repented of your sin and asked Jesus to be the Lord of your life – you are a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! The old is the flesh that was overcome by the sin nature. It held you captive to the empty promises the world has offered since the creation of man. The old is the bondage to a world system that offers you something only for this life but can never prepare you for the life to come after the judgment. But the new is a life in Christ that offers you more than you could ever imagine. It is eternal life with Jesus in heaven. It is a life of promise here on this earth now. It is a life of victory over the enemy. You are a new creation. Did you notice that the Bible doesn’t say that God fixes what was broken – He makes you new. You are not the same. And Jesus did it. Ephesians 2:10, For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
I love New Year’s and New Year’s resolutions because they offer the promise of something better. The root word in resolution is “resolve”. Do you have the resolve to change your life for the better? Do you have the intestinal fortitude to live the kind of life that Christ wants you to have? Do you have the mental toughness to set aside the allure of the world in order that you can live a life totally devoted to Christ?
You are sanctified, set apart from the world. The Spirit of the Living God dwells in you if you know Jesus. You want something better for 2008? You must make up your mind to separate yourself from the world and to live totally for God. For you to think that you can have one foot in the kingdom of heaven and one foot in the world and that you still have heaven waiting for you is a dangerous game to play. 1 John 2, 15Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. 17And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.
Resolve to make 2008 your year of kingdom living!
