New Year Tree Planting
Sunday AM – Lynn Haven – 12/30/07
FOCUS:
• Making New Year’s Resolutions that result in life-change.
FUNCTION:
• Encouraging Christians to make resolutions
• Educating Christians about what kinds of resolutions Scripture endorses.
A. Pleasantries
B. ILLUSTRATION: I remember growing up going to church… going BOTH Sunday morning & Sunday night.
1. Always wondered, “Why do we have to go Sunday night? I punched my ticket Sunday morning!”
a. How little I understood back then…
b. It’s not about punching a ticket; it’s about giving your best.
2. Anyway, I remember that on some of those Sunday nights, you may remember some of your own, where the crowd thought like I did & the crowd was sparse.
3. And the song leader would get up there, see the sparse crowd, and say something like, “We’re real spread out tonight; let’s all move to the front.”
4. And some people would sit in their pews with their arms folded as if to say, “How dare you ask me to move out of my pew!”
5. Do you remember that?
C. We are so resistant to change.
1. We try to figure out why…
a. Books are written about it.
b. Studies are dedicated to it.
c. Some people even make money teaching people how to do it, from self-help guru’s to business consultants.
2. But change is hard.
a. It’s easy to get in a rut
b. It’s hard to break out of those ruts
D. But change is necessary.
1. At its core, growth is change.
a. When you grow, you shed something old (a habit, a lifestyle) so you can put on something new.
b. You can’t grow & not change. It’s impossible.
2. And so, here at the precipice of a new year, we’re going to think about change.
E. It’s a new year
1. A chance to start over
a. A clean slate
b. A fresh start
2. And given our culture’s tradition, I think that it’s an excellent time to think about where we need to grow & what we need to resolve to change in the New Year.
F. But the problem with New Year’s Resolutions is that we don’t keep them, right?
1. That’s why so many of us have given up making them.
a. We’re jaded by our own human nature.
b. We know ourselves…
1) We know we like our habits
2) We know that we like our ruts & that we don’t like change
3) We’ve never been good at change in the however many years we’ve been on this Earth.
4) What’s going to make 2008 any different???
1. What has to make this year different is caring.
c. The reason we don’t change is that we don’t care.
1) We’re apathetic.
2) We grow complacent with the way we are & the way things are around us.
d. We have to develop a holy discontent with where we are
e. AND we have to develop a true hunger & thirst for something better.
f. AND THAT is exactly what separates people who are going to Heaven & people who are going to Hell.
1) People who are going to Heaven want something better – we aren’t satisfied with this life.
2) People who are going to Hell find their satisfaction here on Earth
a) Whether its booze or drugs or sex or something else, people find some vice that gives them pleasure here.
b) And they feel no need for a Savior, or for anything better.
3) That’s why Christ says “Blessed are the poor in spirit” – they feel their need & they will seek & find God, and things will turn out well for them in the end.
g. We have to become DISCONTENT with the things in our life that are substandard and we have to GROW A DESIRE for a better life.
2. The other thing we need to do to make this year different is realizing what a resolution is.
a. A New Year’s Resolution is NOT a hope
1) It’s not a want
2) It’s not a wish
3) It’s not a whim
b. It is a DECISION
1) A New Year’s Resolution is a deliberate choice to change your life.
2) When we make these, what we need to realize is that we’re not hoping for better – we’re DECIDING to do better!
c. ILLUSTRATION: When I think of this, I think about our desires to do great things.
1) We could go to a concert where a world-renowned musician plays a tune on a piano for 30 minutes straight.
2) It’s beautiful. It’s heavenly. It’s euphoric.
3) And what do we all say after an experience like that?
4) “Boy, I wish I could play the piano like that…”
5) Do we mean that?
a) OF COURSE WE DON’T!
b) We don’t really mean that!
6) I don’t mean that I want to put in the 6 months of work it takes, not to mention the lifetime of preparation, to just play that 30 minute piece.
d. That is not what a resolution is: a whim to want something wonderful.
e. A resolution is a decision to pursue & achieve something wonderful.
G. So, with that in mind, what kinds of values should we have in mind when we make our resolutions?
1. What kinds of wonderful things should we be wanting to pursue & achieve?
2. Well, for that, let’s look to Scripture.
3. And since we are about to start the beginning of a new year, let’s start at the beginning of Psalms.
4. Let’s READ Psalms 1
Transition: Again, what kinds of values should be guiding our resolutions?
I. Fortify your Roots
A. Verses 2 and 3: “But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water.”
B. Listen to Isaiah 61
1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners, [a]
2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the LORD
for the display of his splendor.
“A tree firmly planted by streams of water.”
“Oaks of Righteousness.”
C. Our Resolutions to pursue & achieve wonderful things should be aimed at our ROOT SYSTEM -- the core of what holds us up.
1. Reading Scripture
a. What would happen to a tree if it had no root system?
1) It wouldn’t receive nourishment, would it?
2) And it would be easily tipped over.
3) Such a tree would probably end up dead.
b. So what happens when a Christian starves himself or herself of spiritual nourishment?
1) What happens when a Christian doesn’t spend time in the Word?
a) No nourishment
b) No root system to keep you grounded & from being easily tipped over.
c) Such a Christian would probably end up dead, wouldn’t they?
2) We have to be in the Word.
c. Resolutions about reading through the Bible, or New Testament, are excellent.
1) It’s a clearly defined goal.
2) It is measured.
3) It has a time-table.
4) And it is without a doubt beneficial.
2. Prayer
a. It’s important that we seek to pursue & achieve more in prayer.
b. Maybe your prayer life is at rock-bottom, and you want to start small.
1) Resolve to pray 5 minutes a day every day.
2) Resolve to pray through the Psalms for the next 150 days.
c. Or maybe you are a prayer warrior & you want to get stronger
1) Resolve to keep better track of the prayer list & to be more diligent about praying for those who ask for your prayers.
2) Resolve to keep a prayer journal so that you can see what you’ve asked for & how God has answered those prayers over time.
D. Let your roots grow deep.
1. Make the decision to pursue & achieve great things in your heart before you look outward.
2. Fortify your roots
II. Bear Fruit
A. Verse 3 again: “He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season.”
B. Our Resolutions can be focused inward, but if they are there should be an outward result.
C. And I want to focus on that word “RESULT”
1. Former Alabama Football Head Coach Gene Stallings once said, “Never confuse activities with accomplishments: RESULTS are what count.”
2. We need to set resolutions -- lifestyle changes -- that we can achieve.
3. If you make a New Year’s Resolution, what you’re saying is that there is something in your life that is important enough that needs to change.
4. If you feel that way, then it’s also probably something that God would want to be permanent & not temporary.
D. Set resolutions not just to pursue, but to ACHIEVE.
1. The idea here is that we, like that tree in Psalms 1, want to bear fruit.
2. Make your resolutions in such a way that you will see change.
III. Look Strong
A. Verse 3 one more time: “He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season, and whose leaf does not wither.”
B. You know… you can tell a dying tree.
1. The leaves begin to look discolored, wither, and fall off.
2. But strong, vivacious trees are full of bright, colorful leaves.
C. So if we want to be like a strong tree, we should target our resolutions at our weaknesses…
1. Suggestions
a. If you’re disorganized and that’s a weakness in your life, make a resolution for organization.
b. If you waste time and that’s a weakness in your life, make a resolution to limit the amount of time doing what wastes your time.
c. If you miss a lot of church services, make a resolution to attend a certain number of times every month.
2. Targeting our weaknesses means looking at our warts & assessing our vulnerabilities.
a. It’s not fun.
b. It’s painful, like pulling off a band-aid.
c. But we’re either going to be a strong tree or a dying tree.
CONCLUSION
A. The alternative from being like that tree in Psalms 1 isn’t pretty…
1. Psalms 1:3-4: “He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season, and whose leaf does not wither. Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away.”
2. There’s another place in Scripture that talks about chaff.
a. Matthew 3.
b. It’s John the Baptist, and he is preaching.
c. He says:
"I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire."
Make the right choice this New Year
