Resolutions for Righteousness
Text: Ps. 63:1-8
Intro: Well, here we are at the beginning of another year. I have often wondered if we would make it this far. However, in spite of everything, we find ourselves embarking upon a new beginning, days filled with adventure, as well as adversity, and thrills, as well as our fair share of troubles. Nevertheless, whatever comes our way in the coming year, God’s children have His promise that will help us face every situation: “…I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Heb. 13:5c).
It is customary in our society to close out the old year with giving, and commence a new year with goals. The idea of goals for the future is a good one, for all of us need a sense of direction and purpose to motivate us. Goals are healthy, as long as they are not unrealistic or unobtainable. We all need something that urges us to go forward.
However, I think our resolutions and goals for the coming year need to possess substance. There are perhaps a lot of worthy goals that one might entertain today. However, the real question I think we should consider is whether our prospective goals will make any eternal and spiritual difference in us as individuals, or in our world. I believe we should make some spiritual resolutions for this year that has the potential for drawing us nearer to the Lord. I call them Resolutions for Righteousness. Allow me to suggest three such goals for you today.
Theme: May I suggest that this year you resolve to…
I. FOLLOW THE LORD INCESSANTLY
Ps. 63:8a “My soul followeth hard after thee…”
NOTE: The basic idea of the word “incessant” is that of persistence or unrelenting in one’s pursuit.
A. This Will Involve Seeking the Lord Continually.
1 Chron. 16:11 “Seek the Lord and his strength, seek his face continually.”
NOTE: [1] We should always seek God’s will and direction in every matter of life. Some years ago, at a meeting of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Bobby Richardson, former New York Yankee second baseman, offered a prayer that is a classic in brevity and poignancy: “Dear God, Your will, nothing more, nothing less, nothing else. Amen.”(1)
[2] Long before the days of Bobby Richardson, D.L. Moody uttered this rather challenging statement: “The world has yet to see what God can do with a man fully consecrated to Him.”(2)
B. Obey the Lord Constantly.
Eccl. 12:13 “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
14 For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.”
Luke 6:46 “And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?”
C. Trust the Lord Completely.
Heb. 11:6a “But without faith it is impossible to please him…”
Eph. 3:20 “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,”
NOTE: [1] Someone has said, “Faith is reliance on the certainty that God has a pattern for my life when everything else seems meaningless…Faith is…the conviction the Promiser keeps His promises.”(3)
[2] I wonder what we would accomplish if we would learn to totally rely on God. Someone has related the following story:
A small congregation in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains built a new sanctuary on a piece of property that had been willed to a member. However, ten days before the opening of the new building, the local building inspector informed the pastor that the parking lot was too small for the size of the building. The church would have to double the size of the parking lot before the building could be used for services. The problem with that was the fact that the church had used all of their land, except for the mountain against which the sanctuary had been built. The only way more parking spaces could be created was to move the mountain out of the backyard of the church.
The next Sunday morning the pastor told the congregation that he would meet that night with everyone who had “mountain moving faith.” They would pray that God would move the mountain and somehow provide the means to pave and paint that area before the dedication service for the new sanctuary. That night 24 of the church’s 300 members showed up for prayer.
The next day the pastor heard a knock at his study door. Upon entry, the pastor saw a big burly construction foreman standing before him. The man said, “Excuse me, Reverend. I’m from Acme Construction Company over in the next county. We’re building a huge new shopping mall over there and we need some fill dirt. Would you be willing to sell us a chunk of that mountain behind the church? We’ll pay you for the dirt we remove and pave all the exposed area free of charge, if we can have it right away. We can’t do anything else until we get the dirt in and allow it to settle properly.”
The new sanctuary was dedicated the next Sunday, right on schedule. And not too amazingly, there were many more saints with “mountain moving faith” on opening Sunday than there had been the previous week. Miracles don’t produce faith. Faith produces miracles.(4)
II. LOVE THE LORD INTIMATELY
NOTE: Our love for the Lord should be more than mere surface sentiment and high-sounding religious phrases. Our relationship with God should be real and vital—something of depth and closeness.
A. Be Thirsty for Him.
Ps. 42:1 “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee O God.”
Ps. 63:1 “O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;”
B. Spend Time with Him.
1. Spend time in the pages of God’s Word.
Ps. 119:133 “Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.”
2. Spend time in prayer with God.
Heb. 4:16 “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”
1 Thess. 5:17 “Pray without ceasing.”
3. Spend time in the place of worship, the church.
Heb. 10:25 “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”
NOTE: Do you know that statistics show that attending church may actually prolong your life? Here is an excerpt from a newspaper article, written back in 2000:
A remarkable new study by the National Institute for Healthcare Research analyzed 29 peer-reviewed studies of some 126,000 people and found a statistically significant link between churchgoing and lifespan. Reported in the June 14th edition of The Wall Street Journal, the study found that you are 29% more likely to live longer if you attend church than if you sleep in on Sundays.(5)
C. Be True to Him.
Gal. 5:22 “But the fruit of the Spirit is…faith (faithfulness or dependability)…”
James 4:4 “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.”
III. SERVE THE LORD INTENSELY
A. Serve the Lord Enthusiastically.
Deut. 10:12 “And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy soul,”
Ps. 100:2 “Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing.”
NOTE: Unfortunately, many Christians tend to serve the Lord with relatively little, if any, real passion. They act as though their salvation were only a fairytale.
There is tale told of that great English actor, Macready. An eminent preacher once said to him: “I wish you would explain to me something. “
“Well, what is it? I don’t know that I can explain anything to a preacher.”
“What is the reason for the difference between you and me? You are appearing before crowds night after night with fiction, and the crowds come wherever you go. I am preaching the essential and unchangeable truth, and I am not getting any crowd at all.”
Macready’s answer was this: “This is quite simple. I can tell you the difference between us. I present my fiction as though it were truth; you present your truth as though it were fiction.”(6)
B. Serve the Lord Energetically.
Eccl. 9:10a “…Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might…”
Col. 3:23 “and whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;”
C. Serve the Lord Entirely.
Rom. 12:1 “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”
Theme: May I suggest that this year you resolve to…
I. FOLLOW THE LORD INCESSANTLY
II. LOVE THE LORD INTIMATELY
III. SERVE THE LORD INTENSELY
End Notes:
(1) Bobby Richardson.
(2) D.L. Moody.
(3) Taken from http://www.god4asmile.com/heartsoul.
(4) Adapted from an e-mail from Joe Robinson entitled, "Faith Can Move Mountains."
(5) The Wall Street Journal, "Live Long and Prosper," June 14, 2000, p. A26.
(6) G. Campbell Morgan, Preaching, p. 36.
Copyright December 1990 by Rev. Donnie L. Martin. All rights reserved.
