Do you remember December 31st? That night that marked the end of 2011 and the beginning of 2012. The night that you either committed to change a few things in 2012 or decided to just continue on like I did and say “new years resolutions are dumb.” What makes people claim the craziest things on new years eve? I've heard some crazy new years resolutions and I've got to say, I don't want to make new years resolutions again and I'm not going to make you come up with any resolutions today. What I do want to talk about today is Fresh Starts. That what people always look to January 1st as being. A new year, and new beginning. A start of something new.
There are three Biblical examples of fresh starts that come immediately to mind. We are going to unpack them a bit this morning and look at what they mean for us today.
The first fresh start that I thought of is Jonah. Jonah 1:1-16
If ever there were a man in need of a fresh start it is Jonah right now. A man of God being told to bring the message of repentance to sinning people and Jonah doesn't just say no but runs away also. If I were to put a label on Jonah's actions I would call it sin. Sin is anything that separates us from God and Jonah was now running away from God.
Jonah was a prophet. He was a person that God had spoken through before. He was chosen to be a “teller of good news”. Jonah was much like us. He knew God, he had a relationship with God and yet he decided not to do what God wanted him to do.
Life presents us with so many options today that it can be hard to hear the voice of God through all the noise of life. We spend our time on gaining things for ourselves and rarely think of ways we can gain souls for the Kingdom of heaven.
But Jonah got a fresh start. From Jonah we learn that you get a fresh start when you turn from your sin.
Lets continue to read in 1:17-3:3.
There are a couple things that we need to notice from the beginnings of Jonah's fresh start.
1. God still provided everything that Jonah needed even though Jonah was disobedient. It is hard to picture a giant fish being something Jonah needs but at that moment in time it was the perfect vessel for Jonah to be quiet and reflective of what was going on in his life.
2. Jonah learned the lesson God intended. There are times in my life where I can be absolutely hard headed and miss the lesson that is right in front of me. It is just natural for us to complain about the situation rather than reflect on it to learn. Jonah is now in a fish, he could have been so angry at God for not protecting him from this fish eating him. How easy would that have been? Put yourself in Jonah's shoes. You just got through overboard during a very bad storm, then a fish swallows you and you don't even die... nope you live through the whole ordeal and now are slowly being digested by this fish. I might be a little annoyed. But Jonah knows that this is for his benefit and starts to talk with God.
3. God spoke to Jonah a second time. 3:1. There is hope. Even through flat out rejecting God's instruction Jonah now has his fresh start. In golfing terms this is Jonah's mulligan.
4. If you are familiar with the story of Jonah, you might already be thinking ahead to after Nineveh repents. Jonah does end up going into Nineveh and delivering God's message, the people repent and change their ways and yet Jonah still thinks that they deserve to be destroyed by God. He even goes outside the city to wait for God to destroy them. And yet we see God offer chance after chance to Jonah. Now I am not sure what happens to Jonah. At the end of his book it ends with some questioning from God and no real clear answer where Jonah's mind was at the end. Here is what I do know. God continues to offer fresh starts so that we can get it right.
Another example of a fresh start comes from Jarius' daughter: you get a fresh start when you are dead.
Mark 5:35- 43
I can't think of a better example of a fresh start than being dead and then being alive. But this is a wierd story. People are pretty good at knowing when other people are dead right? There are certain clues, like not getting up and well, lifelessness. And then there is a smell that starts to come after things have been dead for a little while. It is really not that hard to tell if something is dead or not. These people see Jarius' daughter and they see her dead. Jesus sees her and does not see her dead but simply sleeping. What? I remember having a gold fish, i remember my goldfish swimming around its tank and I would feed it and clean its tank, and then it started to swim a little sideways after time, and then a little while after that it wouldn't swim at all but just floated at the top of the water belly up. Dead things are not hard to identify and yet all these people missed it. In human terms she was probably dead... but Jesus is not limited to earthly rules... remember his Dad made the earth. Jesus sees our problems differently than we do. Every problem that I have faced so far has seemed like the worst. I have one problem and that is the biggest issue ever, but then comes another issue and that one seems like the biggest issue ever. Sometimes we treat our issues as if they are the thing that will kill us... there is no more ice cream in the freezer ... I'm going to die. But really that is sometimes what it seems like when we look back on things that have happened in our lives. This issues for Jarius' daughter really killed her. She was dead. But Jesus sees our problems differently than we do. While we tend to make a big deal out of things he sees them as opportunities. Jarius's daughter gets her second chance. Get up Jesus tells her and go eat something. And as if she were sleeping she immediately got up and started walking.
Now watch the language that is used in this story. Girl is dead, Jesus comes into her house and makes her come alive. I had a similar encounter with Jesus and I suspect many of you have also. I was dead. Not physically dead but dead spiritually. There was something missing in my life. I could sense that my life was not going the way it was purposed for. My mom had it, my dad had it, my sister had... but I didn't I asked my dad to help me invite Jesus into my life and after that I was alive! I had it. Jesus now is in charge of my life and even if like Jonah I get thickheaded and do my own thing he will still pursue me and offer fresh starts and he does the same for you. He desperately wants you to trust and obey him and offers you fresh start after fresh start to help you do that.
Thirdly I thought of Lazarus, its a bit like the last point. Lazarus is dead and then Jesus comes along and call him out of the grave. Lazarus shows us that you get a fresh start just for being Jesus favourite person.
John 11:1-44
Other than being dead it doesn't appear like Lazarus did anything wrong. Jesus comes along and bails him out of the grave. This technically is not a “fresh” start. When I picture coming back from the dead I do not imagine pretty faces and smells of moms apple pie and pleasant things like that. Yet this is the ultimate fresh start. Four days now Lazarus has been in a tomb and Jesus comes and bring him back to life with a prayer and a few words.
We see that Lazarus is called a friend of Jesus in verse 11. Lazarus gets a fresh start just for being Jesus' friend! In a few weeks, you will be getting a new pastor and my family and I will be packing up to move here. This is a fresh start for both you and us. We will likely be moving via U-haul and not a giant fish so I'm almost certain it is not because of sin. There are always issues when it comes to church because we all come from different areas and have different opinions, for some of you this might seem like you are going to die with this new young pastor. But remember Jesus sees our problems differently than we do. Lastly we are God's favourites! We are getting a fresh start whether we deserve it or not. Whether we need it or not. Simply because we are Jesus' friends we are getting a fresh start.
Some of us might be here and say “you nailed it on the first point” I'm just like Jonah, I know I've done wrong and I know that God wants me to be different and I am ready to accept my fresh start. God is already giving it to you it is right in front of you. Right now your life feels like a ship at sea being tossed in the ocean like Jonah was. You will come to a point where you can not take it anymore and want to be thrown overboard. God will provide for you through your storm... his mode of transportation at times seems strange but it always is what is best for you.
Others may just be dead. You either have never felt alive or you once felt alive but not recently. “If you've been a Christian for a long time my fear is you've forgotten how hopeless it is to be without Christ.” - Dave Morehouse
We can get so comfortable with our Christianity that we lose focus of what we have been saved from that the rest of the world is heading towards. I was saved from Hell and I was given a relationship with the creator of the world! That should make you feel alive! If not then just ask God to wake you up. When people see us do they think we are dead? Jesus came that we may have life! Ask God to awaken you, the make you feel alive, to give you that feeling of when you first started to follow Jesus.
Lastly we might be like Lazarus. We might have lived a good life and been a friend of Jesus. We might think we are right at the end of our ministry years but along comes Jesus and calls us out of our tomb and back to life. Jesus may be simply taking you through a change in the church... or maybe he is calling you through a change in your life.
