Dr. Bradford Reaves
Crossway Christian Fellowship
Hagerstown, MD
www.mycrossway.org
Let’s be honest for a moment. How many of you kept to the diet throughout 2022? How many of you actually kept exercising past February? This year I am determined it's going to be different. I have made a New Years' resolution I can keep. I have decided to eat more and exercise less.
This morning I want to talk to you about some resolutions, that will make a radical difference in our lives and our church. I want to challenge you to make 4 new commitments for this New Year.
I. Commit Yourself to Forget Your Failures
Brothers, I do not consider myself as having laid hold of it yet, but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13–14)
The power of the Gospel is that we do not have to live imprisoned by our past.
Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1)
Sin is like a prison. The person living in sin feels encaged by that sin and will always long for the freedom that is available beyond the prison walls. Simply put, sin is not a good place to be.
Because sin feeds off the flesh, when a person is entangled by sin, that person will not recognize the voice of the Holy Spirit because the Spirit and the flesh are not in agreement with each other. Those who live by the Spirit walk in step with the Spirit and those who walk in the flesh live according to the flesh
“So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. (John 8:36)
Discussion: What are some ways Crossway Christian Fellowship can help set prisoners free this year?
and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” (John 8:32)
II. Commit Yourself to Give Up Your Grudges
So, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience; 13 bearing with one another, and graciously forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone, just as the Lord graciously forgave you, so also should you. (Colossians 3:12–13)
Did you catch that challenge? God in those words is challenging us to give up our grudges. That is what he means when he says to forgive each other whatever quarrels you may have against one another. I want to challenge you to be a person of grace.
?As each one has received a gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God (1 Peter 4:10)
A grudge is a deep ongoing resentment that we cultivate in our hearts against someone else. A grudge is an unforgiving spirit that leads to unforgiving attitudes and unforgiving actions.
Harboring a grudge is about nursing a dislike for someone. What you need to know is that grudges are dangerous because they are destructive. Grudges destroy marriages. Grudges break up families. Grudges ruin friendships. Grudges split churches.
Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for building up what is needed, so that it will give grace to those who hear. (Ephesians 4:29)
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 “By this, all will know that you are My disciples if you have a love for one another.” (John 13:34–35)
I am absolutely certain that there are people here who need to give up their grudges and forgive the grievance they have against someone else. Some of you need to forgive the grievance you have against your parents for what they did or didn’t do. Some of you need to forgive your children for the same reason. Some of you need to forgive a partner for emotional or physical abuse. Some of you need to give up the grudge you have against someone at work because of the way they have treated you. Some of you need to give up the grudge that stems from an argument you had with someone. Some of you maybe even need to give up the grudges you have against other people in this congregation. God says that that deep-seated resentment you have against that person has to go. What better time to make that difficult decision to forgive than the start of a new year?
if possible, so far as it depends on you, being at peace with all men, (Romans 12:18)
God is challenging us to do all we can to restore our relationships. Some relationships might have gone wrong in our lives because of what other people have done and they might well not want that relationship restored. That is why he starts by saying “If it's possible” But some of our relationships have gone wrong because of what we have done.
The hardest words to say are “I am sorry.” I wonder how many relationships are not all they should be or could be simply because someone won’t do that.
Discussion: How can we as a church help be a place of reconciliation in 2023?
III. Commit Yourself to Turn Away from Transgression
I read about the American Civil War an interesting fact is that after the war was over and the slaves had been set free many slaves decided to stay with their former masters and continue to do what they were told. They were set free but they chose to live as slaves. The New Testament says that is exactly how many Christian choose to live. Christ died to set us free, and the Holy Spirit has given us the power to be free, but just like those former slaves many Christians still choose to obey their old master, sin.
Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, (Romans 6:12)
When God says for us to not let sin control the way we live and to not give in to its lustful desires He is issuing the challenge to turn our backs on our transgressions. Christian writers used to talk about something called besetting sins. What they meant by besetting sins were particular sins that a particular Christian was prone to doing time and time again. For most of us when we are saved we give up certain sins easily but there are other things that we know are wrong that we really battle with. Those are our besetting sins. Many of us end up choosing to give into our besetting sins and end up living double lives.
“If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is lying at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.” (Genesis 4:7)
Cain and Able were two brothers who each brought an offering to God. Able was the keeper of the flocks, while Caine was the tiller of the ground. These were two necessary occupations in a primitive world.. So when the time came for offerings to be made, each son, brought what he had - Abel a choice lamb, and Cain a portion of his crop. God accepted Able’s offering while rejecting Cain’s.
The nature of their offering wasn’t as significant as the fact that one was offered in faith and the other out of duty. Abel’s was the firstling - or the best of the herd, while Cain’s was simply some of his crops. It was Cain’s response to God’s rejection that planted the seed of murder in his heart.
God knows where he is headed, He sees what’s in his heart, and so God reaches out to Cain and warns him of the condition of his heart: Genesis 4:7 “sin is lying at the door, and its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”
In this sentence is the heart of the sin that we harbor - rather it harbors us - and it underscores the power of evil and our need for a Savior. God tells can (and us) that sin is a living entity, a powerful force of evil and that its desire is to rule over you. God is telling Cain, “You can’t let sin rule over you. On the contrary, you must be its master.”
We teach that the problem is our desire for sin - and that is partially true. But first and foremost, sin’s desire is to rule over us. It wants to dominate us through anger, addictions, and abominations. It will dominate us until it destroys us. Cain was standing on the threshold of hell.
Be of sober spirit, be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. (1 Peter 5:8)
Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully matured, it brings forth death. (James 1:15)
Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You. (Psalm 119:11)
No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man, but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it. (1 Corinthians 10:13)
Obviously, without Christ, we are hopeless against sin, but Paul reminds us that Phil 4:13 “13 I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)
Who Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that having died to sin, we might live to righteousness; by His WOUNDS YOU WERE HEALED. (1 Peter 2:24)
Discussion: In what ways can Crossway Christian Fellowship help people turn away from sin in 2023
