Good morning. I’d like to begin by congratulating all of you for surviving the horrible consequences of the Y2K bug - the food shortages, the long lines at the gas pumps, the collapse of the banking system, the airplanes falling out of the sky, accidental launching of Russia’s nuclear missiles, the meltdown of the nuclear reactors. I know it’s been tough living these past nine days without electricity, or heat, or fresh water. I especially appreciate your showing up here this morning, knowing that every time you leave your house you take your life in your hands, risking attack by the roving bands of criminals who were released prematurely when the computers calculated that they had been in jail for over a hundred years.
Well, let’s talk about something else that happens around this time of year. Now, how many of you made a New Year’s Resolution this year? Would anyone like to tell us what their New Year’s Resolutions are?.
New Year’s Resolutions represent the triumph of hope over experience. It’s like Charlie Brown trying to kick the football, even though Lucy always pulls it away at the last minute. In spite of the fact that we’ve failed to carry out our resolutions in the past, we think, "this year is going to be different!"
What I’d like to do this morning is give you some helps for change from God’s Word. Change is possible. The desire to make positive changes in our life is a good thing. It’s not foolish to want to . . . [examples]. But to be successful you have to go about it the right way, and that’s what the Bible can show us.
First, acknowledge the need for change
"How many psychiatrists does it take to change a light bulb? Only one, but it has to really want to change." It may seem obvious, but unless a recognition of the need for change, and a desire for change, there will be no change. You have to decide you want to change.
Corollary: you can’t change someone against their will. There’s a musical on Broadway now called, "I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change." Doesn’t that sum up most relationships? So this is not a message about how to change someone else. I can’t give you any help with that. This is about helping you to make changes in your life.
· Listen to what others are telling you about your need to change.
"Pride only breeds quarrels, but wisdom is found in those who take advice." - Proverbs 13:10 (NIV)
"Listen to advice and accept instruction, and in the end you will be wise." - Proverbs 19:20 (NIV)
Would all the people in the room who cannot think of one area in which they need to change please raise their hands? If you look closely, you will see that none of those raised hands are wearing wedding rings. Why? Because all of us have flaws, and the closer you get to someone, the easier it is to see those flaws. Most of you who are married are familiar with this concept.
So do we make use of this resource? Do we seek out the assistance of those closest to us, to help us identify areas in which change is needed? No. Why not? Pride. What happens when someone tries to point out a need for change in our life? We quarrel with them. Isn’t that true? Why? Pride.
What’s the opposite of pride? Wisdom. If you want to be wise instead of foolish, listen to advice. Accept instruction. The next time someone says, "you know what the trouble with you is?" Say, "no, please tell me." First of all, you’ll really confuse them, and they’ll probably forget what they were going to say. But if they don’t, you may learn something.
The Scottish poet, Robert Burns, wrote, "Oh, that some power the gift could give us, to see ourselves as others see us. It would from many a blunder and foolish notion free us."
· Listen to what God is telling you.
"Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like."
-- James 1:23-24 (NIV)
Now, we don’t always consider the mirror to be our friend, do we? Especially at this time of the year, when we’re just getting up the courage to step on the scales after the month-long feast of ThanksgivingChristmasNewYears. "No," you say to yourself, "that can’t be right." So you step off and step back on a few times. Then you readjust the needle. Then you take off your watch to lighten the load, then your socks, like a hot air balloonist releasing ballast.
Now, what’s the problem? Are the scales defective? No, they’re giving us an accurate assessment of our weight. The problem is that we don’t want an accurate assessment. But if we are to make a change in our weight, we need a clear understanding of our weight. In the same way, if we want to make a change in our appearance, we need to have a clear view of how we look. And if we want to make a change in our life, we need to hold up the mirror of the Bible and look at our reflection.
How do you do that? Read it. Speaking of New Year’s resolutions, do you know that if you read one chapter a day in the Bible, you can read through the entire New Testament in about nine months? [Matthew, Mark, etc.] That’s less than ten minutes a day, about the same length of time it takes you to weigh yourself.
Second, acknowledge that you can’t do it alone
"Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!" - Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 (NIV)
As much as we may admire the image of the independent man, the rugged individualist who takes care of his problems with no help from anyone else, the reality is that we all depend on one another. The Y2K scare reminded us of that. We are dependent on other people to grow our food and transport it to the grocery store. We are dependent on other people to take oil out of the ground and convert it into gasoline and heating fuel and transport it to the local gas station. We are dependent on those who work at the water department. Those who tried to prepare for Y2K be making themselves completely independent of society found that the it was extremely difficult.
We not only need other people in an economic sense, we need other people in an emotional and psychological sense. When the going gets rough, we need people to encourage us and cheer us on. When we fall, we need people to help us up.
"Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing."
- 1 Thessalonians 5:11 (NIV)
That’s why the "Community" in WestShore Community Church is so important. The church is a community of believers in Christ who come together to share one another’s burdens, to help each other up, to encourage and comfort one another in difficult times and celebrate with one another in good times. We all need that, and especially when we are trying something as difficult as making significant life changes.
However, we not only need the help of other people. We need God’s help. Because the kind of change we need doesn’t come from willpower or resolutions or turning over a new leaf. The kind of change we need is a radical transformation. What we need is a change of heart. What we need is a change of desires, a change of priorities, a change of loves and desires. And that is what God offers us in Christ.
"You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires, to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness." - Ephesians 4:22-24 (NIV)
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"
- 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV)
The change which God can make in us is so radical that it changes our basic nature. It gives us the ability to abandon destructive habits, to shake off those addictions that have their hooks deep into us, to put a stop to the cycle of self-defeating behaviors that we hate but somehow keep returning to over and over. It gives us the power to change, not from the outside in, but from the inside out. We’re not just improved versions of what we were before, but we are fundamentally different, fundamentally new. We are new creations.
Does that sound good to you? Is there something in your life that has a powerful hold on you, something you’ve tried to overcome but failed?
[Romans 7:15-25]
God can give you the power to overcome that thing - whatever it is - that has you in its grip. He can change your heart. He can make you a new person. He can give you a fresh start.
Third, commit yourself to God in prayer
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened."
- Matthew 7:7-8 (NIV)
God wants to give, He invites you to ask, and He promises to answer. If you want to make changes in your life, if you want to make a fresh start, if you want to escape the pull of destructive habits, if you want to have your heart changed, if you want the power to do what you know is right, just ask. You don’t have to earn it, Jesus Christ has already paid for this great gift by the price of his own life. All you can do is receive. I invite you to do that even this morning.
(For an .rtf file of this and other sermons, see www.journeychurchonline.org/messages.htm)
