Resolution Time

THE PASTOR’S POINTS

sermon ministry of

CEDAR LODGE BAPTIST CHURCH

Thomasville, NC

December 28, 2003

What do you suppose is the most frequent resolution made by Americans? I’ll give you a hint – it has to do with the dreaded scale! A woman walked into her bathroom at home. As she did, she saw her husband weighing himself on the bathroom scales, sucking in his stomach. The woman thought to herself, "He thinks that he’s going to weigh less by sucking in his stomach." She sarcastically said, "You think sucking-in your stomach is going to help?" Her husband replied, “It’s the only way I can see the numbers."

Making the resolution is the easy part; remembering to follow-through is the more difficult assignment. Have you ever forgotten the resolution you made to lose some of that extra-around-the-middle you accumulated during all those holiday celebrations?

A man moved into a retirement community. It wasn’t long until he had made a number of friends among the other residents. There was one lady he was especially attracted to, and she was also attracted to him. They spent a lot of time together. Finally one evening he proposed, asking her to marry him.

The next morning he woke up remembering his proposal, but he couldn’t remember her answer. So he went to her and said, "I’m really embarrassed. I proposed to you last night but I can’t remember if you said `Yes’ or `No."’ "Oh, thank goodness!" she replied. "I remembered saying `Yes’ but I couldn’t remember who asked me." [1]

Next week we are beginning a new year, both on the calendar, and for church business. Now, church business applies to more than the finances or budget; it applies to our goals and plans for reaching people for Christ in the year. On the last Sunday before we begin this new year I want to call our attention to the fact that it is indeed RESOLUTION TIME.

Our resolution revolves around the Great Commission of Jesus to His church. The scene was a mountain-top, the resurrected Lord Jesus with his disciples gathered. And He gives them their [and our] marching orders:

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20 (NIV)

There is a command in this commission. It should lead us all to the place of resolution time. And the question most in view should be: Upon WHAT information should I base my resolution?

I’ll Base My Resolution on the Power of the Great Commission

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” Matthew 28:18 (NIV)

Authority is the power of the Great Commission. Authority “…signifies the divinely given power and authority of Jesus Christ as deriving from the Father.”[2]

If you’re going to live a lifetime based upon some convictions that run deep in your soul, that conviction ought to be founded upon something substantive.

The Bible says all things of this world are not substantive, but transitory.

7The grass withers and the flowers fall,

because the breath of the LORD blows on them.

Surely the people are grass.

8The grass withers and the flowers fall,

but the word of our God stands forever.”

The power of the Great Commission is found in the authority of Jesus Christ, the power that God has over every living thing and created being in the universe. God is in control of time, space and eternity. I’ll base my resolution on Him!

I’ll Base My Resolution on the Purpose of the Great Commission

19“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” Matthew 28:19 (NIV)

The Great Commission calls for us to get personally involved in winning others to Jesus. It is true that it is the Holy Spirit who wins people, but friends, like the Ethiopian Eunuch needed a Phillip to be an obedient witness to understand what God was speaking to his searching heart, there are billions in the world, and thousands right here in Thomasville who need our faithful witness.

The purpose is two-fold, reaching and teaching. We are to “go” and witness; this is our reaching. We are to make disciples; this is the teaching to obey. Our curriculum is ‘everything He commanded.”

Seinfield is the once-popular TV sitcom. Elaine is one of the regular characters. In one old episode she and her boyfriend are having a conversation about God.