The New Life Resolution

At the beginning of each year, people all over the earth make resolutions. I am going to lose weight, I am going to stop smoking, I am going to have more patience, I am going to get out of debt, I am going to be more compassionate.

I believe the majority of us start out well, with good intentions of really making it. We all have a born desire to be better, to do better and have a better life. I believe that New Year’s Resolutions are good, they give us a goal to achieve that will ultimately help us to be better people.

Statistics show that the majority of these resolutions that we make each year usually are broken within three to six months.

Why do we do this? Is it because we are taught since birth that new is better and old is bad? Most of us like things that are new, especially useful things. We like new cars, houses, clothes and so on. But for most, when the newness wears off, we start craving and seeking something newer. I believe it is our flesh that cries out for the next best thing in life, new is better and we must have the newest item and we gotta keep up with the Jones’.

Just as we discard things when the newness wears off, we do the same with our resolutions.

- “A New Year’s Resolution is something that goes in one Year and out another.”

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 2 Corinthians 5:17

God has given to us something that continues to stay new from the day we accept it. And it will never grow old. Many of us here this morning have accepted this newness, this new life that shall never grow old or dull.

We gave our lives to Jesus and we became new creatures, full of life and excitement. We dove into the Scriptures, spent time in prayer, never missed a church service, listened to Christian music and we even talked about God, Jesus and this new life we received to our friends and family.

But something has happen since then hasn’t it? The newness of our faith has diminished and we no longer have that excitement that zeal. With each year that passes us by, we grow a little further from God and the Life Resolution that we made becomes old a little less important to us.

As we sit here at the dawn of a new year, what is it that we can HONESTLY say that we can give to God?

VIDEO: “This Year”

Why is there always such a huge gap between what we resolve to do and what we actually do, especially in matters of faith?

Christian, God wants us to look at our Life’s Resolution that we made and non-believer’s God wants you to make your Life’s resolution today. God desires us to keep our Resolution in Serving Him fresh and new. What better time to do this then now as we look to a new year.

Scripture tells us that we can have a new life, "a new beginning". When we are born again, we become God's "new creations". In this we come to possess several things as a result of God's grace.

First of all……

I. We Have a New Position

"Therefore if anyone is in Christ..."

A. The phrase "in Christ" contrasts with what we were before our faith came and did its work. Our old position was "without Christ".

1. There is one question that has plagued many believers for years. It is a question that has been brought to me on several occasions. “If someone claims to be a Christian, why do they act as if they’re not”?

Illustration: One dying heretic was quoted as saying: "God will forgive me... it’s his profession." The heretic had no intention of repenting of his past; he was just flippantly declaring that God would have to forgive him, because that was what God was known for.

2. This is the problem. For many of us, we only hear what we want to hear as far as God’s Word. We seem to change the Christian belief into our belief. We want it tailored to fit us and how we want it.

3. A lot of people’s actions betray what they claim to actually believe in and follow as believers in Christ.

4. They’ll go to church on Sunday

… but on Monday they gather with the guys down at the water cooler and tell dirty jokes

They’ll go to church on Sunday

… but on Monday they’re sitting at the computer looking at things they ought not to be looking at.

They’ll go to church on Sunday