01-08-2023 Happy New Year! What Makes it Happy
Text: John 3:3-5, Romans 6:4, Philippians 3:13-14
Happy New Year! How many times have you said this in the last week? Now that Christmas has passed and the lights and trees are coming down, Happy New Year is the greeting of the season. Cards that we sent and received offer the greeting, many celebrations were centered on it. But the truth is, the New Year isn’t really new. Yes, we all offer Happy New Year greetings, but the truth is we woke up to the same old burdens and problems before the clock struck midnight. Some may have awakened with a terrible hangover making January 1st a pretty miserable day. Over the years we have all learned that there is no magic midnight moment that suddenly ushers in a world where there are no problems. So the question is, what can make a New Year happy?
There is one thing I can guarantee will make your New Year happy: a new birth in Jesus Christ. We read in John 3:3-5 “(3) Jesus answered and said unto him ‘Verily, verily, [meaning very truly] I say unto you, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’ (4) Nicodemus said unto Him, ‘how can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? (5) Jesus answered, ‘verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man be born of water and not of the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.’” Jesus is revealing that God’s kingdom is personal not national or ethnic, and entrance requirements are repentance and spiritual rebirth. This erased Israel’s political hope of freedom from Rome. And it means that God’s kingdom is open to all people – Jews and Gentiles – who accept Him just as we are told in John 3:16.
New spiritual birth is an absolute necessity for true Christians. But it’s not baptism or reformation. It takes place upon receiving Christ by faith as we are told in John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John also wrote in John 1:12: “But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them who believe on His name.” Complete faith in Christ and what He did for us at the cross is the only thing that can make a person a true child of God.
When you make the sincere decision to accept Jesus in faith, something inside you changes you. Paul tells us in Romans 6:4 “Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death; that as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” This means that all the sins and transgressions of or past are buried; when they put Jesus in the tomb, all our sins went into that tomb as well. Our old life died and was buried with Him, and His resurrection was our resurrection to a ‘newness of life.” We can now treat the desires and temptations of our old nature as dead. Then we are free to our wonderful new life with Jesus.
There is no one more miserable than the believer who doesn’t live right. If you believe but haven’t gone all in to make the needed changes in your life, I encourage you to examine your choices and see if you need to fully dedicate your life to Jesus. Galatians 5:16-23 provides guidelines that tell us how to walk in the newness of life. Fully transformed people produce something special within their lives which Paul calls the Spirit fruit. The Holy Spirit spontaneously and creatively produces this kind of fruit in reborn Christians. The Spirit generates these character traits because we are becoming more like Jesus who perfectly modeled them for us. When Christ is at the center of our life these traits grow and flow from us naturally. We can’t obtain them by trying to get them without His help. If we want the fruit of the Spirit to grow in us, we must live in close union with Jesus. That means we give our life to Him, get to know Him, love Him, remember Him, and imitate Him. As a result, we will fulfil the intended purpose of God’s law which is to love God and our neighbors. The God who sent the law also sends us the Spirit. A Spirit-filled life creates perfect harmony in accordance with God’s law. A person who exhibits the fruit of the Spirit fulfils God’s law far better than people who observe the religious rituals but have little love in their heart.
In Ephesians 5:1-16 Paul tells us how to live a Christian life. Just as children imitate parents, we must imitate God by modeling our lives after Jesus. His love for us led Him to sacrifice Himself so that we might live. Our love for others should be the same kind – a love that goes beyond affection to self-sacrificing service. Obscenity and off color jokes are so common today that we begin to think they’re fine and normal. But crude language has no place in the Christian’s conversation because it doesn’t reflect God’s gracious presence in us. We can’t praise God and remind others of His goodness if we’re speaking crudely. Jesus taught us to befriend sinners and lead them to Him, but Paul cautions us to understand the lifestyle of people who live sinful, immoral lives encouraging it in others – whether they’re in the church or outside it. Such people quickly pollute the church and endanger its unity and purpose. When we befriend unbelievers, be wary of those who oppose all that Christianity stands for as they are more likely to influence us for evil than we are to influence them for good.
As people who have light from the Lord, our actions will reflect our faith. Jesus stressed this truth in the Sermon on the Mount. Our pasts may have dark times of cynicism, despair, shame, or self-doubt and as a result Satan will work to lead us back into that darkness. We reject Satan by intentionally living a life based on what pleases the Lord. This allows Christ’s light to shine brighter in us. Avoid any pleasure or activity that results in sin and instead expose these deeds because our silence may be interpreted as approval. God needs people who will take a stand for what is good, and Christians must lovingly speak out for what is true and holy. We have to keep our standards high, acting wisely and doing good wherever we can as outlined in God’s word.
We learn in Philippians 3:13-14 that becoming a Christian requires us to forget and leave our old life behind us. Paul had reason to forget what was behind him because he held the coats of those who had been stoned for their Christian beliefs. We’ve all done things for which we are ashamed which creates tension between what we have been and what we hope to become. Because our trust is now in Christ, we can let go of past guilt and look forward to what God will help us become. Don’t dwell on your past. Instead, grow in your knowledge of God by concentrating on your relationship with Him now. Realize that you’re forgiven and allow yourself to move on to a life of faith and obedience. Look forward to the prize of heaven later and a fuller and more meaningful life now because of your faith and trust in Jesus Christ.
Our other choice is to continue to walk in the flesh meaning we hold on to the things in our old life that are sinful in God’s sight. If we do that, we haven’t changed at all and are still ruled by Satan. Christians can’t have it both ways. It’s an either/or choice. If you’re finding there is a lot of conflict within your heart and problems in your life, I urge you to examine your heart to see if you not only believe but have truly accepted Jesus by making the choice to walk in the Spirit and work to make needed changes your life.
God will not force you to accept Jesus, but the results of neglecting God’s truth mean you are not born again, and your soul will be lost in eternity, your heavenly reward will be lost, and you will not be part of the Rapture of the Church. If you accept Jesus and set out to make real changes in your life, you will have eternal salvation, complete separation from the evil of this world, and the comfort and promises afforded you by living in the center of God’s will.
As this new year begins, it’s a good time for all of us to examine and rededicate our lives to serving God and living as Jesus lived. Doing so will give you peace that the world cannot understand even in the midst of adversity and tragedy.
May God bless you today and every day ahead, and give you the strength and courage to live a full Christian life in this crazy chaotic world.