“Forget Resolutions”
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Happy New Year, church family! Like the ocean’s tide, 2023 has receded and ready or not, 2024 has arrived.
It’s customary for us to mark the start of a new year by both looking back while simultaneously looking forward. We wonder where a year has gone, or the years for that matter. Believe it or not, this is the first message of my fifth year as your pastor. So not only am I looking back on 2023, these last few weeks, I’ve looked back on four years of ministry of preaching the word of God and find myself hoping that this isn’t like the story of the three men who decided to go out hunting together. One was a lawyer, one a doctor, and the other a preacher. On their hunting trip, they were walking together and to their surprise, the biggest buck they’d each seen was in front of them. Each of them acted out of instinct, shouldered their rifles, and squeezed the trigger. The buck hit the ground like a sack of bricks and all three of them rushed up to see just how big that deer was.
To their surprise, the buck had only one bullet hole, which then started a debate about whose buck it was. The debate went on for a few minutes and then a game warden happened upon the three men and asked what the problem was. The doctor told the game warden all about their debate and the game warden assured them that he would take a look at the deer and tell them who shot it. And it wasn’t but a few seconds after inspecting the deer that the game warden announced, “The pastor shot the buck!” The three men were surprised that he knew it so quickly to which the game warden replied, “It’s easy. The bullet went in one ear and out the other.”
Now, I don’t actually know if that’s true for you, but don’t let this message pass you by.
One way we approach simultaneously looking back and looking forward in the new year is to come up with some resolutions…some decisions…to do or not do something. And, of course, you know the popular resolutions that we make. We usually aim to be healthier, do better with our families, or improve our relationship with God. We come up with these resolutions because we desire a better outcome, right? We look back to the last year and remember the jeans we can’t fit in any more so we make it our aim to get back into them. We decide we’re going to do something at or for church. The thing that I wonder though is, don’t we seem to make the same resolutions, year after year? Have you ever wondered why your ability to bring about your resolutions seem most like a Katy Perry song? It’s “‘cause you’re hot, then you’re cold; you’re yes, then you’re no; you’re in, then you’re out; you’re up, then you’re down.” In other words, a resolution is just a promise to yourself and when the going gets tough, there’s not even a second thought about letting ourselves down.
Let me tell you something about the Lord… He doesn’t deal in resolutions. He deals in covenants. Let me give you a formal definition for that word.
Covenant is a sacred kinship bond between two parties.
Putting this in simpler terms for now with an example: God has made a covenant…a promise…with you and I as Christians, that when we place our faith in Jesus Christ, he has covenanted that our sins will be forgiven, that we will be made new from the inside-out, and that we will live for eternity at peace with him. He has covenanted that through faith, we gain a Father and we gain a family. God has staked his name…he’s staked his reputation on this…so if he doesn’t hold up his end of the bargain, he isn’t just letting himself down. And God enters into this covenant with all the children he has adopted into his family, through faith. So if you are a Christian this morning, God has promised these things to you as his son or daughter. And if you’re not a Christian, God offers forgiveness, transformation, family, peace, and eternity to you. He can because he’s the Triune God who has revealed himself three Persons in One: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Now, I’ve started our time together in this way because I am confident of our God and I am confident that 2024 holds so much potential for this church. And in order for that potential to be reached, we cannot be in then out as brothers and sisters. We need to forget resolutions at least in terms of our commitment to this church and God’s kingdom. Our song cannot be summed up as each of us being hot and then cold or yes then no. I believe that God is calling us to each covenant together before the Lord to make progress towards the potential this year holds for our church.
Are you willing to covenant?
Are you willing to covenant?
And if we each would say yes, I might just let us dismiss right now, but I know that for many, the question out there this morning is: “Well, what are the terms?” I’m glad you asked. I haven’t even gotten started preaching, so let me turn our attention back to our text for this morning, where we will see three aspects to this covenant for our church family for 2024. We will work through three headings that relate to the gospel that our text communicates and from there, we will extract the aspects of the covenant. The first heading we will explore is
1. The gospel is good news for all
1. The gospel is good news for all
Let me tell you about this good news…this glorious gospel of which I am called to announce… It’s the same gospel that our text tells us that the Lord Jesus took Luke 8:1a “…through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God.” Jesus was preaching the gospel of God’s marvelous kingdom. He was announcing that the salvation of God was available to everyone, announcing that God was ready to be sought by people who were not asking for him and found by people who did not seek the Lord (Isaiah 65:1).
You may not be here this morning because you are necessarily pursuing God, but it is in God’s nature to reveal himself to people who aren’t looking for God. No matter your reason for being here, what our text is opening us to is the goodness of God as a Father and how, in Jesus, God was revealing himself in a way that he had not done before.
The Bible says this about the gospel:
1 Corinthians 15:3-4 (ESV)
Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures…[and] he was buried…and he was raised on the third day…
We live in a society that is constantly searching for sound bites, desiring one-liners and zingers. Please do not read “Christ died for our sins…” and think, “Well, that’s nice.” 8 billion souls draw breath this day around the globe and countless many have heard the name of Jesus and yet, know only the headline but don’t know the story.
As you sit there this morning, there are many words you might use to describe yourself that you believe are unique to you. Tall. Short. Fat. Thin. Light. Dark. Intelligent. Athletic. Studious. Hard-working. The list goes on and yet, there is one word that describes you, the person next to you, and describes me all the same: sinner. Each of us, no matter how highly you think of yourself, is a sinner.
When you’re in an interview and the interviewer says that inevitable open-ended question, “Tell me about yourself,” sinner isn’t the first adjective out of the chute, is it? It’s not because we have been coached to see only the most positive aspects of who we are while overlooking the rest of it. The gospel demands that we have a sobering reality check, that we see plainly that where it really counts, we are each morally corrupt. We each have done and thought things that separate us from the perfect, holy God who is our Creator and without God’s help, that separation cannot be bridged. Don’t think of sin as something easy to dismiss…like, “Oh, it’s just a minor cuss word.” Or, “I just got a little drunk.” Or, like so many people do to gratify their lusts, “It’s OK. I just looked. I didn’t touch.” Sin is committing high treason against God, who is the King of the cosmos. Every sin is high treason. Every little cuss word. Every time you just catch a buzz. Every time you even briefly look upon another person with lust who is not your husband or wife.
As you may be aware, any time a person commits treason against a nation of this world, they are subject to the penalty of death - and the same is true for every sinner. That’s why the Bible says in Revelation 21:8 “but as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” Even the reality of hell and the torment of the judgement found there is mocked today, but make no mistake, there is nothing you and I can do to avoid God’s judgement for sinners. Just as a good father will discipline his children, so must the heavenly Father bring justice upon every soul who has sinned. How could he be good if he was not just?
I have been to a Christian tourist attraction in northern Kentucky called the Ark Encounter twice. It is a place where some Christians have attempted to build a replica of the Ark that God commanded Noah to build thousands of years ago. The first time my family went was in 2019. Here’s a photo - look how little my girls were! To give you a sense of everything, even though we look tiny in the photo and that replica of Noah’s Ark is huge, we are about 400’ in front of the Ark. It’s huge! And the real Ark that Noah built was just as huge!
If you’re not familiar with the story of the Ark, God told Noah about a coming judgement upon the earth for humanity’s great sin and God told Noah to build an ark because God would judge humanity’s sin by flooding the earth. Any creatures aboard the ark at the time of the flood would be spared.
Now, I much appreciated my first visit to the Ark Encounter over my second because I think things have been softened a touch, probably to make the exhibit more palatable to the masses. On that first trip, as soon as you made your way on to the replica ark, there was a section that was intended to simulate what boarding the ark as the rains began to fall must’ve been like. The lights were flickering, simulating the lightening of the hellacious storm outside. There was a deafening sound of torrential rain. I’m a grown a man and it was terrifying for me, but my girls were just 8 and 6 at the time. My youngest was like glue, just stuck on me and I will never forget what happened next. She pulled on my arm to get my attention and she asked me, “Why are they knocking on the boat, daddy?” I was confused and then realized what I hadn’t distinguished from the rain and thunder - countless hands beating on the side of the ark. Innumerable voices shouting, “Let us in! Save us!” And Lily said in the midst of tears, “Daddy, we have to let them in. Why can’t they come in?”
And that afternoon, I got to explain God’s justice and God’s love to my six year old child. I explained to her that those people outside the ark couldn’t come on board because they had rejected God already. God had revealed his glory to them through creation and that in God’s love, God’s salvation was extended to them for the decades that it took Noah to build the ark. They had countless opportunities to turn to God and be saved.
So Lily asked, “What about now, daddy? Is there another storm coming?”
There isn’t another flood coming, but the Lord himself is coming and when he does, he will come to judge the wicked and the righteous. Those who are not found to be in Christ, meaning they have rejected Jesus, will be cast into the lake of fire. But the good news for you and I is that Jesus is a better ark, that there’s room for far more souls than that big boat could ever carry because Jesus died for our sins and though he died, he’s alive!
I explained this to a six year old and added that every one who says that Jesus is King and believes in their heart that God raised him from the dead will be saved. Do you know what she said to that? This is a six year old’s wisdom.
Condition #1: We’ve got to tell everyone
Condition #1: We’ve got to tell everyone
Friends, God has not saved us for ourselves but he has saved us in his love for his glory so that we would tell others. We have an obligation to go and tell and so, this year, tell every one you know about the gospel. Let them know that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. And beyond that, if you are a Christian, tell them about how
2. The gospel changes lives
2. The gospel changes lives
Our text tells us that Jesus was out proclaiming this gospel and then brings to our attention that Luke 8:1b–3c “…the twelve were with him, and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s household manager, and Susanna, and many others…”
Wow, what a group to walk with Jesus to testify to the transforming power of the gospel!
Let me tell you about three different ways that the gospel changes lives.
2A. The gospel changes minds
2A. The gospel changes minds
Remembering back to when Jesus called the twelve to himself, we saw just who those twelve are in
Simon, whom he named Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot, and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
Each of those mens’ lives were absolutely changed when Jesus called them and I want to point out to you just how the gospel changed the minds of two of these guys. Simon the Zealot and Matthew the tax collector.
Both Matthew and Simon are Jewish men, but they could not be living their lives any more differently. Before meeting Jesus, Matthew had taken a job as a tax collector within the Roman infrastructure. There was no greater betrayal to a people than for a Jew to serve Rome as a tax collector, literally nickel and diming his own people in service to a godless ruler. And on the absolute opposite end of the spectrum is Simon, who is basically a Jewish religious fanatic who was a member of a party ready to revolt against Rome and restore Israel.
These aren’t guys who lived in the same bubble. One is a traitor and the other is a revolutionary. And for both of them, the gospel proved that their loyalties were misplaced. When Jesus calls you to himself such that he is Lord and Savior, your loyalty and allegiance is to Christ and his kingdom first. When you and I realize this, we may be Democrats or Republicans. We may be Longhorns or Aggies. We may be new to Devine or from a legacy family. But all those interests fall away as things that don’t really matter here amongst God’s people because our allegiance is to our King, Jesus.
2B. The gospel changes conditions
2B. The gospel changes conditions
Did you notice that among the group who are with Jesus is a woman known as Mary Magdalene, who was delivered from seven demons?
We are so scientific in our thinking today that demon possession is difficult for us to comprehend. So let me tell you about Sam, a man who was a 40-something father of two, making a living in Christian publishing. Sam had never been in jail or never been on the streets, he had just let a nightly beer turn into two, which turned into a six-pack, which turned into a case a day and mini bottles chugged in his bathroom. Soon enough, every moment in his life revolved around trying to sneak away to grab a drink.
A story like Sam’s opens us to the mind of someone possessed by alcoholism. Sam did make his way to rehab, and as he progressed into recovery phases, he struggled to understand God’s presence amid his alcoholism until he arrived at this truth: substance abuse is a physical manifestation of sin’s control and possession of someone. And everyone, as it turns out, is an addict.
My friends, if you repent and believe, Jesus will begin the work of delivering you from the sin that possesses you today. It can be instant, it can be a lifetime, but Jesus will not leave you the way he finds you.
2C. The gospel changes situations
2C. The gospel changes situations
Now, this is a really important detail that I hope that we don’t miss out on. Did you notice that Luke makes mention of many women who were among the disciples with Jesus?
You need to know how incredible this is for Luke to record… In the time that Jesus was on earth, women were second class citizens. It doesn’t matter if we’re talking about Jewish women or Roman women, either. Society was structured so that men had absolute power. A Jewish teacher like Jesus would’ve had men exclusively walking with him, and yet, here among those walking with Jesus are many women.
The Bible says that Galatians 3:28 “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus,” and friends, the good news is that in Christ’s kingdom, there are no second class citizens. Young and old, male and female, every shade of skin color, nothing and I mean nothing makes us superior to one another.
This all to bring us to the second condition laid before us:
Condition #2: We will celebrate when souls have been forgiven and lives transformed
Condition #2: We will celebrate when souls have been forgiven and lives transformed
Church family, let me make clear what this calls for here. Every body wants to be a part of a success and I need to make clear that these are the metrics for defining success. This is what we celebrate. We are a successful church when we are discipling forgiven souls through deep, gospel transformation. If you are measuring the success of this church by the number of people in a service or how much last month’s offering was, you’re not using the standard that mattered to Jesus.
Which brings us finally to this truth:
3. The gospel demands our all
3. The gospel demands our all
If we are really going to promise before the Lord that we’re going to tell everyone about the reason we have faith in Jesus so that we will see minds, conditions, and situations changed here in Devine and beyond, it’s going to take everything we have.
I want to call our attention to these women again, these wonderful, amazing women who walked with Jesus. These women were forgiven of their sins, they were delivered from what possessed them, and now they’re giving their all to the ministry of the Son of God Incarnate. We look and we wonder, what was it that marks as giving their all? Their time? Certainly. Their service? Absolutely. Luke tells us that they’re there amongst all the other disciples of Jesus going throughout the cities and villages, but there’s more here that our attention must be drawn to.
We should look to what Luke tells us specifically about these women in their support of the gospel because what they’re doing is a great place to evaluate how “down” we are with Jesus and his kingdom. This is something to check your heart with and it comes right there at the end of Luke 8:3 where it says that they “…provided for them out of their means.” In other words, these women were those who supported the ministry of Jesus financially.
Just so you are aware, the ministry of Jesus Christ was not funded by a central fund that came from other groups in his day. For Jesus and his disciples to carry the gospel between the cities and villages, the money that made that possible was provided for by those who were members of his group. The funding for this gospel ministry did not come from outside that would have sought to influence how the gospel was proclaimed.
And that’s exactly how things work here with this church. As Baptists, we are a church that is independent from any external influence, meaning we do not accept monies from government sources. We are not like Catholics or Methodists who receive money from a central pot so that people with funny hats and colorful robes can tell us how to preach the gospel by controlling the purse strings. Last year someone asked me if I or the church got a commission for every person we baptized - I wish! But that’s not how things work here. Every bit of ministry that we are able to accomplish comes solely from those of you who provide out of your means.
I often compare giving money to kingdom work like lifting weights. We’ve had a number of our students compete at state in powerlifting across the schools represented in our congregation over these last few years just like we’re looking forward to Seth DeLeon to bring some gold back to Devine in a few months. No pressure, brother. Seth told me that he’s bench pressing 345 pounds these days. Do you know how he got to benching that much? Well, somewhere in his past, he started lifting the bare minimum, the bar. Then, with time, he found that he could carry more and more as he added a five pound plate, a ten pound plate, and so on.
That’s the way that giving works with Jesus things. For some of you, what you need to hear this morning is that the work of Jesus needs you to start contributing. For others of you, what you need to hear this morning is that it’s time to increase and be surprised by how much you can actually give! If you’re wondering what to give to, there are two primary areas to give towards this year. The first area is to the ministry of the church itself. We have an approved annual budget for doing kingdom work through this church at just over $700,000. If we are going to do everything we believe God wants us to do through this church, we each need to do our part by giving from our means regularly and faithfully. The second area to call to your attention is our church’s Build Fund. As many of you know, we recently entered into a relationship with a church architecture firm that will help us develop a vision of what this property can be in order to do ministry both today and for generations to come here in Devine.
Our Building Fund that presently stands at a balance of just shy of $100,000. That’s not insignificant, but it’s going to take much more to accomplish what needs to be done here. Some of you have means to give large amounts and frankly, you’re going to need to. Some of you can’t give large amounts, but God honors all contributions made to the advancement of God’s kingdom. There are newcomers today who are absolutely thinking, “Great. My first Sunday at this church and he’s talking money.” I don’t usually do, but I am today because I’m inviting you to join us in this work because this work God’s calling this church to includes you.
Condition #3: We will provide out of our means
Condition #3: We will provide out of our means
It’s a work that will involve sacrifice and will require our all. And this is something that our church has done before. Many of you know that I am fascinated with history, including the history of this church. This morning you find yourself at what is the fourth location that First Baptist Devine has ever met at and we started meeting in this very building in 1952. Within just a few short years after the completion of this sanctuary in 1952, this church had raised the two additional standalone buildings that you know today as the fellowship hall and the building that contains the old library and offices. The hallway that joins them all was an addition to tie those two buildings together with the education building in the 1980s. But think about this for a moment, in the span of just a few years, this church raised not one, not two, but three buildings.
This was a church whose culture at its core was a people gathered together, united by the Holy Spirit under the Son of God for the advancement of his kingdom. How do I know? I came across a newsletter article that was penned by the church’s pastor back then. His name was Don Rose, and he said then, “You can tell much about a man’s heart by how he uses just three books. The Good Book. The hymn book. And his check book.” They studied the Word of God. They worshiped the living God. And they returned to God what was already his. All for his glory.
The gospel is the message of God that salvation has been accomplished in and through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and that it’s free to all who believe. That is good news for each one of us to start 2024. The gospel applied to our lives sees that we are changed so that the way God found us is not how he’s going to leave us, rather, he’s going to perfect us with each passing day as we are obedient to his Word. As we respond to the gospel by telling others about God’s salvation and we celebrate seeing the lives of others changed, we also respond by giving our all, to include providing for this ministry of the gospel out of our means. What we each need to learn to do in 2024 is to
Discern the difference between good things and God things
Discern the difference between good things and God things
It might be a good thing for me to spend my afternoon talking Super Bowl dreams for the Dallas Cowboys with my friends, but it is of God to invite people around my supper table to tell them about Jesus Christ.
It might be a good thing for me to rejoice in my alma mater’s first bowl win, but it is of God when we celebrate the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of a brother like Joe Martinez who God is delivering from addiction and has him singing in our choir as of late.
It might be a good thing for me to give to any number of things, but there is no greater cause to give towards than that of the mission of God accomplished in and through the local church like FBC Devine.
You may have noticed that over the last few weeks, I started putting together these little slips with fill-in the blanks. These came about because one of our mamas asked for some help keeping her littles’ attention during church. On the back are some lines for notes but this week, I’ve added some questions for you to answer individually or as a family this afternoon.
I’ve shared with you from my heart about what I believe are aspects of a covenant or a promise we each are being called to make together before God in 2024 to see this church aspire towards its God-given potential. Consider the questions. Pray about how you will respond to them, both as an individual and as a family. Use your time to be honest and vulnerable before the Lord and where you see challenges, turn those challenges to prayers that your journal. Continue to return to that journal of prayer and don’t be surprised that in time, God has moved what you thought were mountains when it comes to emboldening you to sharing your faith, giving you eyes to see and celebrate the work of the Spirit in the lives of others, and even financially supporting the ministry of the church.
Let’s start by learning to ask God to show us the difference between good things and God things. Can we promise to each other to do that?
Response Questions
What keeps you from sharing your faith?
Where have you seen God working in the life of someone else?
How much can you commit to provide from your means in 2024?