New Year’s Resolutions – Sermon 30 December, 2012

New Year’s Resolutions

Colossians 3:12-4:6

Christmas is gone and in two days, we will welcome the New Year and people will make resolutions. They will decide to make changes in their lifestyle, behaviour and plans. They will hope that their decisions will help them to become the person they want to be.

When we think or talk about the old and the new we recall one of the well-known verses of the Bible which we read this morning: “He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write down, for these words are trustworthy and true”.

As we are at the verge of the Old Year and looking forward to the New with much anticipation and hope, let us look what the Bible tells us to do. We can learn from what we have done in the year and try to do things differently in the New Year. And to do thing differently we usually make resolutions, which we think could help us to have a better life, use our resource well enough to gain what we want, change things to feel satisfied and be happy.

According to Paul, we can have a list of seven New Year’s resolutions – seven things we can attempt to be in the New Year, as people of God.

These resolutions are described by Paul as clothing. Verse 12 reads: “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.” These are five attitudes we should have in our daily lives.

Compassion is the first. The opposite of this would be someone who is cold and heartless, someone who is concerned only with himself. Think of the character Scrooge, a man who, for a while, was too busy balancing his own check book to notice the needs of other people. A compassionate person is someone who not only balances his check book, but wants to help the people around him. What’s going on with the people at church? What’s going on with our family? What’s going on with the people at work? Our neighbours? Our friends? What can we do to help them? We need to “Clothe ourselves with compassion…”

Kindness is the second. Kindness includes not only saying nice things, but doing nice things. Kindness is a duty to help someone out. What happens when a child in the store throws all the packages from the shelf unto the floor and even a package or two bursts out and the contents are dispersed in the shop? In similar situations one of the store clerks comes storming down the aisle and says to the mother, “Don’t worry about this, ma’am. I’ll clean it up. You just do your shopping.” We need to Clothe ourselves with kindness…”.

Humility is the third.  Humility means that you recognize your own weaknesses. You don’t think about how great you are. The most humble man on the face of the earth was Moses (Numbers 12:3). I’m sure he recognized his weaknesses very quickly, as he tried to lead 2 million people through the desert. We need to “Clothe ourselves with humility…”.

Gentleness is the forth. Gentleness is the opposite of someone who is furious and raving at the customer service counter in the store. Or like holding carefully a precious item in the museum or gallery. That’s how God wants us to treat the people around us with gentleness and Paul says Clothe ourselves with gentleness…”

Patience is the fifth. The Greek word here implies patience in unpleasant circumstances. When we are served at the bank or the supermarket by the person who is in their first day on the job, we should be patient and understanding. When the mechanic tells you that you need a new air filter, but you just put a new one in your car last week, we should patiently tell him what we have done. We should be patient with the people around us, even in trying circumstances.

Forgiveness is the sixth. Verse 13 says: “Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you have with each other.” A grievance is a legitimate reason to be upset with someone. If someone promises to pick you up at 2:00, and they forget and leave you standing out in the cold, you have a grievance. If someone promises to help you clean up the kitchen, but instead they fall asleep on the couch, you have a grievance. I’m sure we all could come up with a list of legitimate reasons why we are upset with certain people. But in 2013, we should be forgivers. We should forgive whatever grievances we have with other people.

What does it mean to forgive? The last part of verse 13 says, “Forgive, as the Lord forgave you.” Jesus, our Lord, could have many complaints against us. All the things that Jesus wants us to do, and we don’t do them. And all the things that Jesus doesn’t want us to do, we do them. But Jesus forgives us.

There are many instances of forgiveness in the Bible. A very good example is the image of a loan officer who forgives all the debts of the debtor, making him debt-free.

That’s how Jesus forgives us. He wipes all that sin out of our account. And Jesus holds no grudges. Jesus doesn’t say to us, “I forgive you for what you said to your wife/husband the other day, but I’ll remember what you did.” No, Jesus forgives us, and forgets. No grudges.

And that’s how Jesus wants us to forgive the people around us. We may have valid reasons to be upset with people sometimes. But Jesus says to forgive the way I have forgiven you.

And finally, verse 14: “And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” That’s the seventh, and the biggest item of clothing. After you have put on compassion, kindness, humility gentleness, patience and forgiveness – then, over all these virtues, put on love. What kind of “love” are we talking about here? There are different words in the Bible for different kinds of love. When we think of “love,” we should think of “agape,” one-way love. In other words, you love me, even if I don’t love you back. You love me, even though there is nothing good about me. It’s a strange kind of love, the kind of love that God has shown to the world. Even though the world didn’t love God, God loved the world, and sent his son on Christmas. Even though you didn’t ask for it, Jesus loved you and died for your sins on the cross. God loves us, even though there isn’t anything good about us to love.

That’s the kind of love that God is talking about here – a one-way kind of love. Love someone, even though he is unlovable. Even though he/she might not say thank you. Even though they don’t appreciate what you do. Love them. Even though there are a million reasons to not love someone, you should love anyway. “And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”

It’s easy to hold grudges, but it’s hard to forgive. And to love someone that’s unlovable, that’s near impossible. How are you going to fulfil these seven New Year’s resolutions?

Christ will change you. Spend time with Christ in 2013, and he will change you. Spend time learning about his humility. Spend time learning about his compassion at the cross. Spend time learning about how he has taken all your sin away, how far he was willing to go, to save you. Spend time with Christ in 2013. His forgiveness will turn you into a forgiver. His one-way love for you will turn you into someone who shows one-way love to others.

We should resolve from this day forward to spend more time with Christ in his Word and we should not make excuses anymore. We should sacrifice things in order to spend more time with Christ. We should hear his Word in church, and we should let nothing get in the way. We should figure out how to study his Word on our own during the week. We should pray to him on our own, during the week. We should spend more time with Christ, and he will change us in 2013.

Also Paul suggests that whatever we decide or do, we should do in the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks to God.

We pray. O Lord Jesus, by this time next year, help us to be more compassionate, more kind, more humble, more gentle, more patient. By this time next year, help us to be forgivers. Help us, more and more, to show that special one-way kind of love that you have shown to us. Amen.

Krikor Youmshajekian