New Year’s Eve Sermon

Unlike other holidays, New Year’s is basically celebrated around the world.  Almost every nation nowadays follows the Gregorian calendar, marking December 31^st as the last day of the year and January 1^st as New Year’s Day.  Tonight, people the world over will be ringing in the New Year with parties, fireworks, and other various traditions based on their culture or upbringing.  Here are a few examples of interesting traditions that occur in other parts of the world:

• In Spain, they try to stuff 12 grapes into their mouths for good luck.
• In certain parts of South America, they were specific colors of underwear to bring about a certain fate in the new year (i.e. red underwear for love).
• In Japan, they ring all their bells 108 times for luck.
• In Peru, they celebrate what is called the Takanakuy Festival where people will fist fight to settle their differences and start the year off brand new.
• In Bolivia, they bake coins into their sweets.
• In Denmark, some people jump off the top of chairs to leap into the new year.
• In Estonia, people eat seven times on New Year’s Day to signify abundance.

(Pegg, David. 25 Strangest New Year’s Traditions From Around The World.  Nov. 21, 2017. https://list25.com/25-strangest-new-years-traditions-from-around-the-world/5/)

These are only a few of the stranger traditions that exist, but each part of the world seems to have its own unique ways to ring in the New Year.  I’m sure people in other parts of the world also think that our American traditions of watching a ball drop from Times Square, kissing a random stranger at the stroke of midnight, and mumble singing the song Auld lang syne that no one really knows the words to (Who even knows that means?) are also weird.  But I digress.  Simply put, every person celebrates the New Year in their own way with their own traditions.

For my family, we bring in the New Year by gathering together and giving thanks to God for the opportunity to start fresh.  Then before we head off to bed (since midnight is 2 hours past my dad’s bedtime already), we take some time to pray and read one specific passage of Scripture – Psalm 1.  I’m actually not certain why my dad decided on this passage in the recent years, but it is the one that we go to every year.  As I was studying it this past week though, I realized that it was the perfect psalm to start out a new year with, because it forces us to consider and to decide which spiritual direction we will be going towards in the New Year.  We have to decide whether we will walk towards God and righteousness or Satan and wickedness.  We have to make a commitment, or in a more familiar New Year’s term, a resolution, to improve our spiritual walk with God.  As we look into this passage deeper, I want to seriously encourage you to make these three commitments, which will help you become the blessed righteous man/woman described in Psalm 1.

Psalm 1

¹Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor standeth in the way of sinners, Nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

²But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

³And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringether forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

⁴The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

⁵Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

⁶For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous:  but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

Resolution #1:  I resolve to remove/avoid wickedness and sin in my life.

If we want to draw near to God in our lives this year, we must first remove the sin in our lives that is breaking our fellowship with God.  In Isaiah 59:1-2, we are told how God did not hear the prayers of his people Israel because of their sin separating them from Him (“Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.”)  Throughout the Old Testament, we see pictures of how God would not permit uncleanness and sin in His presence, warning the people of Israel with many laws to remove the uncleanness from His sight.  For example, when the Israelites were called to worship God during the Passover, those who were unclean due to being in the presence of a dead body were not allowed to celebrate. When a priest was to enter the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle/Temple, he needed to offer up a sin offering to cover his guilt before entering into the presence of the LORD.  In Deuteronomy 23:14, the people of Israel were told to make sure that their camp was holy, so that God would not see anything indecent in the camp and turn away from them.  David knew full well how sin can separate from God and spoke about it in the Psalms, such as in Psalm 66:18 (“If I regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear…”) or Psalm 51, where he describes the agony and separation he felt from God when he had the unconfessed sins of adultery with Bathsheba and murder of her husband Uriah.  Sin separates us from God, and if we want to have a closer walk with Him this year, we need to resolve to remove sin and wickedness from our lives.

Psalm 1:1 says, “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor standeth in the way of sinners, Nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.”  Working from the last phrase to the first, since the last is the most drastic, here we are told that the blessed man does not sit in the seat of the scornful.  He refuses to associate with those who scorn the Word of God.  He wants nothing to do with them, for he knows that he should flee from fools that refuse to fear God.  This is something that even we as Christians usually do.  We can convince ourselves to stay away from the worse of the worse, but see how much further the blessed man goes.  He not only stays away from those who scorn God but also from those who sin against Him.  He does not want to follow the path that they walk in though they may just be playing with the fires of temptation.  He does not want to stand in their paths that may lead to temporal prizes of fame, fortune, and power but in the end lead to destruction.  Though standing in the way of sinners may not be as bad as sitting with the scornful, the blessed man refuses to be in their presence, for he knows that a little leaven can leaven the whole lump.  As Christians entering the New Year, we may be able to convince ourselves to forsake our sin and avoid sinful influences, but can we convince ourselves to do the last thing that the blessed man does – “walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly.”  The blessed man does not even want their counsel.  He wants nothing to do with the ways of the world, their guidance, their leading, or their advice.  He refuses to allow the wisdom of this world to guide him towards his goal.  He does not even want a piece of their influence in his life.

Sin has a way of distracting us from the common goal we have as Christians to become more and more like Jesus Christ; therefore, if we want to have a more intimate relationship with God this year, our first step is to turn away from sin.  For those who are unbelievers, it is by making the choice to repent from your sin of unbelief and give your life over to Him as Lord and Savior.  But for those of us who are Christians, we must confess our sins and repent from them.  1 John 1:9 states that “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  As we enter into this New Year, we must begin by confessing the sin we are still carrying in our lives whatever they may be and then forsake them.  Hebrews 12:1-2 tells us that we should “lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely,” and “run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus…”  Stop allowing sin to be a barrier between you and God; instead begin this New Year by committing to remove sin from your life.

Resolution #2:  I resolve to study God’s Word daily and meditate on it both day and night.

When a person is looking for their future spouse, he/she usually begins by meeting someone in some way (i.e. a personal friend’s introduction, a blind date, an online dating app).  After the initial meeting, if there is some type of spark, they will begin to determine if that person is a good fit for them by spending time with them through subsequent dates.  If the interest continues, they will then begin to have phone, text, or Facebook chat conversations more consistently, eventually, talking to each other every day.  The reason they do this is because the only way to get to know a person better is to spend time with them.  The more time you spend, the more you know about them.  In the end, they will know each other’s desires, goals, and dreams.  They will know what that person wants at a specific time and what will annoy them the most.  And if they manage to get married, they will know each other so well that they will be as one like the Bible describes.  This is true of any relationship, whether it’s a romantic relationship, a paternal relationship, or even a friendship.  By spending time with another person, you get to know them better.  And in most cases, you learn to love that person in a deeper, more meaningful way.  So what is to exempt this from applying to your spiritual relationship with God?  If you want to get to know God more, the best way to do it is to spend more time with Him.  So if we desire to have a closer walk with God this New Year, our second resolution should be to know God more by spending time studying His Word daily and meditating on it both day and night.

Verse 2 of our passage states that instead of following the wicked, the blessed righteous man finds that “his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in His law doth he meditate day and night.”  The first thing we need to take notice of is that the blessed righteous man finds his delight in God’s law.  He loves not only knowing God’s law but also obeying it and allowing it to guide and direct His life.  He wants to know and do God’s will.  The passage in the Bible that best describes this attitude is found in Psalm 119, where the Psalmist pours out how much he loves God’s law in almost all 176 verses.  Our desire, our delight, our joy should be found in knowing and obeying our Heavenly Father more and more each day.  The second thing we need to take notice of is that the blessed righteous man meditates on God’s law both day and night.  That means that he spends basically every moment of every day reflecting on God’s Word.  There is no hour in which he forgets about it, but he allows God’s Word to permeate every portion of His life – whether at work or at play, whether waking up or going to bed, whether in the community or in church, God’s Word is present on his mind.   In Joshua 1:8, God tells Joshua that if we wanted his way to be prosperous and full of good success that “this Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it.”  Only by constantly reflecting on what God wanted him to do based on His Word could Joshua have the appropriate guidance for conquering the Promised Land; therefore, God told Him to constantly meditate on His Word.  Meditating does not mean that you make a bunch of weird “UMMM” noises.  Meditation is actually the practice of constantly thinking about and considering an idea.  Dr. Charles Stanley actually gave very good pointers about how to meditate in his InTouch daily devotionals for December 27-28, 2017.  He stated that some fundamentals of meditation are a season of time (to set aside a time to commune with God), stillness (to slow down and remove everything else and just focus on Him), seclusion (to take time to be alone with God), silence (to quiet down our hearts to listen to the voice of God), self-control (to admit that there are things that we need to work on in our life as God shapes us to the people He wants us to be), and submission (to humble ourselves before God and obey what He shows us).  (Stanley, Charles. “Basics of Effective Meditation” and “More Essentials of Meditation”.  December 27-28, 2017.  InTouch Ministries.  www.intouch.org)  We need to take the time to meditate on God’s law every day and every night, for only by getting alone with God can we know His laws, His will, and His direction for our lives.

How many of you have actually finished reading your Bible all the way through in your lifetime?  Or how many of you at least spent each day this year reading His Word and praying?  Most of us would have to admit that we haven’t.  We spend more time each day watching TV and reading fictional books, rather than getting to know our Heavenly Father.  I challenge you this upcoming year to do something my dad has been challenging you to do ever since he became a pastor – finish reading your Bible through this year.  You will be surprised how much you will grow as a Christian within a single year.  If you need some more convincing, I want to give you an example from my personal life of someone who took up this challenge and grew in an unbelievable way.  I used to teach some of the high school/college kids from the Thai Outreach Church a few years ago.  I also gave them this same challenge, and honestly almost nobody took me seriously, but two people decided to try it.  One gave up after the first few months being bogged down in the book of Leviticus and Numbers, never finishing.  The other, although she struggled in those sections, and often fell behind the schedule, eventually caught up around June I think and began to do it daily.  The spiritual growth that happened in her life over that year was evident by all around her.  When she came to class and I referenced a specific section of Scripture, she could draw the connections.  She hungered for the Word and for knowing it more.  And eventually, when she went off to college, she found a core Christian group to continue her growth.  Today, I could not be more proud of her.  Just by reading God’s Word every day, meditating on it day and night, she became a stronger and more effective Christian.  I challenge each person today to spend time in God’s Word this year.  Make time for Him both in the morning and night, so that you begin and close your day with God.

Resolution #3:  I resolve to produce spiritual fruit that will bring glory to God.

This last resolution is probably the easiest to accomplish if you follow through with the first two resolutions of removing wickedness in your life and meditating on God’s Word, because this third resolution is the natural product of those first two resolutions.  In Luke 13:6-9, Jesus told a parable about a barren fig tree.

Luke 13:6-9 – “Then he told this parable:  ‘A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any.  So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, “For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any.  Cut it down!  Why should it use up the soil?”  “Sir,” the man replied, “leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it.  If it bears fruit next year, fine!  If not, then cut it down.”’”

This parable was directed at the people of Israel, who were supposed to be an example to the nations of God’s grace, love, and mercy, drawing them to God; but instead, they had strayed into the ways of the world and only brought disgrace to the name of God.  They did not produce the fruit that they were called to produce.  Even after many years of rebuke, they still failed to produce the fruit, and for that reason, they were called to be punished.

A similar warning was given to the disciples by Jesus Christ in John 15, where He says, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.  Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every  branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit…If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.”  God expects that His disciples should produce fruit in meeting with their salvation.  As Christians, we must produce good fruit.

The blessed righteous man described in Psalm 1:3 is said to produce good fruit at the appropriate times – “And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, That bringeth forth his fruit in his season…”  Like a tree planted and founded by the waters, he always brings about fruit when he should.  And if we as Christians implant ourselves into Christ, the Water of life, and abide in Him, following His commandments, then we will also produce fruit (John 5:4-5).  This fruit includes things like the Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), the “Add-to’s” (2 Peter 1:5-8), treasures in heaven (things of eternal value spoken of in Matthew 6), and most importantly love (John 13:35).  We as Christians should constantly be producing this fruit in our lives, for it is our witness to the world of what Christ has done for us.  Are we allowing the Holy Spirit to produce His fruit in our lives, or are we still producing the fruits of our flesh?  The fruits we produce reveal to us how we are perceived by the world, the condition of our hearts, and our eternal future, so let us resolve to produce good fruit.

Conclusion

The rest of Psalm 1 tells us the results of each path.  It describes how the wicked will be like chaff, unfounded and ready to be driven away by the wind, whichever direction it goes.  It is temporary and unfruitful, just like the chaff of wheat, good for nothing.  Vs. 5 tells us that the wicked will not stand in the judgment or the congregation of the righteous, which the book of Revelation continuously reaffirms, speaking of the second judgment that will come to the wicked and unrighteous.  Finally, the psalm ends by telling us that the wicked will perish.  Though they seem to succeed on this earth, getting whatever they desire, though it seems like they will never get their due, they will eventually perish.  On the other hand, the righteous are given a different future.  Their future is described with strength, endurance, fruitfulness, and prosperity like a tree planted by the rivers of water.  Though persecution and trouble may reign for them on this earth, the Lord will eventually bring about their deliverance.  I have been reading a lot of the Minor Prophets lately, and that’s what I seem to see all the time – punishment then deliverance.  Most importantly, the way of the righteous is known by God.  He is constantly watching over and caring for His children.  What gift can be greater than that?  Knowing this, how can we not desire to walk in the righteous path this upcoming year?  I challenge everyone today to make the commitment – to resolve – to draw closer to our Lord God and Heavenly Father this year.  Do so today by committing to:

1. Remove sin and wickedness from your hearts.
2. Study God’s Word every day and meditate on it day and night.
3. Produce fruit that will bring God honor and glory.

May God give you a fruitful and blessed new year in 2018.  Happy New Year!