From our Sunday service on January 7, 2024, a look at renewal in Christ from Isaiah 43, Lamentations 3, 2 Corinthians 5, Ephesians 4, Revelation 21, and Philippians 3. Watch the full message: Embracing New Beginnings on YouTube.
Well, everybody, we did it. We made it through 2023. As I was writing this message, I sat down and thought, “Okay, 2023, what are some things that happened?” and it was all a blur. In 2023 we had new wars, conspiracies about spy balloons that turned out to be real, a banking crisis, an imploding submarine, crashing trains, and a massive expansion of AI technologies that make some people very, very worried. How was your 2023 personally? More importantly, how was your spiritual walk? Did you draw closer to God, or do you feel farther from Him than you did at the beginning of the year? The end of a year is a bittersweet moment, a boundary line that marks a point for reevaluation. A new year may simply mark an arbitrary rotation point around the sun, but to us it has become an opportunity for a new beginning. God invites us to renew ourselves with Christ’s righteousness and to renew our relationship with Him. We’re already 2% of the way through 2024.
Let Go of the Past
We’ll start in Isaiah 43. These verses were written to Israel during a time of exile, when the threat of Babylon was always there. God is drawing them back. “Fear not. I have redeemed thee.” Christ calls Himself our Redeemer, and like Israel, we have been redeemed. He calls you by your name, individually: “Thou art mine.” Not every promise to Israel is a promise to us, but I believe the promises in this passage do apply to us as believers in the New Testament era. When you pass through the waters, He will be with you. The rivers will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, it will not burn you. Even today the oceans are a very dangerous place. If you ever watched the old show on the Discovery Channel about the crab fishermen out in the Alaskan sea, you know how dangerous those waters are. God is giving comfort by saying, “I make pathways in the sea.” You can trust Him because He’s the one who can direct you through the most dangerous waters.
Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.
Isaiah 43:18–19
If 2023 brought us closer to God, praise the Lord. But if we got further away, God is the one who can bring you back. Think about the apostle Paul. Before he was a believer, he was a persecutor of the Christians. He was putting Christians to death, throwing them into jail, and hunting them down like a bounty hunter. And yet he was called by God for a greater purpose. He became one of the writers of the New Testament and one of the greatest soul winners in history. Had Paul not learned not to consider the former things of old, he would never have been able to move forward. I’m not saying that the beginning of the new year is the only time you can let go of the old. We can do that at any moment. But in our culture, the new year is a great time to let go of the old and embrace the new. The first step to letting God renew you is to let go of your past.
His Mercies Are New Each Day
This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.
Lamentations 3:21–24
Lamentations follows the book of Jeremiah, and it is literally Jeremiah mourning the capture of Israel. Jeremiah had called out for Israel to repent, with the warning that God would judge them if they continued. They were taken captive because they didn’t repent. But here Jeremiah says, “There’s something I recall to mind.” When I find myself on the bad side, when I’ve made mistakes and I see myself far from God, this is what I remember: I have a reason to have hope. God’s judgment is real. He will allow us to face consequences for our actions. But He is still merciful, and it is because of His mercy that we are not consumed. His compassions don’t fail. Every morning they are new. That means every day when you get up, you have a new opportunity to renew your relationship with God. Amen. “The Lord is my portion,” the idea of my inheritance or my part in life. “Therefore will I hope in him.” At any point in our lives, we can call on God to renew our relationship with Him.
His Renewal Is Life
The Corinthians were Christians who really struggled with sin. Corinth was a very wicked place, with lots of temple prostitution, lots of idolatry, and immorality all around. These believers got saved, but they never really got rid of the old habits of their old religion. Paul says, “If Christ died for you, it’s because you were dead. That old lifestyle is just death.” We don’t live for ourselves. We live for the One who died and rose again. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.” Did just being saved automatically make them the new creature? Why would Paul be telling them this if it were just an automatic thing? Christ died to make the new creature live, but it still has to be put on. Paul says the old passing away is a daily thing: “I die daily.” If we’re going to be a new creature, it has to be a daily decision to die to self and live for Christ. Is dying to self a terrible thing? No, it’s a joyous thing. Christ came to give us life, and life more abundantly. Die daily to our pride and our greed, making ourselves humble and calling on Christ to renew us each day.
We Must Choose Renewal
We must also choose renewal. Paul encourages believers not just to be saved but to act like they are believers. “Walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.” The word “vocation” means a calling, the calling to salvation. He wants lowliness and meekness, traits of humility, and longsuffering and forbearing, being patient and tolerant of other people when they annoy you, in love, keeping unity in the church. The word “conversation” carries the idea of lifestyle, the way you carry yourself day to day. So we need to put off that old attitude and lifestyle of the flesh. I learned something about the word “lust.” In the Greek it is literally just the word for desire. Desires can be good. Here it says “deceitful lusts,” so those are bad desires. Replace them with right attributes of God: humility, patience, and unity. God is the one who creates the new man, not us. The new man is in us, waiting for us to put him on. Every day we have to choose to put him on. Our journey doesn’t end with salvation. It doesn’t even end in this life. One day we will ultimately have the victory. Is that to tell us we shouldn’t try here? No. This was written to be a hope to inspire us to persevere.
Forgetting Those Things Which Are Behind
Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:13–14
Paul counts all things but dung, that he may win Christ. He had all that pride as a Pharisee. He was considered one of the most intelligent people in his community, and a very powerful person. He thought he was doing the work of God while really he was fighting God. He’s willing to lose that status if it means he can have a new relationship in Christ. First, we must forget the things behind us. We don’t just need to forget our faults. Paul had to forget how he persecuted the church so that he could minister to the church. But he also had to leave behind his success just as much as he left behind his failures. What we did for Christ in the past is gone. We can’t let our victories in the past stop us from having victories in the future. It is just as easy to get held up by the past in our successes as it is in our failures. Second, we must reach out for the things ahead of us. You’re running the race with your hand extended. If you want to grab the baton in a relay, your hand has to be extended. I’m talking about the Olympic games here. They pass the baton from person to person, and if you didn’t have your arm out, you would lose a fraction of time. It’s not a passive act. It’s an extremely active pursuit.
The Prize Is the Journey
“I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” A lot of times we talk about heavenly rewards, and yes, God does have rewards for us, but notice what Paul says the reward is. For Paul the prize was not in heaven. The prize was not the destination. The prize was the journey of doing the ministry of Christ. The relationship with Christ and the walk with Christ were the prize. So what is your 2024 going to look like? It’s not too late for a new beginning. We’re 2% of the way through 2024 already, but we’ve still got plenty of percentages to go. It doesn’t just happen. You have to be intentional. If I’ve got bad habits from 2023, what am I going to do to replace those habits? Free time doesn’t just show up. Free time has to be planned. How will you ensure you get time in the Bible? What are you going to do to ensure you get time in prayer?
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