Sermon: A Not So New Year

A Not So New Year

Happy New Year, 2021! In what sense is the year new?

Perhaps it is new like a new baby. The new year is a year that never has been, still untrammpeled by sin, suffering, and struggle.
But is it so new? The COVID panic continues in full force. If you were unemployed before the New Year you probably still are. For those of us who are still hear, those of us who have not succumbed to COVID or depression and suicide, we’re not exactly “new.” 

We’re told by the news that we have a new President, yet he is the oldest ever sworn in and has sat in the seat of power for almost 50 years. 
From the perspective of the Christian worldview, things are not so new there either. Sin is still here. The Devil is still a ranging lion looking for another meal. Babies are still being murdered and church doors remained shuttered, some, for good.

1. Solomon tells us that there is nothing new. READ: Ecclesiastes 1:9-11
2. The  thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.
3. Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us.
4. There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after.
5. Solomon’s world is immutable. It does not change. 

• All is vanity
• All is vexation (frustrating, distressing)
• All is labor
• Man dies as a beast dies. READ: Ecclesiastes 3:19

In sum, everything under the gaze of the sun is old unchanging news and will be forgotten. The End. Let’s pray.
I submit to you that there is something, indeed someone who is beyond the gaze of the sun, the source and fountain of all that is new that can never forget or be forgotten.

1. Behold, I make all things new. READ: Revelation: 21:1-5
2. I = he that sat upon the throne = Christ 

• Alpha and Omega – Revelation 1:8; 21:6
• Beginning and Ending – Revelation 21:6

1. Make 

• And God said… Genesis 1:ff
• In the beginning was the Word… John 1:ff 

1. All things

• Heaven and earth 21:1
• God’s presence in that Heaven has come to earth 21:3
• No more pain
• No more sorrow
• No more death

1. Perhaps a cosmic forgetting. 

• The former things have passed away (Rev. 21:4)
• There is no remembrance of former thing (Ecc. 1:11)

In sum, Christ who is above all and the Source of all that is new will one day make all things truly new.  Christ is going to change the unchangeable. 
But is this the end? Should we end here as we embark on our journey into 2021?
Christ has already begun the work of changing the unchangeable.
Christian, He has made you a new creature.

II Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Christian, He has called you to a new mind.
​Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Proverbs 23:7 As a man thinketh in his heart so is he.
Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

•     True vs False
•     Honest vs. Dishonest
•     Just vs. Unjust
•     Pure vs. Impure
•     Lovely vs. Unlovely
•     Honorable vs. Dishonorable

Christian, 

1. 1. You are a new thing in an old world.
   2. You are a changed thing in a yet unchanged world
   3. In this context, you are an agent of change
      1. Love – Love God and Love your neighbor
      2. Conflict 

Matthew 12:30 He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.

James 4:4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

Non-Christian, according to these verses

1. 1. You are an old thing in an old world
   2. You are an unchanged thing in an unchanged world
   3. You are not an agent of change, but an enemy of the Source of all that is new and true change.

READ Psalm 91:1-8

Let’s pray…