God's New Year Resolution/s

What follows, is not totally original.  It was inspired by a sermon I heard on New Year's Eve, at the Foursquare Church of Gettysburg, PA. 

Often, when I have an 'off' Sunday from guest preaching or supporting Robin in her staff role at Central Presbyterian in Baltimore -- Robin and I travel up to Gettysburg Foursquare, where my friend, Mark Chester is the lead pastor.  Well, on Sunday, Mark was not preaching, but his Worship and Discipleship Pastor Nate Swisher was preaching, and it was quite a message, focusing on "The Greatest Resolution" -- God's resolution -- renewed each and every new year.

I had never thought of God's resolution, before.  But Nate was persuasive.  In fact, Nate reasoned, our New Year resolutions are only possible because of the resolution of God.   Well, in essence, Nate said, God's resolution is straightforward:  God has resolved to rescue us.

But I got to thinking:  within God's rescue, what are the specifics of God's resolve?

So here goes -- my take on God's resolve -- specifically:

1) God Resolves...That Nothing Haunt Us And 'Guilt' Us.   Many of us bring baggage into the new year.  Bitterness. Resentment. Regrets.  But most prominently: Guilt.  For many of us -- actually all of us -- have 'screwed up royally,' and don't like the memory and feel.

It's interesting:  in Nate Swisher's sermon on Sunday, Nate indicated that our chief resolution for 2018 must be a resolve to repent.   For it only as we repent, that we create space for God's resolve which, is to forgive and grant grace, as apart of His rescue plan.  

There are oodles of scriptures on God's resolve to forgive and grant grace. An 'all-time favorite' is in found in Lamentations 3.

"...Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness...The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord…Why should the living complain when punished for their sins? Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord. Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven, and say: “We have sinned and rebelled…I called on your name, Lord from the depths of the pit. You heard my plea: “Do not close your ears to my cry for relief.” You came near when I called you, and you said, “Do not fear.” You, Lord, took up my case; you redeemed my life..."  (Lamentations 3:22-26; 39-42; 55-58)

Years ago, Corrie Ten Boom, summarized this truth, in memorable, vivid imagery: "God has taken our sin. He has thrown it into the sea of forgetfulness, and he has posted a sign that says, 'No fishing allowed.'

Resolve to repent.  And then resolve to claim God's resolve, to forgive and forget.  

2)  God Resolves...That We Do Life Together, Not Alone.  Though missed, a key Biblical theme is community. Though we're forgiven individually, were to live-out forgiveness corporately -- doing life together -- as God's redeemed people -- in God's new community.  For a key contributor to health, maturity, advancement is companionship.  

Christian counselor, Henry Cloud championed this truth in his book, The Power Of The Other. An illustration at the beginning of Cloud's book 'brings home' Cloud's controlling premise.  Katherina Temmel Sengbush recounts the tale, in her review of Cloud's book:  

"...A man is training to become a Navy SEAL is on his last test--a grueling endurance swim in the ocean...and his strength fails him. He has nothing left and is just about to signal he is giving up...all his years of training, the sacrifice, his dream of being a SEAL has disappeared. Suddenly he sees his friend standing on the shore ahead. His friend has completed the swim and is officially a Navy SEAL. The man on the shore yells and pumps his fist to let the man in the water know "he could do it". The man in the water would later describe what happened saying that as their "eyes locked...something happened. Something beyond him. His body jumped into another gear, into another dimension of performance that he had not had access to before". He was able to finish and became a Navy SEAL. This is what Dr. Cloud call 'the Power of the Other'..."  https://www.amazon.ca/Power-Other-startling-boardroom-beyond/dp/0061777145

It is God's resolve, as we begin this new year, that we have 'the Power of the Other." Thus, God calls us out of individualism, into the new community, the church, the people of God.  Though overly familiar, and often missed, the availability of God's people is a precious gift.   Paul articulates the gift of the church, our identity as God's people -- vividly and brilliantly -- in 1 Peter 2:

"...You are God’s “chosen generation”, his “royal priesthood”, his “holy nation”, his “peculiar people”—[for He]  has called you out of darkness into his amazing light. In the past you were not “a people” at all: now you are the people of God. In the past you had no experience of his mercy, but now it is intimately yours.  (1 Peter 2:8-10)

And so, don't 'go it alone' this year.  Rather, join with others 'on the journey,' doing life, by doing church. Not in a rote traditional way. But in a relational way, that's not viewed as a 'requirement,' but an empowerment.

3) God Resolves...That We Have A Future With Hope.  God's resolve that we live free from guilt, in community, translates into a promising future.  For countless persons, the favorite 'future verse' is Jeremiah 29:11

“…For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future…”  (Jeremiah 29:11, NIV).  

But many struggle with this promise, for often 'life moves on' -- time elapses -- and we are not prosperous, but diminished -- not safe, but betrayed - not hopeful, but in despair. 

Actually, such reality is not foreign to Jeremiah 29:11. For historically, the hope of Jeremiah 29:11 happens in the midst of a discouragement that does not quickly disappear. Translated:  the hope and good future promised in Jeremiah 29:11 are not instantaneous. For as I say in my forthcoming book on time and faith, God's promises are fulfilled within the context of God's Good Time (the working title of the book) -- which normally does not correspond to our time expectations.  

This becomes evident when we read Jeremiah 29:11 in context, beginning with verse 10. Eugene Peterson brings-out this contextual understanding in his Bible translation, The Message.  As Peterson does, he reminds us that God's promise is given in the midst of a time when the Hebrews are far from home -- in exile -- transported against their will, to Babylon.      

"...This is God’s Word on the subject: “As soon as Babylon’s seventy years are up [a reference to Israel's exile in Babylon] and not a day before, I’ll show up and take care of you as I promised and bring you back home. I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for..." (Jeremiah 29:10-11, The Message, emphasis added)

Did you catch 70 years -- not a day before?

Now don't panic:  in many cases, God's hopeful resolve comes much sooner.   But catch the implication:  we're all in exile -- in 'Babylon' (a place not of our choosing) -- far from the fulfillment of our needs:  be it medical, relational, economic, vocational.

And such times can be long and prolonged. But they also can be 'reframed' as an expected, normal -- even needed -- parts of our journey, in Christ.

And so, God's hope/future often doesn't show up immediately or quickly.  Rather, it's delayed. But we are to expect/hope, nevertheless.  For hope ultimately is God's resolve, as God rescues, no matter the length of our exile.  As Russell Moore notes:

"...Through Jeremiah, God is telling the exiles...[that He] has plans for them, plans that include [the]...chaotic and random...[but also] plans [for] the exile [to not be] permanent. That isn’t because of their faithfulness but because of God’s promise to Abraham, a promise that was itself looking forward to Abraham’s son, the Lord Jesus (Rom. 4)...[In turn] God tells us that since we are in Christ, we are strangers and exiles in this time between the times (Heb. 11:13; 1 Pet. 2:11). We suffer, we bleed, we die—and...we are tempted to think...God has abandoned us...[But] not so, the gospel word tells us..."

Claim the Gospel Word.  Claim God's resolve to bring us back to home and hope, no matter how long the exile.

And so there is so much for us to look forward to as we enter this new year.  For God is so determined, so resolved to rescue us -- by freeing us from our guilt -- giving us social support -- assuring a future with hope, in spite of struggle and suffering.

And so I'm glad God renews his resolutions each and every year.  Though there's a lot unpredictable about the 365 days ahead -- there's something very certain and sure:  God's resolve and faithfulness.

And so in the spirit of Lamentations 3, we will not be consumed in 2018...  

"...For [God's] compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is [God's]  faithfulness...The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him..."  (Lamentations 3: 22-23).