“A New Year Perspective” – FBC Morning Light (1/1/2024)

Well, a good Monday morning to you and a welcome to the month of January, as well as to 2024. Happy New Year to you, and I hope you've had a good weekend and were able to end the year well with gathering with God's people and looking forward to a new year, a new beginning.

There are a couple of things I want to bring out in today's Bible reading that I think are very helpful for considering and reminding ourselves of in the new year, and just as a way of reminder, planning to read through the Bible again this year and do so incrementally through the course of the year, but we're doing it in a different way.

We're going to read through the Bible chronologically. I'm using the ESV Chronological Bible, just came out late last year, and following along that pattern. The beginning of the Bible reading, of course, begins in the book of Genesis, and today, reading Genesis chapters 1 through 3, which takes us from the creation to the fall.

What I want to point out is, first of all, in the very first verse of the Bible, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Very simple statement, but very profound, because in that one simple statement, you see a statement of the reality that God exists, that he is wholly, completely other, that is, other from all that he has created, all of the material world and universe, and it emphasizes his supreme authority.

In the very beginning of all things, God, who already existed and who is apart from everything else, created the heavens and the earth. So, as we begin this year, reminding ourselves of that reality is a great way to begin the year, isn't it?

To remind ourselves that God is above all and over all, and he is wholly other than us, and that he is supreme in his authority. That really helps to put my life and my existence in perspective under him.

It should remind me that I owe my life to him, and because I owe my very existence to him, I therefore need to find out, well, who is he? Who is this God? What is he like? And since he is my creator, he made me, then what does he want of me as his creation?

You see, putting that in perspective helps me to begin the year, because as I think about what's ahead in this coming year, I have no idea, but he does. I may have certain goals and objectives, but are those mine, or are they subservient to.

His?

You see, what does he want me to do? How would he have me to live in this coming year? In what ways do I need to grow that will be pleasing to him more than to myself? You should understand, by the way, that as we grow in our lives in such a way that is pleasing to him, it will also be, in the end, pleasing to us.

Well, I said there are two things. The other thing I wanted to point out as we begin this new year is that there is a cycle built into creation in the seven days of creation. God created in six days, and we read that he, in chapter two, verses one through three, that he rested the seventh day, and the first couple of verses of that second chapter tell us that on the seventh day he ended his work, which he had done, and he rested, that is, he ceased from all his work on the seventh day, which he had done.

Then, all right, now get this, this is very important for us to understand, then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because he rested from all his work which he had created and made. So, the idea of taking one day out of seven as a day of ceasing from all of our labors and committing that day as a day of rest unto the Lord is built into the creation cycle, and we neglect it to our own peril.

So, as you look forward to this year, we've just come through a weekend, so we're beginning a new year at the beginning of a work week, of course, you have the day off, it's New Year's Day, but make it your objective through the course of this coming year that you will take that one day out of seven that is a Sabbath, a day of rest, a day of ceasing from all of the other work stuff and life stuff that you give yourself to, and commit that day to the Lord.

A good way to do it is to make gathering with God's people your priority, going to church, being in the services of the church, and dedicate that day to the Lord, and worship him and serve him in it, and rest from all the other stuff of life.

I think if you would do that, at the end of 2024, you'll look back and say, wow, am I glad I did that? I hope that'll be the case. I hope you'll make that the goal for this year. Well, Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word and for establishing at the very beginning, at the outset of it, your supreme authority, and I pray that by your grace we would live under that, and as we also contemplate our schedules, our routines of life, if the Sabbath principle is not already built into our cycle, may it be this year, we pray.

In Jesus' name and for his sake, amen. All right, listen, may your year get off to a great start. Happy New Year, may God bless.