Why New Year's Resolutions Don't Work

The Old Testament reading for this, the second Sunday of Christmas, is taken from 1 Kings.

Chapter 3.

And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place. Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, Ask what I shall give you.

And Solomon said, You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant David my father, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you. And you have kept for him this great and steadfast love, and have given him a son to sit on his throne this day.

And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of David my father. Although I am but a little child, I do not know how to go out or to come in. And your servant is in the midst of your people, whom you have chosen a great people, too many to be numbered or counted for multitude.

Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to govern this your great people? It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this.

And God said to him, Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life, or riches, or the life of your enemies, but have asked for your self-understanding to discern what is right, behold, I now do according to your word.

Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you, and none like you shall arise after you. I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that no other king shall compare with you all of your days.

And if you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days. And Solomon awoke, and behold, it was a dream. Then he came to Jerusalem, and stood before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, and offered up burnt offerings and peace offerings, and made a feast for all of his servants.

This is the word of the Lord. In the name of Jesus. Amen. A new year has begun, and the annual tradition of making New Year's resolutions and not following through with them has also begun. Every year we evaluate our lives, and the verdict always comes back with pronouncements like these.

You're not disciplined enough. You're not skinny enough. You're not pretty enough. You're not spending money wisely enough. You're not spending enough time with God, your spouse, your children, your friends.

You get the picture. But have you noticed that merely making a resolution and pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps never seems to work when it comes to getting out of the quagmires of the consequences of sin that we all find ourselves in?

Why is that? I mean, for all of our talk as Lutherans about salvation by grace through faith alone apart from works, we Lutherans, according to some, apparently are supremely lacking in practical sermons.

You know, sermons about how to be more disciplined, skinny, successful, frugal, devoted. But have you also noticed that practical sermons don't work either? Yeah, they're as helpful as making New Year's resolutions.

I mean, after all, the general format for practical sermons goes something like this. Are you not disciplined enough? Well, here are three easy things that you can do today to be more disciplined. Are you not skinny enough?

Well, here are three easy biblical principles that you can apply today to start shedding those unwanted pounds. Are you not frugal enough? Well, here are three easy things that you can do today to be more disciplined in your money management.

Can you spot the problem with these sermons yet? Yeah, they're all law. And the law, listen to me on this one, the law cannot and does not give you any assistance or power in obeying its commands. None whatsoever.

Yeah, let me repeat that. The law cannot and does not give you any assistance or power in obeying its commands. I like to think of the law as kind of like one of those drill sergeants that you have when you go to boot camp in one of the branches of the military.

So there's the law screaming at me. Rose, bro, you're not measured up.

You're not obeying it up.

You're not.

And of course, the only thing I can do is sit there and go, yes, sir. Yes, sir.

Yes, sir.

That's right.

I'm not.

Drop, drop and give me 20 rows, bro. And so I drop and I can't even give him to you. You see, all the law does is bark at you, yell at you. It does not give you any power or assistance in obeying it. We actually have a Latin phrase that we use to describe this particular phenomena of the law.

The Latin phrase is Lex Semper Accusa. The law always accuses. Now, it doesn't only accuse, but it but it does do that. It always accuses. So when pastors I mean, even well-meaning pastors, when they preach sermons of this kind, the practical kind, you know, you know, are you not skinny enough?

Are you not disciplined enough?

Here are three biblical principles that you can make yourself more obedient. The problem is they're doing their congregants to failure. And these pastors cease to be preachers of law and gospel and instead become motivational speakers.

And in reality, there is zero, almost zero difference between them and the motivational speakers of the world, like Tony Robbins and others. The only difference I can see is that they intentionally try to baptize their messages with biblical texts to make it look like it's biblical.

Now, add to all of this, you know, kind of the conundrum that we find as Lutherans when we read passages in the psalms, like today's psalm, you know, the second Sunday of Christmas. Every, by the way, every single week, there is an assigned psalm that goes along with the lectionary.

And technically, a pastor could preach on it. But here's the assigned psalm from Psalm 119, verses 97 to 104. This is the mem section of Psalm 119. And listen to these words. Oh, how I love your law. It is my meditation all the day.

Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, and your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged, for I keep your precepts.

I hold back my feet from every evil way in order to keep your word. I do not turn aside from your rules, for you have taught me. How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth. Through your precepts I get understanding, therefore I hate every false way.

Now, if you're honest with yourself, you're sitting there going, well, you know, I'm having a hard time saying that about me and my particular feelings towards the law. I mean, it's a little tough to have warm, fuzzy, sweet feelings about that drill sergeant that's sitting there going,.

You're not measured up, you need to obey, you need to obey.

Yeah, you know, I'm having a hard time saying that that law is sweeter than honey and things like that. So how do we reconcile this? What is the solution? And by the way, what does this have to do with our text for the second Sunday of Christmas?

You'll note that I'm not preaching on the gospel text today, although as much as I enjoy preaching on the text where Jesus' parents lose the Messiah, and you can imagine the anxiety they go through there with that.

I like to think of that text as like the original version of Home Alone, but I digress. So what's the solution? How are we to understand it? I mean, we rightly understand the law accuses us. We recognize that it doesn't only accuse, it also shows us what a good work is, but the law never gives us the ability to obey it.

And we recognize that the gospel comforts us, assures us of the forgiveness of sins. It helps us out in making sure that we are confident that we are forgiven in Christ, that we have salvation as a gift given by God.

So when it comes to sanctification, we recognize that God's word clearly has those sections where there are admonitions and pushings by the apostles on into good works. But how does one go about doing that?

Well, we'll do a little bit of biblical work here. In the book of Galatians, again, Galatians is a great place to go on this because you'll note that under no circumstances does the Apostle Paul in the book of Galatians give any concessions whatsoever to the Judaizers who are mixing works and grace when it comes to salvation, justification before God.

And so in chapter 3 of Galatians, Paul asks a very important question, and I'm going to point out the language. If you want to follow along in your Bible, you can. Here's what it says. Oh foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?

It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. So let me ask you only this. Did you receive the Spirit? Notice we said there, the Spirit, the Holy Spirit. Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?

The answer to the question, by the way, is hearing with faith. So note, the Holy Spirit plays a role here. Are you so foolish, having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? And you're going to note that Paul does something really fascinating in the book of Galatians 3.

In these opening verses, he uses the phrase by faith and by the Spirit synonymously. They're interchangeable in this particular portion of Galatians. Then he asks the question, did you suffer so many things in vain if indeed it was in vain?

Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and work miracles among you do so by works of the law or by hearing with faith? And so you'll note in the second part of this opening portion of Galatians 3, he's talking about sanctification.

Having begun by the Spirit, are you being perfected by the flesh? And here's where I think we can make a helpful distinction. When you make a New Year's resolution and you say, all right, I'm going to obey the law.

I'm going to just pull myself up by my bootstraps and pull myself up out of the quagmire of the consequences of my sin by my brute will. I'm going to create a habit. I'm going to change my ways and all this kind of stuff.

Here's the issue. The Holy Spirit isn't involved in that at all. That is just merely you trying to be perfected by the flesh. You're not going to pull it off. That's not how sanctification works. And so many of us, what we think happens is that you hear the law screaming at you.

You're not measuring up. And you sit there going, all right, I'm going to make a decision, a free will decision. I'm going to try harder, do better. I'm going to really, I really mean it this time, God.

But your flesh is too weak. You are not capable of obeying God's law. And so what do you do in the midst of all of this? You try hard and then you inevitably fall on your face. It's January 5th. How many of you have made your New Year's resolution and already broken them?

January 5th, I could tell you, you know, if you were to put a pie chart up, you know, 100 of the people who made New Year's resolutions for the new decade 2020, you know, they began on January 1st. By January 5th, I think we're down to like 2 left who haven't broken their resolution.

Are you so foolish having begun by the spirit? Are you now being perfected by the flesh? Which kind of begs the question, what does it mean to do this by the spirit? But I'm getting ahead of myself. So Paul says, so did you suffer these so many things in vain?

If indeed it was in vain, does he who supplies the spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Just as Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness.

And so, you know, Galatians 3 begins to really plant the seeds in our minds through the working of the Holy Spirit in this inspired text that sanctification isn't accomplished apart from the Holy Spirit.

So this is why when we get to Galatians 5, Paul says these words, I say, walk by the spirit. This is verse 16. Walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful flesh. And many Lutherans sit there and go, what?

Really? How? How? How? Funny enough, if you would read the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, you would note that there's a whole section on the article regarding justification that explains how this works.

But I digress. So I say walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. The desires of the flesh, they are against the spirit. The desires of the spirit are against the flesh. These are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things that you want to do.

But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the law. Now, the works of the flesh are evidence. Paul's going to lay out. Here are the works of the flesh. Are you ready? They are sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.

I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But now pay attention to these words. The fruit of the spirit is. The fruit of the what? The fruit of the spirit.

Which spirit? The fruit of the Holy Spirit. This is the fruit that the Holy Spirit produces in us. The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

Against such things there is no law. Notice, it doesn't say the fruit of your commitment, the fruit of your resolution, the fruit of your works. No, no, no. This is the fruit of the spirit. Now, those who belong to Christ, Paul then says, they have crucified the flesh with its passions and its desires.

If we live by the spirit, let us keep in step with the spirit. So, all right, hopefully I've confused you enough. What on earth does it mean to walk by the spirit, or live by the spirit, or bear the fruit of the spirit?

What does that mean? Now, I have already made mention of the Apology of the Augsburg Confession. If you were to go and read our Lutheran Confessions, the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, on the article of justification by grace through faith, Philip Melanchthon quotes on several occasions quite skillfully and promotes a work by the Church Father known as Augustine.

Some people refer to him as Saint Augustine or Augustine of Hippo. And back in the day, he wrote the works that definitively put down a heresy known as the Pelagian heresy. The Pelagian heresy taught a few things.

One of them, it denied that we are born dead in trespasses and sins. It denied original sin. But also the Pelagians believed that we can attain in this lifetime as Christians sinless perfectionism. Yeah, that's part of the Pelagian heresy.

And so one of the works that he wrote against the Pelagians is titled A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter. Again, the name of it is A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter. And the occasion for writing this was some fellow who was under the sway of the Pelagian heresy was very disappointed that Augustine wasn't embracing this idea that Christians can attain sinless perfection in this lifetime.

And so that becomes the presenting issue. As he lays out, Augustine goes back through the scriptures and notes how the Apostle Paul makes this sharp distinction between the spirit and the letter. The spirit and the letter.

And it's just brilliant. Now, one of his quotes, and let me read one of the quotes from this work. Augustine says this, So, having duly considered and weighed all these circumstances and testimonies, we conclude that a man is not justified by the precepts of a holy life.

That means to be declared righteous before God. So he denies that we are justified by the precepts of a holy life. Instead, but by faith in Jesus Christ. In a word, not by the law of works, but by the law of faith.

Not by the letter, but by the spirit. Not by the merits of deeds, but by free grace. And you're going to note that Augustine here is using a phrase that, if you're familiar with the book of Romans, chapter 3, should sound familiar.

The two phrases are the law of works and the law of faith. So the law of works is the letter. The law of works is the letter that tries to achieve salvation by merit, by earning it. In contradistinction, then, is the law of faith.

The law of faith is synonymous with the concept of by the spirit, and the law of faith is also synonymous with the idea of by free grace. These phrases are interchangeable. So he affirms that we are not justified by our works, by the law of works, by meriting salvation by our deeds.

Instead, Augustine says that we are justified by the law of faith, through the spirit, by free grace. All of that being said, then, how does this hit the road? Where do the gears engage regarding our sanctification?

Here's the best quote from this work. Augustine says, By the law of works, God says to us, Do what I command you. And this is true, by the way. But by the law of faith, we say to God, Please give me what you command.

And now you can kind of see how this is starting to play out. You see, by the law of works, the Ten Commandments screams in your face, Do what God commands. But see, we have the Holy Spirit. We are saved by grace through faith.

We know that we do not merit the forgiveness of sins. We do not merit justification in eternal life. So when the law screams at you and says, You need to stop coveting, you say, Lord Jesus Christ, your law has found me guilty of coveting.

Please forgive me of my sins. And please, Lord, give me what you command me. And there's the how. The how is trusting by faith, by the law of faith, that God will give what he commands, even and especially when we recognize that when we look inside of ourselves, we recognize that what God is commanding us isn't there inside of us.

We need to be given it by God. So by faith, then, we call out to God to give what he is commanding us to do. And this he does by the Holy Spirit. Now, this has everything then to do with our Old Testament text.

Our Old Testament text is an example of this exact thing. Here's the context. By 1 Kings 3, David is dead. He has gone the way of his fathers. He's died. And God has had Solomon anointed as the king of Israel.

And he's a young man. And he knows full well what is required of him as the king of Israel. But searching inside of himself, he recognizes he doesn't have a right understanding and have what it takes to fulfill the duties of his kingly office.

And so now he's stuck. What do you do in a situation like this? You can't Google it. You can't look for self-help books. How to be a good king? Or how to be a good king for dummies in the self-help section of the bookstore.

Do people even go to those things anymore? Anyway, so what we find here is that Solomon knows full well what's required of him. It's not there inside of him. And so he prays a prayer akin to what we heard Augustine saying.

Through the law of works, God says to us, do what I command you. But by the law of faith, we then say to God, please give me what you command. So our text then in 1 Kings 3 reads as follows. King Solomon went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place.

Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. At Gibeon, the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night and said, ask what I shall give you. And Solomon said, you've shown great and steadfast love to your servant David, my father, because he walked before you in faithfulness and righteousness and uprightness of heart towards you.

And you have kept for him this great and steadfast love. And I have given him a son to sit on his throne this day. And now, oh, Lord, my God, you have made your servant in place of David, my father, king.

Although I am but a little child. I don't know how to go out or come in. And your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen, a great people, too many to be numbered or counted for multitude.

Please give your servant, therefore, an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may be able to discern good and evil. For who is able to govern this? Your great people. So there Solomon has looked at what is required of him, looked inside of himself and recognized what what is required of him to do doesn't exist with inside of him.

He doesn't know how to do it. And so when God says, ask of me anything, he says, Lord, give me what you command. That I may know good and evil, may have wisdom to govern this, your people, that you would instruct me and show me how to go out and to come in.

And what does God do? He answers Solomon's prayer and gives him the very thing that he asked for. This is a picture of sanctification. So when God's law is yelling at you, telling you, you know, and what does God's law say?

You shall have no other gods. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. You shall remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Honor your father and mother. Do not murder. Do not commit adultery.

Do not steal. Do not bear false witness against your neighbor. Do not covet. You see all of the different ways in which God's law commands you. And of course, it always accuses us. And we recognize this is what God wills for us to do.

And yet when we are honest with ourselves, we recognize that not only is what is needed to obey these commands not within us, tragically and realistically, what is in us is a very natural inclination to disobey these commands.

And so we cry out to God to forgive us of our sins. And faith then says, Lord God, your word requires me to do these things or to not do these things. Please give me what you are commanding me to do. This is done through the law of faith.

Now, if you're wondering, is this biblical? Is this right? Yes. Romans chapter 3. The apostle Paul asked the question, you know, after explaining that we are not saved by our works, that we're justified by grace through faith apart from works.

Paul then asked the question, so what then becomes of our boasting? Yeah, by the way, you know, when you think that somehow, your sanctification is all about you pulling yourself up by your bootstraps, you, by your gut will and obedience, somehow conquering and slaying death, sin and death, well, then you recognize that you're amazing.

You're glow in the dark. You're super special. You have something to boast about. But salvation itself, we can't boast about that because it's given as a gift. Same with sanctification because it is the spirit who produces in us repentance and gives to us the power then to obey what God is commanding us to do.

And when you recognize that these are received as a gift by grace through faith, there's nothing to boast about. Any progress you make in mortifying your sinful flesh, God himself is the one who gets the glory because he's the one who's giving you, giving you the power to begin to obey.

So what then becomes of our boasting, Paul says? Well, it's excluded. And then he asked the question, by what kind of law? And here's where Augustine got those two categories. By a law of works? And he says, no, but by the law of faith.

So what is the law of faith? Well, the law of faith is salvation by grace through faith. The law of faith is by the Spirit. So Paul then says, We hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

Or is God the God of the Jews only? Is he not the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, since God is one who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. He then asked the question, do we overthrow the law by this faith?

No, not at all. What a ridiculous question. By no means. And then he says this. On the contrary, by the law of faith, we uphold the law. By the Spirit, we uphold the law. All of this requires what?

Faith.

Do you believe the scriptures or not? Walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful flesh. Now, this is helpful, then, because each of you should already be praying a couple of prayers a day that are helpful in this regard.

And you're going to sit there and go, wait, wait, wait a second. These prayers that you're going to point us to, isn't that just baby stuff? The answer is no, it's not just baby stuff at all. In fact, what does Christ say?

Unless you enter the kingdom as a little child, you will not enter it at all. So let me go back to the baby stuff. Consider what Jesus teaches us to pray on a daily basis. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And we know we're praying for daily bread. How did your parents and your grandparents used to say it? Count your blessings.

If you have clothes on your back, food on your table or in your belly, if you have a roof over your head, these are all blessings from God, and we are taught to recognize that as coming from Him. My question is, does your sanctification come from you?

I mean, is the Holy Spirit who works holiness in us? And so you'll note then what Jesus teaches us to pray. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

And then here's the part that is that prayer of faith that Augustine was referring to. This is the Lord's version of it. And deliver us from the evil one. Deliver us from the evil one. Lead us not into temptation.

Deliver us from the evil one. That is faith saying, Lord, please help me. Help me to not listen to the temptations of the devil, the world, my sinful flesh. Through your spirit, Lord, protect me and then begin to produce in me that which your law requires.

If you remember back to your catechism days, in Luther's small catechism, we are given a morning prayer. Luther writes in the small catechism in the morning when you get up, make the sign of the Holy Cross and say, In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

And then kneeling or standing, repeat the creed and the Lord's Prayer. And then if you choose, you may also say this little prayer. I thank you, my Heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, your dear Son, that you have kept me this night from all harm and danger.

And I pray that you would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, so that all of my doings and my life may please you. That is a prayer of faith. Lord, it is I look at what your law requires of me.

Please give me what your law requires. Deliver me from the evil one. Lead me not into temptation. Keep me this day from all harm and danger, and from sin and every evil, so that all of my doings and life may please you.

You see, that is faith, praying that the Holy Spirit would produce in us holiness, obedience, keep us from sin, the devil, and every evil, so that the things we do this day would please God. I think you kind of get the point.

Now, here's the thorny bit. When we look at God's law, like I've said already, it accuses us, rightly so. Each of us, me, you, all of us, we have fallen woefully short, woefully short. So note then this.

What do we confess at the beginning of our service? We confess that we are by nature sinful, unclean, that we've sinned against God in thought, in word, in deed, by all the things we've done and the things we haven't done.

And we pray to God for mercy. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

So note then, when the law comes at you and says you're not measuring up, you say yes, this is true. And then know this. Today you heard that you are forgiven. Christ has gone to the cross, and he's bled and died for all of your transgressions.

God made him to be sin who knew no sin so that you might become the righteousness of God. And note he does this out of his great fatherly mercy and love for us. Consider the words of our epistle text from Ephesians 1.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. He has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world so that we would be holy and blameless before him.

And so note you are already holy and blameless before God because Christ has taken your sin upon himself. Gone to the cross, suffered, bled, died, rose again so that you can be forgiven. In love, God the Father predestined us for adoption, and you are already an adopted child of God, predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace with which he has blessed us and the beloved.

In him we have already, we have it in the bag, the redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of all of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace with which he has lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, having made known to us the mystery of his will according to his purpose, which is in Christ.

So note, you are bled for, died for, forgiven. Do not despair because you do not measure up. Do not despair because you have no power to overcome your sin just by your will or your making your resolutions.

You are truly sinful by nature, and you still have your old Adam that is fighting against you, fighting against what the Holy Spirit would produce in you. So confess it and believe that you are forgiven.

And then when God's law says you must do this,.

Cry out in faith,.

Believing what God's word says, that walking by the Spirit you will put to death, mortify the passions of your sinful flesh and not live according to them. And like Solomon, pray, Lord, you have commanded me to do this.

Please give me what you command. That is a prayer of faith. And God hears it, and he answers it. So this is the closest I'll ever get to preaching a practical sermon. So put away your resolutions. Stop trying to pull yourself up by your bootstraps.

You won't succeed. You will eventually become exhausted and fail, or worse, become arrogant and believe that you are holy because you have made yourself holy. Put it all away. Repent of your sins. Be forgiven.

Trust in what Christ has done for you. And then in humble contrition, pray to the Lord, please give me what you are commanding me to do. And he will answer and produce in you the fruit of the Spirit by the Holy Spirit.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

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