Thursday, January 2, 2014

NEW YEAR’S EVE December 31, 2013 Pastor Timothy J. Spaude Text: Psalm 121 “COUNTDOWN TO 2014!


NEW YEAR’S EVE
December 31, 2013
Pastor Timothy J. Spaude
Text: Psalm 121

“COUNTDOWN TO 2014!
                                      3 Reasons we might be afraid.
                                      2 Reasons we don’t have to be.
                                      1 Savior God to serve!

Psalm 121 (NIV 1984) I lift up my eyes to the hills-- where does my help come from? 2My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. 3He will not let your foot slip-- he who watches over you will not slumber; 4indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 5The LORD watches over you-- the LORD is your shade at your right hand; 6the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. 7The LORD will keep you from all harm-- he will watch over your life; 8the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.”

          It’s one of the New Year’s Eve traditions. The countdown to the New Year. Those who stay up late enough may do their own—or tune in to the tape delayed dropping of the ball in Times Square. Well whether you make it to midnight tonight or not you won’t miss out. We’ll do a New Year’s Eve countdown to 2014 right here. For the purists, don’t worry. It’s about to be midnight in Addis Ababa/Rome!
          We’ll start at number 3. The Psalmist said, I lift up my eyes to the hills-- where does my help come from?” There is probably more we don’t know here than we do. Was the Psalmist in Jerusalem and looking at an opposing army coming to besiege his city? Was the Psalmist traveling to Jerusalem going through passes looking up where robbers might be hiding? We don’t know. What we do know is the Psalmist was afraid and looking for help. How about us? As we look forward to a new year are there any reasons we might be afraid? Absolutely.
          Number one. The world we live in is a bad place to live. Since the fall into sin the created world has been groaning under imperfection. It fights against itself. We used to think that natural disasters were not increasing. That we just had better news coverage but that does not seem to be the case. Disasters of earthquakes, fires, typhoons and tornadoes keep happening seemingly with increasing frequency. Scary! Will we be caught in one? How about our loved ones? Beyond the devolving created world people are bad. I know, I know that the PC answer is that people are basically good. I too want to believe that people are basically good. But they aren’t. God says so. “There is no one who is righteous, not even one. The imagination of man’s heart is evil from youth.” Even people who do a lot of good, then you find out that they reject God’s Son Jesus as Savior. They reduce Him to just a good man. That’s not the sign of a good person. That’s bad. Then there are the bad people of the world who don’t even try to pretend they are good. North Korea’s new leader executes his uncle. Syrians gas their own people. Suicide bombing spreads from the Arab countries to Russia. Al Qaeda is still around. Closer to home the repeat offender OWI and wrong way drivers cause death and destruction. School shootings continue. Milwaukee is a center for the child sex trade. Heroin use is on the rise among suburban teens. People who you should be able to trust back stab you, talk evil behind your back. Family members can’t get along. This world is bad place to live. Where will its evil tendril touch you this year? Scary!
          That leads to another reason to be afraid as we look to a new year. All the unknowns. Have you noticed that in your life that dealing with the unknown is more stressful, more scary than dealing with what you do know? So that time when you are waiting for the test results, is it cancer or not? Malignant or benign, those are scary times. Did I get the job or not? Layoffs are announced. Will I be one let go? Economic prognosticators look at the same data and we are out of recession or not. We have job creation but not lasting ones. Will the Stock Market keep its gains? It’s all unknown. That’s scary.
          And then a third reason to be afraid is our own sinfulness. I know that when we talk about the world being a bad place it’s simply more convenient to talk or think about other people but the reality is that our own sin gives us the most reasons to be afraid. Maybe we think first of the consequences of sin. What past sins that you have hidden or tried to hide will catch up to you? What might come out into the open? What will that mean in your relationships with family, friends or at work? Scary. But not the worst kind of scary. Sin offends God. It slaps Him in the face. He offers His only Son as a sacrifice for our sins and some we laugh about. Some we brush off as no big deal. Some we promise never to do again and fall so soon after the promise. God sets up a way for us to hear He forgives us again and again and yet when the announcement of forgiveness comes we whisk through it or for no good reason don’t even come to church in time to hear it. Now, why did we think God should want us, keep us around, help us in our time of need? Would we be there to help other people who treated us or our child so shamefully? Not a chance. Our own sinfulness. Scary. Three big reasons we might be afraid as we look ahead to a new year. I lift up my eyes to 2014. Where does my help come from?
          But now hear two great reasons we don’t have to be afraid. My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.” When the Psalmist looked at what scared him he next looked at what gave him confidence and hope. The LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. The first reason we don’t have to be afraid is that our help comes from the Maker of heaven and earth. Think about that phrase, “the Maker of heaven and earth!” What words come to mind? Power. Wisdom. The one who calls stars and galaxies into existence with the breath of His mouth. The one who anticipates all eventualities and puts into motion a habitat on earth the cleans itself and replaces itself. The Maker. He is our helper. The psalmist thought about that and said, “He will not let your foot slip-- he who watches over you will not slumber; 4indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 5The LORD watches over you-- the LORD is your shade at your right hand; 6the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. 7The LORD will keep you from all harm-- he will watch over your life.” Here is one big reason we don’t have to be afraid in 2014. Our help comes from the Maker. He is there always. He doesn’t sleep or take vacations. He is powerful and wise. And why do we think He’ll help us?
          That’s the other great reason we don’t have to be afraid in 2014. Our help comes from the LORD. Now some of you have been Bible students long enough or have heard pointed out in sermons or Bible classes often enough that there is a whole lot packed in that name LORD when it is spelled with all capitals. That’s the NIV Bible’s way of pointing out this is the special name God uses for Himself when He wants to emphasize He loves and saves His people. He used it when He sent Moses to rescue the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt. He uses it for us when He wants us to be comforted in spite of our sins. Earlier when we were talking about our sinfulness and asked why should God help us, and we were sitting there feeling like the kid who broke the window and now has to go and ask dad for some money to see a movie thinking there is no way this is going to work. And it doesn’t. There is nothing we can do to make up for even one sin. But the LORD did that for us. The LORD is so great, His forgiveness so full and complete He has to use word pictures to help try to fathom it. As far as the east is from the west. Though your sins are like scarlet they are as white as snow. You’ve washed your dirty robes in the blood of the Lamb and now they are white. The LORD is our helper. Jesus is with us. Remember the one who is the same yesterday, today and forever. If our confidence meter for 2014 was based on our worthiness to be helped by God it would crash. But instead it’s based on God’s faithfulness to His promises. We might come to moments in 2014 where we will feel afraid. But we don’t have to. We have two great reasons we don’t have to be. Our help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. As the psalmist said, “The LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.”
          And that means something else for 2014. Purpose. Meaning for existing. One. We have one awesome Savior God to serve. How are you going to do that this new year? What roles has God given you? Self-employed, unemployed, full time, half time, retired, volunteer. Single, husband, wife, mother, father, son, daughter, student, teacher. Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Do you see how God gives meaning to every part of 2014? We get to carry the 10 Commandments and their meanings in our hearts and as we carefully strive to follow them whatever our role at the time happens to be we are saying thank you to the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. We are serving Him. God loves that. It’s what He created us to do and it provides us happiness.
          And now we are ready for the countdown. Say it with me. Three reasons we might be afraid in 2014. Two great reasons we don’t have to be. One great God to serve. With Him we can count a Happy New Year! Amen.

No comments:

Post a Comment