Rev. David Holwick A NEW YEARS DAY
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
January 5, 1992
Luke 5:36-39
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I. The need for renewal.
A. New Year's resolutions remind us of need to change.
1) Weight loss, quit smoking, read Bible more.
B. Is dramatic change possible?
1) People tend to resist it.
a) Scientists don't adapt to new theories - the old
generation dies off.
2) When people claim to change, most others are skeptical.
a) David Duke and being "born again."
A very sarcastic article by columnist Mike Royko casts
doubt on David Duke's professed conversion.
Many public figures have claimed spiritual rebirth and it's
usually a gimmick.
"This transformation often happens while they are awaiting
sentence or seeking parole.
Theologians might consider studying the relationship between
loving God and fearing a judge."
"When the going gets tough, the tough get religion."
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C. Often, dramatic change isn't a wish, but an absolute necessity.
1) Gorbachev overthrown in what used to be Soviet Union.
a) Couldn't change fast enough for the times.
b) His dramatic changes soon became old hat.
D. The Bible says people can, and must, change.
1) "Except you are born again, you won't enter kingdom of God."
John 3:3
A Chinese general put it this way:
"If the world is to be brought to order, my nation must first
be changed.
If my nation is to be changed, my hometown must be made over.
If my hometown is to be reordered, my family must first be
set right.
If my family is to be regenerated, I myself must first be."
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2) Conversion may start small, but has a big impact.
a) Don't set limits on what God can do.
b) Don't set limits on what God may want you to do.
A woman lived next door to a private zoo.
She informed the police that she had a skunk in her cellar.
"Open the cellar door," the officer advised, "make a trail
of bread crumbs from the cellar to the garden.
Then wait for the skunk to follow it outside."
Half an hour later the woman called a second time.
"I did what you said--now I have two skunks in my cellar."
It is not enough to try to reform one or two bad habits.
What we need is a change of heart.
What we need is a new orientation.
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3) Analogies from self-help groups.
Overeaters Anonymous, OA, seeks to break compulsive eating.
9,000 meetings weekly.
Based on a belief that compulsive overeating is a progressive
disease that can be arrested, though not cured, by turning
one's will over to a higher power.
Often it is God.
One member said, "It's not about weight, exercise or recipes;
it's a process, a lifestyle.
It is also about 'core' changes in who I am and how I live."
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4) Don't just believe in Jesus - do what he says.
a) Practical and moral teaching of the New Testament.
II. Old vs. new. (The reason for resistance)
A. We feel safe with what is old and tried-and-true.
Ecclesiastes 1:9-10
What has been will be again, what has been done will be done
again; there is nothing new under the sun.
Is there anything of which one can say,
"Look! This is something new"?
It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time.
1) New is not necessarily better, and is always suspect.
Luke 5:39 "And no one after drinking old wine wants the
new, for he says, 'The old is better.'"
2) According to Jesus, the old and new don't mix - and shouldn't.
Luke 5:37-38
"And no one pours new wine into old wineskins.
If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will
run out and the wineskins will be ruined.
No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins."
B. Jesus brought something totally new and exciting.
Romans 7:6
But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been
released from the law so that we serve in the new way of
the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.
2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation;
the old has gone, the new has come!
1) Main theme of Revelation: Jesus brings in the new.
2) Therefore people must make a decision for or against him.
III. Being open to newness.
A. Churches certainly resist it.
1) Tend to be hide-bound organizations.
a) Just like religious establishment in Jesus' day.
b) "We tried it, and it didn't work."
2) Archeology - temples occupy same site for thousands of years.
a) Old style of our church.
b) Victorian hymns.
c) Resistance to change.
3) Our rituals date back to the beginning.
a) Restoration is key to Baptist polity.
b) Should old be abandoned and new embraced?
B. Churches can change.
1) Reach out to broken people and non-traditional families.
2) New neighborhoods - behind Ledgewood Mall?
IV. What will we change about ourselves? Our church?
Copyright © 2024 by Rev. David Holwick
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