Not Giving Up

As I was preparing for today, I just want to share with you where my heart was yesterday as I was preparing for this morning: we had a hundred opportunities this year to quit. We had a hundred opportunities to quit on Jesus. Maybe you were disappointed and you clung to him. Maybe you were let down and you didn't abandon Him. Maybe you were betrayed by someone near and you clung to Him, rather than push Him away.

It’s no small thing to be able to say that you held on to something these days. It’s no small thing to not grow jaded, it's no small thing to not grow cynical, it's no small thing not to start to look around at other saviors that might be easier to worship and follow.

So, I just want to take a moment this morning to just thank God that here we are. The last day of 2023, you clung to Him.

Overcoming

Today we’re going to be in a few different places in our Bibles. First, I wanted to lay in front of you that the Book of Revelation has this beautiful and really amazing refrain in ch. 2 & 3, when the Apostle John is writing to the churches in the ancient world, he gives this idea of reward to those who overcome.  

There’s seven letters to seven churches, and in each letter he'll say “to he who has an ear let him hear what the spirit says to the churches” but he also says seven times:

1. to he who overcomes

2. to he who overcomes

3. to he who overcomes

4. to he who overcomes

5. to he who overcomes

6. to he who overcomes

7. to he who overcomes

Now, in the ESV, they translated that Greek word into: “to he who conquers” but the words are the same. Overcoming and conquering are the same word and here's what he says:

1. To he who overcomes: I will allow you to eat the Tree of Life in The Paradise of God.

2. To he who overcomes: you will not be hurt by the second death.

3. To he who overcomes: I will give some hidden Manna and a white stone with a new name that no one knows except the one who receives it.
   Do you have a nickname by a spouse, loved one, family member, friend that you'd rather not be shared publicly? I shared mine in a different sermon already and if you missed it, good. But it's just this sign of intimacy - that's what's in view here is this kind of playful name which man I don't think many people think about God like he's playful. If you don’t think so, then you're not checking out creation. What's the Platypus? God's sense of humor. All those leftover animal bits he just throws into one animal. It’s awesome. Plus it’s venomous? Sick. Anyway, back on track.

4. To he who overcomes: I will give authority over the Nations.

5. To he who overcomes: You’ll be clothed in white garments and your name will never be blotted out of The Book of Life.

6. To he who overcomes: I will make a pillar in the temple of God and I will write on him the name of my God and on the city of my God.

7. To he who overcomes: he will sit with me on my Throne.

Do you hear the refrain? To he who overcomes. To he who conquers. To he who hangs in there - rewards are coming. To he who overcomes: don't let go! To he who overcomes.

Goal-Making

Now I don't know if you’re like me – if you are, then my guess is you've already started thinking through your goals for 2024. Or maybe your resolution?

I’ve heard some people talk about not being fans of resolutions, because they typically fail. So I’ll just say this: I make goals. I make goals all the time, and if the start of a new year prompts me to think about what I want to accomplish, things I want to change/ or maybe need to change (if you ask my wife) then you better believe I’m making some goals. I’ve got physical goals. I've got financial goals. I've got spiritual goals. I’ve got goals for my family. I’ve got goals as a pastor. And at this ripe old age of 32, nearly 33, I've lived long enough now to know maybe I'll hit those goals andmaybe I won't. And I don't say that because I lack discipline. I say that because I don't control life, I don’t control everyone else around me, and sometimes my best laid goals (that I think might even be pleasing to God) are derailed for one reason or another.

Things happen that are outside of our control, all the time, right? 

So when Josh asked me if I’d be able to preach today (Go figure, Associate Pastor preaching on New Year’s Eve. Typical), I started planning, and like I do every time I prepare a message: I prayed and asked the Lord how I could best serve this congregation from this pulpit today. And so rather than stand up here and give just a “push forward into the New Year!” sermon, I felt that maybe the best way that I could serve us today is to help us orient our hearts for the next year on things that are actually in our control.

Orienting Our Hearts

So if you’ll read with me, I’m now going to jump from where we were in Revelation, over to about the middle of the Bible, in the Psalms – chapter 16. Starting in verse 1:

That last verse there, verse 11, that’s the crescendo of not just chapter 16, but actually Psalm 15 as well. They're very similar Psalms in their structure. But if you’re looking to make a New Year’s resolution, and you’re needing an outline – verse 11: the path, the presence of God, the pleasure.

Amen!

You can all go home. Not really.

Notice the words here, “the path”. That doesn’t say “a path” does it? The Hebrew word: אֹרַח, means “the path.” We don’t get this message saying that there’s a path to life that's not the Hebrew. God’s not saying, “here’s a path to life.” God’s is saying, “the path to life I have made known.”

I love it so much.

Especially as we run this race with endurance, we get this beautiful message that God has not abandoned us to try to figure this thing out. God has not said: “Hey just stumble about, as long as you're moving in a direction maybe you'll figure it out. Good luck! Really. You’ll need it.” God hasn't said what culture loves to say, God hasn’t said: “Find the path that works for you.” That's not what he said.

 He says there is the path and that path is the one that leads to life. So if you want life, and I don’t mean merely just existing (we’re all existing right now), maybe there's a little something more for you than you're aware of.

You have made known to me the path of life.

How are we to know the path of life? Two things.

The Path of Life

1. The Path

The first one and a lot of us aren't going to like it. It's okay that you don't like it, I think we have a natural tendency to butt heads with it but – well, I’ll just say it - the first way that God lets us know the path of Life is by giving us the moral law. I’m not talking aboutlegalism. It is not legalistic to say that God has laid out the path for us and that path is a moral path. That’s biblical.

And amen for that.  

I’m not talking about works-based faith, where it says that “I have to do these things, x, y, and z, to be accepted by God.” Not what I’m saying. I’m not talking about legalism I'm talking about the path to life. Like James and Paul say, that it’s because I'm loved and saved that I aim to stay on this path. We also see this in Psalm 119:103- 105.

Do you hear it? “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth… Through your precepts I get understanding.” Who in our day talks about the moral law of God like that “Oh my gosh that tastes amazing! What is that, honey?” But that’s gotta be our orientation towards the moral law. And it's already in the Psalm we read earlier, Psalm 16 in verse 6, where he says:

The rules of God, the moral commands of God, those are boundaries, the fences in our lives that create a pleasant place. And the more we kick against those and climb over those, the more we do harm to ourselves and we get off the path of life and on the broad, wide, 6-lane-highway to destruction. Maybe I should be thankful that the road to my house is so small. But all you have to do is hop social media, hop on the news, hop on late night tv, and chances are you’ll have a front row seat to that 6-lane-highway. Matt Chandler puts it wonderfully, saying,

But the moral law of God is the path to life. It’s that narrow road home. Maybe your year wasn’t good. Maybe it was bad. Maybe it was really bad. Maybe years have been bad. Maybe you’re sitting here thinking, “I feel like my life is just one big L after another.” You just lose time and time again. Another goal not hit, another resolution broken, another promise not kept. Maybe you think that this moral law is just too much. You’re never going to keep it perfectly, so why try? Well – you picked the right Sunday to come to church - not only has the path of life been laid out to us in the moral law of God, but the path of life has been made possible by the coming of Jesus. Jesus says in John 14:6:

What an entirely arrogant thing to say. Unless you’re God.

Jesus is the path. So here’s what we have: We have the moral Law of God (you don’t get to just throw away the moral Law of God) we do read in Hebrews that Jesus has come to fulfill the Law, not abolish the Law, so the moral laws are intact. So here’s the path. And in this year, as we go through 2024 there’s going to be times that you’re going to be weak, when staying on the path is going to be hard. When the marriage is just too difficult. Or maybe it’s this thought of “I feel nervous about my finances so I’m not going to be generous” and you end up entering into this season of just greed and hoarding. So what’s the solution? The solution is that I’m going to root myself on the moral law of God and turn my back on sin and wickedness - by clinging to Jesus. And in doing so, we can be confident that He has given, and that He has provided, and that He will make a way, because, He is the way. He is the path.

2. The Presence

Which leads me to the second point of today:

There's the path, which is the moral law, the coming of Jesus and then now there's the presence. More than Jesus wants you to have a long list of things you're doing, He wants to turn you into a kind of person. And see – here’s the thing: I’ve got an idea of the kind of person that I want to be. Anyone else? In fact, that’s probably one of the reasons that I’m so hard on myself sometimes. One of the reasons that I may not like me, at times, maybe as much as I should, is because I want to be the kind of person that I’ve just arbitrarily come up with in my mind.

But what if the Lord is like, “Listen – I’m going to turn you into someone different than that person that you had in mind.”

 At one point in my life, I had a thought that I was going to be a dentist. Then I shadowed my dad one summer. Nope. Not for me. Then I was convinced that I was going to be a musician. Then an artist. Then a graphic designer. Then a web developer. Then a project manager. Every single one of those decisions came with their own ideas of the kind of person that I wanted to be. With their own goals that I had set to make me into that person. And all the while, God was turning me into someone different than that person that I had in mind. And the amazing thing is that every single one of those things – I still get to use on a regular basis. And this isn’t the end of the road, who knows what the plan is – but I do know this, I’m going to cling to Him. So all of that to say, the Lord may be turning you into a different person than that guy or girl you had in mind. And you know what, He might use joy and sorrow to do it. In fact, I’d argue that He probably will. And there’ll be pressure on you to conform you into His image, and there’ll be blessings throughout all of that – with His presence, with that sanctification. See, the presence of Jesus in our lives, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, it transforms us into different kinds of people. And I’m not talking solely about, “I’m stopping this, I’m starting that,” – that might be part of it, sure, that’s the moral law that we talked about and it’s important – I’m not minimizing that, but we’re transformed according to the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians, when he says:

Does that sound slow to anyone else? One degree at a time? You know how rates for car insurance go down once you reach 25? That magical age when you just suddenly receive driving talent that instantly makes you less of a liability?

I need that in glory form – how do I move the needle like 40 degrees at a time? One degree at a time? Really Paul? But, like that driving talent that never magically showed up – my wife can attest to that - that’s not how it works. You have to feel that pressure, and that’s what leads us into His presence where we become a kind of person more than having just a checklist of things that I should or shouldn’t be doing. Talk about changing a room when you walk into it. Not because of your reputation of upholding x, y, or z, or because you have the New Testament memorized – (and trust me, I’m all about memorizing the Book) – but just because you’re a kind of person.

How amazing is that? And then, I love this promise, again in Psalm 16:11:

See, this word fullness in the Hebrew, שֹׂבַע, means abundance, more than you need, more than enough to satisfy the extreme craving of the human soul. Total fullness. So, “in your presence, there is fullness of joy.” The soul satisfied. The water that whoever drinks of it will never thirst (John 4:13-14). And I know that this is a message on New Year’s eve, but listen to me when I say this – over time - repeatedly turn your attention to Jesus. It doesn’t have to be just because Jan. 1st is tomorrow. And it can be in simple ways. Maybe your prayer is “I want to love you, more than I do – please help me.” “You say that in your presence, there is fullness of joy. Help me get closer to you.” I think that there’s two ways that you can read your Bible. Like a book, and like you want to draw closer to God. To get closer to His presence. Maybe it can be things throughout your day, as your driving in your car on your morning commute, as you go to lunch, when you have transitions in your day – just take a second to pause. “I want to know you better than I do. I want to love you more than I do. I want to be closer to you. Please help me.”

It doesn’t take long, I’ve said it twice up here in what, 1 minute?

And then as you’re in His word, as you’re reading it with that intention of growing closer to Him, those prayers change to something like, “help me to be stronger in those weak places of my heart.” Ask Him. It’s His presence, it’s His indwelling in us as believers that changes us into types of people. The type of people that change rooms when we walk into them. Maybe the Holy Spirit opens eyes of people in your life simply because you’re present, and available.

3. The Pleasures

And the third – “the pleasures in your right hand.” What David is writing about here is this idea of forevermore - it's an inexhaustible fountain that as believers, in his presence are pleasures that will not grow stale nor flat. Amen for that. The gift of eternal life with Him in His presence. All through our lives as we remember Christ, refocus on Him, and are continually formed into His image – what’s the end result? Pleasures forevermore.

Talk about a Christmas gift that doesn’t lose its luster.

So let's kind of combine these ideas of overcoming, joy in His presence, and pleasures forevermore. I don't know all of you super well, but if you've been around me very much this past year, 2023 has been a tough one. And I know many others who would say that 2023 was a hard year for them as well. That’s probably an understatement. I’ve had epic years, and if it was an epic year for you – then that’s amazing, and praise God for that. But I can tell you this: regardless of the year that I’m having, today, tomorrow, and forevermore - what am I clinging to is Christ. To His presence. And in trials, I can find joy in His presence. I can find joy in having faith. To he who overcomes.

To he who overcomes.

By Endurance, We Conquer

There was an explorer named Ernest Shackleton. And if you don’t know who that is, it doesn’t matter. But he was an explorer, and he had this ship called the Endurance. One of the places that he went with his crew to explore was in Antarctica. While they were there, the ship, the Endurance, ultimately got stuck in the ice and it ended up sinking.

This is a picture of the actual ship. Stuck in the ice.

What ended up happening was that his crew ended up having to survive in the Antarctic - away from their boat. And they did it.

I share this, because his family motto was “fortudinus vincimus.” In Latin it means, “By endurance we conquer.”

You know, we can use that ourselves in the Biblical context today:

By endurance, we conquer.

Our lives as Christians can be brutally hard. I have no idea what's coming in 2024 for you and for me. None. Like I've got physical goals. My body's betraying me more and more frequently – like waking up from sleeping at some angle you didn’t mean to and now your neck doesn’t work right - so I got some goals. I've got financial goals for me and my family. There's a lot I can't control about that. I've got spiritual goals. I’ve reworked my calendar for the new year so that I've got an ideal week that I have built out to be as efficient and as effective as possible. But who knows what’s going to happen that first week that changes my entire schedule? And speaking of calendars, who knows, this could be my last year. I certainly hope not, but the Lord has my days. Just because I’m in ministry doesn’t mean that I get to make it to 85 years old. I’d love to have that many years in my life, but you know what? He’s already given me 32 that I don’t deserve. I don't know the future holds for you, I don't know what it holds for me, but if you'll look to this new year with these lenses of: “you have made known to me the path of life” – and it’s through Jesus that we are able to walk on it.

I don't have to get off the path, I just have to endure.

So the goal for 2024 is to renew my vision on Christ. To stay on the path with endurance in the presence of God, all the while believing the path has been made visible to those with eyes to see. So as we wrap up, I’d like to lead us in a time of communion. A time for believers in which we remember that through Christ, God has made known to us the path of life. When Jesus took the bread and broke it, saying “This is my body, given for you,” He was pointing ahead to the day when His body would be broken on the cross so that we could be forgiven of our sins and receive eternal life. His blood, poured out for the forgiveness of sins, purchased our salvation once and for all. Christ conquered sin and death forever when He walked out of that grave. As the one who overcame, as the one who conquered, He now stands holding the rewards promised to all those who endure and cling to him. Eternal life. Completely fulfilling joy in His presence. The bread of life to nourish our souls. Streams of living water to quench our deepest thirst. 

Whatever 2024 may hold, thank God that we we do not face it alone, but in the power of His presence and with the guidance of His Spirit, transforming us degree by degree into his image. Hardships will come, but by endurance, by clinging to Christ, we will overcome.

Let’s pray together:

Lord Jesus, we thank you for making the path of life known to us through your saving work on the cross. Your body broken so that we could be made whole. Your blood poured out for the complete forgiveness of sins. We ask that you fill our hearts to overflowing with your indwelling presence, the source of our joy. Empower us to walk in your ways, to cling to you no matter what storms may come in the coming year. We pray this in Jesus’ mighty and matchless name, Amen.

Sources:

Books/Research Papers/Blog Articles:

• “Revelation: Toward a Christian Theology on God’s Self-Revelation” by Gerald O’Collins

• “Easter [2017]: Full Joy and Eternal Pleasure (Psalm 16)” from Bible.org

• “Psalm 16: Pleasures Forevermore” from Bible.org

• “Encountering the Book of Psalms: A Literary and Theological Introduction” by C. Hassell Bullock

Sermons:

• “The Path to Full and Lasting Pleasure” by John Piper

• “A Vibrant Endurance” by Matt Chandler

• “Fullness of Joy - Psalm 16” by Daniel Baker

Commentaries:

• “Commentary on Psalm 16 - Working Preacher” from Luther Seminary

• “Psalms: An Introduction and Commentary” by Tremper Longman III

• “Commentary on the Whole Bible” by Matthew Henry

Resources for Further Study: