Following God Into The New Year

Well, Happy New Year! It is so great to be with you. How many of you are glad you're in church this morning? What a great day to be in church and celebrate the dawning of a new year. My name's René, I'm one of the pastors here at TLC, and I would love to talk to you today about following God into the new year. If you're here with us in the auditorium, you can grab your message notes that look like this to help you follow along. And if you're joining us on the livestream, we are super glad that you're with us today, and you can get these at TLC.org/notes.

Now, before we talk about the new year, I'd love to do what kind of is traditional this time of year when you look at TV shows and even sports teams and so on. What they often do is they'll look back at the year that has just passed, and that's actually a really good spiritual discipline just to give God glory for all the things that he's done in the last year. And I'd love to do that when it comes to Twin Lakes Church. And I'll start with this. I don't know if you guys saw this article in the Santa Cruz Central, but look at this headline, one of 2023's best new Christmas songs. And there's one of our worship pastors, Elizabeth, and it talks about the worship team. And if you were here at any of the candlelight services, you heard this song, it's great. I downloaded it and I probably listened to it 250 times. It's fantastic.

And now we head into this new year. So a couple of days ago, I read that tonight, believe it or not, this seems incredible, but tonight over one billion people globally are going to be watching their TV sets or watching their phones to see the ball drop in Times Square in Manhattan. And I'm just kind of curious, here we got a lot of people here. Raise your hand if you've ever seen this in person. You've been at Times Square in Manhattan. Really? That's amazing. Would you ever do it again? No, never. I thought so. Good, then the rest of us don't even have to try.

So I was watching this and I kind of went down a rabbit hole on this because it occurred to me, what is this all about? Why a ball dropping? How did that whole tradition even start? So it goes all the way back to 1833, but not in New York. In Greenwich, England, kind of where the time is established for the entire planet now, in Greenwich at the Royal Observatory, they started with this time ball dropping in 1833. And people saw that and thought, that is so cool. And over the next several decades, 150 countries around the world decided we also need a time ball. Now, that went out of fashion. Hardly any of them exist anymore except famously in Greenwich and in Manhattan in Times Square.

Now, over the years, it's undergone some revisions. When it was first illuminated, as you see here, it had a stunning, wait for this, 125 watt light bulbs. People came the world over to view this marble. And I thought, how times change because currently, there is a doghouse in Soquel with more lights than this for Christmas. They've changed a lot, of course, over the years. Most recently, in 2000, the Waterford Crystal Company changed it, the current one has over 500 of these crystal triangles. And did you know this, I did not know, that the ball actually has a name. It's Fred. No, just kidding, it is called the Star of Hope.

Now, I was looking at that and I thought, it's interesting because as we go into the new year, I don't know how many people are actually feeling hope. In fact, think about it for yourself. Look at these two words, optimism, apprehension. As we enter 2024, which one of these do you actually feel more of right now? For a lot of people, this new year seems troubling and puzzling and dark. And so the challenge for us as believers, and really the question for us, is how do I follow God with clarity and joy when the future is confusing and not clear and alarming and not sort of innately joyful? And how are we going to find out how to do that from Scripture?

Well, here's what we're going to do. This whole past month, we've been in a series through the Christmas narrative as told in the Gospel of Matthew in the Bible. And I want to kind of wrap that up this morning and look at how Joseph handled an uncertain future because think of all the uncertainties that surrounded his future. Not just minor inconveniences like, oh, you're going to have to lay the baby in a feeding trough, but real danger. People trying to kill his baby. Now, it was Joseph's job to protect Jesus. That's not your job. Your job is to follow Jesus. But how do you do that?

So here's what I want to do. I want to look at how Joseph gets three different visits from an angel at three different times in his life when his future seems uncertain or dangerous, actually. And this is so relevant to us because I want to look at each of those angelic visits and his responses each time to see Joseph as a model of a person facing worries and troubles and threats, but who responds to God's direction consistently through it all. And here is why you and I really need to hear this today. As your pastor, I've just been burdened with this. As I look ahead, how can I prepare my church for this new year? I think there are some very, very predictable distractions that might keep you from following after Jesus in 2024.

And the first is fear. There's a lot of scary stuff out there for real, but what makes this even worse is that fear is the best clickbait out there. People will write headlines and use fear to try to motivate you, to make you want to watch the YouTube video or read the story or click on the post. And so the scarier they can make every single article seem, the better it is for them. They get paid by making you scared. I mean, let me just give you one example. So Friday I was on YouTube and a YouTube suggestion popped up about the waves here in Santa Cruz. So, you know, we live here in Santa Cruz. I clicked on it and I looked at the video. They took truth. Capitola village got flooded. The Rio Espinade was closed. Kids got splashed by a big wave on West Cliff, all true. And they made it sound like the end of the world.

In fact, they even added footage that wasn't even from Santa Cruz. Stock footage of waves. And they said Santa Cruz was evacuated. Capitola was evacuated. How many of you live in either Santa Cruz or Capitola? Were you evacuated? You know, so they took what was real and just accentuated it. Guess what? It got millions of views. And not only is fear clickbait, fear's also very motivating. Studies have found that in elections, messages featuring fear are twice as likely to get you to the polling place as any other message. Let's see, is there an election coming up in 2024? Oh yeah! So, are you ready for all of the people who are going to be pushing your fear button? Like an impatient person pushing an elevator button? Click, click, click, click! You ready for that?

And then related to fear is anger. This is the second best motivating factor when it comes to elections. And that means people are going to spend millions of dollars and millions of hours designing messages specifically and scientifically and very skillfully crafted to make you angry. Because the angrier you are, the better it is for them. Are you ready for that? And then not related to these, but also comfort. At times this year you will not want to follow Jesus where he wants you to grow because you're comfortable. You're settled. And following Jesus is always at least a little bit uncomfortable because at times because he's going to stretch you. He wants you to grow.

Well, guess what? I was thinking about this. Joseph faced all three of these, didn't he? Fear? Absolutely. Afraid of Herod's soldiers tried to kill his baby. Anger? I mean, I'd be angry if there was somebody hunting down my baby, wouldn't you? And comfort? It seems in the narrative every single time he gets settled, time to move, time to move, time to move again. Yet he follows God consistently. So let's look at how he did that. Three traits of a consistent God follower in Joseph that you and I need to know this year. This year is going to be for Christians about obedience, about actually being like Jesus in our world and not being like Caesar and not being like some celebrity and not being following all the lure of all those temptations and deciding, no, I'm going to be like Jesus and I'm going to do what Jesus asks me to do this year.

So what are Joseph's traits that we can model ourselves after? Jot these down. Number one is simple. Do it now. Do it now. Back in Chapter one, we covered this a month ago when the angel tells him, "Bring Mary home as your wife." The Bible says, "When Joseph woke up," he did what the angel told him to do. When he woke up, refreshing immediacy. There's a pastor named Tom Holliday who did a sermon on this and he talks about this trait of Joseph and how it's reflected so often in the Bible. Like look at this verse, Psalm 119:90, "I will hasten and not delay to obey your commands." Why? Because when I hasten and don't delay, it's just easier to obey. The more you put it off, the harder it is.

Let me give you an example. I don't know if you have a teenager at home or a young adolescent or if you ever have in your life, but let's say you ask one of them to take out the trash. Will you take out the trash, please? Now in your house, do they immediately jump up with enthusiasm and say, "Yes, I've been longing for that request and rush to do it." Probably not. Probably they say something like, "Just a minute. I'm doing something." Oh, you're doing something. Had I known that, I wouldn't have asked you, right? What are they doing? Watching TV, doing homework, texting on a phone call, surfing the web and also playing video games all at the same time, probably.

So in "Just a Minute," as requested, you issue the reminder. Remember, it's been just a minute. Take out the trash. I know. Just a minute. Now, is this getting easier or more difficult? It's getting more difficult, right? Is it a burdensome request to ask them to take out the trash? No, of course not. But the more they wait, the more the burden builds up. And this relates to another verse in the Bible. What's one of my favorite verses? 1 John 5:3. This is love for God to keep His commands. And His commands are not burdensome. They sure feel burdensome sometimes, don't they? Why? Well, one of the reasons might be because you're trying to obey them in your own strength and not in the Holy Spirit's power, or you don't understand grace. That God is going to love you even if you fail. He won't love you more if you succeed. You're not under condemnation. You're under grace so that the burden of legalism might be upon you. And so His commands seem burdensome, even though they're not intended to feel burdensome.

But another reason they can feel burdensome is delay, right? Let's say that you said something to somebody that you probably shouldn't have said and you feel a little bit guilty about it. And this probably never happens to you, but it happens to me. And God prompts you to apologize and you think, "Yeah, I kind of apologize." And so you see that person later that same day and you think, "Okay, here I go to make amends. Tomorrow is when I'm going to do it. Not a good time for me right now. I'm going to apologize to them tomorrow for sure." Let me ask you this. If you wait a day, does it get easier or harder to apologize? Harder. And then when you finally do it, it feels so good. You think, "Why did I wait?" So do it now. All through the year, you're going to be tempted to go not Christlike in anger or in fear or just in comfort when God prompts you to do something or something's very clearly laid out in Scripture. Obey now, immediately, not later when you feel like it. Do it now and consistently.

And then number two, stay teachable. Stay teachable and flexible like Joseph did. You know, Joseph hears a second time from an angel after the baby's born, after the magi visit. Finally, things seem to settle. And I love this Rembrandt painting of the moment and the privilege of actually seeing this painting in person. It's very small. It's about like this. So we've blown it up here. But I love this because you can see Mary's just blissed out. She's just chilled out there just with her baby and she's happy and she's thinking about all these things, treasuring them in her heart. Joseph has nodded off and he's getting a tap on the shoulder from an angel who has a warning. And it's this in Matthew 2:13. When they had gone, that's the magi, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. This is a second time. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother, escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him." So he got up again, immediate obedience, took the child and mother during the night. Didn't even wait for the morning. They just took off and left for Egypt where he stayed until the death of Herod.

Stay teachable and flexible and respond to God when he tells you to do something or to change something. I don't know about you, but I do not like change. I like comfort. I like things to stay the same. I will resist change even if it's probably good for me. But this year, like every other year, Jesus will stretch you. He will ask you to change things. Of course he will. Maybe a habit that's detrimental to you. It could be a physical habit that he wants you to stop. But he's saying, "OK, this is enough. This is the year that you move on from that." Because that habit or that attitude or that grudge is a danger to you, to your life and joy and well-being just as much as Herod was to Joseph. So you've got to escape it. Or maybe it's a spiritual habit he wants you to start or restart Bible reading or daily prayer, Bible memory. Maybe it's a long-held viewpoint that he wants you to reconsider in light of Scripture.

However God directs, do it now. Don't put it off. Don't get distracted. Stay focused and stay teachable, flexible, be willing to change throughout the year where God leads you. You know, stay open to his prompting. I was talking to Eda May, who's an older saint who comes here to Twin Lakes Church. And Eda May is in her, probably in her late 80s. She's got the most positive attitude between services we were talking. And she every year she goes to Texas to visit her daughter. And this year for the first time she wasn't able to do it because she was sick. So she was kind of bummed. But she has an amazing follower after Jesus. She just thought, OK, well, I'm going to be flexible. Maybe God wants me to stay here because he has something for me.

And when she felt better on Thursday, she drove down to look at the waves because she thought, oh, that's cool. I want to go see them standing next to her. Looking at the waves was a younger woman. They got into a conversation. It led into a spiritual conversation. She ends up sharing Christ with her, quoting John 3:16, talking about Jesus, walks her through the shepherd's psalm. She said, I don't know what happened, but we just naturally got into this conversation. And she said, I realize, God, this is why you had me get sick and not go to Texas because I had a divine appointment waiting for me here. Listen, will you stay open for those things? Will you stay teachable and flexible? Will you do it now when God directs?

And the number three, will you take a risk? That's what Joseph learns to do in the third angelic appearance. This is fascinating. I don't know about you, but I want you to ask yourself this question. When's the last time you have taken a risk in faith and fought against, you know, the comfort zone? Now, I'm not talking about like, that's right, pastor, I'm going to do a risk. I hear people tell me these things sometimes. You know what, pastor, God led me. I'm going to go to Vegas. I'm going to put everything I have on number seven because I heard that that's God's favorite number. That's not the kind of risk I'm talking about here. I'm talking about Christlike risk.

When's the last time you took the risk to serve a neighbor? The last time you took the risk to forgive somebody that you didn't feel deserve forgiveness. The last time you took a risk to share Christ with somebody. Think about gutsy. The risk is that Joseph's asked to take here. The Bible says after Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph third time now and said, get up, take the child of his mother and go to the land of Israel. For those who were trying to take the child's life are dead. So apparently Joseph gets up and goes, but along the way he gets some news. Watch this. But when he heard that Arkalaius was reigning in Judea in place of his father, Herod, he was afraid to go there.

Now who's Arkalaius? So Herod has a bunch of kids. Three of his sons end up inheriting the kingdom and splitting it into thirds after Herod the Great dies. Two of the sons are up north. Arkalaius gets Judea, the southern part, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, that region. And he is the worst. He has all of his father's paranoia with none of his father's skill. He is insane, but also inept. In fact, he creates so much trouble that even the Romans eventually depose him because he's just brutal. So Joseph starts sniffing this out and he doesn't want to go there along the way. And having been warned in a dream, God gives him further direction. Joseph withdrew to the district of Galilee that's way up north. And he went and lived in a town called Nazareth, which was a very small town where he's unlikely to be spotted by anybody, any agents still looking for him and the baby and his wife. And so was fulfilled what was said to the prophets that he, Jesus, would be called a Nazarene.

Now, I want you to notice this. Listen carefully. Once Joseph goes, he gets further direction. You've heard the saying, it's always easier to steer a moving car than a park car, right? There were times in my life that I wouldn't move forward because I wanted to God to give me the whole plan all at once before I did a thing and guarantee me success. Not how God works. Notice how through the angels, God shows the big picture and the next step every time. Big picture. Jesus is the son of God. God with us. Next step, take Mary home as your wife. Fleet of Egypt, come back home. Don't go there, go here. Whatever it is. What God does not tell Joseph is all the in between steps. And you know, that is exactly how God works with you and me.

You have the big picture. God loves you. God saves you by his grace. And you have clear guidance about next steps. You really do because all of that guidance is in scripture because it's all related to character, the fruit of the spirit. Be gentle, be kind, be loving, patient, forgiving. That applies to every situation and every relationship. So when life doesn't make sense, you don't have to understand everything, but do you live in and do what is clearly in scripture. Live in the big picture. God loves you so much and is always with you and will never abandon you. And as a plan for you, and it's all by grace, not your performance and the next steps. I'm going to respond to this with patience and forgiveness and compassion. Do you do what you do understand is clearly in scripture without just wasting time worrying about all the in between steps this year? Can you do that?

Now, I don't want you to get the wrong idea here. I used to think that if only I knew God's precise will for my life and followed God's direction, that meant I would obviously bless nothing bad, whatever happened to me, as long as I continue to make those good choices. And so when I tried sincerely to follow God and bad things happened, I got mad at God. I'm trying to follow you. Why isn't my life a hundred percent great? I want you to understand the angels message is not and all will now go smoothly. It's God's plan will not fail. Just because you follow Jesus into 2024 does not mean everything's going to go smoothly for you this year. In fact, there will be sorrow and there will be suffering. I got news for you. Whether you follow Jesus or not, there's going to be sorrow and suffering.

But what this means is you're going the right direction instead of just going aimlessly in circles, you're headed somewhere good and you are not alone. Because you're in God's hands. Look at this. I love what the Apostle Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4:8. This applies so much to a new year. We are pressed on every side by troubles, but not crushed and broken. We're perplexed because we don't know why things happen as they do, but we don't give up and quit. I want you to notice two three word phrases here. Don't know why and don't give up. Say those out loud with me. Don't know why and don't give up. Can I just be totally transparent with you? Many, many times in life, I feel like I'm holding on to both of these at the exact same time. I don't know why. A lot of things happen in life the way they do. None of us do. We're not God. I do know this. There's a God who loves me. I do know this. There's a God who has a plan for me that stretches all the way into eternity. So I don't give up.

You know, maybe right now you're facing a situation and you don't know why. And you may never know why. You got a couple of choices. You can either say, God, you owe me an answer to this question. You owe me an explanation and I'm not going to follow you anymore until you tell me why. Or you can say, I don't know why and I will not give up. Why not? Because maybe one day I will know why. Like like Edna Mae decided, oh, I think I got sick because of this fine appointment. Maybe one day I will know why. But even if I do not, I know who does and I trust him. So will you follow God's leading like Joseph did? You say, well, you know what? I don't have the words of an angel. If I did have an angel appeared to me and said, do this, I do it, but I don't have that. You have something better because you have something you don't have to wait for. Something that's totally accessible to you all the time. You have the words of Jesus. That's something Joseph didn't have. When you think about it and do you remember what Jesus said?

So then anyone who hears these words of mine and obeys them is like a wise man who built his house on rock. And when the winds come and the storms blow like they did this last week here in Santa Cruz County, that house is going to stand firm. These words of mine, let me just give you a sneak peek at pretty much every single sermon in 2024. In my mind, here's the theme for this church in 2024. I call it the year of living Jesusly. The year of living Jesusly. And we're going to talk about what Jesus told us. For example, in the spring, leading up to Easter, we're going to do the upper room discourse, what Jesus told his disciples to do, kind of their marching orders the night he was betrayed. In the summer, the Sermon on the Mount. In the fall, following Jesus like the Apostle Peter did. It's going to be about following Jesus and not Caesar and not some celebrity. Jesus Christ consistently and immediately and bravely.

And it starts next week and we're going to have a four week series in January. I call it ready for the ride because I see this series of waves coming down the pike as I look into the year election waves and culture war waves and Taylor Swift news waves. Are you ready for all of that? And so we're going to next week, we're going to talk about being ready for the distraction, staying focused on Jesus. And then the second week, ready for the anxiety, how to remain calm and then ready for the anger, how to trust God and deal with sometimes justifiable anger that comes up ready for the ride is what we call it. And also every Wednesday during this series, we're going to have a seminar that ties into the previous week's topic. All the details are in your notes. I hope you join us. Be ready to follow Jesus in 2020, the year of living Jesusly.

Here's the bottom line. I may not know everything, but I can do the next thing. Like Joseph, let's get specific as we prepare our hearts for communion. Maybe you are already a believer and you know what God is asking you to do right now. Let go of that grudge. Forgive that person. Speak of that person about Jesus. Apologize to that person. Change that habit. Check out that new small group or recovery group. It feels like the risk. Do it now. Stay flexible and teachable and take the risk all through the year. But maybe you're here today and you wanted to come to church to kick off your new year and you're not sure you've ever committed, surrendered your life to Jesus Christ. What a great weekend to do that. To simply place your faith in Jesus who came to save you from your sin.

You know, we've all got sin and shame and regrets, worries. Did you know you don't have to bear that weight into the new year? Did you know you can walk into the new year clean and fresh and new when you receive that forgiveness from Jesus on the cross and just lay those things at his feet? And I want to give you the chance to do that as we close with communion right now. The Star of Hope. That was the name of the time ball in Manhattan. But of course the real star of hope is Jesus Christ. And so let's thank him for the hope that he gives us through his sacrifice right now. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, thank you for always being with us. And we know you will be with us throughout 2024. And thank you that when Jesus died and rose again, you forgave our sin and you give us the power to live. And Lord, if there's anybody who needs to surrender their life to you now as a recommitment or an initial commitment, I just pray that as we take communion, they would pray something like this. Lord, I don't understand it all, but as much as I do, I want to surrender my life to you and be saved and be with you in my heart. Throughout the future, I want to live Jesusly by your power. In your name we pray. Amen.

Well, now I invite you to prepare your communion elements. And as we sing, really thank God for Jesus and how sweet it is just to trust in him that you're clean. You're forgiven. You're free. You're with him. He's with you. And then after we sing this familiar hymn, I'm going to lead us in partaking together.

The scripture says, "For as often as we eat of this bread and drink from this cup, we proclaim the Lord's death until he returns." Amen?

Amen. Let's all stand together for our benediction. I'm so glad that you joined us today. If you'd like prayer today, our Stephen ministers are up front, and we'd love to serve you in that way and pray for you. And if you'd like to participate in today's offering, this is your last chance of the year. Don't miss it. We have offering boxes in the lobby, and also, of course, you can give online at TLC.org/give, and I just want to thank you.

Well, I thought a beautiful way to have a benediction today, as we get ready to begin the year of living Jesusly, would be for us all to pray together as Jesus taught us to pray. So let's pray, not just recite, but pray over the new year, the Lord's prayer together. Let's pray. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Amen. God bless you. Thank you so much for coming. Have a blessed new year.