January 6, 2008
Rev. Terry D. Campbell

Direction for a Glorious New Year
2 Peter 1:3-4

“His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. ⁴Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”

Epiphany, meaning ‘appearance’ or ‘manifestation’, is a Christian feast intended to celebrate the “shining forth” or revelation of God to humankind in human form, in the person of Jesus.  This means that the light of God has shown into the lives of humanity and the ultimate hope and help have come.

As we begin 2008, there is Good news:

I.  God offers us all we need for life and godliness.

"His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness"

Our usual priorities for the year are money, cars, houses, health, love, friendships.  Money can run out; cars breakdown; houses get burglarized; health can break; love is betrayed; friendships break-up; but God’s power for life and godliness never quits!  That is available through our relationship with Jesus Christ.

Listen to this promise again—and see that it sets us up for a glorious new year:  “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. ⁴Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”

We don’t have to worry, just be willing to work and trust.  We’re tempted to doubt this.  Because of our impatience—God’s timing and mine are not always the same; Our incomplete understanding of what we need or even really want.  God’s knowledge alone is perfect; our self-will.  We want what we want when we want it and we have a right to have it—NOW!

diet—want food

To have hope for a glorious new year we need to look, not to self, but to Jesus Christ, the Light and Life of God in the world and depend on Him.  Proverbs 3:5-7 (NLT)-“Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. ⁶Seek his will in all you do, and he will direct your paths.  ⁷Don't be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, fear the Lord and turn your back on evil.”  That is the direction for having a glorious new year!

II.  The better we know Jesus, the more life and godliness we will experience.

“through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.”

“The name you trust!”  But people tend to really trust only those people that they know.  In the summer of 1967 I was introduced to a high school principal named “Mr. Davis”.  That was before Keith Davis had a first name because school principles and teachers first names in those day were always Mr., Mrs. or Miss.  I was very apprehensive.  New school, new people, new location.  But he was kind and over the next year I learned that I could trust him.  Now, I have no hesitation about working with him at all.

John 15:5 (NLT)-“’Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.’” 

Trusting Jesus and living in Him is very important.  He is our source of strength and encouragement for the new year.  The sooner we start to see what Jesus’ grace did either in Scripture or for other Believers—the sooner we will start to trust it for us now.  And the more we trust it now—the more we will be willing to trust it tomorrow.

Consider—and remember:

His unending love—most of the time I don’t deserve.

His unbreakable forgiveness—When I in anger rejected Him, he didn’t reject me—in fact, he forgave me and drew me back to Himself, restoring our relationship

His unflappable patience—never throwing us away when we just don’t get it.

His unsurpassed wisdom—knowing better than me how all things best work together for my and everyone’s good.

His un-comparable power—doing things for me that I could never have expected to happen without His intervention.

Whatever you need to live with wisdom and hope and vitality, is available in Jesus Christ.  Trust in Him.

III.  Jesus’ promises are the path to full participation.

“⁴Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”

Guides for knowing Jesus’ desires are found in what we call Bible promises.  They guide us to know what to believe, how to pray and in what directions to hope.  Don’t misunderstand me.  There are no 1, 2, 3 easy life-answers, but there are guiding principles, divine wisdom to light the path of life.

Our text is supported 2 Cor. 1:20-“For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ. And so through him the ‘Amen’ is spoken by us to the glory of God.”  To live the way Jesus would have us live, experiencing His guiding wisdom and escaping worldly temptations, we need to make Jesus’ promises an ingrained part of our minds and hearts.

Once we know Jesus, every time we meet in Scripture a promise that begins with “whosoever,” we can immediately say to ourselves, “that means me.”^[i]

John 3:16-"’For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.’”

Matthew 11:28-“’Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.’”

Matthew 20:26-27-“’Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, ²⁷and whoever wants to be first must be your slave’”

1 John 2:1-2-“My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense--Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. ²He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.”

What will you do now?

Look in your heart and evaluate your relationship with the Lord of Light and Life.  Have you ever invited Jesus to lead your life?  The ball is in your court if you haven’t.  Have you let your walk with Christ slip and you need to recommit yourself  to walking with Him—you need to re-commit.  Cards are in the bulletins to help you make that real and I invite you to bring those to the altar when you come for communion and leave them here after you pray.  Amen.

---