Christ Centered Goals for the New Year

Happy New Year. I cannot think of a better way to be starting our new year than by gathering to worship and to dig into God’s Word together. Who was disappointed to not have a Strategic Ministry Plan Survey to fill out this morning? Don’t worry, we will have one again in 2025…

But we have some time to fill between now and then…

As we all step into this new year – are you thankful that this is a time when we traditionally set new goals? I know that not everyone is in love with setting New Year’s resolutions. Is that because we feel like we set our goals and only to quickly lose steam and set them aside thinking I will try again in 11 ½ months?

If that is the case and you are feeling like King Solomon in Ecclesiastes saying “thus I considered all my activities which my hands had done and the labor which I had exerted, and behold all was vanity and striving after wind and there was no profit under the sun.”

I have to tell you, that there is truth in that statement – but it is not a truth intended to crush your spirits and leave you wallowing in the mud waiting for the next wave of the pandemic, but rather

• it is the kind of statement that should cause us to ask the question why that may be the case

• It is the kind of statement that should help us to think about whether we began with the right goals in the first place

• Or did we set our goals with the right motivations behind them…

Even resolutions like exercising more and losing weight, the most common resolutions each year, if they fall short year after year, why? What was the purpose for setting the goal? Why did I choose that goal?

And when I set my goals – did I actually lay out a plan that fit the goal?

Because if I start with it is all vanity and striving after the wind – then why would I even make a plan to achieve my goal?

Because that verse in Ecclesiastes is not the whole of God’s word to us – Solomon also told us in Proverbs to

• “Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways and be wise. Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her bread in the summer and gathers her food in harvest.” – Prov 6:6-8

• Or “Prepare your work outside; get everything ready for yourself in the field, and after that build your house.” – Prov 24:27

So we are called to strive towards the goals in our new year and we are called to be active in working, but it is not just work for work’s sake – that again would be striving after the wind…

Rather God’s word clearly calls us to do the planning and to do the work for a purpose…

In Colossians 3 Paull tells us “whatever you do, do your work heartily, As for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve”. (Col 3:23-24)

But what if I am not gifted in planning…what if it seems like all my planning ends up like this…

INSERT PICTURE OF BRIDGE

That is not actually the type of planning that we are going to talk about.

• I would call this poor execution of a plan while building the bridge could still be pleasing to God…in fact this probably caused God to laugh too…

• The planning that we want to discuss is “How” we chose to build the bridge and what was our motivation to build the bridge…

That is why today we will not be looking at the execution and the outcome of a plan, but rather the why and the motivation behind our goals…

So that before we get too far into the new year, we might consider how we will choose to set

Christ-Centered Goals for the New Year.

The passage that we will unpack today about setting Christ-centered goals will be in the Letter from James, specifically chapter 4, verses 13-17. If you are using the bible in the chair in front of you, please open to page ___ in the back of the bible.

When we read this passage, you might think that James is being pretty direct and he is. He is calling out a sinful heart of planning that we are all susceptible to and we can know that from the context that leads up to our passage…

• James calls us out for our quarrels and conflicts…why because of the desires that wage war in our hearts…I want what I want and I am willing to sin to get it…that’s pride…

• So James tells us in 4:7 that God is opposed to the proud and gives grace to the humble and again in 4:10 call us to humble ourselves

• Then James warns us of speaking against one another – judging so as to pridefully put ourselves in the place of the Law – because there is only one lawgiver and judge…

And so with our eyes fixed upon the issues of our hearts, we read James’ words about goal setting so that we might choose to place the right heart in our planning – that we might choose to have Christ-Centered goals for the new year…

READ JAMES 4:13-17

With that in mind and with the time that we have this morning, I want to consider

3 Key aspects to setting Christ-Centered Goals that will allow us to think about the goals that we have already set for the year and to consider are there goals that I need to be adding for the purpose of growing in Christ in the weeks and months to come.

The first aspect that I need to be concerned about will help me to move past my own history of failures in goal setting…if my goals were not accomplished in the past, who was I relying on to achieve my goals…think back to the way Solomon spoke in Ecclesiastes…

I considered all my activities which my hands had done and the labor which I had exerted

Therefore, when I want to move towards Christ-centered goals for the new year, I need to first

I. Understand that only God knows what will happen in the new year

This is where growing in a fuller understanding of who God is, his attributes can help us in our planning…We must acknowledge that

God is Sovereign

By sovereignty, what we know to be true is that His sovereignty goes beyond the ruling of creation to also include the preservation of all that He has made and His active work within creation to achieve God’s will and purposes

Now the blessing of God’s sovereign nature is not just the comfort of submitting to a good and loving ruler – we can certainly be thankful for that too – but it is a blessing in how we are included in God’s sovereign work – See how Paul describes this in his letter to the Ephesians…

Eph 1:10b-11 – In Him, also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will.

The blessing comes for those who have a relationship with Jesus Christ, In Ephesians, Paul is specifically addressing Christians in the church and God’s sovereign choice to make us His children by adoption through Jesus Christ.

“In Him” – this phrase connects us to our Sovereign God in Jesus Christ…such that when we are uncertain of what will come in the new year, we can find great hope in the truth that our lives are a part of His sovereign plan, having been predestined according to His purpose, after the counsel of His will.

Now I trust that God’s will is perfect and good, but I look at the world around me and

• I see chaos, I see disorder…

• I see plans falling part,

• goals that we once held tight…being shattered

• The world around me is trying to teach me something different…

But what do I know to be true – “Who is the King of Glory? The Lord strong and mighty, The Lord mighty in battle.” In all of God’s perfect attributes, I can turn to God’s perfect power, His omnipotence meaning that God is able to do all his holy will…When my circumstances feel like they are crumbling around me…I remember that

Heb 1:3 – And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.

When my goals crumble – or maybe when I set a goal that I knew that I could achieve and I quickly did, maybe that is because I have forgotten what Paul said later in Ephesians saying that God is “able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think.”

When we are choosing to set Christ-centered goals – we will set bigger goals, greater goals because we are trusting in God’s sovereign nature and understanding that only He knows what will happen this year.

Does that mean that all Big goals must be good goals, certainly not…because in addition to understanding God, we must also understand our own hearts in the goals we have set…

Pride places my plans first

Coming back to our passage today – look at how James begins in describing the heart behind me-centered goal setting

James 4:13-14a – Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow.

Recall what we said earlier, we are called to plan…considering what we will be doing is part and parcel a part of everyday life, consciously or unconsciously, you all had some level of a plan to get here this morning…

• you chose to go to bed last night so that you could arise rested, somewhat rested, as compared to partying until you finally collapsed

• You woke up this morning and you got dressed with a consideration of where you would be going…I don’t see anyone in a swimsuit that just randomly ended up in church

I could go on and on…but we all plan to some level…yet in all the busyness and planning, there is a danger: that we would adopt an attitude that is ungodly, in fact arrogant…that would be an attitude of pride that believes that I am all that I need to achieve my goal…and even more that I know the outcome

Look at these verses…You who say…We will go…we know how long we will be there and we know the outcome – we will make a profit. James is warning us of our prideful hearts

• You do not know what your life will be like tomorrow – It is pride that thinks we do…

Consider the parable Jesus taught recorded in Luke 12…He told them a parable saying

• The land of a rich man was very productive…

• That is important – it was not the rich man…it was God’s sovereign hand on the land.

• But God said to him – “You fool.” For the rich man would not even reach tomorrow.

This is not to teach that we should not work for future outcomes, but that we should be choosing what we will do based on Christ-centered goals…the rich man’s goals were for his ease and comfort alone…yet God would use his work for someone else’s benefit.

We do not know what tomorrow will hold – so how does that impact how we set goals.

As Christians, we know where we will be in a million years – That is in God’s hands and he has told us about it. In fact, He has told us that he doesn’t need our help either – for we are saved by grace through faith, that is not of ourselves, it is not of our works so that we cannot boast…our salvation and our destination of a million years depends on Christ alone…praise God.

But what about tomorrow – we do not know what will happen tomorrow because God has not told us and no, we cannot predict even that far out accurately. We are not in control.

Whether we think about it or not, we actually live in a way thinks we are in control… we put our schedules in a planner, we check the weather, we check the traffic, we allow for contingencies and make back-up plans, all with a belief that I can plan my way to control, because once we plan it, we assume it will happen…

So James throws a bucket of cold water on our planning and pride…Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow.

Pride places my plans first because I believe I can control my world, my circumstances to achieve my goals.

But as I described at the beginning, James has been addressing our pride in many areas reminding us that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble and again in James 4:10 – He commands us to Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord and he will exalt you…

If pride is the problem, humility is the correct response, and in the process of setting goals or planning…

Humility views God’s will as most important

In God’s sovereign nature, He is omnipotent, He is able to carry out all of his holy will.

I, on the other hand, am neither sovereign nor all powerful, to think otherwise would be pride.

It is not just here in James that God’s word shows us these contrasting results…Proverbs 11:2 tells us

Prov 11:2 – When Pride comes, then comes dishonor, but with the humble is wisdom.

My goals in general do not end with my dishonor, but then again, I am not in control, am I? The warning…my destruction and dishonor…so how do I choose humility over pride…

It begins by seeking wisdom, real wisdom, not just being wise in my own eyes, but the wisdom of God.

Prov 9:10 – The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

So before we move to our second point today, let’s seek to apply what we have learned so far…

When we understand that only God knows what will happen in the new year, it should cause us to do the following

• Review your current goals by asking the following questions:

• Who are you depending on for the outcome? Are you trusting God’s Sovereign nature or are you trusting in your own strength to achieve what you want?

• Whose plans come first? Are your goes for your benefit? Or are they for the benefit of the kingdom?

• For example – Are you choosing a goal to save money this year? Is it so that you can get what you want? Or is it so that you have more to give to God’s kingdom

• Whose will are you pursuing?

James 4:15 - Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.”

If the Lord wills is not simply an add on phrase to allow me to plan what I want and wait to see if God sovereignly allows it…I want to seek to know better what the Lord wills so that I can place my goals at the center of His will rather than mine…

• In your current goals, are you choosing to study God and his Word? Are you choosing to grow in prayer and listen to His leading…seek the knowledge of the Holy One…

In addition to understanding God, we can find a second aspect of Christ-centered planning to cause us to…

II. Focus on goals that have eternal impact

I mentioned the parable in Luke to compliment today’s passage so that we might see how our goals that are about us, our goals that are simply about a better tomorrow, are goals that will fall short because we do not know the number of our days.

In addition to recognizing a proper view of the future – we do not know what will happen tomorrow, James also helps us to have a correct view of ourselves…he does so by posing a question.

• What is your life? Who are you in the grand scheme of creation?

The Nature of Man – a Mist

See how James follows up the statement you do not know what your life what your life will be like tomorrow…

James 4:14 yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.

As we plan out our lives, carefully shaping our work lives, home lives and social lives, there is a danger that we think we are at the center of it all. after all we play the starring roles in our own story don't we?

If my life is the movie of me and my plans or the screenplay…

Did you see how James dumped a bucket of cold water on my pride?

He has a second bucket waiting as well. James is asking what is your life?

Or another way to say it what should we title this movie of me?

James answers that question too… His title for the movie that sums up my life, the draws together all my greatest moments and all of my achievements... Mist.

In other words around for a brief moment then gone without a trace.

This morning when I took my shower, it fogged up the mirrors in our bathroom, So what did I do? I turned on the fan and in a few short moments the steam was completely gone. This is the nature of mist. It goes and it goes quickly. Is around for a bit and then it's vanished.

You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away…

James is not the first to point this out…The prophet Isaiah describes man when he said…

Isa 40:7 - The grass Withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass.

In the eternal scheme, we are no more permanent than the grass and yet we plan as if everything we do is terribly significant…but look at the cause of our fading – it is the Lord…

If we stopped here – there would be no reason for setting goals, for planning for tomorrow, for we cannot control it and we cannot predict it and on top of that we are but a mist, grass that withers, a flower that fades

But I am thankful that God’s Word does not stop there, God’s Word draws us further so that we might focus on goals that have eternal impact because of…

The Nature of God – Giver of Life

See how Isaiah continued – the same picture

Isa 40: 8 - The grass Withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.

When we focus our goals on the eternal, we area focusing our goals on God and God’s will for our lives.

We are trusting in Him for tomorrow

• as compared to allowing that I cannot know tomorrow nor can I control tomorrow to stop me in my tracks

• as compared to seeing futility and choosing to do nothing…

I may be a mist, but the word of our God stands forever

My work and my goals focused on me may be vanity, futility, but my sovereign God is able to carry out all His holy Will

I will answer Job’s question…

Job 12:10 - In whose hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind?

God holds my life in His hand and he knows the number of my days

It is God who is the giver of life – the very breath of mankind

Again – touching on the parable of the rich man…God did not choose to make the land desolate or to destroy his new barns because of his pride, no, he said to him, “This very night your soul is required of you and now who will own what you have prepared.” The rich man’s focus was on himself…vanity, all is vanity…

Yet under God’s sovereign hand someone else would be blessed by God’s sovereign work…

James 4:15 - Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.”

That is not to say that we continue to live for our own benefit, for our own glory, but an opportunity to choose what we will do that is at the center of God’s will – for an eternal purpose, for God’s glory, setting Christ-centered goals that Love the Lord and love your neighbor as compared to loving yourself…

But before we move to our third aspect of setting Christ-centered goals, like many of God’s promises, there is a caveat that must be understood about our ability to do what we as Christians are called to do…let me bring us back to a verse I referenced earlier…

Eph 1:10b-11 – In Him, also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will.

The key to being predestined according to His purpose and to come under His will is in the first two words…

In Him – Paul is referring to the identity of a believer in Jesus Christ – that we are “In Christ.” Without being in Him, none of this can matter…for our goals will always be Me-centered, to be accomplished in my strength, focused on a day that we cannot even say if we will reach…

Friends – that can change this year, that can change today!

And No plan needed to clean ourselves up first…He is reaching out…come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden, all you who are burdened because you are worried about reaching your goals…He says come to me…

The first step is acknowledging the truths we have seen today…I am not in control, I am just a mist, but we must also acknowledge what is keeping us away from Christ – our pride.

• Our pride that says I want to do things my way, in my will, not His

• Our pride that says I do not have to listen to God’s commands. I can choose what is right. I can set my own goals

• And my pride has a cost – it is sin and my sin deserves a punishment, death. And that is a penalty I cannot pay for myself.

• Now Christ waits open arms that you might choose Him

• And He will pay your debt – He has taken your death on the cross and He offers new life.

• Will you choose to make Him Lord? For when you profess Christ as Lord and believe that God raised him from the dead…you will be saved…

• And In Him – 2023 can be the best year of your life.

• Now I know I may not have answered all of your questions about what it means to be saved, to be In Christ, so I want to invite you for a cup of coffee to answer any questions you have and we will look to answer them from God’s Word.

And for those who are In Him – we have a final aspect, a final application for today…

When we understand that only God knows what will happen this year and we turn our focus on goals that will have an eternal impact, this brings us to the closing command of this passage and the third aspect of setting Christ-centered goals for the new year.

As we assess all of our goals…

As we consider our plans for tomorrow

As we make decisions about today…

James is calling is to

III. Pursue Righteousness in your planning

Both in our daily decisions and in our goal setting, we are called to pursue righteousness.

James 4:17 - Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.

To know the right thing and to not do it…how could that be? Do I really believe it is a problem to continue if I know that it is not right? Do I really believe my actions are sin?

God has written the Law upon our hearts that we might know right from wrong and He has revealed his commands through His word – so why would we choose something else…

It goes right back to where we began – and we must…

Build a conviction about sin

And I am going to sum it up in the same way that James sums up the problem throughout chapter 4…He said it in verse 1-4, and again in verse 6, and he gives us the answer in verse 10…it is implied again in verse 12 so we must still need another clear statement…

James 4:16 - but as it is, you boast in your arrogance; All such boasting is evil.

Pride. Pride is at the heart of all sin to believe that we know better than God, to know what God says is right and to choose my own way…it was the sin in the garden and it is our sin today…

so how do we find our way back? The Psalmist asked the same question…

Ps 119:9-11 - how can a young man keep his way pure?

By keeping it according to your word.

With all my heart I have sought you;

Do not let me wander from your commandments.

Your word I have treasured in my heart,

that I may not sin against you.

As you set your goals for 2023 –

It is OK to have a goal about gaining or losing weight – when that would be stewarding your body not just to look amazing

It is OK to have a goal about saving money – when that is about stewarding finances so they can be best used for eternal purposes…

But let me ask –

Do you have a goal about keeping your way pure?

• Will you choose to learn more about God’s Word

• Will you choose to seek God first?

• Will you seek to desire Him, and treasure His word that you may not sin against him

Then when it comes to goals – How do I know if they are good goals? We all need a measuring stick…but let’s not use our own…What would God say should be the measure of a goal

Do you…

Delight in pleasing God

I would encourage you to take two verses to memorize (yes memorize) that will help you in measuring your goals and even your daily decisions…

Are your goals in line with what God says our goal should be? Because this is what he says…

2 Cor 5:9 - Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to him.

Is it you ambition, your goal, no matter when or where you are, that you would be pleasing to God…to know the right thing and not do it – that would not be pleasing to God.

Paul says it in another way in 1 Corinthians…

1 Cor 10:31 - Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

God’s greatest glory came in His son’s obedience, when we chose His Father’s will to go to the cross…

As we set goals for the new year – we will follow in His steps of obedience to God’s will for His continued glory through each of us in the new year.

And with His goals

• Pleasing Him

• The Glory of God

Let us pray together that our goals may be Christ-centered in this new year.