Christ Centered Goals for the New Year

Well Happy New Year Faith Church West family!

I hope you all enjoyed your New Years Eve. Whether you joined us here at the New Year’s Eve Spectacular last night or you were celebrating with other folks we hope it was a great end to your 2022.

When I was an intern here at Faith Church West, not too long ago for those of you who have been around for over 6 months, I used to work the front desk of the community center every Friday night.

There were always ups and downs when it came to business throughout the year. When the students would leave our numbers would go down a bit and when August rolled around the numbers would go back up.

There was always one time of the year, however, that you could guarantee that the fitness center was going to be busy. At that time of year, it seemed like countless people were signing up for gym memberships. We would see new people sign up for the gym and then you would see that person day after day.

I’m sure it’s no surprise to you to hear that the busy season I am referring to starts on January 1^st.

It’s also probably not a surprise to you to hear that this busy season is just that, a season. By about the second week of February, many of the people who we saw day after day change from daily visitors to weekly visitors.

This is something that is probably well known to most of us here and it is the idea of a New Year’s resolution. Either you have made one yourself or you know someone that has made one. Sometimes it is a resolution to eat better, workout more, spend less time on entertainment or social media, and they can often be centered around spiritual disciplines such as reading the Bible more or praying more.

Although Christians are not commanded to make New Year’s Eve resolutions, this is often a great time of year for followers of Christ to evaluate where they are in their walk and establish appropriate goals for the new year.

As we look through the Scriptures, we don’t see men setting New Year’s resolutions, but we can see a pattern of Godly men setting goals with the purpose of glorifying God.

Solomon for example set the goal of building the temple so that there would be a permanent place to worship the Lord.

2 Chronicles 2:4–5

⁴ “Behold, I am about to build a house for the name of the Lord my God, dedicating it to Him, to burn fragrant incense before Him and to set out the showbread continually, and to offer burnt offerings morning and evening, on sabbaths and on new moons and on the appointed feasts of the Lord our God, this being required forever in Israel. ⁵ “The house which I am about to build will be great, for greater is our God than all the gods.

Solomon gathered the necessary resources and workers to finish this massive project. Solomon planned and put in a lot of effort so that his goal would be completed.

And we read that it was completed in..

2 Chronicles 6:10–11

10 “Now the LORD has fulfilled His word which He spoke; for I have risen in the place of my father David and sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised, and have built the house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel. 11 “There I have set the ark in which is the covenant of the LORD, which He made with the sons of Israel.”

After Solomon came another man who was goal-oriented and was also a builder for the Lord.

Nehemiah set forth on the goal of rebuilding the wall in Jerusalem to protect the city from enemies after Israel’s exile. He risked his life to work towards this goal because he saw it as a great need.

Nehemiah who was the cupbearer of the king pleads with the king that Nehemiah might go and rebuild the wall.

Nehemiah 2:5

⁵ I said to the king, “If it please the king, and if your servant has found favor before you, send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may rebuild it.”

And just like Solomon, Nehemiah gathers the proper resources and workers necessary for building a wall to surround the city of Jerusalem. And more importantly than just having the resources, Nehemiah depends on the Lord throughout the entire process.

Nehemiah 6:15–16

¹⁵ So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of the month Elul, in fifty-two days. ¹⁶ When all our enemies heard of it, and all the nations surrounding us saw it, they lost their confidence; for they recognized that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God.

Another goal-driven man of Scripture was the apostle, Paul. Now he was not a builder like Solomon or Nehemiah but was a focused on fulfilling the ministry that God had given him to the gentiles.

Paul was always talking about where he had already been and where he was going next to preach the Gospel. There are many times in Paul’s life where his goals or plans did not work out the way he was planning because God chose to change the plans. Paul was shipwrecked and thrown in prison multiple times which would have changed the course of his goal, but Paul’s goal always remained centered around spreading the good news of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles.

Romans 15:18–20

¹⁸ For I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed, ¹⁹ in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit; so that from Jerusalem and round about as far as Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. ²⁰ And thus I aspired to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named, so that I would not build on another man’s foundation;

We could go on and on this morning about men and women in the Scripture who set goals in order to use their lives in a manner that was pleasing to the Lord. They set goals, worked hard for God’s glory, and depended on Him through the process.

One passage of Scripture that can guide us as we seek to be goal-oriented in 2023 is James 4:13-17 and that is where we find ourselves this morning. You can find James 4:13-17 on page ____ in the back section of the Bible under the chair in front of you.

If you are not familiar with the book of James, it was written by the Lord Jesus’ half-brother. James was the leader of the church in Jerusalem during part of the first century. James writes this letter to his readers to show them the difference between a godly life and an ungodly one and much of the book is filled with rich application.

Follow along with me as I read James 4:13-17.

READ JAMES 4:13-17

James is teaching here that there’s an unrighteous way of viewing the future that followers of Christ need to avoid. There is a way of planning that is foolish and does not honor the Lord.

When it comes to creating personal goals, we want to do planning in a way that pleases God this year.

So, in the time we have together this morning, we will focus on…

3 Key aspects to setting Christ Centered Goals

that can help us use our time well in the year 2023.

First, we need to…

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

It would be foolish for us to say with certainty that we know exactly how the year 2023 is going to play out.

You only have to go back three years to have one of the best examples of this truth in recent American and world history. When we all woke up on Monday March the 9^th, 2020, we had no idea what was about to happen for the next couple months and for even the next few years. Life was changed in almost an instant because of the COVID 19 pandemic. Anyone living in America at that time knows that our plans changed in an instant. This was out of our control.

And March was only the beginning. I remember sitting in seminary on Thursday March 12^th, 2020. At lunch time, we were talking about the coronavirus and how it was beginning to cause events or business to cancel across the US. It seemed like sometime noteworthy in the news but nothing that was going to affect our lives. By the time class was over that day at 5:00pm, the March Madness tournament had been canceled. Basketball was cancelled in America. Now canceling basketball is something very trivial in nature but I remember that time so well because in that moment we all just started to look at one another baffled at what had just happened and thinking about what could happen next. If America could cancel one of its most viewed tournaments in an afternoon, what was around the corner?

2020 was a season of uncertainty and time that remined us that we are not in control of our lives. We often think we are in control but occasionally God uses events like these in our lives to remind us of our character and also remind us of His.

When it comes to setting goals for the year, we need to be reminding ourselves everyday that…

God is Sovereign

The term sovereignty is one that is not used in very many contexts today. We often hear the word sovereignty when it is referring to a nation or a country. For example, it is sometimes used in reference to America in that the United States of America answers to no other country. We have made alliances with other nations and serve together for various world causes, but those nations do not in anyway command America to do anything. Humanly speaking, America answers to no other institution on earth.

The term sovereignty is used very similarly in reference to God and in fact the only proper sense of the word can be used when we are referring to God because He is the only One who is truly sovereign. America might not appear to submit to anyone but in fact America and every other country on the planet submits to God, yet God submits to no one.

In fact, the Scripture states that God is using all things toward His purposes and His ends.

Ephesians 1:10b–11

¹⁰ …In Him ¹¹ also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will,

Unlike us, God is able to work all things that happen to work toward His goals and purposes. We can plan goals this year but God is the only One who can be sure His goals won’t get interrupted. Only God has the power to ensure His plans are not thwarted.

Hebrews 1:3

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 He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

These truths about God’s sovereignty are crucial for us to meditate on when we are planning goals for the new year because we are naturally bent towards pride in thinking we are in control of our lives.

Not only does pride deceive us into thinking we are in control but…

Pride places my plans first

James 4:13–14a

¹³ 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.” ¹⁴ Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow.

Pride is the exaltation of self over others. It is seeing ourselves as more important that others and it manifests itself in countless ways.

Pride is focused on consuming just like we see in this passage in James. The goal of the person described in this passage is merely economical. It’s about running a successful business and making a profit. Pride also shows itself in how we think about ourselves and even talk about ourselves. Do we always place ourselves above others in conversation and compare ourselves to others to see if we are better?

Pride is always trying to get something for self, and we can often see pride in our lives when it comes to setting goals.

Now it’s not bad to set goals for your business if you own a business or to set goals for your career. In fact, it is good to had God-honoring goals in those arenas, but our goals are not pleasing to the Lord when our goals are focused on us.

If we are consumed with self in our goals we will not be pleasing to the Lord.

In contrast to being consumed with pride in our goals, we should be characterized by humility knowing that…

Humility views God’s will as most important

Proverbs 11:2

² When pride comes, then comes dishonor, But with the humble is wisdom.

Proverbs 9:10

¹⁰ The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

In contrast to pride, humility seeks to see others as more significant that ourselves and in our goals this can be seen in two main ways.

First, our goals should be oriented toward loving other people. They shouldn’t be focused on loving ourselves and getting what we want. Our goals should be focused on serving those around us and meeting people’s needs. This can be towards people in the church or outside the church. It can be meeting spiritual needs or physical needs.

Most of all, our goals need to be aimed at worshipping and loving God. This can be seen in our passage today when James says…

James 4:15

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

When we set goals, our aim should be to be productive for the Lord and to do His will.

We cannot control whether or not our goals will be accomplished but what we can do is set forth to please the Lord in our plans and seek to do His will. Sometimes that means changing our goals when we know the Lord wants us to change our goals. If a road block prevents us from pursuing our goal, we can please the Lord by recalibrating our goals and then joyfully choosing to run in a new direction.

With all of our goals, we need to be working for God’s kingdom because God’s kingdom is the only kingdom that is eternal. Since God’s kingdom is eternal, we should…

II. Focus on goals that have eternal impact

This is because we understand the…

The Nature of Man – a Mist

James 4:14

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.

All of our lives are fragile and can come to an end any day without us seeing it coming.

Age is something that is both objective and subjective. By that I mean, we use the phrase “this thing is old” in two ways.

First, it is objective in the sense that age is always based on a number and which ever number is bigger means that that person or thing is older than the other. So if someone said I was older than, let’s say a dog, it would be easy to determine that. As long as my age is greater than the dog’s age, which I’m sure it is, then I am older than the dog.

But we don’t always use the term old in that way. Sometimes we use it a little more subjectively or relative to something that is similar. So I might be older than a dog, but that doesn’t mean the dog is not old! If the dog was 20 years old, I think we would all agree that was an old dog since most dogs live to be 12-14 years old. You would think that by the time the dog turned 10 it would have lived most of its life but that may not be the case.

In the same way, we often assume that we are not old because we are not old relative to other people around us when in fact most of our life on earth might already be over.

Isaiah 40:7

⁷ The grass withers, the flower fades, When the breath of the Lord blows upon it; Surely the people are grass.

Just like how the grass is here today and withered tomorrow, so people are here today and gone the next day.

Our goals must have an eternal perspective because we are not on this earth for eternity. We will live with God for eternity, but our time to be investing in the Kingdom here and now is very short when compared to the time we will spend with God forever.

And in contrast to man’s nature is…

The Nature of God – Giver of Life

Isaiah 40:8

⁸ The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.

Job 12:10

¹⁰ In whose hand is the life of every living thing, And the breath of all mankind?

-Think about the role that God has given you in redemptive history. God has placed you in this time and this place to do His will. Throughout your life Christians should be impacted and there will even be heavenly rewards to reap if you are storing up treasures in heaven during this time on earth. It is a great blessing and a great privilege that the God of heaven has given us all rolls to play in this act of redemptive history we can see in the Scriptures.

But think about God’s role in redemptive history. He plays the main role in everything! He has created the world, He gives life to all, and it is by His grace that He is redeeming His people. The role that God plays compared to us is greater than comparing the size of the sun to the earth. Our role throughout redemptive history is unnoticeable compared to his.

When we accurately understand the nature of God, we will want to live for Him and serve Him with all of the goals we make in the coming year.

This is a moment to consider, have you ever set goals with eternity in mind? If you haven’t…

GOSPEL CALL

Finally, knowing that God has called us to do His will this year, you should…

III. Pursue Righteousness in your planning (v 17)

James 4:17

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

First this means we are to…

Build a conviction about sin

In order to do the right thing we must first know what the right thing is.

James 4:16

¹⁶ But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.

Instead of boasting, we should be storing God’s word up in our hearts so that when the time comes to do what is right, we will have the knowledge we need to obey the Lord.

Psalm 119:9–11

⁹ How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your word. ¹⁰ With all my heart I have sought You; Do not let me wander from Your commandments. ¹¹ Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You.

-January 1 is a key time in the year when we can all evaluate how we did at eating last year. Now I’m not talking about physical eating, although we should probably evaluate that. I’m talking about spiritual eating. How did we do at consuming the word of God so that we can be more equipped to please the Lord.

Now it’s not that the one who reads the most will be the most godly. That’s not how it works, but this text in Psalm 119 shows us that it matters for us to be daily consuming and storing up the word of God in our hearts so that we can live lives that are focused on doing the Lord’s will.

And beyond just learning the word of God, we need to

Delight in pleasing God

2 Corinthians 5:9

⁹ Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.

1 Corinthians 10:31

³¹ Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

-We should all want to use this year for God’s kingdom and setting up goals at the beginning of the year can be the best way to start that.

-If you are not certain how to create spiritual goals for this year, reach out to one of the pastors and we would love to help you think through.

-It is clear that our God is a planner and He is the only One who can be sure that He will meet His goals.

As we enter this new year, we should remember that only God knows the future, that our plans should be focused on eternity, and that we should be pursuing righteousness in 2023.