I wonder who here has made a New Year resolution, because in a little over 12 hours it's time to start to keep the resolution that you have made. Interestingly, when I met with the youth before the service, only two of the people in the room had at that point picked any New Year's resolutions. The others were either leaving it to the last minute to decide which ones to go for, or decided that this is an out-of-date practice that only oldies like would have an interest in. They were too polite to tell me which of those two was what was really going on.
And interestingly, roughly 50% of New Year's resolutions made last year were to do with a desire to exercise more and to improve general physical health. The trend is that changes that will improve mental well-being are increasing year on year, and changes that will improve physical well-being are becoming less important. That's the general pattern and trend.
What success rate do these New Year's resolutions have? Well, the most common length of time that someone manages to keep their New Year's resolution—the mode, for those of you who like your stats—is 3 months, which is longer than I thought it would be. The number of people who, as of sort of mid-December, were still keeping their 2023 New Year's resolutions was 6%. Now, that's quite good, I think. So you have a whole load of people—half the population—that decided they were going to get fitter and exercise more, and here we are at the turn of another year, and they're all having to decide—or at least 94% of them are having to decide—given that worked so well last year, is 2024 going to be the year in which I more and get fitter, or is it time for a different one?
Which means there are different New Year's resolutions that are rising through the ranks and that the kind of lifestyle coaches are recommending people would take, such as: try different foods every week; remember people's names; (this is one of my favourites) do what you want rather than what other people expect of you.
Now, there are reasons why these resolutions are proving more popular and easy to keep. Very few of us actually find it hard to go through life deciding, "I'm going to do what I want. I'm not going to be pushed around by anybody else. I'm going to plan my own path." That's relatively easy to keep. And here's the advice that's being given to people: whatever you do, do not pick a resolution that has a measure of success that you can actually work out whether you've kept it. Don't do that. Make sure you pick ones that are not measurable, that are intangible, so that there will be no feelings of guilt if the time passes and you have not done what you intended.
Now, I can see the appeal of New Year's resolutions, and actually I'm in favour of them. I don't want to do them down, because here you are—if you imagine a kind of physical calendar on actual paper — it's 2024. Or you go to a bookshop and you buy an actual paper diary—some people do that—and you go, "Here is my brand new diary for this year. It's got nothing written in it yet. None of the events have yet been written down. Everything is still to play for." Yes, there may have been mistakes last year, but this year is new, and it's another chance to have a go. I'm going to get to write the story for this year from scratch. The paper is blank, and there is an opportunity before me not to repeat the mistakes of last year. There's an opportunity to write a slightly different story than the one I've written in the past—to take small steps towards being the person I'd like to be, and not be bound by what I've been before.
And I can see the huge appeal of saying, "Here's a blank bit of paper—have another go." Who doesn't want to be given a go at your life—to say, "Here's what you've done so far. As you look forwards, here is a piece of paper. Would you like another go at that?" There are so many things I would love not to have happened in the past. I would love to start all over again. For a new year—I get it.
Well, I wanted to think this morning about new beginnings, and to do that we're going to look at just one verse in the Bible, which is 2 Corinthians, chapter 5, verse 17. We tend to preach anywhere between 10 verses and whole chapters here—if you've been with us as we worked through Ezekiel chapters 40 to 48, it was quite a long passage and we didn't have all of it read—so we tend to look at quite big blocks. And just a bit of a change to zoom in and look at just one verse, and that is okay to do sometimes. There are really good verses in the Bible that are rich, and it's good to slow down and look at them.
Not every verse in the Bible lends itself to single-verse preaching. Again, I shared with our young people: there's one book giving advice to young preachers on how to get better at your craft, that tells a story of how the author of the book was visiting a church one Sunday, and the preacher decided to preach on a single verse. And here was the verse—it's from Numbers 22: "Balaam arose early and saddled his ass." Now, that does not give you a lot of material to work with for a sermon, and I would suggest a longer portion of Scripture would have been beneficial.
2 Corinthians 5:17 is the opposite of that. You could probably do a series of sermons on one verse—provided we look at it in its context. There is a danger looking at just one verse: what you do is, you get some scissors to your Bible—literal or otherwise (I would suggest otherwise)—and you cut it out, and you find a nice picture. I would suggest, for this, a newborn kitten. And you stick the text on top of your newborn kitten—I would suggest not literal—and then on it goes onto your Instagram. And everyone goes, "What a wonderful verse this is, and the kitten just helps me picture what Paul is saying. 'If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old is gone, the new is here.' What a beautiful picture of new life this kitten is."
That's lovely, and this beautiful inspirational text does its warm fuzzy magic for you. You have long forgotten the deep and troublesome problems in the church in Corinth that caused Paul to write this verse. He is not just writing this verse to give you nice warm fuzzy feelings. It is part of an extended letter dealing with a church with deep problems. So we need to stay anchored in 2 Corinthians and understand what Paul means by this verse. But if we do that, it will pay us great dividends to look at it closely and to focus our sermons just on this one sentence. So that's what we're going to do, and I'm going to pull out three little details from this verse for us this morning.
1. In Christ
Paul says if anyone is in Christ, that is to say the way to get a new start in life is not just to turn over a new leaf. That phrase does actually come from the idea of a new year being a new physical paper calendar, when a leaf was a leaf of paper, and you would literally turn in your notebook, turn over the leaf, and there is the blank page to write on next. And turning over a new leaf is not how you get start in your life. We don't just simply take, decide that it's time to kick some habits and create some new ones. The way to get a new start is to be in Christ.
Now, this is a common term throughout the New Testament—what it means to be a Christian, to be someone who is in Christ. So we might talk about lots of things with how you become and stay a Christian. We might talk about the importance of believing in Jesus, of trusting Jesus, of knowing Jesus, and out of the outflow of that trust comes that we grow in our obedience of Jesus—all true. But here's another thing to think about: the language of being in Jesus.
So Ephesians chapter 1 runs through the great blessings of being a Christian, but they all come because we are in him. We are chosen in him. In him we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. We were marked in him, sealed with the Holy Spirit. God raised us in him.
Oh, Colossians chapter 3 verse 3, Paul says this: "For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your life, appears, you also will appear with him in glory."
So here's another really ancient custom that people don't do these days: they make their own Christmas pudding. And here's an even more ancient custom that even those who make Christmas pudding may not do these days. When you make your Christmas pudding, right in the middle you bury a tiny little coin, and someone gets the coin in their portion.
But Paul says your life is now hidden with Christ in God. So it's like there is Jesus, and where are you? Well, you're like the little coin in the middle of the pudding—surrounded and wrapped, actually invisible. Because when you look, all you see is Jesus, and you are in him.
Or 1 John 4:13 says, "We live in him and he in us." So to be a Christian is to attach yourself to him, to unite yourself to him, which you do by faith, by trusting him. And that means that what's his becomes yours. If he has every blessing in the universe, it all becomes yours. It means that what's yours becomes his—that is to say, your guilt passes to him because you are united. It means that what happens to him happens to you. Where he goes, you go. Your destiny, your identity is wrapped up in Jesus. You are in Christ.
Which means if you want a fresh start, there is one New Year's resolution you need to make: follow Jesus. And then live 2024 in him.
So if you are here and you're not yet a Christian, you're still looking into whether or not to follow Jesus—make 2024 the year you start. If you are already a Christian, make 2024 all about following him.
So I don't know—you keep a bucket list, things you want to do before you die, or a list of things you want to do in 2024. You need one item on your bucket list this year: be united to him. Be attached to him. Be consumed by him, and be that as closely, as deeply, as richly as you can, so that where he goes, you go.
And as I say, if you've not yet started on this journey of being in Christ, if you're not yet a Christian—make 2024 the year to start. If what you want is a new beginning, if you know enough about Jesus but you have never yet started to actually follow him for yourself—do it tonight.
And then, if you do it tonight, you see, then the whole of 2024 gets to be with him. If you wait a week, only 51 weeks of the next year gets to be spent in him. And so that's one week of missing out. Do it tonight.
All you have to say to Jesus to start following him is this: "From now on, I want my life to be in you."
In Christ.
2. New Creation
"If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come." That is to say, you have become a new creation.
The older version of the NIV Bible had: "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation." So you don't just turn over a new leaf. You don't just make a new effort. You don't just acquire new behaviour, acquire a different character. You become a whole new person.
But it's so much more than that that is going on here. And that's why the NIV made a change between the older version and the current one. It's not just that you are a new creation—it's that there is a new creation.
Literally: "If anyone is in Christ—new creation!" Or to over-translate 2 Corinthians 5:17: "If anyone is in Christ — ta da! — the new creation!"
You can see why they don’t write it that way!
So you see, God's plan is not just to make some people new—not just to make you new, a new creature—but an entire new creation. To make the whole world new. God's plan is to renew the universe, to renew the cosmos.
That's why we had Isaiah 65 read. That's always been the plan. That was the video we watched. God has a plan, and you are a little piece of that whole new creation—made new today. And then one day you will be a part of that whole when everything comes.
So if you want to be a part of that new world, that plan, that Isaiah 65, then you need to be in Christ. And then God will make you new today. And when he makes the whole world new, then you will be right at home.
We've been blessed in our church family recently to have a number of new babies born. And it's been a while since we've been there. I kind of remember the anticipation of that. Different people prepare for the arrival of a new baby differently.
Some friends of ours—a lot of preparation for months goes into creating the right nursery, or the baby's bedroom. So you need to know whether it's a boy or girl, so you know what colour to paint the walls or what wallpaper to get, and the right pieces of furniture. And you lay everything out so that when this little boy or girl is born into the world, you have created a lovely, beautiful living space. That all this thought has gone into exactly what's going to be there. How will it be laid out? Let's face it—once the child is born, you will never again have time for that kind of thought and attention to such levels of detail. So actually, the best time to do that level of planning is when it's just the two of you—Mum and Dad—and you've got space to think and to plan.
Some people prepare in that way.
When you become a Christian, it is the other way around. You get born again. You are brought to new life. And then one day God will make for you a perfect home that is exactly right for the new you to live in—with everything new, fresh and perfect and laid out just right.
It's in the other order, but it's the same thing.
You are a new creation. And one day the whole world will be new—just right for you to live in, forever.
In Christ. New Creation.
3. The old has gone, the new is here
Third, the old gone and the new is here. If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has gone, the old is go... done – the new is here. That is to say, it's not enough to turn over a new leaf. You need to be in Christ. It's not enough for you to be a new person – God wants a whole new creation. But it's also not big enough to say that this is a new beginning. What you need is a new everything.
Now, as you read books people have written looking at this verse, there is a struggle that people go through trying to work out: what is it that is old and new? A new what? And people find possible things in the context elsewhere in Corinthians that Paul might mean, and they're trying to go, “Well, which is he referring to?” And as I've looked at this, the conclusion I've reached is: yes, yes, and yes – probably all of them. It is everything.
(i) New testament
So let me give you three things from the context in Corinthians that tell us what is new. The first is New Testament. So this is chapter 3, verses 7–8, which I won't read, and some details of it are tricky, but the main point is really clear.
In the Old Testament, Moses gave the people some tablets of stone, engraved with the finger of God – with his laws. And what those laws did was, they made you feel guilty. You could see on a piece of stone that this is what God required of you. You look at yourself and you go, “I can't do that.” And having it written on a bit of stone does nothing to help you keep it. It just tells you what you should be doing, whilst leaving you powerless to do it. You just feel guilty.
But what God did with Moses looked forward to the glory that was not yet there. And yet with the coming of Jesus, it is there. Jesus is glorious. And we, as Christians, have God's Spirit living within our hearts. And we have a freedom that they never had. We live in the New Testament, not the Old Testament. The old is gone; the new is here – and it's so much better.
(ii) New point of view
Second, a new point of view – a new outlook on life. This is verse 16: So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.
So as you look at other people, what's the worldly way to look at other people? Well, you look at them and you judge them by: do they look clever? Do they look impressive? Do they look successful? Would I be pleased if my life turned out like that? Those are the kinds of questions going through your head as you look at somebody else. You walk into a room full of people: “Who am I going to go and talk to?” You're going, “Who's dressed in a way that I wouldn't mind?” “Who looks like they're doing all right in life?”
And actually, people judged Jesus the same way. Does he look outwardly impressive? No. At best, they look at him and go, “Well, he taught some pretty good parables. He did some pretty good miracles. He's kind of all right.” But he's no more than that.
But now, says Paul, that's all changed. We do so no longer. Now we see people and we say, “This person may be frail on the outside, nothing outwardly attractive about them, but inside they are deeply precious to God.” We look at someone and we go, “There is a judgement to come. One day, each and every person will meet God and give an account for their lives. Eternity matters.”
And as we look at the Lord Jesus, we say, “Here he is – the creator and the saviour of the world.” And so once you become a Christian, everybody looks different from how they did before – a new point of view.
(iii) New era
And then, thirdly, a new era. So – 2024, start of a new year. That's quite cool, isn't it? Turn the page over. If you have a whole year to view, kind of a calendar or a poster or a wall planner, you might have twelve grids for the twelve months of the year so you can see the whole year at once – maybe a few pictures around the outside. And here, for a brand-new sheet for the new year.
Okay – here's much bigger. Go from BC to AD. So imagine instead of having a wall planner with 2023 on, you have a wall planner with every year from the creation of the world until the birth of Jesus. And then here you go – you turn over the page, and for every year from the birth of Jesus until he comes again. And we don't just live in a new year – we are in a new era. We've turned over that sheet and have the other side of human history on the page. And we live in the other half of human history. And that's all happened because Jesus came.
So verse 14 says this: Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. Jesus died and it changed everything. To be the other side of that means that everything has changed, and your whole life is now going in a different direction.
Verse 15: He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. Your life is now going in a whole different direction, because the hinge of history – the death of Jesus – has happened.
So: welcome to a new world. Welcome to a new everything. So again, to over-translate: If anyone is in Christ – ta da! – a new creation. The old – it's gone. But would you look at that – the new is very much here. If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old is gone, and the new is here.
Implications
Well, so what? Why do we need to know this? Again, context helps. Why do the Corinthian Christians need to know this? And the answer is: evangelism. The answer is the fact that we all find it so difficult to share the thing that is most precious to us – which is Jesus – with other people who don't know him. We all find that impossibly difficult, and this passage was written to help us overcome that problem.
Here's verse 18: All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
We are reconciled, and that gives us a message of reconciliation to take out to the people who need to hear this. And remember: we don't view people in the same way any more. So what God has done in Christ – that changes what everyone needs to hear. How it's possible to be in Christ – that changes what people need to hear. The fact that a new creation is coming – that changes what people need to hear.
And don't view yourself in the same way any more. You may feel weak. Your efforts to share Jesus with other people may feel feeble. You may be discouraged when people don't want to hear what you've got to say. But it's not about you. You may be frail, but what you've got – it's precious treasure indeed to pass on to other people.
Conclusion
So, I'm not here to rubbish New Year's resolutions. I think it's great to resolve to change – to make concrete plans. Paul said to Timothy, “Physical training is of some value.” But don't sell yourself short, and don't sell others short, because Paul also said in the very next sentence that “Godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.”
Don't settle just for: eat less, exercise more, arrive early. Although please do all those things. Be in Christ. Live in Christ. Tell others about Christ.
Because: if anyone is in Christ – ta da! – the new creation. The old – that's so gone. But would you look at that – the new? It's here. It's very much here.