#334, 4th January 2018

Now that we have celebrated Christmas in all its glory, and have done so religiously as well as commercially, we are immediately face-to-face with what we call the New Year. But is it really the start of the year?

The Jewish calendar has a specific start for the New Year, and in 2018 it is September 9th. Well, that's a surprise! It's called Rosh Hahanah and is a great feast day, described in detail in Leviticus 23:23-32. It is also called the Feast of the Trumpets. So coming from a Judeo-Christian background, we have a New Year in September (the "seventh month" in the text is too involved to discuss here). It was the first day of the civil year from before the Exodus, and the start of the agricultural cycle. Also traditionally the anniversary of the creation of Adam.

Then centuries later with the founding of the Roman empire came the Roman calendar, from which our current calendar derives. That calendar begins the year in March, and this is why September (from septum, seven) and October (from octavus, eighth) and December (from decum, ten) are two months out of sequence. And there are only ten months, but that is another story too. So maybe we should have New Year's Day in March? The calendar was amended in 46 BC (Julian Calendar), with two months added, and again in 1582 (Gregorian Calendar), which we follow today. There is only 0.002% difference between the two!

Perhaps all this confusion led to the New Testament statement in Colossians 2:16-17, "Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ" (ESV). Christ is all and in all; its all about him every day, and we need to center our lives on him every day.

Even in Old Testament times it was stated many times that the start of a new day was the start of new opportunities, a clean slate as it were. "But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 'The Lord is my portion,' says my soul, 'therefore I will hope in him' (Lamentations 3:21-24). And it is no surprise to me that those verses are found in a book called Lamentations!  I could sure preach on that!

"What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. Is there a thing of which it is said, 'See, this is new'? It has been already in the ages before us" (Ecclesiastes 1: 9-10). That's an interesting philosophical statement. Yet God says, "Behold, I will do a new thing..." (Isaiah 43:19). That's just one verse of several where God proclaims the newness of something He will create.

Perhaps the most famous of all, and the verse upon which this ministry is based, is II Corinthians 5:17-18a: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God." The Message Bible words it: "Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it!" 

I have introduced the depths of these statements in my book In Christ: A New Creation and gone into greater depth in the larger work In Christ, Christ In. You should also read the article "The Essential Newness of the New Creation. "

So, let's live the New Year (whenever it is) and tomorrow, as new creations in Christ with a newness of life (Romans 6:4), equipped by God to handle every situation and opportunity that comes our way with the partnership of Christ within.

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Every new year, many people make a list of goals that are impossible to keep and vow that they're going to do everything on their resolution list. They feel it's a way to make a new beginning. Usually on the list are things like eat less, stop smoking, get to bed early, open and read the Peter Wade.com e-newsletter, make it to the gym every day, be kinder to my mother-in-law, arrive at work on time, spend more time with the family, read the Bible every day, and on and on. Do we have a good record of success using this method? I think not. Why do we do that to ourselves?

 

There are some who make their New Year's resolutions and believe that if they promise God that they'll do everything, they will increase their chances of success. "When you make a vow to God, do not delay to fulfill it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow. It is better not to make a vow than to make one and not fulfill it" (Ecclesiastes 5:4-5 NIV). So much for that method.

 

Well, what if we didn't have to try to make our lives new because we already are new? This year we can vow not to make any New Year's resolutions and simply continue to believe God. 

 

 "... put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness" (Ephesians 4:22-24).

 

"Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator" (Colossians 3:9-10).

"Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful" (Hebrews 10:19-23) -- I.Baroni

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