Sermon manuscript:
I have been a pastor for many years now, but this is the
first New Year’s Eve service I have ever preached for. In Iowa neither of my
congregations had services on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day. If memory
serves, I attended a New Year’s Eve service when I was a kid. However, my
childhood congregation more often had New Year’s Day services. New Year’s Day
is eight days after Christmas, which means that the focus is on the
circumcision and naming of Jesus.
So tonight is the first time I’ve every preached for a New
Year’s Eve service. As I considered the texts that you heard tonight, I was
struck by how differently the Bible teaches compared to what is customary with
the New Year. For example, New Year’s Eve is a well-known party night. A lot of
people get drunk on New Year’s Eve.
Jesus says in our Gospel reading: “Stay
dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting
for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the
door to him at once when he comes and knocks.” Imagine Jesus coming to
find people soddenly drunk. How can they open the door when he knocks? Losing
yourself in food, drink, drugs, and other pleasures is an agreeable way to pass
the time. It’s not nonsensical. It’s a way to cope, to forget the troubles of
life, and to receive some comfort. It’s understandable, but how differently our
Lord Jesus speaks in our reading tonight!
Another thing we associate with the New Year are New Year’s
resolutions. It’s a time to set goals, make plans, and fix what we don’t like. If
we believe in ourselves and don’t give up, we can achieve our dreams.
Compare this to our Old Testament reading. God says to his
people: “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in
quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” We do not naturally
believe that returning and resting will do anything good for us. We do not
believe that quietness and trust are our strength. We believe in ourselves. All
that’s needed is to be sufficiently motivated. If only we could stay
sufficiently motivated, then all our New Year’s dreams would come true, and we
would be outstanding.
All of our readings tonight would have us look to someone
else besides what we customarily look to for betterment. How can 2025 be better
than 2024? Our readings encourage us to believe more firmly in God.
This has to do with the first table of the Law, the first
three of the Ten Commandments. You should have no other gods. You should fear,
love, and trust in God above all other things. You should not believe in other
things, no matter how useful those other things might appear to be.
The second commandment is that you should not misuse the
name of the Lord your God. Instead of misusing God’s name, you should use it
well. God’s name is used well by calling upon it in every trouble, praying,
praising, and giving thanks. But in order for anyone to use God’s name rightly,
that person must believe that it will work. The reason why we do not pray like
we should is because we do not believe like we should. We do not worship God
the way we should is because we do not believe in him the way we should. Unfortunately,
we believe that we can be better blessed spending our time and energy pursuing
other things.
So how can we believe in God more firmly? There is only one
way to do that. We must hear the Word of God that tells us about him. The Word
of God is inspired by the Holy Spirit. It is living and active. It produces
faith. Therefore, as the catechism teaches about the third commandment, we
should not despise God’s Word, or assume that we already know it sufficiently
well. If that were true—if you knew it well enough already—then your prayers
would be much more fervent than they are currently. We should gladly hear and
learn God’s Word so that we know God better, so that we believe in him more
confidently, and so that we can better speak to him with our prayers and
praises.
The first three of the Ten Commandments have to do with our
spiritual health. God spoke these commandments for our good, for our benefit. It
is good for us to believe in God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind,
because he is the only God. The other things that we treat like gods will
disappoint us in the end, even if, in the meantime, we manage to get some
pleasure or comfort from them.
We should be prepared, not just for 2025, not just for some
small, momentary, change in our fortunes, but for meeting our Maker. We’ve made
it to the end of 2024. What if 2025 is the last year in which we will live?
What if 2025 is the year that gets chiseled onto our gravestone? What if 2025
is the year that Jesus comes back? Jesus said in our reading: “The Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
We must be prepared to meet to God.
To meet God well there is no substitute for believing what
he has said. If you managed to climb all the mountains of the world,
accumulated all the wealth, all the knowledge—whatever you could possibly
accomplish—none of that can ever do what taking to heart what God has said will
do.
And the good news is that what God has said is good. He has revealed
that he is for us, and not against us. Paul says in our epistle reading, “If God is for us, then who can be against us? He who did not
spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him
graciously give us all things?”
Paul is using sound logic. God is for you. How do you know
that? Because you are so awesome, cool, healthy, and what not? No. You know
that because he gave his Son, Jesus, to be your Savior. God’s good will towards
you doesn’t depend on you. He is the one who acts. He is the one who saves. God’s
Word teaches that your confidence should be completely in him. Even if you
should end up with troubles, poverty, shame, or danger, Jesus remains the
Savior. Even if you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, your Good
Shepherd is with you. He will take you where you need to go.
In conclusion, God’s Word gives us the opportunity to
reorient ourselves. Instead of looking for happiness in any number of things,
look to God instead. There is nothing like God. There is no help like God’s
help. Listen to what his Word says. Believe in him. Call upon his name with
your prayers and praises.
Then you are dressed for action, ready for your master to
come home from the wedding feast.
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