[00:00:01] Welcome to the River Church podcast. We're all about bringing the life, hope and love of Jesus to everyone around us. For more information, check out our
[email protected]. find out. Check up to see if it's still cold tomorrow, just in case. Anyway, anyone made any New Year's resolutions?
[00:00:23] Yeah, some. No, I mean, it's a popular thing to do, isn't it? Make some New Year's resolutions.
[00:00:28] Do you know, maybe it's something about your health or physical thing. Focus on the body, exercise, eat better.
[00:00:36] Who said they're going to eat better this year?
[00:00:40] Especially eat better after what you've been eating for the last couple of weeks at least anyway, you know, or maybe you want to, you know, lose weight or sleep better, for example. Maybe it's something you want to just focus on the mind. Maybe you just want to learn a new skill or hobby. You. You've decided, hey, I'm going to learn the trombone this year. Anyone? No? Okay, maybe you just said, hey, I'm just going to focus on relationships. That's one thing I want to do. I want to focus on a family relationship or catching up with old friends or maybe New Year's resolutions. People take time to say, hey, I'm going to change my habits with social media or Netflix or whatever it is. I'm going to declutter my life.
[00:01:28] Spring will come up soon. We're going to declutter, aren't we?
[00:01:31] Or maybe it's a spiritual thing. Maybe it's, hey, I'm going to do Bible in a year. I'm going to, you know, pray through a plan or anything like that.
[00:01:42] And now's a popular time. We make New Year's resolutions.
[00:01:46] But we know, we know that keeping New Year's resolutions is hard, isn't it? Right.
[00:01:54] Okay, so you know the stats on the number of people that join the gym in January, buy that piece of equipment, you know, the peloton on all it is, that's adverts on TV at the moment, who's promising to go to the gym twice a week, every week.
[00:02:12] I'm sure there's some of you here.
[00:02:14] We know the stats that lots of money is wasted on gym subscriptions that, you know, so many people that sign up in January are not going in March. And, you know, I think it's like 50% are not going by the middle of the year. It's that thing.
[00:02:33] I don't know, but I feel like sometimes I don't know about you. We set ourselves up to fail.
[00:02:38] Do you know? We Kind of go, I'm going to do this. And we set this really high bar and target of achievement.
[00:02:47] And then, you know, it's no surprise that sometimes we fail to do that.
[00:02:54] Because how hard is it to change habits?
[00:02:58] How hard is it to change our lifestyles in that, is it worth making any kind of New Year's resolutions?
[00:03:10] Is there any point in it if we actually have a tendency just to make it so hard for ourselves?
[00:03:15] And here's the question. We're in church, aren't we?
[00:03:19] So what does the Bible have to say about it? Right?
[00:03:22] Does the Bible have any help to us in regards making New Year's resolutions? Is it a good thing that we should do?
[00:03:31] Well, maybe we might be able to answer some of these questions this morning, maybe we won't. But you know, it's going to be fun anyway. So we're going to do something a little bit different. I've got a passage that I'm going to read out. If you've got your Bibles, it's going to be really helpful to you. This morning we're going to be in Ecclesiastes 5, that very, you know, exciting and life giving passage in Ecclesiastes if you know it just the start of the year to jeer us on Ecclesiastes 5. So I'm going to read it out and then we're going to get into groups and do questions. Okay. And I will put the questions on the screen. It's something this discovery Bible study study, have you heard of that before? Some of you have, yeah. And different formats of questions that go back many, many years. But we're going to get in groups and answer that and then I will say some random points after that.
[00:04:28] But yeah, so let me read out.
[00:04:31] There's a thingy. That's why I need that. Thank you very much.
[00:04:34] We'll read out Ecclesiastes 5, the first seven verses and then I'll give you the questions and we can get in groups.
[00:04:42] Okay?
[00:04:43] Yes, Ian. Yes. Great. Okay. Right. Okay, here we go.
[00:04:47] So I'm reading it out from the new international version at niv. You might have a different translation with you. That's great as well.
[00:04:55] Says, guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools who do not know what they do wrong.
[00:05:06] Do not be quick with your mouth. Do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are earth, so let your words be few.
[00:05:17] A dream comes when there are Many cares and many words mark the speech of a fool.
[00:05:23] 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.
[00:05:36] Do not let your mouth lead you into sin and do not protest to the temple. Messenger, my vow was a mistake.
[00:05:43] Why should God be angry at what you say and destroy the work of your hands?
[00:05:49] Much dreaming and much words are meaningless. Therefore fear God.
[00:05:56] Now, let me just little bit of background before I get you into groups. So Ecclesiastes is anonymous as a book, but tradition has it that it was written by Solomon, King Solomon, who was the king at the height of the Israel kingdom, when they had lots of power, they had wealth, and they had stability across the whole region at the time. And tradition has it that Solomon writes it towards the end of his life. He is described as a wise man. He is a guy who's written so many of the proverbs, the book of Proverbs. Tradition has it he's written many of that. And he's a man that has had it all and done it all. He's got the T shirts, he's got the postcard, he's got the accounts on Instagram of everything that he's done. And so he's writing all about his reflections about life. And most of Ecclesiastes has to do with the relationship people have with money, with wealth, with power, with relationships, all of that. But right here in the middle, there's something different.
[00:07:10] This passage is on a reflection with how we connect with God.
[00:07:15] So that's the kind of background in your groups. So I want you to turn to someone next to you, twos, threes, fours, maybe groups, and going to have some questions. Here's the questions. And before you do it, it's good just to have a read over the passage yourself.
[00:07:34] Maybe you've got a different version, a different translation to what I put on the screen.
[00:07:39] Esv, nlt. They're great ones. NASB North American are great as well.
[00:07:45] But these are the questions. And I want you to focus on these questions only.
[00:07:52] No wandering off. And also a really good thing is to focus on the passage.
[00:07:57] So as you answer these questions, don't go wandering off to other random bits of the Bible, but really just focus on the passage and see what it says about these questions. So in your groups, what does it tell me? What does this passage tell me about God?
[00:08:14] What is it saying about him?
[00:08:17] About his character, maybe about what he does? Maybe about how we approach God. What does this passage tell me about people or myself? What does it say? Maybe tendencies of people, how people relate to others?
[00:08:32] What are we likely to do? What do we like ourselves as people?
[00:08:37] And then lastly, how will I obey or apply this passage? What do I learn out of this passage? And what should I do in response to this passage? What should I change, maybe in my life?
[00:08:51] Is that okay?
[00:08:52] Is that clear?
[00:08:54] Great. Okay. I'm going to give you 10 whole minutes. Okay. To do this, so you've got time to really think about it and dig into it. Great.
[00:09:04] How do you all get on?
[00:09:07] Yeah, Interesting questions.
[00:09:11] Difficult.
[00:09:15] Yeah, probably.
[00:09:17] So let me just sort of offer a couple of reflections. And it was. It's kind of a curve ball because, you know, I was talking about New Year's resolutions, and this verse is talking about vowels, isn't it? And it's a little bit different.
[00:09:31] I mean, do you know, they're not quite the same. Vows in the Bible in this context in the Old Testament was quite a lot about recognition of God's providence.
[00:09:43] So of saying, hey, God, if you bless me with this, then I will do this. And it's quite connected with offering something back to God in terms of an offering or something back to the temple. And that's the connection here, into the temple, going to the temple and promising to give something to God in response to God giving something to us. And we don't do that. We tend to make our resolutions kind of private. They're not public. We don't tell them to other people.
[00:10:17] I don't know about you, you know, if I make a. If I try and decide to do something, I don't really go and tell lots of people about it because I'm kind of a little bit worried that I'm not going to do it. And so I don't want to look like the fool in front of people. Oh, I'm going to achieve this thing. So I tend to keep stuff private myself. But here vows were actually public. They were said in front of others and not just God. And there was some accountability here. And although they're different vows and what we call as resolutions or something like that, there are some things, you know, it's a commitment to do something in the future. We're going to commit to some action. And I think there's some lessons here for us.
[00:11:07] So I'm going to give you four lessons that I picked out. You may not have heard, recognize this. You may have got better ones, but I'm going to Give four quick things that I think that we can take away.
[00:11:22] And the first one is, it says, go near and listen. Go near to listen.
[00:11:28] Do you know, this passage, I think teaches us that God is holy, right? God is other, and we are not. There's a separation, isn't there, between us and God?
[00:11:44] And, you know, there's a separation in essence, in being. We are not the same type of being as God. There is a difference. Says God is in heaven and we are on earth. God is high and we are low. And therefore, when we treat God, we must come before him with honor and respect. You know, like we're coming before someone who has far more intelligence, wisdom, power, all of that.
[00:12:12] And we need to acknowledge that as we come before him.
[00:12:17] But the writer wants us to know that God also speaks.
[00:12:22] Do you know? Go near to listen.
[00:12:25] God speaks. He directs and says things to us.
[00:12:31] And he does it out of his grace and his love, but his wisdom.
[00:12:38] And so when we come before him, when we are thinking about things that we going to do this year, you know, whether it's a vow in the Old Testament or now, what are we going to do this year? Do you know what? I think we should prioritize what God says.
[00:12:54] We should prioritize what he says to us. And hey, we may have resolutions. I'm going to eat healthily this year.
[00:13:03] We. Or I'm going to read the Bible and we may come to church and think one of those is more important than the other.
[00:13:10] I think it depends on our circumstance.
[00:13:13] Do you know? I think if there's a real illness you're going through, eating healthily is going to be really important to you, okay?
[00:13:21] And so I don't want to say, hey, one of these things is more godly than the other. I think it's a challenge to say, what is God directing you?
[00:13:32] Do you know? Is there a relationship at home? Is it home life? Is it parenting? Is it work life? Is there some relationship or someone else that God really wants you to input into? Change the way that you think that is?
[00:13:47] You know, God's directing you there. Listen to it.
[00:13:53] Yeah. What do you need most most this year?
[00:13:57] What is God saying to you about what he wants you to do this year? Let's go and listen. Second one.
[00:14:05] Do not be quick with your mouth.
[00:14:09] Maybe we will notice this one.
[00:14:12] I think, you know, if we're talking about what do we learn about people? It says that we are quick, aren't we, to make promises?
[00:14:20] Do you know?
[00:14:21] I think we're quick to make promises. We're quick to make promises or resolutions that we haven't got the power to keep.
[00:14:33] We're not in control of them.
[00:14:36] Maybe we think too much about what we can achieve. This year I'm going to go to the gym twice a week, every week. I mean, we know that over 50% of people don't achieve that at all.
[00:14:50] So we should think about the promises that we make. Think about the resolutions that we're going to get into.
[00:14:58] That includes a bit of godly wisdom. Carefully consider whether this is achievable for you, okay?
[00:15:06] Because otherwise we set ourselves up to fail and we're going to get ourselves into negative thinking. I haven't achieved this again. I failed again.
[00:15:16] Think about what can be achieved. What do you think can be achieved? And yes, God is the God of the impossible, right? And God can do miracles in our lives. But sometimes we just need to take it one step at a time. Okay? So be slow, be thoughtful, be considerate when you're making your resolutions.
[00:15:40] And I say when making your resolutions because it says when you make a vow.
[00:15:48] Do you know, I think there's a popular misconception that we don't make vows, we don't make resolutions. I know when we're in our group, it was brought up, didn't Jesus say, let your yes be yes and your no be no? Who's heard of that verse before?
[00:16:04] Yeah, and it's in James as well. The letter of James. He quotes it from Jesus teaching. Now, that's a totally different circumstance they had at the time, a way of making oaths to one another. And definitely in the legal framework, in courts and things like that, a lot of Jewish courts around legal issues and making oaths. Oh, I've definitely done this. I'm going to swear by this, that and the other. Jesus is really talking there. And James as well. James, the letter of James really against people making.
[00:16:44] Saying wrong things, saying things and not doing them and saying wrong things to one another in the letter of James.
[00:16:53] But yeah, that's making rash promises, maybe to one another.
[00:16:56] But here we see that. I think that we can make resolutions, we can make vows or promises, statements of intention about what we are going to do.
[00:17:11] I don't think it's improper to do that, but I think against what I would naturally do is just say something to myself. I'm going to really try to do this thing.
[00:17:23] The biblical vows was make a public thing, make a statement to other people.
[00:17:29] Why? Because there's some accountability in it.
[00:17:33] I think accountability helps and not in the Accountability of.
[00:17:38] I was going to say like a teacher that's telling you off all the time. But actually that's for teachers in the room and that's a negative rap on teachers, right? Isn't that Priscilla? Yes, because teachers are there to help, aren't you? You love the people, you want the best for them and you're there to encourage them, right? Yes, I'm going to believe that about teachers, right?
[00:18:00] Yeah.
[00:18:02] So not like I was going to say the nagging wife there. And that's really going to get me in trouble.
[00:18:13] It's biblical. It's biblical. Sorry, let me get there.
[00:18:20] Why, if you're going to make a resolution, why don't you tell someone that maybe is going to make that resolution with you?
[00:18:28] There's going to be an encouragement. Hey, you're going to do a Bible in a year.
[00:18:33] Why don't you talk to someone else that wants to do that and you keep each other accountable. Hey, you want to pray for something good five minutes every day, why don't you tell someone else? I'm going to text you a prayer every day and they're going to text you later and go, why haven't you sent me a prayer?
[00:18:53] Go. It would be a really good idea if you sent me. I'm really looking forward to the prayer that you're going to send me. Do you know, get someone else involved.
[00:19:01] Hey, if you want to eat healthy, you want to go running, do it with someone else, right? It's a really good thing. Everyone knows it.
[00:19:09] The world will tell you it's a really good thing.
[00:19:11] Lastly, much dreaming and many words are meaningless. Therefore fear God, Ecclesiastes, He's a real. He's a sour grape, isn't he? Really, isn't he?
[00:19:23] But lastly, we humans tend to think that we are in control.
[00:19:28] Do you know, I think we have a habit of thinking that we can control the future.
[00:19:36] I won't get into let's realise your dreams kind of a statement in culture at the moment.
[00:19:43] And beginning a new year is often accompanied with those goals and ambitions, right?
[00:19:49] You know, who's going to sign up to run a marathon and things like that.
[00:19:54] And perhaps the most important thing is when we come to make our resolutions to remember that, you know, God is the one that makes things happen.
[00:20:03] He's the only one that's got the power to make everything that he says come true.
[00:20:10] And he is faithful, he does not lie. And everything he says comes true. And we can dream.
[00:20:18] And God gives us dreams and visions and God puts us, puts Things in our hearts that he wants us to do. Dreams that we think we can never achieve. And that's right, we can't achieve them, but God can.
[00:20:33] And so the writer says, above all, we should fear God.
[00:20:38] He's saying, not in a scared sense. We should give him the honour and respect for his name because he is the one that makes things happen.
[00:20:48] What does that look like? I think that looks like submitting our desires, our goals, our ambitions to him.
[00:20:58] Thinking about what he's put on our heart, not what we've dreamt up ourselves.
[00:21:05] What has he put on your heart?
[00:21:08] What has he put on your heart this year?
[00:21:11] What's the thing that you think?
[00:21:14] Actually, I think God wants me to change this in my life.
[00:21:19] I'm struggling with patience or generosity or I'm struggling with that relationship.
[00:21:26] I'm struggling in this area of my life. What has God put on your heart?
[00:21:31] Maybe he wants you to reach out to someone. Maybe he does want you to do Bible in a year. You know, you've got that heart, that desire to think, hey, I just. I want to know a bit more about God.
[00:21:46] I love it when people come to me and say, what more can I do?
[00:21:51] What could I do to change in my life? How can I grow in my life? I love those because it's the spirit of God working.
[00:22:01] I don't know about you, but I love hearing about the spirit of God working across the church.
[00:22:07] And so I just want to. I want to challenge you.
[00:22:11] I want to challenge you. Don't drift this year just to go through another year and think, hey, I've just survived.
[00:22:21] Actually, for many of us.
[00:22:24] Well, actually for different people in the room, you're in different life stages. Okay. And I know with young kids it's hard, or maybe you're going through a time of illness and that's hard. And you only have capacity for a certain amount.
[00:22:40] But whatever amount you have capacity for, don't drift with that.
[00:22:46] Don't waste it on Netflix or social media.
[00:22:50] Right. And I'm saying this to myself, you know, I have a tendency to get a new computer game now and again. I do. And I think, oh, that's good.
[00:23:00] Okay. I've done them for 40 years almost.
[00:23:03] Oh, no, probably. Actually, that's true. So, you know, I do have. And I'm going, actually, I need to put that aside and just limit, just limit.
[00:23:12] Because I do want to grow. I do want to be challenged, I do want to be stirred.
[00:23:19] And I think I could use my time a little bit better at times.
[00:23:24] One is God stirring in your heart.
[00:23:26] And then we are finished. Lord, I thank you that you are the God in charge. I just. Lord, we started by thinking about you. You are the one, the name above all names, the one that we worship.
[00:23:46] And Lord, you know, worship, wonder comes before works.
[00:23:53] Awe comes before action.
[00:23:56] And Lord, I pray that in our thinking about us and our lives this year, Lord, it's going to start with worship, a recognition of who you are, that you are the God in heaven, you are the one who is in charge, who is in control.
[00:24:14] And you know the best things for us, Lord, that we come with humility to you, to hear your voice, to hear what you want, to speak to us as individuals, as families, as a whole church. Lord, and I pray that you are patient. I know that you are patient with us as we mess up and fail and things like that. Lord, you are patient with us. Invite us back in, empower us, send us out, Lord, as people, to be your hands and feet across this towns, this land. Lord, I pray that you are glorified through our thoughts, our words and our deeds this year.
[00:24:59] Amen.
[00:25:00] Amen.
