Creekside Church Sermon of January 4, 2004 "The Trouble with Resolutions" Romans 7:15-25	Rev. David Bibbee
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This is day four of the new year. If you listen carefully, you can hear things falling. It is the 2004 New Year's resolutions being dropped. On December 30 I ask my wife if she wanted me to pick up some Ben and Jerry's ice cream. She said, "Sure, but no more after New Years." On January 1, I went on an ice cream run and bought a pint of "Uncanny Cashew." She ate it.

We all have made resolutions to change things about ourselves. The intentions are good-- "This is the year I will eat less and exercise more. I will quit smoking and adopt a healthier lifestyle. I will change behaviors that are irksome to others. I will not lose my patience when stuck behind someone driving 15 mph. under the speed limit. I will change my attitude about the jerk with whom I work." Our resolutions have good intentions, but the corresponding actions have much to be desired.

There is something about the new year that inspires the desire for a fresh start. Take off the old and put on the new. One of my vices is procrastination. I really identify with the person who wrote, "This year I resolve to do the following things: 1) I will stop procrastinating so much. For 2) there was a blank. Beneath it was a note in parentheses, ("I will write the rest later.").

It has been ages-- no, make that aeons since the Cleveland Indians won the World Series. The year after they won it, the fans anticipated another great season, but it got off to a pitiful start. They lost the opening series. A rabid Indians fan expressed his displeasure by climbing the Memorial Stadium flagpole and refusing to come down until his team won a game. He was up the pole a long time. The world champions lost their first eleven games.

Cleveland's manager at the time was Bill Veeck, who was notorious for staging stunts to get attention for teams he managed. Veeck decided to fix Cleveland's slump by declaring another "Opening Day." A brass band was brought in. The Mayor came out to throw the first pitch. They repeated all the rituals of the season opener. And guess what? The Indians won their first game and ended their embarrassing losing streak.

What if we could declare another "Opening Day" in our lives? Wouldn't it be great if we could erase the red ink from of our file simply by declaring another start.... a chance to clean the slate, a chance to do things over, a chance to do things better, an opportunity to be a better person? This is the desire that fuels our resolution-making. A new start for a new year.

We tell ourselves things will be different this time. We tell ourselves we will be more serious about it... this time. We tell ourselves all we need is a little more will power this time. This what we said the last time. But it takes more than the change of the calendar to make us new people.

The trouble with resolutions is that we try to keep them by ourselves. There is a positive aspect to resolution-making. It makes us responsible for ourselves. The trouble is, you can't create a new you with only you. Roger Schellenbreg put it put it this way: "I got myself into this mess, why should you trust me to get myself out?" The only way I know to be better is with help, and no one understood this more than the Apostle Paul. Listen again to what he said to the church in Rome:

I'm full of myself--after all, I've spent a long time in sin's prison. What I don't understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise. So if I can't be trusted to figure out what is best for myself and then do it, it becomes obvious that God's command is necessary....

I obviously need help. I realize I don't have what it takes. I can will it but I cannot do it. I decide to do good, but I don't really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don't result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time...

I've tried everything, and nothing helps. I'm at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me?

Paul isn't talking in past tense as though it USED to be a problem. He speaks in present tense about his ongoing struggle. Here is Paul, the greatest Christian missionary ever; the man responsible for spreading Christianity throughout the known world; the first theologian to articulate the meaning of Jesus' life and the gospel-- here he is, acknowledging his inability to get his own house in order.

New life doesn't have anything to do with resolutions, regardless how worthy they may be. New life is a practical thing which unfolds as we consciously choose to be followers of Jesus, not with just our minds, or on Sunday morning.

Lots of people think that following Jesus means, "following the rules." "Listen to what he said, then do it. Its hard, but you must buckle down and do it." I don't know about you, but I couldn't be part of anything where the primary emphasis is upon the rule book and how well you did or did not keep it. Lots of people have the impression that Christianity is one big New Year's resolution.

I am a big fan of the British comedy series, "Monty Python's Flying Circus." Sometimes in the middle of a routine, for no apparent reason, a two-ton weight dropped on and flattened the person doing the talking. Jesus came to free people from a perversion of Judaism that had become a "rule regulated." In Psalm 37: 4 it says, "Take delight in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." But following the Lord was no delight for the common person. It was a two-ton obligation. "Work real hard on the cleanliness laws this week, then come back next Sabbath for your next assignment." Jesus came to remove the load. He said, "Come to me, all of you who are weak and burdened, and I will give you rest."

I knew a man who had gone to church all his life. He did everything that churchgoers do, but had not made a profession of faith in Jesus and been baptized. When invited, he always said, "I'm not ready." "Wasn't ready," meant he didn't measure up. He wasn't "good enough" yet. The fact that it isn't possible to be good enough didn't persuade him. He thought he could get there.... if he would just try harder.

You can understand his thinking. If something is not working, we intensify our efforts. But trying harder with self-improvement isn't productive. Paul did everything by the book. By our standards he did an exemplary job. He knew what was right. There was just one hitch-- he couldn't will himself to do it. "I know the law, but I still can't keep it," he said.

Sabrina Fritz shared a humorous thought-provoker at a board retreat. It illustrated the flawed thinking of trying to make things work that have outlived their usefulness. The premise was-- if you are riding a dead horse you should do the following:

1) Try riding the dead horse for longer periods in hopes of going farther.
2) Appoint a committee to study the dead horse and offer recommendations.
3) Move the dead horse to a new location and try again.
4) Ask for further funding for support of dead horses.
5) Harness several dead horses together for increased speed.
6) Arrange to visit other sites to see how they ride dead horses.

Sweat and strain and toil won't result in lasting change anymore more than you can resurrect a dead horse by riding it harder. Repeated failures to become a new you intensify feelings of guilt and defeat.

Following Jesus is not resolution. It is a practical thing done in the context daily life. Jesus said that before we can work on the big projects, we must first get a handle on the smaller things. In Luke 16 Jesus said:

"If you are honest in small things you will be honest in big things.
If you're a crook in small things, you'll be a crook in big things.
If you're not honest in small jobs, who will put you in charge of the whole store?"

Jesus doesn't ask you to put an end to social injustice, find a cure for AIDS, end world hunger or bring about world peace. Christians devote themselves to these needs, but following Jesus is lived out on a smaller scale.

While waiting for my mother's chemo-therapy session to begin on Wednesday, a man came in with a box full of donuts. He was on a first name basis with everyone. He offered donuts to the staff and left the rest for the patients and their families. He personally delivers a box each week. I didn't ask him why he does it. Why, is not important. What matters is the little way he lifts people's morale with he weekly gift.

Following Jesus is as practical as letting someone go ahead of you in the checkout lane, or giving a pleasant greeting to residents sitting in nursing home hallways on your way to visiting someone else, or refraining from criticizing another person, or deflecting attention away from yourself so the efforts of a lesser recognized person will be praised, or taking time to phone or visit someone who is beneath a crushing load. Little acts of kindness may seem insignificant alongside the events which capture the headlines, but they are important to God.

Sometimes people change for the better as a result of a dramatic, spiritual experience. For most, becoming better people in Christ is a process..... a product of our daily decisions.

One of the joys of ministry is to see changed lives, restored relationships; lives cured of crippling self concepts. When I began my ministry with you going on twelve years ago, I met someone who was friendly, but timid. She was delightful, but not very confident. She was a dependable worker who could always be counted upon to follow through on assignments. But it was tough for her to do things she had not done before. She littered the floor with disclaimers-- "I couldn't do anything like that," or, "You wouldn't want me for that job!" Offering leadership was out of the question. So was standing in front of the congregation and speaking, but, there was a confident person inside waiting to break out.

She didn't change overnight, but Mary Lou Martin isn't the person she used to be. She didn't do it through the power of positive thinking, or by gritting her teeth or by sheer will. It is not an achievement on her part, but the result of remaining focused on the things that are important to God.

Lasting change does not come from the outside in. Think of all the resolutions which have to do with outward appearances. "I'm going on a diet. I'm going to start an exercise program so I can get flat "abs" and fuller.... whatever." But resolutions are short-lived that place the emphasis upon feeling good and looking good.

Jesus told the Pharisees, "You are masters at making yourselves look good in front of others, but God knows what's behind the appearance," (Luke 16: 14).

The Pharisees were experts at appearing holy, reverent, and generous. This was their public face, but Jesus said that God knew a smoke screen when he saw one. Change that amounts to something isn't cosmetic. "Extreme make-overs" can't change the inside of a person. Each time you consciously decide to follow Jesus you are changing. Our inward and outward selves of aren't meant to be at odds. When improvement takes place inside, you won't want to hide it. It will express itself in outward change. But you'll need help.

When it comes to change, progress is not in a straight line. There will be struggles. We WILL slip up and slide back sometimes. Listen again to Paul-- "I obviously need help! I realize that I don't have what it takes. I can will it, but I can't do it. I decide to do good, but I don't really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. Is there no one who can do anything for me?" Then Paul says, "The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He set things right in this life of contradictions.

There was a man who was a neurotic for years. He said of himself, "I was anxious and depressed and selfish. Everyone kept telling me to change. I resented them, and I agreed with them, and I wanted to change, but simply couldn't, no matter how hard I tried. What hurt the most was that, like the others, my best friend kept insisting that I change. So I felt powerless and trapped. Then one day he said to me, "Don't change. I love you just as you are.

Those words were music to my ears. "Don't change... I love you as you are." I relaxed. I came alive. And suddenly... I changed! Now I know that I couldn't really change until I found someone who loved me."

Do you want to change? You can, you know, no matter how many resolutions you have made and broken, no matter what your record has been. Getting a new start has nothing to do with step-by-step programs, will power, or January 1, but has everything to do with Someone who loves you. Someone who can help you. Someone who stands at the door and knocks. So go ahead-- open up! Let him in!

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