Intro:
In the classic film, “It’s a Wonderful Life”, Jimmy Stewart plays George Bailey, a small town banker who is driven to the brink of suicide by the prospect of financial ruin and disgrace. He is convinced that his life has been a failure, and that it would have been better if he had never lived at all. As he looks back on his past, he sees only broken dreams and thwarted ambitions.
In response to George’s prayer and the prayers of others (it was still possible to depict a main character sincerely praying in a film made in 1946), George’s guardian angel, Clarence, is sent to help him. In order to show George how wrong his assessment of his own life is, Clarence pulls back the curtain and reveals how different things would have been if he had not been born. In doing so, he shows George what a significant positive impact his life has had on others.
As each of us looks back on 2016 and we evaluate our own journey, and as we think about recent events in our nation and in the world, we judge based on our own limited perspective. We interpret these things based on what we know and what we understand. But we can’t see the whole picture; we don’t perceive all the causes and effects. And we don’t understand everything that God is doing in the world, or even in our own life. We can’t see behind the curtain.
This week, we consider some Scriptures which will help us to transcend this limited human perspective. These passages will provide a God’s-eye view of the year that is past and the year that is to come, a view which is surprising, but also hopeful and encouraging.
Sermon:
Good morning! Happy New Year! Some of you look a bit bleary-eyed this morning. If you feel the need to step out for a moment to get yourself a cup of coffee, we’ll understand. I am quite willing to accept a bit of momentary distraction in exchange for your caffeine-enhanced attention. So feel free.
Who actually stayed up until midnight to bring in the New Year? Impressive. And yet, here you are in church this morning. Good for you! And for everyone who is watching the webcast from home this morning because you stayed up too late last night, good for you too. You get half credit. You can feel free to drink some coffee at home. Or some Pepto-Bismol. Your choice.
Who knows who this is? [Slide of Janus] Correct, this is the Roman god Janus. For the ancient Romans, Janus was the god of transitions, the god of endings and beginnings, the god of gates, doorways, and bridges. He is depicted with two faces, simultaneously looking forward and back—forward to the future, and back to the past. Many believe that the month of January is named after him, for obvious reasons.
Of course, as Christians, we know that the true God of beginnings and endings is not Janus, but Jesus Christ, who said of himself, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” (Rev. 22:13, NIV). We number our years beginning with the year of his birth, and refer to them as A.D., which is Latin for Anno Domini, the Year of Our Lord. And yet, this depiction of the mythological Roman deity Janus does reflect some natural wisdom about how the world works, about how our lives unfold. Because every beginning represents also an ending. Every choice we make involves the foreclosure of other options. And every time a new year commences, another year draws to a close.
This morning, as we cross the threshold from 2016 to 2017, my question to you is this: what does it mean to experience this annual transition as a Christian? How should we, as disciples of Jesus Christ, think about the conclusion of one year and the beginning of another? Does our faith have anything to say about New Year’s Day?
In a narrowly literal sense, the answer is clearly “no”. New Year’s Day is not celebrated as a Christian holiday. There is no event in the New Testament that is associated with the date of January first. Officially, it’s no more significant than any other day. But in a larger sense, the Scriptures have a great deal to say about how we assess the past, and how we anticipate the future. And that is what I would like to talk about this morning.
2016 was a year of surprises. In sports, the Cavs won the NBA championship for the first time ever, and the Cleveland Indians won the American League Pennant, despite several injuries and one unfortunate encounter with a drone. The Chicago Cubs also had a pretty good year. In politics, the UK voted to leave the European Union, and the United States elected a man with no previous government experience to be Leader of the Free World. And Bob Dylan won the Nobel prize for literature.
But for most of us, those headlines are just distant thunder. We watch the news, we may even argue about it with coworkers, or share links on Facebook, but those events don’t directly affect us, not like the events of our own lives and the lives of the people we care about. And as each of us looks back on our own personal headlines for 2016, we remember a different set of stories.
For some of us, the past year was characterized by success and accomplishment, hopeful beginnings and long-hoped-for rewards. The birth of a child. The start of a new job. A promotion. An engagement. A move to a new city. An award. A welcome retirement. The achievement of a personal goal. For others, 2016 is a year you can’t be rid of soon enough, a year of loss and disappointment, even tragedy. Illness. A layoff. Divorce. Business failure. The death of someone close to you. And for most of us, some of both is true; for most of us, 2016 was a mixture joys and sorrows, celebration and mourning.
So as you look back on 2016, whatever kind of year you have had personally, and whatever your views on world events, how can you think about them in a Christian way, how can you see them as God sees them, and how can that perspective help you to survive and thrive in the year to come?
First of all, we have to remember that God is in control. That is fundamental. God is in control of international politics, God is in control of the world economy, God is in control of who rises to power and who falls from power, God is in control of the future of America. I have three verses that I’d like you to consider:
“Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his.
He changes times and seasons; he deposes kings and raises up others.” (Daniel 2:20-21, NIV)
“. . . the Most High is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and gives them to anyone he wishes and sets over them the lowliest of people.’” (Daniel 4:17, NIV)
“No one from the east or the west or from the desert can exalt themselves.
It is God who judges: He brings one down, he exalts another.” (Psalm 75:6-7, NIV)
There are several points I would like us to take from these verses. First of all, note that God is sovereign over all the kingdoms of the earth, Daniel 4:17. There are 195 countries in the world today, depending on how you count. And God is sovereign over the affairs of every single one of them. Every single one. The United States. Great Britain. Russia. China. Iran. Syria. Israel. Venezuela. Cuba. Every one. No exceptions. More than that, God sovereignly chooses every leader, regardless of whether a country’s system of government is a democracy, a monarchy, or a military dictatorship. Every President, every Prime Minister, every Sheikh, every Emperor, every King or Queen, every Prince, every Grand-Duke, every Supreme Leader, Emir, Premier, Chancellor, or Party Secretary has come to power by the sovereign hand of God. Each of them serves at His pleasure, only as long as their reign serves His purposes.
Let me be very clear about what I am saying and not saying. I am not saying that every leader who is sovereignly installed by God is good, or righteous, or wise, or even competent. Many of them clearly are not. Nor am I saying that their official or private actions are pleasing to Him; again, many clearly are not. What I am saying is this: that we can know that God has chosen them, and placed them in office, to accomplish his own good and wise purposes, even when those purposes are hidden from our sight. Even when we cannot imagine what those purposes might be.
And even as I am making these statements, I know that many of you doubt this, in spite of the verses we just read. Even though theoretically, you may accept that God is sovereign over the world he created, you fear that in practice, evil men and women act independently of his control. But Proverbs 21:1 tells us that even the inner workings of a leader’s mind and heart, even his or her private thoughts and desires are guided by the Lord:
“The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord;
he turns it wherever he will.” (Proverbs 21:1, ESV)
Let me give you an example of God working through an ungodly leader to accomplish his purposes. In the gospel of John, chapter nineteen, we read that Jesus was brought before the Roman governor Pilate, and they had this exchange:
“‘Where do you come from?’ he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. ’Do you refuse to speak to me?’ Pilate said. ‘Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?’ Jesus answered, ’You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.’” (John 19:9-11, NIV)
“Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.” (John 19:16, NIV)
Was Pilate a good man? No, he wasn’t a good man, even by secular standards. If you know the story, you know that Pilate had reservations about Jesus’ guilt. He knew that the Pharisees had accused Jesus only out of jealousy. Pilate even attempted to release him. But in the end, faced with the threat of a popular revolt, he took the politically safe path, the cowardly path, and condemned an innocent man to die. This was an evil act. In fact, it was a supremely evil act, because the one he ordered to be crucified, Jesus Christ, was holiness, righteousness, and innocence personified. But here’s the point: God placed Pilate, this unrighteous man, in this position. Pilate’s power was “given to him from above”. Fundamentally, Pilate didn’t owe his position and his power to Caesar, or to the will of the people. Although he didn’t recognize it, his power and his position came from God. That’s what Jesus told him: ’You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.’
Furthermore, even this supremely evil act was carried out according to the sovereign will of God. Preaching on the day of Pentecost, fifty days after Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, Peter declares:
“Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.” (Acts 2:22-23, NIV)
“Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.” (Acts 4:27-28, NIV)
If you had been a follower of Christ standing in the courtyard of Pilate’s palace when the sentence of death by crucifixion was pronounced, what would have been your reaction? Or if you had been standing at the foot of the cross when your teacher and Lord drew his last breath, what would you have thought? Would you have been confident of ultimate success and victory? Not likely. Would you have been at peace, viewing this tragedy as a necessary part of God’s good and wise plan? Probably not. More likely, you would have been in despair, thinking that all was lost. But if there had been no unrighteous Roman governor, there would have been no crucifixion. And if no crucifixion, then no resurrection. And if no resurrection, then no eternal life, for us or for anyone. But there was a resurrection, Jesus did rise from the dead. And because of that, we have the promise of forgiveness of sins and eternal life, through faith in him.
God chose this unrighteous man, Pilate; God sovereignly ordained that he would make the unjust decision to condemn Christ to death; and God then turned apparent defeat and disaster into life and hope for the entire world, just as he planned from the beginning.
What I am suggesting is not that we close our eyes to the failings and moral defects of our leaders. Christians are not in denial; we don’t pretend that things are better than they are. The difference is that no matter whether the news is good, bad, or horrible; whatever the plans and intentions of our human leaders may be, we know that God is working to carry out His plans; His good and wise plans, in ways that we do not understand. I’ll underscore that point with these verses:
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28, NIV)
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways
And My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9, NIV)
If your mind rebels at the idea that God could be working through wicked, unjust men and women to accomplish his purposes, or that he could be at work in the midst of seemingly catastrophic world events, remember two things: First, that the greatest injustice, the greatest crime in human history, the execution of the Son of God on a cross, brought about the greatest victory the world has ever seen, victory over death. And remember also what Isaiah 55 tells us, which is that we do not, and in fact cannot, understand God’s plans and purposes, unless he chooses to reveal them to us. They are simply beyond our ability to discern and comprehend.
Throughout the year 2016, everywhere in the world, God has been at work to accomplish his purposes, to glorify Himself and to bless His people eternally. He has been working in ways that we do not fully comprehend. But he has been working.
Allow me to make one obvious application, and then we’ll move on to the next point. When the results of the recent presidential election came in, some of you were happy with the outcome. Perhaps you were more than happy: thrilled, relieved, exultant, hopeful, joyful. Others had a different reaction. Disappointment, sadness, worry, disbelief, foreboding, even fear. My purpose this morning is not to validate, or to identify with, any of those reactions, but to suggest that in their more extreme forms, they are unjustified. Because Donald Trump, ultimately, is not in control, despite how it appears to us. Nor would Hillary Clinton have been in control, had she won the election. Not ultimately. Ultimately, God is in control. And he is working to accomplish his purposes.
I want to be very clear: I am not saying that God endorses Donald Trump, supports his cabinet appointees, or agrees with his policies. I am not saying that Donald Trump is superior to Hillary Clinton, morally or otherwise. Nor am I saying that we should refrain from criticizing him when we feel that it is justified, or refrain from opposing him when he acts in ways that we consider to be unjust or unwise. What I am saying is that we should not despair in the results of this election, whatever our political convictions, because God is in control. Nor should we put our trust in this man, or any man or woman in leadership. Our trust, and our hope, are in Jesus Christ; he is the “ruler of the kings of the earth”. Our responsibility is to pray that His kingdom, Christ’s kingdom, would come, and that His will would be done on earth, as it is in heaven. And then to match those prayers with deeds.
Now let me make this a bit more personal. Because God is in control, not only of world events, but of the events of your life, and mine. So let’s shift the focus now from the global arena to the smaller stage of our individual lives. To do that, I’d like us to consider briefly the Old Testament story of Joseph. I’m going to summarize, because this account covers several chapters in the book of Genesis.
Joseph was a son of the patriarch Jacob and his wife Rachel, born to them in their old age. The Scriptures tell us that Jacob loved Joseph more than he loved any of his eleven other sons. And he made no attempt to hide his preference. As a result, these men hated Joseph, hated him so intensely that they could not even speak a civil word to him. And finally, when they had an opportunity, they attacked him. They threw him into a pit, intending to kill him, but then decided instead to sell him into slavery. And then, they lied to their father, telling him that Joseph had been killed by a wild animal. Joseph was taken to Egypt and made a servant of one of Pharaoh’s officers.
In Egypt, Joseph worked hard and earned the trust of his master, Potiphar, but Potiphar’s wife falsely accused him of attempting to molest her, and Joseph was thrown into prison. However, even in that terrible place, God blessed Joseph’s work, and he was put in charge of the entire prison. During this time, he interpreted a dream by one of the other prisoners, the chief cupbearer of Pharaoh, and the cupbearer promised to mention him to Pharaoh when he was released. But when that man was freed from prison, he forgot Joseph and forgot the promise he had made.
It was not until two years later, when Pharaoh had a dream, that the cupbearer finally remembered Joseph. Pharaoh called Joseph out of prison, and Joseph was able to interpret the dream. As a result, Pharaoh made Joseph his vice-regent over all of Egypt, second in power only to himself. For the next seven years, Joseph oversaw a national program to stockpile grain from the annual harvest, preparing for the seven years of famine that Pharaoh’s dream had predicted.
When the famine came, Joseph’s brothers traveled from Canaan to Egypt to purchase grain, and they were brought before Pharaoh’s vice-regent. Initially, they did not recognize their brother. They could not have imagined that the one they had sold into slavery so many years ago would now be ruler of Egypt. But eventually, Joseph revealed himself to them. They were understandably terrified.
Now, before we hear the climax of the story, let’s review. Joseph was betrayed by those closest to him, his own brothers. Their jealous and wicked actions caused him to be taken from his mother and father, removed from his home and everything he had known. At the young age of seventeen, he was alone in a foreign land, surrounded by a foreign culture. Then he was falsely accused of a crime and imprisoned. He was betrayed again by the cupbearer, who failed to honor his promise. Despite all of these things, he remained faithful to God.
Now, unexpectedly, after many years, he comes face-to-face with his brothers, the cause of all his miseries. And he has the power to do anything he wants with them. He could have them tortured, or killed. Or he could send them back to Canaan empty-handed, send them back to starve. Think about it. All those years of pent-up grief and anger. How would you react?
Some of you don’t have to think very hard to imagine what it would be like to be in Joseph’s shoes. Because you’ve experienced betrayal, perhaps even by family members or those close to you. Because you’ve been unjustly accused, with destructive consequences. Because others have made promises to you and then failed to honor them. If that describes you, then imagine what it would be like to have the ability to execute whatever kind of vengeance you desired. How would you respond?
Here’s how Joseph responded:
“Then Joseph said to his brothers, ‘Come close to me.’ When they had done so, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping. But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God.’” (Genesis 45:4-8, NIV)
What? What does Joseph mean, “it was not you who sent me here, but God”? Didn’t they conspire, first to kill him, and then to sell him into slavery? And didn’t they do just that? How can he say, “it was not you who sent me here”? Here’s the answer. Joseph isn’t denying what they did, or saying they had no choice. He’s not minimizing their responsibility. What he is saying is that despite their evil motives and evil actions, God was working through them to accomplish his purposes, which were to bring Joseph to a place of supreme power and authority, a place where he would have the ability to store up huge amounts of grain, and thus save Israel and the entire ancient world from famine.
From a human point of view, Joseph was a victim – a victim of his foolish father, a victim of his jealous and violent brothers, a victim of the slave trader who paid money in exchange for a human life, a victim of Potiphar’s lying wife, a victim of the unfaithful cupbearer. But—and this is key—from God’s point of view, Joseph was not a victim at all. From God’s point of view, all of those human actions—as foolish, or wicked, or vengeful, or selfish, or thoughtless as they may have been—all of those actions were necessary links in the chain of events that God had designed to bring about His good, and wise, and loving purposes. And coming to understand that, and accept that, allowed Joseph to forgive those who had wronged him, and to accept the path his life had taken.
Once again, years later, after Joseph’s father Jacob had died, the brothers were once again filled with fear. See what they do, and how Joseph responds:
“When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, ‘What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?’ So they sent word to Joseph, saying, ‘Your father left these instructions before he died: “This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.” Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father.’ When their message came to him, Joseph wept. His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. ‘We are your slaves,’ they said. But Joseph said to them, ‘Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don’t be afraid.’” (Genesis 50:15-21, NIV)
Again, Joseph is not denying his brothers’ evil motives and evil actions. They intended to harm him. He says that. And in fact, they did harm him. But he understands that despite what they had intended, God was sovereignly working through them to accomplish his purposes. Their human intent, and their human purposes, were only part of the story. The greater story was God’s intent and God’s purposes. And the same is true in your life. The purposes and plans of other people are only part of the story. The larger story is the good that God is bringing about in your life, even through flawed and sinful people.
Let me pause here and ask, is there someone you need to forgive? Someone who wronged you, perhaps in this last year, or perhaps even years ago? Someone whose actions have caused you pain, or trouble, or loss? I’m here to tell you this morning that you can forgive them. You can be free of bitterness and resentment. And you can begin by recognizing that you are not a victim; that whatever others have done to you, however they have sinned against you and mistreated you, through all of it, God has been working in your life. Even through those people and those unwelcome experiences. Even if they intended it for harm, God intends to use it for good.
Let me say it again: you are not a victim. God has a purpose for you, and God has a purpose for the things you have experienced. I don’t know your situation. I’m not claiming that it’s easy to reconcile yourself to hurts and injustices. I’m not saying it’s easy to forgive. I imagine Joseph had many sleepless nights in Egypt, locked in prison, far away from home, when he wrestled with God, seeking an explanation. And I’m not saying that God will reveal his purposes to you as clearly as he did to Joseph. You may never know the “why” for your struggles. But I am saying that without a doubt, God has a purpose for everything you have suffered. None of it is meaningless, none of it will be wasted. It is all a part of what He is doing in you, and what he is doing in your life. And as you come to accept that, as you become reconciled to your past, you can engage more fully, more freely, and more confidently with the future.
What does all that mean for the year to come? It means that God has a purpose and a plan for you in the year two thousand and seventeen A.D., the Year of Our Lord. A good, and wise, and loving purpose and plan. His plan for you has not been ruined, or damaged, or put on hold, by what anyone else has done, or even by your own mistakes. On the contrary, all of those things, everything you have experienced, brought you to where you now stand because they are a part of the purpose and plan that God has for you. You don’t need to know what that is. Joseph didn’t. You don’t need to know how this is all going to work out. Joseph didn’t. All you need to do is what Joseph did, which is to remain faithful to God every day, to follow Him and trust in Him. To do what Jesus taught us, which is to “seek first His kingdom and His righteousness”. If you do that, I promise you, and more importantly the Word of God promises you, that you will someday rejoice in seeing what God has done through your life.
Your story is not over. Far from it. You are here today because God has something he wants to do, in and through your life, in this year. Seek Him. Serve Him. Trust Him. And you will find it.
