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Be resolved to ...

Give yourself more to the study of God's Word, getting to know it better

All Scripture is God breathed and of great profit to us in many ways.  So we must be determined to get to know it as best we can.  If an angel came down right now we'd be full of questions but God has given us a book that will answer all our questions and more - yet how neglected his Word is.

You have a Bible.  (You know that if you don't, we'll give you one.)  You can read (or are learning to read).  All that is really needed is for you to make the time to read it, prayerfully asking God to help you understand it.

What plans are you laying to make sure that you get to know the Bible better?  How much of the Bible have you read?  All of it, a lot of it, some of it, none of it?

If you know none of it then there is no time to lose.  Start to read it today.  Start with one of the Gospels, then read Genesis and Exodus, then another Gospel, then some of the Psalms, and on through the Old and New Testaments. 

Have you still not read all of it?  Make a plan to do so today.  You can quite easily read through it all in a year or two.

The best way to get through the Bible is to have a plan of reading so much every day.  There are bound to be days when it's impossible to read, but make it your practice ordinarily to read every day.

"Well," you say, "I try to but I don't understand it."  Then make sure you're here on Sundays (and Wednesdays) if you can.  If you miss sermons, tapes are available.  We have to go very slowly as we don't meet often, but normally I'm expounding passages of Scripture.  The main thing to learn is what the Bible says - but I trust that as we look at different passages that you'll also learn how to interpret Scripture.

Then there are various helps - Bible Study notes, books, etc.  There's a lot of help available.

Another thing to work at is trying to learn verses.  That's one way to really make it stick.  Hard work but rewarding.

Practically, it's probably best to try and set aside a certain time of the day when you will be able to quietly read the Word for yourself.  If you are living in a family situation, it is good to try and read the Bible together too, ideally once or twice a day.  Meal times are usually best.  If you are on your own, can you find a friend who is willing to spend some time studying the Bible with you say once a week?

There are rich rewards for those who read the Word.  His words are "more precious than gold ... sweeter than honey". (Psalm 19:10)  "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path." (Psalm 119:105)  Let's be resolved this year to get to know it better than we do.  Say you knew that at this time next year all your Bibles were going to be taken from you.  How you would make the most of them.  Let's live as though that were to be.

Give yourself more to prayer, making more and more effort to seek God's face

With study of the Word, of course, goes prayer - going to God and praising him, giving thanks, confessing your sins and making your requests for yourself and others.  It is in prayer that we most tangibly express our faith in God.  Prayer is a mark of the true Christian.  That is why it is a main feature of our public worship on the Lord's Day.  We also meet for prayer during the week.  It is important that we seek to pray at home too - with family and with friends and on your own.

Many of us struggle with prayer - we struggle to find the time, sometimes to find the motivation, often to know just what to say.  However, we must persist in this.  The Bible is always reminding us of its importance.  1 Chronicles 16:11: "Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always."  Matthew 26:41: "Watch and pray ..."  Ephesians 6:18: "Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests ... always keep on praying for all the saints."  Philippians 4:6: "... In everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."  Colossians 4:2: "Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful."  1 Thessalonians 5:17: "Pray continually."

Again, practically, this means setting aside time.  Maybe we need to get up earlier or drop something to make time.  Critically we need both a spirit of prayer and times of prayer - the two go together.  We should always be ready to pray.  We should never resist the urge to pray either - pray when you wake, before you sleep, before food, when reading the Word, as you begin or end a thing, etc.

What a difference it might make if we all gave ourselves to prayer in this coming year, like never before.  There is so much to pray for - for the ministry of the Word here, for each member of the congregation, for the people who live round and about who never pray for themselves, for the children, for the other needs in London - Cranford, Soho, Covent Garden; for LTS, for work overseas, etc., etc.  What a vast amount there is.

Let's be determined under God in this New Year ahead to be men and women of prayer.  Sometimes phone companies offer free or very cheap phone calls.  Most people are quick to take advantage.  We have the freedom of going to God in prayer at anytime.  Let's make use of it.

Give yourself more to self-examination and putting to death sin

What else do we want to mention?  Well, there is the whole matter of holiness of life, which is so important.  "Be holy as I am holy," God says in more than one place in both the Old Testament and the New Testament.  We must be resolved to be more holy.  But how can we do that?  To help us I think we can isolate two particular things that will help us to work on in this direction - that is, self-examination and mortification or putting sin to death.

A.  Self-examination

"... When you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent." (Psalm 4:4)  "A man ought to examine himself before he eats ... and drinks ..." (1 Corinthians 11:28)  "Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves." (2 Corinthians 13:5) 

We need to do this with care as "the heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure".  That's why we need to do this before God - "Test me, O Lord, and try me, examine my heart and my mind." (Psalms 26:2)  "Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." (Psalm 139:23, 24)  The purpose of it is to see our sin and to turn us to the Lord.  "Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord." (Lamentations 3:40)

Practically, we must engage in this sort of thing often - on a daily basis to some extent.  It probably works best, however, if we do it more thoroughly from time to time - the ideal time is on Sunday when we have communion.  How though?  Use the Ten Commandments for example or the Beatitudes or both; or maybe you can make your own list of questions for yourself.  This is where a diary or journal can be useful.  Go through the list and examine yourself - how are you getting on?  In each case we will find that there are sins at our door, crouching there and eager to destroy us.  We must put these sins to death.

B.  Put sin to death

"If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away." (Matthew 5:29)  "... If by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live." (Romans 8:13)  "Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, ..." (Colossians 3:5)  We must do all we can under God to weed out anything offensive.  We're urged to engage in bodily self-examination for health reasons.  Lives are saved by such means.  Spiritual self-examination can save your soul.  Will you not engage in it?

Be more devoted to your brothers and sisters in Christ

Christian fellowship is very important for our own sake and also for that of others.  "Let us not give up meeting together, ... but let us encourage one another - and all the more as you see the Day approaching." (Hebrews 10:25)

It's important that we meet regularly.  We ought to pray for one another too.  More than that we should look not only to our own interests but also to the interests of others (Philippians 2:4).  As believers, you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.  We should be in total sympathy with one another and do all we can to help each other.  Let's resolve to work on it.  They say blood's thicker than water.  We certainly ought to love one another in Christ.  "Honour one another above yourselves." (Romans 12:10).

Be more ready to be willing to speak about the Lord to unbelievers

In 1 Peter 3:15 we read of the need to: A.  "In your hearts set apart Christ as Lord."  B.  "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have."  C.  "But do this with gentleness and respect."

If we had a greater idea of Christ's Lordship we'd be less afraid to witness.  If we were better prepared, we would be quicker to take up the opportunities that do come to speak about the Saviour.  If we were gentler and more respectful we would do better than we do in this area.

Let's be resolved to work on this in the year ahead.  When I was in school, I loved playing football.  I never liked boys who were greedy and kept the ball to themselves, unwilling to pass.  Greediness of any form is reprehensible.  Remember those lepers outside the walls in Hezekiah's day who discovered that the Assyrian army surrounding Jerusalem had fled?  At first they ate and drank and took plunder but then they said to each other, "We're not doing right.  This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves." (2 Kings 7:9)  Are we making the same mistake?  "... He who wins souls is wise." (Proverbs 11:30)

Do all you do to the glory of God

Here's our final catch-all.  A problem with New Year's resolutions is that we can sometimes work at one or two areas and make progress but everything else seems to fall apart.  If our resolutions are going to do any good then we need to be concerned for the whole of our lives.

"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." (1 Corinthians 10:31)  "And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus." Colossians 3:17)

Whatever we do must be done in Christ's name, for his glory.  You hear silly songs that say things like, "Everyday, everything I do I just do it in the colour of you, it's for you / Everything I do, I do it for you".  A man is so obsessed with a person, so intoxicated with thoughts of her that in everything he does he thinks of her, trying to please her.  That's how Christians should be.  Take something as mundane as eating.  Obviously we give thanks to God first, but with each mouthful there should be thankfulness.  If with others, our speech will be salted with awareness of him.  We'll want to honour him in all we say and do.  Let's resolve by his grace to do all for his praise until we meet him in glory.

I'm sure we could mention many other things - for example, making better use of our time, working on relationships, making better use of the Lord's Day, etc.  - but the thing with resolutions is not to make too many.  Let's work on these six.