Three "Musts" for a New Year - Charles R. Swindoll

you're listening to dallas theological seminaries chapel podcast you have heard through dr pentecost prayer you also know him well by his voice many of you have read his books he writes about a book every other day and puts those out like i don't know who could else do it quite like that but dr. swindle serves as our Chancellor at DTS and that's our immediate connection with regard to his role here on our campus and for us that's representation it's writing it's encouragement and he does all of that so well for us he is also the senior pastor of the Stonebriar Community Church in Frisco Texas and along with his prolific writing that he has done over the years that many of us have been the beneficiaries he's also the voice of insight for living that's heard not only across our country and multiple timezones on multiple times a day but also around the world would you join me in thanking him and also welcoming him in this new semester as he comes good morning welcome all 12 of the first-year students who are here today and others of you who have come back for this fresh semester prior to the beginning of every new year I go through the same routine at home I use for a guide through my year a day timer I know there's a way to do that electronically but I don't know how to do all that so I use this a day timer where I write down with my own hand the plans for the new year and it spreads out from me the twelve months and of course has room in there for each day of every month as I think through the as-yet unlived span of time that stretches out in the new year some of you may do the same thing one of my routines is always to mark a special days that people in our family and a few very close friends will celebrate in that new year birthdays always mark along with the name of that person on that day but the age that individual will become and also the the date or the the year of their birth I also do that with anniversary special anniversaries that mark not only wedding anniversaries of our children and now of some of our grandchildren but also anniversaries of important events what this does for me it sort of provides a a year-in-review ahead of time and it's a little bit sobering to think that twelve of these days have already passed and we have a little over 350 of them left in this year should our Lord tarry and I've frequently after going through this discipline push back from my desk and think Lord how can I make the most of this year would it be possible for me to make a difference in someone's life as this year unfolds garden me from failing to do that and just living out a year and accomplishing a few things that might please me but may not please you while thinking about all of this I came across a wonderful sermon that was preached by a longtime friend of mine and a Seminary graduate and known by a number of our faculty members and maybe about some of you his name is David Roper dave was the assistant to one of my mentors Rayce Steadman out of Peninsula Bible Church in Palo Alto located near the Stanford campus I was there for a summer with Ray that was the first summer 1961 when Dave began as his assistant as Ray's assistant at PBC so naturally the messages that day preaches which he would do on occasion while an assistant there before he moved on to another ministry were of interest to me this one was dated August 9 1970 he begins with a story that ties in with my work in my day timer I was walking across the Stanford campus a few weeks back and I saw a birdbath I saw a birdbath under a bush the bush and some Ivy covered it so I could hardly see it it was a very unusual birdbath I usually don't pay much attention to bird baths I'm not a burden I didn't need a bath only Dave Roper would add that huh the thing that struck me about the birdbath it was very ornate carved from one piece of marble a very delicate and lovely work of art had a slender fluted column and a carved Basin on the top obviously it had required a lot of work someone had invested months in that project but this unusual lovely object of art had fallen into disuse the bowl was now full of stagnant water even the birds had abandoned it and the gardeners had allowed it to become overgrown I would away from that encounter thinking about the one who had made it the ours perhaps the years the effort the dedication and energy that he or she had invested in that now forgotten useless bird bed as I was walking away I asked from my heart please Lord don't let me make bird baths don't let me invest my life where it does not count and spend my time and energy on enterprises that are valueless in your eyes a brand new year has arrived I have no more time to claim in it than you do or you more than anyone else these faculty members have the exact number of hours that you have as the year sits there in front of us waiting to be lived I know you're here and I know you've made a decision to study here I commend you for that these could be up till now the best years of your life they could prove to be wasted years we don't want that and you don't want that I know and as the year begins and this semester gets underway I ask myself as I'm sure you're asking yourselves how can I best invest my life right now in this year for your greater glory what must I do the same morning I finished my work in my day timer I spent a few moments in the 9th chapter of the gospel by Luke I'd like to invite your attention to a section right in the center right in the core of that ninth chapter for our thoughts today which I'm titling three musts for the new year the verses I'm looking at or 22 through 25 and they sit in a context an immediate context that prepares the reader for what we will find in the words of Jesus the context of verse 22 takes us back to verse 18 always integrate the section you're looking at and speaking on with its context guard against proof texting or choosing half a verse that may mean something to you but sits in a setting that may give it an altogether different interpretation the context of verse 18 is a prayer and Jesus is alone as he prays but his disciples are nearby it happened that while he was praying alone the disciples were with him I suppose they were off to the side or maybe at some distance from him we don't know here what he prayed but he turned to them with a question he asked about what's the word on the street regarding my identity who were they saying out there that I am an interesting question to ask after time in prayer who knows what prompted him to ask it but their answer was quick a number of different opinions are out there some say you're John the Baptizer others say that you're you're Elijah and a number of people say you're one of the prophets of old that has risen again he says this he sets the stage by narrowing it down to those men you hear who do you say I am and he speaks to all of them but but Peter nails it for once he gets it right and and and he says it in the in the briefest number of words the Christ of God you're The Anointed One you've come from God that's who you are that's who we believe you are with that with that settled and having been stated he tells them something about himself he's not yet mentioned at least in the record of Luke in fact this is the first time that Luke even uses the word cross and he tells them something that must have sounded not only painful to them but repulsive he warned them and instructed them not to tell this to anyone saying now verse 22 was about Jesus verse 23 is about the disciples the son of man must suffer many things be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes be killed must have put a chill up their back when that word slipped from his lips be killed be raised up on the third day all of it is new and no new news to us thank God we've been aware of that information since early years I can't remember a time in my life when I didn't know that Jesus suffered and and died for me and rose again I heard it in my home I heard it from my grandparents it was a part of the swindoll conversation I heard it thank God all my life I heard it while I was in school before I ever came here I came here and I heard it as I had never heard it before explained all of this familiar information it's the first time they are hearing it and the word must drove it home even harder he must look at the verbs suffer be rejected be killed about that moment I'm sure an anchor dropped in their minds they hardly heard anything else even if the resurrection they hadn't pieced it together it was all they could do to believe that the one they had given given up their careers for their future for is now going to be killed take it from him and if that wasn't enough on the heels of that he turns to them and gives them what must be true for them as close followers of his it is what we see in verse 22 has been called the first passion prediction but what follows is a lifetime assignment for every close follower of Jesus Christ he was saying to them if anyone wishes to come after me he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me when we read the word cross let me spend a few moments on this before amplifying the three musts unfortunately we don't have a mental image that those in that century head we see crosses embellished on churches and inside churches on lovely necklaces around the beautiful necks of young ladies and older ladies alike we see crosses stamped on the covers of Bibles we see crosses on Bible covers and cufflinks and bumper stickers crosses everywhere no cross was ever embellished in the first century it was and it was an implement of death the worst kind of death one can imagine who ever saw someone dragging a cross beam no one ever could drag the entire cross only able to carry the cross beam if that after being scourge as soon as you saw that in the street and it was always in a public place for that purpose to put fear in everyone else as soon as you saw that you knew that person was making a one-way trip to death our own Darrell Bock has written of it in his great work on Luke cross bearing is a powerful ancient image rejection stood at the center of that image as well as accountability to the state the cross bearer had committed a severe crime and needed elimination criminals bore their own crosses as they journeyed to their death thus for a Christian to bear a cross is to be prepared to face rejection and death even as one remains accountable to God for the path one walks it means that one has died to the world separated from its values and life style if it would help think of a lethal injection or a hangman's noose or a firing squad or some other form of capital punishment you would never embellish it it would never be emblazoned on the front of a Bible it was an awful awful thing and they knew it when he talked about being killed they knew what that represented it was the most of all uneasy mental pictures one could entertain so I want that to land in full force in all of our minds the same that was true back then for the cross is meant in the same way as we read of it in verse 23 of the most excruciating form of death in fact Meryl longer and his fine dictionary in the Bible says that it was known that some hung on it for as long as eight days I can't even imagine he says I'm going to be killed before I get into the must let me mention three things you might overlook all too quickly first of all the please observe in verse 23 the words all and anyone that includes you early that cool morning as I was working on my my year I put my name in place of anyone I want you to do that he was saying to them all if put your name there I'll help us out if Mark Bailey wishes to come after me if Stanley to st. wishes to come after me if Paul Petitte wishes to come after me if Elliot Johnson wishes to come after me if Howard Hendricks wishes to come after me if Chuck Swindoll wishes to come after me put your name there your there I know you know the Savior I know the conversion has taken care of this is a sanctification Act that becomes a daily assignment as we will see and it is as crude it is as brutal on occasion as the mental image of a cross so that's the first thing I want you to notice you're there I'm there we're there second these are choices of Christ followers if we wish to come after him you may choose not to I know a number of people in ministry that don't some of them have become scandalous and they've hurt the cause of Christ some of them studied in this very school and they grieve the heart of God today they chose not to be in the category of a close follower they chose to go their own way satisfy their own flesh which is a daily temptation and I would say that this is especially true if you are somewhat successful at what you do in ministry so this is a choice it's not enforced you're free not to do it consequences follow but that's another subject the question right now is or you're ready to go all out and if you mean business are you ready to do that daily it's a whole nother subject the third thing I want you to observe is that all three of the mus are imperatives all three are in art commands he must he must he or she must must and must it may help you to appreciate what he does say by calling attention to what is not named you don't have to become Jewish you don't have to even attend seminary or be a seminary graduate you don't have to have an academic degree or several of them you don't have to have a high IQ you don't have to be of any race you don't have to be physically strong handsome or gorgeous you don't have to be of any age that's not required you'll have to spend eight or ten years on the mission field that's not necessary it isn't a must you don't have to speak well before a group then what must we do what must we be here we are first you must deny yourself hang there for a moment let it linger if deny throws you think of three words say no - that'll help it goes against everything within us to do that it includes a refusal to set one's will or desires against the will of his master it says I relinquished my plans my preferences my desires my dreams my reputation and instead I acquiesce I defer I pursue I commit myself to another's will I say no to what I'd prefer let me add four words that will be blunt but necessary today narcissists need not apply and we're filled to the to the brim in this culture with narcissism it's in virtually everything around us and modeled by most in leadership it's all about me my mine ours so this cuts cross-grain against us instead this person who is willingly following says I deliberately put the Lord Jesus Christ in first place in everything every choice every decision he's the Potter I am the clay and I love it he's the master I'm the servant I willingly bow in his book loving God Chuck Colson does as well as anyone I've ever read on describing this the disciples realization that Christ is who he says he is compelled them to obedience understanding this is crucial for it distinguishes Christianity from all other religions the Christian faith rests not merely on great teaching or philosophies or the charisma of a leader or upon the success in raising moral values nor upon the skill or eloquence or good works of its advocates if it did it would have no more claim to authority than the sayings of Confucius or Mao or Buddha or Muhammad or any of a thousand cults Christianity rests on historical truth Jesus lived died rose from the dead to be our Lord with that understood Christianity must evoke from the believer don't miss this the same response it drew from the first disciples a passionate desire to obey and please God a willingly entered into discipline that is the beginning of true discipleship that is a mouthful that means if I am NOT married and I am seeking a mate I want my mate to be pleasing to God for my life or I don't want that mate I don't want that person it means am i when I choose friends I will choose friends that are honoring to Christ and helping me and my walk with Christ or they will not be close friends if they are not that they are not good for me and on and on the list could go as you apply it you want the New Year to be different you want to make a difference in the lives of others than the men and women let's start here let's start right here the second must as if the first one wasn't enough having decided to say no to myself next I not only take up my cross again imagine what that would imply I take up my cross but I do it daily I can do it yearly I can do it around Easter I can do it when the bottom is dropped out and I realize I am at the mercy of my God that I can do it then but to do it daily it's a whole nother subject I willingly take up my cross it's a daily discipline because every day represents something else you will need to die too and it's one detail for one person in an altogether different set of details for another in many ways cross bearing is a very private thing I cannot even predict what it will include for you in this new year of 2011 it'll be different from last year quite likely it'll be harder than last year there will be demands placed on you that weren't placed on you before you'll want to rebel against it you'll want to resist them you'll want to run from them but taking up once cross daily is a part of the year that must happen in the process of your studies my hope for you my prayer for you is that you will not forget these three musts and then of course you must follow the first two imperatives are in the eros tense in a point of time you make that decision at a point of time when it's essential you decide to deny you decide to take up a cross that third imperative is a present imperative you keep on following you keep on following you follow day in and day out you follow when it's hot or cold you follow when things are going well or not going well whether the grades are good or they're not sick or well you follow you follow you keep on following you keep on following so I come up with these three very simple applications following Christ means more than believing in him it includes obeying him question is there an area of your life that is in disobedience to him if there is nothing is more important today than for you to deal with that area of disobedience I urge you I even warn you don't learn to go on shrugging off areas of disobedience following Christ means more than believing in him it includes obeying it second obeying him means more than accepting truth it means tasting death at times saying no to something is like a death the death of a dream the death of a romance the death of a hope the death of your plan number three tasting death means more than an occasional act of unselfishness it means dying to something every day I've saved just a few moments of time for a special application that I want to make and I rarely divide congregations or audiences into groups but I'm gonna do that today my final words are not addressed to you who are younger I want to say a few words to those of us who are older do you who have white hair or gray hair or no hair or you're wearing somebody else's hair you're older now the reason I've singled you out the reason I've singled us out is because we were reared differently than the younger ones stay with me don't walk out yet just stay with this most of you have no concept of of how our parents were maybe you do perhaps more of you do not they were if you heard it before of the greater generation some have said the greatest I never I never knew many days where the word sacrifice was not mentioned in the Swindall home in world war ii we even saved the bacon drippings we counted the squares on the toilet paper roll determining how many you could use because it was rationed we not only ate what was on our plate we never put anything more there than we would eat was all part of the requirement of living as we should live we knew how to live within our means our family never had more than one car we lived in a home that is half the size of the home I now live in our lifestyles are so much better than our parents our parents would probably chide us for living as well as we do and we don't it is an ostentatious it's just so different there's was a world where sacrifice was the middle name where you paid for what you bought preferably with cash where when the war was begun you stayed at it till you won it I remember a number of times that on the windows of living rooms as I walked home from school there would be first a star representing a son that was serving in the war and then it would change later to a cross I saw as many as four crosses across one living room set of windows during that war I'm reading about it right now in a interesting book called citizens of London learning things I never knew as a boy it was pretty well protected from the horrors of war unless I peeked a look into what was then called Life magazine which were pretty raw pictures but that's why I'm applying this to those of us who were older please listen to me faculty members and a few students here who are old enough to identify I want you to help me get this message across to a younger generation we read verse 23 and it's no shock at all it's how we were raised I don't know how many times my mother must have said to me well son who said you have a right to get what you want when I would say something like well I think I've got that coming to me that her words proceeded a slap I might add so they had ways of kind of driving home their point and you you you listened to that and you think man that's brutal it's not brutal how can you think I'm under control today I was raised right I never knew it was an option to talk back I thought obedience was how you survive I learned quickly wash out on my dad's right side at the table while I never sassed my mother or anyone in authority my first five months in the Marine Corps spitting him spent in a boot camp I was surrounded by people who found obedience to be amazing I found it second nature I learned a lot of things but one of them was not how to say sir or ma'am it was drilled into me I therefore have a heart for you who weren't raised with those restraints to you it sounds unfair restrictive to conservative to us it sounds like denying yourself and taking up your cross daily and following him learn to do that learn to do it while you're here don't make some congregation pay for your learning how to do it learn it now do your spouse a favor learn to serve her or him so that your adoration is not limited to her or his beauty I finished over the summer Douglas Southall Freeman's marvelous work on robert e lee magnificent I found as I got to the last story in the book it closes with this there's a young southern mother who has had a baby and she finds herself in the presence of this white-haired stooped gentleman whom the entire world it seemed Union as well as Confederacy respected she wanted her baby blessed by General Lee so she placed a little baby in his arms he held the baby tenderly and then he looked into his eyes and then into the mother's eyes and said teach him he must deny himself may our God teach you to deny yourself in all the truths you gather at the school may you learn to obey regardless helped him learn it don't give up don't lose patience this year let's help them learn it father I I thank you for the strength to say these things and I thank you for your help in giving the insight that come don't come naturally with me I thank you for my mom and my daddy I thank you for my granddaddy I thank you for my home I thank you for their sacrifice and I thank you for these godly men who teach us men and women so bright so gifted so capable and they as a team who could work anywhere else for a lot more money and a lot more prestige serve you here may this year glorify you as we commit ourselves to these things that must be in the name of Jesus whom we adore we pray everybody said amen

Channel: Dallas Theological Seminary

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Keywords: Luke, guidelines, Dallas Theological Seminary, Dr. Charles Swindoll

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Length: 41min 3sec (2463 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 31 2012