We Need a Fresh Start
We’re ten days into a New Year and I want to ask you: Does anything feel new?
Maybe it does, maybe it doesn’t. Some people enter into a New Year with no expectation of a fresh start. They resist any notion of New Year’s resolutions or goal setting with an understanding that there’s nothing truly magical about turning over the calendar.
Others feel that the New Year provides the perfect spark for a fresh burst of focus and motivation. They compile lists of the books they want to read or the milestones they want to accomplish or at least pick a “word” that they hope will shape their experience throughout the months to come.
I will admit, I’m more in the second group. I wouldn’t say that I make New Year’s resolutions; but as the calendar turns from December 31 to January 1, I definitely take time to refocus and realign my heart, mind, and calendar to the priorities I feel called to pursue. I know it is an artificial beginning of sorts, but I just can’t keep myself from experiencing a New Year as an opportunity for a fresh start.
Whether you have a fondness for New Year’s or not, can we agree on this: As the people of God, we are in need of a fresh start.
Most Christ-followers I talk to feel like we are stumbling into this New Year, a bruised, bickering, beleaguered church. The circumstances we’ve faced these past couple years have been exhausting, and our response to them has often exacerbated the difficulties. Don’t get me wrong, God isn’t in any kind of trouble. His kingdom will never be shaken. But as his people, we are a bit wobbly and weary.
We need a fresh start.
2000 years ago, the people of God were in need of a fresh start, and it came as God wrapped himself in human skin and lived among us. Jesus came announcing that something was about to change in the world, heaven was breaking through to earth, and his announcement sounded like this:
“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” -Matthew 4:17
In effect, Jesus was announcing an opportunity for a new way, a better way of living in this world. It is a way of peace, joy, and freedom, a way full of love, purpose, and meaning that can be lived out in our neighborhoods, workplaces, and families. And it is available now! It is life in his kingdom.
What is this “kingdom of heaven” (or, interchangeably, “kingdom of God”)? The late, brilliant theologian Dallas Willard described it this way:
“Now God’s own ‘kingdom,’ or ‘rule,’ is the range of his effective will, where what he wants done is done. The person of God himself and the action of his will are the organizing principles of his kingdom, but everything that obeys those principles, whether by nature or by choice, is within his kingdom.” (The Divine Conspiracy, p. 25)
In other words, God’s kingdom is the sphere in which things go the way God wants them to go.
Now, God’s kingdom isn’t the only kingdom present on earth. There are lots of spheres in which things do not go the way God wants them to go. God does not want poverty. God does not want sickness. God does not want violence. The darkness of evil powers and principalities and the selfishness of fallible human beings like you and me still mar the communities we inhabit. It will be this way until Jesus returns.
But when Jesus walked among us, he opened up the way for us to experience a new way of life right here, right now. In fact, as Willard goes on to say, “Jesus came among us to show and teach the life for which we were made.” (The Divine Conspiracy, p. 27)
What is this new way of life? It is life in the kingdom of God.
Yet, here’s the key: In order to live in God’s kingdom, we have to surrender our kingdoms. And that’s hard to do.
My kingdom is the sphere in which what I want done is done. Having a kingdom is not a bad thing. Having a kingdom is actually part of what it means to be made in the image of God. But here’s the rub: what I want done isn’t always aligned with what God wants done. And it’s in these places of contention that I face a choice. Will I cling to my kingdom? Or will I surrender it to God’s?
Here’s what I believe: This mess we find ourselves in is an opportunity, an opportunity to surrender, an opportunity to recognize that the ways of God’s kingdom look very different than our own (yes, even the ways that we in the church have been living). God is offering us an opportunity to sit wide-eyed at the feet of Jesus just like people did 2000 years ago as he teaches us a way of being in the world that is so mind-blowing, so upside-down from everything we’ve known, everything that has seemed “normal,” that we might find ourselves thinking, “No one can really live like that.”
But then we will realize, Jesus did. And as his apprentices learned to follow in his ways, they found themselves experiencing such peace, joy, freedom, love, purpose, and meaning that they genuinely declared:
“For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” -Philippians 1:21
And so, I invite you to join me in the weeks and months ahead for a blog series on the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon on the Mount contains a powerful collection of Jesus’ teachings on how life in the kingdom of God is meant to be lived. I’ve been studying it for the past couple years, and am currently studying it with a small group of friends. I believe it has so much to say to the church in this present time we find ourselves in.
I hope you’ll lean in with me as we sit at Jesus’ feet and wrestle with the implications of his teachings. And if you’d like to dig into a study of your own, I’ll recommend some resources below.
We need a fresh start, church. We need Jesus.
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Recommended Resources on The Sermon on the Mount
What If Jesus Was Serious? - Skye Jethani
Short reflections on the Sermon complete with Skye’s own doodles and drawings. This isn’t a deep dive into the Sermon, but it is an insightful and enjoyable read.
The Story of God Bible Commentary - Sermon on the Mount - Scot McKnight
A readable commentary by one of the most respected contemporary New Testament scholars. This commentary series not only explains the text, but provides insights on how to live out the Sermon in day-to-day life.
The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God - Dallas Willard
A theological work that is about more than the Sermon, but uses the Sermon as the key text to helping us live the life Jesus intends for us to live. This is not an easy read, but is a classic in Christian spiritual formation literature.
The Sermon on the Mount and Human Flourishing - Jonathan T. Pennington
A theological commentary that contains 130+ pages on overall themes of the Sermon before going into verse-by-verse commentary. I like how this author ties the Sermon into a vision for human flourishing.
