Sermon Tone Analysis

001 New Years Message

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Time Spent In 70-Year Life

If one lives to be 70 years of age and is the average person, he spends:

—20 years sleeping

—20 years working

—6 years eating

—7 years playing

—5 years dressing

—1 year on the telephone

—2½ years smoking

—2½ years in bed

—3 years waiting for somebody

—5 months tying shoes

—2½ years for other things

(incl.

1½ year in church)

“It might be wise for us to take a little inventory of our resources as to time and review our habits of using it.

There are 168 hours in each week.

Fifty-six of these we spend in sleep.

Of the remaining 112 hours, we devote 48 to labor.

This leaves sixty-four hours, of which let us assign twelve hours for our daily meals.

(This allows thirty minutes for each meal, and one-and-one-half hours extra to promote good digestion.)

We have left fifty-two hours, net, of conscious active life to devote to any purpose to which we are inclined.

Is it too much to say that God requires a tithe of this free time?

One tenth of fifty-two hours is 5.2 hours.

How much of this tithe of time do we devote to strictly religious uses?

If we attend church twice on Sunday, that will take an hour.

If we attend prayer meeting, another hour.

We have two-tenths of an hour left, our little margin—shall we not stay for the Morning Watch?

But when we review our lives, how few of us attend religious worship thus regularly!”

At first, the Romans celebrated the beginning of the new year on March 1, not January 1. Julius Caesar instituted New Year’s Day on January 1 to honor Janus, the two-faced god who looks backwards into the old year and forwards into the new.

The custom of "New Years resolutions" began in this earliest period, as the Romans made resolutions with a moral flavor: mostly to be good to others.

New Year, a chance to make a new me, to better myself.

Needs to start with God.

When Rome took on Christianity as its official faith, the Christians kept New Years Day.

Only, they traded the vaguely moral emphasis for a practice of fasting and prayer aimed at living the New Year in the New Life of Christ.

Soon, however, the new year celebration reverted to March 1, and this early emphasis on spiritual things dissolved.

Or rather, it shifted to a new celebration on January 1. Beginning in the middle of the sixth century, parts of the church began to set aside January 1 as the Feast of the Circumcision, commemorating Jesus’ circumcision.

As with other Jewish boy babies, Jesus was circumcised eight days after his birth (, "when eight days were accomplished").

But the pagans had apparently spoiled January 1 for many Christians: the Roman church did not accept this feast day until the 11th century.

New Beginnings

It was finally in 1752, when Britain and its possessions adopted the Gregorian calendar, that January 1 again came to be recognized and celebrated as the first day of the year.

Some Christians, however, still hesitated to celebrate the day.

The Puritans, for example, were leery of the associations of January 1 with the pagan god Janus—they preferred not even to say the name of the month, referring to it rather as "First Month."

And of course they stood against the dissipations usually indulged during the celebration.

Instead, the Puritans urged their young people, especially, to skip the revelry and meditate on the year past and the year to come.

Always ready to introspect—in famously excruciating detail—they adopted again the old custom of making resolutions.

They vowed to take more care against their besetting sins, make better use of their talents and other divine gifts, and treat others with Christian charity.

Romans 13:11-14

Today, some Christians may be inclined to follow the Puritans’ lead, at least absenting themselves from the festivities: January 1st has clearly continued to be a day dedicated more to godless indulgence than to meditative fasting.

But many have also seen, as the Puritans did, a divine opportunity in the longstanding practice of making resolutions.

In fact, this practice even harmonizes with the Feast Day: circumcision is a symbol of sanctification—that is, the "setting aside" of persons and things for God’s purposes.

With or without such historical understandings, many of us may have taken New Years Eve and New Years Day as God-given opportunities.

We have taken at least a few minutes to reflect, pray, and dedicate ourselves anew to our Lord—whether at a "Watch Night Service" or in private.

INTRO.-

1) You believe in Santa Claus.

2) You don’t believe in Santa Claus.

3) You are Santa Claus.

4) You look like Santa Claus.

How do you like growing older?

If you’re young (a teen perhaps), you probably like the idea of getting older.

If you are already older, you may not like the idea of getting any older.

Why?

Because most people fear what is ahead.

She asked me how tall I was.

I said, "5 feet, 6 inches."

She measured me and I was only 5 feet, 3 inches.

So she took my blood pressure and told me it was high.

"Of course it’s high," I said.

"When I came in here I was tall and slender.

Now I’m short and fat!"

How do you like growing older?

If you’re young (a teen perhaps), you probably like the idea of getting older.

If you are already older, you may not like the idea of getting any older.

Why?

Because most people fear what is ahead.

We may not like the idea of a new year because a new year means we’re getting older and we may experience more health problems.

It’s true, isn’t it?

We never know what the new year will hold for us.

Some of us think, “Ugh!”

And some think, “Oh boy!”

ILL.-

I saw a picture of a T-shirt that read, “I love new stuff.”

Well, who doesn’t?

New is nice.

And often better but not always, however.

Did you ever get something new that didn’t turn out to be not so nice?

ILL.-

Here is what one man said after buying a new car: “The transmission makes a loud grinding noise while braking.

The power windows sometimes stick and won’t go up.

At least this keeps me from going to the carwash.

The alternator gave out at 950 miles.

The seams on the seats are already pulling apart after 2,000 miles.

CD player ate my favorite CD and won’t eject it.

And it guzzles gas!!!”

That man is not a happy camper with his new car!

New is not always nice.

At least, we’re starting a new year and maybe, just maybe some things will be better or get better.

It depends on our attitude and our altitude, that is, our spiritual altitude.