New Year, Same Gospel
As we head into 2020, like many other people, it is easy for us to think about all that is “new” before us. New presents, new goals, new opportunities, new habits, new expectations. While there’s nothing inherently wrong with any of these ideas, I have been thinking recently about how enamored our culture is with the “new.” This became even more visible to me over the past week in a silly way. My wife & I recently went to purchase a new washer and dryer and the options seemed endless. All of the different "bells and whistles" found on these new machines are amazing – digital screens with bright lights, built-in sinks and "freshen up" modes to name a few. Yet at the end of the day, what you want these machines to do is quite simple: clean your clothes and then dry them.
My wife & I purchased our first washer and dryer almost seventeen years ago at the beginning of our marriage. At the time, I asked my uncle, who serviced these appliances for his entire professional career which machines we should purchase. He replied with a specific brand and said “just buy the most basic model they make.” So, that’s what we did and these machines proved to be incredibly faithful appliances for us. With virtually no service over the past seventeen years, these machines did exactly what they were supposed to do and served our needs very well. Because of this, I was sad to see them go, not just because of the money we had to spend as a family to replace them, but because I worried that whatever new appliances we purchased might not serve us as well as the old ones. So, when we went to purchase our new washer and dryer, we were confronted with all of the newfangled functions and brightly lit displays on the latest machines, yet what we chose to purchase were the basic models of the same brand we knew and trusted. You could almost see in the salesman’s face disappointment and confusion. Even though we purchased the basic model of the same brand, I would be lying if I said I wasn't tempted by the more modern looking, more advanced machines. Why? Because our culture is enamored with the new.
Why are we so enamored with the “new”? Because new seems better. New seems more advanced. New seems more exciting. New grabs our attention. New functions, new technology, new opportunities fuel us with adrenaline. New gets our hearts beating a little faster. Yet, as I have pondered this, isn’t it the “new” that caused The Fall? Isn’t it the “new” that lead the nation of Israel into idolatry time and time again? Isn’t it the “new” that caused a group of religious hypocrites to crucify the Messiah? Isn’t it still the “new” that causes the church that bears the name of Jesus Christ to be blown to and fro by the winds of our culture to both believe and teach deeply unbiblical truths? While there is nothing inherently wrong with much of what is “new,” I do think it would do us well to not be as enamored as our culture is with it.
After all, what is wrong with the “old?” Our culture would have us believe that which is “old” is boring, lifeless, unreliable, and no longer relevant to our current needs. If our needs change, then of course it stands to reason that we need new things to meet them. But I would argue our most essential needs haven’t changed. As those who bear the name of Jesus Christ, we should be skeptical of the “new” particularly as it relates to God’s Word and the life that God has called us to live. In seminary, I remember being challenged to find something new within God’s Word in order that it might be more “fresh to my soul.” I remember being at a Christian leadership conference where the speaker’s primary point was that we should constantly be unearthing new facets of God’s Word and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. These are not only misguided thoughts, they are heretical, damning pursuits of the “new” out of sinful discontentment with the “old”. We, as followers of Jesus, should be joyfully content with the “old;” we should rejoice that God has revealed to us His Word and that His truth is timeless.
Malachi 3:6 tells us that God “does not change” and Hebrews 13:8 asserts that Jesus is the “same yesterday and today and forever.” These truths should bring us great comfort. As followers of Jesus Christ, we aren’t called to pursue the new and innovative or to unearth brand new truths. We have to reject the idea that with the “new” comes a greater sense of excitement or relevance. We are not seeking to know or do anything differently than what the historical Christian Church has been attempting to know and do since its inception 2000+ years ago. When it comes to the Church and our pursuit of knowing God, we mustn’t attempt to be an innovative people. Instead, we should with great contentment and boldness seek to hold fast to and proclaim the eternal truths of God’s Word.
When we are tempted to believe that the “new” meets our needs more effectively than the “old,” we must remember that our primary need never changes. What the Gospel addresses in each of our lives is what most needs to be addressed and this never changes either. The “old” work of Christ on the cross takes men and women dead in their sin and makes them alive. This mystery that had been hidden for ages but now has been revealed for the past 2000+ years continues to proclaim the very same truth: that a good and gracious God sent His Son to justify and redeem a people for Himself through His shed blood on the cross and His glorious resurrection from the dead. There is absolutely no “new” concept, idea, or proclamation that can be more needed or relevant today than that!
My hope and prayer for our church is that as we enter this new year, we would cling to that which is old, that with great joy and Spirit-given confidence, we would hold fast to the eternal truths of God’s Word, and that we would resist and reject the notion that as a church we need something “new” in order to be satisfied or stimulated. In turn, I pray that as we hold tightly to these truths, we would experience the comfort, peace, assurance, joy and zeal that comes from knowing a God who never changes and has put forth His Son to meet our primary, never-changing need.