What Kind of Year Was 2001?
Tom Shrader leads an annual year-in-review exercise, inviting the congregation to evaluate 2001 not by worldly measures like income or status but by six spiritual questions drawn primarily from 2 Timothy 4:6-8. The six questions ask whether a person practiced self-evaluation, understood the value of time, saw victories exceed defeats, finished strongly, defended the integrity of the faith, and lived in anticipation of Christ's return. Shrader argues that lasting contentment comes not from temporal gains but from a deepening relationship with God, and he challenges those who had a difficult year to take personal responsibility and pursue genuine spiritual growth in the year ahead.
“Only a relationship with Christ will satisfy this crucial longing.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: Year in Review
Recorded: 2002 at East Valley Bible Church
Duration: 1 hr 19 min
Themes: self-evaluation, spiritual growth, contentment, time management, faith, anticipating christ's return, finishing well, personal responsibility, feeling stuck spiritually, recovering from a hard year, struggling with contentment, new year reflection, young adult, feeling like a failure, seeking purpose, mid-life reassessment
Scripture: Galatians 6:3-4, Psalm 90:12, 1 Timothy 6:6-8, Ephesians 6:11-12, 1 Corinthians 9:24-25, 2 Timothy 4:6-8, Jude 3-4, Revelation 22:12, Revelation 22:20
Theological Themes: sanctification, becoming holy, eschatology, hope of christ's return, perseverance of the saints, defending the faith, spiritual maturity, 2 timothy
Full Transcript
What Kind of Year Was 2001?
The first and second Sundays of January every year, we go through exactly this exercise. We stop and take the first Sunday to look in the rearview mirror, and the second Sunday to look forward. Tonight we ask the question: what kind of year was 2001? Next Sunday, we'll help you understand how to make 2002 the greatest year of your life.
Here's the question before you: on a scale of one to ten — one being a lousy year, ten being the greatest year of your life — what kind of year was it? I don't mean September 11th and all that, the Diamondbacks. I mean for you. What kind of year was it for you?
How We Arrive at a Number
Now, at this point, you're supposed to have a number. What I want you to see is that however you got that number, consciously or unconsciously, you had to go through a series of questions to get there. I was talking to a guy the other day about a restaurant. I said, "What kind of restaurant is it?" He said, "It's a seven." I said, "Why is it a seven?" Well, you talk about food, you talk about service, you talk about ambiance.
In our family — and we laugh about it, it's not a joke — we have a restaurant we go to for two reasons: it has lousy food and it's high-priced, and therefore nobody's there. That's why we go. So when everybody else is standing in line at Eggington's, we can go get lousy food, pay more money, but we get in and out fast. It's a restaurant that's a two that we give a six because we can get in and out.
Somehow, in your mind, when I say what kind of year was it, you get a number. These are typical inventory questions. Did you make more money than the year before? If in 2000 you made fifty thousand dollars and in 2001 you were unemployed for the majority of it, that's going to have an impact. Or vice versa — if you made twenty thousand in 2000 and sixty thousand in 2001, it's going to make a difference.
Did you acquire more things? You don't necessarily have to have money to get things — you do have to have money to keep them. You can go down right now and get your complete bedroom set with no payments until 2003. You don't need the money to acquire it, but you do need the money in 2003, when they'll want it back with a little interest — like nineteen percent. I had a guy last year, I said, "What kind of year was it?" He said, "A great year — I got a Harley." I said, "No, your insurance agent had a great year. You got a Harley."
Maybe you improved your position. You were a salesperson, now you're a national sales manager. You've made the move into management — longer hours, less pay, more stress. Congratulations. But it says "Vice President," so you feel good about it. The last two are just fun ones for me. You had a great year if you advanced your image in the eyes of your friends — when you walked into the Christmas party, there was a noticeable hush and everyone went, "Oh, there they are." Or, the real dark side: you had people in 2001 who didn't like you, and now they hate you. And you go, "Yeah." Whatever the reason, somehow you went through a series of questions and arrived at a number.
A More Profound Set of Questions
What I want to suggest is that there is a more profound set of questions. These other questions are not illegitimate — let me make that point clearly. If you were unemployed, if you lost things, if your job went from an executive position to something lesser, those things are going to have an impact. We don't need to be somehow artificially godly and pretend it doesn't matter. It matters, and it's going to have an impact. That's okay — just say it. What I'm suggesting is that there is a more profound set of questions alongside those.
We have six of them. We go through this exercise every year. You can make your own list — use these, discard these, add to these. But I would suggest these are pretty good questions that will help you see what kind of year you truly had.
Question One: Did You Practice Self-Evaluation?
Here's the first one: did you understand the importance of self-evaluation? Did you understand the importance of this very exercise we're doing right now? Paul says this: *"If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Each one should test his own actions."*
I was sitting at my desk the other day and looked up and saw a book — *Tuesdays with Morrie*. I don't know if you've ever read it. It was published in 1997 and I don't think it has ever come out in paperback. It's been on the hardback bestseller list since it came out — probably 220 weeks. It's about a gentleman who was a mentor to a man named Mitch Albom. Mitch was a sports broadcaster, author, and talk show host. He sees Morrie on Nightline, where they're interviewing him because he is sick and dying. Mitch contacts him, and the book is a summary — not many pages, around 190 — of those last days with Morrie.
What strikes me about this book as I read it is that it is essentially what we talk about in here every week, minus the cross, but from exactly the perspective we would talk about. Here is Morrie speaking to Mitch. He says, "Mitch, the culture doesn't encourage you to think about such things until you're about to die." He's talking about
The Danger of Drifting Through Life
We are so wrapped up with egotistical things — career, family, having enough money, meeting the mortgage, getting a new car, fixing the radiator when it breaks. We are involved in trillions of little acts just to keep going. So we never develop the habit of standing back and looking at our lives and asking, "Is this all? Is this all I want? Is there something missing?" You need someone to probe you in that direction. It will not just happen automatically.
You need to take an inventory, and it does not happen automatically. I know dozens, probably hundreds of guys in our studies who just went along with the flow. They graduated from high school, so they went to college. In college they met a girl. Out of college, they figured they ought to get married. Then they needed a job, then a promotion. Then came kids, then a house because the apartment got too small. All of a sudden they are 40 years old and asking, "What happened here?"
They were just going with the flow. But what happens if the flow is going somewhere other than where you want to go? You have drifted along, and now you stop and look around and say, "How did I get here? What are we doing here?" Do not ever get there. The way to avoid that is to stop deliberately, proactively, and take inventory of your life.
The Need for Others to Help Us See Clearly
You need somebody to help you with that inventory. Here is why: you can deceive yourself. You can kid yourself. You have blind spots. I remember talking to Larry Wright one time and he said, "Tommy, we all have blind spots." I said, "Oh wow, yeah, that's true. Larry, what's your blind spot?" And he said, "Tom, if I knew what it was, it wouldn't be a blind spot." That is exactly right.
God has placed in many of your lives something called a spouse who will help you find those blind spots, if you let him or her. Put people in your life — you do not need a large number of them, just four or five people to help you think things through.
Now, when we talk about blind spots, you might assume someone is going to come and unload criticism on you for something you did wrong. Let me start the other way, positively. It can be someone who comes along and says, "You know what, you are really gifted in that area." And you say, "I don't think so." And they say, "Yeah, you really are. Have you noticed that every time you begin to use this gift, things happen around you? Have you noticed that?" And now that they mention it, you begin to see it. That is someone helping you in self-evaluation. It does not have to be criticism. It can be encouragement.
A True Story About Blind Spots
Now, I think criticism can also be encouraging, and here is exactly how it works in my life. Susan and I — true story — we leave here, and we are driving home. I asked, "How was the service?" She said, "Good, really good." I said, "Well, the music was great." She said she was not really focused on the music. I said, "Well, I was thinking more about the message." She said, "Not your best. Not your best."
I said, "Really? What do you mean?" She said she did not want to talk about it, but I told her I could handle it. And she said, "Tom, you were way out of bounds tonight. You had a point — I will give you that — but you seemed insistent on making it. And when you made it, you made it in a way that was offensive and obnoxious. There were a dozen better ways to say that than the way you said it."
Here is what is interesting — and this is absolutely true. I did not ask her what the point was. You want to know why? Because when I was teaching that message, I was thinking, "Why am I beating these poor people up with this?" Out of the 3,000 people who came through that week, she was the only one who said it. Now, let me add quickly: I am not looking for 3,000 critics. I have enough issues on my own. The point is simply that Susan is in there working for you. You need someone like that. You have to stop and take inventory and ask, "How am I doing?"
The Value of Time
You had a great year if you understood the importance of self-evaluation. Now consider this: you had a great year if you understood the value of time. The premise here is simple — you are going to die.
For the balance of this lesson, we look at 2 Timothy, specifically 2 Timothy chapter 4, verses 6 through 8. Paul is writing to Timothy and he says, *"I am already being poured out like a drink offering. The time for my departure has come."* In other words, he knows he is going to die. He knows he is at the end of his life.
That is why I love that book. There is a vitality about 2 Timothy, because you know that this giant of the faith — the apostle — is writing to a man he arguably loved more than anyone else on earth. And he is saying, "Here is how you are supposed to live. Here is what you are supposed to do."
The Scriptures also say, *"Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom"* — not merely knowledge, but wisdom. Everyone's head nods at that — yes, our days are numbered, I understand that. But when that knowledge moves past the head and into the heart, it produces wisdom. Wisdom takes that knowledge and transfers it into action.
A Father's Reflection on Time
We had been up at Sea Ranch, and we found the stump that we used to sit on when Haley was five years old. It brought back all these memories. I said, "Sit on the stump, let me take a picture." There she was — now a 21-year-old woman sitting on this stump. I said, wow, that was incredible.
This year in November, the word came: Haley's engaged. Even now, I look at her and think, whose ring is that? What are you doing? You're a little girl. Now, you need to know, I'm adjusting very well to this whole process. I'm not going to be in therapy over it. I'm not resenting it. I am encouraging her to leave and cleave. But at the same time, I'm stopping and looking and saying, wow — twenty years.
It wasn't very long ago that we were walking through the mall with Haley in the stroller. Every Saturday we'd go. Haley in the stroller, Sarah next to me. We'd look at the puppies, walk through the mall, get a cookie, then go to the hospital and look at the babies. We did that every Saturday for years. It wasn't that long ago.
But here's what I'm thinking. I'm not looking at this going, "Where did the twenty years go?" I'm saying, "I wonder what the next twenty years will be like. Do I even have twenty years?" You had a great year if you understood the value of time, and I'm going to beat this drum a little loudly tonight — because I think it's the key to getting life in perspective.
The Missing Ingredient: Contentment
Here is a passage we look at often — 1 Timothy 6:6-8: *"Now godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and it is certain we can take nothing out of it. If we have food and covering, with those we should be content."*
I remember the first time I read this, I thought there was something special here. When I began to study it, that passage just reaches out of that book and grabs me by the throat. When I look at it, I see the missing ingredient in most people's lives. Do you see it? It's contentment. Not apathy, not complacency, but simple satisfaction. He puts this in an earthly realm: godliness — a consistent, genuine, authentic walk with God — and contentment. If I have food and covering, I'm happy.
From the time I began to study this passage, verse seven always puzzled me. I couldn't understand why it was there — it almost breaks the flow. Look at it without verse seven: *"Now godliness with contentment is great gain...if we have food and covering, with those we should be content."* That has a flow to it, a rhythm. But when I put verse seven back in, it breaks everything up. Godliness plus contentment equals great gain — we came in with nothing, we leave with nothing — food and covering, be content. I thought, that disrupts the whole flow.
Here is the dilemma. The Creator God of the universe wrote it, so we know it belongs there. It has to be there for a reason. It doesn't break the flow — it makes the flow. So our job is not to argue it away but to understand it. This is a great lesson: when you encounter a passage of Scripture and you can't figure it out, don't write it off — break it apart until you get it.
The Key to Contentment
After about three years, I was teaching this passage one day at Forrest's home. I'm standing right here on this side of the platform, teaching this passage, and all of a sudden, in the middle of a sentence — there it is. I said, "That's so obvious." Now, it can't be so obvious, because it took me three years to see it. But it is obvious why it's there.
Paul's point is primarily about contentment. He says, "I want you to be content. Now here's what you need to understand: you're never going to be content if you don't understand that you came in with nothing and you're leaving with nothing." If you have any thought in your mind that the temporary things of this world are permanent — that the temporal is eternal — that thought will keep you from contentment. You will always slide and cheat toward the temporal and away from the eternal.
But Paul says listen: godliness plus contentment is great gain. You came in with nothing, you're going out with nothing. If you have food and covering, be content. Not apathetic — content.
Paul doesn't address it here, but I think there is also a godly discontent. I am to be satisfied in the temporal, but there is always a hunger in the eternal — always something that wants more. "God, I love You, but I am like a deer panting by the water. I need more of You." The more you love Him, the more you want. That is what A.W. Tozer says at the end of the first chapter of *The Pursuit of God*. He closes by praying, "God, that I love You, that I might love You more."
Victories and Defeats: Fighting the Good Fight
You had a great year if your victories exceeded your defeats. Paul says, "I have fought the good fight." I don't think he speaks metaphorically there — I think he understands it realistically, meaning we are in a battle.
The reason I say that is that Paul gives us our marching orders in Ephesians 6: *"Put on the full armor of God, so that you may take your stand against the devil's schemes."* When we think of putting on the full armor, here is what we tend to think: put it on, fight the battle, take it off and rest, then put it on again. But I was reading some Civil War material the other day about a battle, and I believe—
The Armor of God and the Constant Battle
The Greek text says to put on the armor and leave it on. Why? Because you are in a battle that is 24/7, 365 days a year. That is the battle you have. You are not in a battle that subsides — you are in a constant battle. So put on the full armor of God and take your stand. That is a military term. It means take an area and don't give it up.
Take your stand against the devil's schemes. There is your enemy, the devil. He is scheming, and his scheme is to defeat you. Whatever your goals are for your life, his are the opposite. If you are a godly man, a godly woman, a godly student, your desire is to know God more, love God, live for Him, and let Him change your life. That is your desire. You may fail in that periodically, and we struggle in the midst of it, but if you cut us, that is what we bleed. That is what we want more than anything else.
What the devil wants is for you not to know God — perhaps to know a form of God — not to love God, not to pursue Him, and to fill your life even with good things that distract you from the great things. He comes in one of three ways: a subtle serpent, an angel of light, or a roaring lion. In each case, his desire is to distract you, destroy you, and devour you.
Our struggle means hand-to-hand combat. "Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the supernatural forces of evil and heavenly realms."
Fighting the Good Fight and Finishing Strong
Paul says, "I fought the good fight." Did you? And more than that — did you finish as strongly as you started? Paul says, "I fought the good fight. I finished the race." He hung in there all the way to the end, and there is a sense of satisfaction in his words. I think he is pleased with the way his Savior worked in his life. There is a sense, if you will, of godly pride: I fought the good fight, I finished the race.
We talk a lot about evangelism. We talk about getting started strong and we talk a lot about the foundations of the faith, but somehow we assume that from that point on, inertia simply kicks in and we just keep going. It will not happen that way. I had dinner not long ago with a man some of you would know — a fairly recognizable evangelical figure in the Southwest, 68 years old. I asked him what he was focusing on, and he said all his energy was in one area. When I asked what it was, he said, "Finishing strong." I pressed him and asked what else he was doing, and he said, "No, Tom, that is it. I want to finish strong. I want to finish this race. I do not want to disappoint my Savior. I do not want to disappoint my wife. I do not want to disappoint my friends. I want to finish strongly, and all my efforts are pressed toward that."
Running to Win: Discipline and Motivation
Paul writes to the church at Corinth — and if you have been studying this book with us, you understand that it is a goofy church. Paul said, "Do you not know that in a race, all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? So run in such a way as to get a prize." The games at Corinth were comparable to the Olympic games. If five men are in a race, all of them run, but only one gets the prize. Now, his point is not that in the Christian race only one of us gets a prize. His point is that we all get a prize — but what he is pressing toward is the prize itself and the motivation that prize creates, and that is verse 25.
"Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training." If you were going to participate in the games at Corinth, they did not leave preparation up to your discretion. You signed a contract stating that for approximately six months prior to the games you would adhere to a strict diet and a regimen of discipline and exercise, so that you were at peak performance when the games began. Everyone was equal in the sense that they had prepared. Now let the best man, the best woman, the best person win.
Personally — and I do not know that this is right, but it is the way I think — discipline makes no sense without motivation, and if I am truly motivated, I do not need to be disciplined. If I am motivated, I am going to figure out how to get the thing done. So Paul says they go into strict training to get a prize, a crown, that will not last. We do it to get a crown that will last forever.
The Eternal Crown Versus the Temporal Prize
Now, he is not saying the prize or the crown is insignificant. It is significant. That crown meant a lifetime status as a hero in the land, a lifetime exemption from income taxes, and your children could not be drafted to fight in the armed services. That is significant. But Paul says they go to get this crown that will not last, while we get a crown that lasts forever. Therefore, our motivation ought to be far greater than anyone else in the world.
This is the second time tonight we have come to the same point: look at the eternal, not the temporal. The reason is this — the temporal fades away. Even if you get it, it fades away. Bobby Stoops, the Oklahoma coach, won the national title in 2000. His team went 13 and 0 and were champions. It does not get any better than that. The very next day, standing there with the national title trophy, someone asked him a question, and in the middle of his answer Stoops said, "After it's over, you say, now what?" The best part of it —
The Anticlimactic Nature of Achievement
Once it is over, it is a little anticlimactic. The best part is going for it. Haven't you noticed that in your own life? All of a sudden, you are the salesperson of the year, but before you get too excited, you ought to remember it is a new year.
I was talking last night to a young man in his office, and he said there are probably 150 guys in his division. They called them all in on January 2nd this year, and here is what they said: "We don't care what you've done in the past. We don't care how successful you've been. We don't care how much you've sold. If you do not make quota in January, you're fired. No ifs, no ands, no buts, no exceptions." How many pins and plaques and awards can you put on your wall? What is it in your life that you really desire something, you get it, and then you go, "Why was I working so hard for this watch anyway?"
A Longing Only Christ Can Satisfy
I have been writing some things lately, only to help me think, and I am a very poor writer. I found this in a notebook in my handwriting, but I cannot fathom that I thought this up, because it is really good. So I will assume that I copied this from someone. If it is somebody else's, please know that they deserve the credit. Here is what I wrote:
> Many things in life satisfy for a time. A soothing, temporary satisfaction, like a cool drink of water on a hot day. The comfort is real, genuine, but fleeting. These reoccurring needs and solutions are with us for all our life — always addressed, never permanently removed. Beyond this is a crucial need that can never be satisfied by a person, place, or thing. The reason for this is simple: it is not supposed to be taken away by any earthly thing. Only a relationship with Christ will satisfy this crucial longing.
What that says is that all of the temporary things satisfy a need for a moment. People, places, and things can deal with certain needs. I am hungry, and whatever is there when I get home will satisfy that need — but that need will come back. I need to be loved, and so do you. People satisfy that. I need clothes to wear and a place to live, and so do you. People, places, and things satisfy certain needs.
But you have within you a deep, crucial, critical longing that can only be satisfied through an intimate relationship with the Creator God of the universe. That is the crown that lasts forever — to find that satisfaction — and you can find it in this life. That is why you find people who have far less than you materially and yet seem so happy. They are vibrantly in love with their Savior. They have a relationship with God that is as real as if He were sitting right here — because He is.
Keeping the Faith
So Paul says, "I fought the good fight, I finished the race," and then he says, "I kept the faith." Did you defend the integrity of the faith this year? This is pretty well defined in Jude 3 and 4. Jude writes:
> "Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write to you to urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints."
The word "contend" there is the same word we saw in Ephesians 6 — it is the word "struggle." Jude is saying: I want you to struggle for the faith. Paul said he defended and kept the faith — a definite article, speaking about this body of truth. Paul is saying that truth was entrusted to him, he took that truth, and he faithfully passed it on. You had a great year if you defended the integrity of the faith.
The Enemy Within the Church
Who are we struggling with? Satan and his demons are always behind it. But here is what we learn in Jude verse 4: "Certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you." This is very critical news. We are contending for the faith not out with the liberal left, not out in the radical right, not out with the ACLU, not out in the press and the media. Our struggle is with people in the church. They have slipped in among us. They lead Sunday school classes, they sit on elder boards and deacon boards, they stand in pulpits.
How would we know them? Two things. Number one, they change the grace of our God into license. Number two, they deny that Jesus is the only sovereign Lord. Consider the first: someone says, "Do you believe in Jesus?" and the answer is yes, yet that person's life is in a mess — living with someone outside of marriage, caught up in drugs — and the response is, "But I love Jesus, and that's all that matters." All of a sudden, grace becomes license. We say God is gracious and He will forgive us, and He is — I am not saying we do not sin — but I am saying that in our sin there is a brokenness. You had a great year if you defended the integrity of the faith.
A Modern Example: Weddings by George
I was reading the other day in a bridal magazine — *Bride and Home*. This is 416 pages of advertisements designed to separate me from my money. I never knew magazines like this existed. There are just pages of cakes. It is incredible. My daughter Haley was reading it the other day and said, "Hey, Dad, listen to this." She found a listing for five people who will perform your wedding ceremony. One of them is called Weddings by George — there is a little picture of George and a website, www.weddingsbygeorge.com — ordained, non-denominational minister.
A Different Kind of Minister
There was a nice-looking guy, smiling, holding a little folder — ordained, licensed, with a ceremony to remember. Then there was Bernie Zahn, a little Jewish man who would officiate your wedding: Jewish interfaith civil marriages. Philip Waring was advertised as Arizona's favorite weddings minister, voted best minister by a Wedding Chronicle reader poll, member of the Scottsdale, Carefree, and Sedona Chamber of Commerce, ministering at any location. One was called "Comfortable Wedding." And my favorite: Father Jim and Other Married Priests, at www.marriedpriest.com, described as understanding, flexible, and compassionate.
That is not what you need when somebody is marrying you. Outside of the teaching of this Word, I think the most serious thing we do here is marry people, because this is lifelong, serious stuff. You stand here and say, "I will love, honor, obey — forever. Better or worse, richer or poorer, till death do us part." That is serious. You do not need an understanding, flexible, comfortable officiant. You need somebody who will ask, "Are you sure you really ought to do this?"
I was dealing with somebody this week whose marriage is not going very well — falling apart, by their own word. I asked, "How did you get into this?" They said, "The package was so good. They looked so good on the outside." Somewhere along the way, you have to go deeper than how someone looks or what their finances are. Somewhere you have to tell the truth. For believers, that means being willing to ask: Does this person know Christ? Are you involved in sexual sin outside of marriage? Those are the questions that matter.
Two Marks of False Teachers
That is not directly what the passage is addressing, but it connects, because you can recognize false teachers in two ways. First, grace becomes license. Second, they speak about Jesus, but it is a Jesus other than the Jesus of the Bible. You had a great year if you sat with your Mormon friend and said, "Do you understand that when you talk about Jesus and when I talk about Jesus, we are talking about two different things?"
Longing for His Return
Here is the last mark of a great year: you had a great year if you anticipated the return of Christ. Paul said, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. I want you to know there is in store for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award me on that day — and not only me, but all who long for His appearing."
Do you long for His appearing? I mean that on a daily basis. I know plenty of people who, on April 14th, say, "Jesus, come quickly." I know people in the midst of a trial who cry out for His return. But what about in the midst of a deal closing? In the midst of rounding the bases after you just knocked one out of the park? In the midst of the greatest round of golf you have ever played — do you say, "Jesus, come quickly"?
This is now the third time in this lesson I have come back to this point. If I can long for that, thirst for that, and make it part of my daily life — where I am like the apostle, torn in two directions, wanting to stay with you but longing to be with Him — then these become the most comforting words imaginable. These are the last words Jesus spoke: "Behold, I am coming soon. My reward is with me. Yes, I am coming soon." What does that do to you when you read it? You had a great year if you lived in anticipation of His coming again.
What Kind of Year Was It?
So we return to the question we opened with: what kind of year was 2001? In light of these new questions, what kind of year was it? Maybe you looked at the typical set of questions and said it was an eight — and now you see it was a two. Or maybe it was the other way: you thought it was a two, and now it looks like an eight. Either way, here we are. Combining the typical questions with the profound questions, with heavy weighting on the profound ones, what kind of year did you have?
If you had a good year, let me say something you will not hear very often: congratulations. Good for you. Way to go. Celebrate. Dairy Queen has a two-for-one on Blizzards — go get some. Let me remind you, though, because you hear it in all the financial ads: past performance does not guarantee future results. A good 2001 does not automatically mean a good 2002. But if you had a good year, you have a good start.
If you had a bad year, let me help you out. It is not your boss's fault. It is not your spouse's fault. It is not your kids' fault. It is not your parents' fault. It is not your friend's fault. It is not my fault. It is not the Taliban's fault. If you had a bad year, it is your fault — especially those of you who were here last year. We told you last year that on the first Sunday in January we would ask you these same six questions. If you are sitting here today thinking you are a three, and you were here a year ago, I do not know what to do for you. The Bible calls that foolishness. The Bible asks, how can you not see this?
Let me help you going forward. On the first Sunday of January 2003, we are going to ask you these same six questions. If your life is struggling on that day, it will be because you have chosen a struggling life. That is the truth. We are not talking about circumstances, because I have no idea what this year holds. It could be more —
Terrorist attacks, the stock market could go south, your job could go away, you could get cancer — it could be all sorts of circumstantial things. But in the midst of circumstances like these there is a constancy, and even an incline — an increase of love and joy and peace in your life — because presumably each year you grow deeper in love with your Savior. Therefore your life is transformed.
Now, obviously, if these are the same six questions, then these questions seriously ought to guide your life through 2002. There are some other things we can do as well, and we will look at those next week. We will give you some ways next week that you can make 2002 the greatest year of your life.
Closing Prayer
Father, help us see this. Let this guide and direct our lives. God, it is our desire to please You. We mess it up, we fail, we know we are forgiven — that is not the issue. God, teach us these lessons. Help us understand clearly how important it is to evaluate ourselves. Help us understand the value of time. Help our victories exceed our defeats. Help us finish strongly.
God, help us contend and defend the faith. Father, help us live each day with an eye on eternity. God, let us be attached to the eternal, not the temporal. Let us see that this life is temporary — important for sure, but not where we will find significance and satisfaction.
God, naturally we will drift toward a self-serving, self-absorbed life. But You can break that. That is what Your Word says. Your Spirit will do that. Make us obedient people, Father. That is our request of You. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.