How to Make 2003 the Greatest Year of Your Life
Tom Shrader challenges Christians to redefine ambition not as worldly striving for money and status, but as deliberate, Spirit-empowered growth in five key areas: relationships, freedom from enslaving habits, passionate faith, expanded knowledge, and reliance on the Holy Spirit. Drawing from 2 Timothy, Romans, Philippians, and Ephesians, he shows that the same Spirit who empowered Paul is available to every believer today. The teaching closes with a practical call to set goals in each area and return to the same evaluative questions the following year.
“The same Holy Spirit that indwelled Paul indwells you. Paul didn't have any more of the Holy Spirit than is available to you.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: Year in Review
Recorded: 2003 at East Valley Bible Church
Duration: 35 min
Themes: ambition, new year, goal setting, spiritual growth, holy spirit, habits, relationships, faith, feeling stuck, starting fresh, struggling with bad habits, young adult, new believer, seeking purpose, overwhelmed by life, wanting deeper faith
Scripture: 2 Timothy 1:1-5, 2 Timothy 2:4, Romans 9:1-3, Philippians 1:9-11, Ephesians 3:14-19, Acts 20:36, 1 Corinthians (referenced), 2 Corinthians (referenced)
Theological Themes: sanctification, becoming holy, pneumatology, holy spirit empowerment, spiritual disciplines, biblical stewardship, transformation, scripture application
Full Transcript
Starting the Year with Purpose
Last week we asked the question: what kind of year was 2002? We gave you what I called some profound inventory questions to help you evaluate that. Those are questions we do some tweaking on every year, but they are the questions we put in front of you and ask you to take a look at. They will help you assign some sort of numerical value to the year you just had. I would suggest you pick them up off the website, put them in a little paper, cut it down, put them in your Bible, and keep them in front of you on a monthly basis.
The question is simply: how am I doing? Ed Koch, when he was mayor of New York, used to walk through the city asking, "How am I doing? How am I doing?" Obviously they did not reelect him, so we got an answer. But it is a fair question to ask. What we want to do today is add to that and give you some proactive ways to help you make 2003 the greatest year of your life, preparing you for this year and beyond.
A Fresh Approach to Ambition
Each year we take what I call a fresh approach to the new year. One of the things we do — and it is sometimes not associated with Christianity — is ask you to maintain in your life a proactive, deliberate, aggressive attitude. In fact, the word we use is ambitious.
A few years ago there was a New York Times bestselling book that bore the title *Ambitious Men: Their Drives, Dreams, and Desires*. In it the author suggested this: the one thing that has changed is that people look on ambition more favorably now than at any time during the past quarter century. In fact, both men and women see themselves as somewhat defective if they cannot comfortably claim to be ambitious. The problem, however, is one of definition. What does it mean to be ambitious?
To answer that question, the author put together video vignettes, showed them to groups of people, and said, "Show me the person who is ambitious." When they did, certain character traits emerged that people associated with ambitious people. There was a desire for more, and the objects of that desire were identified as money, fame, prestige, and power. It was a quantitative word, not a qualitative one. It did not matter whether a person was happy in order to be declared ambitious.
There also had to be a shortage of time — an urgency associated with ambition. You see that with people in business and in all walks of life: the sense of "I have to go, I have to go," as though being busy and in a hurry projects the idea that a person is important and moving ahead. There was also an absence of satisfaction. If someone said, "I'll just make a million dollars and retire," people called that person goal-oriented, not ambitious — because there could be no completion to the race. And finally, there was an obsession with self.
Now stop for a moment. I just said we want you to be ambitious. But when people looked at ambitious people, they identified these traits: a desire for more, an emphasis on quantity, a shortage of time, an absence of satisfaction, and an obsession with self. Am I telling you to live that way? Obviously not. That is the picture of the world around you, and it is also a portrait of a miserable man or woman. To live that way is to live constantly in motion, constantly churning, with no sense of satisfaction and no sense of completion at all.
We are not going to ask you to live that way. We are going to ask you to be ambitious — but we are going to give you not a normal approach to ambition, but a fresh approach to this word. Ambitious in some specific areas. I have four or five of them for you this morning. You could obviously add to this list, and you may look at one of them and say it did not work for you — well, set it aside. But take a look at this.
Ambitious in Human Relationships
Here is the first one. You need to be ambitious this year in improving human relationships. We will talk a little later about your relationship with the Lord, but right now I am talking about relationships with one another.
Paul writes this in 2 Timothy chapter 1. Paul is writing to Timothy. He has already said that the time for his departure has come and that the end of his life is near. He understands that. I have long contended — and this would be exhibit A for me — that Paul needs an image consultant, a public relations firm, a makeover, because people see him as dogmatic, dry, and emotionless. That is not Paul at all.
You see it right there: "Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to Timothy, my dear son." There is a special relationship here, a relationship that goes beyond sharing a chain of DNA. Timothy is not his physical son but his son in the Lord. They have a special relationship not because they were born and share a bloodline, but because they were born again and share at the core of their relationship the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you see that intimacy?
Now Paul has a wish for Timothy. What would you wish for somebody? Years ago I was working at Coal Banker, sitting in my cubicle one day, when one of the secretaries was getting married that weekend. We had all chipped in and bought her a gift, and now the card was coming around to be signed. I was nervous because I did not know what to write. The lady in front of me had the card, and I could not quite see what she was writing, and —
Grace, Mercy, and Peace
She handed it to me, and I read what she wrote: "On this special day, I wish you all the world has to offer." I thought, what a strange wish. Pestilence, heartache, suffering, earthquakes, famine, anthrax, terrorists — that is what the world has to offer. Paul is writing to Timothy at the end of his life, and Paul says, I have a wish for you, and it has nothing to do with what the world offers. I wish you grace and mercy and peace.
Paul wishes Timothy what people in the world seem to say they want and desire. Years ago there was a song that went, "What the world needs now is love, sweet love." I cannot tell you how many people say, I just want rest. I just want to breathe. I want to find out how to step off this track. Paul says, here is what I wish for you — grace and mercy and peace.
This is really important. Do you see where that comes from? It does not come from a new job, a new spouse, a new move, a new house, or a new car. It does not come from anything human. Grace and mercy and peace come from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. You are never going to find them anywhere else.
Paul's Deep Friendship with Timothy
Paul says, "I thank God whom I serve, as my forefathers did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. Recalling your tears, I long to see you." Do you see the humanity there? He refers back to an incident most likely recorded in Acts chapter 20, where Paul says goodbye to the elders at Ephesus — and Timothy would have been among them.
Paul pours his heart out to this group. He warns them about false teachers. He shares with them the heavy responsibility and burden they carry as leaders in the church. Then Acts chapter 20, verse 36 says this: "When he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all, and they began to weep aloud, embracing Paul, repeatedly kissing him, grieving especially over the word which he had spoken, that they should see his face no more."
Paul refers back to that moment. He says, I cannot wait to see you again. This is not a casual relationship. He says, listen, I know your heritage. I know your faith. And it is not just a faith that started with you — it was with your mother and your grandmother, and now it is in you.
Where Are the Men?
I want to spend just a moment on verse 5. Where is dad? Where is grandpa? Where are the men? One of the magnificent things about this church is the way the men step up and lead. It is so encouraging to go to the children's ministry area and see men in there, because in most places it is staffed almost entirely by women.
The Need for Real Friendship
Paul speaks of this intimate relationship, and I want to say to you: you need to have friends like this. I am not talking about acquaintances. I am not talking about the people you sent Christmas cards to. I am talking about somebody that when things are tough, you can get with them and talk with them. You need friends.
Now, I will give you a tip: guys with guys, gals with gals. I am very wary of the male-female "we're best friends" arrangement. Ladies especially, you seem extraordinarily susceptible in this process, so let me warn you. When a woman says to me, "Oh, there is a guy at the office and I can just talk to him" — ladies, listen to me. When he comes to you and says, "I cannot share this with the guys; they will just laugh at me. My wife and I have drifted apart, but there is something about you — I can just talk to you" — when you start saying, "Oh, he is so special, he is so caring, he is so sensitive," understand something. Men do not come in that brand naturally. He is working you and he is manipulating you, and I guarantee it. Guys with guys, gals with gals.
How to Find a Friend
You need friends. If you do not have any, let me suggest an exercise. A man came to me once and said, "Will you be my friend?" I said no, because in my mind friendship takes a great deal of time. You can only have three, four, or five real friends — the kind we are talking about. But I said, "I will go through an exercise with you. Go home, make a list of what you are looking for in a friend, and we will meet next week and talk about it."
He came back with his list: encouragement, someone supportive, someone loyal, someone who can keep a secret — all the things you would expect. I said to him, "Does this describe you?" He said, "No, I am looking for a person like this." Here is the tip: you will find a person like that when you are like that.
Some of you do not have any friends because you are a load. I do not know how to say this gently, so let me just say it as gently as I can. You are negative. You are critical. Every silver lining has a cloud, and you are determined to find it and point it out to everyone around you. Nobody wants to be around somebody like that. Nobody can withstand that kind of barrage. Some of you are all alone because you have chosen to be all alone, and you need to take a hard look at yourself.
Four Ways Paul Maintained Friendship
Paul gives us a practical tip here, and I want to spend time on it this morning. He gives us four things he does to maintain friendships, and I want to point them out. The first, which we saw back in verse 3, is that he prays for them.
We had a woman in the church whose best friend moved away, and I saw her one day. I asked how she was doing with her friend being gone. She said, "This is the closest we have ever been." I said, "How can that be?" She said, "We agreed to pray for each other every day."
Improving Relationships
To pray for people is the first practice. The second is to write to them. Now, I don't mean email. I'm not a huge email guy. The Wall Street Journal published an article not long ago about a couple of companies that have banned the use of email for employee communication beyond the sharing of basic information. I've encouraged several people on our staff to use it only for information, and the reason is this: email is person-to-person, but it's not face-to-face. You'll say things in email that you would never say face-to-face, or even in your own handwriting.
I got an email this week, and one of the staff was in my office when I received it. They asked what I had gotten, so I read it aloud to them. They said, "How can they write that? Do you know this person?" I said I had never met him. There's something about email that gives people license to be cutting in ways they simply would not be otherwise. You don't get many handwritten letters like that. It's hard to write something cruel by hand. There is something powerful about the written word in its proper form.
I came across a book — I didn't buy it, but I was willing to read a bit of it — containing Ronald Reagan's love letters to his wife Nancy. Thumbing through it, I found one that went like this, and this is why the man was president: "To my first lady, I love you so much more than I did 365 days ago, and so much less than I will 365 days from now, Ronnie." I said, "Wow." I turned to the guy working nearby and said, "You got a piece of paper? Got a pencil?"
So I wrote out a card to my wife Susan. I gave it to her and she didn't have much of a reaction. I asked what was wrong, and she said, "I don't understand it." I said, "What do you mean?" She read it back: "I love you so much more than I did 365 days ago, and so much less than I will 365 days from now, Ronnie." She looked at me. I said, "No, no — I meant Tom." So I'm still working on that one.
The third practice is to visit. We see in First Corinthians and again in Second Corinthians that Paul says, "I am coming to you." He wants to be present with them. And the fourth practice is networking, which has a negative connotation in our culture, but it is actually a great thing. Paul writes that he is sending Timothy, and he says there is nobody like this man. Part of what good networking looks like is this: when someone comes to me and starts talking through a problem, sometimes I recognize that I'm not the right point of contact. I'll say, "No, you don't want me — you want him. Go to her. They're the ones who can help you." In this year of 2003, it is important to improve your relationships.
Increasing Your Freedom
The second major area is to increase your freedom. Paul tells us we were bought at a price. I was talking with someone recently about the Civil War, and he said there is more slavery now than there was at the time of the Civil War in the United States. I said, "Really?" He said, "Yes. We are enslaved to Bank of America, to work, to food, to alcohol, to gossip, to golf, to exercise." The staff here tells me there is an alarming number of men who are enslaved to internet pornography. We are enslaved. And yet you were designed to be free.
I happen to be a strong proponent of freedom — political freedom, economic freedom, freedom in every form. Freedom is that singular thing that I believe distinguishes this nation from all others on the earth. I've said this many times: it's not that the American people are better than any other people. We aren't. We're freer. It's the system. That's why you can take fifteen refugees who arrive with nothing, and in five years they own eight apartment buildings and four restaurants. They were the same people back home. What changed? The system. This is a great system, and there is great freedom within it.
When we talk about freedom in a spiritual sense, though, we do not mean freedom to do whatever you want. We mean freedom to enslave yourself to the Lord Jesus Christ — being so free that you willingly relinquish that freedom to follow Him. Anything else that enslaves you will rob you of the joy and depth of that relationship with Him. As we read His Word and hear about Him, we will love Him. The more we love Him, the more we want to know Him. The more we know Him, the more we want to obey Him. And the more we obey Him, the more we love Him. That is what we are talking about.
"No soldier in active duty entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so he may please the one who enlists him." — 2 Timothy 2:4. You do not entangle yourself in the affairs of this life so that you are free to serve Him. I don't want to be enslaved to a mortgage when I could be enslaved to Him — to this bondage of loving, knowing, and obeying the Lord. What a magnificent year to begin the process of jettisoning all those things that have you in chains.
Intensifying Your Passion
The third area is to intensify your passion. Paul writes this in Romans 9: "I speak the truth in Christ — I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit — I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers." Paul understood that this could not actually happen, but that is the depth of his love for his people. That is passion.
When you look at Paul's life, one of its defining characteristics is passion — and passion is contagious. A survey conducted not long ago found that 47% of high school students said they could not imagine dying for anything. Not for their country, not for their family, not for one another. 47% said there is nothing they would die for. And you know the other side of that: if there is nothing you would die for, there is likely nothing you are truly living for either.
Passion as the Foundation of a Life Worth Living
If there is nothing you will die for, there is nothing you will live for. You should not be surprised, then, when you get whatever. Many of you have noticed this with your kids. The conversation goes something like this — How are you doing? Fine. What's new? Nothing. What did you do today? Nothing. Parents say that's awful. Then I run into those same parents in the courtyard. How are you doing? Fine. What's new? Nothing. What did you do today? Nothing. The kids learned it from you.
We have a national anthem, a national motto — In God We Trust — and a national symbol, the eagle. We need a national color, one that represents the heartbeat of the American people, where we are and what we are all about. After exhaustive study of the subject, I propose that the color experts would say captures the essence of the American personality is beige. Well, I don't know, maybe, sort of, I don't want to criticize anybody. Someone a little more cynical than me has said we don't even sin with vigor anymore.
When John Wesley was preaching, he drove the church people nuts. The churches were pretty empty, but miners were coming out of the mines and standing out in the rain to listen to him preach. They endured the cold. They endured the rain. People would gather, and Wesley would preach. Finally, the church people came to him and said, what's the secret? Wesley said: light yourself on fire, because everyone loves to watch somebody burn.
If I gave you a dictionary and said to pick out the word that describes the Apostle Paul, it would be a long time before you got to the word balance. I don't have a complete answer here, and I know these things hang in tension. It is one thing to have a light that is in its proper perspective, and I want to say yes to that. But there is something else that says there is something that overrides everything — something so deep that if you cut a person, that is what they bleed.
I don't know exactly what that thing is for every person, but there has to be something. I would think it would relate to the gospel. You were headed to hell; now you are going to heaven. Your life had no purpose or meaning; now it has purpose and meaning. You had no significance, no satisfaction; now you have contentment. It would seem to me that you would want to talk to people about this.
A Movie and a Missed Opportunity
About a year ago, maybe a little longer, I met what must have been a dozen people who said to me, "Have you seen this movie?" They were all talking about the same film — *A Beautiful Mind*. As far as I know, none of them made the movie, acted in it, or received any financial residuals from it. They could not wait to tell me about it. I finally did see it. I don't get it. I saw it for free, and I still thought about asking for my money back. I'm sure it's a great picture — I'm just too shallow to appreciate it.
What is fascinating is that here is a movie, and people are walking up to strangers saying, "Have you seen it? Have you seen it?" Here is the Lord Jesus Christ who has changed your life, and somehow the response is, "You mean we have to evangelize?" You will walk up to someone you barely know and say, "Have you seen *A Beautiful Mind*?" But sharing the gospel feels like a chore you check off a list — you're a sinner, God loves you, got that done, don't have to do that again. How strange is that?
Paul says there is this one thing that he does — he preaches Christ and Christ crucified. We know he preached many other things and covered many other topics, but at the core of everything was Christ and Christ crucified. What is that one thing in your life? Find it. Hunt it down. Pursue it, and never let it go.
Expanding Your Perspective
Paul writes in Philippians 1, speaking primarily about the knowledge we gain through Scripture: "This is my prayer, that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you will be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ Jesus, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God."
When we talk about expanding perspective, we are talking about growing in knowledge. You know that — it is why the Institute exists. You can receive Bible college-level training right here on campus through the Institute. You need to do it, take it, be part of it. But expanding perspective applies to other areas of life as well.
Years ago — and the tapes are out there — I predicted that the computer was a fad and would pass away. I don't know that I was wrong, but the data is starting to stack up against me. Here is one of those transparent moments: do you want to know why I said that? Because I didn't understand it, and it scared me and intimidated me, and rather than take the time to understand what it could do, I just made fun of it and dismissed it. That was stupid. The computer is now one of the most valuable tools we have. Are there bad things about it? Of course. There is a reason they call the web a web. But there is also a great deal of good.
We had a thirteen-year-old kid walking across campus here, smiling ear to ear. I asked him why he was smiling. He said, "I just got an email from my grandpa."
The Power Behind Personal Growth
Milton Friedman, I would argue, has probably had as much influence in revolutionizing this country as any man. About a year ago, at age 90, he said, "I just read a book that will change the world." Now, I think that is hyperbole — I think this is the book that will change the world — but I thought I had to listen to him. He mentioned the title, and I went to the bookstore and read about ten pages. It was by a Peruvian economist I had never heard of, so I bought it. I read about 150 pages, and all of a sudden it hit me. It is an incredible, very simple, basic insight, and it will change society.
That is what I am talking about: continually learning and expanding your horizons — obviously in this Word, but not just reading it. I had breakfast with a man who worked on the English Standard Version translation, released about a year and a half ago, and he talked about the study involved. He said they got up every morning at 7:30, over in Cambridge, and worked until 6:30 or 7:00 at night. After three days, he said, he was bone dry. He was in the Word, but he had given up all his quiet time, all his devotional reading, and it had become purely an academic exercise. He was as intense as you could be — looking at every jot, every tittle, every word — but it was not feeding him. That is what I am talking about: getting into this Word and letting it feed you, nurture you.
You Have More Power Than You Think
All of a sudden you stop, look at that list, and think, "I don't know if I can do that. I don't know if I can possibly establish and improve relationships, increase my freedom, intensify my passion, and expand my perspective. I don't think I can." Good — because you have a power that will help you: the Holy Spirit.
Paul writes this: "For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom the whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name, and I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with the power through the Holy Spirit." There is the power. If you want power in your life, it is the Holy Spirit. "Christ will dwell in your heart through faith, and I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints" — he is talking about all of us, God's people coming together — "to grasp how wide and long and high is the deep love that Christ has for us, to know this love that surpasses knowledge, be filled to the measure of all fullness of God." That is the power you have available to you.
Two years ago, we watched the transfer of power from William Jefferson Clinton to George W. Bush. George W. went from governor of Texas — a significant position, a powerful man — to what we typically refer to as the most powerful man on earth. And indeed he has extraordinary power: he can move armies, appoint ambassadors, appoint judges, and wield enormous influence. But I mean this without hyperbole — you have more power than he does. There is not a bomber, a soldier, a judge, an ambassador, or a secretary of state who can change a person's heart. Only the Holy Spirit can do that.
The Same Spirit Available to You Today
Sometimes we forget this. We read Paul's letters, we read the book of Acts, and we pine for those days. We think, "Those were the good old days — look how fresh it was, look at the Spirit moving there." But wait. The same Holy Spirit who indwelled Paul indwells you. Paul did not have any more of the Holy Spirit than is available to you. Paul loved God, desired to know God, and obeyed Him, and that began to have a snowball effect in his life so that he was filled with that Spirit. That same Spirit is filling you today.
I want to tell you something about the Christian life and the Holy Spirit. I have been a Christian for 23 years, and I constantly hear people say that to be a Christian you have to give up a lot. And I hear many people respond, "No, you don't." Yes, you do. I made a short list of what I gave up: guilt, remorse, depression, anxiety, anxiousness, loneliness, and fear. I gave those up for love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control — which is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Unless you are pathological, you want love and joy and peace and patience. You want kindness and gentleness and faithfulness, and you want self-control in your life. What Scripture says is that those things are impossible apart from the Holy Spirit living in you. Only Christians can truly exhibit them. That is the power you have available to you.
Setting Goals for the Year Ahead
As we prepare for next year, we will ask you these same questions again. I suggest you find a way to keep them with you — shrink them down, put them in your Bible, put them somewhere you will see them regularly — and evaluate your life this way. But set some goals. I offer these to you: change some relationships. Three may be too many; start with one. Cultivate a relationship, and begin the process of freeing yourself. What are you in bondage to? Finances? Something else? Find a passion and feed it. Nurture it.
Read books. I suggest five. Some of you laugh and say you read five in a week. But Harvard did a study a couple of years ago — this is one of those things where you might think I am making it up, and I did read it in the newspaper, which I do not trust very far, but I presume the report is at least accurate to their knowledge. Harvard found that after a person finishes college — whether that means one class before dropping out or going all the way through a PhD — after formal schooling ends, the average person will read two books for the rest of their life. I thought, that cannot be right, but then I thought of many people I know and realized: it is true.
A Year-End Challenge
There are men and women in this room who may need help today. I pray that someone will be here to pray with them, and I would ask that you bring them forward. There will be some people at the front of the worship center ready to answer questions.
Before we close, I want to encourage you to stop in the courtyard. There are giving statements you need to pick up, calendars you need to get a hold of, information about the Institute, and a lot of other things out there. Please make sure you stop by.
Applying What You Have Learned
You have to read. You have to take in knowledge. Beyond reading, find two activities to invest yourself in — whether that is the Bible Institute, working in frontline ministries, the Center for Arizona Policy, something in the right-to-life movement, something here on campus, or giving. Take a look at those options and consider where God is calling you.
We are going to ask you these questions again and go through this whole process again next year. A lady came up this morning and said that last week God used that time to change her life, because even though she had heard those things before, something shifted. She told me, "Next year when you ask these questions, I am going to be an eight." I hope so — and you have no reason not to be.
This is the kind of teaching I always looked for. Give me the questions ahead of time and then put me on the honor system — those were the two things I always looked for in a class. My GPA went from 2.0 to 3.5 under the honor system, though I was not a Christian at the time, so that is a separate matter.
Closing Prayer
Father, help us see this truth. I pray that as we head into this new year, You would help us find deep and real relationships, that You would increase freedom in our lives, that there would be an intensity of passion in our lives, that You would expand our perspective, and that we would be reminded of the power we have through the Holy Spirit. God, thank You for loving us and saving us. We cannot wait to see how You will use us in this world. We ask You to do that in Christ's name. Amen.