Making All Things New – A Thought for the New Year

by David Cassidy, Christ Community Church, Franklin

For many, New Year’s Day  morning is a time of painful recovery from last night’s revelries. For most it is at least a day of rest – much needed in the aftermath of Christmas activities. Perhaps New Year’s Day  is the day the tree comes down and the decorations go back up in the attic until next December. Perhaps it is a day to tally up the receipts from the spending, and make sure all the books are in balance. May I invite you to join me in making more of the new year? Let us consider something together.

January 1 is also the day the Church marks the circumcision of Christ. On the 8th day after his birth, the knife is wielded upon him and he sheds his blood for the first but not the last time, fulfilling the Law of God and receiving the sign of the covenant. The Savior also receives ‘the Name that is above every name’ (Philippians 2), the only Name under heaven by which we can be saved. Even in his infancy he is saving us.

And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb (Luke 2:21).

Every male of you shall be circumcised. And you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you. A child who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised … and my covenant shall be in your flesh as an everlasting covenant (Genesis, 17:10-13).

What then shall we say to these things?

Christ perfectly fulfills the Law and in doing so is the perfect lamb of God, the spotless sacrifice who will take away our sins.

Christ has shed his blood for us so that no other blood need be shed, his once and for all perfect sacrifice has fully atoned for all of our sin.

Christ has by his circumcision, pointing forward as it does to the Cross and its thorns, nails, and spear, made new the rites of the covenant, for water flowed with blood from his side. Now we are baptized in water as a sign of being the people of God, born from above by the Spirit.

In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of flesh in the circumcision of Christ; and you were buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith in the working of God who raised him from the dead (Colossians 2:11-12).

Christ has received the Name above every name, the saving Name of Jesus, which drives out darkness, conquers the grave, and to which all knees will ultimately bend. We live in the assurance of his the ultimate victory of his cause and rejoice even in deep and painful trials. Jesus also has bestowed on us ‘a new name’ as well, making the Church his Bride.

Because of all Christ is and has done, we begin this new year as a new creation, longing for the day when all things are made new. We begin in rest, not simply from revelry (though all must forsake sin), but also from self-righteousness, from our own worthless works; instead of these we are trusting – resting! – in the perfect and finished work of Christ. By his life and death and ascended intercession we have been, are being, and shall be saved.

Let us then, first of all, rejoice and give thanks today for the Name above every name that saves us.

Let us also now remember our baptisms, and in so doing recall that we have been marked as the covenant people of God – signed, sealed, and delivered – cleansed by the blood of Christ, and so live with circumcised hearts that this new year will see our lives shine more brightly with the light of the Gospel of Grace.

Until the final day dawns when all things are made new, let us Worship One and Love All that Christ might have first place in Everything.

A Joyous New Year to All. More Faith Here