Christ Church Leavenworth
The End of the Year Exhortation
December 28, 2025
The End of the Beginning
THE TEXT
The text this morning is from Proverbs 27:1, these are the words of God.
Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.
TOMORROW WORLD
It is that time of the year when we collectively agree to ignore the wisdom of this verse. Many are boasting about that time just around the corner where they will be a little bit thinner, a whole lot richer, and much better read. But saying, “This is gonna be my year,” is much easier to say than, “That was my year.” And that is because It is easier to be a better person in your imagination than it is to be one in your reflection. Imaginary weights are easier to lift and imaginary books are easier to read. Besides, future you can be your hero even if the current you is the villain who stands in his way. On days like today, however, we are more open to the idea of making a change instead of doing the same things again next year and hoping for a different result. That is because events like birthdays, funerals, and new years have a way of making us more contemplative and open to reform. So, since January 1st is just around the corner, let’s capitalize on that and look at three tools God has given us to evaluate our lives.
FIRST TOOL: YOUR AX
Ecclesiastes 10:10 “If the iron is blunt, and one does not sharpen the edge, he must use more strength, but wisdom helps one to succeed.” If your ax is dull and you do not take the time to sharpen it, you will have to swing harder, but sharpening your ax is a smarter solution. If you have been given the chore of chopping down a tree, a sharp ax is an asset, but a dull ax can drive you bonkers. It’s almost the right tool. And even if you happen to have a sharp ax, given enough time, you won’t. All work and no sharpening makes your ax dull, boy. Hard work wears things out. And when it does, you have two choices: you can stop chopping, take a break, and sharpen your ax or you can swing harder and sweat more. Translate that into your life. If you don’t like the way things are going, doing more of it is not going to change anything. Doing more of the same thing will not get you a different thing. It will only wear you out. Hard work can be good and godly, but it is not wise to make things harder than they have to be. Sometimes, hear me out, sometimes the answer is not work harder, sometimes it is work smarter. So, instead of working more IN your life, sometimes you need to take a step back and work ON your life.
Imagine you are on a ship that is taking on water. For some of you, this is not hard to imagine. You might even say things like, “I feel like I’m drowning.” When that is the case, you are spending your time and energy pitching water overboard in order to keep the ship afloat. The goal is simple: don’t drown. A noble goal. But that means that the waves and the currents are in charge of where your ship is actually going. You aren’t putting any time or energy into navigation because you are spending all of your time on flotation. That is working IN your life, not ON it.
So, where are you working harder where you need to start working smarter? What things are you making harder for yourself by refusing to take a step back? When was the last time you reevaluated why you do what you do instead of just focusing on doing more of what you’re already doing? It is easy to get so busy in your life that you don’t take the time to work on it. But if you don’t know where you are going, getting there faster isn’t an improvement. If the progressive Left have taught us anything it’s that progressing toward a cliff is not progress; and if the conservative Right have taught us anything it’s that driving a little bit slower towards the same cliff will not actually conserve anything.
SECOND TOOL : YOUR OX
Proverbs 14:4 “Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean, but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox.” If you do not have an ox, you do not have to clean up after an ox, but you also have to pull everything yourself and oxen are better at pulling than you are. So, if you want a clean barn, you cannot have an ox, but if you want a large harvest, you have to have one, and the mess that comes with it.
You will have to feed it, water it, and clean up after it. This will require a shovel, a strong back, and a strong stomach. For all of the ox’s strengths, tidiness is not one of them. Oxen do not pull their weight when it comes to cleaning. They do, however, more than make up for it by the weight they pull in the field. If you don’t like the idea of cleaning up after an ox you will have to get used to the idea of an empty barn. Sure, it’s clean, but it is also barren… and kinda boring. Oxen, on the other hand, are an adventure. They are not great for short term comfort, but they are just the right thing for long term conquest, which is its own kind of comfort.
Everything costs something. You cannot have kids without the messes that come with them. You cannot have a spouse with the messes they make. You are not owed a nice, tidy life. If you want that, do that opposite of what Chocolate Knox advises: “Stay single, don’t get married, don’t have any kids, and don’t baptize anything.” That said, while messes may be a given, that is not an excuse to be messy. That said, there is nothing wrong with cleaning up after yourself and expecting others to do the same. In fact, there is something very right about that, just ask your mom. But babies do not come with that built in. They do not help clean up, they just make the messes. And teaching them to clean up after themselves takes time and teaching them to do it with a good attitude takes even more time because that means you have to show them how.
So, are you walking into the barn each morning shocked to see that the oxen have made another mess? The problem, friend, is not with the ox, it is with you. Stop getting upset at the ox for making your life more difficult and start thanking God for the harvest the ox is helping you produce. Get your eyes off of the mess in the stall and get them onto the field that is bursting with fruit.
THIRD TOOL: YOUR PATH
Proverbs 4:26 “Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure.” Think about your feet and the tracks they leave. Which way are they going? What are they pointed at? If you point your feet in the direction you want to go and watch your step as you’re going, there is no reason to think you won’t end up where you are wanting to go. The best indicator of where you will be tomorrow is what you are pointed at today. So, what do your tracks say about you? Review the game film. What path are you on? Direction always determines destination.
You can say all day that you want to end up over there, but if your feet are pointed over here, you are not going to end up over there… no matter how fast or how carefully you walk. You can say you want well-behaved kids, but if you aren’t raising them in the discipline and instruction of the Lord, I can tell you what kind of kids you are going to end up with. If you want to know what your life will look like in five years, look at what you’re doing now and then add five years to it.
So, where will you end up if nothing changes? Look back at your tracks. Which direction are your feet going? The future is not the place where we finally become the people we’ve always wanted to be. If we do not change who we are right now, we will not be different tomorrow. In fact, five more years of what you’re doing now will only make it harder and less likely to change then. It will never be easier to repent than it is today. It will never get any easier to change direction than it is right now. So,“look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.” Ephesians 5:15-16
CALL TO CONFESSION
Well, since we’d rather chug another Reign than get some sleep, and since we’d rather complain about our responsibilities than thank God for them, and since we’d rather assume the best about our worst habits than do the hard work of doing something about them, we are reminded of our need to regularly confess and repent of our sins. So, if you are able, please kneel with me and confess your sins, first privately and then corporately using the prayer found in your bulletin.
CORPORATE CONFESSION
Gracious Father, if You were to mark iniquities, who could stand? But with You is forgiveness, that You may be feared. Called by You to the throne of grace, and confident in our great High Priest, we bow before You and confess that we have sinned against You and been unfaithful to Your holy covenant. Our hearts are deceitful above all things and desperately sick, so that we often do what we hate, and neglect what we love. Out of our mouths we both praise You and curse our fellow men. You promised mercy to our fathers through the seed of the woman. Turn our hearts again, Father, to consider Jesus, who crushed the serpent’s head, and saved His people from their sins. Forgive, cleanse, and restore us for His sake. Amen.
DECLARATION OF PARDON
Arise and hear the Good News! The assurance of pardon today comes from 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 Hear the Word of the Lord “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” Such were some of you. At some point something changed. By the grace of God, you are not who you were. And by the grace of God, He will not leave you now. He will not stop short. I am sure of this, He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ, for in Him, your sins are forgiven… THANKS BE TO GOD!
Now let us ascend to the presence of God in all worship and praise.
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