God doesn't change!

1. Change in relation to God

God doesn’t change.

Doesn’t this make God a really boring person? If he never changes or does anything different? Like a statue cast in shiny bronze that never moves – the only comfort you can get from this thinking, is that he isn’t going anywhere – at least he will always be there when you need him.

Because God is righteous, we know we can trust him in everything – there is nothing we cant trust him in, we know his word is 100% true, and we can rely on him that he will follow thru with his promises. So much so, that when we are baptised and have come into a covenant relationship with him, there is only 1 person who can break that covenant, and that’s US. We are the only ones that can break that covenant (nobody else can break it – and God certainly won’t be changing his mind.) because god doesn’t change. James: 1:17 says “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning”.

Objections

But what about those verses where God changes his mind? There are several verses in the Old Testament that appear to say that God is changing his mind. What about Genesis 6:6, where God was sorry or ‘repented’ that he had made man. Or what about Jonah, didn’t God change his mind for the people of Nineveh? While God may appear to change his mind in response to human repentance or other behaviour, it’s always the humans that have done the changing, not God. Mal 3:6 ‘For I the Lord do not change’. Period.

If God doesn’t change, you might think he is a really boring person – like a statue carved and set in stone - immovable. But the fact is, we are told God is a ‘god of truth’- so if he is truth, why should he change? – If you change the truth all you get is falseness. And anyway, it is only the character of God that stays the same. This doesn’t mean he is not moving and working to bring about change. The change he reaps is brought about by moving among the nations, and by working with us in our very lives. God never changes his mind. In fact it is infinitely more likely that we will be the ones changing our minds. At some stage we all make mistakes and by sinning we move away from God. But even in this dark hour we can be rest assured that God is there with us.

One of the main reasons why God doesn’t change is because his is immortal. He doesn’t grow old, and his ability to act is not limited to the present. In the kingdom, the saints will be made immortal and will inherit the same changeless or ‘incorruptible’ state as the bible puts it. But until then we are very volatile, and this leads on to my next point….

2. Change in relation to Us

During our lives we will change in many ways…

We change physically, we change mentally, and we change as a society – current trends and popular opinion can and does alter the way we think - and today we a going to take a brief look at the credit crisis, a real problem that is making us wonder – is this a sign of Jesus return?

a). we change physically.  There is a well-known hymn that says “we blossom and flourish as leaves on a tree; and wither and perish; but nought changeth thee”. This is in contrast this with God who has no need for a physical body, and who never grows old.

b). we change mentally when we have a change of heart, or change our plans. Our ambitions and goals may change many times over – the average person can expect to change careers 3 times over during the course of their life.

Our preferences and feelings can change so quickly. Sometimes we hear a song for the first time and you think it’s a bit left-of-centre, but then you play it over and next thing you know your giving away cds to your friends – legal copies that you went out and bought of course! Has the song changed, or has your perception of it changed? And then there is our moods that are always changing. Some of us are grumpy in the morning and friendly at noon.

A well-known hymn contains the words ‘swift to its close, ebbs out life's little day, earths joys grow dim, its glories pass away, change and decay in all around I see – oh thou who changest not, abide with me.’ But change is not always a bad thing. Consider a convicted murderer who has just finished serving out his sentence in jail. For him the prospect of change would seem worthwhile. For someone with a guilty conscience, the possibility of moving on and finding freedom must seem like an amazing gift. Although he can’t reverse the damage done, God will accept anyone back that is forgiven of our ways. But it is us that have got to change. God cannot accept our sin, and we are the ones that have to change.

But sometimes we lose motivation, get sidetracked, change our plans, we might forget to read the bible and forget to pray for God to guide us. Sometimes we just want to be like all our other friends; sometimes we just want to blend into our surroundings – go with the flow – after all it's easier. So just like a chameleon in a rainforest, we can try to change our appearance to blend into our surroundings. We say the same things and dress the same way and become part of the 'cool' group. There is a famous saying that goes “if you cannot be a Christian in the place where you are, you cannot be a Christian”. Changing is often seen as a sign of weakness and insecurity. For eg. if someone that changes their hair colour every day you might think they are a bit insecure with themselves, its because they are not comfortable with themselves that is why they need to change it all the time. If you are confident about something you don’t go changing it all the time. Adam and Eve certainly felt they had some changing to do after they came to the realization they had sinned, they felt insecure with themselves and they felt their nakedness.

c). We change as a society – the conditions we live in are changing.

Over the past month we have seen the beginnings of a world recession. Following in the wake of the US and now Britain, Australia is showing signs that we are not completely insulated from the impact of the credit crisis.  But amidst all this flurry of excitement which can be accurately described as nothing short of confusion and chaos, there is one thing that stands solid, there is one thing in our lives that we can rely on as being there at the end of the days trading. When we wake up in the morning and when we look up at night we can be sure God is always there – he doesn’t change – he doesn’t fluctuate like the Dow-Jones – he doesn’t rise or fall to the emotions of men. He isn’t pressured by interest rates or the price of commodities, or inflation or anything else.

Today's economic markets are driven by 2 opposite human emotions – confidence and fear. In times of confidence the market is strong, and in times of fear an inevitable downturn follows. Over the past week, we have seen a revolution – a complete market meltdown, as anxious shareholders were driven by fear of liquidity. “This week, our shareholders were driven by fear of liquidity”, explained a spokesman from the bank of Scotland. Fear is the driving force at the moment.

In the US, where the credit crunch has reached desperate proportions, ailing banks struggling for profits are trying to recoup profits by lowering the interest rate. But due to the unprecedented nature of this crisis, there is no template for how to recover from it. This should come as a stark reminder that Jesus warns us of ‘a time that never was’. The subject of the current economic turmoil has dominated the news for the past few weeks now, and we should be mindful that this is all leading up to the return of Jesus. The relative prosperity that we have been blessed with is not a given, conditions can change quickly. The credit crisis we are going thru now is further evidence of the greed and volatility of mans ways, and that the world we used to know is rapidly changing. The bible prophesies that in the last days men's hearts will be filled with fear. Could this be a sign of change? Could this be a sign that Jesus is soon to return? Cause we need to be ready if it is.

3. Change in relation to Christ

What has God manifested to us through Jesus? During his ministry did Jesus change? Did he change his tack? Did he make mistakes and try to fix them like the girl who changes her hair colour every day. Also, we will look at the objection some people have, that Jesus as a band-aid fix to a deeper human problem that can’t be solved. Lets think about Jesus for while. Did he change his beliefs to fit in with those around him? Actually he argued and reasoned with and taught people. As you read the gospels more, it's amazing how you discover just how strong a person Jesus was – he didn’t melt under pressure. Jesus could have curbed his message so it didn’t offend anyone, so it was more palatable. But when it comes to some things, the things that really matter, there is no compromising. He was the Son of God, there was no denying it –he couldn’t disappear and become someone else. If you cannot be a Christian in the place where you are, you cannot be a Christian. Because Christ didn’t let up, he didn’t change his mind like we often do. He nailed his colours to the mast, and he let everyone know it. But hang on, where is the 'gentle Jesus meek and mild' we were told about in Sunday School? Well, I’m sorry, but if that’s the kind of Jesus you want you will have to close your eyes and have a good imagination when reading the gospels.

Although he was given a lot of power though the Holy Spirit, a lot of the time Jesus fought a war of words, and this would have been difficult for him since many of the people he spoke to were so stupid. Nowadays it's easy for people to think of Jesus as a gentle Jesus who never hurt anyone’s feelings or stir up trouble. Wasn’t he just a nice person who said nice things and but didn’t have the strength to stand up for himself. “He saved others but couldn’t save himself” one of the mockers cried as he was crucified. However it is clear this cannot be farther from the truth. Jesus never changed for anyone. He knew it was prophesied he would die and he knew that it had to be done. He didn’t fear death – he didn’t fear “man who can kill the body” as he himself explained in matt10:28. Jesus fought against the devil all his life. He was bold, assertive, and also authoritative as we are told in Luke 4:32 they were amazed at His teaching, for His message was with what – with shadow and variation? – with colours and textures – with pretty pictures and gimmicks and sales talk - no! with authority. He didn’t beat around the bush. “I AM the way. No man comes to the father but by me” He was and is the Son of God, there was no denying it. The Pharisees hated this about Jesus. But he didn’t change his mind – even to the death - this was his purpose – to be the manifestation of God to us. On another occasion he says “I AM the way the truth and the life”. Can you get a bolder more confident statement than that? He couldn’t hide who he was, he couldn’t disappear, and he certainly didn’t’ try to blend in with the Pharisees who reviled his work.

Conclusion

Us humans are very volatile creatures. We have our bad days and good days. Yes we have all had friends who let us down because they changed their mind, or didn’t live up to our expectations. The current global economic conditions should remind us that the world is teetering on the edge of world recession, which is just one sign among many that Jesus return is imminent. We have seen men’s hearts failing them for fear, and the unparallelled nature of the credit crisis points to ‘a time that never was’. In stark contrast to us, Jesus had a single-mindedness that could not be broken. He was a tireless, fearless leader, who didn’t change his purpose, and he didn’t change by giving in to the general opinion of the day (just because it was popular). He didn’t change his colours; he didn’t change for anyone. And by doing this he gave us a glimpse of an unswerving and unchanging God. A God who is not fickle in his feelings. A God we can trust and rely upon as our source of truth today, tomorrow and forever.