Rev. Robert D. Shofner, Jr.
St John's UCC Boonville
As I was working on this sermon, it struck me that all sorts of things have changed in our neck of Southern Indiana since we moved here. The Lloyd has been extended all the way out to Newburgh. Hospitals and surgery centers are sprouting up like mushrooms after a rain. The Executive Inn is gone, to be replaced by a huge stadium. The new highway from Chandler into Evansville cuts a lot of time out of a quick trip to Kight Lumber.
Even here in sleepy little “BoonVegas” we see things changing all the time. For instance, there used to be an old house on the corner of E Sycamore and 4th Street. One day I noticed it was gone. Where did it go? And when did it go? Since Debbie and I have moved into the parsonage, the house next door and two houses across the street have disappeared. Promise me you won’t tear down our house the next time we go on vacation!
Change causes stress. Dr. Thomas Holmes has said that there are 43 different life changes that cause stress, and when too many pile up, it makes us unhealthy. People today are looking for stability in their lives. They are asking, “Is there anything that is reliable and never changes?” The answer to that is, yes. The Bible tells us; “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows” (James 1:17). The Phillips translation says that with God there is never a shadow of change or inconsistency.
Today we want to talk about God’s immutability, which simply means God never changes. God assures us in Malachi 3:6, “I, the Lord, do not change.” God is always the same. He always has been; He always will be. Let’s look at three things about God that never change. They will add stability to our own lives because they are things we can always count on.
Number 1 – the Bible says God’s love for us never changes. In Jeremiah 31:3 God says, “I have loved you with an everlasting love.” God made us to love us, and God’s love is consistent and continual.
One of the reasons we find relationships frustrating and stressful is because people change. They can be pretty fickle. They can change from one day to the next. The husband says to his wife, “My dear, you have certainly changed since we got married.” She asks coyly, “For better or for worse?” He replies, “You could only change for the better, of course!” The mother complains, “My sweet child has turned into this rebellious teenager. I don’t even know her anymore!” The child sighs, “I can’t figure out my Dad. One day he’s nice, the next he blows up over the dumbest little things.” People are unpredictable and inconsistent. That causes stress in our lives. But the Bible says that God always acts like Himself. He never has a bad hair day. He never acts out of character. Psalm 119:159 says, “Your love never changes, so save me!”
So we never need to doubt God’s love. No matter what happens; no matter how we feel; no matter what we do; God’s love for us never, ever changes. Romans 8:38 tells us, “Nothing will ever be able to separate us from the love of God.”
Number 2 – God’s Word never changes. Isaiah 40:8 says, “The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the Word of our God shall stand forever.” That means God’s Word is ever relevant, always up to date, and never obsolete. In Matthew 24:35 Jesus says, “Heaven and earth will pass away but My Word will never pass away.”
No other book in history has been more attacked, ridiculed, criticized, burned and banned than the Bible. Yet, all those dictators, fanatics and monarchs who attacked the Bible … they’re all dead. The Bible is still around. It’s withstood the test of time because God’s Word never changes. Psalm 119:152, “Long ago I learned from Your statutes that You established them to last forever.”
Allen Shepherd was the first American to reach outer space. As he was preparing for his flight, a reporter asked him, “What are you depending on most in this space flight?” Shepherd answered, “I’m depending on the fact that God’s laws never change.” Good answer. Can we imagine what it would be like if the earth’s rotation was inconsistent? If gravity reversed itself every day?
Just as God has established the universe to operate within physical laws, there are moral and spiritual laws that God has established that don’t change, and when we try to ignore them we have chaos. Remember being a kid, playing a game, and having the other kid changing the rules all the time? The only way to win is to play by the rules. God has established rules and they don’t change either. There are some things that will always be right and some things that will always be wrong. Contrary to our “post-modern” thoughts, God doesn’t change the rules for every generation. He has established them to last forever.
But the temptation is to question God’s Word. We don’t like what we read in the Bible, we just say, “Well, God is still speaking.” My question is for those who throw that out … when you don’t believe God’s Word is final and authoritative, and then you say, “God is still speaking, you know” … my question is, how do you know? How do you know God’s got a fresh new word for you if you can’t check it out against the Bible? You might just be schizophrenic or something!
Let’s think about this. When we go up to a stop sign, how do we interpret that? How many ways can we interpret S T O P? It’s the same thing for God’s Word. The UCC slogan a couple of years back was, “Never put a period where God put a comma.” As far as I’m concerned, we never want to put a comma where God put a period. When He finished the Bible, He put a period. The last verses of His Book say this: “I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.” (Revelation 22:18-19 NIV) Anyone care to add a comma to that?
God’s Word doesn’t change. You can build your life on that!
Number 3 – God’s purpose for our life will never change. No matter what happens to us, no matter what happens in us, no matter what happens through us, God’s purpose for our life will never, ever change. Isaiah 14:24 tells us; “The Lord Almighty has sworn, ‘Surely as I have planned it, so it will be. And as I have purposed it, so it will stand.’” That means that God is at work in human history. History is really “His Story.” Every once in a while, someone will say, “What’s the world coming to?” I know. It’s coming to the climax that God has planned from the very beginning. And, guess what? We are on the winning side! And that’s really Good News! Psalm 33:11 tells us; “His plans endure forever. And His purposes last eternally.”
Now, since God is omniscient, which means He knows everything; and since God is omnipotent, which means He can do anything … in other words, since He has all knowledge and all power … His plans never have to change. Get it? Good!
1 Samuel 15:29 says; “God is not a man. He does not change His mind.” Now, aren’t there some places in the Bible where it says God changed His mind? Yes. But when we look at those passages closely, we see it’s not God who changed His mind, it’s the people. For instance, God told Nineveh, through Jonah, that if they didn’t repent, He would destroy them. They repented and He didn’t destroy them. So it’s clear that God never changes His mind, His will, but He does will a change.
So, what’s the point? Habakkuk 3:6 tells us; “His ways are eternal.” God does not have a plan B for our life. Did we get that? God does not have a plan B for our life.
Now, let’s think of the biggest mistake we ever made in our life. That shouldn’t be too hard. And then let’s think of the biggest sin we’ve ever committed, the thing we regret the most. Then let’s think of the biggest disappointment we’ve ever had. Now, think about this. Do we think God knew about those things before we even did them? Yes. Yes, He did. And since He knew those things were going to come up, He has woven them into His plans for our life. He included them! Romans 8:28 says, “All things work together for good.” Even the things that are bad, God can somehow redeem them, turn them around and bring good out of them. They all fit into His plan. God loves to turn crucifixions into resurrections!
That means no matter what happens in our life, we’re still on plan A. God doesn’t change His mind, and His purpose for our life still hasn’t changed. There’s no second best. God knows everything that’s going to happen in our lives and He has fit it all in to work for the good in our lives. Even the mistakes and the tragedies and the sins we’ve committed … God can teach us through those things, and it will build our faith and love for Him.
So, what is God’s plan for our life? Two things. John 10:10 says that God’s plan for our life is that we have true life. Jesus says, “I have come that you may have life.” God wants us to enjoy life, to truly live it, not to just exist. Then in Romans 8:29 it says that God’s plan for our life is that we become like His Son, Jesus Christ. We learn to think like He thinks and feel like He feels and act the way He acts. And this all begins with a relationship with Him. Romans 10:9 tells us; “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
Another thing that’s never changed. There’s only one way to know God; through Jesus Christ, His Son. Jesus said, “I am the way.” That’s God’s plan since before the foundations of the earth. And His plan has never changed. And God’s invitation to us has never changed. He says, “I want you to come to Me, and establish a relationship with My Son, Jesus Christ.”
To wrap this up.
In our lives, between this morning and the time we die, whenever that is, we will experience many stressful changes. So the question for this morning is, how are we going to respond to those changes? We can’t prepare for them because they’re unpredictable. So, how are we going to handle them? What’s going to be the source of stability in our life?
Three things to cling to. One – when we’re under stress, we want to remember that God will never stop loving us. He will never, never, ever stop loving us. We may not understand what’s going on, but no matter what, God will never stop loving us.
Two – when we’re under stress, we want to remember that God’s Word never changes, and it’s always right. What He says in the Bible is the right thing to do; even though it seems hard or unpopular or unpleasant, it is the right thing to do.
Three – when we’re under stress, we want to remember that God’s purpose for our life never changes, and that God’s purpose is a whole lot bigger than our problems.
Psalm 125:1 says; “Those who trust in the Lord are as steady as Mount Zion, unmoved by any circumstance.” Security and stability and confidence comes from being anchored to an unchanging God. No matter what happens to us, we can trust in God.
Let’s pray.
Father, we pray this day that You increase our faith in the truth that You truly love us, and always will, no matter what. We pray that You will empower us to commit ourselves to learning and obeying Your unchanging Word. We pray that You will strengthen us to cooperate with Your plan for our lives. Help us to learn from the mistakes we have made. Forgive our sins. Heal our hurts. Make us more and more like Jesus.
And the people said, “Amen.”
