THE ROOT OF GOD'S FAITHFULNESS

God’s faithfulness is rooted in His unchanging nature. Note how the Psalmist contrasts the changing conditions in earth with the changeless character of Eternal God.

“Of old You laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You will endure; Yes, they will all grow old like a garment; Like a cloak You will change them, And they will be changed. But You are the same, And Your years will have no end.” (Psalms‬ ‭102:25-27‬‬)

 Everything about us is changing.  It has been said there are only two certainties in life—death and taxes.  I would add a third: change.  Our bodies change—just get out some old pictures!  The stars and the earth are more stable than many things, yet even they are said to change.  Creation changes, but the Creator cannot.

His faithfulness is rooted in His immutability—He does not change. If you use the prefix “im” it means, “not.” So, if something is immovable—it is not movable.  To mutate means to change, so if you put im in front, “immutable,” it means not mutating—not changing.

The unchanging nature, character, and attributes of God are bound up with His faithfulness.  The hymn we sang testifies to this,

“Great is Thy faithfulness,” O God my Father,
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not
As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be.

WILL YOU STILL NOT BE MADE CLEAN?

Read Jeremiah 13:18-27

If we do not humble ourselves, then God will humble us.  We can bow our knee to God willingly or God can bring us to our knees forcibly.  We can be broken before God in contrition or be broken by God in correction.  This is the warning God gave to Judah through Jeremiah.

He began with a message to the leaders of Jerusalem—the king and queen mother—for they had failed to shepherd the people spiritually and the result is they would see the people suffer physically.  As a woman conceiving, carrying, and birthing a baby, they would see the process James describes, “Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death” (1:15).  

The people of Jerusalem had committed spiritual adultery against the Lord as unfaithful idolaters.  Their morally lewd practices and shameful acts arose from the worship of promiscuous, pagan deities whose temples essentially housed an orgy. Since they wanted such nakedness, God would pull their skirts over their heads, exposing them to the Babylonian conquerors who would strip them bare and shackle them in bondage.  Away to Babylon they would be taken, to a place flooded with idols, since that was the kind of worship they set their hearts on.  God would gorge them with it, until they could bear no more.

The reality is they could not cleanse themselves.  Lest we sit in self-righteous judgment on those Jews, we had best look in the mirror of God’s holy law and understand our hearts are likewise depraved.  As an Ethiopian cannot change the color of his skin and a leopard cannot exchange his spots for the stripes of a tiger, we cannot change our sinful nature.  It is who we are.  

That’s why Jesus told Nicodemus—an extremely committed religionist—that he had to be born again—to gain a new nature (see John 3).  Christ said that none get to heaven otherwise.  It is not reformation of our old nature, but regeneration bringing a new nature that saves us and fits us for heaven.  Only the blood of Christ can cleanse us from sin.  God must make us clean.  Apart from that He will say, “Woe to you....  Will you still not be MADE clean?” (Emphasis added)

CHANGES

 

To everything there is a season,

A time for every purpose under heaven….  (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

I type these words on the first day of fall.  It is a bright day where the sun is still warming the earth—reminders that summer has just ended.  Yet, looking out the window, I see the leaves beginning to take on the spectacular colors from God’s creative palette.  The days are shorter, the nights are cooler—and before you know it we will awaken to a frost coating the roof tops, car windows, and lawns.  My wife loves the fall—and I would not mind it so bad, except those colorful leaves soon turn brown and cover the ground—demanding to be mulched, raked, blown, and piled.  What follows is dreaded by me even more—winter.  Everything looks dead, the wind cuts through you like a knife, snow must be navigated, and the heating costs assault your bank account.  Changes—they are part of life—but, they are not always easy.

We may be a picture of health today and tomorrow comes with a diagnosis of cancer.  Some have enjoyed visits and conversations with elderly parents only to next stand beside a cold body in a casket—our smiles replaced by sobs.  Not all changes are bad, of course.  There is the promotion at the job which increases both pay and satisfaction.  There is the building of a new house.  Perhaps, there is the birth of a new son or daughter.  It may be something as simple as the experience of a new café with excellent food and delightful conversation with friends.

Spring turns to summer and summer yields to autumn and autumn surrenders to winter, only to find spring rising green from a warming ground before you know it.  We have no choice in whether change will come—it will.  We do have a choice in how we respond to that change.

God has a purpose.  He has a plan.  We must always remember this lest we become too comfortable in the good times and too distressed in the tough seasons.  Through it all, God is the unchanging One. He is immutable.  Christ is our anchor to life’s ship beset by winds of change.

These are seasons of change for our church.  Times of challenge are real.  This season does not call for us to give up, but to go on.  Good people have died.  Other fine folks have decided to worship elsewhere.  Familiar faces in leadership have decided to step aside.  We will miss them all.  The worst of it, of course, is that there will always be a few who walk away from the church because they are walking away from God.  That is the most tragic choice of all.

Brighter days are ahead.  There may be a period of more difficulty, but God’s grace will bring us through.  Fall can become winter.  Thank God, winter is followed by spring!  I am grateful for the privilege of serving as your shepherd. Pray that I will be faithful to God’s Word and to His flock.