God's Immutability

What is immutability? –God is unchanging

Why must God be unchanging (logical argument)? –Because he could only change in 3 ways:

1. One must go from better to worse

2. One must go from worse to better

3. Non-moral: Immaturity to Maturity, or mature to immature

None of those things could describe God.

Are we sure God is unchanging?

Genesis 6:6- did God make a mistake and change his mind?

Exodus 32- Did Moses change the mind of God?

Genesis 22:12- Did God not know before?

How do we know God is unchanging?

Numbers 23:19; James 1:17; Malachi 3:6

How do we reconcile these two ideas?

God’s nature, promises, and specific decrees do not change. However, God can and does retract announcements based on human repentance and behavior. Jonah 4, John 3:16

Why might it be difficult for US to understand a being who does not change? – because we change so much! Just think of how much people have changed from when you were in Middle school, and I’m sure the college folks can testify how much people change after high school and so on.

What are the implications of God’s immutability?

1.The immutability of God has tremendous implications regarding the Bible, the Word of God. His Word is never out of date, never irrelevant to our lives or our times (1 Peter 1:23-25)

2. The immutability of God is an assurance for Christians Assurance provides stability and confidence in times of uncertainty and circumstances that appear threatening. Because our God is unchanging, His promises and His purposes are certain (Hebrews 6:16-20)

3. The immutability of God is also an awesome warning that God will fulfill His Word regarding judgment for sin. God’s immutability is not only a comforting assurance concerning the blessings which God has promised, but also an awesome warning that God will fulfill His Word regarding judgment for sin.

God is Eternal

The first attribute discussed is God’s self-existence and the fact that he is eternal.

God has no origin. This one attribute sets apart that which is God and that which is not God. Anytime someone asks a question about Origins (origins of life, origins of the universe, origin of Gluten Free Pizza, etc) it reveals our assumption that everything comes from some-thing.

Even children understand this. “Mommy, where did God come from?”

Something had to be there from the beginning. “New Atheists” would argue the universe had no beginning and will have no end. However most realize this to be untrue given the expansion of the universe. Since the universe has a beginning or cause, what was that first cause? Christians can point to God who always has been and forever will be.

Moses and God discuss God’s name: Exodus 3:13-14

¹³ Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”

¹⁴ God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

¹⁵ God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD,^[a] the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ “This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation.

I AM comes from the verb “to be” communicating his self-existence (he just is!)

But he doesn’t just exist for the sake of existing. In this context (3:8), he exists as an active existence, really and truly present, ready to help and to act.

In Hebrew I AM is very similar to LORD (Yahweh-the One Who Is), the Jew’s personal name for God was a reminder for them always that God was there, self-existing and dependent on nothing but not only that he hears them and steps in when necessary

John 8:56-59, ⁵⁶ your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.” ⁵⁷ “You are not yet fifty years old,” they said to him, “and you have seen Abraham!” ⁵⁸ “Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” ⁵⁹ At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.

Why are the Jews so angry? Jesus was claiming to be God!

Psalm 90:2, ¹ Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. ² Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. ³ You turn people back to dust, saying, “Return to dust, you mortals.” ⁴ A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night.

Revelation 1:8, ⁸ “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”

Isaiah 46:10, ⁹ Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. ¹⁰ I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’

So what does this mean? How can God’s eternity change the way we think about him? How can it change the way we think about life?

Thinking- Nothing takes God by surprise. In fact, we are so limited in our knowledge. Who are you going to marry? God knows! Will Obama be reelected? God knows! What’s going to happen tomorrow? God knows!

How? Because he is already there. That’s the benefit of being eternal and outside of time. He sees the past and future as though they are present.

Action- 1. You can be confident and sure about the plan God has for your life. He make no promise that it will be easy, but he is eternal and his purpose will stand (Is 46:10)

2. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, ¹⁶ Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. ¹⁸ So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

2 Corinthians 11:23-28, ²³ Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. ²⁴ Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. ²⁵ Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, ²⁶ I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. ²⁷ I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. ²⁸ Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.

Momentary and light troubles? It doesn't sound like it. However, in light of eternity they can be seen that way. In fact, in light of eternity, this life is but a glimmer.

The Attributes of God

Three weeks ago, in youth group, we started a study on the attributes of God. Here is where we began:

Percentage of youth that leave the faith after high school: 70-75%. One of the reasons I think this happens is because people allow their heart to be taken by other things, less worthy things

If God, if Jesus Christ doesn’t grab our hearts and our minds; something else will.

What are some of those things grabbing after your hearts? (boys, girls, grades, sports, college, success, drugs, friends,) Why are they so appealing?

Simply put, our view of God directly influences what career we pursue, who we choose to marry or how we raise our children-the big decisions of life. Our desire to make the right choice leads us to choose based on who we understand God to be.

But our view of God also influences everything else -- our intentions, actions and opinions -- even if only subconsciously.

A.W. Tozer, writing in the early 1960s, acknowledged the pervasive importance of an accurate view of God. "What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us," - The Knowledge of the Holy.

Evidence: When Paul wrote his New Testament letters, he never started with commands; he started with truth about God. He amazed them with God’s character and grace then he told them what they should do in light of that truth (Romans 12:1; Eph 4:1)

So what do we need to know that we don’t know already?

Let’s do this. Close your eyes. Clear your head of distractions. Think about what comes to your mind when you think about God. What do you see, or what comes to mind? Describe your thoughts if you can.

What is an attribute? To consider as a quality or characteristic of the person, thing, group, etc. By the way, how we feel about a person is normally defined by what we think their attributes are.

One of the reasons we are talking about this is because well intentioned, Bible believing Christians can develop a wrong view of who God is. Consider some of these quotes:

“It is my opinion that the Christian conception of God current in these middle years of the twentieth century is so decadent as to be utterly beneath the dignity of the Most High God and actually to constitute for professed believers something amounting to a moral calamity.²The heaviest obligation lying upon the Christian Church today is to purify and elevate her concept of God until it is once more worthy of Him—and of her.” –Tozer

“The god of this century no more resembles the Sovereign of Holy Writ than does the dim flickering of a candle the glory of the midday sun. The god who is talked about in the average pulpit, spoken of in the ordinary Sunday school, mentioned in much of the religious literature of the day, and preached in most of the so-called Bible conferences, is a figment of human imagination, an invention of maudlin sentimentality. The heathen outside the pale of Christendom form gods of wood and stone, while millions of heathen inside Christendom manufacture a god out of their carnal minds.” –Pink

These things you have done and I kept silent; you thought I was altogether like you. But I will rebuke you and accuse you to your face. (Psalms 50:21)

So, how do we come to a correct view of God? Nature gives us enough to know there is a God. Apart from that we don’t really know much about him, which is why people end up worshiping the sun or a rabbit. The Bible really gives us what we need to know who he really is.

Anything, outside of or contrary to this revelation is wrong. It’s our standard

So what are some practical results of understanding God’s character ?

1. The character of God is the basis and standard for all human morality.

The final verse of Judges reads: In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes (Judges 21:25).

One might think the solution to this dilemma was a human king, but it was not. The kind of “king” Israel wanted was in effect an idol. They wanted a king whom they could see, a man who would go before them into battle. They wanted a king like all the other nations (see Deuteronomy 17:14-17). When the people approached Samuel and demanded to have a king, God indicated they really were rejecting Him as their king:

5 And they said to him, “Behold, you have grown old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint a king for us to judge us like all the nations.” 6 But the thing was displeasing in the sight of Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us. “And Samuel prayed to the LORD. 7 And the LORD said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them (1 Samuel 8:5-7).

2. Wrong views of God lead to idolatry and sin.

Wrong thoughts about God were the root of the fall of man in the Garden of Eden. In Genesis 3, the character of God is first demeaned by Satan. By Satan’s devious question and answer tactics, God is portrayed as a liar (“Has God said . . . ?” verse 1), (“You surely shall not die!” verse 4). Based upon the assumption that God was less than He first seemed to be (and was!), Eve acted independently of God, and she and her husband thus disobeyed God by eating the forbidden fruit.

3. Can a person enjoy God?

When you meet someone for the first time it takes a while before you can get to the point where you enjoy your relationship. The beginning is normally pretty awkward, but you share some experiences together, get some inside jokes going then you are able to enjoy the relationship.

We can grow in our relationship with him by getting a good understanding of who he is.

4. The attributes of God are foundational to our faith and our hope.

What would you think of a God who didn’t keep his word? “Hey, I know I promised you eternal life but I changed my mind”. God is not fickle and moody like the Greek gods whose worshipers lived in fear of what their gods would do next. The fact that I know God is wholly trustworthy gives me the ability to trust in him and have hope in him.

Over the next few weeks we will be looking at some of the attributes of God and delve a little deeper into the fill in the blank: God is ________________.

Round 2

My fear came true. I was not faithful in updating this blog. Round 2 begins today!

Faith

At youth group on Tuesday, we continued to discuss 1 Timothy 4:12, which says: "Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity."

Last week we talked about how to set an example through love; this week we focused on how to set an example through our faith. Incidentally Brad Martin, a good friend and elder in our church, preached a sermon this Sunday about faith. You can listen to it by clicking here. He covered a lot of the things that we covered on Tuesday night. I felt his sermon was very effective in communicating what faith is because he didn't just give us some textbook definition of faith and tell us to go do it. He made it real to us by showing us how faith worked in the life of a real life person. In this case, a missionary couple who had to see their daughter battle leukemia.

The writer of Hebrews does the same thing. After he tell us what faith is in chapter 11, verse 1. He gives a fairly long list of Old Testament figures that gave us examples of what faith looks like, culminating in the prime example of Jesus Christ himself (chapter 12:1). One of those Old Testament figures that always impressed and made an impression on me was Abraham.

In Genesis 12 we read about God commanding Abram (later to be Abraham) to leave his country and to go to a place that God will reveal later. God then promises to bless Abraham in the following way: he will be a great nation, his name will be great, anyone who curses Abraham will in turn be cursed, and all the families on the earth will be blessed through him (Note: YOUR entire purpose of being on this earth can be summed up in this, you are blessed to be a blessing to others). So in an unbelievable expression of faith Abram packs up his family and immediately leaves as God commanded him.

What can we learn about faith from Abraham's response to God? I believe we learn that faith involves three things: knowledge, conviction and trust.

We have to have intellectual knowledge of certain facts. Basing a belief on what we think or feel or wish is not enough because people think or feel or wish a lot of different things. So what we believe has to be based on an objective truth and the only way to get that is from the only one who knows that truth. The one who created and continues to sustain all things, God Himself.

While understanding the facts is very important; it is not enough to qualify as faith. I understand the fact that my truck is green but that is not faith, or at least not the kind of faith we are talking about here. Faith also requires conviction. Conviction is an emotional response to truth. "Faith is being sure (assurance) of what we hope for and certain (conviction) of what we do not see"- Hebrews 11:1. There is something in us, beyond the external evidence, that is telling us: "this is true!" and though we may have times of doubt and though there are times when we have more questions than answers, we know (conviction) that what we believe is the truth. See 1 John 5:9-12.

The third and final aspect of faith is trust. Trust involves a movement of the will or in the story of Abraham, trust is the action: the going forth. Abraham could have understood the facts (that God wanted him to go so he could bless him to bless others) and he even could have been convicted that this was the truth; but if he did not trust it (to the point of taking action) it would have profited nothing. James 2:17 puts it this way: "faith, by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead." And dead faith, in the words of James 1:14, is not saving faith.

Now that we see what faith really involves, you can ask yourself, is this the kind of faith I have been expressing? Does my life reflect this kind of faith in God? See for yourself how it plays out in the life of someone expressing this faith. If you have never read the story of Abraham or if has been a long time, I encourage you to read Genesis 12-21 sometime this weekend. My next post will discuss the events of those chapters. Also, look for people in your life that live out this kind of faith, it can be a great example and encouragement to you as you grow in your own faith. In doing so, you can then be be an example and encouragement to those around you.

Go, be blessed so that you can be a blessing to others.

Making an Impact?

In the Sunday School class that I teach on Sunday mornings we have been going through a book entitled "Radical" by David Platt. By the way, if you have not ready it, I highly recommend it. It has really challenged the way I view my faith and how I do ministry. Today, we focused on a chapter entitled "The Multiplying Community" based on Matthew 28:16-20.

I started by asking this question: If you could have a significant impact on the world, what sort of impact would you have? For many that answer will vary greatly but for Christians I hope that we would have a similar response: "to make an impact for Christ". That has to be top priority. People's eternities are depending on it!

The question then becomes, how do we do that? That is what this lesson is about.

Matthew 28:16-18, ^"16 Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. ¹⁷ When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted.
¹⁸ And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth."

The first thing we see is that no matter where you are on the journey of faith, we must submit to the authority of Jesus Christ. He has a plan already and we simply need to be obedient to it. As you consider his words in vs.16-18, ask yourself this question: "Why is it so important for believers to realize their lives fall under the authority of Christ?"

Check out Matthew 28:19-20a. "¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you.".

The second thing to notice is what the plan entails. GO. MAKE DISCIPLES. BAPTIZE. TEACH. I think the key command here is to make disciples because you can't make disciples without going; and you can't baptize and teach obedience without making disciples. What amazed me in studying this passage is that as I live my "Christian life", my focus is everywhere except on making disciples. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of "good" things that I am involved with. I could list them out right here, and you would be very impressed :) but what I don't do is intentionally make disciples. I am honestly just now beginning to understand what making disciples even involves (which is what I plan to discuss next week, for now we'll just focus on what I haven't been doing). Isn't that crazy? I've been following Jesus for 11 years and I'm only just now realizing what God's plan for impacting the world actually involves.

Look at the last part of Matthew 28:20, "and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen."

This is so important. The third thing we see is that, as believers, we enjoy the very presence of Christ. One of the girls that comes every week to my Sunday school class asked a great question a couple of weeks ago. She asked, "How can God expect people, as messed up and sinful as we are, to get the gospel to the entire world?" (or something to that effect). I did not have a good answer to that until I realize what Jesus was saying in the last part of verse 20. The answer is we can't, and on our own, he doesn't expect us to. However, he has given us something (actually someONE!) that makes all of this possible: The Very Presence of his Son, Jesus Christ. That changes everything! What once was impossible for us becomes not only possible, but guaranteed. What a relief! Success in this area does not depend on our ingenuity or our abilities! It depends on our willingness to trust the one who has promised to be with us; guiding, equipping, and empowering us, every step of the way.

In conclusion, the answer to the question about how to make an impact is this: Submit to the authority of Christ by making disciples and by taking every advantage of having the presence of Christ in our lives.

Next week: How do we make disciples?

Set an Example through Love!

Last week we discussed not letting anyone look down on us because of our youth. Instead, we are to be an example in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity (1 Timothy 4:12).

In the mid-week Bible study we focused on setting an example through love. Love is the one thing that should set Christians off from the rest of the world. It should be a mark that when people see it they say, "that person must be a Christian." Unfortunately, this is most often NOT how non-believers view Christians. Very often Christians are stereotyped as being judgmental, close-minded, and hypocritical. And honestly, there is probably some truth to that generalization.

Jesus made it very clear that love for God and love for people are the two most important things in the life of the believer (Mark 12:28-31). If we focused on obeying just those two commands all the other commands in the Bible would be obeyed. See, if we love people we would not steal from them, we would not murder them, we would not covet them, and we would not commit adultery against them. If we love God, we would not use his name in vain and we would not worship other gods. In fact, if we truly love God we would do whatever he told us to do (John 21:15).

So what does this kind of love look like? There are many places to look, 1 Corinthians 13, John 3:16, John 15:13 are all great verses to look at if you have time. However, I chose to look at 1 John 3 where it says this:
¹⁶ This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. ¹⁷ If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? ¹⁸ Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

There is no excuse for the Christians not to understand what love involves since we saw it clearly displayed in the one we claim to follow when he laid down his life for ours on the cross. Love is not simply a descriptive word to describe how we feel about something ("I love pizza", "I love the Redskins", "I love my wife") it involves action and it will most likely involve sacrifice. Not necessarily a sacrifice of your life (though that is not to be excluded) but a sacrifice of your desires, your priorities, your dreams, your comforts. Pretty much anything that can be labeled as "yours" because now the focus is not on "you", it is on God and others.

One final point about loving others that I think most people miss. Later on in 1 John 4, he makes the point that it is impossible to say that you love God, yet not love the people around you. See, how you treat and love others is a direct reflection on how much you really love God. Is it possible to love people and not love God? Yes. However, it is not possible to love God and not love the people around you. In fact, John says that anyone who makes that sort of claim is a liar. Ouch!

For me, that hits very close to home when I consider how I treat and often feel about other people. My challenge to you and to myself today is (1) to consider how much you love God and (2) consider how much you love the people around you. And remember, just saying that you love is not enough. It has to be evident. Think of it like this, if you were on trial for loving God and loving people; would you be convicted. Could the prosecution pull together enough witnesses and testimonies to convict you of loving God and loving people? I hope that they would.

The mark of the Christian is love, so set an example by demonstrating this love!