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Mark Wheeler
Malachi 3:6-16
04/14/2024
Who is God? – “Un-Changing (Immutability)”
Lidgerwood Presbyterian Church
Welcome to Worship, friends!
In our meeting together let us remember that we worship the God who created this world,
the God who spoke through His prophets from generation to generation,
led His people from captivity to liberty, healed the sick, fed the hungry,
and is faithful even when faced with rejection.
The same God who wants all people to be drawn to His love and grace,
to know His forgiveness and the joy of His Salvation.
Let us put aside all that interrupts us and gets in our way and join together in worship and praise.
Today we continue our study on theology – who is God? How does God do what God does? Is He real?
In this theology laboratory, we learn what may be new concepts – and what may be new words! Last Week we learned about God’s ASEITY – His self-eternal-existence. Today’s concept and word is IMMUTABILITY.
We sometimes say things like, “Nothing is certain but death and … [taxes].” Those are indeed certain, but so is the immutability of God – this is what allows us to trust Him!
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Linda Tufto calls us to worship, today, from Psalm 121:
3-4 And our Prelude of Praise and Worship ––– #125 … Praise the Savior, Ye Who Know Him –
5 Good morning Friends! Welcome to worship at Lidgerwood!! Shalom Aleichem! May the PEACE of Christ be with you!
Welcome, friends, from around the world, to this worshipping community!
Be filled with God’s Holy Spirit presence and power, in your homes, through your phones and computers, in this building here, and in your lives. Pray with us … and hear and be transformed by God’s Word.
6 This morning our Chancel Choir leads us in worship with this anthem that prays for what God wills for us from the beginning of Creation: “Let There Be Peace on Earth”
7 Children’s Message
8 Linda opens our Prayer time in Confession and Thanksgiving
9 Gloria Patri
10-13 Praises, thanksgivings, adorations, concerns and prays [The Lord’s Prayer]
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15-17 Song of Devotion and Preparation to receive God’s Word – #577 – O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus –
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Finish this Bible verse for me: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and … [forever].” (New Testament book of Hebrews 13:8)
The Bible has several verses that describe that same concept of God – God’s immutability! That word – immutability – is related to the word “mutate” or “mutant”:
19 This is NOT what God is like [TMNT poster]. These Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – by definition – have been changed (mutated) – Incredible Hulk or Spiderman-like – into super-hero figures. They once were ordinary men, boys or turtles – and they become something “better”.
God cannot be made better! And He was never better before than He is now!
Today we read the Old Testament prophet Malachi 3:6-16 …. —- Hear the Word of God …. —-
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6 “I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. 7 Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty.
“But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’
8 “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me.
“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’
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“In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.
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11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the Lord Almighty. 12 “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty.
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13 “You have spoken arrogantly against me,” says the Lord. “Yet you ask, ‘What have we said against you?’ 14 “You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What do we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners
before the Lord Almighty? 15 But now we call the
arrogant blessed. Certainly evildoers prosper, and even when they put God to the test, they get away with it.’”
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16 Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name.
The term “immutable” means unchanging and unchangeable! All three persons of the Trinity are “immutable”. If God were to change – if God was changeable – it would mean He went either to or from something better, which implies that God could either be better than He is now, or that He used to be better and now He’s not as “better”.
I have heard people argue that if God doesn’t change, then God is nothing more than a stick in the mud or a block of concrete. Why bother praying? Wait, didn’t Abraham argue with God and change God’s mind about destroying Sodom and Gomorrah?
Here’s what those arguments miss: God is life! He is Life itself! Life, by definition, is not “stuck” and is not inanimate! And God’s character never changes as a result of those questions or considerations! In all of that, God’s immutability is connected directly to His Aseity (His self-existent state of being). God is who/what God is – YHWH – Yod–Hey–Vav–Hey!
God is the living God, life itself. Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” (That’s what the Swahili is on the front page of the bulletin.) This is what this aspect of Immutability is about!
Immutability means that God is unchangeably true to Himself – and true to His purposes and true to His promises. That’s what we read in Malachi!
God is sovereign – a key theological understanding in the Presbyterian family. Sovereignty means that He is not subject to external influences. Name any aspect of God’s attributes, any character traits we consider divine – someone name one [love – almighty – omnipresent – perfectly just – etc]: Not changed by any thing we throw at Him.
God’s character does not and cannot change! This truth is the foundation for all His external works of creation, providence, and grace. This is the basis for our faith and assurance!
For the last four months we have been celebrating and commemorating the fact that the Second Person of the Trinity became Incarnate, the Son of God was born in Bethlehem, lived in Capernaum, died in Jerusalem. Isn’t that a change? A mutation? Doesn’t that make God “mutable”?
The quick answer is, Yes. The incarnation involved a change in substance – Spirit became Human. But it was NOT a change in essence! Yes, for 33 years the Son of God needed to eat and sleep, was limited to one place at a time, and could be hungry or hurt or hung-over. But, even with those limitations in place, Jesus walked on water, healed the centurion’s son from a distance, and offered healing and life-saving miracles. His essence did not change. He was still God!
And it’s not as though those 33 years happened by accident, or was a last ditch effort to accomplish what God had failed to do before…. There are hints of the coming incarnation from as early as Genesis 3 – that’s Adam and Eve! Genesis 12 with Abraham! And in dozens more places throughout the Old Testament. God did not change, because God’s character does not, cannot, change!
Dr. Robert Letham, professor of systematic theology at Union School of Theology in Wales, says, “It was God’s primal decision to become incarnate in Jesus Christ from then and forever, as the foundation of our own election and union with Him (Eph 1:4). In the incarnation, God Himself did not change. The Son [of God]did not become man in the sense of changing into man. He did not enhance Himself or add to what he always was and is. That would not be incarnation but metamorphosis. Rather, the Son by taking human nature into permanent union so that it became His human nature. (Phil 2:6-7) became flesh in such a way that he continued, as the Son [of God]or Logos, to be the subject of all the experiences of Jesus of Nazareth, while remaining who he ever was and is (John 1:1-4, 14-18; Heb 13:8), experiencing them as man. From that, the processes of human life in this world, including suffering, death, burial, and resurrection, are known to God from a human perspective. The immutability of God secures this!”
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This immutability is foundational to the whole of theology. Malachi reminds us that God’s unchanging nature secures the salvation and redemption that God has promised since the beginning of the Bible, and that is fulfilled through faith in His only begotten Son Jesus Christ.
God’s sovereign immutability, unchanged by any forces outside Himself, gives us the assurance of his unending love and justice! Trust Him, believe Him, receive Him, know Him, grow in Him, and discover Him all around you, every day!
Amen.
26 Receive our tithes and offerings as symbols of our very lives and livelihood, given as response to Your life given for us! Bless it, and by it bless the world around us. In Christ’s name, Amen.
Offering (4449 N Nevada St., Spokane, WA, 99207; or click HERE; or text 833-976-1333, code “Lidgerwood”)
27-29 Expedition Song #530 – Be Still, My Soul –
30 Benediction:
May we Grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Be filled with God’s Holy Spirit. And give glory to God, today, and forever! Amen.
“May the Lord bless you and protect you; may the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; may the Lord look with favor on you and give you peace.”
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Announcements
- Ezra 3 Initiative –
- Furnace Fundraiser
Resources:
Letham, Robert; “Immutability”; TableTalk; May 2022; Pp. 8-10.
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