The Power of God to Change

What, God change? Nope. God doesn't change in his nature, his purpose, his focus regarding you and me. God's essence of who he is doesn't change either. God is all powerful, God is all knowing, and is present everywhere. God's Law doesn't change. He laid down for us what is right and what is wrong. God didn't change his mind. So what I mean is that God has the power to change us! What, us change? That's so scary. Just the thought of the word, "Change," sends shivers up and down the spine.

Yet to be truthful, we aren't afraid of change. What we're afraid of is the perceived loss of something because of the change. We so focus on what we might lose, that we don't see what we might gain from the change. For example, when my congregation went from one worship service to two. There was a lot of discussion surrounding that we would not know everyone anymore. Yet what we gained was the opportunity to serve even more people than we were before.

Change happens all the time. Most of the time we don't see what has changed around us. Or in us. And did you know, that God underwent a change? Or rather, a "metamorphosis?" God did. God the Son, the second person of the Trinity, underwent a metamorphosis. He went from being a Spirit being, full of light and power and glory. The Son of God became the human man, Jesus. The spirit of light and power and glory became veiled so that we could not see it. One day, Jesus, both God and man in miraculous combination, went on top of tall mountain in Israel with Peter, James, and John. At that time we saw the metamorphosis from the veiled God man to the radiant God man. Jesus shone his full glory and majesty in front of Peter, James, and John, along with Moses and Elijah. The Law and Gospel prophets of old, alive and resurrected standing before and talking with Jesus. At this event we see Jesus as he truly is. The light of God that came into the world in order to save the world through him, shines brightly into the lives of his people. At the end of the event, Jesus was seen by Peter, James, and John, in the way they always saw him before. Yet because of Christ Jesus, Peter, James, and John, were metamorphosized themselves. They, because of the presence of Christ, were changed from the inside out.

And from that moment on, Jesus walked into "the hornets nest." Jesus went to Jerusalem, so that he would be betrayed by one of his hand picked men, whipped, beaten, bloodied, crucified and died. The power of God was demonstrated and fulfilled by the power of Jesus Christ to die so that all our sins would be forgiven. God died so that we would live in forgiveness today and live with him in his light forever after our deaths. And we will see the metamorphosized Jesus when we arrive in heaven, yet with a couple of differences. We will see the light of God in Jesus with the nail holes in his hands and feet, the spear hole in his side, scars from the crown of thorns, and the lash scars from the whip. Because of Jesus' life, death, resurrection, and ascension, we will see Jesus radiant and bright as hs truly is.

And before we get to heaven, we radiate the light of Jesus Christ to people around us who are still sitting in darkness, death, and under the influence of Satan. They may not realize it. They may think everything is all right. But it's not. We, who received the change of God, who live in the light of the Gospel of Jesus, radiate to them this light of God. It is a major change for those people. They will resist the change because they fear of losing their lives as they know it. Yet they are gaining a life far greater than what they ever imagined. They will be gaining the life of God in Jesus Christ. You see, we lost the sinful nature. We lost the darkness. Yet we gained a light that no human being can create. We gained Jesus. And if people who are living in darkness come to live in the light, they too will have what we have. They will gain life and light from God. This is the power of God to change people. This is the power of God that changed us. This is the power of God that will change others.

See you next time.

Pastor Robert