Worship belongs to God. His creation owes it to Him, and He receives it for His own good reasons. This is one aspect of worship, but a very important aspect because it conditions our whole thinking about worship. We cannot worship in spirit and in truth if we don’t understand who He is, why worship belongs to Him, and what He has said about worship. In this matter God will not change.
Though worship is the topic at hand, the larger purpose, put forth in the mission statement, is to foster a devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ, Who is the revelation of God (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit) to us. Paul was very careful to tell us that the Gospel he preached was according to the Scriptures
(1 Corinthians 15:1-41 Corinthians 15:1-4
Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures …).
For us to worship in spirit and in truth it is necessary to see Him as He is, according to the Scriptures, not as we imagine Him to be.
The first thing that must be made plain is that God is not changeable. This aspect of the character of God is important to how we stand in relation to Him. He has said this of Himself in many different ways throughout Scriptures. A very clear statement of this is found in the letter to the Hebrews,
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. (Hebrews 13:8)
This speaks to our security in the Lord when we trust in Jesus for salvation. But insofar as Jesus is the express image (Hebrews 1:3Hebrews 1:1-3
God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;) of the Father we can know that God does not change His character. In Christ we have the love of the Father proved and given to us. We may rely upon that. But there is judgment for those that do not receive Christ. That also may be relied upon because God does not change. In fact this immutability of God is exactly why we need salvation. God is holy, and that will not change; God hates sin, and that will not change; we are all sinners, and that is what God will change. We are all sinners,
For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)
The judgment of God for sin is death. But God has loved us and given us the gift of life. The next Scripture verse shows these two facts clearly. The first half reads,
For the wages of sin is death; … (Romans 6:23a)
Without salvation, God’s unchanging judgment upon us is death, but God’s unchanging love has provided salvation if we will receive it. Here is the second half of the verse,
… but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 6:23b)
God gives His covenanted gifts and will not take them away. In the context of Israel being called to Christ in the end we learn from Paul this truth that God’s gifts are given once for all never to be revoked,
For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. (Romans 11:29)
God has covenanted His salvation. He promised, and cannot lie, according to the Scriptures,
In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; (Titus 1:2)
God has also sworn to keep His promise,
For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: (Hebrews 6:13-18)
Let us reflect upon this revelation of God’s immutable counsel, that God was willing to abundantly show that He meant His promise and would keep it. Our response to this is shamefaced awe that God has stooped to prove Himself to us by effectually saying,“I mean it, I really do”. And our response should be to take comfort that salvation is not a chancy thing with God, rather it is secure.
In the context of God not being changeable, the phrase, immutability of his counsel
speaks to His constancy, He plainly says He will not change. This is a good word to keep in mind, immutable, it means unchangeable.
In these things we have established that God is not changeable, that His character is constant. This speaks also to the unchangeable value and place the Lord’s Supper has been given by God. Which is the value and place we also should give it.
©FH 2012