Bible Studies

THE UNCHANGING JESUS

by Luella Campbell
04/23/15
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THE UNCHANGING JESUS

Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by eating ceremonial foods, which is of no benefit to those who do so (Heb. 13: 7-9).

"Oldies" love to speak of the "good old days". Some of the old days were good. Children and young people could walk in the streets without fear. We did not have to lock ourselves in behind electric fences and security gates while criminals had free range of the streets. We were not plagued by or addicted to the big "Cs" - cell phones, computers, credit cards and cash loans! Living in debt was not the fashion as it is today. We paid cash for what we bought and went without what we could not afford. We had less than we have to today but we were content.

Yes, we have the advantage of the technological age which makes life much easier - and much faster - in many ways. Yet it has brought with it all kinds of evil and many trends that are unstoppable - like an avalanche plunging down a mountain. Our youth are addicted to its trinkets; video games, cell phones, the social media, and television to the extent that they are losing the art of socialising face-to-face.

Everyone's business is splashed across the internet so that they no longer have private lives. Information technology is the name of the game - some of it useful and much of it damaging and dangerous. Life is no longer about honesty, integrity, loyalty and faithfulness but about information, and how to use it to get the better of others; how to take advantage of others or get the best deal out of others. Unscrupulous people outdo themselves in outsmarting the unsuspecting public.

The one constant in a changing world is the unchanging Jesus. Our writer did not have to contend with all the temptations we are faced with today, but his generation certainly had its fair share of what hell had to offer. Jesus is unchanging and so are the standards of His word and the benefits of His salvation. The motto of those who belong to the world could be: "I want it and I want it now!" The motto of the people of God's kingdom, on the other hand, must always be: "Jesus is Lord."

How vital it is to be anchored to Him and planted on His Word! If there were "all kinds of strange teachings" circulating in the writer's day without the written Bible, there are just as many today with the Word of God freely available to us. Peter spoke of ignorant and unstable people in his day who distorted the writings of Paul as they did the other Scriptures to their own destruction (2 Peter 3: 16).

Self-proclaimed apostles, prophets and teachers fabricate doctrines and garner a following of gullible people who have not taken the trouble to test what they preach and teach against the truth of God's word. We ignore that responsibility to our own peril.

What is the antidote? Jesus is the constant to whom we must be secured. His word is the truth of who He is - not what we want it to say but what it does say - clear and simple. He has authorised leaders who, first of all imitate Him, and then who blaze the trail for others to follow. How do we know that they are trustworthy? Consider the outcome of their way. Scrutinise their fruit which cannot lie. Their fruit will reveal the root of their lives and their teaching.

How can we test the validity of teaching? Which motto are the teachers modelling - the world's or the kingdom's; self-gratification or self-sacrifice? It's the heart that counts, not the flesh. There is no value in putting ceremonial food into the stomach but ignoring the condition of the heart. Grace is what God supplies to overcome the pull of the old evil nature with its ever-present demand for self-gratification.

All the rituals and ceremonies of their old way did nothing to change their hearts or alter their disposition towards selfishness. Death was the only solution - death to the old life through the death of Jesus and a resurrection to a new life that was powered by grace. All the doctrines and practices in the world that are good but do not change the heart and lead to submission and obedience to Jesus as Lord, are no more than hot air, filling the pages of thousands of books but making not one iota of difference to a single heart.

It all boils down to one thing - who or what rules your heart?

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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