There's a story about a man from the back woods of Tennessee who found himself one day in a large city, and for the first time he was standing outside an elevator.  He watched as an old, tired woman hobbled in, and the doors closed.  A few minutes later the doors opened and a young, attractive woman marched smartly off.  The father hollered to his youngest son, "Billy, go get mother."

          Everything changes.  My father was born in 1898, four years before the Wright brothers flew the first airplane, two years after the Olds brothers drove the first American automobile.  Dad lived through two world wars, the Great Depression, and witnessed countless inventions, including electricity, radio, penicillin and indoor plumbing.  A lot happened in his lifetime.

          I was born in 1945, and have seen the world change a lot.  The invention of many drugs, both good and bad, have affected every part of society.  Television, space travel, and computers have revolutionized everything that we do, including in the church.  I would never have imagined when I was ordained in 1971 that I would have given away my typewriter and be using a keyboard the size of a sheet of paper to compose a Sunday liturgy, write a sermon, display photographs, keep records and even communicate with members each week.

          The Duke of Cambridge once said in the late 1800's, "Any change, for any reason, is to be deplored."  But we cannot stop change.  Martin Luther changed the way Christians related to God and the church.  In the early 1800's, the German government changed European protestantism by creating the "Prussian Union," a forced unity of the Lutheran and Reformed churches.  It forced changes on both churches which not all members could accept.

          To have the freedom to worship and conduct church by the Bible, several hundred Lutherans left German Saxony and came to Perry County, Missouri, and in 1847 they formed the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.  They united with other Lutheran congregations already here, but found they could not unite with all Lutherans.  And so today we have the Missouri Synod, and the Wisconsin Synod and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.  They do not all believe exactly the same, because everything changes.

          When German and Scandinavian Lutherans came to America, they worshipped in their native languages.  In the early 1900's the first Lutheran churches began worshipping in English.  Today some churches still worship in Slovak and German and Spanish and Ethiopian and other languages.  But sooner or later they will all be worshipping in English, because everything changes.

          And yet nothing changes.  Wars continue to rage all over.  Floods, earthquakes, and famines seem more than ever.  Despite global communication, people still don't get along.  They enslave and slaughter people, steal their lands, and some religious leaders, in the name of their false god, urge adherents to kill rather than convert.  People are educated but ignorance abounds.  Nothing really changes because of one great equalizer.  We call it sin.  Sin levels the field.  Mankind is and always will be unable to break loose from the grip that sin has on all of us.

          Everything changes, yet nothing changes.  The writer to Hebrews says that Christ does not.  In the midst of all that is unsettling, He is still the same.  "Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today and forever."  His verses leading up to this one are helpful: "Because God has said, 'Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you,' so we say with confidence, 'The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.  What can man do to me?'"

          Returning from Iraq, an American soldier told a chaplain how he had to defend his squad.  He was pinned down and had to shoot his way out.  That soldier killed 75 enemy in an hour, one at a time.  "Like shooting ducks," he said, but he was bothered.  "Will God forgive me for killing them?" he asked.  The chaplain assured him of God's forgiveness, but that man was changed forever.

          Two other soldiers were driving a truck when a rocket-propelled grenade entered the driver's window and exited the passenger side, missing each soldier's head by mere inches.  Back at base, the first thing they asked for was Holy Communion.  Another soldier had to handle burned bodies of the enemy dead.  He can no longer eat red meat.  Those soldiers will never be the same; they were changed, and yet they are still the same, sinners in need of God's forgiveness, weak people needing strength and courage for daily living that only God can give.

          The method and ministry of the church also changes, as well it should.  But its main message, the Gospel, must not change, for it is the timeless message of God's grace.  Today we worship in English, using modern hymns and songs.  Some churches use a praise band instead of a piano or organ.  Hymns from Luther's day were more instructive and doctrinal.  They express what we believe and teach us.  Hymns written today are often more prayerful and meditative, helping us reach out to God.  Some people shout and raise their hands in worship - we don't.  All are okay, but they also require understanding.  Today some churches don't have an altar, but the people still praise God and receive His blessings in worship.

          Everything changes but the Good News is that Jesus doesn't.  He is the same yesterday, as He is today, as He will be the same tomorrow.  We humans all need His grace, His love.  The writer of Hebrews, after giving an in-depth explanation of Jesus as God's high priest, concludes in chapter 13 with practical encouragements (turn to Hebrews 13).  "Don't get carried away with all kinds of strange teachings (vs. 9)  ... Let us continually offer God our praise (vs. 15)  ... Do good and share with others (vs. 16)  ... Obey your leaders (vs. 17)  ... Pray for us (vs. 18)  ... Obey my words of encouragement (vs. 22)."  In other words, be careful what we do change.

          You can I cannot imagine the changes the early apostles and other believers had to endure.  Their whole lives had been bound to the Mosaic Law and the temple.  They had 613 commandments to obey.  Then along came Jesus who said, "The law was made for man, not man for the law." (Mark 2:27)   All of life centered on observing the Sabbath, the seventh day.  Then believers changed worship to the first day, Sunday.  They had spent their whole lives waiting for the Messiah, and now He had come and gone back to heaven.  When you spend your whole life waiting for something to happen and it does, then what?  I think Boston Red Sox fans are thinking about that right now.  They've been waiting to win a World series since 1917, and they're wondering what to do if they did.

          Everything changes, but nothing changes.  In 1886, Karl Benz drove his first automobile through the streets of Munich, Germany.  He named his car the Mercedes Benz, after his daughter.  The car angered the citizens because it was noisy and scared children and horses, so local officials established a speed limit for "horseless carriages" of 4 mph in the city limits and 7 mph outside.  Benz knew he could never sell them if he had to go that slow, so he invited the mayor of Munich for a ride.  He also arranged for a milkman to whip up his old horse and pass them and thumb his nose at them.  The mayor was furious and demanded that Benz overtake the milk wagon, but he said that by law he was not permitted to go faster.  Very soon that law was changed.

          Our Savior Jesus Christ came to earth and changed everything.  He fulfilled God's Law perfectly.  He did what God demanded of mankind.  He took our sins and suffering upon Himself on Calvary and laid them to rest in the tomb.  He did all that so that we might not have to.  Then He left the tomb empty and said that all who believe on Him might not perish, but have everlasting life.  In German it is written, "Also hat Gott die Welt geliebet, dass Er sein eingeborn Sohn gab, das alle, die an Ihn glauben, werden nicht verloren werden, sondern das ewige Leben haben."  In English: "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes on Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)

          In 1847 hymn writer Henry Lyte wrote, "Change and decay in all around I see; Oh Thou who changest not, abide with me."  I don't know what changes he had seen, but I've seen plenty, and so have you.  And I rejoice that one thing does not:  "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever."  Thanks be to God, amen

Copyright © 2004 by Pastor Bob Tasler.  All rights reserved.