Certainties in a Changing World

Reading: 2 Timothy 1.8-14
It has often been said that nothing is certain in this world except death and taxation. That's been a cynical comment in a society which has been basically stable and secure.

For instance, the basic importance of marriage and the family unit was taken for granted. It was largely assumed that truth and goodness were absolutes - and there was a very substantial agreement on standards of right and wrong! People saw work as a good thing and it was assumed that there would be a job for everybody. Standards of living were certainly lower, but this seemed to be accepted and acceptance led to social stability.

But We Live in a Changing World

We see this most obviously in the growth of technology. Our lives are affected by new ways of doing things, new kinds of transport, new forms of communication and, perhaps more than we realise, by the computer.

These changes are confusing to the elderly, but the new generation is conditioned to accept change. An old lady in our first parish complained that they shouldn't have brought in decimal currency until all the old people had died off. I wonder what she would have thought of metrics! Later on during the Apollo 11 mission another lady told me that they couldn't possibly reach the Moon, because we aren't meant to go up there! I tried to prepare her for what was about to happen, but it was no use!

However, other more important and disturbing changes have been taking place in attitude and life­style. We have all heard of the frog experiment. It has been discovered, so we are told, that if a live frog is popped into a pan of boiling water it will hop out to safety. But if it is placed in a pan of cold water which is then slowly brought to the boil, it will stay in the water until it is too late - and die. So this other set of changes has been taking place in society. Suddenly it is coming home to us (is it too late?) that something drastic has been happening!

A few years ago Australia had a 40% divorce rate - I am not sure of the latest statistics. This meant that each year there are 40 divorces for every 100 weddings. The 1996 census figures for Queensland showed a decrease of 9% in the number of couple families with dependent children and a 32% increase in single-parent families. It seems to be accepted that folk will live together without getting married - some actively promote the idea that it is good preparation for marriage. In many ways, the Ten Commandments are being widely ignored or rejected as giving a basic guide to conduct. Truth is becoming a very relative matter. And what you do is up to you - whatever seems good in your own situation.

We have a generation growing up to take these kinds of change for granted. As we care about all people whatever their situation - chosen or inherited - we are not permitted to consider people's life-style or situation. Yet any teacher knows that the proportion of children in schools from single­parent families and broken homes has a bearing on class discipline. Children are being brought up on an insecure base and with uncertain employment prospects.

Are there any Certainties?

Yes, there are. In the midst of change, we seem to have rejected them as possibilities. Yet only acceptance of these certainties can restore meaning, purpose and hope to life.

There is a God, the final Maker of it all. Now, someone will say, just about everyone believes that! But do they? and do you? It's one thing to say, "There's got to be some final explanation for it all! There must be a God!" It's another to believe it in a way that affects how we live.

We used to live in a Brisbane suburb blessed (?) with jets flying overhead. I didn't meet one person there who didn't believe in aeroplanes - everyone had seen and heard them! They didn't need to be convinced of their existence! But quite a number didn't really believe in them - in the sense of trusting their life to them, allowing them to change and benefit their life-style! That's another question! And it's the kind of question I'm asking about our belief in God.

We are responsible, accountable to God. I think this is where our lack of real belief in God shows up, We say there is a God, but then want to make our own rules. We say there is a God, then act as if he isn't interested in us. We are wrong both times. He's the Boss, not us! The time of reckoning will come!

We speak very freely about the certainty of death and taxation. But the Bible speaks about another certainty - that a human being "is destined to to die once, and after that the judgment" (Hebrews 9.27). How do we think we'd match up - by God's standards?

We can't make it alone. By our own standards we're not too bad, most of us. But, if God is the Boss and we must answer to him…! Already the verdict is "guilty!" and the sentence that awaits us is separation from God and from everything good.

Paul wrote, "The wages of sin is death" (Romans 6.23). But the sentence doesn't come as a sudden ZAP! out of heaven. It has been deferred. But make no mistake about it - it is certain. God isn't a kind of sentimental Santa Claus who doesn't mind much either way how we live. Rather, he takes our rejection of him very seriously. If we choose to live alone, without reference to him, we will find ourselves very alone - we won't make it to heaven!

But God loves us. He isn't a huge computer with a massive database. He's a Person. He is Love (1 John 4.8). He hasn't left us guessing. He has communicated with us, told us his love and provided the Way. And there had to be a Way - because we are guilty and under a deferred sentence and yet he loves us and wants to share life with us, here and throughout eternity!

It was Jesus Christ, God's own Son, who said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14.6).

Think about that unique life - in the centre of our history. Never has there been such an outstanding life marked by such genuine care for others! But the people of the day couldn't stand it. His kind of life exposed them (as it exposes us) for what they were. They plotted to get rid of him, had him nailed to a cross, thought they'd seen the last of him! But wait a minute - you can't kill God! If Jesus really was God's Son, how could they do it? Only if it was part of God's plan! And that's the point of it all! He came alive again to confirm his identity and to make it clear that his death isn't just a sign of human rebellion and rejection. It's a sign of God's love, for Jesus took the sentence himself, experiencing all the pain and aloneness that awaits us if we persist to the end of our life trying to make it alone.

God will accept anyone and everyone who has faith in Jesus. All sorts of people try to make it alone - some by helping others and carefully trying to do the right thing, others by caring only for themselves and lashing out against the rest of society; some by regular religious observances, others by giving up all religion.

None of us can come with credentials. Jesus said, "Whoever comes to me I will never drive away " (John 6.37). We come with our uncertainty and need. We come, agreeing that by God's standards we are guilty, yet accepting that the sentence has been paid for us.

These are the certainties in our world of change. This is the Way back to meaning and purpose - to life!

A changing world? It certainly is! And I am sure that those who are about in ten years' time will be amazed at what these ten years have brought - both in technology and in increased unrest and violence.

But some things are certain:

Paul was in a Roman prison, awaiting trial under the notorious Emperor Nero. Humanly speaking, his prospects were very bleak. Yet he could write, "I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day" (2 Timothy 1.12).

Now is the time to accept God's certainties and to put our trust in Jesus as our Saviour and Lord. We can depend on him to honour that trust for this life and for eternity.

Prayer: Dear God, we've made this world a mess, but you're still here! I'm truly sorry for the wrong things I've done. Thank you that your Son Jesus died on the cross for me. I put my trust in him as my Saviour and Lord. Thank you for welcoming me into your family and for coming to live in me by your Holy Spirit. I am not alone, for you are with me. From this point on I want to journey with you. In Jesus' name, Amen!


© Peter J. Blackburn, Home Hill and Ayr Uniting Churches, 24 November 2002, Guest Service
Except where otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the New International Version, © International Bible Society, 1984.

Back to Sermons