New Year's Eve - Nothing Has Changed

Text: Hebrews 13:8
Series: New Year’s Eve
Theme: Nothing has Changed!
Place: Amazing Grace Lutheran Church, Myrtle Beach, SC
Date: December 31, 2009

I remember pulling up the driveway and seeing the building for the first time. It had been over 10 years since I had been back. The grounds looked much different – weeds infested the lawn, grass was growing over the sidewalk’s edge, the bushes needed trimming, the plants needed watering. The building looked much different – the sun’s rays beating on that red entry door into the building left the door looking more orangy than ever, the windows needed washing, the lights that once light that beautiful building needed changing. Oh sure, 10 years had passed. The church I had grown up in had been sold as the property was too small and the congregation relocated. Several congregations we worshiping in that church building now, but no one seemed to be doing the upkeep. My parents had told me about it, but I really wasn’t ready to see what I saw.

Life is full of changes, isn’t it? I mean think back over the past 365 days of this year called 2009 coming to a close in 4 or so hours. What types of changes have you seen this year? What types of changes have you experienced? Have gone from living at home to now living out on your own? Did you experience the joy of employment in January but battle the frustration of unemployment in December. Did you’re stocks seem somewhat stable on January 1 but began to slip and sink after the year had begun? Maybe 2009 saw a loved one depart this life or family members growing apart because of strife. Maybe you watched your family increase in size because there was a baby or a family member got married. Maybe this was the year of the morning visits to the doctor that left you a bit fearful or more difficult meetings a work or a harder year in the classroom than the past. Maybe life changed because there was a diagnosis that was discouraging or a prognosis that was encouraging. Life is full of changes, right?

Some we welcome. Others we wince at. Some we look for. Others we lament. Some we smile about. Others we scowl at. Some we embrace enthusiastically. Others we cry about uncontrollably. At times, it can seem that change brings more challenge than success, more sorrow than joy.
But as we are a couple hours and some minutes away from closing out 2009 and beginning 2010, there is someone who has not changed? Someone who has not shifted with the sinking sand? Someone who has not faded like man’s glory. Someone who isn’t like a son of man who changed his mind like we have so often over the past 365 days! My friends, how could we think of welcoming a new year when the clock strikes midnight tonight if we didn’t have the divine assurance that with Jesus nothing has changed?

Can you imagine what an abomination, an atrocity if he had? Can you imagine if he withheld every good and perfect gift from us? We would cease to exist! Can you imagine if God had changed his mind and said I will love you when you first love me? We would be embarrassed! Can you imagine if he decided not to forgive and forget but decided to present to us today the sum total of all the sins we committed this past year? Can you imagine the shame if he would open our eyes to see all our nasty thoughts about that person that made me mad or that computer that wasn’t working right or the car when it wouldn’t turn over? Can you imagine the humiliation if he would allow all to hear the evil words we allowed out of our mouth – the cursing, the swearing, the lying, the deceiving, the times we used his name in vain? Can you imagine if he spread out all of our loveless actions like dirtied plastic containers littering the ditches? Can you imagine if he decided he hasn’t removed our sins as far as the East is from the West but would reveal ever single one that is crammed and squeezed into the 8,760 hours of the past year?

My friends, the serious person, when changing the calendar, can’t help but look back. I know what I am. I know what I’ve done. I know what I’ve failed to do. I know it’s not pleasant. I know my sin is always before me – the nasty thoughts; the evil words; the loveless actions. Lord have mercy!
So who’s going to pick up all that ugly garbage? Not just bag it. Not just haul it to the landfill to dispose of it. Not just think out of sight, out of mind. Who is going to eliminate it, annihilate it forever? Jesus will! Jesus has! That child who, for a while, called a manger his home mounted a cross. That child who looked so innocent was innocent but became sin for me. My friends, one thing has never changed. What Jesus did! The cross he climbed was the place where he shed his crimson blood to cover my stain. The cross he climbs was the place where God plunged my sins into the depth of the sea. The payment made there is still as good as the day Jesus signed, sealed, and delivered it to us with those precious words – “It is finished.” That payment isn’t just your assurance for the year that has past or the minute in which you presently stand, but your assurance for the year to come. Jesus does not change!

Because he doesn’t change, my friends, you are not weighed down with worry, pressed down by pessimism, overcome with guilt, or saddled with shame. You can come before your Savior and come clean and know my Savior who does not change will forgive me yet, another time. He will not tell me I’ve used up the quota for the year, like my vacation days? He will not tell me he has changed his mind about covering my sins’ debt or canceling sins’ consequences. Thank God that nothing’s changed. Jesus is there with the same pardon yesterday, today, and forever.

The year changes and so does life. What will the year ahead bring? I read an article recently that said, Retirees shouldn’t expect an increase in their monthly Social Security check, even though health costs will continue their steady climb. We will view televised sports in 3-D, witness six to eight hurricanes in the Atlantic, watch as Ruth Bader Ginsburg retires from the Supreme Court and tune in to Sarah Palin’s new talk show…Next year we’ll see oil hit $90 a barrel (per Goldman Sachs), unemployment peak at 10.5% (Fitch Ratings), the value of the dollar with respect to the euro and yen hit bottom (Deutsche Bank), 10-year Treasuries yield more than 4% (Bank of America Merrill Lynch) and small-cap value stocks outperform all other categories (Richard Bernstein Capital Management). As for the stock market more broadly? Strategists at UBS expect gains well into the double-digits. The CEO of PIMCO sees a 10% drop. (Read more: http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1949393,00.html#ixzz0b1…)

What will the year ahead bring? Is it retirement, a new job, a new boyfriend, a new doctor, a new girlfriend? Is it a new hairdo, high school graduation, the desire to lose 10 pounds, more family time, or giving up that bad habit? A New Year is before us – accountants, administrative assistants, carpenter, classmate, homemaker, medical professional, office manager, painter, plumber, retiree, student, moms, dads, and everyone in between it could happen that the year will be uneventful and the waves will only be ripples and the bumps will only be minor in 2010. It could be that the waves rock the boat and the bumps break it to pieces. It could even be that our walk down the road will end in the coming year and heaven will be our home by December 31, 2010. I don’t know! Yes your life may change drastically and dramatically or it may be calm and quiet. But my friends no matter what happens, Jesus will not change.

For he who is for us, will go with us and stay by us. With his compassion and love. With his presence, his power, his promises. And you know what? It’s all for our benefit. Therefore we can walk into the New Year with courage and confidence. For Jesus who is the same yesterday, today, and forever will be there to strengthen us when we have personal difficulties. He lend his helping hand when we face setbacks. He will be there to comfort and console when there is sorrow. He will be there to guide when decisions need to be made. In times of uncertainty and anxiety he will envelop us in his love and remind us all things work together for good. And yes, even in death - our own or a loved one Jesus will be there usher his people in their heavenly home has prepared for those who know him as their Savior.

He’ll be there with all those things because changelessness is what Jesus Christ is all about. What a feeling, right? When change and decay in all around we see? What a feeling to know that the One who walks with us is the same yesterday, today and forever. And in that sameness of Christ we find our confidence, courage, satisfaction, and strength for the New Year before us as it was in the year behind us. AMEN