A Sunday School Lesson On Change

Here is a Sunday school lesson or Bible study on change.

God Doesn’t Change

Hebrews 13:8 “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

The fact that God doesn’t change is found throughout Scripture with the main theme being “I the Lord do not change” (Mal 3:6a) because God has no need to change. Has it ever occurred that nothings ever occurred to God? Jesus Christ as God (John 1:1) has no need to change either but in one particular case He voluntarily chose to change and become flesh and was born of a virgin, as the Apostle John writes, “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14) and “to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13). Which is why wrote “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” (James 1:17). Are we glad God doesn’t change with the times? What a glorious God we have and if Jesus promises eternal life to all who believe in Him (John 3:16), and knowing God cannot lie (Num 23:19), we know that promise of today will become reality in eternity.

Name one thing besides God that doesn’t change and besides change itself?

Why did Jesus chose to change into the flesh (Mark 10:45; Rom 5:8-10)?

What in us should change?

God Cannot Lie

Number 23:19 “God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?”

Paul knows that God cannot lie. He must have been familiar with Numbers 23:19 and so could write with confidence “Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written, “That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged” (Rom 3:4). Your parent might lie to you or your uncle, your stockbroker, your congress man or woman, your spouse, your children, your…pastor! If someone says they’ve never told a lie, they just added one more. God has no need to lie because even a pagan kind does what He wills (Prov 21:1) and what He decrees cannot be stopped. Humans lie to cover up mistakes, sins, or crimes but what God says, God does. When it is written by God, it cannot be altered.

Why do we sometimes lie?

Does this mean that everyone is a liar?

Is there such a thing as a “while lie?”

Where do all unrepentant liars end up (Rev 21:8)?

Our Change

First Corinthians 15:51-52 “Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.”

We were made to change. You can’t even drive down the same highway again for even it’s changed in some way when you drive back down that road. It has changed from the moment you drove over it until you come back again; in fact, you caused some of that change yourself by the weight of your vehicle, but we too are changing. For those of us who are older, these are not always changes for the good. Our health begins to decline, our sight and hearing begin to fade, and as corruptible beings, our bodies are slowly wasting away (2nd Cor 4:16) but a change is coming for the one who has been born again (John 3:3-7). It will be in a split second and our mortal, decaying body will become imperishable, just as those who are now dead. At that moment, “we shall be changed” and no more will we be perishing but imperishable as Paul writes, “this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality” (2nd Cor 15:53) and almost as if to taunt death, Paul writes “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting” (2nd Cor 15:55).

Can you even imagine what that change will be like?

Can you try to describe that change from “perishable” to “imperishable?”

Why does Paul call it a mystery (Eph 1:8-10)?

The Earth’s Change

Hebrews 1:10-12 “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands; they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment…But you are the same, and your years will have no end.”

Just as we shall be changed someday (2nd Cor 15), so too will the earth as Peter writes that “the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed” (2nd Pet 3:10) for “the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you will remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away” (Psalm 102:25-26). Even the words Jesus spoke, He said “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (Matt 24:35) and then the Apostle John “saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband, the New Jerusalem will descend out of heaven” (Rev 21:1-2).

What does the fire Peter mentions represent (Isaiah 29:6; 30:27)?

Is the earth destroyed or is it just the surface of the earth?

Is being “burned up and dissolved” the same as complete destruction?

Conclusion

I urge you in your study to look at all of the Bible verses and read them aloud in the class so that you can get the most out of these lessons so that you can see how change is an everyday experience for us. We cannot help but change and the only thing that doesn’t change is that everything is always changing. God alone never changes and thankfully, like the “children of Jacob,” we too “are not consumed” (Mal 3:6).

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren Church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Teaching Children the Gospel available on Amazon.