Special note
for leaders:
I
didn't put this into the video, because I didn't think of it as I was
filming. But when we get down to point three and the jealousy of God,
some students may well object and ask if this doesn't make God sound
like an upset three year old, or maybe a jealous high school
girlfriend. The answer, of course, is no. But why is the answer no?
If I was this jealous it certainly would bespeak something pretty
terrible about my character. The difference between you and me and
the three year old and the high school girl on the one hand, and God
on the other, is simple: we don't deserve
the worship, praise, adoration, and commitment of others (obviously
there are contexts where certain elements of these are appropriate,
but we are talking at the most basic level). If we were to demand
these things, we would be demanding something unjust, unfair, unkind,
and not good. However, when God demands our praise, He is actually
giving us a command that leads to our joy. He is telling us to
worship the only one worthy of worship. He is telling us to point our
worship the only place was made to be pointed. He is, in effect,
telling us to live life to the full. Thus, for God to jealously
demand our worship, and to display His wrath when this demand is not
met, is a function of His holy love and goodness towards us, not of
some self-pity or immaturity.
The
Attributes of God Part 2
Absolute
Curriculum
Year
1, Lesson 7
Introduction
In
the last session we opened our discussion of God's attributes,
looking specifically at
1)
God's eternity, the fact that He always has been and always will be.1
This is revealed in the explicit statements of Scripture, as well as
His revelation of His name to Moses in Exodus 3, “I Am Who I Am.”
2)
God's sovereignty, we looked at the fact that God's governance of and
control over creation is all encompassing.
3)
God's holiness, we looked at God's transcendence, His otherness, and
His moral perfection.
Point
1: God is Love
If
you ask most folks what they thinkabut God, they will tell you that
God is love. Of course, they are right. At least, their words are
right. But their meaning is probably wrong, because we think of love
as always doing what we think is nice, or never doing anything
uncomfortable for us. In essence, we think of a cosmic candy
dispenser. Now, when we come to the Bible and talk about God, are we
talking about the 21st Century niceness? No. What is the biblical
basis for thinking that God is love?
1
John 4:7
“Beloved,
let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has
been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not
know God, because God is love.”2
To
know God is to know love, and His love will pour through us. What
does God's love look like in Scripture? While it encompasses many
things, it finds its fullest expression in perhaps the most famous
verse in the Bible:
16 “For
God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever
believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.3
It
is in this way that God loved the world, He sent His Son into the
world. Why? So that those who place their faith and trust in Him
might have life.
God
shows His love by giving His Son to us; our love, or lack thereof, is
shown by our love of the darkness.4
The
love of God for us in Christ is even more fully unpacked for us in
Philippians chapter two, verses 1 through 8, which read,
“So
if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any
participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete
my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full
accord and of one mind. 3 Do
nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count
others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let
each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the
interests of others. 5 Have
this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who,
though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a
thing to be grasped, 7 but
emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the
likeness of men. 8 And
being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to
the point of death, even death on a cross.”
Christ
humbled Himself and became obedient to death. In doing so, He made it
possible for us to be brought to God.5
In bringing us to Himself, what God was accomplishing was the
bringing us into the love which He has for Himself in His Triune
being:
“Father,
I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where
I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me
before the foundation of the world...I made known to them your name,
and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you
have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” 6
God
loves Himself. God the Father loves the Son and the Spirit, the Son
loves the Spirit and the Father, the Spirit loves the Son and the
Father.
What
is God doing in salvation? He is inviting us into the love, a love
which we were created to participate in but could not because of our
sin.
Point
2- God is Merciful
Psalm
145:8-9,
“The
Lord is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
The Lord is good to all,
and his mercy is over all that he has made.”
Here
we are introduced to two really important theological words: grace
and mercy. God shows grace, undeserved favor, to all men; especially
to those who place their trust in Him. He pours gifts graciously on
all men. Matthew 5:44-45,
“ But
I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
45 so
that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes
his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just
and on the unjust.”
No
one deserves the rain. We don't deserve the sun to rise day after day
and year after year. And yet He gives it to us all. To you, to me, to
Hitler, to murderers, to our awesome grandma, and to our annoying
little brother.
Point
3- God is jealous, and God is a God of Wrath
This
is the point which really makes the others all the more amazing.
4 “You
shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of
anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or
that is in the water under the earth. 5 You
shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord
your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on
the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate
me, 6 but
showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my
commandments.”7
God
is a jealous God, one who visits the sins of the fathers down three
and four generations. That's how zealous He is for the glory of His
name, that's how seriously He takes our obedience, that's how jealous
He is for our love.8
The nature of the worship He demands, and the reasoning behind it,
are clearly seen in Hebrews 12:28-29,
“Therefore
let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and
thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe,
29 for
our God is a consuming fire.”9
We
need to realize the very terrifying nature of God. Standing before
God apart from Jesus Christ and His salvation is the most terrifying
thought in the universe. So let us cling to the God of Scripture, who
is both wrathful and kind.
13 I
charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and
of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the
good confession, 14 to
keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the
appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 which
he will display at the proper time—he who is the blessed and only
Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who
alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no
one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion.
Amen. 10
1Revelation
22:13
2
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2001). (1 John 4:7–8).
Wheaton: Standard Bible Society. All Scripture taken from the ESV,
unless otherwise noted.
3
John 3:16
4John
3:19
51
Peter 3:18
6
John 17:24, 26
7
Exodus 20:4-6
8See
special note for leaders at the top of this page.
9See
also passages such as Isaiah 6 and Revelation 1 for how great men of
God react when given a vision of God.
10
1 Timothy 6:13-16; see also 1 Timothy 1:17
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