Enjoy the Attributes of God – Session 5

God’s Communicable Attributes, Part 2

Reading: 1 John 4: 7-21

AUDIO

Lecture Handout

Handout – Session 5

Lesson Notes

• Moral Attributes
  • Two main spheres of God’s moral attributes: His goodness (love, mercy, grace, patience) and His holiness (righteousness, justice, peace, jealousy, and wrath)
  • Love
    • Grudem, “God’s love means that God eternally gives of himself to others.“
    • God’s love is self-giving for the benefit of others
    • God is love – 1 John 4: 8
    • God’s love was eternally active within the Trinity – John 17: 24
    • God’s love for us is best expressed at the cross – Romans 5: 8, 1 John 4: 10, John 3: 16, Galatians 2: 20
      • There is a universal, impartial love for all people
      • But there is also a partial, discriminate love for particular people
      • Most biblical statements about love describe  God’s particular love for His own people
      • The cross illustrates this – “God so loved the world”, but it’s only through faith that we’re adopted as His sons and daughters
    • We share in this communicable attribute by 
      • Loving God in return
      • By loving others in imitation of His love for them
      • Matthew 22: 37-38 – Great commandment
      • 1 John 5:3 – we love God by obeying His commandments
  • Goodness – Omnibenevolence
    • Grudem – “The goodness of God means that God is the final standard of good, and that all that God is and does is worthy of approval.“
    • This challenges us and perhaps even offends us a bit, but it’s true!
    • Jesus – Luke 18: 19, “No one is good except God alone” – God is the ultimate definition, measure, and arbiter of goodness
      • Which means our understanding of good will always be partial and biased toward the present rather than the ultimate and eternal
      • We must be very careful in how we define and describe good!
    • Good is what God approves and what  God approves is good because He approves it! (This is an unusual way for us to think and reason, but underscores the nature of God)
    • All God does is good – see beginnings of Psalms 104, 105, 106, and 107
    • All good things come from God – James 1: 17
    • He does only good things for His people – Romans 8: 28, 31-32
    • He disciplines us for our good – Hebrews 12: 10
    • Other attributes of God can be defined in terms of His goodness
      • God’s mercy is His goodness toward those in distress
      • God’s grace is His goodness toward those who deserve only punishment
      • God’s patience is His goodness toward those who continue to sin over a period of time
    • We’re called to share in this attribute of God
      • To be good, do good, and seek the good
      • Galatians 6: 9-10
      • Luke 6: 27-36
  • Mercy
    • Grudem, “God’s goodness toward those in misery and distress“
    • Compassion or pity of God as expressed to those in dire need, downcast, ruined, helpless, and hopeless
    • This is a free choice of God – He’s under no obligation to anyone – Romans 9: 15-16
    • Nonetheless, His mercy is very great – 2 Samuel 24: 10-14
    • Ephesians 2: 1-5 – we were dead, hopeless, and helpless and God raised us in Christ because of His mercy
    • God comforts us because He is Father of mercies – 2 Corinthians 1: 3-5
    • We are to imitate His mercy – Matthew 5: 7
  • Grace
    • Grudem, “God’s goodness to those who deserve only punishment“
    • God’s favor toward those who deserve only punishment is always freely given by God, He is under no obligation
    • But God is regularly gracious – Psalm 119: 132
    • Our salvation is by grace alone – Romans 3: 23-24
    • God’s grace isn’t just what saves us
      • God’s grace sustains us daily
      • Paul uses it as an ongoing blessing upon us in His letters
    • We’re called to love and show grace in our lives as God has shown it toward us
      • 1 Corinthians 13 describes a love that isn’t “earned”
      • Ephesians 5 compares marriage to Christ’s love for the church
      • Matthew 18: 21-35 commands grace toward those who don’t deserve it because of the immense grace we’re received
  • Patience
    • Grudem, “God’s goodness in withholding of punishment toward those who sin over a period of time.“
    • Contrary to popular belief, this is what we see consistently throughout the Old Testament – centuries of sin before the reckoning
    • Because God is “slow to anger” – Romans 2: 4-5
    • We’re called to be patient
      • Slow to anger – James 1: 19
      • Patience is part of the fruit of the Spirit, a work of God
      • It requires continuous trust in God’s goodness and ability to fulfill His promises and plans for our lives in His timing – James 5: 7-8
  • Holiness
    • What exactly is holiness? We so intermingle it with God and church that we may struggle to understand what it really means
    • To be set apart from the ordinary, worldly, and sinful
      • Sabbath was holy because it was set apart from worldly activities and dedicated to God’s service
      • The tabernacle where God’s presence rested had a holy place and a most holy place, separated by a veil
      • Aaron and his sons were made hly – set apart from ordinary work, evil, and sin of the world and dedicated to God’s service
      • Clothing rules, dietary restrictions, and circumsion were part of holiness – not because they were morally necessary, but to  make Israel distinctive from all nations around them
      • God wants His people marked off and distinct from all others!
    • God is the Holy One of Israel
    • Grudem, “God’s holiness means that he is separated from sin and devoted to seeking His own honor.“
    • God is eternally separate and distinct, in particular distinct from all impurity, and He demands purity from His moral creatures
      • Exodus 15: 11
      • Isaiah 6: 1-7
      • Revelation 4: 1-11
    • Israel was set apart, by God for His purposes – Exodus 19: 4-6
    • But that didn’t work well; now all Christ-followers are likewise set apart – 1 Peter 1: 13-16
    • We mus tseparate ourselves from the ungodly influences of the world and understand Christ died to make us holy, to set us apart – 2 Corinthians 6: 16 – 7: 1
    • The church is called to be holy – Ephesians 5: 25-27
    • In the new heaven and earth, all will be  holy! – Zechariah 14: 20-21

Closing Praise & Prayer

Psalm 103 – 

Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!

Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

The LORD works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel. The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever.  He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. for as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.

As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children, to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments. The LORD has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all.

Bless the LORD, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his word! Bless the LORD, all his hosts, his  ministers, who do his will! Bless the LORD, all his works, in all places of his dominion. Bless the LORD, O my soul!