June 28, 2009 am
A STUDY OF GOD (9)
ATTRIBUTES OF GOD
God is Love
Today we resume our
study of God. In our study thus far
we have established the existence of God and noticed many of His divine
attributes (He is eternal, omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent, Spirit,
etc.). These are attributes
that simply make God – God!
Being God He possesses these attributes.
Today we begin a
series of lessons examining attributes of God directly related to us.
Over the next few weeks we are going to examine the goodness AND
severity of God. We want to
begin by examining the love of God.
The Bible has so
much to say about the love of God.
We cannot begin to cover everything in a single lesson, but we
will highlight some important things about His love.
First we will identify what this love is, and then we will see
how God has demonstrated this love to us.
Finally we will examine our reaction to His love.
a.
Agape love
– a word we have frequently discussed.
It is a word greatly misunderstood in our English language because of
the multiple uses of the word – everything from the love of a spouse or
child, to love of friends, to objects and activities.
People often equate the word with emotional love, but that is NOT
the way the word we are addressing is used in the Bible.
b.
Agape is a
most noble word associated with the Christian life – in fact, many
scholars attribute this word exclusive to Christianity.
It is found at the pinnacle of the Christian graces (2 Peter
1:5-7), indispensible in serving God (1 Corinthians 13), the greatest
command as taught by Jesus (Matt. 22:37-39), the bond of perfection
(Colossians 3:14), and a fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23).
As we shall see, it is manifested in its greatest form in God’s
love for us. It is at the
foundation of every relationship we are involved in from God, to our
brethren, our neighbors, family, friends and even our enemies.
It is a subject we cannot learn too much about.
c.
From the
Greek word, agape, which is defined by Thayer as, “to be full of good will and exhibit the same.”
It is difficult to describe because it is not really an emotion
but it involves emotion.
d.
The best
definition I have for this word is STILL, Caring enough to sacrifice for
what is best. You find that
description fits how we are to act in every relationship.
We will consider this as we examine how God loves us and how we
are to love God.
a.
1 John
4:8, 16 – Both passages specifically state “God is love.”
What does that mean?
i.
NOT that
all God is can be summed up in the word love.
He possesses other attributes besides this love (see those we
have already discussed).
In other words, God is not ONLY love.
ii.
God
is the essence of what love is.
His
love is more than just an attribute.
God is love in the same sense that He is Spirit (John 4:24), light (1
John 1:5) and a consuming fire (Heb. 12:29).
iii.
If you
want to understand love, examine how God loves us, i.e. what He has done
for us.
b.
His love
is seen in what He has done for us
i.
All of
God’s dealings with us proceed from His love.
ii.
1 John
4:9-10 –
He sent His only begotten Son.
This is at the foundation of our salvation.
John 3:16 – God so loved the world.
NOT only did He send His Son,
HE accepted His sacrifice for our
sins. That is what
is borne out in the word “propitiation.”
ALL that remains is for us to come in contact with that sacrifice –
which is what we do by obeying the gospel.
iii.
1 John
4:10 says, “In this is love, not
that we loved God, but that He loved us…”
God’s love was
demonstrated toward ALL mankind – EVERYONE has a hope of
salvation.
Romans 5:8 – tells us that the death of Christ is a demonstration of
God’s love toward us, you might say HOW MUCH he loved us.
iv.
His
grace and mercy emanate out of His love.
We often speak of the grace of God.
Grace means unmerited favor and describes ALL that God has done
to make salvation possible.
Consider Ephesians 2:4-5 - God’s rich mercy is seen because of his great
love and grace.
Mercy “is the outward
manifestation of pity; it assumes need on the part of him who receives
it, and resources adequate to meet the need on the part of him who shows
it.” (W.E. Vine)
– Titus 3:4-5
v.
His
longsuffering demonstrates His love
–
The Bible speaks of the Longsuffering of God - 2 Peter 3:9, Psalm 86:15,
“But you, O Lord, are a God full
of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering and abundant in mercy and
truth.”
Though His love is not specifically mentioned in passages that speak of
His longsuffering, it is obvious that His bearing with us is a product
of His love. Consider also 1
Cor. 13:4 which describes the character of this love – it suffers long.
When we think of our sinful condition, and even more than that the
sinful condition of so many in the world, we wonder why He continues to
put up with mankind. The
answer is because of His love.
He doesn’t want us to perish – WHICH IS WHY He sent Jesus to die
in the first place (Jn. 3:16).
vi.
His
revelation to us –
Another demonstration of God’s love is His word to us.
Some call the Bible a “love letter from God.”
It is in a sense, as it tells us not only what He has done for us
but what He expects us to do to receive salvation.
In His word we have “all things
that pertain to life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:2-3).
This includes telling us how much He loves us, which we have noticed
already.
vii.
His
chastening –
How God chastens us is something we do not fully comprehend.
But we know that whom He loves He chastens (Heb. 12:6).
viii.
What He has promised us in the future
-
The reason we are here is because we have hope.
We endure many things in this
life – we sacrifice, we suffer, we go through difficult times, etc.
Why? We know that when this life is over, something better awaits
us – a home in heaven.
That home prepared is a product of His love – John 3:16 – everlasting
life. Romans 6:23
1 John 3:1-3 speaks of the manner of love that God has bestowed upon us.
He proceeds to address some of what we have to look forward to
which results in, “everyone who
has this hope in Him purifies himself just as He is pure.”
Romans 5:5 tells us, “Now hope
does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our
hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”
a.
1 John
4:19 –
we love Him back.
The better we understand the love of God toward us, the more we
will love Him back. We will
strive to give Him the greatest portion we can of the type of
love He has given us.
AT first this may not be something we fully understand, ( possibly
driven by fear or some other emotion – cf. 4:17-18 ) but in time, as we
grow we will better understand this and act accordingly.
b.
We
have to love others –
We have frequently noted that the Christian life is about serving
others. There is no way
around it. Philippians 2:3-4
tells us we must think about the interest of others.
Consider: 1 John 4:7-8 says, “Beloved,
let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is
born of God and knows God.
He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”
NOTICE how this text (and vs. 16) which both say, “God is love” also
address something we are to do? John
13:34-35 – Jesus taught His disciples that we learn to love one another
the way that He loved us.
1 John 5:20-21 emphatically states that if we DON’T love our brethren
and claim to love God we are liars.
What this tells me is that if I am going to please God I HAVE TO learn
to love my brethren. Not
always easy, but ALWAYS necessary.
c.
We
keep His commandments –
Do you ever wonder why we are so strict when it comes to obeying the
commandments of God? The
reason is that shows how much we love God.
Loving God is not just about some feeling you have in the pit of
your stomach or in your heart (though in time affection should be there)
it is about reverence and respect for Him and His commandments.
2 John 6 says, “This is love, that
we walk according to His commandments.
This is the commandment, that as you have heard from the
beginning, you should walk in it.”
1 John 2:3-6 bears this out noting that when we keep His word, the love
of God is perfected in us.
1 John 5:2-3 says, “By this we
know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His
commandments. For this is
the love of God, that we keep His commandments.
And His commandments are not burdensome.”
What is it that makes His commandments NOT burdensome?
It is not the difficulty of the task, but rather our attitude.
It is about how much we care for God.
When you truly love someone, you are willing to do whatever needs
to be done WITHOUT complaining.
d.
We
will obey the gospel if we have not done so
–
We believe in Him – John 3:16
We are willing to repent of our sins – Romans 2:4 says, “Or
do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and
longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to
repentance.”
We confess Him as the Son of God – Matthew 10:32,33
We are baptized into His death -
Romans 6:3,4.
BUT let us never
forget that love is NOT all God is about.
As we continue our study we will see more of His attributes.