Those Summary Attributes
1. There is a joke that is so old some of you may never have heard it. I don’t think I’ve told it – at least during a sermon – for twenty years.
2. In the foyer of a church, a young boy was looking at a plaque with names of men and women.. He asked the pastor, “Who are these people? ”The pastor said, “Those are members from our church who died in service.” The boy asked, “The early service or the second service?”
3. Last week, we mentioned how some Christian do not advance beyond a childish understanding of God. Martin Luther confronted a similar problem in his day: “Your thoughts of God are too human.”
4. As we have been looking as some of God’s attributes and qualities, you have hopefully picked up something along the way. We continue in that same path today.
Main Idea: When we ponder God in light of the Scriptures, we are overwhelmed with Who He is. Some of His attributes are lesser known than others, including what we call “summary attributes.”
I. God’s DELIGHT (Blessedness)
A. God is described as a BLESSED God.
1. The idea is that God is happy with Himself and creation as it reflects His character.
2. Does God have emotions. Impassivity or passivity. Yes, God does, IMO.
3. For us, emotions are contaminated by sin; can be a great blessing, but dangerous. They can motivate us to act foolishly. A fool is someone who follows emotion rather than reason.
4. God experiences a variety of emotions simultaneously; He delights in His creation, but He feels wrath and anger toward unrighteousness. We will elaborate later.
5. This is different from pronouncing a blessing, which is a wishful prayer or a setting apart of God’s Name for a particular blessing.
6. God finds contentment and delight in Himself and in what He does.
7. “God’s blessedness means that God delights fully in himself and in all that reflects his character.” Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, p. 218
8. I would define God’s blessedness as a joyful content and satisfaction on the part of God.
9. Being content is a God-like quality.
10. Ecclesiastes 3:13 makes more sense in light of this: “...also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God's gift to man.”
11. This is why human beings, created in God’s image, need a sense of purpose.
12. Even Adam and Eve had to tend a garden before the Fall.
B. We DELIGHT in God by delighting in His Name and His Word (Psalm 138:2b).
Psalm 37:4, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”
Luke 11:28, “But he said, "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!"
Many of you are familiar with Psalm 1 and Psalm 119.
C. God does not DELIGHT in everything simply because He created everything; creation is fallen.
1. The case of Saul substituting a sacrifice for obedience
2. For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you. (Psalm 5:4)
3. God takes delight in His saints. “As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight.” (I Samuel 15:9-23)
4. Psalm 51:6, “Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.”
5. Proverbs 11:20, “Those of crooked heart are an abomination to the Lord, but those of blameless ways are his delight.”
D. God delights when we recognize all are blessings are by His GRACE.
James 1:17, “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.”
I Corinthians 4:7b,c, “….What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?”
II. God’ PERFECTION and BEAUTY
A. Perfection: God possesses all good qualities and LACKS nothing.
Psalm 18:30, “This God—his way is perfect; the word of the Lord proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.
Deuteronomy 32:4, ““The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.”
B. BEAUTY is the positive side: God possesses all desirable attributes.
1. Obviously this is not outward, physical beauty; it is a spiritual beauty.
2. God’s beauty (Hebrew, hod) can be translated as splendor. ... beauty, comeliness,…majesty.
3. The church/bride of Christ, is not made up of physically beautiful people – unless you go to the right church, maybe. But it is the beauty of regenerate hearts that makes the church so beautiful.
4. Psalm 27:4, “One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.”
5. Perhaps Philippians 4:8 is a definition of beauty: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
6. I would argue that there is a connection between the human love of the arts – especially in more pure forms – and the image of God. Unfortunately, the world and its philosophy have defiled the arts, but we are to be selective in our enjoyment of them…
C. God is the complete FULFILLMENT of what we truly desire.
Psalm 73:25, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.”
III. God’s GLORY
A. In a sense, God’s glory is what is SPECIAL about Him.
• Human beings are like God in limited ways in some areas.
B. This is distinct from the concept of our bringing glory TO God, which means honor.
C. God’s glory has been often manifest as LIGHT, SHEKINAH cloud, or fire.
D. In a special sense, Jesus Christ is the GLORY of God.
Hebrews 1:3, “ He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high...”
1. When Muslims teach that Jesus was just a prophet, they deny His glory as God.
2. When Elon Musk says that Jesus was an amazing teacher and that He tries to live by His teachings, He is denying His glory as God.
3. When unitarians say Jesus: enlightened man but not God, they are denying His glory as God.
E. The magnitude of God’s Person and attributes are distinct and often REPRESENTED by unapproachable light.
1. Luke 2:9, “And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.”
2. I Timothy 6:16, “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.”
3. When Moses was with the Lord, His face shone with light, radiating God’s glory; had to wear a veil because the people were afraid of him (Exodus 34:29-35)
4. 2 Corinthians 3:18, “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”
5. This is why we need to spend time with the Lord.
