What We Believe: God (Part 2) Series

Three Sundays ago, we looked at the fact that God is self-existent. In other words, God is the first cause of all there is. The Bible tells us that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. God existed before there was anything.

God’s self-existence also means that He did fine before we came along, and that God will do fine after we are gone. He has no need of anything to sustain His existence. We on the other hand are not self-existent. Before 1968, I didn’t exist. And without oxygen, food and water, I cannot continue to exist.

We also talked about why we should care what God is like. We should care what God is like because the Bible tells us we are made in God’s image. Although certain characteristics of God are not reflected in mankind, such as God’s self-existence, certain other characteristics of God are reflected in mankind, such as the moral and relational traits of God. Therefore, if we know what God is like, we will know what we were meant to be like.

We should also care what God is like for the same reason that we care what our boss or our President is like. God has great control over our lives, not limited to our work and government. Our understanding of God influences our attitudes toward all of life and our actions in all of life.

Finally, what God is like will either encourage or discourage us to relate with God. Many people have the wrong picture of God, and they waste time, energy and emotions running away from God. While those who know the true God enjoy friendship with God and fulfillment in life.

This morning we’ll look at two more characteristics or attributes of God. I thought I could cover four, but there is just too much, and you’ll be hungry when lunch time comes.

The first attribute of God that we’ll look at this morning is that God is one. In other words, there is only one true God, however He reveals Himself. Other people may refer to this oneness of God as the simplicity or the unity of God.

Genesis 1:26 reads, "Then God said, ’Let us make man in our image, in our likeness....’" Here, one God who speaks and reveals Himself to be plural, "us" and "our."

Deuteronomy 6:4 affirms, "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one." Again the Bible affirms that God is one or united, no matter how He reveals Himself.

Isaiah 46:9 reads, "Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me." The uniqueness of God is affirmed here. There is only one true God.

Jesus says in Matthew 28:19, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit...." Jesus mentions the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit in the same breath, identifying their equality.

Paul writes to the Corinthians, "We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one. For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many "gods" and many "lords"), yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live (1 Corinthians 8:4-6)." Paul tells us that other gods are man-made, while the God who made man is one, revealed in the Father and the Son.

There are many other passages in the Bible where the oneness and unity of God is revealed. The Athanasia Creed around 500 A.D. affirmed, "...the Father is God, the Son is God and the Holy [Spirit] is God, and yet there are not three gods, but one God."

To ask how can the Father, Son and Holy Spirit be one God is like asking how can water be wet and how can fire be hot? Wetness is an attribute of water and hotness is an attribute of fire. And existing in three Persons is the attribute of the one true God.

But why should you care that there is only one God. First, if there is only one God, you and I are not God. That means we don’t have to pretend to be God. We can relax. We can be human.

Some people see the pastor as having semblance to God. And some pastors believe it. I’m one of them. It’s not healthy, but I believe that if I don’t live a perfect life, I will discredit the existence of God. The truth is, there is only one perfect God and no perfect pastors.