The Communicable Attributes of God

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Okay, so you see at the top of your handout, it says, the communicable attributes of God. Does anybody want to guess what is a communicable attribute? Remember last week, maybe compare them. Yes. Yeah. Attributes of God that we also have, at least in part. Obviously not perfectly and to the extent, but we have them. That's exactly right. So the main idea then, which I have a couple blanks left out for you, is the communicable attributes are God's characteristics or perfections as revealed by Scripture. So the communicable attributes are God's characteristics or perfections as revealed by Scripture that God communicates or shares with human beings. One of the many surprises of parenting for us has been when Annie was born. We immediately saw her hair, her red hair. Now, it's not totally unexpected for obvious reasons why she would have such hair, but it was still kind of surprising. It's still kind of rare. And just that little feature has caused people to tell us constantly that she looks like me. She looks like me. I think she obviously has a little bit of both, but she certainly resembles me. But this kind of simple thing has become a lot more important in my life. This little fact that we kind of just take for granted. We more or less look like our parents, you know, some more than others. And sometimes you look more like one than the other. So it's not always equal, but we do. And it's kind of like a token, a reminder from where we come. And, you know, I can see that in her. I can somewhat see it between me and my parents. It's just a reminder of from where I came. And so when we think about God's communicable attributes, we should think about this because we have several examples of traits and characteristics that we share with God. And this is because he created us. He is the Father of all mankind. And so we likewise reflect that, again, more or less, not perfectly, but we can see that. And so when we think about these characteristics, we should remember the God who created us and our connection to him and the great privilege we have of being connected to Him. Now, now let's do a couple of our review questions. So first, what is theology? How do we define this? Henry? Yeah. The study of God and how to be more like Jesus. Right. And those are so intimately connected, as you put. Thank you. Now, we have studied. What was the first, like, main topic? We studied for several weeks the doctrine of. What do you have it? Not confident. Scripture. Scripture. Yes, that's right. The doctrine of Scripture, the doctrine of the Word. And just to remind you, when we say doctrine, that's like a collection of teachings. So a collection of teachings about the Word. I won't go through all seven or eight of those. I think it was eight. And now we are on what big heading? The doctrine of. Yes. Huh? God. Yeah. God himself. Some people say theology proper because it is actually just studying God himself. That's exactly right. And now under that, we have studied. What was the first lesson that we did for the doctrine of God? Yes, well, that's true. What's the first one under doctrine of God, specifically? So this was two weeks ago, but we did do the inspiration of Scripture. That was our very first one. Overall, it's a really good memory, actually. I know two weeks ago was. Maybe it was three weeks. Did we take a break? No, it was just two weeks ago. You look like you might have it, Thalia. I don't know. That's right. Knowability and incomprehensibility. So we can know God, but we can't know him exhaustively. Right. That's perfect. And then last week was the other one. We already talked about it. The incommunicable attributes. What were some of those? Does anybody remember any of them? Those attributes of God that we don't share? Yeah. So we could say he's eternal. His eternality. That's a great example. Any others we remember? Yeah, yeah. God is spirit, whereas we are embodied spirits. Okay, maybe we can do one more. [00:05:37] Speaker B: It's okay. [00:05:38] Speaker A: We don't have to do them all. Yeah. Omniscient, omnipresent. That's right. Those are both. Yeah. He's unchanging, immutable. There's probably a couple others we went over, and I don't think we covered exhaustively all of them anyway. But those are some examples. So here we're doing God's communicable attributes. Can you guys make any guesses what these might be? Character traits of God that we share, at least in part. Yeah. Love. Love. That's right. That's one of them. We're going to go over some, but any other quick guesses? We'll see if these. If you match what we have. Righteousness. Yeah. I think that's at least in a sense. Right. I'm trying to think. Some of them are a little confusing to me even, but. All right, well, let's just go through what we have. We'll see what we got. All right. So God's attributes. That's like our big main point. Number one, God's attributes. The first one we Have. I'll just write it on the board. I don't know if there are blanks for these or not. I can't remember. Is knowledge. God has knowledge and we have knowledge. We can know things. This refers to God's knowledge, which is all encompassing. Right. It's omniscience. He knows absolutely everything. But this does relate to us. Now, I need several volunteers for scripture reading so we can split these up. Can I get one person to read first John 3:20? Just raise your hand if you're willing to do it. All right, first John 3:20. Psalm 94. Psalm 90, verse 4. Okay. Hebrews 4:13. Do you want to do that one? Hebrews 4:13. Isaiah 42, 9. [00:07:55] Speaker B: Gabriel. [00:07:56] Speaker A: Okay, Job 28:24. All right, and then one more. [00:08:04] Speaker B: Matthew 11:21 23. All right, I can do that one. [00:08:13] Speaker A: That is okay. First John 3:20. That was Ezra, I think. Right? You can read that. All right, everyone listen to this. [00:08:23] Speaker C: What if our heart condemns us? God is greater than our heart and knows all things. [00:08:29] Speaker A: Okay, so what does this tell us about God? Real quick about his knowledge. He knows everything about us. Yeah, he knows all things. And specifically, he knows all the things about us. That's right. Okay. Psalm 94. Is that you? Yeah. What does this tell us about God's knowledge? He doesn't forget. Right. So that could be. You could. He knows. So the first one's like an umbrella for everything. But this is more specific. He knows the past. He does not forget the past. Everything that has happened across any span of years is but just a little moment for him to remember. It is that easy. Okay, Hebrews 4:13. [00:09:28] Speaker C: No creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes, and to whom he must give account. [00:09:34] Speaker A: Okay, so all are naked and exposed to him is the phrase used there. What does this say? Does this tell us anything about God's knowledge? What does it tell us? [00:09:42] Speaker C: Yeah, he knows things that are even kept secret. [00:09:45] Speaker A: Yeah, he knows you right now, and he knows your deepest secrets. He knows all things. We cannot hide anything from God. And this probably does and should terrify us so that we can be driven to him. So this is an important verse. Okay. Isaiah 42,9. [00:10:08] Speaker C: Come to pass the new things I now declare. Before they spring forth, I tell you of them. [00:10:13] Speaker A: Okay, what does this tell us about God's knowledge? Levi again, you're on fire. What? Yeah, he knows the future. You're right. So he knows what will happen. He knows all that will happen. And then Job 28:24 I don't remember who had that. Oh, thank you. Yes. So he looks to the earth, sees everything under the heavens. What does this teach us about his knowledge? Yeah, he knows. We could say he knows all possible realities. As he looks down, he can see all possible realities. And then finally, Matthew 11:21 23 says this. Woe to you, Chorazin. Woe to you, Bethsaida. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the Day of Judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven. You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. This is maybe a little more confusing. What is this telling us about his knowledge, specifically? When we read, if the mighty works done in you had been done somewhere else, those people would have repented. Yeah. So. Yeah, right. He knows what would have happened. He understands how his world works, how it would have worked if he had done things a certain way. So that is, you know, we'll stop there. That is a lot of different angles to understand God's knowledge. But we too know things. Now, we don't know them to the extent that God does, but he shares this ability to know with us. The second attribute is holiness. Holiness. God is holy, whereas we are called to be holy. So it refers specifically to God's status as being exalted above creation and absolutely morally pure. So those two facets are important. We talk about holiness. He's exalted above creation, so he's greater than all created things. And he is morally pure completely. Let's go altogether to Isaiah 6. [00:13:13] Speaker B: And. [00:13:13] Speaker A: Then I'll read these verses at the beginning of Isaiah 6. I want you guys to try to just imagine what Isaiah describes here. Isaiah 61:7. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings. With two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet. And with two he flew. And one called to another and said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. And the foundations of the threshold shook at the voice of him who called. And the house was filled with smoke. And I said, Isaiah, I said, woe is me, for I am Lost. For I am a man of unclean lips. I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said, behold, this has touched your lips. Your guilt is taken away, your sin atone for all. Right, so what does this scene teach us about God's holiness? He can purify, so he is holy, but we aren't holy. Right. Isaiah needs to be purified. Right. Is there anything else that we can learn here? I mean, we certainly saw that he was exalted sitting on a throne. Right. Now it is interesting because Isaiah is impure. He is unholy. And I'm saying that we share this trait. This is because the Lord clearly wants us to be holy. He calls us at several points in Scripture, you shall be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy. And in a sense we can pursue holiness and be more holy than the day before. That is possible. But he is the ultimate epitome of this holiness. All right. The third attribute is righteousness, which somebody said at the beginning, so shout out righteousness. I'll just put righteous slash just so he is righteous and just so his righteousness and justice. I put these together because they're sort of saying the same thing. Righteous just refers to God being upright in all his ways, all of his standards, and all of his judgments. So anything he does, says, thinks, judges, decides, is just. It is righteous. It is correct. Alright, let's go to Deuteronomy 32. [00:16:27] Speaker B: And when we get there, can somebody. [00:16:34] Speaker A: Read Deuteronomy 32, verse 4? [00:16:41] Speaker C: I can get it. [00:16:42] Speaker A: Okay. [00:16:45] Speaker C: The rock. His work is perfect for all his ways. Are justice a God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is He. [00:16:55] Speaker A: Thank you. Yeah. He is perfect. All his ways are justice, faithful. He has no iniquity, which is sin. He's just upright. All of these are great descriptors of God. These are also things that we are expected to be and we can be right. We expect people to be just and upright. At least we want them to be. And we specifically want this in, you know, legal systems. Like we want police officers to be just. We want judges to be just right. Now, what are some examples of injustices? This could be like a big deal or like a little thing, you know, it can vary. What are some examples? Maybe some. We deal with day to day. Yes. Yeah, you Said abortion. Yeah. That is an injustice. Right. Not protecting people's lives. Maybe stealing. Stealing is not just maybe. Anyone got any? We can throw out more? Did you say something? Yeah. Killing, false imprisonment. If somebody is imprisoned, maybe because judge was bad. I don't know. I'm sure this happens and it happens varying degrees around the world. Yeah, yeah. So, I mean, really, any crime. Right. Those are all good examples. But God is righteous. We know that nothing like this comes from Him. And he calls us to do justice and to be righteous in our own lives and to our best ability to pursue righteousness and justice for our communities, you know, for the common good of all people. Because righteousness and justice, even if some people disagree, is good for everybody. And this is because it reflects God. All right, Fourth is actually two, which. These are different, but they're so related. I put them together is grace, and you probably guess mercy. Grace and mercy. Now, I should ask. Hello, welcome in. Now I should ask, what is the difference between grace and mercy? Yes. Yeah, that's right. And I would probably add that grace would be receiving a good that you haven't necessarily earned or merited. And mercy is not receiving something, maybe bad or negative, that you do. And so we can see this in God himself. Right. What's an example of a grace? Yeah, what? Well, I think that's a mercy, actually. Right. If we deserve judgment and he doesn't judge all of us, that is a mercy. So that's a good example of one. Yeah, Life. Exactly. Our life. I mean, nice things, you know, beautiful music is a grace. A free country is a grace. Right. The Bible, printed to the extent that we can all have our own copy, is a grace. So all these are examples of graces, and there are countless graces. And some are to his people, like salvation, and some are to all people. Right. Like I said, like music, you know, nice things that are beneficial to society and to our souls. That is for all people. So grace is not necessarily even always just for believers. All right, next. This one is a little different. This is jealousy. Ooh, jealousy. Is God jealous? What does this mean? What does jealousy mean? [00:21:40] Speaker C: Yeah, it means that he doesn't have an equal. [00:21:43] Speaker A: He doesn't have an equal. Yeah, I think that's right for him. Are you sure it's okay? There's more than one answer. I think we use the word differently, so that's okay. Let's go to Exodus 34 and kind of read an example of this. Exodus 34. Would somebody be willing to read verses. [00:22:14] Speaker B: 13 and 14 of Exodus 34. [00:22:20] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:22:21] Speaker A: 13 and 14. Thank you. Well, that's interesting. Not only is he jealous, we read that his name is jealous. So what does it mean? That God is jealous? Right. So what did you say? [00:22:52] Speaker C: He doesn't have an equal. [00:22:53] Speaker A: He has no equal. And so why does that lead to the word jealousy? Maybe explain that more if someone else wants to. Yeah, when people praise other things, because if there is no equal, then he's deserving of it all. All praise and honor and glory. So he is protective of his honor. We could say God is protective of his honor. Now, how is God's jealousy different from ours? [00:23:29] Speaker C: Is it actually justified because he's God? [00:23:33] Speaker A: We aren't, right? So we could be jealous for God in a righteous way. In theory. But typically our jealousy is more sinful. It puts ourselves at the center, deserving of that which we don't necessarily deserve. So that's exactly right. Because we are sinful, we take even an attribute that is perfect with God and it can become sinful through our hearts. Jealousy. The last one we will do is power. God is powerful. We too can exercise power in different ways. And we're going to go to Jeremiah 32. Will somebody read Jeremiah 32? 17:32. [00:24:27] Speaker B: What? [00:24:28] Speaker A: Lydia is going to read it, but yeah, 17. [00:24:42] Speaker B: Jeremiah 32. [00:24:44] Speaker A: 17. Nothing is too hard for people, right? Nothing too hard for God. So this is God's omnipotence. There's another way to write this out. Omnipotence. But we are not omnipotent. That is God. He is all powerful. Now, have you guys ever heard, this is a question that if you haven't, you know, if you go to college, like, some professor is going to ask you this question and think he's like the smartest person on the planet. You ever heard someone ask, can God create a rock too big for him to move it? Raise your hand if you've heard that. Okay, so some people, right? That's a classic skeptic, atheistic, agnostic question to say, well, if God's powerful, he can do anything. But can he do this where he. So this is a paradox, right? It is what we call in layman's sermon terms, nonsense. It makes no sense. CS Lewis actually explains this rather well in his book the Problem of Pain. He says, it remains true that all things are possible with God. So he's powerful. He can do all things. All things are possible with God. The intrinsic impossibilities are not things, but they are nonentities. It means they don't actually exist. It is no more possible for God than for the weakest of his creatures to carry out both of two mutually exclusive alternatives. Not because his power meets an obstacle, but because nonsense remains nonsense even when we talk it about God. So it's a paradox that is nonsense in God's created world. God created the world. That makes sense. And so asking a question that makes no sense, it doesn't prove that God is not not powerful, but he is in fact powerful. He can do all things, but he does not do things that are nonsense because nonsense does not exist. So, no, he can't make a rock so big he can't move it. But that's not because his power is limited. It's because such a request makes no sense in the world he created. Now, there are other examples of attributes that we don't have time for, like wisdom, truthfulness, faithfulness, love, goodness, patience, and even wrath. All of these are examples of attributes that are shared with humans. Let's talk a little bit about our second main point, man's errors. So sometimes folks think that think of God's attributes from a human understanding rather than from a biblical godly understanding. Can we think of any examples, either of you know, of the ones we listed, that people sometimes think of in a humanly way, which makes it an error. Yes, Jealousy. I'm sorry? [00:27:56] Speaker C: Jealousy. [00:27:56] Speaker A: Jealousy, that's right. That's exactly so. People typically think of this as covetousness or envy. But when God exercises jealousy, he is not coveting or envious. Right. Okay. What's another example? Yeah, anger. Yeah, I think that's right. God would exercise an anger in a holy way, whereas we typically would think of it as in a sinful way. Right. Yeah. God's justice doesn't necessarily equal what is fair to us. That's a great example. Power. How so? Yeah, we could use it in bad ways. That makes sense. Okay. Ezra. [00:28:44] Speaker C: Grace and mercy. We sometimes like to think that God is like someone who just forgives everyone and loves everyone totally and is incapable of hate or something. [00:28:57] Speaker A: Yeah, I think that's a good example. Yeah. And sometimes with love, I think humans tend to maybe think more about sentimentality. But love does not always mean this actionless sentimentality. That's merely a feeling. But God's love is exercised even in discipline and sufferings. And then with mercy. I think a lot of times people think of mercy as having pity. Have mercy, we have pity. But it involves no action. But God's mercy does involve action. So those are great examples. And that's just one of the errors. So we should Think of these attributes as biblically as possible rather than from our common conceptions of them. Sometimes people, people also dismiss some of these attributes because they rub us the wrong way. AKA people don't like some attributes. What attributes of God do people typically claim to dislike? Yeah, his power. How so? Why do people not like that? Yeah, typically we want to be at the center. We want to be the sole decision makers of all things, which would naturally take power from God. Right? Yeah. So wrath would maybe be how I would say that people dislike that God is wrathful. How can he be love and judge people? Right. Well, this goes right along with his justice. Not necessarily being fair, but at the same time this is completely fair. And we. Right. Don't deserve mercy. We talked about mercy is not receiving something negative that you deserve. And so nobody deserves mercy. But God in His love shares mercy with some people anyway when we have faith in His Son, Christ. Okay, those are good. And then sometimes another error, people will pit two attributes against each other, which we kind of just mentioned an example of love and justice. People think, how can he be justice and wrathful and loving? But as we said, his mercy to anybody at all is incredible love. That's how they work in harmony. Now, while we have just a couple minutes left, let's go to our third point and think of application. So this is our charge, what we are going to do. Okay, so let me ask and see if you guys have any examples. How can you apply this lesson to your lives? [00:32:09] Speaker C: Just help us try not to take justice into our own hands. [00:32:13] Speaker A: Yeah, that's a great example. Don't take justice into our own hands. Trust God with it. Don't put yourself at the center of what. Yeah, exactly. That's great. Anybody else have an idea? Oh yeah, Worship God because He deserves it. Right? Yeah. I think consistently we think of these attributes and how they look in God versus how they look in us and how often sin works its way in and distorts what God has shared with us. And we should worship God because He is completely pure in all of those ways. Ephesians 5:1 says, Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children. So if you do have faith in Christ, then be an imitator of God. And I would say that this is the order. If you don't have faith in Christ, if you don't know him, if you haven't surrendered your life to him, then you should do that even today. Turn to Christ. Don't just seek to align your life to these attributes and to live them perfectly. Because that will do nothing if you're not found in the Lord Jesus. So turn to Him. But if you do, I know many of you profess to believe in Christ, then be an imitator of Him. So I'm going to read through these, this list of attributes slowly. I want you guys to kind of just, you know, don't stop writing or looking at whatever you're looking at. Just think about these. You can close your eyes if that helps you, and pick out one or two and consider how you can align your life to Christ's in that way. Now, don't overwhelm yourself with picking all of these, because we are all imperfect at them all. But think of just a couple that stand out to you. So here they are. Knowledge, holiness, righteousness, justice, grace, mercy, jealousy, power, wisdom, truthfulness, faithfulness, love, goodness, wrath, and patience. So as I pray and we close, just continue to think about how God might be pricking your heart just a little bit when you hear a couple of those and how you can live more to Christ in that one or two ways. Let's pray. Father God, we pray this morning, as we're in the Word and gathered with your church here in a moment, that you would continue to work on our hearts. You would call us to yourself, Lord, for those who don't yet know you would be convicted, that they must know you. They must receive Christ to have saving grace and receive mercy of the judgment that they so honestly and truly deserve. God help us also to be constantly looking at our lives. Search us, O God. Know our hearts that we too can live more like Christ today, after learning more about who you are and God, we pray this all in Christ's name. Amen.