From the CLG Statement of Faith:
We believe that there is one God (Deuteronomy 6:4), eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit (John 8:54-59). God perfect in holiness, infinite in wisdom, and measureless in power. God (The Father): He is Creator, Redeemer and the Sovereign Ruler of the universe.
We believe that God is omnipotent (He can do anything that can be done), omniscient (He knows anything that can be known), omnipresent (there is no place or circumstance of which God is unaware or in which he is not active), and unchanging. He upholds all things by the Word of His power and grace, exercising sovereignty over all creation. He made all things for the praise of His glory and intends for people to live in fellowship with Himself. (Deuteronomy 33:27; Psalm 90:2, 102:27; John 3:16, 4:24; Colossians 1:17; Hebrews 1:3; I Timothy 1:17; Titus 1:3).
I love our current series. I know this puts me in a relatively small group, but I find theology fascinating. The books you will find on my shelves are overwhelmingly theological in nature, because I just enjoy reading about it. I understand this makes me weird. I know many people find this the opposite of fascinating. In fact, dislike is probably a mild term for the reaction many people have.
Christianity is doctrinal, and that’s not optional
The reactions I’ve I heard usually go something like this:
“Doctrine is dry and theoretical – Christianity is alive and relational.”
Or…
“We don’t need theology – we just need Jesus!”
I think I understand the motivation behind these statements, but the statements themselves are simply misguided. In fact, they could not be more wrong. I’ll show you why. When someone tells me that “we just need Jesus”, my first question will be “Who is Jesus?” And from that point forward, everything that person tells me will be theology. It might be bad theology, but it’s theology. See, at its most basic, theology is just talking about God. That’s literally what the word means. So when you explain to me who Jesus is, or when we have a discussion about our different views of Sunday worship, or when Jesus will come back, we are engaging in theological discussion. So let’s stop being afraid of theology! If you find it boring, then you need to read different books or talk to different people, because theology is fascinating!
The Doctrine of God
This whole series is talking about the doctrines listed in our statement of faith. Today’s topic is the Doctrine of God. I’m betting this is one of those topics that seems straightforward until you try to explain it. Hopefully today I will give you some new ways to think about the subject.
Who is God?
When approaching this topic, I had to give some thought to how I wanted to approach it. I’ve come at it from all sorts of angles. We could read bible passages that talk about who God is. We could do a study of the theology behind the concept of God. We could look at church history and see what wise people have had to say about the topic. Philosophy is always fun. Apologetics gives us a lot to talk about. In pondering all these approaches, I thought, why not do all of them?
So today will be a bit of everything. If one topic isn’t your cup of tea, stand by – the next one may be.
Also, this will be just a surface treatment. I’m hoping this does a few things. One, this should give you some things to chew on over the next week. Two, I’m hoping that it starts a discussion, whether with me or Anthony or a friend. Find some aspect that interests you and dive in! Three, I’m hoping something I say provokes you to join us after the service for Message Plus!
Apologetics
Let’s start with the practical. I want you to see that this topic is relevant to your life – and to everyone’s life. The most basic questions of life are best answered by God, and some of them are completely impossible without God. Consider the following:
1. Why is there something rather than nothing?
2. What does it mean to be human?
3. Where does the concept of right and wrong come from?
4. What is the purpose of life?
5. Does life have any meaning?
6. What happens when we die?
If I have a discussion about any of these – and I’ve had a lot of them – God is going to come up. I’ve heard a lot of alternate explanations, and none I’ve heard is even close to satisfactory. The fact is, God’s existence makes sense of life and reality.
(As I said, I’m dropping some bombs and moving on this morning, so if you want to talk more about any of these questions or their answers, let’s talk.)
Theology Proper
The answers to questions like these tend to start with philosophical arguments. The point of these arguments is to show that reality makes more sense if God exists than if God does not exist, and that is a very useful thing. However, philosophical arguments don’t always tell you what that God is like, or which God that would be – and those are some crucial details!
For this information we go to scripture. And here we find that the God described in these philosophical arguments must be the God of the Bible. Scripture, reality and history all reveal this God to be the true sovereign of the universe. If there are other beings we can loosely call “god”, they are an entirely different sort of being than he is.
God is an Objective Being
God is an objective being. He is not the cosmos, a vague concept, or a shared consciousness. He is not reduced to our thoughts or our experiences. He exists independent from us.
Language is elusive. The bible simply says that he is. He says his name is “I Am”. So statements like “to me, God is like this…” are unhelpful and often wrong. God’s identity is not up to our perspective – he is simply a matter of reality. And our perspective ought to be shaped by that reality.
The Morel Dilemma
We’re still months away, but I’m looking forward to morel season. I love morel mushrooms. They are delicious. When I was young, our family used go out hunting for them. If you’re a fan of morels like I am, you already know the reality of my next point. When searching for a tasty meal, not just any mushroom will do. The inexperienced hunter will often be fooled by what is called the “false morel”. The false morel is not actually a type of mushroom though – it’s a category. There is a whole group of mushroom varieties that may each be called a false morel. The reason they get this name is because they look like real morels. Some are more obviously false than others. Some look so similar that they fool people who you would think would know better. What makes this important is that these false morels are quite dangerous. Some have toxins that cause dizziness and vomiting, contain carcinogens, and some will actually kill you after eating one.
You’ve probably already figured out my point here. There are many ideas today of who God is. Some are obvious because they go by names like Allah or Vishnu, and look very different to the Bible’s description of God. That’s the type of false god we read about most often in biblical accounts. I think the bigger concern today is that our false gods look very much like the real God, and occasionally even fool people who should know better. These gods are said to be the God spoken of in scripture, but they are not. Some examples are the god of self-help described by people like Oprah, the god of mysticism that Rob Bell preached, the god of goodies peddled by countless televangelists, the god of niceness that the Mormons follow, or the god of moralism that has infected much of evangelicalism today. These gods are described in a way that has a faint resemblance to the actual God, but each is deeply troubling as well, because they get far more wrong than they get right. And like with morels, you only have to be a little wrong to end up sick or dead. It is vital that we understand who the God revealed in scripture is, because anything else is what the bible calls an idol, and idols have nothing to offer you.
Understanding God’s Nature
So how do we avoid being fooled? How do you know I’m not telling you about a false God this morning? The easy answer is the Bible, but that’s a lot. And when you’re reading it, you need to know what to look for. A little philosophy will help explain what I mean.
Shirts and the Nature of Reality
When thinking about God, and when reading scripture, it is helpful to understand the idea of nature, or essence. A thing’s nature or essence is made up what we call characteristics or attributes. My shirt could be described as a cotton-poly blend of blue fabric with plastic buttons. But is that enough?
· Could it be another color and still be a shirt?
· Are buttons required?
· Could it be made of a different material?
· Could it have a different number of sleeves?
These are all attributes or characteristics of my shirt. Some attributes are less important than others, meaning changing them does not damage the essence of the thing. If it were made of silk or colored yellow, it would still be a shirt. However, if it had no sleeves, it would be a pillowcase. So, it turns out that holes for my appendages are necessary attributes of a shirt, but other attributes are of little consequence to the shirtiness of my shirt.
It turns out that all of God’s attributes are essential. This is not because God requires all of them to be God. It’s because all of his attributes are defined by him. More on that later. Let’s talk about just a few of his attributes to give you the idea.
Trinity
Essence
A shirt has necessary qualities that make it a shirt and not a pillowcase or a potato. Those qualities aren’t the thing itself, but they are the best way we have to express the true essence of a shirt. Along these same lines, we can say that God has an essence. His essence is his intrinsic nature. And because language fails us, we list his attributes to try and describe his essence.
Three-In-One
So God has an essence. Scripture tells us that there is only one God – one being with this essence. However, it also explains that the Father is God, Jesus is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. The classic way of communicating this idea is that God is one essence, and three persons. This is called the doctrine of the Trinity. That word is not in the bible, but the concept is
By the way, I’m not here to remove the mystery this morning – only to explain the concept.
Logic
There is a logical basis for this in the bible that comes from at least two directions.
We’ve established that there is only one true God (one essence), and we can describe him by his attributes. However, we see God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit all described as having these attributes. If they each have these characteristics, then each of them is God – yet they are the same God.
The other direction is to see how people relate to the persons in the Godhead. In the Bible, we see each person of the Trinity treated as if he is God. Things that might seem the domain of God the Father alone happen to the other two as well. The Spirit is prayed to. Jesus is worshiped. Lying to the Holy Spirit is called lying to God. Jesus offers forgiveness. These would all be troubling if those persons were not God.
So, these three persons are all described as God, and the first Christians treated them all as God. Yet we hold that there is one God. The Doctrine of the Trinity is the resolution to this situation. This says that the trinity is one essence, eternally existing in three persons.
Scripture
There is also a biblical basis. Scripture contains all sorts of passages that can only be understood in light of the trinity.
1. At Jesus’ baptism[1], the Holy Spirit fell on him as the Father spoke. If all three are present, they are individual persons.
2. Jesus told his followers to baptize believers in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit[2].
3. Paul said that “through [Jesus] we … have access in one Spirit to the Father.”[3]
The concept of the Trinity has confused many, but it doesn’t need to. The trinity is not a problem, it is a solution.
The Omnis
You’re probably familiar with the “omnis”, so I won’t slow down too much here. The fancy words for the common ones are omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence. Briefly, they mean that there are no constraints on God’s knowledge, there is no sense in which God is restricted by location, and there is no greater power. There is much more to it than that, but that’s enough to ponder for this morning.
Aseity
Aseity is an obscure word, but I like it. It may be handy for you to know, but if you forget the word you should at least remember the concept. The Latin phrase “a se” mean “from oneself”. This one is easiest to explain by contrast:
My kids do not exist by themselves. They would not have existed without me or their mother. This podium is not self-existent either. It required a craftsman, who used wood, that demands a tree, and soil and sunlight and so on. In fact, nothing in the universe is self-existent. The only thing that exists “a se” is God.
God’s existence depends on nothing and no one. God is in a class alone. All of existence can be categorized as either creator or created. There is one creator, and everything else is his creation, so that’s easy. God is self-existent. That’s aseity in a nutshell.
Simplicity
This next one will likely seem odd to you: God is the most simple being in existence. By simple, I do not mean uncomplicated or easily understandable. Simplicity means fewer parts. An automobile engine has thousands of parts. A mousetrap has only a few. The mousetrap is the more simple thing because it has fewer components. God is simpler still. He is comprised of only one thing: divinity.
In short, God is God. He is not a collection of attributes. That would imply that those things exist outside of him. But we don’t believe that there is a parts store in the sky and God purchased a bunch of omniscience and mercy and knowledge and patience and aseity. If that were true, you and I should shop at the same store God does! But God didn’t get love from anywhere because God himself is love. He does not “have” lots of mercy – he himself is mercy. God’s attributes are not parts of him. God does not have parts. He simply is. “Because God cannot depend on what is not God in order to be God, theologians traditionally insist that all that is in God is God.[4]”
Immanence/Transcendence
Immanence and transcendence are a couple of my favorite attributes of God, and they have to go together.
· Immanence means “among us”.
· Transcendence means “apart from us”, or “wholly other”.
God is both immanent and transcendent, and that doesn’t make sense unless you are a believer.
Contrast
God is nothing like man. Treating him casually has cost the lives of Uzzah, Nadab, Abihu, Ananias, Sapphira, and countless others. In scripture, when God comes near, humanity falls on its face in terror and expects death. God is nothing like us, and ignoring that fact is extremely dangerous.
And yet, God came to live among men. He walked in the garden. He set up his tabernacle among the people. He not only came to earth but he came as one of us. He wasn’t merely like us – he was us. He was tempted as we are. He experienced pain and sickness and frustration like we do. To ignore this fact is to miss the point of Christianity entirely.
The Tension
So God is nothing like us and he is very much like us. He is distant and unattainable, yet simultaneously accessible from anywhere. He is beyond us and he is among us. We can know about him factually and we can know him experientially. He is transcendent and imminent.
I don’t have time to talk about the perils of majoring on one and excluding the other, but it is a real problem. Neither is a good idea.
Application
For our purposes this morning, I mention this as a piece of advice for you to consider. In worship, be conscious that your songs reflect both aspects of God. For me (and I think the authors of scripture), doctrine drives doxology. What this means is that when pondering the truth of who God is (doctrine) you will be compelled to worship him (doxology). There is no other adequate response.
For me, meditating on his attributes of transcendence and immanence is especially evocative.
This morning we sang Holy, Holy, Holy and reflected on God’s perfection and glory as a being worshiped by angels in heaven. We also sang that from the day he saved our soul we have been in his arms. Do you see the contrast? We sang “I will wait for you” because we know that we live in darkness and we encounter storms and God seems distant on his throne. And we also sang that in the valley he is near, in the quiet he is near, and God stands firmly by our side despite heights and depths that seem insurmountable.
God is transcendent and he is immanent. Reflect on that in your worship, as you pray, as you read scripture, as you ponder a sermon, as you go about life. God is near and he is for you, but don’t dare treat him casually. Transcendence and immanence. Both are true. Both are vital.
Other Attributes
We could talk about so many more… God is loving, merciful, wrathful, jealous, patient, and on and on. This alone could be a whole series! You’re likely familiar with the Fruit of the Spirit[5]. That fruit is observed in Christians because when you are being made into the image of Christ[6], you being to look like him. (Notice that the Fruit of the Spirit means we look like Christ? Just another indication that the two share the same essence.)
All these other attributes of God’s nature are probably more familiar to you than things like aseity or immutability – but they are allessential characteristics of God. Again – not because he has these attributes in the sense that they comprise him – but because each of these things exist and are fully expressed in him. As I said before, all that is in God is God. So when thinking of God’s attributes, we’re not looking at parts of God, but aspects of him. It may help to think in terms of examining the facets of a jewel. No facet exists apart from the gem. They are one and the same. The facets are just ways of focusing our attention on one concept at a time. Is it really any surprise that puny humans are unable to behold all of God’s glory at once?
History & Orthodoxy
Anthony’s intro to this series talked about another topic that fascinates me … creeds. The church has developed creeds, confessions, and catechisms over the millennia to summarize the core of the bible’s message about God.
The Nicene Creed begins “I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth”. True, but short. It doesn’t say a lot, but what it says is right[7].
The Westminster Confession[8] on the other hand, goes into some crazy detail[9]. See what you think of this statement:
There is but one only[10] living, and true God[11]; who is infinite in being and perfection[12]; a most pure spirit[13]; invisible[14]; without body, parts[15], or passions[16]; immutable[17]; immense[18]; eternal[19]; incomprehensible[20]; almighty[21]; most wise[22]; most holy[23]; most free[24]; most absolute[25]; working all things according to the counsel of His own immutable and most righteous will[26]; for, His own glory[27]; most loving[28]; gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin[29]; the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him[30]; and withal, most just, and terrible in His judgments[31]; hating all sin[32]; and who will by no means clear the guilty[33].
God hath all life[34]; glory[35]; goodness[36]; blessedness[37]; in and of Himself; and is alone in and unto Himself all-sufficient, not standing in need of any creatures which He hath made[38]; nor deriving any glory from them[39]; but only manifesting His own glory in, by, unto, and upon them. He is the alone fountain of all being, of whom, through whom, and to whom are all things[40]; and hath most sovereign dominion over them, to do by them, for them, or upon them whatsoever Himself pleaseth[41]. In His sight all things are open and manifest[42]; His knowledge is infinite, infallible, and independent upon the creature[43]; so as nothing is to Him contingent, or uncertain[44]. He is most holy in all His counsels, in all His works, and in all His commands[45]. To Him is due from angels and men, and every other creature, whatsoever worship, service, or obedience He is pleased to require of them[46].
In the unity of the Godhead there be three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost[47]: the Father is of none, neither begotten, nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father[48]; the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son[49].
I suppose I could have just read that statement this morning and called it a day! Those confessions are meaty! If someone asked you who God was, would you come up with that answer? I know I wouldn’t. But I want to!
This highlights the value of these creeds and confessions. They were created by people way smarter than we are, who spent their lives on one subject, and who gathered to discuss and debate the fine points of the faith for weeks, and sometimes years! It doesn’t make them infallible, but they are at least worth reading and considering and measuring against scripture. THIS ought to be what informs your idea of who God is, and the measuring stick you use to determine whether the latest craze sweeping popular culture or evangelicalism is actually a faithful representation of God. By the way, if you wish there was something that went into even more depth and had even more scriptural support, you’re my kind of nerd. You should check out Systematic Theology[50]. Also, that statement I just read had a lot of words that may be foreign or confusing. Come to Message Plus and we can discuss them.
Summary
This topic is deep. We had limited time this morning, but hopefully you have learned some new things and some familiar things have been drawn to the surface for contemplation over the next week. Of course, there is MessagePlus as I’ve mentioned, where we can discuss any of these you would like, so join me if that interests you.
Benediction
We are not a church that typically does this, but rather than a closing prayer, I would like to read a benediction over all of us just as Paul pronounced over the Ephesians.
“May Christ dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.[51]”
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[1] Luke 3:22
[2] Matthew 28:19
[3] Eph 2:18
[4] James Dolezal, from his excellent book on the subject titled “All That Is in God: Evangelical Theology and the Challenge of Classical Christian Theism.”
[5] Galatians 5:22-23
[6] Romans 8:29
[7] It continues with statements about Jesus and the Holy Spirit. They are God as well but will be covered in coming weeks.
[8] Chapter 2
[9] And another feature I like is every phrase is cross-referenced to supporting scriptures.
[10] Deu 6:4; 1Co 8:4, 6
[11] 1Th 1:9; Jer 10:10
[12] Job 11:7-9; Job 26:14
[13] Jhn 4:24
[14] 1Ti 1:17
[15] Deu 4:15-16; Jhn 4:24; Luk 24:39
[16] Act 14:11, 15
[17] Jam 1:17; Mal 3:6
[18] 1Ki 8:27; Jer 23:23-24
[19] Psa 90:2; 1Ti 1:17
[20] Psa 145:3
[21] Gen 17:1; Rev 4:8
[22] Rom 16:27
[23] Isa 6:3; Rev 4:8
[24] Psa 115:3
[25] Exd 3:14
[26] Eph 1:11
[27] Prov 16:4; Rom 11:36
[28] 1Jo 4:8; 1Jo 4:16
[29] Exd 34:6-7
[30] Hbr 11:6
[31] Neh 9:32-33
[32] Psa 5:5-6
[33] Nah 1:2-3; Exd 34:7
[34] Jhn 5:26
[35] Act 7:2
[36] Psa 119:68
[37] 1Ti 6:15; Rom 9:5
[38] Act 17:24-25
[39] Job 22:2-3
[40] Rom 11:36
[41] Rev 4:11; 1Ti 6:15; Dan 4:25; Dan 4:35
[42] Hbr 4:13
[43] Rom 11:33-34; Psa 147:5
[44] Act 15:18; Eze 11:5
[45] Psa 145:17
[46] Rev 5:12-14
[47] 1Jo 5:7; Mat 3:16-17; Mat 28:19; 2Co 13:14
[48] Jhn 1:14; Jhn 1:18
[49] Jhn 15:26; Gal 4:6
[50] For a very accessible but thorough treatment, I recommend “The Christian Faith” (1056 pg) or “Pilgrim Theology” (512 pg) – both by Michael Horton.
[51] Ephesians 3:17-21