Becoming a theologian: God's righteousness and justice

Today, we will be looking at God's righteousness and justice. In English, they may be two different words, but both in the Hebrew (Old Testament) and Greek (New Testament) they are just one word. Righteousness means doing what is morally upright; without guilt or sin. With respect to God, we know that He always does what is right and that He is the standard of what is right.

God always does what is right

He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.

Deuteronomy 32:4

• This verse says that He is morally upright.
• If God does no wrong, then everything He does is right

God sets the standard of what is right

...I, the LORD, speak the truth; I declare what is right.

Isaiah 45:19b

• In this verse, we see that God says he declares what is right
• Can you think of somewhere where God declared what is right? The Ten Commandments

We should pursue righteousness

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Matthew 5:6

• When you are thirsty what do you do?
• When you are hungry what do you do?
• Hunger and thirst are signs that something is lacking in our life and we must do something (eat or drink) about it
• If you are hungering and thirsting for righteousness, what are some things you would be doing?

Becoming a theologian: God's peace

Today, we will be examining God's peace. We can think of peace as being a lack of dissension or a lack of disorder. We will be looking at the following themes as we examine God's peace.

1. God is a God of order
2. God's peace upholds us
3. God wants us to live in peace with others.

God is a God of order

For God is not a God of disorder but of peace.

1 Corinthians 14:33a

• God is a God of peace or order.
• God's creation shows His peace and order. As we learn the laws of nature and science, we find they make sense and they couldn't if God was a god of disorder.
• We've read in Psalm 139 how all of the days of our life were written in God's book before one of them came to be. The fact that they all happen according to His plan is evidence of God's peace and order.

God's peace upholds us

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:7

Then God's peace will watch over your hearts and your minds because you belong to Christ Jesus. God's peace can never be completely understood.

Philippians 4:7 (NIrV)

• We can never fully understand God's peace
• God's peace guards our hearts and minds
• God's peace keeps us connected to Christ
• If we're feeling separated from God or lost or disordered, it's because we have brought disorder into our lives by sin or by losing focus on what God wants for us.

God wants us to live at peace with others

If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

Romans 12:18

• God wants us to live a peace with everyone
• The verse implies that it may not always possible. What are some reasons it may not be possible?
• We are not at peace - we have sinned and brought disorder into our lives
• Someone may have sinned against us, thus bringing disorder and separating us from them
• Others may not be seeking God's peace and thus it would be hard to live at peace with them
• What are some things that we can do to live at peace with others?
• Make sure that we are at peace with God. If we have sinned, we need to confess our sin and accept God's forgiveness.
• If we have sinned against someone (or them against us) we should seek out or grant forgiveness.
• We can pray for them that God will bring about peace
• We can do good for or to them to promote peace
• We should not think bad things of them

Becoming a theologian: God's Holiness

We continue our journey of looking at God's attributes and we come to looking at God's Holiness. Holiness is defined as the quality or state of being holy, but to understand that, we need to know what it means to be holy. The definition of holy is specially recognized as or declared sacred by religious use or authority; consecrated. In other words God is separated from sin. Today, we will look at three points.

1. God is separated from sin.
2. God is deveoted to His own glory
3. We should be holy

God is separated from sin

Exalt the LORD our God and worship at his holy mountain, for the LORD our God is holy.

Psalm 99:9

• The Hebrew word for holy is qadowsh
• It means clean, free from defilement.
• A lot of the Law (as contained in Leviticus) was concerned with avoiding things that unclean.
• Thus, one who kept the entirety of the Law could be said to be holy.

God is devoted to His own honor

And they were calling to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory."

Isaiah 6:3

• The angels don't just say that God is holy, they say He is "holy, holy, holy." By repeating it, they are emphasizing His holiness.
• The earth is full of His glory
• God set aside the Sabbath day and made it Holy.
• Everything God does gives testimony to His holiness and can bring Him glory and honor.

We should be holy

"Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: 'Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.

Leviticus 19:2

You are to be holy to me because I, the LORD, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own.

Leviticus 20:26

• We are commanded to be Holy
• God has set us apart from others that He can use us.
• By using us, He will bring glory and honor to himself
• Only through Christ, not on our own efforts, can we be holy
• Do you want to live a holy life and bring honor to God?
• You can do so by obeying Him and letting Him use you as He wishes.
• Studying the Bible regularly like we are helps us to know Him and to know what it is we should be doing.

Becoming a theologian: God's Mercy

Today, we will be looking at God's mercy. Mercy can be defined as the tendency to do good or compassion which causes a person to overlook injuries, or to treat an offender better than he deserves. As we examine God's mercy, we will look at three things.

1. God is merciful
2. Because of God's mercy, He forgives our sin
3. God wants us to be merciful to others.

God is merciful

For the LORD your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon or destroy you or forget the covenant with your forefathers, which he confirmed to them by oath.

Deuteronomy 4:31

As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job's perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

James 5:11

• There are many verses that talk of God's mercy and compassion towards us.
• God's mercy includes having compassion on us and taking care of our needs.
• God's mercy means He will never forget the promises that He made to us, no matter what we do.

Because of God's mercy, He forgives our sins

⁴But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

Ephesians 2:4-5

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

1 John 1:9

• Surely you remember that we are sinners (Romans 3:23) and that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), but God:
• made us alive in Christ,
• saved us, and
• cleansed us from all unrighteousness
• Does that sound like God is treating us better than we deserve?

God wants us to be merciful to others

Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Luke 6:36

• In order to understand what it means for us to be merciful to others, let's look at this story from Matthew 18

²³"Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. ²⁴As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. ²⁵Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. ²⁶"The servant fell on his knees before him. 'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay back everything.' ²⁷The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.

Matthew 18:23-27

• Did the king have mercy on his servant?
• Let's continue reading...

²⁸"But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he demanded. ²⁹"His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.'

Matthew 18:28-29

• The amount that the first servant had owed the king was a lot of money. The amount the second servant owed the first wasn't much by comparison
• If the first servant had mercy on the second, what would he do?
• Let's read on and see what happened...

³⁰"But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. ³¹When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened.

³²"Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. ³³Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?' ³⁴In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

³⁵"This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."

Matthew 18:30-35

• Did the first servant have mercy on the second?
• What happened when his lack of mercy was found out?
• What does this mean to you?
• Aren't you glad that God has mercy on you?

Becoming a theologian: God's love

Today we will be looking at God's love. As we examine God's love, we will be looking at three things.

1. God is the source of love
2. God's love for us is unconditional
3. God wants us to love Him and to love others

God is the source of love

⁷Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

1 John 4:7-8

• In verse 8 (which we've read before), we see that "God is love." The Greek word used here is agape. This word is used to describe
• The love Christians should have for other Christians
• The love men should have for God
• The love God has for men
• The love of God for Christ
• The love of Christ for men
• I would describe this as meaning godly love which includes affection, good will, and doing good to others.
• In verse 7 we see that "love comes from God." When we look at the Greek words here, we see that love comes out of God. Love comes "out of God" in much the same way as light comes "out of a flashlight" - a flashlight is a source of light and God is the source of love.

God's love for us in unconditional

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16

In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ

Ephesians 1:4b-5a

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:8

• John 3:16 is probably one of the most famous verses in the Bible. "God so loved the world." It doesn't just say God loved some of the world, does it?
• God loves us enough that He adopted us as His children.
• Furthermore, God loves us, even though we are sinners!
• If God loves you, even though you're a sinner, is there anything you can do to make Him NOT love you?

God wants us to love Him and love others

³⁰Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' ³¹The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."

Mark 12:30-31

• Here Jesus is answering a question about what the greatest commandment is. What does He say?
• Who are we to love?
• What are some ways that you can show affection, good will and do good deeds towards God?
• What are some ways that you can show affection, good will, and do good deeds towards others?

Two final things to remember about love. 1 John 4:7-21 (some of which we read earlier) is a great passage to read and learn about love. Verse 19 gives us reminds us that 'We love because he first loved us.' And verse 21 gives us this commandment 'Whoever loves God must also love his brother.'

Becoming a theologian: God's goodness

Today we start looking at God's moral attributes. These are the attributes that deal with right and wrong. The first of these that we come to is God's goodness. As we look at God's goodness, let's look at these three things:

1. God is good
2. Everything God does is good
3. God wants us to do good.

God is good

"Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good—except God alone.

Luke 18:19

Praise the LORD. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; His love endures forever.

Psalm 106:1

• What does it mean to be good?
• Who sets the standard for good?
• How do we know that God is good?

Everything God does is good

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

Genesis 1:31

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Romans 8:28

• After God had finished creation, what did He say?
• If God causes everything to work for our good, is anything that He does bad?
• What does it mean that everything is for our good?

God wants us to do good

For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Ephesians 2:10

• What were we created to do?
• If these good works are prepared in advance, do you suppose that we are capable of doing these good works?
• How can we do these good works? through Christ
• Do you want to do good?

Becoming a theologian: God's truthfulness

Today we will be looking at God's truthfulness. We will be looking at three things.

1. God is the only true God.
2. Everything about him is true.
3. As His children, He wants us to love and pursue the truth.

God is the only true God.

Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

John 17:3

• Here is John 17, Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemene and is praying. He knows that God is using Him to bring eternal life to people and that eternal life is knowing God.
• Sometimes people have idols or other Gods that they follow. Are those God's truly God?
• Do you remember the story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal? They each built altars and put sacrifices on them and called on their gods to send fire. Do you remember which god sent fire that completely destroyed the alter and all of the water thrown over it?

Everything about God is true

For the word of the LORD is right and true; he is faithful in all he does.

Psalm 33:4

• God's Word is true.
• Since we studied Psalm 119, do you know how many times God's Word is referred to as true or as truth? 5
• In Romans 3:4, Paul says "Let God be true..."
• We know that God is true and His word is true. Can you trust Him?

We should be truthful

25Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body.

Ephesians 4:25

• We are commanded to speak the truth.
• If you remember, one of the Ten Commandments is to not bear false witness against a neighbor. In other words, not to lie or tell something that is not the truth.
• If God's every Word is true and we are to be like Him, shouldn't our every word be true?
• Do you sometimes have trouble telling the truth?
• Do you think God wants you to tell the truth?
• Do you want to be more truthful so you can be like God?