Prayer Service 7-26-23

Adoration: Goodness of God

-When we attempt to define the word “goodness” . . .

…we find ourselves in a bit of a conundrum:

The quality of being morally good or virtuous — Siri

Okay, then what is good?

Concise Oxford English Dictionary (Good)

■ noun1 that which is morally right; righteousness.

Now we’re going to have to define:

Moral

Righteous

On and on

What’s the point?

Good or virtuous...

According to what standard?

Morally right...

According to what standard?

Righteous...

According to what standard?

That’s why, apart from the Triune God of the Bible...

…there can be no absolute standard for ethics or morality.

Notice the way the source of our list...

…defines God’s goodness:

Lexham Survey of Theology (God’s Goodness)

God’s goodness is the perfection of his nature and moral excellence.

They elaborate:

Lexham Survey of Theology (God’s Goodness)

A thing is good to the extent that it is all that it can and should be—namely, perfect.

God alone is all that he can and should be.

Thus, since God is wholly perfect, lacking nothing, he is the supreme and absolute good.

Categorical Distinctions:

Lexham Survey of Theology (God’s Goodness)

The goodness of God can be conceived in terms of God in himself (ad intra) and God’s work in creation (ad extra).

Innate and Intrinsic goodness

Expressed, Outrayed goodness

We saw that last week in the Creation account:

Genesis 1:1–4 (ESV)

1 In the beginning, God… created...

2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep...

3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

4 And God saw that the light was good....

Genesis 1:31 (ESV)

31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good...

But, notice this important qualifier:

Since he is already himself fully perfect according to his nature, there is no end—no good—toward which he strives.

Ephesians 2:4–7 (ESV)

4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,

5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—

6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Soli Deo Gloria!

...God is immutably incapable of becoming more good or less good.

James 1:17 (ESV)

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.

To refer to God’s goodness is simply to refer to God himself.

That is to say, God’s essence is identical with goodness, and goodness is an essential and necessary attribute of the divine nature. — Grant M. Sutherland

Remember the foundational passage?

Exodus 33:18–19 (ESV)

18 Moses said, “Please show me your glory.”

19 And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ . . .

Matthew 19:16–17 (ESV)

16 And behold, a man came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?”

17 And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.”

Mark 10:18 (ESV)

18 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.

-Another important qualifier:

Since God is infinite, his goodness is as immeasurable as his being and nature.

We saw that back in Ephesians 2:7:

so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Moreover, as self-sufficient, God does not derive his goodness from anything else. Thus, he rests in himself as good. — Grant M. Sutherland

We see that implied back in:

Exodus 33:19 (ESV)

19 And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.

Is God dependent on his creatures in any way?

Does he need them in order to be good ad extra?

NO!!!!!

This is why I specified Trinitarian Theism before.

A Unitarian god can’t be absolute.

A Unitarian god can’t be communicable...

…without relying on those outside himself.

Sutherland, again explains:

Lexham Survey of Theology (God’s Goodness)

The goodness of the divine nature is chiefly contemplated in the perfection of the relations among the persons of the Trinity.

The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit eternally delight, love, and rest in the goodness of each other.

Each, because he is the fullness of the Godhead, lacks nothing in the perfection of his eternal relations with the other persons. — Sutherland

That’s Goodness Ad Intra!

The chief expression of Goodness Ad Extra...

…is of course in the Trinitarian redemption of God’s people:

Shai Linne wrote this:

The Father elects them, the Son pays their debt and protects them The Spirit is the One who resurrects them

The Father chooses them, the Son gets bruised for them The Spirit renews them and produces fruit in them — Shai Linne

The Scripture says this:

Titus 3:4–6 (ESV)

4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared,

5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,

6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,

Let’s Adore him for his goodness:

Ad intra

Ad extra

Prayer of Adoration

Supplication

Romans 12:12 ESV

12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.

Thanksgiving:

Violet Crisp

Luke Thacker

Mark Hill, Danny Williams, Hope Sanders: Liver failure

Sonya Lewis Picon: Respiratory Disease

Ty Benton: Bladder Cancer, Dimentia

Randy Young, Makenna Cook, Allen Garver

Andrew and Kids, Wife.

Believers in Ukraine/Russia

The Church in the US

Local churches in Graham County