Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro:

So I want to talk about 2 different attributes of God tonight

And you may be thinking “I can barely handle 1 attribute each week, how am I supposed to learn about 2 tonight in about 30-40 minutes.”

There is some good news though.

Tonight we are talking about a communicable attribute of God

Anyone remember what a communicable and an incommunicable attribute is?

An incommunicable attribute is an attribute that we don’t possess at all.

it is an attribute that is exclusive to God

So to talk about trinitarianism is to talk about an attribute that we cannot relate to at all

But a communicable attribute is one that we can relate to and can even posses although only to a finite extent

So tonight we are going to talk about two communicable attributes

But these two attributes, for whatever reason, when we think about them, talk about them, argue them and we put them side by side, we often think of them as enemies.

Like these two can’t go together.

Although they are both good things they can’t mix

My girls play this game.

And it’s actually a song.

And the song start by them asking a question.

And so they’ll sing “do you like _______.”

And then whoever they are singing the song to responds with “yes I do, yes I do.”

Then they continue with something else that most everyone likes.

But this is often how we treat these two attributes and my hope is that we will be able to see that not only can these things work harmoniously together but they actually complement each other.

So we ready to find out what the attributes are?

Love of God

#1 Love!

Now, when I say love, and we talk about the love of God there’s a temptation to think, oh I got this one.

Like ok I know what love is so let’s move on.

Next!

But the problem is, our culture today has a terrible understanding of love

And the more we drift away from what love really is the less we understand the Biblical view of love

For one, there’s actually multiple words used for love in the Greek

So they would choose specific words to indicate specific meanings.

We don’t.

We say that we love our family, but we also love pizza, we love a certain sport but we also love God

All of those things can’t mean the same thing right

So the question is, when the Bible talks about love and the attribute of love describing God what does it mean?

First off 1 john 4 tells us something pretty important about this attribute when it concerns God

1 john 4:7-8

So it’s an important distinction.

That God doesn’t just love but that He is love.

Everything about all that He is, is rooted in love because that’s who He is.

So what is this love?

The greek language would use the word “agape” to describe the love of God.

Now to be honest, I think a lot of people have probably misunderstood this and wrongfully taught this at times, which we don’t have time to get into today but when we think about this love, these are the kinds of thoughts we should have

Dr. Del Tackett defined it as a “steadfast, sacrificial zeal for the true good of another.”

It’s steadfast, meaning it’s unwavering, consistent.

It is sacrificial, meaning it more concerned with the object of affection rather than the giver.

It’s selfless.

It’s zealous, meaning passionately in pursuit

And it’s end goal is true good for the other

God’s love is “steadfast, sacrificial zeal for the true good of another.”

Now what is the greatest picture we have of this?

The cross! Christ on the cross is the greatest picture the world has ever seen of love

It is love on fullest display

It is steadfast, sacrificial zeal for the true good of all of humanity.

We see God’s love a million other ways but this is it in its brightest, clearest form.

Now, there are arguments to this.

And I’m sure you’ve probably heard them before.

And we don’t have time tonight to defend every single one but I do want to talk about one prevailing argument

And it usually goes something like this, “why would a loving God allow ____?”

And the blank could be filled with a lot of things but usually it can be summed up with, why would a loving God allow suffering?

And I think most evangelicals would respond with “We live in a fallen sinful world.

And so because of sin there are consequences and therefore suffering.”

And there is truth to that but I also think there’s more to the story than that.

There’s a moment in history that is told in John chapter 11

And it’s sort of a long story and passage but there are different things throughout that I want us to see and understand

This is a story of suffering

It’s a story a man suffering death

sisters suffering a death of their brother

A town suffering the death of good man

Jesus suffering the death of a friend

At first, it’s a tragic story that only includes suffering and death

And the reality is that it’s a story that mimics the reality of our lives

In your life there will be suffering

And the Bible does not shy away from that reality

Most biblical antagonist want to use suffering as an embarrassing example

But the reality is, suffering can be one of Christians greatest apologetics for Christianity

And so we have to reject the idea that if God loves us, that He cannot intend for us to suffer.

That idea will crumble on almost every page you turn of His Word.

Time and again we see people who love God, also suffer.

And if anything, they suffer to greater extents.

The reality is, God not only allows our suffering but He also uses our suffering

He uses it for our good and His glory

He uses it to show us the reality of John 11:25.

I am the resurrection and the life

Every other religion would believe it’s your bad karma that has caused bad things to happen to you.

You upset the gods and so they are smiting you for your disobedience

The atheist would believe “There is nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.”

a quote from Richard Dawkins.

not only is there no hope of a better end to the story and end to your suffering; but there is no ultimate story to begin with.

From a Christian perspective, there is not only hope for a better end; there is intimacy now with the One whose resurrected hands still bear the scars of the nails that pinned him to his cross.

Suffering is not an embarrassment to the Christian faith.

It is the thread with which Christ’s name is stitched into our lives.

It draws us closer to the reality that although there may be suffering in this life, I know the one who is the resurrection and the life.

Think about it this way: What’s your favorite movie?

Every good story, every good movie has suffering.

At some point in every good one, there’s this moment of pain, or suffering, or unknown.

Like even in Disney movies, kid’s movies there’s this major tragedy.

Why?

Because it makes the end of the movie that much better!

Why kind of movie would lion king be if mufasa doesn’t die?