Oct 1 2023

Frankie

Basic Christianity 1 / Character / Genesis 1:26–28

God’s characteristics

Last Friday and Saturday, I had the opportunity to serve as a speaker at Madge Lake Bible Camp's Awakening Camp, which is designed for young adults. Ryan, the camp director, asked me to share the message that God has placed on our hearts and minds. I spoke about our newfound identity, life, and hope in Jesus Christ. It's because of Jesus, His love, and His sacrifice that we gather here to worship. We are inspired to worship because God has revealed His incredible love and work through Jesus Christ. Now, I want to share  the Alliance Vision prayer from Alliance Church Canada. This prayer reminds me of how I was saved and how I can live my life for the advancement of God's kingdom.

O God, with all our hearts, we long for You.  Come, transform us to be Christ-centred, Spirit-empowered, Mission-focused people, multiplying disciples everywhere.

1. There are various personality type indicators, such as MBTI, Enneagram, MMPI, and others. While these indicators have different purposes, they all highlight that individuals have their unique preferences, which we refer to as personality traits. For instance, I identify as an extrovert, which means I thrive when I work outdoors rather than indoors, as extroverts draw energy from their external environment. When I find myself in a closed room, I sense a mental slowdown, and my productivity suffers. Additionally, I have a preference for structured work that follows set orders, limits, or guidelines, making me inclined to enjoy tasks like board meetings. Despite the occasional delays in decision-making, I believe this approach suits me better and feels safer, driven by my personality preferences rather than being a definitive answer. That's why my wife occasionally describes me as inflexible, as our personalities are complete opposites according to the MBTI.

2. In any case, the reason I bring this up is that people have a natural inclination to understand each other to foster good relationships. This is why, since the age of 19, I began studying MBTI. My motivation stemmed from wanting to comprehend why my parents, in my eyes, seemed to struggle so much to understand each other. It appeared to me that they never truly comprehended each other. I had started my quest to understand human nature when I was just 10 years old, delving into numerous philosophical books because I believed that philosophers could provide me with the insights I sought about people. However, I found this approach lacking. It wasn't until I came across MBTI that I began to grasp why my parents engaged in constant conflicts that eventually led to their divorce. It was all due to their differing preferences, which is essentially their personalities.

3. Personality type indicators have also helped me realize that people often face significant obstacles in understanding God due to their personal preferences. It's almost like an added insight. When individuals are unable to align their work or actions with their preferences, it can lead to stress and, in turn, trigger negative reactions. These negative reactions can have adverse consequences, prompting individuals to seek someone or something to attribute these negative effects to. It's somewhat reminiscent of the story of Adam and Eve in the Bible, where Adam blamed Eve after they ate the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Someday, I intend to delve deeper into this topic. I mention human personality because we are considered God's creations, and God possesses His own personality. However, it's crucial to note that God's personality isn't shaped by His preferences, unlike human personalities, which often align with personal preferences. What's truly significant here is that human personality originates from God, as humans are believed to have been created in His image and likeness.

Genesis 1:26–27 NKJV

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

Genesis 1:28 NKJV

Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

4. Indeed, human characteristics are believed to align with God's personalities. For instance, our desire to love one another, to show kindness, and to pass these values down to our children are all attributes reflected in God's personality as described in the Bible. This connection between human characteristics and God's personality arises from the belief that we are created in God's image. Consequently, we aspire to emulate God's actions and attributes. This notion of personality is aptly named because it encompasses the distinctive traits of humanity, while also serving as a partial reflection of God's image, particularly within the context of the concept of God in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, often referred to as the Holy Trinity. So, understanding God and His characteristics is essential if we wish to understand ourselves better, as we believe that God's image resides within us. Thankfully, we are fortunate because God has already revealed His characteristics to us through the Bible, even before we actively sought to know Him.

Romans 1:20–21 (NIV)

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.

5. As Paul has pointed out, we already have knowledge of God through both the Bible and the natural world, which is often referred to as general and special revelation. Through these means, we have come to recognize certain aspects of God's nature. He is known to be a loving, benevolent creator of the Earth, filled with kindness, goodness, and unwavering faithfulness. While we may not be able to explore all of God's characteristics today, we can find it helpful to condense these attributes into the four letters: L.O.V.E.

L: God is Love.

O: God is Omniscient, Omnipotent, and Omnipresent.

V: God is Victory. 

E: God is Eternal.

6. The primary characteristic of God is Love. It was out of love for the world, for humanity, that God sent His only Son to us—those who were created in God's image. Love is the driving force behind God's work and His decision to reveal Himself to us, a love that is unwavering and divine in nature.

Lamentations 3:22–23 (NLT)

The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness;  his mercies begin afresh each morning.

Romans 5:8 NLT

But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.

7. God operates according to His love, and it is this love that gives us the confidence to trust and follow Him. Jesus, being aware of God's love, was able to adhere to God's plan even when faced with the crucifixion. Moreover, because God loved His Son, Jesus was resurrected from the dead. In this way, God's love serves as a profound demonstration of how He accomplishes His work through His Son.

8. The Bible imparts to us the profound nature of God's love. God, who possesses complete knowledge, holds all things on Earth under His divine order and control, even when we may not fully grasp it. This quality of God is often described as Him being omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent. Because God has perfect knowledge of all things, He is capable of accomplishing anything, including the act of giving His only Son to us. Furthermore, God's presence extends everywhere, even to places where sin may reside. The epitome of God's omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence is encapsulated in the term "Immanuel," which means "God with us."

Matthew 1:22–23 NKJV

So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”

9. Due to God's omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence, He triumphed over death, becoming our victory and enabling us to overcome sin. God's victory is what ultimately culminated in the completion of His work of salvation through the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross.

1 Corinthians 15:56–57 NKJV

The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Philippians 2:9–11 NKJV

Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

10. This God, the God of love, omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, and victory, is the eternal God. He is both the beginning and the end, often referred to as the Alpha and the Omega. He represents the start of our salvation, which is being in communion with God, as well as the culmination of our salvation, which is the fulfillment of our sanctification. Because God is eternal, we are destined to share in eternal life with Him. We will attain this eternal life through our connection with God, for He is with us, and He is the God of resurrection from the dead.

Romans 6:5–7 NLT

Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin.

Romans 6:8–9 NLT

And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him.

11. God's characteristics reveal to us His identity and His benevolent actions towards us. God is the One who chose to be with humanity because of His deep love for the world. His love was so profound that He did not hesitate to be with even the most sinful among us. Through His presence with us, we were liberated from the grip of sin, our former master. As God has embraced us, we are no longer regarded as sinners but as God's very own. God assumed the role of our Father, and we, in turn, became His cherished children, allowing us to address Him as "Abba Father." Additionally, God fulfilled His promise through the resurrection of Jesus, appointing Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Through Jesus, we have the opportunity to attain eternal life. Hence, the most profound characteristics of God are encapsulated in the terms "Immanuel," signifying "God with us," and the "Resurrection of Jesus," representing God's victory and the realization of His divine plan.

Communion: Lord’s Supper

12. This God is indeed our God. Through His love and salvation, we have the privilege of being in communion with God through Jesus Christ, and we can partake in the love of God through the act of Communion. The essence of Communion extends beyond participating in a religious ritual; it involves connecting with the love of God embodied in Jesus Christ and accepting His profound love and sacrifice on our behalf. Partaking in the Lord's Supper is more than just verbalizing our faith; it involves living our lives in harmony with the faith we proclaim. Therefore, the Lord's Supper is not simply a ritual; it requires a genuine declaration of faith in Jesus and represents our active participation in the salvation and work that Jesus has graciously bestowed upon us. The Lord's Supper, often referred to as communion, serves as a memorial supper to help us remember Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, and His work and love for us. In our church, we extend a warm invitation to anyone, including children, who share a common faith and perspective, irrespective of whether they have undergone baptism. We emphasize this shared "faith and perspective," which signifies our belief in Jesus Christ and His teachings.

1. I acknowledge Jesus as my Lord and Savior.

2. He endured the crucifixion and, miraculously, rose from the dead three days later.

3. Being a disciple of Jesus holds great significance for me because He serves as the perfect role model for how I should conduct my life. I endeavor to emulate His actions and lead a life that brings honor to Him alongside my fellow believers.

13. If you embrace and adhere to this statement, you are welcome to participate in the Communion, also known as the Lord's Supper.

“For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said,

“Take, eat, this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”

“In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying

This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”

14. Now, you can come forward to the table and take a piece of bread and a cup of wine. After obtaining these, please return to your seat and take some time to reflect on His love and sacrifice until everyone in the congregation has received them.

15. Dear Lord, Heavenly Father, We gather before you today, remembering your sacrifice and Resurrection through communion. Your grace, greatness, and majesty are immeasurable. Through your sacrifice, we can approach your presence and be in communion with you. Your Resurrection signifies a fresh start for us, where old things have passed away, and new things have emerged. Father, our deepest desire is to lead lives that bring glory to you. We humbly request your guidance in our faith and daily lives, that we may live in accordance with your divine plan and not our own desires. We pray for the Holy Spirit's empowerment to carry out your work and to steer us in the right direction. In your magnificent name, we offer this prayer. Amen.