Category Archives: attributes of God

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A Worship Response Fitting For All Sermons

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Helping our Listeners Enjoy “The Dynamic Beauty of God”

“The Dynamic Beauty of God” is the title of Marsden’s chapter 3 in, An Infinite Fountain of Light: Jonathan Edwards for the Twenty-First Century.

I am suggesting you might consider making God’s beauty foundational for all kinds of sermon applications. This means, of course, preaching Scripture that, either in the text or immediate context, contains an element of God’s beauty, explicitly or implicitly.

[For a second, think about the last few sermons or lessons you’ve taught and the kind of application you developed and communicated.]

In, Religious Affections, Edwards wrote,

“God is God, and to be chiefly distinguished from all other beings, and exalted about them, chiefly by his divine beauty” (p. 64 in Marsden).

And of all the things that make God beautiful, nothing, according to Edwards is more beautiful about God than His love. Marsden summarizes Edwards, “God has created the universe in order to share the Trinity’s love with other persons who are capable of meaningful love” (p. 64) That includes our listeners who have ears to hear.

Edwards would tell us preachers to urge our folks to see God in all His beauty and respond appropriately with worship. Marsden writes that when God’s beauty is “at the center of reality…recognizing it will spark joy and delight” (p. 64). He summarizes with: “The primary purpose for which the mighty God has created this universe, then, is so that creatures might live in the infinite pleasure of the joy of God’s love” (p. 65). In my setting, I have to lead the way to this worship by smiling at my congregants as a result of my own joy and pleasure of knowing God as most beautiful.

So, Marsden and Edwards have helped me think about the wisdom of making sure that, with all our attempts to apply life to Scripture, we should urge our folks to respond to the dynamic beauty of God. May our Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21) as we encourage that most-appropriate worship response.

Randal

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Following Jonathan Edwards’s Practice of Preaching the “grandeur of God”

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“…exalting, extolling, and magnifying the God of heaven”
Carrick on Edwards

I continue to owe Jonathan Edwards and those who write about him a tremendous debt. If you have been reading my posts you know how much I enjoy reading Edwards’s sermons. He’s made me a better preacher by making me a better theologian.

One way Edwards helps me be a better theologian/preacher is by showing me the importance of making God look good. And one of those writers-about-Edwards is John Carrick. In his book, The Preaching of Jonathan Edwards, he has a chapter, God-Centredness. Carrick states,

“Kimnach correctly identifies ‘the grandeur of God’ as ‘a favorite theme’ of the Northampton preacher; but what contributes to this…is Edwards’ striking use of adjectives–indeed, his unashamed use of superlatives–as he seeks to portray, via the limitations of language, the glory of that great Being who is ultimately incomprehensible and indescribable.” (pp. 26-27)

It is what Edwards knows about humankind that makes him bent on glorifying God through literary flourishes. Carrick writes,

“One of the most striking features of Edwards’ preaching is that it constitutes a deliberate and powerful counter blast to the inveterate tendency in man to belittle and degrade the great God of heaven. ‘The thing at bottom is’, observes Edwards in ‘The Justice of God’, ‘that men have low thoughts of God, and high thoughts of themselves…'” (p. 31).

Or, in his, “Men Naturally God’s Enemies,” Edwards wrote, “‘…you have at least had a low and contemptible estimation of God; and that, in your esteem, you set the trifles and vanities of this world far above him.'” (p. 32)

Some texts make it fairly easy to exalt God. Like, for instance, my Psalm 82 for this coming Sunday, Lord willing. It begins,

“God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment;”

Yes, our God is the Supreme ruler among the gods!

How does your preaching portion for this Sunday lend itself to making God look good?

Use all the adjectives and superlatives you can to communicate His grandeur. Even though our language and skill are deficient, God will receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21) as we fight against the human tendency to have “a low and contemptible estimation of God.”

Randal

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Expository Preaching Should Always Reach Beyond Our Comprehension: What I’m Learning From Jonathan Edwards’s Earliest Sermons

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We are, after all, preaching about “God’s excellencies” every Sunday!

It’s been some time since I have written about what I’m learning from reading Jonathan Edwards’s earliest sermons.

One of those sermons was, God’s Excellencies, on Psalm 89:6

“For who in the heaven can be compared unto the Lord, and who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the Lord?”

Well, the answer, of course, is “Nobody can be compared to our Lord!”

In his introduction to that sermon, Kimnach, using Edwards’s own words, describes it as,

“a sermon in which the subject matter is frequently beyond ‘the outmost verge of our most outstretched thoughts.'” (p. 413)

Kimnach explains that one of Edwards’s favorite sermon themes was “the grandeur of God” (p. 414). No wonder Edwards spoke of going beyond the outer edges “of our most outstretched thoughts”!

This reminded me of the balancing act we attempt every Sunday with respect to expository preaching. If we are really preaching the Bible, not just from the Bible, our task requires finesse. We need to communicate the excellencies of our God, but those excellencies, according to Edwards, often extend beyond “the outmost verge of our most outstretched thoughts.”

Think Advent and incarnation!

One way to think about the effectiveness of our preaching is to assess the degree to which we can clearly present the excellencies of our God and just as clearly state that we haven’t done Him justice.

This gives our listeners the opportunity to worship in two ways. First, they can worship the Lord according to what they have just learned. Second, they can also worship the Lord by acknowledging that what they just learned doesn’t match His greatness.

May our Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus because of this exhilarating, Sunday morning tightrope walk (Ephesians 3:21).

Randal

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How What Evangelicals Currently Believe Affects Our Preaching

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The current State of Theology helps us know the doctrines in danger.

In preparing for some new disciple-making initiatives in the coming year, a colleague of mine at church and I have been collecting some data on what Evangelicals believe. In the process of skimming some of the findings, I realized how important this data can be for our preaching.

[For years, I have watched the survey results reveal a slow, but steady movement away from orthodox beliefs. This has caused me to see at least part of my preaching ministry as an attempt to keep my listeners from losing important aspects of the Christian faith.]

If you’re interested, I suggest you look at what Ligonier and Lifeway present about the State of Theology (thestateoftheology.com).

What you will find is that Evangelicals are moving away from traditional beliefs about Christology, including things as foundational as whether or not Jesus was created by God.

When I presented some the findings to our Wednesday night crowd, two folks quickly replied: “Well, I wonder how the survey defined ‘Evangelical’?” That’s a very common Fundamentalist reaction. My reply was that it doesn’t matter. Even if the word wasn’t defined as tightly as some of us might want, the stats still show that some of our parishioners might be experiencing a similar shift.

If you’ve used such info before, then you know that the survey answers help us know what doctrines we need to highlight in our preaching. For instance, in one recent survey I saw, three of the five questions/answers involved the Person and work of Christ.

May our Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21) as we accurately preach Christ as God portrays Him in His Word.

Randal

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Two Implications of “God’s Excellencies”: What I’m Learning From Reading Jonathan Edwards’s Earliest Sermons

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“For who in haven can be compared unto the Lord…” (Psalm 89:6)

One of the benefits of reading Jonathan Edwards’s early sermons is the opportunity to learn from his way of thinking.

Here are two quotes from his sermon, God’s Excellencies, based on Psalm 89:6. Notice that these are two implications of God’s perfection.

“[God] has made all things that are excellent, and therefore must have given them their excellency, and so must have all that excellency in himself, or else could not have given it. He must have all the glories, perfections, and beauties of the whole creation in himself in an infinite degree, for they all proceed from him, as beams do from the sun…” (p. 420, Kimnach).

Think of everything we admire in this created world and then think about our God who created them! It’s impossible not to praise Him.

Then, something that’s not so much fun to think about, but critical for walking with God:

“If he be such an excellent being, how dreadful is sin against [him]. There are very few that conceived what a dreadful thing it is to sin against the infinitely excellent, great, and glorious Jehovah. The aggravations of sin are really infinite, infinite in greatness and almost infinite in number, for it is committed against an infinitely great and powerful God…” (p. 426)

Think of all our temptations and spiritual struggles and tell me if this kind of thinking doesn’t keep us tethered to faithfulness!

So, it never fails: whenever I read Edwards I am caught up into his most excellent mind. And what’s refreshing to me is that all that brilliance is organically connected to soul-watching, a most practical theology indeed.

May Edwards spur you on to preach and teach well this week so God receives glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21).

Randal

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Preaching “the Lord’s vengeance”: Preaching Through Numbers

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God says, “Trust Me. Leave the vengeance to Me!”

When you decide to preach through Numbers, your listeners will learn a great deal of theology.

For instance, when you arrive at Numbers 31:1-54 you encounter a huge narrative that I titled:

“He will bring us into this land”: And That Includes One Day Avenging His People

God’s final assignment for Moses is in v. 2 “Avenge the people of Israel on the Midianites. Afterward you shall be gathered to your people.”) In v. 3 Moses says to the people that they are “to execute the Lord’s vengeance on Midian (emphasis added).”

Verses 1-6 help us come to grips with “the Lord’s vengeance.” As I’ve reminded our faith-family several times over the years, non-Christians will not tolerate a God of judgment. These narratives, like many in the Old Testament, force God’s people to consider the ramifications of God’s holiness–His judgment on all who oppose Him.

Verses 13-20 describe what’s at stake and provides a reason for such commands of God. Verse 16 says, “Behold, these, on Balaam’s advice caused the people of Israel to act treacherously against the Lord in the incident of Poor, and so the plague came among the congregation of the Lord.”

If there is any way we can understand these actions, we must at least attempt to explain how devastating it is to the Lord for His people to act treacherously against Him. All of this is the stuff of robust theologian/pastors.

Finally, verses 7-12 and 21-54 provide an opportunity to place ourselves in the camp of God’s people and relish in our resounding victory. Over and over again God defeats His enemies, including the final battle.

If someone were to ask about the relevance of all this I might talk about things like:

  1. Even though God’s people don’t carry out this instruction to Moses, God will one day, once again, judge all those who oppose Him.
  2. That should encourage us since God’s people have always faced the same thing our Lord faced when He was on earth. The world hated Him, remember (think John 17 stuff).
  3. This kind of God–our God–should scare us to death. We’ve seen throughout Numbers how God judged His own people. It’s no wonder a NT writer talked about judgment beginning in God’s house. I continue to define the fear of the Lord in the OT as our glad submission to the God who is not safe.

May you continue to mine the theological depths of Numbers and He will continue to receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21).

Randal

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Edwards On Grace: What I’m Learning From Reading Jonathan Edwards’s Earliest Sermons

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So many images of God’s grace reflect a worship posture.

Reading Jonathan Edwards’s earliest sermons yields some quotes that may serve you well as you prepare to preach and teach this week.

In his sermon, Glorious Grace, based on Zechariah 4:7 (“…Grace, grace to it!”), Edwards urges his congregants:

“When you praise him in prayer, let it not be with coldness and indifferency; when you praise him in your closet, let your whole soul be active therein; when you praise him in singing, don’t barely make a noise, without any stirring of affection in the heart, without any internal melody [sic].” (p. 399)

What a tragic thought: someone in church singing without any internal melody!

I often half joke to our faith-family that we’re Bible Church people so we know a great deal about God but don’t feel much. Edwards would say to me,

“Consider that great part of your happiness in heaven, to all eternity, will consist in this: in praising of God, for his free and glorious grace in redeeming you; and if you would spend more time about it on earth, you would find this world would be much more of a heaven to you than it is.” (p. 399).

One of the things Edwards helps me do is try to find ways to help my congregants celebrate the grace of God with their whole being.

May our Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21) as you urge the same, maybe with a little help from JE.

Randal

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Preaching the Goodness of God: What I’m Learning From Reading Jonathan Edwards’s Earliest Sermons

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Edwards says, “If you find God…you will find all good.”

In Kimnach’s volume 10, The Works of Jonathan Edwards, he includes, “Fragment: On Seeking” (p. 377). It contains a helpful theological insight on the character of God.

The second thing he lists when considering what a person finds when they find God is:

“beside [finding a Savior, and an everlasting sure defense from all evil] you will find all good; you will not only be freed from all evil, but be brought to the possession of all good” (p. 383).

As I’ve noted before in Edwards’s writings, he often motivates from a positive perspective. The negative side of things, we’re all too familiar with and often use in our preaching and teaching. It’s the positive that Edwards continues to teach me.

For instance, as I urge myself and my faith-family to fight hard against temptation, it’s good to remind ourselves that temptation is strong because what it offers sounds so good.

How good it is to know that having God means having all that is ultimately good! Edwards calls this kind of good: “real, solid good” (p. 383).

Then, Edwards describes God as the Source of all good:

“God is an infinite, self-sufficient, all-sufficient, essential, overflowing good: he is the source of all good.” (p. 383)

I found it interesting that Edwards combined familiar attributes with God to define His goodness.

I am picking up from Edwards that the more I can help people realize just how good God is, the more they are apt to trust Him and not trust other charlatan peddlers of good.

So, as you head into Holy Week, may our Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21) as we remind our listeners that finding God, they have not only been freed from all evil, but brought into the possession of all good. What more could we ask for?!

Randal

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We Will Not Worship the Gods of our Culture: Preaching Through Numbers

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Preaching the Never-Ending Battle Against Idolatry

For those who choose to preach or teach the book of Numbers, opportunities abound for warning listeners against idolatry.

Two resources may help you define/describe idolatry:

Keller’s, Counterfeit Gods

Hafemann’s, The God of Promise and the Life of Faith

Numbers 25:1-18 describes the idolatry of God’s people. I titled this section:

“He will bring us into this land”: And We Will Not Worship the Gods of Our Culture.

The narrative is one of those, “Go and do otherwise,” stories in which Israel sets another bad example.

Following the storyline you might consider this structure:

  1. The lure into idolatry (vv. 1-3a, 6)
  2. The inevitable judgment (vv. 3b-5, 7-9, 14-18)
  3. God’s provision of our wholeness (vv. 10-13)

It’s good for us to move from ancient idolatry to more modern versions. I have often used this slide:

Not exhaustive, but a good place to begin.

Ask folks to locate the idol(s) they’re most tempted to worship.

Congregations/classes will struggle with the brutality of the judgment scene. Once again we come face to face with God’s holiness and the inevitability of judgment that stops “the plague on the people of Israel” (v. 8). The fallout is still enormous (24,000 in v. 9).

Finally, in vv. 10-13 God wants everyone to know what–better who–stopped the plague. It was a priest. And the reason:

“he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I did not consume the people of Israel in my jealousy.” (v. 11)

As a result there is renewed wholeness:

“Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace…the covenant of a perpetual priesthood, because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the people of Israel.”

Some who are fond of Christo-centric readings will see how Christ, the greater Phinehas, turned back God’s wrath when the spear entered His side on the cross (cf. vv. 7-8).

Our God will receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21) as you preach and teach about His jealousy which warns us away from our American idols (or the idols of your location).

Randal

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Preaching “God’s Excellencies”: What I’m Learning From Reading Jonathan Edwards’s Earliest Sermons

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Psalm 89:6 “For who in the heaven can be compared not the Lord…?”

I don’t read Edwards’s sermons because of his exegesis. I read him because of his theology. And the depth of his thinking. And his ability to relate theology to his hearers.

But back to his theology.

In his sermon, God’s Excellencies, Edwards’s theological thinking takes center stage.

First, Edwards spends minutes on how God is infinitely greater than all His creatures. In the middle of many, “…he is’s” he writes,

“he is infinitely happy and he will be infinitely happy.” (p. 419)

Edwards links this to God’s ability to do what he pleases. That includes, of course, that

“Poor nothing creature(s) can do nothing towards controlling of [Him]; they, with all their power conjoined…can’t deprive Jehovah of any of these things….as he was…so he is now and so he will be…happiness uninterrupted…” (p. 419)

And the heart of the discussion about God’s excellencies occurs in the sermon in his third point where Edwards reasons from God creating all excellent things:

“he has made all things that are excellent, and therefore must have given them their excellency, and so must have all that excellency in himself, or else could not have given it.” (p. 420)

Edwards tells his listeners to look at everything that is considered beautiful in creation and it finds its origin in the excellencies of God.

And Edwards understands that he is just scratching the surface in his attempt to capture God’s excellencies:

“All that we can say is but clouds and darkness to the reality….[and all preachers will love this next part] How much too little is the space of one sermon…” (p. 424)

For sure. But with what little space we have on a given Sunday morning, whenever we preach about God, Edwards’s keen insights will help us continue our privileged work so He receives glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21),

Randal