We are now three sermons into a series on the attributes of God. Why study about God? Why spend 45 minutes each Sunday just thinking about one aspect of God’s character? Is there really that much that is important that can be said about God?
In the past week, I’ve come across two statements that illustrate why I believe this is so important. First, from John Piper [what follows is not merely for pastors and missionaries, but “pastors” (shepherds) and “missionaries” (gospel declarers) who are known by their more simple title, “Christians”] —
The greatest need for pastors and missionaries today is that we know and enjoy God – that we see and savor the glory of God. This is essential for displaying the glory of God. And that is the goal of all ministry and missions. Let me illustrate the need.
Charles Misner, a scientific specialist in general relativity theory, expressed Albert Einstein’s view of preaching like this:
I do see the design of the universe as essentially a religious question. That is, one should have some kind of respect and awe for the whole business. . . . It’s very magnificent and shouldn’t be taken for granted. In fact, I believe that is why Einstein had so little use for organized religion, although he strikes me as a basically very religious man. He must have looked at what the preachers said about God and felt that they were blaspheming. He had seen much more majesty than they had ever imagined, and they were just not talking about the real thing.
Einstein died in 1955, when I was nine years old. If he were alive today, his indictment would be even stronger, because today we have the Hubble telescope sending back infrared images of galaxies (of the 50 billion that may exist) from as far away, they say, as 12 billion light years (twelve billion times six trillion miles). And over against this majesty we have a steady diet on Sunday morning of practical “how to’s” and psychological soothing and relational therapy that betrays, sooner or later, that the preachers do not know God as they ought and do not regard him as infinitely glorious and worthy of one focused hour a week. “They are just not talking about the real thing.”
…Einstein felt instinctively: If the God of the Bible exists, and if pastors and missionaries really know him and count him their greatest treasure, then something is profoundly wrong. “They are just not talking about the real thing.”
What’s wrong is that knowing God better than we know anything else and treasuring God more than we treasure anything else is not the passion of many pastors and missionaries.…
The aim of the pastorate and the aim of missions is the glory of God. And knowing God and enjoying God above all things is the indispensable and all-important pathway to this end.
And then from J. I. Packer:
Our word “majesty” comes from the Latin; it means GREATNESS. When we ascribe majesty to someone, we are acknowledging greatness in that person and voicing our respect for it: as, for instance, when we speak of “Her Majesty” the Queen.
Now, “majesty” is a word which the Bible uses to express the thought of the greatness of God, our Maker and Lord. “The Lord reigneth, he is clothed with MAJESTY . . . Thy throne is established of old” (Ps. 93:1 f.). “I will speak of the glorious honor of thy MAJESTY, and of thy wondrous works” (Ps. 145:5). Peter, recalling his vision of Christ’s royal glory at the Transfiguration, says “we . . . were eyewitnesses of his MAJESTY” (2 Pet. 1:16). In Hebrews, the phrase “the Majesty” twice does duty for “God”; Christ, we are told, at his ascension sat down “on the right hand of THE MAJESTY in the heavens” (Heb. 1:3; 8:1). The word “majesty,” when applied to god is always a declaration of His greatness and an invitation to worship. The same is true when the Bible speaks of God as being “on high” and “in heaven”; the thought here is not that God is far distant from us in space, but that He is far above us in greatness, and therefore is to be adored. “Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised” (Ps. 48:1). “The LORD is a great God and a great King . . . O come, let us worship and bow down” (Ps. 95:3, 6). The Christian’s instinct of trust and worship are stimulated very powerfully by knowledge of the greatness of God.
But this is knowledge which Christians today largely lack: and that is one reason why our faith is so feeble and our worship so flabby. We are modern men, and modern men, though they cherish great thoughts of man, have as a rule small thoughts of God. When the man in the Church, let alone the man in the street, uses the word “God,” the thought in his mind is rarely of divine MAJESTY. A recent book was called YOUR GOD IS TOO SMALL [J. B. Phillips, 1953]; it was a timely title. We are poles apart from our evangelical forefathers at this point, even when we confess our faith in their words. When you start reading Luther, or Edwards, or Whitefield, though your doctrine may be theirs, you soon find yourself wondering whether you have any acquaintance at all with the mighty God whom they knew so intimately. [HT: Worship Quote of the Week]
And that is why we are studying the attributes of God on Sunday morning — so that we will have a God-glorifying and majestic vision and understanding of God.
Words of Grace 
Terry,
I, personally, have benefited greatly from studying the attributes of God. So I think you are doing a great thing.
Would you believe that the study of the attributes of God that has most impacted me was when they were taught to first graders in a Sunday School class where I was one of the small group leaders? The author of the curriculum, Jill Nelson, was teaching “The ABC’s of God” which is one of the Children Desiring God curriculum (from the church where Piper pastors). It contains great stuff! A number of the adult leaders in the class commented to me on the benefits of the course for them, even if they weren’t first graders themselves.
So this may sound silly, but if you are looking for resources in your preparing to teach some of the attributes, you may want to look at the curriculum for the ABC’s of God. Hopefully someone in your church already has a copy. You can look at a sample of the teacher’s notebook here: http://www.childrendesiringgod.org/curric_samples/abc.pdf
Blessings on you and your series.
David
David,
Thanks for the reminder. We have used several resources from Children Desiring God — and I think we even may own the curriculum which you mention. They do produce excellent material in a manner that is easy for children (and adults!) to understand.
Thanks much!
Terry