THE GOODNESS OF GOD

GOD'S CHARACTER AND HOW HE RELATES TO US

The next component of our Theology of God finds a source in 1 John 1:3 Where John the Elder writes, "We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you might have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his son, Jesus Christ." Our God is a God of relationships and we can know him more and deeply when we understand his attributes and characteristics as displayed in his relationships.

There are many attributes of God that Theology has identified. Some of these are more impersonal attributes such as his omnipotence, transcendence, infiniteness, and Immutability, and other five dollar words that, while important, are not the focus of this information. These are good but God's attributes we are going to talk about now all make more sense and are more practical when they are seen in the context of his relationships. Here we want to discuss the Goodness of God: his moral qualities. 

It is through relationships that we see God's Moral Purity, Integrity, and Love. 

GOD'S MORAL PURITY

God's moral purity helps us see that we are in relationship with a good god and he is one that can be trusted, loved, and known. By moral purity we are proclaiming that God is free from anything wicked or Evil. 

1. God's Holiness: There are two important things to understand about Holiness. We talk about "holy" a lot but God's 'otherness' is easy to misunderstand. Throughout the Bible, one of the most consistent descriptions of who God is in relation to us is Holy. Read Exodus 15:11; Isaiah 6:1-5. And even in the New Testament Peter caught a glimpse of the holiness of God, come down to earth, in Luke 5:8 
   • The Hebrew word for holy is Kah-Dosh (transliterated). And is used about 450 times in the Old Testament. Frequently used to describe who God is but also talking about other things related to or dedicated solely to God; Holy Ground, Holy Temple, Holy offerings, Holy sanctuary, Temple stuff, furnishings. The word carries the idea of "marked off" or "not for common use". The verb that it comes from has the connotation of "to cut off" or "to separate".  God is not just free from moral wickedness or evil but is completely separate from and unable to tolerate the presence of evil. God is completely separate and distanced in who he is that one of the defining attributes of God is that he is "separate" "cut off" "not common". There is no one like him, not even close. He is completely in a category of his own.
2. God is also Righteous: God's righteousness means that he is all Good all the time. He sets the standard for right and wrong and that his actions, toward humanity and all of creation, are in accord with the laws that he has established. In other words, God measures up to the standers he has set and he himself is the standard. There are many mentions, probably more than any other place, of God's righteousness in the wisdom literature; Psalms and Proverbs.  Psalm 7:6-11, 11:4-7. 
3. God is Just: These three are closely intertwined. God is Just because he sets the law for the kingdom, requires others to conform to it, and follows it himself. God's justice means that he is fair in how he administers his law. He does not show favoritism and all standards are kept all the time. God's justice is intimately wrapped up in Christ's work on the cross and how justification works. 

GOD'S INTEGRITY

God's integrity relates to matters of truthfulness and honesty in relationship. Essentially God is true, he tells the truth, and he proves it true. These are quick interrelated attributes. 

1. God is genuine. In contrast to false gods or your stereotypical scheming and backstabbing pantheistic pantheons, Our God says what he means and is not false. Deuteronomy 32:4 "Truthful God who does no wrong" and John 14:6
2. God is veracious. Not just that he is truth but that he tells the truth. Titus 1:2. Hebrews 6:17. 
3. God is faithful. So he keeps the truth. God's faithfulness is throughout scripture and is best seen in big chunks and relationships. His calling of Abraham. His promises to the people of Israel. And onward to the New Testament in places like 1 Corinthians 1:9; 2 Cor 1:18-22, 1 Peter 4:19. 

GOD'S LOVE 

God's loves is probably the first thing that comes to mind when we are talking about who he is in relation to us. 1 John 4:8 says, "for God is love". We See God's love in relation to us in terms of benevolence, grace, mercy, and persistence. 

1. God's BENEVOLENCE toward us is the basic understanding that God concerns himself with the welfare of those he loves. This is your John 3:16 statements. That God loved. Even in the Old Testament we see it toward Israel in Deuteronomy 7:7-8.
2. God's GRACE is easy to see. That God deals with us not on what we deserve but on his terms. Grace is that God supplies us with undeserved favor. God's grace is deeply intertwined into his character as seen in Exodus 34:6. Grace really come to the forefront in Paul's letters. Your scripture references here would be pretty much all of his letters. 
3. God's MERCY is separate from grace. It is a distinction based not of God but on us. Grace is when God sees us as sinful, guilty, and condemned and doesn’t' give us what we deserve. Mercy is when he sees us as miserable and need and acts toward us in compassion.  Think Mark 1:41 and Matthew 9:36 in the ministry of Jesus. Psalm 103:13 in the OT. 
4. Finally we can see God's love in his PERSISTENCE in pursuing us. Romans 2:4; 9:22. 1 Peter 3:20. Psalm 86:15. Essentially that God is long-suffering and relentlessly seeks relationship with us. 

WHY DOES GOD'S GOODNESS MATTER TO US AS LEADERS?

This is the simplest one for us to state but the hardest for us to live out because like how God lives out his Goodness in relationship with us. We are called to live that out in relationship with other people. As leaders who are made in the image of God we are to model our character after his character. Easier said than done but it is what we are called to.