7 Principles About God’s Character

Many people think that discipleship is about church multiplication, and despite discipleship beginning to take its place at the heart of the church planting and multiplication discussion, we must not lose sight of the fact that discipleship is essentially about character. When Jesus called the disciples he made to make disciples themselves, it was to see their character transform to become like Jesus Himself.

This is why when we talk about character, we can never begin with our own.

We must always start with the character of God, for only His character can transform ours.

The revelation of God’s character, or who he is, is at the heart of the Old Testament. God revealed Himself to His people in many ways, but one of the ways he summarized his attributes (or characteristics) was by revealing names that said something about Him. The first name was Yahweh, or “I am.” At various times God attached a suffix to that name, such as “Your Peace” or “Your Banner.”

Some of the names included:

• I Am your Shepherd
• I Am your Healer
• I Am your Provider
• I Am Present

There are many more, but they reveal something about God to those who would worship Him.

Jesus dropped the most shocking name about God however, because it was a detour in how Jewish people typically addressed God. Jesus said that our daily prayer should begin by addressing God with “Our Father.”

Jesus continued the Lord’s Prayer with the first petition still focusing on God’s name. “Hallowed be your name.” Hallowed means revered as “holy,” or worthy of worship, and that petition asks for God to reveal Himself on earth, so that he’s worshiped on earth just as He is in Heaven.

God would continue to reveal Himself in stages to His people as a God worth worshiping all throughout the Old Testament, until finally, the ultimate revelation of God comes through the appearance of Jesus Himself. Yet, Jesus lived in quiet solitude until publicly unveiling who He was at the Jordan River after being baptized by John the Baptist. From then on, however, it was veil off and game on.

For three years of ministry, Jesus revealed God’s character non-stop, but it continued to be just as shocking as calling God “Father.”

But after his death and resurrection, Jesus turned to his followers, and told them to make disciples. Not disciples of themselves, but disciples of Jesus; Christ followers that also revealed who God was to the world. This is why the church is often referred to as the body of Christ. Although Christ has ascended to heaven, he has left an incarnational witness on earth that will reveal the character of God to the world.

Therefore, the most important thing to know about serving God, is that it must be about revealing Christ to others if it is worth doing at all.

That’s why I developed a course called Becoming Disciples: Learning God’s Character to Transform Your Own. This course seeks to have you encounter the character of God that you may reveal Him to the world as His disciples.

To prepare this course, we took every instance of the Old Testament directly quoted or referenced in the New Testament and distilled them into 7 chief things that the Jewish believers understood about God Himself. (If you’re wondering, there are over 300 direct quotes, and over 600 allusions to Old Testament verses). For example, when Paul wants to teach Timothy that it’s okay to make a living from ministry, he quotes Deuteronomy, “Don’t muzzle the ox as it treads the grain.” Paul asks, “Is it oxen God was concerned about?” Paul is extracting a principle about God’s character from this verse, that God cares, and applies it to us.

Distilling the 300 direct quotes (and 600 allusions) down into 7 principles wasn’t hard. They are:

1. God is a Missionary: Learning that God Cares More than We Do
2. God Cares about Everything: Learning a Hebraic Work Ethic Because Everything Matters
3. God Alone is King: Learning to Let Go of the Control
4. God is All-Wise: Learning to Trust God’s Wisdom More than Your Own
5. God Allows Suffering as a Part of Life: Learning to Endure Trusting God
6. God is Relational: Learning to Play with Others
7. God Has An Enemy and So Do You: Learning How to Fight in Faith

Are you ready for this?

Grasp what I’m about to tell you…these same principles about God that can be directly observed in the Old Testament, are also directly demonstrated in the life of Christ.

This probably is not surprising to you in theory, after all, Jesus fully reveals who God is. But when you begin to see it unfold in a continuity, it is thrilling. Jesus fully demonstrates God’s character, and to illustrate this, we specifically chose instances from Jesus’s life before his ministry got off the ground. Like when he questioned the Pharisees at the temple as a boy, demonstrating wisdom. Or when his ministry hadn’t officially started yet (“it’s not yet my time”), but he still demonstrated compassionate care for the wedding couple.

So the character of the Old Testament God is visibly revealed by Christ’s life…no shock there, but here’s where you come in.

Are you ready for this? These same character traits are the exact same requirements Paul gives for those who want to serve God in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 2! But of course they are! Aren’t those character requirements simply what a fully formed disciple of Jesus looks like? In other words, wasn’t Paul simply describing Jesus when he gave the requirements of those who want to lead others in His name? Therefore, we can conclude that 1 Timothy 3, and Titus 2 are simply describing what the character of a mature disciple looks like.

In other words, there is a continuous thread throughout the entire Bible about the character of God, manifested in Christ, and revealed by the church to the world!

Therefore, each lesson of Becoming Disciples maps the character of God manifested in three areas:

• The Old Testament
• The Life of Christ in the New Testament
• The Church’s witness

Said another way, we are looking at the character of God as revealed by:

• The Father
• The Son
• The Holy Spirit

The course will follow this outline in three sections. We will learn about God as he reveals Himself through the Old Testament, see it displayed by the life of Jesus, and finally, discuss how God wants our character to transform so that people outside the church may see who He is.