Trinity: The Majestic, Glorious, Loving Father (outline)

Title: The Father’s Invitation

Text: Mark 9:2-8, II Peter 1:15-21

Series: An Invitation to the Life of God

Introduction:

Reasons we need the Trinity Lessons:

(1) Who cares if already saved...

Illustration: Wedding day is not end date of getting to know spouse. Salvation is an invitation to something. It is not an end in itself. Salvation is an invitation to the life of God.

(2) A Jesus-Onlyism that not even jesus would agree with...

(3) Thoughtless introductions to our prayers...

(4) A general ignorance of the scriptures and leaning upon common grace...

thesis: We must humble ourselves and respond to the Father’s invitation to us!

I. Who is the Invitation from? Mark 9:2-8.

Answer: The Father.

Who is the Father?

The Father is the 1st Person of the Trinity. Mark 9:7.

Active: The Father is the active One in the account.

Identified: as the Father

Eternal: The Father did not begin His Fatherhood in Bethlehem. John 17:24.

Ill: Life-event makes men fathers; but not with THE FATHER. What He has always been in the Trinity, He has made known to us in humanity.

App: (1) Be careful that you don’t use your human lens to interpret how God the Father should be but rather, Let Who God the Father has always been tell you what Fatherhood should look like. In this case we see that the Father is NOT inactive like many fathers are today — lazy about their domestic relationships and duties. In many ways, the life that is missing in the homes is the result of fathers who have neglected their families for the sake of themselves.

The Father is Personal. Mark 9:7-8.

The Cloud of His Presence. Mark 9:7.

Moses & Elijah - Law and Prophets

Presence is most important gift of God.

The Voice of His Presence. Mark 9:7. Reveals:

Distinction of Persons

Personal relations do not diminish what-ness.

Illustration: The fact that I am a father does not diminish the fact that I am a human being. Who I am is a father. What I am is a human being.

The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are distinct only in how they relate to each other. Father is never the Son…etc [Human illustration falls apart here]

Humility [condescension]

Use of human language.

Love - “beloved Son”

What God does outside of His persons, we must see that it existed in His Persons first.

When God expresses love, He is revealing Who He is not just something He is doing.

Illustration: Many of you have jobs. When you leave your place of employment, many of you disconnect from what you do for a living. That is not the case with God. You cannot separate what God does from Who He is.

Co-Equality - II Peter 1:17.

In giving honor to the Son, the Father is not a insecure, narcissistic, impersonal, unloving, speechless...

App: Those who know the Father are increasingly loving people. Do your words and actions communicate bitterness and hatred or love. A word of caution to the unbridled critical spirit.

Got Questions? Bible Questions Answered How Can I Overcome Having a Critical Spirit?

A critical spirit is not difficult to recognize. Its fruit is usually evident. Someone with a critical spirit is prone to complaining, seeing the glass as half-empty, ruing unmet expectations, sensing failure (in others more than in oneself), and being judgmental. Critical spirits are no fun to be around; neither are they fun to possess.

Galatians 5:14-15. Critical spirits are often found in people who are not completely inactive but who are not active in what they are actively criticizing.

The Father is Powerful. Mark 9:7.

Verbal Power - John 12:29.

Illustration: A thunder that shakes windows/inner senses...

Visible Power - II Peter 1:17.

Illustration: Majesty is a kind of power not so much heard as observed. Mark 9:6; Isaiah 6:4.

Appeased Person - II Peter 1:17.

The Father is the 1st Person, the Personal Father, and the Powerful Father. It is this Father who is at work and has extended an invitation into His life.

Ill: Family in restaurant with kids who cannot get along; or Wendy’s employee against employer.

App: The Hospitality that exists in the Godhead should exist among the people of God. Romans 15:7. There are a segment of Christians who are more intent on finding differences than what unites us.

II. What does the Invitation Say?

Answer: The Son.

The Eternal Father: The Father sent His eternal begotten Son (Mark 9:7) - This is my son...

The Father has eternally begotten the Son - Eternal generation of the Son.

Means: Father is Fountainhead of Deity

Means: Father is Fruitful: One from whom life proceeds.

Means: The Son proceeds from the Father.

Illustration: We are human beings. Where did we get our status as “human beings”? We received our what-ness from other human beings called parents. Jesus and the Holy Spirit receive their what-ness from the Father. The key distinction is that they never had a beginning to their what-ness. They have eternally existed in this way within their Who-ness.

Means: God-ness of the Father is communicated among all three Persons of the Trinity. John 3:35, 5:19-26, 5:30, 36-37, 6:37, 44, 6:57, 8:29.

Ill: Jake Taube. We tend to think that before the Creation, things were just dark, lifeless and without movement; but that is not the case. Imagine the most life-filled scene; the Mall at Christmas time or Black Friday after Thanksgiving. As you consider the hustle and bustle of that scene, multiply that by a Trillion infinity and you have not even begun to understand the life that exists in the Trinity. When you see the life of creation, the Cosmos, and complex organisms, you must know that this life first existed in the Godhead before it existed outside of the Godhead. Thus, when we say that the Father is Fruitful, we mean that light and life proceeds from the Father. Included in this is that the Son has eternally proceeded from the Father.

The Invitation of the Father: The Father Invites through the Son (Mark 9:7) - Hear Him (believe & obey) John 14:6.

Illustration: A Christmas Gram: Walter Hobbs; “Who sent this Christmas Gram?” In the movie, Elf was the message. When we consider the Father, the Son is the message.

Jesus is on mission for the Father. Jesus lived in exaltation of the Father, received those the Father gave to him, hallowed the Father’s Name, prayed to the Father, asked for the Father’s Kingdom to come, prayed for the Father’s will. Jesus is the Father’s invitation to the life of God. Jesus was about the Father!!!

App: Whose mission are you on?

III. What is the Occasion? Mark 9:7.

Answer: Adoption.

“Hear Him” The sonship of the Son tells us something of the Work that the Father is doing.

Illustration: It is like learning by observation, and having learned only one way by observation. in Ghana, when visiting notoriety, the missionary said to us, when we enter here, do what I do and only what I do. He then proceeded to give us other tips. The only way we knew how to relate to this earthly king, was by observation and we were relating to this earthly king in the same way that the missionary related to this earthly king.

What then is the only way we know the Father, know how to relate to the Father? Is it not as we consider the Son? As we consider the Son? We observe the Son and we learn how orphan-like we really are — we don’t talk like the Son, behave like the Son, walk like the Son, forgive like the Son…and this tells us how unworthy we must be before His Father [SEMINAL ISSUE WITH MANY WHO ARE UNBELIEVERS]. This is the first recognition we make. We are sinful before the Father and need a righteousness like the Son and forgiveness for our sinfulness.

The Father did not send the Spirit to make many Spirits. he sent the Son to make many sons.

Hebrews 2:10.

This is Adoption, and it is a level up from salvation.

Ephesians 1:2-4.

Grudem, “Adoption is an act of God whereby he makes us members of his family.”

Romans 8:14-15. Holy Spirit & Adoption.

Conclusion:

IV. What are the RSVP Options?

Answer: Reverence.

How should we respond to the Father’s Invitation?

By reverencing the Son through receiving Him (Mark 12:6)

Have you reverenced the Father by first receiving His invitation?

By reverencing the Father’s Name as we Open our Prayers

Is the most irreverent part of your prayer the opening?

By reverencing the Father’s Name among the lost.

Do your life and lips reveal that your reverence the Father? James 3:8-9.

By Reverencing the Father, as He is revealed in His Word (II Peter 1:15-20).

Is what you know of the Father tethered to the Word preeminently or to your emotional and rational judgments?