Faithfully Living in the Household of God: Master Planner and Giver of Blessings
Faithfully Living in the Household of God • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Introduction: God’s revelation and mans rejection.
Introduction: God’s revelation and mans rejection.
For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
Paul asserts that people have the ability to recognize the existence of God and some of His characteristics simply by observing the world around them. He says that the natural world serves as a testimony to God's eternal power and divine nature. The complexity, order, and beauty of creation can lead individuals to acknowledge the existence of a Creator.
Paul concludes by stating that people are "without excuse." This implies that since the evidence of God's existence is present in the world, we cannot claim ignorance or lack of knowledge as a valid reason for rejecting belief in God. This becomes even more powerful when we understand that God has revealed himself more in his Word
A Brief view of the Trinity:
A Brief view of the Trinity:
Therefore, when we speak of a doctrine like the Trinity, it is important for us to know that we are not pulling from a single verse which provides us with the word trinity or a definition. Rather what we have is a doctrine built on a general, and I would say foundational theme found throughout the Bible. This means that over the centuries faithful pastor, teachers and scholars have sought to give a clear statement to explain how God has revealed himself in the Bible.
We believe at its core is that the Bible is a collection of writings that reveals in a unified whole, who God is. Therefore, it is important for us to learn what the whole Bible teaches and allow it to dictate beliefs.
There are clear passages in the Bible that give a picture of the Trinity, here are a few.
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”
All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
“The doctrine of the Trinity distinguishes Christianity from other monotheistic faiths like Judaism and Islam. Jews and Muslims cannot accept that Jesus Christ is God the Son, nor do they think of the Spirit as a person in his own right. They do not usually refer to God as “Father,” either. Therefore, to be a Christian is to be Trinitarian because, although the word “Trinity” nowhere appears in the New Testament, the message and experience of the gospel is incomprehensible without it.” (Gerald Bray, “The Trinity,” in Lexham Survey of Theology, ed. Mark Ward et al. (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2018).
So what we mean then by the Trinity, is that we believe in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Who exists eternally together in perfect unity, all three being fully God. Meaning that they do not make up a part of God, as though the Father was 1/3 of God, and the Son and Spirit likewise. Rather, each is a distinct person who is fully God, yet all three are One God, thus the term Trinity.
Therefore, the Son (Jesus Christ), became a man suffered, died, and rose again. But the Son became man at the will of the Father, and accomplished his salvation activities in the power of the Holy Spirit. We see this displayed in;
In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”
This is what Paul is saying in our passage, “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” There is one God, yet that one God is revealed in the 3 persons which we call the Trinity. Working with one will and purpose for the salvation of the world.
Thus we can say the Father is not the Son, and the Son is not the Father, nor is the Father or the Son the Holy Spirit. But all three in perfect unity and will are One God, existing eternally together. Knowing all things together, having all power together. Yet there is distinction in the roles of each person within the Trinity.
What we need to understand today is that within the Trinity, there exists a hierarchy of authority. It is crucial that we understand this is not a hierarchy based on ability or superiority in essences. Meaning the Father is not at the top by virtue of his greater power over against the Son and Spirit as though he bullied them into submission; or that the Son became man and died because he was expendable to the Trinity.
Instead, like marriage and gender roles, the hierarchy exists in the Trinity based on roles and purpose. Therefore, the Son became flesh instead of the Father or the Holy Spirit because it was his role and purpose to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Likewise, the Spirit did not become flesh, because it is his role and purpose to be the guarantor of our Faith and to be the guide and helper of man to love and obey God.
The Father:
The Father:
The difficulty of this text, then is to understand the Person of the Trinity that Paul is referencing here. In our english version it can be a bit difficult to understand the personal pronouns used. But there is an easy way to figure it out. Typically, unless there is a direct reference to the Holy Spirit or Jesus Christ as God, then when the Bible gives the pronoun God, it is typically safe to interpret this as God the Father. In fact the vast majority of passages that use the name God, are referring to God the Father.
Let me give you an example, John 1:18 “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.”
If we approached this verse without the context of John 1 and without the concept of the Trinity we would be very confused. But it is clear that John is saying that God the Father is veiled in his person from our sight “No one has ever seen God,” but the God at his side, which we know is the Son, reveals Him to us. We will get into this more next week but this is part of Jesus’ purpose. Jesus says in John 14:9 “Jesus said to him, Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. ”
Therefore as Paul says in our passage, “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” He is identifying God the Father and Christ Jesus.
In similar fashion at the end of verse 3, Paul uses the identification “God our Savior.” What Paul is doing is showing us the role of God the Father. That means that Jesus is serving in the role of mediator between God the Father and humanity, and that God the Father is holding the role of Savior.
This shows us who is the primary driver of salvation. Jesus throughout the Gospels makes interesting statements that if we connect with the idea of roles within the Trinity will help us understand the role of the Father.
For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.
And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”
Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God,
as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’ ”
This is not to say that Jesus does not have a desire for people to be saved, rather it is God the Father holding the top role in the hierarchy in the Trinity. As He is the one who sends the Son to make atonement for sin, and to propitiate him, God the Father.
Jesus says in John 5:30 “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.” Again indicating that he subordinates himself to the Father and seeks to do the Father’s desire. But this does not mean again that Jesus is not fulfilling his desire, because the desire of the Son as the second person of the Trinity is the same as the Father the first person of the Trinity, and the Holy Spirit.
God the Father then serves as the head of the Trinity because of the role and purpose he has, sharing with the Son and the Spirit the same desires and will, and then working those desires our perfectly together.
According to Bruce Ware, there are a few aspects regarding the role of the Father within the Trinity that we need to explore.
Ware says, “The Father is the Grand Architect, the Wise Designer of all that has occurred in the created order. From initial creation through ultimate consummation and everything that happens in between, it is God the Father who is the Architect, the Designer, the one who stands behind all that occurs as the one who plans and implements what he has chosen to do.”
This means that it is God the Father who planned and executed the plan to redeeming humanity, from sending the Son, to his death on the cross, his resurrection from the dead and one day his final return to bring all things into subjection to God the Father.
This is why when the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray. He instructed them to pray to the Father.
Matthew 6:9–10 (ESV)
Pray then like this:
“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Secondly, the Bible tells us that “The Father is the giver of every good and perfect gift. James 1:17, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”
This verse emphasizes the idea that all good and perfect gifts come from God and that God's nature is unchanging and constant. It's a reminder to us that blessings and goodness in life are ultimately attributed to the Father’s grace and providence.
According to our passage this morning, then in the role of Savior, God the Father plans and executes redemption by sending the Son to redeem us, and then the Holy Spirit to indwell his children so as to empower them to walk a life of faithfulness.
Final Exhortation: All is done for The Father:
Final Exhortation: All is done for The Father:
God the Father then is not some arbitrary being sitting in the clouds with a long white beard disinterested in what is happing on earth. Rather, he is the Sovereign King, God our Savior who from the beginning with perfect cooperation of the Son and Spirit, has planned for and now executed his plan of Salvation.
even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
God the Father in his wisdom and grace before the foundation of the world worked out his plan for salvation and has now through sending the Son, propitiated His wrath and declares all who believe on him sons or daughters as he has predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ.
What a glorious Father he is!
Prayer:
Song:
Benediction: