The Triune God

Introduction

This year we are tackling different areas to better understand the Bible as a whole

This month we are going to be diving into the central character of the Bible

God

He is the one person that is weaved through every book

The one commonality in every story of the Bible

And he is the same God that is writing our stories today

So we are diving in headfirst today with perhaps the most confusing aspect about who God is

God is triune

Does anyone know what that means?

Scripture Reading

Matthew 28:18–20 (CSB)

Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 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, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

One name—three persons

The Difficulty

How many of you have thought for some time about the Trinity?

How many of you find yourself confused about the Trinity?

Thats okay

Before we get started I just want to state that this is a very complex topic, and all of your questions and concerns might not be answered today

There are still questions I face that I don’t have the answer to

But this should not stop us from trying to learn more about it

Keep asking questions but also learn to be in the tension of not completely understanding

I do have one other thing to say before we get started

The fact that the Trinity exists and is hard to understand actually helps me believe in God

If God was a man-made concept of course we could wrap our minds around him

But the fact that there are some aspects of God that seem a too vast to wrap our minds around… helps me to trust that this God is bigger than me

So don’t get discouraged in the mystery of it all

This is what the trinity means:

The doctrine of the Trinity is that God is one God, eternally existent in three persons.

That’s not tritheism, with three gods who work in harmony

Neither is it the idea that sometimes God takes one form and sometimes he takes another.

A Triune God means that there is one God in three persons who know and love one another. God is not more fundamentally one than he is three, and he is not more fundamentally three than he is one.

Nabeel Qureshi:

And if you think of a little bit, it makes sense

What is love? Honor? Justice? etc? with one person?

Is God’s character based on his creation? (Explain)

Tim Keller:

—The Dance

Each one orbiting and preferring the others

—Entering the Dance

The problem with the world (self-centeredness)

God is inviting us into this dance

He didn’t create us to get joy but to give it

We were created out of the overflow of God’s love

So that is some of the big picture of the trinity

But who are the three persons?

I know we say, Father, Son, and Spirit, but it isn’t in that order because of importance or because the Father was first

The Father

What comes to your mind when you think of the Father?

I think this is what most people think about when they think about God (Christian or not):

Man in the clouds

Creator

Maybe distant creator (deist)

Maybe temperamental/judgmental like Zeus

Sense of superiority and indifference towards humans

And some of this strike at the truth of things but miss the mark

God is creator

God is all-powerful

But he is far from distant

And he is not temperamental/moody

And he does not have indifference towards you and me

God is Lord but the primary way Jesus teaches us to relate to him is not as a boss/overseer but as a Father

Listen to Jesus in SotM:

Matthew 5:44–45 CSB

But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven. For he causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

Matthew 5:48 CSB

Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Giving, Prayer, Fasting - Matthew 6:4 (CSB)

And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Matthew 6:9 (CSB)

“Therefore, you should pray like this:

Our Father in heaven,

your name be honored as holy.

Matthew 6:31–32 (CSB)

So don’t worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.

and it goes on…

We relate to the first person of the Trinity as Father

And it’s not that God is a male

You’re missing the point

But think of the cultural connotations of a father

Loving authority

Provision

Care

By seeing God as father we are making a statement

We are members of the household of God

We are provided for by God

We are protected by God

God is on our side

And it’s not just that we serve the right God

But God loves us and has brought us into his family

We all have imperfect fathers

But God is our perfect father who will never let us down

The Son

What comes to your mind when you think of the Son?

Jesus

A lot of us think of the perfect person

An example for us to follow

The mission of the cross

But I think we can often over emphasize Jesus’s humanity or divinity—but he is fully God and fully human

Perhaps no other Scripture is as clear of the divinity of Jesus as John 1

John 1:1–5 (CSB)

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. All things were created through him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. That light shines in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not overcome it.

John 1:9–12 (CSB)

The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.

He was in the world, and the world was created through him, and yet the world did not recognize him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, he gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in his name,

John 1:14 (CSB)

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Jesus is God

He is not any less God than the Father

But he is also human

Jesus was sent on a mission

And its not just to die on the cross to forgive sins

The end goal was to bring humanity (you and me) into the family of God

Even as we read: John 1 12

John 1:12 (CSB)

But to all who did receive him, he gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in his name,

Or in Mark 10:45 (CSB)

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Jesus is God not only sympathizing from afar

But God entering into the human experience in order to bring us into the eternal love of God

Where the first person of the Trinity relates to us as a father

Jesus relates to us as a brother

And not as a cheesy ad, He truly gets us

He understands pain and sorrow

Losing friends, betrayal, sickness, family issues

He knows the joys of life

Friendships, laughter, good meals, the beauty of nature

We have a friend and a brother in Jesus

The Holy Spirit

What comes to your mind when you think of the Holy Spirit?

Some of our ideas:

Impersonal force or power

“Come fill this space”

The magic of God

Jesus’s words in John shed some light on who the Spirit is:

John 14:26 (CSB)

But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you.

John 15:26 (CSB)

“When the Counselor comes, the one I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father—he will testify about me.

John 16:8 (CSB)

When he comes, he will convict the world about sin, righteousness, and judgment:

Acts 1:8 (CSB)

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

The ministry of the Holy Spirit is about:

Teaching and reminding us about the words of Jesus

Testifying to the truth of Christ

Convicting the world of sin (not condemning)

Empowering us to be witnesses to Jesus

To point people towards Jesus

This is the crazy part

Not only does God care for and provide for us as a Father

Not only does God sympathize and love us like a brother

But as a believer God himself lives within us

And it sounds weird if we really think about it

The Holy Spirit is not just a power or energy

But it is a person that lives in us

Not all of our thoughts are our own

The Holy Spirit directs our heart

Reminds us of Jesus

Teaches and instructs us about Jesus

Convicts us of sin

Empowers and emboldens us for the ministry of God

We don’t only relate to God as a Father

Or God as a brother

But God knows and dwells in our very hearts

Conclusion

Now if we think of these three persons

They are all working together to draw us into a relationship with God

The Father sent the Son to redeem his people

The Son gives us the Spirit so that we might truly know God

I have never physically seen Jesus or the Father yet I have a relationship with them

The Spirit is God himself working in us, drawing us into a deeper relationship with him

And as I started, this is a beautiful dance

The Father, the Son, and the Spirit

All deferring love and service towards one another

We are invited to this loving relationship

To be fully loved and celebrated

And for it to not end there

But for us to pour out the love we have received on others

Instead of insisting the world revolves around us

Creating all sorts of damage and collision

We instead begin to revolve around God

As things are intended—And as things will be in heaven

And in the meantime it’s still bumpy

We still make mistakes

Others still insist on being the center

But we are working towards this loving harmony

And so as we end, I want to challenge you

What are some areas of your life in which you are the center

You demand things go the way that you think are best

You expect other people to listen and obey you

And how might we let go of those expectations

How might we put God first in those areas

And trust that things will work out far better in the end

And I want to end with a very comforting thought:

The Father—Watching over us

In joy or in sorrow

The Son—Walking beside us

In joy or in sorrow

The Spirit—Living in us

in joy or in sorrow

And I know that this teaching can be confusing

And thats okay

We don’t know every single thing about God

But we do know that God deeply loves us

And longs for relationship with us

Are we willing to open our hands and hearts and receive him?