God, Creator, Perfect and Triune
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Would you stand with my as we read scripture this morning? I have two scriptures for us. Deuteronomy 6:4 and Matthew 28:18-20
“Listen, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.”
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.”
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Let’s pray.
There are lots of unhinged critiques that get throne at people trying to dismiss Christianity - one of the more common ones goes something like this:
The Emperor Constantine invented the Trinity at the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD.
The argument tries to promote the idea that the Christian Concept of God - that of God as three in one - was invented in 325 AD, some 300 years after the time of Jesus, and was done with imperial entanglements.
Now it’s true - that the Council of Nicaea was the first ecumenical council of the Church - meaning it was the first time all the bishops of the early church got together to officially hammer out doctrine. But a huge reason for this was because before than Christianity was in various throws of persecution , both overt or subversive.
When Constantine converted to Christianity, and Christianity was given legal protection, now the church leaders could get together safely - and even could afford to get together!
They got together for two main reasons,
first, was trying to solidify the date where Christians were going to observe Easter Sunday.
Remember - before denominations, and Internet - different areas celebrate Resurrection Sunday on different dates - but now they were able to be uniform in their celebration.
And second was to deal with rising controversy over the divinity of Christ, this heresy - Arianism - suggested that Jesus was actually a created being, subordinate to the father.
The council soundly rejected this claim - instead saying that Jesus was “God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God, begotten, not made, of one being with the Father.”
It wasn’t that the council invented the trinity - it’s that they protected and clarified the Biblical teaching on the Trinity that was already the prevalent view in the Church! The debates were less about the actual concept - but what precise words to use - for the council did not want to flippantly describe the almighty God with words without much prayer, thought, and study of scripture.
Because let’s be real - Christianity’s Theology - our beliefs of God are utterly unique and distinct.
God as Trinity - Three Person in One Being - or that share the divine essence - is unique and challenging! And pretty much any illustration mankind has brought forward to explain the Trinity falls into Heresy!
Because, we proclaim that God is One - like the Shema in Deuteronomy, and also that God the Father Son and Spirit!
This separates us from Islam, Judaism, Mormonism, Hinduism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Bahai-ism, Unitarianism, and One-ness Pentecostals, and especially in the context of the Council of Nicaea, Paganism.
So the council of Nicaea wasn’t inventing something new - it was confirming and affirming the theology that was already present in the local churches spread across the Roman world. It was working to clarify this complex and intricate doctrine, so that we can be accurate.
Our theology is so important.
Pastor Brandon said it this way last week: What we believe defines who we are and who we are defines what we do.
That’s what we are working on in our series on DNA - and today we are tackling God. Theology Proper.
Take a look at our Denominations first point in our statement of faith it says this: 1.1: slide
There is one God (Deut. 6:4), Creator of all things (Rev. 4:11), who is infinitely perfect (Matt. 5:48), existing eternally in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:19).
The first point of the Alliance statement of Faith is dealing with who God has revealed himself to be according the Scriptures. And if we miss here, at the beginning of who God is, the rest of our doctrine will fall apart.
When you think about God, what comes to mind? What words, scriptures, concepts, images come to mind?
Alliance pastor and theologian AW Tozer had this to say: Slide
“What comes into our mind when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”
Our conception of God, What comes to mind when we think about God has a profound effect on our lived reality. (and the inverse is also true, how we live our lives reveals our conception of God).
Most people, even self-professed Christians, views of God are less shaped by scripture, and the historic orthodox views of God, and more shaped by stories we grew up with, our parents, and pop-culture.
And this has devastating effects on our lives, on our churches, on our communities.
So this morning we take time to fully focus on God and his word.
What does Scripture reveal to us about God?
Paul David Tripp a pastor and writer has said that to him perhaps the four most imporant words in the Bible are the first four words OF the Bible. Genesis 1:1a
In the beginning God. . . .
Think about this - the first words of Scripture proclaim that at the beginning of all things that exist - God already was.
Before time. Before any creation. God was.
This very fact can be very grounding. There is an unmoving unchangeable agent at work. Who is above and beyond it all.
Our world spins faster and faster every day it seems, it feels chaotic, disorienting, and this can lead to great angst.
But God who is outside of time is beyond all of the chaos and confusion, and is the ultimate anchor for the soul.
And throughout scripture there is a refrain that God is the creator of everything that has been created. I mean that’s the rest of Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
But beyond that!
The book of Job, the prophets, Psalms. Even Revelation - Revelation 4:11
Our Lord and God, you are worthy to receive glory and honor and power, because you have created all things, and by your will they exist and were created.
By your will they exist and were created.
I’ll put it this way - you are not some cosmic accident.
You, me, every human and every created thing exists because of God’s will. Divine Purpose.
This goes so firmly in the face of scientific naturalism that is so prevalent in our culture and society. That narrative goes a little like this:
all life, and creation is nothing but a happy little accident (in the words of Bob Ross). The entire universe was, at one point just a tiny dense and hot state, (for some reason, we don’t know why) and like super dense, like the size of a single atom. And then for some happy accident it explodes in a big bang. Then over billions of years, over random chance and collisions, and water and lightening, and pond scum and star dust, somehow, accidentally humans evolved. life and order from disorder. Accidentally alive with no greater purpose, no greater destiny. Just here. A cosmic accident. Tiny little fleas, clinging to a planet that’s being flung through the universe.
The Scriptures tell us something very different, whether you read Genesis literally or literarily, you see that God created order from Chaos. Created all things with a purpose. Humans made in his image to rule and reign, and to bring him Glory.
You are not a cosmic accident - you were created by the will of the cosmic supreme. The king of the universe created you with purpose, with intent. And not just you, but ALL THINGS - and therefore we should give Him praise.
And it should give us joy! You see, the logical end point for scientific naturalism is a kind of nihilism - or just do whatever feels good, because nothing really matters. We’re just bits of matter accidentally conscious. So the goal of life is to make our brief existence as happy has possible before we die. Which we know leads some truly terrible things and treat others as non-human (because humans are just accidents, right?). And while most people will say part of what makes our lives happy is living well in communities - there’s no reason, no point to it, just do what feels good - nothings matters.
It’s easy to see here why this could lead to fatalism, depression, and a need to medicate and drug oneself. What a dark and gloomy reality that so many people find themselves in. And perhaps why there is a resurgence of new age and paganism - people are aching for meaning and beauty and life - but their world view leads to dark wells.
The Christians can say - no to that fatalist nihilistic worldview, we are created by a loving and omnipotent being - who made us for a purpose - to glorify God, to live good lives, and to enjoy Him forever.
So even when things get tough - and Lord knows that times in this life are tough - we can remember and proclaim - God is good, he made all things - and he knows me by name. I was made on purpose. Praise God!
But it’s not distinctly Christian just to have a God - statistically speaking - most societies tend to believe in the supernatural.
So it’s not enough for us just to say that God created - and the Bible does say a lot more.
A distinguishing mark of our God is we believe that there is only one God!
“Listen, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.”
The Bible is clear in it’s assertion that God is the king of kings, the lord of lords - that he alone is the creator and supreme of all things.
Where greeks and romans had little g gods over different elements - but none were really supreme, we hold that God is the originator of all things.
That’s not to say that there are not other spiritual powers, demons who masquerade as gods to lead people astray.
Even Paul in Ephesians says this - Ephesians 6:12
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens.
We are in a struggle - but not against people as it often feels - but against spiritual forces in the heavens - cosmic powers of the darkness. The world is much more spiritual than our western post - enlightenment brains have been trained to acknowledge.
Behind wars, behind evil, behind genocide are evil powers stirring hatred in the hearts of humanity. Whispering to the hearts of men, the same way the serpent whispered to Eve in the garden to disobey God.
But there is only one God - from whom all things were created. And though we are in a battle right now - we know that Christ is victorious, we know how the story ends - and all evil and death will one day be defeated (though that’s getting to a different point of the statement of faith!).
We believe in one God - creator of all things - who is infinitely perfect. Think of Matthew 5:48
Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Perfect here in the greek is teleios - perfect, mature, complete. The whole package.
There is no sin in him, there is no evil in him. He radiates love, holiness, and is an all-consuming fire of righteousness.
The Rock—his work is perfect; all his ways are just. A faithful God, without bias, he is righteous and true.
Perfection is an intense thing. Infinite perfection is unimaginably intense. When people encounter God or his agents in scripture - they fall as if dead. I think of Isaiah in Isaiah 6 when he sees the throne of God says Isaiah 6:5
Then I said: Woe is me for I am ruined because I am a man of unclean lips and live among a people of unclean lips, and because my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Armies.
When Jesus reveals himself to John in Revelation - he falls at his feet as if dead.
When the nations hear of God in Revelation it says they hide themselves under mountains to try and flee.
God being infinitely perfect can create quite a dilemma for us - who are much less than perfect.
Since the fall - we have been removed from God’s presence and inherit the wages of sin - which is death - and eternal death.
But In God’s compassion and mercy he made a plan of Salvation in Jesus. Jesus came God in flesh - lived a perfect life and died a perfect death - rising victoriously from the grave so that by his life death and resurrection he made sin null, and death defeated. Whoever believes in him will be saved.
And it’s important to note - that this mercy and compassion isn’t a backup plan of Gods - it wasn’t a plan b. God IS merciful and gracious.
one of the most quoted passages in scripture revealing the character of God comes from Exodus 34:6-7
The Lord—the Lord is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth, maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But he will not leave the guilty unpunished, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ iniquity on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation.
The Capital LORD is stand in for the hebrew letters YHWH, which most people say something like Yawheh - and it means I Am. The always existing one.
And he has always been good, and perfect and loving. quick to forgive.
In my daily Bible readings - I’ve jumped on the plan with The bible Recap - if you haven’t heard of it, it’s a chronological bible reading plan, but with like 5-10 minute little recaps to help summarize the passage you read - I haven’t ever done this plan - and so I started with my kiddos, so we can do the recap together as a family.
Well one of the first weeks where it goes over the fall something crazy jumped out and even the podcast mentioned it.
In Genesis 3, we read of the Fall of mankind, and they are kicked out of the graden.
But it’s important to remember that God isn’t surprised. Genesis 2:15-17 God is giving Adam instruction in the garden lets look at that
The Lord God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree of the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die.”
This is before the fall (and before Eve) but notice.
for ON the day you eat from it you WILL certainly die. God didn’t say “If you eat from it you MIGHT die” as if he didn’t know.
GOD KNEW that they would fail. AND was still so filled with mercy and compassion.
After they fell, he walked looking for them, and covered them with the animal skins - and told them that there would come a snake-crusher who would defeat the evil serpent.
God is not surprised by our sin - and he is merciful to us when we do. PRAISE GOD.
So perfect. And so merciful.
God has made a way for us to be reconciled to him - JEsus Christ.
His perfection would wipe us out - but God made him who knew no sin to become sin so that we can become the very righteouesness of God.
God is so great.
there is one God, creator of all things, infinitely perfect, and existing eternally in three persons: Father Son and Holy Spirit.
The Trinity. where does this come from? Well - all through scritpure, but like a lot of concepts in scritpure - it’s progressive revelation - that means there are things hinted at in the Old Testament that become crystalized in the new testament.
From the very beginning during Creation God says this when he was creating man: Genesis 1:26a
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness.”
Then God (one God) said, “Let us (plural) make man in OUR image according to OUR likeness?”
Is this bad grammar or great theology? It’s the trinity breaking through already on page one. We see God creating - the spirit hovering over the waters. We learn later that Jesus was the agent in creation. God the three in 1 was always there.
It is crystalized in the new testament. The Trinity is best pictured at Jesus baptism: Luke 3:21-22
When all the people were baptized, Jesus also was baptized. As he was praying, heaven opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in a physical appearance like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well-pleased.”
The son being baptized, the spirit being present, and the father’s voice. All three there.
And it’s best articulated in Matthew 28:19-20
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.”
The Trinity has always been a part of Christian proclamation - though it’s true the word Trinity doesn’t come from scripture, but began being used by the earliest christians as a way to describe what they saw in Scripture.
In fact, in my studies of early church history - most of the early writers just would list all three, not using any extra words - but the concept is there.
It is distinctly Christian. The Tri-une God - is so hard to grasp - and yet we must hold to it as it’s what Scripture reveals to us. We ought to avoid many illustrations - for there is nothing created that can show the uncreated well. But the best image I’ve found a version of the celtic knot. slide
It’s a helpful tool to help visualize God’s triune nature.
This is what we believe!
There is one God (Deut. 6:4), Creator of all things (Rev. 4:11), who is infinitely perfect (Matt. 5:48), existing eternally in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:19).
So What?
Our “tag line” for this series is this:
“What we believe defines who we are and who we are defines what we do.”
We have a few main reasons for wanting to do a DNA series for the remainder of the summer,
For one, we are a C&MA Church, and as a church plant, most people who attend here do not have familiarity with the C&MA doctrine and distinctives. So we hope this can help with familiarity of the faith and denomination.
And second, because our statement of faith contain many of the “essentials” of the Faith - and there is a shocking lack of clarity on the essentials of Christian faith in our culture - but also in the church.
Our Culture outside of Christian Institutions has always had really confusing theology and doctrine - and has lead to many different issues - but increasingly the theology of those who attend churches, even evangelical churches has become more heretical by the decade!
Lifeway research does a good job of checking this with huge surveys - where they find that there is great confusion amongst evangelicals about even the most central teachings of Christianity.
thestateoftheology.com summarizes the 2022 survey by saying that Americans (in and out of the church) increasingly reject the divine origin and complete accuracy of the Bible. With no enduring plumb line of absolute truth to conform to, U.S. adults are also increasingly holding to unbiblical worldviews related to human sexuality. In the evangelical sphere, doctrines including the deity and exclusivity of Jesus Christ, as well as the inspiration and authority of the Bible, are increasingly being rejected. an inconsistent biblical ethic is also evident, with more evangelicals embracing a secular worldview in the areas of homosexuality and gender identity.
So one of our reasons for doing this series is to help us be clear on the essentials of the faith.
And our theology of God - is like the foundational one!
There is one god, the creator of all things, infinitley perfect, eternally exisiting in three persons Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Think of the implications of this:
There is a God! That means there is good and evil. That means there is justice. That means there is purpose! But there is only ONE God! that means we need to tell others, that means that there are other spiritual powers lying!
He created all things - that means he is in control, sovereign. That means that we are not som cosmic accidents, but intentionally designed. That means we need to have care in how we live - and how we care for others and creation itself. This place was created by our God - so let’s love it well, let’s care for eachother well!
He’s infinitely perfect. In a world where post-modernism reigns. In a you do you, trust your heart, if it feels good it is good culture. In a society becoming more and more plagued by mental health problems and lonliness where we can access so called “experts” online at any time who can swindle us out of our money and sanity - we can rest in the Perfect nature of God.
If God is perfect. If he is good. If he is right - how I feel can be put into place. Cause my feelings, my emotions are like the leaves and branches on a willow tree. They just blow around whipping everywhere! But I secure myself to the tree - to the roots - to the strength of the perfection and unchanging nature of our God - and I become much more secure.
God’s perfection is transformative for our lives the more we in faith live in that reality.
And God is Triune - father son and spirit.
The Father is God. The Son is God, the Spirit is God.
We confess this because scripture teaches it.
And it matters! Not three Gods - one God in three persons. Eternally loving community amongst the Godhead.
Why does this matter so much? Other than scripture saying it, that is.
Well if Jesus wasn’t divine, his sacrifice on the cross would be insufficient to pay the eternal punishment for our sins. But because he is divine, and infinitely good, and eternal - his sacrifice has infinite merit!
We cannot diminish the divinity of Christ.
And a lot of Christians treat the Holy Spirit less as a divine person and much more like a divine force - shame on us. We try to manipulate and use the right phrases like sorcerors to force outcomes rather than submit to God in the person of the Spirit. Trusting him to guide us, empower us, and correct us.
We must submit to the father, son, and spirit. Our God.
What comes to our mind when we think about God is the most important thing about us; and how we live and think reveals a lot of our Theology. Let’s pay attention!
So What?
If we want to be successful in increasing the spiritual temperature of south eastern South Dakota - we need to know who we are partnering with. God - there is only one god, creator of all things, who is infiniley perfect, and exists eternally as three person the father, son and holy spirit.
Let’s worship him now!
