Secure With God / Seguro Con Dios

Intro

One of the first things Neva learned about me after we were married was that I didn’t want her help.

Marriage was given by God to us, in part, so that we could have a partner who will be a help to us. I knew that in my mind, but I didn’t want to actually practice it.

So, whenever Neva would offer to help me around the home, even with the smallest things, I would push her away. I would often use the words, “I’m self sufficient.” It got to a point that these words were something of a running joke between us. Neva would offer to help, and before I’d get the words out, she’d say, “self sufficient. I’m self sufficient.”

Humor covered up a real problem. I didn’t want to let her in. I didn’t want to be dependent on her. I didn’t want to be vulnerable.

Why did I push Neva away? Why was I determined to be self-sufficient? Because I was insecure. I had learned, through my brother’s death, through my parents divorce, through the addictions that tore my family apart, that I had to be strong on my own.

I thought dependence was weakness. Because of my insecurity, I was used to pushing people away. I brought that insecurity into my marriage. I didn’t just push Neva away, but I was often defensive. I was reactive. I was fragile.

We’re never more vulnerable or dangerous than when we’re insecure. Our insecurities make us frightened, so we create defense mechanisms to keep people away. We’re paranoid, we’re on edge, so we anger easily and can be unpredictable.

Our insecurities don’t just wreak havoc in our own lives, but they impact our relationships, including our friendships, our families, and even, like me, our marriages.

We search for all kinds of ways to create a sense of security for ourselves. We look to other people, money, stuff, our addictions for a sense of safety, but they all let us down. Trust me, I know.

Our passages tonight tell us that we are made for a perfect security that can only be found in God himself. God’s design for humanity is that we would be in a perfect relationship with him, a relationship where we receive the safety and security we so desperately crave.

Our security rests on who God is. God is perfectly secure within himself, because he is Trinity: Father, Son, and Spirit. These three persons, each of them equally God, have existed for all of eternity in perfect, harmonious security with each other. When we put our faith in Jesus, he brings us into the security of the Triune God, a security that has existed before time began.

So tonight I want to explore with you how God as Trinity, Father, Son, and Spirit, gives us the security that we need.

Now, I have some fear preaching on this subject as the second sermon for our church. One of the most respected theologians of the last century once said that the Trinity “confronts us with the most difficult thought that the human mind has ever been asked to handle.” (JI Packer, referenced in Keller sermon) I really don’t want tonight’s message to be an idea. I really wanted to present this in a way that will, with God’s help, move your hearts and transform our life together. But we definitely need God’s help to grasp at this. So let’s pray to that end now.

Three points to try and bring this home tonight. First, We are secure in God’s fellowship. Second, We are secure in God’s love. Third, We are secure in God’s presence.

Secure in God’s Fellowship

Look with me at verses 1-4 of 1 John 1. The invitation that John is extending to us is to participate in the fellowship of the Triune God, Father, Son, and Spirit. The Father and the Son are mentioned by name here, and in chapter 4, which we also read from, the Spirit is named explicitly there alongside the Father and the Son.

The difficulty when we’re talking about God as Trinity is that there isn’t one place in Scripture that gives us a clear definition of what we mean by Trinity, or Triune. Instead, God as Trinity is simply assumed throughout Scripture, particularly the New Testament.

So, what do we mean when we say that God is Trinity, that he’s Triune? We’re not saying that there are three Gods. There is only one God, God is one in essence, he is one in purpose, one in his will, one in his character.

God is also three distinct persons, Father, Son, and Spirit. All three of these persons are eternal, they’re equal in power, and equally deserving of our worship. They’re distinct in their operations, but they are so united in their essence and will that they are One God, three persons.

I want to give you just a couple passages that help us see that this must be true, even if we have a hard time grasping at it.

The first place is in Jesus’ own words, you have this in your worship guide, it will also be on the screen behind me. Matthew 28. These are some of Jesus’ last recorded words to his disciples. We see here that he commands them - and us - to make more disciples and baptize them in the name of The Father, the Son, and the Spirit. One name, God, shared by three persons, Father, Son, and Spirit.

Here’s what Jesus is teaching here. When we are baptized, the triune God marks us as his own. He puts his name on us. That name is shared by Father, Son, and Spirit. When we receive that name, we are being invited in to the relationship that God has had within himself for all of eternity. Let me say that again, a little different.

Through baptism, God invites us to participate in the relationship between the Father, Son, and Spirit, that has existed before time even began.

Is your mind blown yet?

John, in the passages we read tonight, is showing us how we participate in this relationship. Look at 1 John1:1-4. The passage starts off describing Jesus, who was from the beginning, and was eternally with the Father. The Father and the Son exist in fellowship with each other. When we put our faith in Christ, we are invited to share in that fellowship between the Father and the Son. Is everyone with me?

Do you see how, in these two passages, the Trinity is never defined, but it is assumed? One God who alone has the power to rescue us, heal us, protect us. Yet three persons, who have existed together in love before time even began.

What does the word “fellowship” mean? This is kind of an old fashioned word. “Fellowship” is a kind of relationship, but its stronger than that. To have fellowship is to enjoy the shared participation in the benefits of a special relationship.

So, you might have a fellowship at a company, and that means you’re going to enjoy special privileges and benefits that you can only enjoy at that company. Of, if you are a member of a church like ours, you’re in the fellowship, which means you ought to be able to enjoy the care and affection of that community.

To have fellowship with God means that you enjoy all of the benefits that the Father, Son, and Spirit have with each other. Do you get that? I mean, if we truly grasped this, this ought to blow our mind. When we are brought into fellowship with the Triune God, we enjoy the love, the blessedness, the affection, the security, that the Father, Son, and Spirit have with each other.

See, God doesn’t just share part of himself with us. God is so completely generous that through Jesus he shares all of himself with us. Everything he has he gives. Because of Jesus, there are no more barriers in our access to God.

That means you are secure. You are secure because you belong to the Triune God, who exists eternally as three persons, Father, Son, and Spirit.

Secure in God’s Love

Look at verses 13-16 here. Notice this. Do you see how The Father, the Son, and the Spirit are working on your behalf? Do you see that? So look then at verse 16. Because The Triune God is committed to you, we can know and rely on the love that God has for us.

Look at these verses again. If you take out any one of the three persons, this paragraph falls apart, doesn’t it? If there’s no Father, who sends the Son? If there’s no Son, who dies for our sins? If there’s no Spirit, how are we brought into God’s presence? See?

Because God is Trinity, we can know and rely on the love that God has for us.

I want to apply this for us in two ways. First, I want us to be aware of those who actively deny that God exists as Trinity.

Now, if you’ve been around the church for a minute, you know that there are many expressions of Christianity around the world. Unfortunately, Christians disagree a lot about what the Bible teaches. But there are a few core ideas that Christians everywhere have universally agreed are true and foundational for following Jesus. For two thousands years, all Christians, Catholics, Orthodox, presbyterian, methodist, baptist, anglican, pentecostal, everyone, have all agreed that God exists as Trinity. They’ve agreed that if you reject God as trinity, you can’t possibly have a right understanding of who God is, or what he’s done to redeem you. They’ve agreed that if you teach God is not Trinity, then that is heresy. It’s a false faith.

Yet throughout history there have been those who want to lead people away from who God has revealed himself to be. 1 John is actually a long warning against such people. In our city, more particularly in our neighborhood, this can be found in two false expressions of the Christian faith. Let me say a couple quick words about them, and why this matters.

The first is in Mormonism. Mormons deny the Trinity. There are too many differences to get into here. Mormons believe that God the Father, like the Son, is a man with a body. They also believe Jesus is not eternal or equal with the Father, but was created, and he’s only one of many of God’s sons. These views are completely different than what we find in the Bible, which means the salvation Mormons believe in is very different from what the Bible teaches.

The second is found in what can be called “Oneness theology,” which also denies the Trinity. Instead, oneness theology says the Father, Son, and Spirit are three different modes of God. God changes his mode depending on what he is doing.

I hope you can see how even these short descriptions of these two views are contrary to what John said, and what Jesus himself taught. Here’s why this matters.

Is God love? Yes. His nature is love. And how is God’s love defined? We saw this last week. It’s defined by the sacrificial service of Jesus who laid down his life for sinners. In other words, its a love that must be expressed toward someone else.

If God is Trinity, then that means the Father, Son, and Spirit have been loving each other for all of eternity, and that love is one of God’s defining attributes. The Father, Son, and Spirit have been pouring love into each other before time began.

If God is not three persons, then that means there was a time when God’s love did not exist. God’s love began when he created someone to be loved. If God’s love began at same point in time, then that means God can change his mind about love. And it means that love is not as central to God’s character as his power, or his knowledge, or any of his other attributes.

See, here’s what so often happens among those who deny that God is Trinity. They overemphasize God’s power, and they minimize his love. What happens then? Oppression. Manipulation. Control.

Read Mason Quotes

Some of you have been in churches like this. Week after week you’re told you have to get God’s power in your life. The men up on stage are the men that God has given power to and you have to listen to them. RIght? Some of you know this.

But what is John teaching? What is Jesus teaching in Matthew 28? We relate to God not first through his power but through his love. It is through love that he invites us into relationship with him. It is through love that he sent his Son to die for our sins. It is because of love that the Spirit lives in us so we can live in God.

I want you to be protected from those who say otherwise.

Second, I want you to see how this teaching transforms your relationship with God.

If God is love, he must be Trinity. Do you see that? I know that was a lot. I want to try and move what is true from our minds down into our hearts now. Ok?

We live in a society where people move around a lot. My wife and I, we’ve moved a ton. That’s done now. We here. We’ve also had a lot of friends who have moved a lot.

It’s hard to have real, lasting relationships with people when those relationships are so short. So, as a form of protection, Neva and I have found ourselves kind of putting up a guard around people until we know whether they’re going to stick around for awhile. We’re slow to give our hearts away because it hurts too much when people leave. It feels like people are choosing career, or opportunity, over our relationship. They’re switching up on us. They’re changing their mind on us. We don’t matter to them as much as we thought we did.

Do any of you know what I’m talking about? Sure you do. You’ve all experienced this pain in some kind of way. I know you have.

We can take that fear and pain and project it onto God. If people leave us, if people change their mind about us, if people determine we’re not important anymore, then God can too.

Listen to me. Here’s what I’m trying to stress to you tonight. God isn’t going anywhere. He doesn’t change his mind. And he’ll never decide that you aren’t important anymore.

Look in your worship guide for these verses from John 17. This is Jesus praying to God the Father. Jesus said that he gave us his glory so that the world would know that the Father has loved us in the same way that he has loved Jesus.

I couldn’t think of anything more life-changing than this. If you have put your faith in Jesus, then he has given you the gift of love that has existed between the Father and the Son for all of eternity. That’s a love that doesn’t change. It’s a love that doesn’t go anywhere. He never changes his mind. He never runs out.

How do I know? How do I know that God’s love will never end? Because it never began.

Don’t you see? God made up his mind about you a long, long time ago. He was determined to rescue you from sin and darkness so that you can share in his love. So the eternal Father sent his eternal Son to become a man who would take on your guilt and shame so that, through the Spirit who dwells in you, you could live forever in God’s love. The Father, Son, and Spirit are totally committed to you. Precious, beautiful, you.

So you can breathe, friends. That insecurity you’re holding onto right here. Breathe. Give that over to the God whose love even now is being poured into your heart.

Secure in God’s Presence

Look again at verses 13-16 in 1 John 4.

How do we get access to this fellowship between the Father and the Son? How is this love that the Father shows toward the Son made available to us? We find out right here.

Through the Holy Spirit.

When John said that we live in God and he lives in us, he’s making another connection to Jesus’ words that unfortunately is lost here in this translation. “live” here can also mean “remain” or “abide.” It’s the same word Jesus used in John 15 when he told use he is the vine and we are the branches, and we will be safe if we remain, or abide, in him.

The Spirit brings God’s presence to us so that we can be in God’s presence. x2 This is a gift that Jesus gives to us when we trust ourselves to him:

1 John 4:14–15 “And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God.”

Are you feeling the crushing weight of insecurity? Are you looking for a place to be safe and secure? I really think you can find that here in this church. But that is only because we find our security first in God, Father, Son, and Spirit. So I want to compel you tonight, if you have not believed on Jesus as your Savior, as the one who died for your sins so you can have fellowship with God, then put your trust in him. There is no greater security than what you’ll find in him.

If you have believed in Jesus, especially those of you who call Hope Church your home, remind each other of the security you have in God. With your affectionate words and actions would you help your brothers and sisters experience the security that you have found in Christ? We all need help with this. We all need regular reminders. We’re all battling insecurities.

So we depend on our God together, Father, Son, and Spirit, because we are secure with him.