The Trinity, Doctrine, and Pets

INTRO

Alright, tonight we are starting a brand-new series called Asking for a Friend

And here's how this is going to work

Two weeks ago you guys have been turned in questions about God, the Bible, Christianity, faith, church, and all kinds of stuff

Some of the questions are really serious

Some of the questions are really hard

And some of the questions are…

clearly from middle schoolers

Which I love

And every week we're going to take one big question and spend most of our time on it

Then we're going to grab one or two other questions that connect to it

And here's what I want you to know before we ever answer the first one

There are no embarrassing questions here

If you've wondered it, somebody else probably has too.

That said… tonight we're starting with a pretty massive question…

TRUTH

QUESTION 1: HOW DO WE UNDERSTAND THE TRINITY?

Quick show of hands

How many of you have heard the word Trinity before?

Okay

Keep your hand up if you feel like you could explain it to somebody else without accidentally becoming a heretic

Yeah…

That's pretty much where we're at

So let's see if we can make some sense of it

First thing: The word Trinity is not actually in the Bible

And somebody might hear that and say:“"WAIT. Then why do Christians believe it?"

Because even though the word isn't in the Bible, the truth is clearly there

"Trinity" is basically a word Christians came up with to describe what Scripture teaches us about God

And I want to give you four things

If you can remember these four things, you've got the basic Christian doctrine of the Trinity

1. There is ONE God.

Deuteronomy 6:4 CSB

“Listen, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.

Christianity does not teach that there are three gods

Father God

Jesus God

Holy Spirit God

Three separate gods hanging out together

No

There is one God

Everybody say “One God”

Good

2. God exists eternally as THREE PERSONS.

The Father

The Son

The Holy Spirit

Not three pieces of God

Not three versions of God

Three distinct persons.

One of the clearest places to see this is Jesus' baptism

Matthew 3:16–17 CSB

When Jesus was baptized, he went up immediately from the water. The heavens suddenly opened for him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased.”

Jesus, the Son

is standing in the water.

The Holy Spirit

descends on Him like a dove

And the Father

speaks from heaven: “This is my beloved Son."

Now think about that…

Is Jesus talking to Himself from the sky?

No

Is Jesus throwing a dove costume on halfway through?

No

You have the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all present and distinct.

And then other great example is the great commission in Matthew 28

Matthew 28:19 CSB

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,

Baptize people "in the name"

singular

"of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."

One name

Three persons

3. EACH PERSON is fully God

The Father is God

The Son is God

The Holy Spirit is God

John 1:1–3 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.

Then later…

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.

Who's that?

Jesus

So Jesus is with God and Jesus is God

And Acts 5 identifies the Holy Spirit as God

Acts 5:3–4 CSB

“Ananias,” Peter asked, “why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the proceeds of the land? Wasn’t it yours while you possessed it? And after it was sold, wasn’t it at your disposal? Why is it that you planned this thing in your heart? You have not lied to people but to God.”

So we're not saying:

The Father gets 33%

Jesus gets 33%

The Holy Spirit gets 34% because somebody had to get the extra percent.

Each is fully God

4. The persons are DISTINCT

The Father is not the Son

The Son is not the Spirit

The Spirit is not the Father

Now look at your handout

You've got that little diagram

This is sometimes called the Shield of the Trinity

God is Father

God is Son

God is Holy Spirit

But:

Father is not Son

Son is not Holy Spirit

Holy Spirit is not Father.

So here is probably the simplest sentence I can give you: There is one God who eternally exists as three distinct persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

Everybody tracking?

Now here's where things get weird

Because every Christian teacher eventually thinks:

“I know what'll fix this.

“AN ANALOGY."

And that's when things usually go very badly…

People say:

"The Trinity is like water! It can be ice, liquid, or steam."

Sounds great

Except that's not the Trinity

Or:

"It's like an egg! Shell, white, yolk!"

Also not the Trinity

Or:

"It's like a three-leaf clover!"

Still not it!

And instead of me ruining all of these for you, I have some Irish guys who are going to help us

PLAY "ST. PATRICK'S BAD ANALOGIES"

Alright

First of all…

That video is way more useful than it has any right to be.

But here's the point: Every illustration eventually breaks down because God isn't like anything else

If God is the Creator of everything, why would we expect to be able to point at an egg and say

“Yep. That's basically God.”

He's not an egg

He's not water

He's not a clover.

And I want you to hear this because it's actually really important: Not being able to fully comprehend something does not mean it isn't true

There's a difference between a mystery and a contradiction

If I said:

“God is one person and God is three persons in exactly the same way."

That's a contradiction

One equals three

But that's not what Christians believe

We believe: God is one in His divine nature and three in person

One God

Three persons

Can I completely wrap my brain around how that works?

No

Neither can you

Neither could the smartest Christians who have ever lived

But here's the deal:

If you could completely understand everything about God… (point to a student's head)

…with a seventh-grade brain…

maybe God wouldn't be much of a God.

We can truly know God without completely understanding everything about God

And that matters

Because the Trinity isn't just some weird theological puzzle Christians have to pass on a test

The Trinity is about who God actually is

And if we get God wrong, eventually we're going to get Christianity wrong

Which takes us straight into another question somebody asked

QUESTION 2: WHY DO PEOPLE BELIEVE IN THE SAME GOD BUT BELIEVE DIFFERENT THINGS ABOUT GOD?

And this is where I want to give you something that will hopefully help you for a long time

Because Christians disagree about a LOT

Like… A lot

Some Christians baptize babies

Some don't

Some churches have drums

Some don't

Some churches have elders

Some churches have different structures

Some Christians believe certain spiritual gifts continue today

Other Christians disagree

Some of you may grow up and read the Bible carefully and disagree with me about things

And here's what you've got to understand: Not every disagreement is equally important

Look at the pyramid on your handout

We're going to call these first-tier, second-tier, and third-tier issues

FIRST TIER — CHRISTIAN ISSUES

These are beliefs that are essential to Christianity itself

Things like:

There is one true God.

The Trinity.

Jesus is truly God and truly man.

Jesus really died.

Jesus really rose from the dead.

Salvation is God's grace, not something we earn.

The basic message of the gospel.

These aren't

:Eh, we can agree to disagree."

If somebody says: “I follow Jesus, but I don't believe Jesus is God."

We haven't just disagreed over something small

We've changed who Jesus is.

If somebody says: “I believe Christianity, except Jesus didn't actually rise from the dead."

Paul literally says our faith is useless if Christ wasn't raised.

So Tier 1 asks: Are we talking about Christianity or something else?

SECOND TIER — CHURCH ISSUES

Now move down the pyramid

These matter

They're important

But they don't determine whether somebody is a Christian

They often determine where you go to church

For example:

Baptism

We believe the Bible teaches that baptism is for people who have trusted Christ

There are Presbyterian Christians who love Jesus, believe the gospel, believe the Bible yet they baptize babies

I think they're wrong

And they think I'm wrong.

But I'm not going: “YOU BAPTIZED A BABY? HERETIC!"

Because baptism matters, but it is not the same kind of issue as whether Jesus is God

Other second-tier issues might include:

Lord's Supper

Church government

Spiritual gifts

Roles of men and women in the church

Things Christians can disagree about while still looking at each other and saying:

“You're my brother or sister in Christ but I’m going to go to a different church than you”

THIRD TIER — DEBATABLE ISSUES

Then you get down to Tier 3

These are the kinds of things Christians can disagree about and still go to the same church

Sometimes they're interesting

Sometimes they're important to think through

Sometimes they're just fun.

Like:

Will we eat meat in the new creation?

How old will we look?

Were dinosaurs on Noah's ark?

Are aliens real?

Ask: How many of you think aliens are real?

Fantastic

We are absolutely not solving that tonight.

But here's why the tiers help us:

You don't have to panic every time another Christian disagrees with you

We want to hold first-tier truth firmly

We want to handle second-tier disagreements faithfully and graciously

And we can have some humility and fun with third-tier questions.

Which brings us to perhaps the most emotionally important theological question ever submitted by a middle schooler

QUESTION 3: DO ANIMALS GO TO HEAVEN?

Okay…

Who in here has a pet?

Hands up

Who believes your pet is the greatest animal God has ever created?

Yep

Who has a pet that is absolutely going to hell?

Somebody has a cat in mind right now.

Alright

Here's the answer

Does the Bible promise that your pet goes to heaven when it dies?

No

There's nowhere in Scripture where God promises:

“When your golden retriever dies, he's immediately going to be waiting for you in heaven."

The Bible simply doesn't say that.

Now, something else is important

When Christians die right now, they are with Christ while awaiting the resurrection

But Christianity doesn't end with everybody being invisible spirits floating around on clouds forever

That's not the end of the story

Jesus is coming back

The dead will be raised

God will renew His creation

There will be a new heavens and new earth.

And does the Bible give us reason to believe that renewed creation includes animals?

Yes

Isaiah's pictures of God's renewed creation include animals

Isaiah 11:5–8 CSB

Righteousness will be a belt around his hips; faithfulness will be a belt around his waist. The wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the goat. The calf, the young lion, and the fattened calf will be together, and a child will lead them. The cow and the bear will graze, their young ones will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like cattle. An infant will play beside the cobra’s pit, and a toddler will put his hand into a snake’s den.

Romans 8 describes creation itself longing to be set free from corruption

Romans 8:19–21 CSB

For the creation eagerly waits with anticipation for God’s sons to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to futility—not willingly, but because of him who subjected it—in the hope that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage to decay into the glorious freedom of God’s children.

So… Will there be animals in the new creation?

I think we have really good biblical reason to say yes

But here's the question you actually want answered

Let's say when you were four years old you had a dog named Rufus

And Rufus was the greatest dog ever

Will God resurrect Rufus and will Rufus run across the new earth toward you in slow motion?

I

Have

No

Idea

The Bible does not tell us

Now somebody in here is going: “I think YES."

Somebody else: “Absolutely not."

And that's okay!

Because what kind of issue is it?

Point to pyramid… Third tier

You're allowed to argue about Rufus and still sit beside each other at church next Wednesday

And that actually brings us back to the gospel

GOSPEL FOCUS

Look at the bottom of your handout

Because this is where all of this lands.

The Trinity isn't just a theological concept.

The Trinity is at the heart of the gospel

Think about the gospel

The Father loves and sends the Son.

John 3:16 - “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son…"

The Son becomes human and gives Himself for us

Jesus lives the life we haven't lived

He dies for our sin

He rises from the dead

The Holy Spirit gives us new life and lives within God's people

The gospel itself reveals the Triune God

Father

Son

Spirit

And here's something beautiful about what Jesus has done

If your salvation depended on you having the right answer to every theological question, you should be terrified

Because you don't

Neither do I

There are things in Scripture that faithful Christians disagree about

There are things I've probably misunderstood

There are things you will probably change your mind about as you get older and understand the Bible better

But Christians aren't saved because we got a perfect score on a theology exam

We're saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ

And because of the gospel, I can look at another Christian and say:

“We disagree about baptism…but you're my brother."

"We disagree about spiritual gifts…but you're my sister."

"We disagree about whether Rufus is coming back…

pause

…and you're clearly wrong."

"But we're still family."

Because what holds the family of God together isn't that we agree about every possible question

It's Jesus.

That doesn't mean truth doesn't matter

It means we learn which truths are at the center

And at the very center of Christianity is not an idea

Not a chart

Not even a doctrine

It's God Himself

The Father who loved us

The Son who gave Himself for us

The Spirit who gives us life.

So when you look at that Trinity diagram tonight, don't just think:

“Okay. Father is God. Son is God. Spirit is God. Passed the quiz."

Think:

This is the God who saves sinners

And the goal of Christianity isn't simply that you can explain the Trinity.

It's that through Jesus, you can know the Triune God.

Let's pray