Church Words- Week 1

Week 1 Text: Romans 8:9–11, 26–39 Topics: Trinity, Godhead, Father, Son, Holy Spirit Big Idea of the Message: We worship one God who reveals himself in three persons. Application Point: Worship the awe-inspiring God who is too complex and beautiful to be fully understood.

Sermon Ideas and Talking Points:

In The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the earth man Arthur is abruptly transported onto an alien ship. He can’t understand anything that is being said until his friend puts what he calls a Babel Fish into his ear. Then, suddenly, what sounded like gibberish becomes an intelligible sentence (Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy [Baltimore: Del Rey Books, 1995]). Oftentimes, we can find ourselves in a new situation or place and not understand the words people use. The same is true for the church. Whether you are a new attender or have grown up in the church, there are a lot of words that make up our “church language” that you may not be familiar with. This series will look at some of the more common ones, what they mean and how those concepts apply to our faith. And perhaps no word is more common, nor more misunderstood, than the Trinity.

ThisseriesdrawsfromthebookofRomans,whichfunctionslikeatextbookfor the Christian faith. In Romans 8 we are shown a picture of the Trinity at work. First, what is the Trinity? Simply put, it is the word used to describe the three persons and one substance or being of God. In Christianity, there is only one true God. But throughout Scripture (Old and New), this God reveals himself at work through three separate persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. Though the word “Trinity” doesn’t appear in the Bible, the concept of the Trinity is clearly found throughout the Scriptures. From the passages which follow, one could say the existence of a Godhead (one God, three persons) is assumed by the early believers.

InRomans8:9–11PaulspeaksatlengthaboutthepresenceandworkofaSpirit. This Spirit is referred to as: “the Spirit of God,” “the Spirit of Christ,” and “the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead,” yet this is the same Spirit. And so we see a Spirit that is separate from God and Jesus and yet equal. We also see the parallelism between the Spirit of God and Spirit of Christ, which only makes sense if Jesus is fully divine. We see this equality between Father and Son again in Romans 8:35 and 8:39. The love of God is the love of Christ. Throughout the rest of Romans 8, it becomes even clearer that these are separate and distinct persons with their own unique roles within the Godhead.

InRomans8:26–27,forexample,wereadmoreabouttheworkofGodtheSpirit. The Holy Spirit is interceding on our behalf to God the Father. The Spirit’s base of operations is within our life, and the direction of the intercession is God in heaven. These are distinct roles and persons, yet at the same time, they have an equality and oneness. Paul goes on to say that God the Father is working to conform people to the image of his Son (8:29). Finally, Paul tells us that Jesus is “at the right hand of God, ... interceding for us” (8:34). Distinct roles, distinct persons, yet one God.

ChristiansbelieveinoneGod,yetwealsomustconfess,astheScripturesmake clear, that God is a God in three distinct persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. As the Heidelberg Catechism so succinctly puts it:

Q. Since there is only one divine being, why do you speak of three: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? A. Because that is how God has revealed himself in his Word: these three distinct persons are one, true, eternal God. (Lord’s Day 8, Q. 25, Reformed Church in America, https://www.rca.org/about/theology/creeds-and-confessions/the- heidelberg-catechism/).

PerhapswestrugglewiththeTrinitybecauseweassumeweshouldbeableto understand God. J. D. Greer writes, “Most Americans want a God who is only a slightly bigger, slightly smarter version of us. But the God of the Bible is something altogether different. And here’s the irony: Only a God like that is capable of sustaining our faith, igniting our passions, and giving us the confidence that we need to face suffering and the hardships of the world. It’s like the British philosopher Evelyn Underhill famously said, ‘If God were small enough to be understood, he would not be big enough to be worshipped’” (J. D. Greer, “Your God Is Too Small” [blog], February 12, 2018).

ThatGodisTrinityisaverydifficultconcepttowrapourmindsaround.This humorous video portrays St. Patrick presenting common analogies for the Trinity to his hearers—and being corrected for inadvertently expressing ancient heresies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQLfgaUoQCw. Even if we can’t fully understand the Trinity, we are bound by God’s Word to confess one God in three persons. This can increase our awe of the greatness and wonder of our God.