Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

How much doctrine does anyone need to know in order to become a Christian?

Sinners need to believe in Jesus, but which Jesus?

The one who empowers you to be the best you, or the one who satisfied God’s wrath against you?

Sinners need to repent from sin, but what sin… and what does repentance look like?

Is sin just the stuff I feel really bad about, or is it the stuff God says is off-limits?

Is repentance a feeling of remorse, or is it actually turning away from those sins I love and turning toward a life of humble obedience?

You get the point… Once we start drilling down into familiar words and phrases, we start to realize just how much doctrine is actually there.

J.I. Packer picked a little on the “ABC” method of evangelism when he wrote, “In the interests of memorable simplicity… [many have] boiled the gospel down to an ABC, commonly formulated as follows:

(1) all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, you included;

(2) believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved;

(3) confess Jesus Christ as the risen Lord, and he will in due course welcome you into heaven” (Packer, 15-16).

But, as Packer went on to say, “In such [an environment of simplicity], a truncated version of the gospel message...becomes a misrepresentation, one that sows the seed of many pastoral problems down the road” (Packer, 16-17).

He argued that our simple gospel presentations can often “present Christ the Redeemer apart from God the Creator, and remission of sins apart from personal regeneration, and individual salvation apart from life and worship [as part of] the church, and the hope of heaven apart from the pilgrim path of holiness” (Packer, 16-17; emphasis mine).

The kind of pastoral problems Mr. Packer is warning about here are really discipling problems… and they seem to inevitably arise when someone who responded to “ABC” evangelism is told that he or she must be connected with the visible body of Christ, not merely associated with the invisible body.

Or that he or she must trust and obey Jesus as King, not merely enjoy the benefits of His gracious sacrifice.

Friends, many of us can think of names and faces of people right now who admitted, believed, and confessed at some point in their lives… and yet they have no real interest in living as a Christian in any meaningful sense.

So, again I ask, how much doctrine does anyone need to know in order to become a Christian?

The earliest Christians (so far as we can tell) thought that the Apostles’ Creed was a sort of minimum doctrinal standard.

Quoting Packer again, “The Creed itself was born as an instrument of evangelism – first, as a summary syllabus for catechetical teaching of the faith… and then as a declaration of personal faith for converts to use at the time of their baptism” (Packer, 17).

You might be interested to know that early Christian churches (within a generation or two of the death of the Apostles) almost universally embraced a 3-year instruction program to teach “catechumens” what they would need to know to consciously and responsibly convert to Christianity (which was always by baptism into the local church).

At their baptism, the catechumens would recite or at least respond positively to the public recitation of the Apostles’ Creed… substantially the same creed we have today.

Brothers and sisters, this is the basic doctrine of the Christian faith.

Christians can (and I think should) believe more than this; but to be a Christian, you cannot believe less or contrary to the statements of this creed.

As we begin our study through this short and profound creed, I want to focus our attention (at the outset) on the essential trinitarian theme which thunders at the beginning and reverberates in each of the three major sections of this creed.

Yeah, I said it… The doctrine of the Trinity is fundamental, elementary, and basic to the Christian faith!

So, how many of you are ready to give a 30 second summary of the doctrine of the Trinity?

Well, if you’re like most Christians, then the doctrine of the Trinity is a bit intimidating to you… but one of my main goals today is to show you just how simple and practical this doctrine can and should be for us.

Let’s start by reading from a strange and magnificent passage of Scripture… and as we read this passage together, I want you to listen for the various ways that “worth” (or value) is ascribed in this passage, and also listen for who is the object of this “worth-ship” or “worship.”

Let’s stand and read together...

Scripture Reading

Revelation 5:1–14 (ESV)

1 Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. 2 And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?”

3 And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, 4 and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it.

5 And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”

6 And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.

7 And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne.

8 And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

9 And they sang a new song, saying,

“Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, 10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.”

11 Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice,

“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!”

13 And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying,

“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”

14 And the four living creatures said, “Amen!”

and the elders fell down and worshiped.

Main Point

The explicitly singular God of the Bible has revealed Himself consistently throughout Scripture as a Trinity; namely as Father, Son, and Spirit.

Message Outline

The God of the Bible is One

God is Father, Son, and Spirit

The Father, the Son, and the Spirit are Distinct

The Trinity is Central to the Gospel

Message

1) The God of the Bible is One

Old Testament

The quintessential statement:

Deuteronomy 6:4 - “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.”

Jesus even cited this verse when someone asked Him which commandment is the most important.

Jesus said, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.

And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength’” (Mk.

12:29-30; cf.

Deut.

6:4-5).

A major theme throughout the OT is God’s divine uniqueness

The Exodus story is all about God distinguishing Himself as singular/unique among all other (so called) gods.

“The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel...” (Ex.

7:5).

God’s judgment came, “so that you [Pharaoh and all Egypt] may know that there is no one like the LORD...” (Ex.

8:10).

Indeed, God said it was “for this very purpose [to display His absolute uniqueness and divine character] I have raised you [Pharaoh] up… so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth” (Ex.

9:16).

The main way God distinguished Himself throughout the Old Testament was by speaking with both truth and power… He actually speaks, and His words are trustworthy… unlike the false prophets who served pretend gods.

Isaiah 45 - “18 Thus says the LORD, who created the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it… I am the LORD, and there is no other… 19b I the LORD speak the truth; I declare what is right… 20b They have no knowledge who carry about their wooden idols, and keep on praying to a god that cannot save… 21b [But] there is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none besides me.

22 Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth!

For I am God, and there is no other.

23 By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return...”

Incidentally, for those of us with friends or family members who are Mormons or Jehovah’s Witnesses, Isaiah 45 is an excellent passage to discuss (and it reads basically the same in the NWT!).

In short, the OT could not be clearer about the uniqueness and the oneness of God… The God of the OT is explicitly singular.

New Testament

Jesus Himself said that the gospel of the NT focused on knowing the one God of the OT.

Jesus said, as He prayed, “this is eternal life...” to “know… the only true God” (Jn.

17:3).

In no uncertain terms the NT tells us that “there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus...” (1 Tim.

2:5).

In fact, I argue that the NT teaches us that the same singular God who made promises in the OT has fulfilled and is fulfilling His promises… in the person and work of Jesus Christ!

To the Jew, the gospel of the NT focused on the evidence that Jesus of Nazareth was in fact the Messiah or Christ of old.

To the Gentile (who had no grounding in the OT), the gospel focused more on the same sort of “God-man-Christ-response” message that we’ve talked about many times… which still highlights the fact that there is one God who saves guilty sinners through the person and work of His Son.

For example, when the Apostle Paul addressed a bunch of Greek Gentiles in Athens, he said, “The God who made the world and everything in it… [does not] need anything… [but] he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything… [and] he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed [to this role]; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising [this man] from the dead” (Acts 17:24-31).

In other words:

There is one God, who created and rules all!

Repent from sin and idolatry and unbelief; or else face the wrath of the one God, which will come by the hand of Jesus Christ!

Friends, the Bible is clear (in both the Old Testament and the New): there is one God… the God of the Bible is one… He is singular.

Whatever else we might say about God, we cannot ever speak of or think in terms of a plurality of gods.

The God of the Bible has no equal, and there is no other god beside or like Him.

And yet, this singular God has also revealed Himself as three in a different sense.

God has revealed Himself as one what and three whos.

2) God is Father, Son, and Spirit

The mystery

It has been said that the gospel (the person and work of Jesus Christ) is a mystery concealed in the Old Testament and a mystery revealed in the New.

The doctrine of the Trinity is similarly concealed or vague or (in a sense) hidden in the Old Testament.

But God’s trinitarian nature is never contradicted, nor is it (it seems to me) entirely absent from the Old Testament.

And it is a major (even inescapable!) doctrine in the New Testament.

The Father

Al Mohler says, “The complete revelation of God as ‘Father’ has roots in the Old Testament, where God is described as the Father of Israel (Deut.

32:6).

The fatherly love of God is also present throughout the Old Testament… [the Psalmist] described God as a ‘Father to the fatherless’ (Ps.