Credo 1 God is: The Trinity!
The
older I get the more I forget things! –Are you noticing that as well about your
self
A)My wife will send me to
the store – to get a few things – if I do
not make a list I will inevitably – forget something
B)I sometimes forget where I parked my car – parking garage – which
level – hitting the little button - {
other pp doing the same thing. – confusing
C)The worst is when I walk
from my office in the building behind us up
to the Church office
1)talking maybe 40 yards – I
get up to the front office and forget why I needed to
go up there.
D)Hi – just Checking in –
That
is bad this is the Ultimate worst – you
are calling someone – they pick up the phone – and Hello – you forget – who did I just call -
Who is this
A)Or they answer the phone –
and you cannot remember why you called
them – Hey – how
are you- I really needed to call you but I can’t remember why.
B)Just talked for a minute
while I think!
1)Yes the older
we get the easier it becomes for us to forget things
Sad
I can remember things I would rather forget – and I forget things I really want
to remember
A)I remember the theme song
to the Brady Bunch – haven’t seen it in – 30yrs –
B)I remember the song –
weird thing sometimes it will randomly pop into my head
C)That is something I would
rather not remember – but then there are
Bible verses that I have committed to memory – that I forget
We
need reminders – Phone Reminders – where need to be what is coming up – who
meeting with.
A)Notes – Day planners
B)Even in the Church – Memorials we will practice one
tonight – reminder of Jesus and His sacrifice – This
do in Rememberance of ME
C)The Bible is
full of reminders – it is a book of repetition Why ? We forget things
Another Translation: It is
good that I cause you to think!
And
there is no more important area in life for us to think about and have our
minds stirred up about than our Faith.
A)Because what we think
about God and what He says about Himself is one of the most important things we
could think about.
B)What you think about God:
has everything to do with how you will live your life!
1)What you will determine your
priorities are going to be
C)And how you will react to
the circumstances that Life throws your way.
Most modern
Americans develop their religion by cut and paste.
A)iPhone – ipods – iGod –
God is personalized –
B)iGod says what I want him
to say and does what I think he should do.
C)People form their ideas about God from movies, celebrity sound bytes,
blogs, conversations with friends. Shows
on the History Channel
B) They often base their faith on what they feel – or what they perceive to be
right about God
1)God is formed from their own personal preferences
C)Others are influenced
by Popular people like an Oprah
1)Recently Oprah Winfrey who
influences 15 million Americans every single day - Thru her TV program and web
site –
2)Oprah held a webinar to
promote the teachings of Eckhard Tolle – a
heretical New Age pied piper.
Let me quote Oprah… “God isn’t something to believe, God is. God is a feeling
experience, not a believing
experience. If God for you is still about a belief, then it’s not truly
God.”
Hey, the Bible states, “Without faith it is impossible to please God.”
Listen we
don’t mold God into our image – He wants to mold us into His image.
“If
God was small enough for my mind to fully comprehend – He would not be big
enough to handle my needs.”
“If
God was small enough for me to understand – He would not be great enough to
worship!”
Greg L. Experience
is never to be the basis for Theology but sound Theology is the basis for all
experience.
So on the First Wed night of
the month here in 2010 we are going to put our thinking caps on to study God! Theology is the
study of God
Credo
– I believe
A)We want to see
Christianity is a reasonable faith – Logical faith – Intelligent faith –
Theology 101
C.S. Lewis said this: “If you do not listen to Theology that will not mean that
you have no ideas about God, It just means that you will have a lot of wrong
ideas.”
Wealthy
man – Atheist – Wife – daughter –
A)The man wanted nothing to
do with God – and didn’t want his daughter to go to Church or learn anything
about God!
B)So adamant and angry –
about being sick – Sign on Card board – God is No
Where
1)So sick daughter removed
from home. – Live with a nice Christian family
C)Church – Read the Bible –
Visit
– Church - Learning to read - - Really
read that sign – God is Now Here!
A)He is Daddy and we have
been praying for you daddy – God is with you.
B)Who is this God who is now
here?
Let’s begin in
I
will gird you, though you have not known Me, that they may know from the rising
of the sun to its setting that there is none besides Me. I am the LORD, and
there is no other; I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and
create calamity; I, the LORD, do all these things.
ONE GOD Monotheism {Monotheistic}
A)The Bible emphatically
states that there is but ONE TRUE and LIVING God.
Psalm 86:10 For you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are God.
Yet in
A)The Athenians were worshippers who bowed to many different gods.
B)And what was true in
The belief that
there are many gods is known as polytheism
A)Taoism, Shintoism, Paganism, and Mormonism
are polytheistic – they believe in multiple gods.
B)Hindus can have as many as 330 million gods.
So what about these other gods? Are
millions of people wrong?
A)Notice our text, God seems to anticipate this question. He says in
verse 6, “That they may know from the rising of the
sun to its setting that there is none besides Me.”
B)God wants us to know He’s not just the true God in
C)The Word LORD used in
When God to Moses
from a burning in the desert- Who are you – who is sending me?
A)He said to Moses, “I am
Who I am… has sent you.”
B)God is the great “I am.” This is an awesome name.
1)In taking this name God is
claiming to be the ultimate reality – the only truly self-sufficient One.
So polytheism is the belief that there are
many gods
Other religions
are pantheistic.
A)Zen Buddhism and New Age thought teach that God is an impersonal life
force.
B)All is God and God is in all. In
contrast, the Bible’s God is a person that’s separate from nature.
C)Remember the Disney movie the Lion King – great flick right Cymba –
The
Circle of life Elton John Song – really promoting a
philosophy know today as One-ism.
One-ism is a Pantheistic
philosophy that teaches all is in God and God is in all.
A)Everything is one. One-ism
is a single circle, and everything gets place inside that circle.
B)Even
God is within
the circle!
1)No need to blow the bugle,
there is NO cavalry!
C)There is no Savior in Pantheism - The
only Savior is your self.
1)Humans look for the spark
of divinity within.
D)In Pantheism meditation replaces prayer – therapy replaces truth.
1)As in the earlier quote
from Oprah, “Feeling replaces
believing.”
But Notice again
our text – tells us in v. 7 that God is separate from Creation.
A)“I form… and
create...” God
speaks of Himself as the Creator, and separates Himself from His creation.
B)God stands outside the
circle of life as sovereign over creation. God is Judge. He has
ultimate authority.
1) The God of the Bible is all-powerful
& all-knowing.
C)He does as He pleases –
whenever He pleases. As He declares in
D)Inside the circle God loses
His authority, but from outside God rules the roost.
What the Bible is
teaching us here flies in the face of another popular belief about God called –
Deism
A)Deism was the religion of Ben Franklin
and Thomas Jefferson.
B)Deism says God wound up the world; then walked away. He’s an absentee landlord.
1)We are left to our own
devices and intellect to try and figure everything out.
C)But this flies in the face
of what the Bible teaches us
about God.
1)He’s
Sustainer as well as Creator. Who remains deeply involved in His world.
So here is what
A)The
Bible emphatically states that there is but ONE TRUE and LIVING God.
B)Eternal - self-existent - separate from creation -sovereign over creation,
All-powerful, and All knowing…
B)But although God is one
God in essence and substance – this one, true God exists in three distinct persons – Father, Son,
Holy Spirit.
C)We call this doctrine the “Trinity” or the “tri-unity of God.”
“ First it should be
stressed that the doctrine of the Trinity is not a mystery. A mystery is something you
do not know. It is an untold secret. Until you are told the secret, it is a
secret to you. Once you are told the secret, it is no longer a secret to
you. Once a mystery is revealed, it is no longer a mystery to those who
have received the revelation.” George Bryson
The Trinity is not a mystery
but it is incomprehensible
A)It’s not illogical. It supersedes logic.
B)The Christian
belief in the Trinity is derived not from reason, but from revelation.
1)We believe in the Trinity
because the Bible tells us so.
I like Augustine’s famous quote, “Try to explain
the Trinity, and you’ll lose your mind. Yet try to
explain it away -
and you’ll lose your soul.”
... Blaise Pascal once said, “I love God because I know Him. I adore Him because I cannot
comprehend Him.”
Or
in the immortal words of my Good buddy and Southern Friend – Sandy Adams
“God baffles me
to humble me!”
Though
the word Trinity is not used in the Bible the idea that there is one God who
has revealed Himself in three distinct persons is seen throughout it’s pages
A)“Person” does not mean that God the
Father or God the Spirit became human beings.
B)Rather,
it means that each member of the Trinity thinks,
acts, feels, speaks, and relates because they are persons as opposed to
impersonal forces.
Consider the Revelation of theTrinity
1.)The Father is
God.
That the Father
IS God is so generally accepted is seen that even the heretics of the Church.
"Blessed
are You, Lord God of
John’s Gospel – “God the Father” (John 6:27).
Paul’s first letter to the
Corinthians 8:6 “.
. . there is one God, the Father”
SO – The Father
IS God
So we have got this one The Father is God
A)Even the cults
see this. The next is more debated
The Bible is also clear that the Son is God.
A)John 1:1,14 “In the beginning was the Word (Jesus) and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God.” V.14 The Word became flesh …..
B)In
C) In
Remember How God
revealed Himself to Moses as the I Am – Jesus was saying I am the Great I AM
A)He was declaring that He was from Eternity Past
B)You read
C)They sought to Kill Him right then and there because He was claiming
to be God.
1)He claimed to be the great
“I am.”
(John 20:28). “Thomas answered him [Jesus], ‘My Lord and my God!’”
(Rom. 9:5). “. . . Christ who is God over all”
(Titus 2:13). “. . .our great God and Savior Jesus Christ”
(1
The Father is God – the Son
is God -
3.)
The Spirit is God.
A)The first thing we want to set straight is that the Holy
Spirit is a “he” and not an “it.”
B)To call the
Holy Spirit an IT means that you see the Holy Spirit as an impersonal force.
C)But the
Scriptures ascribe to Him the attributes of personality
The Holy Spirit can be grieved (Eph.
4:30)
A)An impersonal force can not be grieved –
B)Gravity for example can not be grieved.{ Bummed out
Gravity
C)We are also
told that He can be resisted (Acts 7:51)
1)As the Holy
Spirit seeks to INSTRUCT us and LEAD us and GUIDE us we can RESIST Him.
D)We are also told in (Hebrews.
10:29) that He can be INSULTED.
1)You can’t
insult gravity or electricity.
The Holy Spirit
is insulted by lies and the promotion of false doctrine
A)So the Holy Spirit is a HE (not an it)
B)He is called God in
C)Acts 5:3-4 Here is what Peter says to them
“But Peter said, ‘Ananias,
why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for
yourself part of the
proceeds of the land? . . . You have not lied to men but to God’” (Acts 5:3-4).
So we see where the Father Son and Holy Spirit are all depicted as God
in Scripture.
What about some instances where they are seen or referred to together?
When is the Triune Godhead
scene in Scripture?
OT
From verse 1 God is seen as a plurality..
This gets repeated when God
creates man.
“Then God said
“Let us make man in our image and… our likeness.” “Us”
and “our” are plural pronouns
WHO is the
That makes NO
SENSE apart from the doctrine of the trinity.
A)After sin entered the
world “Then the Lord God said, "Behold, the man
has become like one of Us, to know good and evil.” (Genesis 3:22).
B)Those are examples of the
Trinity from the Genesis the Book of
Beginnings.
The Hebrew word translated “one”
is the word“eKhad” – which refers to a compound,
divisible unity.
My fist is echad – one first, but five fingers.
In contrast the Hebrew word
“yachyid” Yakheed speaks of an absolute, indivisible unity.
God could’ve used Yakheed - but He didn’t. “The LORD is echad.”
TWO OTHER PLACES in the Old Testament
There are tons but let’s
look at these two
Hundred of years before the
birth of Christ {Messianic passage “And now the Lord GOD [Father] has sent me [Jesus], and
his Spirit” (Isaiah. 48:16).
The Father would send the
Son with the Spirit.
This is exactly
what Jesus said In Johns Gospel alone —-
more than 20 times Jesus said
“The Father has sent Me.”
And Then Jesus says in John’s Gospel – When I leave I will
send you the Holy Spirit.
A)ALL a
fulfillment of
“The Spirit of
the Lord GOD [Father] is upon me [Jesus], because the LORD has anointed me to
bring
good news to
the poor”
(Isaiah 61:1).
This is hundreds of years before
“TODAY THIS IS FULFILLED in Me.”
Jesus KNEW that
He – as the second person of the Trinity – was fulfilling
NT
The baptism of Jesus (Matthew 3:16-17)
“And when Jesus
was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens
were
opened to him,
and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him;
17and
behold, a voice
from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
God the Father
speaking from heaven.
God the Son
coming up out of the water.
God the Holy
Spirit coming upon Jesus, anointing with power for His public ministry.
God graciously
giving to us this wonderful family portrait of the Trinity.
By the way the
Baptism of Jesus is a great proof text to us against the most common assault of
today on the Trinity which is called Modalism.
The most common
assault on the Trinity is called “modalism” - it attacks God’s diversity.
A)Modalism teaches that God
plays three roles or modes. Depicted in
the book the Shack
B) Also the view of the
C))This heresy essentially says that there is one God who puts on three
masks.
1) At times He’s the Father,
or Son, or Spirit – but never all three at once.
2) In the OT he acts like
the Father
In Gospels He acts like
Jesus
From the Book of Acts
forward He acts like the Holy Spirit.
C)But He is only playing one role at a time.
1)UPC – Jesus only – playing the father & the HS
Modalism is also
the idea promoted in the popular book the Shack
A)The popularity of the book
tells us that there is a HUNGER to know about the true and living God.
B)A HUNGER to understand the
Trinity.
C)But the book – rather than
explaining and answering that hunger gives a heretical view of the Godhead.
A guy named Mack goes into the Shack to
meet God.
A)God the Father is portrayed as a African American woman named Papa.
B)Jesus is a guy of Middle Eastern Descent.
1) God the Holy Spirit is
portrayed as an Asian American woman
C)I am not saying that you have become an apostate by reading the book.
1) But don’t read it as
doctrinal truth.
Here is the problem – Christians are saying – This
is amazing! Now we understand the Trinity. WRONG!
Here’s why God is not a big
black woman – Our mother who art in heaven .
The Book Promotes
Modalism
Papa says – “I am truly
human in Jesus”
THAT is not true.
A)Modalism says
that the Father became the Son and became the Spirit.
B)The Father was not born of
a virgin. Did not grow up as a Galilean peasant. Did not die on a cross and did
not walk away from the tomb.
THAT was THE SON!
The Doctrine of
the Trinity declares that they are three distinct persons.
C)The Baptism of Jesus we see the Diversity of the Triune Godhead.
(The Father speaks –
The son comes out of the
water –
The Holy Spirit descends)
You can’t play three parts at the same time.
Trinity three
Distinct persons
A)The Father SENT the Son.
The SON died for sin. The Spirit was sent to regenerate and indwell us.
B)They are working together. But they are distinct.
Another
problem with the Shack -
In describing the Trinity
the book declares speaking of the Trinity –
“We are in a circle of relationship not a chain of command. Hierarchy among
us would make no sense.”
Essentially the
idea says that there is no deference within the trinity. Not True.
A) There IS deference within the Trinity.
B)Jesus said – The FATHER SENT Me. I only say what the Father tells me
to say – I only do what the father tells
me to do.
C)There is EQUALITY but DEFERANCE within the Triune God.
1)That is where we get our
understanding of the relationships between parents and children – husbands and wives
— believers and pastors.
Children are not LESSER in nature than their parents. But they are to
defer to them.
Wives are not
LESSER in nature than their husbands – but they are to defer to them.
Christians aren’t LESSER in their new nature than their pastors – but
they are to listen to them.
The Shack essentially says
that Hierarchy only makes sense where there is sin.
There is NO sin in the
Trinity — But there is deference.
One more example of where the Trinity is seen in the NT The Great
Commission
Go therefore
and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name… [one name it is
singular]
the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
We baptize people in the name of the father the son and the Holy
Spirit.
So one God existing as 3 distinct Persons – this is something that all Christians
agree on. It is Essential
Here’ tonight’s challenge.
God doesn’t just
want us to believe in the Trinity, as Christians
A)We’re called by God to
live a Trinitarian lifestyle.
B)God created us in His
image. We’re to reflect Trinitarian qualities.
Here are five to emulate -
praise, love, submission, transparency, community.
First, to be
Trinitarian is to be committed to praise.
A)In the Bible the Spirit is
always bringing glory to the Son –
B)the Son always praises the
Father, and the Father always speaks words of affirmation to the Son.
1)Uplifting communication is always taking place among the Godhead.
The first way for
us to be Trinitarian is to communicate encouragement.
A)Praise God
lift up each other - affirm our spouse -
shower our kids with approval.
B)When we offer encouragement we are living
a Trinitarian life.
A second quality
of a Trinitarian lifestyle is love.
A)Yet for love to be meaningful it has to have an object. Love is relational,
not academic.
B)Without an object there is no love.
And from eternity the
Father, Son, and Spirit have loved each other.
C)Humans weren’t created so God would have someone to love.
1)God has always dwelt in
perfect love.
Only a Trinitarian God can
fuel us with love.
Listen – Unless
you know WHO love is – WHAT love is – WHERE love comes from – HOW are you going
to go out and love.
A)There are guys here sleeping with their girlfriend and they are
calling it love.
B)That is not Trinitarian love —- it is demonic love!
C)Trinitarian
love is for the cherishing and serving of the other – not using.
1)The Trinity loves
perfectly and fully.
D)The ESSENCE of the TRINITY is LOVE. Jesus says – The
Father loves Me, and I love the Father.
E)THIS is so
crucial in regards to you and me.
Because we were
made to LOVE and BE LOVED.
TRINTARIAN life is LOVING!
Third, a Trinitarian
life is marked by submission.
A)Since before time began the members of the Trinity have lived and
worked in holy harmony.
B)Father, Son, and Spirit are equal, yet they each have specific roles
to play.
The Father leads - the Son
obeys the Father – the Spirit
testifies of the Son.
C)And at no time does the Son begrudge the Father’s authority, nor does
the Spirit demand a cut of the glory reserved for the Son.
D)Each member of the Trinity
lives in humility and submission.
When husbands submit to God,
and wives submit to their husbands…
When children obey their
parents and employees cooperate at work…
When pastors
follow God and church members support their pastors…
When kids respect teachers
and citizens obey the authorities,we’re living a Trinitarian lifestyle.
We are honoring God and
reflecting His image.
Fourth, Trinitarian life is a transparent life. There’re no
secrets among the Trinity.
A)There’s full disclosure.
There’s an openness and honesty.
B)And when we admit our
weaknesses to each
other, and confess our sins, and
request each other’s help - we’re also living a Trinitarian life.
C)Trinitarian life has no duplicity. It is not one thing with one
group and another thing with the next group.
It is one person all the time.
Finally, a Trinitarian lifestyle values and participates in community.
A)From eternity past to eternity future God has existed in community.
B))When you think of the Trinity imagine a concert where the musicians
are in a groove... Orchestra – no one stands out.
C)There’s power, beauty, creativity in community. The Trinity is the
prime example.
Early Greek
believers had a name for this kind of life.
A)They called it
“perichoresis.” In the middle you’ll spot an English word, “choreograph.”
B)The idea is “to dance or
flow around.” The early Christians talked about “the dance of God.”
C)The life of the one God is like a dance of joy and life and gladness.
God loves us and have invited us to join the Dance
Tonight as we come to the
table of communion we celebrate that community – we enter into the Dance of God
–
Believing: One true God - eternal and self-existent – separate from
creation and sovereign over creation - all-powerful and all-knowing.
Who exists in three distinct
persons:
Father, Son, and Spirit.
Working together to set us
free – give us life
Make us – New –
Join the Dance