Who is the Christian God?
Series: WE BELIEVE
Speaker: James Barnett
Date: 15th February 2020
Passages:
00:00:00 --> 00:00:07 Who are you?
00:00:09 --> 00:00:13 If you were going to explain who you are in a few short sentences,
00:00:14 --> 00:00:16 how would you describe yourself?
00:00:18 --> 00:00:19 Think about it for a moment.
00:00:19 --> 00:00:20 Talk to the person next to you.
00:00:20 --> 00:00:21 What kind of words would you use?
00:00:21 --> 00:00:23 I'm going to ask a couple of you in a moment.
00:00:30 --> 00:00:41 Five seconds.
00:00:47 --> 00:00:51 Okay, does anybody feel like being asked, who are you?
00:00:53 --> 00:00:54 Anybody have an idea?
00:00:55 --> 00:00:56 Are you all very confused?
00:00:56 --> 00:00:57 We've got name tags now.
00:00:57 --> 00:00:59 That should help.
00:01:01 --> 00:01:03 Okay, are you there?
00:01:03 --> 00:01:04 Jeff, who are you?
00:01:04 --> 00:01:05 How would you describe yourself, brother?
00:01:07 --> 00:01:10 I'm a very experienced professional.
00:01:10 --> 00:01:11 An experienced professional?
00:01:13 --> 00:01:14 He even used the word very.
00:01:15 --> 00:01:15 Okay, interesting.
00:01:16 --> 00:01:16 Nolene?
00:01:16 --> 00:01:21 I was going to say, there's many different hats that we wear at different stages of our life,
00:01:21 --> 00:01:24 so it's very hard to put it into a very short context.
00:01:24 --> 00:01:24 Okay.
00:01:25 --> 00:01:26 But what words would you use?
00:01:30 --> 00:01:34 Well, I actually said before, I generally say I'm the mother of James and Olivia.
00:01:34 --> 00:01:34 Okay, okay.
00:01:34 --> 00:01:35 That's very helpful.
00:01:35 --> 00:01:36 Mother.
00:01:36 --> 00:01:37 Mother.
00:01:37 --> 00:01:37 Okay.
00:01:38 --> 00:01:42 I'm going to choose one person from over there and one person from over here.
00:01:42 --> 00:01:42 Anybody?
00:01:44 --> 00:01:46 There's always my favorite people to pick on.
00:01:46 --> 00:01:46 Tanya.
00:01:46 --> 00:01:47 Okay.
00:01:47 --> 00:01:51 Friends with God through my Lord Jesus Christ.
00:01:51 --> 00:01:51 Wonderful.
00:01:52 --> 00:01:53 One other person over here.
00:01:53 --> 00:01:53 Okay.
00:01:53 --> 00:01:57 I'll pick on you.
00:01:57 --> 00:01:58 That's fine.
00:01:58 --> 00:01:59 I'll pick on Nick then.
00:01:59 --> 00:01:59 Okay, Nick.
00:02:00 --> 00:02:01 Yeah, come on.
00:02:01 --> 00:02:02 You know, I love you, so it's okay.
00:02:02 --> 00:02:03 How would you describe yourself, brother?
00:02:03 --> 00:02:05 I'm James' friend.
00:02:05 --> 00:02:06 James' friend.
00:02:07 --> 00:02:08 And what a delight that is.
00:02:08 --> 00:02:14 Now, there's a common theme that has been running through all of these, and it's not me.
00:02:14 --> 00:02:20 The way we describe ourselves is often in relationship to others.
00:02:21 --> 00:02:26 Jeff talked about himself in relation to his work, to his profession with others.
00:02:26 --> 00:02:29 Tanya said she's about her relationship with God.
00:02:29 --> 00:02:31 Nolene said relationship to her children.
00:02:32 --> 00:02:35 Nick said his relation to me, and what a delight that is.
00:02:37 --> 00:02:44 We use descriptors like this because this is who we are is in relation to other people.
00:02:45 --> 00:02:50 If I really want to get to know you, I need to do more than just spend time with you.
00:02:51 --> 00:02:58 I need to see you with other people, with your family and with your friends, to see the tribe of people who have made you.
00:02:59 --> 00:03:01 Then I can understand who you are.
00:03:02 --> 00:03:11 Yesterday, it was my eldest child's birthday party, and on the way home from the birthday party, we were bringing back a number of kids.
00:03:11 --> 00:03:15 And one of the kids, they were requesting songs in the car.
00:03:16 --> 00:03:20 And one of the kids showed me a lot about his father and mother.
00:03:20 --> 00:03:22 Because he was requesting songs.
00:03:22 --> 00:03:25 He requested a song by Michael Jackson, beat it.
00:03:26 --> 00:03:28 And a song by, it's the song Eye of the Tiger.
00:03:28 --> 00:03:33 And it revealed a lot about who his parents are.
00:03:33 --> 00:03:34 They like old music.
00:03:35 --> 00:03:37 But I won't pick on who that child was.
00:03:37 --> 00:03:38 I'll just look at them a little bit.
00:03:40 --> 00:03:42 Who is the Christian God?
00:03:42 --> 00:03:48 How would you describe who the Christian God is?
00:03:49 --> 00:03:54 Again, we'd probably use terms to describe him in relationships.
00:03:55 --> 00:03:55 He's loving.
00:03:56 --> 00:03:58 He's merciful.
00:03:59 --> 00:04:04 Would we say that God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?
00:04:05 --> 00:04:10 Is God as a Trinitarian God close to the front of our mind?
00:04:10 --> 00:04:13 Now, the Bible doesn't use the word Trinity.
00:04:14 --> 00:04:17 And it's easy to gloss over this concept.
00:04:19 --> 00:04:21 That God is three in one.
00:04:22 --> 00:04:24 That he is one God with three persons.
00:04:25 --> 00:04:27 But this math doesn't add up.
00:04:27 --> 00:04:33 And is it possible that we don't really think of God as Trinity that much?
00:04:33 --> 00:04:40 I know, speaking with people of other faiths, like Muslims and Jews, that they don't understand this at all.
00:04:40 --> 00:04:43 They say, well, you just believe that you have three gods.
00:04:45 --> 00:04:55 The Apostles' Creed that we say claims that we believe in a God who is a Father, a Son, and a Holy Spirit.
00:04:55 --> 00:04:57 But how important is this really?
00:04:58 --> 00:05:07 Is it just a piece of boring theology that's only relevant to look into when there's a heat wave outside or 400 mil of rain in one day?
00:05:08 --> 00:05:12 Is this just an obscure piece of theology?
00:05:13 --> 00:05:15 This is what we are investigating today.
00:05:15 --> 00:05:20 Who our God is and what it means that he is a Trinity.
00:05:21 --> 00:05:25 We're going to touch on God being Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
00:05:25 --> 00:05:28 We're not going to dive too deeply into each of these.
00:05:28 --> 00:05:31 We're going to be doing that throughout the rest of this series.
00:05:31 --> 00:05:35 But we're going to look at God as a Trinity today.
00:05:35 --> 00:05:38 And we're going to dip into a number of different parts of the Bible.
00:05:38 --> 00:05:40 So if you'd like to be flicking with me, you can be doing that.
00:05:41 --> 00:05:43 You can be following the slides on the screen.
00:05:43 --> 00:05:47 But as we look at God as a Trinity, let me pray for us.
00:05:48 --> 00:05:54 Dear Heavenly Father, I thank you so much that we are not stuck trying to figure out who you are,
00:05:55 --> 00:05:56 but that you have revealed yourself to us.
00:05:57 --> 00:06:08 Father, we get confused very easily and can struggle to understand what it means that you are three persons in one God.
00:06:08 --> 00:06:10 Please help us to understand this this morning, Lord.
00:06:10 --> 00:06:11 Amen.
00:06:11 --> 00:06:16 So the Bible describes God as three in one.
00:06:16 --> 00:06:18 A Trinity in unity.
00:06:19 --> 00:06:21 Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
00:06:22 --> 00:06:25 As I mentioned, we're going to have a number of Bible verses on the screen.
00:06:26 --> 00:06:30 I'm not going to be going into any depth into these, but because we'll be seeing these throughout the series.
00:06:30 --> 00:06:40 God, firstly, God the Father, He's presented in the Old and New Testament as God the Father, the first person of the Trinity.
00:06:41 --> 00:06:45 In the book of Isaiah, it describes God as the Father who makes us all.
00:06:45 --> 00:06:51 And we saw that with Jacob last week, as we saw that God is an almighty creator.
00:06:51 --> 00:06:59 In the book of John, one of the biographies of Jesus, he defines God in terms of relationship.
00:07:00 --> 00:07:04 In John 1.1, he begins by describing God.
00:07:06 --> 00:07:07 There it is.
00:07:07 --> 00:07:11 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
00:07:12 --> 00:07:14 He was with God in the beginning.
00:07:14 --> 00:07:16 So we get this picture of Jesus.
00:07:17 --> 00:07:23 He is unique to God, but he is with God, and he's the Word of God.
00:07:23 --> 00:07:31 He has been with God for eternity, but is somehow unique to him, but also united.
00:07:32 --> 00:07:39 In John 14, Jesus presents all three aspects of the Trinity in relationship to each other.
00:07:39 --> 00:07:49 Jesus asks, he says, I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you, and to be with you forever.
00:07:49 --> 00:07:50 The Spirit of truth.
00:07:52 --> 00:07:56 So Jesus presents this picture, that there is a Father who is eternal.
00:07:56 --> 00:08:01 That there is Jesus who is eternal, and there is the Holy Spirit, and he will be with you forever.
00:08:03 --> 00:08:08 Jesus, before he dies on the cross, says that he will ask God to send us this counselor,
00:08:08 --> 00:08:11 this Holy Spirit, to remain with us.
00:08:13 --> 00:08:16 Jesus makes a claim about himself, that he is divine.
00:08:17 --> 00:08:18 He says that he is God.
00:08:19 --> 00:08:24 And again, in John chapter 8, he's defending himself against a bunch, against a group of Jews.
00:08:25 --> 00:08:32 And Jesus says, very truly, before Abraham was, I am.
00:08:32 --> 00:08:38 At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple.
00:08:39 --> 00:08:42 Jesus makes this claim about who he is.
00:08:42 --> 00:08:47 He says that he has existed before Abraham, their forefather.
00:08:47 --> 00:08:50 And he uses this name of God, I am.
00:08:52 --> 00:08:54 He's claiming that he is God.
00:08:54 --> 00:08:58 And the Jews who were there, they understood this massive claim of Jesus, that he was God.
00:08:59 --> 00:09:04 They thought he was blaspheming, and so they pick up stones to try and kill him on the spot.
00:09:06 --> 00:09:12 Paul describes Jesus in Colossians as having the fullness of deity dwell in him.
00:09:13 --> 00:09:16 And so Jesus, in the Bible, is depicted as fully man.
00:09:17 --> 00:09:17 100% man.
00:09:17 --> 00:09:20 But also fully God.
00:09:20 --> 00:09:21 100% God.
00:09:22 --> 00:09:25 Again, this math doesn't add up.
00:09:25 --> 00:09:27 How can you be more than 100% of anything?
00:09:29 --> 00:09:30 I wonder if...
00:09:31 --> 00:09:33 See, the Bible doesn't see a contradiction here.
00:09:33 --> 00:09:36 It just says that Jesus is man, and he is God.
00:09:37 --> 00:09:44 I wonder if it's almost like how I can be 100% a father, and also 100% a friend of Nick's.
00:09:44 --> 00:09:45 If I can just pick on him again.
00:09:45 --> 00:09:49 At no point is there a contradiction.
00:09:50 --> 00:09:56 Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, came to earth and took on humanity.
00:09:58 --> 00:09:59 The Father is God.
00:09:59 --> 00:10:01 Jesus, the Son, is God.
00:10:01 --> 00:10:05 Both are unique and different, but both are God.
00:10:07 --> 00:10:10 The Holy Spirit is also described as God.
00:10:10 --> 00:10:12 A God who is personal.
00:10:12 --> 00:10:18 Ephesians chapter 4 warns us about our sin because, verse 30,
00:10:18 --> 00:10:23 it grieves the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
00:10:24 --> 00:10:28 The Holy Spirit is not just an impersonal force.
00:10:28 --> 00:10:31 This is not Star Wars that we're talking about here with the force.
00:10:31 --> 00:10:37 The Holy Spirit, just like the Father, just like the Son, is unique and personal.
00:10:39 --> 00:10:41 And he's described, again, as God.
00:10:42 --> 00:10:48 In the book of Acts, Peter is rebuking a married couple and Ananias and Sapphira,
00:10:48 --> 00:10:51 and he's calling them to account for their sin.
00:10:51 --> 00:10:57 Because they had given an amount of money to the church, but they lied about how much they'd given.
00:10:58 --> 00:11:02 They'd said they'd sold this property and given everything, but they'd kept some back from themselves.
00:11:03 --> 00:11:06 There's nothing wrong with that, but the problem was that they'd lied about it.
00:11:06 --> 00:11:09 And so, in Acts, Peter said,
00:11:09 --> 00:11:15 Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit?
00:11:16 --> 00:11:17 Again, personal.
00:11:17 --> 00:11:18 They've lied to someone.
00:11:19 --> 00:11:22 And they've kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land.
00:11:22 --> 00:11:24 Didn't it belong to you before it was sold?
00:11:24 --> 00:11:27 And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal?
00:11:28 --> 00:11:29 What made you think of doing such a thing?
00:11:29 --> 00:11:34 You have not lied just to a human being, but to God.
00:11:36 --> 00:11:42 They've described as lying to the Holy Spirit and in the same breath as lying to God.
00:11:42 --> 00:11:51 And so we get this picture from the Bible that the Holy Spirit is unique and different to Jesus, the Son, and God, the Father.
00:11:53 --> 00:11:56 But we also see how all three work together.
00:11:58 --> 00:12:02 Because God is in relationship and this trinity and unity works together.
00:12:02 --> 00:12:07 From Hebrews chapter 9, it's a wonderful picture of salvation.
00:12:07 --> 00:12:16 How much more then will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit, offered himself unblemished to God,
00:12:16 --> 00:12:22 cleanse our conscience from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God.
00:12:22 --> 00:12:27 This is a beautiful picture of the trinity working together to bring out our salvation.
00:12:27 --> 00:12:36 Jesus' blood, through the work of the Spirit, cleanses our sinfulness and our evil conscience,
00:12:37 --> 00:12:39 so that we can be right before God.
00:12:39 --> 00:12:42 Father, Son, Holy Spirit.
00:12:43 --> 00:12:44 They are God.
00:12:45 --> 00:12:48 There are not three gods, but there is one God.
00:12:49 --> 00:12:52 The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God.
00:12:52 --> 00:12:55 The Father sends the Son.
00:12:56 --> 00:13:00 The Father and the Son send the Holy Spirit to work at our salvation.
00:13:02 --> 00:13:06 There is one God, but there is also three persons.
00:13:07 --> 00:13:13 In Matthew 28, just before Jesus goes to be with God after his resurrection,
00:13:13 --> 00:13:16 he tells his disciples what they are doing.
00:13:16 --> 00:13:18 One of the most famous parts of the Bible,
00:13:18 --> 00:13:19 Jesus tells them,
00:13:20 --> 00:13:22 go and make disciples of all nations,
00:13:24 --> 00:13:29 baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
00:13:29 --> 00:13:32 This is not the three names,
00:13:33 --> 00:13:36 in the name of the Father, and the name of the Son, and the name of the Holy Spirit.
00:13:37 --> 00:13:42 This is the singular name of one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
00:13:43 --> 00:13:46 Plural persons, three persons, but one God.
00:13:46 --> 00:13:54 And this Trinitarian work of God brings us into relationship with this Trinity itself.
00:13:54 --> 00:13:55 Galatians 4.
00:13:56 --> 00:14:01 Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts.
00:14:02 --> 00:14:03 The Spirit who calls out,
00:14:03 --> 00:14:04 Abba, Father.
00:14:05 --> 00:14:09 So you are no longer a slave, but God's child.
00:14:09 --> 00:14:13 And since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.
00:14:13 --> 00:14:20 The Trinitarian work of our God makes us, like Jesus, a son of God.
00:14:20 --> 00:14:24 So that we can cry out to God as his children.
00:14:25 --> 00:14:27 This is who the Christian God is.
00:14:27 --> 00:14:29 He is a Trinitarian God.
00:14:30 --> 00:14:32 He is a Trinity in unity.
00:14:32 --> 00:14:33 Three persons in one.
00:14:33 --> 00:14:41 So we can agree with the Jews who, from Deuteronomy 6, have this phrase called the Shema,
00:14:42 --> 00:14:42 where they say,
00:14:43 --> 00:14:45 Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.
00:14:45 --> 00:14:49 We can agree with that, because our faith is the same.
00:14:49 --> 00:14:51 That there is one God.
00:14:52 --> 00:14:54 He is also three persons.
00:14:54 --> 00:15:02 Now, there are a number of illustrations to try and understand how the Holy Spirit works together.
00:15:02 --> 00:15:05 Has anybody heard of the ice illustration of God?
00:15:07 --> 00:15:13 The way it goes is, the Trinity is like ice, water, and vapor.
00:15:14 --> 00:15:16 You know how there's kind of three and kind of one.
00:15:16 --> 00:15:20 Well, you know, you have ice, and then it melts, and you've got water.
00:15:20 --> 00:15:23 And then when it gets hot, you've got vapor.
00:15:25 --> 00:15:29 Now, this is, it's not that helpful an illustration of the Trinity.
00:15:30 --> 00:15:34 Because ice changes and becomes water.
00:15:34 --> 00:15:36 Water changes and becomes vapor.
00:15:36 --> 00:15:38 But God doesn't change.
00:15:38 --> 00:15:40 God is not a transformer, God.
00:15:40 --> 00:15:43 God does not change from being the Father,
00:15:44 --> 00:15:46 and then when He comes to earth, He becomes the Son,
00:15:46 --> 00:15:48 and then He changes again to become the Holy Spirit.
00:15:49 --> 00:15:50 God doesn't change.
00:15:51 --> 00:15:54 That illustration, unfortunately, isn't that helpful.
00:15:55 --> 00:15:57 There's also the illustration of the egg.
00:15:58 --> 00:15:59 Now, I love a good egg.
00:16:00 --> 00:16:04 The egg illustration is this picture of you've got the shell,
00:16:05 --> 00:16:06 and then you've got the egg white,
00:16:07 --> 00:16:08 and then you've got the best bit, the egg yolk.
00:16:09 --> 00:16:09 Amen?
00:16:10 --> 00:16:11 No?
00:16:11 --> 00:16:13 Everybody else is more of an egg white person?
00:16:13 --> 00:16:14 Okay.
00:16:14 --> 00:16:17 Again, this picture is saying that, you know,
00:16:17 --> 00:16:20 the egg shell is God, and the white is Jesus,
00:16:20 --> 00:16:22 and the yolk is the Holy Spirit.
00:16:22 --> 00:16:27 Again, that's saying that each of God is just part of God.
00:16:28 --> 00:16:30 But Jesus is God.
00:16:31 --> 00:16:33 And the Father is God.
00:16:33 --> 00:16:35 And the Holy Spirit is God.
00:16:36 --> 00:16:37 They're not part of God.
00:16:37 --> 00:16:39 Jesus is not one third of God.
00:16:39 --> 00:16:40 He is God.
00:16:42 --> 00:16:45 Others, again, don't want to hold up Jesus as God.
00:16:45 --> 00:16:49 They want to say that Jesus is just the firstborn of all creation,
00:16:49 --> 00:16:52 that He was made by God.
00:16:52 --> 00:16:55 But again, this is not the picture the Bible presents.
00:16:55 --> 00:16:58 The Bible presents a picture of Jesus as having existed forever.
00:16:58 --> 00:16:59 John 1.1.
00:16:59 --> 00:17:02 He was with God in the beginning.
00:17:04 --> 00:17:09 The way forward is not to try and understand who God is on human terms.
00:17:10 --> 00:17:14 You know, we'll often try and figure out who God is with these illustrations like ice,
00:17:14 --> 00:17:17 or with an egg.
00:17:19 --> 00:17:20 That's not going to work.
00:17:20 --> 00:17:24 We actually need to understand God as He has presented Himself in the Bible.
00:17:25 --> 00:17:29 There is one called the Father who directs and creates.
00:17:29 --> 00:17:33 There is the second person of the Trinity who is sent to take on humanity,
00:17:33 --> 00:17:35 to bring about salvation.
00:17:35 --> 00:17:41 There is the third person of the Trinity who is sent by the Father and the Son to dwell in us.
00:17:41 --> 00:17:45 The Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit.
00:17:45 --> 00:17:47 A Trinity in unity.
00:17:48 --> 00:17:50 Different persons but one God.
00:17:52 --> 00:17:54 But why does all of this matter?
00:17:55 --> 00:17:57 Is it just a theological splitting of hairs?
00:17:58 --> 00:18:04 What value is there for us in knowing how God is made up?
00:18:05 --> 00:18:09 Alyssa, my wife, and I have been married for 13 years.
00:18:09 --> 00:18:11 We celebrated our anniversary on Monday.
00:18:12 --> 00:18:13 Thank you.
00:18:13 --> 00:18:13 You don't need to clap.
00:18:13 --> 00:18:14 It's okay.
00:18:14 --> 00:18:19 And when I first met Alyssa 18 years ago, I got to know her.
00:18:20 --> 00:18:27 But if I only ever spent time with Alyssa, I would only get to know a part of who she is.
00:18:28 --> 00:18:34 Getting to see her family and her friends and how she interacts with them helps me to know her better.
00:18:34 --> 00:18:42 So as I got to meet her parents, ah, that's why you have a strange sense of humor.
00:18:43 --> 00:18:46 Your dad loves Monty Python, English comedians.
00:18:46 --> 00:18:50 Oh, that's why you sing all the time.
00:18:50 --> 00:18:52 Because your mom and dad love musicals.
00:18:52 --> 00:18:54 And your mom sings all the time.
00:18:55 --> 00:18:58 And now I wonder why my daughter sings all the time.
00:18:58 --> 00:19:08 As I've seen my wife in relationships with other people, I've gotten to know her, to understand who she is, and to love her more.
00:19:10 --> 00:19:13 This doctrine of the Trinity, it's a beautiful doctrine.
00:19:13 --> 00:19:23 As we get to know who God is in relationship with himself, we get to know him and to understand him and love God more.
00:19:24 --> 00:19:35 Having a robust theology of the Trinity, it's not just a side dish to the main course of the rest of the Apostles' Creed about how Jesus died for us.
00:19:35 --> 00:19:40 The theology of the Trinity, it's a delight that nourishes us.
00:19:40 --> 00:19:50 The Trinity is like the egg in a small way in that in a recipe, it binds everything together to make something wonderful.
00:19:51 --> 00:19:59 A good theology of the Trinity, it's like the sauce in a stir fry, which makes the rice and the chicken and all the veg just come together and taste delicious.
00:20:00 --> 00:20:03 Now, I'm kind of feeling a little bit hungry as we wait for lunch.
00:20:04 --> 00:20:06 Don't get too distracted about that.
00:20:06 --> 00:20:11 But it is truly wonderful for us that we have a triune God.
00:20:12 --> 00:20:17 And we're going to see four short courses to understand the delight of this Trinity.
00:20:18 --> 00:20:22 The first of these is God's creation of this world.
00:20:23 --> 00:20:29 The creation of this universe has a different meaning, a special meaning, because God is a Trinity.
00:20:29 --> 00:20:35 In many other religions, they're God's make out of a need.
00:20:36 --> 00:20:45 Other religions, God has a need, so he makes people so that they can love God, so that this God can get enough worship, so that this God can be happy.
00:20:46 --> 00:20:51 But the picture in the Bible of our God is he's a Trinitarian God.
00:20:52 --> 00:20:55 He doesn't need anything.
00:20:55 --> 00:20:58 He is in perfect relationship, Father, Son, Holy Spirit.
00:20:58 --> 00:21:02 They have been in perfect relationship for eternity, loving each other.
00:21:03 --> 00:21:07 Our Trinitarian God didn't need to make this world.
00:21:08 --> 00:21:11 But God chose to out of the overflow of love.
00:21:13 --> 00:21:17 The Bible shows that the Trinity is a God who is in perfect relationship with himself.
00:21:17 --> 00:21:22 Father, Son, Holy Spirit, simultaneously in relationship for eternity.
00:21:22 --> 00:21:32 The closest thing I see to that kind of peace is when my kids stop bickering and fighting for five minutes.
00:21:33 --> 00:21:38 If you've got kids, have you ever experienced that peace that comes on you where all of a sudden you realize,
00:21:38 --> 00:21:40 the house is quiet.
00:21:41 --> 00:21:42 I'm sitting in this peace.
00:21:43 --> 00:21:44 This is delightful.
00:21:45 --> 00:21:46 And then as soon as you notice, it's gone.
00:21:46 --> 00:21:52 But this is the kind of relationship that God has had for eternity.
00:21:55 --> 00:21:57 That experience of peace that I have, that's not true peace.
00:21:58 --> 00:21:59 That's not true love in relationship.
00:21:59 --> 00:22:02 That's just an absence of problems for a very short period of time.
00:22:04 --> 00:22:08 We get invited into this wonderful relationship of God's.
00:22:08 --> 00:22:14 As we saw in Galatians 4, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts.
00:22:14 --> 00:22:16 The Spirit who calls out, Abba, Father.
00:22:17 --> 00:22:20 So we are no longer a slave but God's child.
00:22:21 --> 00:22:24 And since we are his child, we have been made God's heir.
00:22:26 --> 00:22:32 The Trinity works to bring us into his perfect, loving and eternal relationship.
00:22:32 --> 00:22:40 In many movies, there is a particular scene or a particular trope, usually around Christmas,
00:22:40 --> 00:22:45 where someone is standing out in the cold and the snow, and they're looking into this bright
00:22:45 --> 00:22:47 and happy picture of a family.
00:22:48 --> 00:22:53 If you've seen the movie A Christmas Carol with Scrooge, Wendy, you want to put this photo up?
00:22:54 --> 00:23:01 Or if you've seen The Mother's One with Scrooge McDuck, this is a movie about someone who is,
00:23:01 --> 00:23:05 you know, usually very wealthy, but they don't have love and family.
00:23:06 --> 00:23:14 And they're pictured on the outside in the cold and the snow, looking into something that is great.
00:23:14 --> 00:23:19 You know, the colors on the outside are gray and white, but in the inside it's bright.
00:23:20 --> 00:23:22 There is a family who is loving each other.
00:23:24 --> 00:23:27 This is a picture of what happens with God.
00:23:27 --> 00:23:31 God has all that we are longing for.
00:23:32 --> 00:23:37 He has a perfect family, a perfect relationship, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
00:23:37 --> 00:23:40 who's been in relationship for eternity.
00:23:40 --> 00:23:44 And we are on the outside looking in, longing.
00:23:45 --> 00:23:47 But we don't need to be on the outside.
00:23:47 --> 00:23:55 God invites us into his love, expressed in relationship with God and with one another.
00:23:55 --> 00:24:06 When we have a Trinitarian theology, it gives us so much more meaning to what Jesus did in his incarnation when he became a man.
00:24:07 --> 00:24:11 The Trinity has been in perfect relationship for eternity.
00:24:11 --> 00:24:21 And then the Father sends the Son to earth to become part of creation, adding to his divinity humanity.
00:24:22 --> 00:24:27 Not separating from the Trinity, but joining humanity to redeem us.
00:24:29 --> 00:24:36 God himself, the second person of the Trinity, shows his love that he would leave heaven to become a person.
00:24:36 --> 00:24:41 The Trinity, the eternal, became temporary and died.
00:24:42 --> 00:24:45 He who created time became bound by it.
00:24:46 --> 00:24:52 The one who created physical and fleshly bodies took on one that could be destroyed.
00:24:53 --> 00:24:56 All because this God wanted to reveal God.
00:24:56 --> 00:24:59 So that we could be brought into his relationship.
00:24:59 --> 00:25:11 The Trinity is so important for us that Jesus spends a significant amount of time talking about it in his last conversation with his disciples.
00:25:11 --> 00:25:16 In John 14, that we've seen a little bit of today, these are Jesus' last words.
00:25:17 --> 00:25:18 John chapter 14 to 17.
00:25:18 --> 00:25:20 He is just about to go and be crucified.
00:25:22 --> 00:25:24 And he is talking with his disciples.
00:25:24 --> 00:25:28 And, you know, our last words often reveal what is really important to us.
00:25:29 --> 00:25:31 And Jesus's are the same.
00:25:31 --> 00:25:32 From verse 16.
00:25:32 --> 00:25:38 I will ask the Father and he will give you another advocate to help you and to be with you forever.
00:25:39 --> 00:25:40 The Spirit of truth.
00:25:41 --> 00:25:44 The world cannot accept him because it neither sees him nor knows him.
00:25:44 --> 00:25:47 But you know him for he lives with you and will be in you.
00:25:48 --> 00:25:49 I will not leave you as orphans.
00:25:50 --> 00:25:51 I will come to you.
00:25:51 --> 00:25:54 Jesus promises that he will send another.
00:25:54 --> 00:25:55 An advocate.
00:25:56 --> 00:25:57 A counselor.
00:25:57 --> 00:25:59 Someone who will act on our behalf.
00:26:00 --> 00:26:02 And this advocate, the Holy Spirit, from verse 26,
00:26:02 --> 00:26:07 whom the Father will send in my name, will teach us all things.
00:26:07 --> 00:26:10 And will remind us of everything he has said.
00:26:11 --> 00:26:15 The Holy Spirit comes to remind us and teach us about Jesus.
00:26:15 --> 00:26:21 The Holy Spirit works as part of the Trinity to reveal Jesus.
00:26:21 --> 00:26:23 And Jesus came to reveal the Father.
00:26:23 --> 00:26:38 This would have been a wonderful comfort for the disciples who are about to lose their friend and Lord.
00:26:39 --> 00:26:41 And this is a comfort for us too.
00:26:42 --> 00:26:47 So much so that Jesus says, it is actually for our good that Jesus went away.
00:26:47 --> 00:26:51 Many of us would think, just give me Jesus now.
00:26:51 --> 00:26:52 If I could only see him.
00:26:52 --> 00:26:54 But Jesus says, it is better for us.
00:26:54 --> 00:26:57 It is for our good that he went so we could have the Spirit.
00:26:59 --> 00:27:05 Lastly, the Trinity teaches us about who we are as people.
00:27:05 --> 00:27:09 In the very beginning, God made us in his image.
00:27:10 --> 00:27:13 And saw that it was not good for us to be alone.
00:27:14 --> 00:27:17 We are people who are made to be with people.
00:27:17 --> 00:27:20 It doesn't matter whether you're an introvert or an extrovert.
00:27:20 --> 00:27:22 We are made to be with people.
00:27:23 --> 00:27:26 Back when I was in school, many years ago,
00:27:26 --> 00:27:29 we'd give someone that we didn't like the silent treatment.
00:27:30 --> 00:27:33 Anybody else heard this phrase, the silent treatment?
00:27:33 --> 00:27:36 I don't know what those kids these days are using.
00:27:36 --> 00:27:37 I could ask some that are over here.
00:27:38 --> 00:27:40 I don't know if they still use the silent treatment.
00:27:41 --> 00:27:46 But it really hurt when you're on the other end of getting the silent treatment.
00:27:47 --> 00:27:48 Mark, do kids still do this at school?
00:27:49 --> 00:27:50 Yes. Okay. Shame.
00:27:51 --> 00:27:55 It hurts to be ignored and cut off from a relationship with other people.
00:27:56 --> 00:27:58 I see this if I'm using Facebook.
00:27:58 --> 00:28:00 When you send a message on Facebook,
00:28:00 --> 00:28:03 you can see when other people have read the message.
00:28:04 --> 00:28:06 And sometimes you can see that they've read it.
00:28:07 --> 00:28:09 And then you wait for a response.
00:28:09 --> 00:28:10 And you wait.
00:28:10 --> 00:28:14 And it's like, why aren't you on the other end of this relationship?
00:28:14 --> 00:28:16 Why aren't you talking to me?
00:28:16 --> 00:28:17 Why are you giving me the silent treatment?
00:28:18 --> 00:28:19 It hurts.
00:28:19 --> 00:28:24 One of the worst things in prison is solitary confinement.
00:28:26 --> 00:28:29 Because it takes away part of our humanity.
00:28:30 --> 00:28:33 God is in relationship with himself.
00:28:33 --> 00:28:37 And he has made us to be in relationship with other people.
00:28:37 --> 00:28:44 God, in his perfect Trinitarian love, invites us into his family.
00:28:45 --> 00:28:50 And as part of that, we are to love others in the family of Christ.
00:28:51 --> 00:28:56 A Christian who knows this should love and have different relationships.
00:28:56 --> 00:29:00 And it's that, again, that picture of Christmas,
00:29:00 --> 00:29:03 the picture of Scrooge on the outside looking in.
00:29:04 --> 00:29:06 We were on the outside.
00:29:06 --> 00:29:10 But when we follow our Lord, we are brought in.
00:29:10 --> 00:29:14 Your place as a Christian is secure in the most loving family.
00:29:15 --> 00:29:17 And this is something that is worth celebrating.
00:29:17 --> 00:29:19 I'm looking forward to lunch today.
00:29:19 --> 00:29:23 Because when we eat together, we share our lives.
00:29:23 --> 00:29:27 And we do what our Trinitarian God has designed us to do.
00:29:28 --> 00:29:31 To love and to share in fellowship with one another.
00:29:33 --> 00:29:38 The beauty of the Trinity, its perfect love and unity,
00:29:38 --> 00:29:41 is something that we can hold out to others.
00:29:42 --> 00:29:45 When we stand on the inside of that picture of Christmas,
00:29:45 --> 00:29:49 warming ourselves by the fire, laughing, smiling, eating, celebrating,
00:29:49 --> 00:29:57 there are others on the outside, longing for what we have with God.
00:29:59 --> 00:30:03 Are you longing to be loved by God?
00:30:04 --> 00:30:06 Are you longing to be loved?
00:30:06 --> 00:30:09 It is found in this God and in his family.
00:30:09 --> 00:30:13 Are you longing and looking for connection?
00:30:14 --> 00:30:17 It is found in this God and in his family.
00:30:17 --> 00:30:21 Do you feel isolated from your family across the world?
00:30:22 --> 00:30:27 You have a family here, found in the relationships made by our Trinitarian God.
00:30:29 --> 00:30:32 So who is our God?
00:30:33 --> 00:30:35 We believe that God is a Trinity.
00:30:35 --> 00:30:38 A Father, a Son and a Holy Spirit.
00:30:39 --> 00:30:41 Perfectly loving from eternity to eternity.
00:30:42 --> 00:30:43 And who are we?
00:30:45 --> 00:30:49 When we believe in this God, we are part of God's family before anything else.
00:30:50 --> 00:30:53 Before my family, before my ethnicity, before my profession.
00:30:53 --> 00:30:57 It means that I am a Christian father.
00:30:57 --> 00:30:58 A Christian mother.
00:30:59 --> 00:31:02 We are a Christian brother or sister.
00:31:02 --> 00:31:05 A Christian Aussie of European descent.
00:31:05 --> 00:31:07 A Christian Chinese.
00:31:07 --> 00:31:09 A Christian Garnon or Korean.
00:31:09 --> 00:31:10 A Christian high schooler.
00:31:10 --> 00:31:11 A Christian professional.
00:31:12 --> 00:31:19 This Christian family is what unites us in the diverse world that we live in.
00:31:20 --> 00:31:23 We are no longer outsiders longing to be on the inside.
00:31:24 --> 00:31:29 But we have been ushered into the heart of the family that has been for eternity.
00:31:30 --> 00:31:31 And will continue for eternity.
00:31:32 --> 00:31:32 Let me pray.
00:31:32 --> 00:31:33 Let me pray.
00:31:33 --> 00:31:34 Let me pray.
00:31:34 --> 00:31:34 Let me pray.
00:31:34 --> 00:31:35 Let me pray.
00:31:35 --> 00:31:36 Let me pray.
00:31:36 --> 00:31:39 Let me pray.
00:31:39 --> 00:31:39 Let me pray.
00:31:40 --> 00:31:41 Let me pray.
00:31:43 --> 00:31:44 Let me pray.
00:31:45 --> 00:31:46 Let me pray.
00:31:46 --> 00:31:48 Let me pray.
00:31:54 --> 00:31:56 Let me pray.
00:31:57 --> 00:31:58 Let me pray.
00:31:58 --> 00:32:01 Let me pray.