Community Covenant Church - Sermons - 3-on-1: Three Lessons about God

June 3, 2007 Trinity Sunday

Scripture Readings

Romans 5:1-5

1Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3Not only so, but wealso rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

John 16:12-15

12"I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. 15All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.

3-on-1: Three Lessons about God

While it is not explicitly observed in every Christian church, this particular Sunday is “Trinity Sunday”. It is the only Sunday in the church year which is based upon a doctrine (Covenant = non-doctrinal)! And while “Trinity Sunday” sounds way to “theological” or “orthodox” or “traditional” for many, what we are really acknowledging when we observe “Trinity Sunday” is just how much we know about God, and just how little we know about God. Trinity Sunday is an opportunity to reflect upon what God has revealed about His nature to a creation which has a limited ability to understand Him.

C. S. Lewis once said that the most frequently spoken word in heaven would be, "OH." As in, "Oh, now I understand." Or, "Oh, now I see what God's plan was." Or, "Oh, now I see the reason for the trial I went through." And if I can be so bold as to add to C.S. Lewis’ examples, let me suggest another:

“Oh, now I understand God!”

The Church’s doctrine of the Trinity does not attempt to fully explain God. It only explains to us in a very elemental way what God has revealed to us about himself so far. “Trinity” is simply a way of describing what we know about Him, and what we know about Him is what we have experienced; but not only us, but also a faith community that stretches back thousands upon thousands of years.

What do I mean by knowing God through experience? Simply put, our understanding of God is not like the philosophical speculations describing Plato and Aristotle’s “Prime Mover “, or L. Ron Hubbard’s “ Life Force “, a god defined as being unique for every person. Rather, our understanding is based on our shared experiences as revealed to us in flesh & blood stories. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob & Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Rahab, David, Elijah, Peter, John, Matthew, Mary, Paul, Timothy, Philemon.... you, me.

In knowing these stories and sharing these stories with each new generation, we are forming a unique image of God based on the experienced of literally millions if not billions of people. And that unique image is what Christians refer to as “Trinity”.

I have three goals for this “Trinity Sunday” reflecting:

1. I want us to regain the richness of God’s self-revelation.

Let me see if I can wake you up this Sunday morning by making three similarly-shocking statements.

- Our Heavenly Father is not God.

- Jesus Christ is not God.

- The Holy Spirit is not God.

Now before you throw me out into the parking lot to stone me, which I hope some of you are awake and alert enough to consider doing after hearing your Pastor make such statements, let me be clear about what I am stating. When I say that “the Father is not God”, and that “Jesus Christ is not God”, and that “the Holy Spirit is not God”, I am stating that it would be wrong for us to affirm any one “person” of the Trinity as God alone. Are you back with me?

One way you can visualize what I’m getting after, is to remember that whether I or the early Church fathers refers to the three “persons” of the Trinity; Father, Son & Holy Spirit, we are referring the Greek word persona, which once described the multiple face-masks worn by actors in Roman drama. In other words, we are imaging one actor presenting two or more discernable characters.

On this “Trinity Sunday” I want us to grasp a hold of the richness of God’s self-revelations, because I know that churches tend to “major” in one persona while minoring in the other two equally revealed to us by God:

“Theocentric” churches major on God the Father.

“Christocentric” churches major on Jesus Christ. and

“Pneumocentric” churches major on the Holy Spirit.

And in doing so, churches often fail to pursue a deeper understanding of God’s fullest revelation to us.

Covenant Churches are “christocentric” in nature; we regularly celebrate God’s love for us in that He came to be with us, and offer Himself in Christ for our eternal salvation. And while such an understanding of God is wonderful in an of itself, without a regular reminder of “Trinity” we could easily fail to receive the richness of knowing the mystery and awesome power of God the Father; we could easily fail to experience the very presence of the Holy Spirit working powerfully through us right now.

As christocentric Christians we need to note that our Lord Jesus always exhibited a Trinitarian picture of God which included Himself. In John 10:30, Jesus proclaimed “I and the Father are one.” A careful reading of the word “one”, reveals that Jesus is not saying that He and “God” are identical, but rather that they share a divine essence! After all, Jesus prayed to the Father, he speaks of the Father as someone other than himself, and on the cross Jesus commends his spirit to God.

>>> The essence of the invisible God was made visible as people witnessed Jesus doing things only God can do: forgiving sins, raising the dead, controlling the forces of nature and sending the Holy Spirit.

While we cannot say that Jesus alone is God, we can say that Jesus was in fact God incarnate; God in the flesh, one of three personas we collectively know as God.

Karl Barth once said, “Trinity is the Christian name for God.”

Is you understanding of God grounded in the richness of knowing that Father, Son and Holy Spirit are together God?

This morning I draw our attention to “Trinity Sunday because I want us to regain the richness of God’s self-revelation, but I also do so because

2. I want us to know the practical importance of recognizing “Trinity”.

I say this because the scriptures proclaim that we were created in God’s image, so if we fail to understand God, we will also fail in understanding the potential we have.

A crucial characteristic of the Trinity, and potential within us, is the unity God has amid diversity. In essence, here we are talking about co-operative community; about a blessed fellowship; about common goals; about honor and respect. In very practical terms, here we are talking about love exemplified within relationship.

As Trinity, God models perfect unity and oneness in relationship. The Trinity is the only community (if you will) that actually works all of the time. As we consider the communities we are a part of here on earth: marriages, families, neighborhoods, schools, businesses, churches, even countries, we see communities which vary greatly in effectiveness, even as they all fall short of the perfect unity amid diversity we see modeled by God.

As human beings strive for a worldly ideal defined by increasing independence and freedom, God offers the ideal of community in relationships defined by love.

As human beings compete for status, often stepping on others in order to “climb the ladder of success”, the Bible reveals a Son who gives glory to the Father, a Father who gives glory to the Son (John 17:1, 4-5, 22, 24; 13:31-32). We see the Spirit giving glory to Jesus (John 15:26). In short, we look at our God and see relationship without a trace of jealousy, insecurity, hostility or selfishness. Even among the specific work we link to each person of the Trinity, we see cooperative overlapping:

- as we traditionally link the Father with creation, the Bible also speaks of roles played by the Son and the Spirit.

- as we link Jesus with our redemption from sin, the Bible reminds us that Jesus was resurrected by the Father and that we are born anew through the Holy Spirit, and

- as we link our transformation to the working of the Holy Spirit within us, the Bible describes for us a Spirit that comes from the Father who will speak to us the things of Jesus. (John 14:26)

Do you see community modeled for us by God; a Trinity where love facilitates a unity amid diversity; a love that created human beings with wonderful diversity, but also a potential for unity if we live in love?

3. I want all people to know God well enough so that they can discover life in relationship with Him.

God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit living in a dynamic and co-equal relationship of love. Their dynamic of love created us, and it invites us to freely participate in that love.

While we used that freedom to sin rather than to love, and our sin drew us away from God, God came after us. Jesus the Son has opened the door through which the Holy Spirit guides us to the Father who stands ready to embrace us. The love, the sacrifice, and the power of God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit all work together in holy relationship, to restore our relationship with Him.

There is an oft-repeated story of a parent watching a child busily drawing a picture. With growing curiosity, the parent asks their child what they are drawing.

“I’m drawing God”, is the reply.

“Honey”, the parent says, “Nobody knows what God looks like.”

“They will when I’m done!” proclaims the child.

While most people would say that they are not theologians, every person who has ever existed has a theology; they have an understanding (picture) of God which significantly defines their lives. Accurate or inaccurate, everyone has a picture of God constantly developing in their minds. Even atheists who say “There is no God.” are expressing a theology. And this “picture” will cause them to live life as if God doesn’t exist.

For others, their picture of God will cause them to earn God’s favor by killing their enemies. Still others will chose to love and serve God by loving others throughout their lives, including their enemies.

These different views of God which define personal definitions about “life”, will then play out in defining our communities; they will define priorities in family life, they will decide whetther neighborhoods are “safe” or “unsafe”, they will influence a town’s commitment or lack of commitment to education, they will characterize a state, perhaps even a whole nation if the majority of it’s citizens picture God in a similar way.

Does your view of God lead to the life he would offer to you?

While the Bible does not explicitly refer to God as Trinity, the theology... the understanding of God, presented in the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments, paints for us our best picture of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This is God as we experience Him: God whom we pass on to future generation; God who exists in relationship, and God who desires a relationship with you.

For when you come to faith in Christ, you experience the triune God coming to you: a loving Father who embraces you, a Savior Son who died for you, and the Holy Spirit working in you to help you grow and mature in your faith.

Know God as you live in relationship with the Trinity; submit your life to our Heavenly Father by trying to be like Jesus in thought and action through the power of the Holy Spirit. AMEN

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (r).