A Clarifying Thought on the Trinity

Sunday night, I talked for a long time on the mystery of the Trinity. I felt like I could have talked a lot longer (but I spared you that). Augustine spent thirty years of his life working on his treatise On the Trinity (it ended up being close to 500 pages). So please, cut me a little slack for going over by 12 minutes! It is truly an amazing thing.

Sunday night I started to explore an aspect of the Trinity but didn't have time to explain it well. I wanted to take a few minutes and come back to the idea that we worship God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity. With the emphasis we place on the distinctiveness and deity of the persons of the Trinity, it is easy to forget about Unity of God. However, to forfeit the Unity of God is disastrous.

Most of us won't come out and say it, but I think we have latent ideas about how redemption worked: God the Father was angry with our sin, God the Son loved us and stepped in to divert his Fathers anger. The Spirit is someone involved, but we don't quite know how - though we appreciate his abiding presence with us now. While this is how many think, and a few actually describe, of salvation, it is truly unbiblical.

Augustine helps us in this I think. Augustine proposed the psychological model of the Trinity - one mind, different aspect (will, imagination, memory). While their are faults, as there are with every model/analogy of the Trinity, there is also some truth. Augustine preserves the essential unity, and this is incredibly important in so many ways.

Back to our discussion of redemption, we must remember that God was of one mind. God hates sin - the Son and the Spirit as much as the Father. Remember, they are all Holy God! Yet, God loved his people - the Father, Son and Spirit. Consequently, they entered into a covenant together to redeem a people to be theirs. They were of one accord on this. And they worked to accomplish it - The Father planned it, the Son accomplished it, the Spirit applies it by bringing us new life!

Let's be careful not to play one member of the Trinity off against the other. They are the same in their perfection and glory! God in Trinity, Trinity in Unity.

The Weightiness of God's Holiness

This past week as I was studying for the message on God's holiness, I was somewhat worried that it was too heavy. Too heavy? I guess I was thinking heavy equals boring.

The more I thought about it though, the more I realized how much we need heavy doctrines. Think about it. Anchors are heavy. They have to be. If they aren't heavy, then the ship will be pushed around by any strong wind. And lets be honest. Life is full of storms. Some are literal - like the one the south just experienced. Some are more figurative - like loosing a close friend in a car accident or the feelings of loneliness and homesickness.

What will steady us in those times. Not light and fluffy theology! Not sentimentality and self-help-you-can-do-it theology! Not health and wealth, reach your destiny doctrines. What will steady us in tempestuous times? Deep thoughts, weighty thoughts, heavy doctrines! They will anchor us firmly.

Thank God that he is heavy. We need his weight.

The Reason I Didn't Mention!

Last night in Connexion I tried to convince you that the study of theology, specifically the doctrine of God is essential for the Christian life. This is true because you cannot be in relationship with someone you don't know anything about, so knowing about God, theology, is necessary for a relationship with God. Moreover, it is not boring, but our joy and the best fuel for genuine, passionate worship. Finally, it is relevant. Knowing God is foundational for all other knowing and for living the Christian life.

However, last night I left out another crucial reason why we must take the task of growing in our knowledge of God seriously. That reason is obedience! Peter says,
"But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen." (2 Peter 3:18, ESV). Notice, this is a command. Moreover, the author of Hebrews chastises his readers because they are still living of "spiritual milk" (the basics) when the should be on to "solid food" (deeper truths about God and the gospel" and should be teachers by now.

So, why study the doctrine of God? Why study theology? Because our great and loving God has commanded it.

God, the fountain and the ocean

I just finished an incredible book, a classic, by Abraham Kuyper, Lectures on Calvinism. The book forced me to think about Christianity in relation to a number of things I don't typically think about - politics, science, and art. It's not that I don't think about them, but Kuyper makes you think not just about current events or trends, but about how Christianity gave rise to democracy, modern science, and inspires true beauty. Here is an excerpt I found particularly profound.

The starting point of every motive in religion is God and not Man. Man is the instrument and means, God alone is here the goal, the point of departure and the point of arrival, the fountain, from which the waters flow, and at the same time, the ocean into which they finally return. To be irreligious is to forsake the highest aim of our existence, and on the other hand to covet no other existence than for the sake of God, to long for nothing but for the will of God, and to be wholly absorbed in the glory of the name of the Lord, such is the pith and kernel of all true religion. "Hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done," is the threefold petition, which gives utterance to all true religion. Our watchword must be, "Seek first the kingdom of God," and after that, think of you own need. First stands the confession of the absolute Sovereignty of the Triune God' for of Him, through Him, and unto Him are all things. And therefore our prayer remains the deepest expression of all religious life. This is the fundamental conception of religion as maintained by Calvinism, and hitherto, no one has ever found a higher conception. For no higher conception can be found. The fundamental thought of Calvinism, at the same time the fundamental thought of the Bible, and of Christianity itself, leads, in the domain of religion, to the realization of the highest ideal.

Caring for our Siblings in Christ

This morning I read Jesus' parable of the sheep and the goats (Matt 25). What a challenging passage of Scripture! Certainly we are called to show love and compassion on all our neighbors, but Jesus seems to expect that this will be more true of our Christian brothers and sisters. In other words, we carry an even greater responsibilty for our Christian family. This is evident in the words Jesus uses at the end of his commendation of the sheep. Jesus said, "...as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me" (v. 40). It is clear that Jesus has in mind acts of kindness shown to our spiritual family - our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Another incredible truth that we shouldn't pass over in this verse is Jesus' identifying with his people. In a similar way, Jesus says to Paul (Saul) "why do you persecute me?" Meditate on that for a minute and let that sink deep way down. Jesus identifies with his people. To act in kindness to them is to act in kindness to Jesus. Failing to do so is a failing to be kind to Jesus himself.

There are certainly opportunities to act in kindness to brothers and sisters in Christ who are suffering half a world away (for ideas you can visit Voice of the Martyrs). However, wouldn't it be better to open our eyes and see how we can serve our brothers and sisters in Christ right here. It's not like there aren't hurting Christians on the IU campus - Christians going through incredibly difficult times at home, Christians struggling under the pressure of a living with non-Christian roomates, etc. Keep Jesus' words in mind this week and let's strive to serve the "the least of these", our brothers and sisters in Christ.