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The Trinity and You (CC Downtown)


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INTRODUCTION

The Trinity is the central doctrine of the Christian faith because it is the doctrine of God Himself. Getting it wrong renders all other theological pursuits nonsensical. Like attempting to learn scuba-diving in the middle of the Great Sand Dunes. It might feel like a complicated doctrine, but we ought not to be intimidated by this doctrine. It’s not as if you won’t be let into heaven if you once were teaching a Sunday School class and used eggs as a metaphor for the Trinity. Just don’t do it again. This is one doctrine where charity should be shown in the articulation of it; severe strictness should be shown to someone who is in error and then doubles down on his error after being shown his error. St. Augustine once hedged his entire book on the Trinity with this, “If herein I am foolish, let him who knows better correct me.” To which I reply, “Ditto.”

THE TEXT

“Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. 1 John 4:11-16 KJV

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

While our systematic theology ought to begin with this doctrine of the trinity and unity of God, it is striking that the clearest Biblical teaching on the Trinity is in the context of our salvation. We see that here in this passage. The duty to love one another is rooted in God’s love toward us (v11). God’s love, as we will see shortly, is triune. John explains that the invisible God is not the same thing as the unknowable God (v12). If believers love one another, this is only possible because God dwells in them, perfecting His love in them and through them (v12). How do we know that this love towards each other is the fruit of the triune God’s love toward us? Because God gave us His Spirit (v13), which is what our baptism is a promise and seal of (1 Jn. 2:20).

Though we cannot see God, the Apostles had seen the Son. This son had been sent by the Father. The Son was sent by the Father in order to be the Savior of the World (v14). In confessing that Jesus of Nazareth is the eternal Son of God, you are assured that God dwells in you (by His Spirit), and you dwell in God (v15). John places our knowledge and belief in God in the context of this love which God showed to us. That love is a united love of the Father, Son, and Spirit. The Father set His love upon His elect, the Son was sent to save the elect, and the Spirit seals the elect with that love. To dwell in God is to dwell in love (v16). To experience the love of God is to experience the triune love of God. Apart from the Trinity you not only do not, but cannot, encounter God’s love.

COMPREHENDING THE INCOMPREHENSIBLE

As we consider the Trinity, we are not simply considering a doctrine. We are considering God Himself. He is holy, holy, holy; meaning, He is utterly unlike anything else you can consider. Furthermore, you can’t consider Him without also considering your relationship and duties to this God. This is the pinnacle of applied theology. Who is God? What is your duty to Him?

Considering the Trinity is considering a mystery. However, that’s not the same thing as saying that He cannot be apprehended by faith. The whole of Scripture leaves us with two realities regarding God. First, there’s only one God, while three distinct persons are all referred to as God. Each divine person is equal in essence, power, and glory; yet still somehow distinct from the other two. God in His fullness is incomprehensible to us (Ps. 139:6). Yet, God has given His fullness to us in Christ (Jn. 1:16). The work of redemption revealed in the NT gives us a trinitarian order: the Father sent the Son to be our Savior, and the Spirit gives you eyes to see this.

THE ERROR OF SUBORDINATION

All errors in thinking about God lead to errors in morality. You cannot be fully human without faith in this God who is one God in three persons. This is simplifying tomes of orthodoxy into a simple statement, but all trinitarian errors are really some form of importing subordination into the God-head. Ancient heresies often subordinated the Son and Spirit to the Father. Modern Pentecostals tend to fall into the error of modalism, which subordinates the Father and Son to the Spirit. Throughout history people have exalted various virtues so high that they come to believe God must be subordinated to that virtue. The mushy progressive wants love (or their sappy and spineless version of love) to govern what God is like. Likewise, Islamists want justice (or their definition of it) to handcuff God.

However, there is either unity in the Godhead, or there is warfare. It is a ridiculous thing to try to conceive of such conflict within God. It isn’t as if the Father wants to save Mr. Jones, but the Son and Spirit are a bit skeptical that they can pull that off. Rather, we should see that in the economy of salvation we have God’s love to sinful man displayed in brilliant trinitarian glory.

God the Father determined to save you, before the foundation of the world, despite all your transgressions which He foresaw you would commit against Him. He did so not because you deserved it, but because He is love, and delights to show mercy. He showed this love by sending His Son to take on human flesh, and then die and rise again in your stead. The Father and the Son have sent the Spirit to dwell in you, so that you can enjoy the love of the Father towards the Son and the Son towards the Father.

In Augustine’s triumphant masterpiece on the Trinity, he gives wise counsel when it comes to approaching this doctrine: “And if this is understood with difficulty, the mind must be purged by faith, by more and more abstaining from sins, and by doing good works, and by praying with the groaning of holy desires; that by profiting through the divine help, it may both understand and love (Augustine, On the Trinity, Book IV, Chap. 21, Sec. 31).” In other words, if you’re having trouble understanding this, then trust God, stop sinning, go serve others, and pray some more. Very sensible counsel.

COMING UNTO GODS

The whole reason you were made is the contemplation and enjoyment of God. To put it another way, you exist in order that you might come unto God. He made you, but He did not then go off and hide.

Rather, your very being is itself a witness to your reason of two things: that God is and is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. The highest good for your body is to serve God. The highest good for your soul is to believe in God. The highest good for your mind is to think upon God. Since He is three-in-one this means this is how you must serve Him, what you must believe about Him, and how you must think about Him. You were made to come unto God. But come unto Him as He is––trinity in unity––not as you imagine Him to be.

You were made to know, believe, and love the Living God. Contemplate the Father’s generosity towards you giving you life in the first place, and then giving you new life through His Son. Consider that Christ took on flesh, in order to share in your humanity in order to take it down into death and raise it up into immortal life. Cherish the glory that you have received the Spirit of God to confirm you in this fellowship with the Triune God.

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Dreams, Visions, and the Holy Spirit | Pentecost Sunday (King’s Cross)


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INTRODUCTION

How often have you heard someone say, “The Lord told me…?” Or maybe you or someone you know had a dream or vision in which they believe God was directing them. Or maybe sometimes you wish you had a direct word from the Lord.

We are no position to limit or deny God’s freedom to speak directly to anyone, but the Bible is clear that God’s clearest and fullest Word is Jesus Christ and the Scriptures spoken by His Holy Spirit (inspiration) (2 Tim. 3:16-17). The gift of the Holy Spirit poured out at Pentecost was not about giving a new or additional word; rather, the gift of the Holy Spirit is about giving believers the ability to actually hear the Word already given (illumination) (Jn. 14:26).

The Text: “… that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened…” (Eph. 1:15-20)

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

The apostle says that after the Ephesians had come to faith in Christ, he began praying for them that the Holy Spirit would give them an even fuller knowledge of God (Eph. 1:15-17). Even though they were already Christians, he was praying specifically that the “eyes” of their understanding (or minds) would be given even more light (Eph. 1:18). Specifically, he says he was praying that they would know the hope of God’s calling, the glory of His inheritance (Eph. 1:18), and the greatness of His power at work in us (Eph. 1:19). He was praying that they would experience the same power in their own lives which raised Jesus from the dead and set Him at God’s right hand (Eph. 1:20).

CONVERSION & SANCTIFICATION

Scripture says that to the unconverted the gospel seems like foolishness (1 Cor. 1-2). It’s like there is a veil over their hearts, blinding their minds, so that they cannot see the light of Christ in the Scriptures (2 Cor. 3-4). At conversion the Holy Spirit is given and you begin to see the glory of Christ, but that same Spirit begins a life-long process of opening your eyes to more and more of the hope, inheritance, and power in Christ (Eph. 1:18-20). The final step in this process is called glorification, when we will be transformed to be able to see Him as He is (1 Jn. 3:2). To paraphrase C.S. Lewis, ‘How can we meet Him face to face, till we have faces?’

HE IS THERE & HE IS NOT SILENT

In the meantime, God has spoken clearly, but we are slow to believe all that He has said. Our eyes are not yet adjusted to His glory. Our ears are dull. But as Francis Schaeffer once said, God is there and He is not silent. He is always speaking in His creation: day unto day, night unto night, in every language (Ps. 19:1-4). And He has spoken most clearly in His written word (2 Tim. 3:16-17).

The apostles were given unique signs to confirm their authority to speak on behalf of God, including visions and dreams (2 Cor. 12:12). And where their word has initially gone, God has often confirmed it with extraordinary signs and wonders (Mk. 16:20). But the apostles urged Christians not to look for visions or some other word from the Lord, but rather to cling to the Word of God that was spoken to them and written down: “Now we beseech you, brethren… that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us… Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle” (2 Thess. 3:1-2, 15, cf. 3:14).

Likewise, in 2 Peter, it says that God’s “divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue: whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature…” (2 Peter. 1:3-4). And he goes on to say that he’s writing these things [those great and precious promises] so that they will remember them when he is gone (2 Pet. 1:15). He affirms that the apostles were eye witnesses of Christ’s glory on earth (2 Pet. 1:16-18), but then he says something extraordinary: “we have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (2 Pet. 1:19-21). The written Scriptures are a more sure word than any vision or dream or spiritual experience.

APPLICATIONS

It is true that we long to see Jesus Christ face to face, to hear Him speak directly to us, but right now, in our current state, His Word in the Bible is a more sure word than any vision or dream.

You might say that you wish God would talk to you, and this is the clear answer of Scripture: He is talking to you all the time. But this is a bit like an ant asking for Einstein to explain his theory of relativity. Or change the image: it’s like looking up at the night sky and seeing a few stars but then looking through a telescope and seeing thousands. The stars are there all the time; you just can’t see them. You don’t need another word, a dream, or vision; you need your eyes opened by the Holy Spirit.

The Lord is not telling you to disobey Him. The Lord is not telling you to dishonor your parents, sleep with your girlfriend, or steal from your neighbor. You don’t need to pray about whether to become a drug dealer or accept homosexuality or transgenderism. The Lord does not contradict Himself.

Scripture says that if even an apostle or angel from heaven preaches another gospel, God damn him (Gal. 1). This would apply to Mormonism and Islam – both of which claim that angels spoke to their founders and radically altered what the Bible says. Dreams and visions can deceive and confuse: “to the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them” (Is. 8:20).

So let this be the prayer of our hearts: “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law” (Ps. 119:18).

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The Spirit of Wind & Fire | Pentecost Sunday (Christ Church)


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INTRODUCTION

As we celebrate the Pentecostal gift of the Spirit to the church, which is how God created the church in its new covenant form, we should make a point to pay close attention to the way His arrival is described. And that means paying thinking carefully about the wind and to the fire. At that glorious day of Pentecost, the wind was heard and the fire was seen.

THE TEXT

“I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire” (Matthew 3:11).

“John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire” (Luke 3:16).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

In these two passages, John the Baptist says basically the same thing, but we should still take note of the differences. In response to inquiries about whether or not he was the Christ, John replied that his baptism with water was nothing compared to the one who was coming. The coming one would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. In Matthew, John says that his water is “unto repentance,” and that he was not worthy to carry the coming one’s shoes. In Luke, he says that he was not worthy to undo the latchet of the coming one’s shoes. Because we are told that everyone was abuzz with the question about whether John was the Christ (Luke 3:15), there is no reason to assume that these are different renderings of the same quotation. John was no doubt asked the same question more than one time, and the gist of his answers was always consistent.

THE FEAST OF WEEKS

In the Old Testament, this festival was called the Feast of Weeks (Lev. 23:15; Deut. 16:9). The Greek name for it was Pentecost, from a word meaning fifty. The festival was calculated as landing fifty days after the wave offering that was lifted up at Passover. The celebration was over the conclusion of the grain harvest—it was a harvest festival, which God marked by bringing in a harvest of three thousand souls.

This fulfillment was inaugurated on the day of Pentecost when the disciples were all gathered in “one place” (Acts 2:1). The chances are good that this was the same place in which the Last Supper was held, which means that we have a “type scene” in which the conclusion of the Lord’s earthly ministry and the beginning of His Spirit-inspired ministry are bookended. “THE former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach . . . ” (Acts 1:1).

A MIGHTY RUSHING WIND

When the Spirit was poured out, the first thing we are told about it is that it sounded like a “rushing mighty wind” (Acts 1:2). Remember that the Greek word for Spirit (as in, the Holy Spirit) is the same word as the word for breath or wind. The Holy Spirit could be called, without irreverence, the Holy Wind. The sound was “from heaven” and it says the sound filled the house where they were sitting. This is what the Spirit loves to do—He loves to fill. The room was filled, and then the people in it were filled (Acts 2:4). Notice that this was the sound of such a wind—it is not that the furniture was blowing about.

It was a mighty wind that brought the plague of locusts to Egypt (Ex. 10:13). The enemies of God were driven like dust before the wind (Ps. 18:42). The Lord’s wind will unite the ancient nations (Is. 11:15). But the image of wind refers to more than just power—it means life in the Old Testament (Job 12:10), and the Spirit of life in the New (John 3:8).

We are told not to be drunk with wine, but rather to be filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18). But it was this filling that made people wonder whether or not they were drunk (Acts 2:13).

THE PRESENCE OF THE GOD OF FIRE

The sound of wind came, but the appearance of that of cloven tongues of fire, resting on the heads of the disciples. Think of each of them as an altar, and the fire of sacrifice burning on the top of the altar.

The Lord appeared to Moses in a flame (Ex. 3:2). The Lord was a pillar of fire for the Israelites (Ex. 13:21-22). The glory of the Lord was a “devouring fire” on Sinai in the sight of all Israel (Ex. 24:17). The fire of God comes in judgment. “And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame: And it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day” (Isaiah 10:17). “For our God is a consuming fire” (Heb. 12:29).

Fire also communicates holiness. “A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about” (Psalm 97:3). It is a holiness that cleanses. “But who may abide the day of his coming? And who shall stand when he appeareth? For he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap” (Mal. 3:2). We should want to receive the gold of God, the kind refined in fire (Rev. 3:18).

NOT MESSING AROUND

The prophet Amos declared “woe to them that are at ease in Zion” (Amos 6:1). Having been given the gift of this wind and this fire—meaning that we have been given the gift of a Person who is like

this—we need to take care to keep in step with the Spirit. We are told to keep in step with the Spirit . . . “If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit” (Gal. 5:25, ESV). But what does this mean? At a minimum, it means wind and fire.

“Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works” (Titus 2:14).

“As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent” (Revelation 3:19).

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So Much Better Than The Angels (King’s Cross)


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INTRODUCTION

Forty days after Jesus rose from the dead, He ascended into Heaven. This is called the Ascension, and we celebrate that historical event on this Lord’s Day. The text before us says that the Ascension means that Jesus is so much better than the angels. Today we consider what that means.

The Text: “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son…” (Heb. 1:1-2:9).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

In the Old Testament, angels had been God’s more common messengers telling the prophets His Word (Heb. 1:1), but in the last days of the Old Covenant, God spoke directly by His Son, Jesus, the heir of the world by whom all things were made (Heb. 1:2). Being the brightness of God’s glory, the exact image of His person, and upholding all things, having purged our sins, He ascended and sat down on God’s own throne, far above all angels (Heb. 1:3-4).

Christ had a right to this glory because He is God’s own Son (Heb. 1:5). What angel is worthy of the worship of angels (Heb. 1:6)? Angels are certainly God’s ministers, but the Son sits on the throne of God and rules all things forever (Heb. 1:7-12). Angels are ministering spirits, but Christ reigns until all His enemies are put beneath His feet (Heb. 1:13-14).

Therefore, we must give far more earnest heed to His Word (Heb. 2:1). If God guarded His Word thundered by angels in the Old Testament, how much more jealous is He of the Word of His Son, even as it has been passed down by those who heard Him directly (Heb. 2:2-4)? The angels are not the ones inheriting the world; rather, this was God’s design for man, who was made a little lower than the angels but created to rule all things (Heb. 2:5-7). Jesus was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death in order to be crowned with glory and honor and bring many sons to glory (Heb. 2:8-10).

FOUR TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS TEXT

1. This text gives us a glimpse of a biblical cosmology: the angels were present and cheering when God laid the foundations of the earth (Job 38:6-8). Angels sometimes appear in human form (e.g. Gen. 19, Dan. 10), but also seraphim (fiery, dragon-like creatures) (Num. 21, Is. 6) and cherubim (sphynx-like creatures) (Ez. 10), as well as the “angel of the Lord,” a “theophany” of Christ Himself (Gen. 32, Ex. 3, Jdg. 13). Since angels are described as ministers and guardians of men, it seems likely that angels would have been like tutors for Adam and Eve (“a little lower than the angels”) (Ps. 34:7, 91:11, Mt. 18:10). Since Satan appears to be a fallen seraph, he was the original false teacher (2 Cor. 11:13-14). When man sinned, cherubim became guardians of God’s presence (Gen. 3:24, Ex. 36-37, Gal. 4), delivered the law (Gal. 3:19), and enforced His justice (Ps. 78:49, 1 Chron. 21). The only way back into God’s glory was through their swords, but no one could do that and survive.

2. So Hebrews is emphasizing the supremacy of the New Covenant by underlining the supremacy of Christ: No man or angel dares claim God’s majesty (Heb. 1:3). No man or angel dares sit on God’s throne (Heb. 1:8). No man or angel has laid the foundations of the earth or can claim to have made the galaxies (Heb. 1:10-12). No man or angel may say that his years will never fail (Heb. 1:12). No man or angel could taste death for sin and survive (Heb. 1:3, 2:9). To ascribe all these things to Christ is either perfectly just or utterly blasphemous. This is either a lie and fabrication, or it is delusional madness, or it is historical truth and reality. People try to split the difference and say that perhaps it was all a very pious mistake – they all had a very spiritual experience, and it changed their lives. But that isn’t what Jesus or the apostles said (e.g. Mk.10:37, Lk. 14:26, Heb. 1:13, 2:8). Either Jesus was a liar, a lunatic, or He is Lord.

3. If Jesus is God, His Word is the Word of God. Hebrews says that God has been speaking since the beginning in various ways (Heb. 1:1). And if there is a God and He has spoken at all, no human being may treat that casually, but if that God has now spoken clearly through His own Son, by whom He made all things, it is pure insolence to ignore Him (Heb. 1:2, 2:1-3). While the prophets and patriarchs and Israel had no excuses, it might have been understandable for someone far off to not be sure what the angels/prophets meant by their messages. But when Christ has come and spoken plainly, when there are hundreds of witnesses of His resurrection, four written testimonies, and over a dozen more documents attesting to what He said and done, there is no excuse (Acts 17:30-31). He has spoken. What will you do with His word?

4. Christ is King, and He will have dominion. Angels are ministers and servants. But Christ ascended to the right hand of the Majesty on high (Heb. 1:3). All the angels worship Him (Heb. 1:6). He sits on the throne of God (Heb. 1:8). He loves righteousness and hates all evil perfectly (Heb. 1:9). He made all things (Heb. 1:10). His kingdom is forever (Heb. 1:11-12). He ascended and must reign until all His enemies are made His footstool (Heb. 1:13). Christ is Lord. Christ claims all things in Heaven and on Earth, and this necessarily has implications for all rule and authority (Mt. 28:18-20). He is reigning until everything is in submission to Him: every nation, every city, every family, every business, every husband, mayor, president, judge – until every knee bows.

CONCLUSION

Christ became man to taste death, to eat death for us (Heb. 2:9). This was the promise of the prophets: “He will swallow up death in victory” (Is. 25:8). Christ, the Eternal Son of God, humbled Himself to be a little lower than the angels in order to suffer death for us who deserve death, in order to take away our sins, in order to restore us to the glory of the Father. “Know ye not that we shall judge angels?” (1 Cor 6:3, cf. Heb. 2:5).

We do not yet see all things put under Christ, but we see Christ crowned with glory and honor. We see Jesus ascended to the right hand of the Majesty on high, and He will get His reward. You are either with Him or against Him. You are either under His blood or you scorn His blood. He is King. So crown Him.

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