Welcome to the house of the Lord on this Sunday,
Trinity Sunday, where we commemorate the important
doctrine of the Trinity. Let us now pray together
and ask for the Lord's blessing of the preaching
of his word. Glory be to you, O God the Father,
God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, who of
your grace and mercy has made us a people in
Jesus Christ and has surrounded... with us your
mercies and your providential care, and you have
given us such great and marvelous promises in
your word. Bless us this day that we may grow
in terms of your word and by your spirit. Grant,
O Lord, that the words of my mouth and the meditations
of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight,
O Lord, our nearest kinsman redeemer, Jesus Christ.
Amen. Our text today, Is our epistle reading
from 2nd Corinthians chapter 13. We will add
an extra verse verse 14 to the reading Finally
brethren farewell become complete Be of good
comfort be of one mind live in peace and the
God of love and peace will be with you Greet
one another with a holy kiss and all the saints
greet you and the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ
The love of God and the communion of the Holy
Spirit Be with you all and it ends with amen
These are the words of Almighty God receive them
in your hearts There are three things. I want
you to get out of our sermon today First of all
the triune God has existed before creation The
triune God has existed before creation second
We are made in the image of the triune God we
are made in the image of the triune God and Finally
the life of the triune God is a shared life The
life of the triune God is a shared life. Today
is the day that has been set aside historically
in the church to meditate on the Trinity. The
Trinity is certainly a teaching or a doctrine,
but it actually has real implications for our
lives. That is a real meaning for our day -to
-day lives as Christians. The Westminster Confession
in chapter 2 .3 says this, in the unity of the
Godhead there be three persons of one substance,
power, and eternity. God the Father, God the
Son, and God the Holy Ghost. The Father is of
none, neither begotten nor proceeding. The Son
is eternally begotten of the Father. The Holy
Ghost is eternally proceeding from the Father
and the Son. Well, there you go. We can go home.
Well, I want us to understand that we need to
know some practical things about what the Trinity,
who God is as the Triune God. And then, how then
does it affect how we live? We need to worship
the Triune God and all Persons of the triune
God are to be worshiped and glorified by his
people. In our sermon passage today, we hear
the apostle Paul give his closing thoughts in
this very fatherly and pastoral letter written
to the troubled but maturing church in Corinth.
The Corinthian church had problems in the church.
You can't help but read first and second Corinthians
and come to the conclusion, man, that church,
it has problems. I promise you that in the more
than 25 years that this church has existed, almost
every one or maybe even every one of those great
sins has been confronted and dealt with. Some
may even be among us now But they didn't just
have problems in the church there was also persecution
from the high priests and their deputized tormentors
Not yet realized but known to God and soon coming
was to be the more intensified harassment torture
and martyrdom of the church all across the Roman
Empire In the inspired words of Paul that is
not inspired by Paul, but by the Holy Spirit
The words of Paul were directed To the very relational
Trinitarian call to maturity commitment to one
another in peace and relational love For the
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ the love of God
and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with
you all. You know, we're living in an ever -increasingly
difficult time in history. Or excuse me, let
me back that up. They were living in an ever
-increasing... I mean, we feel that way too.
I'm gonna get to that in a second. But they were
living in an ever -increasingly difficult time
in history. In fact... When Jesus spoke of that
time in Matthew 24, he says this, for then there
will be great tribulation such as not been since
the beginning of the world until this time, nor
shall there ever be. So they're at the precipice
here of this tribulation. It's the late 50s and
the early 60s. Rome aligns itself with the persecutors
of the church, the Jewish high priests and all
those who rejected Christ. And they partnered
together. And they brought horrible, horrible
persecution, martyrdom to the church. And it
says, Jesus said, it's never going to be worse
than this. And it even says, it's going to be
so bad in verse 22 that unless those days were
shortened, no flesh would be saved. But for the
elect's sake, those days will be shortened. So
it's something God is permitting and Here we
see In all this great tribulation He's pointing
Paul by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is
pointing to the trinitarian God and the implications
in our lives of this Right now we live in both
one of the most blessed times in a history Right
don't we agree with that? I mean, after all,
how many of you had to go down to the well this
morning or the creek and pull out water? Yesterday
and later this evening, are you milking the cows
and goats? Are you hoeing for and tending to
your vegetable garden that if it isn't a good
year, you may starve to death? None of you ladies.
had to go grab a chicken and clean it and cook
it for Sunday lunch. Right? All that's on our
easy fingertips. We live in a very blessed time.
And yet, if we look around us, we see the decline
in our nations and communities and even the church.
It may not be as difficult as what those in Corinth
and the Christians across the Empire were about
to experience But we can benefit from how Paul
instructs them in preparation for their future
So here it is let's think about the Triune God
and its implications So first of all the eternal
God has always been the Triune God. This is not
a new development It's not a development out
of the New Testament. Although it is a little
more clearer and repeated more often But you
see because God has always been the triune God
this should be a great assurance to his church
This gives us a steadfast spirit knowing that
God never changes Just to name a few we see this
in Malachi 3 Hebrews 13 James 1 and Psalm 102
Many of you are familiar with Genesis chapter
1 through 3 Right in the beginning God created
the heavens and the earth the earth was out form
and void and darkness was on the face of the
deep and The Spirit of God was hovering over
the waters Then God said let there be light Jesus
the word let there be light by the authority
of the Father by the power of the Spirit Farther
down in chapter 1 in verse 26 it says let and
God said let us make man in our image according
to our likeness But you know the Trinity existed
before creation in Proverbs chapter 8 Begins
with I but this is Jesus speaking the word I
have been established from everlasting From the
beginning before there was ever in earth Dropping
down to verse 26 While as yet he had not made
the earth or the fields or the primal that is
the very first dust of the world When he prepared
the heavens I was there When he drew a circle
on the face of the deep The triune God has existed
before the universe was made and we was there
at creation Then of course there are the third
person pluralities that we see throughout the
Old Testament in Genesis chapter 3 and Chapter
11 and Isaiah 6 and very clearly in Isaiah 48,
16. The son, Jesus says prophetically this, come
near to me, hear this. I have not spoken in secret
from the beginning. From the time that it was,
I was there. And now the Lord God and his spirit
have sent me. And of course, the New Testament
brings clarity to this. Our gospel reading today
in Matthew 28. It says this and Jesus came and
spoke to them That's the disciples all authority
has been given to me in heaven and on earth Go
therefore and make disciples of all nations Baptizing
them in the name of the Father and the Son and
the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all
things that I have commanded you and Low I am
with you always even to the end of the age and
it finishes with the words Amen We see of course
the Trinity at Jesus's baptism in Matthew 3 we
see in in John chapters 13 through 17 on the
night before the Lord's betrayed over and over
and over again the Father Jesus speaking as the
Son and the Spirit being spoken of over and over
and over again again At the time where the disciples
think they're at the worst day of their life,
what is Jesus saying to them? The triune God
loves each other and is doing all of these relational
things for you, for his church, for their deliverance.
Even Ephesians chapter four tells us this. There
is one body. and one Spirit, just as you were
called in the hope of your calling, one Lord,
one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of
all, who is above all and through all and in
you all." And finally, we see in passages like
2 Corinthians chapter 13, our text this morning,
right? We see the Trinity very clearly. It's
very much in focus. In summary of this, Idea
there is one God in eternal community fully divine
and eternally distinct and each person of the
Godhead delights in giving gifts to one another
The triune God existed before time and creation
in full loving fellowship God the Father created
all things he created all things by the word
his son and by the power of the Spirit. In the
fullness of time, He sent His Son to be a man
without relinquishing His divinity, but became
fully man by the power of the Spirit. Through
the life and death and resurrection and ascension
of Jesus the Son, the Father reconciles the world
to Himself. He draws all men from death to life
by the power of the Spirit. By the power of the
spirit men are united to the son and given life
and brought back into relationship with the father
and the son and the spirit This is real important
God gives his son and covenant all love Because
he is the triune God of love as one commentator
explains three persons all one God mutually exhaustively
indwelling one another, bound together in a dynamic,
living, vital relationship of love. And we are
created in the image of the triune God. Remember
what it said in Genesis 1? Let us make man in
our image according to our likeness. So God created
man in his own image in the image of God. He
created them and then it says male and female
he created them So for anybody out there who
is asking what is a man or what is a woman there
it is You distinctive persons of people out there.
There are men. There are women. There are no
more genders than that He created us that way
our purposes are in these things And we are created
in his image, both men and women. The eternal
self -sacrifying, excuse me, excuse me, I have
to say the whole line again. The eternal self
-sacrificial and glorifying triune God has been
in a loving relationship within himself, and
he has created us in his image. God is not a
monad. This is why Allah can't be loving. He's
singular. Love does not emanate. He's capricious.
The triune God, though, indwells together in
a loving, reciprocal relationship. And so, being
made in his image, it's no wonder that God says
in Genesis chapter 2 verse 18, Yahweh God said,
it is not good that man should be alone. I will
make him a helper comparable to him. You see,
the life of God is a shared life. We cannot enjoy
life in isolation. We know this because the triune
God lives in mutual respect, reciprocal love,
and service to the persons of the Godhead. He
exists in communion with himself. He expresses
love within himself, exalting. others. God is
not a solitary being. Each person of the triune
God goes about glorifying himself in adorning
himself with self denial and self giving sacrificial
relations with one another. The scripture teaches
that there's always been a relationship between
the Godhead. The scripture teaches that God is
love in 1 John chapter 4. That doesn't mean that
God is loving. He is loving. But it means, it
also doesn't mean that he needed something to
love so he created us. That's a lie. The Bible
teaches that God in his own nature is love. That
means he must have within himself someone to
love in relationship love involves a personal
commitment a Sacrificial service a devotion to
one another and we see that Right in Jesus towards
the father towards the spirit and out of that
abundance of the triune love and glorification
of the others What happens? That abundant love
grows so large that it pours itself out onto
us, his people. The Trinity is inescapably personal
and is reciprocal. Thus, it implies that he loves
the world, which is true. He loves mankind, which
is also true. But that love exists first. within
his own being. He did not become loving at some
point after creation. He has always been love.
Love has always been eternally present in God.
This is true because he's eternally existed as
three persons. He is not a solitary being. The
triune God lives in loving society with one another
in communion. Now we cannot comprehend this nor
fully explain this. The eternally existent triune
God in this loving society is especially important
to understand because it is essential in properly
understanding the world and life. The world and
life are bound up in the nature of God Himself.
The fact that the Trinity is real and true is
essential if we're going to understand creation.
You cannot understand creation or anything apart
from the Trinity. And that part is real important.
How many of you guys maybe have seen in the last
year or so unbelievers, pagans, maybe some sort
of video shorts or statements they're making?
where they're sort of getting things right. In
other words, they don't have the world all figured
out. Natural law is revealing certain things
in creation. So they say, well, it does seem
that men and women are different. Right? And
so, yes, a man should be the protector and the
strong one and the leader. And the woman should
be bearing children, and many should do that
earlier. And you see a lot of women who are much
older looking back saying, oh, I messed that
up. I waited too long. And they're sort of putting
the world together, but they don't fully get
it. Why? Because it's a part from the triune
God. They can only get so far in the way that
they view the world or in their science or their
methodologies because They're not in relationship
with the triune God who has made all things and
is eternally existed and a loving as a loving
triune God from before the world You know Proverbs
8 goes on and it says this and I this is again
Jesus Was daily his delight of the father The
object of his delight and he was rejoicing this
this word in hebrews Eight here rejoicing is
playing laughing and making merry And he was
before the father Always before him all creation
including mankind comes out of the joyous merriment
of the loving triune god This has huge implications
in taking dominion and filling the earth to the
glory of God, which includes feasting and enjoying
his good gifts, including all the raw materials
to make and transform the world to his glory
and the benefit of others. Just think about this
for a second. If I were to poll across this crowd
today and I were to ask, what is your favorite
food? And I didn't like... I don't create the
categories. I just pointed at random people.
What's your favorite food? We might have a few
that overlap. And we might be shocked at what
the favorite food is for some. And God gave us
so many spices and so many different kinds of
foods to eat, plants and animals. Think about
this. What about all the flowers that are out
there? Right? Did God need to make all those
flowers? Or is it in His enjoyment and merriment
and enthusiasm? What about all the different
woods that we can make things out of? Right?
You know, what this podium is made out of wouldn't
make good little planes for us to throw and put
rubber band little propellers on. Balsam wood
is good for that, but balsam wood is not a good
wood to build a house out of or to make beautiful,
long -lasting furniture. All of this comes out
of the abundance of the love of the triune God.
You see. And it is inhabited world out of the
abundance of love joy and peace the eternally
existent Triune society of love created all things
and as such creation teaches us about God and
again think of all those unnecessary Provisions
all those unnecessary provisions think of all
the things we can do with a pig. I Like bacon,
you know that Finally, we see that God's Son
was the delight, was God the Father's delight,
and His delight was with the sons of men. Again,
that's Proverbs 8. At creation, God judges His
work each day as good, and when He made man,
He declared it very good. The life of God is
a shared life, our fellowship. is in communion
with God and others. We cannot enjoy life in
isolation. We know this because of the triune
God who lives in mutual respect, reciprocal love,
and service to the persons of the Godhead. He
exists in communion within Himself, and He expresses
love within Himself, exalting others. Again,
God is not a solitary being. See, this is a real
problem. We end up in some tense situation, and
we want to isolate ourselves. We want to withdraw,
right? We want to break fellowship with our husband,
our wife, our children, all these other people
God puts around us. rages against the Triune
God and the fact that we're made in His image.
There is one God in eternal community, a fully
divine and eternally distinct. Each person of
the Godhead delights in giving their gifts to
another. The Triune God existed before time in
creation in full loving fellowship. God the Father
created all things and He created all things
by the Word. the Son, and by the power of the
Spirit. And being made in God's image means that
we too are to live delighting in one another,
and delighting in giving gifts to one another,
even a great sacrifice. Think of the work of
Jesus whose delight was in mankind, and while
we were yet sinners, he came for us, his church.
We know that in the fullness of time, the Father
sent his Son Be a man without relinquishing his
divinity, but becoming fully man by the power
of the Spirit Now Proverbs 18 one tells us this
talking about isolation talk about how we want
to Sinfully break up now. I want to be upfront
sometimes We're just worn out We need some rest
we need to withdraw Jesus himself would go away
and pray and fast and be restored And sometimes
he was so tired. In fact, you know, remember
that one time he was asleep in a boat, and there's
this huge storm, this great squall going around
so much so that the boat is sinking. And I must
say, I can't even imagine that, being so tired.
But here he was, he was worn out. That's not
the kind of isolation we're talking about. You
know exactly what I'm talking about. I'm mad
at you. You aggravated me, so I'm going to isolate.
My spouse, I'm going to isolate my children.
I'm going to flee from it. Proverbs 18 .1 tells
us, a man who isolates himself seeks his own
desire. He rages against all wise judgment. A
fool has no delight in understanding, but in
expressing his own heart. When we isolate from
others, this means we are simply wanting to live
seeking our own selfish desires. When we live
this way we rage against all wise judgment and
this is the same word that is used in Psalm 2
When it says that the heathen why do the heathen
nations rage? And they say I want to break the
bonds that are oppressing me from God And we
do that so many times in our relationships God
has given us relationships and we rage against
God When we seek our own desires, we will, for
our own self -preservation, attempt to break
the constraints of God's law. We will hate and
kill others who get in the way of our pleasures
and desires. This leads to violence, killing
babies, and killing off the old and affirmed
and those who are otherwise unproductive. Why?
Because it's against our selfish lives. God has
called us to live in community with one another
Now let's be honest What keeps us from being
conformed to the image of the triune God? I Know
most of you in this room pretty well, and I know
it isn't because you don't know what to do In
Jesus love is demonstrated expressed and manifested
in obedience to the commands of Yahweh, because
the commands of Yahweh are themselves instruction
in the way or ways of love. Right? We see in
John 14, but that the world may know that I love
the Father, and as the Father gave me commands,
I do. And in John 15, if you keep my commandments,
you will abide. You go down that. We've preached
on those sections already this year. It's not
an issue about whether or not you know what's
right, what you are to do. It's that you choose
to disobey. And God in our relationships to one
another tells us this in Colossians 3, beginning
in verse 12. Therefore, as the elect of God,
holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness,
humility. meekness, long -suffering, bearing
with one another and forgiving one another. If
anyone has a complaint against another even as
Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But
above all these things put on love and let the
peace of God rule in your hearts to which you
were called in one body and be thankful. Are
you with Thanksgiving abiding in the love of
the triune God towards your husband, your wife,
and your children? What about the others in this
church? Are you loving and serving one another
within the communion of our triune God? Or when
you see a certain person, do you run the other
way? If they text you, do you not communicate
with them? Because I can't deal with them. No,
no, I don't want to deal with them As one commentator
puts it if you ignore and despise God's church
You are not worshiping the true God Because God
loves his people and he will not be separated
from them Salvation is fed Jesus alone It is
worked out by the power of the spirit as he works
through his people in our lives using them That
is his people to conform us fully to his image
God's ordinary means of sanctification in your
life is other people The people God has sovereignly
and providentially put in your life Starts in
your home, of course But it's also in your workplace
All these things exposed is what's in our hearts
when we react to them. Why do you need the church?
God uses His people by the Spirit to save and
sanctify us. Not one of you came to the knowledge
of Christ by yourself. God used other men, other
people in your life to proclaim the Gospel to
you. To print a Bible, to ship it off. For you
to hear a particular podcast or sermon God was
using his people to save you to proclaim his
truth and God uses his people to sanctify you
apart from the love and perfect will of the Father
there is no life apart from the love and perfect
obedience and the work of the Son there is no
life apart from the love and power and grace
of God the Holy Spirit there is no life Salvation
is sharing the glorious life that is the love
of God and by that being conformed to Jesus and
his love Salvation is by the triune God We have
no choice but to love one another First John
tells us this in chapter 4 beloved. Let us love
one another For love is of God and everyone who
loves is born of God and knows God he who does
not love does not know God for God is love in
This the love of God was manifested towards us
That God sent his only begotten son into the
world that we might live through him in this
love not that we loved God But that he loved
us and sent his son to be the propitiation our
substitute for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved
us, we ought to love one another. Now all this
may seem overwhelming. How can I deal with all
of this? Remember in the very beginning what
did we talk about? All of the stresses, all of
the circumstances in your life, all of these
difficulties. What did Paul tell the church in
Corinth? In verse 13, it says, all the saints
greet you. Remember, all the saints greet you
in this room and across the world. I sat at a
wedding yesterday with someone who I'd never
met before, but turns out we know a bunch of
people in common. And I've never been near this
guy. All the saints greet you. Be strengthened
by the saints in the church. And then the grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God
and the communion of the Holy Spirit will be
with you all. Be encouraged by the saints. And
what will happen? The grace of the Lord Jesus
and the love of God and the communion of the
Holy Spirit will be with you all. And it finishes
with a solid amen. That is, so be it. Let us
pray Heavenly Father help us to understand these
things for us from error the ignorance of our
age and the deceits of Satan Hope think clearly
and faithfully according to word Forgive us of
our sins and despising you by despising your
people and help us We pray to honor you by one
another to love you loving one another and to
serve you by serving one another Hear our prayers
and uphold us for Jesus' sake. Who reigns with
you and the Holy Spirit, world without end. Amen.