Howdy. You know, one of the things that I've
really appreciated in the past would be opportunities
to take youth like camping retreats and off to
some solitary place where you get to have a campfire.
And whenever you'd be sitting around a campfire,
it's always amazing that someone would always
ask the most dangerous of questions. Pastor,
can you explain the Trinity? And usually this
is after a whole bunch of skits and scavenger
hunts and games and I'm just thinking I really
just need dinner right now. But you know at moments
like that everybody starts to become a theologian.
Somebody comes up with, well, you think of the
Trinity like an egg, and you're like, I have
no idea where that even came from at all. There's
one person mentioning the shamrock, the three
-leaf clover, Father, Son, and Spirit. And then
there's someone who comes up with the water and
ice and a steam, like with the Trinity itself.
And then there's always somebody drawing a triangle
in the dirt. There's always someone with that.
And then if you stay there too, too long, someone
grabs the s'mores and they start to say wait
a minute I see it now and they start pulling
apart the graham cracker for the father and the
marshmallow for the spirit and the chocolate
for the Sun because Jesus is sweet yeah it's
pretty terrible I know and there's like you got
the sticky fingers so you know And then there's
always somebody, bless you, always somebody spoiling
it by saying, well, those are kind of heretical,
they're not true teachings. That one's partialism,
like God is only partly in each person, and that's
modalism, as if God changes his shape from one
to the next, and that one is. Some other ism,
but I know it's bad and I just go with that and
everybody comes up with different things and
usually the person Doing that is me, but you
know when we think about each of these metaphors
each one Fails just a little bit the shamrock
you've got this idea of three parts together
in one plant But the father the son of the spirit
are not each one -third of God or water, ice,
and steam. Yeah, one substance in different forms,
but it's not like God is changing costumes depending
on the occasion and the season. And then the
egg with the shell and the egg white and the
yolk, and God is not divided into layers. He's
not an ogre. And the s'mores, well... That's
the tastiest one, but you're not really supposed
to be able to pull God apart like that. Granted,
the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, they might
come together for a very divine dessert, but
probably not like that. Every metaphor, it gives
us another glimpse into God, but every metaphor
also breaks apart when we look at it. Even when
people say you know one plus one plus one equals
one and the math teacher in me is just like don't
do this to me Don't do this Because God it's
not a theological riddle where the goal is trying
to make the perfect Triangular diagram on the
whiteboard the Trinity is the living God revealing
himself as he is and that means Christians don't
believe in the Trinity just because someone came
up with the perfect metaphor and we're like,
I like that, let's do that. We believe it because
this is how God has made himself known. When
we opened up the scriptures and we looked at
Genesis 1, right, we were not seeing everything
perfectly clearly, but you start to get hints.
The Old Testament doesn't pretend that people
understood every single thing. But you can see
these little moments kind of glimpsing from the
other side of the curtain. In the beginning,
God created the heavens and the earth. And that's
great. The Father has created all things. But
immediately, it goes into the Spirit of God was
hovering over the face of the waters. The Spirit
of God was not waiting for Pentecost to finally
show up. The Spirit of God is not somehow just
something made up later down the line. The Holy
Spirit was there from creation and even before.
But God doesn't just go over there and try to
make the world with a hammer and nails or some
machinery and hope He doesn't stub His thumb
whenever He's trying to make Houston because
it's covered in concrete. He's not trying to
struggle with all these things. He creates through
His Word. Let there be light. Let there be sky.
Let the waters gather. His Word is how He makes
creation. Creation happens because God speaks.
And centuries later, the Gospel of John brings
us back to Genesis when it says, in the beginning
was the Word. The Word was with God, and the
Word was God. All things were made through Him.
When we see the Word of God at the beginning,
this is not waiting until later for the Son to
appear. This is not saying, well, I messed up,
so now I need a plan B. Let's go ahead and have
a son of God. Son of God was there from the very
beginning, and even before. The Father creating
through His Word with the Spirit hovering over
the waters, and then there is that strange line,
let us make man in our image. Even the word God
with Elohim is a plural form and saying, let
us make him in our image. It's not fully explained.
There's just these little hints. But these flashes
end up making so much more sense when Christ
is on the scene. Because Christ Jesus comes and
suddenly all the hints become unmistakably clear.
Baptized in the name... The name singular. Of
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Not three gods. One God. One name. Father, Son,
and Spirit. But the distinction matters. Because
Christians are not talking about these three
different gods on different mountains and in
different stories that just happen to get along
well enough to kind of get the earth created
or something. competing as if each one's its
own little power center, or three wills trying
to negotiate, or three personalities with different
directions. One God, one will, one purpose, one
divinity. The Father creates through the Son
in the Spirit. The Father saves through the Son
by the Spirit. The Father brings us home through
the Son in the Spirit. But why is it that all
three persons matter so much? Why can't the church
just say God is God and leave it at that? Why
do we have to go into all this Father, Son, and
Spirit stuff? Because when we lose the fullness
of who God is, we start losing the fullness of
what our Christian life is as well. Let me...
Let me give an example. Let's use basketball
for a moment. Do not think that this means that
I am really well -versed in basketball. I know
the ball goes through the hoop. There's a rectangle
staying inside of it. If you go further back,
you get more points, and don't throw elbows.
That's what I got, okay? But it's a good metaphor,
so we're going to use it. Imagine that God is
just this distant ruler. Power and authority.
the one who determines all the outcomes of the
world. Now, God is sovereign over everything.
Scripture is clear about that. But if that's
all that we see, then life starts looking less
like the game we are living and more like something
rigged before it ever even began. Imagine that
on that court you have one team with all the
greatest players in the history of the game and
the other team with a bunch of middle schoolers
and Pastor Jason. And you're just kind of like,
what's going on here? Never touched the ball
before. The outcome's already decided at that
point. There's no movement. There's no relationship.
There's no participation. And frankly, there's
no joy. Everything... just becomes, well, that
was already decided. That's what's going to happen.
This is how it ends. It's like space jam, but
more divine. And sometimes people do imagine
God that way. As though creation were simply
this machine that he wound up and just walked
away. But that's not how God reveals himself.
Because then comes the Son, the eternal Word
of God. through whom all things were made. And
He comes and He enters creation, and He takes
on flesh, and He steps onto the court with us.
And now suddenly, we see something more. We see
mercy, sacrifice, love, salvation. Like seeing
the star player that changes everything I was
born in 1980 and all Throughout childhood all
the way up until I'm graduating high school Who
was the guy that always dominated all of these
scenes? Michael Jordan And he would step out
on the floor in his prime, and that was so much
of the story for so long. He could score from
anywhere, take over games, do things nobody else
could do. He would just float across the court,
and tongue sticking out, that still weirds me
out. But he'd just be floating over there, put
the ball, and over time, it's like you keep thinking
about these things and thinking, this is great.
He can do so much. But was it really all about
Jordan? Over time, especially in the championship
years for the Chicago Bulls, something else became
clear. That greatness was not only what he himself
could do, but also in how the whole team around
him was elevated. Because as you go through the
years, Scottie Pippen, Steve Kerr, Dennis Rodman,
weird hair and all. They were not just standing
around waiting for Jordan to score. The whole
team was transformed. Trust developed. Movement
happened. The whole culture of the team changed.
And that's why the later years is when the championships
kept happening. Because the greatest players
are not merely the ones who score the most points.
They're the ones who elevate all of those around
them. And it shows us something important. Yes,
we know that Christianity is not just try harder,
save yourself, figure it out, because Christ
comes to the rescue and He wins the victory that
we could never win ourselves. But even there,
if that's all we see, then Christianity becomes
very, very passive. And the players just go sit
down and clap, and then go home. That's not the
fullness of God. Because we see the Holy Spirit
hovering over the waters, descending at Pentecost,
moving through the disciples, creating faith
and giving life to the church. See, the Spirit
does not merely make us spectators to watch Jesus
play the game. The Spirit transforms the whole
team. Faith. gifts, uniting people who would
otherwise remain strangers, conforming us to
Christ, bringing us into the very life of God.
The Spirit is not only at work inside the church,
though. The Spirit is the giver of life. Because
even now, the Spirit is sustaining all of creation
itself to show patience, mercy, and grace to
a broken world so that more may have time to
know Him. The seasons happen, the rain falls,
children are born, the gospel is preached. Why?
Because God desires mercy. He is patient. And
even now is calling sinners to repentance while
creation is groaning for the day it will be restored.
does not abandon the world. The Spirit of God
prepares it for renewal. And now suddenly Christianity
is not just a powerful God looking at history
from far away, and it's not just saying a heroic
Savior accomplished salvation while we watch
from the sidelines. It is the living triune God
of Creator, Redeemer, and Transformer. that is
continuing to shape us and to move us each and
every day. The Trinity is not just a way to explain
God. The Trinity is the only reason that the
church is even alive. And this is important to
understand, is that when we confess the Trinity,
we're not abandoning belief in one true God.
We're defending it. We're not trying to say,
yes, we believe in one God. Well, plus Jesus.
Okay, so we've got one God plus Jesus. Well,
and the Holy Spirit. Okay, so we've got one God
plus Jesus plus the Spirit. We're saying the
one true God revealed as Father, Son, and Spirit.
Because throughout history, whenever people push
back against the Trinity, They often imagine
that they're trying to make it simpler, easier
to get, protecting what's reasonable and make
this whole understanding of God a lot cleaner.
Just say, God is God, right? And just leave it
at that. But many times what's actually happening
is that people are fighting against the God that
makes them uncomfortable. and they're fighting
for the God that they would prefer. Sometimes
people want the God who is far away and will
just leave them alone. Sometimes people want
a God that they can easily explain whenever difficult
things happen. Sometimes they want a God who
fits their expectations. Sometimes they just
want to reduce it to some force that doesn't
quite realize all the suffering we've gone through
and was uninvolved in the rest of our history.
But what we confess as Christians is both stranger
and more beautiful. Because this God who creates
enters into creation and then fills and renews
it does not ignore our suffering. He walked it.
He was on those roads with His people, weeping,
bleeding, dying, and then rising again. See,
this is not a God who's uninterested in us. This
is a God who creates faith, draws us together,
transforms us, and brings dead sinners to life.
Oh, I know Christianity has this really complicated
teaching, and the Trinity is weird, and I know,
I don't mean to be complicated. No! We rejoice
in the Trinity. We take joy in the Trinity. We
are proud of the Trinity, because that is how
God actually exists. That's participation. That's
the glory of God. That's the mercy. That's the
love. We didn't invent the Trinity. God as the
Trinity made us. And that's maybe the deepest
beauty of the Trinity. Because before there was
ever a world, before there was any other things
happening anywhere else, God was already love.
He didn't need us. to start loving. He didn't
need this creation to complete who He is. The
Father, the Son, and the Spirit have always been
in fellowship of love with one another. It didn't
just start at Bethlehem. It didn't just start
with sinners turning back. Love is eternal because
of who God is. And that changes everything. Because
salvation is not as if God is just reluctantly
tolerating us. It is not as if somehow we're
just hoping that one part of God is defending
us from the other two. The Father sent the Son,
for God so loved the world that He gave His only
Son. And that Son willingly entered our flesh,
carried the cross, and died and rose again. and
then the Spirit descending upon Him, empowering
the ministry, and then pouring out upon the church.
The Spirit, the Son, the Father, each of them
loves us because of who they are, not because
of who we are. So when we look at the cross,
this is God sending God to do the work of God
in us. As the Father sins, the Son redeems, and
the Spirit brings dead hearts to life. Death
is overturned, and sin is defeated. This is not
just to escape the world, but to be united with
God. And that's why the Trinity matters so deeply.
because at the center of it all is not some cold,
isolated fate or somebody just coming and doing
stuff and ignoring us. This is a God who reaches
us each and every day with Word, water, bread,
and wine. So, frankly, the metaphors fall apart.
They all end up failing in some way. Shamrocks
break apart, ice melts, and eggs divide when
you scramble them, and s'mores just make your
fingers sticky at the campfire. But no metaphor
can ever fully contain the Living God. No illustration
will ever be enough to hold Him. Because God,
being beyond our understanding, That doesn't
mean He hasn't made Himself known. Because we
know the Father created us, the Son has redeemed
us, and the Spirit calls us, enlightens us, and
changes us each and every day. Not because we're
so glad all three of them finally got on the
same page, but because they have always been
one God, always overflowing with grace, mercy,
life, and love. So we affirm God, not just as
a riddle, but as the Father, Son, and Spirit
that he has always shown himself to be. And even
if it's not a perfect metaphor, we could still
probably go out for s'mores later. With that,
thanks be to God.