WEBVTT 00:00:01.839 --> 00:00:05.660 Howdy. You know, one of the things that I've 00:00:05.660 --> 00:00:08.500 really appreciated in the past would be opportunities 00:00:08.500 --> 00:00:13.640 to take youth like camping retreats and off to 00:00:13.640 --> 00:00:16.140 some solitary place where you get to have a campfire. 00:00:17.039 --> 00:00:19.039 And whenever you'd be sitting around a campfire, 00:00:19.140 --> 00:00:21.559 it's always amazing that someone would always 00:00:21.559 --> 00:00:25.859 ask the most dangerous of questions. Pastor, 00:00:26.739 --> 00:00:31.339 can you explain the Trinity? And usually this 00:00:31.339 --> 00:00:34.280 is after a whole bunch of skits and scavenger 00:00:34.280 --> 00:00:36.939 hunts and games and I'm just thinking I really 00:00:36.939 --> 00:00:41.380 just need dinner right now. But you know at moments 00:00:41.380 --> 00:00:45.359 like that everybody starts to become a theologian. 00:00:45.450 --> 00:00:48.329 Somebody comes up with, well, you think of the 00:00:48.329 --> 00:00:51.109 Trinity like an egg, and you're like, I have 00:00:51.109 --> 00:00:53.770 no idea where that even came from at all. There's 00:00:53.770 --> 00:00:56.649 one person mentioning the shamrock, the three 00:00:56.649 --> 00:00:59.649 -leaf clover, Father, Son, and Spirit. And then 00:00:59.649 --> 00:01:02.549 there's someone who comes up with the water and 00:01:02.549 --> 00:01:06.689 ice and a steam, like with the Trinity itself. 00:01:06.930 --> 00:01:08.890 And then there's always somebody drawing a triangle 00:01:08.890 --> 00:01:11.829 in the dirt. There's always someone with that. 00:01:12.069 --> 00:01:14.549 And then if you stay there too, too long, someone 00:01:14.549 --> 00:01:17.459 grabs the s'mores and they start to say wait 00:01:17.459 --> 00:01:19.739 a minute I see it now and they start pulling 00:01:19.739 --> 00:01:22.840 apart the graham cracker for the father and the 00:01:22.840 --> 00:01:24.840 marshmallow for the spirit and the chocolate 00:01:24.840 --> 00:01:29.120 for the Sun because Jesus is sweet yeah it's 00:01:29.120 --> 00:01:31.120 pretty terrible I know and there's like you got 00:01:31.120 --> 00:01:34.409 the sticky fingers so you know And then there's 00:01:34.409 --> 00:01:37.750 always somebody, bless you, always somebody spoiling 00:01:37.750 --> 00:01:41.849 it by saying, well, those are kind of heretical, 00:01:42.370 --> 00:01:45.689 they're not true teachings. That one's partialism, 00:01:46.170 --> 00:01:49.569 like God is only partly in each person, and that's 00:01:49.569 --> 00:01:54.109 modalism, as if God changes his shape from one 00:01:54.109 --> 00:01:57.989 to the next, and that one is. Some other ism, 00:01:58.030 --> 00:02:00.510 but I know it's bad and I just go with that and 00:02:00.510 --> 00:02:02.650 everybody comes up with different things and 00:02:02.650 --> 00:02:06.390 usually the person Doing that is me, but you 00:02:06.390 --> 00:02:09.770 know when we think about each of these metaphors 00:02:09.770 --> 00:02:14.629 each one Fails just a little bit the shamrock 00:02:14.629 --> 00:02:17.849 you've got this idea of three parts together 00:02:17.849 --> 00:02:21.669 in one plant But the father the son of the spirit 00:02:21.669 --> 00:02:25.879 are not each one -third of God or water, ice, 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:30.639 and steam. Yeah, one substance in different forms, 00:02:31.259 --> 00:02:34.680 but it's not like God is changing costumes depending 00:02:34.680 --> 00:02:37.719 on the occasion and the season. And then the 00:02:37.719 --> 00:02:40.360 egg with the shell and the egg white and the 00:02:40.360 --> 00:02:44.539 yolk, and God is not divided into layers. He's 00:02:44.539 --> 00:02:49.210 not an ogre. And the s'mores, well... That's 00:02:49.210 --> 00:02:51.389 the tastiest one, but you're not really supposed 00:02:51.389 --> 00:02:54.770 to be able to pull God apart like that. Granted, 00:02:55.210 --> 00:02:57.330 the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, they might 00:02:57.330 --> 00:02:59.889 come together for a very divine dessert, but 00:02:59.889 --> 00:03:04.509 probably not like that. Every metaphor, it gives 00:03:04.509 --> 00:03:07.629 us another glimpse into God, but every metaphor 00:03:07.629 --> 00:03:11.409 also breaks apart when we look at it. Even when 00:03:11.409 --> 00:03:14.069 people say you know one plus one plus one equals 00:03:14.069 --> 00:03:16.870 one and the math teacher in me is just like don't 00:03:16.870 --> 00:03:22.629 do this to me Don't do this Because God it's 00:03:22.629 --> 00:03:26.129 not a theological riddle where the goal is trying 00:03:26.129 --> 00:03:29.150 to make the perfect Triangular diagram on the 00:03:29.150 --> 00:03:33.009 whiteboard the Trinity is the living God revealing 00:03:33.009 --> 00:03:38.349 himself as he is and that means Christians don't 00:03:38.349 --> 00:03:41.039 believe in the Trinity just because someone came 00:03:41.039 --> 00:03:43.699 up with the perfect metaphor and we're like, 00:03:43.979 --> 00:03:47.699 I like that, let's do that. We believe it because 00:03:47.699 --> 00:03:53.479 this is how God has made himself known. When 00:03:53.479 --> 00:03:55.319 we opened up the scriptures and we looked at 00:03:55.319 --> 00:04:00.139 Genesis 1, right, we were not seeing everything 00:04:00.139 --> 00:04:04.379 perfectly clearly, but you start to get hints. 00:04:04.750 --> 00:04:07.949 The Old Testament doesn't pretend that people 00:04:07.949 --> 00:04:11.330 understood every single thing. But you can see 00:04:11.330 --> 00:04:13.650 these little moments kind of glimpsing from the 00:04:13.650 --> 00:04:15.710 other side of the curtain. In the beginning, 00:04:15.810 --> 00:04:18.410 God created the heavens and the earth. And that's 00:04:18.410 --> 00:04:21.170 great. The Father has created all things. But 00:04:21.170 --> 00:04:25.069 immediately, it goes into the Spirit of God was 00:04:25.069 --> 00:04:29.430 hovering over the face of the waters. The Spirit 00:04:29.430 --> 00:04:32.449 of God was not waiting for Pentecost to finally 00:04:32.449 --> 00:04:36.230 show up. The Spirit of God is not somehow just 00:04:36.230 --> 00:04:39.769 something made up later down the line. The Holy 00:04:39.769 --> 00:04:44.230 Spirit was there from creation and even before. 00:04:45.639 --> 00:04:49.199 But God doesn't just go over there and try to 00:04:49.199 --> 00:04:52.959 make the world with a hammer and nails or some 00:04:52.959 --> 00:04:55.759 machinery and hope He doesn't stub His thumb 00:04:55.759 --> 00:04:58.339 whenever He's trying to make Houston because 00:04:58.339 --> 00:05:01.180 it's covered in concrete. He's not trying to 00:05:01.180 --> 00:05:04.540 struggle with all these things. He creates through 00:05:04.540 --> 00:05:09.220 His Word. Let there be light. Let there be sky. 00:05:09.360 --> 00:05:13.860 Let the waters gather. His Word is how He makes 00:05:13.860 --> 00:05:17.410 creation. Creation happens because God speaks. 00:05:17.750 --> 00:05:21.089 And centuries later, the Gospel of John brings 00:05:21.089 --> 00:05:25.269 us back to Genesis when it says, in the beginning 00:05:25.269 --> 00:05:29.930 was the Word. The Word was with God, and the 00:05:29.930 --> 00:05:33.389 Word was God. All things were made through Him. 00:05:35.209 --> 00:05:38.509 When we see the Word of God at the beginning, 00:05:39.550 --> 00:05:42.730 this is not waiting until later for the Son to 00:05:42.730 --> 00:05:46.790 appear. This is not saying, well, I messed up, 00:05:47.050 --> 00:05:50.310 so now I need a plan B. Let's go ahead and have 00:05:50.310 --> 00:05:55.290 a son of God. Son of God was there from the very 00:05:55.290 --> 00:06:00.250 beginning, and even before. The Father creating 00:06:00.250 --> 00:06:02.730 through His Word with the Spirit hovering over 00:06:02.730 --> 00:06:06.790 the waters, and then there is that strange line, 00:06:07.689 --> 00:06:14.829 let us make man in our image. Even the word God 00:06:14.829 --> 00:06:19.170 with Elohim is a plural form and saying, let 00:06:19.170 --> 00:06:24.170 us make him in our image. It's not fully explained. 00:06:24.410 --> 00:06:28.509 There's just these little hints. But these flashes 00:06:28.509 --> 00:06:32.870 end up making so much more sense when Christ 00:06:32.870 --> 00:06:36.149 is on the scene. Because Christ Jesus comes and 00:06:36.149 --> 00:06:39.189 suddenly all the hints become unmistakably clear. 00:06:39.689 --> 00:06:44.879 Baptized in the name... The name singular. Of 00:06:44.879 --> 00:06:47.259 the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. 00:06:47.819 --> 00:06:54.000 Not three gods. One God. One name. Father, Son, 00:06:54.160 --> 00:06:58.259 and Spirit. But the distinction matters. Because 00:06:58.259 --> 00:07:01.839 Christians are not talking about these three 00:07:01.839 --> 00:07:04.819 different gods on different mountains and in 00:07:04.819 --> 00:07:07.339 different stories that just happen to get along 00:07:07.339 --> 00:07:09.819 well enough to kind of get the earth created 00:07:09.819 --> 00:07:13.430 or something. competing as if each one's its 00:07:13.430 --> 00:07:17.269 own little power center, or three wills trying 00:07:17.269 --> 00:07:20.269 to negotiate, or three personalities with different 00:07:20.269 --> 00:07:26.449 directions. One God, one will, one purpose, one 00:07:26.449 --> 00:07:30.189 divinity. The Father creates through the Son 00:07:30.189 --> 00:07:34.589 in the Spirit. The Father saves through the Son 00:07:34.589 --> 00:07:37.769 by the Spirit. The Father brings us home through 00:07:37.769 --> 00:07:43.319 the Son in the Spirit. But why is it that all 00:07:43.319 --> 00:07:47.519 three persons matter so much? Why can't the church 00:07:47.519 --> 00:07:51.319 just say God is God and leave it at that? Why 00:07:51.319 --> 00:07:53.860 do we have to go into all this Father, Son, and 00:07:53.860 --> 00:07:57.360 Spirit stuff? Because when we lose the fullness 00:07:57.360 --> 00:08:02.339 of who God is, we start losing the fullness of 00:08:02.339 --> 00:08:08.060 what our Christian life is as well. Let me... 00:08:08.089 --> 00:08:11.050 Let me give an example. Let's use basketball 00:08:11.050 --> 00:08:13.810 for a moment. Do not think that this means that 00:08:13.810 --> 00:08:16.529 I am really well -versed in basketball. I know 00:08:16.529 --> 00:08:18.769 the ball goes through the hoop. There's a rectangle 00:08:18.769 --> 00:08:20.810 staying inside of it. If you go further back, 00:08:20.810 --> 00:08:23.269 you get more points, and don't throw elbows. 00:08:23.410 --> 00:08:26.089 That's what I got, okay? But it's a good metaphor, 00:08:26.110 --> 00:08:31.910 so we're going to use it. Imagine that God is 00:08:31.910 --> 00:08:35.769 just this distant ruler. Power and authority. 00:08:36.299 --> 00:08:39.159 the one who determines all the outcomes of the 00:08:39.159 --> 00:08:43.899 world. Now, God is sovereign over everything. 00:08:44.220 --> 00:08:46.879 Scripture is clear about that. But if that's 00:08:46.879 --> 00:08:51.299 all that we see, then life starts looking less 00:08:51.299 --> 00:08:55.279 like the game we are living and more like something 00:08:55.279 --> 00:08:59.909 rigged before it ever even began. Imagine that 00:08:59.909 --> 00:09:02.450 on that court you have one team with all the 00:09:02.450 --> 00:09:05.590 greatest players in the history of the game and 00:09:05.590 --> 00:09:08.789 the other team with a bunch of middle schoolers 00:09:08.789 --> 00:09:11.970 and Pastor Jason. And you're just kind of like, 00:09:12.009 --> 00:09:14.529 what's going on here? Never touched the ball 00:09:14.529 --> 00:09:17.149 before. The outcome's already decided at that 00:09:17.149 --> 00:09:20.990 point. There's no movement. There's no relationship. 00:09:21.509 --> 00:09:24.289 There's no participation. And frankly, there's 00:09:24.289 --> 00:09:28.529 no joy. Everything... just becomes, well, that 00:09:28.529 --> 00:09:31.710 was already decided. That's what's going to happen. 00:09:32.149 --> 00:09:35.250 This is how it ends. It's like space jam, but 00:09:35.250 --> 00:09:39.210 more divine. And sometimes people do imagine 00:09:39.210 --> 00:09:42.350 God that way. As though creation were simply 00:09:42.350 --> 00:09:46.629 this machine that he wound up and just walked 00:09:46.629 --> 00:09:50.090 away. But that's not how God reveals himself. 00:09:51.389 --> 00:09:54.870 Because then comes the Son, the eternal Word 00:09:54.870 --> 00:09:57.610 of God. through whom all things were made. And 00:09:57.610 --> 00:10:00.250 He comes and He enters creation, and He takes 00:10:00.250 --> 00:10:02.870 on flesh, and He steps onto the court with us. 00:10:03.070 --> 00:10:07.289 And now suddenly, we see something more. We see 00:10:07.289 --> 00:10:12.370 mercy, sacrifice, love, salvation. Like seeing 00:10:12.370 --> 00:10:14.850 the star player that changes everything I was 00:10:14.850 --> 00:10:19.070 born in 1980 and all Throughout childhood all 00:10:19.070 --> 00:10:21.830 the way up until I'm graduating high school Who 00:10:21.830 --> 00:10:25.509 was the guy that always dominated all of these 00:10:25.509 --> 00:10:29.269 scenes? Michael Jordan And he would step out 00:10:29.269 --> 00:10:31.230 on the floor in his prime, and that was so much 00:10:31.230 --> 00:10:34.210 of the story for so long. He could score from 00:10:34.210 --> 00:10:36.970 anywhere, take over games, do things nobody else 00:10:36.970 --> 00:10:40.250 could do. He would just float across the court, 00:10:41.350 --> 00:10:43.049 and tongue sticking out, that still weirds me 00:10:43.049 --> 00:10:45.450 out. But he'd just be floating over there, put 00:10:45.450 --> 00:10:49.169 the ball, and over time, it's like you keep thinking 00:10:49.169 --> 00:10:53.070 about these things and thinking, this is great. 00:10:53.490 --> 00:10:59.139 He can do so much. But was it really all about 00:10:59.139 --> 00:11:05.620 Jordan? Over time, especially in the championship 00:11:05.620 --> 00:11:11.120 years for the Chicago Bulls, something else became 00:11:11.120 --> 00:11:15.100 clear. That greatness was not only what he himself 00:11:15.100 --> 00:11:18.580 could do, but also in how the whole team around 00:11:18.580 --> 00:11:21.960 him was elevated. Because as you go through the 00:11:21.960 --> 00:11:26.000 years, Scottie Pippen, Steve Kerr, Dennis Rodman, 00:11:26.179 --> 00:11:28.740 weird hair and all. They were not just standing 00:11:28.740 --> 00:11:32.139 around waiting for Jordan to score. The whole 00:11:32.139 --> 00:11:36.820 team was transformed. Trust developed. Movement 00:11:36.820 --> 00:11:39.600 happened. The whole culture of the team changed. 00:11:39.779 --> 00:11:43.379 And that's why the later years is when the championships 00:11:43.379 --> 00:11:46.860 kept happening. Because the greatest players 00:11:46.860 --> 00:11:49.179 are not merely the ones who score the most points. 00:11:49.940 --> 00:11:52.200 They're the ones who elevate all of those around 00:11:52.200 --> 00:11:55.269 them. And it shows us something important. Yes, 00:11:55.409 --> 00:11:59.450 we know that Christianity is not just try harder, 00:11:59.629 --> 00:12:02.230 save yourself, figure it out, because Christ 00:12:02.230 --> 00:12:04.830 comes to the rescue and He wins the victory that 00:12:04.830 --> 00:12:09.090 we could never win ourselves. But even there, 00:12:09.850 --> 00:12:13.529 if that's all we see, then Christianity becomes 00:12:13.529 --> 00:12:17.850 very, very passive. And the players just go sit 00:12:17.850 --> 00:12:23.009 down and clap, and then go home. That's not the 00:12:23.009 --> 00:12:27.070 fullness of God. Because we see the Holy Spirit 00:12:27.070 --> 00:12:30.549 hovering over the waters, descending at Pentecost, 00:12:30.870 --> 00:12:33.110 moving through the disciples, creating faith 00:12:33.110 --> 00:12:36.350 and giving life to the church. See, the Spirit 00:12:36.350 --> 00:12:39.269 does not merely make us spectators to watch Jesus 00:12:39.269 --> 00:12:42.610 play the game. The Spirit transforms the whole 00:12:42.610 --> 00:12:47.940 team. Faith. gifts, uniting people who would 00:12:47.940 --> 00:12:51.080 otherwise remain strangers, conforming us to 00:12:51.080 --> 00:12:54.000 Christ, bringing us into the very life of God. 00:12:55.240 --> 00:12:59.000 The Spirit is not only at work inside the church, 00:12:59.159 --> 00:13:03.600 though. The Spirit is the giver of life. Because 00:13:03.600 --> 00:13:08.639 even now, the Spirit is sustaining all of creation 00:13:08.639 --> 00:13:14.639 itself to show patience, mercy, and grace to 00:13:14.639 --> 00:13:19.460 a broken world so that more may have time to 00:13:19.460 --> 00:13:23.679 know Him. The seasons happen, the rain falls, 00:13:23.820 --> 00:13:27.320 children are born, the gospel is preached. Why? 00:13:28.100 --> 00:13:33.480 Because God desires mercy. He is patient. And 00:13:33.480 --> 00:13:37.179 even now is calling sinners to repentance while 00:13:37.179 --> 00:13:40.220 creation is groaning for the day it will be restored. 00:13:42.960 --> 00:13:46.259 does not abandon the world. The Spirit of God 00:13:46.259 --> 00:13:49.340 prepares it for renewal. And now suddenly Christianity 00:13:49.340 --> 00:13:53.340 is not just a powerful God looking at history 00:13:53.340 --> 00:13:58.000 from far away, and it's not just saying a heroic 00:13:58.000 --> 00:14:00.480 Savior accomplished salvation while we watch 00:14:00.480 --> 00:14:04.840 from the sidelines. It is the living triune God 00:14:04.840 --> 00:14:09.690 of Creator, Redeemer, and Transformer. that is 00:14:09.690 --> 00:14:14.009 continuing to shape us and to move us each and 00:14:14.009 --> 00:14:18.470 every day. The Trinity is not just a way to explain 00:14:18.470 --> 00:14:21.850 God. The Trinity is the only reason that the 00:14:21.850 --> 00:14:26.289 church is even alive. And this is important to 00:14:26.289 --> 00:14:29.970 understand, is that when we confess the Trinity, 00:14:30.009 --> 00:14:34.370 we're not abandoning belief in one true God. 00:14:35.669 --> 00:14:39.980 We're defending it. We're not trying to say, 00:14:40.179 --> 00:14:43.340 yes, we believe in one God. Well, plus Jesus. 00:14:43.539 --> 00:14:45.860 Okay, so we've got one God plus Jesus. Well, 00:14:45.860 --> 00:14:48.360 and the Holy Spirit. Okay, so we've got one God 00:14:48.360 --> 00:14:52.899 plus Jesus plus the Spirit. We're saying the 00:14:52.899 --> 00:14:57.659 one true God revealed as Father, Son, and Spirit. 00:14:59.220 --> 00:15:03.159 Because throughout history, whenever people push 00:15:03.159 --> 00:15:06.629 back against the Trinity, They often imagine 00:15:06.629 --> 00:15:10.110 that they're trying to make it simpler, easier 00:15:10.110 --> 00:15:13.850 to get, protecting what's reasonable and make 00:15:13.850 --> 00:15:16.110 this whole understanding of God a lot cleaner. 00:15:17.490 --> 00:15:21.210 Just say, God is God, right? And just leave it 00:15:21.210 --> 00:15:25.250 at that. But many times what's actually happening 00:15:25.250 --> 00:15:30.429 is that people are fighting against the God that 00:15:30.429 --> 00:15:33.379 makes them uncomfortable. and they're fighting 00:15:33.379 --> 00:15:37.799 for the God that they would prefer. Sometimes 00:15:37.799 --> 00:15:42.059 people want the God who is far away and will 00:15:42.059 --> 00:15:46.419 just leave them alone. Sometimes people want 00:15:46.419 --> 00:15:50.019 a God that they can easily explain whenever difficult 00:15:50.019 --> 00:15:53.139 things happen. Sometimes they want a God who 00:15:53.139 --> 00:15:56.519 fits their expectations. Sometimes they just 00:15:56.519 --> 00:16:00.080 want to reduce it to some force that doesn't 00:16:00.080 --> 00:16:03.620 quite realize all the suffering we've gone through 00:16:03.620 --> 00:16:07.080 and was uninvolved in the rest of our history. 00:16:08.340 --> 00:16:12.700 But what we confess as Christians is both stranger 00:16:12.700 --> 00:16:19.220 and more beautiful. Because this God who creates 00:16:19.220 --> 00:16:22.539 enters into creation and then fills and renews 00:16:22.539 --> 00:16:28.059 it does not ignore our suffering. He walked it. 00:16:28.399 --> 00:16:33.600 He was on those roads with His people, weeping, 00:16:34.659 --> 00:16:41.340 bleeding, dying, and then rising again. See, 00:16:41.460 --> 00:16:45.019 this is not a God who's uninterested in us. This 00:16:45.019 --> 00:16:48.299 is a God who creates faith, draws us together, 00:16:49.220 --> 00:16:54.559 transforms us, and brings dead sinners to life. 00:16:57.629 --> 00:17:02.070 Oh, I know Christianity has this really complicated 00:17:02.070 --> 00:17:06.069 teaching, and the Trinity is weird, and I know, 00:17:06.210 --> 00:17:11.829 I don't mean to be complicated. No! We rejoice 00:17:11.829 --> 00:17:16.369 in the Trinity. We take joy in the Trinity. We 00:17:16.369 --> 00:17:19.190 are proud of the Trinity, because that is how 00:17:19.190 --> 00:17:25.059 God actually exists. That's participation. That's 00:17:25.059 --> 00:17:28.619 the glory of God. That's the mercy. That's the 00:17:28.619 --> 00:17:34.140 love. We didn't invent the Trinity. God as the 00:17:34.140 --> 00:17:38.759 Trinity made us. And that's maybe the deepest 00:17:38.759 --> 00:17:42.279 beauty of the Trinity. Because before there was 00:17:42.279 --> 00:17:45.119 ever a world, before there was any other things 00:17:45.119 --> 00:17:50.099 happening anywhere else, God was already love. 00:17:51.339 --> 00:17:55.079 He didn't need us. to start loving. He didn't 00:17:55.079 --> 00:18:00.160 need this creation to complete who He is. The 00:18:00.160 --> 00:18:05.799 Father, the Son, and the Spirit have always been 00:18:05.799 --> 00:18:09.720 in fellowship of love with one another. It didn't 00:18:09.720 --> 00:18:13.259 just start at Bethlehem. It didn't just start 00:18:13.259 --> 00:18:17.500 with sinners turning back. Love is eternal because 00:18:17.500 --> 00:18:23.039 of who God is. And that changes everything. Because 00:18:23.039 --> 00:18:27.160 salvation is not as if God is just reluctantly 00:18:27.160 --> 00:18:32.740 tolerating us. It is not as if somehow we're 00:18:32.740 --> 00:18:36.680 just hoping that one part of God is defending 00:18:36.680 --> 00:18:41.319 us from the other two. The Father sent the Son, 00:18:41.920 --> 00:18:44.099 for God so loved the world that He gave His only 00:18:44.099 --> 00:18:47.700 Son. And that Son willingly entered our flesh, 00:18:48.059 --> 00:18:52.009 carried the cross, and died and rose again. and 00:18:52.009 --> 00:18:55.569 then the Spirit descending upon Him, empowering 00:18:55.569 --> 00:18:58.430 the ministry, and then pouring out upon the church. 00:18:58.769 --> 00:19:03.109 The Spirit, the Son, the Father, each of them 00:19:03.109 --> 00:19:07.869 loves us because of who they are, not because 00:19:07.869 --> 00:19:11.849 of who we are. So when we look at the cross, 00:19:13.589 --> 00:19:20.029 this is God sending God to do the work of God 00:19:20.029 --> 00:19:25.930 in us. As the Father sins, the Son redeems, and 00:19:25.930 --> 00:19:30.750 the Spirit brings dead hearts to life. Death 00:19:30.750 --> 00:19:35.049 is overturned, and sin is defeated. This is not 00:19:35.049 --> 00:19:38.490 just to escape the world, but to be united with 00:19:38.490 --> 00:19:43.950 God. And that's why the Trinity matters so deeply. 00:19:44.119 --> 00:19:48.019 because at the center of it all is not some cold, 00:19:48.279 --> 00:19:52.259 isolated fate or somebody just coming and doing 00:19:52.259 --> 00:19:58.220 stuff and ignoring us. This is a God who reaches 00:19:58.220 --> 00:20:02.740 us each and every day with Word, water, bread, 00:20:03.359 --> 00:20:09.640 and wine. So, frankly, the metaphors fall apart. 00:20:10.680 --> 00:20:14.880 They all end up failing in some way. Shamrocks 00:20:14.880 --> 00:20:20.240 break apart, ice melts, and eggs divide when 00:20:20.240 --> 00:20:22.640 you scramble them, and s'mores just make your 00:20:22.640 --> 00:20:27.079 fingers sticky at the campfire. But no metaphor 00:20:27.079 --> 00:20:32.059 can ever fully contain the Living God. No illustration 00:20:32.059 --> 00:20:38.059 will ever be enough to hold Him. Because God, 00:20:38.559 --> 00:20:42.539 being beyond our understanding, That doesn't 00:20:42.539 --> 00:20:46.720 mean He hasn't made Himself known. Because we 00:20:46.720 --> 00:20:50.480 know the Father created us, the Son has redeemed 00:20:50.480 --> 00:20:54.859 us, and the Spirit calls us, enlightens us, and 00:20:54.859 --> 00:20:57.940 changes us each and every day. Not because we're 00:20:57.940 --> 00:21:00.500 so glad all three of them finally got on the 00:21:00.500 --> 00:21:03.460 same page, but because they have always been 00:21:03.460 --> 00:21:08.339 one God, always overflowing with grace, mercy, 00:21:08.859 --> 00:21:14.740 life, and love. So we affirm God, not just as 00:21:14.740 --> 00:21:17.680 a riddle, but as the Father, Son, and Spirit 00:21:17.680 --> 00:21:20.720 that he has always shown himself to be. And even 00:21:20.720 --> 00:21:23.960 if it's not a perfect metaphor, we could still 00:21:23.960 --> 00:21:27.380 probably go out for s'mores later. With that, 00:21:27.859 --> 00:21:28.539 thanks be to God.