Trinity Thoughts

Too often I have sat in churches where teachers have tried to illustrate the Biblical concept of the Trinity. The problem is that almost without exception, these illustrations are wrong. You name it I’ve heard it from the pulpit. The trinity is like an egg, like the properties of H2O, liquid, solid and gas. I’ve even heard a preacher explain the Trinity as a marble cake; I kid you not!

Trying to limit God to a tight definition is spiritually counterproductive. The essence of the pivotal incarnation of Jesus Christ is the revelation of God unfathomed love to humankind. This is what Paul shares within his latter to the Romans.  “But the basic reality of God is plain enough. Open your eyes and there it is! By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can’t see: eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of his divine being.” Romans 1:12

Dr. Nichols states, "There must be a difference between the knowledge that comes from the gathering of information, and that which comes by revelation. The Pharisees and Sadducees had the best information anyone could have in their day. If you asked them, they would tell you they were in touch with revelation as well.” Yet, when faced with the greater illustration of God’s love in the flesh, Jesus Christ, they failed to recognise him.

One preacher put it this way, “If we cannot see God in the commonalities that constitute daily life, we would not recognise Christ if he walked into the room and sat down beside us.”

Do you remember how Philip said t Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” Jesus replied, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don't know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father!” What other illustration do we need. 

Fred Beuchner puts it this way, ““It is not the objective proof of God’s existence that we want but the experience of God’s presence. That is the miracle we are really after, and that is also, I think, the miracle that we really get.”

O Lord, my God, teach my heart this day where and how to see you, where and how to find you. You have made me and remade me, and you have bestowed on me all the good things I possess, and still I do not know you. I have not yet done that for which I was made. Amen

Trinity Thoughts

N T Wright speaks of the Trinity this way, “The Trinity is not something that the clever theologian comes up with as a result of hours spent in the theological laboratory, after which he or she can return to announce that they’ve got God worked out now, the analysis is complete, and here is God neatly laid out on a slab.  The only time they laid God out on a slab he rose again three days afterwards.”

A lady of society was gazing upon an image she had never seen before in the city’s art museum. "My dear fellow," she said condescendingly to the Curator, "I have never seen this painting before. I find the image shallow and rather crude in appearance. What do you call this?" The curator answered without giving the slightest expression," That madam, is a mirror." The lady’s vision was not very focused.

Paul in writing to the Corinthians speaks of our limited knowledge of God, “In the same way, we can see and understand only a little about God now, as if we were peering at his reflection in a poor mirror; but someday we are going to see him in his completeness, face-to-face. Now all that I know is hazy and blurred, but then I will see everything clearly, just as clearly as God sees into my heart right now. 1 Corinthians 13:12

Paul in his letter describes our partial knowledge of God as seeing a reflection in a dim mirror. Some scholars suggest that he had in mind Corinth's famous bronze mirrors, known for their imperfect reflections. After the coming of Christ, when the church is fully mature as He is, however, we will see God face to face, knowing Him in person instead of through partial revelation. 

In fact, Paul adds, we will know God and His ways then as He knows us now. God, of course, is never limited in His knowledge. He knows everything there is to know about us, even what we do not see or understand about ourselves.

Our Heavenly Father, how great are Your wisdom and knowledge! We thank You for Your mercy and grace. Help us to grow in faith and rely on You, trusting Your promises. We wait for the day when we will see You clearly, Lord, face to face. Like the Sweet William flowers grow in the sun and flourish; let us grow in faith, follow Your Son Jesus, and flourish in Your love. Amen

Trinity Thoughts

Eugene Peterson, in his book “Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places” asserts,  “It is commonly said that the Trinity is a mystery. And it certainly is … . But it is not a mystery veiled in darkness in which we can only grope and guess. It is a mystery in which we are given to understand that we will never know all there is of God … . It is not a mystery that keeps us in the dark, but a mystery in which we are taken by the hand and gradually led into the light … .”

Love is at the heart of the Trinity, indeed, in 1 John 4: 7-10 “My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can’t know him if you don’t love.”

In Trinitarian terms, Love comes first. If we can remember this, if we can stop talking about God as an abstract force and instead find ourselves drawn through the Spirit into the joy of the Triune life—then we can surrender all our false assumptions about God and get to know the one revealed in the cross.

One day, C.H. Spurgeon was walking through the English countryside with a friend. As they strolled along, the evangelist noticed a barn with a weather vane on its roof. At the top of the vane were these words: GOD IS LOVE. Spurgeon remarked to his companion that he thought this was a rather inappropriate place for such a message. "Weather vanes are changeable," he said, "but God’s love is constant.”

"I don’t agree with you about those words, Charles," replied his friend. "You misunderstood the meaning. That sign is indicating a truth: Regardless of which way the wind blows, God is love.”

God beyond us, God for us, God within us.Thank you that you are a loving, gracious God. Thank you that you’ve offered us forgiveness and the gift of new life in you. Thank you that your love is perfect, it never fails, and that nothing can separate us from your love. Amen

Trinity Thoughts

Writing about the Trinity, Fred Beuchner, says, “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit mean  that the mystery beyond us, the mystery among us, and the mystery within us are all the same mystery.”

This abiding mystery that we spoke of yesterday can be experienced in the words of Jesus; “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[a] in you.” (John 14:16-17)

The fact that Jesus promises to send us ‘the Advocate’, ‘the Counsellor’. Could suggest some sort of legal figure but really Jesus is telling us that we will be accompanied by his friendly, life-giving, enabling and affirming Spirit. So far from assuming that such a divine mystery is far or distant from our everyday existence, the profound words of Alfred Lord Tennyson ring so true. “Closer is He than breathing and nearer than hands and feet.”

Someone once said: “Here’s the beautiful thing: you don’t need to fully understand the Trinity to worship the Trinity, pray to the Trinity, and enter into the life of the Trinity.”

Fred Beuchner continues his Trinitarian exploration by suggesting, “If the idea of God as both Three and One seems far-fetched and obfuscating, look in the mirror someday. 

There is (a) the interior life known only to yourself and those you choose to communicate it to (the Father). There is (b) the visible face which in some measure reflects that inner life (the Son). And there is (c) the invisible power you have in order to communicate that interior life in such a way that others do not merely know about it, but know it in the sense of its becoming part of who they are (the Holy Spirit). Yet what you are looking at in the mirror is clearly and indivisibly the one and only You. 

Loving God,

we are limited in our understanding of you,

but we know that you care for us and for all creation.

Thank you for loving us

and remaining with us in our sorrows and joys.

Thank you for the life of Jesus

whose life shows us the way to life and happiness and trust.

Thank you for your Spirit who leads us.

Warm our hearts and unite us,

that we might open our lives to you

to accept all your love and to respond to it

by entrusting ourselves to you

with all that you have made us and given us.

We ask this in the name of Jesus the Christ. Amen.

Trinity Thoughts

John Paul II of the Trinity said, “A great mystery, a mystery of love, an ineffable mystery, before which words must give way to the silence of wonder and worship. A divine mystery that challenges and involves us, because a share in the Trinitarian life was given to us through grace, through the redemptive Incarnation of the Word and the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

There is a danger for Christians to think of the Trinity as a post incarnation phenomenon, but this is to limit and undercut the eternal truth. Just look at at Luke’s introductory verses of his Gospel and God’s message to Mary.

Luke1:35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.” The futility of trying to fathom the mystery of God has puzzled the greatest of Christian thinkers.

 

One day, when St. Augustine was at his wits' end to understand and explain the Trinity, he went out for a walk. He kept turning over in his mind, "One God, but three Persons. Three Persons--not three Gods but one God. What does it mean? How can it be explained? How can my mind take it in?”

And so he was torturing his mind and beating his brains out, when he saw a little boy on the beach. He approached him to see what he was doing. The child had dug a small hole in the sand. With his hands he was carrying water from the ocean and was dumping it in the little hole. St. Augustine asked, "What are you doing, my child?”

The child replied, "I want to put all of the water of the ocean into this hole.”

St. Augustine asked, "But is it possible for all of the water of this great ocean to be contained in this little hole?”

And then it dawned on Augustine, "If the water of the ocean cannot be contained in this little hole, then how can the Infinite Trinitarian God be contained in your mind?”

Perhaps we should be more like Mary and accept the mystery of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Faithful God,

you chose Mary, full of grace,

to be the mother of our Sovereign and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Now fill us with your grace, that with her,

we may understand your ways,

rejoice in your salvation,

and embrace your will;

through Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever. Amen. 

Pentecost

Today Fred Buechner’s quote centres on the Spirit in terms of Fire. “Fire has no shape or substance. You can’t taste it or smell it or hear it. You can’t touch it except at great risk. You can’t weigh it or measure it or examine it with instruments. You can never grasp it in its fullness because it never stands still. Yet there is no mistaking its extraordinary power. God the Spirit is the fire that dances within us and consumes us and cannot be contained. It is fire that purifies, refines, and sanctifies.”  Frederick Buechner

When you stop and consider the work of the Holy Spirit—and that’s what Pentecost is all about—there are three direct dimensions:

First, the Holy Spirit does an INWARD work in us. He is the One who administers justification, regeneration, and the new birth in our lives. He is the One who cleanses us within, who comforts us, and bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.

Second, the Holy Spirit does an UPWARD work in us. Jesus says of the Holy Spirit, “He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you” (John 16:14). The Holy Spirit is ever pointing us heavenward, to glorify Jesus and the Father.

Third, the Holy Spirit does an OUTWARD work in us. The empowerment that took place on the day of Pentecost resulted in a powerful gospel witness and 3,000 people from a variety of background were radically saved!

It was William Booth who wrote the hymn.

O God of burning, cleansing flame, 

send the fire!

Your blood-bought gift today we claim: 

send the fire today! 

Look down and see this waiting host,

And send the promised Holy Ghost;

We need another Pentecost,

Send the fire today,

send the fire today!

God of Elijah, hear our cry: 

send the fire! 

And make us fit to live or die: 

send the fire today! 

To burn up every trace of sin,

To bring the light and glory in,

The revolution now begin!

Send the fire today,

send the fire today!

It’s fire we want, for fire we plead: 

send the fire! 

The fire will meet our every need: 

send the fire today! 

For strength to always do what’s right,

For grace to conquer in the fight,

For power to walk the world in white:

send the fire today,

send the fire today!

To make our weak heart strong and brave, 

send the fire! 

To live, a dying world to save: 

send the fire today!

O see us on Your altar lay,

We give our lives to You today,

So crown the offering now, we pray:

send the fire today, send the fire today,

send the fire today! Amen

Pentecost

Today we have a quote within a quote, “Too many churches have become mausoleums for the dead rather than coliseums of praise for a living God. They have lost the spirit of Pentecost! They have lost their enthusiasm. They have lost their joy for Jesus and find themselves suffering from what William Willimon calls “Institutional and spiritual Dry Rot.” If the Church is to survive the next millennium it must recapture some of the praise and enthusiasm it had two millennia ago.” - Carlyle Fielding

In Revelations we have the Spirit giving messages to the seven Churches of Asia. J B Philips paraphrases a key text in this way, “Let every listener hear what the Spirit says to the Churches: ‘To the victorious I will give the right to eat from the tree of life which grows in the paradise of God.’ Revelation 2:7

It’s almost as if the Scripture’s revelation has come full circle that we will be allowed to eat from the tree of life.

We have approached the subject listening in our daily devotions before, but so often in our day to day discipleship we soon forget or ignore this spiritual skill.

When I think of the way God allows His servants to suffer, I can’t help but remember the classic story of poor Jack, who was out jogging. As he passed a cliff, he got a little too close to the edge, and suddenly found himself falling. On the way down, he managed to grab a branch, nearly yanking it out of the cliff. When he caught his breath, he realised what a terrible jam he was in. He couldn’t get up, and letting go certainly seemed to be a poor option. He began to scream, “Hello up there! Can anyone hear me?”

In a moment, a voice returned.

“Jack, Can you hear me?”

“Yes, Yes, I can hear you I’m down here.”

“I can see you, Jack, are you alright?”

“Yes, but, who are you, and where are you?”

“I am the Lord Jack, I am everywhere.”

“The Lord? You mean God?”

“That’s me.”

“God, help me, I promise that if you get me down from here, I’ll stop sinning. I’ll be a really good person and serve you for the rest of my life.”

“Easy on the promises, Jack. First let’s get you down, then we can discuss those.”

“I’ll do anything, Lord, just tell me what to do, okay?”

“Okay, let go of the branch.”

“What?”

“I said, let go of the branch. Just trust me, let go.”

There was a long pause, as Jack thought of the offer.

In a moment, however, Jack let out a loud yell. “Hello, Hello – is there anybody else up there?!”

Soren Kierkegaard wrote: ‘A man prayed, and at first he thought prayer was talking. But then he became more and more quiet until in the end he realised that prayer is listening.’ – Interesting that the same letters that make the word ‘silent’ also make the word ‘listen’.

Heavenly Father, thank You for the spiritual instructions I have in Your Word and the warnings that help to keep me looking to Jesus. I pray that my devotion for You will not grow cold, but that in all things I will become more and more thrilled with the wonders of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Saviour. May my love for You start to reflect, in some small way, the love that You have shown to me. And thank You for the many privileges that are mine in Christ, in Whose name I pray, AMEN.