[0:00] I submit to you that every chapter of the great story that the Bible tells, creation, fall, Israel, Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, outpouring of the Spirit, the present kingly reign of Christ, his coming again in glory, all comes down to this heart of the gospel.
[0:23] I submit to you that every dimension of salvation, justification, sanctification, adoption, new covenant, inbreaking of the kingdom, the new heavens, and the new earth, all come down to the heart of the gospel.
[0:38] Our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. And oh, how I want to understand what this means. I am 70 and a half years old, and I have never been as hungry and thirsty as I am right now to grasp what John wants us to know and experience.
[1:02] Now, if you know his letter, it's a powerfully transformative letter, you know that as the letter unfolds, John takes us further, deeper, or is it higher?
[1:16] John takes us beyond this preposition with, our fellowship is with, to the preposition in. Blessed preposition.
[1:28] Some of you have been in other contexts where I've taught. The two favorite words in the scripture for me are Jesus and in. Chapter 2, verses 24 to 25 of 1 John 2, 24 to 25, the beloved disciple writes, Let this abide in you, which you heard from the beginning.
[1:47] If you have heard from the beginning, if what you have heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father.
[1:59] In the Son and in the Father. Our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. Our fellowship is in the Father and in his Son, Jesus Christ.
[2:11] And how I truly want to understand what that means. And more importantly, truly live it. I'm so gripped by this heart of the gospel that I'm trying to read everything I can get my hands on in order to understand this.
[2:27] Right now, Sharon and I are moving into our new condo. I can't get my hands on any of the books. But, in the language of the Apostle Paul, Paul says in Philippians 2, 12, I press on in order to lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus laid hold of me.
[2:45] I want to seize that for which Christ Jesus seized me. I've never been so hungry and thirsty to understand what it is he seized me for. Our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son.
[3:00] Our fellowship is in the Father and in his Son. J.B. Phillips, anyone recognize that name? J.B. Phillips was one of the first paraphrasers of the New Testament.
[3:11] I think he's done the best job. No one surpassed him since 1958. And this is how he renders this part of John's letter. We are writing to you about something which has always existed, yet which we ourselves actually saw and heard.
[3:27] Something which we had the opportunity to observe closely and even hold in our hands. And yet, as we now know, was something of the very word of life himself. It was life which appeared before us.
[3:39] We saw it. We were eyewitnesses of it. And now we're writing to you about it. It was the very life of the ages, the life that has always existed with the Father, which actually became visible in the person of mortal humans.
[3:50] We repeat. We really saw and heard what we are writing to you about. And then this. We want you to be in this with us. In this fellowship with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
[4:03] We must write and tell you about it. Because the more that the fellowship extends, the greater joy it brings to us who are already in it. The heart of the gospel, as I'm defining it here, first got a hold of me in the middle of the last decade of the 20th century.
[4:20] Some 20 years ago now. I was on an airplane flying from Phoenix, Arizona to Los Angeles, California. And I brought along with me a book by the Scottish Presbyterian theologian Thomas Torrance.
[4:32] I do some of my best theological reading on an airplane. It was one of his shorter works called Trinitarian Perspective. I would later read through his more massive work called The Christian Doctrine of God.
[4:47] If I were to only pick three books to pass on to you, this would be one of them. The Christian Doctrine of God, Thomas Torrance. As the plane reached cruising altitude, I opened the book and began reading the introductory paragraph.
[5:04] The doctrine of the Trinity, writes Torrance, is the central dogma of Christian theology. And as such is the fundamental grammar of our knowledge of God.
[5:14] Isn't that a cute phrase? It's the fundamental grammar of our knowledge of God. Meaning that we cannot rightly know nor speak of the living God without saying somewhere along the way, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
[5:32] Why? Because, Torrance continues, the doctrine of the Trinity gives expression to the fact that God has opened himself to us. Wonderful news. God has opened himself to us in such a way that we may know him in the inner relations of his divine being.
[5:53] And have communion with him in his divine life as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. What? I asked. Have communion with him in his inner life as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?
[6:11] Mercy, such wonderful news. Through the reconciliation which God has worked out in Jesus Christ, Torrance continues, God has established an intimate two-way relationship between himself and us and us and himself.
[6:24] Make, listen to this now, making himself accessible to us and giving us entry into the fellowship of God's life. Giving us entry into the fellowship of God's life.
[6:43] What? I also asked on the plane. Entry into the fellowship of God's life. Mercy. I'm only two sentences into this book and already my mind is blown. My heart is fired up.
[6:54] And then I read this. This has turned out to be the single most important extra-biblical sentence I have yet to read. Listen.
[7:05] God draws near to us. Boy, that in itself would be wonderful enough, would it not? I mean, I could preach that the rest of my life. The living God draws near to us.
[7:19] So near to us. God draws near to us in such a way as to draw us near to himself. That too would be wonderful enough, wouldn't it?
[7:33] God draws near to us in such a way as to draw us near to himself. And then here's the whole sentence. God draws near to us to draw us near to himself within the circle of his knowing of himself.
[7:50] Say that again. Within the circle of his knowing of himself. I dropped the book on my lap. I was stunned.
[8:01] Tears began to flow. I had to look out the airplane to get my composure back. And I sat in that arrested state the rest of the flight. Later that night, before going to bed, I reread that sentence.
[8:15] God draws near to us in such a way as to draw us near to himself within the circle of his knowing of himself.
[8:26] I both wanted to dance and get down on my knees and weep. And you can tell I feel that way right now. Our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son.
[8:41] Our fellowship is in the Father and in his Son. It is what was in the beginning. The fellowship. The fellowship at the center of the universe.
[8:52] The communion. The communion at the center of the universe. It was what was in the beginning. It is what will be in the end. And it is what gives meaning in the middle. So John writes with great passion.
[9:06] We want you to be in this with us. In this fellowship with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. Seems to me this is the posture of worship leaders. Yes, this too, right?
[9:18] But this. We want you to be in this with us. God draws near to us in such a way as to draw us near to himself within the circle of his knowing of himself.
[9:32] And how I want to understand this. This heart of the gospel. I'm so hungry and thirsty. I feel like actually I need to go back to school again. I'm reading everything I can.
[9:44] And I would recommend two books to you. Contemporary books that would be very accessible. If you've not done any thinking along these lines. One is called by Michael Reeve. R-E-E-V-E.
[9:55] Michael Reeve. Delighting in the Trinity. Does anyone know that book at all? Inter-Varsity Press book. He's an inter-Varsity worker in the UK. So he's engaging with university students on a very popular level.
[10:07] He's got some funny lines. Delighting in the Trinity. If you can only get one book on the Trinity, that's it. And then another one by Peter Lighthart. L-E-I-T-H-A-R-T.
[10:20] Lighthart. Traces of the Trinity. Where he shows that the sign of... We see this all around us. I envy my scholar friends like at Regent College who can negotiate all of this.
[10:34] With ease they make their way through all of the sophisticated language. Words like whoosia, substantia, persona, imminent Trinity, social Trinity, relational Trinity, economic Trinity, movements, perichoresis, interpenetrating, co-adherence.
[10:47] And I feel like I'm in kindergarten next to my friends. Our fellowship is with and in the Father and with and in the Son.
[10:59] Now what does it mean? What does it mean 24-7? What does it mean in my relationship with my wife Sharon? What does it mean in my relationship with my daughter, Marissa, son-in-law, Anthony?
[11:11] What does it mean when I spend time with my grandchildren? I'm really having fun with that. What does it mean when we're sharing meals? What does it mean when we're watching news? What does it mean when I travel on the SkyTrain?
[11:22] What does it mean while I'm shopping at a grocery store? Least favorite thing to do. What does it mean when I listen to someone pour out their heart in a counseling center? What does it mean when I'm agonizing over the condition of world politics?
[11:35] What does it mean when someone's house is flooded? What does it mean when we talk about North Korea and ISIS? What does it mean when standing by the bedside of a loved one who's dying? What does it mean when I'm agonizing over the condition of God's life?
[11:49] Our communion is with and in the Father and with and in the Son. You realize, of course, that this heart of the Gospel is found all over Scripture in the great narrative of God's plan for us.
[12:05] Let me show you. It is there on the first page. On the first recorded divine soliloquy. Genesis 126. Let us.
[12:18] Us. Make man in our image, says the maker of heaven and earth. Us. Our. Plural pronouns. Us.
[12:29] Our. Our. The God who can speak of us and our. Makes us to know and share in his usness and ourness. It's there in the blessing that Aaron, the high priest, is given to speak over the people.
[12:44] This threefold invocation of the name of God, which as worship leaders you sometimes get to pronounce over people. Yahweh bless you and keep you. Yahweh make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you.
[12:58] Yahweh lift up his countenance upon you and grant you his peace. It's always threefold. It's there in the so-called triphigion. The never-ceasing song of heaven.
[13:10] Holy. Holy. Holy. Always three. Holy. Holy. Holy. It's there in the beginning of Jesus' public ministry when he's baptized in the Jordan River.
[13:22] The text says, As soon as Jesus came out of the water, heaven was open. He saw the spirit descending like a dove, lighting upon him. And a voice from heaven came and said, This is my son with whom I'm well pleased.
[13:35] Father, son, and spirit. It's there in Jesus' earthly ministry. Everything he says and does is about the father. I think you realize that.
[13:47] I only do what I see the father do. I only say what I hear the father say. I and the father are one. He who has seen me has seen the father. I will ask the father and he will give you another helper that he may be with you forever.
[13:59] That is the spirit of truth who abides with you and in you. And John 4.26, which has to be one of the most startling texts of scripture. John 14.23. Sorry.
[14:10] If anyone loves me, they will keep my word. And the father will love them. Hear this. And we will come to them.
[14:20] And we will make our home with them. Our. Who is this we? Who is this our? It's there in the baptism formula. Jesus commands us to go baptize everyone.
[14:32] Baptizing in the name of? Father, son, and the Holy Spirit. Immerse them in water. Yes, that's what that means. But more importantly, it means to immerse God into, immerse people into God as Trinity.
[14:46] Dunk and dress them in the Trinity. Overwhelm them and bless them in the life of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Two more examples. Peter speaks of us as the people of God.
[14:59] 1 Peter 1.2. Chosen according to the foreknowledge of God by the sanctifying work of the Spirit that you may obey Jesus Christ. Our identity grounded in the Trinity.
[15:12] Paul says God saved us. Titus 3.4-6. Not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to God's mercy by the washing and regeneration of the Spirit, whom he richly poured out us through Jesus Christ.
[15:24] Our salvation grounded in the Trinity. Paul speaks of the new wonder of life in Christ in Romans 8.9-11. You are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit dwells in you.
[15:39] If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the Spirit is alive because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus dwells in you, then he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
[15:54] Goodness gracious. Our whole life grounded in the Trinity. And on it goes, text after text, emphasizing that everything gets brought back to the Trinity.
[16:04] Probably one of the most daring prayers in all the Bible is Ephesians 3.14-16. Listen to this. I ask the Father that he would grant you according to his glory to be strengthened with power through the Spirit in the inner person, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, so that you might be filled up to the fullness of God.
[16:31] Fully alive in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And that's there in the great benediction. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the koinonia of the Holy Spirit be with you now forevermore.
[16:49] And then there's Jesus' high priestly prayer. John 17. Listen to this. Father, I want them to be with me where I am.
[17:01] And I want them to be one, even as you are in me, and I am in you, that they may be in us.
[17:14] Father, you are in me, I am in you, and I want them to be in us. And it's there when the Apostle Paul speaks to the philosophers on Mars Hill in Athens.
[17:28] Acts 7.28. For in him we live and move and have our very being. In God. In God we live and move and have our very being.
[17:42] Yes, we live and move and have our being because of God. Yes, we live and move and have our being through God. But the most essential thing Paul says is we live and move and have our being in God.
[17:56] Not just because of him. Not just through him. Not just with him. But in him. In God. In God. We live and move and have our being. In the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
[18:07] And oh, do I want to understand this. Now this heart of the gospel is throughout church history. I'm sure if there were a study on the worshiping life of the church, we would find it everywhere.
[18:20] In the hymnology. St. Augustine. The so-called Cappadocians. Thomas Aquinas. Martin Luther. John Calvin. John Wesley. Jonathan Edwards. Big time.
[18:31] Carl Barth. Watchman Nee. Francis Schaeffer. Henri Nouwen. N.T. Wright. And all of them, in one way or another, are celebrating the good news. That the living God is not a solitary God.
[18:42] The living God is not a lonely God. The living God is not a needy God. The living God is not a static God. The living God is not a non-personal essence. The living God is a fellowship.
[18:55] A communion. A relationship. A friendship. And the whole Christian tradition keeps going around this in one way or another. To bring us into life and God. And I want to understand this.
[19:07] And I want everybody I serve to understand this. And we want you to be in this. With us. In this fellowship with the Father and His Son.
[19:17] Now, as his letter unfolds, John expands on who this fellowship is. Who this communion is. Who this friendship is.
[19:28] And he uses three words. Light. Love. And life. I wrote my notes wrong.
[19:39] He is light, love, and life. Cool. I have three L's. Very easy to remember. John declares the good news that God is light. Lots and lots of light.
[19:51] In him there is no darkness. This fellowship is all light. No darkness. No shadows. Radiant and radiating.
[20:04] Illuminating and revealing. Pure and purifying. Oh, so wonderfully pure. To be alive in the fellowship of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit then is to be filled with light.
[20:21] Exposing all the dark places. Which is why sometimes fellowship with the Trinity can be a little painful. Enlightening the shadowed places of our soul.
[20:32] Cleansing and healing. And John declares the good news that God is love. And his word is agape. Deep, deep love. The fellowship is lover, beloved, and love itself.
[20:49] That's how St. Augustine put it. Lover, beloved, and love itself. Father is the lover. The Son is the beloved. And the Spirit is love itself. Servant love.
[21:01] Sacrificial love. Prodigal love. Self-giving, self-emptying love. Long before we come into the picture, all this love is going on. Extravagant love. And so, to be alive in the fellowship is to be growing in this extravagant love.
[21:17] Growing freer and freer and freer in the ability to give our lives away to other people. And John declares that God is life. And the word he uses there is zoe.
[21:28] Zoe. Zoe, unlike bios. We know about bios, right? Biomaly. Zoe is ceaseless life.
[21:39] Ceaselessly flowing life. Overflowing life. Effusive life. Inexhaustible life. Life without beginning and without end.
[21:50] Vitally. Vitality galore. And vitalizing everything in its orb. Massively created. Calling it to being what is not. Sun, moon, stars, elephants, tigers, penguins, and people.
[22:03] Turning water into wine. Multiplying loaves and fishes. Healing broken bodies and hearts. And raising the dead. Raising the dead. This kind of life raises the dead. And to be alive in that fellowship is to be alive in that kind of life.
[22:18] Eternally alive and eternal life. Our fellowship is with and in light. Our fellowship is with and in love. Our fellowship is with and in life.
[22:32] And oh how I want to experience the heart of this salvation. By the way this is what Jesus means by his yoke. Come to me all who are weary and who have overburdened yourselves.
[22:47] That's how it would be translated. And I will rest you. Take my yoke upon you. For years I lived with the fact that his yoke was the sermon on the mount. His new duty that he gives us.
[22:59] And then I realized no it's not. Because before come to me all who are weary. You have this section in Matthew's Gospel where Jesus is talking about his relationship with the Father.
[23:10] No one knows you Father but the Son. No one knows the Son but the Father. No one knows you Father but whoever the Son chooses to reveal to.
[23:22] Come to me. Take my yoke upon you. The point is Jesus is in worship of his Father. He's driving in his Father. He's rejoicing in his Father. He sees his disciples and says hey come.
[23:34] Join me in what I have. Now here's what I'm coming to understand. Okay now this is where it gets to be more of a personal testimony. 70 and a half years old.
[23:47] I know I don't look it. But here is what I'm coming to understand. You ready? It's taken me decades.
[23:58] Decades. Decades. To learn what I'm coming to understand. You ready? Are you ready? You ready? I do not understand this for it to be true.
[24:15] Amen. Big discovery for me. My understanding does not make it true. Duh.
[24:26] You knew that. I'm just slower. But it's a major revolution for me. You see John is not speaking metaphorically. Which is what I intended to think.
[24:40] If John is only speaking metaphorically. Then I can only experience this if I can grasp metaphor. John is not speaking metaphorically. He is speaking objectively.
[24:51] Or even stronger where he is speaking ontologically. It is objectively, ontologically the case. That when Jesus Christ took a hold on me.
[25:04] And when he took a hold on you. He began to draw me and you into his relationship with his father. And with the spirit. Sometimes I get it.
[25:15] But even if I do not get it. It has gotten me. Or better. Even if I do not get him. He has gotten me.
[25:28] Like many of you. I want to understand how the cosmos works. How electromagnetism and gravity. And the strong and weak forces work together. I want to understand the paracritic interaction of subatomic reality.
[25:43] You need to know I remember my undergraduate degree in physics. But my understanding does not make it true. It is true. Even if I never think about it.
[25:54] I want to understand how the brain works. I think my neurologist has the best job in the world. And I love to listen to her talk to me about the brain.
[26:05] I want to understand everything she knows about the brain. But even if I did. My understanding would not make it true. It is true even if I never think about it. I have come to understand.
[26:18] I have been living most of my Christian life. By a kind of salvation by thinking straight. A kind of salvation by intellectual prowess.
[26:30] I am as saved as I can understand and articulate. What a burden. Not so. He saves me in every way that a human being needs to be saved.
[26:46] Even if I do not understand. There is a leadership guru by the name of David Brooks. Who wrote a book Road to Character. And he says that one of the signs that a human being is maturing.
[27:00] Is epistemological humility. Meaning you don't understand it. The gospel is true. Even if I cannot put it together.
[27:12] Our fellowship is with and in the Father. And with and in the Son. Even if I cannot get my mind around it. Isn't that good? I am coming to understand something more.
[27:25] Ready? Ready? You know it is getting late in the morning. I am coming to understand. And then when that when I am no longer able.
[27:39] To understand the heart of the gospel. The heart of the gospel will still be true. Three years ago I had a stroke. A mild stroke but a stroke nevertheless.
[27:52] And I recovered pretty well. But. I do not have the intellectual capacity I once had. I cannot remember people's names.
[28:03] Like I used to. I cannot remember scripture. Like I used to. There was a time when all you would have to do. Is cite. A phrase. And I can tell you.
[28:14] Chapter inverse. I can't do that anymore. Maybe if I retired in this retirement. Better. You know. Maybe I'd do better. But I cannot keep pace.
[28:26] With intellectual rigor. That I once could. But I'm realizing. That does not change the heart of the gospel. The truth will be true. Even if I lose.
[28:41] More capacity to think. Sorry. See. There are a lot of us folks in worship service. In that category. So you worship. Young worship leaders. Need to be attentive to that.
[28:52] Who are losing their grasp. What is ontologically so. Before I try to understand it. Will be ontologically so. And I can no longer understand it.
[29:04] Amen. Amen. Former Canadian. Prime Minister. Brian Mahoney. Tells a story. Of having met Nancy Reagan. You know. Nancy Reagan.
[29:14] Who died a couple of years ago. She was married to Ronald Reagan. Former President of the United States. For 50 years. She so lovingly took care of Mr. Reagan.
[29:25] Went after he left office. And then developed severe dementia. And then crippling Alzheimer's. Mrs. Reagan tells him of an event. When she knew for sure.
[29:35] That her husband was losing his memory. She and Mr. Reagan were leaving a packed restaurant. In the Bel Air suburb of Los Angeles. As they were leaving. All the other diners stood to their feet.
[29:47] With an impromptu ovation. Ronald turned around. And asked Nancy. What is this about? Nancy said. Well Ronnie. This is for you.
[29:59] He asked why. She said. Because you were the president of the United States.
[30:11] He looked at her. And he says. Is that so? Not at all. Wow. He was once the most powerful. Human being.
[30:23] On the globe. And he no longer remembered it was so. But his loss of memory. Did not change the reality. It was so.
[30:35] Even though. He could no longer understand. Our fellowship. Is with. And in the father. And with. And in. His son. Jesus Christ.
[30:48] Is that so? Yes. Even if we cannot. Understand it. And even. If one day. We can no longer understand.
[31:00] Our fellowship. Is with the father. And with the son. Through the power of the Holy Spirit. That. I submit to you. Is what creation.
[31:11] Is finally all about. Participating in the very life. Of the divine creator. That is what. Being human. Is all about. That is what. Discipleship. Is finally all about.
[31:22] That is what. Being church. Is all about. That is what. Doing mission. And evangelism. Is all about. That's what. Christian camping ministry. Is finally all about. That's what. Christian higher education.
[31:32] Is all about. And I submit to you. It is finally. What worship. Is all about. We want you. To be in this. With us. In the communion.
[31:43] In the friendship. With and in. The father. And his son. I'll conclude. For now then. With the second. Most. Extra. Biblical sentence.
[31:53] I've read thus far. The first was. God draws near to us. In such a way. To draw us near to himself. Within the circle. Of his knowing. Of himself. The second one.
[32:04] Is from Dallas Willard. I'm sure you know. That may go. Dallas Willard. Who now. Enjoys the heart. Of the gospel. As never before. Because he passed away. A couple of years.
[32:14] He went to the other side. He wrote this. It's in his book. The divine conspiracy. And with this. I'll conclude. It is being. Included.
[32:25] In the eternal life. Of God. That heals. All wounds. And allows us. To stop. Demanding. Satisfaction. What really matters.
[32:37] Of a personal nature. Once it is clear. You. Have been included. You've been chosen. God chose.
[32:50] This is the message. Of the kingdom. You. Have been included. In the trinity. There. Somehow.
[33:03] That's what I want. People to leave. A worship service. Feeling. Resting in. Rejoicing. One way or another.
[33:15] Okay. Well that's what I. Thought I would share. With me. We have 20 minutes. To interact. Yes. So let's. Start with a question. I'll wait.
[33:28] To write that down. It is being. Included. In the eternal life. Of God. That heals. All wounds. And allows us.
[33:40] To stop. Demanding. The satisfaction. What really matters. Of a personal nature. Once it is clear.
[33:52] You. Are included. Say that. One more time. Yes. Okay. It is being. Included.
[34:03] In the eternal life. Of God. That heals. All wounds. And allows us. To stop. Demanding. Satisfaction. What really matters.
[34:15] Of a personal nature. Once it is clear. You. Are included. Wow. Correct.
[34:35] Now. I guess one of the things. Worship leaders need to be. Thinking about. Is then. Reading through the words. Of the songs.
[34:45] We put into people's. Mouths. Are we being. Faithful. Trinitarians. And that would mean. I would want to make sure. That over. A few weeks.
[34:57] Time. I've. Included enough. Songs. To the father. To the son. To the holy spirit. Every hymn doesn't have to be. Three persons. That would be really. Difficult. But.
[35:07] Have we. Have we addressed. The whole of God. So this would be. Over a period of time. I would want to. Read those hymns. Very. Carefully. To make sure that.
[35:18] The hymns are addressing. The appropriate person. Of the trinity. I remember one time. Someone included. This song. About. Father. Thank you. Thank you. For your resurrection.
[35:28] To this day. On Easter Sunday. Whoa. The father didn't resurrect. The son did. Those kinds of things. What are we saying. To the persons of the trinity. Making sure that.
[35:39] That is. Biblically the case. Yeah. And then. I want to encourage you. How do we. Really nurture this. Note of being included.
[35:49] A drawing in. I think. Our hymn. Our present hymnology. Is good about this. You know. Looking upward. Which we need to do. Looking outward.
[36:00] Looking inward. In an introspective way. I mean. I mean that positively. But have we. Are we including people. In the life of God. In the life of God. And this is a song. In the name of me.
[36:11] To do that. And enter it. I thought today. Did. Those were powerful. Images of breaking down the walls. Interesting. There's a woman.
[36:22] Named Margaret Clarkson. She's a Canadian. Hymn writer. Margaret Clarkson. You might want to Google her. She's got great text. I'm sure the music. Wouldn't cut it.
[36:32] In most. Our churches. Well some do. But she has a hymn. Called sing praise to the father. And to me. It's probably the. Cleanest.
[36:44] Trinitarian hymn. We have. I'll sing it for you. And you can just hear it. But you can Google it. Sing praise to the father. Margaret Clarkson. You'll hear the tunes. When I do it. Sing praise to the father.
[36:58] Creator and king. Whose mercy. Has taught us. A new song to sing. Who made us. And loved us. Though rebels and lost.
[37:09] And planned our redemption. At infinite cost. Bless the Lord. Bless the Lord. Blessed Lord. Oh my soul. For the grace that redeems.
[37:21] For the love that makes whole. Oh come. And adore him. His glories. Proclaim. And worship. Before him. The Lord is his name.
[37:32] Second person. Sing praise to the Savior. Your redeemer and friend. For grace past all telling. For love without end. Who stripped off his glory.
[37:44] Put on mortal sin. And died in our stead. Full atonement to win. Third person. Sing praise to the spirit. The gift of God's love.
[37:56] Who quickens our hearts. With new life from above. Who woos us. Subdues us. And seals us. His own. And faultless presents us.
[38:07] Before the white throne. Trinity. Sing praise to the Father. Sing praise to the Son. Sing praise to the Spirit. Great God.
[38:18] Three in one. The God of salvation. Of glory. Of grace. Who wrought our redemption. My soul sang his praise. Now you could ratchet that up in some fun way.
[38:33] So. Somebody else. You might notice. This is Shay Lenny. S-H-A-I-L-I-N-N-E.
[38:46] It's a rap one. It's three pages. It would take a while. Google ads. It's called Triune Praise.
[38:57] Shay Lenny. The dude has captured the Trinity. In a rap. Praise God the Father.
[39:07] The immortal creator. For your glory who made us. You're the sovereign orchestrator. All that you decree will most certainly come to happen. Your awesome as can be. And your glory none can fathom. Nothing could ever stain you.
[39:19] The heavens can't contain you. We thank you for sending your son to explain you. Otherwise we'd have remained in the dark. Which is sent your Holy Spirit. To spark a change in our hearts. Adoring to your eternal purpose.
[39:30] And according to your eternal purpose and will. You're determined to reveal yourself to those who deserve to be killed. Those of us who... Anyway, it goes on. Glory to God. Glory to God.
[39:41] Glory to God. Glory to God. Glory to God. Glory to God. Glory to the Father. Glory to the Son. Glory to the Spirit. Three and yet one. One in your essence.
[39:51] Three in your person. The same in your name. Distinct in your working. Oh my soul, behold the wonder of the Trinity. Blessed be the Trinity. Oh what a mystery. I'm standing amazed for the rest of my days.
[40:03] Pouring up my heart and trying to praise. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That dude's a good theologian.
[40:18] Okay. Other questions that you might have? Do you have any of them? Um. I don't know. I'm sure you have the other two extra biblical books. That's not okay.
[40:30] The other two extra biblical most important books. The one I gave you was Thomas Torrance. Yes. The Christian Doctrine. Why? Oh boy.
[40:40] The two other ones. Um. Um. Discipleship on it. It's. I'm sorry.
[40:52] I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Oh boy. Michael Reeves? Yeah. No? It's really good. But um. Once you read Michael Reeves, you'd want to go on to these others.
[41:05] Knowing God. J.I. Packer. Yeah. I'm sorry. Uh. J.I. Packer's 92 or three right now. He wrote Knowing God when he was 40. Never surpassed that.
[41:16] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. God anointed him to do that. Incredible. It's so clear. Um. You have to just live with the male pronoun for humans all the time. But you can.
[41:26] You can do that. Because the 19's. Like. Early 70's. When you do that. So. Knowing God. Boy. Now. The third one's getting harder. Let me think about for worship.
[41:37] Okay. For worship folks. I would say Dallas Willard. The divine conspiracy. It's thick going. He's a philosopher. University of Southern California. And if you've met philosophers.
[41:49] They. They will start into a sentence. And then they'll say a word and go. Oh. I need to qualify that. So you go down this way. Come back. Just remember. He's going to come back. Then he's going to go. Maybe one of the nano. The nano step forward.
[42:00] And I'm going to go down that way. And that way. If you just remember that. You're okay. I would love to. Just. Is it cliff notes? Do you use cliff notes anymore?
[42:11] Cheap notes for study. Reduce that to. A couple of paragraphs. Or pages. So yeah. Divine conspiracy. And then while I'm at it. E. Stanley Jones.
[42:26] Methodist missionary to India. Probably has the most personal influence on me. Though I've never met him. A little devotional called. In Christ. 365 pages. One for each day.
[42:37] So he's looked at all the in. All the places where the preposition in is used in the New Testament. And you get one every day for 365 days. And so he reflects on that.
[42:49] And then he has a prayer. And for a number of years I used that as personal. Personal devotion. That's more of a personal. And so I'm going to have to make a decision.
[43:07] Of which boxes don't get to stay now. So I'm going to really be reducing it down to essentials. So how would you explain to someone the difference between the inclusivism and what you talk about in universalism that all paths are not as common?
[43:23] Oh, great question. How would you explain to someone the difference between inclusivism is what you put it. Or universalism. Universalism versus this included.
[43:34] The difference in that. Oh, boy. Depends upon the person's background, of course. And how much philosophical prowess we have at that moment. I have taken the tact of avoiding those kinds of things if I can possibly do that.
[43:51] So if I got into the discussion, I want to reiterate with the person. I'm declaring to you the end product of the salvation work of God. This is God's desire that he include us in his inner life.
[44:03] You get included by responding to his invocation to be included. Something like that. You don't just walk in. So come unto me.
[44:17] Believe in me. All of those invitations on the part of the Lord Jesus that you have to respond to. Yes. So you just don't decide you're going to walk in without knowing the entryway.
[44:30] So it's Jesus who invites you in. So I would say this is the end of salvation. We get included in the life of God. The way in is through the one who says he is the way.
[44:44] Oh, do I need to believe in Jesus to get in that way? Well, yes. Because he's the one who's inviting you in. And trust him to the degree that you can.
[44:55] He'll pull you in. Give him an inch. He'll take a thousand kilometers. Take the whole deal. Along those ways.
[45:07] Then, of course, the question is, well, if a person's never meet Jesus, can they get in? And that would take another seminar. But, to let you know where I come out on that, is Jesus Christ is so good.
[45:20] He can sneak up under other names and reach out to people. And I believe people have responded to him without knowing his name.
[45:32] But it was Jesus. You must meet Jesus. He is the only way. He's the door in. I remember the story. I first learned when I was a young pastor. We had a missionary friend come from Africa.
[45:43] I forgot what it was. Mozambique. And they had these series of meetings, week-long meetings. And he noticed, he was preaching the gospel with gusto. And people were coming for altar calls. And he noticed this older gentleman in the back.
[45:54] He never came forward. After the fifth meeting, he says, you know, I've been giving you this invitation to meet Jesus every night. How come you didn't come forward? He says, oh, I met him decades ago.
[46:04] I just never knew his name. Still Jesus. Not some other savior. So, you know, that's an extra-biblical story, of course.
[46:15] But his love is so great that he can sneak up. He knows whether the person has responded to what he's done to reach them. But he's still the way in. Does that help a little bit?
[46:27] It's still complex. Yeah. That's a struggle in our hymnology in songs that we sing when we use the word all in a song. And my tact has been, let's just, let's use that word all in a way of sense of invitation.
[46:43] You all come. And we'll leave it to the Lord Jesus Christ to decide how it gets worked out. Yes, please.
[46:54] Can you impact your statement? Why do you do your best theological reading on airplanes? Well, I did a lot of traveling when we had children at home. Children at home doesn't make for super deep theological reading.
[47:10] And as a busy pastor, this may be a surprise to you, pastors have a hard time studying in their offices. Which is why the sign on decides to study, not office.
[47:22] But anyway, there's another story. So I had to look for time to do that. Airplane, totally alone. Now, I'm enough of an evangelist to say, Lord, I'm sitting here, if you need me to talk to this person, I'm available, I will, but it'd be cool to have this.
[47:47] Saved by the blood. And a lot of flights, you know, four hours, you can get a lot of reading. Yes?
[48:03] We have to talk. Fifteen packs. I just don't know what it was. I have a bit of a personal roadblock with me, things like an overemphasis on healing.
[48:16] Feeling? One more second. Is it this? Don't you miss any for the spirit? Is that the spirit of the spirit group?
[48:27] Or is it? Do I just have to get over it? It makes sense that some people would rather. Stressling with you feel.
[48:38] You observe. Most of the songs are, many of the songs are trying to move us to feel something. And you're struggling with that because you tend to be more of a thinker than a feeler.
[48:52] So you're asking, is that wrong? And you're asking, is something wrong with you? Am I in a right relation with God in looking at the need of the realm?
[49:02] Yeah. This would be where it would be good to do a Myers-Briggs grid. I-N-T-J. Oh, yes.
[49:14] Then feelings are going to be a challenge. And this is where, okay, this is where worship leaders do need to keep this in mind. If I had a grid up here, there are basically four different spiritual types.
[49:28] There are 16 or 32, but just for the sake of discussion. You've got Ignatians. You've got Franciscans. You've got Augustinians. You've got Thomistic. The Ignatian people are the I-N-T-J types.
[49:40] The thinkers. Well, no, no, no. That's not that. This is the S-J people. They quickly assess reality through the census and make a decision. And the Ignatian people can keep a discipline of Bible study and prayer and kneeling even if it doesn't work anymore.
[49:58] Bless the Ignatians. They keep the church together. The Franciscans are the S-P's. They are the ones who sense life and then they have to process it all the time. This is St. Francis. It doesn't matter until you do it.
[50:11] You have to do something. These are the folks who are afterwards complaining with people like me. What am I supposed to do? Love Jesus. What does that mean? You know? What we're here, here are the mystics.
[50:23] That would be the I-N-T-Js. The N-T people who intuit but then think it through. Okay? So this is the S-P's. And these folks love hymns because of the text.
[50:37] Sorry, the tone. The tune. But the text. These are the folks who are always going to ask about the words afterwards. That wasn't quite right.
[50:47] Don't be offended. They need to do this. They'll write prayers. It's beautiful. The written prayers are mostly by these folks. Then the Augustinian types, that's the N-F, they're the ones who assess reality through the intuition and then feel it through.
[51:06] Now, so you can't have one song that makes all four of these people do what they do. So worship leaders, we need to recognize this. By the way, the percentages are 12% Thomistic, 12% Augustinian, and then the rest.
[51:24] Most seminary profs are Thomistic. Most preachers are Augustinian. So you've got 24% of the population serving the rest of the population. They don't understand. But anyhow, so as worship leading, emphasizing this entering into the fellowship with the father and his son, the Thomistic folks are going to look for the exact wording of the verbs.
[51:48] Are the verbs addressed to the correct person of the Trinity? This Augustinian person is going to go, is this helping me see God? That's the operative word. Just to see and rejoice in God.
[52:01] This person wants to, you know, what do I do? I mean, how do I think this? How do I pray this? Give me the next words. They're glad to get the next word. And these folks, again, what am I supposed to do about it right now?
[52:13] Well, nothing. Just come to worship for now. But anyway. I do have a lecture. I don't know that it's accessible. Think of it, Oliver?
[52:24] It's not online. Oh, I can't recommend it. Prayer and temperament. Two Roman Catholics.
[52:37] After the Myers-Briggs became very popular, before many of you were born. These two Roman Catholics then looked at the prayer mode of the different types.
[52:48] And then I built what I just told you on that. It's probably still the best thing. Oh, there's a book? No. I won't say that. That one will help you. I'm glad that came up.
[53:00] Because in that way, for you as a worship leader, don't be offended if not everybody's moved. That's okay. Because they're processing this in a different way.
[53:12] They've entered into the Trinitarian life in a different way. And then those who are more inclined to the worst, don't be offended if somebody is getting to cry. Needs to leave the room to process it.
[53:25] It's okay. Last question. Well, you're bringing this up. I have a question. Is worship supposed to be more us-centered? Or is it supposed to be more God-centered?
[53:40] Answer. Is worship to be more us-centered or God-centered? God-centered. So the discussion we're having now, though, is how the different us-es enter into that God-centeredness.
[53:51] Yeah. So as a worship leader, my focus needs to be here. I need to be thinking the words, the tone, the manner. All of that is, is this helping people encounter God? More than encounter.
[54:03] This is helping people enter in. Go deep. Yeah. But. Yeah. So maybe what was bothering this gentleman, though, was that it's all about what I'm feeling, what I'm feeling, rather than about who God is and bringing us to him.
[54:22] I wondered. I just kind of heard that a little bit. Some personality types can get stuck in my feelings. So after the worship here, how was worship today? Oh, I didn't feel very good.
[54:33] Not the point. The point is, did I begin to look toward, move deeper toward, deeper into the living God?
[54:46] Yeah. Whether I felt it or not. Yeah. That's the opportunity. Okay. And that's not up to the worship leader. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's up to you and the Holy Spirit. Yeah.
[54:57] Yeah. Did you enter in? Did you cooperate? Did you? Almost like we all start worship on our knees. Here I am, Lord. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Holy Spirit can't do this. Will you come and help me?
[55:07] And we all stand up and do it four different ways. Yeah. Four different ways. We need to stop there. Shall I pray? Yeah. Yeah. This is what we've talked about today.
[55:23] Your God is just overwhelmingly too good to be true. Almost. You did not have to make us. You did not have to create anything.
[55:35] You were perfectly happy for all eternity. You had joy unspeakable full of glory before we were on the scene. You were experiencing love like none of us have ever experienced.
[55:52] And yet, out of all that joy and all that love, you decided you'd make some creatures who would enjoy that love with you. Dear God, thank you.
[56:05] I want to pray, Lord, please bring us all the way in. But I'm just going to thank you because that's what you said you're going to do. And I pray your blessing on each of these persons who seeks to be a faithful worshiper and a faithful servant of the gospel.
[56:27] This we pray in Jesus' name and for his greater fame. Amen. Amen.