WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.679 So, as Jeff said at the beginning of the service, this is Trinity Sunday. 00:00:06.200 --> 00:00:12.419 And one of the interesting things about Trinity Sunday is that it is the only church celebration, 00:00:12.900 --> 00:00:19.300 the only day that we celebrate or observe in the church that is specifically set aside 00:00:19.300 --> 00:00:22.140 to focus on a doctrine. 00:00:23.120 --> 00:00:28.240 Most of the other things that we, the events or the special days that we set aside, we 00:00:28.239 --> 00:00:32.539 focus on certain people or certain events in the life and ministry of Jesus. 00:00:32.820 --> 00:00:37.000 But today we focus on a doctrine, which raises the question, why? 00:00:37.060 --> 00:00:44.159 Why would you set apart a day to focus on this doctrine and not so many other doctrines, right? 00:00:44.219 --> 00:00:46.039 Why does this get special treatment? 00:00:46.859 --> 00:00:48.759 And there's a lot of ways we could answer that. 00:00:48.759 --> 00:00:54.379 But to put it simply, the Trinity is the doctrine behind all the other doctrines. 00:00:54.380 --> 00:01:01.840 The Trinity is the thing that makes Christianity not only unique, but uniquely able to offer 00:01:01.840 --> 00:01:07.600 the world something that no other religion or worldview or philosophy or tradition ever 00:01:07.600 --> 00:01:07.939 could. 00:01:08.079 --> 00:01:10.280 Nothing even comes close. 00:01:11.120 --> 00:01:16.540 The entire Christian faith, the entire Christian hope, all of the reasons that the gospel is 00:01:16.540 --> 00:01:20.560 good news for the world, it all hinges on the truth of the Trinity. 00:01:20.560 --> 00:01:27.219 And so we're going to look at this more closely, looking at Matthew's gospel, what we just heard 00:01:27.219 --> 00:01:32.600 read, and we're going to try to ask two questions of this text as we think about the Trinity together. 00:01:32.719 --> 00:01:36.599 First of all, what does it mean when we believe in a Trinitarian God? 00:01:36.659 --> 00:01:37.359 What does that mean? 00:01:37.420 --> 00:01:40.200 And then second, a few reasons why it matters so much. 00:01:40.680 --> 00:01:41.280 Let's pray. 00:01:41.280 --> 00:01:52.620 Lord, we thank you for your word, and we recognize that as we come to these questions about your 00:01:52.620 --> 00:01:57.819 nature, we stand on the precipice of a great and vast mystery. 00:01:58.780 --> 00:02:05.040 Lord, I think of St. Augustine after writing his book on the Trinity and the story of the 00:02:05.040 --> 00:02:11.700 little boy trying to fill, take all of the water of the ocean and pour it into a little 00:02:11.700 --> 00:02:12.159 hole. 00:02:13.740 --> 00:02:18.140 And Augustine realizing that's what he was trying to do in writing that book, trying to 00:02:18.140 --> 00:02:22.500 fit an ocean of mystery into one book. 00:02:23.040 --> 00:02:27.319 Lord, we know that we are trying to plumb the depths of something that is far beyond our 00:02:27.319 --> 00:02:31.740 ability to understand, but we pray that by your grace, you would bring us into a deeper 00:02:31.740 --> 00:02:36.120 understanding of who you are and why this matters, because we know, Lord, that you're 00:02:36.120 --> 00:02:39.040 a God who wants to make yourself known to your people. 00:02:39.939 --> 00:02:42.000 And we pray that you would do that through your word this morning. 00:02:42.320 --> 00:02:43.700 We pray this in your son's holy name. 00:02:44.020 --> 00:02:44.200 Amen. 00:02:45.900 --> 00:02:51.580 So first of all, what does it mean when we say we believe in a God who is a Trinity? 00:02:52.160 --> 00:02:57.020 You know, one of the challenges that you face, maybe you've had this conversation with 00:02:57.020 --> 00:03:03.040 people on your doorstep or in various other contexts, when people get confused about the 00:03:03.040 --> 00:03:05.480 Trinity and they say, well, why do Christians believe in the Trinity? 00:03:05.820 --> 00:03:09.600 One of the things that you'll often hear is that the word Trinity never shows up in the 00:03:09.600 --> 00:03:09.840 Bible. 00:03:10.700 --> 00:03:14.580 So here we are dedicating a whole day of the church calendar to a doctrine, and that word 00:03:14.580 --> 00:03:16.240 doesn't even show up in the Bible. 00:03:17.040 --> 00:03:19.680 So again, what is it really about? 00:03:20.600 --> 00:03:25.560 Now, the word Trinity started to be used by Christians in the centuries following Jesus and 00:03:25.560 --> 00:03:30.520 his resurrection, and they started to use this word as they tried to put language to 00:03:30.520 --> 00:03:32.620 what they had seen and heard. 00:03:33.000 --> 00:03:35.780 So let's ask, what had they seen and heard? 00:03:36.140 --> 00:03:41.319 Well, one of the most famous passages that we look at is this passage in Matthew 28. 00:03:41.719 --> 00:03:49.780 The disciples are meeting with Jesus on a mountain after his resurrection, and Jesus gives them 00:03:49.780 --> 00:03:54.900 the great commission, which is essentially the guiding purpose of the church in the world. 00:03:54.900 --> 00:03:56.980 He says, go and make disciples. 00:03:58.520 --> 00:04:02.900 Now, Jesus and his disciples were all Jews, okay? 00:04:03.120 --> 00:04:07.860 And what that means is that they were all monotheists. 00:04:08.300 --> 00:04:11.020 They all believe that God is one God. 00:04:11.540 --> 00:04:17.399 In fact, the most essential declaration of faith in the entire Jewish religion, and some 00:04:17.399 --> 00:04:23.220 of you may be Jewish or have come from Jewish backgrounds, the central declaration of faith in the 00:04:23.220 --> 00:04:27.960 entire Jewish religion, is the Shema, which comes from Deuteronomy 6.4. 00:04:28.220 --> 00:04:28.980 You may know it. 00:04:29.760 --> 00:04:35.500 Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one. 00:04:35.860 --> 00:04:36.140 Right? 00:04:36.220 --> 00:04:41.380 That makes you a faithful Jew if you say that and you believe it. 00:04:41.640 --> 00:04:46.080 The Lord is our God, the Lord is one. 00:04:46.079 --> 00:04:51.639 And this is one of the things that actually set the Israelites apart in the Old Testament. 00:04:51.839 --> 00:04:56.159 All of the other nations around them were polytheistic. 00:04:56.259 --> 00:04:58.000 They believed in multiple gods. 00:04:58.560 --> 00:05:02.500 The Israelites were unique in that they believed that there was only one true God. 00:05:03.079 --> 00:05:06.379 So Jews, by definition, believe in one God. 00:05:06.779 --> 00:05:09.620 And that would have been true for Jesus and the disciples, right? 00:05:09.620 --> 00:05:16.360 And yet, when Jesus gives this great commission, if you look closely at the language, he says, 00:05:16.939 --> 00:05:24.639 go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son 00:05:24.639 --> 00:05:26.459 and of the Holy Spirit. 00:05:26.720 --> 00:05:31.660 In the Bible, someone's name meant their nature, their being. 00:05:31.899 --> 00:05:35.439 When you talk about the name of God, you're talking about the nature of God, 00:05:35.560 --> 00:05:38.040 the being of God, the substance of God. 00:05:38.040 --> 00:05:45.840 And so Jesus is saying, baptize people into the identity and bring them under the authority 00:05:45.840 --> 00:05:48.060 and the personhood of God. 00:05:49.060 --> 00:05:51.620 But the phrasing is really interesting. 00:05:51.760 --> 00:05:57.100 He doesn't say, baptizing them into the names of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 00:05:57.420 --> 00:06:02.800 He says, baptizing them into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 00:06:02.800 --> 00:06:05.759 And so what he's doing is he's describing God, 00:06:05.759 --> 00:06:13.319 he's representing God as a divine being with only one nature, only one name, one essence, one identity. 00:06:14.319 --> 00:06:20.319 And yet Jesus refers to this one God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 00:06:21.599 --> 00:06:30.439 And when Jesus says, Son, he's clearly including himself alongside the Father and the Holy Spirit. 00:06:30.439 --> 00:06:33.000 And you say, well, how do we know that? 00:06:33.219 --> 00:06:40.300 Well, notice in this passage in verse 17, when the disciples first see Jesus, what do they do? 00:06:41.100 --> 00:06:43.759 They fall down and they worship him. 00:06:44.939 --> 00:06:52.680 Now, earlier in Matthew's gospel, in this same book, Jesus had said very clearly that we are to worship God alone and no one else. 00:06:53.540 --> 00:06:55.420 Worship God alone and no one else. 00:06:55.420 --> 00:07:01.180 In fact, in the book of Revelation, John falls down at one point when he sees an angel. 00:07:01.300 --> 00:07:02.680 He falls down to worship the angel. 00:07:02.939 --> 00:07:06.040 And the angel almost gets scared and says, no, no, no, get up, get up, get up. 00:07:06.620 --> 00:07:08.480 And the angel says, no, no, no, don't worship me. 00:07:08.720 --> 00:07:10.120 Only worship God, right? 00:07:10.319 --> 00:07:15.160 So the Bible says very clearly, Jesus says very clearly, only worship God. 00:07:15.720 --> 00:07:16.700 Don't worship anyone else. 00:07:16.819 --> 00:07:21.020 And yet, when the disciples fall down at his feet to worship him, he doesn't stop them. 00:07:21.019 --> 00:07:24.259 He allows them to worship him. 00:07:24.319 --> 00:07:24.539 Why? 00:07:24.719 --> 00:07:27.279 Because of his divinity. 00:07:27.939 --> 00:07:28.939 Worship God alone. 00:07:30.479 --> 00:07:30.719 Right? 00:07:30.799 --> 00:07:38.659 So even though it took years for the doctrine of the Trinity to be formalized and put to language and codified, 00:07:38.959 --> 00:07:43.719 we see glimpses of it going all the way back to the very first book of the Bible. 00:07:43.819 --> 00:07:48.019 And when you begin to look, you begin to see little glimmers of this all throughout Scripture, 00:07:48.019 --> 00:07:50.879 going all the way back to Genesis chapter 1. 00:07:51.639 --> 00:07:57.599 When God creates the world in the first few verses of the creation story in Genesis chapter 1, 00:07:58.979 --> 00:08:01.919 it talks about God creating the heavens and the earth. 00:08:02.079 --> 00:08:06.579 And then we see the Spirit of God hovering over the waters. 00:08:08.139 --> 00:08:13.519 And then we see that the Word of God is the means by which things come into existence. 00:08:13.519 --> 00:08:17.019 Now, that gets picked up in John's Gospel. 00:08:17.159 --> 00:08:18.139 We'll look at that in a little while. 00:08:19.519 --> 00:08:24.599 And then when God intends to create human beings, he says, 00:08:25.599 --> 00:08:29.799 let us make man in our image. 00:08:29.899 --> 00:08:34.199 And some people say, well, maybe this is referring to God talking to the angels. 00:08:34.919 --> 00:08:35.819 Let us make man. 00:08:35.820 --> 00:08:40.360 But if that were the case, then God would say, let us make man in my image. 00:08:41.379 --> 00:08:44.060 Because we know that human beings aren't made in the image of angels. 00:08:44.940 --> 00:08:46.120 So who's he talking about? 00:08:46.200 --> 00:08:48.560 Let us make man in our image. 00:08:48.700 --> 00:08:52.200 There's a fascinating place in Genesis chapter 18. 00:08:52.520 --> 00:08:56.100 There's this bizarre exchange between Abraham and God. 00:08:56.820 --> 00:08:59.500 It says that the Lord appeared to Abraham. 00:08:59.700 --> 00:09:01.440 The Lord appeared to Abraham. 00:09:01.440 --> 00:09:04.300 But Abraham looks and he sees three men. 00:09:05.740 --> 00:09:09.900 And then he runs out and he falls at the feet of these three men. 00:09:10.480 --> 00:09:15.360 And yet when he addresses this group of three men, he addresses them all as Lord. 00:09:16.680 --> 00:09:17.920 He doesn't say my Lords. 00:09:19.100 --> 00:09:20.060 He says Lord. 00:09:20.440 --> 00:09:23.840 And all throughout the exchange, there are three men. 00:09:23.920 --> 00:09:26.880 And they're all addressed by Abraham as Lord. 00:09:28.320 --> 00:09:28.760 Right? 00:09:28.900 --> 00:09:30.400 So now, are these proof texts? 00:09:30.399 --> 00:09:32.899 Can you point to this and say, this proves the Trinity? 00:09:33.220 --> 00:09:33.559 No. 00:09:33.819 --> 00:09:34.899 They're glimpses. 00:09:35.220 --> 00:09:36.100 They're glimmers. 00:09:37.079 --> 00:09:44.179 They're strong suggestions that the nature of God is far more complex and far more mysterious 00:09:44.179 --> 00:09:47.079 than people might have thought. 00:09:47.959 --> 00:09:55.179 They're suggestions that there is a deep mystery to God's nature that we can't fully understand 00:09:55.179 --> 00:09:56.600 or grasp. 00:09:56.600 --> 00:10:02.220 When we see Jesus come, we begin to see this much more clearly. 00:10:02.379 --> 00:10:07.379 At Jesus' baptism, we see all three members of the Trinity present. 00:10:07.980 --> 00:10:10.100 Jesus, the Son, is baptized. 00:10:10.680 --> 00:10:15.159 And then we see the Holy Spirit descending on Jesus. 00:10:15.639 --> 00:10:20.100 And then we hear the voice of the Father speaking over Jesus. 00:10:20.100 --> 00:10:23.840 This is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased. 00:10:25.879 --> 00:10:32.860 So, by the time we get to the writing down of the New Testament texts, the New Testament 00:10:32.860 --> 00:10:39.200 authors begin to acknowledge the persons of the Trinity much more directly, almost with 00:10:39.200 --> 00:10:44.120 the assumption that everybody already knows what they're talking about. 00:10:44.120 --> 00:10:52.519 The apostle John opens his gospel by saying that Jesus is the Word, and he structures his 00:10:52.519 --> 00:10:54.419 account much like the Genesis 1 account. 00:10:54.500 --> 00:10:56.080 That's what I was alluding to a little while ago. 00:10:56.279 --> 00:10:59.820 He opens his gospel by saying, in the beginning was the Word. 00:11:02.060 --> 00:11:09.700 And the Word he describes not only was the Word with God, but the Word is God. 00:11:09.700 --> 00:11:16.720 So, he's describing a being, a Word, and he's talking about Jesus, who is at the same time 00:11:16.720 --> 00:11:19.240 able to be with God and God. 00:11:20.780 --> 00:11:21.240 Right? 00:11:21.379 --> 00:11:23.060 Many and yet one. 00:11:24.480 --> 00:11:27.980 And he says that this Word is the one through whom all things were made. 00:11:29.460 --> 00:11:34.940 So, when people say, well, you know, some people believe that the Word, that Jesus was created 00:11:34.940 --> 00:11:38.740 by God, at some point Jesus was created like everything else. 00:11:38.740 --> 00:11:42.100 But if you look at the text, it says, all things were made through him. 00:11:42.180 --> 00:11:48.000 So, if you imagine two columns, okay, things that were made, all things over on this side, 00:11:48.519 --> 00:11:53.080 and then all, and there was nothing that was made that wasn't made through him. 00:11:53.180 --> 00:11:57.000 So, if all things were made, then he couldn't have possibly been made, because then he would 00:11:57.000 --> 00:11:57.980 be in this column, right? 00:11:59.039 --> 00:12:00.700 All things were made through him. 00:12:00.919 --> 00:12:02.000 He's always been. 00:12:02.919 --> 00:12:08.000 And then by the time the apostle Paul writes down 2 Corinthians, he closes with these words. 00:12:08.000 --> 00:12:12.460 He says, and we heard this read a moment ago, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the 00:12:12.460 --> 00:12:16.120 love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. 00:12:16.519 --> 00:12:21.500 He just seems to assume that his readers are thinking of God in this way. 00:12:23.340 --> 00:12:31.000 So, when we talk about the Trinity, we mean that we believe in a God who is one and three 00:12:31.000 --> 00:12:31.480 persons. 00:12:31.480 --> 00:12:35.159 He is one God who is three persons. 00:12:35.340 --> 00:12:36.720 We don't believe in three gods. 00:12:36.820 --> 00:12:37.700 That's polytheism. 00:12:38.800 --> 00:12:46.399 We don't believe in a God who is 30% or a third father, a third son, and a third Holy Spirit. 00:12:47.700 --> 00:12:51.740 We believe in one God who is three persons who are all fully God. 00:12:51.740 --> 00:12:57.659 Now, I don't know if there's a slide up here that I'd like to put up that is a helpful 00:12:57.659 --> 00:13:00.000 way of understanding this, if you guys have that in the deck. 00:13:02.240 --> 00:13:09.600 We have to be really careful trying to explain this, because there's a lot of bad analogies 00:13:09.600 --> 00:13:14.960 that can lead us astray, especially when trying to explain the Trinity to our kids. 00:13:15.440 --> 00:13:17.779 So, some people say, well, the Trinity is like an egg. 00:13:17.779 --> 00:13:20.519 The Trinity is like an egg. 00:13:20.639 --> 00:13:23.959 You know, there's a shell and the white and the yolk, one and yet three. 00:13:24.120 --> 00:13:24.720 No, no, no, no. 00:13:24.839 --> 00:13:25.980 Don't ever use that analogy. 00:13:26.500 --> 00:13:27.779 Strike that from your memory, children. 00:13:29.459 --> 00:13:30.319 That's not helpful. 00:13:30.439 --> 00:13:30.639 Why? 00:13:30.699 --> 00:13:31.439 What's wrong with it? 00:13:32.059 --> 00:13:39.519 Well, the egg, shell, white, and yolk are three different substances, and we believe in 00:13:39.519 --> 00:13:43.019 a God of three persons, all who share the same substance. 00:13:43.120 --> 00:13:43.799 So, it doesn't work. 00:13:44.539 --> 00:13:48.579 Other people will say, well, I love the image of water, because water can be a liquid or 00:13:48.579 --> 00:13:49.479 a gas or ice. 00:13:49.519 --> 00:13:50.199 That's like the Trinity. 00:13:50.559 --> 00:13:55.139 Or they'll say it's like a man who's at the same time a husband, a son, and a father, right? 00:13:55.620 --> 00:13:56.419 No, no, no, no, no. 00:13:56.620 --> 00:13:57.939 Don't use those analogies. 00:13:58.799 --> 00:14:04.019 Those are both forms of actually a heresy called modalism that says that God in different 00:14:04.019 --> 00:14:08.399 times and places reveals himself, manifests himself in different ways. 00:14:08.399 --> 00:14:10.379 That's not the doctrine of the Trinity. 00:14:10.379 --> 00:14:15.220 It's very hard to come up with an analogy that doesn't in some way lead us astray. 00:14:15.299 --> 00:14:17.860 That's why you don't hear many accurate analogies. 00:14:18.000 --> 00:14:24.899 One of the more accurate depictions is actually this image that you see behind me, which forces 00:14:24.899 --> 00:14:33.759 you to hold in tension the separateness and unity of the persons of the Trinity. 00:14:33.759 --> 00:14:38.319 God is three distinct persons who coexist eternally as one. 00:14:40.059 --> 00:14:42.039 Now, how is something like this possible? 00:14:42.120 --> 00:14:45.360 A lot of people hear this and they think, well, this just sounds, I mean, I can't even get 00:14:45.360 --> 00:14:46.500 my brain around it. 00:14:46.519 --> 00:14:51.539 And if you're hearing this and thinking, I just, I don't, I feel so confused right now. 00:14:51.600 --> 00:14:53.100 I think we're on the right track. 00:14:53.240 --> 00:14:54.399 I think we're making progress. 00:14:54.840 --> 00:15:00.019 The closer you get to the truth of the Trinity, the more elusive it feels in your brain, because 00:15:00.019 --> 00:15:02.679 it's impossible to get your brain around it. 00:15:03.720 --> 00:15:11.980 Imagine a creature or a being that lives in four dimensions or that lives in five dimensions. 00:15:13.319 --> 00:15:17.439 And imagine trying to comprehend a being like that, right? 00:15:17.480 --> 00:15:22.460 Imagine a creature that lives in two dimensions trying to comprehend you, right? 00:15:22.519 --> 00:15:23.799 How is such a thing possible? 00:15:23.799 --> 00:15:29.779 Dr. Nabeel Qureshi was a Muslim who used to be very opposed to Christianity when he was 00:15:29.779 --> 00:15:31.519 a follower of Islam. 00:15:31.639 --> 00:15:33.059 And the main reason was the Trinity. 00:15:33.259 --> 00:15:35.939 He just said, how, that doesn't make any sense to me. 00:15:35.979 --> 00:15:39.839 I can't possibly fathom how that kind of thing could be possible or why anybody would believe 00:15:39.839 --> 00:15:40.019 it. 00:15:40.399 --> 00:15:42.599 And then he talks about being in a science class. 00:15:42.979 --> 00:15:47.599 And in the science class, he begins to learn things about the natural world that we have 00:15:47.599 --> 00:15:51.679 observed to be true that begin to challenge his assumptions about what is possible. 00:15:51.679 --> 00:15:56.939 So, for instance, he learns that light can be both a wave and a particle. 00:15:57.059 --> 00:16:01.120 When we observe light, it behaves like a wave, but it also behaves like a particle. 00:16:01.339 --> 00:16:02.379 Now, how is that possible? 00:16:03.399 --> 00:16:03.719 Right? 00:16:03.759 --> 00:16:08.199 He begins to learn about things like quantum superposition, the fact that the same electron 00:16:08.199 --> 00:16:11.419 can be observed to be in two places at the same time. 00:16:12.000 --> 00:16:12.739 It could be over here. 00:16:13.120 --> 00:16:13.859 It could be over here. 00:16:14.500 --> 00:16:15.939 Now, how is such a thing possible? 00:16:16.019 --> 00:16:19.099 And it begins to challenge his assumptions about what is possible. 00:16:19.100 --> 00:16:25.259 He begins to think, well, if light can be like a wave and a particle, if an electron 00:16:25.259 --> 00:16:33.620 can be both here and here, maybe it makes sense that the God who created all of this, 00:16:34.240 --> 00:16:39.180 including phenomena like that, could be three and one. 00:16:39.179 --> 00:16:47.759 Maybe I'm observing things in the natural world that actually show me that this idea of the 00:16:47.759 --> 00:16:55.219 Trinity is not only unfathomably impossible, but in fact, this mystery is actually reflected 00:16:55.219 --> 00:16:58.459 in some of the aspects of the physical world that we can observe. 00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:03.339 Now, why am I belaboring this so much? 00:17:03.659 --> 00:17:03.819 Right? 00:17:03.820 --> 00:17:05.900 Why spend so much time talking about this? 00:17:06.420 --> 00:17:10.380 And the reason is simply this, and this is the late theologian J.I. 00:17:10.440 --> 00:17:15.860 Packer says, understanding the Trinity is central to the Christian faith. 00:17:18.539 --> 00:17:21.140 He's not saying you should take a class on the Trinity if you get a chance. 00:17:21.279 --> 00:17:23.460 He's saying it is central. 00:17:25.160 --> 00:17:28.120 Without the Trinity, there is no Christian faith, in other words. 00:17:28.119 --> 00:17:33.559 And that's why if you look at the creeds, the core affirmations of faith that define 00:17:33.559 --> 00:17:39.399 Christianity against other religions in the world, the creeds have a Trinitarian structure. 00:17:40.759 --> 00:17:41.159 Right? 00:17:41.199 --> 00:17:45.659 The creeds are all affirmations of things we believe about God the Father, God the Son, 00:17:45.939 --> 00:17:47.059 and God the Holy Spirit. 00:17:47.159 --> 00:17:52.039 So the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Athanasian Creed, which is specifically focused 00:17:52.039 --> 00:17:53.279 on the doctrine of the Trinity. 00:17:53.859 --> 00:17:57.019 They all focus on the Trinitarian nature of God. 00:17:57.019 --> 00:17:59.099 And so let me put it a little more pointedly. 00:17:59.480 --> 00:18:04.200 If you don't believe in a Trinitarian God, then with all due respect, you are in no meaningful 00:18:04.200 --> 00:18:04.920 sense a Christian. 00:18:07.559 --> 00:18:11.519 There's no way for you to be a Christian and say, I'm a Christian, but I don't really believe 00:18:11.519 --> 00:18:11.660 in that. 00:18:11.680 --> 00:18:13.059 I don't really buy the Trinity thing. 00:18:15.039 --> 00:18:19.920 And typically, we don't compare too much with other groups. 00:18:19.960 --> 00:18:25.740 But I think in a case like this, for purposes of disambiguation, it's really helpful to clarify 00:18:25.740 --> 00:18:26.779 what we mean. 00:18:26.779 --> 00:18:33.019 Because there are a lot of groups that people think of almost as denominations of Christianity 00:18:33.019 --> 00:18:36.359 that are, in fact, not Christian because of this reason. 00:18:36.819 --> 00:18:39.200 So, and again, all due respect. 00:18:39.299 --> 00:18:40.299 I say this with respect. 00:18:40.420 --> 00:18:41.440 No criticism meant here. 00:18:41.440 --> 00:18:50.160 But Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, the Oneness Pentecostal movement, Unitarians, right? 00:18:50.160 --> 00:18:53.820 These are groups where a lot of people sort of think of them as in the Christian camp. 00:18:54.680 --> 00:18:59.860 And in various cases, there are aspects of Christianity that are in some ways reflected 00:18:59.860 --> 00:19:00.580 in these traditions. 00:19:00.579 --> 00:19:06.039 Christians, but they're in no meaningful sense Christian because they all have either a denial 00:19:06.039 --> 00:19:10.619 of or some distorted version of the idea of the Trinity. 00:19:12.619 --> 00:19:14.299 It's very important to be clear about this. 00:19:14.379 --> 00:19:16.279 Now, what difference does this make? 00:19:17.559 --> 00:19:18.919 Why is it so important? 00:19:19.779 --> 00:19:24.859 Now, we could spend, we could do a whole series on this and never even begin to really scratch 00:19:24.859 --> 00:19:25.279 the surface. 00:19:25.279 --> 00:19:28.579 I'm going to give you three reasons for the sake of time. 00:19:29.539 --> 00:19:32.480 Three reasons why the Trinity is of central importance. 00:19:33.460 --> 00:19:34.559 Reason number one is this. 00:19:34.759 --> 00:19:38.039 The Trinity shows us what life is all about. 00:19:38.879 --> 00:19:40.779 It shows us what life is all about. 00:19:41.920 --> 00:19:46.660 Your beliefs about God and the nature of God or the nature of the universe or the nature of 00:19:46.660 --> 00:19:49.720 how things work really shape how you live your life. 00:19:50.720 --> 00:19:55.000 So, in the ancient world, for instance, people believed in gods who represented things like 00:19:55.000 --> 00:19:57.180 fertility and wealth and war. 00:19:58.299 --> 00:20:03.440 So, if you believe in a pantheon of gods that represent things like fertility and wealth 00:20:03.440 --> 00:20:09.240 and war, you're going to tend to believe that life is about things like sex and money and power. 00:20:10.619 --> 00:20:15.660 You're going to begin to believe that life is about building a great family or a great tribe 00:20:15.660 --> 00:20:21.279 and amassing lots of wealth and glory for yourself and those within your ranks. 00:20:21.279 --> 00:20:26.480 And life is about being able to dominate your enemies so that no one can touch you. 00:20:28.079 --> 00:20:34.680 Eastern religions believe in a God who is an impersonal God, meaning it's more like a force 00:20:34.680 --> 00:20:36.019 or an energy. 00:20:36.240 --> 00:20:40.399 There's no personal identity to the ultimate divine being. 00:20:40.400 --> 00:20:41.940 It's more like a force or energy. 00:20:42.120 --> 00:20:48.100 And so, those religions, not surprisingly, stress practices that help you detach, that help you 00:20:48.100 --> 00:20:50.080 in many ways depersonalize. 00:20:50.300 --> 00:20:57.120 The goal being to sort of detach from your attachments that define you specifically and to be able 00:20:57.120 --> 00:21:00.040 to merge with a kind of impersonal force, right? 00:21:00.180 --> 00:21:01.340 That's what life is about. 00:21:01.339 --> 00:21:09.619 But if you believe in a Trinitarian God, that means that you believe that ultimate reality, 00:21:09.740 --> 00:21:16.359 the thing that life is really ultimately about, is a God who is in his very nature a relationship. 00:21:17.639 --> 00:21:18.899 That's what you believe in. 00:21:19.980 --> 00:21:25.279 And in the first chapter of the Bible, it says that that God has created human beings in his image. 00:21:25.279 --> 00:21:33.279 And so, what this means is that life is not ultimately about sex or money or power or dominating your enemies. 00:21:33.460 --> 00:21:39.079 Life is not ultimately about depersonalizing and merging with an oversoul or an energy of sorts. 00:21:39.180 --> 00:21:41.460 That life is ultimately about relationships. 00:21:43.440 --> 00:21:46.819 Life is ultimately about relationship with God. 00:21:46.819 --> 00:21:56.819 It's ultimately about relationships with your friends, with your family, with your spouse, with your kids, with your neighbors. 00:21:57.879 --> 00:22:05.919 That life is really about loving and being in relationship with others. 00:22:07.439 --> 00:22:08.039 Right? 00:22:08.079 --> 00:22:12.339 Which is something that I think we need to hear, especially in D.C. 00:22:12.339 --> 00:22:15.859 because we're so tempted to think that life is about my career. 00:22:16.139 --> 00:22:23.459 Life is about the accomplishments that I've set out to hit before time runs out. 00:22:24.500 --> 00:22:24.799 Right? 00:22:24.879 --> 00:22:28.339 And again and again and again, people get to the end of their lives and they look back and they, 00:22:28.699 --> 00:22:33.699 and maybe there's some regret over they never climbed Everest or got that PhD or wrote that book. 00:22:34.240 --> 00:22:38.839 But the thing that most people regret is why didn't I spend more time with my friends? 00:22:39.319 --> 00:22:41.459 Why didn't I spend more time with my kids? 00:22:41.460 --> 00:22:42.940 And now they're gone. 00:22:43.799 --> 00:22:44.940 They live on the other side of the world. 00:22:47.299 --> 00:22:49.720 Life is ultimately about relationships. 00:22:49.940 --> 00:22:53.360 And you know, even though we all tend to forget this, I think that everybody, 00:22:53.660 --> 00:22:58.420 even if you're a stridently non-religious person, I think we all deep down know that. 00:22:59.799 --> 00:23:04.759 There's something in most people where we know the most important thing is relationships. 00:23:05.240 --> 00:23:05.680 Why? 00:23:05.680 --> 00:23:09.019 Because that is the grain of the universe. 00:23:09.019 --> 00:23:16.980 Because the eternal principle that sits behind all existence is a relationship. 00:23:18.299 --> 00:23:23.619 And so when you prioritize relationships, you're living in line with the grain of the universe. 00:23:23.619 --> 00:23:30.919 Number two reason why the Trinity matters, because the Trinity shows us what love really means, 00:23:31.379 --> 00:23:33.979 what true love really means. 00:23:34.959 --> 00:23:37.739 The Trinity means that God is not just loving. 00:23:37.740 --> 00:23:42.859 It's not just a character attribute. 00:23:43.220 --> 00:23:46.180 The Trinity means that God is love. 00:23:46.259 --> 00:23:49.279 The Apostle John writes that God is love. 00:23:49.359 --> 00:23:53.099 And only a Trinitarian God could be described in this way. 00:23:53.220 --> 00:23:57.900 Only a Trinitarian God who is an eternal relationship could be described as love. 00:23:57.900 --> 00:24:01.940 Because love requires an other, by definition. 00:24:03.460 --> 00:24:03.700 Right? 00:24:03.759 --> 00:24:10.140 And since God is love, that means that God is the source of all of the love that we see in the world. 00:24:10.240 --> 00:24:11.960 So all love everywhere in the world. 00:24:12.540 --> 00:24:12.740 Right? 00:24:12.780 --> 00:24:13.860 The love between lovers. 00:24:14.060 --> 00:24:15.400 The love of parent and child. 00:24:15.680 --> 00:24:17.540 The love between dear friends. 00:24:17.700 --> 00:24:19.400 The love we have for siblings. 00:24:19.400 --> 00:24:26.600 All of those forms of love are like tributaries flowing out from the source of love. 00:24:27.600 --> 00:24:28.860 Which is God himself. 00:24:29.040 --> 00:24:33.380 That's the wellspring of love and why it exists in the world. 00:24:33.519 --> 00:24:40.060 So all love everywhere is one way or another a sign of God's goodness and blessing in the world. 00:24:40.740 --> 00:24:43.140 But that doesn't mean that all love is the same. 00:24:43.300 --> 00:24:43.420 Right? 00:24:43.420 --> 00:24:47.000 At the source, at the headwaters, the water is very pure. 00:24:47.000 --> 00:24:54.039 But the further downstream you get from the source, the more pollutants and other kinds of things get mixed in. 00:24:54.140 --> 00:24:59.400 And so there are a lot of forms of love out there that have a lot of other things mixed in as well. 00:24:59.660 --> 00:25:06.799 The only way to really know if you're dealing with pure, true love is how closely does it resemble and reflect the love of the Trinity. 00:25:08.039 --> 00:25:14.019 See, what this means is that because God is the source of love, he's the one and the only one who gets to define love. 00:25:14.019 --> 00:25:17.720 So love is not merely subjective. 00:25:19.160 --> 00:25:24.279 True love is actually anchored in the objective reality of the Trinity. 00:25:24.500 --> 00:25:26.720 True love is a Trinitarian love. 00:25:27.759 --> 00:25:28.960 You say, well, what does that mean? 00:25:29.639 --> 00:25:31.839 Most people think of love primarily as a feeling. 00:25:31.940 --> 00:25:34.619 Do you mean that I need to feel the way they feel in the Trinity? 00:25:34.839 --> 00:25:35.359 No, no, no, no. 00:25:36.279 --> 00:25:38.099 There's a feeling component to it. 00:25:38.099 --> 00:25:41.879 But the Trinity actually gives us a very different way to think about love. 00:25:42.099 --> 00:25:44.059 You see this in John chapter 16 and 17. 00:25:45.319 --> 00:25:48.719 Jesus is talking about the Holy Spirit in John 16 and he says, 00:25:49.599 --> 00:25:54.599 He will glorify me for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 00:25:55.559 --> 00:25:59.759 And then in John chapter 17, Jesus is speaking to the Father and he says to the Father, 00:26:00.179 --> 00:26:03.699 Glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you. 00:26:03.700 --> 00:26:16.759 So this gives us in the very heart of God this image of three persons and yet each person is not focused on their own glory. 00:26:16.960 --> 00:26:20.900 Each person of the Trinity is focused on the glory of the other. 00:26:20.900 --> 00:26:34.519 And we begin to see this dance that exists within the Trinity, this self-giving, other-glorifying dance of love that has played out through all eternity. 00:26:35.900 --> 00:26:39.259 And this shows us what love really means. 00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:46.340 True love is a reflection of that self-giving, other-glorifying activity within the Trinity, 00:26:46.500 --> 00:26:49.900 where each member seeks not their own glory but the glory of the other. 00:26:49.900 --> 00:26:55.340 So true love means seeking what is best for the other at your own expense. 00:26:55.480 --> 00:26:58.800 It means pouring yourself out to build them up. 00:26:59.880 --> 00:27:01.740 So true love is not self-seeking. 00:27:01.960 --> 00:27:03.519 It's not self-promotional. 00:27:04.780 --> 00:27:06.680 True love, in other words, is servanthood. 00:27:08.140 --> 00:27:09.140 It is serving. 00:27:09.820 --> 00:27:10.740 It is giving. 00:27:11.019 --> 00:27:12.400 It is pouring yourself out. 00:27:12.400 --> 00:27:13.400 It is giving. 00:27:13.400 --> 00:27:14.400 It is giving. 00:27:14.400 --> 00:27:24.660 So if you have a very close friend and they say they love you and they're crazy about you and they've got your back and they support you and yet when you're really successful in your job, it threatens them. 00:27:25.700 --> 00:27:27.460 They feel threatened by it. 00:27:27.460 --> 00:27:34.500 And so maybe they say something to kind of take away from your sense of accomplishment. 00:27:35.860 --> 00:27:37.220 That's not true love. 00:27:39.620 --> 00:27:40.019 Right? 00:27:40.100 --> 00:27:46.140 If you have somebody who says they love you, they're crazy about you, but you notice they never put your interests ahead of their own. 00:27:46.960 --> 00:27:50.840 They always seem to kind of be making sure their interests come first. 00:27:50.839 --> 00:27:51.759 That's not love. 00:27:54.199 --> 00:28:02.740 The way to measure the authenticity of any expression of human love is the extent to which it reflects the self-giving, other-glorifying love of the Trinity. 00:28:03.480 --> 00:28:06.819 And that means that love is anchored in the truth of God. 00:28:08.000 --> 00:28:08.119 Right? 00:28:08.199 --> 00:28:12.539 Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13 in his treatise on love, love rejoices in the truth. 00:28:13.339 --> 00:28:15.779 So love is never at odds with the truth about who God is. 00:28:15.779 --> 00:28:18.899 We live in a culture where love and truth seem to be pitted against each other. 00:28:18.900 --> 00:28:21.820 And to love somebody often means setting all truth aside. 00:28:21.940 --> 00:28:22.380 No, no, no, no. 00:28:22.480 --> 00:28:25.280 True love rejoices in the truth because it's anchored in God. 00:28:26.000 --> 00:28:27.900 And it rejoices in the goodness of God. 00:28:29.620 --> 00:28:30.019 Right? 00:28:30.080 --> 00:28:31.740 That's how we understand what true love is. 00:28:33.000 --> 00:28:36.460 So those are the first two reasons the Trinity shows us what life is all about. 00:28:36.580 --> 00:28:38.160 It shows us what true love really means. 00:28:38.420 --> 00:28:42.300 The third and final reason that the Trinity matters, at least that we have time for this morning, is this. 00:28:42.580 --> 00:28:44.880 The Trinity empowers the mission of the church. 00:28:45.500 --> 00:28:47.220 It empowers the mission of the church. 00:28:47.220 --> 00:28:54.460 In Matthew 28, the great commission to go and make disciples to the nations can only be understood if we understand the Trinity. 00:28:55.799 --> 00:28:58.440 Why would God create anything to begin with? 00:29:00.059 --> 00:29:04.660 A lot of other religions say, well, the gods created all things because they needed worshipers. 00:29:04.819 --> 00:29:06.539 They wanted worshipers and servants. 00:29:06.660 --> 00:29:07.120 That's not why. 00:29:07.420 --> 00:29:11.720 God has had everything he's ever needed for all time because of the Trinity. 00:29:11.960 --> 00:29:16.039 He has all of the love and all of the glory and all of the adoration he could ever want. 00:29:16.039 --> 00:29:17.599 He doesn't need anything. 00:29:18.659 --> 00:29:22.180 Why would God create anything if he's perfect? 00:29:23.000 --> 00:29:26.000 And the answer is he did it because that's what love does. 00:29:27.879 --> 00:29:29.819 Because love gives. 00:29:30.299 --> 00:29:31.279 It expands. 00:29:31.940 --> 00:29:33.680 It pours itself out. 00:29:33.839 --> 00:29:41.240 God wants a world filled with people who are able to share in the love and the joy of the Trinity. 00:29:41.240 --> 00:29:52.120 We know from the first few chapters of the Bible and from real life experience that human beings ultimately have rejected God's love in favor of self-love. 00:29:53.240 --> 00:29:57.240 We want to put our interests above and over God's interests. 00:29:57.240 --> 00:30:05.240 But since God is a Trinitarian God, he was able to respond to that rebellion in a way that no other God ever could have. 00:30:06.859 --> 00:30:18.279 Other gods, one-god gods who aren't three persons, would only ever be able to say, I know you screwed up, but you really got to make it better. 00:30:18.620 --> 00:30:19.299 You really got to make it. 00:30:19.299 --> 00:30:20.480 It's on you to make it better. 00:30:20.480 --> 00:30:23.420 But they couldn't do that for you. 00:30:24.440 --> 00:30:26.319 But a Trinitarian God can. 00:30:26.940 --> 00:30:28.620 God was able to do what no other God could do. 00:30:28.700 --> 00:30:31.799 He was able to accomplish salvation for us. 00:30:33.799 --> 00:30:42.160 He was able to be both judge and the one who endured judgment at the same time because he is a Trinitarian God. 00:30:42.160 --> 00:30:58.380 He is able to be father who created all things and desires righteousness, son who lives the life we should have lived and then dies the death that we deserve to die, taking our sin on himself on the cross, bearing the punishment for our sin. 00:30:58.380 --> 00:31:12.720 And spirit who regenerates our hearts, makes us capable of responding in faith and crying out for mercy and then applying that mercy and then sealing us and securing us as adopted sons and daughters of God. 00:31:12.980 --> 00:31:19.100 And then working in us the work of sanctification to make us holy and then securing for us eternal life. 00:31:19.099 --> 00:31:28.759 Only a Trinitarian God could do all of that, which means for us in response to a Trinitarian God, our role is simply to say yes to God. 00:31:29.699 --> 00:31:30.959 We just say yes. 00:31:31.279 --> 00:31:34.099 Please do that in my life. 00:31:35.759 --> 00:31:43.119 And now, as Jesus says, the same Trinitarian God is sending us out to invite others into the joy and the love of the Trinity. 00:31:43.119 --> 00:31:49.639 We go, that's the reason we're going, to invite people into the love and the joy of the Trinity. 00:31:50.299 --> 00:32:04.679 We do this knowing that Jesus has been given all authority by his Father, and we do this knowing that through the Holy Spirit, Jesus will be with us always to the end of the age, empowering our ministry and doing things in and through us we could never do on our own. 00:32:05.739 --> 00:32:07.759 All of that because of the Trinitarian God. 00:32:08.799 --> 00:32:09.379 Let's pray. 00:32:09.379 --> 00:32:09.399 Let's pray. 00:32:13.119 --> 00:32:24.679 Lord, this great mystery is in some ways so familiar because we hear this kind of language a lot, and yet it is also unfathomably mysterious. 00:32:26.000 --> 00:32:31.819 And yet, as we said at the beginning, you're a God who desires to be known, that we would know your presence and know your love. 00:32:31.819 --> 00:32:47.019 And so I pray that even as we are gathered here, Lord, in all of our singing and all of our prayers and as we celebrate these sacraments of baptism and the Eucharist, Lord, that we would get a glimpse of this holy eternal dance of love. 00:32:47.019 --> 00:32:59.359 That we would feel ourselves swept up into this Trinitarian relationship, Lord, that we would feel embraced by you, enveloped by you. 00:32:59.759 --> 00:33:01.500 We pray this in your son's holy name. 00:33:01.700 --> 00:33:01.900 Amen. 00:33:01.900 --> 00:33:02.000 Amen. 00:33:02.000 --> 00:33:02.019 Amen. 00:33:02.019 --> 00:33:02.039 Amen. 00:33:02.039 --> 00:33:02.059 Amen. 00:33:02.059 --> 00:33:02.079 Amen. 00:33:02.079 --> 00:33:02.139 Amen. 00:33:02.139 --> 00:33:02.160 Amen. 00:33:02.160 --> 00:33:02.200 Amen. 00:33:02.200 --> 00:33:04.079 Amen. 00:33:04.079 --> 00:33:04.160 Amen.