Several weeks ago I was rudely awakened very early on a Monday morning. My alarm wasn’t to blame. My kids weren’t to blame. My pets weren’t to blame. My stomach was to blame. It wanted to turn inside out and wasn’t going to take “no” for an answer. I believed that I had come down with a stomach bug. And it would run its course. No need to call a doctor. So I stayed home from work.
The next morning, I was rudely awakened. My stomach jumped and rolled like our puppy Dasher does when he greets me upon my return home at day’s end. I believed that I had come down with a stomach bug. It would run its course. No need to call a doctor. So I stayed home from work.
On Wednesday morning, I was rudely awakened. Now my stomach acted like the Beale Street Flippers, turning over again and again. But I still believed I had come down with a stomach bug. It would run its course. No need to call a doctor.
Well, I didn’t get better. My health continued to plunge like Allen Hewitt in a dunk tank. Finally, I broke down and called the doctor. “I believe I have a stomach bug” I told him. But at the appointment, I learned that I was wrong. I did not have a stomach bug. I had an infection. And that infection was never going to run its course. It was only going to run me ragged. Had I allowed that infection to continue to fester, who knows what would’ve happened to me! My belief had been wrong. And I paid dearly for it.
That story illustrates an important point: What we believe matters because it leads to certain behaviors. I believed I had a stomach bug. That belief led me to behave in certain ways. It led me not to call a doctor. It led me not to treat my symptoms. And if I had persisted in that belief, and those behaviors, I could have had serious health issues. When it comes to physical health what we believe matters, because it leads to certain behaviors.
And when it comes to spiritual health, what we believe matters. Now, that’s a controversial statement. We live in a time when important and influential people say, “It doesn’t matter what you believe. It only matters how you behave.” In his book Christless Christianity Michael Horton argues that today “creeds” have given way to “deeds.” In other words what counts today are deeds like serving the poor or drilling water wells. What no longer counts are creeds–believing specific things about God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit. In today’s world it no longer matters what a person believes as long as a person behaves.
But what we believe does matter, because our beliefs lead to certain behaviors. We do certain things because we believe certain things. And if we want to behave in the right ways, we have to believe the right things.
Christianity has long been a faith which prioritizes belief. Authors Ben Quash and Michael Ward are the editors of a book entitled Heresies and How to Avoid Them. They write this: “From its very beginnings, Christianity said that neither your race, nor your sex, nor your social class, nor your age could ever be a bar to full membership of Christ’s body, the church. Anyone can be a Christian: you didn’t have to be born in the right place at the right time to the right parents… What, though, was left to mark a Christian out from a non-Christian? The answer was this: your faith – what you believed in, as embodied in your practices and confessed with your lips.” Part of what makes a Christian a Christian is not just a set of common deeds that we all do, but a set of common creeds that we all believe. Those beliefs are ultimately what lead to our behaviors.
And for centuries the best Christian thinkers have taught us that there are six areas where what we believe matters the most. Here are those six truths:
- Theology, what we believe about God;
- Christology, what we believe about Christ;
- Pneumatology, what we believe about the Holy Spirit;
- Anthropology, what we believe about humans;
- Ecclesiology, what we believe about the church, and
- Eschatology, what we believe about the end times.
These may sound irrelevant to your life. They may sound like graduate school topics. You may be more concerned about believing and behaving correctly in areas like marriage, parenting, friendship or finances. But these six touch everything else in life.
Kendra and I have an above ground pool. It holds 17,000 gallons of crystal clear water. And every drop in that pool is eventually drawn to and pushed through a filter that’s only about three feet tall by one foot wide. No matter where a drop of water currently resides in the pool, it will eventually be drawn to and pushed through that filter.
Christians believe that these six areas are the filter for the pool which is our brain. Everything in our brain will eventually be drawn to and pushed through what we believe about these six things. Everything in our life will eventually be touched by one of these six.
That’s why, for six weeks, Eric, Frank and I will explore these six. We’ll look at just one important belief associated with each of the six.
Let’s start with theology. What is the truth about life when it comes to God?
One important answer begins to emerge from our memories. Let’s do a flashback. Press REWIND on your memory until it gets to the day you were baptized. Now I realize some of you have never taken that step. But for those who have, hit REWIND until you get to the day of your baptism. Are you there yet? If we could put that memory up on a screen what would we see? Would we see you standing in a baptistery? (Raise your hand) Shivering in a lake or a river? (Raise your hand) Waiting in a bathtub or a swimming pool? (Raise your hand)
Now, make sure you have the volume turned up. And for a second, just listen. What does the person doing your baptism say just before you go under that water? Can you hear it? That person probably said something like this: “Because of your confession of faith, I’m going to baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, for the remission of your sins and for the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Raise your hand if the person who baptized you said something like that.
That pronouncement comes from Jesus: 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matt. 28:18-20 ESV).
Jesus is talking here about disciples: “go and make disciples.” A disciple is not merely someone who attends church or takes communion or reads the Bible. A disciple is someone who lives like Jesus. And Jesus says if you’re going to be a disciple of Jesus, you must be baptized and must baptize others “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” What does that mean?
The phrase “in the name of” means to allegiance to (R. T. France, commentary on Matthew). It means to a commitment to (Warren Carter, Matthew and the Margins). The phrase carries the idea of giving ownership to (Ben Witherington III, commentary on Matthew). The phrase can mean “in worship of” Baptism in the Early Church, Everett Ferguson). Thus, to be baptized “in the name of” means we give our allegiance to God, we make a commitment to God, and we give ownership of ourselves to God—all as an act of worship to God. That’s how our discipleship begins. That’s how the discipleship of others begins. It begins in an act of commitment and worship.
And notice into whose name we are baptized: “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Jesus says that we are baptized into the name (singular) of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Jesus doesn’t say that we are baptized into the names (plural) of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Jesus is saying that Father, Son and Spirit are one and the same. They share one name. And when we are baptized, we pledge allegiance to, make a commitment to, grant ownership to, and worship one name.
Jesus is referring to something we call the Trinity. One of the most important characteristics of God is that God is a party of three. God is trinity. That characteristic of God is so important that it forms the basis of our baptism. In fact Christians in the second and third centuries practiced a triple immersion at baptism—they were baptized three times as a symbol of their commitment Father, Son and Spirit (Baptism in the Early Church, Everett Ferguson).
Jesus isn’t calling for that. But what’s remarkable about this is that as we begin our life as a disciple and are baptized, Jesus highlights one quality of God. And that one quality is this: God is Trinity.
A lot of students and parents have been listening to commencement speeches. NPR recently researched commencement speeches from the present all the way back to 1774. And they summarized the major themes in those speeches. The 12th most popular theme? Be Kind. The 6th most popular theme? Embrace failure. And the most popular theme? Change the world. [http://www.npr.org/2014/05/19/311861694/what-we-learned-from-the-best-commencement-speeches-ever] Most speakers have one thing they want students to know as they begin a new phase of life.
And as we begin the most important new phase of life—our life as a disciple—Jesus wants us to know one thing about God. God is Trinity. It seems that for Jesus, the single most important characteristic of God is that God is Trinity. God is Father. God is Son. And God is Holy Spirit.
There is no doubt that this is a very difficult concept to understand. The early Christians used this language to explain it: God is “one essence, three persons.” (Grenz, Theology KL 1119-1156). Father, Son and Spirit all share one essence. There is something the same about all three. But while there is one essence, they remain three persons.
In other words, we are not polytheists. We don’t believe in three separate Gods–the God who is Father, the other God who is Son, and the other God who is Spirit. We believe in one God. There is one essence, one God.
But each of the three is different. The Father, Son and Spirit are different from each other.
Often when people try to explain the Trinity they use an analogy. God is like water—liquid, solid, and gas. Or God is like an egg—a shell, white, and yolk. But no analogy truly captures the truth. God is one essence, and three persons. That’s about as good as it gets.
Now, why was this somewhat strange and somewhat difficult concept the one quality of God that Jesus would stir into the waters of our baptism? Why does Jesus point us to the fact that God is a party of three when we begin our journey of being a disciple? The significance of the Trinity can be stated in one word: love. The Bible says that “God is love” (1 John 4:8). And the Trinity is the most significant expression of that love. For all eternity, God has existed in a community of Three. And each of the Three–Father, Son and Spirit–exalts the others, gives to the others, and loves the others. The Trinity means that love is not just one attribute of God among other attributes. It is the attribute of God (Stanley Grenz (KL 1219)). For all eternity God has existed in a loving community of Father, Son and Spirit.
Michael Reeves notes that many people in our culture who have rejected God are reacting against a certain sort of God—what he calls “a loveless dictator in the sky.” Reeves writes: “In my own experience, when I ask atheist or agnostic students to describe the God they don’t believe in, I am usually treated to what sounds like a good description of Satan: a self-obsessed, merciless bully. And if God is not an ever-loving Father, eternally pouring out his Spirit of life and blessing on his Son, then their descriptions are probably pretty accurate. If God is not Father, Son, and Spirit, then he must be an eternally solitary being who has managed to get through eternity without love.” (Michael Reeves, “Three Is the Loveliest Number,” Christianity Today (December 2012))
In other words, if God is just One, and not Three, he would be a solitary being who, for eternity, never expressed or experienced love. The first time he experienced love was when he created us. But the truth about God is completely different. God has existed for all eternity as a loving community. He has spent eternity loving and being loved. Thus, love is not just some quality of God. Love is God. God is love.
The early church used a Greek term to describe the Trinity: Perichoresis. The word literally means to “dance or flow around.” It describes what these three joyful girls are doing. In unison, as one, they dancing around one another. In the same way, early Christians explained God is a party of three. A party of three who love one another, are filled with joy at each other, celebrate one another, and work and dance together.
Tim Keller writes this: “Each of the divine persons centers upon the others. None demands that the others revolve around him. Each voluntarily circles the other two, pouring love, delight, and adoration into them.” (The Reason for God). Father has eternally existed in a loving dance with Son and Spirit and created us so that we might join in the dance. The Trinity’s circle is not closed–it is open–open for us and for all to join (Stephen Seamands, Ministry in the Image of God).
Several years ago I was going through a very difficult season. One of our staff members—Allen Black, and one of our elders—Ron Wade, knew about this and determined to do something. They called me up and said, “Let’s go to lunch.” And at lunch they listened to me and spoke words of encouragement to me. The next week they called up and said, “Let’s go to lunch.” And at lunch they listened to me and spoke words of encouragement to me. And they kept this up for the better part of a year. They made me the focus of their healing love. I was the center of their attention.
Now imagine if, in addition to those lunchtime gatherings at which I received their love, imagine if I and Ron also met regularly with Allen, doing for him what Allen and Ron did for me. And imagine if I and Allen also met regularly with Ron, doing for him what Allen and Ron did for me. That’s a little glimpse of the Trinity.
Kevin Miller writes this: “To be a Christian is to be invited into the Community of Love we call the Trinity. In the Trinity, you never find one Person who’s grumpy. Never find a Person who is taking love but not giving it out. No one’s critical or cynical or jaded. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit live in absolute unity of love… The reason we can’t find many good analogies for the Trinity is that we constantly live in such broken relationships that it’s hard for us to imagine a Community in which there’s constant joy and creativity and each Person pouring himself out for the others. It sounds crazy, but I think it would be theologically accurate to say: ‘God is a party, and you’re invited.’” (Kevin Miller, in the sermon “Getting to Know Your God” (available on PreachingToday.com))
That’s the image of God Jesus put in his commencement address. That’s the one image Jesus stirs into the water as begin life as a disciple. The most significant truth about God is that God is Trinity, and Trinity means love. A circle of love into which all have been invited. And if you get that right, everything else falls into place. But if you get that wrong, it doesn’t matter what else you get right. Because the very foundation is cracked.
Here’s what that means for this week: The reality of the Trinity means that two questions stand above all others: Am I growing in my experience of God’s love? Am I growing in my expression of God’s love? The measuring stick, the standard, the “win” in faith is this: love. The overriding question is this: Am I growing in my experience of God’s love? No longer can we be satisfied with just reading the Bible in a year, just attending the latest Christian event or just raising moral kids. No longer can churches just measure budgets, baptisms and buildings. The key question is whether or not we are, more and more, experiencing God’s love.
Further, am I growing in my expression of God’s love to others? Are our churches growing in our expression of God’s love to others? Personally and congregationally, we must strive to keep the circle open. We must keep the invitation extended. We must do all we can to not circle our wagons or protect ourselves from “them”—whoever “them” happens to be. We must be known as those who express this unfathomable Trinitarian love to all and invite all into the dance.
How do we do these two things? Let me suggest this. First, we can grow in our experience of God’s love by completing this statement at the end of each day this week: “Today, I know that Father, Son and Spirit love me because _______.” Take just a few minutes at the end of each day this week and fill in that blank. Because…they granted me good food. Because…they gave me peace in the midst of a trying day. Because…they empowered me to do well on an assignment. This exercise forces us to pay more attention to the love of the Trinity. They are loving us actively every day. We just often miss it. This exercise will open your eyes to the ways in which you are, in fact, being loved by the Trinity.
Second, we can grow in our expression of God’s love by completing this statement at the beginning of every day this week: “Today, I will find one way to make ____ feel included/accepted/loved.” Most of us have people in our lives who often feel ignored, neglected, left out or lonely. The Trinity is all about God opening up his circle to include others. Thus, we can find ways to open our circle and include others. Each day this week look for an opportunity to make one person feel included, accepted or loved.
