Holy Trinity

Holy Trinity Sunday B

First Posted June 7, 2009

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 -- One Lord

Psalm 149 -- Spiritual Warfare

Romans 8:14-17 -- Led by the Spirit

John 3:1-17 -- New Birth

“The Lord our God is one Lord” (Deuteronomy 6:4). God is Spirit (John 4:24). Jesus is God in human flesh; God with us (Matthew 1:23b); the whole fullness of deity dwelling with us in Jesus Christ (Colossians 2:8-9). Jesus is both fully God and fully human. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, The Spirit of Jesus (Romans 8:9), and the Spirit of truth (John 14:16-17).

God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are not three Gods but one God, in three expressions; three progressive self-revelations of God to us. God revealed himself to us in his Word, the Bible, in Jesus Christ, who is the fulfillment, embodiment and demonstration of God’s Word lived out in human flesh (John 1:1-3:14), and personally revealed by the gift of his indwelling Holy Spirit. We first come to know God through the Bible, but we cannot really know and have personal fellowship with God except through Jesus Christ (John 14:6). We first come to know Jesus through the Gospel; the New Testament. As we trust and obey Jesus, he will anoint us with the gift of his Holy Spirit, through whom we have personal knowledge of and fellowship with Jesus and God the Father. Only Jesus “baptizes” with the Holy Spirit (John 3:3, 5-8), only his disciples who trust and obey Jesus (John 14:15-17, 21-23).

We cannot love God as Spirit because he is too unlike us; we cannot imagine what he is like, but we can learn that he is good and faithful from the record of his dealing with Israel in the Bible. Jesus is the demonstration of God’s nature, his love, power and faithfulness, in human form. We can only come to love God, through Jesus, when we realize what God has done for us. Unless we have learned to love Jesus through the Bible, we cannot recognize, accept and love the Holy Spirit. When we receive the indwelling Holy Spirit we experience and come to know with certainty his love and goodness.

Jesus is the picture of God’s nature and his love for us, dramatized for us on the Cross. When we realize God’s love and sacrifice for us, we will want to praise, thank, and try to please him by our obedient trust. Through the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit we are able to sing a new song of praise, and rejoice in the Lord. The two-edged sword of the Holy Spirit is the Word of God (Ephesians 6:17). The Lord opens our minds to understand the Scriptures (Luke 24:45). The Holy Spirit speaks through his “born-again (John 3:3, 5-9) disciples, he guides us into ministries according to his will, and he gives the gifts of abilities that we need to fulfill those ministries. (I personally testify to this truth.)

We are involved in a spiritual battle between the forces of evil and God’s people. The victory over evil has already been won at Jesus’ crucifixion (1 Corinthians 2:6-8). God’s people are called to join the battle, using God’s Word to overthrow the forces of evil, and to restrain the worldly rulers of this present age.

The Lord gives the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit to his disciples who trust and obey Jesus (John 14:15-17); to those who are willing to be led by his Holy Spirit (Isaiah 42:5e). The Holy Spirit is the seal and guarantee that we are in Christ (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 8:9b, 11, 15-16), God’s (adopted) children; that we are heirs of eternal life in God’s eternal kingdom in Paradise, and that we are brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ and share fully in his kingdom, provided that we share in Jesus’ ministry and the suffering he received for the Gospel.

Nicodemus was a Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin [Jewish religious Court of seventy priests, scribes (teachers of the law; i.e. scripture) and elders]. He realized that the deeds Jesus had been doing publicly had to be by God’s power and authority, but Nicodemus wasn’t ready to risk his own personal reputation and standing in Israel, so he came to Jesus secretly, at night.

Jesus explained spiritual rebirth to Nicodemus, using a metaphor and play on the Aramaic word which meant “wind,” and “spirit” (and “breath”) but Nicodemus questioned how this could be. Jesus asked in reply, how Nicodemus could presume to be a teacher of God’s people without understanding this spiritual reality and relying on Jesus’ word.

Does our membership in the (nominal) Church or our standing in society cause us to be reluctant to hear spiritual truth? Have our “Churches” allowed “unregenerate” (not “born-again”) people to be teachers and ministers? Have our “Churches” preached the Holy Spirit and spiritual rebirth (Acts 19:2)?

Today is Trinity Sunday, when the Church celebrates the triune God (One God in three persons, or “expressions”). The word “Trinity” is not found in the Bible, but the principle is throughout. One can know the triune God personally. The only way to God the Father is through God the Son, Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12; John 14:6; John 20:28), by God the Holy Spirit, by grace (unmerited favor; a free gift), through faith (obedient trust) in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9; Jesus is God’s only anointed Eternal King; “Christ” and “Messiah” both mean “anointed” in Greek and Hebrew, respectively).

Is Jesus your Lord? Are you Jesus’ disciple? Are you trusting and obeying Jesus? Have you received the indwelling Holy Spirit since you first truly believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?

Trinity - Monday B

First Posted June 8, 2009

Psalm 81:1-10 -- On the Feast of Tabernacles

This is a Psalm of praise and commemoration, on the observance of the Feast (of Tabernacles), of what God has done for his people. The Psalm commemorates God’s saving act, delivering God’s people from Pharaoh and bondage to sin and death in Egypt. God had descended upon Mt. Sinai, where he gave Moses his Commandments, established the religious festivals (Exodus 23:16) and had made the Covenant with his people. God had tested his people in the wilderness at Meribah (meaning “contention”). The people were thirsty and demanded that God provide them with water, and God had brought forth water from the rock.

From the very beginning of the Covenant with God, the people had violated it by turning to other “gods” (Exodus 32:1-6). The first of the Ten Commandments was that the people of God shall have no other “god” but the Lord. The forty years of wandering in the wilderness was caused by their unwillingness to trust and obey God, despite the great acts of deliverance they had experienced. During the forty years, they should have learned to rely on God to provide for their needs for water, food, and faithful guidance.

Beyond the history of God’s dealing with Israel, God’s deliverance and guidance of his people from Egypt, through the wilderness, and into the Promised Land is a parable and metaphor for each of us. Jesus Christ is the new “Moses” who frees his people from sin and bondage to Satan in the “Egypt” of this world. Jesus is the mediator of a New Covenant of salvation from condemnation and eternal death by grace (unmerited favor; a free gift) through faith (obedient trust; Ephesians 2:8-9). Jesus will lead us through the wilderness of this present world. He sustains us spiritually with “living water” (John 7:37-39; 1 Corinthians 10:4) and spiritual manna (John 6:35-51; Exodus 16:2-12).

This lifetime is our only opportunity to seek and come to a personal knowledge of and fellowship with God (Acts 17:26-27), and this is only possible through Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12; John 14:6), by the gift of the Holy Spirit, which only Jesus gives (John 1:31-34), only to his disciples who trust and obey Jesus (John 14:15-17). The Holy Spirit gives spiritual rebirth and eternal life (John 3:3, 5-8). The Holy Spirit is the seal and guarantee that one is in Christ and has eternal life (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 8:9b, 11, 15-16). The Holy Spirit is our “pillar of cloud and fire” (Exodus 13:21-22) to guide us through the wilderness. This lifetime is our opportunity to learn to trust and obey the Lord and to learn to rely on him to provide for our needs and our guidance.

Trinity - Tuesday B

First Posted June 9, 2009

Deuteronomy 5:12-15 -- Sabbath Rest

Rest on the Sabbath is the third of the Ten Commandments. It was designed to provide rest and moderation, for God’s people, and for the employees and servants and work animals (beasts of burden) under them.

God our Creator rested on the seventh day from the work of Creation (Genesis 2:1-3). God designed the Sabbath rest for Mankind’s benefit. Mankind, trying to “get ahead” in this world, thinks that they cannot take a day off; there always seems to be something that needs doing.

We need to spend time communing with God, recognizing that he is the giver of life and all the material things we possess. We need to take the time to rest physically, and to loosen our grip on material things and worldly success (Hebrews 4:1-11). Our first priority on Sunday should be worship God in church with his people, yet many church members seem to attend church only when there isn’t something else to do on Sunday.

If we would rest on the Sabbath we would discover that we can accomplish the same work in six days, because God will bless our work. If we’re so eager and successful in accumulating material things, they will only tie us down in this world and keep us from receiving eternal life in God’s kingdom (Matthew 19:24; 1 Timothy 6:9; Luke 12:16-21). The commandment against covetousness is the ninth commandment (Deuteronomy 5:21).

How many Americans have so much stuff that their garages are full of it, and they rent storage space to fill that? How many are out jogging on Sunday mornings, trying to take care of their physical bodies, and not giving any thought to their immortal souls?

Jesus taught that the Sabbath rest was for the good of God’s people (all people, whether they consider themselves God’s people or not). The Sabbath rest is not to be used to enslave people but to bless them. It is always ok to do what is good for others and ourselves on the Sabbath, which means resting on the Sabbath and allowing others to do so, unless there some emergency.

Trinity - Wednesday B

First Posted June 10, 2009

2 Corinthians 4:5-12 -- Earthen Vessels

This Corinthian congregation had been disturbed by “false apostles” who were dividing the congregation. Some were challenging Paul's (Saul of Tarsus') apostolic authority (1 Corinthians 1:10-17). Some leaders were building themselves up (by tearing Paul down); they were using the ministry of the Gospel to create their own personal empire.

Paul taught and demonstrated that the goal of the ministry of the Gospel is to exalt Jesus as Lord, with ourselves as his servants. The ministry of the Gospel is to make disciples of Jesus Christ; not disciples of ourselves or of some well-known preacher.

God created light to shine in the darkness as the first act of Creation (Genesis 1:3). God’s plan for this Creation was to make it possible for Jesus, the Light of the world (John 8:12; 9:5), the light of eternal life (John 1:4-5), to send the spiritual light of his Holy Spirit into our sin-darkened hearts, through whom we receive spiritual enlightenment (John 14:26; 16:12-13), so that we can realize and know the glory of God in Jesus’ face. Jesus is God in human flesh (Matthew 1:23; Colossians 2:8-9; John 20:28). It is by the grace (unmerited favor) of God and the work of the Holy Spirit that we can recognize God in the face of Christ.

“Born-again” (John 3:3-5-8) Christian disciples have spiritual treasure within our hearts, by the indwelling Holy Spirit, but we are still in earthly bodies, subject to all our human weaknesses. What makes earthen vessels valuable or not is what they contain. Paul wanted the Corinthians to know that the things he (and all disciples of Jesus Christ) did in the ministry were not by his own great intellect and ability, but by the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit within him and through him.

God allows his Apostles (messengers of the Gospel) to share in the suffering of Christ for the Gospel so that it can be clearly seen that we share in the glory of Jesus’ resurrection and victory over the world, sin, and physical death. The Holy Spirit is the evidence of Jesus’ life within us (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 8:9b, 11, 15-16). Christians are willing to endure suffering and persecution for the Gospel in order that others can receive the gift and assurance of eternal life. As Jesus died to give us life, we continue his ministry, dying to ourselves and our earthly lives, so that we can live for Jesus and so that others can receive life in him.

Trinity - Thursday B

First Posted June 11, 2009

Mark 2:23-28 -- Lord of the Sabbath

Jesus and his disciples were walking through a grainfield on the Sabbath, and Jesus’ disciples were snacking on ripe ears of grain. The Pharisees were the strict, legalistic leading sect of Judaism. They were in opposition to Jesus and looking for ways to attack him, so they criticized his disciples. They were using “religion” to achieve their worldly goals, instead of seeking to know and do God’s will. They suggested that Jesus’ disciples were breaking the Sabbath law by “harvesting” grain.

The Pharisees considered themselves experts in the Scriptures. Jesus pointed out to them that David had violated the Law of Moses by eating the bread of the presence in the Temple, which only priests were allowed to eat, and feeding his men with it when he was being pursued by King Saul.

Jesus’ point was that God’s Word, his Law, was given for his peoples’ good; not to oppress them. The Pharisees were using “religion” to create their own personal worldly “empire” where they were in charge, keeping other people oppressed under their power. They were in the position of shepherds of God’s people, obligated to care for, feed and protect the “flock,” but they were wicked shepherds who cared only for themselves, and instead, they “fed” on and “sheared” the “sheep” for the benefit of the shepherds (Ezekiel 34:2-31).

The disciples of Jesus had left their jobs, their means of subsistence, to follow Jesus. The Pharisees were not only not providing for the physical needs of the disciples; they were denying them what God intended for them. God’s Word required the landowner not to glean everything in their harvest, but to leave some produce in the field, so that the poor could gather it. (for example: Leviticus 19:10).

Jesus is the “good shepherd,” who cares for the “flock,” God’s people. In a sense, all of us are God’s people, whether we acknowledge God or not, because God is our Creator. Those who are in positions of leadership, both religious and secular, are accountable to God for the way they treat God’s people.

This should be a warning to America, the “New Promised Land,” and also to the (nominal) Church (particularly the American Church), the “New Israel,” the “New Jerusalem,” the New City of God on earth. In many instances today, the secular leaders of America, and the spiritual leaders of the (American) Church lead as though the secular and spiritual people of God are “sheep to be sheared” for the benefit of the “shepherds.”

Are we seeking to know and obey God’s will, or are we only interested in manipulating God to do our will? Do we care about the physical needs of the poor among us? Are the wealthy providing jobs for the poor and unemployed, or are they exporting jobs and exploiting the poor of the poorest nations of the world? Are the wealthy leaving something to be gleaned for the poor? Are the wealthy paying taxes in proportion to the advantages and benefits they’ve received in this land? Do we blame poverty on the poor?

Trinity - Friday B

First Posted June 12, 2009

Deuteronomy 6:10-13 -- Preparing for the Promised Land

The Lord gave his people the Ten Commandments, so that they could learn to live by them, to prepare them to live in the Promised Land. They had left the bondage of slavery and death in Egypt, and were passing through the wilderness, but God was going to bring them into the Promised Land, which would be lush paradise in comparison to Egypt and the wilderness.

The people of God were going to take possession of a land which had been built up and cultivated by others. God’s people would take over cities, houses, wells, vineyards an oliveyards which had been built and established by others. God was taking it from those who did not worship and obey God, and giving it to people who did. God warned his people that when they entered the Promised Land and had become established and prosperous, not to forget that it was God who had delivered them from slavery, who had brought them through the wilderness, had given them the Promised Land, and had prospered them in it.

The history of God’s dealing with Israel is also a metaphor and parable for us about life in this world and the world to come. It is a warning to America and the Church, which are the New Promised Land, the New Israel, in the secular and spiritual sense. America and the Church have been blessed with unprecedented prosperity, but now the temptation of human nature is to forget that it is God who has blessed and prospered us. We think we are blessed and prosperous because of our own effort and ability.

The First Commandment of God is to love and serve God alone; not to commit spiritual adultery by worshiping and serving other Gods. We are surrounded by people who worship the modern “gods” of wealth, power, fame, success, pleasure, home, family, and material things. These people are filling our Churches, and our Churches have, in many instances, adopted the cultural attitudes around them. Churches and Church leaders have pursued wealth, power, fame, success, comfort, and material things, like the society around them and within them. Both in the Nation and the Church we have forgotten that it is God who has given us these blessings, and have come to believe that we have earned and accomplished them by our own effort and ability.

God took the Promised Land from people who refused to acknowledge and obey him and gave it to people who would. When the Israelites had gained possession of the land they had a cyclic history of becoming prosperous, falling away from obedience to God, experiencing tribulation, crying out to God for help, and then returning to prosperity. They didn’t learn from their experiences, and were unprepared for the first coming of Jesus Christ.

At Jesus first advent, the Jews were again in bondage to the Roman Empire, representing the ruler of this present world, as they had been in Egypt, but they didn’t realize the extent of their bondage. They were blessed and prosperous to the extent that they were living in houses and cities built by their ancestors, and cultivating their ancestors’ fields, oliveyards and vineyards. They had turned religion into an institution to serve them instead of seeking to truly serve and worship God.

Jesus is the one who could free them from the spiritual bondage by Satan to sin and death and bring them through the spiritual wilderness of this world and into the Promised Land of God of God’s eternal kingdom, but they rejected Jesus, their rightful, anointed, eternal king, because they didn’t want to lose their “peace,” “freedom,” their material prosperity, and their “religious tradition.” They didn’t realize how much they were enslaved to “idols” and false “gods”

Because they rejected Jesus as their Messiah, they lost the “peace,” “freedom,” and material prosperity they thought they had and thought they had earned. The Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 A.D. and the Jews were scattered to the far corners of the earth. Judaism, “their” “religion,” effectively ceased to exist, and Israel ceased to exist until Jews began returning, following World War II.

America and the Church have experienced similar cyclic histories. The Pilgrims came to America seeking the freedom to worship God. They were dependent upon God’s providence as they carved out a living in the New World. When they started to be prosperous they began to fall away from God and into the idolatries of prosperity. When crises occur, the Nation and the Church return to God, but when prosperity returns, we tend to fall away and pursue false gods.*

We’re living in the last great phase of prosperity since World War II, and America and the Church (in America) are in the same situation now as Israel was following their exile in Babylon, until Jesus’ first coming.

Jesus has promised to come again, to judge the living and dead in both the physical and spiritual senses (John 5:28-29, Matthew 25:31-46, 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10). At the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, he will give possession of the eternal Promised Land to his disciples, and he will take the eternal Promised Land from those who refuse to trust and obey Jesus.

We will all face his judgment, whether we are still living physically or have died. We are all eternally dead, spiritually, until we are “born-again” (John 3:3, 5-8) by the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit, which only Jesus gives (John 1:31-34), only to his disciples who trust and obey Jesus (John 14:15-17). Are we learning and preparing to enter the Promised Land? Are we ready for Jesus’ Second Coming?

* The thesis of:

Marshall, Peter, J., Jr. and Manuel, David, "The Light and the Glory" (underline), Fleming H. Revell, Baker Books, P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, Mich. 41956-6287. ISBN 0-8007-5054-3 (paper).

Ibid " From Sea to Shining Sea, ISBN 0-8007-5308-9 (paper).

Trinity - Saturday B

First Posted June 13, 2009

Luke 16:19-31 -- The Rich Man and Lazarus

Jesus used parables, fictional stories of common everyday experiences, to teach spiritual truths. This fictional Lazarus was a poor man, a beggar, who sat at the rich man’s gate. He was hungry and sick, and would have been grateful to receive scraps left on the rich man’s plate. The rich man saw him every time the rich man went out or came in, but he ignored Lazarus. The rich man would not even restrain his dogs, who were adding to Lazarus’ misery by licking his sores.

Both men died, but Lazarus went to heaven, and the rich man went to hell. Lazarus received eternal comfort in the presence of Abraham, but the rich man received eternal misery and destruction. The rich man asked that Lazarus be allowed to give him a drop of water to cool the tongue of the rich man who was in agony in the fires of hell, but Abraham told him it was impossible; an impassable barrier separated them.

The rich man then asked that Lazarus be sent to warn the rich man’s five brothers, so that they would not wind up in the place of torment. Abraham replied that the brothers had the testimony of Moses and the prophets (the Old Testament scriptures), which was sufficient to warn them. But the rich man said that the brothers would not heed the Scriptures, but if someone returned from the dead they would listen to that person. Abraham replied that if the brothers didn’t heed the Scriptures, they wouldn’t heed even one who had been raised from the dead.

Jesus told this parable to the crowd who gathered around him, including Pharisees (Luke 16:14; the legalistic leaders of the dominant sect of Judaism from Jerusalem, and also “lovers of money”). The Lazarus character was fictional but the name was no coincidence; Jesus raised Lazarus, the brother of Martha and Mary at Bethany just a couple miles from Jerusalem, and the Jewish leaders, including the Pharisees knew it, and plotted to kill Jesus (partly) because of it (John 11:1-44; 12:1, 9-10).

Jesus is the New Abraham, who leads his people through the wilderness of this life, and into the Promised Land of heaven, where we will be eternally in his presence. Jesus is also the ultimate messenger who has returned from the grave to warn us. (Jesus’ resurrection was attested to by more than five hundred eyewitnesses (1 Corinthians 15:3-8), and also by every truly “born-again” Christian, beginning with the Apostle Paul).

Aren’t we, particularly America, as the New Promised Land on earth, and the (nominal) Church, the New Israel, like the rich man? We have the complete Bible, including the eyewitness accounts of Jesus and his resurrection, not just the Old Testament. Are we reading and heeding it? We have the testimony of every truly “born-again” Christian to his own spiritual resurrection from the dead. Are we listening? In many instances, aren’t we ignoring the poor and sick around us, while pursuing our own wealth and prosperity? What we do now in this life has eternal consequences. Now is the only time that we can help our poor and sick brothers and sisters. Now is the only time we have, to choose where we will spend eternity.