#008: Trinity: Participating in the Life of God
Open in browser Isaiah 6:1-7; Psalm 29; John 16:12-15 The branch maintains fruitfulness when it remains in a relationship with the vine because the vine is already in a relationship with it. Jesus is the true vine, his Father is the gardener, and you and I are the branches. Simply put, salvation consists of the participation of the saved (you and I) in the life of the Saviour (Trinitarian God). If Jesus is the truth, then—based on his humanity and divinity—truth cannot just be something we know. It’s not a set of facts hidden away in some booklet. Truth is a person. This then begs the question: What does it mean to be guided in all truth (vs 13)? It surely cannot simply mean outlining a few points here and there on what we consider to be the ‘undisputed facts’. It is also more than reading and memorising words on a page. To be guided in all truth is to be drawn into a relationship. To put it differently, it is to participate in a fellowship. You have heard it said that salvation is about the forgiveness of sins. The early church however believed that salvation was much more than that. Granted, salvation involves the forgiveness of sins but fundamentally, it concerns itself with our adoption as God’s Children who share in the everlasting fellowship of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The life of the Christian is one of participation. Paul in Romans 6:3-7 says,
We participate in Christ’s suffering and death through baptism, whether it be immersion or affusion (pouring). Three times we are immersed or have the baptismal waters poured on our heads to signify the drowning of the old man (symbolic of Christ’s three days in the tomb) and we rise from those baptismal waters as new creatures—participants in the resurrection of our Lord—after the likeness of Jesus. The Holy Spirit is the enabler of this participationThe Holy Spirit who is, really, God—coequal and coeternal with the Father and the Son—is able to bring us into participation with the Triune God. “…the Spirit will receive from me what is mine and will tell it to you.” Our sharing in the divinity of God entirely depends on the Holy Spirit, he delinks us from everything else and links us to the Father, Son, and Himself. How we participate in the TrinityWe have seen above how baptism is a symbol of our participation in the life of God. Now I want to focus your attention on the Eucharist (Holy Communion). Today, some churches treat the feast of the Eucharist as some lifeless ritual that they perform occasionally. The word they use is ‘ordinance’—a legal, mechanical, and squeaky act to confirm their obedience. But the early church didn’t think of the Eucharist this way. The cup and the bread are a regular memorial of the fellowship we have with the Triune God on account of Christ’s life, suffering, death, and resurrection and the enabling of the Holy Spirit. It is a mysterious joining together of our corruptible body with the incorruptible body of Christ in the natural act of eating so that “we might inherit incorruptibility” (see 1 Cor 15:50-57; 1 Peter 1:23). What do we do with all this?What does this mean for us today? It implies that we are one in the Lord, participating in the fellowship of the Trinity with a singular goal—to be made like Christ (deification). But sadly, the Church does not live like this is the case. A section of the church has been radicalised by ideas they claim are from God. They are so quick to spiritually police those they think do not align with what they consider ‘orthodox’ Christian values. Social media is awash with very ungracious people who do not seem to have the time to listen to others. A while back, I was speaking to a youth group and after my talk, a 1st year Engineering student walked up and sat next to me. He then asked if learning about God and theology makes us arrogant and judgmental people. When I asked him to elaborate, he told me that he felt it was his responsibility to correct those who are not living according to the precepts of scripture. What he did not tell me, and what I think created this conflict in his heart and mind was that he felt correcting other people was both judgmental and arrogant. But he had been taught that it is his Christian responsibility to do so. First, I asked him if he thought that was a gracious thing to do to which he responded that it was not. Second, I told him that I was uncomfortable with that language of correcting and pointing out other people’s spiritual faults before their eyes. Then I later told him that if anything, he is called to exhibit grace, kindness, and patient attention to other people and their struggles. Then I gave him this scenario: “Suppose you went back to your hometown and realised that one of the youths in your church has an anger problem and struggles to tell the truth. You have two options; first, you can walk up to him and confront him with the ’truth’, pointing out his anger problems and listing the number of times he has lied to his friends. After this, admonishing him to change his ways. Or you can sit with him and ask about his day and how school is going. After, pray with him and regularly check in with him. You never know but he may grow to trust you so that he opens up about what is going on at home. People never wake up in the morning and commit to being angry or tell lies, there are circumstances which lead them down that route.” I concluded by telling him that “If you choose the second option, you may help him, and his siblings create a safer environment that brings joy, not bitterness in their lives. You may also make a friend, a prayer partner, and a disciple. That is what it means to exhibit grace, kindness, and patient attention to one another.” In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen. If you liked this post from Sermon Notes, why not share it? |
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