The trinity confounds our reason. Our minds buckle under one God and three persons. How can one plus one plus one equal one? We don’t need to worry about how our triune God works together. God call us not to understand but to believe. We could spend more time looking a different places in the Bible where God reveals bits and pieces about himself. Studies of the Trinity are fascinating.
Another fruitful way to look at the Trinity is seeing all that he has done for us. For our church picnic sermon we looked at Paul’s letter to the Romans where God talks about making us part of his family. Pictures of family have always been a cherished possession. While doing research on a conference paper on mission societies, I stumbled upon a picture of my great great grandfather in the USC Picture Archives. Pictures can only do so much for us. I can’t wait until I get to meet him one day in heaven. How can I be sure? Heaven can seem like a long shot when there are so many things in life that are not a sure thing.
Your place in God’s family is completely sure. You have the Spirit’s testimony. You also have the Father’s ear. Finally you have the Son’s inheritance. Let’s look at what the Spirit does. Often times sermons and studies on the trinity drift toward the Spirit because there is plenty of ink spilled when it comes to the Father and the Son. That is how the Spirit likes it. The Holy Spirit could speak to us directly through dreams or lightning bolts. He certainly does speak to us through the Bible. If you want to know what God says, the sixty-six books of the Bible will tell you exactly who God is and what he thinks about you. He loves you so much that he gave up his Son so that you could be in his family. The final way that the Spirit testifies that we are in God’s family is through our words and actions. We can look at what we do and say and affirm that we are a Christian. That’s not bad, but if that is the only place we go to find assurance for our eternity and place in God’s family, we’ll get ourselves in to trouble. What happens when we DON’T act and speak like a Christian. Our actions don’t nullify God’s promises, but it can make it more difficult for us to believe it.
The first place we need to go to hear the Spirit’s testimony is the Word of our God. It is there we see our own face in the great family reunion picture of heaven. Looking back at old pictures brings to mind precious memories. Looking at the picture of God’s family that Paul paints for us gives us comfort and peace for the future.
Listen to this week’s sermon taken from Romans 8:14-17, recorded at our annual church picnic.
Topic(s): FamilyBook(s): Romans
Series: Ref500
Tag(s): Trinity
Speaker(s): Fred Guldberg