Six of them were allowed to approach the animal. Each was led to touch a different part of the body. After a while the rider left, and the blind men hurried back to the village to share the experience. "What's an elephant like?" the crowd asked.
"I know all about elephants," cried the man who had touched the animal's side. "He's long and narrow, and built like a thick wall."
"Nonsense," shouted the man who had touched the elephant's tusk. "He's rather short, round, and smooth, but very sharp. An elephant is like a spear."
A third man had touched the ear. He joined in - "It's nothing like a wall or a spear. An elephant is like a gigantic leaf, made of thick wool carpet. It moves when you touch it."
"I disagree," said the man who had handled the trunk. "An elephant is rather like a large snake."
The fifth man shouted his disapproval. He had touched a leg of the great beast. "None of you has described the animal accurately. It's round and reaches toward the heavens like a tree."
The sixth man had been placed on the elephant's back. He cried out, "Can none of you accurately describe an elephant? He is like a gigantic moving mountain."
To this day the argument hasn't been resolved, and the people of that village have no idea what an elephant looks like.
You may have suspected that today's sermon isn't about elephants. Our basic question is, "How do we know God?"
From time to time I have had someone say to me, "I'm not religious" - which usually that means that they don't go to church, don't pray on a regular basis, don't read the Bible… It comes as a shock for such people to learn that "God isn't religious either." These folk may hold high moral principles, have a high respect and care for others… - in fact, hold a whole set of values which shout that there is a great deal more to life than self, and more meaning to existence than physical reality.
There is a God. Within us all there is the capacity to respond to the reality and presence of God. And we all have a deep need to know God and to worship, love and obey him. There are all kinds of reasons why so many people fear God or choose to live without reference to him. We have been rebellious creatures and the thought of God can be rather intimidating. After all, he knows all about us and has the final say on right and wrong in the world. Sinners aren't very happy approaching the one who is the standard of perfection and the Judge of us all!
A number of world religions have expressed this with grossly horrible depictions of deities which strike terror to the human heart. A whole series of religious rituals are designed to keep such deities at bay - to keep them at a distance - to pacify them so that they don't interfere with the practical affairs of life. Other religions seek to tap into divine power for personal benefit and gain.
Early last century the British Parliament was debating revisions to the Book of Common Prayer. (Since the Church of England is the Established Church, any changes to the prayer book had to be ratified by act of Parliament). During one of the breaks in the debate, one MP emerged muttering, "I don't see what all the debate is about. Surely we all believe in some sort of something."
We have thought that if everyone believes "some sort of something" - as sincerely as they can - then that is all that matters. The blind men, we might argue, were describing their different experiences of the same elephant. Their different explanations not only seem contradictory, however, but all of them represent a misunderstanding of what an elephant is. If they could be persuaded to sit down amicably and discuss it all together, there's still no way they would come up with a true description of an elephant.
God is not only there - he has revealed himself. It is not simply a question of our varying experiences of the spiritual, of the divine. Our experiences (and explanations) can be measured and judged by revelation. In our days of openness and dialogue, some are offended that Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (Jn 14.6). Jesus wasn't here to "share experiences" about the divine. He could say, "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father" (v. 9). He was here to reveal the nature and reality of God - "The words I say to you," Jesus said to his disciples, "are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work" (v. 10).
The Sunday after Pentecost is always Trinity Sunday. The belief in the Three-in-One God arose from how God has revealed himself to us.
The Old Testament clearly teaches that there is only one God. Yet the New Testament has shown us that Jesus Christ is God and that the Holy Spirit is God. In seeking to teach clearly what God has revealed of himself the church has formulated the doctrine of the Trinity - not the three Gods of Mormonism, nor Jehovah plus a lesser "god" called Jesus and an impersonal power called the Holy Spirit as Jehovah's Witnesses teach, but one God in three Persons.
Both the Apostle's and Nicene Creeds have a trinitarian framework. The Uniting Church sees the use of these creeds in worship as "acts of allegiance to the Holy Trinity" (Basis para.19).
The belief that God is one, personal and triune is central to the Christian faith. It relates closely to belief in the personal nature of God, the Incarnation, the Atonement, the life in the Spirit, and finally to the relation of the redeemed to God in Christ. Trinitarian faith doesn't come from the early Church Fathers, but from the apostolic faith and teaching. The definitions produced through the debates of the first four centuries were the attempts of the church to grasp and express adequately the truths of divine revelation, and to guard against false teaching.
What is known as the Shema (Deuteronomy 6.4-9) is recited by the Jews as part of their daily prayer. It begins with the words, "Hear (Heb. shema), O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one." This strongly and clearly states monotheism - there is only one God. It is reaffirmed many times throughout the Old Testament and is regarded as quite foundational for the Lord's people.
In the New Testament the oneness of God is reaffirmed. The words of the Shema are quoted approvingly by Jesus (Mk 12.29-31). Yet Jesus himself was revealed to us as "God-in-the-flesh" and Christians faced the need to distinguish Jesus from the Father, yet to identify him with God. While Jesus said, "I and the Father are one" (Jn 10.30) and "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father" (14.9b), his prayer to the Father was real (Lk. 6.12; Jn 17; Matt. 26.38) and his experience of separation from the Father on the cross was authentic (Matt. 27.46). The doctrine of the Trinity originated from the truth of the Incarnation. Jesus Christ is truly and distinctly God the Son (Jn 1.1,18; 20.28; Col. 2.9; Tit. 2.13; Heb. 1.8,10).
Following Pentecost comes the understanding, not simply that the Holy Spirit is divine, but that he is personal and distinctly personal. To sin against the Holy Spirit is an "eternal sin" (Mk 3.29). When the disciples are brought before the authorities, "The Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say" (Lk. 12.12). Jesus spoke about him as "the Counsellor... the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father... he will testify about me" (Jn 15.26)
James Packer, in his excellent book, Knowing God, has written, "Knowing about God is crucially important for the living of our lives. As it would be cruel to an Amazonian tribesman to fly him to London, put him down without explanation in Trafalgar Square and leave him, as one who knew nothing of English or England, to fend for himself, so we are cruel to ourselves if we try to live in this world without knowing about the God whose world it is and who runs it. The world becomes a strange, mad, painful place, and life within it a disappointing and unpleasant business, for those who do not know God. Disregard the study of God and you sentence yourself to stumble and blunder through life blindfolded, as it were, with no sense of direction and no understanding of what surrounds you. This way you can waste your life and lose your soul."
God has revealed himself. We know about him so that we can come to know him. The Father has loved us with an everlasting love, revealing his nature in creation and history. The Son came into our human history to bear the penalty of our sins and open the door of forgiveness for us. The Spirit comes to indwell us - to apply the words and work of the Son to our lives and to empower and direct us as his Body.
As John says, "God is love" (1 Jn 4.8b). Love is very nature of God in this Three-in-Oneness. He has made us in his image - with a capacity and need to love and to be loved. As we know him, his character will be revealed in our lives. So then, let us love God, love one another and reach out with caring and redemptive love to others.
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