Occasionally, we receive get-rich-quick offers that are "too good to be true" - and they would turn out that way if we accepted them! I must have had three in the past month. I haven't acted on any of them. My first reaction is, "How did they get my name on their list?" My second - "How do I get my name off their list?" Beware such schemes! They are designed to make someone else rich, not you!
There have been a number of notorious "con men" - confidence tricksters who have taken people in with their smooth talk. But there are plenty of smaller operators too. From time to time television exposes them - both as a warning, and in an effort to get justice for their victims.
Our world has had its measure of religious "con people" too. The French court action against the Church of Scientology (founded by the late L Ron Hubbard) is just the latest in a saga that seems to have moved from country to country.
People are vulnerable because, whatever other impression we may have gained, deep down they want some kind of spiritual experience to bless them. In a multicultural society there is a smorgasbord of opportunities - almost all of them tolerated and acceptable.
Yes, we do have to be tolerant, even though not all "offerings" can be true. But then does "truth" matter any more? Isn't it good enough that it is "true for you"? It is odd that we don't accept that kind of reasoning in any other field than religious faith. Why can't the student be satisfied with "pi" equal to the rounded-off value of "3"? Why do we insist that there has to be a correspondence to the reality that is?
Paul concludes his second letter to the Corinthians with this blessing - "May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all" (2 Cor. 13.14).
The concluding words of Jesus commissioned the apostles to "go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…" (Mt. 28.19).
These are just two examples from the New Testament where Father, Son and Holy Spirit are mentioned together - the first in one blessing, the second in baptism into one "name". Had you noticed that? "Baptising them in the name (singular) of Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."
Today is Trinity Sunday. That is always the Sunday after Pentecost. It's because the out-pouring of the Holy Spirit completes the revelation of God in the disciples' understanding and experience. They knew that God had revealed himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit - one God in three Persons.
The JWs insist our mathematics is wrong. They only accept that Jesus was a "small-g god" and make the Spirit an impersonal divine influence. The Mormons end up with three "gods" - in fact, with countless others besides.
Don't be tricked! You need - and want - the blessing of the true God who has revealed himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Don't be short-changed!
In endeavouring to set down our understanding of how God has revealed himself, Christians have put together some "heavy" words. They aren't found in the Scripture, but seek to draw together and to express clearly what the Bible is teaching about God.
The word "trinity" itself isn't found in the Bible, though the idea is clearly expressed there. Father, Son and Holy Spirit are "co-equal" and "co-eternal." Yet within the Godhead, the Son does and says what the Father has given him to say and do. The Holy Spirit bears witness to Christ and brings his words to their remembrance. Within the equality of the Godhead there is a precedence. Some of the modern Holy Spirit movements have tended to invert this sequence - as if Jesus is more important and takes us "beyond" the Father, and the Spirit is more important still and takes us "beyond" Jesus. That isn't true to the teaching of Scripture.
Jesus made it clear, for example, that the day and hour of the end is known only to the Father (Mt. 24.36). Before Pentecost, the disciples wanted to know badly when Jesus would restore the Kingdom to Israel. Jesus replied that it wasn't for them to know matters set by the Father's own authority (Acts 1.6-7). In spite of this clear teaching of Jesus, some believe the Spirit gives them a divine "hot-line" into matters Jesus said the Son doesn't know and we aren't meant to know.
So… when we talk about Father, Son and Holy Spirit in that order, that's not because of the chronology of divine revelation. It's an acknowledgment of priority within the equality of the Godhead.
Having said that, we are immediately struck by the order in the triune blessing of 2 Corinthians 13.14 - "May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all."
Jesus - God the Son - became a human being with a special mission. He came to save his people from their sins - that's why he received the name "Jesus" (Mt. 1.21). He came to seek and to save what was lost (Lk. 19.10). He warned / promised his disciples that he would suffer, be crucified and rise to life on the third day (as in Mt. 16.21). With two disciples on the road to Emmaus he explained from the Scriptures that all these things had to happen to the Messiah before he returned to glory (Lk. 24.25-27).
On the day of Pentecost, Peter explained to the crowd that these things happened "by God's set purpose and foreknowledge" (Acts 2.23). As that best-known verse puts it, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" (Jn 3.16).
So this triune blessing begins with "the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ." Through this grace alone we come to know the love of God and are drawn together into the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.
The Corinthian church, so sure of its spiritual gifts, had major problems with divisions and immorality. That's the background of his appeal, "Aim for perfection, listen to my appeal, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you" (2 Cor. 13.11).
The true Holy Spirit brings unity, draws people together as they share together -that's what fellowship is - the grace of Jesus and the love of God.
God wants us to know him, to live in his love. We come through the grace purchased at great price by the Son. Then we discover "family" - we belong to one another in the fellowship created by the Holy Spirit.
This is a blessing for each one of us - "May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all."
Back to Sermons