Sermon Tone Analysis

I hope you slept well last night and that you are feeling fresh, alert and focused because today, we are going to look at the topic of the Trinity as part of our series on Elim’s “Core Beliefs”.

St Augustine, one of the greatest and most influential Christian thinkers of all time, spent 30 years of his life writing a colossal work of 15 volumes that he simply, but perhaps rather unimaginatively called, “About the Trinity”.

He was, then a bit of a whiz at our topic today and this is what he said about it after all that study: “. . . in no other subject is error more dangerous, or inquiry more laborious, or the discovery of truth more profitable.”

In other words, when studying the Trinity, it’s vital to be accurate and get it right; it is very hard work to understand it; but, there can be a real blessing if you persevere.

That, if you like, gives us both our challenge and our target for this morning’s message.

I should point out though that St Augustine also said: “if you deny the Trinity you will lose your soul “ which, I have to say is bad enough but possibly just as worrying for anyone in my position this morning, he went on to say: “if you try to explain it you will lose your mind!“ Thanks Pastor!

I’m sorry to say too, that this is not the only bad news.

In fact, I need to come clean right from the start, that there is no actual mention of the word “Trinity” anywhere in the pages of the Bible!

Now, I think you’ll agree, for someone about to lead a Bible study on the subject, , that’s a bit of a setback – it’s like having the rug pulled out from under your feet.

But yes, rather disappointingly, none of the writers in the Old Testament or the New Testament use that term at all and it took until around 170 years or so after the death and resurrection of Jesus before a chap called Tertullian came along and used the term for the first time.

So, “the Trinity” is not a Biblical term - it’s a theological term introduced by theologians to help us grasp a concept, which while not stated explicitly in the Bible, is nevertheless, as I hope we’ll see this morning, very much a part of its truth.

With the help of the Holy Spirit I’m hoping to achieve three things this morning.

1.First, I want to try and lead us into having a personal glimpse of the reality of the Trinity – now how many sermons offer you that?

2.Next, I want to take us on a short sprint through just a little of the Biblical evidence that supports the doctrine of the Trinity.

3.Finally, I’m really hoping, and praying, that we get to see that far from being a dry and dusty topic of interest only to theologians, or perhaps to those without Sky television, a Smartphone, or anything better to do, that the Trinity is in fact of fundamental importance to all of us as we seek to live our lives for God.

Page 16 of the little blue book, “The Message”, on which this series is based, gives Elim’s definition of the doctrine of the Trinity.

It says: : “We believe that the Godhead exists co-equally and co-eternally in three Persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – and that these three are one God, sovereign in creation, providence and redemption.”

If you are anything like me you might find it helpful to get the big picture of the Trinity clear first before getting into the detail.

So let’s begin with “a glimpse at the reality of the Trinity” by looking at the account of what happened on the day that Jesus Christ was baptised in the River Jordan by John the Baptist.

Let’s read the account from both John’s Gospel and from Matthew’s gospel.

John 1:29–34 (NIV84)

29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

30 This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.”

32 Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him.

33 I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’

34 I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.”

Matthew 3:13–17 (NIV)

13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John.

14 But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.”

Then John consented.

16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water.

At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.

17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

To help us grasp the significance of this event I want you to try and imagine that you were actually there at the time.

Caught up in that vast crowd of people beside the Jordan River, like the others there, you have been stirred by the wave of stories about John the Baptist passing from one to another.

You found yourself drawn by these testimonies to find out the truth for yourself and have trekked to the Jordan.

You are now completely engulfed in the exhilaration of the moment and are being pulled into the experience as you hear for yourself the magnetic, powerful, and even at times terrifying, preaching of this wild looking Nazarite.

With beard to his waist and hair to his knees, this desert prophet, John the Baptist, is everything and more than you’d been led to expect from the stories that had brought you here.

The reputation and message of this man had swept tsunami-like through the nation and literally multitudes were flocking to hear his message and being profoundly moved - almost impelled, to respond personally to his fiery and insistent call to repentance; a call emphasised and magnified by his own strange appearance, alien lifestyle and total and tireless commitment to his message.

As you gather with these crowds by the banks of the Jordan, John the Baptist, is at the very height of his ministry and many, though John was strongly denying it, were now beginning to suggest that this man might at last be the promised Messiah.

Imagine your excitement, your anticipation, as you stand among that huge crowd listening to every word from the booming voice of the wild man preaching and demanding a response.

It is as though the very atmosphere is calling out to the throng to repent and come to God.

Imagine how you feel as you see one after another, competing, pushing forward, to launch into the waters of the Jordan to be baptised for the forgiveness of their sins.

Perhaps, you are even near enough to see Jesus arrive at the river - aware now that His time has come.

Having laid down His carpenter’s tools for the last time in Nazareth, he has walked the 70 dusty miles to Bethabara on the Jordan.

You actually hear John the Baptist in his bellowing voice, moved by the Holy Spirit, declare before all that this man, is the “Lamb of God” who “takes away the sin of the world” and the hair on the back of your neck stands up on end.

Your heart is pounding and your mind is in overdrive as you try to come to terms with what you are witnessing here.

Then, pressing forward you are right on the river bank as Jesus goes into the waters to submit to baptism.

You hear John deferring to Jesus and wonder for a moment how such a great man as John, so fiery and full of power, could be suddenly so submissive and be suggesting that he was the one who should be baptised, not Jesus.

You hear Jesus affirming that it is right to fulfil all righteousness and then see him plunged under the waters and then arise.

Like a bolt from the blue it dawns on you in vivid personal revelation that this Jesus is the Messiah – the Son of God.

Then, wonder of wonders, looking up, it’s as though the skies have opened, and with your own eyes you see something you cannot describe but just know inside is the very Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, descending, swooping down out of the heavens like a dove to alight and remain on Jesus as He stands there still soaked by the water.

Then suddenly, you hear it, a voice like none you’ve ever heard before, fills the ears and hearts of all around, with such penetrating power, and holiness that neither a syllable of the sound nor an iota of the meaning is lost on any present.

You hear with your own ears the reverberating voice of the Father speak out those sweetly intimate words: “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

If you had been a witness to this event, you would surely be able to testify yourself to the truth of the Trinity.

There would be no doubt in your mind about what you have seen.

In the company of a huge crowd of people all intent on finding God’s best for their lives and ready to commit themselves to God’s mercy and forgiveness, you have witnessed in the space of just a few short minutes, an event that you could never forget in a lifetime - the THREE persons of the Trinity all present at the same time.

•You have seen Jesus recognised by John as the Messiah and confirmed by the very voice of the Father to be the Son of God;

•You have heard with your own ears the Father’s audible voice breaking through from Heaven.

•You have watched with your own eyes as the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus as he rises out of the waters of baptism.

For you, at that moment, there would be no doubt in your mind that the God whom you worship, the One God, manifests Himself as three distinct persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

But perhaps too, while experiencing or reflecting on all this, you would also have picked up certain other aspects of the Trinity.

1.You might have picked for instance, that John, whose whole ministry focus was the need for repentance from sin, instantly knew on seeing Jesus that He didn’t need to be baptised as a sign of repentance for His sins.

John immediately recognised that Jesus was completely sinless – clear evidence that He was in fact the Son of God.

2.You might have picked up the significance of the Father’s phrase, “with You I am well pleased “ which though rendered in English in the present tense is actually timeless in intent and indicates that the Father is pleased with His Son at all times.

“With you I am always and eternally pleased”, the Father was saying.

The Father’s love and delight in Jesus never had a beginning and will never come to an end.

This love, as we shall see, is the very hallmark of the Trinity.

3.You might have been moved by the complete and perfect commitment of the Son to fulfil the Father’s eternal, but also terrifying plan, of redemption for the world.

For Jesus, significantly aged 30 at this time, according to Luke 2:23, the age at which priests are appointed, and now ceremonially washed as required by the Law through His baptism in the Jordan, rose from the waters, to begin His priestly role as the suffering and sacrificial servant, the Messiah.

4.And, if you had known then what we know now, you might also have realised that as the Holy Spirit came down on Jesus to empower Him, that Jesus was to live His earthly life, NOT out of His own divine resources and power as the Son of God, but instead to live as a human being, dependent FULLY on the presence of the Holy Spirit that remained on Him.

He was to be the example, the forerunner, of the life that you and I are called to live as Christians, a life accessed by faith and resourced and empowered by the Holy Spirit.

Having then witnessed for ourselves the reality of the Trinity, it’s now time to put on your spiritual trainers as we take a short sprint through just a little of the Biblical evidence that supports the doctrine of the Trinity

The Trinity has been described by some as a Divine mystery, and so it is only really available to us, as we make a faith response and receive a personal revelation of its truth.

We are NOT therefore looking to PROVE the Trinity, because as a spiritual mystery it cannot be contained within the constraints of a simple logical explanation.

That would be like trying to pour the waters of all of the world’s oceans into a small glass - it’s not going to happen, it’s impossible!

Instead, we’ll simply try to spark some personal revelation by looking at what the Bible says, and let the Holy Spirit do His work in our hearts.

Elim’s doctrinal position on the Trinity is the classic Christian position – it’s not something they have made up themselves; it is the truth accepted by all the mainstream Christian churches – not only the Protestants - the Anglicans, the Methodists, the Baptists, the Brethren, the Pentecostals and so on, but also the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches.

In Elim’s words, the core of the doctrine of the Trinity is that “God exists . . . in three Persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – and that these three are one God.”

It seems to me then that there are two things we need to do to see the truth of this.

First, we need to see that the God we worship is ONE.

Then, we need to see that this one God is in fact also THREE.

Simple!

1.Let’s look then to see whether the Bible tells us that there is ONE God – that God is one?

Many verses in the Old Testament tell us very plainly that God is one.

The famous verse, Deuteronomy 6:4: says: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.”

In Isaiah 44:6 we read:“. . .

I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God.”

And in Isaiah 46:9: “. . .

I am God, and there is no other;” But in case you are thinking that this is only an Old Testament idea – we also find lots of evidence in the New Testament too.

For instance, just taking Paul’s letters as an example, we find him telling the Roman church in: Romans 3:30 (NIV84) 30 . . .

there is only one God, telling the Corinthians in: 1 Corinthians 8:4 “. . .

that there is no God but one” and telling the Ephesians in : Ephesians 4:5–6 (NIV84) that there is “ 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all,”.

Get the picture?

God is ONE.

It could not be clearer.

Some people though are in fact so impressed by references like these that they use them to reject the whole idea that God is a Trinity.

Interestingly though, the Hebrew word translated “one” in that Deuteronomy passage: “The LORD our God, the LORD is one” is the word “ehad” which is the same word used in Genesis 2:24 to describe Adam and Eve becoming “one flesh” where it clearly indicates the UNITY of these two people within the PLURALITY of that first marriage.

The Bible isn’t suggesting that Adam and Eve literally became one person but rather that they are distinct persons completely united at a fundamental level in a permanent commitment and relationship.

So you could say that while this verse is declaring that “the LORD is one”, it also provides foundational evidence for the doctrine of the Trinity.