The Trinity 5 - Is It That Important? Series

THE TRINITY V

Is it THAT Important?

10/28/12

What some of you may not realize about me is that at I am an introverted person. That is not to say I do not like to be around crowds or visiting with people, it does mean that it is something I have to work at.

I will say that being an introverted person I don’t like small talk with people I do not know. I find it very awkward. I am not at all fond of talking with people I do not know, it is just uncomfortable for me.

“So nice weather.” “Yeah” “Suppose to rain tomorrow” “O really”, “Yeah, Yeah” and so it goes.

However if I discover something about the person that we have in common than the whole conversation takes on a different feel. If for example they are a Christian. Or they hunt, or like fire arms, or military history. If something is found that we both have in common, the conversation is much easier. That is because while I may not know the person, I know something about that person.

But the thing is, is that we can know a lot ABOUT a person, but not know a person. For example there are lot of historical figures that I know a lot about. Take Abe Lincoln for example, I know a lot about him, but I do not know him. Why don’t I know him? Because I have never experienced any kind of relationship with him.

That is why historically Christians have talked about knowing God, not just knowing about Him, but knowing, experiencing a relationship with Him. You see people can know about God, they can read the Bible, study theology and know all kinds of things ABOUT God, yet never know God. They have never experienced God, they have yet to encounter God as it were. I like the way Alister McGrath says it, “Knowing means encountering and experiencing someone.” And that is what the Christian means when he or she says, “I Know God”, “I have had an encounter with Him”. It is through the encounter with God, through that knowing God, that we love God.

I point that out because today I want to talk about the command we have to know God, to encounter God. You see the Scripture teaches that when God does encounter us, when we experience Him, for the experience to be true according to the Scriptures, it will involve the Triune God of the Bible, it will involved the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit. So then it is important for us to learn of the Trinity, because that is the way in which God as revealed Himself to us, and that is the only way in which we can truly experience Him and may I add, to experience God is to experience His love. Thus as I have been saying in this study of the Trinity, at the core of it’s teaching is love.

Today we will begin to look at four specific Scriptural reasons as to why the study the Trinity is so important. I remind you of our definition of the Trinity, that is “Within the one being that is God, there exists eternally three coequal and coeternal persons, namely the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”

The first Scriptural reason as to why the study of the Trinity is so important is that we have the command to know God.

The Scripture reveals to us that it is of utmost importance for us to understand (obviously not fully), and to know God. In others words we must understand and know the which God has revealed to us about Himself. I fact Scripture reveals this is the most important thing that we can do. It is to take precedence over all we do.

Listen to Jer. 9:23-24 “Thus says the LORD: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.”

So we can see that it is not wisdom that God delights in, it is not our strength, it is not our stuff, but what God delights in our “understanding and knowing” Him. But this brings about a problem. How can we know a being that is totally separate from creation? Totally unique?

As God states in Isa. 55:8-9, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” How do we reach up to know God?