This morning, I begin a series of sermons on our Articles of Faith, which are found in the Manual for the Church of the Nazarene. As a Nazarene pastor, we are supposed to teach these to our congregations each year, but oddly enough, I have never heard a series based on them, so I felt it would be good to put one together.
Many pastors have become reluctant to preach Nazarene doctrine because they are afraid that the people that come to us from Baptist churches or Catholic churches will leave the church. I believe that there are very few things contained within our Articles of Faith that would scare away our people. It is possible that, if you are coming to us from the Baptist church or somewhere with that type of theology, there may be a few things that you might have issue with. However, if we don’t teach them up front, we only invite division and strife down the line. I believe that it is important to understand the basis for our theology and the Articles of Faith are the bedrock upon which our church is built because we believe that they are completely biblical in their origin.
We are going to go through them in order, so we will begin this journey by looking at the first article:
The Triune God
Let me first read you the description of this tenet of our faith:
We believe in one eternally existent, infinite God, Sovereign Creator and Sustainer of the universe; that He only is God, holy in nature, attributes, and purpose. The God who is holy love and light is Triune in essential being, revealed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
I have already preached a few sermons that speak to a few of these parts of God’s nature…Now, I want to look at some verses that corroborate some of these other statements. The first one that I think is very important is Deuteronomy 6:4
Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
This statement made by Yahweh, Himself, implies far more in the Hebrew text than it says in the English translation. What it really means is that Yahweh is the only God and the Israelites are to serve Him and Him alone. He tells us many times that He is a jealous God and will not allow polytheism to creep into the Israelite customs. The first portion of the Ten Commandments speaks to the exclusivity that God requires of His people and the importance of keeping any semblance of worshipping anything or anyone other than Him.
The Lord God is eternal. Revelation 1:8 says:
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”
Alpha and Omega. These are the symbols here on the pulpit. They mean the first and the last. Even His name, Yahweh, means “I Am.” This name implies that He always was and He always will be. ‘There in no shadow of changing with Him.’ He must be the constant in our ever-changing lives. It is not just because God is omnipotent, or all-powerful, that we can rely on Him. It is also because He never changes. Deuteronomy 33:27 says:
The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.
Genesis 1 begins with “In the beginning, God created…” He was before time and He exists outside of time, so it has no constraints on Him. He is eternal and infinite because He has no beginning and no end.
Let’s look at the Triune nature of God. The Bible never says that God is Three in One. This is applied theology taken from the Bible. The Bible never calls itself the Bible either. It is just a word that we use to describe the Word of God. The Bible never uses the word rapture either. It is an accepted word for a theological idea taken from His Word.
In the Old Testament, we see glimpses of the Trinity in various verses throughout the books that are contained within it. Even in the first two verses of Genesis 1, we can see a glimpse of the idea of the Trinity. Verse 1 says “In the beginning, God created…” and then in verse two we are told that “the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” He even says “let Us make man in Our image.” His Triune nature was there from the beginning.
Isaiah 48:16 says:
“Come near me and listen to this: “From the first announcement I have not spoken in secret; at the time it happens, I am there.” And now the Sovereign Lord has sent me, endowed with His Spirit.
While God is spirit and has no physical form, when the Bible refers to His Spirit, it is referring to the Holy Spirit. This is far more evident in the New Testament, after the coming of His Son.
The first time that we see the Holy Spirit is at the baptism of Jesus, where His Spirit descended on Jesus like a dove. John relates this event in John 1:32-33
Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.
Let us not forget that when Joseph was going to put Mary away from him, an angel told him not to be concerned about taking her as his wife “because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.” So it was through the Holy Spirit that the Son of God was conceived.
On the Sunday that the guys will be on our retreat, we will be celebrating Pentecost Sunday. Jesus told His disciples not to leave the Jerusalem area until His Spirit had come. Pentecost was when His Spirit came into the world and began to dwell in the hearts of His children.
After Jesus rose from the dead, He gave the Disciples what we call the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20):
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
So we can see that our God is Three in One. He is not three separate Gods, but is one God in three natures. Jesus said that “the Father and I are one.” There is no way that our finite minds can truly understand this relationship. I have heard different ways of attempting to explain it. Some use the egg, with its shell, yoke, and white. Some use water, ice, and steam. It doesn’t matter how you explain it. It is beyond us to truly understand it.
As Christians, this Article of Faith is not one that any of us would find controversial. Although it is difficult to understand or to explain, it is universally accepted by Christians for two reasons.
Firstly, we are taught this theology in every truly Christian church. This is one of the reasons that Jehovah’s Witness and the Mormon beliefs are not ‘Christian’ in nature. They do not believe this basic tenet of the Christian faith, so they operate outside of Christianity.
Secondly, we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to reassure us of His presence and the redeeming love of Jesus, God’s Son.
God, in each of the three Persons, is Holy. He is set apart from everyone and everything else. There is none like Him. The final point that I want to focus on is His Sovereignty. I think that this fact is the hardest one to rely on. We want to give Jesus our hearts and we trust Him with our eternal souls, but we seem unwilling to give Him control of our earthly lives. We keep a tight hold on the things that we love in this world and essentially tell God that we love these things more than we love Him, which is in direct conflict with that first part of the Ten Commandments.
Chuck Swindoll tells the story of how Corrie Ten Boom, one of the greatest examples of Christian love, used to attend his church. She was standing there after church and Chuck’s kids were playing around her, grabbing at her skirt and her hose. She asked if they were his kids. He said that he wanted to say that he had never seen them before, but replied that they were. She told him something that every one of us should remember. She told Chuck, in her strong Dutch accent "Pastor Svendahl, you must learn to hold everyting loosely . . . everyting. Even your dear family. Why? Because da Fater may vish to take vun of tem back to Himself, und ven He does, it vill hurt you if He must pry your fingers loose." And then, having tightened her hands together while saying all that, she slowly opened them and smiled so kindly as she added, "Vemember . . . hold everyting loosely. . . everyting."
We hold onto everything and everyone too tightly. All the things that we value will fade away and all the people that we love will one day be called back to Him. He is Sovereign. He, alone is worthy of our complete devotion because He will never fail us. We cannot understand His perfect will any more than we can truly understand the Trinity.
Wife, that new husband that you adore will let you down. God will not. Father, that daughter, that you love so much your heart swells to think about it, will disappoint you. God will not. You may not understand why He does something or even see what He is doing, but He tells us in (Romans 8:28):
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
He is Sovereign. His will will be accomplished.
Have you been unwilling to let go of a dream? God may have something better in mind for you. If you are unwilling to be obedient in that calling, He can find someone else to fulfill it, but you will miss out on the blessing that you would have received by being a willing vessel.
Hold loosely. Be willing to let go. Submit. Be moldable. Allow Him to use you like clay to be the instrument of His will…
(Prayer)
*All scriptures in NIV unless otherwise stated.
