We Believe In The Trinity Series

Today, we continue a series of messages entitled Creed: 9 Essentials to the Christian Faith Why This Series? The reason for this series is that beliefs matter. Beliefs fundamentally alter the shape of our lives. This series, Creed, is designed to answer those who wonder what really lies at the heart of Christianity. Creed is intended to identify the “bottom-line” of Christian’s central concerns for both believers and non-believer’s alike.

The Shack was a surprise best seller when it was published privately by two pastors in Los Angeles. The author, William P. Young, was a former office manager and hotel night clerk. Despite having only $300 available for marketing the book, word of mouth has taken this hotel night clerk’s 256-page book into a New York Times bestseller. While I wouldn’t recommend the book because it doesn’t accurately portray God, it’s high sales show the Trinity is relevant to how contemporary Americans think. The book has more than 3,500 Amazon.com reviews and more than 7 million in print, the book represents a tsunami wave in terms of Christian book sales.

Why the Trinity?

The Bible’s teaching on the subject of the Trinity is rarely addressed in sermons yet it hangs around in the background of so much a church does and talks about. You hear the names of each member of the Trinity as we baptize. Just last week, we witnessed four baptisms where the Pastor Steve and Mark said, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”

So much of what we discuss really hangs on this mysterious doctrine called the Trinity. To those outside the Christian faith, the doctrine of the Trinity seems to violate logic – “How can God be Three and yet One?” But just because the Trinity is beyond reason does not mean it goes against reason. Here’s the beautiful thing: you don’t need to fully understand the Trinity to worship the Trinity, pray to the Trinity, and enter into the life of the Trinity. They tell me that deep within the core of the sun, the temperature is 27 million degrees. The pressure is 340 billion times what it is here on Earth. And in the sun’s core, that insanely hot temperature and unthinkable pressure combine to create nuclear reactions. In each reaction, 4 protons fuse together to create 1 alpha particle, which is .7 percent less massive than the 4 protons. The difference in mass is expelled as energy, and after one million years, through a process called convection, this energy from the core of the sun finally reaches the surface, where it’s expelled as heat and light. Now that was all kind of interesting, but you know what? I didn't need to know all that in order to get a tan. ? Someone has said, “He that denies this fundamental doctrine of the Christian religion called the Trinity may lose his soul. Yet, he who strives to fully understand it may lose his wits.”

Last week, I asked: Why Do Your Beliefs Matter? And I gave quickly you name four reasons why your beliefs matter.

1. Beliefs Matter to God

2. Beliefs Matter to Your Church Family

3. Beliefs Matter to Your Family

4. Beliefs Matter to You

I explored “Beliefs Matter to Your Family” last week and today I want to briefly explore Why Beliefs Matter to God.

TODAY’S BIG IDEA : How You View God Matters.

I want you to be convinced as I am that the Bible’s teaching on the Trinity is one of the most important things in life. This morning I want to share with you:

1) Why You Should Care about the Trinity;

2) I want to help you get a better grasp of the Bible’s teaching on how God is Three and One;

3) And along the way, we’ll address some of the thoughts in The Shack.

When I speak of the Trinity in the Bible, we may define the Trinity as follows: God eternally exists as three Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and each person is fully God, and there is one God.

The word “Trinity” never appears in the pages of your Bible. Nevertheless, your Bibles are from first to last, thoroughly full of the Trinity. The first time we see the word appear is in 168 A.D. by a bishop in Antioch names Theophilus. The word mean “tri-unity” or “three-in-oneness.”

1. Does The Trinity Matter?

I want you to see at least three reasons why the Trinity matters.

1.1 This Matters Because God Cares that You Know Him.

God reveals Himself as Father, Son, and Spirit in the pages of our Bibles.

1.2 This Matters Because of Your Salvation

If you believe in the deity of Jesus Christ, then you believe in the Trinity. If you accept the Bible’s teaching that Jesus Christ is God, then you have already acknowledge that there is more than one Person in the Godhead. If you deny the Bible teaches the Trinity, then you deny the entire life of Jesus Christ. You deny His death can save anyone for you deny that Jesus Christ is God. Our salvation depends on the truth that God is One and Three. The One God saves us, but His salvation of sinners only happens through the specific work and roles of the Father, and the Son, and the Spirit. Each One has His role to play, and each role is essential in accomplishing and securing our salvation. The Father ordains our salvation, sends the Son to accomplish our redemption, and judges our sin in His Son. The Son must come to take on our human nature and offer Himself a substitute sacrifice on the cross, in obedience to the Father, bearing both our sin and the Father’s just wrath against our sin. The Spirit must apply this work to our lives, opening our blind eyes and causing us to behold the beauty of Christ so as to embrace Christ’s saving work for us. Only because God is Triune is salvation accomplished and made real for us.