Week Fourteen-Day One: Trinitarian

John 1:1-5

¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning. ³ Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴ In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

This titanic opening to John’s biography of Jesus helps explain why more and more of us are feeling more and more “in the light”.We are growing in our understanding of ourselves, of our lives, our circumstances and of our God.We are feeling this way because THE LIGHT has come into the world and darkness could not overcome it.In fact, THE LIGHT has come into us.

Okay, we don’t always feel that way. Many times, if you were to take an emotional/spiritual snapshot of our lives you would find that we don’t feel that way at all. But over the long run, sometimes despite ourselves, we really do feel that way. We are more and more in the light!

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s back up and consider what will be the final attribute of God which we will discuss together. Today, we begin a discussion of what may be the most difficult concept of all: the Trinitarian nature of God. First of all, the idea that God is three-persons-in-one-being is very difficult to believe. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been told “I believe in God, but I don’t get the Jesus thing” or some close version of that. So through this week we will try to deal with that difficulty honestly. But the difficulty doesn’t stop there. We will also try to look at how we are to understand this concept and what it means for us even if we believe it. We will spend time thinking about this as well.

Let’s begin by getting an idea what we’re talking about when we say “trinity”. Wayne Grudem is a professor of theology and prolific author and thinker. Dr. Grudem wrote an excellent comprehensive survey of theology called Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. He summarizes the concept of the trinity like this:

“The preceding chapters have discussed many attributes of God. But if we understood only those attributes, we would not rightly understand God at all, for we would not understand that God, in his very being, has always existed as more than one person. In fact, God exists as three persons, yet he is one God.

It is important to remember the doctrine of the Trinity in connection with the study of God’s attributes. When we think of God as eternal, omnipresent, omnipotent, and so forth, we may have a tendency to think only of God the Father in connection with these attributes. But the biblical teaching on the Trinity tells us that all of God’s attributes are true of all three persons, for each is fully God. Thus, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are also eternal, omnipresent, omnipotent, infinitely holy, infinitely loving, omniscient and so forth.

The doctrine of the Trinity is one of the most important doctrines of the Christian faith. To study the Bible’s teachings on the Trinity gives us great insight into the question that is at the center of all of our seeking after God: What is God like in himself? Here we learn that in himself, in his very being, God exists in the persons of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, yet he is one God.”

So let’s chew on this notion for a few minutes this morning – at least as it relates to Jesus. In the Old Testament book of Proverbs, the idea of “wisdom” is personified as if it were an actual being. In fact, it is a personification of God Himself. In the passage quoted at the start of today, John has borrowed this same mechanism. He begins his recounting of Jesus’ life by calling him “the Word”. Let’s go back to that passage and begin thinking about the Trinitarian nature of God by turning it over in our minds. Look at John 1:1-5 and consider these questions.

1. What is the implication of John calling Jesus “the Word”?
2. He was “with God” and he “was God”.Why mention both of those things?What is John trying to get across to us?
3. What does verse 3 say about Jesus?
4. What does John mean by “the life”?What does he mean by “the light”?

BEFORE YOU START YOUR DAY

1. Spend a moment contemplating the lyrics to Chris Tomlin’s beautiful hymn “Here I Am to Worship”.If you are able, take the time to listen to it on youtube.(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2nLyfzBfKw&feature=related)
   1. Light of the world, You step down into darkness.
      Opened my eyes let me see.
      Beauty that made this heart adore you hope of a life spent with you.
      
      And here I am to worship, here I am to bow down,
      Here I am to say that you're my God,
      You're altogether lovely, altogether worthy,
      Altogether wonderful to me.
      
      King of all days, oh so highly exalted Glorious in heaven above.
      Humbly you came to the earth you created.
      All for love's sake became poor.
      I'll never know how much it cost to see my sin upon that cross.
      
      
   2. Spend a moment worshipping Jesus.