Question:
Answer:
- How many persons are there in God?
Answer:
- There are three persons in the one true and living God: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They are the same in substance, equal in power and glory.
Warm-up
- Who in God–God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit –was first personally introduced to you?
- What person do you feel you relate to the most? Which do you feel you relate to the least?
Word
BIG IDEA
- There are three persons in God
- They are of the same substance, and equal in power and glory.
- The great confession of Christ in this text is that we are invited to immerse ourselves in God
- God has progressively revealed himself, and it culminates with Jesus telling us that to see the father, you must see Him as Christ.
- God’s Trinitarian nature, and relationship with himself, is the basis and an example of love that we can experience with God and with each other.
READ
WATCH/LISTEN
Matthew 28: 16-20
Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
WATCH/LISTEN
To hear this sermon in its entirety, please click here.
Old Self
- The Apostle Paul instructs church members in Ephesians 4:20: “But it is not the way you learned Christ...you were taught with your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desire; to be renewed in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore, each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. ”
- Paul here is drawing on the nature of the Trinity to tell Christians how they should live. What makes it difficult to do this with perfection as humans?
- Follow up: What is Paul’s basis for why we should live this way? Why does that matter?
New Self
- Do you see it as important to understand the nature of the trinity as a Christian? Yes/No, why?
- What aspects of the Trinity might model things for your life? Do any parts of God's nature need to take a deeper root in your own life?
World
- Where might you want to see the nature of God impact the world around you?
- Where might you need to dwell more on the nature of the trinity? What change might that bring about in your own life?
Prayer
Father, Son, and Spirit, you are beyond our understanding. Thank you for bringing us into your love, a love that existed before the world in your three perfect persons. Amen.