One of the most mind-blowing aspects of God is His existence as a Trinity (even writing that sentence felt a little tricky). It is one of those things that if you think you understand it completely you may well be entering the territory of heresy.

The doctrine of the Trinity does matter- it is hugely important for our understanding of God and it is in fact practical. I would encourage to review the material below and think through the impact the doctrine of the trinity should have on our worship and our understanding of how we should be living life.

Over at the Desiring God blog they recently posted the following explanation, illustrations, and resources for helping us as believers understand the trinity (I have listened to Bruce Ware’s messages and they are indeed excellent).

Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology defines 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” (p. 226).

Broken down, this amounts to three propositions:

• God is three persons.
• Each person is fully God.
• There is one God.

In addition, it’s helpful to elaborate on the fact that when we say “God is three persons,” we mean that he is not just one person, and that the persons of the Trinity are not to be confused. So we can also say:

• The Father is God.
• The Son is God.
• The Holy Spirit is God.
• The Father is not the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is not the Father.
• The Holy Spirit is not the Son, and the Son is not the Holy Spirit.
• The Son is not the Father, and the Father is not the Son.

If your head is starting to spin—then perhaps this little diagram can help give you a snapshot of what we’ve been saying:

Theologians have typically described God as being of “one essence” but “three persons.” But what exactly do we mean by “essence” and “person”? In its simplest terms, essence answers the question, “What are you?” Person answers the question, “Who are you?”

So when we say that the Trinity entails “one essence” (God) and “three persons” (Father, Son, and Spirit), we are saying that the Trinity has one What and three Who’s. We can draw this as follows:

For an excellent collection of resources for further study on the Trinity, see the Theopedia entry.

Bruce Ware has written an excellent book entitled, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: Relationships, Roles, and Relevance. This book can be read in conjunction with Dr. Ware’s lectures delivered at the 2005 Desiring God Conference for Pastors, “This is My Beloved Son”: Exulting in the Trinitarian Relationships of Jesus Christ. Here are links to the talks and outlines:

• The Trinity of Persons: Unity and Distinction, Equality and Differentiation (MP3), (PDF)
• Jesus and the Father: Love and Obedience, Authority and Submission (MP3), (PDF)
• Jesus and the Spirit: Trust and Reliance, Exaltation and Glorification (MP3), (PDF)

(The diagrams above are adapted from Answering Islam: The Crescent in Light of the Cross by Norman L. Geisler and Abdul Saleeb.)

Someone out in the blogging world referred to the following post entitled “The Heresy of Cool” from a blog/website called The Scriptorium.

I would guess that pretty much all of us struggle with this in some form and to some degree. We love to be loved- or more specifically- we love to be admired and praised.

As you read I would encourage you to consider the impact of this heresy on both our fellowship within the church and our outreach to the lost.

I would strongly encourage you to read this article. It points us back to our unchanging and precious identity in Christ and the mission we have in that identity to love others.

Enjoy (I bolded some highlights)!

Coolness is heretical. Or at least the pursuit of it is. This is because an inverse relationship exists between our attempts at being cool and our faith in Jesus Christ. The one struts, confident in his ability to do and say all the right things. The other limps, just as confident in his ineptitude, his missed cues and bad timing. (more…)

Over at Pulpit Magazine Blog Kurt Gebhards recently posted on the danger of raising Pharisees- this has incredible application for us as parents as well as those of us who serve in children’s ministries at ASGF.

It is the sad testimony of church history that the works and expressions of sacrificial love and devotion of one generation of Christians can quickly turn into legalistic rules and regulations for the next. The convictions of the first generation become the caprice of the second. It is sad and shameful how quickly the Object of wonder and worship of a generation can become the boredom and betrayal of the next. Hypocrisy is an imminent and evident threat to the church of Jesus Christ. (more…)

Still working through Psalm 27 Paul Tripp posted the following recently on waiting and why we tend to hate it.  If you ever observe a growing impatience in your heart and tone or find your temper starting to boil when you have to wait this is a must read.  There are deeper issues going on when we are impatient than those we might observe on the surface.

“Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” (v.14)
(more…)

Here are the details for this Sunday’s corporate worship. In preparation remember that this is a communion Sunday- a chance for us to remember and celebrate the sweet and precious work of our Savior. Enjoy preparing your hearts.

Text:

Colossians 3:22

Songs:

O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing by Charles Wesley

Come and Welcome by Thomas Haweis

In Christ Alone by Keith Getty and Stuart Townsend

Jesus, Thank You by Pat Sczebel

My Stronghold

Jesus, Lover of My Soul by Charles Wesley

Soon and Very Soon by Andrae Crouch

Shout to the Lord by Darlene Zschech

The prevelance and dangers of pornography can hardly be overstated. Even while it becomes more openly accepted it is frightening at times to think about how common it must be behind closed doors.

The church is by no means immune. Even as those who are redeemed we still battle that old man, the flesh. We must not sit passively back in our easy chairs on this issue- we must do battle with our flesh, seek to mortify sin, be controlled by the Spirit, and strengthen our brothers.

Over at Reformation21 a discussion has been going on regarding the nature of pornography and its effect on our society and on the human heart. Here are some highlights.

Phil Ryken

One of Wolf’s comments is especially arresting: “For most of human history, erotic images have been reflections of, or celebrations of, or substitutes for, real naked women. For the first time in human history, the images’ power and allure have supplanted that of real naked women. Today, real naked women are just bad porn.”

This comment grieved me, because as a pastor I know that it is true, and that women (and men) in the church are suffering as a result. The body of a man’s wife ought to be a source of mystery and delight to him (see Song of Songs). But when he drinks water out of stolen cisterns, to use the biblical imagery, her beauty is degraded. Then rather than fueling their romantic passion with mutually satisfying pleasure, their sexual relationship becomes something to use and throw away.

So here is another reason for men to avoid any and all contact with any and all pornography: If you use pornography, it will degrade the sexual cement of your marriage and dishonor a woman who deserves better than to be treated like bad pornography.

Rick Phillips

…My pastoral experience dealing with this issue has taught me that this issue is tied to a broader issue of idolatry that becomes practically an entire worldview of porn. Time after time, men caught up in pornography depict a general discontent with their lives and their own identity. As such, the problem of porn is not merely — or even primarily — one of lust. Instead, men tap into porn as part of a fantasy life in which they exist as comic-book ideals of real men. They think their job is ho-hum, their boss yells at them, their wife nags, the creditors pound on the door. So instead of bringing their lives before the Lord and finding their purpose in the light of Christ, they tap into the internet and fuel their fantasies of being young, virile, and powerful. Porn is an idolatry of self and a dark worldview that can only exist in fantasy.

This Sunday, the 7th,  we are having our nursery shower/potluck. In case you are confused about what this is and exactly who is supposed to come here is the deal-

• This time is partly an excuse- or opportunity- for us to sit down together as a body, share a meal, build relationships, relax, and fellowship together!
• This time is partly an opportunity to celebrate and thank God for the children He has given us at ASGF by providing gifts for the new toddler nursery class and playing some old fashioned nursery games!
• I kind of said this already- but this is in part simply a chance to eat- to enjoy the good gift of God that is food. We all need to eat lunch anyways so let’s do it together.

So, here are the details.

• Who- Everyone is invited- regardless of age- regardless of whether you bring a gift- even regardless of whether you bring food for the potluck. Come and enjoy.
• When- right after church until all the food is gone and all the gifts are opened.
• What to Bring-
  • Last names A-M bring a salad.
  • Last names N-Z bring a dessert.
  • If you are able bring a toy for the nursery (please select a gift at Target from our registry- we are registered under “Sovereign Grace” as the mother’s name)

Recently I have been reflecting on the issue of adulthood and how to help our young men in particular grow up into manhood. As I was talking with a couple of young men about this whole process a certain question struck me as foundational in this whole discussion.

Why should I want to grow up into manhood?

It seems that if we take on the values of our culture there are few reasons why we would want to take on manhood. Manhood implies responsibility, leadership, and sacrifical care for others- things like work, paying bills, putting one’s wife first, putting one’s children before one’s friends, and so on.

This goes against the greatest values of much of our culture. Our culture values freedom, comfort, pleasure, independence, and fun. Manhood takes away these things (at least how they are defined by the common consensus). Wouldn’t it be better if I could live off my parents as long as possible, get involved in non-committal relationships with the opposite sex, stay out as late as I wanted every night and avoid responsibility and sacrifice as much as possible?

This brings us back to our question- Why should I want to grow up into adulthood? Or, in other words, what is so great about adulthood?

Adulthood is to be anticipated because it provides a myriad of opportunities to glorify God (much of this is parallel to the ideas Josh talked about yesterday in his sermon on work).

We glorify God in living as an adult because the responsibilities and roles of adulthood are His design. God designed us to work, to enjoy the companionship of marriage, to have children, to train and nurture children, to contribute to society, etc.

We glorify God in living as an adult because the sacrifices on behalf of others that adulthood requires reflect the gospel of Jesus Christ. As we contribute to the good of society through work, as we sacrificially love our spouses, as we nurture and train our children in the gospel we are reflecting the patient and sacrificial love of Christ.

There are things more valuable than freedom and fun- reflecting our glorious God and displaying His gospel with our lives- these things make life worth living- these things make adulthood something to anticipate.

While there are probably a number of things that we as parents and adults could do to help the younger people around us, let me mention just one- our attitude towards adulthood. I fear that many of our children end up with a skewed view of adulthood because we exemplify it.

Are we eager and thankful for the opportunities God has given us to glorify Him with our adulthood?

Does our demeanor and speech communicate that we truly believe God’s design for us as adults is good and fulfilling?

To take the example of work- if we complain about our work all the time and avoid it as much as possible it shouldn’t come as a surprise if our kids avoid it and complain about it. However, if we rightly view work as a God-given opportunity to reflect His character and do good to others, I have to believe this will go along ways towards helping our children look forward to a life of fruitful labor.

May our body become one in which our children are eager for adulthood and the opportunities to glorify God that it provides.

May our young men and young women look forward to and prepare for adulthood with all its responsibilities and requirements because they know something bigger is going on than them. God is working through them to display Himself in the world.