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A booklet compiled
for communicants’ classes
Ron Wallace
Elm St. United Church
St. Catharines, ON
1st printing: Nov. 12, 1998
2nd printing (rev.): Nov 18, 1999
Introduction
Most many-god religions (polytheism) have a head
god, sort of a chair of the board. The religions with which we are most
familiar have only one God. Jews give him the personal name, Yahweh (but
it is too holy to say; so they call him Lord), and Muslims call him Allah
(which just means God). Christians, although claiming to worship one God,
talk about a "triune" (three in one) God and speak of Trinity
(threeness in unity): Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Several religious groupings have mulled over the
idea of Trinity but have given up and decided that there is only the one
deity. Some hold that Jesus is just a human being whose reputation became
blown out of all proportion (Unitarians). Or else he is just some other
form of created being, something like an angel, whom God assigned the
task of undoing Adam’s sin (Jehovah’s Witness). Others have gone in the
other direction and declared that Father, Christ and Spirit are three
different gods (Mormons).
Dismissal of Trinity shows how hard the idea is to
understand. In bad moments some Christians, too, wonder if the whole doctrine
is nonsense that our ancestors spouted when they had nothing better to
do.
Trinity is not merely hard to understand. It is impossible.
Still, we can catch glimmerings and can point in the general direction
of meaning. That is what the following pages will try to do. We will begin,
and merely begin, the explanation. First we will discuss each person in
the Trinity and then close with words about Trinity itself. What is before
you is hard but not impossible.
It is also important. Trinity is not an option. The
United Church is definitely Trinitarian in the doctrine laid down in the
Basis of Union and in the various General Council statements over
the years. When we follow the traditional confirmation service, the service
used pretty well since the United Church came into existence in 1925,
the very first question in that service is:
Do you profess your faith in God your heavenly Father,
in Jesus Christ your Saviour and Lord, and in the Holy Spirit your Teacher
and Guide?
Besides the "your" word repeated three
times to show a personal relationship, each part of that question uses
a couple of words to describe God, Jesus Christ or Spirit. The descriptions
allow people with pretty wide differences to still answer "yes"
to the question. All the legitimate differences, though, lie within the
bounds of Trinity.
Please do not imagine that all difference is bad,
and that we must toe a rigid doctrinal line. There is plenty of flexibility
within Trinity. For example, think of yourself as you have grown. How
you pictured God when you were five years old is not how you understand
him now. Moreover, what you learn of God in 20 or 50 years will cause
you to think of him in still different ways. We grow in our relation to
God just as we do in how we know and relate to our parents. Sure, we have
bad moments, but when love is there the direction is upwards.
This booklet intends to help organize our present
thinking about God and maybe point to places where we could grow.
God the Father
We begin with thoughts about God the Father. Please
re-member two things, though, as we go along. First, Christians very much
think of him with one eye on Jesus’ teachings. Also remember that we cannot
disconnect him from the other persons of the Trinity. Other than that,
how we see the Father is not that different from a Jew’s thoughts about
the Lord or a Muslim’s about Allah.
Imagining God
The introduction on the previous page hinted that
maturity affects how we think of God. Not that immaturity is always second
class. The book, Mr. God, This Is Anna, by Fynn, is a true, heart-warming
story about a little girl’s contact with God. It shows why Jesus said
it is better to come to God as a child does. Becoming an adult can mean
growing away from God. It is not necessarily so, but it can happen.
Besides our level of maturity, there are other reasons
why different people contact God in different ways. Some folk are task-oriented
(wanting to get things done). Others are people-oriented (how they relate
to others is more important for them). Some are conscious of colour and
form. Others respond by words and their beauty. Still others have not
an artistic bone in their body. All these things affect how we like to
think of God, and God doesn’t care so much how we think of him -- as long
as we continue growing in faith and understanding.
In order to see for ourselves where we are in our
understanding of God and where, maybe, we need to grow, it is good to
look at different ways of picturing God. The following are 15 ways (taken
from Forsyth’s The Christian Life, p. 4), but which five describe
how you think of God? Discussing our favourites may show interesting differences
among us or maybe will show us ways we had not thought of picturing God.
This is not a test where a teacher marks us right or wrong, but rather
a method of seeing what kind of picture of God we have. Do you think of
God as --
a) a being who makes himself known in three persons:
Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit?
b) a being who is working with us to make the world
better?
c) a being who is everywhere, knows everything, and
can do all things?
d) a big man in the sky with a crown on his head?
e) an idea in our minds?
f) a being who works in and through all and yet is
more than all?
g) love?
h) law in the universe?
i) one who, in his goodness, gives his children food,
clothing and shelter?
j) one who can set aside the laws of nature?
k) one who can make us do what we don’t want to do?
l) one who writes down in a book everything we do?
m) the creator of all things?
n) our heavenly father?
o) the one who gave the Ten Commandments?
Are some of the above ways of thinking about God
"your" ways? If so, it means that already, somehow, God has
persuaded you to think about him.
Nudges
How can God put ideas or urges in my head when I
don’t speak Hebrew (or whatever God talks)? The technical name for the
methods God uses to "nudge" us is means of grace. "Means"
is just fancy talk for methods. "Grace" is when God gives a
message even though we have not earned it and perhaps do not deserve it.
The nudges come not because we are good but because God loves us.
God can nudge us in all kinds of ways. Because we
are all different, some methods may work on us better than others. Below
is an alphabetical list of some of the more important means of grace.
Try ranking (best methods to worst) how they affect you. Then by talking
among ourselves we may learn a little more about ourselves and God. As
with the last list, remember that this is not a test. It is a way of growing
and understanding ourselves. Some people have natural gifts or interests
in some things but not in others.
a) the Bible
b) conscience
c) the fellowship of the church
d) history and providence
e) Jesus Christ
f) nature and its laws
g) people
h) prayer
The Sense of God
God does not usually talk to people in English (or
Hebrew, for that matter). Still, people do somehow become aware of his
presence or messages. Paul on the road to Damascus had a religious experience.
He became aware of a presence and asked, "Who are you, Lord?"
Did the answer come in Hebrew, Greek or Latin (Paul spoke all three)?
We don’t know, but anyway that is not the point. The sense of somebody
there shows we can have awarenesses beyond words. That the others present
on that occasion heard nothing shows that God’s messages are private --
and may be open to some (right or wrong) interpretation.
Martin Buber, during the First World War, wrote a
book on how people experience God. He wanted to describe God’s nudges
as basically as possible. How people interpret these messages could be
confusing, he found, but deep down there seemed to be sensations or feelings
in common. He decided that there are two in all. One is mystery (or wonder),
and the other is fascination.
To really meet God is fascinating. If we could decide
where he was going to be, people would flock to see him. Unfortunately,
when we try searching on our own, usually all we find are substitutes.
Then we become discouraged and stop looking. After one good glimpse, though,
we become fascinated all over again.
The other feeling, mystery, is a little like fear.
A strong case of it makes the hair on your neck stand up; so you want
to back off. Moses (Exodus 3:3) becomes attracted (fascinated) by a bush
that flames yet does not burn up. Then, two verses later, he realizes
God
is there, and his back hairs stand up. He wants to run
away. On the other hand, he knows the occasion is special; so he wants
to stay.
The combination of attraction and repulsion, both
coming at the same time, is a most peculiar feeling. You want to flee
and hug at the same time. Nevertheless, it is not English that is coming
at us, and because we do not decode God-talk very well, sometimes we misunderstand
the message badly.
Misunderstandings
The first misunderstanding is fear. We think that
God is "after me." Maybe we interpret the message that way because
we are too conscious of the mystery and feel too little of the attraction.
Of course, God is after us, but with the aim of reconciliation,
not punishment. That is the whole point of Jesus Christ. What we need
to do is to admit the awe while overcoming the fear.
The second mistake is to find the attraction too
much and want to own God for ourselves. "Mine" is a very powerful
wish, and many people regard God as a prized commodity. We cannot, however,
own God or use him for our own purposes -- or against competitors. Kneeling
down and crossing oneself on the football field is all very well as long
as we realize God is for the other side too.
The third mistake is to attach the appearance or
message to a place or object (idolatry) rather than to the God who came
or spoke. Few people today worship sticks and stones, but many do worship
ideas. Or celebrities. To give to a thing or created person the worship
that belongs to God is a mistake he commented on in the Ten Commandments.
He does not like it.
Another less common mistake these days is to think
that each message comes from a different god. Christians are firm in the
belief that within Trinity there is no disagreement. Jesus said, "I
and my Father are one" (John 10:30). A single plan has their absolute
agreement and governs all that God wills to happen.
Main Attributes
What do we really know about God? The catechism answers
the question "Who is God?" this way:
God is the almighty Father who made and controls all
things according to his holy, wise and good purposes.
If God is almighty, I cannot control or own him,
as we just saw. If anything, it will be the other way around. Detecting
his holiness, his complete "otherness," is what gives
me the shivers. His wisdom means he is properly in charge and has
put together in a good manner what he has planned and created. His goodness
gives me hope even though I feel like nothing before him. The Psalmist
(103:13) declares:
As a father pities his children,
so the Lord pities those who fear him.
Jesus seized on that word father and made it so central
to his own understanding of God that we now capitalize it (Father) to
show it is a fact, not just an analogy. It has become the new name
of God.
As mentioned in the introduction, the old name for
God was Yahweh. That was his personal name given to Moses at the burning
bush, but far too holy to say. They would call God "Lord" instead.
To remind them not to say it out loud, whenever they wrote God’s name
they used the consonants for Yahweh and the vowels for Lord. It came out
looking like "Jehovah" -- a made-up word that nobody said.
Then along came Jesus calling God "daddy."
It was startling for everybody and seemed downright disrespectful to many.
That was one reason why Jesus got into trouble.
There are many other ways of thinking of God. A common
one is Creator or Maker (as in the Apostle’s Creed). Sustainer has become
popular, because it tells us that God did not simply create and then walk
away. He upholds his creation constantly. As the song says, "He’s
got the whole world in his hands."
God the Son
We can sum up the heart of Christianity by quoting
John 3:17 -- "God sent his Son into the world not to condemn the
world but that the world, through him, might be saved." The Son referred
to is Jesus.
The Gospels also call Jesus the Christ (Luke
9:20 and Mark 14:61; it is a title, not a last name) or Messiah
(John 1:41). These two titles are Greek and Hebrew words. Both mean "the
Anointed One." They say that Jesus is the fulfilment of all Old Testament
prophets, priests and kings (who were also anointed).
One more title for Jesus is "the Second Adam"
(I Corinthians 15 21-22,45; adam is the Hebrew word for "a
man"). Early believers saw his perfect life as undoing Adam’s sin.
His unjust death became total payment on behalf of all who attach themselves
to Jesus.
What are these titles saying? They say that Christianity
firmly believes two things. (1) God is the ultimate power in heaven and
on earth. (2) He has chosen to carry out his final plans by sharing his
authority with Jesus of Galilee who is now the risen Christ.
God/Christ’s Authority
Human nature, being what it is, does not want to give God or God-in-Christ
total control. We want a say at the very least. If possible, we want total
say of how things are run here on earth. This is not a modern disease.
It has always been there.
When Christianity was still young, some people thought
they knew of a way to gag God and take over. They said there were secret
ideas that had power over life and death (and, in effect, over God). If
you knew the secret, your present and future were assured. For
them, "true Christianity" was that knowledge (the Greek word
being gnosis); so people called them Gnostics to distinguish
them from regular Christians. Ordinary Christians believe that God is
the final authority, not some magic word or idea.
Another example of displacing God happened in the
18th century. There was a religion called Deism. It said, "Sure there
is a God, and yes he created the universe. But he made it like a clock
maker. He put it together, wound it up to get it going, and then went
away to do something else." God, by this view, is so absent that
he has no effect.
That way of thinking did leave human beings free
to run their own lives -- which was what those people really wanted. Occasionally,
as with any unlimited freedom, it was "While the cat’s away the mice
play." More often, though, people lived responsible lives and tried
to be moral, benevolent, etc. Some even tried to fix the world so that
God, on his return (or on our departure to God), would approve of what
they had accomplished.
Obviously Deism and Gnosticism are not dead today.
Many still try to "do" and to "know" their way into
heaven or into God’s approval. Nevertheless, official Christian doctrine
has always denied that the centre of faith is some sort of technique
or work plan. It is not, centrally, what you do or what you know that
counts. It is whom you know.
A Biography of Jesus?
The "who" has to do with a Jewish carpenter
who lived in Palestine about two thousand years ago. His name is Jesus,
and fastening the faith to this person makes Christianity very much an
historical religion.
Yet, concerning Jesus’ life, really, we know very
little. This seems strange for a person who has been, since the start
of the faith till now, the central concern of more than a billion people.
There are hints of questionable paternity, and we
cannot be sure of his date of birth (about 4 B.C.). His family raised
him in a town called Nazareth. He trained as a carpenter and had no higher
education. He wrote nothing (except some words in the sand), and never
joined the army.
Apparently he left home and occupation to younger
brothers and took off with nothing but the robe on his back. A dedicated
evangelist named John baptized him, but we have no certificate to prove
it.
Then he spent somewhere between twelve and thirty-six
months with a small group of students. He gathered them, taught them (and
the crowds) and pursued a healing ministry. This took place largely in
the rural province called Galilee.
Local leaders became hostile. Roman overlords began
to grow suspicious. Together they crucified him by the garbage dump on
the outskirts of Jerusalem. Jesus was still in his early thirties.
Although we know very little, we know that the short
months of his ministry had been enough to convince his closest students
that he was God. All those students were Jews -- who believed in the oneness
of God and that there are no other gods before God. For such people to
even think of a walking, talking human a divine was revolutionary. It
seems, though, that they came to this conclusion not because of what he
claimed but because of what they saw in him. We can describe what they
saw in three parts.
His Deeds
Records by early Christians (the Gospels) describe
many miracles by Jesus. They portray him as curing blindness, deafness,
lameness, leprosy and, on one or more occasions, death.
Still, these are not the deeds that convinced his
followers. He did not perform miracles with a backdrop of brass band and
strobe lights and the message, "I am God." It was quite the
opposite. He preferred to do his healing deeds quietly and apart from
the public spotlight -- and as demonstrations of faith. His message, according
to followers, was never "This proves me divine." Rather, he
seemed to say, "This you or anyone with faith can do."
Miracles leave cold our skeptical age; so it is just
as well Jesus never put his emphasis on such deeds. Please remember, though,
that even his harshest critics never questioned the reality of his cures.
They wondered instead whether the power came from God or Satan.
If miracles were not the heart of Jesus’ deeds, what
was? Peter, one of Jesus’ students, once tried to sum up what Jesus did.
He said his teacher "went everywhere doing good" (Acts 10:38).
"Everywhere" did not mean physical distance,
because Jesus never travelled more than about 120 kilometres from his
home. He did associate, though, with all types of people -- from
the dregs to the best. He healed and counselled everyone who asked without
demanding payment.
He seemed so single-mindedly good and so effective
that those who were closest to him could not explain him as a mere mortal.
Despite their upbringing in firm monotheism, they began to wonder what
God, who is pure goodness, would look like if he appeared in human form.
Seeing Jesus in operation, they became more and more sure of the answer.
After months together, Peter put it in words: "You are the Christ,
the Son of the living God."
His Words
What Jesus said helped convince his closest associates
of his divinity. His words were simple but tremendously pithy. They were
always on target of what needed saying.
Yet those words, at first glance, seemed to go far
overboard. He joked about criticizing others for having sawdust in their
eye when you have a two-by-four in your own. How can you see to remove
the sawdust? When one thought about his words, there was something deeply
serious underneath.
He spoke of cutting off your hand if it hurt your
relation with God. People heard and wondered whether to take this seriously,
and then decided they should. A group of soldiers sent to arrest him went
back empty-handed. They had made the mistake of
listening before arresting, and their excuse for failure
was: "Nobody has ever talked like this person!" (John 7:46).
Most of us have grown so familiar with Jesus’ sayings
that they pass through our ears without entering the mind. For all his
practicality, his sayings are often the exact reverse of normal thinking.
Who would build a lifestyle on loving enemies and blessing those who mistreat
them? How many make it a practice not to resist evil?
Jesus seems, at first glance, to be vastly overstating
his case -- which is a common form of Middle East humour. Then when one
burrows underneath to his reasons for saying what he does, we begin to
suspect he is in deadly earnest under the humorous tone.
Whatever he said centred on God’s overwhelming love
for all people. He wanted all people to receive that love and then pass
it on to others. If that is the way God is, if that is how we are and
what people need, then maybe extremes are how we need to act. If
God has given and will continue to give full measure and then heaped up
some more, we do not need to stop to calculate whether we can afford to
give to others. We are to act like God, to "be perfect -- just as
your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matthew 5:48).
His Nature
What Jesus did and said would not have been enough
to force on his closest associates that he was divine. There was also
the fact of what he was.
With most people, it is safest to do as they say
rather than as they do. That was not the case with Jesus. He did not merely
speak humility and self-giving love. He lived what he taught. More than
his words and deeds, the nature of Jesus was the most impressive thing
about him.
One day a young man came up to Jesus wanting a pat
on the back for the way he had kept the Law of Moses. Instead of complimenting
him, Jesus told him he lacked "one thing." The young man
was to go, sell what he had, give to the poor, and then
come and follow Jesus.
There are five verbs in the instructions. It seems
a little difficult to place the "one thing" the young man lacked,
but surely it was single-mindedness. He had not given himself completely
to anything. Concern for his riches was coming between him and the Law
of Moses. Jesus was asking a single-minded dedication to God without any
other thought or care beyond that.
That was exactly how Jesus lived: total concentration
on God and what God would want. When he required this of others, he did
not do so as a wet blanket out to spoil all fun. The way he saw it, this
was the only way that life was enjoyable. People, seeing him in action,
believed it and wanted his kind of enjoyment.
Nor did he demand from others recognition of his
special relationship with God. Unless they accused him of being in league
with the devil, he did not even seem to care what people thought of him.
He was, in fact, so self-effacing that we cannot know for sure what he
thought of himself. Rather than what people thought of him, he wanted
them to think well of God and to want what God wanted of their
lives.
With this kind of example before them, it seemed
to his closest associates that he was living a life so completely under
the will of God that he had disappeared. Looking at him, they felt they
were seeing how God would be if he took on human form. One of the Gospel
writers (probably not a disciple) put it this way: The Word became a human
being and, full of grace and truth, lived among us. We saw his glory,
the glory which he received as the Father’s only Son.
His Power
The authorities crucified Jesus after this very short
ministry. The death of Jesus had seemed an indication that pure goodness
loses in the end. Why try to be good if you end up dangling from a cross?
That, however, was not the end. A few weeks later
his students were preaching the gospel of the Risen Lord. His early followers
believed, quite literally, that God had restored his body to life.
To an outsider of the time, that proved nothing.
Maybe he had only seemed dead and revived, or maybe somebody had used
magic. Others had believed in someone’s resurrection on rare occasion.
So this resurrection, even if genuine, was no guarantee of uniqueness.
There was, however, something different going on here.
To insiders, the resurrection adds absolute power
into the mix. In or through Jesus, we have not just goodness but power.
Goodness did not die tragically but conquered even that biggest enemy,
death. The worst that people could do -- assassinating his life and reputation
-- had failed utterly. Even natural laws had given way to this power.
Gospel
Gospel means "good news," but this about
power having the last word was the ultimate good news. Enemies and natural
law could not hold Jesus down, and we can have a piece of the action.
Christianity spread from an upper room in
Jerusalem with such vigour that within weeks it was in a dozen countries.
Before the death of the last of Jesus’ students it was in every major
city of the eastern Mediterranean and elsewhere as well. How could this
happen?
Try to walk in the shoes of someone hearing about
Jesus from one of his former students, or from someone who had the news
from them. What you see is a life transformed. This was even more true
when you saw several of them together. These people lived love
for each other. Even slaves and slave masters seemed utterly devoted to
each other and spoke as equals!
There was also joy, and outsiders found this more
than unusual. These Christians were suffering persecution because of
their
faith, but they still radiated peace and joy.
They went to their doom praying for each other (hard, surely) but also
for their persecutors! No wonder people asked what they had that
the average person did not have.
Well, what did they have? They had had burdens removed
from their backs. First, they no longer had to fear death because they
knew God would remedy death for them. They were utterly sure that the
Jesus whom God had raised had taken them into himself and would share
with them his own eternal life. This was not some vague philosophy with
them. It was a deep-down belief that had turned upside down their whole
viewpoint about life and death.
Second, they had had removed from their shoulders
the burden of guilt. The best people of the day, both Jew and non-Jew,
crept around fearing to offend accidentally some angry god and incur punishment.
Not-so-good people felt they were already undergoing punishment; so what
is the use?
If God is love, though, his last word is no more
punishment than it is for a good and caring parent. If that love is proven
to exist, and proven to be more powerful than nature or demon, and proven
able to be mine, then I can repent and be accepted. Really and
truly God’s. Unconditionally.
Third, believers had had removed from their shoulders
the near necessity of selfishness. A God who assuredly loves me (and not
merely in principle but personally), a God who is rich and powerful beyond
measure, and one who gives without counting, will look after me and mine.
So I do not have to be defensive and always protecting myself. I can think
of your needs and truly share.
All of these beliefs found focus in the person of
Jesus, the Christ. They were not ideas. They were personal experiences.
People gave their lives to him with the words, "Jesus is Lord."
It has been so ever since. Christianity, then, is
not a set of ideas, not even a set of beliefs. It is contact with a person,
it is experiencing his ultimate love, and it is giving life over to him.
Further Titles
Earlier we mentioned Jesus being called Christ, Messiah,
Son, and second Adam -- all titles. The New Testament describes Jesus
many other ways, all of them having rich and deep connections with Old
Testament thinking. Sometimes (e.g., Emmanuel) the Jews described
the Messiah using a certain word, and for Christians to apply the title
to Jesus makes certain statements about him. Sometimes -- and more daringly
-- God was so described in the Old Testament (e.g., Shepherd,
King). To apply such a title to Jesus is a huge claim.
Here is a partial list of titles and passages if
you wish to look them up. Consider what they are attempting to say about
him.
Alpha and Omega Rev. 1:8 Lord of All Acts 10:36
Bread of life John 6:48 Master Matt. 19:16
Emmanuel Matt. 1:23 & 23:8
High Priest Heb. 4:14 Rabbi John 1:49
Judge Acts 10:42 Shepherd Mark 14:27
King Matt. 21:5 Son of David Matt. 9:27
King of the Jews Matt. 27:37 Son of God Mark 1:11
Lamb of God John 1:29 & Son of Man Matt. 11:19
Heb. 4:14 Teacher John 3:2
Light of the World John 8:12 The True Vine John 15:1
The Way John 14:6 The Word John 1:1
God the Holy Spirit
The United Church’s "New Creed" (see Service
Book #476) says about the Holy Spirit: "We believe in God ...
who works in us and others by his Spirit." That short statement raises
a few questions.
Superstition?
Has this talk of a spirit something to do with vague
forms wearing bedsheets and going bump in the night? It sounds that way,
and does so even more if we recall the older term for the third person
of the Trinity: Holy Ghost.
This Holy Spirit, however, has to do with God. He
is neither a superstition nor a lost soul unable to find his way into
the afterlife. The words refer to the third person of the Trinity, and
the reason so many people become confused by the Holy Spirit is that he
never has had (or been credited with) a body.
Jesus once strode the dusty roads of Palestine at
the head of a group of disciples. So although we don’t really know what
he looked like, we can still picture him in a body.
As for the Father, most of us at some time in the
past have pictured him as a child would. Maybe we still see him as a stern
man with a long beard sitting on a gold throne of judgment and scowling.
What image have we of the Spirit? The best most of
us can imagine is a swirl of wind-blown leaves. Our not-so-best image
is a ghost.
The problem is our senses. There are many forces
in nature that we cannot directly view. Magnetism is one, gravity another.
All we can visualize is the results of these forces: the swinging compass
needle or the apple falling on Newton. The Holy Spirit is just like that:
the force of God, God in action -- except he is not just a force but a
person.
Look at the very first question asked of people who
are joining the church. It presupposes the Holy Spirit as God "teaching
and guiding" us. So the means of grace that we talked about in an
earlier section (all that we know about God and his wishes) come to us
through the Holy Spirit.
A Personal Force
Magnetism and gravity are modern discoveries. The
comparison most used in the Bible is wind or breath. Ruach is the
Hebrew word for spirit, but it is also the word for breath or wind. An
old movie asks, "Who has seen the wind?" The Holy Spirit is
like the wind in that he is invisible and most times we don’t notice him.
As for breath, in Genesis God made Adam and then breathed into him the
breath (or spirit) of life. Ever since, God’s Spirit has been seen as
giving life, whether new life or meaning of life. Jesus’ conversation
with Nicodemus in John 3 is an example.
The Spirit often sneaks up on us. Elijah, after fleeing
Queen Jezebel, found a new home in a cave and decided his usefulness was
over. Then there was an earthquake, storm and all kinds of turmoil. Elijah
may have thought to himself, "Is God trying to tell me something?"
He detected no message, though, and no Spirit in the tumult. It was in
the stillness after that the message came.
Occasionally, though, the Spirit arrives with commotion.
That is what happened on the first Pentecost (50 week days after Easter).
According to Acts 2, there were tongues of fire, the building shook, and
people began to speak strange language. It should have been confusing
(it was to those out in the street), but those who experienced the Spirit’s
arrival found it invigorating and life-changing.
Speaking of turmoil, one day lightning hit the golfer,
Lee Trevino, out on the course. Bob Hope said to him afterwards, "When
God wants to play through you better let him!" Whether quiet or noisy,
the Spirit often has his way.
When and Where Does the Spirit Work?
Let’s deal with the "when" first. On the
very first page of the Bible the Spirit of God "walked on the face
of the waters." So he was present at creation and on almost every
page after that. Whenever anything good happens -- or when bad happens
and people need comforting -- the Holy Spirit is there.
As for whom the Spirit visits, that he is always
at work implies he is there for everyone. The Holy Spirit is not reserved
for a favoured few. He is present in the lives of every single person
who will let him in. Thus our statement of faith about the Holy Spirit
being "our teacher and guide" is true when the "our"
means everybody and not just Christians.
Still, he does have a special work to do with the
church. Because Christ cares especially for his own people, the Spirit
is particularly close to the church. Further, the Spirit helps us to hear
what scriptures are saying. So when we turn to them for understanding,
it is in fact the assistance of the Spirit we are seeking.
His presence is not always welcome, though, because
sometimes the message he brings is that we have not done well. Or that
we have half done and God wants more. Even here, though, his patience
shows God’s confidence in me.
Like with the wind, perhaps the best way to think
of the Holy Spirit is to consider the effects. So let us examine the gifts
he brings. When we try to define the work of the Spirit, people usually
list four kinds of jobs, but there are many more. Let’s look at the four
first.
Knowledge
First, the Holy Spirit makes truths clear. He is
mainly connected with spiritual knowledge, and whenever faith grows and
blossoms, the Spirit is there. When you think about it, though, most knowledge
has spiritual uses; so he is also there with secular discoverers.
This is not to say that Christians are always right.
Still, when we check facts against what the Bible, church and Spirit are
telling us, we usually have an advantage. To these three "boosts"
to understanding, you might want to add personal spiritual experience.
One of the ways we grow in the natural world is by experience. For example,
I learn which plants in my garden are most likely to become buggy and
then I check them more often. The Spirit helps me to God-knowledge in
the same way. I grow through spiritual experiences.
Come to think of it, is it possible that I am like
a high risk plant that the Spirit has to check more often than normal?
Enthusiasm
Second, the Spirit brings enthusiasm. At Pentecost
the crowd outside thought for a while that the disciples were drunk. That
is how alive they were.
A lack of zeal actually worries God. There is a letter
in the last book in the Bible that is addressed to seven churches, one
being described as luke-warm. The church is told, "I will spit you
out of my mouth." In fact, whenever a life contains resentment and
unwarranted pessimism, chances are that that life is already "out
of the mouth" and there is desperate need that life turn around.
Whenever the Holy Spirit operates in a life, there
will be joy, trust, openness and enthusiasm. There will be all the "fruits
of the Spirit" described in Galatians 5:22-23. Through the Spirit
we grow in backbone and maturity -- and enjoy life while doing so.
Another aspect of the Spirit’s work is getting us
off our behinds and doing. Interestingly, the liturgical colour
of Pentecost (the season of the Holy Spirit) is red. That happens to be
also the colour of revolution. Just as God is not standing around inactive,
so his goal for the world demands it keep going in the direction it needs
to go. If we stand still, either in our personal spiritual development
or in relation to serving God’s purpose in the world, then we have missed
the boat and are not on God’s side.
Comfort
Third, the Holy Spirit grants comfort. Please do
not think, though, that religion is a crutch. God is with us through thick
and thin. Usually it is in thin times we most notice the Spirit’s presence,
because then we have no other support.
Nevertheless, he is always here. That is why
it is important to notice the second half, as well as the first, of John
14:17: "I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter,
that he may abide with you forever, even the Spirit."
Here is something else to think about. The opposite
of comfort is an angry spirit. Quite often the reason we are angry and
attack others is because we don’t realize how very much God loves us and
that he is abiding with us always. If more people knew of God’s love,
there might be less need for comfort.
Alice Lee Humphres, in her book Angels in Pinafores,
tells about one of her first grade pupils coming to school one cold winter
day wearing a beautiful white angora beret and muff. A mischievous boy
grabbed the muff and threw it in the mud. The teacher disciplined the
boy, then turned to comfort the girl. Brushing mud off the soiled muff,
the little girl looked up at the teacher and said, "Sometime I must
take a day off and tell him about God."
As far as the girl was concerned, everything that
was wrong with the boy could be made right if she could just tell him
about God. Was she wrong? Part of our comfort will happen only if we share
that comfort with others.
Because he brings comfort the Bible sometimes calls
him the Comforter. Because he stands beside us in trouble, we also call
him Paraclete (it means he is my "advocate" -- or lawyer in
a court case). As Paul said, "If God is for me, who can be against
me?" It is through the Spirit that we realize God’s power is present
with me. He is the personal, present power of God in my life and
in all the world.
Fellowship
Fourth, the Spirit provides fellowship, particularly
within the church. It is through the work of the Spirit that the church
started in the first place (Acts 2 and everything after). Christians were
not to be loose cells moving about at random but the "Body of Christ,"
individuals working together for the health of the body and under the
direction of Christ, the "head."
It was through this fellowship or body that Christians
stood up to the power of the Roman Empire and produced uncounted miracles
of faith. So it is through the Spirit, and especially through the gift
of fellowship, that power comes. We need the discipline, action and encouragement
of fellow believers or our belief will lose momentum and our power fail.
God’s contact with his world is through the Spirit,
as we will see in our discussion of Trinity.
Trinity
Our whole "natural" existence is complicated
enough, but when we throw in the "spiritual realm," it gets
even worse. Our God is one, but he is three. What can this mean?
It sounds very complicated. Furthermore, we are assured
that "No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the
Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him"
(Matt. 11:27, John 1:18, 17:25-26). In other words, it seems, we not only
don’t understand simple explanations very well but we don’t have a single
clue of what’s really going on.
Suitcase Problems
John Stott in a book called Your Confirmation
says this:
Trinity is the biggest mystery of the Christian religion.
This doctrine is far beyond the grasp of our finite minds.
God-talk is like trying to pack a small suitcase with
all our worldly possessions. A little will fit and, if we really work
at it, we can usually squeeze in a little more. In the end, though, to
get everything about God into our tiny minds is beyond us.
This should not be too surprising. We have to admit
that if God is really
-all-knowing while we are not,
-all-powerful while we are limited, and
-everywhere while we are in one place at any point
in time,
then our little human minds simply can’t understand God.
This limitation may be one reason why the Jews have
always frowned on pictures of God ("graven images" forbidden
in the Ten Commandments). Any attempt to draw, paint or sculpt him falls
short and ends up creating a mockery. He is also bigger than our symbols
can grasp and bigger even than our language can handle.
Bigger than language? How can that be? Consider the
way we humans think. Our minds are constructed to place everything
in
terms of time, space and cause. God, however, is beyond
these categories. If we refuse to admit that, then we have to place God
"up there" for Yuri Gagarin to run into with his rocket ship.
Okay, he is beyond even our language ability and
symbol scope, but what "little bit" about Trinity can we get
into our suitcase? There are a few things.
Not Theology But Experience.
Our natural suspicion is that religious leaders made up the whole
Trinity bit. That way, we would need religious leaders to explain things.
Stott (who, unfortunately for my argument, is a religious leader) denies
that:
Trinity is not a peculiar theory invented by impractical
theologians. Rather, it is an attempt to put into words a truth which
God revealed in facts of history. The apostles were Jews who had been
brought up to believe in God, the Creator of the world and the Holy
One of Israel. Then they met Jesus, and as they lived with him, they
came to realize that he was no mere man. He was divine. Yet he was not
himself the Father, for he used to pray to the Father.
Then he started telling them that someone else,
whom he called "the Spirit of Truth" and "the Paraclete"
or "Comforter," would come and take his place when Jesus had
gone. On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit did come with the fullness
of divine power. But he was not the Father. Nor was he Jesus. He was
one with them, and yet he was distinct from them. So it was the pressure
of their own experience which forced the apostles to believe in the
Trinity.
Actually, Stott is presenting two arguments here.
One is that their life experiences forced the disciples into believing
in Trinity. The other argument is also strong. The disciples were deep-dyed
Jews who had had drilled into them from their birth that God is one. Trinity
was the last thing they would have invented in the normal flow of things.
Comparisons Possible
If the world is complicated like our religion is
complicated, then maybe, from time to time, we can find in the natural
world things that will help us to understand our religion. They will be
rough approximations only, but that is better than nothing.
For example, psychology sometimes talks of a person’s
mental make-up being ego, id and super-ego. Of course, in a human they
often fight each other, but the main point is that if I can be composite,
why can’t God?
Here is another comparison from the physical world
that might help us understand Trinity. Everyone knows that H2O
is water. Oh, but wait a minute. H2O is also steam and ice
-- three states of the one substance. So why can’t God have three persons
in the one being?
We should not press the comparison too far and decide
Spirit is like being surrounded in steam while the Father is as cold as
a chunk of ice. All comparisons have their limits. Still, they
also have their uses.
Again a thought from Stott’s book might be helpful.
Much of our difficulty in understanding
the Trinity arises from confusion about the nature of unity. There are
two kinds of unity which have been called "mathematical" and
"organic." A mathematical unity is one and indivisible. An
organic unity, on the other hand, may contain many component parts.
God’s unity is one, but he comprehends the Father, the Son and the Holy
Spirit.
Two Adams
The usual "orthodox" way of explaining
Trinity involves the Adam legend. God is pure holiness and nothing tainted
can come into his presence. So when Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden,
that meant separation: God expelled him, and sin made him unable to return.
It also meant death for, according to this legend’s way of looking at
things, the punishment for sin is eventual death as well as weeds in your
garden.
At the hinge of history, though, the Son of God stood
in for Adam to give perfection another try. This time it was successful.
Jesus lived a perfect life; so his death was therefore unjustified. He
then took this "credit in the bank" to the Father and said,
"Chalk it up not to me but to my team." When added up, the books
exactly balanced.
The time line has three parts. The first is shaping
history to make ready for Jesus. Second is Jesus’ life itself. Third is
Christ (ascended) presenting himself in our humanity to the Father on
behalf of humankind. The whole process, the legend says, happens through
the participation of the Spirit and at the Father’s prompting. So Trinity
is in on everything.
Furthermore, the knowledge of what is going on in
heaven is brought to humanity from the Father, through the Son and in
the Spirit. This is half the double movement of grace. The other half
is us being brought into relation with the Father through the Son and
in the Spirit.
Conclusion
Let’s conclude by quoting again the first question
asked of people joining the church according to the wording of the traditional
service. The question is this:
Do you profess your faith in God your heavenly Father,
in Jesus Christ your Saviour and Lord, and in the Holy Spirit your Teacher
and Guide? If so, please answer, "I do."
A positive answer places you within the boundaries of
the orthodox Christian faith and makes you soul-mate to billions down
through the years and now living.
The next challenge is: what will you do with your
belief?
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