It’s possible that this could be the least applicable, most life-changing series of our Christian lives. That may sound crazy, but I believe that it’s worth a shot because I can’t imagine life without it anymore.

I figure that I’m cut from roughly the same cloth as most of you. I’m a midwesterner who grew up attending church picnics (with buckets of chicken and casseroles of jello) and Sunday afternoon naps with football on the TV. I like Chipotle, but sometimes I feel a little guilty that there isn’t enough white gravy on the burritos. But also, like most of you, I came to realize—by God’s grace—I was missing a lot of truth, a lot of doctrine, a lot of theology.

We luv us some truth. We’re a book-reading, long-sermon listening, personal Bible-studying people. We like our theologians dead and our exegetical coffee black. We’re where we are because we ourselves have been, or we know those who are, driven by emotion or the changing trends of cultural relevance or digestion systems. We don’t want that. Give us truth or we die. Without the truth, we will.

After three Bible colleges, I eventually headed to The Master’s Seminary hoping to find a place where I could get my fill. The people in Ohio who were around me thought I was crazy for moving to California. I moved, found a job, found a ministry, and found a wife. I worked at Grace Community Church; so did Mo for a while. I got dispensationalism leaked on me, along with Greek and Hebrew languages and preaching and all sorts of truth stuff.

After I graduated, we moved to Marysville where I took on the youth pastor mantle, shepherding students and equipping staff. We had our first daughter, followed by a son, then added more.

But something was still missing, not only in my ministry, not only in our marriage, but in my theology.

We know the importance of theology, right? The indicatives (what is) lead to the imperatives (so what or what next). Romans 1-11 lead to 12:1-2, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as living sacrifices.” Ephesians 1-3 leads to 4-6, “I therefore urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.” What we believe changes what we do. Doing depends on doctrine. Ideas have consequences.

We have access to great teaching and amazing theology, so why are so many of our Christian lives, our families, our churches, our cultural influence, still so fragile? Why are men still so reluctant to sacrifice, so easily angered and embittered? Some of my most ugly, most nasty anger came out toward Mo in the same years when I was studying the most glorious truth. Why are women still feeling so unfulfilled, so lonely, and/or like they need to fill up what is lacking in their husband’s leadership? Why is there still so much distance between church people who share so much doctrine?

I’m convinced it’s not because we don’t know enough, it’s because we don’t really know what we know. Actually, it’s because our theology is wrong, or maybe shortsighted. Worse, it’s because our theology proper is wrong. We don’t actually know God Himself. If it’s true that ideas have consequences, and it is, then there must be a problem with our ideas.

There is another way to say it: we become like what we worship. This reality is taught throughout the Bible, but consider one negative and one positive example.

Their [the nations, v.2] idols are silver and gold,
the work of human hands.
They have mouths, but do not speak;
eyes, but do not see.
They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell.
They have hands, but do not feel;
feet, but do not walk;
and they do not make a sound in their throat.
Those who make them become like them;
so do all who trust in them.
(Psalm 115:4–8, ESV)

We become like our gods/God. Worship is a transforming activity. We cannot not be changed. The nations (men individually and corporately) become unable to speak, unable to see, and unable to hear, just like the objects of their attention. They become more and more senseless, they become—if possible—more and more dead as they trust dead gods.

On the other hand, those who worship the true God become like Him.

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord,are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:18, ESV)

When we “behold the glory of The Lord” we are changed into the same image. We need an unveiled face, and then, rather than death to death, we go from glory to glory.

So if it’s true that we become like what we worship, and it is, then failure in our behavior can be traced back to a failure in our beholding. I have come to believe that the fundamental problems in our worldview stem from problems in our worship of God. Yes, even we theology lovers need some serious theological repair.

I did. Like many young people, I grew up vowing that I would not take on many of (what I considered to be) the sins of my dad. I promised myself that I would do marriage and family differently. I ended up going to multiple Bible colleges, becoming a Calvinist, learning Greek, then ending up at the expositional center of the English speaking world. All of which advantages my dad didn’t have (or want). Mo and I got married after my first year of seminary. I was an intern and a pastor and then a graduate and a pastor in another place. I was studying the Bible and teaching and studying more. And yet, I couldn’t shake the anger, or the desire for isolation, or any number of other joyless sins. I could see the problems even though my pride hated to acknowledge the ugliness in my heart. The years went on, we added kids into the mix. We bought a house with my in-laws and moved in together. I couldn’t have had better access to gospel truth, and yet I wasn’t responding better.

Until I started to study and preach through Genesis in September of 2008. Five and a half years later, the doctrine of the Trinity is more a burr in my soul’s saddle than ever.

For the most part, the doctrine of the Trinity is like a thick book with small print placed on the top shelf in our library. We would never get rid of it, but we rarely pull it down to read. It’s not a doctrine that gets frequent play in the rotation.

We named this local congregation Trinity Evangel Church. We did not thumb through a theological dictionary to find some fancy or serious sounding words and slap them together. There is a reason for all three parts and there is a reason why Trinity comes first. Calling ourselves Trinity for short should make a difference in how we do things. And whether or not it was part of our congregation’s name or how many leaves are on our logo, to the degree that we ignore the Trinity we will fail to be the baptized community of disciples that Jesus commissioned. Life without the Trinity is unChristian.

I have no illusions that I will be able to dig up and dust off the mystery of the eternal Three-in-One, nor that I will be able to dig out all the necessary implications of the Trinity for our own interactions. But for tonight I want to condense the biblical and historical truth about the Trinity and then in the following parts of this series consider the practical, familial, relational, ecclesiastical implications of the Trinity for life.

The Trinity Revealed in Scripture

Certain facts about God are revealed. God is who He is, and we are to worship Him as He is, not as we imagine or prefer. The fact is, our God is Triune. “God minus creation would still be God, but God minus Father, Son, and Holy Spirit would not be God” (Fred Sanders, The Deep Things of God: How the Trinity Changes Everything, 70). We must teach who He is and not leave the Godhead vague or foggy. Unless disciples identify with and worship the Triune God, they are idolators. As Michael Reeves introduces in his book, Delighting in the Trinity,

If the Trinity were something we could shave off God, we would not be relieving Him of some irksome weight; we would be shearing him of precisely what is so delightful about him. (9)

Orthodoxy—accepted doctrine—originates in God, it comes from Him through His Word, and it has been explained and safeguarded by the church.

Any study of the Trinity must get over the hurdles of progressive revelation, dispersed revelation, and divine revelation. What I mean is that God didn’t tell His people everything at the beginning, He didn’t tell them everything about anything in only one chapter or book of the Bible, and He didn’t tell finite creatures everything about His infinite self.

That said, even though the word “Trinity” isn’t found in the Bible, the truth of the Trinity is clearly revealed. That means we must receive it and teach it, even if we don’t fully comprehend it.

The Trinity does not refer to three Gods but to three different Persons of the same God all at the same time. There are at least hints of the Trinity in the Old Testament. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth “and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters” (Genesis 1:2). The common word for “God” is

Elohim…the plural ending of the Hebrew noun…could translate the name Elohim as “gods.” However, while the name Elohim has a plural ending, it always appears with singular verb forms. (Sproul)

Also in Psalm 110, God is having a conversation with David’s Lord: “The LORD [Yahweh] says to my Lord [Adonai]: Sit at my right hand…” The New Testament picks up on this and talks about Jesus simultaneously being David’s son and David’s Lord.

In the New Testament, at the baptism of Jesus, the Son was in the water, the Father spoke from heaven, and the Spirit descended on the Son (Matthew 3:13-17). Jesus prayed to the Father (cf. Matthew 26:39) and was lead and empowered by the Spirit (Luke 4:1, 14; Matthew 12:28). Unless there are three, these prayers are a “ridiculous soliloquy” (Culver, Systematic Theology: Biblical and Historical, 115).

The three Persons are one God, one substance or essence. The great Shema, the great confession of faith in Israel: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” (Deuteronomy 6:4, ESV) The Jews were surrounded by polytheists, by cultures who worshipped many gods. But in the Bible, the Word was with God and the Word was God (John 1:1). Jesus and the Father are one (John 10:30). Likewise, the Spirit is God (Matthew 3:16; 12:28), He is also called the Spirit of Christ (Romans 8:9; 1 Peter 1:11). There is one Spirit, one Lord, one God and Father of all (Ephesians 4:4-6). It’s why we baptize disciples “in the name,” singular, of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19).

Though we do not fully understand how God’s tri-unity functions, His tri-unity is not a contradiction.

the law of non-contradiction…states, “A cannot be A and non-A at the same time and in the same relationship.” When we confess our faith in the Trinity, we affirm that God is one in essence and three in person. Thus, God is one in A and three in B. (R.C. Sproul, What Is the Trinity?)

We believe, when it comes to revelation, that the Father speaks the word, the Son incarnates the word, and the Spirit inspires the word. All three Persons communicate differently to the same end. We also believe, when it comes to redemption, that the Father chose, the Son atoned, and the Spirit regenerates (cf. Ephesians 1:3-14). All three Persons work distinctly and inseparably for salvation.

The Trinity Defended throughout Church History

As with any revealed truth, unbelievers tweak or attack it. It’s false teaching, it’s idolatry: fashioning another god even if using the same name(s).

We are monotheists—those who worship one God, not polytheists—those who worship many gods. But that’s not enough. We are Trinitarian monotheists, not Unitarian monotheists—those who believe in one God as one Person. Jews who reject Jesus as the Son of God are Unitarians. Allah is a Unitarian god. The Jehovah’s Witnesses are also Unitarians; they believe Jesus is a special being, but still a created being, and not eternal God.

We are also Trinitarian monotheists, not modalist monotheists—those who believe in one God who takes different forms or modes. Modalism (also referred to as monarchianism) speaks about the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as different expressions or forms that God takes at different times; the three Persons never exist as all three at the same time. A modalist typically understands the Father as God’s form in eternity past and in the Old Testament, the Son in Jesus, and the Spirit now. For example, water is always water, it takes different forms—liquid, solid, or gas—but not at the same time. For example, Phillips, Craig & Dean appear to believe in a modalistic understanding of the Trinity.

We believe in one God who is eternal in His existence, Triune in His manifestation, being both Father, Son and Holy Ghost AND that He is Sovereign and Absolute in His authority. (emphasis mine)

A Unitarian god as well as a Modalist god are idols, another god than the name in which we baptize. Church history, preserved in creeds and confessions, has fought for orthodox Trinitarian definitions. The Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Definition of Chalcedon are three of the earliest attempts of the church to define and defend the orthodox understanding of God’s nature. Consider the Trinitarian backbone in these creeds:

[Apostles]: I believe in God the Father Almighty…And in Jesus Christ His only Son…I believe in the Holy Ghost.

[Nicene]: We believe in one God, the Father…We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God…true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one being with the Father…We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father [and the Son]. With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified.

And because the nature of the Trinity begin to provoke other questions about the nature of Jesus,

[Chalcedon]: Jesus Christ, at once complete in Godhead and complete in manhood, truly God and truly man,…of one substance with the Father as regards his Godhead, and at the same time of one substance with us as regards his manhood…recognized in two natures, without confusion, without change, without division, without separation.

We believe and we teach the truth of the Trinity as it is revealed in Scripture. We also stand on the shoulders of men who studied God’s Word and who sought to make it clear for our understanding. The Trinity is truth, to be understood and communicated with accuracy. That is where most disciples leave it, as a truth to be known. We’re in trouble if the Trinity is only a doctrine.

Conclusion

Because we become like what we worship, we need the Trinity. To the degree that we live Trinitarian, we will be whole, joyful, and loving. The Trinity is a revealed and relevant doctrine, the eternal Three-in-One is truth and life. Our failure to worship a Triune God results in practical day to day failures, in marriage, in church life, in community. In the following messages of this series we will consider some of the implications of Trinitarianism for life.

On the first page of his famous book, The Knowledge of the Holy, A.W. Tozer wrote:

What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.

The history of mankind will probably show that no people has ever risen above its religion, and man’s spiritual history will positively demonstrate that no religion has ever been greater than its idea of God. Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God.

For this reason the gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most portentous (momentous) fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like.

We tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God. This is true not only of the individual Christian, but of the company of Christians that composes the Church. Always the most revealing thing about the Church is her idea of God.

Proper recognition of God changes everything, that is, recognizing who God is will tell us who we were made to be as His image-bearers.