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Currently, here at GracePoint, we’re in a study series I’m calling, ‘Paradox: Embracing The Mystery of God’. To-date, we’ve given thought to the practical paradoxes of how it is that we can know strength in weakness, and what it means to lose our lives to save them. We’ve also reflected on the theological paradox of victory in seeming defeat that is the crucifixion of Christ. This morning, we’re going think about perhaps the ultimate paradox at the core of Christian faith, what many would describe as being the most unique and distinctive Christian teaching about God, that being the belief that God exists as a trinity.

There are many biblical passages that reference this reality concerning the essential nature of God, and for our purposes this morning here are just a few:

“Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…” So God created man in his own image… Genesis 1:26-27, ESV

And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Isaiah 6:8, ESV

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.. Matthew 28:19, ESV

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. 2 Corinthians 13:14, ESV

…to those who are elect exiles…according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ… 1 Peter 1:1-2, ESV

But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. Jude 20-21, ESV

What does it mean to say that God is triune?

I. _______________

Christians are not tritheists believing in three Gods, but monotheists believing in one God.

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” Deuteronomy 6:4, ESV

Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is one… Romans 3:29-30a, ESV

There is one God… 1 Timothy 2:5a, ESV

II. _______________

God is not a solitary deity but rather a community of three distinct persons, meaning that the Father is not the Son or the Holy Spirit, and the Son is not the Father or the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is not the Father or the Son, and yet they are all equally and fully the one God.

We need to recognize that there is a profound mystery to the biblical teaching of the Trinity, for we cannot fully understand is how to fit together those distinct teachings about the nature of God, that is the one and the three. But surely that shouldn’t surprise us, for although we can come to know God in part through the revelation of himself he has provided, we as finite beings cannot know him fully and exhaustively, for there is a sense in which his infinity is incomprehensible.

Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. Isaiah 40:28, NIV

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! “Who has known the mind of the Lord?” Romans 11:33-34a, NIV

However, it’s important to appreciate that Scripture doesn’t ask us to believe in a contradiction when it comes to the doctrine of the Trinity. To say that, “God is one in essence and three in person” is not a contradiction because the way in which God is one is not the same as the way in which he is three. Christianity teaches that God is one in essence — that is, in nature, in being — while at the same time being three in person.

Here are two ways we can personally allow our lives to be impacted by the reality of the triune nature of God.

III. The Trinity should change the way we receive God’s _______________

Long before God created anything, the Trinity highlights the fact that he was a community of perfect love, the eternal love the Father, Son and Holy Spirit have for one another. Because of the Father’s love for us, he sent the Son who died so that our sin would not prevent us from joining that relationship, and those that receive the forgiveness of their sins through faith in the Son are sealed with the Holy Spirit who is the guarantee of our forever relationship with God.

IV. The Trinity should affect the way we worship God

The mysterious truth of the Trinity should deepen our sense of the greatness of God, the otherness of God, the majesty of God, leading us to experience a profound wonder and awe that results in our worship of him.

Good morning heavenly Father, good morning Lord Jesus, good morning Holy Spirit. Heavenly Father, I worship you as the creator and sustainer of the universe. Lord Jesus, I worship you, Saviour and Lord of the world. Holy Spirit, I worship you, sanctifier of the people of God. Glory to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. Heavenly Father, I pray that I may live this day in your presence and please you more and more. Lord Jesus, I pray that this day I may take up my cross and follow you. Holy Spirit, I pray that this day you will fill me with yourself and cause your fruit to ripen in my life: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Holy, blessed and glorious Trinity, three persons in one God, have mercy upon me. Amen.