LIFE IN THE TRINITY

Over and over again we need to hear, “Fix your thoughts on Jesus” because we so easily look elsewhere. Not a few may assume that there is some bigger and deeper reality of God that is above and beyond Jesus. They think that the idea of “God” or “spirituality” cannot be confined to just one historical person. The idea is that we can go beyond Jesus to something bigger and even better. Some may say, “I’ve now moved on to a bigger and deeper view of God”.

In the Colossian church, some seemed to think they needed other things alongside of Jesus. They thought that knowledge of angels, spirituality and religion were all necessary to live in the fullness of God. Paul responded to this by writing,
“My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ,  in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2: 2-3). And also, “see to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ. For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness” (Colossians 2: 8-10).

In contrast to the people he is writing to, Paul has a big view of Jesus as the very fullness of God and the one who brings us into fullness. I don’t think Paul, or even God himself, would ever say to us, “you have made Jesus too big!”

Some have referred to the Holy Spirit as the shy member of the Trinity. He is happy to remain hidden as he shines his light on the Son and the Father through the Son. He wants to remain hidden for this purpose. He is truly glad when he does what he wants to do-glorifying the Son before our eyes. Yes, the Spirit of truth simply wants to bring the radiance of God’s glory to us.

So we do not know the Holy Spirit directly in his own personal glory. We only know the Spirit indirectly as the personal presence of God bringing the glory of God to us in the face of Christ and enabling us to share in that glory as we are transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory. His light shines in us to enlighten us so that we may see the beauty of Jesus with the eyes of our hearts. And as we are transformed into his glory by the Spirit we reflect his beauty to one another.

What a great vision of church! A community gathered around Jesus contemplating his glory in the Spirit and being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory in the Spirit. And also, by the Spirit, reflecting that glory to one another and the world. All this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. Of course! How else?

The Spirit’s passion and purpose is to glorify Jesus within us and among us. The Spirit doesn’t show us the glory with the result that we are detached spectators staring at the glory. Spirit is within and among us and so he glorifies Jesus in such a way that we share in his glory. We can say this because the Spirit unites us personally to Jesus and Jesus to us so that we share in all that he is with us and for us.

During the Old Testament story, the shekinah glory filled God’s dwelling place. This is the shining forth of the personal presence of the Lord himself. God’s Spirit comes to us to make this shekinah glory shine forth even more fully to us in the Face of Jesus, the Father’s Son. The God who said let light shine out o darkness has shone into our hearts (by his Spirit) to give the light of the knowledge of the (shekinah) glory of God in the Face of Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son. Through the Son and the Spirit the divine shekinah glory of God’s personal presence shines towards us and within us and among us. And as we contemplate this glory we are transformed into the same likeness with ever-increasing glory. In this way, we really do share in the glory.

This sharing in the glory is real, but only in part. However, as the Spirit enables us to see something of the glory, we live in sure expectation of the future glory in fullness.
For right now, the Lord who is the Spirit shows us that our lives are hidden with God in Christ and that when he appears we shall appear with him in glory

Just before Jesus went to the cross he said that he would ask the Father to give us another just like himself. This other one would be with us forever. True to his word, Jesus received the Spirit from his Father and poured out this promised gift on his own. The exalted Jesus does not want to leave us alone. He wants his own Spirit to be with us and in us so that we know him in the Spirit’s presence and serve him in the Spirit’s power.

For the Spirit comes from Jesus and unites us with Jesus. The Spirit is the living personal connection between Jesus at the right hand of God and us where we are. We are in living union with Jesus because he has given himself to us in his Spirit. And so we are never disconnected from him.

In the Spirit, Jesus comes among us in such a way that we know that he is in his Father and that we are in him and he is in us. We are all in one another. And the Spirit is the living reality of this living union: Jesus in the Father and the Father in him; Jesus in us and we in him. The Spirit is given so that we know this union as a living reality in our daily lives. And so, union with Christ is a deeply personal, dynamic and relational sharing in Jesus’ life with his Father

May the Spirit enable us to live into this living union.

“We all love stories of triumph, and we want to be on the winning side, but God does not defeat his enemies in the way we might anticipate. In fact, God subverts human triumphalism in that he wins by losing” (Timothy Gombis). Jesus dies on the cross in weakness and yet, that death has power to overturn the reign of sin and death. In utter weakness he disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross (Colossians 2:15). And then God raised Jesus from death exalting him in triumph as Lord over all. In this drama, all our expectations of triumph over powers are overturned.

But if these “powers” have been defeated, why does evil still appear to carry on reigning supreme as before? Is the good news of God’s triumph over darkness just wishful thinking? On the cross, God did triumph over the dark powers that ruled over us: sin, death and Satan. And we can see something of this victory even now as people are rescued from the domain of darkness to be transferred into the kingdom of the Son God loves. As free people, we are now the community of the king sharing his love relationship with the Father in the Spirit. Truly we are rescued and restored to communion under God’s triumphant rule. However, we will only see this triumph fully revealed in the future in God’s plan to sum up all things in heaven and earth in the Messiah (Ephesians 1:10). Now, as the community of the king, we struggle against the powers of the present evil age with God’s power through weakness. And we do so with a mix of joy and grief.

Jesus promised life in fullness, but he was himself brutally executed. It seemed like death had the last word. However, death is not the end of the Jesus story. For by the Spirit, the Father raised Jesus from death declaring him to be Son of God in power.

The risen Jesus was exalted to his Father’s right hand with all authority in heaven and earth. He also received from his Father the promised Spirit to be poured out on his own. From that moment, Jesus’ disciples lived in the presence and power of the risen one. As they looked back at the cross, through the living presence of risen one, they saw that the old order had ended and a new one had begun. And so, the resurrection completely changed how they now saw the cross. They once reflected on the cross as the sad end to all their hopes, but now, they saw the cross as the beginning of a great turnaround. Yes, they now saw that something had happened during that dark hour that had changed the world. They saw that Jesus died to defeat the dark powers that have dominion over us. And they saw that God brought into being his new creation with the resurrection of Jesus. The world was now a different place, for the dying and rising of Jesus marked the end of one era and the start of another.

As we now survey the wondrous cross and the resurrection that followed, the Spirit opens to us a new vision of the God who has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son he loves.

Before the world was made, the Son was always with his Father enjoying joyful communion in the Spirit. However, the Son was chosen to be God with us as one of us. And in obedience to his Father, he came among us in deep lowliness. He actually descended from his joyful communion with the Father into a world that is alienated from God. He came to turn us from estrangement into the communion of joyful love for which we were created.

Jesus accomplished his mission as a lowly servant who was totally obedient. His obedience flowed from a deep love for the one he called Father. His life was a constant expression of worship as he offered himself freely to do his Father’s will. He came into the midst of a disordered, distorted, and divided world living faithfully towards his Father in thankfulness, praise, and adoration. His whole life was an offering of total devotion towards his Father in the Spirit.

All this came to its climax in his obedience unto death in which he offered himself freely as the sacrifice for sin on our behalf. This is the one who loved his Father and gave himself fully to his Father even unto death on the cross. This is the one who, in loving his Father, loved us and gave himself for us on the cross. His whole intention was to turn us from our rejection of God into glad communion with his Father in the Spirit. May we now give ourselves freely to this God becoming the community that was intended all along.

In Romans 8: 19-23 Paul says creation is like a person yearning for something big in the future. What is creation eagerly longing for? It awaits the revealing of the children of God.  In God’s new world to come, the sons and daughters of God will be revealed in full freedom and glory. Then the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. And creation is groaning in labour pains awaiting all this.

Paul goes on to say, “And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption”. In these words, we hear the tension of the already and not yet. Already, as adopted sons and daughters, we have the Spirit of God’s Son, the Spirit of adoption. And this Spirit is the presence of the future giving to us a foretaste of future freedom and glory. Already, by the Spirit, we enjoy something of our future life

Nevertheless, the fullness of our adoption is not yet. And so we groan within us as we wait for the fullness of our adoption. In that fullness, our bodies will be resurrected so that we share the resurrection body of God’s Incarnate Son. In that fullness, we will enjoy the freedom and glory of the sons and daughters of God. Right now our lives are hidden with Christ in God and when he appears we shall appear with him in glory.

In Romans 8: 19-23 Paul says creation is like a person yearning for something big in the future. What is creation eagerly longing for? It awaits the revealing of the children of God.  In God’s new world to come, the sons and daughters of God will be revealed in full freedom and glory. Then the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. And creation is groaning in labour pains awaiting all this.

Paul goes on to say, “And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption”. In these words, we hear the tension of the already and not yet. Already, as adopted sons and daughters, we have the Spirit of God’s Son, the Spirit of adoption. And this Spirit is the presence of the future giving to us a foretaste of future freedom and glory. Already, by the Spirit, we enjoy something of our future life

Nevertheless, the fullness of our adoption is not yet. And so we groan within us as we wait for the fullness of our adoption. In that fullness, our bodies will be resurrected so that we share the resurrection body of God’s Incarnate Son. In that fullness, we will enjoy the freedom and glory of the sons and daughters of God. Right now our lives are hidden with Christ in God and when he appears we shall appear with him in glory.

Even before God created the world his purpose for us was adoption. And when the set time was fully come God acted to fulfil his purpose by sending his Son. (Galatians 4.4-5). The Father and Son enjoyed love relationship with one another before they made the world. Out of this love relationship, the Father sent his Son into the world as human. He sent him so that we might be adopted as sons (the term sons includes daughters). Jesus is the Father’s unique Son and we become sons and daughters because of our union with The Son.

Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father (Galatians 4: 6). The Son was sent into the world to make us sons. Now the Spirit of that same Son is sent into our hearts crying Abba Father.  Abba is the Aramaic word for Father. While God’s Son was on earth, he addressed God as Abba (Mark 14:36).  And now, through the Spirit of God’s Son, the Son’s own Abba Father cries out within us as we share in the Son’s relationship with Abba. In heaven, Jesus speaks his own Abba before the Father and his Abba is echoed in us through the Spirit of the Son within us.

Paul is speaking here about sharing in the Son’s love relationship with Abba Father together.  All the pronouns are plural. We are Sons and daughters communally.  And so, we cry Abba Father together.  As the Son relates in love to the Father, we are all caught up in this together in the Spirit.