The background and first part can be found here...
The Christian life is founded on the Trinitarian God, indeed without the Trinitarian God we lose the Christ of the Christian. We believe that Jesus “tabernacled” (John 1:14) amongst us; that he came to live the life that we would not live, to suffer the punishment that we could not bear and to die the death that we should have borne. Only in the Trinitarian God can “God damn God” (C.S. Lewis – I think), only in the Trinity can God the Son bear the righteous wrath of God the Father (Romans 5:9-10), for it is only in Jesus the God-man that one can die for the sins of many (Hebrews 9:28) and it is only through God the Holy Spirit that many can come to a saving knowledge of the salvific work of Jesus. Only by trusting in the comprehensive work of the Trinitarian God can the relationship, for which we were created, be restored.
The Christian life must, at the most basic level, be seen as the outworking of a God given desire to pursue the restoration of relationship and the building of community; it is altogether “other-centric” (Philippians 2:3). Whether it is evangelism, social action or environmentalism, if indeed they can be separated, we are always seeking the restoration of right relationship, but it is fundamentally necessary that our understanding of the Trinitarian God of the universe feeds our desire to go about this “ministry of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:18-19). If our evangelism, our social action or our environmentalism does not spring from the Trinitarian nature of God, from an understanding that Jesus Christ “gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father” (Galatians 1:4) and that there is a sanctifying work of the Spirit of God in the life of the elect (1 Peter 1:2), if we do not work from this foundation and if we do not allow the priorities of the Trinitarian God to inform our actions then “everything is meaningless, utterly meaningless” (Ecclesiastes 1:2 (NIV) - slightly altered).
If we desire to be in the business of the restoration of right relationships then we must work from the biblical foundation that “the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purifies our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.” (Hebrews 9:14 – slightly altered) This must be our identity, our foundation and the reason for our Christianity. This is how the Trinitarian God makes a difference to the Christian life.
We cannot say with the Orange advert that “I am who I am because of everyone.” We can only say that “I am who I am because of I AM.”
God bless.
Dear Freedom
The Christian life is founded on the Trinitarian God, indeed without the Trinitarian God we lose the Christ of the Christian. We believe that Jesus “tabernacled” (John 1:14) amongst us; that he came to live the life that we would not live, to suffer the punishment that we could not bear and to die the death that we should have borne. Only in the Trinitarian God can “God damn God” (C.S. Lewis – I think), only in the Trinity can God the Son bear the righteous wrath of God the Father (Romans 5:9-10), for it is only in Jesus the God-man that one can die for the sins of many (Hebrews 9:28) and it is only through God the Holy Spirit that many can come to a saving knowledge of the salvific work of Jesus. Only by trusting in the comprehensive work of the Trinitarian God can the relationship, for which we were created, be restored.
The Christian life must, at the most basic level, be seen as the outworking of a God given desire to pursue the restoration of relationship and the building of community; it is altogether “other-centric” (Philippians 2:3). Whether it is evangelism, social action or environmentalism, if indeed they can be separated, we are always seeking the restoration of right relationship, but it is fundamentally necessary that our understanding of the Trinitarian God of the universe feeds our desire to go about this “ministry of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:18-19). If our evangelism, our social action or our environmentalism does not spring from the Trinitarian nature of God, from an understanding that Jesus Christ “gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father” (Galatians 1:4) and that there is a sanctifying work of the Spirit of God in the life of the elect (1 Peter 1:2), if we do not work from this foundation and if we do not allow the priorities of the Trinitarian God to inform our actions then “everything is meaningless, utterly meaningless” (Ecclesiastes 1:2 (NIV) - slightly altered).
If we desire to be in the business of the restoration of right relationships then we must work from the biblical foundation that “the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purifies our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.” (Hebrews 9:14 – slightly altered) This must be our identity, our foundation and the reason for our Christianity. This is how the Trinitarian God makes a difference to the Christian life.
We cannot say with the Orange advert that “I am who I am because of everyone.” We can only say that “I am who I am because of I AM.”
God bless.
Dear Freedom
1 comments:
How the Trinitarian Gospel relates to our identity has been large in my thinking. You have re-inforced it and given it greater strength; thanks.
I also love the comment on how social action, environmentalism, and evangelism go together (i would sum all up as but part of "worship")... different brances of the church can be great at 1 or 2 and forget the other..
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