Archive for the ‘Trinity’ Tag
Are You Trying to Keep God Off Your Back?
Filed under: By Tim Brassell, Christian Living, Gospel, Trinity | Tags: Christian Living, Christianity, Jesus, Perichoresis, Spiritual Disciplines, Trinity
Comments (5) “Are you trying to charm Jesus into liking you?! Are you trying to con the Spirit into blessing you?!”
I’ll never forget these words from my mentor as he elaborated on the Good News of Jesus, and and turned my ”upside down” worldview about the Father ”right side up”!! It makes me laugh NOW! I have to admit that when I first grasped it, though, I was TOTALLY EMBARRASSED and vulnerable ”to the core” for a minute!
Lest you misunderstand, this embarrassment DIDN’T come from my mentor or the Holy Spirit! They were just speaking to me about the Reality of Jesus Christ and shining the Light of Truth, and it was overthrowing my little kingdom of blindness! After all, who wants to lose their little kingdom, when it’s the “only” security blanket they have?? Let’s be clear! The Father, Son and Holy Spirit NEVER condemn us (Romans 8:1!) After all, by God’s grace, we are ALL included in Jesus! (John 14:20) It can’t be otherwise with Jesus as our Permanent Sustainer/Creator! (John 1:1-5) Condemnation, then, can ONLY be our share in the lies of the Evil one, and our self-imposed human blindness! (John 8:44, Matt 6:22-23!)
So here is a goal you can scratch off your spiritual goal list because of Who Jesus Christ is: Scratch, FOREVER, the goal of “Trying to Keep God Off My Back!” (Yikes!)
I can hear you now, “I have NEVER had such a goal in my life!” Well, you may not have ever written such a statement, literally, but I’ll bet the farm it has been a basic motive behind some of the spiritual goals you HAVE written, such as “Pray more”, “Study more”, “Fast more”, and “Attend more bible studies.” (Some of you are probably still challenging my accusation in “‘your’ love for God,” but C’mon! You’ve bought into the same “Gospel” I have, haven’t you?? (I hope not!) You know – the “gospel” that says,
“You are a sinner! The Father is angry when sinners break his laws and somebody’s got to pay (God is going to take out his wrath on someone!!!) Jesus is kind, loving and died for you, and will keep God off your back IF you will only promise to follow his example and pray more, study more, fast more, and attend more bible studies!” THEN, even the Holy Spirit will join you in your holiness and see that you get to heaven (but ONLY if you cry out for forgiveness continually and try exceedingly hard not to break any more of God’s laws and REMAIN holy!) Maybe!”
The devastating impact of that LIE is why I wrote “Yikes!!!” above!
Can’t you feel how FAR that “gospel” is from the GOOD NEWS given us in The Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and revealed in Jesus?? Don’t you see how MUCH some of our religious goals are only an attempt to keep God off our backs (and on to Jesus’ back????) Can’t you realize how we split up the personality of the One God in Three Persons and turn Him into a Jekyll and Hyde weirdo? The Triune God is the SAME in Being, Communion and Love! (2 Cor 13:14) No wonder you are STILL so up and down, insecure, and “torn apart” in your relationship with ”God” even though you have set goals for, and accomplished, many religious things for years!!!
AGAIN, to take Jesus seriously, is to believe that humanity has been Included and Adopted into the Life of Triune God in Him from the foundation of the world!
It is also to take seriously that Jesus ascended to the Father with US, with YOU, 2000 years ago, and says that the goal of keeping God off your back has never had a reason for being on anyone’s list, even in a hidden way!!! In Jesus everyone has already been made righteous; YOU have been SANCTIFIED, and redeemed! (Check it out in 1 Corinthians 1:26-31.) Ha-Ha! Triune God is not only NOT on our external backs BUT dwelling intimately within you, and sustaining your very being whether you “pray more, study more, fast more, and attend bible study more” OR NOT!! You are acceptable AS IS!
Now, If you still want to set spiritual goal in these areas…GREAT!!! I DO!
I set goals about these things because I realize the Truth of our lives in Jesus! I do them because I know that I graciously share in the Divine/Human life of Jesus! I PARTICIPATE in more prayer, more bible, more fasting, and more bible studies because, in the Creative Genius of The Trinity, there are countless and myriad ways of experiencing God’s love, INCLUDING THESE!!! Ha-Ha!!!
Our One God in Three Persons CANNOT, and WILL NOT be conned or charmed into liking you because of any actions you do or don’t do! (Col 2:20-23) He has Always loved and liked you, and He always will! (Mark 12:29, Romans 8:38-39)
~ Timothy Brassell
Dialogue with Atheism
Filed under: By Jonathan Stepp, Evangelism, Gospel | Tags: Christianity, Evangelism, Gospel, Jesus, Perichoresis, Trinity
Comments (2) What is the conversation between Atheism and Christianity really all about? I think many, on both sides, assume that it is primarily about “scoring points” in a debate and the winning side is the side that can score the most points.
The Internet Monk has a very interesting, and I think accurate, assesment of what is really going on right now in the dialogue between Atheism and Christianity.
The gist of his argument is that many young people (under, say, age 30) are not leaving Christianity because they have been won over by Atheism’s brilliant arguments. They are leaving because Atheism offers a simpler and happier life than the legalistic, workaholic, and often bizarre world of the American, evangelical, Christian sub-culture.
Here are a few quotes from his blog post to whet your appetite:
Atheism is just….easier. Occam’s Razor. Theism is too much trouble. It starts to sound like someone is trying to sell you something sight unseen. Isn’t your best move just to hang up the phone and ignore the call?
One of my letters this week stated that a 17 year old raised in an evangelical family was now an avid atheist, with many of the hijinks of evangelicalism as evidence of manipulation and control. He couldn’t mean take off your shoes and spin your socks over your head while singing “Jesus mess me up?” Why would that bother anyone?
Write this down: When the coming evangelical collapse happens, and especially when thousands of our young people bolt for non-believer status, a lot of it will be COMPLETELY DESERVED.
We never stopped to notice that if you are a 17 year old with serious questions about evil, miracles, prayer and the Bible you’ve got small chances of getting any help from most of evangelicalism. We’re having too much fun squalling at the President and feeling good about ourselves.
You see, evangelicals have made such outrageous assumptions and promises about happiness, healing, everything working out, knowing God, answered prayer, loving one another and so on that proving us to be liars isn’t even a real job. It’s just a matter of tuning in to an increasing number of voices who say “It’s OK to not believe. Give yourself a break. Stop tormenting yourself trying to believe. Stop propping up your belief with more and more complex arguments. Just let go of God.”
We are the ones who appear to not believe in the God we say is real. We are the ones who seem to be forcing ourselves to believe with bigger shows, bigger celebrities and bigger methods of manipulation.
If you are at all interested in outreach, evangelism, or dialogues with non-believers, I strongly urge you to read the whole post over at the Internet Monk.
~ Jonathan Stepp
Full Boundaried Intimacy
Filed under: By John Stonecypher, Christian Living, Gospel, Scripture Paraphrases, Trinity | Tags: Christian Living, Christianity, Church, Gospel, Jesus, John, Perichoresis, Trinity
Leave a comment A Christ-centered Trinitarian paraphrase of John 17.1-26
(17.1) When he’d finished saying all this, Jesus looked up to the starry sky and said “Papa, it’s time. Let’s show them what we’re made of. (2) You have given all people into my hand, so that to all of them I might give our own infinite aliveness, (3) the superabundant life of sharing in our knowing of each other in the Spirit. (4) I have revealed you. I have fulfilled your desires. I have finished the job. (5) My trust has pierced the veil that hides your face from my eyes. Now it’s time for us to shred the veil completely, so that my human eyes may see what my human faith already knows. Raise your human Son to the place where your only-begotten Son has always been.
(6) Out of the whole world you especially gave me these few disciples, and I have made known to them the power of your name. They believe the truth – that they belong to us. (7) They know that everything I’ve given them is from you. (8) I have delivered your message to them, and they have received it. They know the truth – that I came from you, and that you sent me.
(9) What I am requesting now, I am requesting for THEM – all the people who know me but are surrounded by others who don’t. (10) They belong to us, and in their bodies our Light shines. (11) I am changing my mode of presence in the world, but they are not. Protect them, Papa. With the power of your name, keep them safe from evil’s power to hurt their relationships with each other. I want them to be whole, like you and me – 100% attached and 100% differentiated. Full boundaried intimacy.
(12) I myself have been protecting our community from falling apart. The scriptures prophesied the loss of one from our group, but he is the only one we have lost. (13) Now as my mode of presence transitions, I say these things so that they will not miss out on a single drop of my joy. (14) They now know what I know. They know that we belong to you, not to the System. And the System hates us because it can’t own us. (15) I don’t ask that you take them out of the System, because the people in the System need them. What I do ask is that you protect their relationships from the Faceless Man and his schemes to break them up.
(16) They have been freed from the System and its terrible necessities. (17) May their knowledge of this truth transform them and set them apart as your own freedom fighters in the world. (18) I launch them into the System like you launched me – with a job to do. (19) For their sakes I have set myself apart for this task, so that they can join me.
(20) I ask all this not only for these Twelve, but also for everyone who will believe in me through their testimony. (21) I ask that they may be whole and fully bound together in our love. Just like how you are in me and I am in you, I ask that they also live their life together in us, so that the world will experience and believe the gospel. (22) I have brought them into the beauty and harmony of our shared life, so that they may participate in our oneness, (23) I in them and you in me, so that they may share our full boundaried intimacy. In this way the world will see that I am from you, and that when you shower your love upon me, every drop of it lands on them.
(24) Papa, I want them to be with me where I am – both in the world and at your right hand. I want them to know me for who I really am. I want them to experience the beauty of my relationship with you, the life we have shared from before time.
(25) Lovely Papa, the world doesn’t know you, but I do. My friends here know that you sent me. (26) I have revealed you to the world, and I will continue to do so until that job is done. I will keep at it until the world is full of people who are full of me and the love you have given to me.
~ John Stonecypher
You WILL Be Faithful to the Father, Son, and Spirit
Filed under: By Tim Brassell, Christian Living, Gospel, Trinity | Tags: Christian Living, Christianity, Faith, Gospel, Jesus, Perichoresis, Peter, Trinity
Comments (3) And I really do mean YOU!
God the Trinity will have it no other way than that you WILL be faithful in your response to Him as a human being. That is why the Father sent His one and only Son Jesus as the Vicarious Man, or the Man who is representing (re-presenting) you to God in the Spirit with all of the proper responses worthy of God from a human being! Right now, in the human body of Jesus, you are being counted as faithful because Jesus is being faithful for you! Wowsa! That will pick up your day and moment as Jesus shares His belief of that truth with you! I NEVER get tired of Good News that Good!
In the first instance, I am speaking about you as you are in the Person of Jesus only!
In other words, you still have something that is not of Jesus to contend with until you physically die and receive a glorified body, mind, and spirit like Jesus’. The reason you do not have to overly worry about the part of you that is not quite like Jesus yet is because as God the Father sees you, in the literal-right-now-glorified-human-being-of-His-Son, you are already a New Creation and completely transformed in His transformation! You ARE going to get all the good that’s coming to you in Jesus, in the grace of God – regardless of your good and bad works, color, race, creed, economic status, religion, atheism, good and bad attitudes, minor or major sins, body fat index, debts, homelessness, etc. As The Message version of the Bible says in 1 Cor 15:22 “Everybody dies in Adam; everybody comes alive in Christ”
In the second instance, I am speaking about you being faithful to the Father, Son, and Spirit as distinct from (though in union with) the vicarious humanity of the Son, Jesus.
Yes, somehow, in the grace and creative, relational, genius of the Holy Spirit, THOSE OF YOU WHO WANT TO WILL BE COMPLETELY FAITHFUL TO JESUS!!!
I was reminded of the Trinity’s ability to pull this off when I re-read one of the situations in the life of the Apostle Peter again and saw an amazing thing. You can read and rehearse the story in Mark 14:26-31. The thing I saw was that Peter is so inspired at the friendship, brotherhood and stunning personality of Jesus that he promises not only to be faithful to Jesus during trouble, but also strongly protests that he will never deny Jesus even at the point of death! Of course, we know the end result of that strong protest – Peter denied Jesus “out the Wazoo”, THREE TIMES, and with cursing – Mark 14:66-72! Boy, if Peter isn’t like most of us, I don’t know who is! I know I have certainly been like that in too many “off” moments!
BUT, as with all things Jesus (and us in our forever union with Jesus), our false promises and lies are NOT the end of the story, for Abba Father will have us as faithful promise keepers in His Son!
As Jesus prepares to leave the earth temporarily in his own human body, he is encouraging his disciples with conversation and prophecy (forth-telling and fore-telling), beginning with Peter. John 21:15-25. In this passage, Jesus’ conversation with Peter begins with Jesus encouraging Peter in His Love for Peter which would yet flow through Peter more faithfully in the future (though Peter misinterprets Jesus’ questioning and gets a little discouraged!) Yet, Jesus ends up letting Peter know, in fairly clear terms, that despite Peter’s inability to be faithful to the Trinity in and of himself, Peter WAS going to be faithful to the Trinity, fulfilling his word to die for Jesus (and even die just like Jesus in the power of the Spirit!) Whoa!!!
How does Jesus pull this incredible feat off despite our darkness? I am not completely sure, BUT, I am sure it has everything to do with the literal-right-now-glorified-human-being-of-His-Son, in which all are, already, a New Creation, and completely transformed in His transformation! Ha-Ha!! J Be encouraged despite yourself!!!
~ Timothy Brassell
Uncontrolled
Filed under: By Jonathan Stepp, Christian Living, Gospel, Trinity | Tags: Christian Living, Christianity, God, Gospel, Jesus, Luke, Perichoresis, Trinity
Comments (3) God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is not interested in controlling you.
I made this comment in passing in a post a couple of weeks ago and in the comments Greg said I ought to talk a little more about this.
Religion, for lack of a better word, is about control.
Religion imagines a God (or gods) who is all about trying to manipulate and control people through rules, rewards, and punishments. It also imagines a God (or gods) who can be controlled by our beliefs, words, and actions.
For example: God is mad that you haven’t kept his rules and he wants to torture you to death. But if you say you believe that Jesus really exists then you can control God and make him stop punishing you: now that’s the old time religion!
In contrast to this dysfunctional life of two beings (God and you) trying to manipulate and control each other, Jesus presents the good news of himself, his Father, and their Spirit.
These three are perfectly free to be and do anythying they want to do and in that freedom they are always choosing (eternally, without beginning or end) to live in faithful, covenant commitment to each other with mutual love and acceptance. And, in Jesus, they have chosen to live forever in faithful, convenant commitment to humanity.
Jesus illustrates this freedom in the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32.)
In the parable the Father never seeks to control his kids. When the prodigal wants to rebel, run away, and waste his inheritance, the Father lets him. He lets him learn about who he really is (his Father’s child) the hard away. And when the older son wants to rebel and refuse to join in the family celebration the Father lets him. He lets him learn about who he really is (his Father’s child) the hard way.
That’s the good news Jesus brings to us about our Father in heaven. He’s not out to control us. His goal was to adopt us as his children and he has accomplished this goal in Jesus (Eph. 1:5). And now he loves us through the Holy Spirit and invites us to believe the truth that we are his children in Jesus and to freely – of our own choice – join in the family celebration.
~ Jonathan Stepp
Face to Face
Filed under: By John Stonecypher, Christian Living, Gospel, Scripture Paraphrases, Trinity | Tags: Christian Living, Christianity, Jesus, John, Perichoresis, Trinity
Leave a comment A Trinitarian Christ-centered paraphrase of John 16.16-33
(16.16) “I’m about to be taken away from you guys, but you’ll see me again shortly thereafter.”
(17) The disciples were all like “Whatchoo talkin bout, Jesus? ‘Going away’ and ‘Coming back’ and ‘Going to Papa’ (18) and ‘shortly therafter’?”
(19) Jesus said, “I’ll tell you what I’m talkin bout: (20) You will weep while the crowds cheer. But your grief will give way to joy. (21) Giving birth is painful, but the pain is nothing compared to the joy of having a new baby. (22) You will have pain, but when I see you again on the third day, you will have joy, and no one will be able to take it away from you.
(23) On that day, you will not ask me for things. Instead, you will ask Papa in my name, and he will give to you. (24) This will be a change from how things were before. You will be a full participant in the Triune conversation. You will ask, you will receive, and you will overflow with our joy. (25) I’ve been using figures of speech. But soon you will be able to hear me speak of Papa more simply. (26) That is when you will ask for what you want in my name. Let me be perfectly clear: This does NOT mean I will ask Papa FOR you. You won’t need to hind behind me as we live face-to-face with Papa together, (27) for Papa loves you just like I do. You will know his love more and more as you continue to love me and believe that he sent me. (28) Papa sent me to be present with you in the world in this way, but this phase of the plan is almost over. My current mode of presence will end. When I ascend as a man to Papa’s right hand, I will be with you in a new way.”
(29) His disciples said “Now you’re talking so we can understand. Hooray, no more riddles! (30) We get it now! You know who you are, and now we know too. You are definitely from Papa. We believe!”
(31) Jesus answered “You believe me? Good. (32) But the journey of belief has only just begun. Now is when it gets hard. In a couple minutes, you will all abandon me; you will run away and hide under your beds. But don’t worry, I won’t be alone, because Papa will stay with me. (33) I’m saying this now so that when the storm comes, you will have some calm. The System will come after you, just like it’s coming after me. But don’t worry; the fight belongs to me. The System is dead meat.
**These paraphrases aim to provoke a fresh reading of Scripture by taking seriously the twin mysteries of Trinity and Incarnation**
~ John Stonecypher
God the Trinity Loves You MORE Than He Loves Himself
Filed under: By Tim Brassell, Christian Living, Gospel, Trinity | Tags: Christian Living, Christianity, Gospel, Jesus, Perichoresis, Trinity
Comments (2) God the Father, Son and Spirit not only love and like You, BUT, He Loves You more than He Loves Himself!
I can almost hear the paternalistic objections now, “This guy sure is filled with a bunch of hyperbole, isn’t he?”, “I can appreciate his having a great enthusiasm and love for God but he sure does exaggerate things a lot, doesn’t he?!!”
Ha-Ha! Knowing where most of us have come from in our typical hearing of God’s “Good News” (including myself!), I can understand your having such hopeful complaints! I call them “hopeful complaints” because I believe that we really (deep within our souls!) hope these kinds of things are true, and so we ask them with a question. On the other hand we are afraid to believe such lavish and good things, so we have to try to excuse them away as “hyperbole”.
Well, it is one thing for a generally optimistic personality like mine to say this kind of thing, but how about hearing it from a “dry”, theologian?
I say that “tongue-in-cheek” because the theologian I am referring to was as excited as anyone about the Good News of Jesus Christ, however, many who read his works consider them “dry” as his language is more academic and scholarly. But, in honor of one of my spiritual mentors, and an acknowledged great, modern day theologian, who died not long ago, the late Thomas Forsyth Torrance (www.tftorrance.org), I would like to quote directly from one of his books on the Trinity:
It is in the Cross of Christ that the utterly astonishing nature of the Love that God is has been fully disclosed, for in refusing to spare his own Son whom he delivered up for us all, God has revealed that He loves us more than he loves himself. ~ The Christian Doctrine of God: One Being, Three Persons (T&T Clark) p. 5.
Well, how is that for theological backup and credibility? He begins one of the great, modern day books on the Trinity by emphasizing that the Father, Son, and Spirit, love us MORE than God loves Himself. He goes on to repeat this many times in his elaboration on the Trinity, and uses scriptures like Romans 8:31, Acts 20:28, and others, to prove it scripturally. Not being as articulate, schooled in Greek and theological language, and in Christological depth as Torrance is, I want to challenge you to embrace that God the Trinity does indeed love you more than he loves himself with a few thoughts and scriptures of my own:
1.) Haven’t you heard of a mother in real-life or in the movies utter those famous words “I love that child more than I love my own life!!” I would even bet money some of you have said it, and some of you more than once!! Some even say it about their dogs and other pets! Now you know I am tellin’ the truth, AND, you are not more loving than God!!
2.) Haven’t you read or heard of the scripture where Paul says:
Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.” ~ Philippians 2:3,4 NRSV [emphasis mine]
3.) And isn’t one of the beliefs of those who believe the scriptures:
Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Jesus Christ to all generations, forever and ever. Amen ~ Ephesians 3:20-21
Can you not see through these life experiences and scriptures the point and possibility of God the Trinity loving us more than he loves himself?!
Well, where in the world do human beings (especially mothers it seems!) even get the inspiration of thinking that they have more love for someone else than they do for themselves? Aren’t the scriptures clear that only “God IS Love” (I John 4:16)? If you share in the kind of love that God IS, doesn’t that point you to the fact that God is already living in you, sharing this kind of love with, in, and through you?!
Isn’t esteeming others above your own self something that believers believe actually flows from the life of Christ and is shared with us (Phil. 2:5-10)? Don’t you even know of others (besides Christians!), who ALSO share in this kind of esteem and love for others above self? Again, isn’t this proof that the Triune God has adopted and dwells in and with all of us in Jesus? That God the Father, Son and Spirit shares with us the love that loves others above self???
Isn’t the above passage in Ephesians challenging us at every turn to KNOW that whatever we think about the Triune God is already thinking that is too small??? If we think God is bad, he is really very good. If we think God is very good, he is very, very, very good. If we think he is very, very, very good, he is very good to infinity and beyond! And if we think and believe that God the Trinity loves us, isn’t the Holy Spirit, through Paul, in the book of Ephesians, telling us that that God DOES love us more than he loves himself?!
And if we can begin to embrace, as sinful human beings, that God the Trinity loves us more than he loves Himself, then how much does he ACTUALLY and REALLY love us?????
I am afraid that the answer to that question is so delightful, mind staggering and true, that we cannot possibly or fully comprehend it. And that is exactly the testimony of the Trinity through scripture isn’t it:
May you know the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it. Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God. ~ Ephesians 3:19
In the vernacular, “May we put this Good News in our believing pipes and smoke it!” ’cause God IS Love!
(By the way, if “I” want you to know something so good, Who REALLY wants you to know this and believe it?! After all, even I can only share in love thoughts like this that are shared graciously with me, too! )
~ Tim Brassell
The Trunk of the Human Tree
Filed under: By John Stonecypher, Christian Living, Gospel, Scripture Paraphrases | Tags: Bible, Christian Living, Christianity, Gospel, Jesus, John, Perichoresis, Trinity
Leave a comment A Christ-centered, Trinitarian paraphrase of John 15:1-16:15
(15.1) I am the trunk of the human tree; all branches are connected to me. My Papa is the gardener, and (2) he will never give up on this tree and just let it be fruitless and dead. Instead, he faithfully chops off sick branchings before they infect others. When a branch bears fruit, he strips that branch of its sub-branches, to make it fruit even more. (3) My word has already cleared the sick branches off you. (4) I am as close to you as a trunk is to its branches. I have re-arranged my life just to be with you, to include you in every aspect of my everyday life. I have chosen to be alive with you. Be alive with me. When a branch is disconnected from the trunk, it produces no fruit. The same is true for you if you choose to not participate in the life I’m living with you. (5) I am the trunk, and you are the branches. The Triune sap eternally flows in and out of me. If you believe, allowing it to flow in and out of you, it will produce the fruit of the Spirit in you – love, joy, and peace. But if through disbelief you resist that flow, you will not produce anything. (6) There is a fire coming in this generation that will consume all the dead wood, the fruitless branches that want nothing to do with me. (7) But if you receive me and believe me, if you participate through faith in the life I’m living with you, you and I will ask Papa to produce fruit in you, and he will. (8) He LIVES for this – seeing you sharing in my life and producing lots and lots of delicious fruit.
(9) Papa has showered me with love, and I now shower that love upon you forever. Period. Stick that in your pipe and smoke it. Take it seriously. Dance with that truth, day in and day out. (10) Abide in it; let it determine your actions. That’s what it means to participate in my life and to abide in my love. That is what I do with Papa, believing and doing what he says, and enjoying the power of his love as it flows in and out of me. (11) I’ve told you all this in order to take my joy and fill you to overflowing with it.
(12) Here’s what I want you to do: Take the love/joy/peace I have given you, and give it to each other. (13) To give love is to give yourself, ALL of yourself, from birth to death and everything in between. (14) I have laid down my life for you, and I always will. You lay down your lives for me as you accept and do what I say. I have been a friend to you, and you have become friends to me. (15) You are not my servants; servants don’t know what their master is doing. No, you are my friends. You know what I’m doing. Everything I receive from Papa, I have given to you. My knowing of him is now yours. (16) Not because you chose me, but because I chose you. I chose you to be carriers of the Triune blessing to the world. I chose you to bear the fruit the world needs to eat, to bear Triune fruit whenever you join me in asking Papa for it. (17) I command you to love, because loving one another is what eternal Triune life is all about.
(18) If the System hates you, just remember it hated me first. (19) The System loves only what it owns, and since it can’t own you, it can’t stand you. (20) Remember: ‘The servant gets what the master gets.’ The powers-that-be want to chew me up and spit me out, and they will try to do the same with you. They will accept you only when they accept me. (21) They will hate you because I sent you, and they hate me because they don’t know the one who sent me. (22) By coming and telling the truth, I have exposed their hidden disease. (23) Their hatred of me is the symptom that reveals their hatred of Papa. (24) Their sickness would have stayed hidden if I had not done what I have done. But now they and everyone else see the truth – that they hate me and my Papa. (25) Their own scriptures foretell this: “They hated me for no reason.”
(26) I’ve told you before about the Guide, the Spirit of Truth who I will send to you from Papa. When he comes, he will speak the truth about me and what I have done. (27) Because you have been with me this whole time, you will share in his speaking. You will tell what you have seen. (16.1) I’m telling you this so you don’t fall off the wagon when things get hard. (2) They’re going to kick you out of their churches. When they kill you, they’ll think they’re doing Papa a favor. (3) They will do this because they don’t really know Papa or me.
(4) I’m telling you this so that when it happens, you’ll remember. I didn’t tell you earlier, because you still had me with you in the normal way. (5) But now I am ascending to Papa’s right hand. You haven’t yet asked “Where IS that, exactly?” (6) but I can see this is breaking your heart. (7) But believe me when I say this: My ascension will make things better for you. For me to begin my new-and-improved mode of presence with you through the Spirit, it is necessary for me to end my current mode of presence.
(8) When I inject my Spirit into the world, he will contradict the core beliefs that make the System run. (9) The System functions on the assumption that problems are caused by rule-breaking. My Spirit will prove that problems come from beliefs that do not fit with Reality. (10) The System functions on the assumption that righteousness is something achieved by a few heroic individuals who can climb the religious ladder all the way up to heaven, and to hell with all the losers who can’t quite manage it. My Spirit will show that I, the Son of Man, have ascended to Papa’s right hand, and that I’ve brought the entire world with me. On behalf of all, in my own body I have forged human righteousness — right relations between Papa, humanity, and the rest of creation. (11) The System functions on the assumption that the world will be saved by killing all the ‘bad people.’ My Spirit will show that the world will be saved only by destroying the dark power that works evil in the lives of all people.
(12) I have so many things I want to tell you, but you aren’t yet ready to handle them. (13) When my Spirit of Truth comes into you, he will tell you what you need to know when you’re ready to hear it. Just like me, he will not speak on his own. Instead, what he will do is include you in the eternal conversation between him and me and Papa. (14) He will continue my work by taking my abundant human life and putting it into YOU. (15) Everything is Papa’s. Everything that’s his is mine. And the Spirit will take what is mine and give it to you.
[These paraphrases aim to provoke a fresh reading of Scripture by taking seriously the ancient twin mysteries of Trinity and Incarnation]
~ John Stonecypher
The Real First Three Laws of Human Relationships, Part 3
Filed under: By Tim Brassell, Christian Living, Gospel, Trinity | Tags: Christian Living, Christianity, Creation, Jesus, Perichoresis, Trinity
Leave a comment This post is about the third, and final of the first 3 commandments given to mankind by the Father, Son and Spirit.
You can read about the first of these three commands in part 1 of this series and the second command in part 2. In this brief written series I have tried to give you a fresh perspective of commandments we have tended to overlook in our enthusiasm to live and promote the Ten Commandments!
In knowing Who Jesus is, we are actually being instructed to take these 1st few commands even more seriously than the Ten handed down through Moses! After all, Jesus fulfilled those and IS the law of the New Covenant! Let’s continue to emphasize the most important relationship – the Relationship of the Father, Son and Spirit – and understand better Who Jesus is and who we are in Him!!
The third command the Triune God gives us in Genesis 1:26-28 is to RELAX and it’s found in verse 28:
God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” ~ Genesis 1:28, NRSV
Did you notice that the third command out of God’s mouth was NOT “Ignore and make fun of people trying to save whales”, “Don’t ever skip church services for a fishing trip”, or “Work and never, ever, take a vacation – cause you’ll have an eternity in heaven to rest!” Aren’t those some of the leisure activities many of us have desired to participate in but were pressured out of in the name of religion, religiosity, and sacrificing and working to please God?
We need to learn to take more seriously the fact that that EVERYTHING the Triune God made was made by Jesus, the Son of God, and IS SUSTAINED by Him (John 1:1-5, Acts 17:28, Col 1:15-17)!
Scriptures are a testimony to Jesus, the Word of God Himself, Who encourages us in the good care and feeding of animals – even on a church day (Proverbs 12:10, Matt 12:1-12)!!!
I know that it is kind of hard for us to conceive of animal care being a relaxing endeavor now because of sin having entered the world (unless we go to a zoo), but walking among animals is really supposed to be a relaxing thing, not a fearful burden (Isaiah 11:6-9, Romans 8:18-23)!!!
Maybe it is helpful to remember the definition of Relaxation, which is, “The act of relaxing or the state of being relaxed. Refreshment of body or mind; recreation: (played golf for relaxation.) A loosening or slackening.” http://www.answers.com/topic/relaxation?cat=health
To be frank, we live in a world where people, including MANY religious people, do not yet embrace the truth of Jesus’ connection with all of humanity and all of creation! This unbelief has a very negative impact on creation! When you do not believe that the animals are included, or that certain other people aren’t included in God’s life, then you give all kinds of permission for evil to happen to them! In essence you are saying that it doesn’t matter what happens to them (good or bad!) because eventually God is just going to get rid of them anyway or send them to hell! That is most certainly NOT the Gospel of Jesus Christ!!!
Jesus’ Good News is that He sustains and cares for all creatures – human or otherwise!!(Luke 12:22-31, Matt 6:25-33, Heb 1:14)!
In this Christ context, it is important for us to help animals relax when they are burdened also (assisting beached whales, helping seals and birds escape in oil spills, etc.!) And how in the world could a congregational fishing trip during worship service time not be church when the people ARE the Church, the Community who embraces the Triune God?!
Most of us have tasted the negative experience and truth in the saying, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy!” C’mon! What fun is there in life when we aren’t having any fun?! J Please take seriously that your desire for relaxation and play is because of your union with the Triune God in Jesus Christ! The Father, Son and Spirit enjoy the most relaxing and refreshing relationship in all of creation, and He shares that relationship with us in Jesus! That is the relaxation we REALLY want to experience and why we want to experience it, isn’t it?!
Can you guess the 4th commandment?! It is simply to obey all three commands as one!!
You don’t have to obey one command at the expense of the other three, because these three were REALLY given as one command in 3 distinct parts in one sentence!! Now that’s Trinitarian thinking!!
(If those are a few commandments you are interested in taking more seriously RIGHT NOW in Jesus, we are on the same page, because I am a wholehearted “legalist” on these Good News terms! Ha-Ha!!!)
~ Timothy Brassell
Eternity
Filed under: By Jonathan Stepp, Christian Living, Gospel, Trinity | Tags: Christian Living, Christianity, Heaven, Hell, Jesus, Perichoresis, Trinity
Comments (3) Here’s an encouraging thought: because of Jesus you will live forever. St. Paul says:
For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. ~ 1 Cor. 15:22
So, it’s not that we won’t die – we will, because of Adam. What’s encouraging is that – like Jesus – we won’t stay dead. When the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, became human he changed what it means to be human. Adam is not the definition of what human beings are, Jesus is the definition. And Jesus lives forever.
I suppose eternal life might seem encouraging if you’re happy and frightening if you’re not happy.
The question is, why aren’t you happy? If you’re not happy because you’re sick, or homeless, or being tortured for being a Christian, then the good news is that eternal life in the resurrection of Jesus won’t include these pains. So, it should be very encouraging to us in the midst of such suffering to know that our problems won’t last forever but we will.
If you’re not happy because you hate people, or are greedily trying to get more bling, or think the world is out to get you, then the prospect of eternal life doesn’t seem too appealing. That’s the downside, you might say. Jesus isn’t interested in controlling your mind. So you could use the freedom he’s given you to be miserable in the eternal life that Jesus is sharing with you.
And yet, as with everything in the life of the Trinity, there’s a silver lining to that cloud too.
You might be miserable but as long as you’re alive there’s always hope: there’s always hope that you’ll stop hating people and be content with the bling you’ve been given. And since Jesus has made sure that you’ll always be alive then there’s always hope.
So I stand by my original statement: even if we’re unhappy right now it is still encouraging to know that, because of Jesus, we will live forever.
~ Jonathan Stepp