Relationships in the Trinity

Thank you, Jeff and Ron. I'll just push this aside here. It's a tremendous pleasure to be here at this wonderful society. And thank you again for inviting me. It's a Rob, isn't it? I'm sorry. I just recognized what I said. Thank you for inviting me and for the privilege of being a part of this. It's a wonderful gathering. I commend you for coming to this and spending a Friday night and a Saturday sitting under teaching that we trust. And I know these gentlemen prayed and hoped would be edifying to the people of God and strengthening to our faith and honoring to our great and glorious God. Well, this morning, my privilege and task is to unpack some of the doctrine of the Trinity, and it's a privilege for me to do this, but it's an ominous task. I have a handout. I hope you all received a copy of that as you came in. It has quite a bit of material here, so I'm going to move through this as quickly in order for us to try to cover as much as we can in the time we have. It really is a condensation of what I've written in a little book that is out there on the table entitled Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In fact, my talk last night is really captured in the other book that's out there. That's why I brought those two. with me, God's greater glory. It's my attempt to unpack something of the attributes of God and his providential oversight of the world. And then Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This smaller book is is my attempt to try to express something of the biblical doctrine of the Trinity and its relevance to our lives as Christian people, marriages, churches. It's amazing how relevant the doctrine of the Trinity is. Well, as we begin this this morning, you can see in the introduction, I asked this question, have you learned to read your Bible through Trinitarian lenses? And I say that to you as a man who grew up as a boy in a in a Baptist church, an evangelical Bible, believing Bible, preaching church. In fact, the name of this church was Trinity Baptist Church. We saying, holy, holy, holy. every Sunday as our opening hymn. And I still recall it was probably when I was maybe 12 years old before I learned that the last phrase of that hymn, Blessed Trinity, was not about our church. So that's how much I learned of the doctrine of the Trinity growing up. And it wasn't until many years later that I had my eyes open to see and begin seeing the Trinity in the writings of scripture. As an example, just turn to Ephesians one for a moment with me. And I don't know if you have yet noticed how important it is to pay attention to the pronouns that are in in this chapter. And for that matter, through so much of the New Testament writings, it's really a fun thing to go through and try to figure out to whom the pronouns refer, because honestly, this is how we typically read it. We just read over those pronouns and assume in every case it's just God generically. But it isn't God, it's father or son or spirit. And you can tell that by looking at verse three, Paul does not begin this verse by saying, Blessed be God who has granted to us all of the blessings that we will receive. He could have said that and it would have been true, but he didn't say that. He said instead, blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ. You couldn't be more specific, could you? This is the father to whom all blessing is to be given, who has blessed us with every blessing mediated by the spirit. That's my paraphrase. I think this is a Trinitarian verse. Every blessing mediated to us by the Spirit that has been bought to us in Christ. So Christ won, purchased, bought, accomplished every good thing that we will receive, but all of it mediated to us by the Spirit, ultimately coming from the Father, as James also testifies. Every good and perfect gift is from above, from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. OK, with verse three indicating blessed be the Father, then you go on to verse four, just as He chose us. Who would the He be? The father, just as the father chose us in him, who is the him? The son, right, just as he, the father, chose us in him, the son before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him. The father in love, he who? The Father predestined us to adoption as sons through His Son, through Jesus Christ, to himself. I mean, when you read it, when you put on Trinitarian glasses and you begin noticing the specific reference to members of the Trinity, it just is amazing how much richer the texture is of the teaching of Scripture. So my encouragement to you is put on those Trinitarian glasses, read with greater care what, in fact, is here in Scripture and see the Trinity as it is expressed. My second point of introduction is to say this, that as the early church developed the doctrine of the Trinity, it was very, very clear that they built the doctrine of the Trinity on two pillars, two truths about God that had to be held together, which were difficult to hold together. On the one hand, when considering Father, Son and Holy Spirit, they considered that these must be understood as distinct. The Father, the Son, the Spirit are each separate persons of the Godhead. The Father is not the Son. The Son is not the Spirit. We have to understand these as distinctions. Otherwise, we just have modalism. Modalism understands no true distinction, just a distinction in expression, in mode of manifestation, but not in reality. But in reality, the father is not the son. The son is not the spirit. So distinctions must be maintained. However. The essence of the father is the identically same essence as the essence of the son. Hence, the equality of the father, son and spirit must be maintained. Otherwise you have Aryanism. And so we hold that the Father is equal to the Son, who is equal to the Spirit. They are equal, in fact, with a kind of equality that is unique to God. There is no other equality that is of this kind. It is an equality of identity. Now, the equality that there is among us human beings is an equality of same kind. I'm looking at Lauren here, good friend from Louisville days. Lauren and I are equal because each of us possesses a human nature. Her nature, being a human nature, is of the same kind as my nature, a human nature. So we have an equality because we have the same kind of natures, right? The Father is equal to the Son, who is equal to the Spirit, not merely because each has the same kind of nature. They are equal because each possesses the identically same nature. Hence, there is one God. If you have three natures, you have three gods, just as Lauren and I are separate natures and persons. But there is one nature, three persons in the Godhead, and one nature indicates one common possession that is possessed fully, simultaneously and eternally by each of those persons of the Godhead, one essence. Indicating the equality of the persons. Three distinct persons indicating distinction. John 1.1 indicates this, does it not? Think with me. Having heard these two pillars of distinction and equality. Think with me. In the beginning was the word and the word was with God. Which pillar? Distinction, one with another, one who is not the other, but with the other. The word was with God and the word was God. Equality, distinction and equality have to be held together as the two pillars that uphold our understanding of the Trinity. Well, here's my attempt then in the last part of the introduction to give a definition of the Trinity. This one God, this one and only one God has an essence and God's whole and undivided essence belongs equally, eternally, simultaneously and fully to each of the three persons of the Godhead. So that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit each is fully God. While each is his own personal expression in role and activity of the one eternal and undivided divine essence. Now, that's a mouthful, but essentially what this is saying is there is one essence that is the common possession. and full possession, undivided possession. In other words, it's not like a pie divided into three parts. The Father is one third God, the Son one third God, the Holy Spirit one third God. No, the Father is fully God, the Son is fully God, the Holy Spirit is fully God. So one divine essence that is fully possessed, eternally possessed, simultaneously possessed, in an undivided manner by the Father, by the Son, and by the Holy Spirit. And yet, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is each a distinct personal expression of that one undivided divine essence. It's an amazing doctrine, is it not? An amazing truth. Now, here's how we launch into the rest of this. If it is true, then, that The Father and Son and Spirit are equal, in fact, identical, an equality of identity. If the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are equal in terms of their essence, then what distinguishes the Father, Son and Holy Spirit cannot be in reference to the essence that is possessed by the Father. As opposed to the essence possessed by the son, because it's the identically same essence. So it must rather be if it's not essential differences, there are no essential differences between the father, son and spirit. They each possess all of the attributes of God, the collection of properties that are essential for God to be God. So what distinguishes them is not anything about their essence, but rather the relationships among them. relationships between father, son, son and spirit and the roles that each one carries out as an expression of that one undivided divine essence. What distinguishes them then is relationships and roles, not essence. And when you go to scripture, you find this is so clearly the case that there are distinct roles. distinct activities that are ascribed to one or another member of the Trinity. And these are not reversible types of things. The son alone became incarnate, not the father, not the spirit. The son did. And that's not a reversible thing. He is the eternal son who becomes the incarnate son. His being the eternal son is what grounded him as the one who was the appropriate one to come to be the incarnate son. So it is these roles and relationships, then, that we want to look at in scripture and see what we can learn about them. Roman numeral two is where we begin, then, with the father. What can we say from Scripture about the role, the uniqueness of the role of the father in the Trinity? Well, here are some categories and passages, then, that I would suggest Scripture would commend to us. First of all, the father should be seen as supreme among the persons of the Godhead. Now, we've got to be careful, don't we? This is not a supremacy of being. This doesn't mean that the father is greater in his worth. He has a superior essence. No, indeed, it does not mean that because the essence of the father is the identically same essence that the son possesses, that the spirit possesses. So this supremacy is a supremacy of role. Not of being, but it is clear that the Father always has preeminence. There is no exception to this in the Bible. It is it is the case in eternity past to eternity future that the father has preeminence here. Just a few passages which I hope would illustrate this to you in Psalm two. I will surely tell you the decree of the Lord. He said to me, you are my son. Today I have begotten me. Ask of me. This is the father speaking. Ask of me and I will. Give you the nations as your inheritance, the very ends of the earth as your possession. You will break them with a rod of iron. You shall shatter them like earthenware. As we know, this will be fulfilled as recorded in Revelation 19. When the sun comes again in his second coming, he will come and fulfill precisely what Psalm 2 has said that began with his first coming will be culminated and completed with a second coming. The question is this. How is it that the son has this right to reign over the nations? Ask of me and I will give you the nations. The father gives the son this right to reign. Matthew 6, 9 and 10, pray this way, our father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done. Now, how do you make sense of the kingdom of Christ? Is that a different kingdom than this kingdom of which he speaks? No, indeed, the kingdom of Christ is the kingdom Christ establishes under the rulership of his father. So his kingdom, the kingdom of the father, is established on earth by the kingdom of Christ. It is the father who ultimately rules through the rulership of the son. This is so clear in first Corinthians 15. When all things are subjected to him, the son, then the son himself also will be subjected to the one who subjected all things to him. Who was the one who subjected all things to him? The Father. Then the Son will be subjected to him, the Father, who subjected all things to the Son. That God, Jehovah's Witnesses love this passage, that God, the Father, clearly that is indicated, implied by the Trinitarian context. Murray Harris, Jesus as God, has written an excellent study on the term theos as it relates to Jesus and argues in that book very convincingly that oftentimes Paul uses theos in Trinitarian context as shorthand for God the Father. I think think of second Corinthians 1314 made the the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, the fellowship of the spirit. Well, obviously, this is God the father. Likewise, here in first Corinthians 1528. subjected, subjected all things to him so that God, the father might be all in all. Indeed, the father has supremacy. Ephesians 1 3. We looked at this just a moment ago. Blessed be specifically the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing. Where do they come from? From the father through the son brought to us experientially by the Spirit. There is an order in the Trinity that is inviolable, that is fixed and eternal. Philippians 2, 9 to 11, here's a great, great statement of this. The day will come when the Son, crucified, risen, exalted, will be set on a throne on which every knee will bow. Every tongue will confess in heaven and earth that Jesus Christ is Lord. Is there a period then at the end of that in verse 11? No. To the glory of God the Father. So the father receives the ultimate glory of the praise and worship rightly given to the son where there are lessons in this for worship at my ETS paper I'm reading this year in a worship consultation is on the. Order in the Trinity, Texas, is the the word often used by the early church theologians. This ordering of the Trinity and the relation of that to worship is a very important thing to consider. I mean, Philippians 2.11 is a great statement of that. Every knee bows, every tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. There is an ultimacy to the work of the Father that needs to be known and acknowledged. Now, secondly, as capital B, the father is the grand architect, the wise designer of creation. Again, we talk about the decree of God. It's not wrong to say that. But you know what? The decree was established by the father. carried out by the Son and the Spirit. Ephesians 1 verses 9 to 12. He, the father, made known to us the mystery of his, the father's, will. If you question that, you study it yourself. You look at it yourself and see if those pronouns are not of the father. Reading from verse three forward. I'll leave that to you to check out on your own. He, the father, made known to us the mystery of his, the father's will, according to his, the father's kind intention, which he, the father, purposed in him, the son. See, that last little phrase gives it away. All the other pronouns then had to have been of the father because he purposes these things to happen in him. Well, who's that him? That's got to be the son. It has to be with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times. That is the summing up of all things in Christ. So the father is the one who designed that everything that happened in the universe, that the very creation itself and the redemptive plot line of history is to be summed up in his son. The father established this to be the case. Summing up all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things in earth, in him, the son, we've obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to his purpose, the father's purpose, who works all things after the counsel of his the father's will. I mean, one thing that's very clear in these early verses of Ephesians, none of these pronouns refer to God generically. They refer to one or another person of the Trinity. Which one is it? Not which one, who is it? So here in verse 11, we've obtained an inheritance, having predestined according to his, the father's purpose, who works all things after the counsel of his, who is it? I argue it has got to be the Father based upon everything that leads up to this. His, the Father's will to the end that we who are the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His. Again, this is not God generically. His, the Father's glory. This is Philippians 2.11 again, isn't it? The ultimacy in glory goes to the Father from whom all things come, who designs all things, who is the architect of all things and so on. All right, I'll skip over now to go to page two. I'm not going to look at everything here in order for us to get through this, at least get the gist of it. The father, third capital letter C, is the giver of every good and perfect gift. Of course, we've seen this already. Ephesians one indicated it. James 117. I mentioned that verse earlier. Romans 8, 31 and 32. This is a great text. What should we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? Well, who is this God now who is for us? He who did not spare his own son. So now we realize we're narrowing it from God generically to the father, the father of the son, right? He who did not spare his own son. This is the father, but delivered him the son over for us all. How will he, the father, not also with him the son freely give us all things from whom do all Good gifts come, the Father. Praise be to His grace and mercy manifest in His Son, through whom all of the riches of Christ come to us. Yet here's an amazing thing. Yet the father often provides and works through the son in the spirit. He designs it. He's the architect. He's the one who determines how all things will work out. And yet, as we talked about last night. The sharefulness, is that a real word in English? The sharefulness of the father is not seen first and foremost in his giving us a role to play in his work. It is seen in that it's seen first and foremost in designating his son to have the center place, to be the one in whom all things are summed up. His son to be the one under whose feet all things are put in subjection. His son, not himself, to the ultimate praise of his name. But he puts his son on center stage. Isn't that a remarkable thing? There is a humility. within the Godhead that is remarkable, that the person, this one in the position of highest authority, uses that authority and his design, his wisdom and his plan all for the purpose of exalting another. That is an astonishing thing. And then, of course, the trickle down is we get in on it, too. Yes, we get to be servants in the work of God also. What a generous, benevolent, kind, Sharing. That's that's an English word. God, God is. And you see this even within the Trinity and the spirit. So the son and the spirit then are these agents of the father in the carrying out of his work. The son primarily in the accomplishment of every good thing that we receive. So we receive the riches of Christ. By the will of the father. But then we receive it personally. I mean, the personal application comes as the spirit brings into our lives conformity to Christ. All of all of the benefits that Christ has won for us come to us as the spirit mediates to us the presence of Jesus. OK, the father now wrote Roman numeral three, the father in relation to the son. Well, if one thing is clear in the Bible, it is clear that the son is under the headship or authority of the father. And this is eternal. In my judgment, I think first Corinthians eleven three states this as a general truth. This is an incarnation specific. It is a general truth that relates to the son in relation to the father. I want you to understand, says Paul, that Christ is ahead of every man and the man is ahead of the woman. And God is the head of Christ. So the foundation of male female relationships in the way that they are with headship in marriages, male leadership in churches is grounded in the Trinity. Why do you think God made human beings images of himself? who are equal in essence, male and female, image of God, equal in dignity, in nature, in image of God's status, but distinct in God-ordained roles where there is male headship and female submission that reflects the very Trinitarian tripersonal relationships of the eternal trinity. And it's an incredible thing to see how God reflected his own being in the way he created the relationships of human beings. First Corinthians 11, 3 establishes that. The son obviously submitted to the father in everything he did during his incarnation. One of the most astonishing statements of this is John 8 that I have here for you. Jesus said to them, when you lift up the Son of Man, you will know that I am he. Now, listen to this. I do nothing on my own initiative. Is that hyperbole? Is that exaggerated statement for effect? Uh-uh. It is exactly true. He did nothing on his own initiative. But I speak these things as the Father taught me. He who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things. Overstatement? Always? No, you know what? It can't be overstatement because he never sinned. Right. So what does it mean not to sin? It means always to obey the will of his father. Always. This is an astonishing thing. I wish we had time to just camp there for a moment and soak in what that means. It's an incredible thing. But here's the point. The son saw himself as not sort of a free agent out there doing his own thing, establishing his own ministry, you know, coming up with his own ideas. He saw himself as under authority every minute of his life. Not to speak a word, not to say a thing, not to go anywhere apart from the will of the Father for him. Now, what about an eternity past? Is this just an incarnational reality? I'll just tell you real briefly, so if you remember this, if you would pray, Wayne Grudem, with whom I taught at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and I are going to be involved in a debate at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School with a Trinity professor and a colleague of his from another school on the Trinity. Isn't this ironic? And they're charging us with heresy, Wayne Grudem and me. with heresy for holding to the eternal submission of the son to the father. arguing that if the son's submission to the father is eternal, it indicates an essential property of the son different from the father. Hence, the essence of the son is different than the essence of the father. It's a fallacious, logical argument. But nonetheless, that's the argument that is being proposed by Tom McCall at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, a Wesleyan Armenian theologian who is teaching there now. And so we're on October 9th. We're going to debate this and it'll be recorded and CT is going to be there and it's going to be fun. I'll tell you. But here's here's here's the bottom line question. I mean, there's no there's no way they can possibly disagree on the question of whether the son was submissive to the father in the incarnation. What about an eternity past? Well, consider this 40 times over. In fact, it's forty four times in John's gospel. Jesus mentions the fact the father sent him to accomplish the mission that he is here to do. Now, some of these can be understood as a sending within history that is ascending as he is the incarnate son. But most of them are ascending from heaven. to earth to become incarnate. Well, if the father sends the son to become incarnate, then I take it the authority of the father over the son predates his incarnation. In fact, accounts for his incarnation. So, I mean, famously, John 3, 16 and 17. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. I read that so quickly. Who gave his son? The father did right for God did not send his son into the world. So what did the father do, sent his son, that sending language, among other things, means the father has authority over the son and sends him to do his bidding, his will. How did creation take place? I have that on the next page, I think. No, maybe I don't. I guess I don't. How did creation take place? Well, listen to Hebrews one and you'll hear it. God, after he spoke long ago through the fathers and many. In the prophets, in many portions, in many ways in these last days, he has spoken to us in his son, whom he appointed heir of all things. I mean, you hear the authority there, don't you? Whom he appointed heir of all things. That's future. That's that's, you know, yet to come when he reigns over all of the created order. But listen to this through whom also he made the world. So who made the world? The father made the world through the son. Isn't this why John one begins in the beginning was the word in the beginning. What does that bring to mind? Obviously, Genesis one right in the beginning, God created the heavens in the beginning was the word. Well, how did God create in Genesis one? What did he do? He spoke. Then God said, then God said, then God said. So his word creates. In the beginning was the word. The word was with God. The word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being by him. The word of God. Isn't that amazing? So he is, you know, it's interesting. The Bible has these bookends of creation and final consummation of the father accomplishing his work through his son. He creates through his son. He consummates all of his purposes of history through subjecting all things to his son. Isn't that amazing? So, and that's the last point I have on capital letter D, the Son's submission to the Father in eternity future. And 1 Corinthians 15, we've already looked at that. Indeed, the Father puts all things in subjection to the Son. All right. Now, what about Jesus and the Spirit? I'm moving quickly ahead here. Jesus and the Spirit. Now, this is fascinating because there are two streams of biblical teaching. In regard to the question of who's in charge of who submits to who in relation to Jesus in the spirit. On the one hand, Jesus yields to the spirit, walks in the spirit, lives by the spirit, is led into the wilderness by the spirit to be tempted by the devil. is sent back into Nazareth in the power of the spirit. Luke four. So on the one hand, Jesus is the spirit anointed Messiah. There's much I'd like to say about that. I don't know how much time I have for it. Oh, it's rich. It's wonderful. Jesus is is is lives his life as a human being. One of us, the second Adam. How else do you account for concerning the hour of the second coming? No, no one knows. Not not even the sun. The Father alone knows. Well, wait a minute. I thought he was God. He accepts limitations, not at all. This is the canonic heresy. Not the relinquishing of any attribute of deity. He would not be God were he to do that. But the willingness to set aside rights of use, rightful use of those attributes of many of those attributes in order to accept the limitations of living life as one of us to be the second Adam who succeeded where Adam failed to be the son of David. To be to be the king over his people, to live as we were called to live our lives, to do so in obedience, he accepts these limitations. So on the one hand, as the As the as I put it here to fulfill his role as the spirit anointed Messiah, he submits to the spirit, but. Toward the end of his life, you remember, in fact, just jump ahead, because I may or may not be able to go to page four to go through all this with you. Page four, Roman numeral five, Roman numeral five. Toward the end of his life, he tells his disciples that a day is coming when the spirit will come upon them also. He'll send the spirit. Well, who will send the spirit to them? That's interesting just in itself, just in itself. That is fascinating. Look, look, for example, with me at John 15, 26. Famous first that the Cappadocians referred to. At the Council of Constantinople, Gregory of Nazianzus made much of this verse when the helper comes, whom I will send you from the father. That is the spirit of truth who proceeds from the father. He will testify about me, isn't it? Don't you see in that this taxes who sends the spirit? Well, the father does. who proceeds from the father, the father does whom I will send you from the father. So the father gives to the son the spirit, who then gives to his followers that same spirit. Or you hear it also in Acts two thirty three. You can just listen to it. Jesus, having ascended to the right hand of the father, right hand of the father. Notice that language. Where is he right now at the right hand of the father? What does that indicate? Under the authority of the father doing his bidding, Jesus, having ascended to the right hand of the father, having received from the father the gift of the Holy Spirit, he the son has poured forth that which you both see in here. That's Peter on the day of Pentecost. So how does the spirit come to his church? The father gives the spirit to the church through the son. You know, this order in the Trinity is astonished. It's astonishing. Thank you for the water, Marcus. And my accounting for you, you have to think about this, see if you think this is correct, my accounting for how it is that Jesus submits to the spirit and yet will say when the spirit comes, John 16, he will not speak on his own initiative. Does that language sound familiar? is the identical language Jesus said of himself in relation to the father. I do not speak on my own initiative. I speak as the father tells me. Now, Jesus says when the spirit comes, he will not speak on his own initiative. He will take of mine and disclose it to you. He will glorify me. So Here you have these two sets of truths. On the one hand, Jesus submits to the Spirit. On the other hand, Jesus directs the Spirit. Jesus sends the Spirit. Jesus teaches through the Spirit. How does Acts 1 begin? Do you remember? I don't know what your Bible entitles the book of Acts, but I'll tell you in a minute here what the title ought to be. Here's how it begins. The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach. What book is that? Luke. OK, so now we're next. So Acts is the continuing doing and teaching of whom? Of Jesus. How? By his spirit. Upon whom, in particular, his apostles and, of course, the early church, the Christian Christians who are baptized with the spirit in general. So the book of Acts is the continuing acts and teachings of Jesus. How through the spirit on the apostles, it's not the acts of the apostles, it's the acts and teachings of Jesus. That's what Luke says in the first verse of Acts. So Jesus, on the one hand, is under the authority of the Spirit in his earthly life and ministry as a man, as the Messiah, as the Son of David. And yet, as the second person of the Trinity, he has authority over the Spirit. He sends the Spirit. He directs the Spirit. He tells the Spirit what to teach. And the spirit accomplishes then the will of the sun. OK, then let me. Before we do application, let me just say one more thing about that I skipped over very, very quickly. Jesus own life and ministry in the power of the spirit. There is a richness to this dimension of understanding Christ's life that can be revolutionary. for you if you have not yet seen this. And here's why. We evangelicals rightly have been have had to defend the deity of Christ over and over again. There have been Aryans all through history. We have them today. We have Jehovah's Witnesses and so on. And so we are called upon to defend the deity of Christ. And it must be defended. If Christ is not God, there is no atonement. that will pay the penalty for our sin that will satisfy the infinite offense of God against God. So he must be God. But but because of our evangelical vigilance, vigilance in defending the deity of Christ, we tend to view the whole of our Christology through the lens of deity. So what do we do then with passages like he's called us for this purpose that we might follow in his steps? Who committed no sin? First Peter 2, 21, 22. What do we do with that? Because he's God. He didn't sin because he's God. I'm not God. How could I be called to follow in his steps? Doesn't seem fair. I struggle with this as an eight year old boy. I remember the struggle because I thought about this. I thought it's just no fair. He's God and I'm not. How can I be called to live his life? Philippians to have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus. No fair. Yes, it is. And here's why. Because he lived his life, though he was God, he lived his life as a man. in the power of the Spirit, which Spirit He then gives to us. Isn't that amazing? So you can look at Christ and see in him an example. Now, granted, you know, the liberals, that's all of their view of Christ. I mean, the meaning of Christ and his work is the example, you know. And so evangelicals, I think, who want to uphold substitutionary atonement, they tend to throw out that liberal stuff. Well, it isn't liberal. It's biblical. To follow his example, it's Philippians 2, it's 1 Peter 2. Goodness gracious, let's not throw out what is true in scripture just because liberals pervert it. So, yes, indeed, we are to look at Christ as our example. We're to read the Gospels and see in his holiness and his obedience to the Father, an example for how we should live. We should live Christ's life because we're able to on our own. Are you kidding? because He has granted us His supernatural power. The power by which He lived His life is given to us. So walk in the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh. God help us to see the glory of this. Okay, application. We'll do this very quickly and then we'll close. I marvel at the father. This is the last page, page five. Marvel at the father who designs and purposes and wills all that he does so that the spotlight shines not on himself first and foremost, but on his son to the ultimate glory of his name. Marvel then at the humility of the father in the exaltation of his son. And I think there are lessons there to be learned for leaders. Leaders, sinful leaders, unlike the sinless father, sinful leaders have a tendency to use their authority to advance their own position and their own standing and their own image. Godly leaders will look for opportunities to use their authority to shine the spotlight on a subordinate. and let that person rise and receive honor that could have gone to himself. Aren't there lessons here for us in humility as leaders? Marvel, number two, at the submission of the eternal Son, of the eternal Father, carried out with absolute fidelity to the Father's will, with nothing but joy and happiness. Remember Jesus after the Samaritan woman episode? We bought you food to eat. Oh, I'm not hungry. Do you have food to eat? We don't know. My food. My food. My nourishment. What I live for. is to do the will of My Father." He loved His obedience to the Father, who, for the joy set before Him, endured the cross. He loved His obedience. He did not chafe at it. He did not buck. He did not resist. He loved. John 15. Let me just read this. John 15. He says, Verse 10, if you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be made full. What is this joy he's talking about? It's the joy of the intimacy of his relationship with his father that is produced in part by his obedience to the father. Do you want joy in your Christian life? Then obey God with gladness and you will have joy. Notice in the middle of that second Application point those italicized that italicized sentence. I just want to highlight that to you in light of the son's submission to the father for all of eternity. This follows. It is as God like to submit with joy and gladness to rightful authority as it is God like to exert wise and beneficial rightful authority. Now, we always associate with God exerting rightful authority. That's God, right? It is, but you know what else is God submitting with joy and gladness to rightful authority. Take it to heart. Number three, marvel at the unity and harmony of the relationships of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Unity implies they have one purpose, work toward one common goal, follow one common plan, fulfill one common mission. But it's a unity that is not unison. It's a unity expressed in harmony, but it's a harmony that is not discord, a diversity that is not discord. So there's a unity and a harmony, a unity and diversity that is expressed in the Trinity that ought to be reflected in the church. We have various gifts in the body of Christ, diversity that ought to work together for one common purpose, the building up of the body of Christ. But we ought not be clones of one another. And he gave us different personalities, different gifts. Why why squelch that? Why do we think we have to have everybody a cookie cutter made the same? God did not make us this way. He made us different to work our differences together in a unified purpose. That's the Trinity. Isn't it amazing? Let's close in prayer. Father, I know this was quick and I trust I trust my father that this was honoring to you and your son and your spirit. I pray, Lord, whatever we went over too quickly and may be confusing. You would clarify if anything was said that was not correct. Would you remove that? May you, Lord God, impress upon all of us the richness of your words teaching about the distinctiveness of your personhood as Father, Son, and Spirit, and yet the unity, indeed equality, indeed oneness of who you are as God. Help us, Lord, to see this with greater clarity and richness that we may know you better And through this, give to you the worship that is due to your name. We pray this in the name of your Son, our Savior, Jesus, in the power of your Spirit, we pray. Amen.