Category: Theology: Thinking Deeply About God and His Relation to the World

Who is God? What is He like? What has He done?

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Living in Fellowship with the Triune God

[Editor’s Note: Read a shorter version of this post here]

“Now, I’m really living!” Have you ever said that? What made you think you were really living? For me, I often said it while traveling—to Egypt, to Spain, or to Mexico.

Jesus also had a sense of what “really living” is. He called it eternal life: “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (John 17:3). According to Jesus, real life is life in communion with the Father and the Son. From other passages, we know this life comes through the Holy Spirit as well.

This is the life we were created for but turned from in the fall. It is the life Jesus came to restore (John 3:16). We receive it by believing in Him. Once we do, we are to think of ourselves as really living but unto God: “In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 6:11).

A Life in Communion with the Triune God
This is life lived in communion with Jesus. John Mark Comer, in his book on discipleship, notes that following Jesus was fundamentally about being with Him.

Jesus said that communion would continue even after His ascension: “Abide in Me” (John 15). Comer paraphrases: “Make your home in my presence by the Spirit, and never leave” (37). He explains, “Goal #1 of apprenticeship to Jesus is to live in that moment-by-moment flow of love within the Trinity” (ibid.).

This is eternal life: living in communion with the Triune God. But how do we actually do this?

A Baseline for Communion with the Triune God
The key is to keep the Triune God at the forefront of our hearts and minds—to live in His presence. We cannot focus on many things at once, but when our minds wander, there is no better resting place than the Triune God.

One practice that has helped me is making the Apostle’s Creed part of my daily rhythm (see the appendix below to read the whole creed). It brings me back to the Triune God, summarizes the biblical faith, and connects me to the church through the ages. Continue reading “Living in Fellowship with the Triune God”

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Living in Fellowship with the Triune God

[Editor’s Note: you can read the full version of this post here]

“Now, I’m really living!” Have you ever said that? What made you think you were really living? For me, I often said it while traveling—to Egypt, to Spain, or to Mexico.

Jesus had an opinion on this question. “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (John 17:3). According to Jesus, real life — what it means to be “really living” — is communion with the Triune God: Father, Son, and Spirit.

This is the life for which we were created, the life we lost in the fall, and the life Christ came to restore. But how do we actually enter into it? The Apostles’ Creed gives us a map. It not only summarizes the faith; it teaches us how to commune with each Person of the Trinity:

  • We encounter the Father through creation
  • We encounter the Son through the Word
  • We encounter the Spirit through the Church

This framework keeps our fellowship with God concrete, biblical, and constant.

Life with the Father — in Creation
The Creed begins: “I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.” Creation is the Father’s temple, revealing His glory and care.

Jesus taught us to look at the birds and flowers as reminders of the Father’s provision (Matt. 6:25–26). Dutch theologian Wilhelmus á Brakel urged believers to “accustom yourself to behold creation in such a fashion that you may behold God in it” (The Christian’s Reasonable Service, 1:281). Continue reading “Living in Fellowship with the Triune God”

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5 Things the Holy Spirit Does for Jesus’ Followers

A few months ago, we celebrated Pentecost Sunday. Pentecost was a feast of the Old Testament that commemorated the giving of the Ten Commandment. It was a harvest celebration at the end of the barley and the beginning of the wheat harvest. It was on the day of this feast that the Holy Spirit came in power upon the 120 disciples in Acts 2. This gave me occasion to think a bit more deeply about the work of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit can be a mysterious concept, especially when we use the term “Holy Ghost.” Sometimes, we associate the Holy Spirit with the gift of tongues or ecstatic experiences. This may be part of His work, but what occurred to me was that Jesus spoke very clearly to His disciples about what the coming of the Holy Spirit would mean. We have a record of this explanation in John 14-16. What does Jesus teach there about the work of the Holy Spirit? I see five things.

First, He will glorify Jesus. “He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you” (John 16:14).
“When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me” (John 15:26). Where the Spirit is working, there Jesus is praised and honored.

Second, He will convict us about the wrong we do. “But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment . . .” (John 16:7-8). When the Spirit comes, we will have to confront the things in our lives that do not line up with what is good and just. Continue reading “5 Things the Holy Spirit Does for Jesus’ Followers”

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Addiction and Grace

“To be alive is to be addicted, and to be alive and addicted is to stand in need of grace.” So says Gerald May in his book Addiction and Grace.

That’s not what May would have said in his college days. In college, he moved away from religion and, in his words, “made a god out of science” (5).

This love of science led him to study psychology and eventually to become a psychiatrist. His first job was director of a drug rehab center.

May threw himself into the work with tremendous zeal. The results . . . were disappointing. He was surprised at how often he failed, and he fell into depression.

In the midst of his depression, he met a faith healer at a conference. They had a conversation, and she told him that she believed he was meant to be a healer, too. But then she said, “I wouldn’t take my dog to you, because you think you are the one that has to do the healing” (6).

His response? “These are not the words one might expect to be helpful for a depressed person. But they struck me deep and well” (ibid.).

As he thought, he became open to new directions for helping addicts. He went to several addicts who had turned their lives around. He asked them what had helped them to do so. “All of them described some sort of spiritual experience” wrote May (ibid.).

After a long time of reflection, May was led to apply this sort of thinking to himself. It led to a very simple prayer: “Dear Jesus, help me.” This prayer began to grow within him in the months that followed and eventually he found healing through God’s grace.

He concluded that it’s not a question of whether you are an addict. The question is to what are you addicted and to what extent? He saw his depression as rooted in an addiction to success.

And how could he find healing? He found healing in the grace of God.

And the grace of God can heal us, too.

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Key Biblical/Theological Distinctions for Thinking Clearly About Theology

Over the years, I have come to realize that people can be talking past each other in theology. One reason is that they do not distinguish the ways that words are used. This is not always easy to figure out. The Church spent several hundred years learning how to talk about who Jesus is and how that fits in with our understanding of God. Over the years the church has sought to clarify these matters. If we listen carefully, we might be able to avoid some of these pitfalls ourselves. Our church has a lengthy document that explains what we are understanding in the Bible called the Westminster Confession of Faith. You can ready it here. For me, I have come to realize that the key to this lengthy document is understanding about 20 theological distinctions. Here is my list.

  1. Being & Persons: God is one being, but He exists in three persons: Father, Son, & Holy Spirit.
  2. Primary & Secondary Causes: God is the primary cause of all things, but man is a real, though secondary, cause.
  3. Decree & Providence: Both refer to God’s government of everything that happens, but the decree is God’s planning of everything while providence is when He actually brings it about.
  4. Guilt & Corruption of Sin: When we sin, we become guilty, i.e., liable to punishment, but sin also corrupts us, i.e., makes us worse people.
  5. Covenant of Works/Covenant of Grace: The covenants are the terms of our relationship with God. The covenant of works required perfect obedience to have a life with God. The covenant of grace requires faith in Jesus Christ and His perfect work in order to have life with God. It is “do this and live” over against “believe, and you will be saved.”

    6. Continue reading “Key Biblical/Theological Distinctions for Thinking Clearly About Theology”

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