Trinity
Beyond Knowledge
By Linda Rex
January 28, 2024, 4th Sunday | Epiphany—One of the things I had to learn early on as a fledgling pastor was the difference between head knowledge and heart knowledge. What I mean is, when speaking to the congregation, my purpose was not to inform them about a topic so much as it was to inspire them to follow Christ with greater depth and faithfulness. Fresh from my seminary classes, I was bubbling over with a lot of great information, but what was needed was not simply more theological information, but the living Word of God speaking a word through me that would touch the heart, that the Spirit could use to convict and transform the inner being of those who were listening.
In my family, as we grew up, one of the values that was important was knowing things or being well-informed on about every subject. This may be why I’ve always been fascinated by the newest discoveries in science, especially since reading Thomas F. Torrance’s books on the interrelation between science and theology. Science and theology, I once heard Dr. McKenna say, are intended to inform one another, to work together in unity for the betterment of humankind. Often, sad to say, this is not what happens.
Today, our scientific knowledge is constantly reaching new heights. I’m inevitably amazed by the new things we are finding out about our cosmos. Lately my interest has been in quantum theory—of which I know very little, but from what I can see, seems to echo the divine three-in-oneness of the Trinity. All this new science is fascinating and challenging, but from what I have seen historically, every advancement in science needs to be tempered by other-centered, self-giving love, or it presents the possibility for destruction and catastrophe.
This brings me to the passage for this Sunday, 1 Corinthians 8:1–13, in which the apostle Paul addresses some questions regarding whether believers should eat food offered to idols. Even though some believers knew and understood that idols had no real life in themselves, and meat offered to idols really was just, in the end, meat that could be eaten, there were believers who had, for many years, sacrificed meat to idols. Even though they had abandoned paganism and its practices when they came to faith in Christ, their conscience and understanding were not yet at the place where eating meat offered to idols was clearly okay. They still had questions and concerns, and were vulnerable to falling back into their old belief systems and practices.
So, the apostle Paul reminded believers that more important than the believers’ knowledge about meat offered to idols was their love and concern for their brothers and sisters. In other words, love trumps knowledge. Being knowledgeable can become a source of pride to us, and when we are not careful with it and insist on being able to do what we have a right to do or the freedom to do, we can severely injure others. Instead of trying to prove how knowledgeable we are or how free we are, Paul writes, we need to being concerned for the welfare of others, and do our best not to cause unnecessary harm.
Looking back over my brief years as a pastor, I see times when I was more interested in proving how much I knew and how right I was than I was concerned for the wellbeing of those I was ministering to. I was caught up in expressing my freedom in Christ—which is a good thing—but it was not always beneficial to those around me. If there are any who were wounded by this, I sincerely ask forgiveness, for I realize now that what I was doing was not always for the wellbeing of others.
Recently on Our Life in the Trinity, I talked about our sacred oneness, and my focus was on our human body, and the covenant relationship we have with God, and with our spouse. Our sacred oneness also involves our participation in the Body of Christ, the Church, for we are bound together by the Spirit to be of one mind and heart, for the sake of others. As brothers and sisters in Christ, united to God and one another by the Spirit, we are meant to live together, serve others, and testify to the love and grace of God in Christ, in sacred oneness.
Whatever the cost to ourselves today in caring for one another within and without the Body of Christ, it is nothing compared with the self-offering of our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us that we may live. When any one of us insists upon our rights at the expense of others, or expressing our freedom in Christ in spite of its affect on others, we violate the sacred oneness of the Body of Christ. In fact, we violate Christ himself. We’re all on this journey together, growing up in Christ, but some of us are at different places along the journey. Rather than hindering one another’s progress, we want to be careful to edify or build up one another instead. Because, when all is said and done, what will last on into eternity won’t be “knowledge”, but other-centered, self-giving, serving love (1 Cor. 13).
Heavenly Father, you are the one from whom are all things and for whom we exist. Lord Jesus, you are the one by whom are all things and through whom we exist. Grant us the grace to always be careful not to injure or wound the conscience of others by our freedom in Christ. Fill us, by your Spirit, with other-centered self-giving love, and let it ever flow through us to others for their well-being, through Jesus our Lord. Amen.
“Now concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies. If anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know; but if anyone loves God, he is known by Him. Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world, and that there is no God but one. For even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him. However not all men have this knowledge; but some, being accustomed to the idol until now, eat food as if it were sacrificed to an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled. But food will not commend us to God; we are neither the worse if we do not eat, nor the better if we do eat. But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. For if someone sees you, who have knowledge, dining in an idol’s temple, will not his conscience, if he is weak, be strengthened to eat things sacrificed to idols? For through your knowledge he who is weak is ruined, the brother for whose sake Christ died. And so, by sinning against the brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause my brother to stumble.” 1 Corinthians 8:1–13 NASB
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Doing Family God’s Way
By Linda Rex
December 31, 2023, Holy Family | Christmas—During the Christmas season, which begins on Christmas Day and runs for twelve days, we ponder the extravagant gift of God’s Son, Jesus Christ, and his incarnation as God in human flesh. Often, during Advent and Christmas, being with family is something that is very important to us. As we celebrate the first Sunday in the season of Christmas (this year it’s on New Year’s Eve), we honor Jesus and his human parents, Joseph and Mary, along with his heavenly Father.
On this Sunday, we read in Luke 2:22–40 about Jesus’ mother and father taking him as an infant to the temple to carefully observe the requirements of the Mosaic law regarding the birth of a firstborn son, including ritual cleansing for the birth mother. Also, Mary probably offered her son to God, like many centuries before Samuel was offered up by his mother Hannah in gratitude for God’s answer to her prayer (1 Sam. 1).
The apostle Paul, in Galatians 4:4–7, says that God sent his Son (Jesus is divine), who was born of a woman (Jesus is human) and born under the law (Jesus, as a human being, is born within the particular culture and religious structure of God’s covenant people, the ancient Jews, who were bound by the law). The purpose of God sending his Son was to redeem those bound by the law, whether Jew or non-Jew, so that all might be adopted as God’s children. To redeem something is to buy it back, which helps us to see that Jesus, in his finished work, moved humanity back to their original design as those who were created for and can participate in intimate, face-to-face relationship with God (Gen 1-2).
Then Paul says that God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, making possible our personal participation in Jesus’ own face-to-face relationship with his Father in the Spirit. Because of Jesus’ redemption and the Spirit’s indwelling presence, we can experience within our hearts that relational closeness with our heavenly “Abba” (today, instead of “Abba” we would probably say “Daddy” or “Dad” or use a similar term of affectionate respect) or Father. What the Triune God has done and is doing moves our relationship with God away from one based on performance and trying to be good enough to be loved to a place of grace and love centered in Christ and not in our own selves. The Spirit enables us to have and know God’s indwelling presence, and to walk and talk with the Lord at any time. Jesus mediates our relationship with God, standing in our place, on our behalf, so that at any moment, we are at home in the Triune life and love.
As Paul points out, there is a profound difference between how a slave interacts with their master and how a beloved child interacts with their adored parent. There is meant to be a deep sense of trust, of affection, and of openness in a healthy family relationship. Too often, our human experience of parent-child relationships (and spousal relationships) isn’t anything like this, so it is a challenge for us to see and know God in healthy ways. But this is why God gives us his Spirit, so that we can begin to experience Christ’s own heart of affection and trust for his Father, and experience in a real way, that sense of affection and trust that the Father has for Christ within our own being. Through Jesus and by the Spirit, we commune with God and fellowship with one another, growing up in Christ as we respond to the Spirit’s work in us and with us.
The interrelations of our Triune God teach us how to live in loving relationships with one another. Recognizing that each of us is unique, yet we are all equal and are meant to live in union with God and one another, provides a great foundation for how we interact with one another, especially within a family. So often, our differences create friction in our relationships, especially between parents and children (and between spouses). We want to keep in mind that Jesus is our unity—he is the center of our family, and it is his Spirit who binds us together in love. Truth tempered with love is essential to healthy relationships. And grace is so essential, too, and as it is offered and received, our bonds of love grow stronger and tighter. So, when things get difficult and problems occur—we turn to Jesus. We sit at his feet, and grow together. We pray with and for one another. We allow God’s Spirit to flow into us and through us to one another, and rifts begin to heal, misunderstandings get resolved, and our relationships begin to look more like what they were intended to be—a living witness to the Holy Trinity.
This Christmas season is an opportunity to receive anew and participate more fully in Christ’s own union and communion with his Father in the Spirit. This is a gift from God which we receive by faith, as we trust in all Jesus has done, is doing, and will do as we respond to his Spirit and seek to do his Father’s will. Throughout this new year, may your families and friendships find healing and wholeness in Christ by the Spirit. Happy New Year!
Dear heavenly Abba, we are so grateful you sent your Son and your Spirit to redeem us and enable us to be adopted as your very own children. Immerse our families and marriages anew in your very own oneness, you who live as three unique equal Persons in one Being, so we will shine with your glory and goodness, through Jesus Christ your Son and by your Spirit. Amen.
“But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.” Galatians 4:4–7 NASB
[Printable copy: https://lifeinthetrinity.blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/olitdoing-family-gods-way.pdf ]
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Practicing Kingdom Realities
by Linda Rex
October 15, 2023, Proper 23 | After Pentecost—Over the years, I have come to see the kingdom of God and the second coming of Christ through a new lens and that is the incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, and reign of Jesus Christ. When examined through this new lens, these concepts take on a more paradoxical form and require that I live in a place where I must daily walk by faith, trusting in the near and faithful presence of Jesus in the Spirit.
The biblical concept of the kingdom of God revolves around the Trinity. God reigns over all, yet not all of us acknowledge nor submit to his reign in our hearts and lives. God gave humans the stewardship of his creation here on earth, but so often, we have lived as though we were self-sustaining, self-directed lords rather than simply stewards and creatures whose dependency and livelihood are utterly contingent and dependent upon the God who made us and who sustains us.
We find that our Triune God resolved this issue (as he had always intended to) by coming in the Son of God, the Word of God, into our cosmos as God in human flesh. His coming-and-presence, or parousia, was by the incarnation, and he preached the coming and presence of the kingdom of God in his person. In Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and ascension and in the sending of the Holy Spirit, we as human beings begin to participate by faith in the kingdom of God, right now through the Lord Jesus Christ by his Holy Spirit. We find ourselves today in the already-not-yet of the kingdom of God, which is present by the Spirit today but will come in its fullness when Jesus establishes the new heaven and earth.
When the apostle Paul talked about living in unity, bearing the fruits of the Spirit, and rejoicing in every circumstance in Philippians 4:1-9, he used the expression “in the Lord” or “in Christ Jesus.” Fundamental to our ability to walk in love or gentleness is Christ’s indwelling each of us by his Spirit. We participate by his Spirit in Jesus’ own love and life, living and working together in unity by helping one another and praying for one another. But even our prayers are merely a participation in the ongoing face-to-face conversation between the Father and Son in the Spirit. Jesus offers the things of God to us by the Spirit and offers our response to the Father in the Spirit. By the Spirit, the God of peace is in us and with us in the midst of whatever circumstances we find ourselves, so there is no need for anxiety or distress. We give thanks and rejoice instead, because Christ’s own gratitude and joy is ours to experience and share with others.
Paul says, “Let your gentle spirit be known to all.” This is the same language he uses elsewhere that seems to be a passive statement: “Be filled with the Holy Spirit.” There is a sense of receptivity, of being open to what is happening rather than ignoring, resisting or pushing back. We are given God’s Spirit freely, but if we are so busy doing everything ourselves and refuse to allow God room to work, we may not experience the wonderful blessings of God’s indwelling presence, our union with God in Christ, and his transforming work. And as we close ourselves to what God may want to do, then others will not see the beauty of Christ living in us and shining through us.
Lately, I’ve been pondering the journey I have experienced over the years in my own walk with Christ. How often it has been about getting the rules right or trying to earn the love and favor of God and others! How sad that I could not simply receive the love and grace of God and allow him to do all the heavy lifting, and focus on enjoying life in relationship with God and others in the Spirit by participating in all Jesus has done, is doing, and will do in bringing his kingdom into reality here on earth as it is in heaven.
Paul reminds us that our life is intimately bound up in Christ’s life with the Father in the Spirit. As he said in Galatians 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (NASB). We live even now in the reality of God’s kingdom being realized in us and in our world by Jesus in the Spirit, and we participate as we practice these kingdom realities in our lives, keeping our minds on what is excellent and worthy of praise, rejoicing in all situations, and gratefully offering our requests to God, day by day. And we diligently practice loving God and one another as we wait in joyful expectancy for the fullness of God’s kingdom in all its glory.
Lord, thank you for your abundant gifts, most especially your indwelling presence by the Spirit, who enables us to participate in your own face-to-face relationship with your Father. I open myself up to the warmth and healing of your love and life, and welcome you here. Clear out anew the cobwebs and filth that may be gathering that you, my dear Father, may feel at home and welcome always, through Jesus your Son in the Spirit. Amen.
“Therefore, my beloved brethren whom I along to see, my joy and crown, in this way stand firm in the Lord, my beloved. I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to live in harmony in the Lord. Indeed, true companion, I ask you also to help these women who have shared my struggle in the cause of the gospel, together with Clement also and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life. Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.” Philippians 4:1–9 NASB
[Printable copy: https://lifeinthetrinity.blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/olitpracticing-kingdom-realities-v2.pdf ]
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Living in the Triune Gift
by Linda Rex
June 4, 2023, Holy Trinity | After Pentecost—As we move on into the season beyond Pentecost, we begin to consider what it means that we participate and live in the Triune gift given to us in Jesus and the Spirit. What does it mean that we are included in God’s life and love, and are called together into community?
The Lord Jesus Christ gave his disciples instructions before he ascended, telling them to live out the implications of his ascended life by making disciples, baptizing and teaching them wherever they went (Matthew 28:16-20). His instructions to them were predicated on the reality that he had received all authority in heaven and on earth from his Father in the Spirit, and he would be going with them through whatever they might face, no matter the circumstances.
As the early churches were formed and began to gather, those who were not familiar with Jewish regulations regarding fellowship joined with those who had customarily followed certain Jewish customs and regulations throughout their lives. And the Roman culture of the day venerated social status, income level, and materialism—similar to our culture today. In the midst of these contrasting influences and expectations, the Corinth church was in disarray, caught up in unChristlike behaviors and practices, and being led astray by false teachers. The apostle Paul lovingly sought to call them back to the grace, love, and unity which was theirs in Jesus Christ.
As he closed his letter to the members at Corinth, Paul began to write in deep affection with his own hand the closing benediction (2 Cor 13:11-13). Using the common greeting of “farewell,” he encouraged them to “put things in order.” The NIV and ESV say “aim for full restoration” or “strive for full restoration,” while the NASB says “be made complete.” He wanted them to put aside their differences and all of the false identities they were embracing, and simply be who God said they were—his beloved children, bound together by the Spirit in love and grace.
Paul went on to encourage his beloved spiritual brothers and sisters to be “likeminded” and to “live in peace.” What was on the apostle’s heart was the unity of the body of Christ being made manifest in the way that they treated one another. He longed for them to drop the societal and cultural exclusivism and live in truly Christlike inclusive, caring, and sharing ways with one another. This call for unity and being of one mind and heart is reminiscent of Jesus’ instruction to his disciples before he went to the cross. He told them to love one another, and in this way prove to others that they were his disciples (John 15:7-11). In doing so, he said, they would rejoice. This resonates with Paul’s instructions to the members at Corinth, for he too tells them to rejoice in the midst of their unity and likemindedness in the Spirit.
And this is the key. It is impossible for us to have this kind of unity and harmony apart from the living presence of God himself through Jesus in the Spirit. It is the grace of Jesus, the love of God, and fellowship of the Holy Spirit we are living in the midst of and participating in when we join together as one body, the body of Christ. Our unity of mind and heart is a gift from the Holy Spirit. This is where our joy comes from, a gift of the divine joy God has in his own unity and love as Father and Son in the Spirit. We receive God’s Spirit and joyfully participate in the grace offered to us in Jesus as an expression of our Father’s love, fellowshipping with God and man in peace and harmony.
When we try to work this up ourselves, we find that we are unable to avoid the differences which cause division within the body of Christ. When we seek to follow what is culturally comfortable and what we’ve grown up doing all our lives, we discover that these things create differences rather than unity. When we allow our individualism to reign, we lose our mutual personhood, for those relationships which are meant to harmonize together become fractured and broken. Our best efforts at unity are fragile and at times even infectious. We desperately need the grace of Jesus, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Spirit to make us one, heal our divisions, and unify us. May we live in the blessing of God’s gift in Christ by the Spirit—and receive from our loving Triune Lord, the unity, harmony, peace he always meant for us to enjoy, and learn to share it with others. May we receive the Triune gift and live within it in gratitude and praise.
Dear God, thank you for including us in your life and love, for the grace offered to us through your Son because of your faithful, bountiful love, Father, in the wondrous fellowship and joy of your Holy Spirit. Enable us to receive all that you have for us, to live in the truth of who we are as your beloved children, in the unity and harmony and peace you always meant for us to enjoy, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
“Finally, brothers and sisters, farewell. Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.” 2 Cor 13:11-13 NRSV
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Spirit Immersed and Spirit Filled
by Linda Rex
May 28, 2023, Pentecost—A while back I visited a bookstore to try and find a gift book for a friend. As I was wandering the aisles, I came across an entire section of the store dedicated to the supernatural, spiritualism, and gothic themes. The literature available included a full spectrum from white witchcraft to Satan worship, new age to eastern meditative practices.
The size of this section has grown in recent years. It seems there is a deepening hunger for something beyond our physical world, and a longing for there to be some way in which we can control the chaos and turmoil of our lives. We adore our human freedom, but we have not yet learned that freedom is something that must be laid on the altar of love, and used in relationship with Jesus with grace and humility in the service of others rather than of ourselves.
Unfortunately, even our Western religion has fallen prey to our adoration of all things self-focused and self-indulgent. We often talk about having the Spirit move in our world to bring about healing and change. This is good. We like the effects of the Spirit’s presence, to gather in worship and have ecstatic experiences. This is also good. But we’re not always as equally welcoming to the Spirit’s movements to bring about healing and change in us, in our churches, and in our communities. We’re not always immediately responsive to the repentance and change the Spirit is calling us to when the Lord is wanting to do something new.
In 1 Corinthians 12:3b–13, the apostle Paul sought to help the church at Corinth to understand that they were not given the Spirit so that they could impress each other with their spiritual abilities or gifts. They were not given the Spirit so they could cast curses on each other or so they could lord it over one another. Rather, they were given the Spirit for the common good.
In this passage Paul uses the metaphor of the parts of the human body making up a whole as a way of showing that the Church, the body of Christ, was meant to reflect God’s way of being. As the body of Christ, the Church is immersed in the Spirit and filled with the Spirit, enabling its members to participate in Christ, in God’s way of being. Our Father, his Son and his Spirit, are three Persons in one Being. We find within God what is to be reflected within the body of Christ—diversity with equality in unity.
In the divine Being, we see the Spirit’s graces of love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, and so on. We see the Son’s sacrificial service as the Person who came to manifest God’s life and way of being in sacrificial service for others. We see the Father’s actions at work in this world, manifesting his kingdom and his will being done even now, through his Spirit and his Son Jesus. All of the Spirit’s graces, the Son’s sacrificial service, and the Father’s creative and restorative actions are meant to be expressed in and through the Church as the members of the body of Christ receive the Spirit and allow the Spirit to work through them to benefit the world in which they live.
Individually and as congregations, it’s important to make to effort to learn how God has uniquely created us, and how he has specifically gifted us and blessed us with certain abilities. It is also good to grow in our own personal relationship with the Holy Spirit, to learn to listen for the “still small voice” of the Spirit and how to distinguish it from all of the other often louder and more insistent inner voices of self, sin and Satan. We want to get in step with the Spirit, and walk in the Spirit, no longer following our own human inclinations, which way too often get us in trouble.
We were created for so much more than just a rational, fleshly existence. As we follow the Spirit’s lead, we participate in what Jesus is doing in this world to bring healing, restoration, renewal and transformation. We aren’t doing things for God, but rather are doing things with Jesus in the Spirit—participating in God’s life and love, allowing him to love and serve others through us. What begins to happen when we get ourselves out of the way and allow Jesus to live in and through us in this way is that the power of God begins to be manifest in tangible ways in this world. This isn’t magic, because we are not the ones in control—God is. As we respond to the Spirit’s lead, God’s life and love is expressed in and through us in caring for those around us and for the world in which we live.
Heavenly Spirit, forgive me for all the ways in which I take you for granted, and the ways in which I grieve, insult, or offend you. Come, heavenly fountain of life, and pour over me anew, immersing me again in your living streams. Each and every day, may I be a ready conduit through which you may change and heal this world, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
“… no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except in the Holy Spirit. Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually has he wills. For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.” 1 Corinthians 12:3b–13 ESV
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Christ the Image of God
By Linda Rex
July 17, 2022, PROPER 11—Yesterday, my son told me about another mass shooting that had occurred—a heart-rending devastation for innocent people just going about their everyday lives. These aches joined with angst over the increasing inflation and some recent experiences of rampant disrespect expressed by the loss of simple courtesies, made my heart ache even more than ever.
The Old Testament reading for this Sunday, Amos 8:1–12, as well as the psalms, Psalm 52 and 15, express a cry from God’s heart against all that is destructive and evil in this world. The evil one seeks control, disunity, and destruction, while Christ seeks to express his love, restoration, and unity by his Spirit through human hearts. Too often we respond to the inner cry to do as we please, to seek self-gratification and self-glory rather than to humble ourselves to be who we really are, the ones created to reflect the love and other-centered way of being of the God who made us.
How easy it is for us to get sucked down into the vortex of self. Its cry is siren and its influence is strong. It is seductive—we are often halfway into our surrender to the pleasure before we realize that we may never get out again. What we defend as our freedom to choose is so often a lie. What we lose sight of is that God has given us freedom—but in Christ he has freed us to truly be ourselves—children of God who love him and one another, who are free to know and be known by God down to our deepest level. This is true freedom.
We shine with the majesty of God’s nature when we are being true to who we are as God’s children. When we live in other-centered ways, making room for one another, we shine out as lights in a world darkened by satanic self-absorption and self-will. The darkness does not appreciate the entry of true light into its sphere. We cannot shine with our own light, though—it is too easily dimmed or refracted. We must draw the light with which we shine from the true Light, Jesus Christ, in order to be true reflections of God’s glory in this dark world.
This is an incredible mystery—how we shine with the light of God’s very being as we open ourselves to the Spirit of Christ, allowing him to live in and through us that life which he forged in our humanity when he walked the earth. What we used to believe about God is held up to the mirror of Jesus who is the exact image of the Father, being God in human flesh. We discover, when looking into the mirror who is Jesus Christ that we are not alienated from God or hostile to him, but we are held with Christ in God by the Spirit, participants in his very life and love.
It was the Father’s good pleasure that the fulness of the divine One dwell in Christ, in his human flesh, living our life, dying our death, and rising up into new life. God was pleased to have his Son dwell among us, taking our human flesh upon himself to be redeemed, restored, and renewed, enabling us to be fully reconciled with God in every way. And indeed, in Christ, we discover that God has reconciled all things, in heaven and on earth—an incredible thought that I struggle to get my mind around. How far is the extent of the reconciliation or peace God achieved for us in Christ if it includes both heaven and earth? Apparently, it has no end.
The mystery arises again—how can we shine brightly when our flesh so often seems to fill this world with darkness? We live in that complex place where the kingdom of God reigns and yet the kingdom of darkness attempts to maintain control of what God has declared is his. We are in the midst of the already-but-not-yet of God’s kingdom, where we only experience bittersweet glimpses of the world to come. We are ambassadors of Christ—finding ourselves as foreigners in a world that doesn’t understand or accept us at times. Our customs and ways of living may seem odd to those around us, because we have adopted a design for living—our true way of being—which is often counter-cultural.
We need to stay focused on Jesus Christ, the true Light. We draw our real existence or life from him. We are held with Christ in God (Col. 3:3), and what matters most is that in Christ, we live face to face with the Father in the Spirit. It is Christ in us by the Spirit who holds us safely in the presence of the Father, in his eternal embrace of love. No person, no force, no created thing—nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ (Rom. 8:38-39). This is God’s word to us as his children.
Just as the Father is the fulness of Christ in their divine oneness in the Spirit, we find our fulness in Jesus’ humanity held in the presence of the Father in the Spirit. All things in heaven and earth were created by Christ, through Christ, and for Christ. He has always existed, and holds all things together. He is the beginning and the end—the Lord of all. He has done, is doing, and will do, all that is needed to finish what he has begun in us. That is our comfort and peace—thank you, Jesus!
Heavenly Father, thank you for delighting in us and for making us your very own. Thank you, Jesus, for holding us ever in the eternal embrace of the Trinity, enabling us to participate in your life and love. Thank you, Spirit, for making all that is ours in Christ individually our own, enabling us to see the face of the Father in the face of his Son. Amen.
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven. And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach—if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister. Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I 1do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions. Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ.” Colossians 1:15–28 NASB
“Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord’s feet, listening to His word. But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, ‘Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me.; But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.’ ” Luke 10:38–42 NASB
[Printable copy: https://lifeinthetrinity.blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/christ-the-image-of-god.pdf ]
Receiving the Things of Jesus
By Linda Rex
June 12, 2022, HOLY TRINITY—Last week we celebrated the coming of the Holy Spirit, sent by Jesus from the Father, following Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension. During our journey through the days on the Christian calendar, we have come to see the love of the Father expressed to all humanity as the Word of God, the Son of the Father, took on our humanity in the incarnation, lived our life, died our death and rose again, bringing all humanity in his glorified human flesh into the presence of the Father.
There at the Father’s side Jesus reigns supreme, and death, evil, and sin have lost their power over us. We are free now, in Christ, to love God and man, to be who God designed us to be as image-bearers of the divine One who is Father, Son, and Spirit, living as unique but equal persons in unity and perichoretic love. We celebrate the ascension and the coming of the Spirit, for now we find ourselves included in the midst of the intimate union and communion of the Father and the Son in the Spirit—included by faith in God’s very life and love.
During the season following Pentecost, we begin to look at what it means that Christ and the Father are present now in human flesh in the Person and presence of the Holy Spirit. What does it mean that God dwells with man even now in and through the Spirit? What difference does this make in our lives?
For many of my younger years, I believed that God was made up of the Father and the Son but that the Spirit was merely their power and essence, that he was not a personal being. I had missed all the scriptural references that quite clearly showed that the Spirit was a Person—the other Helper like Jesus—who made decisions, who gave gifts, who spoke and who listened. The biblical evidence was that what the disciples experienced and what Jesus taught about the Spirit, indicated that the Spirit was of the same essence as the Father and the Son, and was equal with them and yet uniquely related to them in that the Spirit eternally proceeds from the Father.
The unique role that the Spirit plays in our lives is to take what is Jesus’ and to reveal it to us. Jesus forged within us the capacity to be temples of the living God—the dwelling place of God himself by the Spirit. What we find in the coming of the Spirit is that we can, by faith, participate in all that Christ did for us in his life, death, resurrection and ascension. His life as the beloved Son of the Father becomes our very own as we by faith are adopted as the Father’s beloved children. The perfected humanity of Christ becomes our very own as we trust in Christ’s finished work. What we discover when we turn away from ourselves and turn to Christ in faith is that God himself dwells in us.
The beginning of the human story was in God’s heart, as he determined to share life with his creatures in a unique and special way. We, as human beings, were designed from the beginning to reflect the nature of God and were given the capacity to make choices and to reject or accept God and his love. Our true way of being is to live in loving relationship with God and others. But we human beings have so often chosen instead to turn away from God and to determine for ourselves what is right and what is wrong, and to try to run this universe in a way which so often ends in death.
God knew, though, before he ever created us our capacity to reject him and to choose the ways of death. And he planned even then to come himself and do whatever it took to bring us home to himself. And so, we see that even before he created us, God had planned through the coming of his Son to include every human being in his life and to give them his Spirit so that they could live in union and communion with him forever.
Whatever we do as human beings, we need to realize that the truth of our being is found in the person of Jesus Christ and is present within us by the Holy Spirit. God wants us to awaken to the reality of what Christ has done in offering himself freely in his life, death and resurrection—by the Spirit we participate in his loving relationship with his Father. All of our life then becomes an expression of that loving relationship—we begin by the Spirit to reflect the qualities of Christ and begin to look like our loving heavenly Father, as we trust in Christ.
The Spirit is, as Jesus said, another Helper just like himself. When you see the Spirit, you see Jesus. When you see Jesus, you see the Father. The oneness of the Triune God is evident in their relationship with you through Jesus in the Spirit. How amazing it is that we each now live swept up into the life of the Triune God! But it is by faith in Jesus that we participate in and experience this reality. It is the Spirit who makes our experience of Christ’s intimate relationship with the Father and with us, real.
The Holy Spirit in you and me speaks to us the words of Jesus. Jesus said while on earth that he spoke only what he heard the Father say. This is why the apostle Paul said that when we walk in the Spirit, we won’t walk in our flesh. If Jesus is the truth of our being, then we want to walk in him, right? So, we follow the lead of the Spirit, who speaks to our hearts the truth about who Jesus is and how Jesus lives, and we won’t live in a way that is contrary to the truth of who we are in Christ.
The Spirit in us gives us guidance. When we read the Scriptures and ask for God’s inspiration and guidance, the Spirit enables us to discern the truth about Jesus and about ourselves. When we listen to inspired speakers who preach the Word of God in accordance with the truth, the Spirit enables us to understand it and moves us to live in obedience.
The Spirit places within us Jesus’ own heart and mind, and we discover we don’t want to do the wrong thing, but desire to do what is right in the Father’s sight. We find when temptation is strong and we turn to Jesus, that we are able to resist the temptation and make the God-honoring choice because Jesus’ choice is given to us by the Spirit. And when we don’t do what is loving and we experience the guilt that comes with failure to be true to who we are as image-bearers of God, the Spirit reminds us of the grace of God, enabling us to see that God knows all things and he does not condemn us—he forgives us.
On this Holy Trinity Sunday, we pause to ponder, in awe and wonder and gratitude, our amazing God, who is Father, Son, and Spirit, and who has included each of us in his life and love. How blessed we are, that we are never alone, but are always and ever held in God’s love, cared for and cherished, now and forever, as God’s beloved adopted children, in Jesus by the Spirit.
Heavenly Father, thank you for making us your very own, beloved and cherished, and for including us in your life. Thank you for the gift of your Spirit, who enables us to know you and live in relationship with you, all through Jesus our Lord. Amen.
“I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.” John 16:12–15 NASB
[Printable copy of this blog https://lifeinthetrinity.blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/receiving-the-things-of-jesus.pdf ]
O God, Restore Us!
By Linda Rex
December 19, 2021, ADVENT | Love— As I put out my nativity set in my living room each year, I hide the baby Jesus away for the miracle of Christmas morning. The shepherd watches from a safe distance, and the wise men with their camel are hidden back on a shelf temporarily until closer to that day. On that sacred evening we celebrate on Christmas Eve, I bring out the baby Jesus and pause with wonder at the miracle of this special event. The shepherd draws near to worship and the wise men on their journey come closer, seeking this chosen One.
Lately I have been thinking a lot about what it means to be in relationship with this God who would go to such incredible effort to draw every human being to himself in the miracle of the incarnation. I personally know the anguish and struggle that go with giving birth to a firstborn son, and the incredible joy and wonder which result when holding him in my arms for the first time. How could this marvelous bundle of possibilities have ended up in my arms? What does God have in mind for his life? How much more amazing must it have been for Mary to consider the wonder of being chosen to bear the Messiah!
But there is an undercurrent to this marvelous story which I believe is important to understand, and it goes along with this theme of being in relationship with God. And it is this: Jesus came because it was the will of God that he do so. He came because it is the nature of God to love and care for those he has created and brought into relationship with himself. The divine Son came willingly, and obediently, as an expression of God’s covenant love and faithfulness. The Son of God knew the Father in the Spirit, and trusted fully in his love—so he freely offered himself in obedience to the will of his Father.
My heart is heavy right now with all I see going on in my world. We are experiencing the consequences of our continual choices to do things our own way—to decide for ourselves how we will live and how we will treat one another and this world we all live on. I am broken by the way we live and the consequences of our choices. And it breaks my heart to think about what our children and grandchildren will be having to deal with when my generation has passed from the scene. What a price we pay for doing things our own way!
I often hear this time of year that the reason Jesus came was to die on the cross. In one way, I agree with this, but in another, I feel as though it truncates what Jesus actually came to do. The author of Hebrews wrote, “Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says, ‘Sacrifice and offering you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me; in whole burnt offerings and’ sacrifices ‘for sin you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, “Behold, I have come (in the scroll of the book it is written of me) to do your will, O God.” ’ … By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” (Hebrews 10:5–7, 10 NASB)
I believe the Scriptures teach us that Jesus came to bring us into right relationship with God and subsequently with one another. Doing so required so much more than simply dying on the cross. It also involved being conceived in the womb of a woman, being a babe in her arms, growing up as a child into adulthood, and learning a trade at the feet of his father. Jesus experienced all of the everyday activities of our human life in a human body, being tempted in every point, but without sin. The forging of our true humanity occurred throughout his life, from birth even to death and on into the resurrection and ascension. In his human existence on this earth, Jesus “learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation, … (Heb. 5:8–9 NASB).”
The song “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” comes to mind as I am writing this. In this hymn which expresses our deep longing for our redemption and salvation, I hear echoed our longing for this transformation of our human existence:
O come, O come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear
O come, thou Dayspring, come and cheer
Our spirits by thine advent here
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night
And death’s dark shadows put to flight
O come, Thou Wisdom from on high
And order all things, far and nigh
To us the path of knowledge show
And cause us in her ways to go
O come, Desire of nations bind
All peoples in one heart and mind
Bid envy, strife, and quarrels cease
Fill the whole world with heaven’s peace
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel
(Latin Hymn, Translated by John M. Neale and Henry S. Coffin; Adapted from Plainsong by Thomas Helmore)
We also need to attend to the reality that there was a substantial difference between the responses of the two representative females in God’s story: Eve did not believe God, and ate of the tree she was told not to eat of, while Mary believed God’s word to her through the angel Gabriel and told God to do with her as he wished. In Eve, disbelief resulted in disobedience and all of the subsequent result of that as sin and death entered our human existence. In Mary’s belief and obedience, we find the life-giving God enters into our death- and sin-bound human existence in the person of Jesus Christ and restores our true humanity in his life, death, resurrection and ascension—making possible our right relationship with the Triune God now and forever in the gift of his Son and his heavenly Spirit.
What if we willingly surrendered our independence, our preferences, and our expectations to the God who came to us to bring us into right relationship with himself? What if we, like Mary, believed that God was good and loving, that he was faithful and trustworthy, and that he sought what was best for us? What if we actually said to God each day and in each moment, “Do with me as you wish”? What if we indeed brought every thought captive to the will of God in Christ (2 Cor. 10:5)?
The good news is that this is the very reason Jesus came. Jesus took our stubborn willfulness and turned us back toward obedience to the Father—even to the point of death on the cross. Jesus bore the suffering and agony of our rejection and resistance to God upon himself, took it to the grave, and emerged offering us new life in himself. As the apostle Paul wrote, “Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come (2 Cor. 5:16–17 NASB).”
What a lovely reason for the season! All that is left for us is to respond to Christ’s gift in faith, being filled with the Spirit and pouring out our gratitude in praise like Elizabeth, Mary, and Zacharias—all participants in this miraculous event. What we could not and would not do, Jesus did in our place and on our behalf. Such great love expressed to us by God above! We humbly receive with open hands and hearts, and respond with gratitude, saying, “Lord, let it be to me according to your word.” Your life, Jesus, for my life. Thank you, Lord!
“O God of hosts, restore us and cause Your face to shine upon us, and we will be saved.” Psalm 80:7 NASB
“Now at this time Mary arose and went in a hurry to the hill country, to a city of Judah, and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. And she cried out with a loud voice and said, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And how has it happened to me, that the mother of my Lord would come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord.’” Luke 1:39–45 NASB
Shout for Joy!
By Linda Rex
December 12, 2021, ADVENT | Joy—During my recent retreat, I spent some time on a pleasant property out in the country, where the rolling hayfields were dotted with limestone and the trees were covered with autumn-colored leaves. On my walks outside, I would pass by a small fountain of water pouring down over a pile of rocks and into a lovely outdoor pool surrounded by cattails and aquatic plants. The steady rush of water from fountain to pool gave the area a feeling of restfulness and inspired a sense of renewal.
As I was looking over the passages for this Sunday, I was reminded of the many ways in which the replenishing properties of water were used in Scripture as a way to describe the Holy Spirit—the living presence of God himself. We are reminded that there is only one cure for the unending thirst in our soul, and that our efforts to fill that emptiness on our own will inevitably end up fruitless.
Indeed, we were created for joy, but we often find our human experience falls way short of joy. If anything, we experience everything but joy in this broken and hurting world. But the apostle Paul told us to: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice (Phil. 4:4 NASB)!” How in the world do we rejoice in the midst of our everyday struggles, difficulties and hardships? How do we find true joy when all we are given are ways to experience temporary pleasures and fleeting happiness instead?
There’s a story in the Old Testament about when Israel was traipsing around the wilderness and began to complain because they were thirsty. The place where they had been led to by God did not have any water sources. As they focused on their lack of water, they began to believe that God was not with them. They kept their eyes on what they didn’t have, and forgot what they did have—the presence and power of God in their midst (Ex. 17:1–7).
So often, this is our own issue. We can get so focused on our circumstances, or on the immediate situation—the politics, the environment, the people down the street, whatever we are concerned about—and lose sight of the spiritual realities. This is the problem. We forget that we have in our midst the Source of living water—God himself in Christ by the Spirit, living and active in our lives and circumstances.
This is God’s word to us: “Shout for joy, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! The LORD has taken away His judgments against you, He has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst; … The LORD your God is in your midst, A victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy, He will [renew you in his love], He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy” (Zeph. 3:14–17 NASB). God calls us to joy because he is living, present and active as the One who victoriously conquered over evil, sin and death.
During Advent we are reminded to watch attentively for the coming of the Righteous One, the coming of God into this world to deliver, restore, and renew. As we draw near the celebration of Christmas, the coming of God into human flesh becomes the focus of our worship and praise. God has not left us alone in the midst of our darkness. No, he has come to us. The Word of God, the eternal Son who has always lived in union and communion with the Father in the Spirit, has come, taken on our flesh to live our life, die our death, and rise again. He is that baby, born to Mary on that blessed night, for the sake of every human being. He is the fountain of living water in the midst of our arid desert. He is the spring of renewal and refreshment in a dying world.
We are called to be attentive to the reality that God in Christ by the Spirit is our salvation. “Therefore you will joyously draw water from the springs of salvation,” Isaiah wrote. “Cry aloud and shout for joy…for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel (Isa. 12:2, 6 NASB).” Shout for joy! God has come to dwell with man! Rejoice in triumph! Jesus is a victorious warrior, who is exulting over us with joy and renewing us in his love. Christ has come, and freed us from evil, sin, and death! He has brought us hope, peace, joy and love!
We need to grab hold of the spiritual reality that God in Christ has come and by his Spirit is present and real right now in us and with us. He knows we need spiritual water and is more than ever ready to provide it—are we receptive and open? Are we awakened to our need, and rather than complaining, are we humbly asking for God’s supply?
Jesus calls to us and says: “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water’ (John 7:37–39 NASB).” “… whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life (John 4:13–14 NASB).” Jesus, in his self-offering, is the endless supply of spiritual refreshment and renewal we need in every part of life. By the Spirit, he is present and available, and will fill us as we repent and turn to him in faith.
It is ironic that in the gospel passage for this Sunday we find John the Baptizer contrasting his water baptism with Jesus’ baptism with the Holy Spirit and with fire. The fire of judgment is something we get very concerned about, not realizing the significance of Jesus’ self-offering in our place and on our behalf. As God in human flesh, Jesus forged into our humanity the love of God and crucified in himself the sin, evil and death to which we had enslaved ourselves. In the resurrection we find that all that chaff that is not part of the fruitfulness of life in Christ was blown away. The apostle Paul wrote that “from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh…if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come (2 Cor. 5:16–17 NASB).” Humanity has new life in Christ! This is reason to rejoice.
So, what will you do with Jesus Christ? What will you do with the reality that God is now in the midst of us by the Holy Spirit, offering to each of us the living water of life in relationship with God through Jesus? Will you gaze anew with wonder and joy on the Christ child this year, gratefully receiving the life in the Trinity he has brought you in his life, death, resurrection and ascension? Will you receive from him the living water he has given—the blessed Spirit of life in Christ Jesus?
We have every reason to rejoice. We are not left alone, abandoned to this crazy world and all its darkness and despair. God has cracked open the rock and poured out abundantly his living waters of salvation, and calls us to drink deeply, to satiate our souls in his real presence in us and with us by the Holy Spirit. Jump in the river! Dance in the shallows! Soak it all up! Rejoice! Again I say, rejoice!
Thank you so much, dear Father, for not leaving us hungry and thirsty for your love and grace. Thank you for planting us by your streams of living water and offering us reconciliation, refreshment, and renewal—life in Christ by the Spirit. Fill us anew with the joy of salvation. Enable us to celebrate this year with a real sense of your presence in us and with us by your Holy Spirit, through Jesus our Lord. Amen.
“John answered and said to them all, ‘As for me, I baptize you with water; but One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the thong of His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in His hand to thoroughly clear His threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into His barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.’ So with many other exhortations he preached the gospel to the people.” Luke 3:16–18 (7–18) NASB
See also Philippians 4:4–7; Zephaniah 3:14–20; Isaiah 12:2–6.
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Our Life in the Trinity 