Knowing God Week 7 Chapter 6

Knowing God Chapter 6

Trinitas: Latin for threefold. The English word “Trinity” is not found in Scripture.

Genesis 1:1-2 – In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

Genesis 1:26 – Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”

The Bible opens focusing on the Trinitarian nature of God!

But there is only 1 GOD!

Deut 6:4 – Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

God is Trinity, and He demands our worship.

The Biblical teaching on the Trinity embodies 4 essential affirmations (taken from ESV Bible Doctrine: An Overview):

1.) There is one and only one true living God.

2.) This one God eternally exists in three persons—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

3.) These three persons are completely equal in attributes, each with the same divine nature.

4.) While each person is fully and completely God, the persons are not identical.

The Trinity may best be seen in the NT passage Matt 3:13-17 – Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

John also opens his Gospel in the same manner:

John 1:1-3 – In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

Colossians 1:15 – He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

The classic Arian heresy: Christ is a created being – he’s not. Paul is talking about rights as the divine Son (Psalm 89:27)

When Christ left, he promised to be with us always! – He is in the form of the Holy Spirit!

The Holy Spirit is our “comforter.” – John 14:16 – And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

John 14:26 – But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

John 15:26 – But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.

Great way to introduce the forgotten member of the Trinity: the Holy Spirit!

The Father sends the Spirit in John 14 just like the Father sent Jesus (John 5:43)

Establishes Authority:

The Father has authority over the Son and Spirit. The Son has authority over the Spirit. But all three are equal and are God. (Matt 28:19-20)

Divine Attributes of the Spirit (from ESV Biblical Doctrine: An Overview):

The Holy Spirit is eternal	Heb. 9:14
The Holy Spirit is omnipresent	Ps. 139:7-10
The Holy Spirit is omniscient	1 Cor. 2:10-11
The Holy Spirit is omnipotent	Luke 1:35-37
The Holy Spirit is holy	Rom 1:4

There wouldn’t be any rebirth without the Spirit!

Salvation was designed by the Father, purchased by the Son, and given by the Spirit!

John 3

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “how can a man be born when he is old? Cane he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. D not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hears its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

The Spirit causes rebirth! We can pray for a revival, but we can’t bring revival.

Ephesians 1:13 – In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.”

It is also the Spirit that empowers us to live the Christian life. Prophesied in Joel 2:28 – And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see vision.”

Ezek. 39:29 – And I will not hide my face anymore from them, when I pour out my Spirit upon the house of Israel, declares the Lord God.

Galatians 5:22 – But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Believers can still be tempted by their flesh to follow the ways of the world: Eph. 4:1-3…walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

His greatest goal is to glorify Christ!

John 16:13-14 – When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

The Spirit wants to lift up Christ at all costs. We know that the Spirit is in us by a sanctified life!

Rom 8:9 – You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

Knowing God Week 6 Chapter 5

LESSON by Matt Wells

Definition of Incarnate: embodied in flesh; given a bodily, esp. a human, form.

People have a difficult time believing that JC walked on water, fed 5,000 ppl, etc.

However, if God truly made the worlds and is the author of life, it is not hard to

believe he performed these divine acts of creative and supernatural power.

The more amazing fact is that God was made man. Read [ Rev 1:13-19]

Movie: of how a man became an ant - - this gives only a slight taste of what it was

like for JC to become man. .

1. What affect does Jesus’ brutal entry into the world have on you?

[Phil 2:5-8]

2. Who is Jesus? Read [Colossians 1:15-20] 1- Image-bearer of God

the Father, 2- Creator of everything, 3-transcendent ,4- Sustainer

of all life and all creation. 5- Husband/head of the bride/church. 6-

Ultimate sacrifice/ reconciler What are some things this passage tells

us about Jesus? [Col 2:9] Christ is human.

[Jn 20:31] Son of God

LAMININ Story… Universe Story [X-factor]

Read John [1:1-18] Who else is Jesus? 1-eternal 2-fellowship w/God 3-Deity/

God 4-God directed him to make all things 5-He sustains all life 6-became

flesh=incarnate. MANY of these themes repeated.

Maker of universe: [Hebrews 1:2]

God being made fully man. He who created the angel who became Satan was now

tempted by Satan. Became God plus man.

3. WHY did Jesus become human, using Scripture? [Hebrews 2:17-18,

4:15-16] JC as a sympathizing high priest. & [Phil 2:5-8]

KENOSIS Theory: In order to be fully human, the Son had to renounce some of his

divine qualities. Based off of [Phil 2:7] ]emptied himself’, ‘made himself nothing’

Bishop Gore: Jesus gave up divine knowledge while maintaining moral infallibility

[page 59] Believed that Jesus had an incomplete view of the OT.

Jesus did not lay aside divine power, but divine dignity and glory. [page 60].

Yet how can Jesus lack divine powers and still have deity? How can he be the image

of God, and yet not have his power or attributes? Read [Matt 26:52-54]

[John 7:16 and 8:28, 12:49-50] JC spoke what God had ordered him to, so either

everything JC says is a lie, or everything he says is truly of God.

4. What were some instances in which Jesus Christ had divine knowledge or

asked a question? [Mk 13:32] unsure of his return date, Who touched his

clothes, how may loaves do you have? Lazarus is dead, fish that Peter will

catch has a coin in its mouth.

5. It’s not that Jesus lost his divine powers but restrained them- - how are we

to account for this restraint?[Jn 5:19,30] [Jn 6:38] Jesus dependent on God

and there to do His will. Read [I Cor 11:3] We are called to do the same

[15:5] JC as the vine

6. What does Packer refer to as the “real-kenosis” ? [II Cor 8:9 ~ JC became

poor] JC was born to die.

Story of the Good Samaritan [Luke 10:30-37] [Matt 9:13] I desire mercy…

He did not simply go halfway, he went all the way. Compassion/pity requires action.

Good Samaritan = Jesus

7. What are some specific actions you can perform to manifest the Christmas

spirit?

Knowing God Week 5 Chapter 4

Chapter 4 Knowing God Week 5

Exodus 20:4-6 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them for I the LORD our God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.”

Q: What are some ways that you try to obey this command?

Q: What do you think you can do to avoid breaking this command?

At first glance, it seems that this is an example of idol worship. Packer mentions Romans 1:23…”they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.”

The best explanation of Romans 1:23 is Romans 3:23! Falling short of God’s glory is sin.

The second commandment has always been taken to mean that the worship of God by images is forbidden.

“…or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above.” This is clearly forbidding the use of images of God in our worship. That’s why we don’t have a picture of Christ or a depiction of the Father in our sanctuary.

Packer notes that Christians have historically debated the use of pictures of Jesus for teaching children. Personally, I am in favor of using pictures for teaching children. As long as there are not images during our times of worship, I think we are fine with allowing children to color/view pictures of Jesus.

1.) Making an image of God obscures His glory? Why? Because it hides His attributes! Our God is a living God. He is real. And He is Spirit. What is God’s glory again? The manifestation of God’s unique and unending attributes. His glory must be fought for and protected in our lives. We must not exchange it for a lie! And that’s what God is forbidding in the 2^nd Commandment. This is what God is jealous over…His own glory! God is motivated by His own glory. God doesn’t exist to serve us. By His nature He must praise His own glory the most. And He wired us so that we can only be satisfied when we our truly glorifying God (that’s what we talked about last week).

So let’s talk about some symbols and whether or not they are appropriate.

What about a crucifix? A crucifix is not appropriate because it does not reflect Christ as risen and glorified. It doesn’t properly express His deity!

What about a cross? A cross is appropriate because it doesn't represent a member of the Trinity. It points towards our salvation in Christ, but it is NOT a direct representation of Christ.

2.) Images mislead us, for they convey false ideas about God. Not only do images NOT contain the total truth of God, they contain errors as well.

Packer – “Psychologically, it is certain that if you habitually focus your thoughts on an image or picture of the One to whom you are going to pray, you will come to think of him, and pray to him, as the image represents him. Thus you will in this sense “bow down” and “worship” your own image; and to the extent to which the image fails to tell the truth about God, to that extent you will fail to worship God in truth. That is why God forbids you and me to make use of images and pictures in our worship.”

Which leads to the aspect of mental images. Does your mind contain an image of God when you worship?

Isaiah 55:8-9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.”

What does this 2^nd commandment tell us about God’s character?

Knowing God Week 4 (October 3) Chapter 3 Part 1

Chapter 3 “Knowing and Being Known” Part 1

Packer introduces the chapter with these two verses:

Jeremiah 9:23-24 – “Thus says the LORD: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.”

Hosea 6:6 – “For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.”

Most of the time, our knowledge of a subject is only hindered by how much effort we are willing to put into studying it. I think of studying Physics or Chemistry or Calculus. All three calculated sciences, but yet can be understood with study and application with a strong mind. People are different though! You can spend a lot of time studying a person, getting to know them, but you are only going to know as much about a person as that person chooses to reveal.

GOD is the same way!

What we know of God is what He has revealed to us. Remember back to week 1 where we talked about God’s General Revelation (Creation) and His Special Revelation (Christophanies, Messages from Angels, Holy Scripture). We interpret God’s General Revelation (all that we experience with our 5 senses) with what God has revealed about Himself through His very Special Revelation to us, Holy Scripture! All that we can know about God right now is in Holy Scripture. In your personal relationship with God, God will reveal Himself to you as the same person and character that you see in Scripture.

But God is not a normal person! We should feel privileged that He has chosen to reveal Himself to us at all! The President of the U.S. and the Queen of England are poor metaphors compared to the immeasurable greatness of our God. To just be in His present should leave us in awe. In that situation, whatever God chooses to reveal to us about Him, should leave us content.

Packer points to 4 aspects that Knowing God Involves:

1.) Listening to God’s Word and receiving it as the Spirit interprets it.

2.) Noting God’s character and nature as His Word reveals Him.

-We should always reflect and think about His greatness!

-Psalm 19:1 “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims His handiwork..”

-James 1:16-17 “Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”

-God is good. Everything in Creation and everything good that we experience in our lives is from Him! Everything! But, if our joy is found in those goods things, our joy in them will diminish over time (as C.S. Lewis talks about in almost every book he wrote) because we’ll be searching for something as happy and good as we once experienced, but the newness and joy you felt at that moment won’t be matched. But if our joy in the sunset points to our joy in God, we will enjoy sunsets with increased intensity because our love and joy is ultimately in God the maker of the sunset. And our love for God should increase over time!

3.) Accepting His invitations and doing what He commands.

-Psalm 119:2 “Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with their whole heart.”

-Many in the “Modern” Christian generation before us seemed to emphasize rules over relationship. The old adage, “As long as you don’t drink, smoke, chew, or date girls that do” characterizes the thought processes of a lot of church-goers. In a negative reaction to that, the current generation has plunged into Post-modernism where as long as there are NO rules, everyone seems to be happy. But God did make rules! And Jesus reinforced them. But they are not supposed to be followed out of cold-heartedness towards God. They are supposed to be followed because we “seek Him with our whole Heart” and this is what He has told us to do. As soon as you divorce keeping God’s testimonies from a relationship with Him, you are bound for disaster in your Christian walk, because you will start to rely on your own works in a legalistic way instead of the righteousness of Christ. You will start spinning your wheels to measure up to God, and you will always be failing. The rules that God has given us as law should point us to knowing God.

4.) Recognizing and rejoicing in the love that he has shown us in approaching you and drawing you into divine fellowship.

-Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ dies for us.”

-1 John 4:10 “In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His son to be the propitiation for our sins.

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