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The Trinity & The Passion: God the Holy Spirit

When we look at the Passion of Jesus Christ, we often forget the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit.

As I've read and studied my Bible and counseled with my pastors and other Christians who are more learned and mature, I find myself stumbling over the Person and role of the Holy Spirit. Although I see Him throughout the pages of Scripture, I am at a loss for words to describe Him or His exact role or work.

Yet He is found throughout Old and New Testaments alike. As the "third" member or person of the God-head, the Holy Spirit plays an integral part in the Passion of Jesus.

In the Bible and throughout the centuries of Christian teaching, the Holy Spirit is seen as a "force", if you will. Some use the analogy of the wind to describe the Holy Spirit. You can't see the wind, but you can see and experience its effects. You can't touch it, but the wind can certainly touch you.

It has no "voice" yet we "hear" the wind as it blows through the trees or past our ears. It can be a gentle breeze that is soothing or a rushing torrent that thrills or even frightens us, wreaking havoc and destruction in its wake. And yet the wind can go through a musical instrument to produce glorious music that thrills the heart and soul.

The Trinity & The Passion: Dignity & Depravity

Christianity is the only religion or system or worldview that can explain both the dignity of man as well as the depravity of man.

"Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.'

"So God created man in His own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

"God blessed them and said to them, 'Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.'"

That's Genesis 1:26 - 28.

In Genesis chapter 2, we learn some specifics of how we were created. Keep in mind that everything in the created universe up to this point was spoken into existence - the stars and planets, the plants and animals, angels and other heavenly beings.  "...the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being...But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man." Genesis 2:7, 20 - 22.

The Trinity & The Passion: Who is God?

If there is one, main problem that the Church has, it is this: the Church - and by extension we believers - has forgotten Who God is.

It doesn't matter whether the church is liberal or conservative, Protestant or Catholic, non-denominational or mainline, a great percentage of us has sadly forgotten Who God is.

And to be even more provocative, I'd say that many Christians - especially in North America - don't really care.

Those are harsh words. But how far from the truth are they? Probably not too far.

Before we can even embark on a study of the role of the Members of the Holy Trinity in the Passion, we must come to a better understanding of Who God is.

First let's look at Who God is NOT. 

The Trinity & The Passion: an Introduction

Easter Weekend, the time from Good Friday through Easter or Resurrection Sunday, is the Central Point of History.

Not only that, it is the Pivot Point upon which man's relationship to God is forever changed. Without the passion, suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior of the world, we would still be enemies of God (Romans 5:10, Philippians 3:18, Colossians 1:21).

We look at the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday followed by Holy Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday as "busy" times of Jesus' earthly ministry. There is a constant "buzz" around Jesus. There is a palpable excitement or anxiety in the air that something "supernatural" is about to occur. You could feel it. And you would be right.

Then there's Maundy Thursday and the Last Supper. The Passion in the Garden of Gethsemane leads to the unlawful arrest and trial by the Jewish Sanhedrin of Jesus with the subsequent trial in front of the Roman governor Pontius Pilate. Finally, there is the cruel Crucifixion on the hill of Golgotha and the death of Jesus.

It is Jesus who is beaten and mocked. It is Jesus whose head is pierced with a crown of thorns. It is Jesus' back that receives the lashes of the Roman whip - called a "flagrum" or "flagellum" it was embedded with pieces of bone and debris or lead balls - and was purposefully designed to inflict great physical damage and excruciating pain.

The Trinity & The Passion: a Study of Easter

History is measured and "marked off" by the life and ministry of one Man. And that Man is Jesus of Nazareth - the Christ. The God-man.

More important than marking history is what He accomplished in His death and resurrection. As Jesus died, the sins of all of mankind - past, present and future - were placed upon Him. His death was a substitutionary death in place of you and me. Jesus was the only sacrifice that God would accept.

On our own we can do nothing; absolutely positively nothing to merit a relationship with a Holy God. All of our "good works" are nothing but filthy rags in the sight of God. God is perfectly Holy. Perfection is His standard. Men and women are not.

Ever since that one fateful act of disobedience in the Garden of Eden so many millenia ago, man has paid for this willful act of pride. What was once a beautiful and perfect relationship of Creator and creature, was now disrupted; but not completely irreparable.

We have paid for that disruption ever since in terms of sickness, disease, death, warfare, familial strife and personal greed. Not to mention eternal separation from God.

Divine Mentor: Moving the Tassel

Whether it's your high school or undergraduate or graduate degree, there's one thing you get to do at graduation: you move the tassel!

You move the tassel on your mortar board from one side to the other signifying your graduation and "completion" of your degree.

As we conclude this study utlizing Wayne Cordeiro's book "The Divine Mentor", I wanted to make a couple of final observations from God's Word. We looked at 2 Timothy 3:16, last week and it needs to be addressed in its fuller context. Then we can move our tassels.

2 Timothy 3:10 - 16, reads: "You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings — what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."

Divine Mentor: Divine Degrees

From trees and people to journaling to bread and gas and back to trees. We may have come full circle, but we're not finished.

Like any good learning program, you never really complete it. The "smart" person (not necessarily the one with the highest test scores or IQ) understands and realizes that you are always learning. You may have a degree, but there's always "continuing education." Even those with PhD's have to continue to publish and refresh their education.

In fact, you could say that if you stop learning, you stop living.

But, we have to bring this study of "The Divine Mentor" in for a landing. Hopefully you've gained more insight into "why" you (I) should be in God's Word on a daily basis. I pray that many of you have been touched and have begun a daily reading and study program. More than that, it is my prayer that you are being prompted by the Holy Spirit to take and use what you are being taught and applying it in all of the facets of your life - personal, familial, and professional.

Getting Past the Outward Appearance

"But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."

The context of that verse (1 Samuel 16:7) is the prophet Samuel was looking to annoint the man who would rule over Israel as king. He had gone through all of Jesse's sons. The tallest, the strongest, the oldest, etc. But none of them were God's choice. The verse had meaning 3000 years ago. And it has meaning today. It's the "core" of a person that matters, not the "outward appearance."

As our Sunday school class met this morning, we were looking at Week 9 of "The Divine Mentor" study series. We started to examine the question of how we look at one another. Are we solid wood to the core or are we cheap veneer? Is our reading of God's Word soaking down to the very core of our being with the purpose of transforming us to the image of Christ? 2 Corinthians 3:18. Or instead, are we picking and choosing from our Bible what we read, study and meditate on to "feel good" about who we are and how good God is?

Divine Mentor: Back to the Trees

Yes, we're back to talking about trees. Trees are not just "inanimate" objects. They are living, breathing organisms that serve a function.

Trees are kind of like people. Trees come in all different shapes and sizes. Different varieties. Like man, God created them for a purpose. Also like man, you can distinguish one kind from another. Like man, when you take a look "inside", you can learn an awful lot about the life of that particular tree.

The inside view of the tree pictured has a lot to tell us and we'll come back to it later.

But the question to address now is, why do we want "solid" wood as opposed to veneer? Veneer looks good and in some cases is even preferable to wood, but we know it's lacking; it's not the real thing.

Right away, we know that veneer is just a covering. It can be real wood veneer, but we don't know what is on the inside. We can't be 100% sure of its quality or durability. We don't know how it will last.