The Missional Church

Magnificent Temples (or Churches) that God Hates

Last week, while stuyding Mark 13, something struck me:

And as he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!” And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down” (Mark 13:1-2).

The grandeur of Herod’s temple astounded the disciples. The temple complex took up 1/6 of the entire city of Jerusalem. It doubled the size of the one Solomon built. It was a feat of greatness on behalf of Israel and, more importantly, Israel’s God. The temple and the temple complex impressed the virtually un-impressible.

But it didn’t impress God. Instead, God hated it, because in the midst of its grandeur, the religious leaders had made it a den of robbers (Mark 11:17), a vineyard that yielded no grapes to its owner. And so Jesus tells them: “He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others” (12:9). God would judge and dismantle the most glorious temple in the history of Israel.

The temple was really just a baptized tower of Babel, which God would destroy. In its place, God has erected a new temple. The new temple, the rest of the New Testament tells us, is Christ’s church, the temple Christ builds, with Christ himself as the cornerstone.

Often, leaders build churches that are simply another impressive Herodian temple. They impress the world, they shock the simple and the wise, they are ornate, beautiful city-shaking entities. And God, I fear, hates them. They have made God’s church (i.e. his new temple) a den of robbers.

This terrifies me, and gives me much pause as I seek to lead a church to grow and to build. May we build in such a way that pleases the Builder.

“Radical Christian Living” as Works Righteousness

There are a number of preachers and teachers today who call Christians in America to live a “radical” (=normal and biblical) life. They are blazing their guns (rightly so) against the “cheap grace” that pervades American Christianity. Against the religious culture that creates folks who get their Jesus hand stamp and live just like their neighbors. Absent of true repentance and faith in a life-changing, new-life-bringing King. Just a free pass by the heavenly turnstile when they die.

Of course, I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know. And, like I said, a number of preachers and teachers call Christians in America to a “different” Christianity. They call us to follow Jesus to Calvary and die to self. Their voice is appropriate and needed. Because that is what Jesus himself calls us to.  It’s what Paul says happens when the God graciously yanks out a heart of stone and implants one of flesh. No new desires, hopes, dreams, and loves means you don’t actually have a new heart. You don’t actually know Jesus. You haven’t actually partaken of the grace you claim covers you.

Recently, while reading through the bestselling, biblical, and helpful book Crazy Love by Francis Chan, I got to his chapter on the “Profile of the Lukewarm.” He lists 18 (I think) things that generally characterize lukewarm (i.e. not true) Christians. By and large, I think his list is helpful for taking honest stock of how we live our lives. A call to such Christlikeness is needed and appropriate.

But I have a concern.

I worry that someone reading Crazy Love, or listening to X preacher calling them to what Jesus himself does will then gauge their spirituality by the “radicalness” of their Christian life. To use Chan’s title–they will judge their relationship with God by their “crazy love” for him, rather than by his “crazy love” for them. The second one is the Gospel. The first one is not. The first one is simply repackaged and death-giving law. It is works righteousness. It is the opposite of the gospel.

Brian Kelly: A Parable for Pastoral Longevity

Living in Kentucky I was surrounded by southern boys (and girls) who love college football. They love it sports-wise in a way that I reserve only for my San Francisco Giants. Still, while in Kentucky, I started to appreciate and really enjoy the sport, and I have followed it the last handful of years.

This bowl season there have been a number of follow-worthy storylines. Among these, the story of Brian Kelly leaving the University of Cincinnati has provided an interesting parallel to being a pastor.

The summary is this: University of Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly took a job with Notre Dame (a historically prestigious school/job) between the end of the regular season and his top-5 ranked (former) team’s crack at an undefeated season in the Sugar Bowl . ESPN broke the story on December 11, about a week after Kelly implied to Cincinnati players and fans that he would be sticking with their program. The ESPN article explained the reactions of Mardy Gilyard and Tony Pike, Cincinnati’s two best players:

“I don’t like it,” Gilyard said before the banquet. “I feel there was a little lying in the thing. I feel like he’d known this the whole time. Everybody knows Notre Dame’s got the money. I kind of had a gut feeling he was going to stay just because he told me he was going to be here.”

Quarterback Tony Pike said Kelly told them last week, before their title-clinching win over Pittsburgh, that he was happy in Cincinnati.

“The Tuesday when we were practicing for Pittsburgh, he said he loves it here and he loves this team and loves coaching here and his family loves it here,” Pike said.

This kind of thing happens all the time in college football (and sports across the field). It’s usually chalked-up to a sighing, “That’s just the way it is. It’s a business” attitude.

But the terrible part is that it also happens in churches.

Often, I think, pastors leave churches that, by God’s grace, have (or would have) been transformed under their leadership. They go into a “University of Cincinnati” type church–not prestigious, no “storied history”–and they see God bring his transforming grace to the congregation and community. Brian Kelly saw the two best seasons in Cincinnati history, but instead of hunkering down and building a legacy there, “He went for the money” as Mardy Gilyard said.

Pastors do this. They use the success God gives them as a rung to step up to a better position. They tell the church they love them, and they want to stay. But five or seven years (or fewer) years later, they leave. On the eve of the Sugar Bowl, the “biggest game in school history”, on the cusp of radically changing the trajectory of the church for the next 25 years, they leave. Instead of spending their lives in one place where, by God’s grace, they might see far beyond what they could ask or think, they go for the money, the prestige, the bigger and more prominent congregation.

After Kelly’s departure, Cincinnati was absolutely embarrassed by the University of Florida in the Sugar Bowl. Sure, they might have lost had Kelly stayed. Florida is one of the best teams in the country. But maybe not, and he left before we would ever know. Pastors do this. They leave churches scrambling, without strong, godly leadership. It’s embarrassing. Jesus’ church should be different.

By God’s grace, may I not be such a pastor.

The best coaches stay in one place for a long time. So do the best pastors.

By God’s grace, may I be that kind of pastor.

What We Believe: God the Son

THE PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST
The Son: Forever Fully God
BFM: Christ is the eternal Son of God.
1. It has been well said that unbelievers have stumble over Jesus’ divinity, while believers stumble over his humanity. We should remember that the Bible affirms both.
2. In all his work and ways, Jesus Christ is fully and completely God the Son, eternally, with his Father and the Holy Spirit. He is not the Father, and he relates to the Father as Son, but he is still co-equal, co-eternal, and co-divine with the Father.  “There was not when he was not,” as it has been said. The Son has existed eternally as God the Son with both the Father and the Spirit.
3. The Scriptures throughout demonstrate the fact that Jesus is God.
a. The NT consistently correlates Jesus with Yahweh (YHWH in Hebrew), the only true God.
i. YHWH thunders to Moses, “I AM who I AM” (Ex 3:14), and Jesus tells the Pharisees, “Before Abraham was, I Am!” (John 8:58).
ii. Isaiah 8:13 says, “But the Lord of hosts, him you shall honor as holy.” And Peter says, “in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy” (1 Peter 3:15).
iii. In Isaiah 45:23 YHWH says, “To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.” Then, in the NT we see that “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” (Phil 2:10-11).
iv. In Isaiah 40, we see a prophecy of one who will “prepare the way for YHWH” (40:3). In the NT, this person is John the Baptist, who prepares the way for Jesus (Mark 1:1:-3).
v. Clearly, in the NT Jesus receives the worship that in the OT is due to YHWH, the one true God, alone—because the NT exclaims that Jesus is YHWH, come in human flesh.
b. The NT calls Jesus God explicitly in a number of places.
i. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God” (John 1:1).
ii. Paul the Apostle refers to Jesus as “God over all” (Rom 9:5).
c. The NT ascribes to Jesus things that are true only of God.
i. Jesus forgives sin (Mark 2:1-12).
ii. Jesus walks on water (Mark 6:45-52).
iii. Jesus receives worship (Matt 14:33).

The Son: Now Also Fully Man
BFM: In His incarnation as Jesus Christ He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. Jesus perfectly revealed and did the will of God, taking upon Himself human nature with its demands and necessities and identifying Himself completely with mankind yet without sin.
1. There are several important things the point out about the conception of Jesus.
a. God keeps his promises. Immediately after Adam sinned and spiraled creation into rebellion, God promises that the woman will have a “seed”, or “descendent” who will crush the head of the serpent’s seed. God keeps this promise when the Holy Spirit creates human life in Mary’s womb. Similarly, God promised Abraham (Gen 12:7) and David (2 Sam 7) that a seed would arise from each: for Abraham a seed who would be heir of the promised land; for David a seed who would sit eternally on his throne. God kept his promises: Jesus came as the seed of the woman, Abraham, and David.
b. Jesus came “from above.” He was conceived by the Holy Spirit. B.B. Warfield says, “Though true man, therefore, he is not without differences from other men; and these differences do not concern merely the condition (as sinful) in which men presently find themselves; but also from their very origin: they are from below, He from above—‘the first man is from earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven’ (1 Cor 15:47). This is His peculiarity: He was born of a woman like other men; yet He descended from Heaven.”
c. The virgin conception is a crucial doctrine. It indicates that though Jesus is fully man, he is not conceived in the likeness of sinful man. Though Jesus is born as the seed of the woman, Abraham, and David, he is not born as the seed of Adam.  Whereas all other human conceptions are in the likeness of the first man, Adam, Jesus is conceived in Mary’s womb by the purifyingly creative power of the Holy Spirit. Of course, this touches on the heart of the profound mystery: “fullness of God in helpless babe.”
2. Jesus took on human nature. Humans are “soul-and-body” (psychosomatic) creatures, a unity which God never intended for ultimate separation. When we affirm that Jesus took on human nature, we affirm that he had both a human body and a human soul.
a. Jesus took on a human body. This means that Jesus was a real, flesh and blood man, with all that humanity entails. When he was whipped, he felt the searing pain in his back in wounds that spilled real blood. He was hungry (Mark 11:12), thirsty (John 19:28), and, to put it delicately, had to go to the bathroom.
b. Jesus took on a human soul. Jesus was not simply God wearing a human suit. He truly experienced life as a man because he truly became a man. He felt human emotions, weeping at the death of Lazarus (John 11:35) and over the rebellion of his beloved Jerusalem (Luke 19:41). Calvin says, “Christ has put on our feelings along with our flesh.”
c. This should amaze us, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Heb 4:15). Jesus knows, truly, our human experience.
3.  “Yet Without Sin.” The crucial difference (between salvation and damnation!) is that Jesus was truly man, flesh and bone, heart and soul, yet without sin. Jesus triumphed over the sin of the first Adam by living a life in complete obedience. As the BFM says, “Jesus perfectly…did the will of God.” Think of your worst sin, the one you can’t seem to shake. The one you keep asking for forgiveness for; the one you keep promising God you will never do again. The one that pushes you down to your knees with the weight of guilt, over and over and over. That sin, Jesus conquered. He always obeyed God in that way. He never caved in. He never failed. And the beauty of our salvation is that God clothes us in that righteousness of Jesus, after he put that sin of ours onto his beloved Son. It was the only way. And God did it.
4. Jesus’ incarnation continues today. Luke tells us, “As they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven” (Acts 1:9-11). As Gerrit Scott Dawson says, “In the same body in which he was crucified, Jesus Christ rose from the dead, and in that very flesh he ascended into heaven.” We will discuss this more in the next section on the work of Christ, but it should amaze us: Jesus took on human nature, flesh and blood and soul, and did not shed that humanity. It continues. And one day, we will, by God’s grace, touch his wounds and cry, “My Lord and My God!” (John 20:29).

What We Believe: God the Father (Pt 2)

READ PART 1 HERE.

THE KING IS A FATHER
BFM: God is Father in truth to those who become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ. He is fatherly in His attitude toward all men.

The Great Either/Or
All humanity stands on a side of a great chasm, a great either/or. All mean are either “in Adam” or “in Christ.” Those in Adam still bear the guilt of sin upon their souls and stand under God’s wrath. God the Father relates in two different ways to these two groups.  Those in Christ have been forgiven of their sin and now live to God.

The Father and those in Christ: Adoption.
1. Some have called adoption the pinnacle of salvation. Jesus explains the reality of adoption in the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15); likewise, Paul explains in Galatians “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons” (Gal 4:4-5). Paul explains that the reason God send his Son was to redeem those under the law; and he explains that the reason God redeemed those under the law was so that he might adopt them as sons.
2. Martyn Lloyd-Jones explains the comfort that this doctrine of adoption provides: “My relationship to God is not a variable one. The case is not that I am a child of God, and then again not a child of God. That is not the basis of my standing, that is not the position. When God had mercy upon me, He made me His child, and I remain his child. A very sinful, and a very unworthy one, perhaps, but still his child! And now, when I fall into sin, I have not sinned against the law, I have sinned against love. Like the prodigal, I will go back to my Father and I will tell Him, “Father, I am not worthy to be called your son.” But He will embrace me, and He will say, “Do not talk nonsense, you are My child,” and He will shower his love upon me! That is the meaning of putting on the breastplate of righteousness! Never allow the devil to get you into a state of ccondemnation. Never allow a particular sin to call into question your standing before God. That question has been settled” (The Christian Soldier: An Exposition of Ephesians 6:10-20, 255).

The Father and those in Adam: Fatherly.
1. Another way to explain this reality is the theological reality of common grace. “He sends rain on the just and the unjust” (Matt 5:45). It important to recognize, however, that there is an infinite chasm between God being the Father of someone and being fatherly toward someone. One is a settled relational reality, a permanent salvation; the other is an attitude that does not ultimately change someone’s eternal state. My dad is nice to a lot of people, even a “father-figure” to them; but only his sons are truly his sons. I am his son, and he is my father.
2. There is a deep tension in the Bible expressed in two true statements. First, God is angry at sinners and they stand under his wrath. Second, God is patient with sinners and does not desire to damn them. Much of this reality goes beyond the scope of this section, but the important part to recognize here is this: God is patient with sinners. He is fatherly toward them.  This, however, does not save them, anymore than my dad being “fatherly” toward someone makes them his son.
3. This statement, in part, combats the teaching of Protestant liberalism, which taught the universal “Fatherhood of God” (as seen in the writings of someone like Adolf von Harnack. Compare this to John Calvin’s deep doctrine of God’s adoption of sinners and fatherhood).

What We Believe: God the Father (Pt 1)

THE FATHER IS THE KING
BFM: God as Father reigns with providential care over His universe, His creatures, and the flow of the stream of human history according to the purposes of His grace. He is all powerful, all knowing, all loving, and all wise.

The Fact of the Father’s Reign
1. The biblical data testifies that God the Father reigns as King over all. In theological history, no one has ever seriously debated this point. Simply, the Bible is too explicit, too often for any serious challenge to be made on this point. In the NT, specifically, “God” refers most often to the person of the the Father. Jesus explains that the Great I AM, the self-existing, self-sustaining of Exodus 3:14 is “the Father” who “has life in himself” (John 5:26).
2. The Bible explains that there clearly a “firstness” for God the Father. Paul explains that the Son will deliver “the kingdom to God the Father” (1 Cor 15:24). He goes on to indicate a clear ordering in the relationships of the Trinity: “ For ‘God has put all things in subjection under his feet.’ But when it says, ‘all things are put in subjection,’ it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all” (1 Cor 15:27-28). Scripture therefore clearly indicates an order (Gk: taxis) between the persons of the Trinity; but it is an order of role and not nature or “Godness”. The Son lovingly submits to the Father, but he and the Father are equally and fully God.
3. Historically, theologians have referred to this reality as the monarchy or “kingship” of the Father. The nature of this monarchy has chafed relationships in theological circles and in different areas of the church. This issue, in part, splintered the church, resulting in the Great Schism in 1054 between East and West.

The Nature of the Father’s Reign
1. A Reign of Control. Control means “the power to influence or direct people’s behavior or the course of events.”  Control means sovereignty, total supremacy, dominion, power, authority, and jurisdiction.We often associate the word with negative pictures of a manipulative mother-in-law or demanding boss or unilateral dictator; in their hands, control is a bad thing. However, when the loving Creator wields control he does so rightfully and lovingly, though nonetheless unilaterally.
2. A Reign of Purpose. The Psalmist says, “The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations” (Ps 33:11). Isaiah worships this planning God, “for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure” (25:1).
3. A Reign of Grace. God’s plans are plans or purposes of grace. The sum of his purpose was to reconcile the world back to himself through Jesus. Jesus was “delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23). God cuts the feet out from the entire universe so that it will bow to his grace. God planned to send Jesus. Jesus saved us from the Father’s wrath, but the Father also saved us from the Father’s wrath! The Father is a gracious Father.
4. A Reign of Fullness. The generic way to describe God’s reign is to say he reigns over everything, and specifically we can see his reign over three spheres.
a. The Father Reigns Over Creation. Again, this is a catch-all, as the Psalmist says, “The Lord has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all” (Ps 103:19). God the Father is King over all things.
b. The Father Reigns Over Humanity. The Father’s reign extends specifically over humanity. This is evident throughout Scripture, from the moment of God’s creative, life-installing inbreathing of the formed dust called Adam.
c. The Father Reigns Over History. The cheesy and churchy statement that history is “his story” is, in fact, profoundly true. It is the story written by God the Father about saving the world through God the Son. Scripture shows that God stands over and above human actions and historical phenomena. God moves the human movers of history, “The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will” (Prov 21:1). For example, Isaiah 45 tells of the pagan king Cyrus, whom God raises up to accomplish his will.  He also reigns over the cataclysmic events of history, quaking or flooding the earth for his own good purposes.

The Person of the Father’s Reign
1. The Father is Omnipotent.
2. The Father is Omniscient.
3. The Father is Loving.
4. The Father is Wise.

Moses Was a Baptist

God tells Moses, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (Ex. 3:6); Jesus quotes this verse against the Sadducees to prove the Resurrection: “He is not God of the dead, but of the living” (Mark 12:27).

How does this prove the Resurrection? Because this phrase is spoken by the Great I AM (Ex. 3:14), who is life; when this God of life and existence enters into a covenant of faithfulness with a person or people (Father Abraham and his many sons…), they will by definition be a people who are alive. He is God of the living. Obviously, this demonstrates, as Jesus shows, the Resurrection.

But I also think it implies regenerate church membership, or the doctrine that the church is made up of only those who are truly born again. Baptists not only believe this, they practice it (at least in theory). They admit to church membership only those who have been born again, converted, regenerated, given new life. Those who have been given new life by God then follow Jesus in baptism. They are baptized because they are alive. Baptism draws a picture of dying with Christ to sin and self (going under the water) and being raised with Christ to a new life of authentic worship (coming up out of the water). Baptism shouts in a picture: “He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He is not God of the dead, but of the living!”

So, in a way, Moses, when he believed in “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” proved that he was a Baptist.

Authentic Worship and Revival

I preached yesterday on Mark 12:13-27, where we examined the “Why?” of life. “Why do we exist?” “Why did God create us as a species, as a church, and as individuals?”

Our answer: for authentic worship.

In Mark 12:13-27, we identified two elements of authentic worship:
1. Giving to God what is rightfully his, by faith in Jesus
2. Knowing God’s Word and God’s Power

We ended with giving four options for a person, church, or community:
1. Absence of Knowledge or Power = Spiritual deception/death
2. Knowledge – Power = Dead Orthodoxy
3. Power – Knowledge = Fanatacism
4. Knowledge + Power = Revival

We then defined revival:
“A great swell of authentic worship of God through Christ in a person, church, or community.”

We ended with a prayer that we might see revival breakout on all three levels:
1. “In my heart”
2. “In our church”
3. “In our community”

Join me in praying that the living God be pleased to send us revival as we magnify Jesus and his Gospel in word and deed!

 

What We Believe: Our Triune God (part 2)

See Part 1 here.

Our God: Infinity
BFM: God is infinite in holiness and all other perfections.

There are several ways to think about God’s “infinity”: he is infinite in terms of time (eternal), he is infinite in terms of space (omnipresent); and he is infinite in terms of attributes, meaning all things that are true of God are completely true.  When we say he is “infinite in holiness”, we mean that he is perfectly and completely holy. This is true in everything we say about God. There are no flaws in anything about him. His love, wisdom, justice, knowledge, grace, mercy are all completely and totally true, all at the same time, in every way, in every action. This is why they are called “perfections.”

Two of God’s most fundamental perfections are:
1. Holiness. God is holy, the whole Bible tells us over and over. He commands Israel to be holy, because he is holy (Lev 19:2). Bruce Ware explains that God’s attributes of love, grace, and mercy flow from his infinite goodness.
2. Goodness. The Psalmist cries, “You are good and do good” (Ps 119:68). Wayne Grudem says, “The goodness of God means that God is the final standard of good, and that all that God is and does is worthy of approval.”  Ultimately, God has demonstrated his goodness through Jesus and the Gospel, saving from damnation all who believe. Bruce Ware explains that God’s righteousness and justice flow from his holiness.

Our God: Immensity
BFM: God is all powerful and all knowing; and His perfect knowledge extends to all things, past, present, and future, including the future decisions of His free creatures.

1. God is all powerful (omnipotent). Jeremiahs 32:27 says, “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?” Likewise, Isaiah 59:1 says, “The Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save.” These are just two verses that affirm the same truth: God is all-powerful. John Frame says God’s omnipotence refers to “two biblical ideas, closely related to one another: God can do anything he pleases” and that  “nothing is too hard for God.”  Three things to keep in mind in view of God’s omnipotence are:
a. God is free. This is the idea that God “does whatever he pleases” (Ps 115:3, 135:6; Eccl 8:3; Job 23:13). Humans can make “free” choices that, in reality, are constrained to an incredible degree by time and space and ability, not to mention financial, emotional, and health considerations. God is not limited in these ways. He has done, can do, and will do “whatever he pleases.” This is why the Gospel is good news. Because did not have to save us, but he freely chose to.
b. God is sovereign. This is closely related to both omnipotence and freedom. This is the idea that God is the King, the Ruler.
c. God is good. All of the talk about God being all powerful and free and sovereign terrifies the one who does not recognize his goodness. But he is good, and he has proven this in the Gospel.

2. God is all knowing (omniscient).
a. Recently, a heresy called “Open Theism” has arisen in the church, which says that God does not know the future decisions of free creatures (people). This statement in BFM 2000, in part, was drafted to combat this teaching. The Scripture clearly teaches that God knows the future, including the decisions people will make.
b. God also, in a mysterious way, knows what would have been. Matthew 11:21 says, “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.”

Our God: Worthy
BFM: To Him we owe the highest love, reverence, and obedience.

Our response should be:
1. Love. It’s interesting that Moses, after announcing the grand truth of the unity of the one true God in the Shema, immediately adds: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (Deut 6:5). Jesus said this command from Deuteronomy is the greatest and summary commandment of the Old Testament. The truth of who God is should always lead to love for him, a love that transcends all other competitors (especially the most lovely ones) and leads to likewise loving others.
2. Reverence. All of Old Testament faith is summed up in the injunction, “Fear the Lord.” We should have a healthy trepidation for a God so holy and majestic, yet approach with confidence as his beloved children.
3. Obedience. True love and true reverence will have legs; the person who loves God will obey God; the person who fears God will obey God. God says “to obey is better than sacrifice” (1 Sam 15:22). Theology should breed doxology, a life of worship (Rom 12:2).

OUR GOD IS THREE
BFM: The eternal triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.

There is one God. This is the absolute, clear testimony of the Bible. But even in the Old Testament there are hints of plurality within this unity; when we get to the New Testament this plurality becomes explicit. Theologians early in the church began working through this testimony of the Scripture regarding God’s oneness and threeness, and eventually formulated the term “trinity” to describe God’s “tri-unity” (three-and-one-ness). There are a number of facets of the doctrine of the Trinity that are seen Scripture.
1.  There is only one God.
2.  This one God exists as three Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
3.  Each Person (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit) is God:
a. Equally. Though each Person has a different “role” within the Godhead, all three are “co-equals” as God.
b. Eternally. God has existed as a Trinity for all eternity. “There was not, when the Son (or Spirit) was not,” as the fathers of the church would have said.
c. Distinctly. The Father is not the Son or the Spirit, and so on. There was an early heresy in the early church called Sabellianism or Modalism, which taught that each Person was a really only a different “mask” that God would wear at different times, for different reasons.
d. Indivisibly. Though there are three Persons, there is only one God, “without division of nature, essence, or being.”

The Trinity stretches the limits of our understanding. And it should more than stretch us; it should knock our legs out from under us and put us on our faces in worship of our ineffable God.