To know who God is, we must grasp what He has revealed about Himself as Father, Son, and Spirit. This is at the very center of the Christian faith that we profess.
What do we know about God?
1. There is but one God
In Mark 12:29 Jesus said, “the foremost is, ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord’”
Christians don’t believe in three gods, we believe in One according to the Scriptures.
2. God exists in three persons
The Father sends the Son, the Spirit glorifies the Son, the Son prays to the Father, the Father and Son pour out the Spirit.
The three persons of the Godhead aren’t to be confused. The Father did not die on the cross, the Son did not send Himself, and the Spirit did not rise from the dead. There is one God but He exists in three persons.
3. Each person is fully God
The Father is God. The Son is God. The Spirit is God.
When Jesus returned to the Father, His presence was made real to the disciples by the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit is with you, Jesus is with you and when Jesus is with you, the Father is with you.
The Triune God is a mystery, not a contradiction. If we believed there’s one God and three Gods, that would be a contradiction.
We simply can’t fathom or understand such an awesome and magnificent God in totality but we can understand everything He has told us.
How do we respond to this astounding nature of God?
- Don’t brush it off
Don’t say because I can’t get it, I’ll ignore it.
- Don’t try to explain it
You won’t ever get to the place where you have Him all figured out.
- Do allow it to lead you deeper into relationship
Marvel at His grandeur!
In Matthew 11:25-30 Jesus reveals to us some things about the Father.
First, the Father has hidden Himself from us by nature. Knowing God is beyond our natural ability.
Second, we can only know the Father by knowing Jesus. This shows the exclusivity of Christ.
Third, the Father has revealed Himself to those whom the Son chooses.
The good news is that God is Jesus’ Father and Jesus can bring us into the relationship He has with the Father. We come to know the fatherhood of God by entering into the relationship that Jesus has with His Father, who is the Lord of Heaven and Earth.
3 RESULTS OF KNOWING GOD AS FATHER
1. To know the Father is to know you are loved
Jesus’ experience from the foundation of the world was the love of the Father and the Holy Spirit. The love the Father has for the Son is for you.
Nothing makes you more like your father than loving the Son, and nothing makes you more like the Son than loving the Father.
2. To know the Father is to happily submit to His will
You will be nourished and will flourish when you do the will of the Father. When the cost of commitment is great, you lean into your knowledge of the Father. This is why we need doctrine to know what is true!
3. To know the Father will be to see and share in His glory
John 17:22 “The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one”
To learn more about Pastor Chris and his teaching, visit us on the web at fcfamily.org and make sure you subscribe to receive these weekly encouragements in your inbox.
