“Our Triune God – the Father”

Scripture: Genesis 1:26-27; Matthew 7:21-23; Matthew 11:25-30; John 5:19-23

Today we begin a 3 part series on what our Triune God is all about. John Wesley once described the Lord as “three and one”, as opposed to the traditional “three in one”. Our Almighty God is absolutely one God, and is like no other. But at the same time, God is three – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We worship a singular and infinite Lord, but He comes to us, and works within us, in three ways.

During the next few weeks, we will endeavor to see how these “Three” are also “One” in everything they do on behalf for us. But for today, we take a look at the first Person of this Trinity – the Father.

Read Genesis 1:26-27

“Let us make man in our image, in our likeness”. God speaks to himself in the plural tense, telling us that our singular God is multiple in some way. Humanity was, therefore, created in the image and likeness of the Triune, and yet, we generally think that anyone who has multiple personalities as someone who is abnormal. But we must believe that when we were created in the image of the Trinity, it is totally different – that He has one image and one likeness, as well as one mind and one heart.

The Lord also has one plan, not several that are each dependent on the multiple aspects of His work within our lives. And from this verse, we discover that we are an integral part of that plan. And our involvement? The NIV translation uses the word “rule”, which in and of itself has been misunderstood by a lot of people. It doesn’t mean that we get to do whatever we want with God’s creation – that our “rule” is totally up to us. It means that we have the obligation to care for it. Other translations use the word “dominion”, or “responsible”, or “master”, and the significance for us is that God, complete and in agreement, without a dissention and always Triune, wants us, His creation, to be part of his existence and work among us.

But what part does the Father play in this relationship that includes each of us? For the rest of this message, we will be considering the words of Jesus regarding just who the Father is – for both him and for us.

Read Matthew 7:21-23

Jesus tells us that obedience to the word of the Father must be paramount in our lives – his will prevails in all matters. And if we do decide to accept the authority that the Father has, what do we get? We get to live and work within his will. It’s interesting to note that this reward has nothing to do with how well we do the Father’s will, or how much we gain for the Father, or how smart we are, or what we do for others, or any other worldly measure of success. So does that mean that the Father expects every single person is to do the exact same thing that everyone else does?

No one is equivalent with anyone else’s abilities, so apparently the Father has a singular plan for each person on the face of the earth! (Luke 19:11-27; 1 Corinthians 12:12-31) Does that mean that his commandments are unique for each of us? The commandments, the will of God are the same for all of us – it’s just that the way we are expected to live within this divine Will is unique for each of us.

As an example, many of the Psalms call us to worship our God in joyful gladness. (ex. Psalm 95) There are many ways to worship the Lord, and as long as it is honest, joyful, and directed in and at only the Almighty and Divine Presence, it is worthy to be offered in our praise..

In Isaiah 49:1-7, we read about the call to mission that the prophet received. The common denominator is that in responding to the Lord’s call, the Father has different expectations of each of us, and sometimes our call is difficult to follow, or even understand. But even in that, it will never be impossible if we trust the Father’s will for our lives.

Read Matthew 11:25-30

The first thing to note is that Jesus, the 2nd Person of the Trinity, is praising the Father for the way he works in the lives of humanity. Even though Jesus is part and parcel of God, he give honor to the first Person – the Father. The Father deserves praise and obedience, even from within God Himself.

The second issue that is raised up is one of the core precepts of the Christian faith – that we can never know the Father – the one whose will is the way to heaven – unless we first know Jesus. If we want to know what the Father is like, if we want to know what the Father desires, if we want to know the plan that the Father has put together for us, we need to know what his Son is all about first.

It would seem that the Trinity not only is intimate within each other, their work is also intimately tied to each other. But even at that, the Father seems to be the central figure in the Divine relationship. He is to be praised; our obedience to his will is the necessary factor for entry into heaven; and as we will see, he guides the work of the other two aspects of God.

The Father is the First Person of God, and rightly so.

Read John 5:19-23

In the verses proceeding this passage, the Pharisees have been at Jesus again, accusing him of “making himself equal with God.” (John 5:18) And Jesus responds to their accusation by revealing the relationship he has with the Father. He says that the Father has authority and control over all that he says and does, and that he doesn’t make a move if it isn’t in the Father’s plan and will.

He speaks about the love that they have for each other – Jesus shows it in his obedience to the Divine Plan, and the Father shows it to him by revealing the most incredible things to his Son. Love is the key. It completes the relationship, and true love never demands submission – love is far more powerful and truthful. It defines the relationship, and becomes the example for how we are to see the Father – not through submission to authority and power, but in acceptance of his will through love.
But we also have to understand the relationship that we have with the Father. Remember the passage from Genesis 1 where we read that humanity has been given responsibility for the care of God’s creation? Remember that we have been given the authority for carrying out mission to the people of earth? The Father could so easily have cared for all of these things by Himself. But he doesn’t – he wants those who he loves to be an integral part of the Godly work right here in this life.

He did that very thing for Jesus and the Holy Spirit. The Father gave Jesus the authority to be his emissary to the people of earth, to teach them, to correct them, to pray for them, to die for them. The Father has given the Holy Spirit the authority to continue to remind us, every day of our lives, of all that Jesus taught us, and all that the Father would have us know and do.

And he gives us the responsibility and authority to share his will and desires with each other. But how do we actually respond to the Father’s desire to be joined with him in his work? We deny it. We turn away from it. We claim that it isn’t true, and we set up our own will above the Father’s. The bottom line is that we sin. Sin is our failure to love God and his ways. Sin is our setting ourselves up as being wiser and truer than God is.

We talk about Jesus being our example for this life, but if we truly believed that, we would never deviate from the will of the Father.
Maybe it’s time we tried harder to stay within his bounds!