Overview/advice for the lesson
Opening question(s)
God the Father
Jesus
Holy Spirit
I like to use repetition to drill my points into whomever I am trying to convince of something.
I like to use repetition to drill my points into whomever I am trying to convince of something.
Do not get me wrong. I am not the annoying type of guy who just says the same thing over and over, until he gets his way. “Are too! Am not! Are too! Am not!” That is childish. Oh, and I am not the annoying type of guy who tries to come up with pithy, one-phrase answers to all of life’s questions. You know, this guy will say something that needs an explanation, like “God is in the tree,” refuses to elaborate other than repeat himself, and act like he just dropped a knowledge bomb. That is snobbish. No, instead, I am the annoying type of guy who really wants to get his point across, and really wants it to be remembered, so I will repeat it until I can reasonably expect it to have penetrated the fog of messages and noise with which we are constantly bombarded.
For those of you who were here last week, you may remember my end point was that the best way to convince someone of the existence of God is to get them to a place where they will experience Him. If you remember that, I think it may be because I said it about seven or eight times in my five-minute blurb.
I like to use repetition to drill my point into whomever I am trying to convince of something.
If you ever hear me preach or teach (Did I mention I have preached and teached!), you would likely hear me repeat my main point several times. I tend to organize my lessons around a single key phrase (like God is three People Who care about you), and I have come to the conclusion that the best way to get someone to carry that key phrase with them throughout the week is to get it echoing around in their head. God is three People Who care about you. Now, to be sure, I want the people who hear me speak to understand what I mean by that key phrase, so I do not just repeat myself. I explain myself. I try to talk my way into and out of and through the key idea. That is largely what we will be doing this entire semester with “God is three People Who care about you.”
I think most preachers and teachers actually do a good job of explanation. (They call it exposition.) I just think they lack a little focus. They cover their topics so broadly that they lose depth. There are so many sermons and lessons that simply include too much material. Have you ever had one of those classes where you spent half the semester covering new material, and half the semester reviewing that same material? That is good. It is repetition. I like it, but I think that there is a way to go about things a little more efficiently.
I like to use repetition to drill my point into whomever I am trying to convince of something.
God likes to use repetition too.
God likes to use repetition too.
There is a lot about God that is quite ingenious. (Yes, I realize there are probably problems with that statement.) One of the aspects of God that is most mind-blowing, though, at least for myself, is this whole idea of the Trinity. The Trinity is cool for several reasons, including the complexity that we mentioned this week and the consistency that we will dig into the next couple of weeks. One of my favorite personal epiphanies happens when I think about how the complexity and the consistency of God interact with each other.
The world is created, from suns to snails, and there is Adam, walking and talking with God. One day, though, Adam falls short and falls away from God. In the very next story, God is found initiating relationships with Cain and Abel. The rest of the Old Testament is an echo of that story. God initiates a relationship with God’s people. God’s people screw it up. God comes back again. It happens with Job. It happens with Noah. It happens with Abraham. It happens with Isaac. It happens with Jacob. It happens with Joseph. It happens with Moses. It happens with Saul, with David, with Solomon. It happens with prophets. It happens with priests. It happens with all of the Israelites, altogether, all at once, several times.
And then, silence. For several hundred years, there is this gap. We know what happened, and we know that God was not completely silent during that time, but there was not quite anything that found its way into the Biblical canon. It was the calm before the storm, the quiet before the big bang. God initiated. God’s people screwed it up. And now, here, in a manger, God came back again. The baby is born, from conception to contraction, and there are the apostles, walking and talking with God. What is so ingenious about the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, where this whole other Person of the Trinity is introduced to us, is that we have seen it all before.
God likes to use repetition to drill God’s point into whomever God is trying to convince of something.
One day, the apostles fall short and fall away from Jesus. In the very next stories, Jesus is found initiating relationships with the apostles. God is irrepressible. God will not be stopped. God returns, again and again, the same yesterday and today and forever. After the resurrection, Jesus does not leave. He ascends. He goes to prepare for the eternal reunion we will have with God in heaven. And Jesus leaves with at least a couple promises: First, I will return. I will come back. I will be here again. Second, God is returning. God is coming back. Jesus says you all are going to be introduced to the Spirit. And today, we know that the Spirit is yet another Person of God.
The apostles should have expected it. After all, God likes to use repetition to drill God’s point into whomever God is trying to convince of something.
God is always God, whether we are submitting to the Father or praying to Jesus or being moved by the Spirit. There will be times when we fall short and fall away. In the very next story, God will be found coming back again
Files coming soon.