Life with the Triune God (2 Cor. 13:11-14) (5/31/26)

Welcome to the house of the Lord on this Sunday,

Trinity Sunday, where we commemorate the important

doctrine of the Trinity. Let us now pray together

and ask for the Lord's blessing of the preaching

of his word. Glory be to you, O God the Father,

God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, who of

your grace and mercy has made us a people in

Jesus Christ and has surrounded... with us your

mercies and your providential care, and you have

given us such great and marvelous promises in

your word. Bless us this day that we may grow

in terms of your word and by your spirit. Grant,

O Lord, that the words of my mouth and the meditations

of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight,

O Lord, our nearest kinsman redeemer, Jesus Christ.

Amen. Our text today, Is our epistle reading

from 2nd Corinthians chapter 13. We will add

an extra verse verse 14 to the reading Finally

brethren farewell become complete Be of good

comfort be of one mind live in peace and the

God of love and peace will be with you Greet

one another with a holy kiss and all the saints

greet you and the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ

The love of God and the communion of the Holy

Spirit Be with you all and it ends with amen

These are the words of Almighty God receive them

in your hearts There are three things. I want

you to get out of our sermon today First of all

the triune God has existed before creation The

triune God has existed before creation second

We are made in the image of the triune God we

are made in the image of the triune God and Finally

the life of the triune God is a shared life The

life of the triune God is a shared life. Today

is the day that has been set aside historically

in the church to meditate on the Trinity. The

Trinity is certainly a teaching or a doctrine,

but it actually has real implications for our

lives. That is a real meaning for our day -to

-day lives as Christians. The Westminster Confession

in chapter 2 .3 says this, in the unity of the

Godhead there be three persons of one substance,

power, and eternity. God the Father, God the

Son, and God the Holy Ghost. The Father is of

none, neither begotten nor proceeding. The Son

is eternally begotten of the Father. The Holy

Ghost is eternally proceeding from the Father

and the Son. Well, there you go. We can go home.

Well, I want us to understand that we need to

know some practical things about what the Trinity,

who God is as the Triune God. And then, how then

does it affect how we live? We need to worship

the Triune God and all Persons of the triune

God are to be worshiped and glorified by his

people. In our sermon passage today, we hear

the apostle Paul give his closing thoughts in

this very fatherly and pastoral letter written

to the troubled but maturing church in Corinth.

The Corinthian church had problems in the church.

You can't help but read first and second Corinthians

and come to the conclusion, man, that church,

it has problems. I promise you that in the more

than 25 years that this church has existed, almost

every one or maybe even every one of those great

sins has been confronted and dealt with. Some

may even be among us now But they didn't just

have problems in the church there was also persecution

from the high priests and their deputized tormentors

Not yet realized but known to God and soon coming

was to be the more intensified harassment torture

and martyrdom of the church all across the Roman

Empire In the inspired words of Paul that is

not inspired by Paul, but by the Holy Spirit

The words of Paul were directed To the very relational

Trinitarian call to maturity commitment to one

another in peace and relational love For the

grace of the Lord Jesus Christ the love of God

and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with

you all. You know, we're living in an ever -increasingly

difficult time in history. Or excuse me, let

me back that up. They were living in an ever

-increasing... I mean, we feel that way too.

I'm gonna get to that in a second. But they were

living in an ever -increasingly difficult time

in history. In fact... When Jesus spoke of that

time in Matthew 24, he says this, for then there

will be great tribulation such as not been since

the beginning of the world until this time, nor

shall there ever be. So they're at the precipice

here of this tribulation. It's the late 50s and

the early 60s. Rome aligns itself with the persecutors

of the church, the Jewish high priests and all

those who rejected Christ. And they partnered

together. And they brought horrible, horrible

persecution, martyrdom to the church. And it

says, Jesus said, it's never going to be worse

than this. And it even says, it's going to be

so bad in verse 22 that unless those days were

shortened, no flesh would be saved. But for the

elect's sake, those days will be shortened. So

it's something God is permitting and Here we

see In all this great tribulation He's pointing

Paul by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is

pointing to the trinitarian God and the implications

in our lives of this Right now we live in both

one of the most blessed times in a history Right

don't we agree with that? I mean, after all,

how many of you had to go down to the well this

morning or the creek and pull out water? Yesterday

and later this evening, are you milking the cows

and goats? Are you hoeing for and tending to

your vegetable garden that if it isn't a good

year, you may starve to death? None of you ladies.

had to go grab a chicken and clean it and cook

it for Sunday lunch. Right? All that's on our

easy fingertips. We live in a very blessed time.

And yet, if we look around us, we see the decline

in our nations and communities and even the church.

It may not be as difficult as what those in Corinth

and the Christians across the Empire were about

to experience But we can benefit from how Paul

instructs them in preparation for their future

So here it is let's think about the Triune God

and its implications So first of all the eternal

God has always been the Triune God. This is not

a new development It's not a development out

of the New Testament. Although it is a little

more clearer and repeated more often But you

see because God has always been the triune God

this should be a great assurance to his church

This gives us a steadfast spirit knowing that

God never changes Just to name a few we see this

in Malachi 3 Hebrews 13 James 1 and Psalm 102

Many of you are familiar with Genesis chapter

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

1 through 3 Right in the beginning God created

the heavens and the earth the earth was out form

and void and darkness was on the face of the

deep and The Spirit of God was hovering over

the waters Then God said let there be light Jesus

the word let there be light by the authority

of the Father by the power of the Spirit Farther

down in chapter 1 in verse 26 it says let and

God said let us make man in our image according

to our likeness But you know the Trinity existed

before creation in Proverbs chapter 8 Begins

Proverbs 8 · chapter mention

with I but this is Jesus speaking the word I

have been established from everlasting From the

beginning before there was ever in earth Dropping

down to verse 26 While as yet he had not made

the earth or the fields or the primal that is

the very first dust of the world When he prepared

the heavens I was there When he drew a circle

on the face of the deep The triune God has existed

before the universe was made and we was there

at creation Then of course there are the third

person pluralities that we see throughout the

Old Testament in Genesis chapter 3 and Chapter

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

11 and Isaiah 6 and very clearly in Isaiah 48,

16. The son, Jesus says prophetically this, come

near to me, hear this. I have not spoken in secret

from the beginning. From the time that it was,

I was there. And now the Lord God and his spirit

have sent me. And of course, the New Testament

brings clarity to this. Our gospel reading today

in Matthew 28. It says this and Jesus came and

spoke to them That's the disciples all authority

has been given to me in heaven and on earth Go

therefore and make disciples of all nations Baptizing

them in the name of the Father and the Son and

the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all

things that I have commanded you and Low I am

with you always even to the end of the age and

it finishes with the words Amen We see of course

the Trinity at Jesus's baptism in Matthew 3 we

see in in John chapters 13 through 17 on the

John 13 · chapter mention

night before the Lord's betrayed over and over

and over again the Father Jesus speaking as the

Son and the Spirit being spoken of over and over

and over again again At the time where the disciples

think they're at the worst day of their life,

what is Jesus saying to them? The triune God

loves each other and is doing all of these relational

things for you, for his church, for their deliverance.

Even Ephesians chapter four tells us this. There

is one body. and one Spirit, just as you were

called in the hope of your calling, one Lord,

one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of

all, who is above all and through all and in

you all." And finally, we see in passages like

2 Corinthians chapter 13, our text this morning,

2 Corinthians 13 · chapter mention

right? We see the Trinity very clearly. It's

very much in focus. In summary of this, Idea

there is one God in eternal community fully divine

and eternally distinct and each person of the

Godhead delights in giving gifts to one another

The triune God existed before time and creation

in full loving fellowship God the Father created

all things he created all things by the word

his son and by the power of the Spirit. In the

fullness of time, He sent His Son to be a man

without relinquishing His divinity, but became

fully man by the power of the Spirit. Through

the life and death and resurrection and ascension

of Jesus the Son, the Father reconciles the world

to Himself. He draws all men from death to life

by the power of the Spirit. By the power of the

spirit men are united to the son and given life

and brought back into relationship with the father

and the son and the spirit This is real important

God gives his son and covenant all love Because

he is the triune God of love as one commentator

explains three persons all one God mutually exhaustively

indwelling one another, bound together in a dynamic,

living, vital relationship of love. And we are

created in the image of the triune God. Remember

what it said in Genesis 1? Let us make man in

our image according to our likeness. So God created

man in his own image in the image of God. He

created them and then it says male and female

he created them So for anybody out there who

is asking what is a man or what is a woman there

it is You distinctive persons of people out there.

There are men. There are women. There are no

more genders than that He created us that way

our purposes are in these things And we are created

in his image, both men and women. The eternal

self -sacrifying, excuse me, excuse me, I have

to say the whole line again. The eternal self

-sacrificial and glorifying triune God has been

in a loving relationship within himself, and

he has created us in his image. God is not a

monad. This is why Allah can't be loving. He's

singular. Love does not emanate. He's capricious.

The triune God, though, indwells together in

a loving, reciprocal relationship. And so, being

made in his image, it's no wonder that God says

in Genesis chapter 2 verse 18, Yahweh God said,

Genesis 2:18

it is not good that man should be alone. I will

make him a helper comparable to him. You see,

the life of God is a shared life. We cannot enjoy

life in isolation. We know this because the triune

God lives in mutual respect, reciprocal love,

and service to the persons of the Godhead. He

exists in communion with himself. He expresses

love within himself, exalting. others. God is

not a solitary being. Each person of the triune

God goes about glorifying himself in adorning

himself with self denial and self giving sacrificial

relations with one another. The scripture teaches

that there's always been a relationship between

the Godhead. The scripture teaches that God is

love in 1 John chapter 4. That doesn't mean that

1 John 4 · chapter mention

God is loving. He is loving. But it means, it

also doesn't mean that he needed something to

love so he created us. That's a lie. The Bible

teaches that God in his own nature is love. That

means he must have within himself someone to

love in relationship love involves a personal

commitment a Sacrificial service a devotion to

one another and we see that Right in Jesus towards

the father towards the spirit and out of that

abundance of the triune love and glorification

of the others What happens? That abundant love

grows so large that it pours itself out onto

us, his people. The Trinity is inescapably personal

and is reciprocal. Thus, it implies that he loves

the world, which is true. He loves mankind, which

is also true. But that love exists first. within

his own being. He did not become loving at some

point after creation. He has always been love.

Love has always been eternally present in God.

This is true because he's eternally existed as

three persons. He is not a solitary being. The

triune God lives in loving society with one another

in communion. Now we cannot comprehend this nor

fully explain this. The eternally existent triune

God in this loving society is especially important

to understand because it is essential in properly

understanding the world and life. The world and

life are bound up in the nature of God Himself.

The fact that the Trinity is real and true is

essential if we're going to understand creation.

You cannot understand creation or anything apart

from the Trinity. And that part is real important.

How many of you guys maybe have seen in the last

year or so unbelievers, pagans, maybe some sort

of video shorts or statements they're making?

where they're sort of getting things right. In

other words, they don't have the world all figured

out. Natural law is revealing certain things

in creation. So they say, well, it does seem

that men and women are different. Right? And

so, yes, a man should be the protector and the

strong one and the leader. And the woman should

be bearing children, and many should do that

earlier. And you see a lot of women who are much

older looking back saying, oh, I messed that

up. I waited too long. And they're sort of putting

the world together, but they don't fully get

it. Why? Because it's a part from the triune

God. They can only get so far in the way that

they view the world or in their science or their

methodologies because They're not in relationship

with the triune God who has made all things and

is eternally existed and a loving as a loving

triune God from before the world You know Proverbs

8 goes on and it says this and I this is again

Jesus Was daily his delight of the father The

object of his delight and he was rejoicing this

this word in hebrews Eight here rejoicing is

playing laughing and making merry And he was

before the father Always before him all creation

including mankind comes out of the joyous merriment

of the loving triune god This has huge implications

in taking dominion and filling the earth to the

glory of God, which includes feasting and enjoying

his good gifts, including all the raw materials

to make and transform the world to his glory

and the benefit of others. Just think about this

for a second. If I were to poll across this crowd

today and I were to ask, what is your favorite

food? And I didn't like... I don't create the

categories. I just pointed at random people.

What's your favorite food? We might have a few

that overlap. And we might be shocked at what

the favorite food is for some. And God gave us

so many spices and so many different kinds of

foods to eat, plants and animals. Think about

this. What about all the flowers that are out

there? Right? Did God need to make all those

flowers? Or is it in His enjoyment and merriment

and enthusiasm? What about all the different

woods that we can make things out of? Right?

You know, what this podium is made out of wouldn't

make good little planes for us to throw and put

rubber band little propellers on. Balsam wood

is good for that, but balsam wood is not a good

wood to build a house out of or to make beautiful,

long -lasting furniture. All of this comes out

of the abundance of the love of the triune God.

You see. And it is inhabited world out of the

abundance of love joy and peace the eternally

existent Triune society of love created all things

and as such creation teaches us about God and

again think of all those unnecessary Provisions

all those unnecessary provisions think of all

the things we can do with a pig. I Like bacon,

you know that Finally, we see that God's Son

was the delight, was God the Father's delight,

and His delight was with the sons of men. Again,

that's Proverbs 8. At creation, God judges His

work each day as good, and when He made man,

He declared it very good. The life of God is

a shared life, our fellowship. is in communion

with God and others. We cannot enjoy life in

isolation. We know this because of the triune

God who lives in mutual respect, reciprocal love,

and service to the persons of the Godhead. He

exists in communion within Himself, and He expresses

love within Himself, exalting others. Again,

God is not a solitary being. See, this is a real

problem. We end up in some tense situation, and

we want to isolate ourselves. We want to withdraw,

right? We want to break fellowship with our husband,

our wife, our children, all these other people

God puts around us. rages against the Triune

God and the fact that we're made in His image.

There is one God in eternal community, a fully

divine and eternally distinct. Each person of

the Godhead delights in giving their gifts to

another. The Triune God existed before time in

creation in full loving fellowship. God the Father

created all things and He created all things

by the Word. the Son, and by the power of the

Spirit. And being made in God's image means that

we too are to live delighting in one another,

and delighting in giving gifts to one another,

even a great sacrifice. Think of the work of

Jesus whose delight was in mankind, and while

we were yet sinners, he came for us, his church.

We know that in the fullness of time, the Father

sent his Son Be a man without relinquishing his

divinity, but becoming fully man by the power

of the Spirit Now Proverbs 18 one tells us this

talking about isolation talk about how we want

to Sinfully break up now. I want to be upfront

sometimes We're just worn out We need some rest

we need to withdraw Jesus himself would go away

and pray and fast and be restored And sometimes

he was so tired. In fact, you know, remember

that one time he was asleep in a boat, and there's

this huge storm, this great squall going around

so much so that the boat is sinking. And I must

say, I can't even imagine that, being so tired.

But here he was, he was worn out. That's not

the kind of isolation we're talking about. You

know exactly what I'm talking about. I'm mad

at you. You aggravated me, so I'm going to isolate.

My spouse, I'm going to isolate my children.

I'm going to flee from it. Proverbs 18 .1 tells

us, a man who isolates himself seeks his own

desire. He rages against all wise judgment. A

fool has no delight in understanding, but in

expressing his own heart. When we isolate from

others, this means we are simply wanting to live

seeking our own selfish desires. When we live

this way we rage against all wise judgment and

this is the same word that is used in Psalm 2

When it says that the heathen why do the heathen

nations rage? And they say I want to break the

bonds that are oppressing me from God And we

do that so many times in our relationships God

has given us relationships and we rage against

God When we seek our own desires, we will, for

our own self -preservation, attempt to break

the constraints of God's law. We will hate and

kill others who get in the way of our pleasures

and desires. This leads to violence, killing

babies, and killing off the old and affirmed

and those who are otherwise unproductive. Why?

Because it's against our selfish lives. God has

called us to live in community with one another

Now let's be honest What keeps us from being

conformed to the image of the triune God? I Know

most of you in this room pretty well, and I know

it isn't because you don't know what to do In

Jesus love is demonstrated expressed and manifested

in obedience to the commands of Yahweh, because

the commands of Yahweh are themselves instruction

in the way or ways of love. Right? We see in

John 14, but that the world may know that I love

the Father, and as the Father gave me commands,

I do. And in John 15, if you keep my commandments,

you will abide. You go down that. We've preached

on those sections already this year. It's not

an issue about whether or not you know what's

right, what you are to do. It's that you choose

to disobey. And God in our relationships to one

another tells us this in Colossians 3, beginning

in verse 12. Therefore, as the elect of God,

holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness,

humility. meekness, long -suffering, bearing

with one another and forgiving one another. If

anyone has a complaint against another even as

Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But

above all these things put on love and let the

peace of God rule in your hearts to which you

were called in one body and be thankful. Are

you with Thanksgiving abiding in the love of

the triune God towards your husband, your wife,

and your children? What about the others in this

church? Are you loving and serving one another

within the communion of our triune God? Or when

you see a certain person, do you run the other

way? If they text you, do you not communicate

with them? Because I can't deal with them. No,

no, I don't want to deal with them As one commentator

puts it if you ignore and despise God's church

You are not worshiping the true God Because God

loves his people and he will not be separated

from them Salvation is fed Jesus alone It is

worked out by the power of the spirit as he works

through his people in our lives using them That

is his people to conform us fully to his image

God's ordinary means of sanctification in your

life is other people The people God has sovereignly

and providentially put in your life Starts in

your home, of course But it's also in your workplace

All these things exposed is what's in our hearts

when we react to them. Why do you need the church?

God uses His people by the Spirit to save and

sanctify us. Not one of you came to the knowledge

of Christ by yourself. God used other men, other

people in your life to proclaim the Gospel to

you. To print a Bible, to ship it off. For you

to hear a particular podcast or sermon God was

using his people to save you to proclaim his

truth and God uses his people to sanctify you

apart from the love and perfect will of the Father

there is no life apart from the love and perfect

obedience and the work of the Son there is no

life apart from the love and power and grace

of God the Holy Spirit there is no life Salvation

is sharing the glorious life that is the love

of God and by that being conformed to Jesus and

his love Salvation is by the triune God We have

no choice but to love one another First John

tells us this in chapter 4 beloved. Let us love

one another For love is of God and everyone who

loves is born of God and knows God he who does

not love does not know God for God is love in

This the love of God was manifested towards us

That God sent his only begotten son into the

world that we might live through him in this

love not that we loved God But that he loved

us and sent his son to be the propitiation our

substitute for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved

us, we ought to love one another. Now all this

may seem overwhelming. How can I deal with all

of this? Remember in the very beginning what

did we talk about? All of the stresses, all of

the circumstances in your life, all of these

difficulties. What did Paul tell the church in

Corinth? In verse 13, it says, all the saints

greet you. Remember, all the saints greet you

in this room and across the world. I sat at a

wedding yesterday with someone who I'd never

met before, but turns out we know a bunch of

people in common. And I've never been near this

guy. All the saints greet you. Be strengthened

by the saints in the church. And then the grace

of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God

and the communion of the Holy Spirit will be

with you all. Be encouraged by the saints. And

what will happen? The grace of the Lord Jesus

and the love of God and the communion of the

Holy Spirit will be with you all. And it finishes

with a solid amen. That is, so be it. Let us

pray Heavenly Father help us to understand these

things for us from error the ignorance of our

age and the deceits of Satan Hope think clearly

and faithfully according to word Forgive us of

our sins and despising you by despising your

people and help us We pray to honor you by one

another to love you loving one another and to

serve you by serving one another Hear our prayers

and uphold us for Jesus' sake. Who reigns with

you and the Holy Spirit, world without end. Amen.