The Divine Dance of the Trinity

You're listening to the Christ Our Cornerstone

podcast, Ministry of Christ Our Cornerstone Church

in O 'Neill, Nebraska. I'm Pastor Logan Merrick,

and it's our prayer that this message strengthens

your faith and draws you closer to Christ. Let's

dive in. All right. Good to see everybody. I

will tell you that my wife was very upset when

I printed out my notes today. Our printer even

decided to pitch a fit about it. But I only have

two points, but I have to unpack the Trinity,

which is probably one of the hardest doctrines

in all of Christianity. So. Your prayers are

appreciated, but we're going to dive in. We've

been we started last week with the Book of Mark,

so if you would turn to the New Testament to

the Book of Mark, we're going to be just in.

verses nine through 11 in chapter one. As you're

turning there, if you don't have a Bible, it'll

be one up here. We'd love for you to take one.

If you don't have a Bible, we've got those in

the back there. But we're glad. I'm glad that

you're here. My name is Logan. If you're just

visiting, glad to have you here. All right. Last

week, what did we talk about? What was the what

was some of the things that we unpacked for those

that were not here? so that we got a good idea

of the context of what we're saying and what

we're talking about. What do we remember? Don't

be shy. Come on. I know that there's note takers

in this place. Yes, Mark, his entire theme of

his whole book is to present Jesus as the servant

king because his audience was who? The Romans

That a boy Ted So they care about kingship and

so he's trying to show the Gentiles hey Jesus

is the one true king and so we talked about John

the Baptist and who John the Baptist was and

what he meant and now we now move into the baptism

of Jesus. The Trinity is something that we may

feel like is not important to our faith as a

doctrine, but it's actually very crucial, and

I'm gonna unpack why that is. It's also important

that you know what the Trinity is and is not.

Now, there is a denomination that believes essentially

heresy in regards to the Trinity, and their whole

thing is that the word Trinity is not in the

Bible, so therefore it is not a biblical doctrine.

Just because the word Trinity is not in there

doesn't mean that the doctrine of the Trinity

isn't in there. The word Trinity is a newer word,

and so it's not a word that would have been put

into the Scriptures. It's just a word that allows

us to have something to put into it as a doctrine

and a theology. But I'm going to dive in this

morning to why it's important and what it means

to us as believers. Is that cool? I promise I'm

not. This isn't going to be a seminary class.

Your eyes aren't going to glaze over, hopefully.

And so I promise to try to make this as simple

as possible. But because it is a very difficult

doctrine to understand. I'm going to kind of

speak in kind of a 30 ,000 foot view. And we're

not going to I'm not going to look for theological

papers to be turned in at the end of service.

OK. And so the title of my sermon is diving into

the divine, the dance of reality in Jesus's baptism.

And the big idea that I've got that we're going

to try to drill down on is the reality of the

Trinity revealed in Jesus's baptism. And it encourages

us to embrace our identity as God's beloved children.

transforming our relationships with Him and each

other to reflect divine love and unity. So if

you would, let's go ahead and read verses nine

through 11 together. In those days, Jesus came

from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by

John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of

the water immediately, there's that word I told

you we'll see a whole lot in this book. He saw

the heavens being torn open and the spirit descending

on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven.

You are my beloved son with you. I am well pleased.

Now, this is one of the moments where heaven

meets earth in the scriptures, where we see heavenly

beings and we see the. natural beings interacting

together. This isn't something that only Jesus

saw. He wasn't the only one hearing the Father's

voice. He wasn't the only one seeing the Spirit

descend on him like a dove. Everyone that was

there who was being baptized saw it. John the

Baptist saw it and they heard it. And so this

is one of those moments where we see heaven being

torn open, as it says, and then we see this really

heavenly moment that is really cool. between

the Trinity members. And what I mean by the Trinity

is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are

all together in one moment. And so this is one

of the clearest revelations of the Trinity in

all of scripture. The Father, the Son, and the

Holy Spirit moving together in perfect unity

and love. But before we rush too quickly to the

glory of the moment, Mark wants us to notice

something that's very important. He tells us

very casually, In those days, Jesus came from

Nazareth of Galilee. And this detail matters.

Why? Why does that matter? Why would he put that

there? Well, Galilee was actually a place of

obscurity. Nazareth was a nothing town. It wasn't

known for scholarship and it wasn't known for

holiness. It wasn't known for spiritual leadership.

In fact, Galilee was looked down upon by the

Jews in Jerusalem. It was religiously suspect,

culturally compromised and surrounded by Gentile

influence. And so to the religious elite, Galilee

was backwards and pure and embarrassing. Here's

what I mean by that. So the Assyrians, they come

in and they actually, they come into Northern

Israel and they take captive the Israelites in

that moment and they... exile them out, and then

Assyrians essentially move in, and they take

over that portion of Israel. So then when Israel

then comes back into power and they get the Assyrians

out, there's a lot of Assyrians and other Gentiles

that stayed, and there's only a minuscule amount

of Jews that stayed within that. And so... True

Jews in Jerusalem felt like Jews lived in Jerusalem.

They worshiped in Jerusalem and they did everything

in Jerusalem. And those who lived outside specifically

in Nazareth and Galilee, they looked down upon

as not real Jews. So when we see Jesus coming

from Nazareth of Galilee, this is God's way of

going, yeah, he doesn't belong to an elitist

group. He is humble. He is mine. and he's coming

from a place of obscurity, just like when he

was born. He was born in a place of obscurity,

right? So Mark deliberately tells us this is

where Jesus comes from, not the halls of Jerusalem

synagogues, not the courts of the temple and

not the schools of rabbis, but from the overlooked

streets of a despised region, from obscurity,

from humility and from the margins. And before

the heavens open, Jesus first steps out of hiddenness.

The King enters quietly. The Son of God comes

not through religious prestige, but through humble

obscurity. From the very beginning, Mark is showing

us the Messiah does not operate by the values

of this world. And when Jesus arrives at the

Jordan, he is met by John the Baptist. And we

already talked about what he's preaching. What

is John preaching? Repentance and why is baptism

unique to this situation? What do we say? You

guys remember? Baptism was only meant for Gentiles

that were converting into Judaism. It was not

meant for Jews. And so when John is preaching

a baptism repentance, this is different for Jews.

This is unique for Jews. And so we've got to

wrestle ourselves with if Baptism means repentance.

It's a sign of repentance. Why would Jesus need

baptism? I'm gonna unpack that in just a second.

But here's something that's really interesting.

Mark doesn't actually tell us this detail, but

the book of Matthew does. Matthew tells us that

John actually objects to baptizing Jesus. Why

would John object to baptizing Jesus? What's

that? That's right. And what did he know about

the Messiah? What did he know? What did I just

say of why he wouldn't need baptism? Yeah, nothing

to repent of. He was completely pure. And John's

like, no, no, no, no, no. Like this, this is

backwards. And Jesus goes, no, no, no, no. Like,

no, you need to be the one. And so here's something

else that I found really interesting. John MacArthur

points this out in his commentary. He says, John

recognizes Jesus, but I have always thought in

my mind, well, of course he recognizes Jesus.

They grew up together, right? They're cousins.

But John MacArthur points out, they didn't know

each other. And this is why. Because, Many scholars

believe, despite their miraculous connection

in the womb, when John leapt at Mary's greeting,

John and Jesus likely had no personal relationship

growing up. John was raised in the wilderness

and Jesus was raised in Galilee. And so they

were from different worlds and different paths.

And yet, that same spirit that stirred John in

the womb now opens his eyes at the river. and

he sees the Messiah coming. And so here's 30

years later, he recognizes the Messiah again

and it unsettles him because John is preaching

repentance and he is baptizing sinners and he

is calling broken people to turn back to God

and standing before him is now the one who is

sinless. The one who needs no repentance and

the one who already declares, he's already been

declared righteous. So John hesitates. And we

should also feel that tension. Why would Jesus

step into the waters that were meant for confession?

And so there's two reasons for this. The one

who was the spotless son of God is standing in

line with sinners. And so before we move into

the two points that I have about the divine dance,

we've got to answer this question. Why was Jesus

baptized? And so here are, I'll have them right

up here. Here are two. reasons why Jesus must

had to be baptized. First is this, Jesus was

baptized to fulfill all righteousness. This is

not about personal repentance. This is about

covenant obedience. Jesus is stepping fully into

the role of the faithful son doing everything

the father requires. He is retracing Israel's

story, but doing it perfectly. Where Israel failed,

Jesus obeys. Where Adam fell, Jesus stands. And

he fulfills righteousness not only for himself,

but for us. And then here's the second reason.

Jesus is baptized to divinely authenticate his

ministry, because as we're going to see next

week, it's now at the baptism moment that Jesus

begins his ministry. And so this is his commissioning.

This is the public launch of his mission. Heaven

opens, the Spirit descends, and the Father speaks,

and this is God placing his visible stamp of

approval upon his Son. And so before Jesus preaches

and before Jesus heals, before he casts out demons

and before he carries the cross, the Father declares,

a lot of delight in his Son. You are my beloved

Son, in whom I'm well pleased. And so, identity

before activity, belonging before behavior, and

love before labor. So in that moment, waist deep

in the Jordan, Jesus not only reveals who God

is, is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit

in perfect communion. He is also shows us what

relationship looks like. And that's what I want

to drill into because the Trinity is not merely

a doctrine to explain, but it's a reality for

us to enter. And that's why I say the doctrine

of the Trinity is very important. We think of

it as just kind of this. Yes, God in three persons,

one essence, but It's much deeper for us at when

it comes to relationship with God and with others.

And so as we get into our text today, my first

point is this. The divine dance. And so Mark

tells us at the baptism of Jesus, the entire

Trinity is present. How do we see the entire

turn to be present? And so we know that everybody's

on the same page. How do we see this? Okay, Jesus

is there, right? Where do we, what else do we

see? The Holy Spirit's a dove, right? In God's

voice, yes. So the Spirit descends from heaven

and the Father speaks. Now, this is not a subtle

moment. It's actually a cosmic unveiling. So

heaven is torn open. And for a brief moment,

the inner life of God is placed on display. We

see them together interacting. And so the whole

thing of the spirit descending like a dove, why

does that matter? Why does Mark use that terminology?

Because is the spirit of God a dove? No, so why

would he use that terminology because there's

no other place except for one other place where

we see It is kind of referred to as a dove where

we see it You guys know the answer I think you're

overthinking it No Genesis the very beginning

and creation. What does it say? It says that

the spirit hovered above the waters. And so many

translators say, duh, he hovered like a dove.

But the actual Hebrew there, it says the word

that the Hebrews use is flutter. And so for us,

we get it translated in English that he was fluttering

like a dove. But this is important that you understand

why Mark uses this, okay? He wants us to refer

back to creation into Genesis one. So this is

Mark being intentional to point us backwards

at the creation of the world. And here's why

he says. There's this breathtaking moment where

the Trinity is present at the creation of the

world. And now it's present at the redeeming

of it. So you can write that down. That's a note.

The same Trinity that stood together at the creation

of the world now stands together at the redemption

of it. And so the Father who spoke light into

existence and the Spirit who hovered over the

deep, the Son through whom all things were made

are now reunited again, not to create, but to

rescue. And the Trinity is not reacting to human

failure. They're now executing an eternal plan.

The God who put the world into motion is now

stepping in directly to redeem it. And it's not

random and it's not accidental and it's not plan

B. This is the triune God moving together in

perfect unity to restore what was broken. And

this brings us to one of the deepest truths in

all of Christianity, the doctrine of the Trinity.

So here's what you need to write this down. Before

we talk about what the Trinity is, we have to

talk about what the Trinity is not. So the Trinity

is not tritheism. Tritheism is three separate

gods, okay? They're not three separate gods working

in cooperation together. And nor is it unipersonalism,

also known as modalism. So what that means is,

is it's not one god in different modes. He's

not wearing different mask that he puts on. I've

heard people try to say, well, the Trinity is

like, I'm a father. I'm a husband. I'm also an

uncle. I'm a son. That's modalism. It's not one

person in three different modes. That's not how

this goes. OK, so he's not an actor in a costume

and it's not three different gods. Okay. It is

three persons. This is crucial. It's three persons.

This is, you can write this down because I think

I have it up here. Do I? Yep. Man, you're way,

way ahead of me in a good way, Weston. It's three

persons who share one divine essence, three persons

who know and love one another perfectly. So.

God is not more fundamentally one than he is

three. And he is not more fundamentally three

than he is one. So that's a crucial definition,

by the way. So this is a mystery, but it's not

a contradiction. But one of my most favorite

descriptions comes from C .S. Lewis in Mere Christianity

where he calls the Trinity a divine dance. We

got any dancers in here? Anybody like to dance?

Oh, he wanted to raise his hand. So C .S. Lewis

says this, in Christianity, God is not a static

thing, but a dynamic pulsating activity, a life,

almost a kind of drama, almost, if you will not

think me irreverent, a kind of dance. He calls

the Trinity a dance, but why? And it's honestly,

beautiful when you really, really break it down,

which is what we're gonna do. I didn't mean to

be punny on that, but break it down, Dan, come

on. So it's a movement, it's a relationship,

it's joy and it's unity. Each person fully God,

each person fully giving, and each person eternally

delighting in the other. That's the important

part of what you must see When you see the Trinity

at work, they're always reflecting the other.

They're never trying to accept glory for themselves.

And so. One thing I've been learning is. A dance.

So I've been I've been learning this idea of

a dance in a very real way, because my daughter

Aria. Is obsessed with line dancing, swing dancing,

sorry. not line dancing, swing dancing. She begs

me and her brothers daily to swing dance with

her. I promise, come on, you should come on up

here and show us what you got, sis, you and Eli,

no? She tried to throw my back out yesterday

by trying to get me to flipper and all this stuff,

and I just told her I'm too old for this stuff.

But have you ever tried to swing dance before?

Dude, it's hard your arms get twisted all a up

up like a pretzel and Dipping and flipping and

scatting whatever But it's it's pretty difficult,

man But swing dancing is a perfect example of

the Trinity and here's why It requires awareness

of your partner Everybody in here is danced right

like we're not we're not all like dancing is

evil, right? Like you've danced at some point

with your spouse, right? Vicki, you looked at

Keith like, we didn't dance, right? But if you

slow danced with your spouse or slow danced at

all, it's not exactly a good idea for both partners

to be trying to take the lead, right? Like there's

got to be somebody that's kind of... but you're

you're kind of moving together as one. Right.

You can't just all everybody be doing their own

thing. Am I right? You guys understand what I'm

saying? OK. And so it's about timing. It's about

movement. It's about coordination and dips and

spins and all the good stuff. But you can't just

do whatever you want. And if you do when, especially

when it comes to line dancing, you look absolutely

ridiculous, as I've discovered, try to. swing

dance with my daughter. Because dancing only

works when both partners are moving with each

other. And that's exactly what we see inside

the Trinity. The Father glorifies the Son and

the Son submits to the Father and the Spirit

empowers the Son and magnifies the Father. Each

person lives in perfect self -giving love toward

the other. No one grasp for control. No one demands

the spotlight and no one insists on being the

center Instead each person circles the other

in perfect harmony Can you see? Just me saying

that why that's important for us to understand

about the Trinity and what that means for us

Can you This is why The scripture constantly

shows us their mutual devotion. The Father declares

His delight in the Son. The Spirit rests upon

Jesus in power. And Jesus says, I can do nothing

apart from the Father. This is the divine dance,

an eternal movement of love, humility, service,

and unity. And so why does this matter for us?

If you haven't been picking up what I'm laying

down, I haven't said it in a while, kids. When

we say, I'll serve as long as I benefit, that's

not service, that's self -interest. And so that's

not circling someone in love, that's demanding

they orbit around you. This will be right up

here if you wanna write this down. A self -centered

life is a stationary life. It's static, it's

rigid, and it's lonely. Self -centered people

want to be the gravitational center of everything,

but God is not like that. At the very heart of

reality is the self -giving love. Instead of

self -centeredness, the Father, the Son, and

the Holy Spirit are characterized by mutual giving.

Each voluntarily moves toward the other. Each

joyfully serves the other. Neither person in

the Trinity demands orbit. Each one chooses humility.

And this is the dance Jesus invites us into.

not one of power, but of surrender, not one of

dominance, but of service and not of self glory,

but of love. And so the baptism of Jesus shows

us that reality itself is shaped not by control,

but by communion. And when we step into the dance,

we learn to give and to serve and to submit and

to love, and we are not losing ourselves. We

are finally becoming who we were created to be.

Here's point number two. the divine love. And

so in verse 11, we see Jesus, or we see the Father

dote on Jesus. So if this is a world made by

a triune God, then relationships of love are

not secondary to reality. They're the very heart

of it. Love is not something God does. Love is

something that God is. But we all know that statement.

Like everyone loves to quote this statement,

God is love, right? Everyone says it. You even

have people who aren't believers that will say,

well, stop being judgmental because God doesn't

judge me and God is love, right? Right? But here's

the problem. Here's the problem with that statement.

And C .S. Lewis says this in mere Christianity.

I'm gonna read this to you. All sorts of people

are fond of repeating the Christian statement

that God is love. But they seem not to notice

that the words God is love have no real meaning

unless God contains at least two persons. Love

is something that one person has for another.

And so if God was a single person, then before

the world was made, he was not love. That is

something that blew my mind when I read it. God

cannot be love if there is no Trinity because

love requires others. Christians believe that

the living dynamic activity of love has been

going on in God forever and has created everything

else. What they really mean when they say God

is love is actually love is God. I mash the two

point or the two or the quote together. Sorry.

When it comes to what people say God is love,

and he's like, what they don't actually understand

when they say that is that love is actually God,

not God is love, which I think is a great point.

In other words, love did not come into existence

when God made the world. Love already existed

eternally between the Father, the Son, and the

Holy Spirit. Creation flows out of love. and

redemption flows out of love and reality itself

is shaped by love. And this matters because what

you believe about God shapes what you believe

about love. Here's where I need you to really

hone in and listen because what you believe about

love, as I said, shapes how you see the world

and how you live life. So if you don't hear anything

else in the sermon, this is what you most need

to hear. If love is merely just chemical reactions

in the brain, if love is just evolutionary survival

instincts, if love is merely stardust bumping

into stardust, you guys get what I mean by that?

Atheists will say, you know, we come from evolution,

right? It is stardust mixed into a primordial

soup. And we ultimately came from that. So they'll

say it's just stardust bumping into stardust.

Then love is not is not something that is sacred.

If you believe these things about love, then

love is not sacred and love is not holy and love

is something that is not eternal. It's simply

a tool, a biological mechanism designed to get

what I want. Here's what I mean by that. When

love becomes a tool, people become objects. This

is why the world's definition of love is ultimately

self -serving. Love becomes, what can you give

me? How do you make me feel? And what do I get

out of this? And tragically, this mindset hasn't

just stayed in the secular world. Many Christians

live by this as well. We use love to orbit ourselves.

We serve as long as we benefit. We commit as

long as it's comfortable. and we forgive as long

as it doesn't cost us too much. But that's not

love. That's not what we see in the Trinity.

What that is, that what I just described is actually

sanctified selfishness. You can write this down.

It'll be right up here. True love flows out of

the Trinity and the Trinity shows us that love

is self -giving, not self -protecting. The Father

pours Himself out for the Son, the Son empties

Himself for the Father and for us, and the Spirit

glorifies the Son and draws us toward the Father.

This is love that gives. It's a love that serves

and sacrifices. And if we want to experience

this kind of love, real love, then we must enter

the divine dance. You don't... become God, but

you step into his movement. What I mean by that

is this. If you want to experience love and give

love, then you actually have to enter into community

and relationship with the one who is love and

is amongst itself full of joy and full of love.

If you want, if you're cold. OK, if you're cold

and there's a fire raging. What would you tell

me to do, Sue? If I'm standing there cold and

there's a fire over there, what would you say?

Get closer to the fire. Man, that's a lot of

wisdom. If I wanted to swim, Ryan, but there's

a pool over there and I'm in my bathing suit

and I'm like, I really want to get wet. What

would you say? Jump in. If you want to get wet,

there's the water. If you want to get... warm,

there's a fire. If you want to do these things,

you have to actually get closer to it. So if

you want to experience love, joy, peace, all

of these things, then you actually have to enter

the dance. You actually have to draw closer to

the one who is these things in and of himself.

So we must draw closer and nearer to the Godhead.

You must step into the life of God. Because God

did not create us to get love. That's what you,

write this down. I don't have it up here, sorry.

God is not this thing that created us in order

to get something from us. He already is infinite

love within himself. He already is infinite joy

within himself. He created us to give love and

joy in these things. to participate in his eternal

rhythm of self -giving joy. This is why a self

-centered life always feels empty. We are not

made to orbit ourselves. We are made to orbit

God and in doing so, to circle one another in

love. But instead, many of us stand at the edge

of the dance floor, watching with our arms crossed,

like a couple of wall flowers, swearing we're

having a great time. while everybody else is

out on the dance floor going, come on in, let's

do this thing. And you're like, no, I'm having

a great time over here drinking water, right?

Nobody looks at the wallflower over at the side

and goes, that person's having a great time at

the wedding. If you want to see somebody have

a ton of fun, go watch Noah on the dance floor

at a wedding. My son Noah, you get to see him

really come out. He's got to move you guys. He

has a move where he goes through, he's so embarrassed

right now, where he's twisting light bulbs all

across the dance floor, baby. And everybody's

like, wow, look at that kid. And he's like, yeah.

If you want to see pure joy, just see Noah on

a dance floor. It's the best thing ever. But

Noah's having a great time and he's out there

and he's doing his thing. And I love it. Like

wall flowers at a wedding, we tell ourselves

that we're enjoying the music while everyone

else is stepping into the joy. But God is inviting

us off the wall. He's inviting us into communion,

into surrender, into love and into life. It's

not a static existence, but a dynamic one. Not

a lonely one, but a relational one. It's not

a self -centered one, but a Christ -centered

one. Because the deepest truth of the universe

is not power, it is love. and that love is calling

your name. And so I'm gonna close with this.

In 1994, there was a Rwandan genocide. I don't

know if you guys remember that, but it's an awful

thing. There's actually a genocide going on right

now in Nigeria. So we pray for our brothers and

sisters there. But in 1994, during the Rwandan

genocide, a pastor named Andre was sheltering

people in his church. And one day a group of

armed men stormed in. They were hunting for the

Tutsis. Andre stood in front of his congregation,

families, mothers, children, and elderly men,

people he had baptized, people that he had prayed

with, and people that he loved. And the soldiers

demanded that Andre step aside. They told him,

they said, move and you will live. All Andre

had to do was step aside. But instead, he stepped

forward. He opened his arms and he said, if you're

going to kill them, you have to kill me first.

So they did. They shot him right where he stood.

And now that story can feel and seem unbearable

to hear, but it reveals something we desperately

need to understand. That moment for Andre wasn't

a moment of adrenaline. It wasn't a moment of

impulse. It wasn't a moment of instinct. It was

a man who had stepped so deeply into the divine

dance that self -preservation no longer ruled

his life. And so when you truly enter the life

of God and into the divine dance, love ceases

to be something we use because someone you give

and because someone you give yourself away for

and becomes something you give yourself away

for. Jesus stepped into the Jordan. Jesus stepped

into our sin and he stepped into our death so

that we could step in to his life. And now he

stands before all of us and he says, follow me.

Following him does not mean comfort. It doesn't

mean safety. And it definitely means you're not

in control, but it does mean you are in communion

with him. It does mean surrender and it does

mean love. And so some of us are exhausted because

we've spent our entire lives orbiting ourselves.

We've been protecting ourselves promoting ourselves

or preserving ourselves in some way and it's

killing our joy When all you can think about

is yourself it kills your joy Because we were

never made to live in a way that is to stare

at our belly buttons We were made for the dance.

We were made for relationship. We were made for

love and we were made for God and today The Trinity

still stands with arms wide open, the Father

still speaks your identity, the Spirit still

empowers your obedience, and the Son still invites

your surrender. So the only question left is

this, will you stand on the wall or will you

step onto the dance floor? Because the divine

dance has already begun. Brothers and sisters,

there's room for all of us. Let's pray.