The trinity

This week someone asked me if I would blog about the trinity and what the Bible says about God being 3 in 1.  Having done a brief search, I realise that I really haven't got into it properly in any of my blogs so far and so I promise I will get to it soon but for now, here's a fantastic simple summary of the Bible's teaching about the trinity from that brilliant series of DVDs called 'What's in the Bible?'

Romans 15:1-13 - Loving the family

Paul continues the theme of family...  People who trust and follow Jesus are brothers and sisters and should be increasingly like Jesus in the way they love each other and put each other first...

Romans 15:1-13

Paul wants Christians to learn to be less selfish and more selfless.  Less like their old sinful selves and more like the people God made them to be - more like Jesus.

This means Christians should be increasingly patient with each others' weaknesses and failures.  Jesus has made them family and a loving family is one that helps people in it to grow.  This happens when each member of the family is thinking about what the others need before they think about their own needs.  They give more than they take.  They serve others instead of expecting others to serve them.  In this way, Christians are copying Jesus, who despite being God(!), put the needs of others first, gave more than he took and served others instead of expecting others to serve him.

Paul says the Bible teaches endurance and provides encouragement.  The God who wrote it gave endurance and encouragement to Jesus and offers it to those who trust and follow Jesus so that they might worship and please him as Jesus did.  This means they don't love each other in their own strength but they trust God to give them himself and everything they need through his word (the Bible) to love each other well.

If Christians could endure and encourage one another more, there would be more unity.  This is Paul's main point.  One of the signs that someone is really trusting and following Jesus is that they endure and encourage other Christians regardless of their background or where they come from because God's plan from the beginning has been to have a family of all kinds of people from all nations.

Christians have often struggled to love each other and today, if we're Christians, we probably have times when we struggle to commit ourselves to our local church with all its weaknesses, failures and frustrations.  What can we do?  We can pray for the same thing Paul does.  Paul prays for Christians to keep trusting Jesus and that God would give them the joy, the peace and the hope they need in order to love one another like he loves them. Jesus was willing to go through brutal torture and death for the sake of his people.  How much is the average Christian willing to endure before they give up on their spiritual family?  As a Christian, I need to pray Paul's prayer for myself so that God would give me the strength to be humble and keep loving my church family rather than complain or walk away.

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Romans 14 - Family is family

Some people think all Christians do is reject people from other faiths, argue about women bishops and hate gays.  It's embarrassing that some Christians do these things.  It's annoying that these are the stories that get a high profile in the media.  And it's just plain wrong (not to mention ironic) when anyone is prejudiced against Christians because of the way some Christians are prejudiced against others.  Christians who argue a lot have a lot to answer for. 

People who trust and follow Jesus fall out about all kinds of stuff but they shouldn't.  Ever.   

Romans 14

Paul is talking in this chapter about Christians falling out over 'disputable matters' (v1).  He's talking about silly arguments between people who trust and follow Jesus about what foods are ok to eat or whether or not one day is more special than the others.  These are not matters of right and wrong.  It's the motive that counts.  Christians are allowed to eat whatever food they want to because Jesus declared all foods 'clean' (Mark 7:18-19), so Christians are free to avoid certain foods or eat them all, so long as they do all of it for Jesus, that's fine.  Likewise, Christians are to keep the sabbath command by resting one day a week (Exodus 20:8-11) but it's primarily about having a sabbath heart that is at rest with Jesus every day of our lives (Hebrews 4:10).

Paul clearly has an opinion about these 'disputable matters'.  He knows all foods are ok to eat and he knows that one day is not more important than the others but more importantly, he knows that Jesus makes his followers family.  Jesus' family should not argue, fall out or separate over anything.  Some Christians I know have left churches because they disagree about who gets to lead, some have left because they find certain people difficult to get on with, some have left because they think the guitars are too loud and still others have left because they think the guitars aren't loud enough!  These are all rubbish reasons to leave a local church.  Christians that leave over these issues are giving up on part of their family.

Paul says servants of Jesus should be united because they have the same master (v4).  He says those who live for Jesus should be united because Jesus died to give them life in him (v7-9).  He urges Christians everywhere to work hard to be united because Jesus has already united them (v19).  How dare any Christian reject other Christians when God accepts all of them (v3)?!  If we're trusting and following Jesus then he has made us family.  And if we're going to be hanging out together in heaven with Jesus forever, then we might as well start practicing now!

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