Welcome back to the Winter Bible Study, a time to reflect and spend in God’s Word. The passage we are using this year is short but contains so much for us to reflect on. We are looking at three areas; Be still, Know, and God. This week we continue to look at the big subject, I Am God. What does it mean to be God? Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ
Psalm 46:10a; NLT; Be still, and know that I am God.
As we challenge ourselves to learn how to be still and know God, what do we need to know about God? My friend Steve Brown says there are only two things you need to know. “There is a God and You’re not Him.”
What are the things that matter? To know God requires us to spend time with Him. The challenge comes moving beyond the superficial and digging deep into God’s Word and wanting to know God. The question remains; do I actually know Him? Or do I just think I do.
Last week we talked about God, the Creator of everything. This week we get a little deeper and talk about Trinity, the three persons that make up the Godhead; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This passage from Genesis helps us see how God reveals himself in Scripture, by using the term Us.
Genesis 1:26; Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.”
Think of it like the many hats a parent wears, sometimes they are the one who has the final say. Sometimes they are right there by your side walking through life’s decisions with you. Other times they are that voice in your head, guiding you to make the right decisions.
We believe in one God, Creator of all things, holy, infinitely perfect, and
eternally existing in a loving unity of three equally divine Persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Having limitless knowledge and sovereign power, God has graciously purposed from eternity to redeem a people for Himself and to make all things new for His own glory.
God exists in three persons, The Father, Son and Holy Spirit and each one has different responsibilities. It is a challenging thing for us to understand and explain because God exists outside of the natural world we live in. Jesus is the only part of the Godhead that has existed with the natural world. In his letters to Philippi and Colosi Paul explains it this way;
Philippians 2:6-8; NLT; Though he (Jesus) was God, he did not think of equality with God
as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
Colossians 1:15-16; NLT; Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see— such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him.
That’s why we look like Jesus, we were created in his image. He is the natural manifestation of God on earth. Earth is only a small part of God’s creation. Although we are the center of God’s creation, we are not the entire creation. Jesus limited himself to being a human on Earth. In another letter Paul explained to the Ephesians God’s plan, Christ’s role and also the role of the Holy Spirit. To say we can cover this in the winter Bible Study wouldn’t do it justice, but we will try to help explain using God’s Holy Word.
Ephesians 1:4-8,13b-14; NLT; Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. 8 He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding…
… And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.
So let’s break it down to the attributes associated with each member of the trinity. The attributes of God are; omnipotence (all-powerful), omniscience (all-knowing), omnipresence (present everywhere), holiness, love, immutability (unchanging), and sovereign.
Jesus’s attributes are; divine, moral, and relational attributes, embodying perfect love, compassion, and humility, a sinless Savior, patient, obedient to God, forgiving, and merciful, a wise teacher, shepherd, a leader, courageous, resilient, and focused on serving all people.
The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity; possessing full deity and divine attributes including omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, and eternity. The Holy Spirit is a counselor, helper, advocate, intercessor, comforter, teacher, guide, convictor, sanctifier, unifier, and giver of gifts, at the direction of the Father.
The presence of the Holy Spirit in our heart is an indication we belong to God. The Holy Spirit will produce fruit in us. We will reflect the character of God.
Galatians 522-23a; But the Holy Spirit, (God), produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
This is certainly not a complete, exhaustive, look at the Trinity, but it gives us much indication that there is a lot to know about God.
Blessings,
Pastor Don