God’s Math or 1 + 1 + 1 = 1

Thoughts on the Sabbath School Lesson for 1.7.12

What do an atom and an egg have in common?  They are both illustrations (albeit somewhat limited) of the concept of the Trinity.  They are both made up of individual parts that have specific characteristics and purposes.   No one part is subordinate to any other part, and, yet, if you removed or changed one part, you wouldn’t have the original thing anymore.  An egg without its yolk is no longer an egg.

Why is it important to think about the concept of the Trinity?  It’s too hard to understand.  Well, some folks would agree with that.

“Explain the Trinity? We can't even begin. We can only accept it—a mystery disclosed in Scripture. It should be no surprise that the triune Being of God baffles our finite minds. We should be surprised, rather, if we could understand the nature of our Creator. He would be a two-bit deity, not the fathomless Source of all reality.”[1]

And, that’s pretty much true.  We have finite, sinful minds that cannot wrap themselves around the concept of infinity.  I believe, though, that God inspired the Bible Writers to include references to and descriptions of God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit and that He wants us to stretch our minds as we lean on Him for understanding. In addition, when we start accepting things at face value, without testing them and trying to understand them, we can be led into some dangerous directions.

One of those dangerous directions is the belief that Jesus is not “co-eternal” with God, but is, instead a created being – essentially taking away the divinity of Jesus.  The divinity of Jesus is essential to our Salvation; without that, the Gospel has no significance. 

“Jeremy Bowen, the presenter of a new British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) documentary on Jesus stated, ‘The important thing is not what he was or what he wasn't—the important things is what people believe him to have been. A massive worldwide religion, numbering more than two billion people follows his memory—that's pretty remarkable, 2,000 years on.’

“Bowen couldn't be more wrong. Who Jesus is and what he did is the foundation of our faith.”[2]

If Jesus is not God, just as completely as God and the Holy Spirit are God, then He couldn’t pay the price for our sins – then He cannot stand before God and secure our salvation.  The Trinity, three co-eternal Gods, with one single purpose protects us from being led away into the “Jesus was just a very good guy” theory.  

C.S. Lewis makes it clear that the good guy theory is a dead end.  

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about him: ‘I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”[3]

This is where it gets a little tricky.  We decide we can understand everything there is to know about the Trinity and Jesus; we do make Him into what we want Him to be.  We make Him into a Jesus that’s too much like us.

“The greatness of God is most clearly displayed in his Son. And the glory of the gospel is only made evident in his Son. That's why Jesus' question to his disciples [in Matthew 16] is so important: ‘Who do you say that I am?’
“The question is doubly crucial in our day, because [no one is as popular in the U.S. as Jesus]—and not every Jesus is the real Jesus. …
“There's Therapist Jesus—who helps us cope with life's problems, heals our past, tells us how valuable we are and not to be so hard on ourselves.
“There's Starbucks Jesus—who drinks fair trade coffee, loves spiritual conversations, drives a hybrid, and goes to film festivals.
“There's Open-minded Jesus—who loves everyone all the time no matter what (except for people who are not as open-minded as you).
“There's Touchdown Jesus—who helps athletes fun faster and jump higher than non-Christians and determines the outcomes of Super Bowls.
“There's Martyr Jesus—a good man who died a cruel death so we can feel sorry for him.
“There's Gentle Jesus—who was meek and mild, with high cheek bones, flowing hair, and walks around barefoot, wearing a sash (while looking very German).
“There's Hippie Jesus—who teaches everyone to give peace a chance, imagines a world without religion, and helps us remember that ‘all you need is love.’
“There's Yuppie Jesus—who encourages us to reach our full potential, reach for the stars, and buy a boat.
“There's Spirituality Jesus—who hates religion, churches, pastors, priests, and doctrine, and would rather have people out in nature, finding ‘the god within’ while listening to ambiguously spiritual music.
“There's Platitude Jesus—good for Christmas specials, greeting cards, and bad sermons, inspiring people to believe in themselves.
“There's Revolutionary Jesus—who teaches us to rebel against the status quo, stick it to the man, and blame things on ‘the system.’
“There's Guru Jesus—a wise, inspirational teacher who believes in you and helps you find your center.
“There's Boyfriend Jesus—who wraps his arms around us as we sing about his intoxicating love in our secret place.
“And then there's Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God. Not just another prophet. Not just another Rabbi. Not just another wonder-worker. He was the one they had been waiting for: the Son of David and Abraham's chosen seed; the one to deliver us from captivity; the goal of the Mosaic law; Yahweh in the flesh; the one to establish God's reign and rule; the one to heal the sick, give sight to the blind, freedom to the prisoners and proclaim Good News to the poor; the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world.”[4]

Only God’s Math leads to Heaven.

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[1] Vernon Grounds in "Radical Commitment", Christianity Today, Vol. 33, no. 4.

[2] Alan Wilson, Nyon, Switzerland; source: Alex Webb, "Looking for the Historical Jesus," BBC News Online,(3-26-01 column) 

[3] C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity; submitted by Lee Eclov, Vernon Hills, Illinois

[4] Kevin DeYoung, "Who Do You Say That I Am?" from his DeYoung, Restless, and Reformed blog (posted 6-10-09)

Refugee

Thoughts on the Sabbath School Lesson for 6.4.11

What picture comes into your head when you hear the word refugee?  Probably it’s a picture of someone who’s far away from home, hungry, hasn’t had a shower in a while, not a pretty picture.

I heard an old Tom Petty song this week and the words got stuck in my head:

“Somewhere, somehow somebody/Must have kicked you around some/Who knows, maybe you were kidnapped/Tied up, taken away and held for ransom/It don't really matter to me/Everybody's had to fight to be free/You see you don't have to live like a refugee/I said you don't have to live like a refugee”[1]

Just so I know we’re talking about the same thing, here’s how my dictionary defines refugee:

“1.  a person who flees for refuge or safety, especially to a foreign country, as in time of political upheaval, war, etc.  2.   political refugee.”[2]

From what I’ve seen of refugees over the years, it seems like they are often people who are trying to escape some catastrophic thing, but they get stuck somewhere along the way in refugee camps, where they endure really awful conditions.  And sometimes, these people never get to the safe place they were originally heading for because of what happens to them along the way.

While I was trying to get Tom Petty’s song out of my head, it occurred to me that we are religious refugees (as opposed to political).    We have started our journey away from sin and toward Heaven, but we are stuck in this refugee camp.

 

Some folks are eager to tell us that we would have been better off if we hadn’t tried to get away from sin to begin with.  Some folks are sure we’re going to be stuck in this camp and nobody cares whether we make it out or not.

 

You and I know, though, that a huge humanitarian mission has been launched (from the foundations of the world).

“‘My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
“‘Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
“‘Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.’”  Matthew 17:20-26

Then, while I was looking up the definition of ‘refugee’, I noticed that one of the synonyms listed was ‘prodigal’.  That really made me stop and think.  I’d never really thought about it before but after he had lost his half of his father’s forturne and was living with the pigs, the prodigal son was a refugee.  He was not where he’d started from, living large with lots of friends, and he’s not where he was headed – mostly because he didn’t know where he wanted to go yet.  The prodigal son was definitely stuck in between, with the pigs.

“The prodigal is far from his Father’s house, perishing with hunger. He is to be the object of our compassion. Do you ask: ‘How does God regard those who are perishing in their sins?’ I point you to Calvary. God ‘gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’ John 3:16. Think of the Saviour’s matchless love. While we were yet sinners, Christ died to save us from eternal death.”[3]

There is absolutely no excuse for us to still be living like refugees…unless we choose to stay with the pigs. One of our problems is that sometimes we’re afraid to leave our refugee status behind and head for home.  Even the prodigal son held out for a while.  Why?  We’re afraid of being turned away from our destination.  Satan wants to make sure that we see our Heavenly Father as waiting to reject us instead of watching every day for our silhouette on the road home.

“In his book Waiting: Finding Hope Where God Seems Silent (InterVarsity, 1991), Ben Patterson, a man I treasure as a friend, tells a story from his personal life:
“‘In the summer of 1988, three friends and I climbed Mount Lyell, the highest peak in Yosemite National Park. Two of us were experienced mountaineers; two of us were not. I was not one of the experienced two. ... As the hours passed, and we trudged up the glacier, the two mountaineers opened up a wide gap between me and my less-experienced companion. Being competitive by nature, I began to look for short cuts I might be able to take to beat them to the top. I thought I saw one to the right of an outcropping of rock--so I went up, deaf to the protests of my companions. ...
“‘Thirty minutes later I was trapped in a cul-de-sac of rock …, looking down several hundred feet of a sheer slope of ice, pitched at a forty-five degree angle. ... I was only ten feet from the safety of a rock. But one little slip and I wouldn't stop sliding until I had landed in the valley floor about fifty miles away! ... I was stuck and I was scared’
“Patterson's words are non-religious ways of describing the predicament that more than a few of us fall into. … They take the right-hand turn around an outcropping of rock, suspecting that at the end there will be nothing but joy and roses. Instead, they find themselves stuck.
“Back to Ben Patterson, who was stuck and scared: ‘It took an hour for my experienced climbing friends to find me. … one of them leaned out and used an ice axe to chip two little footsteps in the glacier. Then he gave me the following instructions: “Ben, you must step out from where you are and put your foot where the first foothold is. ... Without a moment's hesitation swing your other foot across and land it in the next step. [Then] ... reach out and I will take your hand, and I will pull you to safety. ... But listen carefully: As you step across, don't lean into the mountain! If anything, lean out a bit. Otherwise, your feet could fly out from under you, and you will start sliding down.”’
“Patterson says, ‘When I'm on the edge of a cliff, my instinct is to lie down and hug the mountain … not lean away from it! But that was what my good friend was telling me to do as I stood trembling on that glacier. I looked at him real hard. ... For a moment, based solely on what I believed to be true about the good will and good sense of my friend, I decided to say no to what I felt ... to lean out, step out, and traverse the ice to safety. It took less than two seconds to find out if my faith was well founded. It was.’” [4]

Our Friend, Jesus, has told us exactly what we need to do to get unstuck…do we trust Him enough to do it?

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[1] Tom Petty, “Refugee,”  Damm the Torpeadoes

[2] refugee. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged. Retrieved May 26, 2011, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/refugee

[3] E.G. White, Testimonies for the Church, Volume 9, page 50

[4] Gordon MacDonald, "Repentance," Preaching Today, Tape No. 121