THE TRINITY AND THE CHURCH

We all acknowledge a strong connection between the doctrine of the church and the doctrine of God, yet I seldom read anything that emphasizes the close relation between church and the doctrine of the Trinity. In fact, the doctrine of the church originates from the Trinity. God's covenant with people whether in the Old or New Testaments has always been this, "I will … be your God, and you will be my people" (Lev. 26:12; 2 Cor. 6:16). His people, God's people, are his possession. God can say that. He formed them for himself. His people were and are supposed to sound forth his praise (Isaiah 43:21).

God revealed himself in inspired scripture, as the three person Creator God who said, "Let us make man in our image." This living God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit created everything for his own glory, including people. When humanity's earliest antecedents disobeyed God, the Father introduced redemption to his people, the story of which is traced in scripture until it is ultimately realized in the Son's atoning death. Israel was once God's chosen people. The Father sent the Son to be incarnated as a Jew. Except for a few Jewish believers, Israel rejected Jesus. Thereafter, all who place exclusive trust in Jesus the Son become not only disciples but the temples of the Holy Spirit and together they are the people of God known now as the church. The church is a divine embrace of people that includes Gentiles, an international selection, whom the Apostle Peter called a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God (1 Peter 2:9) and adds that they once were 'not a people' but now are 'the people of God' (vs.10).

A 24/7 COMMUNITY CREATED BY THE SPIRIT

The Church is a community created by the Spirit. The church is people, the called and redeemed people of God. As a spiritual community, the church uniquely delivers the presence of God to the world. The lives of redeemed people that are empowered by God's Spirit are missional wherever they are lived and at all times. We forget that church is "us" 24-7 when we constantly think and speak about church as place and time, or organization and ministries.

Spirit-filled 24-7 people exhibit the presence of God in profound ways in diverse situations among countless networks of other people. That's the God-plan.

The plan allows for community to gather in one location for brief periods to exalt God together and to experience Body life, and presumes that the saints, that is, followers of Christ will then disperse to live life in a Spirit-filled 24-7 manner among people who are not of the community called church. While the church formally commissions specific persons to full-time missional investment in their own neighbourhoods and overseas, every believer must know and live a commissioned life as salt and light. Character and calling and giftedness are prerequisites for every child of God, not just a few. We are all missionaries - full-time. One hour on Sunday out of 168 hours of each week, is not enough.

The church is so much more than a human organization with well-managed functions or a massive property with a large budget. It's a community created by the Spirit to deliver God's presence in the world.

THE POSTMODERN MIND AND THE CHRISTIAN

A large percentage of people today have a naturalistic worldview and a relativistic morality. For them truth is perceptual and subjective rather than objective and absolute. Experience and observation determine whether something is true or false, and that renders a variable reality, which differs from person to person and culture to culture.

INTELLIGENT RISKS

I will assume that if you have been attending church for a long time, you have heard a substantial portion of the Bible’s narratives and teaching sections. With that background, have you given yourself permission to explore the reliability and believability of the stories, that is, to pursue valid clarifications to hard questions about God?

Will intellectual inquiry kill your faith? Is that a concern? If the entire bible is God’s inspired word, shouldn’t the entire volume stand any authentic scrutiny? None of us believe that God wants us to set our intellect on ‘dumb’ simply to maintain faith do we?