Important Questions Deserving a Thoughtful Answer!
Earlier this week we received an email in the church office from a person who is visiting our congregation virtually and was reflecting on last Sunday's sermon. The two questions are:
1. What is the difference between trusting in Jesus and trusting in God?
2. How do you differentiate between God and Jesus and who are you trusting in in a certain moment?
These are very important questions. Perhaps you have thought about them as well. I have spent this week thinking about them and wanted to share my answer with you too.
“These questions both point to one of the most significant and yet hardest to comprehend concepts of the Christian faith: The Trinity. The Trinity is at heart a mystery and our best explanations of it are only limited – because it is a mystery. The concept of God as both one and yet at the same time three persons goes far beyond what we can master or comprehend.
For the most part we don't have a much trouble understanding God as God or God as Spirit. Our difficulty comes with comprehending God in the person of Jesus Christ. We are not alone in this by any means. It took the early church leaders nearly 400 years to come up with some kind of answer to the question of who Jesus Christ is and we get that answer in the Nicene Creed which declares Jesus Christ is fully God and fully human.
I find it helpful to understand this creedal statement as follows: Jesus Christ had to be fully human in order to connect with us and understand what it is like to be a human being. Because he was human, Jesus Christ knows what it's like to experience joy, suffering, heartache, disappointment and all the other range of human emotions and experiences, including death, that are a part of our human lives. In short, everything you have already experienced and anything you may experience Jesus Christ has also experienced. This is what it means to be fully human. But as powerful as this is it is not enough to simply identify with us. We also need to be saved by one who is greater than we are.
In addition to be being fully human, Jesus Christ must also be fully divine in order to save us. We cannot save ourselves. The power of sin is too great. The only antidote for sin is the divine power of grace and forgiveness. Jesus Christ embodies this as well. I find the words of the great Lutheran preacher Ed Steimle to be helpful when he notes, “in the cross of Christ we see the heart of God laid bare.” Another way to say this is: in the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ we see what God is like in a way we can understand. We can also know (i.e., trust) in faith that God knows us deeply.
We use symbols and analogies to describe the reality of the Trinity as best we can, all the while realizing they are limited and can at best, only point to the greater reality of God. One such analogy is using the 3 states of water (liquid, ice and steam) to describe Trinity. There are certainly flaws with this analogy but the idea of water existing in 3 states may be helpful in understanding the 3 different expression of the same God as Father, Son and Spirit. This is one of the reasons I often will use God and Jesus Christ almost interchangeably as you have noted. Knowing and trusting Jesus Christ is like knowing and trusting God and visa-versa.
One other thought in closing. My sister has a grandson whose personality is so much like our father’s that she is almost constantly reminded of our dad when she is around this grandson. Jesus Christ is so much like God that we are constantly reminded of God when we are in a relationship with Christ, so much so that we can say we are with God. So, when I pray to God, I pray through Jesus Christ who has opened the door for me to know and trust God, Why? Because we can see God in Jesus Christ.
Thank you for asking these important questions. I hope you find my response helpful. Please feel free to continue this or ask other questions.”
Grace and Peace, John