Meet My Friend: Father, Son and Holy Spirit
McKinley is an engaging narrator who is conscious he’s standing on the shoulder of a giant. He’s crafted a book that is faithful, revitalising and, thankfully, trimmed of Ye Olde English. Occasionally, his preacher’s socks are showing when he drifts into overly formulaic three- and four-point chapters, but sometimes we all need little steps before walking in giant’s shoes.
Calling Jesus my friend has never sat well with me. Lord? Yes. Saviour? Yes. Prince of Peace? Yes. God? Definitely! But friend? That’s a very emotionally loaded term.
Is he like the kids I grew up with in the country, riding our bikes through fields of red dirt and purple Paterson’s curse? Or my teenage classmates who rolled their eyes at the uncool crowd?
Is he the wonderful saint who has always been willing to listen to my hurts over a warm meal? Or the distant friend who gives me the cold shoulder?
Just as some Christians struggle calling God “Father”, some of us struggle seeing Jesus as a friend. Into this space comes American Baptist pastor and author Mike McKinley’s edifying new book, Friendship with God. It’s based on the classic, Communion with God, written by 17th century English puritan John Owen. McKinley modernises Owen for the iPhone generation, respecting the source material but also adding his own reflections for those of us who perceive God as remote and distant.
Our Own Worst Enemy
As McKinley observes, people struggle with the concept of friendship with God despite the Bible’s assurances (Jn 15:13–14; 1 Cor 1:9; 1 Jn 1:3). First, it sounds too good to be true. Second, we don’t know how this friendship plays out in real life.
It’s easy to accuse God as being an absent friend, but that is blame-shifting. We’re the ones who aren’t naturally God’s friends: “we go about our lives thinking about ourselves. We focus on the things we have and the things we want to have” (9).
Ultimately, we were God’s enemies (Rom 5:10), spiritually dead (Eph 2:1), haters of God (Rom 1:30), and children of wrath (Eph 2:3) (10).
Best Friends Forever
So how did we become friends with someone like God? We couldn’t. Not by our own efforts.
Friendship with God is simply impossible—unless God himself makes it happen. He must act. He must do something to mend our relationship. All the cards are in his hands. (10)
Thankfully, God has acted. God the Father sent God the Son to die for our sins and defeat death. When God the Son ascended into heaven, God the Spirit was sent to give us new spiritual lives. God has initiated everything needed for us to be his friends.
As McKinley repeatedly points out, this God-initiated friendship then becomes a two-way street. To be in union with Jesus means we must be in communion with God. Always. He reminds us, “Because we are in Jesus and the Holy Spirit lives in us, we have a lot in common with God now.” (12). We must love the same things our friend loves, and delight in the things that please him. We do this by ongoing prayer, love, delight, obedience, and sharing in the Lord’s Supper (12).
And amazingly, our affections need to be focussed on more than just Jesus. Any authentic friendship with God must be directed to each person of the Trinity (15).
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Why Is the Trinity an Essential Christian Doctrine?
Written by J. Warner Wallace |
Friday, July 21, 2023
The cross is the place where God Himself paid the price of our sin; He did not require the death of another created being, the sacrifice of one human for another. Instead, He offered himself in our place. In addition, the Trinity explains an apparent contradiction in Scripture. The Bible clearly teaches that God is ONE (see Deuteronomy 6:4-5, Isaiah 43:10, James 2:19, 1 Corinthians 8:4, 6 and 1 Timothy 2:5-6). At the same time, however, the Bible also teaches that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit all possess the classic divine attributes of omnipotence (Isaiah 64:8, John 1:3, Job 33:4), omniscience (1 John 3:20, John 16:30, 1 Corinthians 2:10), omnipresence (1 Kings 8:27, Matthew 28:20, Psalm 139:7-10), and omnibenevolence (John 3:16, Ephesians 5:25, Romans 15:30-31).I recently received an email question from a listener who wrote: “I have studied quite a few different translations of the bible and have full faith in what it says. I also believe that Jesus is my savior, and do my best to live by what He taught. However, I am not a Christian according to many religious leaders, because I do not believe in the doctrine regarding the trinity. I have read nothing in the Word that supports this idea, in fact Jesus proclaims many time that He is less than the Father. My question is simply this, how can I be judged based on my faith in Jesus and following what he taught, and be told that I am not Christian because I won’t accept what I believe is a man-made theory?”
Keeping Jesus In His Place
Most people (and groups) who have historically denied the triune nature of God have relegated Jesus to a subordinate position that describes Him as something less than divine. This is perhaps the greatest danger in misunderstanding the Trinity. To deny the Trinity is to either embrace some form of polytheism or deny the Deity of Jesus. For this reason, a denial of the Trinity is a denial of Christian orthodoxy.
A Suitable Sacrifice
If Jesus is simply a created being (even if He is something special yet not God), His death on the cross is insufficient to save us from our sin. In fact, if Jesus is not God Himself, the Christian God can fairly be described as a horrific deity that requires human sacrifice to appease his demands for justice. This is a common objection offered by skeptics who fail to understand the Trinity and the Deity of Jesus. The cross is the place where God Himself paid the price of our sin; He did not require the death of another created being, the sacrifice of one human for another. Instead, He offered himself in our place.
Solving a Biblical Dilemma
In addition, the Trinity explains an apparent contradiction in Scripture.
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The Third Characteristic of a Healthy Church: A Decision To Live in Awe
Written by J. Warner Wallace |
Tuesday, January 24, 2023
When we, as a Church, come to properly understand the power and activity of God in our world and in our lives, we’ll share the awe felt by the early Church. The resulting change in our character will bring glory to God.The first community of saints reflected the power and design of God in their lives as a family of believers. The earliest believers followed the Biblical example they found in the Book of Acts as it described the nature and essence of the first community of saints. The observations of those who witnessed the early Church should inspire and guide us. If we were to emulate the earliest energized believers, our churches would transform the culture and inspire a new generation. How can we, as Christians today, become more like the Church that changed the world and transformed the Roman Empire? We must learn the truth, strive for unity, live in awe, serve in love, share with courage and overflow with joy. These six important characteristics were held by the earliest congregations:
And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. And everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles. And all those who had believed were together, and had all things in common; and they began selling their property and possessions, and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need. And day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.Acts 2:42-47
Six simple attributes were observed in the earliest believers. These principles serve as a template and guide for those of us who want to restore the passion and impact of the early Church. If we employ them today, we’ll create healthy, vibrant, transformative churches. As Christ following theists, we should recognize and appreciate the power and righteousness of God:
Principle #3: Live in Awe
The Church should be in awe of God’s handiwork and continuing involvement in our world:
…and they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. And everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles…
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The Bible’s Strange Reasons for Generosity: Show them God!
God withholds nothing from us. As we are conformed into his image, we grow in our Triune God-echoing generosity. When we give, we display the very character of Christ to the world. We, ambassadors of this strangely generous King, display his category-defying generosity in our own generosity.
Why do we give? The first hit when you Google “why should I be generous?” is this article which lays out four reasons:
1) Giving frees you from the “burden of materialism”
2) Giving helps you “to feel better about yourself”
3) Giving makes you less self-centered
4) Giving helps make people like you.
Do you find those reasons compelling? Two of them (1 &3) have echoes of biblical truth in them. But 2 & 4 are shockingly empty reasons.
Paul also has four reasons for giving: none of which overlap with this list. Here is Paul’s list:
1) Give because giving is a grace
2) Give because it proves your love of Jesus
3) Give because Jesus first gave
4) Give because you will be blessed.
Give Because Jesus Gave
Today we arrive at the third reason on that list: give because Jesus first gave. Paul says it this way in 2 Corinthians 8:9:
“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that thought he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.”
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