Just to be up front at the beginning: this sermon will contrast the Christian doctrine of the Trinity over against the gods of our time. No one who denies the Trinity can be called Christian, even if they take that name upon themselves, they are wolves in sheep clothing.
But just to make sure we are on the same page. This is not a sermon so that you can demonize these people and see them as the enemy. But so that you can pray for them and enter into meaningful conversations. As the NT sates, “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."
So, let’s use this sermon then also as we enter into battle not against other humans (we pray for them and we love them) but against the spirit of this present evil age. Lets love others, listen to what they say and respond.
The Trinity as revealed in Scripture is the only True God.
- Other god
- Other god’s
- The Cross
Absolute unity? Or Triune?
Some religions focus on the unity of God, some focus on the plurality of God. For example, the worlds two great religions Judaism and Islam focus on the unity of God. Now there are huge differences between the concept of who God is, but in generally they agree that there cannot be plurality in God.
Other religions like the Hinduism, Buddhism and other eastern religions believe in a greater plurality of gods, without any significant unity. Mormons also believe that we can become gods and goddesses in the afterlife
God is that by which you must define everything else. Even Naturalism and materialism have their god. Normally it is evolution. They define all that is and all that we do though that lens.
But there is no God like ours. One God in three Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The only True God. The God who has revealed himself in Jesus Christ, who is God incarnate, whose birth we celebrate. He has revealed Jesus Christ to us personally in our hearts through his word by the Power of the Spirit is the guarantor of our adoption as sons and daughters of God the Father. We believe there is one God. One Essence. And three Persons. Unity in diversity. Diversity in unity. How does he stand against other gods? Lets see.
First, for those focusing on the unity of God like Islam or Judaism you run into huge problems with the concept that God is love, or the fact that he would do things for his own glory. Let me explain. If there was no plurality of persons within the godhead, what did he love before the foundation of the world? Love requires an object. Real love needs to be shared. Self-love is, surely, but not the kind of love that we know to be self-sacrificial, ever giving. Opposed to these religions we believe that God is not indifferent but is love (1 John 4:8). Love is the most defining characteristic of the Holy Trinity: Father (Jude 1:1), Son (Romans 8:35), Spirit (Romans 15:30). There cannot be love without the trinity. God is not indifferent to those He created, He loves us enough to die for us (John 3:16).
This would be impossible if God was not Trinity. God could not be love, and indeed the Muslims do not say that either. Also, We believe god does things for his own glory. If there was no plurality in God, this would be quiet selfish and self-centered. But in the plurality, they are glorifying each other. This glory has been shared from eternity. Each one bringing glory to the other.
But for the Islamic confession of faith asserts that there is no god but Allah. To ascribe any partner whatsoever to Allah is an unpardonable sin (Qur’an 31:13). they believe anything less than complete unity must be less than God.
And because for there is no Trinity within the God head, he is distant altogether unknowable in a personal sense. He is totally and absolutely transcendent without any means of revealing himself.
Also for Judaism they believe, “God is understood as the absolute one, indivisible, and incomparable being who is the ultimate cause of all existence.” Traditional interpretations of Judaism generally emphasize that God is personal yet also transcendent.” But again, how could God possibly reveal himself? I mean truly reveal himself, so that people might personally know him. If he is transcendent or absolute one. Then that transcendent cannot be immanent and personal at the same time.
Opposed to this view of a single God, we have a trinitarian view of God. Three persons. One God. There was perfect and overflowing love before time. And it was in the overflow of this love that God created the world, not because he needed anything, but because he wanted the world to share in this love. The Trinity needs nothing but is complete in himself in perfect communion and love.
And so opposed to the Muslim God stands the Christian God that is quite personal in his Fatherhood. In the Muslim Faith God is unknowable in a personal sense, and the acceptance or salvation of a human by God is never totally assured – it depends on Allah. As one pastor relates in a conversation with a Muslim while on a plane. The pastor asked him “You’re a Muslim. Do Muslim have sins?” He replied, “O we have many many sins. We have so many sins I don’t even know all the sins.” The pastor went on, “Can I ask you another question. Do you do them?” “All the time I do.” Was the reply. And how does God feel about your sin?” “O its bad. Very bad. God is very unhappy.” Well what could happen, could you go to hell and perish eternally? What hope do you have?”
And here was the Muslims answer, verbatim, “I hope the God will forgive me.” The pastor replied and said, “I know him personally him and he won’t.” The pastor went on to explain that Gospel of Jesus Christ Crucified. That only in him all sins could be forgiven. And not only could be forgiven, but would guaranteed be forgiven, and that in Him you could have a personal relationship with the father God of heaven and Earth. That God had revealed himself in Jesus. That Jesus was God.
You see if God is not trinity: you run into all kinds of problems. Like how he reveals himself. What does love mean? What does communion mean? How can we in any way be assured of salvation? These are all questions that you can ask you Muslim, or Jewish friends. But God has clearly revealed himself as Triune in scripture. Take them to the scriptures and show them the glory, the majesty. The trascendance and the immanence of how God has revealed himself as three in one.
Plurality of God or One God?
There are also many religions which believe in a multiplicity of gods. Most of them have descending order from strongest to weaker. Take for example the eastern religions. In Hinduism the great god is Bramham, but they also believe that all is Bramham. In this way god is manifested and is in everything. There is no distinction between creator and creation. There is not one god there are thousands of gods, or thousands of manifestations of god. Hence the worship of creation, if god is in creation.
Also in some eastern religions you have a strong dualism between spiritual and material. That the goal of life is nothing. Or nirvana. To be encompassed in the great eternal spirit.
This dualism is similar to the Christian heresy of Marcion. He believed that Jesus just inhabited the body, but that he was Spiritual. Jesus' body was only an imitation of a material body, and consequently denied Jesus' physical and bodily birth, death, and resurrection. He also said there was at least two Gods. The one of the Old Testament who tended to be more material and material oriented and therefore was a lower being then the God of the New Testament who we see in Jesus.
In a sense materialism and naturalism also allows for many gods like Hinduism. Just as Hinduism as the great god Brahman who is the source of all things, so materialism and naturalism has its great God evolution. From which many other gods arise, like progress, or happiness, or creation. But all these things are immaterial, impersonal forces, and generally indifferent.
Once final point about these religions that have a multiplicity of gods is there concept of good and evil as simply equal opposing forces in the world. In Naturalism you might say there is no good or bad. All that there is, is evolution, and good and bad are just results of that. There is no transcendent good.
Hear, o Israel, the Lord your God, the LORD is one.” There is God who is separate and distinct from his creation. Not as part of it but having entered into it through Jesus Christ. We see do not see material as bad and Spiritual as good. But the material as good, because it was created by God who is Good.
God requires all people to worship Him, and only Him (Exodus 34:14; Matthew 4:10). Most eastern religions will not require you to worship any deity but are free to worship an unlimited number of deities. This is also true of Naturalism. It is when you make the exclusive claim of one God only through the Son Jesus that you get into trouble. We believe the Son is the only way to eternal life in heaven (John 14:6; Acts 4:12). Hinduism accepts an infinite number of ways and paths to eternity which, as mentioned above, is oblivion, not heaven.
God wants to give you your true, unique, eternal identity, not absorb you into nothingness. We do not lose our identity in Christ, we finally become — fully and eternally — the person God created us to be. We will receive our true identity — our "new name" — in heaven (Revelation 2:17). The goal is not nothingness or absorbed into God. The Goal is every physical material, flesh and blood perfect existence on a new heaven and earth.
These and countless other attributes of our great Triune God and Savior make up the solid, glorious reality that clears away the vague mists of uncertainty offered by eastern religions and all the other non-biblical faiths of the world. So whether the religion is one or multiple gods our God is utterly different. Because he is three in One! One God in three persons!
The cross
The great stumbling block of all is the cross. On the one hand the monotheistic religions cannot imagine that God would go to such lengths, that he would send his Son to suffer on a cross. And the eastern religions do not see the physical material as good. And for all religion the goal is the same: Be as good as you can to reach heaven or nirvana, or for whatever the destiny maybe.
The cross is a response to both.
The center of Christianity is a stumbling block and foolishness of a dishonorable, foolish gruesome, and utterly glorious reality of the crucified God man – Jesus Christ. In him we have the revelation of God. Three in one. The Father sent the Son and together they sent the Holy Spirit.
As Triune God he is able to reveal himself. As Triune God he is eternally and always sacrificial love. As Triune god he highlights the value and dignity of Creation not escape from it. As Triune God he is utterly transcendent from creation and yet enters into it. As Triune God He is perfect he shows that community is a reflection of him. As Triune God he is able to be just and the justifier. As Triune God he is utterly good and will conquer evil. As Triune God he became a man who died on a cross so that through the Son he might reconcile all things by his Spirit to the Father. The Triune God makes sense of life.
For some God is one and we can never truly know God personally, for other religions we become part of god or are god, but for Christianity we have fellowship with God through our Lord Jesus Christ in the power of the Spirit.
Our God is unlike any other. Tell the world about him who is reconciling all things including materially to himself
Amen