Through the Spirit we call God our Father.

Imagine being born into a very poor family that is also dysfunctional.  A family with no hope, no future that does not care for you. Now imagine that a kind and wealthy couple come to you and offer to take you into their home and family as their own child.  They offer you everything you desperately need, free of charge. All you have to do is believe that the offer is real and agree to it. 

It does sound like a fairy tale, but this is what happens when we trust God’s promises and we place our faith in Jesus Christ as our living Lord.

In Romans 8 Paul explores the wonder, the miracle and the joy of the freedom we have in Christ through the work of the Holy Spirit in us.  He assures us that every saved person becomes part of God’s family and enjoys all the privileges of his eternal Son, Jesus our Lord.

We read these comforting words in Romans 8: 14 – 15: Those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit given to a child of God. And by the Spirit we cry, "Abba, Father."

According to Paul we became the children of God. We know this because we are led by the Holy Spirit. We have a new family.  God is our Father, Jesus is our friend and Saviour and the Spirit provides us with a sense of “being a child of God” by gracefully working in our inner consciousness. 

Paul tells us that when we are part of God’s family, through faith, the Sprit helps us to act like God’s family.  If a person in faith accepts the offer to be a child of God, he or she soon develops behaviours that are common to the Father's family. The Spirit makes God’s presence known through us as we walk with God every day.  

We are not slaves of sin who fear punishment but we call God by the intimate, personal name which is Father, or even the less formal word, “Abba” that translates to “Daddy”. Praise the Lord! We have a new family and a new Father!

It means that we have a new freedom. No more forced labour for evil or the tyranny of our own human weakness.  Our minds have been changed by the Spirit to love and serve God above all. 

As a result of our relationship with God, we are able to call him Father. Abba! Daddy!

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Reclaim the Holy Trinity!

On Sunday 15 June 2014 we observe Holy Trinity Sunday.  Let’s therefore ask ourselves whether we constantly claim the wealth of blessings and richness of our confession when we worship, serve and proclaim our Triune God.

The Holy Trinity is not an “optional extra" to God. It is the nature of God as revealed to us in Scripture.

The biblical truth about the Holy Trinity has become a pressing issue for contemporary Christians, simply because it often seems as if we are losing this biblical account of the Triune God, and, it seems, without controversy or debate.

This happens because we are in danger of shifting the Holy Trinity aside in our ministry practices and public worship language, without announcing that we have changed our minds about the nature of the God we profess to follow.  Often the Holy Trinity is taught in confirmation class or in Sunday school, but more as a mathematical problem to be solved, than teaching the living reality of the Triune God that we serve, worship and love.

Here is an example of how the way we refer to God changed over centuries:

The Apostle Paul said: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who consoles us in all our affliction, for just as the sufferings of Christ are abundant for us, so our consolation is abundant through Christ, sealed in our hearts through the power and constant presence of the Holy Spirit" (2 Corinthians 1:3–5, 21–22).

John Calvin wrote: "Christ is not only the pledge of our adoption, but God also gives us the Holy Spirit as a witness to this adoption, through whom we may freely cry aloud, 'Abba, Father.' Whenever we are distressed, remember to ask for the presence of the Spirit who will enable us to pray boldly" (Calvin’s Institutes, III.20.37).

But today we, with the same confession at heart, often do not say more than: "Be blessed, for God is always with you."

This contemporary version is certainly true, but why are we hesitant to name our triune God in biblical language? Why do we not speak, pray and testify with confidence about the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit? It became rare to hear references to all three Ways of Being or Persons of the Holy Trinity in an integrated way, except at the baptismal font or during the benediction.

We must be careful that we are not becoming confessing Trinitarians - but practicing Unitarians.  

Our language about the eternal God of the covenant of grace should be as diverse and varied as is the idiom of the Bible and of our age old universal Christian tradition and creed.   Why do we so often hear people repetitively referring to “God” in prayers, discussions and devotions?  Or someone may address a topic referring only to Jesus.  Did Jesus not come to us to show us the Father, and did the Father not send the Spirit to teach us about God’s saving grace? Consideration of God as Holy Trinity and replicating the words of Scripture about God provide us with a more faithful vocabulary that is also richer and more varied than the current practice of many Protestants.

Father, Son, Holy Spirit – essential Reformed testimony.

The language of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, engraved in Scripture and creed, is essential for our efforts to speak faithfully and truthfully about God. Our reverence and service of the One- in-Three and Three-in-One binds us together with ancient believers and ancient denominations. Can there be a unity outside only worshipping the Holy Trinity as the only God, Saviour and Comforter we know? And can we claim to speak about God as Bible believing Christians in any other way?

"Father, Son and Holy Spirit" is a root out of which grows the wealth of our vocabulary of praise. We must rather amplify and expand the ways of naming the Triune God, rather than simply repeating the word "God" in prayer and liturgy repetitively. Could there be any good reason why should not refer to the Lord God in the language of Scripture to enrich the ways we speak of the Lord and to our God.

The language of our prayers, hymns, songs and sermons shapes our faith as surely as it reflects our faith. We must pray and sing to the "one Triune God, the Holy One of Israel, the eternal God of the covenant, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, whom alone we worship and serve through the graceful work of the Holy Spirit."   This is biblical language and therefore should be church language. Our God is also worthy of such worship and praise in our private prayers.

If the ways I address the Triune God and speak of the Lord, could just as well have been the words of a Jew, who does not believe in Jesus as God the Son, or a Muslim, who rejects the Trinity too, I am doing something terribly wrong!

Let’s learn from the New Testament writers how to honour our almighty God, and teach one another anew the Trinitarian language of Scripture. 

Let’s remember to adore our Father with all our heart, soul and strength.

Let’s ask from our Father which art in heaven, everything we need.

Let’s always pray in the Name of Jesus Christ.

Let’s beg for the guidance and inspiration of the Spirit to be able to follow and love Jesus who always will show us the Father, bringing us home to the throne of grace.

Let’s worship and serve the only one, true, triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Liturgical prayers for Pentecost Sunday.

Call to Worship:

Praise the Lord, my soul, and do not forget how kind he is.  He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases.    Ps.103.2f.

God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life.    Jn.3:16

Glory to the Father,

and to the Son

and to the Holy Spirit.

As it was in the beginning, it is now,

and will be forevermore!

Amen.

Come, let’s worship our God!

Prayer of praise and the forgiveness of our sins:

Father, we are your children; your Son lives in us and we in him.

Hear us, for your Spirit prays through our prayers. Glorify yourself through us in whom the Holy Spirit dwells.

Once, on that first Pentecost Sunday, we were baptised with fire when the Holy Spirit was poured onto your people. Hear us Lord, for we too have been filled with your Holy Spirit.

Father, bring glory to your Name, bring glory to the Name of our Saviour and Lord; bring glory to your Name through the powerful work of the Holy Spirit.

And yet, almighty eternal God – we have sinned against you in thought, in word, deed and omission - forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us.

Forgive us because we have not done unto others as we want them to do unto us. Forgive us that we have not loved you with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.

As we now quietly in our hearts confess our sins – Lord, listen to our prayers!

(Silence)

All this we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord,

Amen.

Forgiveness of sins:

Thus says the Lord,

‘I have swept away your transgressions like a cloud,

and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you. Isa.44:22.

I declare that for the sake of Jesus Christ, you sins are forgiven.

I proclaim this in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Prayer of Intercession:

Almighty God, our heavenly Father, who baptised us with fire when the Holy Spirit was poured onto your people. Hear us Lord, for we too are filled with your Holy Spirit.

Grant us the gifts of the Spirit that we serve our Saviour Jesus Christ and all his people. Grant us the strength that we may live as people who received the right to be called children of God.

On this day of remembrance, we pray for your church throughout the world and particularly in our country and our city, that it may be united in faith and in its witness to your gospel and your perfect will.

We pray for the nations of the world, especially those facing war, famine or any other disaster.

We pray for our own country and for our government, that there may be justice, peace and a better life for all in our land.  We pray for the society of which we are part, that all may learn to respect those who are different from them, whether in language or class, and that all may seek the common good.

We pray for the poor, the sick, the suffering, the dying, the sorrowful. We pray for all who are anxious, or in doubt, despair or any kind of trouble.

We think about.....

We pray that you will hasten that day when at last your home will be with your people, and you will wipe away every tear from their eyes and there will be no more death, no more grief or crying or pain.

You called the disciples to fish for people:

help us all to be your witnesses and to win others for Christ.

You inspired the prophets of old: help your Church

to proclaim your gospel and your will faithfully to the world.

Lord Jesus ,You forgave the thief on the cross:

bring all people to repentance and reconciliation.

You gave us your peace:

bring the peoples of this world to live in unity and harmony.

You sat among the learned, listening and asking questions:

inspire all who teach and all who learn.

You were unjustly condemned by Pontius Pilate:

strengthen al who suffer injustice and persecution.

Lord Jesus, you were rich, yet for our sake became poor:

move us all to share generously with those who are poor.

You lived as an exile in Egypt:

be with all migrant workers and foreigners amongst us, and protect their families.

Prepare our hearts, O Lord, to hear your Word. Quieten in us any voice but your own, and grant that by the power of your Spirit we may both hear and believe your gospel and learn to obey your will.

Father, bring glory to your Name and to the Name our Saviour and Lord, through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord we pray..

Amen.

What is Pentecost?

Pentecost Sunday, 8 June,  remembers and celebrates that Jesus kept his promise that we will not be left alone after his ascension, but that God would send the Spirit to teach, guide and strengthen us, as we obey the great commission to spread his Gospel across the globe.   Hundred and twenty followers of Jesus were filled with the Spirit on the first Pentecost Sunday and they represented all of God’s Church, through all the ages, including us.

The English word “Pentecost” is a translation of a Greek word pentekostos, which means “fifty or fiftieth. Early Christians received this name for our feast from Greek-speaking Jews who used this name to refer to a Jewish holy day, known as Shavuot in Hebrew. It originates from Leviticus 23:16, which instructs believers to count fifty days from the end of Passover to the beginning of the next holy day, the Shavuot.

Shavuot was the harvest festival of Israel. (Exod 23:16).

This festival became especially significant for Christians.   Fifty days after the resurrection of Jesus, on the Jewish holy day, Shavuot/Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was poured out upon Christ’s followers. The first Pentecost Sunday was a wonderful “harvest feast” as 3000 new followers of Christ were brought into the Kingdom of God and baptized into Church of Christ.

What actually happened on that first Pentecost Sunday?

This event is recorded in The Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 2:   “And when the day of Pentecost had come, [the first followers of Jesus] were all together in one place”  (Acts2:1). All of a sudden, they heard a sound like a strong wind, filling the house. And something like tongues of fire rested on their heads. “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit gave them the ability to speak” (2:4).

The promise that the Holy Spirit will fill God’s people and the Church was not only for that generation. It was for all generations of believers. It was also for us.  We do not have to try to build the Church of Christ in our own strength. The powerful “Wind”, the Spirit, and the cleansing passionate “Flame”, the same Spirit, will fill us anew and we too will be able to bring the Gospel to all – in the strength and through the wisdom of the Spirit of God.

Pray for the power of the Holy Spirit!

Pray that your life may be filled with the Holy Spirit, as we seek to do Gods work and build up the Church amongst us.  

May the LORD bless, keep and sustain you and grant you a blessed and empowering Pentecost!