Duplo: Growing with Basics
Duplo: Growing with Basics • Sermon • Submitted
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· 8 viewsGrowing in Christ. Foundational Understanding of the Trinity
Notes
Transcript
Intro:
Intro:
Good morning. Hey, it’s an exciting day. We are finally starting our Lego series!
I know I’m always excited to start a new series! To see what fresh thing the Lord has to speak! And just a reminder - we are using Legos as a theme to help us understand GROWING IN CHRIST, which is our focus - our vision for the year (what we’ve been discussing the past 6 weeks).
You know, growing can be difficult. Growing involves leaving where we were and becoming something new (or adding something new to our lives). That’s not easy, but we know it’s important.
Growing is good. And we can’t let difficulty defeat us, especially in our spiritual growth. Therefore, sometimes we have to start a growth process, even if it’s hard, and even if we don’t understand everything about it.
In the church world, we call that faith - believing God even if we don’t understand.
For we live by faith, not by sight.
That’s how things work in the Kingdom of God. Faith is key to the spiritual growth process.
... And that’s not to say we won’t ever understand. Rather, many times God give us understanding as we grow. Kinda like on-the-job training. We grow as we go. And so, let’s go!
The first part of our Lego series is titled Duplo: Growing with Basics. Most of you know that Duplos are the beginning level of Legos. They are twice the size to help train little hands to develop basic Lego skills.
And one cool thing I discovered is a Duplo block is fully compatible with regular Lego blocks. If you will, you can build regular Legos on top of what you build with Duplo. And I believe this really connects with where we are starting off the year.
As we focus on GROWING in Christ, we’re going to start with the basics. For some, this will be a good review (reminders are a very biblical practice!). And for others, this will truly be a developmental for you. And because SPIRITUAL GROWTH starts with God, the Duplo series will be all about the Trinity.
We will focus on the fact that God is three distinct Persons, yet one God: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Now, some of you maybe thinking, “That doesn’t sound basic! That sounds really hard!” And if you’re saying that, you’re right!
The Trinity is hard! It’s hard for me - and I have a Masters degree in Theology! But again, sometimes GROWING requires us to start, even if we don’t understand. Plus, I have confidence in you! I believe God has a purpose for your life and He WILL GROW you in 2020. That you can handle this process by the power of the Holy Spirit!
And so, from now until Easter, we will do a basic study on the Trinity. Learning about the Father, about the Son (Jesus), and about the Holy Spirit.
And for this morning, I want to help you see that you ALREADY have this BASIC skill of GROWING by FAITH. That you can handle hard-to-understand things. That it’s already happening in your life. You’re already doing it! Actually, you’re already handling the TRINITY through this BASIC skill of FAITH.
Good morning. Good to see you!
Exciting day today. We are finally getting into our Lego series. I’m always excited to start a new series. And just to remind you - we are using Legos as a theme to help us “GROW” in Christ (our focus - our vision - for the year).
The year will go like this:
We will start off the year in a series titled: Duplo. As many of you know, Duplos are the beginning blocks of Legos. Duplo is latin for “double,” and Duplo Legos are twice the size for easier handling.
When developing the Legos system, the Lego people thought it would be best to expose kids from an early ago to Legos. Yet, it can regular-sized Legos can be difficult for small children to work with. It can also be dangerous. So, for developmental and protective reasons, they made Duplos twice the size of Legos.
But here’s something cool about Duplos. Not only do they teach the beginning concepts of the Lego system, they are also fully compatible with regular size Legos. If you will, what you build with Duplos works with Legos. It promotes growth.
My hope for us is we would begin to learn new things about God - about who He is - through His Word.
The second part of the year will be the “What’s Included” series. It’s a series that’s similar to the parts list of a Lego set. And it’ll be a series where we will look at spiritual gifts. Our goal is, as we GROW in Christ, we will all grow in our gifts - and use of those gifts.
The third part will be “Instructions.” Every Lego set has instructions showing you how to build the structure. As we grow, we will spend some time in the book of Acts, studying how the instructions of how the church works. And our goal would be our entire church would be plugged into one of our Life Groups by that time! Growing together in Jesus.
Finally, we will finish the year with the “Let’s Build” series. We will finish strong putting everything we’ve been GROWING in together. We want to become that “spiritual house” Peter mentions in .
So, that’s what we have to look forward to in 2020. But for today, we start with Duplo. And a basic idea of Growing in Christ is understanding that “growth starts with God.” Without God, we cannot spiritually grow. Jesus said it this way...
I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
The most foundational part of our faith is God Himself. And one of the most important parts about God is He is triune. That’s means He is three distinct persons, but one God. What we call the Trinity.
And for our Duplo series, we will start with an introductory study on the Trinity. We will spend a couple weeks on God the Father, a couple on the Holy Spirit, and a couple on Jesus.
Now, some of you may be thinking, “Wait… I thought we were starting with basic, easy-to-handle stuff in this first series? The Trinity doesn’t sound like something easy!” I know I’m thinking that!
While I will agree, that the Trinity is not and “easy” thing to understand, I do believe it is important . And, I believe you guys can handle it! And I believe we need to start with God, if we are going to GROW!
But I’m also going to start today with a little twist...
By a raise of hands, how many people here know how to drive? How many people here can fully explain how a car works, including things like internal combustion? Okay, probably about the same amount of people who have a good understanding of the Trinity! But whether you understand how a car works or not, everyone who raised their hands benefits from the car.
This morning, I’d like to suggest the same thing is true with the Trinity. That you can still benefit, you can still grow, even if you don’t fully understand. I’m not saying God wants us ignorant. Nor am I saying you won’t grow in your understanding - I believe you will. I’m just saying we can start with something that is both important and complex, and not give up because we don’t “understand.”
And I want to begin talking about the Trinity by pointing out 3 things (using each person about the Trinity) that don’t make sense. That we REALLY DON’T understand… but yet benefit from. But if we’re willing to engage it, regardless of understanding, we will GROW in Christ.
If you have your Bible/app, open up to Ephesians chapter 1. We’re gonna read a passage that has a lot to say about the Trinity…
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,
To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
Eph 1:1-
Let me share 3 things about the Trinity - three Duplo blocks - that are difficult to understand. At the same time, for the Christian, we’re already handling them - already exercising FAITH and GROWING by them!
“But why” (even down to why certain elements result in combustion) can be reduced down to “I don’t know. Because God made it that way.” Everything is a result of knowing God.
First Duplo block is from God the Father...
Duplo is latin for double. Double the size for easier handling (understanding as we grow).
This was intentional by lego because development happens in small steps (strategic).
It’s also for our protection. Good solid doctrine that’s understood will keep us from being led astray. We have a real enemy ().
Compatible with regular Legos. We will get to meatier stuff. But we got to build on a foundation first.
Exegesis:
Exegesis:
Duplo: Know God more () - God would reveal something about who He is that would be internalized (memory verse?)
Gifts: Know you spiritual gift and begin serving.
Instructions: Church - Join Life Group
Build: Invite one person who comes (this is God’s will). Christmas Party invite!
Exegesis:
Exegesis:
1. Nobody made the Father choose us!
1. Nobody made the Father choose us!
Paul said...
even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love
God chose us before the foundation of the world! Let that sink in a bit… There’s a lot we could say about that, but let me mention two things:
That means God chose us before we did anything worthy of being chosen. Think about that. But now, add this...
The context of this passage has to do with redemption (God saving us from our sin). This means that God, knowing all things, even how - in the future -
humans would mess up, sin, and rebel… STILL CHOSE US.
I don’t know about you… but that doesn’t make sense. It’s hard to understand. Why would God choose us? Or, still choose us knowing what we would do? I mean… it almost makes you wonder, “Did He really know beforehand? Because if He didn’t, that would make more sense in why He chose us before creation...”
But look at what verses 7-8 says...
which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight
“In all wisdom and insight.” That means that God - in His perfect wisdom and knowledge chose us. He KNEW and STILL CHOSE! But why? Well, look what it says… “according to the riches of His grace...”
He chose us by His grace. Grace is God’s underserved favor. That means we did nothing to earn this decision. It was completely by grace. But even considering grace, it still doesn’t mean it makes perfect sense.
Because my next question is: Why would He give us His grace?
I believe the best answer to that is because He loves us! But again, we can just ask, “Why does He love us?” And the best answer we can give to that is, “I don’t know. Because God IS love?”
And theologically, that answer is enough. But it’s still hard-to-understand. It doesn’t make sense that God the Father would choose us by His grace, and by His love… It requires FAITH to receive and grow in it. And for most of us, again, we’re already doing that!
We don’t need to completely understand God’s grace to receive God’s grace. It doesn’t need to makes sense to us, if it makes sense to God.
As we begin to study the Trinity - a hard-to-understand subject - have faith (believe God). We will talk about difficult things. And realize, you can do this! You’re probably already doing it! And also have faith that God will begin to bring clarity (even supernatural clarity) to your mind (even about the Trinity) as you GROW in 2020. Trust the process. Have faith in the process!
And also have faith that God will begin to bring clarity (even supernatural clarity) to your mind (even about the Trinity).
The second Duplo block involves the second person of the Trinity - Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
2. Jesus chose the cross before creation!
2. Jesus chose the cross before creation!
even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
When we spend time mentally chewing on this, this is TOUGH stuff to understand.
That doesn’t make sense that Jesus would agree to die before any of this happened.
Think about this: When the Trinity is making all of these decisions to save us, we can’t even say “when.” Say, “I am confusion.”
We can’t say “when,” because “when” implies time, and God exists outside of time. The Father chose us before the foundations of the world. That means time (which is a created dimension) did not exist yet. There was no “when” because there was no “time.” Weird, right? Hard-to-understand, right?
And whenever, or however, this happened, when the Father chose this plan of redemption, the Son - Jesus - also agreed to it. When the Father said, “I choose them. I will save them by My grace.” Jesus said, “Father, I will make sure that can happen.” What I mean is Jesus chose to die on the cross before Creation, which is the event that made sure the Father’s plan worked.
And all the people who belong to this world worshiped the beast. They are the ones whose names were not written in the Book of Life that belongs to the Lamb who was slaughtered before the world was made.
Think about that: Jesus chose to die for our sins, even before we sinned? That’s crazy! It’s really hard-to-understand! Why would He do that? Why not just create something else, or not go through with Creation? And the answer involves the same progression we used with the question, “Why would the Father choose us?”
Answers involving God’s love and grace. And we’d still be left in a place that requires FAITH. Because that’s the system of spiritual life that God has designed...
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
God’s plan has always required us to place our trust/faith in God. That doesn’t mean we won’t grow in our understanding. That doesn’t throw reason and logic out the door. God created our thinking process too.
I understand God’s eternal love now better than I did 15 years ago. What I understand has come through a growth process that was a mixture of both faith and reasonable thinking. But it BEGINS with FAITH. And it’ll always involve FAITH. I’ve GROWN in my understand of the Trinity, but it’s still infinitely more complex than my finite mind can process. I STILL NEED FAITH AND SO DO YOU!
And if Jesus is your Lord and Savior, you’re already using this FAITH process to GROW. So let’s keeping GROWING in 2020 by FAITH, which includes handling things that are hard to understand. It’s part of the development process. It’s like playing with Duplos to train for Legos.
I don’t understand why Jesus loves me. I don’t understand why Jesus chose to die for me. But I’m thankful that He did. And because He did, I continue to GROW in Christ, even if I have a lot of GROWING to happen in my thinking.
The third and final Duplo block comes from the Holy Spirit - the third person of the Trinity.
he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
3. The Holy Spirit wants us!
3. The Holy Spirit wants us!
When we turn from our sin and place our faith in Jesus, God promises that we will receive the Holy Spirit. Paul says...
In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
Look at those two words, “sealed” and “guarantee.” They are words giving us the sense that God is saying, “You are mine! I’m going to keep you!”
But why do we need a seal or guarantee? What’s the purpose in saying that?
Well, look at what the apostle John says...
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
Guess who this verse is written to? The Church. You and me. Christians!
In this present world, even though Jesus’ cross and resurrection frees us from the power and penalty of sin, we still sin. It’s still part of our lives. We live in this weak, fallen body that gives into temptation.
And sin is no joke. God is holy and He doesn’t mess around with sin. Therefore, it’d be easy to think, “I got saved. I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior. But I keep sinning. There’s no way God still loves me. I’ve messed it all up. I’ve blown my second chance!”
Therefore, it’d be easy to think, “I got saved. I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior. But I keep sinning. There’s no way God still loves me. I’ve messed it all up. I’ve blown my second chance!”
And it’s moments like these God reminds us of His promise: When you put your faith in Jesus, “you were sealed with the Holy Spirit.”
Let’s add this...
having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,
Eph 1:18-
At this point in Paul’s letter, he’s praying that Christians in Ephesus would truly understand what God has done for them. And in this prayer, he says, “that you may know… what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead...”
Now, that power… is Holy Spirit power. Look at what Paul told the Romans...
The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.
Notice the similarities? The Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the dead. And that same Holy Spirit power is working in our lives too. It’s working in our lives as a seal and guarantee.
As Christians, we still sin. We keep blowing it. We choose death over life. But God loves us so much, that He gives us the Holy Spirit to work resurrection power into our lives. And even when we choose death, the Holy Spirit resurrects us. He keeps us. He seals us. Why, because God WANTS US!
Think about that. God wants us so much that He gives us the Holy Spirit so we can become everything He planned us to be! He’s not going to just let us blow it. He wants to KEEP us! That’s really hard-to-understand! Especially since we keep choosing to sin against God! Continually choosing death!
But because of God’s wonderful grace, the same resurrecting power that raised Christ, keeps raising us. Even after our failures and wanderings! That’s hard to believe. That’s hard to understand. But even now, as Christians, we receive it by FAITH.
Our life in Christ is based on grace and faith. We grow by FAITH. We’re already doing it and in 2020, we need to keep doing it.
God says, “You are mine! I love you too much!” It’s only possible because of the Trinity:
God’s grace
Jesus’ perfect sacrifice
The Holy Spirit’s resurrecting power
When we understand this, we will grow.
Response:
Response:
So, as we begin to grow together in 2020, let me encourage you to...
Live by faith. Don’t let difficulty defeat your growth.
We are chosen by God! A perfect God wants imperfect people because He loves them.
Jesus won the victory!
Tell God, “I trust You, even when I don’t understand!”
It’s fixed. “It’s over!” Kenny Smith dunk contest.
Receive by faith. Sometimes, we just need to say, “I don’t know why, but I say YES to you God!” We say yes to God by faith and receive from His grace. We trust God is GOOD and He has a GOOD plan for our future.
There’s nothing You need to except put your faith in Jesus.
And for some of us here (or online), we need to do that for the first time. To receive God’s love by faith. Sin has ruined our lives. We’ve hurt ourselves. We’ve hurt others. We’ve been hurt by others. But most of all, We’ve hurt our relationship with God - the One who loves us.God is holy and can’t be in the presence of sin. And He must judge sin.
But God loves us so much that He still chooses us and made a way for our sin problem to be fixed. That if we’re willing to receive God’s love by faith - that means turning away from our sin (repent) and believing Jesus died on the cross for the forgiveness of our sin - we will be saved. We pass from death to life by God’s resurrecting power! And our relationship with God will be fixed.
You don’t need to earn it. Jesus did that for you. You just need to receive it!
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
3. Grow by faith. If we are going to grow this year, we got to start somewhere. So, why not now? And why not here?
We have unbelievable, unmatched power that WILL bring us home! If you will trust God with your life, you will Grow in Christ by His Spirit and power.
Thats what this Duplo series is about… understanding that growth starts with God, so we start with God.
Learn - Trinity and possible the most powerful verse in the Bible.
Or, learn a new verse!
Communion:
Communion:
As we end today, I’m going to invite the worship team up. And we are going to celebrate Communion together. So, in just a moment, I’ll ask you all to come forward and grab the elements, and return to your seats. Then, when we are ready, we will take communion together.
Read 1 Cor. 11:23-25
Close:
Close:
This morning, as we remember what Jesus did for us on the cross, remember also that it was the entire Trinity at work. They worked in perfect unity to save us.
The Father chose you.
Jesus died for you.
The Spirit is empowering you!
For God so loved you, that Jesus willingly chose to die for you, so that when you place your faith in Him, you would live in the eternal purpose planned for you by the power of the Holy Spirit!
Since that’s true, let’s grow! Put your faith in God and grow!
2 Ways to Grow:
Get to know God, memorize His Word.
Lent: The church has different ways of using it, but here at TRC we use it as a way to focus on Jesus. Therefore, we typically encourage people to prayerfully consider giving up something for Lent. Something that, when removed, will give more space for Jesus in your life.
Pizza example. Finite amount of time.
Don’t leave it empty. Fill it with something. In this case, fill it with Jesus.
Invite you to a YouVersion Lent Bible Reading Plan. If you need help doing that, come see me after service.
A link will also be included in the weekly email.
If you need prayer or would like to talk after service, I’ll be in the back.
Let’s pray.
Duplo: Know God more () - God would reveal something about who He is that would be internalized (memory verse?)
Gifts: Know you spiritual gift and begin serving.
Instructions: Church - Join Life Group
Build: Invite one person who comes (this is God’s will). Christmas Party invite!