How Do I Delight Myself in the Trinity?

00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)

00:00:02.580 | - We're back one more time with historian

00:00:07.140 | and theologian Michael Reeves,

00:00:08.420 | talking about his incredibly good book,

00:00:10.260 | "Delighting in the Trinity."

00:00:11.540 | If you're looking for a good summer read, consider it.

00:00:14.620 | Dr. Reeves serves as the President and Professor of Theology

00:00:17.140 | at Union School of Theology in Oxford.

00:00:20.140 | Last time we were talking about creation,

00:00:22.500 | so Dr. Reeves, go into the inner Trinitarian relationship

00:00:26.300 | and explain for us where the act of creation,

00:00:29.180 | this impulse, where does that originate within God?

00:00:32.100 | - Yeah, well, our triangle, the Father, for eternity,

00:00:37.100 | well, we looked at John 17, 24,

00:00:41.460 | where Jesus says, "Father, you loved me

00:00:43.020 | "before the foundation of the world."

00:00:44.980 | For eternity, the Father has enjoyed,

00:00:48.100 | delighted in his servant, that's Isaiah language.

00:00:51.780 | He's enjoyed his son.

00:00:54.300 | And what's happening in creation is,

00:00:58.020 | as the Father is so delighted in the Son,

00:01:00.940 | so he delights to have that love overflow,

00:01:03.940 | that there might be many sons,

00:01:06.100 | that the Son might be the firstborn of many brothers.

00:01:09.660 | And so with this God, who's outgoingly gracious

00:01:14.380 | in who he is in eternity, eternally loving,

00:01:18.420 | it makes sense that he should have many others

00:01:21.500 | that he might love.

00:01:22.900 | Now, if you're a single person, God,

00:01:24.020 | that just wouldn't make sense.

00:01:24.940 | Why would he create?

00:01:26.420 | But because the Father has always enjoyed loving the Son,

00:01:31.100 | creation seems not an essential thing he has to do at all,

00:01:35.260 | but a very characteristic thing for him to do.

00:01:38.540 | - Yeah, glorious.

00:01:39.620 | And all of creation, it flows out of God's abundant

00:01:43.580 | Trinitarian delight.

00:01:45.140 | So I wanna press in here a little bit more.

00:01:48.100 | You have so clearly made this connection

00:01:50.020 | with the Trinity and the beauty of creation

00:01:52.260 | in your own life.

00:01:53.820 | Now, what happens in your mind and in your heart

00:01:56.340 | as you behold the beauty of creation?

00:01:58.340 | I mean, when you see the beauty of creation,

00:02:01.180 | you know, mountains, oceans, sunsets,

00:02:03.900 | what goes on in your own heart and mind?

00:02:06.660 | - Yeah, oh, so many thoughts, so many thoughts.

00:02:10.380 | One would be, flowing directly out of what we're seeing,

00:02:13.540 | is that in creation, I'm not simply seeing

00:02:18.060 | the omnipotent power of God.

00:02:20.660 | And that's something which is true,

00:02:23.780 | which I think that's the thing that Christians major on

00:02:25.980 | when they talk about Psalm 19,

00:02:27.500 | the heavens declaring the glory of God.

00:02:29.580 | That's true, we do see the power of God

00:02:31.740 | as how God must be super cosmically powerful

00:02:35.180 | to bring creation about, of course.

00:02:37.340 | But that hasn't explained why he's created.

00:02:39.820 | He doesn't create because of power,

00:02:41.740 | he creates because of this overflowing love.

00:02:45.020 | And so in creation, you see the generosity,

00:02:48.820 | the kindness of God.

00:02:50.860 | He creates in the first place out of love,

00:02:53.700 | and he continues to sustain us, even rebels,

00:02:57.300 | continues to sustain us

00:02:59.020 | because of his ongoing generosity and kindness.

00:03:02.100 | He places stars there to shine in the darkness.

00:03:04.620 | He places, I find this so encouraging,

00:03:06.740 | every morning, the sun rising and driving away the darkness.

00:03:11.580 | That's sort of Genesis 1 picture,

00:03:14.420 | but also reminded me of Jesus, the light of the world,

00:03:16.820 | that I see the purity, beauty, glory of God

00:03:20.780 | proclaimed in the heavens as the sun, like a bridegroom,

00:03:25.260 | shines and drives out all darkness.

00:03:27.540 | So that every day I find, just as I see the sun rising,

00:03:31.740 | I'm rejoicing to see God isn't, he isn't unkind,

00:03:34.900 | he isn't ungenerous, as I might naturally,

00:03:37.820 | as a natural idolater think.

00:03:40.020 | He's so good, so kind, so generous.

00:03:43.700 | So by creation itself, I'm one back to praise him,

00:03:47.260 | I'm one back to delight in him.

00:03:49.020 | - Yeah, amen.

00:03:50.620 | At one point in the book, you say,

00:03:52.340 | "What we love is more important than what we do."

00:03:55.740 | What we love is more important than what we do.

00:03:58.460 | Essentially, in the Christian life,

00:03:59.540 | the affections are central.

00:04:00.580 | I mean, so, so key to understand that.

00:04:02.460 | I mean, this emphasis is also reflected in your title,

00:04:05.260 | Delighting in the Trinity.

00:04:07.220 | And clearly, by writing this book,

00:04:09.380 | you don't just wanna fill minds

00:04:10.540 | with good theology about God,

00:04:11.980 | but you wanna see hearts

00:04:13.940 | that are filled with affection for God.

00:04:16.820 | Explain why, in your own words,

00:04:18.780 | the place of the affections is so key

00:04:21.180 | in our understanding of God.

00:04:23.020 | - Yeah, the affections are so essential to who we are,

00:04:27.540 | so core in both sin and salvation.

00:04:31.700 | In sin, you see it,

00:04:33.700 | why is it that Eve takes the apple?

00:04:37.300 | That the action of her sin

00:04:39.300 | actually flows out of her affections,

00:04:41.580 | where her heart is, that she desires wisdom.

00:04:45.180 | She wants to be like God

00:04:47.540 | more than she wants to trust God.

00:04:49.860 | So she's got a love for something else

00:04:52.620 | rather than a love for God.

00:04:54.220 | And that's how sin works in us.

00:04:55.900 | But the reason I act sinfully

00:04:59.580 | is because I've begun to desire sinfully.

00:05:03.260 | I've begun to desire something else

00:05:05.620 | more than I've desired God.

00:05:07.100 | And this is James 1.

00:05:08.620 | Desire gives birth to sin,

00:05:11.140 | and sin gives birth to death.

00:05:13.180 | But the same thing, this is how we're built.

00:05:15.900 | And so the same thing works for salvation.

00:05:18.020 | I naturally don't desire God.

00:05:21.340 | I desire myself, I desire other things.

00:05:24.100 | But what the Spirit so kindly does

00:05:26.940 | is the Spirit opens my eyes

00:05:30.100 | to see the glory and beauty of God,

00:05:34.500 | and so wins my heart such that,

00:05:38.500 | and here's what I want to do in all my preaching,

00:05:41.340 | and I make this very clear when I speak,

00:05:42.820 | for example, to students in my church,

00:05:45.100 | I want people to see that the living God

00:05:48.220 | is more beautiful and more desirable than their sin.

00:05:53.220 | And that's the Spirit's work through the Word.

00:05:57.500 | The Spirit opens our eyes that we might see Christ.

00:06:00.900 | A key verse the Puritans always turn to

00:06:03.380 | in their understanding of sanctification

00:06:05.340 | was 2 Corinthians 3.18.

00:06:07.420 | Richard Sibbes made that verse, in many ways,

00:06:09.940 | the centerpiece of his ministry.

00:06:12.740 | And 2 Corinthians 3.18 talks about

00:06:15.740 | how we are transformed from glory to glory

00:06:18.980 | as we gaze on Him.

00:06:22.340 | This, by looking at Him, we become like Him.

00:06:25.860 | We shine like the Lord

00:06:27.860 | because we become like what we worship.

00:06:29.780 | We see how glorious He is, and He wins our hearts to Him,

00:06:33.100 | and we want Him more than anything else.

00:06:35.780 | - Amen.

00:06:36.740 | Delighting in Christ is a paradigm for Christian growth.

00:06:40.420 | We've gotta see the glory of Christ in Scripture.

00:06:43.140 | So connect these themes for us.

00:06:44.620 | I mean, what would you say to those of us

00:06:47.100 | who find it to be a struggle in the morning

00:06:49.860 | when we approach the Bible, we open up our Bibles,

00:06:52.100 | we want to delight, but that delight is such a struggle.

00:06:55.540 | What advice would you have for us?

00:06:57.220 | - Well, I think a key thing is to know

00:06:59.020 | why are you opening your Bible in the morning?

00:07:01.460 | What are you trying to do?

00:07:02.620 | And people approach their Bibles

00:07:03.820 | with all sorts of different motivations.

00:07:05.980 | And I confess, I approach my Bible each morning

00:07:08.900 | with very confused motivations.

00:07:11.860 | And so we must know what we're doing

00:07:15.060 | as we're opening our Bible.

00:07:16.980 | Now, it is the truth of who Christ is.

00:07:21.820 | It is the light of who Christ is

00:07:24.700 | that will cause the heat of desire for Him.

00:07:27.820 | But we must know that this is why the Scripture's written.

00:07:31.260 | John Calvin put it beautifully

00:07:32.460 | when he's commenting on John 15.

00:07:34.660 | He said, "The Lord has given us,

00:07:36.580 | "the Spirit has breathed out these Scriptures,

00:07:38.980 | "that we might have a hearty affection,

00:07:42.220 | "a cordial embrace of Christ."

00:07:45.380 | That's the point.

00:07:46.260 | And so as we open the Scriptures, let's cry out,

00:07:50.060 | Lord, let me see your glory, your beauty,

00:07:53.700 | your goodness, your kindness, your generosity,

00:07:56.820 | that I might love you afresh.

00:07:59.380 | - Well, our time is up.

00:08:01.380 | And I'll end with this question.

00:08:03.420 | Our triune God is eternal.

00:08:05.500 | God existed in eternity past,

00:08:07.740 | and that changes how we view creation.

00:08:10.380 | But God is also eternally triune into the future,

00:08:13.700 | and that changes everything about heaven.

00:08:16.020 | It seems to me the distinctive features

00:08:18.420 | of what makes heaven heaven

00:08:20.020 | is the presence of our Trinitarian God.

00:08:22.380 | So fill this out for us.

00:08:23.460 | What will eternity look like?

00:08:24.900 | What's to come?

00:08:26.500 | - Oh, what a lovely question.

00:08:27.940 | Well, it is that the Spirit will eternally be working in us

00:08:33.940 | and we will have spiritual bodies, Paul says,

00:08:37.700 | in 1 Corinthians 15,

00:08:39.620 | by which he means the Spirit,

00:08:42.020 | these will be real physical bodies,

00:08:45.340 | but animated by the Spirit through and through now.

00:08:49.340 | And the Spirit's work is, well, he has two works in us.

00:08:54.180 | His first work is he unites us to the Son,

00:08:57.780 | such that as the Father has always cherished the Son

00:09:02.340 | and seen him as the apple of his eye,

00:09:04.460 | so we're embraced by the Father's love of the Son,

00:09:07.820 | and so that we can approach the Father as our Abba,

00:09:11.900 | so there's an extraordinary status gift the Spirit gives us,

00:09:16.900 | and so we can boldly go to the throne.

00:09:20.340 | But there's more.

00:09:21.380 | The Spirit doesn't simply give us the status of Christ.

00:09:25.060 | He gives us the mind of Christ.

00:09:27.540 | He turns our hearts so that as the Spirit opens my eyes,

00:09:32.180 | I begin to see who Christ is and enjoy the Son

00:09:37.060 | as the Father has eternally enjoyed the Son.

00:09:40.380 | And so I get to enjoy for eternity

00:09:44.140 | what has most pleased the Father for eternity.

00:09:47.780 | But also I get to enjoy the Father as my Father,

00:09:52.780 | as the Son has always done,

00:09:54.700 | and so I'm brought into this wonderful Trinitarian life

00:09:59.260 | of joy and love,

00:10:02.580 | and we'll be in these physical bodies

00:10:06.060 | in a renewed creation.

00:10:08.820 | And I think this is where people seem to flip-flop.

00:10:12.860 | There are some people who get twitchy about the idea

00:10:16.860 | that we'll actually have a real earth to enjoy

00:10:20.140 | 'cause they see, isn't that a distraction from God?

00:10:23.220 | And there are some people who just talk about the joys

00:10:25.580 | of the new creation, the Messianic banquet and all that.

00:10:29.460 | I want to say, no, the two work together really well,

00:10:32.820 | rightly well, they're designed to,

00:10:35.140 | in that we talked about how creation proclaims

00:10:38.340 | the glory of the Lord, that through the new creation,

00:10:41.780 | we will appreciate the generosity of God more.

00:10:44.860 | It'll be a part of our ongoing eternal existence

00:10:48.380 | that as we live in the new creation,

00:10:51.380 | we will see the glory of God manifest so perfectly,

00:10:55.780 | His generosity shown to us so well

00:10:58.220 | that we will delight in Him more

00:11:00.380 | and delight in each other too, now perfected.

00:11:03.580 | So there'll be this Trinitarian life

00:11:06.220 | will revel in the new creation,

00:11:08.460 | and that Trinitarian life has been expanded

00:11:10.980 | to include the whole family of the Father,

00:11:14.460 | which means we'll all be enjoying living together with Him

00:11:18.740 | as brothers and sisters.

00:11:21.380 | - That's so good.

00:11:22.340 | That was historian and theologian Michael Reeves,

00:11:24.620 | who serves as the president and professor of theology

00:11:26.980 | at Union School of Theology in Oxford.

00:11:29.980 | He is one of my favorite authors

00:11:31.780 | and author of a number of great books,

00:11:33.860 | including "Delighting in the Trinity."

00:11:36.500 | You'll want to check it out.

00:11:38.100 | Well, we are back with Pastor John the next two days,

00:11:40.300 | and we'll be talking about summer vacations

00:11:42.180 | and bikinis and modesty.

00:11:45.220 | It should be eventful.

00:11:46.500 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke, and I will see you tomorrow.

00:11:48.820 | Thanks for listening to the "Ask Pastor John Podcast."

00:11:51.620 | (upbeat music)

00:11:54.220 | (upbeat music)

00:11:56.820 | [BLANK_AUDIO]

How Do I Delight Myself in the Trinity?

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