Trinity Concepts (2.15) Man's Excuses

Land (Political, Pride of Life)

Work (Economic, Lust of the Eyes)

Family (Social, Lust of the Flesh)

Jesus gave a parable, in Luke 14:16-20, of a man who gave a big dinner, inviting many to come.  They began to make excuses, however, as to why they could not attend.  This is an illustration of three kinds of people who make decisions not to follow Jesus and the Kingdom of God.  Each of these excuses falls in line with a Trinity pattern category. 

Excuse #1: “I have bought a piece of land.”  This correlates to the Political category of Man’s Soul (society), as well as the Pride of Life category of Man’s Flesh (temptations).  “Their inner thought is, that their houses are forever, and their dwelling places to all generations; they have called their lands after their own names.  But man in his pomp (honor) will not endure; he is like the beasts that perish.” (Ps. 49:11-12) 

Excuse #2: “I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out.”  This correlates to the Economic category of Man’s Soul (society), and also the Lust of the Eyes category of Man’s Flesh (temptations).  Plowing a field to produce a crop harvest meant money and provision.  In an agrarian society oxen were highly valued, as they brought much increase (financial gain).  “Where no oxen are, the manger is clean, but much increase comes by the strength of the ox.” (Prov. 14:4) 

Excuse #3: “I have married a wife.” This correlates to the Social category of Man’s Soul (society), as well as the Lust of the Flesh category of Man’s Flesh (temptations).  “One who is unmarried is concerned about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord; but one who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how he may please his wife, and his interests are divided.” (I Cor. 7:32-33) 

Regarding excuse #1: It is not wrong to have a name, dominion and authority on the earth.  “A good name is to be more desired than great riches, favor is better than silver and gold.” (Prov. 22:1)

Regarding excuses #2 and #3: It is not wrong to be financially prosperous, or to have a wife, family and social well-being.  “Jesus said, ‘Truly I say to you there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and the Gospel’s sake, but that he shall receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life.  But many who are first, will be last; and the last, first. (Mk. 10:29-31) 

Conclusion:  It is not about having any of these things, but rather about priority in our lives.  “Do not be anxious then, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘With what shall we clothe ourselves?’  For all these things the Gentiles (nations) eagerly seek; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.  But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.” (Matt. 6:31-33)  Many people miss out on the wonderful ‘feast’ God has prepared for our lives because they are preoccupied with life’s competing desires.  When we seek the first thing: God in our lives, then all the rest will be abundantly supplied.

Trinity Concepts (1.00) Key

God

Father

Son

Holy Spirit

Kingdom Attributes

Righteousness

Peace

Joy

Kingdom Attributes (Time)

Love / Present

Faith / Past

Hope / Future

Godly characteristics (Matt. 23:23)

Justice

Faithfulness

Mercy

Christian activity

Prayer

Study of Word

Worship

Love

Agape

Phileo

Eros

Power

Purpose

Sacrifice          

Unity

Man

Spirit

Soul

Body   

Man’s spirit

Conscience

Intuition

Communion

Man’s soul (basic)

Will

Mind

Emotions

Man’s soul (personalities)

Choleric

Melancholy

Sanguine

Phlegmatic

Man’s soul (styles of learning)

Aural

Visual

Kinesthetic

Man’s soul (decision making)

‘because it’s right’

‘because it will benefit me’

‘because I feel like it’

Man’s flesh (temptations)

Glory- pride of life

Gold- lust of the eyes

Girls- lust of the flesh

Man’s soul (society)

Political

Economic

Social

Man's economies

Sowing/Giving/Forgiving

Reciprocity

Selfishness

Functions of Music and the Arts in Society

Prophetic

Exaltation (amplification)

Performance

Man’s body

Mesoderm- structural

Ectoderm- communications

Endoderm- engine

Man’s body (workout routines)

Mesomorph- strength

Ectomorph- endurance

Endomorph- survival

Food groups

Protiens

Fats

Carbohydrates

Angels

Michael (warring)

Gabriel (messenger)

Lucifer (worship)

Devil’s attributes

Accuser

Deceiver

Tempter

Color

Yellow

Blue

Red

Brown

Tabernacle of Moses

Holy of Holies

Inner Court

Outer Court     

Trinity Concepts (1.06) Christian Activity

Prayer

 Study of Word

 Worship

The balance of Christian activity flows from the Trinity of God, as well.  Needlessly, we often see imbalances in Christian’s lives, churches and entire denominations, even when we have been shown the proper function and relationship between the three aspects of the Trinity very clearly (John 14-17).

Worship relates to the Holy Spirit.  In this ‘category’ we also find emotion in the human soul.  How often have believers been emotionally caught up in worship, only to realize that they weren’t anchored in reality.  As glorious as the experience of worship was the day before, there are still bills to pay and nagging life circumstances that just won’t go away, no matter how much time we yield our passions in worship.  Emotion is good, when it is in proper priority to the other parts of our human existence.  Emotionalism in worship, unbalanced, ultimately leads to a vacuum of conclusive life-solutions.

Worship, however, that has its foundation and roots in the revealed Word and timed by the obedience of a relationship through prayer with the Father, is infused with power into the physical realm that releases the miraculous.  Healings, deliverances and a tangible sense of His Presence is overwhelming.  Many believers then seek ‘worship’ again, to bring them this manifestation of God’s blessing, not realizing that it was an outflow from the prayer that went forth behind the scenes and the revelation of the Word giving fuel to the flames of the Holy Spirit’s movement.  Without prayer and the revealed Word, worship is consumed and cannot exist, for it has nothing to empower it.  When believers turn to worship over and over again to try to fill their spiritual hunger, it becomes dry and they wonder why this is.  It’s because they have lost their memory of why they are rejoicing.  Without the obedience of the Cross, and the revelation of the Resurrection, there can be no exaltation of the Ascension.   The joy of worship comes from knowing why we are worshiping.  Without this, we’re just worshiping worship.

The revealed Word is known as Rhema.  It is different than the historical word, Logos.  Jesus is the Word made flesh.  He came into a fleshly body subject to decay.  The letter kills but the Spirit gives life.  Jesus, the Word died.  The logos will die, but the resurrected Rhema lives forever.  Our relationship with the Word is a two-edged sword, killing our flesh and breathing life into our renewing soul.  “Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” (Rom. 12:2)  The mind of the soul and the Word are linked together categorically.  Too often, however, the un-renewed mind of carnal Christians will turn what was intentionally Rhema from the Scriptures into law (Logos).  Again, without the balance of the areas of prayer and worship, the Scriptures become dry and legal.  Indeed we cannot even come to Jesus (the Word) unless the Father (prayer/obedience) draws us to Him.  Our relationship with the Father, through a hunger for and obedience to His will and purpose, is critical in order for our eyes to be opened with new revelation.  God will only give us the Revealed Rhema when our hearts are fully toward Him.

Worship and Prayer are often mistaken for each other.  They are quite different, however.  Worship is a manifestation on the outside of a conviction on the inside.  It’s the amplified signal shouting on the rooftops.  In essence, it is evangelical.  Prayer, however, is on the inside.  Jesus told us to go into our inner rooms and shut the doors when we pray.  This is not just a physical command, but also, and perhaps mostly, a metaphoric command, for we are spirit, soul and body.  He dwells in our spirit.  That is where we are to go, our spirit, in communion with His Spirit in us, our ‘Holy of holies’.  This can be when we are walking down the street, or in the midst of an intense battle pressuring us on every side.  He still dwells in that secret place in our spirit. 

Prayer relates to our soul in the area of the will.  Jesus said for us to pray, “May Your Kingdom come and Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” (Matt. 6:10) When He himself was in the garden before His arrest, He prayed, “Father...not my will, but Yours be done.” (Lk. 22:42) Prayer is about submission to His will. 

Our will is sovereign.  It chooses what to think, what to feel.  God, in His Sovereignty, chose to give us a portion of Himself.  If our will is sovereign, and He is the only Sovereign, we must admit that He is not divided between Himself and us.  He gives us, in love, a perfect balance to choose.  “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse.  So choose life in order that you may live." (Deut. 30:19)  If we still choose death, however, He takes responsibility for it.  It was not Him Who made us choose it, but because our will is part of His Sovereignty, he still takes responsibility for it.  In this is the death of Jesus, and in this is the death of our flesh, our carnality.  Jesus died as God’s response to our failure, with His responsibility of payment for it.  He is the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” (Rev. 13:8)  As we live in Him, our fleshly nature, our carnality, is challenged and cut away from us in the likeness of His death. Obedience to His will and disobedience to our own, is the process of our inward renewal. How our will responds to His will happens in prayer.  Our covenant with Him is forged by our relationship with Him.  “How much do I do in this situation (empowered by His Spirit), and to what extent do I remain trustingly uninvolved?”  The answer lies within our relationship with Him through prayer, as He reveals it to us in our ‘Holy of holies’. 

He reveals Himself through His Word and His Spirit, as analogized earlier by speech: articulation and breath, respectively.  (See, Trinity Concepts 1.02 God)  Without His revelation, even our prayer goes awry.  “He who turns his ear away from listening to the law (Word of God), even his prayer is an abomination.” (Prov. 28:9)  God, in His fullness, must be allowed to flow though us, in priority and in balance, in order for each aspect of our Christian growth to be complete.  As the wise saying goes, “All Word and no Spirit, you dry up.  All Spirit and no Word, you blow up.  The Word and the Spirit together, and you grow up.”

(for more study, see the Trinity Concepts Key)



Trinity Concepts (1.03) Kingdom Attributes

Righteousness

Peace

Joy

Will

Mind

Emotions

The Apostle Paul states, “for the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit”. (Rom. 14:17)   Again, a pattern of the triune nature of God is seen, relating to the three divine categories of our existence.  Righteousness, being made right, being forgiven, being accepted, being loved by the Creator, allows one to submit his or her life to the Creator’s will.  Righteousness inspires submission with a willing and grateful heart. Through being made ‘right with God’, or ‘righteous’, we now can make the right choices in life. 

Peace relates to the human mind.  Peace deals with the lust of the eyes, for the eyes of man are never satisfied (Prov. 27:20), but the “peace of God which surpasses all comprehension shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." (Phil. 4:7)  The peace of God satisfies our minds and keeps our thoughts from racing about.  The imaginations of the human mind run rampant, but God’s peace brings clarity as an un-rippled pond. Here is yet another verse, “The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace.” (Is. 26:3)  Peace calms the tumultuous waves of the mind, much like Jesus commanded the sea, “Peace! Be still!” and it was so. 

Joy correlates to the human emotions.  The joy of the Holy Spirit is released into our lives to drive out the lust of the flesh.  (See, devil's attributes and Man's Flesh/ Temptations)  There is no ’high’ that can satisfy the human soul (or body) like that of God’s joy.  ‘Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord” (Eph. 5:17)  “Let him who is merry sing songs.”(James 5:13)  God intends for us to allow His joy to flow through our lives to satisfy our inner need for satisfaction.  More clothes, more food, more entertainment, materialism, narcissism are all counterfeits to God’s joy.  His joy will quell every ungodly lust and desire.  His joy will fill up the deepest yearning of the human soul.  Nothing can satisfy the longings of the human emotions like the joy of the Lord.  He satisfies our deepest desires, and this in turn becomes our strength.  

(for more study, see the Trinity Concepts Key)

Trinity Concepts (1.02) God

God

Father

Son

Holy Spirit

God, at least to us, in this realm as human beings, is revealed in a triune manner.  This triune nature is seen in a ‘hierarchy’ if you will.  Jesus said, “If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced, because I go to the Father; for the Father is greater than I.” (Jn. 14:28)   “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.  He shall glorify Me (Jesus); for He shall take of Mine, and shall disclose it to you.” (Jn. 16:13-1)  By these passages, it becomes evident that the ‘order’ of God is: Father, Son (the Word), Holy Spirit. 

Though there is order and priority, there is also balance.  This balance can be illustrated by simple human speech.  If I begin talking and run out of air, but my mouth keeps moving, I have all word and no spirit (breath).  However, if I am speaking with plenty of air-flow, yet my articulate speech becomes slurred and finally non-articulate, I have all spirit and no word.  Both scenarios are imbalanced, both fail to convey the message I desire to communicate.  Similarly, the Father has a message He wants to convey, through the balance of articulation and breath: the Word (Jesus) and the Spirit, respectively.

Everything that will be set forth is based upon this pattern.  The attributes of the Father flow down through every part of creation.  Even though He is seen throughout the other realms of Word and Spirit, there is still a specific influence that comes from the Father ‘dimension’.  The same holds true for the Son (or Word).  There are specific attributes that flow down from Him through every level of existence that uniquely reflect His dimension.  The Holy Spirit’s attributes of existence also fall under the patterns only observable in the dimension He holds. 

“You believe God is One.  You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.” (James 2:19)  My purpose in these statements is not to ‘dissect’, if you will, God Himself, but rather to show His attributes as He reveals Himself to us throughout all of our existence.  The patterns of creation reflect the Creator.  The Trinity can be seen throughout all of life, not simply in a theological or philosophical textbook.  He has revealed Himself to us in so many different ways throughout our life experiences, it would be impossible to enumerate every example.  As the Apostle Paul states, “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made…” (Rom. 1:20) 

It would, at this point, be fitting to remember that the Triune God has never been made, as the creation has been made.  He has always existed, and always will exist.  He stands uniquely separate from anyone or anything else that has ever existed, due to the fact that everything else has, or had, a definite beginning and ending.  Jesus, the man in the flesh, obviously had a finite beginning.  However, the seed of the Word, Who lived through the flesh has always been: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (Jn. 1:1) 

In attempting to ‘paint a picture’ of the nature of the Trinity, I have spaced the categories across the page for each subject in a semi-triangular way with the Father dimension being top-most and in the center, the Son (or Word) dimension being to the left and the Holy Spirit dimension being to the right.  In doing this, I am trying to depict that the Father is the One from whom the balance of the Word and the Spirit emanate.  He is the One sending the message of His love.  This message is communicated by the articulation of the Word and the empowerment of the breath of the Spirit.  The Word and the Spirit balance each other, with the Word still holding priority.  (Again, the reference of John, chapters 14 and 16 reveal this.) 

The Apostle Paul also shows us this same principle, “Yet even lifeless things, either flute or harp, in producing a sound, if they do not produce a distinction in the tones, how will it be known what is played on the flute or the harp?  For if the bugle produces an indistinct sound, who will prepare himself for battle?  So also you, unless you utter by the tongue speech that is clear, how will it be known what is spoken?  For you will be speaking into the air.  There are, perhaps, a great many kinds of languages in the world, and no kind is without meaning.  If then I do not know the meaning of the language, I shall be to the one who speaks a barbarian (foreigner), and the one who speaks will be a barbarian (foreigner) to me.” (I Cor. 14:7-11) 

He is showing us in these passages that all spirit, with no articulation, produces an indistinct sound.  The same is true in the balance of the Trinity.  As the Father communicates to us, He places emphasis on our understanding what He is saying (through the Word), yet He conveys this message by the breath of His Spirit.  If He were to emphasize the Spirit over the Word, He would become inarticulate and the message would be lost.  His perfect balance of priorities, however, carries total power. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (Jn. 1:1)  “Then God said, ‘Let there be light’, and there was light.” (Gen. 1:3)  There is a popular proverb among church-goers: “All Word and you dry up.  All Spirit and you blow up.  The Word and the Spirit together and you grow up.”  Through this delicate balance, however, the articulation of the Word still holds priority.

The pattern of the Trinity, with the priority and balance I have just described, again, is seen throughout all of our existence.  The inter-relationship of these three areas (or, dimensions, as I have been calling them) is also seen throughout every part of creation.  All of the following will be derived from these simple fundamental concepts.

(for more study, see the Trinity Concepts Key)