Each part of Trinity has unique function

The Rev. Randy Beeman, senior pastor of First Christian Church, 1000 Ky.:
“Welcome home, Dad,” “Hello, sweetheart” and “Hello, pastor.”
The same person, Randy Beeman, walks through the door and responds to all three receptions. This becomes a child-like illustration of the Christian belief that God is revealed to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. All three God, yet one unified God.
Jesus is one with the Father (John 14:5-14). But, in order to redeem us from our disobedience, God the Father laid our sins upon Jesus. As Jesus hung there upon the cross, dying for our sins, he could say the words of Psalm 22:1, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). God the Father withdrew from his own son upon the cross and counted him guilty for our wrongs. Jesus suffered the penalty each of us deserved upon the cross so that we wouldn’t suffer an eternity away from God.
It’s described this way in 2 Corinthians 5:21 — “For he has made Jesus to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made right with God in Jesus.”
The Father, Son and Holy Spirit aren’t just different modes of God; otherwise God would be mediating among himself. The Bible gives us a profound sense of the unity of God. Each part of the Trinity functions in its own unique manner: the Father as the initiator of love; the Son as the agent of love; and the Holy Spirit as the application of love.
Jesus was fully God on the cross, but expressed to God the Father his feelings of being forsaken because he understood that wrong and God cannot go together. Because Jesus loves each of us, he took our wrongs upon himself so that we could be reunited with God forever.

— Send e-mail to the Rev. Randy Beeman at rbeeman@sunflower.com.

Holy Trinity worth being experienced
The Rev. Paul Gray, senior pastor of Heartland Community Church, 619 Vt.:
Louis Armstrong was once asked the definition of jazz. He replied, “Man, you can’t explain it. You just experience it!”
I could give the same answer to “What is the Holy Trinity?”
The New Testament makes it clear (John 14-16, 1 Corinthians 12:3-6 and 2 Corinthians 13:14) that God is as truly three persons as he is One (the “Trinity”).
But it’s a mystery to us how this is possible, since we have no human example. The Scripture writers insist that: the Father is fully God; Jesus is fully God; the Holy Spirit is fully God; they are not the same persons; and there is only one God.
Since we have no comparable reference, this is an area where we have to accept the truth of the Bible by faith. Any truthful person realizes there has to have been a Grand Designer (Father). Biblical and secular historians have well documented Jesus’ life, miracles, death and Resurrection — thus proving his human existence and divinity (Son).
Jesus did not call out to himself on the cross. When he said, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” he was quoting the 22nd Psalm, written by King David for a two-fold purpose: to depict his own suffering and subsequent victory; and as a messianic prediction of the savior to come and his victory.
He was confirming the Old Testament prediction of his death and resurrection, which the entire Christian faith is based upon. Christians, for the past 2,000 years, have sensed the presence of, been comforted and taught by, listened and talked to the Spirit of God (Holy Spirit).
While we can’t fully understand or explain the Holy Trinity, we can experience it through a personal relationship with God by faith in Jesus Christ.

— Send e-mail to the Rev. Paul Gray at hartland@sunflower.com.