Trinitarian Joy: October 2012

This past Sunday night our church had a family meeting and the following are excerpts from a presentation of the vision and mission of a new church plant in the neighborhood of Wissinoming.

"What about our vision for Wissinoming? The content of our vision for Wissinoming is nothing different than our vision here at Grace Bible Church. We at Grace Bible Church want to see lives transformed for the glory of God through the gospel of Jesus Christ. In Wissinoming we want to see the same thing - a neighborhood transformed for the glory of God through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The way in which we might assume to recognize this transformation is by seeing gospel fruit born where there was once no gospel presence. In other words, my hope is...

to see the addicted set free because they are now in Christ,
to see the abused at peace because they are now with Christ,
to see the thief satisfied because he has inherited the riches of Christ,
to see those overwhelmed with same-sex attraction embracing God's intended purposes because they are now more overwhelmed with his grace than with their feelings,
to see men acting like godly men and not boys because they have an example and a help in the heavenly Father,
to see marriages embraced with hope because God has embraced them with his mercy,
to see businesses managed with a sense of responsibility to make much of God because God has done much for them in Christ,
to see a people - a neighborhood people - loving God and loving their neighbors through the gospel and with the gospel for the glory of God."

"How is this going to happen? Fundamentally it is going to happen in Wissinoming just as it has happened here at Grace Bible Church. It will happen by displaying the glory of God by celebrating, proclaiming and living the gospel as a community of believers by the power of the Spirit.

So I hope we recognize that what we are doing in Wissinoming is maintaining a close relationship with Grace, embodying the same distinctive as Grace, but seeking to live out those distinctive uniquely in a neighborhood context. We want to be in the neighborhood, doing neighborhood stuff with neighborhood people which will become an ongoing opportunity to display the glory of God by celebrating, proclaiming and living the gospel as a community of believers by the power of the Spirit."

Why Trinitarian Joy?

For me the most astonishing reality that I have learned is that God takes ulitmate joy in himself. This ultimate joy is revealed in Scripture through the roles and relationships within the Triune Community. Whether we look at Creation, Fall, Redemption or Consumation, God -through the roles and relationships of the Trinity- is always orchestrating his supreme joy and exhaltation in himself.

God created us in his image so that God might see himself in us. In other words, as children of God we are tools of God's delight. This is not to say that God needs us to experience delight for he is perfectly satisfied in community with himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. However, God creates man out of the perfections of his trinitarian joy whereby man's joy is fulfilled in putting God's greatness on display. In other words, we have been created to join intimately into God's trinitarian joy wherein we are satisfied and God is glorified.

Now sin has destroyed our life with God for we have exchanged the glory God for the glory of his creation. We have neglected God as the source of all joy and have sought for intimacy elsewhere. 'But God who is rich in mercy...' lovingly glorified his Son by deploying Him to purchase up sinners unto Himself from their damnable state. And the Son lovingly glorified the Father through his obedience thereby securing a people unto His name. And in the wisdom of God the Spirit was sent to glorify the Son by tranforming these ransomed sinner into Christlikeness. Is it not evident that God's joy in himself secures our joy in him?

As God's family, it is through the cross that we have access into the holy place before God's throne. The gospel intimately joins us again into the joyful fellowship of our Triune God.

Since God is committed to making himself great, his promises of a restoration are sure. The Father will continue to make much of his Son and the Son will make much of his Father. And one day all those whom the Son has purchased will be presented holy and blameless before the Father. Not only will we be glorified but creation itself will be fully subjected to the authority of the Son who will restore all things for the glory of the Father.

When all is said and done, it is obvious that we were not created unto ourselves to bask in our frail, finite-selfworth, but rather we were created for nothing less than an infinite triune God who has rescued us from our damnable self-interest and has made us alive unto Himself.

Therefore, take joy in that which God takes joy in, God.

Vision and Mission