Many think doctrine is only for theologians.  Some think only the more mature, or only pastors and college professors are interested in the deeper truths of scripture.  In fact, everyone should want to know as much about God as possible.  Our culture is tweeting, singing and shooting sitcoms about God all the time.  It’s time the church studied up.  It’s time we know what we believe and behave like we believe it.

Our core beliefs inform our daily actions.  Nucleus – a new series about Wesleyan core beliefs will be available July 15, 2010 and it is free to all.  Go to HeadHeartHand.com and find 4 weeks of sermons; lessons for children, youth and adults; power point, etc. featuring this complimentary resource for you.  Nucleus is designed to help every man, woman and child know more about God and what He expects from our lives.  Over the next several years,  this annual series will walk through the Wesleyan 21 Articles of Religion found in The Wesleyan Discipline. The Holy Trinity is the first topic of doctrine in this series.  Nucleus is designed to help your community understand, clarify and defend our core beliefs through the eyes of heaven.

One of the foundational beliefs of Christianity, which sets it apart from all other belief systems and religious cults, is the truth that Jesus is truly God.  In no way does Jesus play a supporting role to the Father and the Holy Spirit.  He is fully God, just as they are, an equal member of The Trinity.

The core doctrine of The Trinity is important if you want to know who God is and what His character is like.  This doctrine should intersect with our daily lives so we can know the true nature of the God of heaven.  When the word “trinity” doesn’t exist in the Bible, why should we believe in the Holy Trinity?  Who all or what all is in the Holy Trinity?  Is Jesus Christ God?  How does learning about the doctrine of The Trinity relate to my daily, workaday choices?  All of these issues and more are important and if we fail to teach about what the Bible says about The Trinity, how will our people know what to believe when someone else rattles on about who they think God is from their vantage point.

The doctrine of The Trinity is simply that there is one eternal being of God – indivisible and infinite.  This one being of God is shared by three coequal, co-eternal persons:  the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  The reason we should learn about and engage our lives with The Trinity is because we should all want to know more about God.  What is He like?  How does He operate in heaven and on earth?  If He is in heaven today, how can He be “with me” here on the earth as well?

Children and teens are never too young to learn Christian doctrine.  In fact, the earlier we engage our kids in Christ-like beliefs and behavior, the better they will retain their faith later.  Think about it.  Our youth need to know how to defend what they say they believe.  Plain and simple, they want to know what is true and what is not.  They desire to understand where the lines are about God, themselves, others, and the world in which we all participate.  They have questions similar to ours like:

• Does God exist?
• Is Jesus really God?
• Is God the Father the “mean” one and Jesus the Son the “cool” one?
• When I hear the term “Holy Spirit,” does that mean God is a ghost like Casper?
• All of this talk about “spirits” sounds pretty weird and creepy to me.
• If the word “trinity” is not in the Bible, should I believe in it?
• This three in One stuff about The Trinity – can you explain this concept in simple terms I can understand?

These issues and more are what our children face on a day-to-day basis when exposed to other theories, stories, movies, and legends.  We need to be intentional to teach the truth of the Bible to them so they will know how to decipher truth and defend their faith in Jesus Christ and the Word.  Nucleus 2010 will help you do this through your Adult, Children’s, and Youth Ministries by providing life-transforming lessons for kids and teens on the doctrine of The Trinity.

Join in presenting the Nucleus series focused on God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit this year.  Why?

• God is a relational God – in The Trinity and even with each of us.
• God is a loving God as is readily seen in the three persons of The Trinity.
• God is gracious – look at the grace of God as seen in His activity in the Bible as well as today.
• God is the Creator, the Savior and the Sustainer of all of life.
• Every aspect of being a follower of Jesus Christ flows from knowing Who God is!
• The God who is revealed in Scripture and who lived among us in Jesus Christ exists as a loving community of grace in three distinct persons.
• This triune God has invited each of us in relationship with Himself to participate in this eternal culture of grace.
• Every Jesus follower needs the power of The Trinity to be at work in their lives on a daily basis.  Being Christlike involves an intentional public, personal, and sacred commitment to living as Jesus’ disciples who are being transformed into His image in all aspects of our lives as we learn to obey His commands.   We need God’s presence to live this way.
• God-honoring people are formed into the likeness of Jesus by the direct work of the Holy Spirit.  Only He has the ability to truly change lives.  We need His power to be transformed and conformed into the image of Christ as the Spirit indwells, fills, guides, gifts, and empowers people for life in the church and in the world.

Dr. Jim Dunn
General Director, Spiritual Formation Dept. of The Wesleyan Church

Tags: doctrine, nucleus, theology

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