In recent decades we have seen a dramatic increase in online shopping. It doesn’t seem too long ago that most of the goods we purchased were bought in local stores with shop assistants helping us. Especially during the COVID pandemic when people in Australia and across the world were confined to our homes, we began to more and more shop for goods and make purchases online with couriers delivering them to our homes. Now, for a range of reasons, a lot of people prefer to shop online where we can find almost anything we could want and have it sent to us.
There is a complicated supply chain which makes it possible for us to look for almost any item online and have it delivered to our homes or post boxes. If we were to reduce this supply chain to a simple, three-point process, it might be something like this: Firstly, the manufacturer makes the goods. Then, the manufacturer sends the goods to a retailer who makes them available to us. Thirdly, after we purchase the goods online, the retailer sends them to us using a delivery service. Whatever we might be looking for, the manufacturer, retailer and courier all work together so we can receive what we are looking for.
We celebrate Trinity Sunday this week to acknowledge, remember and celebrate the mystery of the one God who reveals himself to us as three persons: the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This belief is specific to the Christian faith and can sometimes be misunderstood or a bit confusing. Without using the words Trinity or Triune God, the Bible in various places reveals the nature of one God who exists as three distinct persons in perfect relationship with each other. This week’s Gospel reading, John 16:12-15, is one of those passages. Jesus gives us insight into how the Triune God is at work when he said that the Spirit of truth
“will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me. All that belongs to the Father is mine; that is why I said, ‘The Spirit will tell you whatever he receives from me.’” (John 16:14,15 NLT)
We can see the three persons of the Trinity clearly in Jesus’ words. Everything that belongs to the Father also belongs to the Son. The Son then passes on what he has received from the Father to us through the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus calls the Spirit of truth.
Based on Jesus’ words, one way we can illustrate the way the Trinity works together to provide for us is using the three-stage supply chain we talked about earlier.
Firstly, we can think about God the Father as being the one who made everything that exists. As the Creator of the universe and everything in it, we can imagine the Father being the ultimate manufacturer who has created and continues to sustain everything that exists.
He gives all this to the Son who says, “all that belongs to the Father is mine” (v14). The Father gives everything to the Son so we can have access to everything we need in our hearts and minds, in a similar way that we can have access to various goods and products online through the retailer. When we go to Jesus in faith, trusting that he has what we are looking for, we can find it all in him.
The Holy Spirit then fulfils the role of the delivery service as he brings the good we are looking for in God from Jesus to us. Jesus promises us that the Spirit of truth “will not speak on his own” but will tell us what he has heard (vv13). It’s significant that Jesus says the Holy Spirit will “speak” to us and “tell” us what he receives from the Son because the main way the Holy Spirit gives us what we need from God is through his Word. All through Scripture, beginning with Genesis 1, there is a close connection between the Word of God and the Spirit of God. John identifies Jesus as the Word of God made flesh in chapter 1:1-14. He continues to talk about the Holy Spirit telling and speaking to us what he receives from Jesus here in verses 13 to 15. The Word of God and the Spirit of God are united in this purpose of bringing all that is the Father’s to us so we can receive the good he wants to give us.
It can be a bit overwhelming to think that God wants to share everything he has with us by giving it to his Son to pass it on to us through the Holy Spirit. The Creator of every good thing wants to fill our lives with his goodness by giving it to his Son who delivers it to us through the Spirit, just like we can receive goods from the manufacturer through the retailer by the courier. Anything and everything we need for life in this world and the next is available for us from the Creator through his Son by the Holy Spirit as they all work together in perfect unity to give us life.
We can see some of the good that the Triune God wants to give us in this week’s New Testament reading, Romans 5:1-5. We can hear Paul telling us that God has provided us with justification, peace, grace, perseverance, character, and a hope that will never disappoint us. Paul writes that we have all this because God has poured his love into our hearts through his gift of the Holy Spirit into our lives. Through his love for us, God gives us a faith which makes us right. God gives us peace with himself, within ourselves and in our relationships with others. God gives us grace to help us grow as his children. God gives us perseverance when we are weary or life is wearing us down, character to help us to what is right and good even when it’s tough or costly, and hope which sustains us in all of life’s circumstances and challenges. Whatever we need for our hearts or minds, our Creator has every good thing. He gives it all to his Son so, as we come to him in faith, the Holy Spirit delivers it to us and fills us with the life-giving goodness of God.
We can find almost anything we might be looking for when we shop online as manufacturers give their goods to retailers who deliver their goods to our home through courier services. As we celebrate Trinity Sunday, Jesus tells us that our heavenly Father has everything we need for life in this world and the next. Our Creator has given everything to his Son so when we come to him in faith, we can find what we need in him. He delivers it all to us through the Holy Spirit who couriers it to us so we can receive it by faith. The Trinity is much more than just a theological way to understand God. It is the divine supply train through which the Father, Son and Holy Spirit work together in perfect unity to provide us with every good thing we need for a full and abundant life in this world and the next.
More to think about or discuss:
- What are some ways you know of which illustrate the relationship of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit as the Triune God?
- What do you think about describing the work of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit as the way God creates, provides and delivers all his goodness to us? Does it help you understand how the Trinity is at work in our lives? Can you explain why…?
- Is there anything from Romans 5:1-5 that will help you in your life? Is there something else you need from God in your life? Spend some time in prayer asking him for it…
Pastor Eugene Online 
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