Trinity Sunday

Posted on June 24, 2025 by Pastor Foley

We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. (Romans 5:3-4)

In the gospel, God has been revealed to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and we are held accountable for proclaiming the gospel. Jesus requires us to preach the gospel, not to explain who God is. It is not that we understand God, but that He has been revealed to us.

Some pastors try to explain the Trinity using sources that are not in scripture. If there is something in the Bible that is not explained to us, we do not need to add information there or strive to explain what we feel is an omission.

Other pastors err on the other extreme. They claim that “Trinity” is an extrabiblical term and that the creeds were created during a time when Greek philosophy was infecting church thought.

Notice, however, that the creeds do not use the word “Trinity” either. They use the biblical words “Father”, “Son”, and “Holy Spirit”. We do not preach “the Trinity”. We preach “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit”. We do not preach the creeds either. We preach the gospel. But the creeds contain the information from the scriptures which ensures that we preach the gospel according to the scripture.

Unprovenanced,6th-7th century AD, ink on pottery. Inscription: Creed of Nicea-Constantinople. “Nicene Creed on a potsherd” by Nick Thompson, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

The creeds were actually formed throughout history as inoculations against heretics who were infecting the church with Greek philosophy. The church fathers carefully searched the scriptures to discern scriptural truth in such situations. The creeds specify what we can, and must, say about God and about the relationship between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit when we are preaching the gospel. The creeds did not originate from people trying to use Greek philosophy to explain God and the gospel, but from people trying to prevent the church from being affected by those who attempted to do so.

The creeds help us to discern what the scripture says–and doesn’t say–about God and the gospel. For example, the creeds help us to know that we cannot say that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three gods. We cannot say that the Holy Spirit is merely the power of God and not fully God. Of course, these are simple examples of unorthodox teaching, but the creeds also help us to discern truth from the more subtle kinds of wrong teachings that are less glaringly unorthodox and which more easily make their way into the church.

For example, these days, some pastors will sometimes wrongly say, “On the cross, the Father poured out the Father’s wrath on the Son.” There is an inseparability of operations between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; they do everything together. There is not a division of labor within God. In order to divide labor, God would have to be divided. But God is one being and each fully God because God does not have parts.

“I and the Father are one.” (John 10:30)

Because God does not have parts, the operations of God are inseparable. God’s work is indivisible because God is always working together. All God’s work is the work of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There is no rank within God and no varying levels of authority. They share one authority. And none of them came first. They do not have different wills. They share one will. And they are co-eternal.

However, the scripture and the creeds show that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinct from each other in two ways.

The first way is their relationship. The Son is eternally begotten of the Father. He is not created by the Father. I did not make my son, Trevor. I begat him. He is “of the same being”—human being—as I am. It is the same with God. Dogs beget dogs, cats beget cats, humans beget humans, and God begets God. The creed says that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. This means also that he is not created by the Father and the Son. He is fully God: poured out by the Father and the Son from their substance and being.

The second way the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinct is the way that they act. The Father acts from himself. The Son acts from the Father. The Holy Spirit acts from the Father and the Son. But they do not act by themselves, and their actions are indivisible. They share a single will. If the Son and the Holy Spirit did not have a will, they would not be God.

So, if we ask, “Who created the world?” scripture says that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit acted inseparably to create the world. We don’t say, “The Father decided to create and he told the Son and the Holy Spirit what to do,” because they share one will. The decision to create belongs to all of them.

Where Christians sometimes get confused is that although God has one will, when Christ becomes incarnate, because he becomes human, he also has a human will. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t be fully human. He would just be God in a human shell.

So, Christ has two wills: He has a divine will which he shares with the Father and the Holy Spirit. And he has his human will which is in full agreement with his divine will because he has no sin.

““Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”” (Luke 22:42)

It takes time for us to think like this, but it is important for us to get it right. But it is what God teaches us about Himself.

“It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me.” (John 6:45)

So, the way we learn these things is not by going to seminary, but by being taught by God directly as we read the scripture.

The creeds help us from making scary mistakes as we read the scripture. They help us from saying things like, “The Father poured out his wrath on the Son”. Because God has one will, he has one wrath. It is the wrath of God against godliness.

On the cross, it is not the wrath of the Father which rests on the Son, but the wrath of God because the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are always acting together. If we get this wrong, we will end up with a really bad picture of the Father. We will end up thinking that the Father is wrathful and the Son is merely a very small sacrifice for sin and we won’t know who the Spirit is.

The wrath of God is the wrath of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit against all ungodliness. The mercy of God is the mercy of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They share the same love and mercy for creation and for saving us.

Understanding this helps us to understand Romans 5.

“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”

In the first four chapters of Romans, Paul does two things.

The first is that he makes clear who Jesus Christ is.

“regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, 4 and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 1:3-4)

Christ being our Lord means not only that Jesus was resurrected from the dead but that he was raised up to the highest heaven where he sits on the throne of God and rules creation together with His Father. So, Jesus is much more than a sacrifice for sin.

Jesus has triumphed over all of the powers which tried to rebel against God. So now they must all obey him. And, even when they try to rebel against him, they end up accomplishing his purpose. He is the all-powerful Lord of heaven and earth.

The second thing Paul makes clear in Romans 1-4 is humanity’s total moral collapse.

No one is good. No one seeks God. All humans have come under the complete domination of sin and death. We are all servants of sin, the death, and the devil. We are all soldiers fighting for them in the war against God.

As a result, all of us are under the wrath of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And God will soon execute judgment against all humans through his appointed agent: the Messiah, the Lord Jesus. He will dissolve the entire creation and he will condemn all people to the lake of fire.

So, when Paul writes in Romans 5:1, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” Paul is not saying that if we believe in Jesus in our heart we can gain personal peace. Paul is saying that Jesus has freed us from our slavery to sin, death, and satan. That is what peace means. It is not a feeling in our heart. It is a rescue from the destruction of God that is coming upon the present age.

When Paul says that this has brought us peace from God, don’t misread that is “peace with the Father.” It wasn’t the Father’s wrath which the Son bore. It was the wrath of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit which was born by flesh-and-blood Messiah, Jesus, God’s appointed agent of His people Israel. Jesus bore that wrath bodily. The peace he has won for you is much greater than peace in your heart.

“through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.” (Romans 5:2)

Notice it does not say “we rejoice in the forgiveness of sins” or “we rejoice that we go to heaven when we die” it says something far greater. We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Where we now stand, because of our baptism into the death of our Lord Jesus, is in Christ. Because we are in Christ, we are in God. And we will receive the full glory of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. What Christ wins for us is the glory of the triune God.

Because the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have all things in common, what we receive by being in Christ is all things. We receive the throne of God itself.

“To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne.” (Romans 3:21).

This is why the Apostle Paul tells the Corinthians that their fights and factions are foolishness. He rebukes them:

“So then, no more boasting about human leaders! All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.” (1 Corinthians 3:21-23)

When we hear this, we usually fall into one of two wrong ways of thinking.

First, we can think “Wow, I am in Christ, so my suffering is over and I will never face any more difficulties in my life.” Second, we can think, “Christ is Lord over heaven and earth, but he hasn’t gained victory over his enemies yet. He will do that one day.”

But Romans 5:3-5 refutes this:

“Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” (Romans 5:3-5)

Why would we rejoice in our sufferings? Because we have been made one with Christ in baptism, the pattern of Christ’s life is now the pattern of our life. Just as the Holy Spirit came on Christ to preach the gospel, so the Holy Spirit has come upon us to preach the gospel. So the suffering that Christ experienced when he proclaimed the gospel is the same suffering that we experience when we proclaim the gospel.

The time between Christ’s ascension and return is not needed in order for Christ to defeat his remaining enemies. Christ already defeated his enemies! But he offers mercy to those enemies who have rebelled against him. He wants them to repent and be saved.

Because we were once enemies of God, we should be quite happy that God has given us this time for repentance. If we didn’t have this time, we would be in the lake of fire with everyone else.

During this time, Christ puts his enemies to work to accomplish his purposes. Christ not only works through his disciples, but through His enemies. They no longer have the power to destroy or even delay of the work of God. They are like attack dogs on a short chain in the hand of the Lord Jesus. His enemies are still able to deceive, try to accomplish their plans, etc. But all of their plans only end up accomplishing Jesus’ will.

Because we know this, we boast when we suffer. We confidently face all suffering and opposition with no fear. When we truly know that Christ is Lord, we are no longer worried. No matter how bad things look, we know that Christ is accomplishing his purposes through everything. This produces perseverance in us, the perseverance produces character, and the character produces hope. And this hope does not disappoint.

In Romans 5:1-5, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all at work to accomplish this amazing salvation.

When Christ gives you his body and blood, he is giving you much more than forgiveness. He is giving you the certain hope of the glory of God. He is giving us an invitation to sit on the throne with him. At your life, in this time, all you see is suffering and difficulty. But, just like Abraham and Christ, we continue to hold firmly to the promise that he gave us. He has promised us the hope of the glory of God in Himself.

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Jesus’ ascension: The center of our life, hope, confidence, and faith

Posted on June 10, 2025 by Pastor Foley

It’s important to know where a story ends. If you end the story too early, you can miss the point.

The Ascension of Christ by artist Hans von Kulmbach (1480-1522).

This is true with any story, but it is especially true with the Easter story. If we end it in the wrong place, it can make us sad, worried, or hopeless. But when we end the story of Easter in the right place, we will always be overjoyed. In fact, living a life of joy regardless of the circumstances and environment is proof that we have truly understood how the Easter story ends.

Interestingly, in the Bible, Easter does not end with Jesus coming out of the tomb and celebrating with his disciples. He appears to his disciples over a period of forty days and then ascends to heaven.

Jesus’ ascension to heaven is not just the end of the Easter story, it is actually the climax of the entire Bible and of all history. Jesus’ ascension is prophesied throughout the Old Testament and is also frequently prophesied by Jesus himself and recorded in the Gospels. Throughout the rest of the New Testament, Jesus’ ascension and entry into heaven is frequently found as a central topic.

Jesus’ ascension should be at the center not only of the Bible, but also at the center of our life, hope, confidence, and faith.

Why?

We can find the answer at the cross.

On the cross, Jesus defeated all of God’s enemies and has been given all power. We can see this clearly in Colossians and Revelation.

“He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.” (Colossians 2:15)

“She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days. Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.” (Revelation 12:10)

“who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.” (1 Peter 3:22)

“Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” (Matthew 28:18)

Jesus is not just “Lord of our hearts”. The Father has given the Son authority over all things in creation. Jesus has authority over the weather, economy, life, death, angels, human, present, future, and power over every molecule in all creation. All of these are now under the authority of Jesus Christ since his ascension. All of these things directly serve his plans and purpose, whether they want to or not.

“Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice,

“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”” (Revelation 5:11-13).

The first thing Jesus does after receiving all authority is to send out four horsemen which affect the world’s economy, people’s health, and many other things in the world.

These days, more and more Christians are teaching and being taught that Jesus will defeat his enemies in the future and that, when he ascended, he departed and put the church in charge of the work. They wrongly think that it is the church’s job to defeat Christ’s enemies with Jesus merely providing help from heaven.

They wrongly understand Psalm 110:1

“The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” (Psalm 110:1)

They teach that Christ is waiting for us to make his enemies his footstool and for us to elect Christian officials which will effect Christian laws and Christianize the nations so that Jesus can come back from heaven.

But Christ’s enemies being made his footstool does not mean that Christ has not already conquered his enemies. That is why Psalm 110:2 says this:

“The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies!” (Psalm 110:2).

The reason there is a period of time between Christ’s ascension into heaven and his return to earth is because Christ is offering mercy to the enemies whom he has conquered. He invites them to surrender and acknowledge that he is Lord so that they might yet repent, believe, and be saved.

We ourselves were Christ’s enemies, but, as Paul says in Romans 10:9, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” And so we were saved.

The confession that saves us is not “I believe Jesus died for my sins so that I can go to heaven when I die.” The confession that saves us is “I believe that all power in heaven and earth is now in the hands of the living Lord Jesus. I believe that nothing happens except by his permission and according to his purpose. Jesus Christ is Lord.” This and this alone is the confession that saves, according to the Apostle Paul.

At the present time, even though the enemies of the Lord Jesus are trying to oppose him, they are actually carrying out his purposes just as effectively as the Lord Jesus’ friends. Even Satan and Satan’s angels are like attack dogs that are held on a chain that is held by the Lord Jesus. They are still able to deceive and are given power by the Lord Jesus to carry out their plans. But, no matter how much they try to deceive, destroy, and rebel against the will of the Lord Jesus, they only end up fulfilling the will of the Lord Jesus and end up destroying themselves in the process.

In scripture, we see the Lord Jesus working through shipwrecks, imprisonments, disciples losing their homes, jobs, and even their lives. Through all of these things, the plans and purpose of the Lord Jesus are never destroyed or even delayed by His enemies.

But doesn’t the Lord’s work get done more effectively when Christians are in charge of the government and can influence the law to be more in line with Christian values?

I would ask you this: Where is the church growing faster today; North Korea or South Korea? The answer is North Korea. Even though North Korea is the worst persecutor of Christians in the world, the church is growing faster there than it is in South Korea, where the church has not had a year of growth since 1989.

In fact, when we look at the places around the world where the church is growing fastest today, almost all of them are places where Christianity is restricted and Christians are persecuted or even martyred. And in places where there is the most religious freedom, like the U.S. and Europe, the church is in decline.

Does that mean Christian governments and religious freedom are bad? Of course not. But it does mean that the Lord’s work does not rely on states, governments, laws, and politics in order to be effective.

The scripture tells us that the present form of the world is passing away. Things like our bodies, governments, health, etc. are passing away. The Lord Jesus tells us not to put our trust in these things, but to trust in him alone. His plan is not to send us out as a Christian army to make this world live according to Christian values. He certainly does not promise us worldly wealth and prosperity in this life and heaven as a final reward.

Instead, he promises us something much greater.

He promises us a new heaven and new earth on which he will live together with us. He will live in his resurrected body and we will live with him in our resurrected bodies.

That is why the ascension scripture ends with this verse:

“Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:11)

He will return just as he left. He didn’t leave his body behind and ascend as a spirit. He ascended on the clouds. And these clouds are not ordinary clouds. These clouds are the presence of God in physical form.

Jesus ascended to the throne room in the highest heaven. He was given all authority in heaven and earth. And, when he comes again, he will bring the new heavens and new earth with him and make his home among us. That is the great and final promise of scripture and it is the promise that is guaranteed by his ascension.

Christians often wrongly say, “We are the hands and feet of Jesus and we complete the work that he left behind”. But he didn’t leave any work behind. So what do we do?

The Lord already provided the answer in Acts 1:8. We are His witnesses. And, as his witnesses, we testify to the world of who Jesus is and what he does. We testify to the rulers of this world that they serve only because the Lord Jesus permits them to. We testify to all people that the Lord Jesus holds all power in heaven and on earth now and forevermore. And we live a life that confidently reflects that belief.

Faith is not just that you believe that Jesus died for your sins. Faith means that you confess that the Lord Jesus holds all authority in heaven and on earth even today.

And, until his return, we should expect to suffer for our faithful witness. In Acts 14:22, the disciples encouraged each other, saying that, “through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God”.

The Lord Jesus does not promise that the enemies of God will not be able to harm or even kill us. Our testimony that Jesus is even now King of Kings and Lord of Lords may cost us our lives, but on the day when the Lord returns, our testimony will be revealed as true.

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96 Year-Old Persecuted North Korean Christian Says that Enduring Persecution is God’s Work

Posted on May 27, 2025 by tdillmuth

“Who’s in charge?” the Communist soldiers shouted as they brandished a sickle before a small group of North Korean believers. The believers were gathered outside of a small church in a mountainous village in South Pyongan Province, North Korea while other village members watched cautiously.

A young preacher stepped forward and the soliders instructed him to put his neck under the sickle. As the preacher bent down to put his head under the sharp blade, an elder of the church, with a white beard stepped forward. “This young man should not die. I will die in his place,” the elder said. The preacher objected, but the elder once again said that he should be the one to die.

The soliders were shocked. One of them said, “Everyone asks for their life. But both of you are willing to die. You are the only ones who are willing to die for what you belive.” Confused, the soldiers walked away.

One of the village members who witnessed this event, was a frightened 12 year old girl. Now 96 years old, Mrs. Lee will never forget what happened in the village that she lived before the Korean war. Although the Kim regime had not yet been established, Communist soldiers were already actively persecuting Christians across North Korea. The details are forever etched in her memory. 

Although not a Christian at the time of that persecution, the Lord continued to work in her heart in other ways. Her uncle, an NK Christian, gave her a Bible and a hymn book and told her that she must believe in Jesus. Her grandmother, also a Christian, preached the gospel over the mountain passes as she traveled through North Korea. The Lord used her family members to plant the seed of the gospel in her heart, which would eventually sprout to full maturity shortly after she came to South Korea.

Enduring Persecution in South Korea

Since Mrs. Lee wasn’t a Christian inside of North Korea, she was never persecuted for her faith in the ways that many North Korean Christians are.  But after becoming a Christian, she was persecuted in an unlikely place—South Korea—from an unlikely source . . . her husband.

Caption: When Mrs. Lee received her first Bible from her uncle many years ago, she couldn’t read well and became very frustrated. She’s thankful that the Lord opened both her physical eyes and spiritual eyes to be able to read and understand God’s Word. 

During the Korean war, like so many North Koreans, Mrs. Lee, her husband and her two children fled to South Korea. She was only 22 years old when she left North Korea, but she had already been married for 7 years. After coming to South Korea, she and her husband had five additional children.

But Mrs. Lee’s husband did not approve of her new faith in Christ. Not only did he not approve, he was willing to do almost anything to stop her from going to church.

Mrs. Lee recounts that her husband would cut off her hair, hide her clothes and severly beat her in order to discourage her from going to church. She remembers one particular time when she was sitting on the floor feeding their baby that he hit her so hard that she was knocked over violently. He did this so that he could grab her bag, where she was hiding her Bible. He threw the whole bag into the stove and burned it.

Her husband used to beat her so severely that her face was often extremely bruised and swollen. During those difficult times, Mrs. Lee reminded herself that if she suffered persecution, she would have a crown. In fact, every time she was beaten she would imagine another crown appearing on the spot where her husband had beaten her.

One night, when Mrs. Lee was participating in a late-night prayer meeting at her church, her husband came in, looking for her. But in his confusion, he mistook a different woman for Mrs. Lee and dragged this other woman out of the church and beat her in the church yard. The woman just happened to be the wife of the head of the village. When Mrs. Lee’s husband found out that he had just beaten the wife of the village leader, he was afraid of what would happen to him. But the woman he beat did not tell her husband, instead enduring the beating for the sake of Mrs. Lee.

This was the event that changed his life dramatically. Mrs. Lee’s husband immediately stopped beating her and even started going to church. He allowed Mrs. Lee and the children to go to church whenever they wanted. And after many years, he finally surrended his life to Christ shortly before he died.

Still in Ministry at 96 Years-Old

Mrs. Lee survived war, plague, and persecution. But she also experienced various personal tragedies incling the the death of 4 of her 7 children. She remembers that after the death of one of her children, someone asked her if she would still believe in Jesus.  Mrs. Lee replied, “My children were given to me by God, and God is the one who has taken them away. I will not leave Jesus no matter what!”

Even though Mrs. Lee is now 96 years old, she continues sharing about Jesus with whomever she meets. When we first met her, we expected our North Korean Underground University (UU) students to minister to her. Our students are training to be missionaries to their own people, so when they met Mrs. Lee their immediate thought was to evangelize and disciple her. But our students, even though they are in their 60s and 70s, became like children as they listened to Mrs. Lee share about her life.  And Mrs. Lee not only shared about her life, she also encouraged the UU students never to take their faith lightly.

Caption: Mrs. Lee leads the UU students in a hymn.

She charged them to tell their family members and neighbors about Jesus. And at one point, Mrs. Lee lurched forward, and pointed her finger at one of our UU students and said, “You have to evangelize your children!”  At Mrs. Lee’s admonition, the UU student’s heart was almost visibly pierced as she sat back and shouted in agreement, “Ahh! Okay!”. The UU student immediately thought of her son who is an animist and opposes Christianity.

Mrs. Lee reminded the students that when persecution comes, the only way we can endure hardship and persecution is by holding on to God. She said that we should pray, “God, do it!”.

Our UU students were both challenged and thankful to meet a 96-year-old North Korean great-grandmother, a living witness who has saw “tribulations, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, and the sword.” She was able to testify witness that nothing is “able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:35, 39).

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