We've been thinking this week on things unseen about the doctrine of the Trinity, and I've

been trying to explain a little of why it's so important. I've suggested a couple of

times now that I think many Christians see it as a kind of speculative and impractical

doctrine, and I've been trying to say it's the very reverse.

So today I want to try to show in another way why it is so practical, and maybe I can

express it in a kind of in-your-face way by saying, Trinity, the least practical doctrine,

tell that to Jesus. What do I mean? Well when another Christian seems to express a negative

opinion about any Christian doctrine, it's always actually a good pastoral move to say,

did Jesus say anything about this? After all those Christians we understand that we love

and that we trust Jesus, if he believed something then we're called to believe it. If he

thought something was important then surely we should too.

So where does that take us? Well one place it takes us to is the upper room, until the

last few hours before Jesus was arrested, recorded in John chapters 13 through 17. Read

through them sometime, asking yourself these questions, did Jesus think the Trinity is

important? And did Jesus think knowing the Trinity would make any difference to the Christian

life? I think what you'll find in these chapters is a magnificent tapestry of gospel grace

woven from three threads, the work of the Father, the work of the Son, and the work of the

Holy Spirit. These were after all the most sacred hours the disciples had thus far spent

with Jesus, and this was certainly the most profound teaching he'd ever given to them.

He's teaching them what they needed to know in order to live at a time of great crisis.

He was teaching them what was really important, and what he was talking about was the Trinity.

He tells us about his own relationship with the Father and his own relationship with

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