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, as 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 chapter 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.

...