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Welcome to Day 5 of our look through 2 Corinthians chapter 13. That means our
last day in this chapter, but also our last day in this book. So I want to give
you a great congratulations that you completed this study together with me in
the book of 2 Corinthians and what it has to say to us about how you and I can
survive as servants.

We're going to look at verse 14 today. This is our last day and our last verse
and in many ways we have saved the best for last or God has saved the best for
last for us. Listen to what he has to say in verse 14.

"May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship
of the Holy Spirit be with you all. " You notice in that one verse he talks
about Jesus Christ and God and the Holy Spirit. In this one verse he talks about
the power of God and his Trinity in your life as a servant.

As this book closes, Paul prays for the very power of the Trinity of God to
accomplish these things in our lives. Now, when I say this word Trinity, Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit, I want to take a few minutes to talk about that word
because when you understand that word you understand the power of what Paul is
praying for here. The truth of the Trinity that God is one and yet he is in
three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is to many of us something that
makes us scratch our head.

How can he be one and three at the same time? And I've found that in trying to
make this truth more easily understood sometimes we make the mistake of
diminishing it. The fact that God is a Trinity does not mean that he expresses
himself to us in three different ways at different times.

That greatly lessens this wonderful truth. Jesus and the Holy Spirit and the
Father are all said to be distinct persons within the Godhead and not just
different personalities or activities of God, they're all God. And here we get
in this verse one of the great places where you see, you glimpse the truth of
the Trinity.

It's all throughout the Scripture. Now, we could go through a long study of the
proof of the truth of the Trinity where the Bible talks about Jesus being God
and the Father being God and the Spirit being God. But there are also these
glimpses of the Trinity all throughout the Scripture.

In the Old Testament there are places, four of them, where God speaks of himself
as us. It's not just a I, there's also an us. There's a Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit.

There's one and there's three. You glimpse the truth of the Trinity and the fact
that all three were involved in creation. The Spirit in Genesis 1-2, the Father
said to create in Hebrews 1-2, the Son is said to create in Colossians 1-15.

So who is the God who created us? All is in God, the Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit. God is the creator in him being the Son and the Father and the Spirit.

You glimpse the truth of the Trinity in the way that Jesus taught us to baptize.
We're baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
equally in their names because they are equal. They're one and three and they're
God.

We glimpse the truth of the Trinity in the baptism of Jesus, all three persons
being present there. In the birth announcement of Jesus, all three persons of
the Trinity being present there. We glimpse the truth of the Trinity in the fact
that we're told in the New Testament all three were the power behind Jesus'
resurrection.

John 2-19, Romans 8-11, Acts 3-26, you can look up these verses and find that
all of them were said to be the power of the resurrection because all are God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jesus promises to his disciples this promise in
John 14-16. In that incredible verse, Jesus says he will ask the Father to send
the Spirit.

So here you have the Son asking the Father to send the Spirit into our lives as
believers. And then you have this great glimpse of the truth of the Trinity here
in the way Paul prays at the end of this book. He puts them three alongside of
each other, the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the Holy Spirit, Father,
Son, and Spirit.

Now I know I'm talking about this today, the truth of the Trinity, and I could
say a lot more about it because it is a truth that excites me. But I know that
may not be true for all of you. Some of you are scratching your head and
thinking, "I just want to end this book.

Why are we getting into this deep subject right now at the end of the book? "
Well, Paul brought it up. I didn't.

He is the one who talks about the Trinity at the end of the book. It is a great
opportunity as he talks to us about it to remind ourselves of why this truth is
so important. Why talk about this, the fact that God is Father, Son, and Spirit?

Well, let me tell you two or three reasons why it's so important. First,
theologically, understanding the truth of the Trinity prevents you from adopting
inadequate views of God. It prevents you from seeing Jesus and the Spirit as
less than God, or from seeing Jesus and the Father as exactly the same, or from
thinking that there are three gods, or maybe more rather than just one.

One of our inevitable temptations as human beings is to see God as less than who
he really is. The truth of the Trinity helps us to resist that temptation, to
realize God is greater than I can even imagine. I can even totally comprehend in
my human thinking.

He's above and beyond who I am. So theologically, it's important. Personally,
the truth of the Trinity is important because it's a reminder of the majesty and
the mystery of the God who gave Himself for you on the cross.

Think about this with me. You trust the truth of the Trinity when you ask for
salvation. The Bible tells us that it's the Spirit who convicted you.

That's the only reason you knew to ask for salvation, that it's the Son who
sacrificed for you. That's the only reason you can request salvation as He gave
His life on the cross. And it's the Father who gave the Son, John 3.

16. Anytime you say, anyone says in this world, "I want to begin a relationship
with Jesus Christ. I want to begin a relationship with you, God," they may not
totally understand the truth of the Trinity yet.

You don't have to totally understand this truth in order to be saved, but you're
trusting that truth because that's the truth that's behind your salvation. In
fact, you're trusting the truth of the Trinity every time you pray. The Bible
tells us in Romans 8.

26 that it's the Spirit who communicates to our lives. He's the one who
actually, when I pray, takes my words and puts even more faith to them. That
verse talks about even in my groanings, He puts words to them.

In Romans 8. 34, we're told that it's Jesus who intercedes for us. He's sitting
at the right hand of the Father interceding for us, "Father, this is what they
really need.

This is what I would say needs to happen in their lives. " And we're told in
John 16. 23 that it's the Father who answers.

Every time you pray, you've got the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all on your
side working for you, making that prayer even greater than the prayer that you
prayed. That's how powerful this truth is. We trust the truth of the Trinity
theologically and personally, but we also trust it relationally.

The Trinity shows us that God in His very essence is relational. Even before He
created us, He was in perfect relationship in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God
did not need to create you to create me in order to have someone to relate to
because He already had the perfect relationship in the Trinity.

And our ability to relate to one another, to enjoy relationships with one
another, that grows out of God's relational, perfect relational nature. And this
person who exists as a Trinity created you, created me for the purpose of
getting to know you, having a relationship with you. God loves you more than you
can possibly imagine.

And I'm not going to let any of us accept the lazy thinking that the truth of
the Trinity is simply a matter of dry theological discussion or biblical
argument. We're talking about getting to know the depths of the one who loves
you more than anyone else. And I want you to know, to really know God, to deepen
your relationship with Him.

And in order to know that, you need to know that He exists as a Trinity. I
relate to Him as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And Paul comes to that at the end
of this book.

He says, "What does it take to survive as a servant? You've got all you need.
You've got the Father.

You've got the Son. You've got the Spirit. " Paul tells us that the very power
of the Trinity is there for you as God's servant.

And he makes it very specific. How are you going to survive as God's servant?
You've got the grace of Jesus.

You have the love of God. You have the fellowship of the Spirit. So that's what
you depend upon today as God's servant.

What do you do today? You live in grace. You live in the grace of Jesus.

He has forgiven me. He has given me a gift that no one else could give in
forgiveness and in life. You live in grace, but you also share grace.

That's what servants do. They pass it along. You share God's grace with somebody
else.

You let somebody else know. Experience the forgiveness, the grace of God through
your life. How are you going to survive as a servant today?

You survive in the love of God. So today you realize, "I am immersed in the love
of God. There is nothing that I can do that could keep God from loving me today.

It's impossible to separate myself from the love of God as His servant. " So you
live in the love of God, and then you share the love of God. You let someone
else know about it.

Because the love of God in your life, you do something in somebody else's life.
What do you do today as God's servant? You live in the fellowship of the Spirit.

Today you realize that no matter what anyone else says about you or thinks about
you, you have a relationship with God through His Spirit that can never be taken
from you. No matter how close you feel to others or how maybe distant you feel
right now, even from God you might feel distant. The truth is you have the
fellowship of the Spirit.

God sent His Spirit into your life, and you can live in vital relationship with
Him today. You can talk to Him right now. You can listen for Him right now.

You can just sit in His presence and get His comfort right now. He wants to
comfort you. You live in the fellowship of the Spirit, but then you also share
the fellowship of the Spirit.

You share those same things with somebody else, that same relationship that God
has with you. You want to survive as God's servant? You have all you need in the
Trinity of God.

You've got the grace of Jesus. You've got the love of God. You've got the
fellowship of the Spirit.

Our Father, we thank You for this book, 2 Corinthians, and thank You that You by
Your Spirit led Paul to write down these words about his life of serving You and
his challenge to the Corinthians to serve, even in difficult times. Lord, as we
end this book, remind us daily, there is no circumstance that can keep us from
serving. There is no circumstance in which we cannot find this grace and love
and fellowship that we need from Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

And so today, just today, one day at a time, we pray that You'd help us to
survive and to thrive as Your servants, to survive because we're trusting in
You, whatever the circumstance, and to thrive because we're loving others,
whatever the circumstance. We ask this in the name of Jesus, amen. Well this
ends our study of 2 Corinthians, everyone, and I want to encourage you very much
to stay with us for our next study, if you're listening regularly with us in
Drive Time Devotions, or you might want to go to drivetimedevotions.

com, just one word, drivetimedevotions. com, and there you can find a lot of
other studies and pick maybe the book that you want to do next. Either way, I am
very grateful that we're able to study God's Word together.

We'll see you for the next study.