It’s Trinity Sunday and that means we’re talking about this great mystery that is difficult for us to understand. I was tempted to just give this sermon…
The Holy Trinity: Three in one, one in three. Got it? Amen.
The real problem is that we really can’t understand what it means that God is one in three, and three in one. It’s a mystery beyond our understanding. I guess the real problem is that we have nothing to compare it to. The CPH book 3-in-1 makes a stab at it and it might help but it’s not perfect either.
I’ve found, when trying to understand the things of God it’s best to remember and talk about what we’ve learned already.
Turn to page 322 in your hymnal. There you’ll find the Apostle’s creed and Martin Luther’s explanation of each article. The Apostle’s creed is an important document for Christians. It’s how we’ve been confessing what we believe about the Trinity for centuries. So today, on Trinity Sunday, it’s a good time to review. Let’s read the first article together.
The First Article - Creation I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. What does this mean? I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still takes care of them. He also gives me clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, animals, and all I have. He richly and daily provides me with all that I need to support this body and life. He defends me against all danger and guards and protects me from all evil. All this He does only out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me. For all this it is my duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him. This is most certainly true.First, we should notice that we confess together, and call God our Father. This is a good place to start with Father’s Day a few short weeks away. What we have here is the first part of the Trinity. We may not understand exactly what that means but we can understand what it means that God is our Father. Just as our earthly fathers are supposed to provide for us, we confess that we believe that our Heavenly Father provides us with everything we need: Body, soul, eyes, ears all my members, reason and senses… etc. clothing shoes, food drink… I really don’t think Luther left anything out. God provides all these things to us, everything necessary for us to live, and work and play. I think the important phrase here though is “and still take care of them.” He’s not just a father that gives and forgets; He’s the Father that gives and keeps on giving! Just think, the bed you slept in last night, the food you ate for breakfast, the chair you are sitting in right now, all gifts from a loving Father. And the best thing about this Father is that He is the Almighty One, the One who created everything. It’s all His to give.
We also confess that He protects us from harm and danger. Again, just as our earthly fathers are supposed to do, God our Father, does. Again, it’s a picture that we can understand. So maybe this trinity isn’t all that difficult to understand after all.
What about the second article? Let’s read it.
The Second Article - Redemption [I believe] in Jesus Christ, His-only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead. What does this mean? I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord, who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death, that I may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity. This is most certainly true.Well, this is the center point of our faith isn’t it? It’s all about Jesus Christ. We are Christians we are believers in Jesus, the Christ. The Second part of the Trinity, the Second Person of the Trinity will, is Jesus Christ. And right here in the creed we have the whole story about what He did for us: Born, lived, suffered, died, raised again to life, ascended into heaven, and coming again. And Luther tells us what it’s all for. He redeemed me a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death and the power of the devil; Think of the Gospel reading for today, John 3:16. It is the most famous passage in the whole bible and part of what Jesus said to Nicodemus in the Gospel lesson for today. We could all even say it together even if we’ve never memorized a single verse of the bible, I’ll be we know this one “for God so loved the world…” That’s what we’re confessing here, too.
You all know that we had to be saved. The problem with people is that we don’t have the relationship with God that we should have. Adam and Eve had it, we don’t. Adam, when he was first created loved God perfectly. Everything God wanted him to do he did. Everything God didn’t want him to do he didn’t even think about doing. Adam had a perfect relationship with Eve. They loved each other perfectly. Everything he said and did was for her perfect benefit as well as his own. But all those relationships were broken when Adam and Eve decided that they wanted to be God for themselves. They broke off their relationship with God, and as a result the broke also their relationship with each other. Every human being that was born after was born into that same broken relationship. The things we do, that we call sins, are just the symptoms of the disease we all have because of our broken relationship. Just like the pox are not the disease of Monkey Pox they are only the symptom. Just like that disease leads to death, sin – a broken relationship with God always leads to death. We need to be saved from death.
When we confess all these things about what Jesus did, we are talking about what God did to restore our relationship with himself. Jesus, who is fully God and at the same time fully human (another mysterious thing that’s difficult for us to understand), lived a life in perfect relationship with God and everyone else. He did what we should have done. He didn’t suffer from the sickness of sin, like we do. He didn’t deserve to die, like we do. But He did. He died instead of us. He died in our place. Romans 5:8 says "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." That’s what forgiveness is, a restoration of a relationship. That’s forgiveness with God. That’s forgiveness with each other. Think about it. You know what it means when you forgive someone who has hurt you. They’re your friend again. You can do all the things you used to do together. The hurt is gone, and it doesn’t make trouble between you anymore. That’s what God does by forgiving us too. He takes all the hurt of sin, our broken relationship, and hangs it on the cross in Jesus.
He does it so we can be friends again.
That’s what the Christian faith is all about. That’s what we confess when we talk about the second person of the Trinity.
But there is still one part left. You see, after all that God has done, He still does more!
Let’s look at the third article and read it:
The Third Article - Sanctification I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. What does this mean? I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith. In the same way He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. In this Christian church He daily and richly forgives all my sins and the sins of all believers. On the Last Day He will raise me and all the dead, and give eternal life to me and all believers in Christ. This is most certainly true.In this part of the creed, we talk about not just the Holy Spirit, but also, we talk about ourselves. Look at how Luther begins his description talking about who we are. I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; You see, despite what many Christians believe (even some Lutherans!) our faith isn’t due to anything we do. It isn’t something I figure out and believe, it’s not something I become convinced of and believe. Luther makes it clear that faith is a gift of God, worked in us completely by the Holy Spirit.
Some Christians insist that we must “accept” Jesus or “decide” to follow Him. “He has done his part, and we do our part.” But we confess complete and total reliance on God for our salvation. When we say these words, we confess that we don’t meet God halfway… the Holy Spirit gently calls us to faith.
These days, too, many people are focused on the Holy Spirit. They look for churches where they think they can “feel” the Spirit working. But unfortunately, what they find may not be the Holy Spirit at all. You see, He’s a background player. He works behind the scenes. If a church focuses on the work of the Holy Spirit, they are really missing the point. His purpose is to point to Jesus. Often, we think of the Spirit in the form of a dove, but I think another picture would be a hand pointing to the Jesus. When the Spirit is working people are looking at and thinking about Jesus. Hebrews 12:2 “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith…" That’s the Spirit working right there.
You want to see the Spirit at work? You don’t have to go very far. He is working right now, right here! All you must do is look where God promises to be. Right here in God’s word, right here in Holy Communion, right here in Baptism. Anytime you are looking at Jesus, you can be sure that the Holy Spirit is at work in you.
Well, that’s the Trinity. Do I understand what it means that God is three-in-one and one-in-three? Not really. If you get it figured out let me know. The truth is that it isn’t surprising that we don’t understand it, because we are tying to describe the God who was powerful enough to create this whole universe, that we struggle to understand, and God is bigger than that. It’s OK not to understand the Trinity. What’s important for us to know is just what’s been given for us to know. That is, how God works in our lives. The Father – Creator, preserver, provider, protector. Jesus – Savior. The Holy Spirit – Faith giver. Amen.
The peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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