The Holy Trinity - May 30, 2010

The Church Season of Pentecost
The Holy Trinity, One Year Series
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (May 30, 2010)

“How?”

Readings:    
    Psalm 29
    Isaiah 6:1-7
    Romans 11:33-36
    John 3:1-17

Sermon Form    Deductive

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Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God the Father
and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen

The text for today is as recorded in the Gospel Lesson from the 3rd chapter of St. John, especially the following verses.

John 3:1-17 (ESV)

1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” 9 Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” 10 Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? 11 Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. 16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Today is Trinity Sunday and traditionally on Holy Trinity Sunday, the Athanasian Creed is spoken.  Yes, today is that day we proclaim together the Athanasian Creed.  It is a day which some will whisper under their breath, “How can it be? or Lord have Mercy.”  Yet, we do not apologize for stating this creed together.  It succinctly outlines what we believe, it leaves no wiggle room. It is a creed which nails down our beliefs.  It answers exactly who God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are, yet somehow we are still like Nicodemus in our Gospel lesson, hearing the Word of the Lord, yet still not understanding, still asking, “How can it be?” 

The Bible tells us over and over in simple terms what God has done for us and in so doing answers the “How can it be?” questions.  For instance as Simon Peter said, “You are the Christ the Son of the living God.”(Mt. 16:16)  Thomas who upon seeing the resurrected Christ said, “My Lord and my God!”(John 20:28) In Deuteronomy these  words appear, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.”(6:4) Aren't all those statements of belief are very short and to the point?  And if we said just one of them, we could be out of here and on our way to our other Sunday activities very quickly.  How can it be that we have short creeds but we say the long one, you know, we’ve got to get to the lake, or up North or to lunch, can’t we just move this along a bit.  We just need simple truths, in short sermons which make us feel better so we can be on our way.  But we do not do well with simple truths, like Nicodemus we ask “How can a person be born again, when he is old?”(v. 4) 

The answer to the How questions are answered today as we focus upon the Holy Trinity in our worship service.  Yes, the word Trinity is not found in scripture, yet many passages reveal the truth of God the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit.  The reality is that the Trinity surrounds us throughout this worship service.  We invoke the Name of the Trinity as we begin each church service, we confess our sins and the words of forgiveness are spoken in Trinitarian terms.  We speak together, “Glory be to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”  The prayer of the day reflects the Trinity.  We hear God’s words read, we confess a Trinitarian creed, we sing hymns, we pray the Lord’s Prayer, and as we leave this place we do so having been blessed in Trinitarian terms.  And if we look just a bit more closely, I’m sure you will see the Trinity reflected in oh so many more places in our service.  

Yet throughout history there has always been and will always be, those who attack the truth of who God is or how He should be defined.  The nature of the Trinity was attacked when Christ made statements about Himself.  How can God be three in one, one in three, how can we understand that, how, how, how.  The Trinity was attacked throughout the years and centuries after Christ’s death.  And so as each attacks upon the divinity of God mounted, the words of the creeds became longer and longer, almost like a legal contract trying to eliminate misunderstandings, avoid confusion or tie up loopholes.  We can relate to that, contracts used to be a handshake, now they are bound in volumes of paper.

And so if we as Christians end up a real long statement of faith, called the Athanasian Creed, why should we be surprised.  We live in the same fallen world as the people around us, in fact we are those fallen people who are around us.  On this weekend we especially thank all those ho have served and died for this country to keep those rights to speak of our faith.  We thank the faithful martyrs of the faith who died for the faith in the face of all those throughout the centuries who would not honor our beliefs. 

Yet our memories fade and our patience is short.  We have all but forgotten what it is which we believe or how we come to believe in the first place. We are indeed like Nicodemus in our reading today, we have the “how” questions, and God answers us, but we don’t understand the answers.  We face trials, challenges, and attacks on our bodies and minds, and we pray.  And we still say, ‘how come?’, when we pray and we don’t  hear the answer we want, or receive an answer when we want, or we cannot seem to understand the answers we’re given.

And no matter how many answers we’re given, we certainly don’t believe that long creeds will help us in our world, our pain just comes back when we’ve gotten to the end.  How can understanding the Trinity ease my pain, right now, today?  But, the creed does point you to the Christian truth of the Trinity.  For the Holy Trinity, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit reveals to us; the necessity of rebirth through baptism; Jesus, true God and true man in one person; the crucifixion of Jesus which saves all people; the new life of the believer compared with the dead life of the unbeliever; faith saves, unbelief damns; Jesus is the Light of the world.

Yes today we could say we desire to throw out that long verbiage and to get back to the handshake of a short creed a short confession of faith.  So the negotiation begins, how about just the first and last lines of the Athanasian Creed?

“Whoever desires to be saved must, above all, hold the catholic faith, (then skip to the end)

This is the catholic faith; whoever does not believe it faithfully and firmly cannot be saved.”

(LSB pp 319-320) 

But, who is the one doing the saving, who is the one doing the receiving?  What is the definition of a catholic faith?  What is this “believe it” and what is the “how” by which I must believe or will not be saved?  

Well, between those first and last verses you will hear of God’s devotion for you.  You will hear and confess, that God gave His one and only Son, Jesus Christ who suffered for your salvation.  God the Father Son and Holy Spirit is the how.  God gave His Son Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ died for you, you have heard and have been brought to faith by the working of the Holy Spirit and that is the how.

As Martin Luther stated in the Small catechism, God, “calls (you) by the Gospel, enlightens (you) with His gifts, sanctifies and keeps (you) in the true faith.”(SC)  Are there shorter confessions than the one we will speak today?  Yes, of course.  But this Creed reveals the how of all that has been nailed down for you.  In fact it was Jesus Christ who was nailed down for you and who won your salvation which He confesses before God.  Will the words in a long creed about the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit relieve your pain?  Yes, indeed for the Words we confess together is the how of what God has done for you, that He has given you eternal life and for that “how” no more questions need be asked.  

The Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

AMEN
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