An Invitation Into the Sublime - May 26, 2013

To  DOWNLOAD an MP3 of this message, first right click here then choose "save link as" or "save target as". Older audio is removed to conserve server space, but is available by request.

SERMON:

Today is Trinity Sunday, the Sunday which we set aside to meditate on the three-in-one nature of God.

In the Bible God describes Himself as a single entity. That is, He describes Himself as a single spirit being—one God. But God also describes Himself as being composed of three separate and distinct persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

This is a mystery. We can know and believe that God is three-in-one, but we don’t really understand how that can be. To date, man hasn’t found anything in creation that is three-in-one in the same way that God describes Himself. And this makes sense. We would expect to find that the creator is different in some ways from His creation.

When we’re teaching children about the Trinity, we might use an apple to help them get some idea what God’s triune nature is like. An apple is composed of three parts: the peel, the flesh and the core. The peel isn’t pear, it’s apple. The flesh isn’t pumpkin, it’s apple. The core isn’t peach, it’s apple. Peel, flesh, and core are all apple.

In a similar way, the peel isn’t flesh, it’s peel. The flesh isn’t core, it’s flesh. The core isn’t peel, it’s core. But together they are ONE apple.

Others might use water to describe the Trinity. There is liquid water, solid ice, and water vapor—but they’re all water.

But, you know, any visual aids we might use to illustrate what three-in-one means fall short at some point. God is simply beyond any earthly example we might point to.

Trying to explain God’s qualities by using visual aids from the physical world, is a bit like trying to understand an artist by their art alone. We may learn quite a bit about an artist through their work, but we’ll understand a lot more about them if we simply spend time with them. Daily contact helps us to learn what a person is like more than anything else.

▬

The disciples of Jesus had that opportunity. They lived with the Son of God. They traveled and conversed with Him for three solid years during His ministry. They were invited to have daily contact with Jesus, and through this contact they learned something about how the persons of God function together.

Jesus gives us a glimpse into how the persons of the Trinity function in our sermon reading for today. On the night before Jesus was crucified, He told His followers the following.

John 16:12-15 (NASB)

  12   “I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.

  13   “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.

  14   “He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.

  15   “All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.

▬

On the night when Jesus told His disciples these words, He was well aware of the fact that He would be leaving them soon. He knew that His betrayal and crucifixion were approaching. He also knew that after His crucifixion and resurrection, the disciples would still NOT be ready to hear a lot of the things He had to tell to them. But in time, they would be. And Jesus trusted that at the right time, the Holy Spirit would take up the work of further educating His disciples.

The first thing that we learn about the Trinity from Jesus’ words here is that they work together seamlessly. The things that Jesus couldn’t tell the disciples because they weren’t ready, the Holy Spirit WOULD tell them. Jesus says,

“…When He, the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth;” (John 16:13 NASB).

The second thing that we learn about the Trinity from Jesus’ words is that in their actions toward each other, they are self-less.

Now, when we talk about regular people being self-less, we mean that they aren’t putting themselves first. They consider the needs of others, the plans of others, and don’t push themselves forward at the wrong time. This is what the members of the Trinity do towards each other. Jesus says that the Holy Spirit,

“Will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak;” (John 16:13 NASB).

As the Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit has a lot to say. But in the future when the Holy Spirit would come to the followers of Jesus, He wouldn’t start spouting off about just any truth. Instead, Jesus says that the Holy Spirit would speak the things that Jesus gave Him to speak. That is, He would give the disciples the right information, at the right time, so that Jesus’ followers could serve as His ambassadors to the world. Earlier, Jesus had told the disciples,

“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you” (John 14:26 NASB).

So, in their relationship together, the members of the Trinity work together. They are self-less. And the third thing that we learn here about the Trinity is that they are humble toward one another.

Now, it may sound strange to say that the members of the Trinity are HUMBLE towards each other, but here’s what it means. Look at verse 14 again. Speaking of the Holy Spirit, Jesus says, 

“He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you” (John 16:14 NASB).

The members of the Trinity glorify each other. The Son glorified the Father by doing what the Father sent Him to do. He lived a life free from sin, and offered His perfect soul to redeem sinners like you and me from hell. In response to His obedience, the Father glorified the Son by raising Him from the dead for all the world to see. In turn, the Holy Spirit glorified the Son by proclaiming this truth to the world through the testimony of the disciples.

In Proverbs 27, it says,

“Let another praise you, and not your own mouth;

a stranger, and not your own lips” (Proverbs 27:2 NASB).

This is what the Trinity does. They work together, more seamlessly than any human team. They are selfless in their dealings with one another, and they glorify each other.

▬

Now, sometimes we talk about the different members of the Trinity as having different jobs. In the Apostles’ Creed we say the Father creates, the Son redeems, and the Holy Spirit changes those who have been brought to faith so that they more closely resemble the Son by the things they think, say and do. But upon further review, the jobs that the members of the Trinity do are really TEAM JOBS—that is, they do these things together.

For example, when the Father created the world we’re told that the Holy Spirit was also present. He was hovering over the waters at the time of the creation. Where life was brought into existence, the Holy Spirit was working. We’re also told that the Son was there. Talking about God the Son, John chapter 1 says,

“Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made” (John 1:3 NIV).

So the Trinity created our universe, together.

We often talk about how Jesus redeemed sinners from hell by dying for them on the cross. By suffering hell in our place, the punishment for our sins was erased. And while it is true that the Son was the only member of the Trinity that became human and died on the cross, we can’t forget what the Father gave up to redeem us. John 3:16 says,

“God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. ¹⁷ For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:16-17 NKJV).

Was it nothing for the Father to give up His only Son? To give over His Son to infinite suffering so that the world of condemned sinners could be redeemed? No! This was a big deal. This had never happened before.

The Trinity redeemed sinners, together.

When we talk about the Holy Spirit and what He does, we talk about the changes that are effected in the hearts and lives of people brought to faith in Jesus. But what message is the Holy Spirit proclaiming through the Gospel? He’s proclaiming the life, death and resurrection of the Son! Through the Words of the Bible, the Holy Spirit teaches us to live our lives as people who now serve our Savior, not our sinful selves.

The Trinity changes the way we live our lives, and the Trinity works these changes in us, as a team.

▬

So, what is it that enables the Trinity to function like this? It is TRUST. They work seamlessly together because they trust each other completely. They can pass off tasks from one to the next, having complete confidence that the job will be done perfectly right. The relationship that exists between the members of the Trinity is marked most clearly by TRUST.

And this is what the Triune God invites sinners like you and me to be part of. A relationship DEFINED by trust.

Having a real relationship with God doesn’t mean just believing that some divine being must exist. Having a real relationship with the Divine begins when we TRUST what He says. That sin really IS that bad. That it WILL sever us from Him forever. But that God’s Son really DID erase the record of our sins by His suffering and death. And that through Him we TRULY stand cleansed from all our past mistakes, evil thoughts, words and actions. A real relationship with God begins when we trust what God says, that through His Son we stand FORGIVEN.

Through this message, we are invited by God to be united to Him. To be reborn into His family through the cross of Christ.

▬

I said earlier that the relationship that exists between the members of the Trinity is marked by TRUST. When sinners begin to trust that the God who made them, has also saved them, then the Holy Spirit begins to educate us further. After faith takes root in our hearts, the Holy Spirit begins to teach us what we weren’t ready to learn before.

He teaches us to work together as one. He teaches us to be self-less, putting the needs of others ahead of our own. He teaches us to be humble, glorifying each other, instead of ourselves. In short, after faith takes root, the Holy Spirit teaches sinners to treat each other the same way that the members of the Trinity treat each other.

Jesus said,

“All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you” (John 16:15 NASB).

Through the message of sins forgiven through Jesus, we are invited in to the sublime relationship of the Trinity. To be children of the Triune God. To take our direction from HIM instead of from our own sinful hearts, or from other sinful beings.

▬

If you wanted to learn how to strengthen your marriage, what better way could imagine than by moving in with a couple that already has a strong marriage? And seeing how they work together.

If you wanted to learn how to be a truly good friend, what better way could you learn than by studying the ways of your most loyal and thoughtful friend?

If you want to learn how to function best in all your relationships, what better way than to learn from God, who has existed from eternity in the most sublimely perfect relationship that has ever existed?

That is what God invites us to experience in Christ. But God doesn’t just say, “Here, let me show you how it’s supposed to be done”. First He says, “Here, let me forgiven all your sins by My Son’s precious sacrifice, then I’ll teach you How to live the way We do.”

▬

Some people think that the idea of God being three-in-one is just a theological exercise. You know, just Bible scholars splitting hairs and overanalyzing. But the more we grasp what the Triune God is like, from His own testimony, the more we will understand what He intended US to be. For in the beginning, God created Mankind in HIS OWN IMAGE.

Is the doctrine of the Trinity worth teaching to our children? To our members? To ourselves? To our friends? Oh yes. For that perfect, sinless, seamless, self-less, humble relationship was not only what Mankind was intended to be, it is what we are invited to reclaim through faith in Christ Jesus.

Amen.

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Children of God, Heirs of Heaven - Jun 3, 2012

To DOWNLOAD an MP3 of this message, first right click here then choose "save link as" or "save target as". Older audio is removed to conserve server space, but is available by request.

SERMON:

The Gospel message is the simplest of messages.

We were born sinful. Enemies of our Creator. Because we were born sinful, we were doomed to die, and to spend eternity apart from God. That's not the Gospel message. That's the law which tells the truth of our condition.

The Gospel message tells us that God has given us a new destiny. Because God's Son suffered our sin's punishment when He was crucified, we are now forgiven.

The first verses of Romans 8 tell us...

"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death" (Romans 8:1-2 ESV).

This the comfort we have as Christ's believers. The is no condemnation left for us. Regardless of our past sins, regardless our daily sins, regardless of what sins may stain our years to come, in Christ, there is no condemnation left. In Him we stand forgiven.

This is the Gospel message. It is as simple as that.
▬
In his letters, the apostle Paul describes the Gospel in "family terms". It's like this, Paul says - we were born into the family of sin. A messed up and dysfunctional family. The pervading emotion of this family is fear. It's not a good place to be. The future of this family is dark. In the family of sin, all we are set to inherit is disappointment, guilt and eternal suffering.

But then along came God the Father, and changed all that. He sent His Son Jesus and opened the door to a new home. He sent His Holy Spirit into our hearts through the Gospel, and brought about our adoption, by faith in Christ.

By faith in Christ Jesus our Savior we are part of God's family. And this family is not dysfunctional. The pervading feeling of this family is peace. The future of this family is bright. In the family of God, we are set to inherit eternal life and glory in heaven.

Here's how Paul put it in Galatians 4...

"...when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God" (Galatians 4:4-7 ESV).

In our sermon reading for today, Paul revisits this way of expressing the Gospel. It is adoption into God's family. Paul does this for a number of reasons. First of all, it's true. Second, it's a truth that our sinful heart has a hard time accepting. We think it's too good to be true.

In our sermon reading for today, Paul comforts his fellow Christians in Rome by reminding them of this simple and powerful truth - In Christ, you are God's children, and heirs of heaven.

Romans 8:14-17 (ESV)

14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
▬
What's your comfort food? Chocolate? Pale ale? Chicken noodle soup? What do you curl up with on the couch after a long and stressful day?

The words that we just read from Paul's letter are like comfort food. Each verse another bite of soothing peace. There are different flavors there, but it's all comfort food.

Look at verse 14 again. Paul writes...

"14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God" (Romans 8:14 ESV).

Paul says, hey guys, fellow Christians, is the Holy Spirit leading you? I know He is. Your life isn't based on following the ways of the sinful world. You don't base your decisions on what the TV says. You don't define your morality on what society claims is right. Your life is based on what the Holy Spirit says in the Bible. Right? Yes. I know you mess up all the time, but I'm not talking about your stumbling, I'm talking about what road you're on. You're on God's road. And the Holy Spirit is guiding you by His Word. Right? Well, guess what. Those who are led by the Spirit of God, are sons of God. Be comforted.

The fact that the Holy Spirit leads us shows that we are the children of God.

Paul's not talking about some mystical leading by the Spirit. Some deep feeling that, I think... I really feel... that God... wants me too... fill in the blank _____________.

The Holy Spirit leads people with His concrete, readable, specific WORD. It's found in the Bible. The Bible is the same when our emotions are high, and when they are low. It is the same when our faith feels strong, and when it feels weak. The leading of the Spirit doesn't change because the Bible doesn't change.

Paul tells His fellow Christians that if the Bible is your one immovable guide in life, that means the Holy Spirit is your guide. And that means, you're a child of God.
▬
Paul then describes the change of emotional tone that comes to sinners adopted by God. Fear dissipates. It is replaced by peace. By acceptance. By forgiveness. By open communication with God the Father.

Look at verse 15 again. Paul says...

"15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!" (Romans 8:15 ESV).

When I was in seminary we had some special classes with a physiologist to help us understand different personalities and personality disorders that we might face in our ministries. One of the things that we learned about was dysfunctional families. Dysfunctional families follow rigid, destructive and predicable patterns.

A dysfunctional family is one in which conflict, bad behavior and abuse is commonplace. One member of the family has something wrong. Maybe alcohol addiction. Maybe drugs. Maybe some untreated mental illness. The other members of the family adapt and begin to fulfill very definite roles within the family's relational structure.

For example, dysfunctional families often have a "golden child" and a "scapegoat".

The golden child can do no wrong, even when the golden child does wrong. The family makes endless excuses for the bad behavior of the golden child.

The scapegoat on the other hand, can do no right, even when the child does something very honorable.

The counselor who was teaching us gave one famous example of a "scapegoat". Brett Favre. The former quarterback for the Green Bay Packers grew up in a dysfunctional family, and he was the scapegoat. His brother was constantly in trouble with the law, but it was "never" his fault.

On the other hand, when Brett called his dad to tell him that he had won most valuable player for the whole NFL, his father replied something like, "Well, it's about time." He didn't mean it in a good way.
▬
Apart from Christ, we sinners are like dysfunctional families. Messed up. Stuck in rigid relational systems which only cause more pain. Like a dysfunctional family, we might not even see how messed up we really are inside.

But through the Gospel God changes us. He puts us into HIS family. One that works. A family of forgiveness. He enables us to break free of our rigid sinful patterns, and embrace a life of peace instead of constant fear and conflict.

The Heavenly Father whom we pray to, pays attention to our prayers, and responds with loving care. He is not broken and need of fixing. He is the fixer. He is the healer. He is the perfect Father whom the best fathers of this world can only hope to resemble in part.

Paul reminds his fellow Christians that if we are sons of God, that means that God is our Father, and we don't need to be afraid anymore.
▬
Paul goes on to explain that our adoption into God's family has astounding implications for our future.

Look at verse 16 again. Paul says...

"16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ," (Romans 8:16 ESV).

In ancient Rome a childless man might adopt a son to carry on his name and rule over his estate. One of the most famous adoptions was done by Julius Caesar, after he died.

Julius Caesar had no apparent heir to carry on his name and take power over the Roman Empire when he was assassinated by the senate. You remember, the senate stabbed Julius Caesar to death in the senate floor itself. "Et tu, Brute" and all that.

But when Julius Caesar's final will and testament was read, it contained the clause that he was posthumously adopting his grand nephew Augustus as his own son. All the sudden Augustus was elevated to a place of wealth and power as the heir of Julius Caesar.
▬
Through faith in Christ, you and I have been adopted by God. Paul encourages is to connect the dots. If we're children of God, then we're heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ! Our inheritance - is heaven itself!

This is the frame of mind that the Holy Spirit wants us to see the world through. The Gospel of Christ is all about comfort.
▬
But Paul finishes our sermon reading with one final thought to chew on. Look at verse 17. It says...

"17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him" (Romans 8:17 ESV).

When you buy into some investment, you have to be ready for ups and downs. All the investors who buy some stock suffer and rejoice together as that stock rises and falls.

Or think of the human body. It's got lots of parts, but they're all part of the body. When one part suffers sickness, the whole thing feels it. When one part is healed, the whole part feels it.

Or think of a family. A family has different members, but they exist in a relational system. When one member experiences a painful situation, the others feel it. When one member has success, the others feel that too.

Our Savior, Jesus Christ, suffered in this world because this world is sinful and opposed to God. And as His brothers and sisters by faith, we too will suffer in this sinful world. As C.S. Lewis put it, we're living in enemy territory.

Jesus warned His followers that following Christ would lead to suffering in life. The night before Jesus was crucified, He told His disciples....

"20 Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. 21 When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. 22 So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you" (John 16:20-22 ESV).

As Christ's family, we will suffer in this world because of our faith. But our suffering will not last forever. And when Jesus returns to draw us to His side, NO ONE will be able to take that joy away.
▬
Dear Christians, this is the family you have been adopted into. Or as the Bible says, this is the family that you have been re-born into. The family of the three-in-one God. Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

So, rejoice in the Gospel message. Rejoice in the grace which has covered your sins with Christ's pure blood. Rejoice to suffer in this life because of your faith. With your new family. For the glory to come will FAR OUTSHINE the suffering we experience on this earth.

Amen.

Power to the People - June 19, 2011

To DOWNLOAD an MP3 of this message, first right click here then choose "save link as" or "save target as". Older audio is removed to conserve server space, but is available by request.

SERMON:

The part of God’s Word that we meditate on today is found at the end of Matthew’s Gospel.

Matthew 28:16-20 (NASB)

16 But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. 17 When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful. 18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
▬
Grace and Peace be to you from God our Father, from our Master and Savior Jesus Christ, and from the Holy Spirit who has opened our hearts to see all that we have been given by the Triune God.

Perhaps you’ve seen this visual aid before. I’ve got a single wooden match here. Alone it is easily broken. (Pastor snaps the match in two)

But add a few more matches, and you’ve got a little bundle that is not so easy to break. (Pastor tries, but the bundle resists being broken).

When the eleven disciples met with Jesus in Galilee, they felt a bit like this match (Pastor holds up a single match again). Alone. Weak. Uncertain. Matthew says “some were doubtful”, even in the presence of the resurrected Jesus. And this shouldn’t be surprising.

The disciples doubted Jesus during His ministry. When Jesus suggested that the disciples should feed a crowd numbering in the thousands, Philip said,

“It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!” (John 6:7 NIV).

The disciples doubted Jesus when He spoke of His crucifixion and resurrection. When He told them He would have to suffer and die and rise back to life on the third day, Peter said,

“’Never, Lord! …This shall never happen to you!’” (Matthew 16:22 NIV).

When the women returned from Jesus’ empty tomb and told the rest of the disciples that He had been raised from the dead – they simply did not believe them. They didn’t believe what Jesus had said would happen, and they didn’t believe what their friends were telling them.

Sometimes, doubt doesn’t make sense. But it’s part of the sinful human condition. Don’t we find ourselves doubting things or people in which we know we should trust?

We’re here today because we know this about ourselves. We know that if we separate ourselves from the Word of God and our fellow Christians, our doubt will grow. Left long enough, our doubt can displace our faith altogether. We don’t want this to happen. So we come here to gather around God’s Word. We come to hear again the simple message of sins forgiven through God’s Son. We come to listen for something we did not know about God revealed in His Word. We come to be comforted by Christ and to teach our hearts to trust in Him more fully.

Jesus doesn’t disappoint us in our reading for today. The same words He spoke to the doubting eleven, He speaks to us.
▬
Jesus said,

“…All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18 NASB).

We’re not told exactly what the disciples doubted. But whatever it was, these words of Jesus were meant to lay those doubts to rest.

This is our first glimpse of God the Father in this reading. The authority has been given from someone to Jesus. Since it is authority over all things in heaven and earth, it must come from the Father.

We might wonder why the Son of God says that it was given to Him. But when we remember that the Son of God was born into the human race, it begins to make sense. In Jesus, the authority of God became the possession of a man. The God-Man.

No matter what doubts the disciples may have had, these two facts should have obliterated them. First, the eternal Son of God had become one of them, a human. That meant God was on their side. Second, Jesus wasn’t holding back any more with His divine authority and power. During His ministry Jesus did not use all the power that He had as God. But now that His suffering in our place was finished, He was once again exercising the full use of His power for the good of His disciples.

Perhaps it wasn’t Jesus at all that they were doubting. Perhaps it was themselves. If that was the case, their doubt was fitting. They were sinners. They didn’t deserve to be the disciples and friends of the Son of God! Their sins against each other, and others and against God deserved punishment, in hell, forever. But instead they had been given a Savior from sin. Instead they had been given the gift of forgiveness, and a special place in God’s house.

Surely that was what Jesus wanted these men to be most sure of – that His sacrifice had removed their guilt forever. They were forgiven in the sight of God.

And this is the same message Jesus would have you hold most tightly to today. He died for you. Your sins stand forgiven. Don’t be doubtful, trust in the resurrected one.
▬
Now, even when we trust in Jesus, we can still experience uncertainty and doubt. I trust in Christ. I know He is my Savior. I know that nothing I screw up can take His love away from me. But each time I stand outside that door before service, I feel uncertain. I doubt. What if my sinner’s mouth says something foolish and wrong? What do I really know anyway?

I’d bet the disciples felt the same way when Jesus told them the following.

“19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20 NASB).

Really Lord? You want us to convert the world?! You want us, people who fail to keep your commands each and every day to go out and teach the truth?! And that was exactly what Jesus wanted them to do.

But here’s the comfort that Jesus gives them with this assignment – the disciples weren’t going out make people follow them. They weren’t going out to baptize in their own names. They weren’t going out to teach their own commands. They were going out with message that God’s own Son had revealed to them. A message that was powerful by itself because the Holy Spirit went with it. And Jesus Himself promised to go with them as they went out into the world.

This message could be brought by people who fail to keep God's commands because that's what this message is all about - our failure, and Christ's success in our place.
▬
Now, I’d like to pause for just a second and talk about what the Bible says about Jesus here in a little more detail. Lately I’ve been approached either on the phone or online by people who want me to believe that the God of the Bible isn’t really three-in-one. They say that the Holy Spirit isn’t really a person, He’s just the power of God the Father. They say that Jesus isn’t really on the same level with the Father either. He’s more like a little god created under the big one.

Our reading today blows that idea away. Did you notice how our reading flips back and forth from the humanity of Jesus to the deity of Jesus? First it mentions Galilee where Jesus grew up. He’s human. Then it mentions that the disciples worshipped Him. He’s God. Then it flips back and says that all authority has been given to Him. Human. Then it flops back, saying that we’re supposed to baptize people in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. So, we use the name of the three-in-one God to baptize. So Jesus is God. Then it mentions that Jesus taught the disciples during His earthly ministry. He was obviously human when He did that. Then it says that Jesus promises to be with each of His followers even to the end of the world. Obviously, that’s something only God can promise.

For proof of Jesus deity and the three-in-one nature of God, remember the end of Matthew’s Gospel.
▬
Jesus’ final words are full of comfort for His followers. Soon He will be ascending back into heaven, but He promises them that He’s only going to be taking His visible presence away. In truth Jesus will remain with His followers forever.

We hear about this same thing in other passages too. Like where it says,

“For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20 NKJV).

God is with us, and if God is with us, who can be against us? When we are weak, God is there, and strong. In fact, when we are weak, that may be when we are truly the strongest, because we are forced to put our hope and trust squarely on Christ. Like Paul says,

“…Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10 NIV).

It’s like the match thing, but better.

Sure, a group of matches is stronger than a single match. But what if you put those matches up against an iron bar? (Pastor holds a bundle of matches around an iron bar) What was hard to break before is impossible to break now.

Joined to Jesus by faith, this is us. We are impervious to any real damage. God is with us, come what may. And after we are dead, we know He will gather us to Himself, and to an eternity of peace and joy.
▬
I had to come back early from Pastoral Conference this week. Fritz Peterson was sick, and it didn’t look like he’d last much longer. On the plane ride back I sat next to an atheist pilot. He we pretty talkative, and when he found out I was a Lutheran pastor, he let me have it.

It was the usual line. If God’s so powerful, how come he doesn’t use His power to fix everything? The pilot attributed everything bad in the world to God, because he figured if God is so powerful, He should just make it all better with a snap of his fingers. Since it isn’t all good right now, it must be God’s fault – if God exists. It was kinda a no win situation for God in this man’s mind. Either he doesn’t exist, He’s weak, or He doesn’t care about people.

Of course, I explained that God created the world perfect and free. I explained that God didn’t make the world evil, the choices of Adam and Eve did that.

But later I got to thinking, there's a better answer to that question of “Why doesn’t God use His power to make everything right again?” The answer is: That’s exactly what He’s doing.

God the Son became human to save us. God could have just wiped the slate clean and made a new universe, but He didn’t. He wanted you and me around. Instead of using His unlimited power to create a new universe, He used it to save this one.

And what does God want from us in return for salvation? Nothing. He says it’s a gift. He sent His Son to die in our place. We don’t do the work. Like Paul says in Romans 4,

“However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness” (Romans 4:5 NIV).

God IS using His power to fix everything. He’s just doing it on His own time table. The only way sinners are lost is when they push Him away.

Don’t do that. Instead, grow in faith by returning to Christ daily in prayer and meditation. Read the Words the Holy Spirit has caused to be written for you in the Bible. And know that the God of all power has given all authority to your Savior. And that immense force has been used to make you His own.

Amen.

You Have Been Brought to a Good Place - May 18, 2008

God grant you the grace to comprehend and appreciate ever more fully the gifts and blessings of our Triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Dear Fellow Christians:

Have you ever experienced total contentment? Have you, in other words, ever experienced a situation where you felt that all was right with the world and that there was really no other place you would rather be than right where you are at that moment? Though probably unrealistic, it is nonetheless my prayer that each one of us would experience that tranquility and contentment each Sunday as we gather here to hear the Word of God and to offer Him our praise and worship. So also here and now let this be the only place you want to be at this moment, and may God so bless each one of us with the joy expressed long ago by the psalmist David, “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go into the house of the LORD’” (Psalm 122:1).

Today, however, I want you to try to picture another such place in the secular realm—outside of church and the worship of our God. Formulate in your mind the sort of place where you would feel as happy and content as is humanly possible for a Christian living in a sinful world. The setting that you picture would naturally fill you with joy and delight—a bright and shining place, full of beauty, peace, and harmony.

Do you have such a place in your mind? It doesn’t even have to be a real place. You get to make it up if you wish. Got it? Now imagine that such a place actually exists but, search as you will, you simply cannot find it. Even worse, if you could somehow manage to find it you would be denied entrance.

Not such a great fantasy is it? What you quickly discover is that no matter how grand, how idyllic such a storybook fantasyland might be, it is actually worthless to you if you cannot gain entrance. Discovering such a place would, in fact, be worse than useless because you would forever be tormented by knowing that such a place exists, yet it all remains inaccessible to you. It is unattainable. Access is denied!

Such a story is certainly not the stuff fairy tales are made of. In fact it is a rather disappointing little adventure all around. Yet it is all still just a story until you transfer these simple truths into the spiritual realm, to our very lives, and to the events we celebrate on this day.

Today is Trinity Sunday. This is the Sunday of the Church Year which we set aside to study and reaffirm our understanding of and belief in the triune nature of our God—one God yet three persons. This is also the Sunday of the Church Year that some congregations set aside as Confirmation Sunday – the time when we celebrate the confirming of the Christian faith by our youth together with our own recommitment to the vows we took in our youth.

With that introduction we turn to our text which will not only verify the triune nature of our God, but it will also demonstrate how we have indeed, even now, been brought to that very good place. Our text is found in Paul’s letter to the Romans, the fifth chapter:

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

So far the very words given to us by our Triune God. Reminding ourselves of the source of these words will surely make them all the more precious and worthy in our hearts and minds. That our God would bless us through the study of these His words, so we pray, “Sanctify us through Your truth, O Lord. Your Word is truth!” Amen.

Dear servants and friends of Jesus Christ, having first imagined the perfect place of peace and tranquility, I want you now to go to the opposite extreme. Have you, in other words, ever experienced a problem or frustration in your life so profound that it spoiled not only your whole day but several days, even weeks? These are often the times when everything seems “bad” to you somehow. You find yourself upset, grouchy, out of sorts, and you don’t even know for sure why that is. And then suddenly it dawns on you that your personal problems have spilled over into every other aspect of your life. One source of frustration or one bad relationship has made your whole life miserable. On the other hand, how wonderful life can suddenly become when that deep and troubling conflict is finally resolved. It's like the sun suddenly breaking through after countless cloudy days and your outlook on everything takes on a sudden optimism.

The fact is we were all naturally full of turmoil, bitterness, and pessimism because we all have, or had, a terrible conflict in our lives that tainted every other relationship, every other thought, every other emotion. Try as we might we could not, on our own, get to the bottom of this turmoil. We needed very specialized help. With that specialized help we have now come to realize that the one thing that was causing such great turmoil in our lives was our relationship with our Creator God. The Bible tells us that “your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that He will not hear” (Isaiah 59:2). Because of this alienation from our Creator God there was and could be no true peace in our lives. Always something deep within us recognized our need to be reconciled to God, and yet we were powerless to bring it about. We had become God’s enemies and because of this, nothing in our lives seemed complete or thoroughly good. There was always something missing until we came to know our Savior.

Here is where we return to the magical place described above. This is where we all wanted to be. We wanted to stand once again in God’s good graces, in God’s glorious, blissful presence. As we heard in Isaiah, our sins had caused God to hide His face from us. Yet we longed to stand accepted in God’s presence once again. We tried all sorts of things to accomplish this reconciliation on our own. We tried work righteousness—the futile attempt to make ourselves lovable to God by doing whatever we had convinced ourselves would please Him. We tried denial—refusing to admit that anything was really wrong. We tried to make up a god who would accept us “just as we are.” We tried it all and in the end nothing worked. When we looked at ourselves and our lives honestly we had to admit that we were not where we wanted to be, and by ourselves there was no way for us to get where we wanted to be. There was simply no way for us to return to the presence of our Holy God.

It is then that God the Father provided us with an entrance. That door is Jesus Christ. He Himself once said, “I am the gate (door); whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture” (John 10:9). We wanted to stand in God’s grace. Our text tells us that it is only through Jesus Christ that this can be done: “We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace…” [vv.1b-2]

Oh, to what a blissful place we have been led! Millions upon millions have died trying to find the door to this good place that we now occupy only to know utter and eternal failure in the end. You and I have been told that there is only one door. What is more, we have been told exactly where that one door is to be found. Jesus is our access to God the Father.

How has He done this? That which separated us from our God was our own sin. That was the obstacle that barred our entrance. But now our text tells us that “we have been justified through faith.” [v.1a] To be justified means to be declared “not guilty” by God. It means that our sins have been removed by God because he placed the punishment for those sins upon His own Son. Our text says that it is “through Jesus” that “we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.” [vv.1-2] Access could not be gained by trying to do good. We couldn’t talk our way in, bribe our way in, charm our way in. The door was Jesus Christ. Without Jesus Christ Heaven would be of no value whatsoever to us sinners. The most beautiful paradise is useless if it has no entrance through which a human being can enter. So too heaven is of no value to us if we are denied entrance.

Without question then we see the need for both God—the Father and for God—the Son. Both, of course, have infinite value for God the Father created and provides for us, and God the Son saved us by erasing our sin debt. Yet isn’t it interesting that neither has value to us personally without the other? Without God the Father we have no existence. Without Jesus Christ we remain God’s enemies and thus could never enter eternal paradise with the Father. This we know and believe, but what of the Third Person of the Trinity? What of God the Holy Spirit?

To introduce the work and value of the Holy Spirit think of the last time you locked yourself out of your car or house—frustrating, isn’t it? What’s really frustrating is when you lock yourself out of your car and it’s really nasty outside. Through the glass you can see the keys dangling from the ignition only inches away inside the car where you want to be—inside where it is warm and safe. The truth of the matter is that those keys might just as well be Botswana for all the good they do you. You are outside where it is cold, raining, and miserable. You know exactly where the door is, but you can’t open it. The cozy dry interior of your car is useless to you without the key or someone to open the door for you.

This is where the third person of the Trinity comes in. The Holy Spirit is the one who alone can open the door to us from the inside. It is only through the Holy Spirit that we have been brought to saving faith. It is only through the Holy Spirit that we have been born again of water and of the Spirit. Our text puts it this way: “Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” [v. 5] Heaven itself would be worthless to us if not for the Holy Spirit. No matter how hard we struggled, no matter how fervently we wished for Heaven and to be living in the presence of God the Father, entrance would be denied us if not for the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who brings us to saving faith in Jesus Christ. It is the Holy Spirit who keeps us in that faith. It is the Holy Spirit who thereby opened the door to heaven.

Can you now see just how destructive it is to downplay or to deny the triune nature of our God or any Person of that triune God? Our God is of no comfort or value to us without all three persons. The Father created us and we long to live forever in His presence. The Son, Jesus Christ, is the one who has removed the great sin barrier and reconciled us to the Father. The Holy Spirit opens the door to Paradise by bringing us to faith.

Praise God that our full and complete Triune God has worked completely in you! That is why Paul in our text says “we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.” [v.2] Hope should be thought of as “confident expectation.” With confidence we now look forward to Judgment Day because we even now have eternal life within us. We even now are in that good place. Jesus told us that “...he that lives and believes in Me shall never die!” (John 11:26). Though we do not now enjoy Heaven, we are at this very moment standing in God’s presence with our sins forgiven by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

This represents the heart and soul not only of Trinity Sunday, but also of Confirmation Sunday for it is the beating heart of the Christian faith. These things you parents have taught to your children. Well done! But see in the confirmands not your marks upon them but God’s, see them not as the proud product of your labors, but as the handiwork of our Triune God. Today we honor our God for the grace shown to our children, for it is our God who has brought both them and us to the good place where both we and they now stand holy and righteous in the sight of their God. Having brought us to this good place, may that same God continue to preserve both them and us. Amen.

—Pastor Michael J. Roehl

(Sermon written by Pastor Michael Roehl and provided through ”Ministry by Mail”. For more “Ministry by Mail” sermons, go to http://lutheransermons.org)