Sermon by Pastor Robert Green, read by Larry Stoner, Trinity Sunday, 5/26/13, Yr. 3C, No. 1005, Ascension Evangelical Lutheran Church, Harrisburg, PA, W.E.L.S., based on John 16:12-15 (NIV)
As we do every Trinity Sunday, today we confess our faith in our Triune God according to the words of the Athanasian Creed an official confession of our church. The Athanasian Creed clearly states that the only God that exists is the Triune God and that the worship or belief in any other divine being is a false worthless worship or belief, because there is simply no other God. This Creed concludes with the very strong statement “Whoever wishes to be saved must have this conviction of the Trinity.” Because of this very strong language many churches refuse to use this Creed. Why do we make this confession, after all, the word “trinity” is not in the Bible?
Another way of asking this is to ask “Just whom do we worship?” Do we not worship the God who saves us? Consider for a moment what it took to save you? Salvation comes only from the cooperative work of the Trinity the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Athanasian Creed captures the unity, the indivisible nature, and the complete equality of the three Persons of the God-head.
In the reading for today, we see that although God does not use the term “trinity,” we do see that our salvation is in the hands of our Triune God; the Father who decreed it; the Son who accomplished it; and the Holy Spirit who makes it known! Hear the words from John 16:12-15 (NIV), “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.”
Our salvation is in the hands of our Triune God
I. the Father who decreed it
On the Cross, Jesus suffered the greatest punishment the world will ever know, damnation, the complete separation from all the love and blessings of God the Father. That Jesus should suffer the agony of the cross for the sins of the world was no accident, for God the Father had decreed this to be from before the foundations of the world were laid.
In the very beginning of time, after the fall into sin, God promised Adam and Eve that a single male offspring of Eve would crush the head of Satan, but Satan would crush the seed’s heel. Centuries later, seven hundred years before Jesus was born, Isaiah wrote, speaking about the Suffering Savior, the Messiah to come, in Isaiah 53:9-10, (NIV) “He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. 10 Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer…” Paul tells us in Ephesians 1:3-8 (NIV), “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, . . .” Earlier in this chapter John wrote, “Now I am going to him who sent me, . . .” In this reading, we see the Father decreeing this and the Son agreeing to it in the words, “All that belongs to the Father is mine.”
God the Father planned our salvation decreeing it should be so and sent his Son to die for us. In this we see the Father as the First Person of the Trinity working together equally with the Son and the Holy Spirit to bring about the forgiveness of sins through faith in Jesus. What this means for you and me is that if we worship any God that is not the Father, we worship what is not god, but a figment of our imagination. But if we worship God the Father, as the First Person of the Trinity, we worship the one true God. We have every reason to worship God the Father for he is true God and decreed out of his grace and mercy that we should be saved.
II. the Son accomplished it
Jesus spoke the words from the reading from John before us on the night he was betrayed. Jesus told his disciples, “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.” He was referring to the impending events of the evening. Jesus understood that his disciples would not be able to bear knowing exactly what was about to happen to him; that he was to be betrayed, beaten, mocked, spit upon, whipped, and finally crucified. The disciples were in no state to bear the knowledge not soon Jesus would cry out, in all sincerity, “My God, my God! Why have you forsaken me?” because he would be suffering damnation for the sins of the world.
Jesus cried this out because God had indeed forsaken him because he had become your sin and my sin and so God forsook him, separating himself from Jesus. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NIV), “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” What this accomplished for you and me is what Paul says in the Epistle reading for today from Romans, where Paul says, Romans 5:1-3 (NIV), “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.”
Jesus, the Second Person of the Trinity, accomplished our salvation by taking the punishment of our sins upon himself, so that we could be justified through faith. To be justified is a courtroom term which means to be declared not guilty of sin. Through faith in Jesus, you and I are declared not guilty of sin, because all of our sin and guilt has been washed away in the blood of Christ.
But why must we believe that Jesus was truly God? Consider the heresy of the Jehovah Witnesses who claim the title of Christian and claim to worship the true God, but absolutely deny Christ as true God, saying he is nothing but a man, the first thing created of all creation. In saying this, the Jehovah Witness robs our Savior of his honor and glory as true God. The Jehovah Witness does not believe in or worship the one true God, for God the Son is true God.
Some may think my statement harsh, but then the judgment of hell is even harsher. Those who reject Jesus as true God, reject him as Savior, for if Jesus were merely a man, he could not save anyone. Psalm 49:7-9 (NIV) tells us, “No man can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for him— 8 the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough— 9 that he should live on forever and not see decay.” If Jesus were only a man, as the Jehovah Witness claims, then he according to God’s own Word, he could not have paid the ransom, the penalty for your sin so that you could live forever and not see decay! Anyone who does not worship the Savior as true God, the Second Person of the Trinity, worships in vain for the object of their worship is nothing at all. Worship Jesus as your Savior because he is true God and so his precious blood and suffering was sufficient to pay for your sin!
III. the Holy Spirit makes it known!
The Third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, is also true God and active in your salvation. John tells us, Jesus went on to say, “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.” Why do we need the Holy Spirit to reveal all things to us? Who has known the mind of the Lord? Who can get into God’s mind and tell him what to do or figure out what he is going to do? God is hidden form us, we cannot see him or carry on a two way conversation like you and I can with one another. That is why we need the Holy Spirit, “the Spirit of truth” to come to us and guide us into all truth. God the Holy Spirit guides us in all truth in the Word of God, 2 Peter 1:20-21 (NIV), “Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. 21 For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”
It is also the work of the Holy Spirit to bring us to faith by giving us the gift of faith. Earlier in this chapter when Jesus told his disciples he was going back to the one who sent him, Jesus went on to say, “When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; 10 in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11 and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.” God the Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to convict of our sins so that we will see the need for our Savior. He then uses the Word to show us our Savior and then gives us the gift of faith, trust, that it is so! Thus, it is only by the power of the Holy Spirit that anyone can believe. As Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 12:3 (NIV), “Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.” We worship God the Holy Spirit because he comes to us and gives us faith to say in faith this Jesus is Lord!
We see the unity of the Trinity in Jesus’ words, “All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.” Jesus and the Father, along with the Holy Spirit are one. That is why whatever belongs to one, belongs to the other. This is why the Holy Spirit can make known the secret things of God. It is why we worship the Holy Spirit as true God.
The Athanasian Creed makes it very clear that unless someone confesses faith in the Triune God, that person can not be saved. We confess to believe in the Trinity, even though the word “trinity” is not in the Bible, for God reveals in the Bible that he is three persons in the single God-head. Thus, the Creed is quite right in its strong language for our salvation is in the hands of our Triune God; the Father who decreed it; the Son who accomplished it; and the Holy Spirit who makes it known and there is no other God, no other way to be saved! To God be all glory, amen!