Trinity

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.  Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength (Deuteronomy 6:4-5).

This weekend the Church celebrates Trinity Sunday.  This time each year, we celebrate that which makes our God unique.  Of all the gods that have ever been worshiped, no other God has been known as both three and one.  No other God has sent His Son into the mortal world to suffer and die for humanity’s sins.  No other god is like our God.

Of course, there are many who scoff at our religion.  They say that the Triune nature of God makes no sense.  How can anyone believe in a God that is made up of three persons and yet claims to be one God alone? 

The truth is, we don’t understand how God can be three and yet only one.  For thousands of years, men of faith have been trying figure this out without success.  Yet the Bible is clear—there is only one God who we must answer to as Lord and Master.  In Isaiah 45:5 God said, I am the LORD, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God.  Moses told the Israelites, Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.  But the Bible also reveals God as three different persons.  On the night of the Last Supper, Jesus spoke these words to His disciples: When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me (John 15:26).  Jesus also mentioned the three persons of God just before He returned to heaven, He said go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19).

God has always been three in one.  Listen to Him speaking in Genesis chapter one about the creation of mankind. Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness"…So God created man in his own image.  We hear the same kind of language at the tower of Babel in Genesis chapter 11:  The LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building.  The LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.  Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other."  The Lord Almighty is one God who is also Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

Three persons, one God.  We don’t understand it, but we accept the facts as God reveals them to us through the Bible.  Why should we think that God can be understood by mortal man?  Does an ant understand the human looking down on it?  How can we expect to understand God?

Think about the religions created by man.  The human imagination creates gods that are just humans beefed up with incredible power.  The Greeks invented gods like Zeus, Hera and Hercules.  But Zeus constantly cheated on his wife.  Hera was consumed with jealousy and acted out of spite.  Hercules was full of pride.  The Scandinavians invented Odin and Loki.  When Odin killed a giant, he adopted fatherless Loki as his own, yet Loki hated his new family and plotted their downfall.  The gods invented by human religion have all the faults of corrupt mankind—they are fickle, power mad, capricious, demented.  Humans worship them more out of fear than anything else.

The God of Abraham, Moses and David is not like false human gods.  The God of Elijah and Isaiah is holy and loving.  You can count on His promises; He never goes back on His word.  You be confident that when He speaks, His words are true.  God never acts impulsively; He is wise and patient.  He is committed to justice.  He is filled with loving-kindness. 

Do we need to fear God?  Yes!  He hates sin; righteousness cannot abide evil behavior.  The holiness of God is a fire that destroys sin.  But fear need not keep us away from God.  If we are forgiven by His Son, our sin is taken away.  Through Jesus, God’s love brings us close to Him in perfect safety.

We need a God who is three in one, because we have three terrible enemies—sin, Satan, and death.  On our own, these enemies are too powerful to withstand; they confront us no matter which way we turn.

Sin is a problem from the moment of birth.  Sin is with us constantly.  It’s a hunger that gnaws at us all the time; it’s a compulsion to get our way and make ourselves feel good right now.  Sin doesn’t give a thought to what others want; sin doesn’t pause to consider the future ramifications of an impulsive decision.  Sin doesn’t care about your health; you want that bag of chocolate, and you don’t want to stop eating until it’s empty.  Sin doesn’t care about your children; go ahead and do what it takes to shut them up so you can have the peace and quiet you deserve.  Sin doesn’t care about your spouse; if the person you married is not giving you the kind of sex you want, go and find someone who will.  Sin doesn’t care about God; why go to church when the lake or golf course are waiting?  Sin destroys your health and your relationships, especially your relationship with God.

By itself, sin would be a big enough problem for anyone to deal with.  To make matters worse, sin has an ally.  The devil wants sin to control you; he wants you on the outs with God so he can play with you as he sees fit.  The devil is a master manipulator; lies and half-truths are his weapons of choice.  He wants you to believe that might makes right, that the ends justify the means, that you are the only one who knows what’s best for you. He interferes in our lives, causing stress and frustration; anger and fear are emotions he can use. He stokes the fires of resentment when someone tries to tell you what to do.  He urges you to worry so much that you’ll forget about praying for help.  He wants you to get depressed; then you’ll be ready for the big lie: you are worthless.  No one cares about you, not even God—why don’t you just end the misery right now?  Satan wants us to forget about God, give up on each other and hate ourselves.  Satan does all he can to snuff love and hope from our lives. 

The third enemy is death.  Death is no friend—that’s just one of Satan’s many lies.  Death is the enemy of life.  We feel the touch of death right from the beginning with the terrible pain of childbirth, a bloody event that sometimes kills the mother or cripples the baby.  Death touches infants through disorders like Downs’ Syndrome or Muscular Dystrophy.  Death continues to plague our lives through disease and disability, through near-sightedness and diabetes, cancer and HIV.  Death makes our joints ache with pain, steals our strength, and dulls our reflexes.  Eventually, death steals our very life, tearing loved ones from each others’ arms.  Death puts a time limit on our lives; it keeps us from finishing projects or reaching long-term goals.  Worst of all, death closes the door on Jesus’ offer of salvation; if a person dies before faith has taken hold of his heart, access to heaven will be lost. 

Sin, Satan, and death—three enemies overwhelming in their power.  How wonderful it is, then, that we have the three-in-one God standing up for us, guaranteeing victory for all believers!

It all starts with the Father.  He is the head of the Trinity; although the Son and the Spirit are equal to Him in every way, they defer to His authority and show Him respect—as we should.  The Father is the source of justice and love.  By His will the universe was made.  He created the angels, a vast army of powerful spirits who carry out His will in heaven and on earth.  It is His justice that forms the backbone for human law, although sinful man has muddied things up considerably.  God’s justice demands that sin be punished; He created hell as a place to confine those tainted by sin, so the righteous can rest comfortably forever. 

Because we are sinners, hell is the eternal fate that we deserve.  But God the Father has another quality besides a desire for justice; He is also the source of perfect love.  That love caused Him to do something truly remarkable—He sent His Son to suffer the punishment of hell as our stand-in. 

Jesus is the living example of love.  Love is more than a warm, mushy feeling.  Love is more than poetic words that set the heart aglow.  Love is action.  Love is serving others in their need, even at the expense of yourself.  Love is showing respect.  Love is about building relationships that can stand the test of time.

In Jesus, we see perfect love at work.  Jesus obeyed His Father in every way, treating Him with utmost respect.   Jesus was a teacher of righteousness; He explained how we can improve our relationships with each other.   Jesus served us in our need; our sins had earned the Father’s righteous judgment.  But Jesus took the stinging blows of justice in our place; because He suffered hell for us on the cross, we can be forgiven.  Through Jesus we can have a wonderful relationship with God, a relationship that will never end.

God the Father gives us everything necessary to live and show love for others.  He sends angels to guard us from evil’s power.  The Son of God has defeated Satan and stripped the grave of its mighty grip.  He listens to our prayers and forgives our sins.  But we have one more ally helping us as well—that ally is the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit plants faith in our hearts.  When we hear or read God’s holy word, the Spirit chisels away at our stubborn unbelief.  Some resent His efforts and push Him away; others find their hearts softening at the gentleness of His touch.  When we accept the Spirit’s help, life changes for the better.  The Spirit gives us strength to resist temptation.  He comforts us when life is painful or disappointing.  When we’re worried or afraid, He encourages us.  He offers His wisdom and guidance when we’re faced with tough decisions.  Through God’s Spirit, we have access to gifts that make life wonderful—gifts like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).  All of this is ours for the asking if we trust in the Lord’s generosity.

Father, Son and Holy Spirit—these three persons are on our side and they are united as one.  They are one in purpose: to see wickedness brought to an end.  They are united in their concern for you; they work constantly to push back evil and draw you close.  The persons of God are united in their commitment to a bright future, a day when the world is reborn in perfection and the children of God will live again, free from the oppression of sin, Satan and death. 

This is God.  He is beyond our understanding, but you can be sure of this—He loves you with an everlasting love.  He came to offer us His hand through the body of Christ.  He touches your life through Word and Sacrament.  His angels surround you and His Spirit rests on you.  He is the one true God—there is no other.  He deserves your thanks and praise, your respect and trust, your love and devotion.