Sermon - Trinity 2020 - John 3:1-17

Today on Trinity Sunday we got to hear two of the most beautiful things in church! Firstly, we all confessed together in unison with our own tongues the “long creed,” the Athanasian Creed. With those words we very concisely summarize the Christian faith that God is Triune. Secondly today, we all heard that Gospel in a nutshell, many people’s favorite Bible verse, John 3:16. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” With those words we heard what God’s will is for us, namely that we would be saved through the atoning death of Christ. Today we heard who God is and what His will is for us, because those two things are intrinsically united and two sides of the same coin.

You cannot know who God is apart from His will for you to save you, neither can you know God’s will of your salvation apart from knowing God’s identity. The two only make sense if you know both of them, because if you only know one side then it’s all nonsense. For instance, if you don’t understand the Trinity, then Jesus dying for you seems like divine child-abuse. Or, if you don’t understand God’s will to save you but you claim to understand the Trinity, then God seems like some sort of angry monster. But once you rightly understand the two together, it all makes sense in the most comforting way.

So let’s begin by considering God’s identity as we confessed it in the Athanasian Creed. “We worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity, neither confusing the persons nor dividing the substance.” To start with, we believe in one God, not many gods or three gods, but one God. This one God is triune, so God is three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Yet there are not three parts of God, nor are there three modes of God; there’s just one God, the three persons are united as the Triune God. 

Thus, the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. Not three gods; there is one Triune God. In this Godhead, the three persons are not identical, but they’re distinct from one another. For instance, the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son; the Son doesn’t proceed, but is begotten of the Father alone; and the Father neither proceeds nor is begotten by anyone. Nevertheless, in this Trinity none are greater or less than another, but all three are coeternal and coequal. 

Moreover, just as there are three persons in the Trinity, yet one undivided God, so is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, both true God and true man, at the same time. Jesus is God, the second person of the Trinity, begotten of the Father from eternity, and He is uncreated. Also, Jesus is man, born of Mary. Jesus is God and man, but there aren’t two Christ’s, nor is Jesus part God and part man, but there is one undivided Christ. 

Now, how does any of that really confusing stuff that I just said make any sense? It doesn’t. That’s why this is a mystery. It’s as St. Paul writes: “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!”  The Trinity and the two natures in Christ are mind-boggling, they’re a mystery! We can speak truths about them, but truly understanding them is impossible for feeble human minds, such as my own. But we believe it because this is how God has revealed Himself to us in the scriptures.

Okay, so it’s a mystery and it’s in the Bible, but why do we have to know this? Why is it important for us to know God’s identity? Why do we have to read that long creed and listen to a sermon about this? Here’s why: Because unless you believe in the God of the Bible as we confessed in the Athanasian creed, you cannot be saved. “Whoever does not believe it faithfully and firmly cannot be saved...Whoever does not keep it whole and undefiled will without doubt perish eternally.” So, these are pretty serious things.

Furthermore, when you know God’s identity, it allows you to also know God’s will and desire for you. So now we move into the second part, what is God’s will for us? Jesus said to Nicodemus: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” The will of God is that you would see the kingdom of God and dwell there with Him eternally! 

How does this take place? Our Lord said: “For God, [namely, the Trinity] loves the World in this manner, namely that He [that is, the Father] gave His only Son [Jesus Christ, the Son of God], that whoever believes in Him [by the power of the Holy Spirit] should not perish but have eternal life.” God’s will and desire for us is that we would live with Him in unapproachable light in heaven eternally; and He wills it to be so by dying for us.

Thus, God is not some sort of angry all-powerful monster out to destroy us, but He is all-powerful so as to have great compassion upon us. “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.” God’s love, compassion, and mercy for His beloved people, for you, drove Him to the cross. “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”

Additionally, the crucifixion is not even somewhat similar to divine child-abuse, due to the fact that all three persons in the Trinity are united. God the Father doesn’t kill God the Son against His will, that’s just silliness when we understand the unity that exists in the Trinity. Rather, the Son willingly gives us up His life for us; no one takes His life from Him.

The eternal will of God has always been our redemption. Even though we are like the Israelites who doubt God and reject Him at times, God’s will for us remains the same. So just as Moses lifted up a serpent, so was the Son of Man lifted up upon the cross for us. God’s will has always been directed towards your salvation.

How do you receive this great salvation? It’s just as Christ said: “whoever believes in Him may have eternal life;” faith. The Father sent the Son, the Son died for us, and the Spirit gives us faith to receive this treasure! This faith comes as a gift from the Spirit. The Spirit blows through the Word of God. Nicodemus was right, Jesus is a teacher come from God, and His Words have the power to deliver faith!

 While the Word of God might have been enough for you to save you, God doesn’t only give you the Word, but He gives you the sacrament of baptism! “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” Just as one cannot control being born, neither can one control this gift of faith which comes to us by the power of the Spirit. What this means for you and me is that the great gift of baptism is our rebirth from this flesh of sin to the spirit of life! Christ’s atoning flesh and blood is united with the waters of baptism when He was baptized by John the Baptist, so that your baptism might grant you the treasure of life! 

And God’s grace for you is so abundant, that He doesn’t give you His Word and baptism only, even though they might have been enough, God gives you more! God gives you the Holy Supper.

We are like the prophet Isaiah who has come into the presence of God: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” And as comfort to make us clean, an angel of the Lord takes a burning coal from the altar, which the angel cannot even touch with his own hands, and says “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

It is true, God is great and mighty and His goodness exposes every bit of sin we have within us. This Triune God is so powerful we ought to tremble before Him! Yet, His will for us is life, since He loves us with all the power and might of the Triune God. He sends His messenger, His pastor, to take the burning coals from this altar, the body and blood of Christ, and place it within our lips. Take eat, this is the body of Christ, take drink, this is the blood of Christ, “your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”