The Shepherd’s Voice

Readings for Sunday, June 7^th
Is 6:1-8
Ps 29
Rom 8:12-17
Jn 3:1-17

The Shepherd’s Voice – Sermon Audio

We worship one God in trinity and the Trinity in unity, neither confusing the persons nor dividing the divine being. For the Father is one person, the Son is another, and the Spirit is still another. But the deity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is one, equal in glory, co-eternal in majesty. What the Father is, the Son is, and so is the Holy Spirit.

This is the first paragraph from what we call the Athanasian Creed after the famous Bishop of Alexandria who lived in the 4th century and defended Christian orthodoxy from Arianism. This creed upholds the full Deity and humanity of Christ, his death for sins, resurrection, ascension, second coming and final judgment.

The Oxford Dictionary says the Trinity is “the central dogma of Christian theology.”

Many a theologian has said: “Deny the Trinity and you will lose your soul; try to explain it and you will lose your mind”

We call today Holy Trinity Sunday because it’s a time when we have just celebrated the coming of the Holy Spirit, a completion so to speak of the Godhead. Many people refer to last Sunday Pentecost, as the birthday of the church. The coming of the Holy Spirit was an event that Jesus often referred in a completion sense. When he would talk about leaving to the disciples he would try to comfort them by saying God’s Spirit would still be present (John 14:15-21) to provide guidance after he went away into heaven.

Completeness the Trinity – Lot’s of folks have used different analogies over the years to describe the Trinity often missing the mark. Some people use water, steam, and ice, one element three different forms, but that is not an accurate analogy for the trinity. Each may have the same substance, but they do not have the same essence (nature). Each of the persons of the Trinity have the same essence.

According to the Theological Dictionary called Crazy Talk (written by a Lutheran theologian) when we talk about the Trinity we have the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – three persons in on God, not to be confused with onions, celery, and green bell peppers – the Holy Trinity of Cajun cooking, without which soups and all sauces risk unforgivably heretical blandness.

Neither the word Trinity nor an explanation of the doctrine of the Trinity appear in the New Testament, however the word and the doctrine seek to describe accurately the God who is revealed in the Bible. Unfortunately, theology cannot accurately describe the Trinity, like a lagging child on a field trip who never quite hears the explanation as the group moves along, and is always playing catch-up. Also our language is in catch up mode when trying to fully explain the Trinity as words are hard to find as we describe it.

Early Christians, even though there was no developed theology on the Trinity they had no trouble talking about God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the coming of the Holy Spirit. They experienced all three in a very real and personal way.

If we look at our text today from John chapter 3 we see Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews came to Jesus and acknowledged that He was a teacher come from God. After raising a concern about being a part of God’s kingdom Jesus told him he needed to be born again. That seemed shocking to Nicodemus, asking how can someone be born after they have grown old. Jesus tells him he must be born of water and the Spirit.

A few verses into our Gospel and we have the whole Trinity cited. Father/God, Jesus the Son come from God, and the Spirit necessary if we are to be part of God’s kingdom.

The Trinity can be very complicated theologically as we could talk about the substance (ousia) proceeding from the Father or the homoousios being with the father, but in reality it becomes a matter of faith. One God, three persons…..

Theological discussions are a little like talking about the greatest basketball player ever. Is it most points scored, best defense played, most years played, best team player – most assists or some other criteria that is used in the discussion? Unfortunately, churches have split over the topic, countries have fought wars, basketball is a rough. Not really, but talking about the trinity has been tough historically. Many of us on this subject are at the 1st level of learning which is we don’t know what we don’t know. Scripture and past theologians have helped us get to a place where we know what we don’t know. (the 2nd level of learning) Most of us haven’t moved beyond that state.

Isaiah said it first, (Isaiah 45:15) “Truly you are a God who hides himself.” Luther was convinced as well there is a hidden-ness to God that none of us can understand in our current state of being all there is to know about God or the Trinity. Indeed, Edward Veith, in his book The Spirituality of the Cross says “The hidden-ness of God is one of the most profound themes in Lutheran spirituality.” As Lutherans, we admit there is much about God we don’t know. Many paradoxes/dichotomies exist in the world of faith. Sin and grace, one God 3 persons, redeemed yet still a sinner, God’s kingdom arrived with Jesus coming and yet it is not fully present. If you study Paul you will come upon many more.

So I don’t further lose my mind on subjects that are difficult to understand I’m going to cease talking about the Trinity now. Please know it’s an important concept. We believe it on faith. If you’d like to talk about it further come by my office and we can have a cup of coffee together and have a lengthy conversation. What do we know today?

One thing Luther taught about scripture is that when it came to understanding scripture we are to first look at the basic words, the simple meaning, what is unequivocal in the text. Some today use the acronym KISS. The simple essence of the lesson for us today from the Gospel is the answer to a simple question. How can we be part of the kingdom of God?

There is a struggle in our Gospel lesson. Nicodemus comes to Jesus by night, perhaps afraid. Nicodemus wants something better; (as we often do) he wants to be part of the kingdom of God. Jesus keeps it very simple for him, but Nicodemus, like most of us try to make life more complicated than it needs to be. How can I be born again when I am old Nicodemus says, but Jesus says “You must be born of water and the Spirit.”
There is nothing complicated here. Jesus told his disciples, the crowds who followed him, and he tells us today we must be born again (receive God’s Spirit) if we want to be included in the kingdom of God. This is NOT a matter of the parousia or homoousios knowing or differentiating the nature or understanding of the Trinity. It helps to believe in the Trinity to better understand God, and God’s overall work in the world, but it’s not essential to becoming a part of God’s kingdom here on earth.

In this one section of scripture from John, our Gospel today, Jesus gives us the whole plan. It’s water and the word, it’s baptism, it’s dying to sin and rising to Christ, daily.

We often make it too complicated. This past week I setup a DVD/VHS player recorder in order to copy some VHS tapes onto DVD’s. There is a book ½” thick manual that came with the unit. It describes the cable combinations, the inputs, HDMI, 1080p progressive video, SVideo cable, Digital coaxial connections, virtual speaker connections, audio component inputs, output signal requirements, video camera dubbing connections, and i.link cables. So I did what most real men do when approaching a complicated install such as this I threw the instructions manual aside and got to work.

Fortunately, for me, and perhaps most men who buy this unit there is one button on the front of the unit that has an arrow on it. It says one touch dubbing or copying. You put the media in place either VHS or DVDs and press that button, it’s that easy.

Jesus made it that simple for Nicodemus and us as well. He said we must be born of water and the Spirit. Maybe you’re asking well what does that mean. I’m glad you asked because this one button answer is explained by one verse.

Look with me at verse Jn 3:16. One verse that covers all of God’s message, both law and Gospel. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” It’s that simple. If you need the whole manual God gave us that as well, it’s available, don’t throw it in the trash, read it!

Martin Luther described this verse as the whole Gospel, in one verse. One button, press it today and be born of the Spirit once again. Celebrate your baptism today.

Amen

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