St. John 3:3-5 – Holy Trinity Sunday 2012
Zion Ev. Lutheran Church, McHenry, IL
June 2-3, 2012
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Blessed be the Holy Trinity and the Undivided Unity! In the Name of Jesus. Amen.
We all believe in one true God, Who created earth and heaven, The Father, who to us in love Has the right of children given. He in soul and body feeds us; All we need His hand provides us; Through all snares and perils leads us, Watching that no harm betide us. He cares for us by day and night; All things are governed by His might. (LSB 954, 1)
That’s faith! That’s what we believe. About God the Father… not just a hymn that we sing twice a year or something that I dug up from under a rock. There’s pastor again picking those Luther hymns!
Hear the words. Believe the words. Cherish them. Be born from them.
The Father saves you. And not by picking up out of the filth of your sins like I would pick up a dirty diaper. You know, covering His nose. Like you are filthy.
You are filthy. I am filthy. We are stinky sinners – dead corpses rotten to the core. Rotten to God. Stinky to one another.
And into our stinky, filthy, world, He sons us. He adopts us. He families us. Not by us becoming like Him but this way…
We all believe in Jesus Christ, His own Son, our Lord, possessing An equal Godhead, throne, and might, Source of ev’ry grace and blessing; Born of Mary, virgin mother, By the power of the Spirit, Word made flesh, our elder brother; That the lost might life inherit, Was crucified for all our sin. And raised by God to life again. (954, 2)
THe Son of God is sent into our world, into our death, not to condemn and judge the world, but to save the world. He is God of God and Light of God, does a Christmas, Epiphany, and Lent for you.
Then, to save you, Jesus does Good Friday for you. He died. God died to save you. The Father didn’t die. The Spirit didn’t. But God the Son. He became the corpse you and I are and live like every day to redeem us from our sin and death.
Easter and Ascension – Jesus does them too to save you. Raised from the dead, born from above for you – first fruits of all who believe in Him.
How do you know? For… We all confess the Holy Ghost, Who, in highest heaven dwelling With God the Father and the Son, Comforts us beyond all telling; Who the Church, His own creation, Keeps in unity of spirit. Here forgiveness and salvation Daily come through Jesus’ merit. All flesh shall rise, and we shall be In bliss with God eternally. Amen.
Jesus lives. You live in Him. He is raised. You are raised. Born from above. Alive to God now. Alive to one another. That’s you.
For you have been made alive by the work of the Holy Spirit. Raised with Christ. Fed Christ. Alive with Christ.
And.. you won’t just possibly be saved. You won’t just possibly be raised. Luther is emphatic because God is emphatic: Uns ein Leben in Ewigkeit.
You shall be in bliss with God who created you. You will be in heaven. You are in heaven. As surely as…
The Father is God. The Son is God. The Holy Spirit is God. We have not three Gods, but one God.
The Father is Lord. The Son is Lord. The Spirit is Lord. We have not three Lords, but one Lord.
Not three Almighties, but One Almighty. Not three Eternals, but one Eternal. Not three uncreated, but One created.
One God who is completely One in not only saving you, but being your God. For the whole thing will shut down. The Trinity will be undone, un-unified, all un-triune, if God doesn’t have you not only in Heaven but His child now.
For the God who doesn’t need anything, who doesn’t require anything to complete Him wants one thing. He wants to be your God and for you to be His child.
Not because you are so lovable, or wantable, or desirable. You are stinking dead corpses. Me too. That was soooo five minutes ago in the sermon.
This is How God is. He’s not only omnipotent, omni-present, omniscient, and every other all and omni there is. He’s the God who sent His Son not to judge or condemn you but to save you.
You are born from above. That’s you. Not back in your mother’s womb again. From above.
Born from God the Father. Born from above because the Son of God lived His life for you and died the death you deserve. Born from above by the work of the Holy Spirit who raised you from the dead by the water and the Word in you Baptism.
New life. Real life. Changed life. That’s what you have. A life no longer spent living for yourself. For others.
Put away your sins. Put away the slander that you speak of others and talking behind their backs. Put away the mean things that you do to one another. The lust, the lies, the hate, the feeling of GRRRRR you feel when that person that you can’t stand is brought up. Put it all away.
But put away despising God. Thinking that He is somehow not God enough to save someone like you, with all your sins, with all your you. Or that He’s going cause of something that you do and don’t do.
“The Father loved the world this, loved you, even you, this way: He sent His Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”
That means that even you and me are saved. Even you and me. As surely God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
And Faith says, faith believes, faith knows the only answer to this: Amen. Amen. Amen.
Blessed be the Holy Trinity and the Undivided Unity! In the Name of Jesus. Amen.
