Triune Blessings from our Triune God

2 Corinthians 13:11-14 Finally, brothers, good-by. Aim for perfection, listen to my appeal, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you. ¹² Greet one another with a holy kiss. ¹³ All the saints send their greetings. ¹⁴ May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Today is Holy Trinity Sunday. Today is a day to take a big, deep breath and confess the incomprehensible – God as one Divine Being in three Divine Persons, a Unity in Trinity and a Trinity in Unity. Or as we confess in the Athanasian Creed: “without mixing the persons or dividing the divine being.”

Though we cannot wrap our puny minds around the doctrine of the three-in-one God, throughout the Scriptures, our creeds and our hymns, we do not try to explain the mystery of the Trinity; we simply confess it as fact. Even though we only celebrate one Trinity Festival each church year, just about every worship service begins, ends and proclaims throughout our faith in the Triune God.

This is nothing new. In the Old Testament, believers began their worship with the phrase, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God the Lord is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4), three Persons, one God. Today we still begin with a Trinitarian phrase like “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” Or sometimes we shorten it to “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Sprit.” We end our worship with the three-fold familiar blessing that Aaron the high priest used to end worship in ancient Israel, “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord look on you with favor and give you peace” (Numbers 6:24-26).

Throughout the worship service we praise our Triune God, beg for His mercy, ask for His blessing and proclaim His holiness. We are forgiven in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We pray, “Lord, have mercy; Christ, have mercy; Lord, have mercy” – one mercy for each person of the Triune God. We ask that our prayers be heard by God the Father through the intercession of the Son and by the faith given to us by the Holy Spirit. We sing “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God, Almighty” – one holy for each person of our three-in-one God. Every Sunday we confess the Trinity in Unity in the creeds of the Christian Church. And those are just of sampling of the many times we profess our faith in the Trinity. We are definitely a Trinitarian Church. But as we will confess in the Athanasian Creed: “Whoever wishes to be saved must have this conviction of the Trinity.”

Trinity Sunday is a reminder that we can’t put God in a box or fit Him neatly inside our heads. We are not to explain or understand the mystery of the Trinity in Unity – simply believe it, praise it and proclaim it. Martin Luther said, “To try to deny the Trinity endangers your salvation, to try to comprehend the Trinity endangers your sanity.” Don’t we want to worship a God who is greater than us? Who is bigger than us? Who is beyond our comprehension and explanation?

Our children learn from early on to sing, “Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are.” But as we get older we realize that those twinkling little stars are really enormous balls of fiery gas bigger than our sun. They may appear small, but they are really powerful and magnificent.

It is the same with the Apostle Paul’s conclusion to his second letter to the Corinthian congregation. “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” Those words, “grace, love and fellowship” may appear small, but each one is powerful and magnificent.

“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Consider how God put His grace into action throughout history. When Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, they brought sin and death into God’s perfect world. God should have killed them right then and there. But He didn’t. Instead He promised a Savior to be born from their offspring. That’s grace!

When Abraham traveled to Egypt, he passed off his wife as his sister to save his own skin. God should have pushed Abraham aside and picked another man to be the one through whom “all nations would be blessed” (Genesis 12:3). But He didn’t. Instead He forgave Abraham. That’s grace!

When Jacob wanted the number one position in the family line, he cheated his older brother out of that favored position. God should have treated Jacob with disdain and restored Esau’s position. But He didn’t. Instead He kept Jacob in the line of promise. That’s grace!

When the Israelites were being led by God’s cloud and fire to the Promised Land, they often complained and rebelled. God should have abandoned them in the desert. But He didn’t! Instead He gave them the land as a gift. That’s grace!

When David committed adultery with Bathsheba and tried to cover it up by murdering her husband, he defiled the office of king. God should have ripped royalty away from his hands. But He didn’t. Instead He allowed the Savior to be born as great David greater Son. That’s grace!

When Peter denied his Lord, he forfeited his position as a follower of Jesus. God should have cut him off the list of apostles. But He didn’t. Instead He reinstated Peter and told him, “Feed my sheep.” That’s grace!

When Saul was arresting Christians and condemning them to death, God should have put him on trial in a heavenly court and condemned him. But He didn’t. Instead God converted Saul the persecutor into Paul the most powerful preacher of the day. That’s grace!

When sin raised its ugly head in the Corinthians congregation and caused all sorts of problems – Christians taking other Christians to court needlessly, wayward sinners allowed to continue on in the congregation without any loving discipline from the other Christians, and disorderly worship – they needed grace from our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul should have sent a letter and said, “God has written you off.” But he didn’t. He wrote, “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ … be with you all.”

Are we any different from those Old Testament and New Testament believers? When God sees all the horrible things we do that the world notices, gawks at and gossips about, we are ashamed. When God looks into the recesses of our soul and shines the light of His Law onto the private thoughts and secret sins, we are embarrassed. If a bloodsucking mosquito bites you and causes you pain, you have every right to squash it under your hand. Because of our many and varied sins, because of our public and private sins, we have drained the lifeblood from God’s Son. Now the Father has every right to squash us bloodsucking insects under His righteous right hand. … But He doesn’t. Instead he squashed Jesus by nailing Him to the cross. Every moment of every day we can be sure that God smiles on us because Jesus has absorbed God’s anger. He took the hit so we wouldn’t. That’s grace! That’s powerful! That’s magnificent!

Paul continues, “the love of God … be with you.” Consider how God has put this love into action throughout history. God not only gave Adam and Eve forgiveness. He also gave them clothing, food and companionship. God not only made Abraham the man through whom all nations were blessed, but also gave him a new homeland and great wealth. God not only let Jacob keep the number one position in the family, but also gave him twelve sons and thousands of sheep and goats. God not only kept David’s family line alive till Jesus was born but also filled the royal coffers with so much gold that David’s son could build a marvelous temple to God’s glory.

When Paul wrote to the Corinthians, he could point to abundant evidence of God’s love in their lives. They were living in a busy, high income, teaming metropolis. They had all the advantages of big city life. They had ample room for growth and oodles of opportunities to share the truths about Jesus with others.

Oceans of love from God the Father have been poured out us, too. There isn’t a country in the world that has the advantages and resources that we enjoy. Though our own busy, higher income city of Racine has been less busy with lower incomes the last few years, we are still wealthy beyond belief. Look at the talents you have been given to earn a living and raise a family. Consider the refurbished 84-year-old building we use for worship. Look at the resources for Christian education you have at WLS and Shoreland. Look at the friends God has given you. Look at the opportunities to reach out to others with His love at this exciting time in our city. That’s love! That’s powerful! That’s magnificent!

If God’s blessings to us formed a mountain, we would find the grace of our Lord Jesus at the peak of the mountain, love from God the Father as the base of the mountain, and fellowship from the Holy Spirit filling in all the rest and binding it all together. Fellowship involves sharing, partnership and enjoying things in common. God’s gifts of grace and love and everything else becomes ours personally because the Holy Spirit lets us share in them and lets us share them with each other. That’s fellowship.

Consider how the Holy Spirit put this fellowship into action throughout history. Abraham didn’t just hear about a son to be born in his old age. He held Isaac in his arms. The Israelites didn’t just march toward the Promised Land. They lived in it. The early Christians didn’t just hear about God’s grace and love. They put it into practice. “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had” (Acts 4:32).

The Corinthians certainly needed that blessing of fellowship. One of their biggest problems was factions in the congregation – separate cliques standing around in their holy huddles, spiritual navel-gazing as members of the frozen chosen. When anyone else came in, they’d glance over their shoulders, look down their noses, and quickly turn back inside their circle. God’s work just was not getting done. That’s why Paul urged them, “Listen to my appeal, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.” He even encouraged them to make use of the common public expression of unity, “Greet one another with a holy kiss.”

What a blessing it is for us to enjoy fellowship from the Holy Spirit! He puts us in touch with God’s grace and love so we can take to heart the message of forgiveness and recognize God’s love all around us. He also puts us in touch with one another. It means so much when we work together in unity to pay off a $50,000 debt in two months while at the same time continuing to plan how to beautify the interior and exterior of our church and school. Fellowship is working together to make disciples of all nations in new and exciting ways. Fellowship means when a brother or sister gets in trouble, we don’t open our ears and mouth to gossip about them. Instead we open our hearts and our mouths to pray for them. The former is fellowship with the devil. The latter is fellowship created by the Holy Spirit. It is a fellowship of the saints. That’s fellowship! That’s powerful! That’s magnificent!

Some people might think that this teaching that our God is three-in-one is dry, boring and impractical. However, as we sing, proclaim and teach today, the triune blessings from our Triune God are very practical and very exciting for our everyday lives. But how meaningful these small, but powerful and magnificent words are now that you know what they mean: May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.

Holy Trinity Sunday, 1^st Sunday after Pentecost at Epiphany on June 19, 2011