Your Salvation Is a Trinitarian Effort!

1st Sunday after Pentecost, 5/30/10
John 16:12-15


Your Salvation Is a Trinitarian Effort!
I. It’s the Father’s will.
II. It’s the Son’s work.
III. It’s the Spirit’s gift.

As smart as we are, there are many things in life that we see occurring right in front of us, but we don’t understand. For instance, I watch out the window of the aircraft I’m in as it climbs higher and higher into the sky. I see the flaps on the wings moving. I know there are laws of aerodynamics that are involved, but I don’t understand them. I simply see the aircraft doing what it was designed to do.

Perhaps you’ve recently undergone a medical operation. Your surgeon provided you with a brief explanation of what the surgery involved. He informed you of his expectations for success. Now it’s been weeks since you’ve had the surgery and you’re seeing gradual improvement. You don’t understand exactly what the surgeon did, but you can see and feel the results.

Today we’re celebrating the saving truth that our God is the triune God. He is three persons but only one God. We’ll state that very truth in the Nicene Creed at the end of this sermon. By God’s grace we believe that the doctrine of the Trinity is true and correct. But we can’t understand it. No matter how long I ponder that truth, no matter how much instruction I might receive, no matter how much reading and studying of this doctrine I might do, I can’t understand it.

But like that aircraft or that surgery, we can describe God’s activity. We can understand what he has done and still does for us. We see his powerful activity in the way that he created all things and uses the laws of nature to preserve life. In other words, we see his loving activity in nature. As amazing as that activity is, it pales in comparison to the activity Jesus describes in our text before us this morning.

These words from John 16 might sound a bit confusing, but what Jesus is really speaking about is our salvation—the truth that God has rescued us from our sins and won eternal life for us. That work was something that each person of the Trinity had a part in.

God’s amazing truth for our edification this morning is that your salvation is a trinitarian effort. May our triune God help us see it more clearly and praise him for it more appropriately as we ponder these words of our Lord Jesus.

Part I.
What I want and what I get aren’t always the same thing. Do you find the same is true with you? You want a stress-free day, but by 9:00 AM you need to take a break to avoid a complete meltdown. You want all to go well in your relationships with your loved ones, but you don’t often get it. That’s the way it is with all of us.

Have you ever wondered what God wants? I’m sure we’ve all wondered about that, especially regarding some of the details of our lives. Does he want me to take this job or that one? Does he want me to go to this school or that one? We don’t know the answers to those questions because God has not told us those answers in his word. We don’t know the will of God apart from what he has told us in his word.

But he has made his highest will perfectly clear to us in his word. What is the thing God wants most of all? He tells us in his word that he wants every sinner to be saved. That’s why right after the fall into sin God came to Adam and Eve and announced his plan to crush Satan’s head. He doesn’t want sinners to suffer eternally in hell. He wants them to live forever with him in heaven.

Therefore he also wants all sinners to trust in Jesus as their Savior. God the Father sent Jesus into this world as the world’s Savior from sin. Jesus did the work he had been sent to do. But personal benefit from that work only becomes ours as we trust in Jesus for our salvation and not in ourselves. That’s why the Father wants every sinner to trust in his Son as their Savior.

That’s what Jesus is referring to when he says in our text, “all that belongs to the Father.” As the Creator of all things, all things rightly belong to God the Father. But Jesus isn’t referring to that here. Instead, he’s talking about his Father’s will and plan to save all sinners. God the Father’s part in your salvation is that he willed and planned it.

Your salvation is a Trinitarian effort. It’s God the Father’s will.

Part II.
In any relationship that has some depth, things generally go well when both people in that relationship want the same thing. Trouble arises when one wants one thing and the other wants another.

God the Father wants your salvation more than anything else. As we sit in the pews this morning, we nod our heads in agreement. That’s what we want as well. That’s why we’re here. But how evident is that the rest of the 167 hours of the week? Isn’t it true that sometimes our salvation is far away from our minds? And yet our Father doesn’t change his mind about us. His highest will for us doesn’t change. Amazing! How reassuring to know that he remains faithful in spite of our unfaithfulness! Your salvation is a Trinitarian effort. It’s the Father’s constant, highest will.

In spite of the “hand-out” culture in which we live, it’s still true that we try to instill in our children that they should work hard to achieve the things they want in life. We encourage them to work hard at their educations, work hard to achieve their goals in art, music and sports.

Our God wants your salvation and he worked hard to achieve it. What God the Father willed, God the Son achieved. God the Father’s will includes every sinner that has ever walked the earth and will ever walk the earth. When Jesus came to this earth to do his work, he included every sinner in that work. The Bible never states that Jesus died for some people but not for others. Instead, it emphatically states that he died for all, even the most wicked and vile people. Not one single sinner is beyond the scope of Jesus’ work. And in the closing moments of his crucifixion he declared about that work, “It is finished.” His resurrection from the dead guarantees that he completed it.

That’s what Jesus was referring to when he stated, “All that belongs to the Father is mine.” He’s not referring to things that he and the Father created. He’s referring to the Father’s will to save all sinners. Jesus deeply shared that desire, so much so that he went out and accomplished it. He accomplished the salvation of every sinner.

That means that in this case, we don’t work for what we want. Thank the triune God that we don’t have to work for what we want! If your salvation depended in even the slightest way on you and your performance, you could never be certain of it. You’d be forever haunted by the question, “Have I done enough? Did I do my part to the satisfaction of the holy God?” That fear was buried with Jesus. The work of your salvation is finished.

Your salvation is a Trinitarian effort. It’s the work of the Son.

Do you struggle with guilt? Ever get the feeling that you don’t measure up, you know, like you’re inferior? Do you work so hard just at living your life that you’re stressed and fatigued to the point of exhaustion? Here’s the solution. Your salvation is entirely the work of God the Son. Sure life can be the pits. We face trouble and heartache and even death every day. But your eternal life is secure. Heaven is yours. Christ won it for you. You’ll join your loved ones there. Your God has taken care of everything. Your salvation is a Trinitarian effort. It’s the work of the Son.

Part III.
When you have a commodity that is important and even vital to someone else, the delivery system for that commodity is critical. For instance, we have plenty of food here, and yet people are starving in other parts of the world. One of the causes for that problem is an inadequate delivery system.

The triune God has the most critical commodity of all—your salvation. The Father willed it. The Son did all the work of accomplishing it. But the triune God doesn’t leave the delivery of that salvation to us or anyone else. He takes care of that himself. It’s the gift of the Holy Spirit.

In accessing any other commodity or blessing, there’s always at least some activity required of us. Even when we receive a gift, someone else may bring it to us but we have to reach out and receive it.

But we can’t even do that with the gift of salvation. The Bible makes it clear that prior to our coming to faith in Jesus we were spiritually dead—unable to do anything to help our spiritual situation.

But that’s where God the Holy Spirit comes in. He’s the one who brought us to faith in Jesus. He created saving faith in our hearts. And that faith, then, grabs hold of the blessings Jesus won for us—our forgiveness, our new life as children of God, and our eternal salvation. What we couldn’t do for ourselves, the Holy Spirit did for us.

And in doing so, he glorifies Jesus as the Son of God and the Savior of the world. Jesus put it this way in our text, “He will bring glory to me by taking what is mine and making it known to you.” The Holy Spirit took the blessings Jesus won for us and made them known to us. In doing so, he leads you and me and every other Christian to glorify Jesus as the world’s only Savior from sin.

Your salvation is a Trinitarian effort. It’s the Spirit’s gift.

As soon as you learned how to talk, your parents likely taught you to say “thank-you” whenever you received a gift. They also taught you to appreciate the gifts you receive.

Your salvation—a Trinitarian effort—is the greatest of gifts. But I think you’d admit with me that our response of thanks for that gift hasn’t always been what it should be. And yet when we come to the triune God with that confession, he immediately comes back to us with his gift of forgiveness. Amazing, isn’t it? We would have stopped giving to such ungrateful people as ourselves long ago. But not the triune God. That’s because he’s all about giving salvation to sinners. It’s the Father’s will, the Son’s work and the Spirit’s gift. Thank him for it! Amen.

You've Been Gathered by the Holy Spirit!

Pentecost, 5/23/10
Acts 2:1


You’ve Been Gathered by the Holy Spirit!
I. Into the Holy Christian Church
II. To proclaim your Savior’s praise


Today we join the church on earth in celebrating the Day of Pentecost and, along with it, the work of God the Holy Spirit. So let me ask you. When was the last time you celebrated the work of the Holy Spirit? Some of you might be saying to yourself, “I don’t remember the last time.” Others of you might be saying, “About a year ago when we last celebrated Pentecost.” Fair enough. Those are honest answers and that’s what I was looking for.

How about this one? When is the last time you prayed to the Holy Spirit? Can’t recall the last time? Maybe you’re sure you never have. Really? In each of our creeds we confess the Holy Spirit as true God along with the Father and the Son but we have a hard time recalling when we have celebrated his work in our lives or praying for him to continue that work in our lives.

Those are two of the biggest reasons that the Holy Spirit has often been referred to as the “silent member of the Trinity.” We tend to forget about his work. We often fail to pray for his influence in our lives and in the lives of others.

If that’s true for you to any degree, then I’m glad you’re gathered here with God’s people this morning, for Jesus has referred to the Holy Spirit as the greatest gift that God can give to any sinner. In our Catechism instruction with our children we recall this explanation from Martin Luther regarding the Holy Spirit’s work, “He has called me by the gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, sanctified and kept me in the truth faith.” But then Luther also goes on, “In the same way he calls, gathers, enlightens and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith.”

He gathers Christians. Like no other day in history we see him doing just that on the day described in our text. And he’s still doing it. He’s done it with you. You’ve been gathered by the Holy Spirit. May he enlighten us so that we see the many blessings he has in store for us who have been gathered by him.

Part I.

Our modern society encourages individualism. Particularly at this time of year when we’re celebrating graduations, you hear the encouragement to be yourself, to be true to yourself, to strike out on your own, to avoid just going along with the crowd. But we don’t take those words as an encouragement to be all alone. No one likes to be entirely alone. The newly widowed spouse and the college freshman sitting at her desk that first night on campus fight the feeling of loneliness.

Your God doesn’t want you to be alone. Not forever. Not even for a single day. And thus he gathers you. Listen again to the words of our text. “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.” The followers of Jesus were gathered on that Day of Pentecost in one place. That was the working of the Holy Spirit. He had caused them to obey the command of their Savior to stay in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit had been poured out on them.

How appropriate that this outpouring should occur on the Day of Pentecost! You see, this wasn’t a brand new celebration. It had been on the Jewish calendar every year for centuries. It was the annual celebration of the harvest—the gathering in of God’s blessings on their farming efforts. As such, it also prefigured the way the Holy Spirit would gather together or harvest sinful human souls into God’s kingdom.

The beginning of that worldwide work involved these very disciples that were gathered together in that room on this particular Sunday morning. In keeping his promise Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to them in a special way. You know the Pentecost story. You just heard it read to you a few minutes ago. There was the sound of a rushing wind and then what looked like tongues of fire separated on rested on them. Incredible! These outward signs were the indication of what he was doing to them inwardly—filling them with his holy, powerful presence.

The Holy Spirit was gathering them in a special way so that he could use them to gather others. Many Christians speak of this day as the beginning of the New Testament church on earth. And what a start was made this day! The church has never seen one like it since. Peter preached a sermon to the crowd gathered before him and the Holy Spirit does his work. Three thousand come to faith in Jesus as their Savior. Three thousand are baptized. Three thousand are gathered by the Holy Spirit into the Holy Christian Church.

And the soul count keeps increasing. This same Holy Spirit used the same gospel of Jesus Christ that Peter spoke and the same sacrament of Baptism that Peter and the others administered to bring you to faith in Jesus and to gather you into the Holy Christian Church. When you confess that you “believe in the Holy Christian Church,” you are confessing that you are a member of that invisible Church by faith in Jesus. You are gathered with all others in heaven and on earth who trust in Jesus as their Savior.

You’ve been gathered by the Holy Spirit! You’ve been gathered into the Holy Christian Church.

This past February our area observed another very grim anniversary. It was 11 years ago that 10-year-old Erica Baker disappeared while walking her dog. I recall watching the news reports of her parents’ efforts to find her and bring her back home. Eleven years later, they’ve resigned themselves to the fact that she will never come home alive. They can only hope that those implicated in her disappearance will inform them of where her body is so that they can bring her home and give her a descent burial. It’s a terrible, horrible situation!

But even that pales in comparison to how lost you and I were. Worse yet, we didn’t even know how lost we were. We were headed for hopelessness and helplessness and eternal death with our enemy, Satan. But the Holy Spirit gathered us in. It likely took place at a font much like that one. Or it happened as a friend or a teacher or another pastor shared with us the message of our sin and God’s grace in Jesus Christ. And through those means—unimpressive in the world’s eyes—the Holy Spirit accomplished something eternally tremendous in us. He gathered us in. He brought us to faith in Jesus. He made us members of the Holy Christian Church. It took no effort, no decision, no response on our part. It was all his working. You’ve been gathered by the Holy Spirit.

Part II.

Are you familiar with the term “coffee klatch”? It’s used for a group of people—usually a group of women—who get together over a cup of coffee simply to talk with one another. That’s the only purpose for the existence of their gathering.

We just noted how the Holy Spirit has gathered us into the Holy Christian Church. That’s an eternal organization. It’s the most outstanding organization ever. But for what purpose?

Well, for one thing he wants to bless you. As a member of the Holy Christian Church you live in the daily forgiveness of your sins. You have the daily assurance that you are a dearly loved child of God. You have God’s promise that eternal life in heaven is yours. Those are some of the blessings God gives you because he has gathered you.

But he also wants to bless others through you. Through your presence and participation here in this gathering of Christians you make it possible to share God’s truths with our children. In worship and in Bible study you share God’s truths with one another. Through your offerings you make it possible to share God’s truths will people near and far.

And that’s exactly what they apostles were doing immediately after the Holy Spirit filled them on the day of Pentecost. Peter grabbed the closest spot he could and used it to preach his first sermon. After that sermon the other apostles used water and the word to baptize 3,000. From that point on the apostles took the good news of Jesus to far points in every direction of the compass. The pebble of the gospel had been dropped in the lake of this world and the ripples spread out from there. That saving movement of the gospel was in keeping with the gracious plan of our Savior. The Holy Spirit gathered his apostles in so that he could use them to gather others in.

That same plan is still in action today. The players are different, but the plan remains the same. It’s one of the reasons that the Holy Spirit gathered you and me into the Church. As individuals, we’ve been placed here at this time in history for the Holy Spirit to use to gather others into his Church. As a congregation of believers our purpose is to make disciples of all nations. We’re here to share God’s Son with you and with everyone else. The Apostle Peter said it this way, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Peter 1:29).

You’ve been gathered by the Holy Spirit to proclaim your Savior’s praise.

We’ve been gathered by the Holy Spirit to praise Jesus, to tell others how wonderful he is. That’s our stated purpose as a congregation and as individuals. How well does that stated purpose describe us collectively? Individually? Over the past 2 weeks I’ve had some time to reflect on that personally and to confess that it hasn’t been the priority in my life that it should be. How about you? And the Holy Spirit brings us forgiveness through faith in Jesus. And then he fills us with his power. He renews us and guides us and uses us to reach others with the saving message of Jesus just as he used these apostles on that Sunday morning in Jerusalem. May he continue to gather more people into his kingdom through us! Amen.