Worship the Trinity in Unity!

1st Sunday after Pentecost, Holy Trinity, 6/7/20
2 Corinthians 13:11-14


Worship the Trinity in Unity!
I. A unity of persons
II. A unity of purpose


Confusion. Perhaps that’s the best way to summarize our lives right now. Just when we thought we were getting a handle on this COVID-19 thing, when our state was beginning to reopen, when our lives were getting back to some of the “normal” we longed for, when we were looking forward to getting out there and living our lives, feeling somewhat safe in doing so, pandemonium broke out, and not just in one locality, but all over the country, all over the world. And I know it’s sounds simplistic, but I’m confused.

So, I’ve done what you have done this morning and I’ve come to a familiar place—our house of worship, a place where we find refuge in the loving arms of our God. We count on the fact that, even though we may be confused, our God never is. He shares his unconfused, uncompromised love, mercy, and salvation with us.

But, as we gather today, it’s under what many might consider to be a very confusing truth about our God—that he is three persons but only one God. He is the triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And yet he is not three gods, but one God. And try as hard as I might, I can’t make sense of that either. It’s as if confusion is being heaped on confusion.

And that would be true, if we didn’t simply take our God at his word. I could be confused about my God if I didn’t simply let him tell me in his word who he is and what he does for me. Because, when I simply let his word speak to me, he works through that word to cause me to believe it. And in believing it, he gives me his comfort and strength.

And this morning he shares the truth about himself as the triune God in the closing words of Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians. We hear the familiar words of the trinitarian blessing, a blessing which conveys to us the truth about the one true God, not three gods. That’s the God we worship. We worship the Trinity in unity! Join me as we see what that means and how it provides us with comfort and assurance.

Part I.

Are you familiar with the Latin phrase, primus inter pares? It means, “first among equals.” It’s a term that’s more than 2,000 years old and was used in the Roman Senate where the senators were all considered to be equals, but one was allowed to speak first, usually due to seniority. But, are you buying that concept, first among equals? If all are equal, how can there be a first? If one is first, how can all be equals? It might be a useful way of explaining how the Roman Senate agreed to operate, but it doesn’t make sense, at least not completely.

Maybe you feel like that just a little when we speak about our God. He is three persons, but only one God. Are we guilty of playing with words? Are we trying to be purposefully confusing, so that we that we cause people to be dependent on us for an explanation which they can never fully understand? Is this like a concept in some mystic religion that breeds all sorts of other mysteries that are meant to intrigue the masses and call for their undivided devotion to some guru who understands it all?

Not at all. But before we discuss the truth of the Trinity, let’s be aware of how that truth is denied.

The Christian Church on earth has always battled heresies, and most of them have denied one or more aspects of the persons of the Trinity. Most people don’t have a problem with God being the Father. In a way, it just makes sense to us.

But the truth that Jesus is the eternal Son of God has been denied ever since Jesus appeared on earth. In the earliest centuries of the Christian church, there were people who claimed to be Christian but believed that Jesus wasn’t fully God, as the Father is fully God. Even today there are people who consider themselves to be Christian, but don’t believe that God the Son is eternal as God the Father is. That’s one of the reasons that we speak the creeds that we do. They all assert that Jesus is true God.

And down through the ages, people have also claimed to be Christian while denying that the Holy Spirit is true God. They consider him only to be an active force emanating from God.

But this is what the Bible proclaims. The Father is true God. The Son—Jesus Christ—is true God. And the Holy Spirit is true God. But they are not three gods. They are only one God.

And this isn’t some new doctrine that the Christian church concocted and developed a few centuries after Jesus rose and ascended into heaven. The Jews had believed this very truth for more than a thousand years before Jesus was born. When Jesus came to this earth and spoke about the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, he didn’t get any confused looks from his fellow Jews. They were all familiar with this teaching. In fact, it’s because Jesus claimed to be God the Son that his enemies wanted to murder him.
The only true God is the Father, Son and Holy Spirit—three persons, but only one God. That’s the God we worship. We worship the Trinity in unity—a unity of persons.

I realize that you can’t fully understand that teaching, but you believe it, and you’re only too happy to confess it. But is it really all that important? What’s the big deal if you don’t believe, for instance, that Jesus is fully God as the Father is fully God? In a word—everything. If Jesus isn’t fully God as the Father and the Holy Spirit are fully God, then you have no confidence of forgiveness or life in heaven. You are left to wish and hope that you can save yourself. If you don’t believe Jesus is fully God, then you have zero confidence that your God doesn’t have something against you. If you don’t believe he’s true God, then he certainly has no control over what’s happening in our world. You’re all alone—with your sins, your guilt, and all the trouble life is dishing out your way.

But we worship the Trinity in unity! All three persons are fully God and that means your eternity is completely certain with your God. He’s worked everything out for you. He even holds your today and your tomorrow in his all-powerful hands. Now what could be more comforting than that truth, given the world we’re living in right now? We worship the Trinity in unity—a unity of persons.

Part II.

I’m guessing you consider yourself to be a practical person. Let me explain. You don’t have a lot of time to spend on things that don’t work for you. If it doesn’t work, you trash it or return it. And then you move on.

We worship the Trinity in unity. But how practical is that? Is it just some Christian formula that tries to explain the inexplicable? Or, is there something practical we receive from believing and confessing that Christian truth?

I’ll allow Paul to answer those questions with these inspired words of blessing, “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”

Paul speaks about the blessings of grace, love, and fellowship. But are those simply words on a heavenly Hallmark greeting card, or do they really mean something for you, practical person that you are?

Let’s take a look at each one. The grace of the Lord Jesus is the quality of God that moved Jesus to do what he did for you. We have a world calling for justice right now. Imagine if God operated that way with me, with you. Instead, he dealt with us in his grace. He favored us by punishing Jesus for our sins. He demands that we live a holy life, and he credits the holy life of Jesus to you and me. That’s grace, and we live in it every day of our lives by faith in Jesus. Now that’s practical!

Next, we have the blessing of the love of God the Father. Have you ever wondered if you’re loved by others? Be honest; we all have. But we don’t have to wonder about the Father’s love for us. That’s because he loves every sinner in the world so much that he planned salvation for every sinner and then he carried it out by sacrificing his greatest treasure—his Son. God’s love for you is more than an emotion; it’s his saving activity—the activity of the cross of Christ.

And thirdly, we have the blessing of the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Have you ever wished you could get closer to someone else? Have a better relationship with someone you love? If that’s the case, then how do you have a relationship with the only true God who alone can save you from the punishment your sins deserve? How will you be able to spend an eternity with him? Don’t worry about it any longer. The Holy Spirit has done that for you already and he continues to do so. He brought you into faith and into the family of God at your baptism. And now he maintains that relationship through word and sacrament. What you need most—a loving relationship with God—he brings you. You have fellowship with the triune God!

All three persons of the Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—want all those same blessings for you. They won them for you and they give them to you. All three persons are all about the same thing. We worship the Trinity in unity—a unity of purpose.

Lately, every day I remark, “It’s a crazy world we’re living in.” And one of the things that make it so difficult for us personally is that it’s almost impossible to find two people who think and feel exactly the same way about things. We all process what’s been happening differently and we all come to different conclusions. We speak differently. We act differently.

But your God—the triune God—never has that problem. We worship the Trinity in unity. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit want exactly the same thing, feel exactly the same thing, think exactly the same thing, speak exactly the same thing, and act exactly the same way. And it’s all so that you are blessed, now and forever. The great truth of Christianity is that you do not have to manipulate your God to do anything good for you. He wants to bless you. He exists to bless you. He does bless you as the triune God—now and forever.

We worship the Trinity in unity! Worship the Trinity today! Worship the Trinity forever! Amen.