Trinity Sunday – May 26th, 2024
Trinity Ev. Lutheran Church, Block, Kansas
Rev. Joshua Woelmer
Text: John 3:1–17
“Three in One, One in Three”
Theme: The nature of the Trinity—love—extends to the work of God in our lives.
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Why did God create us? I don’t know if this is a question you’ve ever asked, but it’s probably one worth asking. After all, God did create us, and sometimes it seems like there’s a lot that God has to do to take care of us.
You could say the whole Bible is all about that, right? God created Adam and Eve, and then they almost immediately fall into sin. God promises a Savior time and time again, giving His Law to curb sin and accuse sinners, and finally coming himself in the flesh to save us from our sin. God continues this work in our lives.
I suppose the first way to start answering this question Why did God create us? is to compare God’s creation of us with our desire to marry and have children of our own. One thing that those who are single ask is why would anyone want kids? It seems like they’re a lot of work, create lots of messes, and take a lot of discipline. And yet, when you have a loving spouse, God has put in each of us the desire to have children. The love of spouses brings about the love of children.
We should understand the Holy Trinity in this way. After all, 1 John 4:8 says, “God is love.” Here is a way to understand the Trinity. Before God created the world, the Father has eternally been begetting the Son. That is, the Second Person of the Trinity is God and come forth from the Father. The Father loves the Son, and the Son loves the Father, and that love that proceeds from both is the Holy Spirit. Even their names give us a clue that we should understand God in this way. If God had given other names to the parts of the Trinity, maybe it would be less relational and less loving. Imagine if it were purely by power or might. The Father could be “General,” the Son could be “Lieutenant,” and the Holy Spirit “Private.” No, God as Trinity does not operate that way.
Now, at a certain point, our minds are not able to fully grasp how God can be one yet three. Yet this relational conception of the Trinity might help. God is love in how the three persons of the Trinity relate to each other. But God did not want his existence to be the only thing for all eternity. Such love might turn into self-absorption. We recognize something is off when couples say, “I don’t want to have any kids whatsoever.” God is not self-absorbed, as if his own love would be enough. No, he wants that love to grow.
So God out of His own love creates man and a world for man to live in. And even when everything breaks down by the Fall into Sin, God acts like our Father, like a parent, to clean up the mess. It was not His fault that His children rejected Him and turned from Him.
Nonetheless, God knew that we could not save ourselves. So He Himself came to earth. The Second Person of the Trinity, the Son, took on human flesh to show us, his enemies, that God loves us. This is the great marvel about John 3:16.
First of all, you should understand “so” not as “so much” but rather as “in this way.” In this way God loved the world, that He sent His Son. Note too that “the world” is a negative world—the world stands in opposition to God, but He nonetheless loves it.
So how does God love the world? By giving his only Son into death, “that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (16). All who believe in Jesus will be saved. In this work of faith the Holy Spirit is engaged.
This is also why we as Lutherans emphasize Baptism so much. God’s love is poured out upon on not only how he created us in our mother’s womb and continues to provide for us, but God gives us a new spirit of life and love through water and the Word.
God calls us His child through these waters of Holy Baptism. This very Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—joins Himself with us in Baptism. We receive His Name upon us, and He claims us as His.
Now, it is true that many of us do not remember our baptism. We don’t remember when we received God’s name upon our foreheads and hearts. But you don’t remember your own physical birth either. You don’t remember that day when your parents decided your name for you. It’s a name that is given to you before you can remember it.
I know that some people don’t always like their name and their parents. Not every child is loved by their parents or have had the best circumstances in life. But, there is a name and a Father whose love is perfect and who works against all the sin in this world.
Today of all days, on Trinity Sunday, the namesake of our church, it is appropriate to praise and magnify God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. For although we may not understand exactly how the Trinity can be three in one and one in three, nonetheless we can understand the love of God, both within himself and as He shows it to us. So why did God create us? Because of love. Why did He redeem us? Because He loves sinners. Why does he dwell still in our hearts by faith? Because He loves you.
Now may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen.
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