Sunday
06/07/20 - Sidney UMC
Sermon Title: “The
Trinity: The Great Commission”
Old Testament
Scripture: Genesis 1:1-2:4a
New Testament
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 13:11-13
Gospel Lesson: Matthew
28:16-20
Welcome again friends, on this our Trinity Sunday, and this our Peace
with Justice Sunday. Last Sunday was Pentecost Sunday, as we celebrated the
birthday of the Christian Church and the mighty movement of the Holy Spirit. On
the day of Pentecost, the Christian Church was born, the Holy Spirit moved, and
the disciples went forth preaching, loving, healing, and forgiving. Two-thousand
years later, as followers of Christ, we are part of that great legacy.
As part of that great legacy in Jesus Christ,
we continue to live and preach the Good News of the gospel of Christ, we continue
to love each other, we continue to call upon God to grow the church, and we continue,
through the power of the Holy Spirit, to bring people to saving grace of God,
found only in Jesus Christ.
This morning is also one of the six
special offering Sundays in the life of the United Methodist Church, called
Peace with Justice Sunday. When you give to this special giving Sunday, you
help to equip ministries that promote peace, justice, and equality. If you want
to give to this special United Methodist Church giving Sunday, you are welcome to
send your funds to the church or to our Annual Conference Center in Liverpool,
NY. If you can mark or indicate that these funds are for Peace with Justice
Sunday, then we will make sure that they get to the people and the ministries
that will benefit from your donation.
With this said, as I said, this Sunday
is also Trinity Sunday. On this Sunday, we celebrate our great God who is one
in three, three in one, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The God who created this world
and everything in it, also His Son Jesus Christ, who redeemed this world of our
sins through His death on a cross, and His resurrection. Further, the Holy
Spirit, the third person of God that fills us and guides us. One God in three
distinct persons, three in one, one in three.
We also heard this morning, once again, in our reading from
Genesis 1 and 2 about the God who creates (Gen. 1:1-2:4a, NRSV). In this
reading, we heard step by step the beautiful story of creation.
As the Book of Genesis continues in Genesis 2:4b-24, we
have God creating Adam and Eve (Gen. 2:4b-24, NRSV). Adam and Eve then ate from
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They then were expelled from the
Garden of Eden for sinning against God. We often call this, the “Fall of
Humanity.” From this point on, we are all born with “Original Sin,” or to say
it another way, is that we are born into sin.
This does not mean that we are completely bad as people,
but it does mean we all have this spiritual sickness called sin. We have free
will from God, as Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden. We can choose to use
this free will to glorify or to sin against God.
God did create this world good and sinless however, as
Genesis 1:31 says once again of creation:
“God saw everything that he had
made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was
morning, the sixth day” (Gen.
1:31, NRSV).
So,
God created the world and everything in it as good, loving, and of Him. God created
Adam and Eve in the same way. God also, like all of us, gave Adam and Eve free
will. We can choose to love or to disobey God, and Adam and Eve in eating the
forbidden fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil disobeyed God.
This first or “Original Sin” then tainted the goodness of God’s creation.
You
see God, the creator, as we read about in the Book of Genesis, demanded
perfection from Adam and Eve, and created them both sinless. Yet God gave them
a choice to follow him or to sin against him.
Some
have argued, why would God do this if He knew that we would not be able to live
up to His standard or perfection? I believe that in part, that before time itself
that God the Father, the creator of all, was intent to redeem all of humanity,
through his Son Jesus Christ.
God the Father is a spiritual being, but when he sent his son
Jesus to earth, Jesus took on flesh and dwelt among us. No one in the
scriptures ever looked at God face to face and lived, for his presence is to
perfect, and to Holy.
So, if humanity fell in the Garden of Eden, then what? The answer
is this, from the point of the fall of humanity in the Garden of Eden, we have
all lived out the saga of being faithful to God, and to rebelling against God.
This is why there are so many prophets in the Old Testament or the Hebrew
Bible. These prophets were calling the people of Israel to repentance,
holiness, and righteousness. In the process of doing this, these prophets gave
glimpses of the second person of God who was to come, Jesus Christ.
God the Father created the world, everything in it, including
humanity, and created it good. Since God wants us to chose to love him, He gave
us free will, and humanity sinned against him. Prophet and after prophet came
in God’s name calling the people to repentance, to holy living, and to
righteousness.
This all culminates with God sending his son Jesus to earth
to live, breath, love, heal, teach, forgive, and to die a cross for the sins of
the world. Some might say, but “Why would God put humanity through all of this?”
The answer is because God wants us to choose to love him. God does not force
us, as we can live for him, or deny him. So much of human suffering today is
because we sin and deny God. It is troubling to me that we are told in one of
God’s commandments to not kill, but always seem to find loopholes in that
commandment. I believe war is only necessary to defend and protect life, but if
someone is killed because they are seen as inferior or evil, is this not a sin against
God? If someone is killed merely for the color of there skin, is this not a sin
against God? If some is killed merely because they are police officer, is this
not a sin against God?
Jesus comes into the world to eradicate sin and teach us a
better way to live, love, and be in the world. We know that Jesus and God
existed together before time itself, as John 1:1-5 says:
“In the beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All
things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into
being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all
people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it” (Jn. 1:1-5, NRSV).
So, if God made us without free will, and were essentially robots
that had no ability to make good or bad choices, there would be no reason for
Jesus. There would be no reason for Jesus to have existed with God before time
itself. Humanity would not need to be redeemed, and God would not have sent his
son Jesus to redeem humanity. God and Jesus might still be in heaven, but Jesus
would not have come to earth. Further, why would we call on the third person of
God, the Holy Spirit, if everything was perfect?
The reality friends is this, as much as some want to deny
what is right in front of our noses, we live in a fallen and sinful world. Could
God just have forgiven humanity without sending his son Jesus? Potentially, but
this was God’s plan for human salvation and redemption before time itself. God
wants us to seek him, he does not want to force us. How many of you would want
your kids or grandkids to love you by force? How many of you would want your
kids or grandkids to choose to love you? They can, and sometimes do also
disobey you.
If we are not capable then of building the perfect society,
or the perfect world, if cannot escape the disease of sin, then we need a
savior. God existed before time itself and three persons in one being, because
God knew us and how humanity would be redeemed.
God is three persons, like a house that has a basement, a
living area, and an attic. All one entity, three distinct persons. God is three
persons, one in three, three in one, as this is the God that creates, redeems,
and restores. The Holy Trinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is not just
a central doctrine of the Christian Church, it is the three persons of God that
leads us to salvation, eternity, wholeness, righteousness, and holiness here on
earth. When we serve, love, heal, and forgive, it should flow out of us being
disciples of Jesus Christ. For Christ changes us, and the Holy Spirit of God
uses to transform the world.
This “Trinitarian” language, or the concept of God being
three in one or one in three is in our scripture reading for this morning once again
from, 2 Corinthians 13:11-13 that says:
“Finally, brothers and sisters, farewell.
Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in
peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a
holy kiss. All the saints greet you. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you”
(2
Cor. 13:11-13, NRSV).
This farewell and benediction from
the Apostle Paul’s second letter to the church in Corinth, or the Corinthians,
tells the Christians in Corinth to agree, love, and greet each other with a
holy kiss (2 Cor. 13:11-12, NRSV). Paul then offers the Corinthians the benediction
once again of:
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the
communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you” (2 Cor. 13:13, NRSV).
The Apostle
Paul offers a benediction to the Corinthians that is Trinitarian. Paul is
blessing them through the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the creator, and the
Holy Spirit. One God, three in one, one in three.
This leads me
to our gospel lesson for this Trinity Sunday, once again from Matthew 28:16-20
that says:
“Now the eleven disciples went to
Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him,
they worshiped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All
authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make
disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have
commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Mt. 28:16-20, NRSV).
In this gospel lesson, the risen,
but not yet ascended Christ gives his eleven disciples “The Great Commission”.
Eleven disciples, as Judas Iscariot betrayed Christ and hung himself.
As Jesus gave this great commission, some his disciples the
scripture says, still had doubts. Yet Jesus says once again:
“Go therefore and make disciples of
all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.
And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Mt. 28:19-20, NRSV).
Some would teach that we should love
God and love our neighbor as Jesus taught. I would agree totally. Yet, what is
the mission of the church? We can love God and love our neighbor, as we should,
but the mission of the Christian Church is:
“Go therefore and make disciples of
all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.
And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Mt. 28:19-20, NRSV).
Repent of our sins, be baptized in
the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and then follow all of
Jesus’ teaching, including love God and love you neighbor. In doing this we
transform Sidney and the world.
We have the person of God who creates, the person of God who
saves and redeems, and the person of God that fills us and guides us. For on
the day of Pentecost the disciples knew the Father and the Son, but when they
were truly filled with the Holy Spirit in powerful way, then they really got
it!
I hope and pray that you have a blessed Trinity Sunday! Be
blessed dear friends in the name of God, who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Amen.
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