John 16:12-15
Holy Trinity Sundayย -ย 22 May 2016
Rev. John Derme
So, how do you like that Athanasian Creed? Some people love it. Two years ago on Trinity Sunday, Pastor Beck told me that he is a huge fan of the Athanasian Creed. Not everybody loves it that much, though. Some think it is a little too long. Others think it speaks a little too harshly. Many people find the subject matter that it discusses confusing. Yes, it's long, but we usually only say it once per year, so it doesn't slow us down too much. Yes, it has some exclusive statements, but there are no Christian churches that reject the creed because of them. And yes, the Bible's teaching of the Trinity is difficult, but that is precisely why we need a statement that goes into the level of detail like this creed does.
The Athanasian Creed doesn't attempt to explain how one God can be three persons. It simply lays out much of what Scripture says. We don't have to understand God. We simply trust what the Bible tells us about him. The Bible's teaching of the Trinity may not be easy to explain. But in his own words, Jesus teaches us to treasure the teaching of the Trinity.
Our Gospel of the Day is one more lesson taken from Jesus' words on the night before he died. He had been teaching his disciples for three years, and there was still so much they didn't understand. They weren't ready for some of the hard teachings that they would need to know in the future. They weren't going to understand until after Jesus died and rose again. So Jesus said, "I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear." Even though he had more that he wanted to teach them, those teachings were too hard for them at that time.
Do you think that Jesus might say those same words to you, that some or all of his Word is too hard for you, that it is more than you can bear? It is true that the Bible has some teachings that are hard for all of us. In fact, earlier this week Pastor Hillmer and I were making a list of hard teachings of the Bible. It was getting to be a pretty long list. Then we decided to make a list of the easy teachings of the Bible. We couldn't come up with any. Even the most basic teachings of the Bible, law and gospel, are opposite from what our culture and society believes. That all people have sinned and deserved God's punishment? That Jesus is true God who became true man to be our Savior? Even Christians struggle with these basic teachings, at times.
Some people believe some of what the Bible teaches, but other teachings are too hard for them, so they pick and choose which teachings they like and ignore the teachings they don't want to believe. We're tempted to do that, too. You and I are on board with law and gospel most of the time. We believe that we are sinners, but that Jesus has saved us from our sins. But we'd rather not talk about the teachings that are too hard for us.
That's not how the Word of God works, though. It's not some disconnected book of individual teachings. It is actually one teaching. It is one system of truth. There cannot be some truth and some falsehood in the Bible. It claims to be completely true. Therefore it is either all true or all a lie. So if we discard any of it, we are throwing it all away. This is why many former Christians have stumbled over certain teachings and lost their faith entirely.
You and I may not have lost our faith, but are we losing our love for the truth of God's Word? Do we think that we already know all of the teachings that we need to know, and that everything else that is harder doesn't matter? Do we think that there is no need for us to learn more of what God says to us? Do we sing, "Jesus loves me, this I know. This is all I want to know." Do we take our faith for granted? Have we stopped growing in faith, and instead put ourselves in danger of losing it?
We might think that we know enough, and our faith is strong enough, but we can't strengthen our own faith. We can't make sure our faith is strong enough. In order to keep our faith from shrinking, that is, in order for our faith to grow, we need help. We need a guide. We need to be hearing the truth. We need the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is the One whom Jesus promised to send to his apostles when his teaching was too hard for them. "But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you." The Holy Spirit does the same for you and me, too!
There is such a thing as truth, and the Holy Spirit guides you there. He speaks the words of Jesus to you. Jesus is the true God who became man to save you. He lived a perfect life of faith in your place. He died for your sins of thinking that you know don't need to grow in your faith. Now the Holy Spirit has brought Jesus' good news to you and has taught you to trust in what Jesus has done for you. He brings you forgiveness from Jesus. He brings Jesus' holiness to you.
The work of the Holy Spirit is so important that we cannot be saved without him. So, it seems kind of strange that there is usually only one Sunday per year that we focus on the work of the Holy Spirit. That was last Sunday, Pentecost. Yet we see in Jesus' words that every service and every sermon is about the Holy Spirit, even if we do not mention him by name. That is because Jesus and the Holy Spirit are working together. Every time we mention the work of Jesus, the Holy Spirit is at work to create and strengthen faith in him. The Holy Spirit always brings glory to Jesus.
Yet it is not only God the Son and God the Holy Spirit who work together. God the Father is involved in the work of saving us, too. Jesus says, "All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you." When the Holy Spirit is declaring the words and works of Jesus, these are also the words and works of the Father. The work that Jesus did was God the Father's plan from all eternity. When humankind fell into sin, it was God the Father who promised a Savior to come and rescue humankind. He sent his only-begotten Son to save us. Now God the Father sends the Holy Spirit, just as Jesus does, to bring salvation to us through the good news of Jesus.
So here you have the teaching of the Trinity in Jesus' own words. Some of you are thinking, "That's not hard at all. I believe that." Others of you are thinking, "What does that all mean?" Let's summarize: Jesus wants you to know that God the Father, God the Son (Jesus), and God the Holy Spirit are all involved in saving you. They have been working together to accomplish salvation and are still working together to give it to you. The teaching of the Trinity is so important, because it is the teaching of how you are saved.
We could go on and on about the work of the Trinity. But not everybody appreciates a sermon that goes on and on. We'll have to bring this one to an end soon. No matter how long a pastor preaches, though, he's never going to say all that there is to say about God's saving love for us. Jesus' opening words to his disciples make for a fitting end to a sermon: "I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear." That is why Sunday School and Bible class are so important, because there are so many more important things for us to learn from the Bible. Your pastor and your Sunday School teachers work very hard to prepare this material for you. Please take advantage of this, because God is providing it as a blessing to you. God wants you to grow in your faith and your knowledge. He works in you through his Word.
We are not content to know the bare minimum about what God has done. We want to grow in grace. God does that in us through home devotions, the Sunday Service, Bible information class, Sunday School, Sunday Bible class, confirmation class, midweek Bible class, and so on. Not one of us here can claim that we don't need to study God's Word. In all of these opportunities to hear the Word, the Holy Spirit guides us into the truth and brings us blessings from God the Father and God the Son.
As you listen to the Word that is proclaimed to you and as you study your Bible with your fellow Christians and on your own, God reveals himself to you as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Triune God himself is your instructor, who teaches you to believe difficult things. That he is Triune is just one of the things that he teaches you. Connected to that are many other teachings of his truth. His truth may be difficult to understand, but through it he will bring you great blessings. Treasure the teaching of the Trinity.