The Holy Trinity
Notes
Transcript
Trust without Knowledge
Trust without Knowledge
One of my favorite discussions to have with a Jehovahs witness is to answer the question: Where is the word ‘Trinity in the Bible’? Our Answer? It is not. We made it up. We needed a dogmatic, narrow, word to describe the mystery of God.
See, in the Spring and Early summer of 325 AD a guy named Arius- a deacon, was running around telling people that Jesus was not fully God.
He said Jesus was created.
Jesus was less than God but became God because he was super righteous. - something we can all relate to -
Arius was called to a big ecumenical council - a big church meeting in a town named? Nicea! There they used this word that was coined in about 180 AD by a guy named Theophilus of Antioch- that word? Trinity!
In short- the problem was that Arius tried to say TOO much. He tried to reveal too much.
Here on this Sunday, as we are about to embark on the great green season of ordinary time, after Celebrating the incarnation of God, mourning the death of God and then bursting with the resurrection of God. We cap off half of the church year with Pentecost - that God is not just with us but also now upon and in us.
Today we exercise our trust through our limited knowledge of God. That God is one yet three. Triune.
Nicodemus, one of the pharisees and early adopters of Christ, ponder’s aloud what we all do:
Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?”
Nicodemus has limited knowledge, that Jesus is from and of God but he knows there is more to the story.
The theme for Trinity Sunday is that when it comes to mystery of salvation- Trust the Messenger.
The Mystery Revealed
The Mystery Revealed
To our students who are about to be confirmed know this - Confirmation is about defining who you will trust to reveal the mysteries of the world.
Jesus says in Luke 8:10 “To You it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God.” Jesus is that secret.
John chapter 1 reminds all of us that Jesus has made God known.
No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.
The author of Hebrews also tells us:
Hebrews 1:3 (ESV)
He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.
There is a fascinating trend among our confirmands generation. According to the Barna group 3/4 of them tend to believe that their perspective on life is positive but more than half says they expect the worst to happen.
I don’t blame you.
Your generation was born during one of the worst economic recessions in our history, you’ve weathered instagram, facebook, snapchat, tiktok, you were kindergartners during Sandy hook, you lived through the Volkswagen emissions scandal, and Bitcoin- a non-existant digital currency became the most valuable currency in the world during your lifetimes.
There are no real answers for many of the questions these things bring. Life itself is a mystery - just as the Trinity is at best, barely understood.
Confirmands and church. Your friends, many church, even your family members will try to offer explanations for the world and all of its ills. For us to have peace we must know the author of Life- the revelation of God’s Triune self for us. Jesus.
Augustine Says this:
For we believe that which we see not, in order that through these very deserts of faith we may be counted worthy also to see that which we believe, and to abide in it; to the intent that these mysteries of the equality of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and the unity of this same Trinity, and the manner in which these three subsistences are one God, need no more be uttered by us in words of faith and sounding syllables, but may be drunk in in purest and most burning contemplation in that silence.
If there is a lesson for us here, it is that what we do not say is just as important as what we do say.
We entrust the challenges of of faith and life to our God- Jesus Christ and it is enough.
Jesus is the mystery of God that answers all of God’s great questions:
Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.
To know the yourself and to know God more deeply you must know Jesus. Here in the church, through the communal reading and living of the scriptures we know Jesus.
CS lewis tells us this story from Mere Christianity:
“I remember once when I had been giving a talk to the R.A.F., an old, hard-bitten officer got up and said, ‘I’ve no use for all that stuff. But, mind you, I’m a religious man too. I know there’s a God. I’ve felt Him: out alone in the desert at night: the tremendous mystery. And that’s just why I don’t believe all your neat little dogmas and formulas about Him. To anyone who’s met the real thing they all seem so petty and pedantic and unreal!’
Now in a sense I quite agreed with that man. I think he had probably had a real experience of God in the desert. And when he turned from that experience to the Christian creeds, I think he really was turning from something real to something less real. In the same way, if a man has once looked at the Atlantic from the beach, and then goes and looks at a map of the Atlantic, he also will be turning from something real to something less real: turning from real waves to a bit of coloured paper. But here comes the point. The map is admittedly only coloured paper, but there are two things you have to remember about it. In the first place, it is based on what hundreds and thousands of people have found out by sailing the real Atlantic. In that way it has behind it masses of experience just as real as the one you could have from the beach; only, while yours would be a single glimpse, the map fits all those different experiences together. In the second place, if you want to go anywhere, the map is absolutely necessary. As long as you are content with walks on the beach, your own glimpses are far more fun than looking at a map. But the map is going to be more use than walks on the beach if you want to get to America.”
Students of faith- God has given you His community of faith and His word that by these means you may travel through the great unknowns of life.
Join us. Follow Him with us.
God gave His son that we may have life.
Trust in Christ- live with His body, be assured of your salvation, your worth, by His mysterious, sacramental gifts. Amen.