Sermon for May 18th

"To try to deny the Trinity endangers your salvation, to try to comprehend the Trinity endangers your sanity." Martin Luther.

"Bring me a worm that can comprehend a human being, and then I will show you a human being that can comprehend the Triune God!" John Wesley

Often we talk about the Trinity like it was something we are so smart about. We ridicule non-Christians who question it like they are some sort of imbeciles, when all they are doing is pointing out the math: How can one be equal to three? But the doctrine of the Holy Trinity was never meant to be a complicated philosophical formula. It was simply a confession of faith.

You see, back in the 4th century, there was no “Holy Trinity Sunday” like we are celebrating today. Instead, there were many questions and disagreements threatening to crack the foundations of the early Christian church. These questions were brought out, primarily, through the preaching of a man named Arius, a deacon, who had come into power in the Roman Catholic Church and had an extremely large following. The thing is, he didn’t believe that Jesus was God, not really. Sure Jesus was God-like, but he was just not quite God, according to Arius. He had this catchy little phrase that he often repeated, “There was when he was not. There was when he was not.” That is, “God was when Jesus was not.” That was his argument at least. And, you see, if God was when Jesus was not, then Jesus can’t be truly God. There were many dramatic debates in the early church trying to formulate a response to Arius and his supporting congregations. The big question: Was Jesus truly God?

I remember really worrying about these debates in my history class at seminary. At the beginning of my theological education, I was fearful that somewhere along the way, I was going to be forced to believe something that I didn’t want to believe and then it would be over. I’d have to find something else to do instead of being a pastor. So, I was nervous. I had heard somewhere that a long time ago the church had turned from God to politics where good logical ideas were thrown out the window and the political winners became saints while the losers became heretics. And I figured that this big debate about Jesus was probably when it happened. I don’t think I’m alone. That’s the big fear for a lot of you I bet. What if you are just following the preferences of 4th century political powerhouses rather than the true teachings of God?

On the other side of the debate, against Arius, was a small group of bishops led by a man named Athanasius. He argued that the Jesus was eternal, just like God, his Father, and not just a lesser God-like deity. Athanasius said that the Son and the Father were made up of the same stuff, the same substance. That they were the same “being”.

Athanasius and his arguments won the day. That’s why, in the Nicene Creed, we say that we believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ who is of one Being with the Father. He is of one substance with God. But years later, there were still many questions about how exactly to talk about Jesus as God. How, for instance, could Mary, the mother of Jesus, really have held God in his entirety in her womb? And since Jesus was both human and divine, was he more like a man/God milkshake or like two boards glued together?

When a decision was made as to what exactly to do with Jesus, rather than let one side win with their references to scripture, against the other sides’ references to scripture, the church confessed faithfulness to all of scripture. The Bible was confessed to be the final authority over and against the many other authorities in the church. However, this meant that the church was left in a precarious position: confessing that God was only one God, but known in three distinct ways: as a Father, as a Son and as a Holy Spirit. The foolish doctrine of the Holy Trinity. But, thankfully, I could leave my history classroom not trusting in a bunch of old, dead men and their doctrines, but in the authority of God’s Word revealed in the Bible.

How can you believe that God is both one and three. You can’t. You can’t find this faith inside you. It goes against everything you know. That is, until God happens to you. Not once Not twice. But in three particular ways.

Jesus’ disciples knew God first through the creation he had made. Then Jesus’ disciples heard Jesus’ words, they saw his deeds of power, healing and casting out demons. But when he died, they couldn’t have imagined that he was God. Not the God they knew. That would have been impossible and sacreligous. But when Jesus was resurrected from the dead and showed up in their upper room, suddenly, they had faith that God was there among them. Thomas, so famous for doubting, would now so famously confess this when he called Jesus both his Lord AND his God.

God had happened to them twice. Once as a Creator. Now again as a Savior. And then, as if having God happen to them twice wasn’t enough, Jesus breathed on them and gave them the Holy Spirit to share this faith with others. The disciples knew they only had one God, but now, God had happened to them three different ways. Believing that Jesus is God doesn’t create faith. Believing in the Trinity doesn’t create faith. You have to be given faith to believe in both.

Think about the many gods in Greek and Roman myths. They are always fighting or tricking each other. That’s how it is when you’ve got more than one all powerful being up there on Mount Olympus. They don’t like working together for long. Everyone wants the glory. But now think about God as you know him. Father, Son, Holy Spirit—they all do the same stuff! They do and say the same things. They are repetitious in their acts of mercy. Redundant in their words of love. They are all faithful to you. You see them each differently. They are revealed in different ways. But it is impossible to differentiate what they actually do. All three create. All three redeemer. All three sanctify. You can’t tell them apart.

This morning, we heard the creation story from the first chapter of Genesis. One of the points that this story makes is that God is the creator of all things and the author of life. Just like the author of a book creates a story or a character out of nothing, God authored the world and created you out of nothing.

And just as this world has an author and you have an author, your faith also has an author. Faith doesn’t just show up in a vacuum or through willpower. The Jews were given faith through people like Moses and the prophets. Moses didn’t convince the Israelites that they should follow this God. Instead, God made the decision “I am the Lord YOUR God.” He said. How could the Israelites argue with that?

Jesus maintained that there was only one God AND that he was one with that God. “No one has ever seen God.” He said, “It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.” The disciples didn’t choose to believe this. It is illogical, irrational. But when God raised Jesus from the dead and gave him all authority on heaven and on earth, there finally could be no other explanation.

Jesus loves you even though it is illogical and irrational for the Son of God to love a sinner. But his words of love create something in you when he speaks. Think about the word sugarplum. Now, what is a sugarplum exactly? No one knows. But if your beloved calls you a sugarplum, you will answer in a way that is both irrational and illogical considering their misuse of the English language. You might even confess your love back to them by calling them snookums or pooky.

The doctrine of the Trinity is definitely both irrational and illogical to the mind, to reason, to language, and to math; but to the mind of faith and to the eyes of love, it is the only way to properly confess who the author of your faith truly is. To confess your love for all the ways God comes to you. As God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Not three different gods, but one true God of Love, that keeps giving himself to you over and over and over again.

According to Marin Luther, “Sinners are attractive because they are loved; they are not loved because they are attractive. God’s love does not first discover, but creates what is pleasing to it.” God doesn’t love you because you believe in the Trinity. But I pray that as God continues to find you and love you and forgive you and create you again and again and again, you will find yourself happily confessing him as a God that loves you not just once, not just twice but in three amazing ways. Amen.