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HOLY TRINITY SUNDAY May 26, 2024 Pastor Tom Steers Christ the Saviour Lutheran Church, Toronto OPENING HYMN: 507 ”Holy, Holy, Holy” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=385lfXz7OXQ Introit (read by the Pastor) Psalm 16:8-11; Liturgical Text Blessed be the Holy Trinity and the undivided Unity. Let us give glory to him, because he has shown his mercy to us. I have set the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen. Blessed be the Holy Trinity and the undivided Unity. Let us give glory to him, because he has shown his mercy to us. The Kyrie (Lord Have Mercy) Congregation: Lord, have mercy upon us. Christ, have mercy upon us. Lord, have mercy upon us. The Salutation – Pastor: The Lord be with you. Congregation: And also with you. Our Collect Payer: (Please stand) Almighty and everlasting God, You have given us grace to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity by the confession of a true faith and to worship the Unity in the power of the Divine Majesty. Keep us steadfast in this faith and defend us from all adversities; For You, O Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, live and reign, one God, now and forever. Amen. Our Bible Readings: First Reading Isaiah 6:1-8 Psalm 29 Epistle Reading Acts 2:14a, 22-36 The Verse (Isaiah 6:3b) Alleluia. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory! Alleluia. Gospel Reading John 3:1-17 The Athanasian Creed Page 319 HYMN OF THE DAY: 953 “We All Believe in One True God” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9VolOFsnPI THE SERMON Today is Holy Trinity Sunday. It doesn’t remember a Biblical event. It commemorates a characteristic of God as He reveals Himself in His Word, the Bible. The Holy Trinity is a divine mystery. Yet it’s not like the mystery in a crime novel. At the end of a man-made drama, the detective explains everything, and the mystery is solved. In the mystery of the Holy Trinity, we can study everything the Bible says, you can read all the great theologians of the Church, and in the end, you will still say, “I don’t completely understand.” That’s because the Trinity is a mystery that’s above and beyond the capacity of our mortal minds. Today we read and say the Athanasian Creed. This ancient Christian creed, a statement of beliefs, does an excellent job of expressing the mystery of our Triune God. When you are dealing with God the Father, you’re dealing with all of God, not just part of God. The same is true of God the Son, Jesus Christ, and God the Holy Spirit. In order for this to make sense to our finite human minds, it would require three gods, but there are not three gods. There is only one God, in three persons. It shouldn’t surprise us that there are things about God that are mysteries. As human beings, we live under the rules of God’s creation. The creation that God made for us places limits on us. God, on the other hand, reigns over His Kingdom, Heaven, and the universe. He has no limits. The fact that our true God has mysteries we can’t understand should be a comfort. A ‘god’ that’s totally understandable is not really a ‘god.’ We encounter the Trinity immediately in Genesis Chapter One in the Bible. In verse one, we read of God the Creator. In verse two, we hear of God the Spirit. In verse three, we read about God the Word, through Whom God created all things. At the beginning of the Apostle John’s Gospel, we learn more about these three Divine persons. John wrote, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14) Here, the Apostle identifies the Word, through Whom God created all things, as the only-begotten Son of God the Father – Jesus. The Biblical account of Christ’s baptism also records an appearance of the Trinity. The Apostle Matthew wrote: “And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:16–17) As the Spirit of God rested on Jesus, God the Father identified Him as God the Son. When Jesus instituted Holy Baptism, He used the name of the Trinity: Matthew recorded our Lord as saying: “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, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19–20) It is in the name God gives us at our Baptism, His own name, that we receive forgiveness of sins, rescue from death and the devil, and eternal salvation to all who believe this, as the words and promises of God declare. In today’s Gospel, we heard a conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus. There’s much to learn here. We can learn how the Triune God works to give us salvation. As Jesus taught Nicodemus about the work of the Holy Spirit, He said: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:5–8) In these words, Jesus tells Nicodemus, and us, that it’s the Holy Spirit who brings us into God’s Kingdom. We can’t enter under our own power. The combination of water and Spirit points to Holy Baptism as a way the Holy Spirit calls people to the Christian faith. As Jesus taught Nicodemus about His own work, He said: “No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” (John 3:13–15) With these words, Jesus teaches that, although He calls Himself the Son of Man, He is from Heaven. The one from Heaven who took on human flesh will be lifted up on the cross just as Moses lifted up the bronze serpent in the wilderness. And through Christ’s sacrificial payment for our sins, all who believe in Jesus as Saviour will have eternal life. At the end of today’s reading, Jesus taught Nicodemus about the work of God the Father. Christ said: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” (John 3:16–17) Jesus teaches that salvation has its source in God the Father. It is God’s love that sent His beloved Son to save the world. Jesus also taught Nicodemus that all human beings are born of the flesh. This means we’re all conceived and born sinful, and are under the power of the devil, until Christ claims us as His own. We would be lost forever unless delivered from sin, death, and everlasting condemnation. But the Father of all mercy and grace has sent His Son Jesus Christ, who atoned for the sins of the whole world. Nicodemus struggled with this teaching. The natural person, the one born of the flesh, looks to God’s Law for self-salvation. He or she searches for rescue in their own works, their own merits. Jesus spoke for the Prophets and Himself, and said: “Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony.” (John 3:11) The testimony of Jesus, the Apostles, and the Prophets is the same. God does all the work of saving us. We resist Jesus until the Holy Spirit comes into our lives and works faith in us using God’s means of grace: His Word and the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. It’s then that we receive the eternal life promised by the resurrection of our Lord and Saviour. We can give praise to Almighty God that Nicodemus eventually did receive the testimony of God’s Holy Scriptures and Christ Himself. We know he eventually became a Christian, for the account of him in today’s Gospel is not the last time we read of Nicodemus in the Bible. We hear of him one last time shortly after Jesus died on the cross. “After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body. Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight.” (John 19:38–39) The account of Jesus and Nicodemus teaches us a great deal on this Trinity Sunday. Christ taught that God the Father shows His love for us by sending His only begotten Son into the world to save us. Jesus taught that, like the bronze serpent in the wilderness, the Son would be raised up on a cross in order to save the world from sin. Christ taught that the Holy Spirit provides the gift of salvation by giving a new birth into the family of God, and working faith within the hearts of believers. The struggle of Nicodemus shows us that if we reject the work of any one of the members of the Trinity, we reject them all. On the other hand, when the Holy Spirit brings us into the family of God by the new birth, we receive all the blessings that our gracious Triune God has for us … including forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life. We have indeed been blessed by: God the Father’s grace, for God the Son’s sake, through God the Holy Spirit’s gift of faith. Amen. PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH SERVICE OF THE SACRAMENT Page 194 (Our Communion Hymn is 636 “Soul, Adorn Yourself with Gladness”) Communion Collect (Right-hand column) Page 201 CLOSING HYMN: 876 “O Blessed, Holy Trinity” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88B5B5as1mI