Text: Acts 2:22-36; John 3:15-17; Isaiah 6
Theme: Creator, Redeemer, Comforter
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Intro – I thought of starting my sermon today by making a special smoothie for us. (pastor adds usual and unusual ingredients to a blender and blends them).Would any of you be willing to taste it? I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t. Now, what if I told you that I’ve prepared this with love and care, thinking of you? That I tried to include as many different ingredients as possible, and that I would be offended if you refused it? I’m still certain you would respectfully decline the offer. And the reason is that it doesn’t just taste awful, but it could also be dangerous to your health. A smoothie is not a smoothie simply because we make it with smoothness and love, but because of the specific ingredients it takes to make one.
It’s easier to recognize this when it comes to our physical health. But sometimes we are not as careful when it comes to our spiritual health. We might think that mixing ingredients from different books and perspectives into our confession of faith wouldn’t be that harmful; after all, we are in Jesus, and we attend church regularly. It’s like thinking that seeing your doctor regularly would allow you to eat anything and everything you want all the time.
Today is the only date in the Church calendar dedicated to a specific Christian doctrine – the Holy Trinity. We want to remember and reinforce what we believe and confess from the biblical teaching about the Creator, Redeemer, and Comforter of the world once more. This is important as we wish to remain faithful to the correct ingredients of the biblical teaching and not put our spiritual health in danger.
We start with the definition of God according to the Bible and our confessional books: “Our Churches do teach that the decree of the Council of Nicaea concerning the Unity of the Divine Essence and concerning the Three Persons, is true and to be believed without any doubting; that is to say, there is one Divine Essence which is called and which is God: eternal, without body, without parts, of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness, the Maker and Preserver of all things, visible and invisible; and yet there are three Persons, of the same essence and power, who also are coeternal, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. And the term “person” they use as the Fathers have used it, to signify, not a part or quality in another, but that which subsists of itself.”[1]
This means that when we want to refer to the three Persons of the Trinity as One God, we have a word for it: Trinity. It is not in the Bible, but it teaches what is in the Word. He is the Holy, Holy, Holy God as shown in Isaiah 6. He is the only real God, as opposed to any other idol in the world. We have only one God, but God is three Persons. Here is what we teach, believe, and confess about them:
The Father
Creator – We believe that our World is not a random happening, but a planned work. It is not nature only, but Creation from the hands of the Father.[2]
Sustainer – we believe that our life is not guided by fate, but sustained by love.[3]
Father – A perfect role model of a loving, caring Father figure in a world that displays many poor examples of fatherhood.[4] it is God who gives and does all these things, that therein we sense and see His Paternal heart and his transcendent love toward us. Thereby the heart would be warmed and kindled to be thankful, and to employ all such good things to the honor and praise of God.”
The Son
Redeemer – we believe there are basically two types of religion in the World: The ones where we have to pay our debts trying to find our way to God. And the One where Someone paid the debt in full in our place. [5] This Someone is Jesus. In the second reading today, Acts chapter 2, we hear Peter bringing a brief, precise summary about His Work in the World.
Reconciliation maker – we believe that God is reconciled to us in Christ. We believe in reconciliation. We believe in peace with God because Jesus has erased our amount owing on His Cross.[6]
Care Giver – We believe that our life is fully in His Hands, from which we receive Care, Comfort and Love.[7]
The Gospel for today, John 3, points to the Way God Loved the World: in Christ, the Redeemer, and in Him alone. Whoever believes in Him will not perish but receive eternal life.
The Holy Spirit
Life changer Comforter – There are some gyms in which employees wear a shirt with a saying in the back of it: “Life Changer”. I believe the idea implied there is that by helping you with your body health they help you through a life-changing experience.
We believe that the Holy Spirit of God is the true life changer. Faith is a gift that He brings through the Word, and that changes our life. From the spiritual aspect of it – we receive forgiveness and salvation – including our bodies, which we want to take good care of since they are the sanctuary of the very Holy Spirit.[8]
The Holy maker – Did you know you are a saint? Yes, in faith in Jesus we are saints by the action of the Holy Spirit.[9] Also, Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit and He came, as we also heard in Acts 2. We believe He is our Comforter, strengthening our faith in a fallen world, giving us knowledge a lost world, and giving us the words to share light and love with a World desperately in need of them.
Health Care provider – We live in a country where we rejoice in having universal health care, even if we could point out problems in this type of system. Everybody can have access to it.
We believe that the most complete Health Care provider is the Holy Spirit. He provides Health for our life in Christ and sustains us healthy in the Word and the Sacrament, giving us wisdom and enabling us to flee evil. And that also impacts our physical health.[10] Also, he provides health care not just for this life, but for the life that will have no end – and no health issues.[11]
We need clarity and precision about the types of ingredients that compose our confession of faith. We confess God’s Word in a smooth, loving way not because we try to be compassionate and include in it whatever is possible, but because of the specific content that must be shared with the World.
We can never allow this truth to be mixed up with all sorts of ingredients, because it will compromise the taste in the end. It will be either extremely salty – Law in its entire rigor, trying to make “holy ones” and good behaving people to be apart from others. Or perhaps it would be too sweet – preaching God’s love in a cheap way, as if he would accept everything and anything we do; worse than that, it’ll be harmful for our spiritual health.
It is not that we would expect every Christian to be a doctor in Theology, though there are plenty of opportunities for theological learning and growth around us, in many ways and platforms. It is that we wish we all have, through faith, clarity and certainty on what matters most: the essence of our faith; the essence of the content which we believe, teach and confess.
Cc – Father Son and Holy. Creator, Redeemer, and Comforter. The right blend, the correct teaching only with ingredients we find in God’s Word.
Song: Who He is and who I am
I lift my eyes I see the Cross
I am surrounded by His love
Deep down I know he is right here
Because through faith Christ is right near
Our God is joy, He is faithful,
He is our Salvation.
In Him our past, our present,
And our destination.
Father, Son and Holy Ghost!
Our God is Three, our God is one!
He’s Creator, He’s our Saviour
He’s our Comforter
Lucas Andre Albrecht, 2022
Song and lyrics composed by the campfire at Camp Lutherland, SK
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[1] Augsburg Confession, Article I.
[2] “…this article refers to the Creation: that we emphasize the words: Creator of heaven and earth. But what is the force of this, or what do you mean by these words: I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker, etc.? Answer: This is what I mean and believe, that I am a creature of God; that is, that He has given and constantly preserves to me my body, soul, and life, members great and small, all my senses, reason, and understanding, and so on, food and drink, clothing and support, wife and children, domestics, house and home, etc.” Large Catechism, “The Apostle’s Creed”, paragraphs 16 and 17
[3] “Thus we learn from this article that none of us has of himself, nor can preserve, his life nor anything that is here enumerated or can be enumerated, however small and unimportant a thing it might be, for all is comprehended in the word. Creator. Moreover, we also confess that God the Father has not only given us all that we have and see before our eyes, but daily preserves and defends us against all evil and misfortune, averts all sorts of danger and calamity; and that He does all this out of pure love and goodness, without our merit, as a benevolent Father, who cares for us that no evil befall us.” Large Catechism, “The Apostle’s Creed”, paragraphs 16 and 17.
[4] We ought, therefore, daily to practice this article, impress it upon our mind, and to remember it in all that meets our eyes, and in all good that falls to our lot, and wherever we escape from calamity or danger” Large Catechism, “The Apostle’s Creed”, paragraphs 16 and 17.
[5] “He who has brought us from Satan to God, from death to life, from sin to righteousness, and who preserves us in the same. But all the points which follow in order in this article serve no other end than to explain and express this redemption, how and whereby it was accomplished, that is, how much it cost Him, and what He spent and risked that He might win us and bring us under His dominion, namely, that He became man, conceived and born without [any stain of] sin, of the Holy Ghost and of the Virgin Mary, that He might overcome sin; moreover, that He suffered, died and was buried, that He might make satisfaction for me and pay what I owe, not with silver nor gold, but with His own precious blood. And all this, in order to become my Lord; for He did none of these for Himself, nor had He any need of it. And after that He rose again from the dead, swallowed up and devoured death, and finally ascended into heaven and assumed the government at the Father’s right hand, so that the devil and all powers must be subject to Him and lie at His feet, until finally, at the last day, He will completely part and separate us from the wicked world, the devil, death, sin, etc. Large Catechism, “The Apostle’s Creed”, paragraphs 31.
[6] “The second matter in a propitiator is, that his merits have been presented as those which make satisfaction for others, which are bestowed by divine imputation on others, in order that through these, just as by their own merits, they may be accounted righteous. As when any friend pays a debt for a friend, the debtor is freed by the merit of another, as though it were by his own. Thus the merits of Christ are bestowed upon us, in order that, when we believe in Him, we may be accounted righteous by our confidence in Christ’s merits as though we had merits of our own.” Apology of the Augsburg Confession. “XXI – Of the invocation of saints”, paragraph 19.
[7] “…Those tyrants and jailers, then, are all expelled now, and in their place has come Jesus Christ, Lord of life, righteousness, every blessing, and salvation, and has delivered us poor lost men from the jaws of hell, has won us, made us free, and brought us again into the favor and grace of the Father, and has taken us as His own property under His shelter and protection, that He may govern us by His righteousness, wisdom, power, life, and blessedness”. Large Catechism, “The Apostle’s Creed”, paragraphs 30
[8] “For neither you nor I could ever know anything of Christ, or believe on Him, and obtain Him for our Lord, unless it were offered to us and granted to our hearts by the Holy Ghost through the preaching of the Gospel. The work is done and accomplished; for Christ has acquired and gained the treasure for us by His suffering, death, resurrection, etc. But if the work remained concealed so that no one knew of it, then it would be in vain and lost. That this treasure, therefore, might not lie buried, but be appropriated and enjoyed, God has caused the Word to go forth and be proclaimed, in which He gives the Holy Ghost to bring this treasure home and appropriate it to us. Therefore sanctifying is nothing else than bringing us to Christ to receive this good, to which we could not attain of ourselves.” Large Catechism, “The Apostle’s Creed”, paragraphs 38 and 39
[9] “For there are, besides, many kinds of spirits mentioned in the Holy Scriptures, as, the spirit of man, heavenly spirits, and evil spirits. But the Spirit of God alone is called Holy Ghost, that is, He who has sanctified and still sanctifies us. For as the Father is called Creator, the Son Redeemer, so the Holy Ghost, from His work, must be called Sanctifier, or One that makes holy.” Large Catechism, “The Apostle’s Creed”, paragraph 36
[10] “Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. 8 It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.(Proverbs 3:7-8)
[11] “Thus, until the last day, the Holy Ghost abides with the holy congregation or Christendom, by means of which He fetches us to Christ and which He employs to teach and preach to us the Word, whereby He works and promotes sanctification, causing it [this community] daily to grow and become strong in the faith and its fruits which He produces.(…) Meanwhile, however, while sanctification has begun and is growing daily, we expect that our flesh will be destroyed and buried with all its uncleanness, and will come forth gloriously, and arise to entire and perfect holiness in a new eternal life. For now we are only half pure and holy, so that the Holy Ghost has ever [some reason why] to continue His work in us through the Word, and daily to dispense forgiveness, until we attain to that life where there will be no more forgiveness, but only perfectly pure and holy people, full of godliness and righteousness, removed and free from sin, death, and all evil, in a new, immortal, and glorified body.” Large Catechism, “The Apostle’s Creed”, paragraph 53,57,58.