Posted on Sunday, June 7, 2009
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THE HOLY TRINITY

7 June Anno + Domini 2009

"There is Only One True God”

John 3:1-17 (Isaiah 6:1-7; Romans 11:33-36)

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

The One True God is the God we just confessed in the words of the Athanasian Creed.  It has become a tradition in the Church to dust off this ancient Creed and confess it each year on Holy Trinity Sunday because it is an accurate and beautiful exposition of the One True God.  In it, we confess the paradox that God is three Divine Persons, and yet "the Lord our God, the Lord is One” (Deut. 6:4).  "We worship One God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity.”  We confess that the Father is God and the Son is God and the Holy Spirit is God, and yet there are not three Gods, but One God.  This is the same thing we confess every week in the words of the Nicene or Apostles' Creed.  It's just that the Athanasian Creed goes the extra mile.  It leaves no doubt.  It may seem repetitive or even redundant, but the beauty of the repetitiveness and seeming redundancy is that it leaves no room for mistaking what we Christians confess about God, that He is One God in Three Distinct Persons and Three Distinct Persons in One God. 

What the Athanasian Creed will not do for you is get you any closer to wrapping your mind around the concept of the Holy Trinity.  This side of heaven, the Holy Trinity will remain a mystery we'll never fully understand.  How can God be One in Three and Three in One?  It's the unanswerable question, for God has not revealed the "how” to us.  That's why every analogy that's ever been attempted to explain the Holy Trinity inevitably breaks down.  It's unexplainable.  But, it's true, nonetheless.  And, as the Creed states, "He, therefore, that will be saved is compelled thus to think of the Trinity.”  In fact, the Creed emphasizes this point by repeating the necessity of believing what the Creed confesses three times - at the beginning, after the exposition on the Trinity, and again after the exposition on the Person and Work of Jesus Christ.  The point is that if you're not in agreement with the catholic, or universal, faith confessed in the Athanasian Creed, you're not a Christian - you don't believe in the One True God and you cannot be saved. 

That sounds so harsh, doesn't it?  Whoever fails to keep the faith confessed in the Athanasian Creed whole and undefiled, without doubt will perish eternally.  It's so intolerant, so exclusive, so unaccepting, so un-democratic and un-American.  But, it's so true nonetheless.  And, because we Christians confess this to be true, that faith in the One True God who has revealed Himself to be Triune, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is absolutely necessary for salvation, the world hates us.  It doesn't want to be told what to believe.  It doesn't want to hear that there is only One True God.  It wants the freedom to define God in its own way and on its own terms.  The world promotes tolerance and acceptance when it comes to belief in God. 

That the unbelieving, sinful world detests the exclusive claims of Christianity shouldn't surprise us.  What is surprising in our day and age, however, is the growing number of those who claim to be Christian, but deny the truth that there is only One True God.  They're people like former President George W. Bush and current President Barak Obama, both of whom claim to be Christian, but both of whom have stated publicly numerous times that Muslims, Jews, and all religious people worship the same God they do, just calling Him by a different name.  That, dear friends, is the popular belief today, and it's growing exponentially before our very eyes.  Make no mistake, the day when true Christians will be persecuted right here in our own land for confessing the truth that the Triune God is the Only True God has already arrived.  Right now, that persecution comes in the form of mocking ridicule and scorn.  True Christians who believe that there is no other God except the Holy Trinity are already widely held to be ignorant, intolerant, unloving, hateful people, who pose a threat to the advance of society.  It's still okay to be Christian, so long as you're not the type of Christian who believes that the God you worship is the only God.  But, of course, that type of Christian is the only type of Christian that exists, for anyone who claims to be Christian, but refuses to acknowledge the truth that the Holy Trinity is the only God is no Christian at all. 

The temptation for us is to be filled with arrogance and pride because we confess the truth that the Holy Trinity is the only God.  That is a mistake.  More than that, it is sin.  For the truth is that there is not a single one of us here today who came to this truth on our own.  It was revealed to us.  This truth was instilled in us when we were born again from above by water and the Spirit in the Sacrament of Holy Baptism.  So it will do us no good to thump our chests and boast about how smart we are to have found the Triune God.  We didn't find Him.  He found us.  He chose us to be His.  He called us by His Word, washed us in His sanctifying water, and adopted us into His Divine Family.  Though but for His love, grace, and mercy, we would be just as lost as the sinful world in which we live.  As our Lord says, "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.” 

Thus, our faith must never show itself forth in arrogance and pride, as if we had anything to do with it, but always with grateful humility and eternal thankfulness, recognizing how eternally fortunate we are that the Spirit breathed life into our sinful beings, giving us the faith to believe the foolishness of the Cross, whereby our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, paid the price for all of our sins - yea, for the sins of all people of all time - with His Holy and Precious Blood. 

And, lest you misunderstand what I'm saying, please note that confessing the truth of our faith with steadfast stubbornness, and being unwilling to budge one inch from what has been revealed to us in God's Holy Word, is not being arrogant and proud.  On the contrary, that is a necessity.  Being arrogant and proud is when we take credit for our faith and look down upon others who do not believe as we do.  We must confess the truth boldly and unapologetically, but never with an "I'm better than you” attitude.  Our bold and unapologetic confession should be accompanied by an "I want you to be just as blessed as I am” attitude. 

For, dear friends in Christ, you are truly blessed beyond your knowing.  You, sinners that you are, men and women of unclean lips, dwelling in the midst of a people of unclean lips, have been chosen by the Triune God to be a part of His Divine Family.  You have been gifted with the faith in Christ that results in forgiveness, life, and salvation.  And, like Isaiah, you are permitted entrance into the heavenly throne room of God, for here in this seemingly insignificant place, heaven and earth are joined together and become one.  Here the Lord of Hosts deigns to dwell among you and invites you to join in the heavenly liturgy, singing the song of the angels and saints in heaven, "Holy, Holy, Holy,” a "Holy” for each Divine Person of the Most Holy Trinity. 

Your approach to this Divine Encounter should be the same as Isaiah's.  And so it is, for you enter this Holy Place confessing your sinfulness, recognizing that you are not worthy to be here.  And, the response from the Lord is the same as it was to Isaiah, for He sends His messenger to pronounce forgiveness to you, and to take the burning coal of Christ's very Body and Blood from the Holy Altar to touch your lips and take your guilt away.  How amazing is that?! 

"Oh, the depths of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!  How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!”  He uses the simple earthly elements of Water, Word, Bread, and Wine, attaching His Promises to them, to bring sinners like you into, and to keep you in, the one, true catholic faith, apart from which no one is saved.  How can your response be anything other than:  "All glory, honor, and praise be to God the Father who created me, God the Son who redeemed me, and God the Holy Spirit who sanctified me!  For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.  To Him be glory forever.  Amen.” 

Now the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, unto life everlasting.  Amen.