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Trinity Sunday is a time to reflect on God in three
persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. While Trinity
Sunday has been celebrated since the tenth century, it
is sometimes difficult to explain the concept of the
Trinity and what it means to us.
God the Father, creator of heaven and earth desires to
be in relationship with us. We live out our faith
striving to grow close to God, to think God’s thoughts
as the old prayer stated. We enter into relationship
with God, drawing close so that we can follow God’s will
for our lives. We know what God desires for us from
times of prayer, reading and studying the Bible. The
longer you are in relationship with someone the more you
know their likes and dislikes. You try your best to do
what is pleasing to that person. The same is true of
our relationship with God, the Father. We spend our
earthly days trying our best to please God.
Out of God’s enduring love for us God sent Jesus to be
our Lord and Savior. It is Jesus who restored our
relationship with God. Jesus explained, “For God so
loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that
everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have
eternal life.” (John 3:16) In recent months our focus
has been on Jesus as he made his way to Jerusalem where
he suffered and died for our sins and the sins of the
world. But the story did not end there; God raised Him
to new life. The risen Lord Jesus spend forty days with
the apostles, teaching and giving them instructions
before he ascended into heaven. We follow Jesus as his
modern day disciples.
As
Jesus’ disciples we engage in ministry to a hurting,
confused world, but we do not do so on our own. As we
discovered last week on Pentecost Sunday, we have the
power of the Holy Spirit at work in our lives. It was
the power of the Holy Spirit that transformed the band
of disciples into the mighty apostles who would stop at
nothing to take the gospel message into all the world.
There might be times in our conversation when we do not
know what to say. Has that ever happened to you? The
Holy Spirit gives us the right words to say, words that
might comfort or challenge the person we are speaking
with. On Pentecost, it was Peter, filled with the
Spirit who launched into a message that “cut to the
heart.” The result was that three thousand people
responded, were baptized and became believers. On that
day the church was born.
The trinity is a mystery we do not fully comprehend. God
the Father, creator of the world, Jesus, God’s Son, sent
to redeem sinful humanity, and the Holy Spirit that
equips us for ministry. We sang this morning, “God in
three persons blessed trinity.”
Our lesson this morning highlights the trinity when
Jesus instructed the apostles to go into the entire
world, “baptizing them in the name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” God the Father, Jesus
the Son, and the Holy Spirit, three aspects of the One
God. Three different ways God relates to us and we
relate to God!
On
Easter the risen Lord Jesus told the women to tell the
disciples to go to Galilee. The message was delivered as
the disciples made their way to the mountain to meet the
risen Lord. Throughout Matthew’s gospel mountains are
places of divine encounters, reminiscent of Moses
conversing with God on the Holy Mountain. It was on the
mountain that Peter, James and John saw Jesus
transfigured before their very eyes.
There on the mountain the apostles worshiped the risen
Lord Jesus following Easter. Jesus’ identity was
without question evident he is the very Son of God.
Their only worthy response was to worship him. It was
an awe-filled moment where your only response is to
worship, “holy, holy, holy…” Even there on the mountain
some of the apostles were unsure what all this meant.
Matthew reports that “some doubted,” although they still
worshiped Jesus.
Notice too that Jesus came to them. Elsewhere in the
gospels we find people looking for Jesus, coming to him
for a variety of reasons. But here Jesus comes to his
followers. In the same way I believe that Jesus comes
to us.
Jesus told them, “All authority in heaven and on earth
has been given to me.” Jesus was in tune with God.
What Jesus instructed them to do he did so with the full
authority of God, the Father. Jesus was God’s
“authorized” Son, which means that everything Jesus did
was with God’s stamp of approval.
He
instructed the apostles to go to every nation, to all
people to “make disciples.” He didn’t tell them to go
out preaching or pass out flyers but instead to make
disciples. This emphasizes the importance of quality
Christian education. The teaching ministry of the
church is so important in making disciples. Jesus calls
us to go and make disciples, to teach them about God,
the Father, Jesus the Son, and the power of the Holy
Spirit. We do this through Sunday school, Bible study or
other short-term instruction. Vacation Bible School is
a wonderful opportunity to teach children in our
community, many do not attend any church or Sunday
school. Jesus commissions us to make disciples
immediately without delay. Jesus sends us out, “teaching
and obeying everything that I have commanded you.”
Remember our discipleship is measured by our obedience.
Jesus gives us the instructions and as we follow
through, we obey his command.
We do not engage in such ministry by
ourselves either. We have the support of each other.
We encourage one another. We have the resources of the
church at our disposal. Furthermore we are equipped by
the power of the Holy Spirit as we go forth. More
importantly we have the presence of the risen Lord Jesus
with us always! “And remember,” Jesus told the apostles
and reminds us today, “I am with you always, to the end
of the age.” Always means a daily presence, “day by
day, by day.”
Dr. Fred Craddock fondly recalls his first appointment,
a beautiful little church in hills of eastern Tennessee
not far from Oak Ridge. When Oak Ridge began to boom
with the atomic energy business, that little town became
a booming city overnight. People came from all over to
work, mostly living in trailers. And of course they
brought their children. Dr. Craddock says the church
was not far away from one of the trailer parks.
He
viewed this as an opportunity to reach out to the
families living in the nearby park. Not everyone one
shared their young pastors enthusiasm. At a Board
meeting one of the church leaders said, “I don’t think
they’d fit in here. They’re just temporary, just
construction people,” he said then added, “they will be
leaving pretty soon.” The pastor disagreed telling the
group that they should invite them to church. The board
continued to debate this issue. It was getting late so
they agreed to vote on the issue the next Sunday
following the worship service.
The next Sunday one of the Board members made the
following motion: “I move that in order to be a member
of this church, you must own property in the county.”
Someone else quickly seconded the motion. Sadly the
motion passed much to the dismay of the young pastor.
The message was clear; people living in the trailer park
were not welcome in that church.
Many years passed, Dr. Craddock now retired, took his
wife to see the church where he had started. He told
her the painful story of how they refused to reach out
to the families living in the trailer park. Much had
changed since he left; he had a difficult time finding
the church. Back among the pines, was that building
shinning white. But something was different. The
parking lot was full—motorcycles and trucks and cars
parked there. Out in front, a great big sign which
read: “Barbecue, all you can eat.” It’s no
longer a church but a restaurant. They went inside.
The pews were pushed against the back wall, the organ
pushed into a corner. There were tables with people
sitting eating barbecued pork, chicken, and ribs. The
retired pastor said to his wife, “It’s a good thing this
is not still a church, otherwise these people couldn’t
be in here.” (1)
Jesus gives us the Great Commission, “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.” We have everything we need, so what is
stopping us? I believe Jesus’ word to us this morning
is, “go!” “Go make disciples.”
Amen.
1. Craddock Stories, Fred B. Craddock, 2001,
pp. 28-29
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