Our Sermons

Bible Passage: Romans 8:14-17
Pastor: Pastor Schlicht
Sermon Date:  May 26, 2018

It is only right that on Trinity Sunday we take time to look at the essence or composition, if you will, of God as he reveals himself. The Trinity is a topic, however, that many people don’t like. Many people, maybe even some of you here today, would rather hear a sermon about Memorial Day than one about a dusty old word like “Trinity”. But this wasn’t a term theologians came up with just to confuse people. That was not their intent. The Trinity is simply the term we use to talk about a God who describes himself as three different persons united in one deity. He reveals himself as a Father, a Creator, an Almighty King who reigns in heaven. He reveals himself as a Son, as a Savior, as fully man and yet fully God. He reveals himself as a Comforter, as a Counselor, the Holy Spirit which creates and sustains faith within us. But after all this Jesus still quotes Moses validating the truth of God’s unity, “Hear, O Israel,… the Lord is one.” (Mk 12:29) Our Lord describes himself as three yet one, the united three, and that’s why we call him the Trinity.

So perhaps it isn’t the term itself that actually bothers people, but simply the fact that a title for God like “Trinity” or “Triune” reminds us that we cannot completely understand God. And it is true. We cannot comprehend the Trinity; at a certain point it defies our reason. How is God three different persons united completely as one God at all times and in all places with distinct functions and presence, yet completely united function and presence? It doesn’t compute. Our brains can’t handle it. That’s why people get frustrated; it offends their reason. I think each of us, deep down, wants to understand God more completely—to not have to ask “Why, God?”; to not have to trust past our eyes and take things on faith. But I wonder if that’s actually good idea. I wonder if that’s even logical… What I mean is this: Would you want to worship a God that you can completely understand? Would you want to worship a God who is just as smart as you? Who has the same mental capacity as a human? Would you want to worship one who forgets things, who gets confused, who thinks selfishly? I certainly wouldn’t. I pray that the one who creates and controls this universe is far, far beyond me.

And that’s how the Trinity reveals himself in the Bible. “My thoughts are not your thoughts, my ways are not your ways.” And if we’re honest, that should be pretty obvious when we look at this world. I’m talking about the irreducible complexity of a single cell, the fact that plants just happen to take in carbon dioxide and emit oxygen which is the exact opposite and complementary system of human breath. I’m talking about the incredible interworking of even a single atom. I’m talking about the reality of human sight, the ability of our bodies to heal, the incredible truth that we have a nervous system which shoots messages up to our brain where they are processed, interpreted, acted upon, all in less than a moment, all without our conscious direction. I’m talking about the precice measurement of our earth to the Sun, the 15-mile atmosphere wrapped around us and the delicate balance of gravity which keeps us orbiting in the perfect proximity. (All by accident? What does your reason tell you?) The intricate complexity of this world, the precise conditions for our sustained life (the very existence of life itself as well), and the sheer infinite magnitude of this Universe–these all ruin my argument if I try to say I should understand God perfectly. The evidence points to a Creator who is indescribably beyond my understanding in terms of wisdom and power and control. That’s why I don’t have a problem talking about a God who describes himself as triune. Because if we are humble enough to think it through, it makes good sense that we shouldn’t be able to understand exactly how he works or is composed. I thank God that he reveals himself as beyond my comprehension because, frankly, he should be. He is God.

And yet while I will never claim to fully comprehend the Trinity, there is still much to learn from the little we can understand. Particularly, if God is somehow three-in-one, then at the heart of this truth is a relationship. When we talk about the Trinity, we haven’t even scratched the surface unless we recognize that God is comprised of a relationship within himself and has created us to be in a relationship with him.

And that’s what we see so clearly in Paul’s words from Romans 8:14-17. Indeed, those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery so that you are afraid again, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we call out, “Abba, Father!” 16 The Spirit himself joins our spirit in testifying that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, we are also heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ. Do you see the Trinity? The Spirit is mentioned three times, the Father is there, and Christ…but still one God. But even more than that this section of Romans says that the Trinity has brought us into a relationship with himself. What did Paul said? You did not receive a spirit of slavery so that you are afraid again, you received the Spirit of adoption! The Spirit himself joins our spirit in testifying that we are God’s children. Through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and Spirit-wrought faith, we have been adopted by the Trinity! We are family! We are God’s children!

We hear so often that we are children of God, don’t we? We hear that Jesus, our brother, died for us, that God is our father, that we are heirs of eternal life, and we walk out of the doors of this church and our lives don’t change whatsoever. Children of God? We yawn with indifference: “Oh ya, you mentioned that last week, I think.” They say “familiarity breeds contempt”. Sadly, that’s often true of us being called children of God. In fact, “familiarity breeds contempt” was never truer said of being a child period.

When we were kids, we never knew how good we had it, did we? When we are children, we can’t wait to grow up, but now we wish we could go back. Back to days free of adult responsibilities, before our schedules were ruled by work and transportation. Times where we had that unknowing sense of optimism, an innocent sense of wonder and potential that we woke up with every morning before a stubborn sense of skepticism settled in. The innocent kind of trust we placed in people, before sin showed us the dangers of dependence and we became afraid to open up. Back when we loved to get wet in the rain, when we could dance in public and didn’t care how we looked. Back when we pretended to be asleep so that Mom or Dad would carry us to our bedroom and tuck us in. Back when fears were imaginary, not real. That’s the worst part about growing up, isn’t it? Realizing that there are legitimate things to fear. Knowing that the monsters we face are actually real.

In the Harry Potter books, there’s a monster called a “boggart”. No one really knows what these creatures look like because, as Hermione explains in Prof. Rupin’s class, “Boggarts are shapeshifters. They take the shape of whatever a particular person fears the most. That’s what makes them so terrifying.” Harry’s worst fear took the shape of a dementor. What would come out of the chest if you stood in front of it? Would it be someone you love standing in front of you, saying, “Go away. I don’t want you anymore.” Would it be a note scribbled on a piece of paper which simply says, “I know what you did.” Is it a new high school? Is it a pink slip? Is it a phone which rings and on the other end is an officer who tells you there’s been a terrible accident? I don’t know what your boggart is, but all of us know real reasons to be afraid. Even when it comes to God.

We all should be afraid to stand before an Almighty God. As Isaiah said in our First Reading, “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.” He didn’t have to think very hard to come to that conclusion. As sinful people, we should all tremble at the thought of an Almighty Lord who hates sin. Our sin has caused separation from God and if we have even a speck of logic in our brain we should be deeply terrified, not just for our earthly lives, but for our eternal souls.

But our God doesn’t want us to live in fear. Not now, and not ever. Listen again to Paul’s words: For you did not receive a spirit of slavery so that you are afraid again, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we call out, “Abba, Father!” Notice that the emphasis here in the Greek is so noticeable that it is translated into English with an exclamation point! This is incredible! We are so used to hearing that we are God’s children, but let yourself hear it for the first time.

Through faith, the Holy Spirit has adopted us, and now we are invited to call God… “Abba” or “Father”. There is something striking about Paul’s inclusion of the Aramaic term “Abba”. We see that he included it even though he then had to translate it into Greek as “father” for his Roman audience. “Abba” was a special way that Jesus sometimes addressed God and it obviously meant a lot to the disciples and to Paul—enough to keep the colloquial, less formal address just the way Jesus said it. This is the language of the home; there’s an intimacy in this word, a close family relationship.

If you were a first century Jew living in Rome and you heard this verse read, you might have just fallen out of your synagogue pew. (They didn’t have those; they actually stood while the Rabbi taught sitting down.) The ancient Hebrews regarded the use of God’s name to be such an incredible honor that they did not deem themselves worthy to say it. They wouldn’t even say his name! They would use the less formal term for “lord” or “master”.

It was not such a small thing to address God as a father, as we assume today. This is the God who had to dwell separately from his people in at the top of Mt. Sinai, or only in the Holy of Holies of the temple. This is the immortal, eternal, beyond-comprehension, God—you know the one who dwells in light unapproachable, the one no man can see and live—that God—the Sovereign LORD, judge of heaven and earth—that one…we can call “Abba”? “Dad?” They must have thought, “Paul is out of his mind! Doesn’t he fear God?”

And they were right. It is crazy. You need the Spirit of adoption to do this, to sear this truth into your heart, because otherwise who in their right mind would ever dare to do such a thing? Who would approach this immortal figure shining in infinite glory and say “Hey, Dad, you want to hear about my day!”? You’d have to be insane or suicidal to do that, unless, of course, you are invited to do so. Unless you have been emboldened to do so. Unless the love of Christ, your brother, really was strong enough to make him lay down his life for you. Unless, the power of death couldn’t hold him and he rose victorious from the grave. Unless you were invited into that life and victory through faith. Unless, in baptism just like little Every, you were truly given a whole new identity as a child of God. You’d be crazy to ever think that you could be God’s family, unless, of course, the Triune God has always desired you to be a part of his family, even before the beginning of the world he chose you.

This is the task of the Spirit of adoption: to convince your heart that the Triune God has made you part of his family. To convince you that your sins are forgiven and you no longer need to be afraid. Yes, we have real fears, but we also have a divine family that will help us through them. We are children of God! Do you understand? God is watching over you. As much as you love your own children, God loves you immeasurably more. As much as you long for your own family to be protected, God’s protection is infinitely more earnest. He is with you through whatever you are going through here on earth and one day he will take you home forever. You don’t need to wish for childhood, because you’re in it right now! You can have that sense of abiding security through faith, you can have a sense of peace despite the rollercoaster of life, you can have optimism and joy at the thought of your future, because you are a child of God, a co-heir with your brother Christ, a son or daughter living in confidence because of the Spirit of adoption.

“Trinity Sunday,” may sound doctrinaire, dusty, academic and too complex. But here in Romans 8, we learn something different. Our Triune God has given us the Spirit of adoption. We are his children and we have nothing to fear. As Paul so beautifully ends the chapter: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? … No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Ro 8:35-39)

Amen.