June 10, 2001,
Vicar Rick Marrs
Trinity Sunday

Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The text on which this morning's message is based comes from our epistle lesson (Romans 5) and the Athanasian Creed read earlier.

I like being logical. My wife will attest to that. I feel more comfortable when things make sense to me. I honestly use to enjoy teaching college level statistics and research methods courses. The numbers and equations involved tested my logic skills, especially my skills to communicate that logic to others.

In some sense the Trinity is a mathematical way of thinking. Three in One. One in Three.   As we confessed in the Athanasian Creed: "The catholic faith is this, we worship one God in three persons and three persons in one God, neither confusing the persons nor dividing the substance" (that is, neither blending the three distinct persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but neither dividing them into three distinct gods). "The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Spirit eternal. And yet there are not three eternals but one eternal." "The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, and yet they are not three Gods but one God."

To be honest, if I had ever been in a Stat class and taught that 1=3 and 3=1, I would have been illogical, my students would have been very confused. But here I am, teaching and preaching to you, as other pastors and Christian teachers have done for centuries before me, One in Three, Three in One. Creed: "Everyone that will be saved is compelled to think of the Trinity."

We have a certain, limited knowledge of God because He has written His law on our hearts. We see the greatness of God through His creation. But our wisdom and knowledge of who God is and what His personhood is like must come from His own self-revelation to us. That revelation comes through His word, in our Holy Scriptures. In those Scriptures we see a portrayal of a God our human nature and human logic would not expect. Throughout the Old Testament and also in the New we hear an emphasis on the unity and oneness of the Lord: Deuteronomy 6: 4 "Hear, O Israel! The LORD (Yahweh) is our God, the LORD is one! But throughout the New Testament and sometimes in the Old, a threesome character of God is proclaimed: Matthew 28: And Jesus (said) 19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Colossians 1: 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him (the Son, Jesus Christ).

This three in one, one in three character of God is beyond our human reason, our human logic. We can conceive of aspects of God's creation being "triune" like elements being in the form of gas, liquid and solid; steam, water, and ice all being forms of water.

Three forms in one created element is within our human logic. Children can understand that logic. But three distinct persons in one God, that we can only describe with words and accept by faith as God has revealed in His scriptures. It is beyond human logic.

But it is faith in this Triune God to whom we are called, both by the Athanasian Creed and by our Romans 5 text today. All three persons of this Trinity are shown to be at work in our lives, each working for us.

You've all probably seen House Blessing plaques of one sort or another, the kind of memorabilia we often put on our walls. One old German plaque has this message: Where there is faith, there is love; where love, there is peace; where peace, there is blessing; where blessing, there is God; where there is God, there is no need.

St. Paul, in our text this morning, offers a similar progression of thought. His words might well be condensed as follows: Where there is faith, there is peace; where there is peace, there is suffering; where there is suffering there is perseverance; where there is perseverance, there is character; where there is character, there is hope; where there is hope, there is the Holy Spirit, pouring out his love. We will do well today to pause and ponder for a moment what Paul is saying about this Triune God of ours, and the blessing He plays in our lives.

Paul speaks in a progression which takes place in a Christian's life as a result of the new life and salvation we have through faith in Jesus Christ. Paul reminds us that we are saved by grace through faith without any deeds we can do. Not even our faith is a work. Christ has ushered us into the presence of God the Father where we can stand, in awe, but without guilt or accusation. We can trust Him. Here we enjoy peace, peace with God that the world cannot give, which human nature cannot logically understand. Even when we don't feel at peace about ourselves and our lives, we can still rest assured that where there is faith in the Son of God, Jesus Christ, there is peace.

Paul also reminds us that this peace with God does not prevent suffering here in this life. Suffering is an important element in the Christian life which we can expect to endure. We can expect to endure it because of our ultimate peace. Suffering is an important, even essential element to Christian growth.

Paul knew this personally. He suffered much for the sake of this Gospel. He was beaten, stoned, and shipwrecked (2 Corinthians 11). He had some sort of "thorn in his flesh," probably a disease or disability (2 Corinthians 12), that God would not remove even though Paul begged for its removal repeatedly. God said to him: "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." (Paul responded) Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10 …. For when I am weak, then I am strong. That is not so logical, but it is God's trustworthy word.

Our Lord's suffering produced our salvation. Paul reminds us that our suffering produces some good human qualities. Where there is suffering, there is perseverance; where there is perseverance, there is character; where there is character, there is hope.

We are reminded of the certainty which accompanies our Christian faith and life, because its source is the promised Spirit of truth, the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. He guides us in truth, even truth that does not fit human logic. He pours out the love of God the Father into our hearts. The Spirit glorifies Jesus, and discloses all his love and truth to us. There is more in this Romans text than a mere statement of conviction. These words of our Triune God offer encouragement to those who will hear them, read them, and ponder them. They offer encouragement to you the next time you suffer, whether that is this afternoon, next week, or next year. They offer encouragement to us the next time we suffer, whether that suffering is a hospital stay, grief at the loss of a loved one, a recurring pain or problem, an argument with a spouse or parent, or persecution on account of the Gospel.

Christian suffering produces perseverance, not just a passive resignation, but a brave patience. Perseverance, brave patience, in turn produces character. We don't like it, but by means of suffering and perseverance, God tests and changes raw recruits into strong, tempered veterans. That may make God sound like a drill sergeant, but if it does we should always remember that He is not a drill sergeant screaming orders in our face. He is a loving sergeant. He himself, through the Second Person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, came to be a fellow soldier who took a bullet for us, who died so that we might live. He knew suffering for us, because he loves us.

That love for us starts in the Trinity.   1 John 4: 8 God is love. John 3: 35 The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. This Trinitarian God is love and shows that love even between His own persons. Now He has poured out that love for us. 1 John 3: 1-2 How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

Is that love logical? Is this Trinitarian God logical? Not by our human reason. But thanks be to God that we are not called to perfectly understand God, but to trust in the one who has lavished his love on us.

2 Corinthians 13: 14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.