2. Corinthians 13,11-14. Holy Trinity Sunday

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The Word of the Lord Endures Forever
Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

2. Corinthians 13,11. [12] 13 [14]   3414
Tag der heiliger Dreifaltigkeit (Trinitatis)  045
Vitus, Modestus and Crescentia, Martyrs in Lucania, Italy 4. century  
15. Juni 2014

1. O Merciful, Blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Holy and Exalted Trinity, grant us Your grace to truly believe, to live righteously and to die happily, so that after this wearisome life we may enter the joyous fellowship of the holy angels and Your elect, see You face to face and love, praise and serve You forever and ever. (Löhe 148).  Amen.
  2. »Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.«
3. The Apostle Paul concludes his introduction in his Epistle to the Ephesians with a Trinitarian blessing: »The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.« In today’s Gospel Lection Jesus mentions both God the Father and the Holy Spirit. Jesus also said to Nicodemus: »Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you are born of water and the Spirit, you cannot enter the reign of God.« Jesus teaches that one must be baptized to enter the reign of God, and this baptism involves water and the impartation of the Holy Spirit who creates faith in the Triune God. There are Christian denominations, like the Pentecostals and Charismatics, who argue that to be born under the water and in the Holy Spirit are two distinct events that are disconnected from each other. The historic and liturgical churches, like the Lutherans, Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican and other Protestants, all connect the water and the Holy Spirt as one birth event. If you are baptized with water in the Triune Name, then you are born under the Holy Spirit. If you are born under the Holy Spirit, then you must have been baptized. The two are always together and in close chronological proximity to each other in the New Testament.
4. In its verbosity, the Athanasian Creed teaches similarly about salvation. We confessed: „So the Father is God; the Son is God; and the Holy Spirit is God. And yet they are not three Gods; but One God. So that in all things, as aforesaid; the Unity in Trinity, and the Trinity in Unity, is to be worshipped. He therefore that will be saved, let him thus think of the Trinity. Furthermore it is necessary to everlasting salvation; that he also believe faithfully the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. For the right Faith is, that we believe and confess; that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man“ (Athanasian Creed 15-16.25-28). The Creed teaches that salvation consists in two confessions: 1. The God we worship is the Triune God comprised of One God made up of Three Persons, and 2. We worship Jesus who was incarnate of the virgin Mary, thus adoring Him as both God and man in one person.
5. For a Creed that has been confessed in the Divine Service of the Western Church since the 6. century, it is a Creed that is still relevant 1500 years later. A simple question „Do you believe in God?“ will elicit many different answers in our Western culture. Many will say this God is the Triune God. But half as many will say this God is Allah. Others will be referring to Mother Earth (Gaia), Science or one of the many pagan understandings of God or the gods and goddesses. Only one of these gods will save you, so you better make sure you have the right one. Many will counter-argue that it doesn’t matter which God or gods you believe in since all religions lead to an afterlife of bliss and blessing. One-half of the earth’s population officially disagrees with this, for Christians and Muslims teach that only the True God saves, but Christians and Muslims differ over how this salvation is achieved. One is a religion of faith, and the other a religion of works.
6. „Muslims believe two angels (the two kiraman katibin) record good and bad deeds, words, feelings and thoughts. Going to heaven instead of hell depends upon being a Muslim and upon God’s mercy in evaluating the record of one’s good and bad deeds and intentions“ (http://www.oprev.org/2013/02/what-do-muslims-and-christians-believe-differently-about-salvation/). If you follow the Five Pillars of Islam, then these are recorded as good deeds, but if you neglect those pillars then they are recorded as bad deeds. Islam, then, is like every other religion in the world: it is a religion of works-righteousness wherein salvation is based on whether your good works outweigh your evil works. Truth be told, many Christians and denominations hold some sort of works-righteousness tenet in their concept of salvation. Every religion of works-righteousness, no matter how sincere it may be, or how much it tries to sugar-coat it with a Merciful God, is ultimately a religion of uncertainty. We can never be certain if we have done enough to earn God’s good favor.
7. Christianity is unlike any other religion in the world. A person cannot earn salvation or Divine favor through works-righteousness. It is impossible, and in fact, God detests the thought that men and women think they can merit His favor with their good works. The Apostle Paul lays out the pure, Christian understanding of how salvation is achieved: you are saved by grace through faith in Jesus. This is a powerful, yet simple, tenet of the Christian faith. But listen to how Paul unpacks this glorious gospel in his Epistle to the Ephesians: »You were dead in trespasses and sins, but God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ, for by grace you have been saved, and raised us up with Christ and seated us with Christ in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages God might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, so that we should walk in them« (Ephesians 2,1.4-10).
8. Did you hear the grace and mercy of God cascading down like a waterfall? Paul does not describe an angry or stingy God, like a father who is sternly waiting for His child to walk through the front door after the curfew, but He describes a loving, forgiving God who welcomes us home. The True God is like the father in the Parable of the Prodigal Son who waits day after day, looking and hoping, for his estranged son to return home. Christianity is about grace, faith and certainty of salvation. Salvation is not based on us and our works. Indeed, God simply tells us that we are trespassers and sinners incapable of earning His good favor. We cannot offer up our good works as a salvific barrier between God and us. There is only one who is righteous, and He is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Only Jesus can make a legal, legitimate claim at works-righteousness, and in His mercy He credits His works-righteousness onto us. Jesus kept the law, obeyed His Heavenly Father, and merited forgiveness on the cross as the vicarious satisfaction for sin and sinners. Jesus freely gives us His righteousness! We don’t do anything to earn it. He gives it to us as a gift, and that is why it is called grace, for grace is a gift of mercy freely given by God with no strings attached. Faith receives that gift, appreciates it, is thankful for it and worships God for being a Loving, Merciful God who redeemed fallen mankind through Jesus. This salvation is given out by the Holy Spirit through Baptism, and so those who are baptized are saved for they have the faith in Christ given to them by the Holy Spirit.
9. But grace can be rejected. Like any gift, the recipient can put the gift aside and ignore it. The good news is that the Holy Spirit is not like a temperamental child who gets angry at such people and takes His toys with Him and goes home in a huff. The Holy Spirit is patient and kind. Many do reject His gift of salvation in Jesus, but the gift is always there. Baptized Christians can walk away from God, treat their Baptism as a worn-out, out-dated gift that is set aside in the corner to collect dust. But the gift is still there, and the Holy Spirit is still there working quietly, patiently and lovingly to nudge such Christians to take another look at the gift of grace they have in their Baptism. It is a gift that can be picked up and appreciated again, for it is a gift that never wears out or is out-dated.
9. Jesus pointed Nicodemus to salvation and grounded that salvation on Himself. It is as if Jesus told Nicodemus: »I Am the Way, the Truth and the Life. You come to the Father through Me, and Me alone.« The Holy Spirit grounds this salvation in Holy Baptism. Your Baptism is not a one time event, but it is a gift of grace and forgiveness that works in you and upon you each and every day. On those days when you realize you have failed both God and your neighbors, when the devil torments your conscience and tells you what a horrible sinner you are and no one, not even God, would want to be in your presence right now, at those times of dark depression, the Holy Spirit whispers in your ear: But you are baptized! And since you are baptized, you are a child of God who is saved, forgiven and loved. The comfort of Baptism is that it tells you that you are a child of God, and God receives His children, especially when they have gone astray as a prodigal. The Holy Spirit uses the Creed and reassures you that you are saved. You believe in the Triune God and that Jesus was born, died and rose again for your forgiveness. Since you believe these truths, you are certain of your salvation because your salvation rests solely on Jesus Christ who has done all that is necessary to redeem you. The Holy Spirit uses the Lord’s Supper to strengthen your faith. In this gift of bread and wine you receive the body and blood of Jesus that was crucified and shed for you and your forgiveness. God’s gift of salvation to you is like a multi-faceted jewel that shines forth in glory whichever way you turn it in the light, for that Light is Christ and He shines upon you and within you, and He illuminates the truth that you are saved by grace through faith in Jesus.  Amen.
10. Let us pray. O Triune God, Your deeds are mighty and Your glory great, keep us steadfast in our confession of You so that we may glorify Your Holy Name.  Amen.

To God alone be the Glory
Soli Deo Gloria
✠

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27. Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.
ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © 2013 Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern.
Heliand. http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~bkessler/OS-Heliand/
Löhe, Wilhelm. Liturgy for Christian Congregations of the Lutheran Faith. Copyright © 1902 Frank Carroll Longaker.
VELKD. Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. www.velkd.de. Copyright © 2013 Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands.