June 19, 2011
Dear friends in Christ.
Did you know that today is a very special Day? Even though it is not Christmas or Easter, The Day of Jesus’ Baptism or the Day of His Ascension, the day of Transfiguration, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday or even the Day of Pentecost (which we celebrated last week) today is a very special day. It is a very special day because not only are we beginning a new sermon series based on the stained glass windows of our church, but most importantly because today is the day that we have specifically set aside in the Church Year to praise and worship our Triune God. Today is Holy Trinity Sunday, the day we take a closer look at the Work our Triune God has done as three persons in one God and one God as Three persons. Even though we regularly remind ourselves of the Work our Triune God has done and continues to do for us, today we specifically take time out of our lives to watch our Triune God at work as we take a look at the lesson before us in Genesis 1:1-2:3.
Now, normally, as you are opening your Bibles to Genesis 1, I would give you some background information and explanation as to what is going on so that you could better understand the context of what is taking place in our lesson. However, today, there is no background because before Genesis 1 there was nothing except for our Triune God. And even though we might have a fair number of questions as to what the Lord our God was up to during his time in eternity before he created the world, because he doesn’t tell us anything until he tells us about the beginning of us all. Take a look at Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1, NIV84)
If these aren’t some familiar words! After all, these are words that we have known by heart since we were little children. These are words that made our parents smile when we first learned them in Sunday School or Christian Day School. These are words that we have cherished as we’ve grown from Children to Teens and from Teens to Adults. But sadly, these are also words that have sometimes been drown out by the cacophony of worldly ideas that bombard us on a daily basis. Since we were little children Television has been assuring us that the world is millions of years old and that dinosaurs and humans couldn’t have possibly lived at the same time, even though we know that our Triune God created everything that exists in six, twenty-four hour days, so then they would have had to live at the same time. Not only that, but if you received an education in public school, even though you received an excellent education, you were taught, especially in the last 20 years or so, you were taught to believe that science is king and that the theory that all living creatures evolved from a puddle of primordial ooze millions and billions of years ago. You were taught either subtly or openly, you were taught to believe that science is true and what God says about creation is not as true as you might have once thought.
Just think about how many times you’ve been tempted to try to harmonize the Trinity’s Work of Creation with Science’s ideas of Evolution. Just think about how many of your children have come home from school openly questioning the truth of creation and favoring the “facts” of evolution because it is “scientific”. Just think of how doubting creation has led people to doubt other parts of the Scriptures and even caused people to fall from faith because they came to the logical conclusion that if one part is false the whole of Scripture cannot possibly be true. These are the reasons why we have gathered together to take a closer look at the work our Triune God did back at the beginning of Creation. Take a look again at Genesis 1:1-2, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. (Genesis 1:1–2, NIV84)
Wow! In just a few short words Moses establishes the fact that it was our Triune God who began the world at the beginning! Now, if we take a look at the Hebrew for this passage, the first three words in Hebrew are, (spelled Phonetically) “beraysheet barah Elohim” Beraysheet means “beginning” or as we translate, “in the beginning.” Barah means, “he created” and Elohim, which is the subject of the sentence, means, “God.” So, in three short words, Moses tells us that until Elohim, God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit created the heavens and the earth, there was no time as we know it. There was nothing but our Triune God in eternity until the very beginning (Berahsheet) when he, Elohim (Barah), began his creating work, creating time and light out of nothing, and calling this world into existence, again out of nothing, as a formless and empty lump of clay, so to speak which he would then mold to his plan in the next 5 twenty four hour days. This is the work our Triune God began on day one!
“But Pastor,” you might ask, “how can you possibly know that the Triune God was at work? There really is no mention of the Trinity in these verses.” Now, if you asked me this question I would simply say, you are absolutely right! There are no specific mentions of our God being Triune or the Triune God at work. However, there are hints of God being Triune. Now, as I already said the name used for God here is, “Elohim.” This name is used 31 times throughout the account of creation. In Hebrew Elohim is actually plural and has been described as a plural of majesty, which means that God may be referring to himself as Kings and Queens of old referred to themselves as “we” rather than “I” like the common people did. Elohim has also been called a potential plural setting forth the vast potentialities of the Godhead, which would include mystery of the Holy Trinity. In themselves, these explanations cannot prove that our God is Triune, they can only hint at the fact that our God is Triune. However, when we take a look at the unity of the Scriptures and how our God describes himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit throughout the Bible, we can then look back and say that Father Son and Holy Spirit had to be at work in creation because our God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This would have been apparent to God’s people because, as we learn from reading the Old Testament, they believed in God as their Father. They believed that God would send his Son who would be there redeemer, just as the offerings foreshadowed. They even believed in the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God who worked in their midst. They knew and believed in God as three persons and yet they also believed that they only had one God as Deuteronomy 6:4 so beautifully confesses, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” (Deuteronomy 6:4, NIV84)
Today, we know and believe the same thing! Just as we will confess in the Athanasian Creed in just a few short minutes, we believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We believe that they are all co-equal in majesty and glory, yet they are not three who are God but they are one God in three persons and three persons in one God! So, as we look at these words from Genesis we see God the Father at work creating and calling things into existence out of nothing. We see God the Holy Spirit hovering over the waters, and we see Jesus at work as the instrument of creation because the apostle John tells us, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. (John 1:1–3, NIV84)
It is because of all of this (and many other passages of Scripture) that we believe, teach and confess that our Triune God was at work in creating the world for us. Just take a look at verse 3-5: ‘And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day. (Genesis 1:3–5, NIV84)
Verse 3 begins with the phrase “And God said,” which occurs ten times in the creation account. It shows us the manner by which God worked, namely, by his command and through his word (Hebrews 11:3). The phrase “God saw that the light was good” is noteworthy. In verse 4 it refers specifically to the light God created, but it also occurs six more times in the creation account. God is not telling us with these words that he was pleased with himself for what he had made, as if he were a human craftsperson stepping back to admire his work. He relates this information for our sake. He keeps us mindful of the wisdom and order that he put into his creation, which he was preparing for us to inhabit. He reminds us of the initial perfection of that creation, which is now spoiled by sin.
That was the first day. From there our Triune God went on to separate the waters on the earth and the waters in the sky. He called forth the dry ground and produced vegetation on it! Never planting see, but simply calling it forth with his word. He set the sun, moon, and stars in the heavens for the purpose of giving us light and helping us to tell time in weeks, months, and years. He filled the skies with birds and the waters with fish, and finally he created all the land animals, and then formed Adam from the dust of the ground and Eve from one of Adam’s ribs.
This is the work our Triune God did for you and me! He created the perfect world for us to live in and enjoy. Though our first parents ruined God’s creation when they brought sin and death into the world, our Triune God continued his work for us. He promised a Savior and sent prophets to renew and reiterate his promises for centuries. When the time came our Triune God saved us through the Work of the Son of God, Jesus Christ our Savior. Now, our Triune God continues to proclaim that message to you and me through his Word—the Bible—of which we have many, many copies. He continues to proclaim his message of salvation through pastors and teachers whose work it is to tell the story of salvation, teaching the young children and building up the faith of all the members of the congregation. And he continues to share his message of salvation through each and every one of you!
For now that you have seen the Trinity at Work in the creation of the world, you are reminded of all the work he has done to free you from your sins and bring you the sure and certain hope of eternal life. Who better than you to carry that message of salvation wherever you go? Who better than you to tell the work of the Trinity in your life calling you to faith, strengthening you with his Word, sustaining you in your faith, and leading you to your heavenly home? Who better than you to proclaim the Work that your Triune God has done? This is the work that our Triune God has given to each and every one of us—to make disciples of all nations, to teach them what Jesus taught us, and to baptize them in the name of our Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
This is today is a very special day! Though it is not Christmas or Easter, or any other holiday of the Church Year, it is Holy Trinity Sunday. Today is the day that we have set aside to specifically remind ourselves of all the work our Triune God has done for us. Today is the day we specifically give thanks and praise to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit for all he has done for us. Today is the day we continue to carry the message of salvation with us wherever we go so that we are always ready to tell others the reason for the hope we have in our Triune God.
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church -Le Sueur, MN
Showing posts with label God the Father. Show all posts
Showing posts with label God the Father. Show all posts
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Return Your Love to the Lord. (2 Corinthians 5:14-15)
Dear friends in Christ.
This morning I want to share a story with you. It’s a story that I told the students of Minnesota Valley Lutheran High School when I conducted chapel there this past Thursday. It’s even a story that I have permission to tell, because I asked Joshua if I could tell it. I asked Joshua if I could tell it because it’s his story. It’s the story of our son and how he started having seizures when he was just two years old. Though Laura and I knew something wasn’t right, at the time, we didn’t know that he was having seizures. Though from time to time we would see him just stop doing what he was doing, stare off into space and start smacking his lips, almost as if he was trying to breath like a fish, we really didn’t understand what was happening at the time. Though we saw his lips turn blue while this was happening, we thought he might be holding his breath through the pain of something like acid reflux, because the lip smacking instances happened mostly during meal times. (It was only later that we would learn that those are text book symptoms of seizures.)
So, we did what any parent would do when something isn’t right with your child, we took Josh to our local doctor. Though our local doctor was actually a Physician’s Assistant, he had always taken good care of us and we trusted him. Though I remember him saying something about seizures, there was something in what we said to him that suggested these symptoms might be heart related. So we started Josh out on a range of tests for his heart, which he passed with flying colors. He was given a clean bill of health, and his lip smacking episodes even stopped, that is, until around his 3rd birthday; for it was around his 3rd birthday that the seizures began again. However this wasn’t the lip smacking we had seen a year earlier. This time his eyes would move to the left corner, his face would grow slack, and he would simply be unresponsive for anywhere between as little as 30 seconds and as long as 3 minutes. After a series of tests, an EEG and an MRI, the Doctors discovered that it was a brain tumor, a brain tumor that he had been born with, that was causing Joshua’s seizures. You might remember the whirlwind of activity as we quickly set everything in motion and headed up to Children’s Hospital where Joshua was scheduled for a 3 – 3 ½ hours surgery. He spent a day and a night and part of another day in the ICU, and then 3 more days in the hospital. Though these were some traumatic days for our family, we cannot help but thank the Lord and return our love to him for all the love that he showed us even through those difficult days.
We cannot help but thank the Lord and return our love to him for all that he has done for us! If you think about it, what better theme could there be for a Christian’s life! My life is all about returning my love to the Lord, because of all the love that the Lord showed me. For the truth is, when it comes right down to our natural born condition we were not much different than my son. In the same way that he was born with a tumor growing in his brain, we were all born with the tumor of sin, so to speak, growing in our hearts. Each and every one of us, were, at one time controlled by our sinful nature in the same way that my son was controlled by his seizures. But unlike my son who was controlled for only a few minutes, we were controlled for every second of our lives. There was no relief for us! There was no nope for us! We were residents of the hospital ward of this sinful world, being wheeled down the hallway of life on our way to our rooms, the rooms of eternal death and damnation that were prepared for us at the end of the hall. There was nothing we could do to change our condition! There was nothing we could do to change our fate! We needed radical surgery, and that is exactly what Jesus provided when he went to the cross.
As we’ve been taught since we were little children, God’s solution to our inborn problem of sin was to simply remove it; completely! When God our Father sent his Son to the cross, our surgery was begun as the Father applied the suction of his grace removing every single sin from our hearts. Those sins of lying, cheating, stealing, cursing, swearing, speeding, and every other sin we ever committed; they were removed from our hearts and placed on our Savior Jesus. Every single sinful thought and sinful action—all of them!—were removed from our hearts and placed upon our Jesus our Savior! Each and every sin that we had ever committed, are committing even now, or will commit until the day we die; every single spot and blemish of in within us was removed and placed upon our Savior’s shoulders! Our Savior, who, without any form of anesthesia endured the punishment of hell itself, in our place, so that we would be forgiven. In his grace, God, our Father, burned his Son at the stake of the cross, with the flames of hell so that our sins might be forever burned away forever, and we would be declared not guilty in the eyes of the Lord our God. However, that is not the end of the story. For when the Lord our God made his exchange, removing our sins and placing them on Jesus, he did not leave us empty. Rather, the Lord our God filled us with our Savior’s righteousness, innocence, and holiness. He filled us with our Savior’s holiness so that through faith we would be declared not guilty of any of our sins, we would marked brothers and sisters of Jesus our Savior, and known as God’s righteous children through faith in Jesus.
This is the love that the Lord Jesus our Savior poured out on us, and this is the love that now moves us to return our love to Jesus Christ our Savior. This, in fact, is the love about which Paul is writing as he writes in our lesson today, “Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15)
As Christians, who all their lives have been taught about what Jesus did for us, we cannot help but be moved by the Love that Christ Jesus our Savior poured out upon us. We cannot help but be moved to live for our Savior now that he has freed us from our sins and brought us into a right relationship with our heavenly Father. Though we were once residents of the hospital of this sinful world, being wheeled down the hallway of life to the room of eternal death and damnation that had been prepared for us, because of the surgery the heavenly Father performed on our hearts, we have been moved to the recovery ward. We are free to move about the hospital. We are free to talk to those who have not yet received the surgical message of Jesus’ crucifixion, death, and resurrection. We are even looking forward to the day when we will be completely healed by death so that we might finally leave this hospital and return home to the rooms that Jesus, himself has prepared for us in the halls of heaven.
This is the great love that the Lord our God has poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who called us to faith in Jesus our Savior. This is the great love that now burns within our hearts as a great fire, heating the boiler of our actions until the Holy Spirit throws the throttle and the locomotive of our love begins its return journey to our Savior. For the truth is, the love which Christ has poured out on us is the very love that compels us to return our love to him by making the most out of Sunday morning; sending our children to Sunday School, gathering for Bible Study, and gathering together in worship. Even though activities like this might take 3 – 4 hours on a Sunday morning, it is through these very activities that we hear the Word of God and are strengthened in our faith. It is Christ’s love for us that moves us to return our love for him by watching our words and our actions, whether we are here in church, walking down the street, talking on the telephone, texting, facebooking, emailing, youtubing, playing with our friends, or simply sitting in the comfort of our own homes watching TV. It is Christ’s love that moves us to return our love for him by folding our hands in prayer to thank him for all the blessings he gives us day after day, to express to him our joys, our sorrows, our hardships, our heartaches, our frustrations, and yes our thankfulness. It is Christ’s love for us that moves us to open the Bible for ourselves to read what is recorded on those amazing pages so that we might grow in our faith all the more. This is the love that Christ poured out on us when he went to the cross. This is the love that now burns in our own hearts, kindled by the love our Savior has given us, and this is the love that we long to return to the Lord in everything we say, think, and do.
This is the kind of love that Laura and I have expressed to the Lord on many occasions for returning to us a healthy, energetic, and loving son. Though his surgery was completed over four years ago, every time I see that mark of victory, that beautiful mark of God’s love and faithfulness on the side of his head, I cannot help but thank the Lord for all that he did for our Son. A surgery scheduled for 3 – 3 ½ hours was done in 45 minutes. A hospital say that was scheduled for 7 days lasted only 5. All the complications and problems that could have arisen, because of your prayers and the Lord’s blessings they were all put to rest as the surgeon was easily able to access and remove the tumor completely. Though I know that some of you have been through even more difficult things than we I pray that you, like we have seen our Savior’s love, revealed in those situations. I pray that you have been moved, like we have been, to return your love to your Savior. I pray that in the same way that we see our Savior’s love in the victorious scar that now adorns the left side of Joshua’s head, you see all your Savior’s love in the arms of the cross. I pray that each and every time you look at this, or any cross, you are reminded of the amazing love that the Lord poured out on you through Jesus’ death and resurrection. I pray, that moved by that love, you continue living your life, making every effort to return your love to Jesus Christ, your Savior.
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church -Le Sueur, MN
This morning I want to share a story with you. It’s a story that I told the students of Minnesota Valley Lutheran High School when I conducted chapel there this past Thursday. It’s even a story that I have permission to tell, because I asked Joshua if I could tell it. I asked Joshua if I could tell it because it’s his story. It’s the story of our son and how he started having seizures when he was just two years old. Though Laura and I knew something wasn’t right, at the time, we didn’t know that he was having seizures. Though from time to time we would see him just stop doing what he was doing, stare off into space and start smacking his lips, almost as if he was trying to breath like a fish, we really didn’t understand what was happening at the time. Though we saw his lips turn blue while this was happening, we thought he might be holding his breath through the pain of something like acid reflux, because the lip smacking instances happened mostly during meal times. (It was only later that we would learn that those are text book symptoms of seizures.)
So, we did what any parent would do when something isn’t right with your child, we took Josh to our local doctor. Though our local doctor was actually a Physician’s Assistant, he had always taken good care of us and we trusted him. Though I remember him saying something about seizures, there was something in what we said to him that suggested these symptoms might be heart related. So we started Josh out on a range of tests for his heart, which he passed with flying colors. He was given a clean bill of health, and his lip smacking episodes even stopped, that is, until around his 3rd birthday; for it was around his 3rd birthday that the seizures began again. However this wasn’t the lip smacking we had seen a year earlier. This time his eyes would move to the left corner, his face would grow slack, and he would simply be unresponsive for anywhere between as little as 30 seconds and as long as 3 minutes. After a series of tests, an EEG and an MRI, the Doctors discovered that it was a brain tumor, a brain tumor that he had been born with, that was causing Joshua’s seizures. You might remember the whirlwind of activity as we quickly set everything in motion and headed up to Children’s Hospital where Joshua was scheduled for a 3 – 3 ½ hours surgery. He spent a day and a night and part of another day in the ICU, and then 3 more days in the hospital. Though these were some traumatic days for our family, we cannot help but thank the Lord and return our love to him for all the love that he showed us even through those difficult days.
We cannot help but thank the Lord and return our love to him for all that he has done for us! If you think about it, what better theme could there be for a Christian’s life! My life is all about returning my love to the Lord, because of all the love that the Lord showed me. For the truth is, when it comes right down to our natural born condition we were not much different than my son. In the same way that he was born with a tumor growing in his brain, we were all born with the tumor of sin, so to speak, growing in our hearts. Each and every one of us, were, at one time controlled by our sinful nature in the same way that my son was controlled by his seizures. But unlike my son who was controlled for only a few minutes, we were controlled for every second of our lives. There was no relief for us! There was no nope for us! We were residents of the hospital ward of this sinful world, being wheeled down the hallway of life on our way to our rooms, the rooms of eternal death and damnation that were prepared for us at the end of the hall. There was nothing we could do to change our condition! There was nothing we could do to change our fate! We needed radical surgery, and that is exactly what Jesus provided when he went to the cross.
As we’ve been taught since we were little children, God’s solution to our inborn problem of sin was to simply remove it; completely! When God our Father sent his Son to the cross, our surgery was begun as the Father applied the suction of his grace removing every single sin from our hearts. Those sins of lying, cheating, stealing, cursing, swearing, speeding, and every other sin we ever committed; they were removed from our hearts and placed on our Savior Jesus. Every single sinful thought and sinful action—all of them!—were removed from our hearts and placed upon our Jesus our Savior! Each and every sin that we had ever committed, are committing even now, or will commit until the day we die; every single spot and blemish of in within us was removed and placed upon our Savior’s shoulders! Our Savior, who, without any form of anesthesia endured the punishment of hell itself, in our place, so that we would be forgiven. In his grace, God, our Father, burned his Son at the stake of the cross, with the flames of hell so that our sins might be forever burned away forever, and we would be declared not guilty in the eyes of the Lord our God. However, that is not the end of the story. For when the Lord our God made his exchange, removing our sins and placing them on Jesus, he did not leave us empty. Rather, the Lord our God filled us with our Savior’s righteousness, innocence, and holiness. He filled us with our Savior’s holiness so that through faith we would be declared not guilty of any of our sins, we would marked brothers and sisters of Jesus our Savior, and known as God’s righteous children through faith in Jesus.
This is the love that the Lord Jesus our Savior poured out on us, and this is the love that now moves us to return our love to Jesus Christ our Savior. This, in fact, is the love about which Paul is writing as he writes in our lesson today, “Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15)
As Christians, who all their lives have been taught about what Jesus did for us, we cannot help but be moved by the Love that Christ Jesus our Savior poured out upon us. We cannot help but be moved to live for our Savior now that he has freed us from our sins and brought us into a right relationship with our heavenly Father. Though we were once residents of the hospital of this sinful world, being wheeled down the hallway of life to the room of eternal death and damnation that had been prepared for us, because of the surgery the heavenly Father performed on our hearts, we have been moved to the recovery ward. We are free to move about the hospital. We are free to talk to those who have not yet received the surgical message of Jesus’ crucifixion, death, and resurrection. We are even looking forward to the day when we will be completely healed by death so that we might finally leave this hospital and return home to the rooms that Jesus, himself has prepared for us in the halls of heaven.
This is the great love that the Lord our God has poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who called us to faith in Jesus our Savior. This is the great love that now burns within our hearts as a great fire, heating the boiler of our actions until the Holy Spirit throws the throttle and the locomotive of our love begins its return journey to our Savior. For the truth is, the love which Christ has poured out on us is the very love that compels us to return our love to him by making the most out of Sunday morning; sending our children to Sunday School, gathering for Bible Study, and gathering together in worship. Even though activities like this might take 3 – 4 hours on a Sunday morning, it is through these very activities that we hear the Word of God and are strengthened in our faith. It is Christ’s love for us that moves us to return our love for him by watching our words and our actions, whether we are here in church, walking down the street, talking on the telephone, texting, facebooking, emailing, youtubing, playing with our friends, or simply sitting in the comfort of our own homes watching TV. It is Christ’s love that moves us to return our love for him by folding our hands in prayer to thank him for all the blessings he gives us day after day, to express to him our joys, our sorrows, our hardships, our heartaches, our frustrations, and yes our thankfulness. It is Christ’s love for us that moves us to open the Bible for ourselves to read what is recorded on those amazing pages so that we might grow in our faith all the more. This is the love that Christ poured out on us when he went to the cross. This is the love that now burns in our own hearts, kindled by the love our Savior has given us, and this is the love that we long to return to the Lord in everything we say, think, and do.
This is the kind of love that Laura and I have expressed to the Lord on many occasions for returning to us a healthy, energetic, and loving son. Though his surgery was completed over four years ago, every time I see that mark of victory, that beautiful mark of God’s love and faithfulness on the side of his head, I cannot help but thank the Lord for all that he did for our Son. A surgery scheduled for 3 – 3 ½ hours was done in 45 minutes. A hospital say that was scheduled for 7 days lasted only 5. All the complications and problems that could have arisen, because of your prayers and the Lord’s blessings they were all put to rest as the surgeon was easily able to access and remove the tumor completely. Though I know that some of you have been through even more difficult things than we I pray that you, like we have seen our Savior’s love, revealed in those situations. I pray that you have been moved, like we have been, to return your love to your Savior. I pray that in the same way that we see our Savior’s love in the victorious scar that now adorns the left side of Joshua’s head, you see all your Savior’s love in the arms of the cross. I pray that each and every time you look at this, or any cross, you are reminded of the amazing love that the Lord poured out on you through Jesus’ death and resurrection. I pray, that moved by that love, you continue living your life, making every effort to return your love to Jesus Christ, your Savior.
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church -Le Sueur, MN
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
What is God Like?
May 30, 2010
Theme: What is our God Like?
Dear friends in Christ.
It has been said that what you know about a person usually affects the way that you feel about a person, and in most cases that seems to be true. Take, for example, Abraham Lincoln. He was the 16th president of the United States. He was the President in Office during the Civil War. He was the one who was determined that the United States of America should remain together as a single nation. He was the one who signed the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing those who were salves from their forced servitude, and putting into motion the events that led to the 13th amendment to the US Constitution, which finally Abolished Slavery in the United States. He was the one who was assassinated at Ford’s Theater a mere 5 days after the Civil War came to an end. Because of this knowledge, there are many who love Lincoln and hail him as one of the greatest Presidents our Nation has ever seen. Though he was continually ridiculed and spoken against in his time, because of what we know about him from history, we are able to form our own opinion about him, and our own personal feelings about him have been affected in many ways by what we know. Well the same thing is true about the Lord our God, our opinion of him is very much affected by what we know about him. Thus, as we study the Scriptures before us today we will seek to learn about our God and answer the question, “What is our God like?”
To answer this question, we want to take a look at what the Bible has to say about God’s Characteristics and learn two basic ways that God’s nature is different than ours. So, I invite you to grab your Bibles and turn to Matthew 28:19 which can be found on page 989. As you are looking it up, let me give you the context of this passage. It had been 40 days since Jesus rose from the dead, and Jesus and his disciples were standing on the Mount of Olives, where Jesus was giving them his final instructions and blessings before he would ascend into heaven. While he was speaking to them he told them, (and we’ll read Matthew 28:19 together): “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” (Matthew 28:19, NIV)
Just as Jesus began his ministry with the Father’s blessing and the Holy Spirit’s descending upon him, so also Jesus returns to heaven instituting the Sacrament of Baptism, proclaiming that all of his disciples should baptize people in the name of the Triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Thus, Jesus reveals that our God is three distinct and separate persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Thus, when we look at our God we know that the Father is not the Son. We know that the Son is not the Holy Spirit, and we know that the Holy Spirit is not the Father. Yet, even as we worship our God in three separate and distinct persons, we know that we do not worship three separate Gods but we worship only one God, as Moses tells us in Deuteronomy 6:4. Turn with me, if you would, to Deuteronomy 6:4, which can be found on page 178 of your Bibles, and we’ll read this passage together also. Again, as you look up the passage, let me set the context. The Israelites have completed their 40 years of wandering in the desert and they are preparing to cross the Jordan and take the land of Canaan. As they prepare, Moses is reminding them of all that the Lord has done for them. In Chapter 5 Moses reviewed the Ten Commandments and now, in verses 4 of Chapter 6, Moses speaks about the Lord whom we serve as we follow his commandments. And we read together: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” (Deuteronomy 6:4, NIV)
With these words, the Lord God reveals a very specific distinction between his nature and our nature. He is one! Though, He is three separate and distinct persons these three separate and distinct persons make up one individual God. How this can be, we do not know we simply believe it and accept it by faith, because God himself has told us that he is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, three persons yet one God. So, if we should ever take the Father out of the picture, would we still believe in the true God proclaimed by the Bible? No, because we would only have the Son and the Holy Spirit and not all three. What if we took the Son out of the picture and believed only in the Father and the Holy Spirit? The same thing would be true. We would not have the True God spoken of in the Bible. What if we took the Holy Spirit out of the picture and only believed in the Father and the Son, would we still have the true God proclaimed by the Bible? Again, the answer is no. even though the Bible never uses the word Triune to describe our God, the Bible makes it clear that the God we worship is three persons (tri) yet one God (une), which gives us our Triune God 3 person in one God, just as Jesus tells us in our Gospel Lesson today: “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you. ” (John 16:13–15, NIV)
From all of these passages, we can clearly see the two basic ways that our God’s nature is different than our own. Not only is the Lord our God Triune—Three Persons yet, One God—but also, as we have been taught since we were little Children, the Lord our God is spirit. Because the Lord is Spirit, he does not have a physical body. Even though Jesus came to the earth and took on our human flesh and blood, when he ascended into heaven, he returned to his spirit form. Yet, the Lord our God is not some distant force sailing around the galaxy, he is a real personal being who hears our prayers and understands our needs. He desires and even demands the most important place in our hearts and our lives. He calls on us to worship him, praise him, and thank him for all that he has done for us. He forgives us each and every time we fall in to temptation and sin against him, and he has chosen to reveal himself to us through the pages of the Scriptures so that we might gain a better understanding of who he is through the many characteristics that he reveals to us in his Word.
So, let’s take another look at the Scriptures to see if we might discover all that the Lord our God wants us to learn about himself. To do this, we will turn to Psalm 139 which can be found on page 618, and as you are looking up Psalm 139 on page 618, let me give you just a little bit of an introduction. Psalm 139 is one of the many Psalms that King David wrote by the inspiration of the Lord. It was given to the director of music for use as a song for worship in the temple. It has even been called the Psalm of the All knowing and Ever Present God, and the reason for this will become clear as I read. In fact, due to the length of the Psalm I invite you to follow along with me as I read: “O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD. You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you. If only you would slay the wicked, O God! Away from me, you bloodthirsty men! They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name. Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD, and abhor those who rise up against you? I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies. Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. ” (Psalm 139:1–24, NIV)
In such a beautiful way the Lord so clearly reveals that he is omniscient—all knowing—and omnipresent—present everywhere. He reminds us that not only does he know everything that we say and do, he also knows us better than our friends, our family, even our own fathers and mothers. He knows what we need when we need it, and he is always present with us, watching over us, protecting us, helping us, and ready to comfort us. He is also the all-powerful God who created our inmost beings, who knit us together in our mothers’ wombs. He is the God who can and will use his unlimited power to punish those who do not believe in him in the fires of eternal damnation, and he is the God who can and will use his unlimited power to bring those who believe in him to the halls of eternal life where we will live with him forever.
What more beautiful and comforting words could the Lord give to us as he reveals himself to us through his Word! Yet, there are so many more passages we could chose today to teach us more about the Characteristics of our God. The problem is, we are running out of time this morning, that is, if we feel we must keep our service as close to an hour as possible. However, since that is our custom, perhaps just one final passage. Turn with me to Exodus 34:5-7 on page 88. Again, let me give you the background for these verses: Moses had been with the Lord on the Mountain for 40 days and 40 nights, during which time the people persuaded Aaron to make a golden calf for them to worship. When Moses came down and saw what they were doing, he broke the tablets, burned it in the fire, ground it to powder, sprinkled it on the water and made the Israelites drink it. Now, he had returned to the mountain with two new tablets of stone for the Lord’s commands where he had also asked the Lord to show him his glory, which is where we pick up as we read together: “Then the LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the LORD. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.” (Exodus 34:5–7, NIV)
In such a beautiful way, the Lord our God reveals to us some of his most incredible characteristics. We know of his compassion for us in his sending Jesus to be our Savior. We know of his Graciousness that he does not treat us as our sins deserve, but he shows his love and his patience for us by giving us this time of grace in which to come to faith. He shows his love and his faithfulness by continually protecting us from all harm and danger, and forgiving all our sins for Jesus’ sake. Though the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished, through faith in him, we live in his love and faithfulness. We see the Lord our God as the loving, caring, and gracious God he is.
Thus, today, in the same way we have learned about Abraham Lincoln from history, we have learned what the Lord our God is like. For from the pages of Scripture, we have come to know that our all powerful Triune God is a Spirit who reveals himself to us in the Scriptures.
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church Le Sueur, MN
Theme: What is our God Like?
Dear friends in Christ.
It has been said that what you know about a person usually affects the way that you feel about a person, and in most cases that seems to be true. Take, for example, Abraham Lincoln. He was the 16th president of the United States. He was the President in Office during the Civil War. He was the one who was determined that the United States of America should remain together as a single nation. He was the one who signed the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing those who were salves from their forced servitude, and putting into motion the events that led to the 13th amendment to the US Constitution, which finally Abolished Slavery in the United States. He was the one who was assassinated at Ford’s Theater a mere 5 days after the Civil War came to an end. Because of this knowledge, there are many who love Lincoln and hail him as one of the greatest Presidents our Nation has ever seen. Though he was continually ridiculed and spoken against in his time, because of what we know about him from history, we are able to form our own opinion about him, and our own personal feelings about him have been affected in many ways by what we know. Well the same thing is true about the Lord our God, our opinion of him is very much affected by what we know about him. Thus, as we study the Scriptures before us today we will seek to learn about our God and answer the question, “What is our God like?”
To answer this question, we want to take a look at what the Bible has to say about God’s Characteristics and learn two basic ways that God’s nature is different than ours. So, I invite you to grab your Bibles and turn to Matthew 28:19 which can be found on page 989. As you are looking it up, let me give you the context of this passage. It had been 40 days since Jesus rose from the dead, and Jesus and his disciples were standing on the Mount of Olives, where Jesus was giving them his final instructions and blessings before he would ascend into heaven. While he was speaking to them he told them, (and we’ll read Matthew 28:19 together): “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” (Matthew 28:19, NIV)
Just as Jesus began his ministry with the Father’s blessing and the Holy Spirit’s descending upon him, so also Jesus returns to heaven instituting the Sacrament of Baptism, proclaiming that all of his disciples should baptize people in the name of the Triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Thus, Jesus reveals that our God is three distinct and separate persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Thus, when we look at our God we know that the Father is not the Son. We know that the Son is not the Holy Spirit, and we know that the Holy Spirit is not the Father. Yet, even as we worship our God in three separate and distinct persons, we know that we do not worship three separate Gods but we worship only one God, as Moses tells us in Deuteronomy 6:4. Turn with me, if you would, to Deuteronomy 6:4, which can be found on page 178 of your Bibles, and we’ll read this passage together also. Again, as you look up the passage, let me set the context. The Israelites have completed their 40 years of wandering in the desert and they are preparing to cross the Jordan and take the land of Canaan. As they prepare, Moses is reminding them of all that the Lord has done for them. In Chapter 5 Moses reviewed the Ten Commandments and now, in verses 4 of Chapter 6, Moses speaks about the Lord whom we serve as we follow his commandments. And we read together: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” (Deuteronomy 6:4, NIV)
With these words, the Lord God reveals a very specific distinction between his nature and our nature. He is one! Though, He is three separate and distinct persons these three separate and distinct persons make up one individual God. How this can be, we do not know we simply believe it and accept it by faith, because God himself has told us that he is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, three persons yet one God. So, if we should ever take the Father out of the picture, would we still believe in the true God proclaimed by the Bible? No, because we would only have the Son and the Holy Spirit and not all three. What if we took the Son out of the picture and believed only in the Father and the Holy Spirit? The same thing would be true. We would not have the True God spoken of in the Bible. What if we took the Holy Spirit out of the picture and only believed in the Father and the Son, would we still have the true God proclaimed by the Bible? Again, the answer is no. even though the Bible never uses the word Triune to describe our God, the Bible makes it clear that the God we worship is three persons (tri) yet one God (une), which gives us our Triune God 3 person in one God, just as Jesus tells us in our Gospel Lesson today: “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you. ” (John 16:13–15, NIV)
From all of these passages, we can clearly see the two basic ways that our God’s nature is different than our own. Not only is the Lord our God Triune—Three Persons yet, One God—but also, as we have been taught since we were little Children, the Lord our God is spirit. Because the Lord is Spirit, he does not have a physical body. Even though Jesus came to the earth and took on our human flesh and blood, when he ascended into heaven, he returned to his spirit form. Yet, the Lord our God is not some distant force sailing around the galaxy, he is a real personal being who hears our prayers and understands our needs. He desires and even demands the most important place in our hearts and our lives. He calls on us to worship him, praise him, and thank him for all that he has done for us. He forgives us each and every time we fall in to temptation and sin against him, and he has chosen to reveal himself to us through the pages of the Scriptures so that we might gain a better understanding of who he is through the many characteristics that he reveals to us in his Word.
So, let’s take another look at the Scriptures to see if we might discover all that the Lord our God wants us to learn about himself. To do this, we will turn to Psalm 139 which can be found on page 618, and as you are looking up Psalm 139 on page 618, let me give you just a little bit of an introduction. Psalm 139 is one of the many Psalms that King David wrote by the inspiration of the Lord. It was given to the director of music for use as a song for worship in the temple. It has even been called the Psalm of the All knowing and Ever Present God, and the reason for this will become clear as I read. In fact, due to the length of the Psalm I invite you to follow along with me as I read: “O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD. You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you. If only you would slay the wicked, O God! Away from me, you bloodthirsty men! They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name. Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD, and abhor those who rise up against you? I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies. Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. ” (Psalm 139:1–24, NIV)
In such a beautiful way the Lord so clearly reveals that he is omniscient—all knowing—and omnipresent—present everywhere. He reminds us that not only does he know everything that we say and do, he also knows us better than our friends, our family, even our own fathers and mothers. He knows what we need when we need it, and he is always present with us, watching over us, protecting us, helping us, and ready to comfort us. He is also the all-powerful God who created our inmost beings, who knit us together in our mothers’ wombs. He is the God who can and will use his unlimited power to punish those who do not believe in him in the fires of eternal damnation, and he is the God who can and will use his unlimited power to bring those who believe in him to the halls of eternal life where we will live with him forever.
What more beautiful and comforting words could the Lord give to us as he reveals himself to us through his Word! Yet, there are so many more passages we could chose today to teach us more about the Characteristics of our God. The problem is, we are running out of time this morning, that is, if we feel we must keep our service as close to an hour as possible. However, since that is our custom, perhaps just one final passage. Turn with me to Exodus 34:5-7 on page 88. Again, let me give you the background for these verses: Moses had been with the Lord on the Mountain for 40 days and 40 nights, during which time the people persuaded Aaron to make a golden calf for them to worship. When Moses came down and saw what they were doing, he broke the tablets, burned it in the fire, ground it to powder, sprinkled it on the water and made the Israelites drink it. Now, he had returned to the mountain with two new tablets of stone for the Lord’s commands where he had also asked the Lord to show him his glory, which is where we pick up as we read together: “Then the LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the LORD. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.” (Exodus 34:5–7, NIV)
In such a beautiful way, the Lord our God reveals to us some of his most incredible characteristics. We know of his compassion for us in his sending Jesus to be our Savior. We know of his Graciousness that he does not treat us as our sins deserve, but he shows his love and his patience for us by giving us this time of grace in which to come to faith. He shows his love and his faithfulness by continually protecting us from all harm and danger, and forgiving all our sins for Jesus’ sake. Though the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished, through faith in him, we live in his love and faithfulness. We see the Lord our God as the loving, caring, and gracious God he is.
Thus, today, in the same way we have learned about Abraham Lincoln from history, we have learned what the Lord our God is like. For from the pages of Scripture, we have come to know that our all powerful Triune God is a Spirit who reveals himself to us in the Scriptures.
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church Le Sueur, MN
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