Trinity Hope
Trinity Sunday (Father’s Day)
Romans 5:1-5 and John 16:12-15
I wanted to start out this morning by saying, “And the hits just keep on coming!”
Last week was Pentecost which follows Jesus’ Ascension to be with the Father in Heaven. As a reminder, Pentecost means fiftieth day when the Feast of Weeks occurred in Jerusalem and all Jews were present to celebrate, including those who had been displaced or scattered.
On this day of feast, we had the grand entrance of the Holy Spirit, the Advocate sent by God to empower the disciples and believers to begin the mission to go and tell the story of Christ, the truth of the gospel, the glory of God.
Today, we back up just a bit in the Gospel of John with Jesus telling the disciples about the Advocate.
He says, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will speak not on his own but what he hears from God. The Spirit will declare the things to come and will glorify Jesus.
Then comes the big “AND.” The Spirit will take what is Jesus’ and declare it to you. God will take what is mine and give it to you.
What is the “mine” that Jesus is referring to here?
In this statement from Jesus, we see the unity and equality within the Trinity. Jesus is emphasizing that he shares in the divine nature of God the Father, and this knowledge of the divine nature will be revealed to the disciples and to us by the Holy Spirit.
This divine nature that is shared by God the Father and Jesus the Son are revealed in knowledge imparted to us through the Holy Spirit.
Trinity Sunday was established on our Liturgical Calendar immediately following Pentecost Sunday as a day to contemplate the triune nature of God-Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Trinity Sunday focuses on the truth that God is one Being revealed in three divine persons.
Although the word “Trinity” is not found in the Bible, the scriptures from both Old and New Testaments are consistent in reflecting the Father’s will, the Son’s redeeming work, and the Holy Spirit’s active presence in believers.
In Genesis, God states, “Let US make man in OUR image, after OUR likeness…”
Matthew’s Gospel says, “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.”
In 2 Corinthians we find this verse, “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” This is a blessing invoking the three Persons of the Divine Being together, indicating their equal role in the believer’s life.
By celebrating Trinity Sunday, we remember our call to worship as believers in the one true God in fullness of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In recognizing the core doctrine that God is triune, we uncover the understanding of the Gospel in understanding God’s love, plan of redemption through Christ, and our continual work in the world.
As we contemplate the triune nature of God, the Holy Spirit inspires us to a deeper understanding and knowledge of the throne of God as described in Revelation a couple Sundays ago.
In this understanding, we offer our praise in glory to God as One Being in three Eternal Persons. Each Sunday we recite the Trinity in our Apostle’s Creed, and we sing hymns of praise honoring the unified work of the Trinity.
As I pointed out last Sunday, we are not outside the sphere of the Trinity, we are within it, and we are called to witness to others who cross our paths this life-changing power of the three in one.
As we witness to others, hearts are open by the Holy Spirit to the salvation of grace provided by God the Father through Christ the Son’s death and resurrection that was accomplished on earth. It is a harmonious redeeming of humanity by the Trinity.
The Trinity is our strength and our peace. It is our identity and our hope.
I recently read a short story about Noah by Max Lucado in his book, “They Walked with God.”
Lucado drew a very vivid picture of how Noah floated in hope for 40 days when he could see nothing but water surrounding him. There must have been times when he thought they might drown, but he remained faithful to God’s promise.
In hope, Noah sends out a raven that doesn’t return. However, rather than giving up, Noah sends out a dove that returns exhausted. Noah doesn’t give up, the next day he sends out the dove again, and on this day, hope is revealed as the dove returns with an olive leaf proving that solid ground was out there somewhere near. Indeed, life was out there waiting to be lived beyond the stench and drowning waters of Noah’s present environment.
Noah’s story shows us that hope doesn’t promise an instant solution. Sometimes all we have is the possibility of an eventual solution, while it is hope that keeps us moving forward.
Lucado profoundly states that hope to the dreamer is proof that dreaming is worth the risk.
Jesus delivered this same hope among the people when he walked the earth. Jesus brought the olive leaves of the dove to the people among whom he walked. He still brings hope as he continues to bring grace to life, forgiveness of sins, and the defeat of death.
Through the love of the Trinity, we are given hope, and when we give our love to others, we give them hope.
We are reminded of the scripture in 1 Corinthians, “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
Like Noah, we are flood survivors. All of us have lived through floods in our lives and lived to tell it, and I’m not talking about the flood of water, rather the floods of life like grief, depression, illness, worry, and all the rivers of life that flood us as we journey through life on earth.
Day after day, we send out that dove of hope, waiting for it to return with an olive leaf to give us hope to survive another day.
Lucado points out that our life experiences have deputized us in the dove brigade giving us the opportunity to give hope to others who are ark bound.
He reminds us of Paul’s admonition (2 Cor. 1:3-4 TLB):
‘What a wonderful God we have —he is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the source of every mercy, and the one who wonderfully comforts and strengthens us in our hardships and trials. And why does he do this? So that when others are troubled, needing our sympathy and encouragement, we can pass on to them this same help and comfort God has given us.’
Let us remember our hope is in the living Trinity of the One Being: God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit, and with this hope through our ministry in word and in action, we can encourage and bring hope to those who are struggling with life’s floods.