The Proof

WELCOME

Today is Trinity Sunday.

Unusual. Usually we celebrate EVENTS.

Birth of Christ.

Resurrection.

Coming of the Holy Spirit.

Today we celebrate a doctrine.

We draw a conclusion about how we have experienced God through Christ. Our conclusion is that the One God is Three Persons.

Father who sent the Son. Is God.

The Son who came to us. Is God.

The Holy Spirit who dwells among us. Is God.

Yet: not three Gods, but one God revealed as a community so that the action of any one of the three is the Action of the 1 God.

Today we affirm the triune God: Three in One God.

The doctrine of the Trinity defies human comprehension.

Augustine- if we could understand God it would not be God.

Goal not as much to understand, but to appreciate. By the actions of God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - we see that God has proven to us that we have peace, hope and love.

CONTEXT

Our lesson today comes from the fifth chapter of Paul’s letter to the Romans. Paul, the author, was commissioned by the risen Jesus to share the message of the Gospel:

God the Father had sent his Son, Jesus, into the world to die and rise again, in fulfillment of the Jewish Scriptures, so that all people, Jews and Gentiles alike, might be assured of the

peace of forgiveness

hope of eternal life,

and the love of God.

This is the primary theme of Paul’s letter to the Romans.

In our short reading, Paul describes for them (and us) how the ministry of the one God— F, S, HS — shapes our lives today.

TEXT

Romans 5:1–5 NRSV

1 Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

INTRODUCTION

We need peace, hope, love.

We want to believe in God who provides those things. A God who

can deal with the problem of sin in our lives and bring peace.

can give us a hope for future.

can fill our lives with love.

People claim God does those things.

But where is the proof?

Paul is presenting the proof this morning: what God - F, S, HS - has done and is doing.

EXEGESIS 1 - PEACE

Early in his letter to the Romans, Paul rehearses the ancient story of the Hebrew Scriptures:

God created all people in his image to know and love him.

That is why people everywhere seek after God.

BUT humanity in the very beginning and still today falls away from God into sin.

Sin — Evil. 10 Commandments. Sins against one another: Murder, adultery, theft, lying, and the like.

Sins against God: false worship and ideas about God.

Sin is why people everywhere correctly sense that there is a gap between themselves and God…and that God would be right to judge them and destroy them for all kinds of sins.

Essentially: God and people are meant for each other but there is no peace.

Sin has always been in the way.

So, Paul teaches, the Good News: God took action to fix the situation.

God the Father sent Jesus Christ, God the Son, into the world to deal with sin.

All the sins of all of humanity of all time, required a great sacrifice to atone for. An infinite sacrifice.

God alone is an infinite being . Only divine blood could redeem all of humanity headed for death.

SO God the Father, sent God the Son, to make the payment for sin.

God the Son, Sent to us, was condemned, so that humanity would not have to be.

The Father determined that by having faith in Jesus all sinners would be justified by Christ’s blood.

“We have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Later, v. 8: God the Father PROVES his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.

IMPLICATION 1 - PEACE

Twinkie example.

I could make it right. Provided a whole box back to the other group.

But what about serious stuff?

Toward others: murder, adultery, theft, false witness…

Toward God: idolatry, blasphemy, cursing,…

What can we do to make any of those things right?

It has to be forgiven.

We want to believe that God forgives us. How can we know it? Proof?

God the Father gave his only Son for us, who died for our sins.

God says: I am at peace with you.

Even if no one else is at peace, I am at peace with you.

Need to replace that negative talk — God is going to smite me, God must hate me — with good talk, Biblical talk: God is at peace with me. Repetition.

We have peace with God. I will stand in it.

When we celebrate the Trinity, GOD PROVES WE CAN HAVE PEACE.

EXEGESIS 2 - HOPE

Paul continues. God the Father gives peace. God the Son gives us hope.

Jesus set us an example of how to live in this world with hope.

He suffered. Hunger, thirst, betrayal and shame, even unjust trial and death on a cross.

He endured.

He grew in character “made perfect through suffering”

He hoped in God. Into your hands I commend my spirit.

And when he died, the Father raised him and gave him glory.

Jesus’ hope was not disappointed.

Paul that is the pattern. Jesus is the pattern. He is the way.

In Christ, suffering is transformed from meaningless pain to a pathway towards glory.

Suffering — endurance — character — hope.

That is why we boast in our sufferings — sufferings are like a royal highway. That is the way Christ went, it is the way we go with certainty.

If we suffer with him, we will reign with him.

If we share in a death like his, we will share in a resurrection like his.

Romans 8:28–29 “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.”

IMPLICATION 2 - HOPE

We all suffer.

Some suffering is natural, common, unavoidable. Some is evil and inflicted upon us. Jesus knows both kinds. We may know both kinds.

In the midst of any suffering, we can turn toward Christ.

Pray: I want to handle this as you did. I firmly believe my hope in you will not be disappointed.

Example: worksite teachers.

Spiritual life. Christ made it. I will make it.

We should cling to Christ’s pattern. When we suffer, not give up, but try to be more like him, then our hope will be strengthened.

I am becoming more like him, following him, my end will be the same as his.

When we celebrate Trinity: GOD PROVES WE CAN HAVE HOPE.

EXEGESIS 3 - LOVE

The peace we have with Father. (past) The hope we have in Son. (future) They do not disappoint us because God’s loves has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. (present)

Empty jar. Love of God poured in by the Holy Spirit.

Psalm 42 — as the deer longs for the water, so my soul longs for thee. The HS pours into the human soul and fills it with God’s love.

The Holy Spirit is given to us.

Jesus talked about LIVING waters. Samaritan woman: I will give you living water! A reference to the Holy Spirit who later came.

HS: A true knowledge and experience of God. God IN us.

IMPLICATION 3 - LOVE

Example: Hydration Magi. Dalton. Drink your water.

Body needs water.

The soul needs the love of God.

Fill up on the HS

prayer

worship

fellowship.

As we do these things, HS is given to us.

The Holy Spirit is our experience of God’s love.

God within us and among us to give us the love of God so that we know we can face the future confidently. What we believe is true.

When we celebrate the Trinity, GOD PROVES WE ARE LOVED.

CONCLUSION

We celebrate the Trinity today: The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Three Persons, One God. Because they PROVE God is the God of peace, hope, and love. Not just a theory. Our God. The God we have experienced.

PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION

Holy God, you are more than we can know or name, yet we call on you again and again for you alone are God. We cannot live apart from you, for you have called us into your triune life. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,

Holy, Triune God. . . hear our prayer.

Your steadfast love surrounds us all our days. Wherever we may be— on a high mountain or a path in a shadowed valley, at a crossroads on our journey, outside the gates of welcome or in some inner circle— you call to us, delighting in the human race. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,

Holy, Triune God. . . hear our prayer.

We come before you in thanksgiving for all the gifts you have given that delight us so: for the beauty of this season; for the lives of those who bless us beyond their knowing; for this community of faith by which we are nurtured and challenged; for opportunities to serve you by serving others; for goals accomplished; and for the gift of life granted yet again today. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,

Holy, Triune God. . . hear our prayer.

We come before you humbly and hopeful in need: for those we know who are suffering today because of illness in mind, body, or spirit; for those trying to make a difficult decision; for those grieving a loss, an ending, a dream deferred. We pray for healing and strength in every broken place of our lives. We long for the hope you alone can give— hope that does not disappoint us but rolls away stones of death and despair. We pray for those whose livelihood is precarious, for those who live at the edge of poverty’s precipice, and for those who live in temporary shelter and tenuous provision. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,

Holy, Triune God. . . hear our prayer.