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Sermons

"A Great Mystery of Our Faith"
Epistle Scripture Text:
II Corinthians 13:14

Dave Ring, Pastor
Los Alamos First United Methodist Church
Sunday Morning, June 6, 2010

A COMMUNION MEDITATION
FOR PENTECOST SEASON

Scripture Text: "May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all." -
II Corinthians 13:14 (New International Version)

Message: "May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all."

How many of you like mysteries? I do. I enjoy reading or watching a mystery unfold, trying to figure out the clues, seeking to discover the answer before the ending. That way, when it's finally revealed that "the butler did it," I can smile inwardly and say, "I knew it all the time."

Today I want to share with you a mystery. It's a mystery that might just frustrate you a little -- especially if, like me, you like being able to "figure it all out" before the ending. For it's a mystery that no human being has ever figured out - a puzzle that remains a mystery to us all. And yet, it's something which is vital - crucial - critical to and at the core of - our Christian faith. It's the mystery - of the Trinity.

The earliest followers of Jesus Christ - His disciples - were virtually all Jews. That meant that they, unlike the pagan cultures which surrounded them, believed in a single God. One God - and One only. To use a fancy word, Jews were, and are, monotheists. That was unique back then; it's still somewhat unusual today. Billions of persons in our contemporary world, principally those of Hindu and Buddhist persuasions, plus a lot of "new age" and Wiccan adherents, and including a multitude of animist groups and cultures - still believe in multiple gods, hierarchies of spirits, and strange elemental forces which capriciously influence what is, to them, a largely chaotic universe.

The Jews, by contrast, believed in one and only one God. One God who had created it all and who reliably and predictably governed His creation.

But the early Jewish followers of Jesus also noted that, in Him, the power of God was clearly resident. Jesus readily acknowledged that He had come from God and would return to God. He was, in a physical sense, God's Son. And He also was, in a spiritual sense, God. And it had always been that way, going back before the dawn of time itself. As John 1:2-3 puts it, "He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made, without Him nothing was made that has been made."

So the early followers of Jesus necessarily expanded their concept of God. They still believed in one and only one God - but they began to understand that their one God was not one-dimensional. He was Father - and He was Son. And the two were somehow one. It stretched their finite minds to conceive such, but they managed to do so.

And then Jesus threw them a curve ball. He said that He would leave the earth, but that He would send - rather that both He and the Father would jointly send - yet another dimension of God to remain with them in His place. He called this the Holy Spirit. To again quote John's gospel, Jesus said, "When the Spirit of truth comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, He will testify on my behalf (and) …He will guide you into all the truth." That promise was fulfilled in the Pentecost experience - the anniversary of which we celebrated two Sundays ago.

Since Pentecost, the God in whom Christians profess to believe has been three-dimensional. Not three gods - no. Only one God - but a God who has chosen to eternally express Himself in three distinct ways. A special term has been coined for this uniqueness about our God - the word is Trinity. The Christian God is a Trinity. This belief distinguishes us from our Jewish forebears, but it does not completely divorce us from them. To express it more accurately, we are Judaeo-Christians: Believers in the Father-God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; followers of the Son of God, Jesus Christ; and empowered by the Holy Spirit of God today and forevermore.

If all those fancy words make your head spin, you're in good company. Not even the finest theologians of the ages have been able to completely comprehend the Trinity. It remains a pillar of our faith, a fundamental of belief for those who would call themselves Christians. And it also remains a glorious mystery.

As Paul blessed the Corinthian Christians so long ago, so I would bless you as we prepare to receive Holy Communion this Sunday morning: "May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all." Enjoy the great mystery - of the Trinity. Amen.

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