“Who He is and who you are(Holy Trinity)” Sermon / John 8:48-59 / Pr. Lucas A. Albrecht / Sunday June 16th 2019 / Holy Trinity Sunday / Mount Olive Lutheran Church

SERMON NOTES

Text: John 8:48-59 ; Psalm 8
Theme: “Who He is and who you are(Holy Trinity)”
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Intr – Holy Trinity Sunday is the only Sunday dedicated to a doctrine, not to an event, in the Church Calendar. It provides us with a special day to remember and to learn more about the essence and anchor and foundation of our faith. It is beautifully and precisely summed up in the Apostle’s Creed. Now, the Creeds tell us about who God is, but not only that. They let us know also who we are.

1 – The text

_Seems a little strange to have a polemical text like John 8 on Trinity Sunday. But that’s what we get when we talk about Holy Trinity to human reason; polemic.

_Jesus uses “I am” in different contexts of St. John’s Gospel, always cowith a complement. “The Door, the Good Shepherd, the Vine…” We don’t have a complement here though. It is “I am”; period.

_If we have any doubt that Jesus’ listeners understood He was talking about Himself as equal to God, we just need to have a look at the stones they grab to throw at Him.

2 – Who HE is

The FATHER – He is the Creator.     
_We believe in a God that created all things. The Father is the cause of everything we see, and He is the One who maintains it day after day.

_This is a very comforting word. As we hear of many dreadful previsions for the future of life, of the planet, we should be concerned in preserving God’s Creation, but we take comfort in the fact that He is ultimately the One who has everything in His hands.

The SON – He is the Redeemer.

Psalm 8: When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings  and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet.

We heard on the Gospel today: “before Abraham was, I am.”
         We heard Peter preaching on Pentecost Day about Him. He is the Messiah, pierced to a Cross, but who left an empty tomb behind Him so that our hearts would be filled, through faith, of His Caring Love, forgiveness, and His Salvation.

_Jesus is one with the Father, He is the Son of God. He is God. Not only a Master, a Good Person.    
_The discussion about God and The Holy Trinity is essentially a discussion about Christ. Is he The Son of God? This is what is being discussed in the Gospel today.
_The second article of the Creed talks about the One men who came to mend this mess, to bridge the gap; to correct our way - to be the way. Christ is the Son of God, True God and True Man, Comforting our hearts with His Gospel and pointing the Way in His Law as a guide to life. We don’t follow with law because we are afraid of not pleasing God. In Christ, God is already pleased at us. We will respond in love, towards Him and our neighbours.

The HOLY SPIRIT – He is the Comforter, He brings us that faith; He strengthens us in that faith.

         Trinity means “that there are three persons in God. It is a heavenly mystery which the world cannot understand. It must not be based upon reason or comparison, but must be understood and established by means of passages from the Scriptures, for God has the only perfect knowledge and knows how to speak concerning himself.”[1]

3 – Who we are

_We are creatures from the Hands of the Father. We are not product of chance, neither our world is. We were meant to be. We were thought of. Our world was created as the home for God’s creatures, especially the crown of them – we, humans.

_We are His CHILDREN because of the work of the Son. Now we know we are not only creatures of the Father’s hands but also his children, by faith in His Only Son.

_We are temples of the Holy Spirit. God dwells in us by faith. We know then that we are temples of the Holy Spirit called to do the works of God. What are those works? The Catechism helps us to learn, understand and practice them. You are called to serve; to tell the truth about God to serve Him. As a dear child of a beloved Father you are called to do the things that please Him.

_Remember: "Knowing something and never doing it it’s really not knowing it".   If I think I know and believe something, but I don’t practice it, do I really believe it?

_Being in Christ impacts directly our daily life, because in Him we have a perfect, steady reference of Truth.

_Father’s Day is a day to value the masculine figure in our society. There is nothing of toxic in God men trying to be good fathers, following the Truth from the Father to teach their children.

_Not only to teach though but to live. A Dad once told his son: “You should be very careful in every step you take in life son, so you always stay in the right path”. The son answered: “Dad, you should be watching every step you take because I am stepping on them right after you”

_When we study about our wonderful God and his Deeds and His love, we feel no pride. There is nothing good in pride; it usually drives us away from Him. We read in 1 John 2:16, “For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.” It all takes us down to humbleness, humility, bowing down before Him, His wisdom – as we heard from the book of Proverbs. With this same humbleness and love we will treat our neighbours, truth in love, care, support and help. We are not worse than anyone, we are not better than anyone. We are children of God called to Serve Him, and to serve people in His name; in humbleness and love.

Cc – Holy Trinity. As we learn about our God, as we place faith in Him, as we walk with Him, we can only exclaim with David in Psalm 8: “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!”

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[1] LUTHER, Marin, Sermon on Trinity Sunday. Complete Sermons of Martin Luther, page 407.