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| By Norma A. Boeckler |
The Feast of the Holy Trinity, 2019
Pastor Gregory L. Jackson
The melodies are linked in the hymn name.
The lyrics are linked in the hymn number.
The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Epistle and Gradual
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Epistle and Gradual
The Gospel
Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Athanasian Creed p. 53
The Sermon Hymn #297 M. Loy The Gospel Shows
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Athanasian Creed p. 53
The Sermon Hymn #297 M. Loy The Gospel Shows
The Son Reveals His Unique Mission
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn #660 I'm But a Stranger Here
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn #660 I'm But a Stranger Here
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| By Norma A. Boeckler |
Luther’s Trinity Sermons Linked Here
Romans 11 33 ω βαθος
- πλουτου
- και σοφιας
- και γνωσεως θεου
ως ανεξερευνητα τα κριματα αυτου και ανεξιχνιαστοι αι οδοι αυτου.
34 τις γαρ εγνω νουν κυριου η τις συμβουλος αυτου εγενετο
35 η τις προεδωκεν αυτω και ανταποδοθησεται αυτω
36 οτι
- εξ αυτου και
- δι αυτου και
- εις αυτον τα παντα αυτω
η δοξα εις τους αιωνας αμην
KJV Romans 11:33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! 34 For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? 35 Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? 36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.
KJV John 3:1 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: 2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. 3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? 5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. 8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. 9 Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? 10 Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? 11 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. 12 If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? 13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
Pentecost Monday Gospel:
KJV John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
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| By Norma A. Boeckler |
Background for the Sermon - The Trinity
The great and wise among the theologians and church leaders like to claim they cannot find the Trinity in the Scriptures. They plant their doubts in the minds of many, without offering any evidence for their statements.
Hearing or reading that error should be warning enough for the individual to find a guide more reliable. The Scriptures themselves serve that well. They combine direct teaching with passages that assume the Holy Trinity - The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
For example, the Father commanded by His Word the formation of the entire universe in six, 24-hour days.
Genesis 1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
His Word was and is the Son, as explained in John 1 -
John 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made.
So the Father fashioned the universe through the Logos, Who is the Creating Word, the Son. The Spirit witnesses to this through the Scriptures. Some might think that the Spirit is left out of many formulations in the Bible - only naming the Father and the Son, but the Scriptures are the Spirit's witness to that relationship. John's Gospel shows that to be true. Jesus' farewell sermons in John emphasize the work of the Spirit.
Besides those examples are many invocations of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, or passages where all three Persons of the Trinity are named within two verses.
God's revelation is not like a dogmatics book with a category for each topic. I. The Godhead. A. The Father. B. The Son. C. The Holy Spirit. Instead we have the unity of the Three Persons and the Three-ness of God are taught in the plainest words possible. That Trinitarian structure is behind many passages in the Bible.
Those who deny the Trinity is Biblical - how do you explain the almost countless three-fold passages in the Bible? Paul is fond of such things, such "faith, hope, and love, these three abide..." and he names the Trinity frequently. Mankind has tried to get rid of the Biblical seven-day week, but all efforts have failed. Our propensity for using three reasons, three points - we assume that is our normal thinking pattern. What influences that three-foldness in our language and thoughts?
"But the word Trinity is not found in the Bible!" That is a claim worn thin from centuries of hair-splitting. The word Trinity was used later to condense all the debates in the Early Church about the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one word standing for the entire Biblical revelation - without all the wordiness of those debates.
Just as some passages teach the humanity of Jesus and others His divinity, so the Bible emphasizes one Person over another. The two natures of Jesus are not divided - they are the human and the divine natures united in Jesus. Likewise, a passage will emphasize one Person of the Trinity or two Persons, to help us understand the true nature of God.
John's Gospel is especially focused on revealing that Jesus has the same will and teaching as the Father - perfect harmony. That corrects the false concept, easily formed, that the Father is harsh and angry, but the Son is kind, gentle, loving, and forgiving. The Son is the Voice and the Will of the Father, but they are two Persons of the godhead.
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| Christ Instructing Nicodemus by Crijn Hendricksz |
The Son Reveals His Unique Mission
KJV John 3:1 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:
By associating passages with each other, which is the only way to view the Scriptures, we can see how much is being revealed to us in a few words.
A Pharisee, a ruler of the Jews
In Mark 5, we translated the healing of the daughter of a ruler of the synagogue, Jairus. He is named so we can assume he was well known as one of the first Christians in the early church. Nicodemus was another ruler, so they likely knew each other or came to be very close in those early days after the resurrection of Christ. We know from John that Nicodemus risked everything to care for the crucified Messiah after His death.
John 19 39 And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight.So we know Nicodemus was a convinced and faithful believer, by the frightening time of Jesus' death and burial. Thus the early church contained many knit together by the preaching and miracles of Jesus.
2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
The best explanation for coming by night is the initial faith which drew him to Jesus, combined with a fear of being found out and punished. That description of coming by night was repeated in John 19, which is ironic. The one who was being very careful before was one of the first to identify with the slain Savior, truly risking life and reputation, knowing the opposition of Rome and the Jewish leaders. The miracles of Jesus confirmed His divine status. They were seen and confessed by thousands. If they did not know everything He taught, they knew there was no one like him.
Those who listened and hoped, based on the Scriptures, saw Jesus as the fulfillment of all that had been promised. In trusting God's Promises, they trusted Jesus.
3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Jesus should have thanked Nicodemus for his kind words, but instead, He questioned the leader's faith, challenging him with this statement. Apparently this is quite the puzzle, because so many people read it the wrong way.
Our NT Greek students know that the word used by Jesus is not "again" - palin - but "from above" - anothen. Again and again in our readings, palin is used for again, anothen is not. That is because the primary meaning for anothen is "from above." That is clear from its spelling - then is "from" and ano is "above."
The humor is that Jesus said, "You must be born from above," and Nicodemus heard, "You must be born again." So "born again" is used all the time, specifically as an adult conversion experience. Nicodemus heard the secondary meaning, which was bad enough, but asked an absurd question based on his misunderstanding.
This shows how an initial attraction is not enough. Until one believes the Son as He is, everything will be mysterious or distorted.
4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?
Nicodemus' question revealed his lack of comprehension, which seems alarmingly off the mark. But how many have done the same thing and built their cathedrals of thought around their errors. For instance, the great scholars of the time decided the Scriptures were not accurate, but they could use their great knowledge to find out the "kernal of truth" somewhere in the ancient Scriptures, which they thought were no different from other world religions.
In other words, they wanted to deal - without faith - with the Bible, which is given to us to stir up faith and confirm it many different ways.
But their great labors, though rewarded by other unbelievers, served to challenge many other scholars to support the truth of the Bible by their lifelong work.
Professor Lenski was first a pastor and a district president when he began teaching at the seminary at Capital University. He created a complete set of New Testament commentaries which not only taught the clear meaning of the Word, but also dealt with many questions about doctrine from various eras and denominations. He taught inerrancy and Justification by Faith, as Missouri's Dr. Walter A. Maier did.
How did his denomination respond? They were largely trained by him and owned his commentaries. They did everything possible to silence him and they replaced him (upon retirement) with a liberal professor who taught against the inerrancy of the Bible.
So, if Lutherans can surrender the basics of Biblical study in this great age of technology, science, and higher education, then we should not be appalled at Nicodemus for his question.
5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. 8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
He stated this in such a way as to make being born from above - water/Spirit born. John 3 foreshadows Holy Baptism the way John 6 foreshadows Holy Communion. The grammar of the sentence unites water and Spirit, and we know the Spirit always works with the Word and never apart from the Word.
People want to argue from the exception (always) but this is a general principle - those in the Kingdom are believers who are baptized. Children become believers through baptism and adults gladly become baptized to enjoy God's Promises in baptism - rebirth, forgiveness, a new life.
The carnal view of Christianity is completely rejected, though it is the dominant view today - grand buildings, all the trappings of ancient Rome, etc.
Believers are Spirit-born. Lutherans are the true Pentecostals. We see the Spirit at work through the Word in everything. Spirit and wind are the same word in Hebrew and Greek. The analogy is perfect. We know the wind is present when it blows our belongings into our neighbor's yard, when the umbrella patio table tries to fly. The wind is invisible but has enormous power. The Holy Spirit is the same in working through people. Some are driven to take the Gospel to pagans, as our Philippine missionary does. Others support that effort.
I have taught a class where they want to reduce congregational work to business principles, so I tell the students - "If we have believers together and they are taught the Word, God will accomplish His will, and the results may be slow but remarkable in time." Why is one province of India mostly Christian - Kerala? Their tradition is that Doubting Thomas began the church there. Some of course scoff at that, but how does anyone explain the subcontinent being pagan except for that one?
The Spirit moves us to accomplish God's will, and those efforts are blessed similar to the Sower and the Seed, the abundance making up for the difficulties - and then some, many times over.
9 Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?
10 Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? 11 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. 12 If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? 13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
The Christian Faith is so different that unbelievers are puzzled and cannot see the attachment people have to the Gospel and the attitudes they have as a result.
Jesus was abrupt with Nicodemus, which should jolt people into remembering that it is the Word that converts, not personality, not all the things promoted in marketing. At that point, Nicodemus did not know the fundamentals, but drawn to Jesus, he must have felt the power and conviction of the Savior's words. They were sharper than any two-edged sword, ripping away his training in works and replacing it with faith in the Teacher above all teachers.
As I hasten to point out, people cannot find the Virgin Birth in John's Gospel. But what is this? The Son of Man descended to earth. How did that happen in John's view? That is completely in harmony with the Virgin Birth, just as Paul's opening in Romans is.
The spiritually blind cannot see it and deny it.
As abrupt as Jesus seemed to be, how did He end this conversation? Not with condemnation but with the Little Gospel. And this as well -
17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
This is the true nature of God the Father and God the Son - witnessed by the Holy Spirit - the Savior's work is not to condemn the world but to save the world through faith in Him.
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| Duerer |
