CMLC 2026-05-31 Sermon

Howdy. You know, one of the things that I've

really appreciated in the past would be opportunities

to take youth like camping retreats and off to

some solitary place where you get to have a campfire.

And whenever you'd be sitting around a campfire,

it's always amazing that someone would always

ask the most dangerous of questions. Pastor,

can you explain the Trinity? And usually this

is after a whole bunch of skits and scavenger

hunts and games and I'm just thinking I really

just need dinner right now. But you know at moments

like that everybody starts to become a theologian.

Somebody comes up with, well, you think of the

Trinity like an egg, and you're like, I have

no idea where that even came from at all. There's

one person mentioning the shamrock, the three

-leaf clover, Father, Son, and Spirit. And then

there's someone who comes up with the water and

ice and a steam, like with the Trinity itself.

And then there's always somebody drawing a triangle

in the dirt. There's always someone with that.

And then if you stay there too, too long, someone

grabs the s'mores and they start to say wait

a minute I see it now and they start pulling

apart the graham cracker for the father and the

marshmallow for the spirit and the chocolate

for the Sun because Jesus is sweet yeah it's

pretty terrible I know and there's like you got

the sticky fingers so you know And then there's

always somebody, bless you, always somebody spoiling

it by saying, well, those are kind of heretical,

they're not true teachings. That one's partialism,

like God is only partly in each person, and that's

modalism, as if God changes his shape from one

to the next, and that one is. Some other ism,

but I know it's bad and I just go with that and

everybody comes up with different things and

usually the person Doing that is me, but you

know when we think about each of these metaphors

each one Fails just a little bit the shamrock

you've got this idea of three parts together

in one plant But the father the son of the spirit

are not each one -third of God or water, ice,

and steam. Yeah, one substance in different forms,

but it's not like God is changing costumes depending

on the occasion and the season. And then the

egg with the shell and the egg white and the

yolk, and God is not divided into layers. He's

not an ogre. And the s'mores, well... That's

the tastiest one, but you're not really supposed

to be able to pull God apart like that. Granted,

the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, they might

come together for a very divine dessert, but

probably not like that. Every metaphor, it gives

us another glimpse into God, but every metaphor

also breaks apart when we look at it. Even when

people say you know one plus one plus one equals

one and the math teacher in me is just like don't

do this to me Don't do this Because God it's

not a theological riddle where the goal is trying

to make the perfect Triangular diagram on the

whiteboard the Trinity is the living God revealing

himself as he is and that means Christians don't

believe in the Trinity just because someone came

up with the perfect metaphor and we're like,

I like that, let's do that. We believe it because

this is how God has made himself known. When

we opened up the scriptures and we looked at

Genesis 1, right, we were not seeing everything

perfectly clearly, but you start to get hints.

The Old Testament doesn't pretend that people

understood every single thing. But you can see

these little moments kind of glimpsing from the

other side of the curtain. In the beginning,

God created the heavens and the earth. And that's

great. The Father has created all things. But

immediately, it goes into the Spirit of God was

hovering over the face of the waters. The Spirit

of God was not waiting for Pentecost to finally

show up. The Spirit of God is not somehow just

something made up later down the line. The Holy

Spirit was there from creation and even before.

But God doesn't just go over there and try to

make the world with a hammer and nails or some

machinery and hope He doesn't stub His thumb

whenever He's trying to make Houston because

it's covered in concrete. He's not trying to

struggle with all these things. He creates through

His Word. Let there be light. Let there be sky.

Let the waters gather. His Word is how He makes

creation. Creation happens because God speaks.

And centuries later, the Gospel of John brings

us back to Genesis when it says, in the beginning

was the Word. The Word was with God, and the

Word was God. All things were made through Him.

When we see the Word of God at the beginning,

this is not waiting until later for the Son to

appear. This is not saying, well, I messed up,

so now I need a plan B. Let's go ahead and have

a son of God. Son of God was there from the very

beginning, and even before. The Father creating

through His Word with the Spirit hovering over

the waters, and then there is that strange line,

let us make man in our image. Even the word God

with Elohim is a plural form and saying, let

us make him in our image. It's not fully explained.

There's just these little hints. But these flashes

end up making so much more sense when Christ

is on the scene. Because Christ Jesus comes and

suddenly all the hints become unmistakably clear.

Baptized in the name... The name singular. Of

the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Not three gods. One God. One name. Father, Son,

and Spirit. But the distinction matters. Because

Christians are not talking about these three

different gods on different mountains and in

different stories that just happen to get along

well enough to kind of get the earth created

or something. competing as if each one's its

own little power center, or three wills trying

to negotiate, or three personalities with different

directions. One God, one will, one purpose, one

divinity. The Father creates through the Son

in the Spirit. The Father saves through the Son

by the Spirit. The Father brings us home through

the Son in the Spirit. But why is it that all

three persons matter so much? Why can't the church

just say God is God and leave it at that? Why

do we have to go into all this Father, Son, and

Spirit stuff? Because when we lose the fullness

of who God is, we start losing the fullness of

what our Christian life is as well. Let me...

Let me give an example. Let's use basketball

for a moment. Do not think that this means that

I am really well -versed in basketball. I know

the ball goes through the hoop. There's a rectangle

staying inside of it. If you go further back,

you get more points, and don't throw elbows.

That's what I got, okay? But it's a good metaphor,

so we're going to use it. Imagine that God is

just this distant ruler. Power and authority.

the one who determines all the outcomes of the

world. Now, God is sovereign over everything.

Scripture is clear about that. But if that's

all that we see, then life starts looking less

like the game we are living and more like something

rigged before it ever even began. Imagine that

on that court you have one team with all the

greatest players in the history of the game and

the other team with a bunch of middle schoolers

and Pastor Jason. And you're just kind of like,

what's going on here? Never touched the ball

before. The outcome's already decided at that

point. There's no movement. There's no relationship.

There's no participation. And frankly, there's

no joy. Everything... just becomes, well, that

was already decided. That's what's going to happen.

This is how it ends. It's like space jam, but

more divine. And sometimes people do imagine

God that way. As though creation were simply

this machine that he wound up and just walked

away. But that's not how God reveals himself.

Because then comes the Son, the eternal Word

of God. through whom all things were made. And

He comes and He enters creation, and He takes

on flesh, and He steps onto the court with us.

And now suddenly, we see something more. We see

mercy, sacrifice, love, salvation. Like seeing

the star player that changes everything I was

born in 1980 and all Throughout childhood all

the way up until I'm graduating high school Who

was the guy that always dominated all of these

scenes? Michael Jordan And he would step out

on the floor in his prime, and that was so much

of the story for so long. He could score from

anywhere, take over games, do things nobody else

could do. He would just float across the court,

and tongue sticking out, that still weirds me

out. But he'd just be floating over there, put

the ball, and over time, it's like you keep thinking

about these things and thinking, this is great.

He can do so much. But was it really all about

Jordan? Over time, especially in the championship

years for the Chicago Bulls, something else became

clear. That greatness was not only what he himself

could do, but also in how the whole team around

him was elevated. Because as you go through the

years, Scottie Pippen, Steve Kerr, Dennis Rodman,

weird hair and all. They were not just standing

around waiting for Jordan to score. The whole

team was transformed. Trust developed. Movement

happened. The whole culture of the team changed.

And that's why the later years is when the championships

kept happening. Because the greatest players

are not merely the ones who score the most points.

They're the ones who elevate all of those around

them. And it shows us something important. Yes,

we know that Christianity is not just try harder,

save yourself, figure it out, because Christ

comes to the rescue and He wins the victory that

we could never win ourselves. But even there,

if that's all we see, then Christianity becomes

very, very passive. And the players just go sit

down and clap, and then go home. That's not the

fullness of God. Because we see the Holy Spirit

hovering over the waters, descending at Pentecost,

moving through the disciples, creating faith

and giving life to the church. See, the Spirit

does not merely make us spectators to watch Jesus

play the game. The Spirit transforms the whole

team. Faith. gifts, uniting people who would

otherwise remain strangers, conforming us to

Christ, bringing us into the very life of God.

The Spirit is not only at work inside the church,

though. The Spirit is the giver of life. Because

even now, the Spirit is sustaining all of creation

itself to show patience, mercy, and grace to

a broken world so that more may have time to

know Him. The seasons happen, the rain falls,

children are born, the gospel is preached. Why?

Because God desires mercy. He is patient. And

even now is calling sinners to repentance while

creation is groaning for the day it will be restored.

does not abandon the world. The Spirit of God

prepares it for renewal. And now suddenly Christianity

is not just a powerful God looking at history

from far away, and it's not just saying a heroic

Savior accomplished salvation while we watch

from the sidelines. It is the living triune God

of Creator, Redeemer, and Transformer. that is

continuing to shape us and to move us each and

every day. The Trinity is not just a way to explain

God. The Trinity is the only reason that the

church is even alive. And this is important to

understand, is that when we confess the Trinity,

we're not abandoning belief in one true God.

We're defending it. We're not trying to say,

yes, we believe in one God. Well, plus Jesus.

Okay, so we've got one God plus Jesus. Well,

and the Holy Spirit. Okay, so we've got one God

plus Jesus plus the Spirit. We're saying the

one true God revealed as Father, Son, and Spirit.

Because throughout history, whenever people push

back against the Trinity, They often imagine

that they're trying to make it simpler, easier

to get, protecting what's reasonable and make

this whole understanding of God a lot cleaner.

Just say, God is God, right? And just leave it

at that. But many times what's actually happening

is that people are fighting against the God that

makes them uncomfortable. and they're fighting

for the God that they would prefer. Sometimes

people want the God who is far away and will

just leave them alone. Sometimes people want

a God that they can easily explain whenever difficult

things happen. Sometimes they want a God who

fits their expectations. Sometimes they just

want to reduce it to some force that doesn't

quite realize all the suffering we've gone through

and was uninvolved in the rest of our history.

But what we confess as Christians is both stranger

and more beautiful. Because this God who creates

enters into creation and then fills and renews

it does not ignore our suffering. He walked it.

He was on those roads with His people, weeping,

bleeding, dying, and then rising again. See,

this is not a God who's uninterested in us. This

is a God who creates faith, draws us together,

transforms us, and brings dead sinners to life.

Oh, I know Christianity has this really complicated

teaching, and the Trinity is weird, and I know,

I don't mean to be complicated. No! We rejoice

in the Trinity. We take joy in the Trinity. We

are proud of the Trinity, because that is how

God actually exists. That's participation. That's

the glory of God. That's the mercy. That's the

love. We didn't invent the Trinity. God as the

Trinity made us. And that's maybe the deepest

beauty of the Trinity. Because before there was

ever a world, before there was any other things

happening anywhere else, God was already love.

He didn't need us. to start loving. He didn't

need this creation to complete who He is. The

Father, the Son, and the Spirit have always been

in fellowship of love with one another. It didn't

just start at Bethlehem. It didn't just start

with sinners turning back. Love is eternal because

of who God is. And that changes everything. Because

salvation is not as if God is just reluctantly

tolerating us. It is not as if somehow we're

just hoping that one part of God is defending

us from the other two. The Father sent the Son,

for God so loved the world that He gave His only

Son. And that Son willingly entered our flesh,

carried the cross, and died and rose again. and

then the Spirit descending upon Him, empowering

the ministry, and then pouring out upon the church.

The Spirit, the Son, the Father, each of them

loves us because of who they are, not because

of who we are. So when we look at the cross,

this is God sending God to do the work of God

in us. As the Father sins, the Son redeems, and

the Spirit brings dead hearts to life. Death

is overturned, and sin is defeated. This is not

just to escape the world, but to be united with

God. And that's why the Trinity matters so deeply.

because at the center of it all is not some cold,

isolated fate or somebody just coming and doing

stuff and ignoring us. This is a God who reaches

us each and every day with Word, water, bread,

and wine. So, frankly, the metaphors fall apart.

They all end up failing in some way. Shamrocks

break apart, ice melts, and eggs divide when

you scramble them, and s'mores just make your

fingers sticky at the campfire. But no metaphor

can ever fully contain the Living God. No illustration

will ever be enough to hold Him. Because God,

being beyond our understanding, That doesn't

mean He hasn't made Himself known. Because we

know the Father created us, the Son has redeemed

us, and the Spirit calls us, enlightens us, and

changes us each and every day. Not because we're

so glad all three of them finally got on the

same page, but because they have always been

one God, always overflowing with grace, mercy,

life, and love. So we affirm God, not just as

a riddle, but as the Father, Son, and Spirit

that he has always shown himself to be. And even

if it's not a perfect metaphor, we could still

probably go out for s'mores later. With that,

thanks be to God.