CMLC 2025-06-15 Sermon

Howdy All right, so how many good dad jokes do

we have going on today? Not none. Okay dads You

got to get you got to get on the ball you all

oh my word Do I need to go like look up some

for my dad or something like that? He's got a

few we used to spend every time that I would

be teaching math class and my sixth graders would

every day say Teacher why what is the joke that

your dad has for you today? And so my dad got

it in his head and would then send me terrible

jokes Every single day and at that point I had

to just I did just stop telling my students what

it was that he was going to send me So from then

on I had to come up with all my own terrible

jokes myself But you know today we celebrate

fathers and we celebrate who all that they that

they have been in our lives And the fact that

we may take them for granted, but there's so

much that they teach us, so much that they give

to us. Times whenever many of them have sacrificed

time and energy, done things for family that

they don't even realize so often. But it's not

just fathers, so many others who have done the

same. Grandfathers and uncles and teachers and

those who have been in our lives that have blessed

us and walked us through different things where

we just needed someone to be there. And not pretending

that they've got it all figured out or anything

of that nature, but just remembering that they're

meant to point us to the true Father that loves

us, now and always. You know, today is Holy Trinity

Sunday. And this is the day that the church sets

aside every year to celebrate one of the most

mysterious and foundational aspects of our faith.

God is one Yet, he's also three persons father

son and Holy Spirit. And there are a lot of different

ways that Christians have tried to explain the

Trinity in different ways. We saw St. Patrick

would use the clover, the three leaf clover,

and he would say that each leaf on there was

like the Father, the Son, the Spirit, but they're

all one clover together. Or there are times where

people would say that it's like how water can

be ice and liquid and vapor and that they're

all water. They just have these different ways

of existing in the glass. And one that I'll use

oftentimes is when we think about people and

that you have the person themselves, who they

are, you have the words that they speak, and

you have the way that those words affect and

shape the world around them. It's all one being,

but they're expressed in different ways. And

so seeing that... is that as helpful or as flawed

as our analogies may be, the purpose of the Trinity

is not to try to fit into something that we can

fully explain. That's not the point. The Trinity

is how God has revealed Himself to us. It's not

about what makes sense to us or somehow fits

into the scheme that's in our own minds on our

own. It's about who God is. It's about how God

has chosen to show Himself in history, in Scripture,

and ultimately as Father, Son, and Spirit because

that's just His very nature, whether we always

get it or not. You know, in John 8, we see that

Jesus is trying to make sense of this for the

people around them, and Jesus is in a heated

exchange with the religious establishment. I'm

sure that none of us have ever known what it

is to be in the middle of a heated exchange with

other church people before, right? Never. We

would never go through that. But Jesus is trying

to tell them that he honors the Father and that

he's doing the Father's will and he offers them

eternal life. If anyone keeps my word, He will

never see death. And how do they respond? Aren't

we right in saying you're a Samaritan and demon

possessed? He offers us eternal life. Kill him!

You know, I'm sure that none of us have ever

in our world today resorted to name -calling

or just labeling people as annoying just because

we don't understand what they're trying to say.

at Jesus' time, the Son of God is standing before

them offering life and they think he's crazy.

You know, we look at this and we ask, looking

back on it, why? We know who Jesus is, so we're

wondering why would they reject this? But you

see, Jesus didn't match their expectations. He

wasn't conquering Rome. He wasn't seizing power.

He wasn't affirming their cultural pride. Instead,

Jesus was revealing a God who serves, a God who

suffers, a God who saves through humility. How

hard is it though, when something isn't what

we're looking for? God may be doing something,

but it's not what we were expecting. And when

Jesus finally says before Abraham was, I am,

they know exactly what he's claiming. This is

not a misunderstanding. He's claiming that he

is God and they understand. And they pick up

stones to kill him. This would make sense for

those who are not open to seeing God for who

he really is. If your heart is not open to understanding

that what Jesus is sharing is real, then it's

going to be very offensive to everything that

you may stand for. And this is what happens when

we meet the true God, though. God's ways are

not our ways. We don't easily follow Him. Without

listening to God's Spirit, we don't recognize

Him. Without trusting God's ways in Christ, we

don't accept Him. Because the things of God are

not naturally grasped by our logic, by our own

power. It's not just this Trinity idea, but who

God is and how He reveals Himself. We can only

perceive it by His Spirit and faith, because

they're only received by faith. if we're willing.

But are we willing to look at God for who he

is and not who we make him out to be? And how

do we see this? Why is it that all this Trinity

talk, blah, blah, blah, is so important? And

not just because it gives Trinity University

some free advertising. But we need to remember

what happened at Pentecost. The disciples, they're

proclaiming the gospel in every language, and

some people are amazed, but other people mock

them and say they must be drunk because they

didn't understand them. So it's obviously their

fault because the people didn't understand. And

Peter stands there and says, no, what you're

seeing and hearing is the fulfillment of God's

plan. And he puts it back in context. He tells

a story. So God the Father, he testified to everything

that Jesus is with all the signs and the miracles

that he did. I mean, we don't normally do a bunch

of signs and miracles. This is the Son of God.

Then he allowed Jesus to be handed over to death

for us. We're not going to want to go to death

for anybody else. Jesus did. But then he raises

them back from the dead. People don't come back

to life. That's not the norm. This is something

different. And then he's exalted to his own right

hand. The only person who has the right to be

at the right hand of God is the Son of God. See,

he says Jesus, now exalted, he poured out the

promised Holy Spirit from the Father upon those

who are sharing the good news in every language.

So what we saw last week when we looked at Pentecost

is Jesus sending the Spirit after having been

sent by the Father Himself. The Father sent the

Son. The Son sends the Spirit. All three must

be God because they're working together. See,

the Trinity is fully at work here. The Father

plans and raises. The Son obeys and reigns. The

Spirit is poured out and empowers. And all of

this leads to what Peter concludes at the end

of that. Let all Israel be assured of this. God

has made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord

and Messiah. They knew that the Messiah would

be the descendant of David. But if you're the

descendant of David, You cannot be the Lord over

David or the Messiah greater than David if you're

only the descendant of David. How many dads are

going to sit there saying, oh yeah, my kids are

going to be allowed to come and Lord everything

over me. As much as the kids think that they

know better than you, yeah, no. Let them grow

up and then they figure out how little they do

know, right? You cannot be the Lord over David

or the Messiah greater than David. if you're

not also the Son of God. See, the substitutes,

substitutes don't work. You can't just take these

ideas and try to substitute in what makes more

sense to you just because you're comfortable

with it. As difficult as all of this Trinity

stuff may be to understand, we can't just substitute

something that's easier because we like it better.

Let me pause and I'll give you an example. I

told you a few of you about this before. About

20 years ago, I was trying to make brownies.

I'm going to put the emphasis on trying. I thought

I could totally do this without one of those

boxes, right? The Duncan Hines, the Betty Crocker.

I'm sure I can totally do this. Yes, some of

us are not as good at baking, and we should probably

just stay in our lane. But I was trying to make

the brownies. with what I thought made the most

sense with ingredients, but I realized I was

missing something. I was missing eggs. And in

my mind, hey, I was an engineering major. There's

got to be some way you could substitute for eggs,

right? There's got to be another way to do it.

And I thought I remembered somewhere in the back

of my mind that you could substitute mayonnaise

for eggs. Could swear I had heard it and I didn't

have mayonnaise. I had miracle whip. Isn't that

close enough? This is the response I was expecting.

Thank you. I appreciate that. I'm gonna tell

you Do not do not substitute miracle whip for

eggs So for the the the young guys in the back

whenever you don't have eggs just just go buy

eggs, okay? Because the brownies they came out

strange they came out Offensive, even. They looked

like brownies. They smelled like brownies. But

one bite told you something wasn't right. And

the staff at that church never ate anything I

baked ever again. See, that's what happens though

when we try to substitute one person of God for

another, or what's worse is when we replace him

with something of our own choosing. When we leave

out the Father's holiness, what His expectations

are for how to be good and right, when we leave

out the Son's grace and mercy, forgiveness, when

we leave out the Spirit transforming us to be

what God has called us to be, if we leave out

any part, then we end up with a version of faith

that doesn't bring us life, that doesn't feed

the soul. We end up with something that confuses,

offends, or even repels. And the world notices

when we promote a version of God that's too much

like what people would want to expect or promote.

Because it doesn't taste right when we offer

judgment without mercy. It doesn't seem right

when we offer spirituality without truth. It's

not right when we offer accountability, but without

love. The Gospel only nourishes and brings life

when it includes the whole of God. And that's

why when the people ask Peter what to do, he

says, repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus

Christ and you will receive the Holy Spirit.

Because baptism Baptism brings us into the life

of the Trinity of God. We are baptized in the

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

And from that point forward, we're called to

live not by what makes sense to the world, not

by might or by power or by control, but by love,

fellowship, prayer, mercy. by the spirit that

we see in Acts 2 being lived out. Some of you

here, you were baptized as children, okay? And

this is oftentimes treated by different people

as different from when people are baptized as

adults. Because oftentimes they'll say, well,

when you're an adult, did you repent? Did you

say, You know you're a sinner. You're sorry.

You want God's forgiveness. You need His grace.

You want to change. Good! Infant baptisms should

be the same. You're meant to be raised to be

doing and saying the same. Every day is meant

to be another time where we repent, remembering

we were baptized into Christ Jesus. As Peter

would say very clearly in his first epistle,

baptism is not just the removal of dirt from

the body. It's a pledge of a clear conscience

toward God through the resurrection of Jesus

Christ. You are called to repent, to clear your

conscience, and to follow the Spirit of God because

He fills you. Being baptized means die to the

old idea. of what you thought God was meant to

be and be raised into who He truly is in Christ

Jesus. Every day should be another time to repent

of where you've been and to desire to pursue

Christ with your life. Because without this,

if we're just baptizing and then saying, oh,

that's it, we're done, then we have the wrong

God. In Acts 2 -42, we see the fruit of the Spirit's

work. The believers are devoted. to the Apostles'

teaching, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread,

to prayer. Is that where we are as Christ Memorial?

Are we dedicated to the teaching, to fellowship,

the breaking of bread, and to prayer? Because

that's what a Spirit -led community looks like.

Not domination, not fear, but a life shared and

rooted in the whole truth of who God is. Because

if we look at our lives, and what we stand for,

and we don't see all three persons of the Trinity,

all three persons of God at every point in our

life, then we're worshipping the wrong God. If

we see God as only the judge but not the grace

and mercy, then we're wrong. If we ignore our

need to repent and then think that we can somehow

follow God by acting like we're already in the

right, then we're wrong. If we see faith as just

making a bunch of statements that we say yes

to, but we ignore the need for us to follow God's

Word, to follow His Spirit by faith each and

every day, then we're wrong. Because without

the true fullness of all that is God, then we'll

always be proclaiming the wrong God to ourselves

and to the world. So, how do we proclaim the

true God that brings true life, true refreshment

to a thirsty world? Remember that water analogy

we were talking about earlier? Imagine, you know,

it's been a hot day. You're out there in June,

July, or August, and someone's got this glass

of of ice water for you. You know, you can see

the ice clinking in the jar. You can feel that

vapor rising up off of it. You can see the liquid

in there that you're going to drink, and you'll

know that you'll be refreshed. Because living

water is moving. It's active. It's something

that does something amazing. Because the Father

is solid. He's unchanging and foundational. The

sun, the living water that we drink. He's the

one who enters into us. He's the one who pours

out life all throughout us. The spirit, the vapor,

the air that we breathe that surrounds us, it

awakens us. It reminds us that we're alive. The

living water that is God. You need all three,

because together they refresh. Together, They

bring life. And that's what the world needs from

us today too. They don't need substitutes. They

don't need our efforts. They don't need the things

that make the most sense to us. They don't need

our shallow imitations. They don't need our simplified

platitudes. They need the real thing. All of

it. The whole truth. The full God. They need

the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Because

without the God that we as Christians know, there

is no life for them to ever receive. So may we

worship Him, walk with Him, and share Him with

the world, all of Him, now and always. Thanks

be to God.