God, through the mystery of Trinity, is at work in the act of creation. Every person of the Trinity participated in creation.
Many preachers avoid this text for Trinity Sunday because of how long it is. It is a big reading, and we have other things to do like confess the really lengthy Creed (Athanasian). Some preachers avoid Trinity Sunday all together because how do you preach on something so incomprehensible? Did you know Thomas Jefferson thought so:
“When we shall have done away with the incomprehensible jargon of the Trinitarian arithmetic, that three are one, and one is three; when we shall have knocked down the artificial scaffolding, and brought to view the very simple structure of Jesus; when, in short, we shall have unlearned everything which has been taught since His day, and got back to the pure and simple doctrines He inculcated, we shall then be truly and worthily His disciples.”[1]
Jefferson rejected the Trinity because he could not accept the fact that Jesus Christ is both true God begotten of the Father from all eternity and true man born of the Virgin Mary. Jefferson did not like things that did not make sense. Jefferson only wanted a Christ who is a moralistic teacher but not a Savior. Others will go as far as to claim that the teaching of the Trinity is a fabrication invented by those who corrupted the message of Jesus.
Today is Trinity Sunday, the only Church festival specifically dedicated to this paradoxical Biblical teaching. Trinity Sunday reminds us of the necessity of speaking the truth about God even if it is confusing or paradoxical. For the preacher, it is important to not treat the teaching of the Trinity as a problem to be solved or a mystery to be unraveled. Instead, we speak the truth of God’s revelation of Himself to be proclaimed and confessed in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit through the Word.
So, do not dodge this Paradox or dismiss it. Instead, we are going to embrace it because the Trinity is not a useless abstraction. God is the triune God. He is one God in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Draw your hearers into noticing how whenever we say a creed at church, we spend more time talking about Jesus. Because when it comes to understanding God and the paradox of who He is, the only way we get a glimpse is in the person of Jesus. Therefore, if you want to know the Trinity, you need to know Jesus. By consequence, if you mess up Jesus, you mess up the Trinity and even God Almighty. Jesus of Nazareth is the key to knowing God in Trinity. Jesus was not a free-floating holy man. If He is not the second person of the Trinity, then God Himself was not directly involved on the Cross. Which would mean that, Jesus would be detached from the eternal plan of God through all history, and the cross would be a random event of no more than passing interest. Many people are attracted to modern efforts to make Jesus more of an average joe. They do this without realizing the price we pay for cutting Jesus loose from the time-tested truth of the Trinity. We are always trying to domesticate the transcendence of God. It makes Him squishier, more user friendly, and less of a God we need to deal with. But Jesus was both fully divine and fully human. And if the full human Jesus is not God incarnate, then salvation is not from God after all.
Jesus was both fully divine and fully human. And if the full human Jesus is not God incarnate, then salvation is not from God after all.
From our Reading today, we see God at work. Father-Creator, Son in the Word, and the Spirit over the waters. It is a great part of the Bible. It is our first introduction to the Biblical teaching of the Trinity. God, through the mystery of Trinity, is at work in the act of creation. Every person of the Trinity participated in creation.
The Creation account in Genesis teaches us what we believe.
“We believe that God has created us and all that exists. God has given us and still preserves our body and soul. God daily and abundantly provides all the necessities and nourishment for this body and life. God protects us, preserves us. And all this is done out of pure, fatherly, and divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness of mine at all! For all of this we owe it to God to thank and praise, serve and obey Him.”[2]
On Trinity Sunday, we confess the truth that in creation we see the work of God. We confess the truth about all He did, and we know it is good. In fact, calling it good is the refrain God affixes to His work. Seven times (1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31) He declared it good. Or to put it another way, He declared it a good work which He alone did.
Maybe you are at one of those churches that confesses the Athanasian Creed this Sunday. I guess you could say the work of the church on Trinity Sunday is to confess the truth about God and His work. Unfortunately, many churches have fallen out of the habit of confessing the Athanasian Creed. At this point in the sermon, it would be fun to hold up three print outs of the three Creeds. Note the size and difference between all three. A real Goldie Locks kind of moment. Note that each expands on the second article but none of them compare to the Athanasian Creed. When you reveal this one, just let it roll out and hit the floor. I suspect the reason most churches ceased saying the Athanasian Creed is because it is seen as cumbersome, to say the least. It is exhausting and riddled with such enigmatic turns of phrase. Perhaps the other reason is there are some parts to the Athanasian Creed that are hard to explain. Here, you should highlight verse 39 of the Athanasian Creed (yes, it is so long it has verses), where it says this:
“Those who have done good will enter eternal life, but those who have done evil will go into eternal fire.”
“This is a hard saying, who can accept it” (John 6:60)? We are not a church that believes in works righteousness! Now, homiletically analyze the discrepancy here. We are not saved by our good works. This is most certainly true. However, we are saved by good works. It is just not our good works. It is the good works of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, which saves us eternally. Those who confess this are the ones who are saved. This is the sense in which the Creed is speaking.
Now, draw your hearers deeper into the text with a curious detail in our reading. It is so subtle that it is often overlooked. This detail is actually the key to understanding a very important connection between the work of God in creation and the work of Jesus on the cross. These two events are not separate at all. Instead, they are critically linked.
I really have to give credit to Arthur Just’s Concordia Commentary on Luke for this next connection between Creation and the Cross.[3] He notes that in the creation account in Genesis, each of the first six days closed with the phrase: “There was evening and there was morning” (1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31). The sequence of evening and morning, darkness and light signaled the completion of each day. But on the seventh day, did you notice, there is no concluding notice of evening and morning. There is no darkness and light (2:1–3). That lack of closure leaves the first creation open-ended, so to speak. God had finished His work of creation, but God did not forever cease all activity. The rest of Genesis, and indeed the entire Bible, witnesses to God’s continuing involvement in earthly history and human affairs. Remember that seventh/Sabbath Day controversy with Jesus’ about His “work” of healing on a Sabbath? Jesus Himself says God keeps working, even on the Sabbath: “My Father until now is working, and I am working” (John 5:17). The work the Father and the Son continue to do, even on the Sabbath, is the work of re-creation, restoration, and redemption.
Now, go from the creation, left open ended in Genesis, to the crucifixion account in the gospel of Luke. That is where this clue reveals a connection between creation and the cross. On the day Jesus was crucified, something happened which threatened the very existence of creation. Luke says the sun “failed” (23:45). Darkness at the cross was the sign that evil was threatening to destroy God’s created order and attempt to revert everything back to chaos.
In the creation account of Genesis, “Darkness was over the face of the deep” (1:2). God then created light, which was “good,” and separated the light from the darkness (1:3–5). As Jesus, the source of life and light, dies, the sun, the source of light fails to carry out its God created job of distinguishing between night and day, darkness and light, and to rule over the day (1:14–18). Instead, day and night are confused, confounded, and darkness usurps the rule of the sun as evil tries to reign over good temporarily. Darkness was signaling creation’s bondage to sin and the curse of death, which Jesus had been absorbing into Himself on the Cross for you. Darkness is attempting to completely lay its hold on Him to do its destructive work. All demon possession, all sickness, all sin, all death is now placed on Jesus.
Yet, the Creator, who took on flesh and was born into His creation, at this moment of death, was bringing in a new creation and a new eternal life no longer defined by the old, created order in sin but a new creation in the forgiveness of sins and life of Christ. Jesus brings a new and eternal day. On Easter a dawn from on high is breaking forth to shine forever on those who dwell in “darkness and the shadow of death” (Luke 1:78–79).
+ Jesus brings a new and eternal day. On Easter a dawn from on high is breaking forth to shine forever on those who dwell in “darkness and the shadow of death.”
Here, during Jesus’ crucifixion, the darkness signals the conclusion of the old creation and begins God’s work of redemption. The darkness at Jesus’ crucifixion provides the closure to the seventh day of creation in Genesis 2:1–3. The first creation draws to a close. With Jesus’ death, the old order succumbs to the curse of death brought on by Adam’s sin. At the same time, Jesus’ work of atonement is completed, which is why He cried out, “It is finished,” before He was about to enter into His own Sabbath rest (Luke 23:54, 56). God’s provision for His new creation is completed. The new order is ready to shine forth, and it will do so with the first morning light of Easter. Together, darkness and light, evening and morning, the darkness while Jesus is on the cross and the brilliant light of Easter, begin the new creation, the eternal seventh day Sabbath rest (σαββατισμός) for the people of God (Hebrews 4:9-10). The new creation has that beginning with Jesus’ death and resurrection, but it will have no end. Scripture declares there will be no darkness in Heaven, only light (Revelation 21:23–25). That is the connection between the creation and the Cross. It is a work by God for you that is so good and one that, by believing it, will change your life forever.
It is clear that the work of God in creation is connected to the work of Jesus in redemption. This is, in essence, what the Creed is stating. Do you believe in God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit)?
Trinity defines who Jesus is in terms of what we say about God (Christocentric). Creeds are about not messing up Father (Creator), Holy Spirit (Preserver), and how we know God rightly, especially through Jesus (Redeemer). The creeds are about God and how we know Him correctly. So, what is our definition of God? Kind of a good question on Trinity Sunday. I would suggest this definition: “My God is the God who Jesus calls God!”
Your hearers may have noticed that you have not solved the problem of what the Creed means by works. Here, John 6:29 helps us to simplify all of this down into something that we can repeat even publicly. Jesus says: “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.” That is all of it entirely. That is the work, that you believe in Jesus and what He did to save you. Faith is what the Creed is calling for. Faith in the God who saves.
But how can we believe in something we cannot understand, like the Trinity? Well, it certainly is not:
“...by my own understanding or strength that I believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to Him, but instead the Holy Spirit has called me through the gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, made me holy and kept me in the true faith, just as He calls, gathers, enlightens, and makes holy the whole Christian Church on earth and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one common, true faith.”[4]
It is like Jesus said in John 14:26:
“But when the Helper (Holy Spirit) comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness about Me.”
The good work, which is a gift from God, is that you believe in Jesus! We are declared “good” by God on account of Christ alone. This declarative righteousness will be a necessary refrain throughout your whole life. You will need to hear again and again how you are good with God on account of the work of Christ. What He did on the cross and through the resurrection was the good work of God by which He has redeemed and restored all of creation, including you, back into right relationship with God. That work is credited to you freely and at the judgement you are declared “just” or even “good.” So, you are good with God who is Trinity in Unity and Unity in Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one God now and forever. Jesus confirms this “to the end of the age” from our appointed Gospel lesson from Matthew 28:16-20. The message of the Triune God is put on us by His name in the waters of Baptism and into our ears through the proclamation of the forgiveness of sin and received in the Supper every time we are at church confessing His name.
You might have noticed I was making use of the Lowry Loop sermon structure for this article. You can review it here at concordiatheology.org.[5]
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Additional Resources:
Craft of Preaching-Check out 1517’s resources on Genesis 1:1-2:4a.
Concordia Theology-Various helps from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, MO to assist you in preaching Genesis 1:1-2:4a.
Lectionary Kick-Start-Check out this fantastic podcast from Craft of Preaching authors Peter Nafzger and David Schmitt as they dig into the texts for this Sunday!
The Pastor’s Workshop-Check out all the great preaching resources from our friends at the Pastor’s Workshop
[1] Thomas Jefferson cited by in: Allister McGrath. Understanding the Trinity. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1988. 110.
[2] Martin Luther. Luther’s Small Catechism with Explanation. St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2017. 16.
[3] Arthur A. Just Jr. Luke 9:51–24:53; Concordia Commentary Series. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1997. 940.
[4] Luther. Small Catechism. 17-18.
[5] https://concordiatheology.org/sermon-structs/dynamic/narrative-structures/lowry-loop/
