Our Triune God—We Believe, We Respect, We Praise

May 21, 2008 by admin.

Sometimes people are defined by a single moment in their lives.  By that I mean that there might be one accomplishment or one achievement that stands out in our minds when we think of certain people.  For instance, if I say “Thomas Edison” you probably think of the man who invented the light bulb.  Orville and Wilbur Wright—the first airplane flight.  Bill Gates—Microsoft Computers.

So what comes to mind when I say “God?”  Maybe, like me, you think “Where do I start?  There is so much that we can say about God.  But someone once said that almost everything that we know about the character of God can be found in the first 3 chapters of Genesis.  I think I would have to tend to agree with him.  As you read those three chapters, there is much that you learn about God.  It’s not possible to review all of it today.  Instead we’ll keep our thoughts focused on those areas that are defined by today’s theme–Trinity Sunday and Graduation Sunday.  As we do, we’ll note that there are certain things about God that define who he is and why we put our hoe and trust in him.  So let’s look at a few selected verses from our first reading today to find

“Our Triune God—We Believe, We Respect, We Praise”

I.  We Believe

II.  We Respect

III.  We Praise

Some of the men who have been elected President of our country have been remembered for statements they made in their inaugural address.  “We have nothing to fear except fear itself” is the often quoted statement of FDR.  “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country” came from JFK.  God’s “inaugural address,” if that’s what you want to call Genesis chapter 1 makes a very bold statement about him.  “In the beginning, God created the heaven’s and the earth.”

That is quite a statement to make.  Over the years it has been criticized and critiqued.  It has been denied and debated.  And it has been believed.  When you heard that statement this morning, I don’t think that it caused a great deal of concern or anxiety.  You believe it.  You know what it means and what it claims, and you believe it.

            So what makes you different from those who don’t believe it?  Why can you hear those words and agree with them when so many others who hear them take great offense at what they say?  Is it because you are so much smarter than they are?  No, that’s not it at all.  We believe that what those words say are true because God the Holy Spirit has put that faith in our hearts.  The Holy Spirit has erased our skepticism and doubt, and replaced it with faith and trust.  We regularly express that faith when we confess in the Apostles Creed, “I believe in God the Father almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.”  In other words, we are saying, “I believe Genesis 1:1.”

But we’re saying more than that, and Genesis chapter 1 is saying more than that about God, because 25 verses later we hear God say, “Let us make man in our image.”  In verse 26, we learn something else about God.  He referred to himself in the plural, “Let us make man….” That wasn’t a mistake or a wrong pronoun that Moses used.  It is what God meant to say.  Genesis 1:2 tells us that “the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters” and John 1:1 and 1:14 further explain “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the

Word was God….The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”  “The Word,” the one who became flesh and made his dwelling among us” is a reference to Jesus.  Here again we have a teaching that many do not believe with us.  We believe that God is “triune.” Or Three-in-One.  We believe there is one God, but three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  We can’t explain it, but we don’t have to.  God says it, so it is.  Once again, the Holy Spirit has erased our doubts and filled our hearts with faith to believe it.

Our faith in God, the triune God who created the heavens and the earth, leads us to a special respect and admiration of God.  As we continue to see God unveiled for us in the first chapter of the Bible, we see that when he created us, he created us to be like him, “in his own image,” our text says to us.

II.  We Respect

God, speaking as the triune God, said, “let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” (1:26)  I find it quite amazing that, after creating the earth and everything in it, God turned it all over to us.  He made a wondrous creation filled with plants and animals and resources, and then he gave it to us and told us to take care of it, to use it and enjoy it.

And God did that after making Adam and Eve in his own “image,” like him.  They were created to be like him, to want what he wanted, to be in perfect compliance with the will and mind of God.  He equipped them, fully and completely, to carry out the care for the creation that he had just finished.  Sin, of course, took away the image that God gave Adam and Eve, and left them with many shortcomings and faults.  But God did not abandon them or turn his back on them.  He continued to be with them and to enable them to be the managers of his creation.

We see that today as we celebrate the Graduations of our students today.  Your years of study have now taken you to a new level of knowledge and understanding.  And that doesn’t just mean that you will be able to get into college, get a better job, and be able to enjoy more of what life has to offer.  It means that you are better equipped to be the people that God has intended you to be.  It means that you are better able to know God and what he wants.  It shows that you have the intelligence to function in the world in which you live, and combined with your faith in God, to serve him in a way that will bring him joy and honor.  To think that God in his great wisdom and love made it possible for us to live our lives this way and to enjoy the rewards that come from our earthly efforts gives us a great respect for him.

That respect for a God that we can’t see or prove is often held against us.  Those who do not share our faith cannot understand our feelings for our Lord.  And as you move forward in your lives, into college and beyond, you will sometimes find that respect for God challenged.  God’s ways will not always be respected.  God’s commands for you and you life will not be respected.  And God himself will not be respected.

So it will be important for you to keep the Lord in your life.  Statistics will bear out that many people who turn from the Lord do so at this time in their lives, when they are learning and experiencing so many new things, and when they are being exposed to the false teachings and false teachers who work the world for the devil.  Remember the sage advice God gives in Hebrews 10:25, “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage each other—and all the more as we see the day approaching.”

III.  We Praise

Continued contact with God’s Word and sacraments will insure a life-long respect for God.  As a result we will have a desire to thank and praise him for his many blessings and his divine goodness.  In our text, we see why it is appropriate to give God this praise.  Moses wrote, “By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.  And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.” 

The point should not be lost here about how God reports what took place.  He doesn’t try to explain it, but simply states it as a fact.  And that’s because it is.  That is what happened, and that is why we gather together on a regular basis, not only to grow in faith by using God’s word and sacraments, but to give back to God by praising him.  One of the constants of the Christian church has always been the praise that we give to God when we gather to worship.  For years we have been known as the “singing church,” and rightly so since singing is a common way of expressing joy and praise.

Through the pen of Paul, God has allowed us as New Testament Christians to choose which day we want to gather to do this.  In Colossians 2:16 Paul wrote, “Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.  These are a shadow of the things that are to come…”  In our Christian freedom, we have chosen to gather to worship on Sunday.  We have done that again today.  We have done that so that we can be blessed by God and so that we can be a blessing to God.

Think about what you are doing here.  Think about why you are here, how you are here.  The God of Genesis 1, who made the heavens and the earth, who has revealed himself to us in his Word, who first made us in his own image, has called you to faith and to a future in heaven with him.  Thank him for the many blessings he has given you in the world that he created so many years ago.  God is not defined by a single event in his life, but by the countless graces, mercies, and blessings he has given to us.  We believe, we respect, and we praise our triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

“The peace of God….”

–Rev. Roger Rockhoff

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