May
the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be now and
always acceptable in thy sight O Lord our strength and our redeemer.
Amen
Today is a day when we celebrate God … who he is in all his fullness …
Celebrating Father, Son and Spirit and the relationship between the three and in celebrating …
We remember
- The work of the Father in Creation,
- the work of the son in our redemption which he has won for us and the
- work of the Holy Spirit in our sustaining us in our lives today .
We
celebrate also the dynamics which exist between them and the love which
is at the very centre of the relationship between the three parts which
overflows into creation.
In our readings today we see this work between the three is a work of love … it is dynamic and it flows out to the world
The
father loves the son and the same love he has for the son is the love
with which he loves the world. And we (as people in the world ) are
called to respond to that love with which he created the world and he
created us.
The Epistle Reading
Romans 5: 1-5
By faith we have been made acceptable to God. And now, because of our Lord Jesus Christ, we live at peace with God. 2 Christ
has also introduced us to God’s undeserved kindness on which we take
our stand. So we are happy, as we look forward to sharing in the glory
of God. 3 But that’s not all! We gladly suffer] because we know that suffering helps us to endure. 4 And endurance builds character, which gives us a hope 5 that will never disappoint us. All of this happens because God has given us the Holy Spirit, who fills our hearts with his love.
Paul
writing to the Romans… we see that it is by faith we have been made
acceptable to God … by faith we have the peace with God … its then we
able to live at peace with God.
Those
2 words … at the beginning … BY FAITH … For so many that step is
difficult … we have questions, we have doubts, they put up all sorts of
arguments but there comes a time when the challenge has to be made.
We
see also that Christ has introduced us to the Father’s undeserved
kindness on which Paul says the church takes its(our) stand – I wonder
do we understand God’s amazing Glory.
But
with all of this, and this is where we sometimes get things wrong …we
sometime think that all will be rosy but we see that Paul is grounded …
this life is one in which there will be suffering and difficulties. But
this is where the Holy Spirit, the Sustainer, the advocate and the
teacher comes in who as he describes will fill our hearts with his love.
In our Gospel reading today we see the dynamics which exist in the relationship once again is unique and upon which the gospel absolutely depends
12 I have much more to say to you, but right now it would be more than you could understand.13 The
Spirit shows what is true and will come and guide you into the full
truth. The Spirit doesn’t speak on his own. He will tell you only what
he has heard from me, and he will let you know what is going to happen. 14 The Spirit will bring glory to me by taking my message and telling it to you.15 Everything that the Father has is mine. That is why I have said that the Spirit takes my message and tells it to you.
Let’s Trace it again
All that the father has is mine - Jesus says
Jesus proclaims that message
the Spirit takes Jesus’ message and tells it to you
Like
we saw in the Romans Reading … we see that the spirit is revealing the
truth to the world … That Truth, as we trace it through John’s Gospel
is the love of the father for creation and the relationship the father
wants his creation to respond to the love that is shown
We see it in John 3:16 the well known verse
God so loved the world that he sent his son
We see that he also loves his son … 3:35
- The Dynamic of the father is always outwards love flowing to the son and to the world
- The Dynamic of the son again is always outward love flowing to the world and to the father
- The Spirit’s love is filling our hearts with the love of the father and the son
No
other philosophy … or religion apart Christianity … proclaims this
truth of the relationship in God at the heart this is love, and grace
together …
During
a British conference on comparative religions, experts from around the
world debated what, if any, belief was unique to the Christian faith.
They began eliminating possibilities.
Incarnation?
Other religions had different versions of gods' appearing in human
form. Resurrection? Again, other religions had accounts of return from
death.
The
debate went on for some time until C. S. Lewis wandered into the room.
"What's the rumpus about?" he asked, and heard in reply that his
colleagues were discussing Christianity's unique contribution among
world religions. Lewis responded, "Oh, that's easy. It's grace."
After some discussion, those in the room had to agree. The notion of God's love coming to us free of charge, no strings attached, seems to go against every instinct of humanity.
After some discussion, those in the room had to agree. The notion of God's love coming to us free of charge, no strings attached, seems to go against every instinct of humanity.
The
Buddhist eight-fold path, the Hindu doctrine of karma, the Jewish
covenant, and the Muslim code of law -- each of these offers a way to
earn approval. Only Christianity dares to make God's love unconditional.
Undeserved
Kindness … Made possible through the relationship of the trinity … we
can’t work our way, talk our way only by faith through grace.
- Thank God for the trinity
- Have a think about the freedom this gives
- The great news of relationship this is possible
When
we grasp this … and it does make sense … it’s a relationship right
before the beginning of the world and will sustain the world beyond the
grave.
This is why the church does what it does
This is why we invest in kingdom things so that the world may know the love of God
So to recap
Trinity is essential … the relationship … equal and eternal
Its unique …none other speaks of grace made possible through the relationship
It’s the heart of message we proclaim to the world
