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.