Trinity Sunday sermon by Rev. Graham Crawford – 31 May 2015 –
This morning I want to start by reminding you of our call to worship this morning:
Honour the Lord, you heavenly beings; honour the Lord for his glory and strength. 2 Honour the Lord for the glory of his name. Worship the Lord in the splendour of his holiness.
This summoning to worship invites us into the heavenly court and encourages us to glorify God in His holiness, acknowledging Him as LORD.
It is a reminder to us that what we do here is not about us. It is not about what makes us feel good or what we can take away to support us through the week. Worship is about God and God alone.
I believe that one of the biggest problems for the church is that over the centuries we have become lazy. It is quite obvious from reading Chapter 2 in Acts that the early church met much more regularly:
- They met for worship in the Temple where the focus was on God
- They met in their homes for teaching, to build each other up as disciples
- They met for the Lord’s Supper, to support each other in fellowship.
Thus, they kept things separate and did not confuse them by trying to do everything together.
Compare that with last Sunday where: we worshipped; I tried to teach; and we tried to have fellowship around the Lord’s Table.
As in so many cases, when you try to combine things to do them all together, while we might succeed to a degree, nothing is really done to excellence. I wonder if that is one reason why, of all things, Sunday worship can be the most contentious and divisive, leaving many people dissatisfied. You have some people wanting to focus on the glory of God, others trying to focus on what they can get out of it for the coming week, maybe because they have had a particularly tough week or they know the one to follow will be tough, while you have a third group who are basically pretty lonely, for whom the conversations with their brothers and sisters in Christ, before and after the worship, are the highlight.
Isaiah’s illumination of the glory of God
Today, I want to clear the deck. Today, I want to focus on the fact that it is not about us, our need for fellowship, our need for teaching. Today I want us to focus on worship, our desire to give God the glory and there are few passages in scripture that illuminate the glory of God as much as the call of Isaiah. The reading will be up on the screen as usual. But I would really like you not to read it this morning. Instead, I would like you to sit back, close your eyes and really try to imagine the scene in your mind’s eye. Let the picture Isaiah paints of the glory of God form across your mind like never before as you listen and hear the Word of God to you today (Isaiah 6: 1-8):
6 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: with two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another:
‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.’
4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
5 ‘Woe to me!’ I cried. ‘I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.’
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, ‘See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.’
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’
And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’
Well, could you see it? Could you picture it in your mind? Was it so vivid you could almost smell the smoke and taste the incense? Were you filled with the same dread as Isaiah, as you realised that you were a person of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips? Isaiah saw the Lord, but he does not tell us what the Lord looked like. Isaiah just lets us know what it was like to be in the holy presence of the Lord. The Lord’s worshipful majesty is expressed through the adoration of the seraphs, these fiery heavenly beings. They are absorbed in the holiness and glory of God, as they call to each other in worship, magnifying the Lord.
The Lord’s presence, glory, holiness, and authority filled the whole temple – indeed, the whole earth – and filled Isaiah with awe and trembling fear. He became aware of his unclean state. Isn’t it interesting that, while he was among his people, Isaiah perhaps noticed that the people have unclean lips? Now, in the presence of the holy God, he realises that he has unclean lips too.
Paul reveals the glory of God
This glory is further revealed to us by Paul in his letter to the Romans. He wrote (Romans 8: 12-17):
12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation – but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
Paul is revealing the glory of God here by contrasting our old state, as slaves to sin, with our new state, as adopted sons and daughters of God, with all the rights, privileges and inheritance that goes with it.
From slaves to adopted sons and daughters of God
Slaves, in Paul’s day, were not people. They may have been human but they were not people. They were goods. They were possessions. They had nothing: no belongings, no rights and no opinions. They were simply goods to be traded on the open market to the benefit of the owners. Now, however, according to Paul, we have been adopted. We have become sons and daughters of God sharing his glory. The glory that we beheld through the vision of Isaiah is our inheritance. We can be a part of it. We have been made clean, not through burning coals touching our lips but by the suffering of Jesus Christ so that we are now led by the Spirit of God to be part of the glory of God. This adoption, that is no less than regeneration, was not understood by Nicodemus as we can hear from our Gospel reading (John 3: 1-17):
3 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.’
3 Jesus replied, ‘Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.’
4 ‘How can someone be born when they are old?’ Nicodemus asked. ‘Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!’
5 Jesus answered, ‘Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, “You must be born again.” 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.’
9 ‘How can this be?’ Nicodemus asked.
10 ‘You are Israel’s teacher,’ said Jesus, ‘and do you not understand these things? 11 Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven – the Son of Man. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.’
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
The best known Bible verse is set in the context of a late night visit of Nicodemus the Pharisee to Jesus.
John does not tell us what the real purpose of Nicodemus’ visit was – was it to test Jesus, or to trap Him, or was there a genuine interest to get to know the rabbi from God? The late night timing of the visit seems to imply the latter scenario.
Nicodemus’ flattery did not get him far with Jesus. Jesus refused to engage with him on the basis of them. Jesus expects one to come to Him with a contrite spirit, and a broken heart, one that is fully aware of their sinful state. He does not need our patronising compliment; one will not see the Kingdom of God by that. Only by a repentant life can one come to Him and be renewed and made fit for the Kingdom.
Nicodemus should have known this, for God’s intention to save and renew His people is revealed in Scriptures but, like so many, he refused to acknowledge it. And so Jesus offers an image from the time of the exodus of God’s people, when God saved the people from a plague of venomous snakes, commanding Moses to lift up a bronze snake before the people, so whoever looks at it in trust will live. In a similar fashion the Son of Man will be lifted up, and all that look toward Him and believe will experience eternal life.
Although the ‘Trinity’ as a theological term is not mentioned here, the working love of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit is evident in the passage. One needs to look at the passage in its fullness and draw this out. The love of the Father; the saving work of the Son and the regenerating work of the Spirit are all included. No-one can experience the Kingdom of God without knowing and embracing the love of God in the saving sacrifice of the Son and the regenerating work of the Spirit. God’s aim is that whoever believes in His Son will be part of His eternal Kingdom.
Jesus offers a total makeover, not just patching up our old and failed sinful lives. He wants to give us a new life! With Jesus the possibility of being reborn came close to people. What a promise and hope! No more failed resolutions, no more attempts to make it better, but a brand new life by God’s grace through the Spirit!
No-one is unfit for this new life. Neither your age nor your background are obstacles. The Spirit will give new birth from above, from God. New birth by the Spirit is a reality, as the wind is a reality. We can’t see the wind, often we can’t predict it, but we certainly can feel it that it blows, it has power, it transforms landscapes. So does the Spirit of God! He comes with power to transform, and renew. Here is the glory of God, revealed yet again, not through a picture of startling revelation but through his saving grace, his love, his power. Here is the glory of God revealed in action. Do you see this glory? Can you feel this glory? This is why we worship, this is why we give to God the blessing, the honour, the glory. This is why nothing less than our total devotion is due to him. This why ‘second best’ is simply not good enough.
I am going to invite Kath and the Praise Group to lead us now in a time of praise. And I do not want to see anyone just standing with their mouths closed. You may not be Pavarotti or Katherine Jenkins, but let me tell you this: by the time the Holy Spirit carries your song to heaven and it is perfected by the Son, your praise is the sweetest hymn our God and Father will hear this day and even the mountains and the hills will break into song to join you. Let us worship God!
On Trinity Sunday, we can gaze into the beauty of the Lord, perceive His majesty, holiness and glory and, being forgiven and atoned for through Christ the Lord who cleanses us and makes us ready to serve Him, ask: “Are we ready to go for the Lord wherever we are sent?”
