Genesis 1:1-2:4a; Acts 2:22-36; Matthew 28:16-20

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

I’ve never claimed to understand it. And if we’re being honest, no Christian ever has. When we talk about God, the things we say are incomplete, or unfinished because we don’t know everything about God. It’s like trying to put a square peg into a round hole. It doesn’t work. For God isn’t limited by our understanding. Or rather, as some have said, if we could fully understand God, then he’s too small of a god to be God.

Don’t take this as saying we know nothing about God, though. We can speak almost endlessly about what God isn’t or how God is greater than anything we can imagine. For instance, we know that we’re not deists. We don’t believe in just “some” god who made everything and then walked away. God is more personal than that. For what we know is solely because God has revealed himself to us.

This week, we celebrate Holy Trinity Sunday as we contemplate again the doctrine of God. For we hear of God’s work of creation in Genesis. We hear of Christ’s redemption in Acts. But we also hear the Great Commission in Matthew. For all of these are important for us to comprehend the uniqueness of God as Trinity. As Jesus tells us, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” Matthew 28:19. What does Trinity mean? It is this. It’s one name with which we are baptized, yet three persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). The holy Three-in-One. Just as God works for us in baptism, so has he acted throughout history.

For it’s not enough to say that we believe in God. We must know which God we worship. Worship of another “god” is no different than failing to worship the true God through unbelief. Nor should we be ignorant of God’s revelations of himself. To ignore the way in which God chooses to be known is to ignore God himself. 

What we learn this week is that one of the best ways to talk about God is by talking about what he does for us. We talk about God through his actions among us which is how we come to know him. Our Father continues among us creating new life. Jesus, the eternal Son, is Lord of our salvation. The Holy Spirit breaths faith into God’s people through His Word being preached and read among us. For we go back to the words of Jesus, as he says, “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age,” Matthew 28:20. We know who God is and what he does because God dwells with us. By the death of Jesus, by his glorious resurrection, by the sending of the Holy Spirit, God has come to dwell among us so we may know him as our Lord and Savior! 

Pastor Sorenson

Prayer:

Almighty and everlasting God, You have given us grace to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity by the confession of a true faith and to worship the Unity in the power of the Divine Majesty. Keep us steadfast in this faith and defend us from all adversities; for You, O Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, live and reign, one God, now and forever. Amen!