June 4, 2023 – Trinity Sunday         Text:  Genesis 1:1-2:4a

Dear Friends in Christ,

Where do you see the beauty of God’s creation?  For us flatlanders sometimes we don’t always see it.  We see it in the mountains.  Last summer for the Lueck’s the Rockies were beautiful, love the mountains.  How about standing on a beach staring at the vast ocean?  The only place that ever felt different when I arrived was Hawaii.  When Toni and I got off the plane on our honeymoon, the place had a feel I had never experienced.  What a wonderful place to view what the Lord crafted for us.

The Old Testament Reading for this Trinity Sunday is how the true God, the Holy Trinity, created everything.  And it tells us a lot more than how this beautiful creation came about.

“IN THE CREATION, WE LEARN THE TRUE ESSENCE OF THE TRIUNE GOD”

We should love God’s creation as it is laid out in Genesis.  But we can’t make creation our god.  We can’t say we are worshipping God on a golf course, in a boat or hiking a mountain.  He comes to us in His Word and Sacrament in this sanctuary.

We are here because we believe the creation account.  Many do not and this leads to a myriad of problems.  If everything got here by a series of random events, what’s the point?  What are we living for?  Somebody has to be behind all of this, and it is not a middleman using evolution.  God has all the power and wisdom.  Just listen to this.

“Let there be light!” – there is!  Day 2 brings the atmosphere around the earth, to prepare for what follows.  Day 3:  dry land and the basics of food everyone needs.  Day 4 we get sun, moon, stars.  Think of this:  Evolution could never set plants before the sun by billions of years, because the plants then couldn’t conduct photosynthesis.  On the other hand, for one day, God did just that – and He provided the light and warmth.  The next day come the birds and fish.  Food. And the following day more food for our bodies as the other animals are created.  Each day “God saw that it was good.  This is the essence of God.  “I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.”

Now verse 26:  “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.’” Today is Trinity Sunday, when we consider the incomprehensible reality of one God in three persons.  You heard the hints of the Trinity in those verses, didn’t you?  God said, “Let us make man in our image.” – plural.  Already at creation we see the Holy Spirit moving on the waters.  The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were all working together in the creation, even talking it over.

We learn the most about the true essence of God when He created man.  “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.  And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’  So, God created man in his own image, in the image of God created him; male and female he created them…And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.” (v. 26-27, 31)

Why did God create man and do all the work of creating?  Did He want to show off his brilliant engineering skill and create a world that didn’t collapse in on itself?  Did He want to show off His artistic genius?  No, He created this beautiful engineering marvel for us, you and I, to live in.

Why create us?  God is all about loving.  From all eternity, before anyone or anything existed, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were in a relationship.  The Father loves the Son.  The Son receives the Father’s love.  The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son to deliver and share that love.  That tells why “he created them male and female.”  He loves us and He wants His creation to continue in that love.  God is our Father and our Brother.  That is the best part of the true essence of God.

We top it off with this.  God created us even though He knew it would cost his own life.  This all-wise God was not caught by surprise when we sinned.  He knew all along we’d sin; He knew from eternity.  He knew that when we sinned, we would have to be cut off from Him forever in hell unless He took our sin upon himself.  And He knew that taking our sin upon himself meant Jesus, the Son, would have to die for it on the cross.  The Father knew if He created us he’d have to give up His Son to death and hell.  And He did it anyway.

None of us would do that.  If I have a child, another child of mine will have to die?  Our hearts don’t think that way.  Here is the essence of the triune God:  He did!  The Father says, “I’ll give up my Son.”  The Son says, “Most willingly, I’ll do it.”  And the Holy Spirit is telling the world so that we receive the eternal life it brings.

Never miss what God has done even in flatland central Illinois.  We help to feed the world.  We are blessed beyond compare when you look at what the Lord has provided us.  The Triune God has been so good.  The whole universe is His.  Look what He did to provide you an eternal future.  That’s the true essence of the triune, the one true God.

Amen.        

May 28, 2023 – Pentecost Text:  John 16:5-11

Dear Friends in Christ,

We all know what it is like to speak with a counselor.  Oh, maybe you’ve never gone to see your Pastor or a counselor in an office, but you have been counseled by a parent, a teacher, a coach, a trusted friend.  I have the privilege to do a lot of counseling.  One of the keys is to be a good listener but then to speak words of guidance and wisdom.  Now, sometimes the counselee doesn’t want to hear what they need to do.  That shouldn’t stop the counselor.  The truth needs to be spoken.

This is what the Holy Spirit does.  He speaks the truth that needs to be spoken – both to the believer and to the unbeliever.  This is what Jesus is describing in our text, how the Holy Spirit will speak.

“COUNSELING WITH CONVICTION”

The text says, “When he (the Holy Spirit) comes he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgement.” (v. 8). He will counsel the world with conviction.  If a person is “convicted” of wrongdoing, do they believe they have done wrong or not?  That depends on the sense of the word.  To be “convicted” of something may mean exactly that they do believe, and powerfully.  Many people, we say, have “strong convictions.”  But many criminals are also “convicted,” found guilty of crimes they never admit, crimes they refuse to take responsibility for.  Their “conviction” is not their own solid belief, but rather the solid belief of the jury.  The Holy Spirit will convict the world.  He may give us strong convictions, but He certainly declares us guilty of sin.

Jesus had to go away for the Counselor, the Holy Spirit to come.  We just celebrated that a week ago Thursday on Ascension Day.  Jesus ascended to the right hand of the Father where he rules.  Counselor can also be translated here as “Helper.”  In the time of Jesus, it was a legal term that referred to any person who helped someone in trouble with the law.  The Holy Spirit will always stand by Christ’s people. 

The Counselor convicts us in regard to  sin and judgment.  That is the Law.  He wants us to see that we can be pretty awful people at times.  You know the feeling down in the pit of your stomach when you have messed up.  We are the prisoner that stands there hearing the guilty verdict.  Are we off to prison?  Will we be locked up forever?

No.  Because our Counselor stands with us.  He convicts us in regard to righteousness.  What is righteousness?  It is what we enjoy because of Christ’s sacrificial death.  We are saved from prison.  We are not locked up forever.  We have freedom because of the cross.  We have free will because of the empty tomb.  We have a forever home in heaven where Christ has ascended to.  The prince of the world now stands condemned – we are free! 

No one but the Holy Spirit can reveal to a person that a righteous status before God does not depend on good works but on Christ’s death on the cross.  Our Counselor speaks words of guidance, and truth, and wisdom.  He is a helper and a comforter. 

Counselors use words.  The Counselor uses the Word.  On Pentecost Sunday, the Church is empowered to use the Word.  We are to go into all the world.  Through water and the Word we all have been made “counselors” for the Lord Jesus.  Every time that we speak faithfully God’s Word we are counseling.  Every time we share God’s Word with a hurting person we are counseling.  Even if are words are done in a halting manner, the Holy Spirit can still use for His purpose.  We can counsel with comfort and with conviction.  People need to hear the truth not only of their sin but of the saving work of Christ in their lives.  

This Helper, this Holy Spirit, this Counselor is such a blessing to us.  He is counseling through us.  The Counselor comes to you. 

Amen.