1.
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. The message for this day
in which we celebrate our Holy God— Father, Son and Holy Spirit comes from the
Gospel of John that was read a moment ago:
John 3:1-17. It’s entitled, “God’s Economic Plan of Salvation.” Dear brothers and sisters in Christ. A 20th Century Christian leader
once said, “Every day is a good day to be
born, every day is a good day to die.” What
does this Christian leader mean? This
Christian leader is saying that on the day of our baptisms we were born again
to become children of God. Through
baptism we were cleansed of our sins, given the gift of faith through the power
of the Holy Spirit, and promised eternal life.
On this day, Trinity Sunday we
remember who our God is. He is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This is the name of God that we were baptized
in.
2.
Yet, this is confusing for us as Christians at times. How can God be one, when we confess that He’s
three persons—Father, Son and Holy Spirit?
He’s three in one and one and three.
To many other religions we Christians look like polytheists. A polytheist is someone who worships more
than one God. But, as we confessed our
belief in God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, using the words of the Athanasian Creed we believe that God is
three distinct persons in one divine substance.
This is a mystery to us as Christians, but God never intended for us as
His creatures to fully understand everything about Him. He’s the Creator, we’re the created. It’s not for us to know all the things about
God, but for us to believe in Him through the power of the Holy Spirit.
3.
God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are deeply involved in our lives as
Christians. God the Heavenly Father is
our Creator. We confess and believe that He’s given to us
our bodies and souls. The gift of
life. But, we know as Christians,
because of the disobedience of our first parents—Adam and Eve, that we were
born into original sin. It’s because of
this that we need Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity. He’s the one who has Redeemed us of our sins by taking on the punishment of sin that we
deserved. That’s what Redeemed means. Jesus has “bought
us back” from sin. That’s why the
words of the 20th century Christian leader ring true: “Every
day is a good day to be born, every day is a good day to die.” Every day is a good day to be born and
die, because of the gift of eternal life that we have in Jesus Christ our
Savior. Last Sunday we celebrated the
festival of Pentecost. It’s Christmas,
Easter and Pentecost that give our lives meaning. This meaning comes through the power of the
Holy Spirit who sanctified and “set
us apart” from the rest of the world. He
does this through the Word of God and through the Sacraments of Holy Baptism
and the Lord’s Supper.
4.
John 3:1-17 is one of the best Scripture verses to teach us about God’s Economic plan of salvation. Maybe you’ve been wondering why I call it
economic. Well, here’s why. The word economic
comes from the Greek word oikonwmia, which
literally means, “to administer or
oversee.” God the Father, Son and
Holy Spirit watch over us and oversee everything that goes on in our lives in
order to make sure that our plan of salvation is secure. Father,
Son and Holy Spirit protect us from the ways and attacks of the devil, the
world and our sinful nature. Each
person of the Trinity has a specific task to do in order to assure us of the
gift of eternal life.
5.
John 3:1-17 begins with a Jewish leader named Nicodemus who comes to
Jesus at night in order to check up on Him as the new rabbi in town. Nicodemus is an impressive Jewish leader. He’s a Pharisee, which means in his day he
was a person of rigorous piety. They
were very much a “salvation by works” party
of Jews who put a lot of man-made laws in place of God’s Holy Word. Nicodemus also may have occupied a seat on
the Jewish Council of Elders known as the Sanhedrin. Despite his credentials Nicodemus arrives at night to conduct his investigation of
Jesus as a rabbi.
6.
Why is Nicodemus interested in secrecy?
We don’t know specifically why.
But his words to Jesus do suggest a reason for why he came at
night. In John 3:2 he says, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no
one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with
him." The use of the word “We”
suggests that he was speaking on behalf of the Pharisees as their representative. Nicodemus waits carefully to see how Jesus
will respond.
7.
Jesus’ response is a very familiar Scripture verse taken from John 3:3
which says, “Very truly, I tell you, no
one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” What does this being “born from above” mean? This really puzzles Nicodemus and sounds to
him like a MASHAL, which is a Hebrew word meaning, “a puzzling Jewish riddle.”
How can anyone be born after growing old? Reentering our mother’s womb is a physical
impossibility. But Jesus responds to
Nicodemus’ questions by saying in John 3:5-12, "I tell you
the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and
the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.
You should not be surprised at my
saying, 'You must be born again.' 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." "How can this be?" Nicodemus
asked. "You are Israel's teacher," said Jesus, "and do you not
understand these things? I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we
testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony.
I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will
you believe if I speak of heavenly things?
8.
In these verses it’s interesting to note that Jesus responds by speaking
about the work of the Holy Spirit. The
Holy Spirit works like the wind, which blows wherever it pleases. So it is with faith. The Holy Spirit gives faith to whomever He
pleases when a person hears the Word of God and believes it. And when a person receives the gift of Holy
Baptism. Jesus is baffled that
Nicodemus, a teacher of the Law of Moses, doesn’t understand God’s economic
plan of salvation. The key word in this
verse in Greek is anwqen, which means
“from above or again.” Jesus isn’t
talking about a physical birth, but a spiritual or heavenly birth from
“ABOVE.” As the word anwqen means.
9.
The words, “Born again” to us mean that we have no choice in the matter of
our salvation. Babies don’t decide to be
born, because God is the one who gives them life. Here Jesus is saying that God is the primary
player when it comes to our salvation.
It’s here that Jesus is focusing on the spiritual birth of the
Christian. He shows how we can detect
the presence of the Spirit in someone’s life.
One of the best ways we can see this is in the life of Nicodemus
himself. The next time we see him is in
John 7 when the chief priests and Pharisees are trying to get Jesus
arrested. As the temple authorities
rebuke the police, first for not nabbing Jesus and second for not knowing the
law, Nicodemus speaks up and defends Jesus with his knowledge of the law. The final time that he shows up in John’s
Gospel is in John 19 when he goes with Joseph
of Arimathea to embalm the body of Jesus after He has died. The story of Nicodemus shows that something
has happened in the life of this Pharisee.
He’s heard the comments that Jesus made about the Spirit from John 3 and
come to believe in Him as his Savior.
He’s been “born again”—anwqen. He’s gone from being a skeptic of this Rabbi
Jesus’ teachings to a believer.
10.
In John 3 all three persons of the Trinity are at work here. The Holy Spirit is the one who makes us
Children of God. He’s the one who makes
us “born again” from heaven. The Father
was at work begetting and sending Jesus His Son. And the Son testified to the Father and the
Spirit with the words that He spoke to Nicodemus that night. In these verses of Scripture the actions of
God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are focused on His desire to be near us,
engage us and shape us to be His Heavenly Children.
11.
John
3:16 is a familiar verse to all of us as Christians— I’d like you to recite it
our loud with me, "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.”
This verse is what Martin Luther called, “The Gospel in Brief.” The
thrust behind God’s desire to see us “born again” of the Holy Spirit is
love. God’s love is shown through Jesus
in a sweeping manner by sending His Son to this earth to suffer and die for
your sins, the sins of Nicodemus, and for me.
Because we‘ve been “born again” through
the waters of Holy Baptism and through the hearing of God’s Word we can say as
the 20th century Christian leader said,” Every day is
a good day to be born, every day is a good day to die.” In Jesus we have the
certainty of eternal life and in each person of the Trinity we have been
assured us of this FACT. AMEN.
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