1. Please pray with me. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts, be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock, and our Redeemer. Amen. The message from God’s Word, as we celebrate Trinity Sunday, is taken from Genesis 1:1-2:4, it’s entitled, “Made in the Image of God,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2. “We’re all made in the image of God.” You’ve heard that line. It’s often quoted by those who are demanding equal rights, to demonstrate that we are all equal, that we’re all the same. But the truth is that in our world today we are not all equal. Not all life is considered the same. Today, children still in the womb aren’t counted that valuable by many. Who’s considered higher? White-collar versus blue-collar? Renter versus homeowner? The young or the elderly? Even in our personal lives we must decide: Is a person worth our time? our effort? our energy? our money? We determine that some are and some are not.
3. One example of this caused no small dispute and contention. After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, in New York City, donations were collected to compensate the victims’ families for the loss of their loved ones. But each family didn’t receive the same amount. A determination was made as to what each life was worth. Was a father worth more than a single man? Was an executive worth more than a blue-collar worker? What about the potential for future earnings? And what about the rescue workers? Some families received up to 10 times more than others. The task for determining what each family received fell to one man. After he’d completed his task, he said he’d never do it again.
4. So, what does it mean to be made “in the image of God”? It means that in the beginning, when God created all things, man received what nothing else in all of creation received. Everything was made “good,” and all creation was “very good” (Gen. 1:31), but of no other creature in heaven or on earth can it be said that they were made in the image of God. Not even the angels. This honor was given only to man. And made in the image of God means not that we looked like God, but that we were created in righteousness, with knowledge of God, and true fear and confidence and trust in God. The crown of his creation. Given dominion over all the earth.
5. Then on the day Adam and Eve sinned, this image of God was lost. No longer do we fear and love God as we ought. No longer do we have any natural knowledge of God as our loving Father. No longer do we have confidence in him, but we take matters into our own hands. Sin has broken creation. It has broken us. We’re different, and we consider others differently. But not wanting to be seen “naked” (Adam, Gen 3:10), or as we are without the image of God, we try to create substitute images for ourselves. Masks to hide behind, so that others will think a certain way about us. And so maybe you’ve created a religious image or mask, so that people will think you’re holier than you really are. Maybe you have an image or mask of bravery to hide your fear. The cry “We’re all made in the image of God” is a mask so that you can’t condemn me for who I am! And on and on we go. But when all is said and done, we’re still broken. We’re still sinners. We may be able to hide who we are from each other, but we can’t hide this from God. Whatever images we create are poor images.
6. But the God who created man in his image does not leave us fallen and broken. The God Who creates also re-creates, and He is restoring His image in a fallen and broken world. We can try to create images for ourselves, but only God can create something out of nothing—in the beginning and still today. And so, after sin entered the world, after the image of God in us was lost, God acted. The Father sent his Son into the world. The Son, who is the true and exact image of God the Father. And the Son of God incarnate shows us true man, without sin. In Jesus, the image that we lost lives. Jesus is the one who knows his Father. Jesus is the one who has complete trust and confidence in his Father. Jesus is the righteous one.
7. But the Son of God didn’t come into the world to restore the image of God in the world for only a time, but for all time. So, he takes upon himself our sin, our punishment and death, our broken image, and in return gives us his Spirit. And through the Holy Spirit, the image of God is again given to us. Through the Holy Spirit, we are re-created, made new, and are being conformed into the image of Christ, who is the image of the Father. This is the work of the Holy Trinity for us. The Father, who sent his Son, who sends the Holy Spirit; and the Holy Spirit, who joins us to the Son, who takes us to the Father.
8. That work is what this day is all about. We celebrate Holy Trinity Sunday not simply to proclaim who our God is—the Trinity in Unity and the Unity in Trinity, although we certainly do that. Today we also proclaim what he has done and is doing for us. We proclaim that the Holy Trinity is applying himself to the world for the life of the world. For your life and mine. To restore his image in us. To give us what we can’t create. If he didn’t give it, we wouldn’t have it.
9. With that understanding we can maybe look at the words we heard in the Gospel of Matthew in a new light. Those words, known commonly as the Great Commission from Matthew 28, aren’t so much about what we are to do as they are about what God the Holy Trinity is doing. What the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are doing through his church, applying himself to the world. Making disciples, baptizing, teaching, feeding, raising, forgiving, through the Means of Grace that he has given. The voices and hands and feet may be ours, but the work is our triune God’s: his water, his body and blood, his words. Through these means restoring, re-creating, giving, making something out of nothing. Creating again children in his image, conforming us to the image of his Son.
10. The terrorist attack in the Garden of Eden caused devastation to our world. It has affected every one of us. The task of recovering what was lost that day fell to one man, and he determined that each life was worth his own. And so, Jesus gave his life on the cross for your life. He suffered the shame and nakedness of the cross and then rose from the dust of death, that all who believe in Jesus might be raised from the dust of death with him and live not only forever, but already now, again in the image of God. And after he had completed his task, he said it need never be done again. It is finished. You are whole. You are healed. You are forgiven and re-created.
11. “Blessed be the Holy Trinity and the undivided Unity. Let us give glory to him because he has shown his mercy to us.” That is what this day is all about. The Holy Trinity in mercy giving himself to us, and we in turn giving glory to him. And not simply here in church, but daily in our lives, living the image we have been given again. Living as Christ in the world. Giving to the least. Determining that each life is worth our own, because we are made in the image of God and redeemed by Christ the crucified. Amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, until life everlasting. Amen.
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