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Sermon for Holy Trinity Sunday, 12 June 2022

First Reading: Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31

1Does not wisdom call? Does not understanding raise her voice? 2On the heights beside the way, at the crossroads she takes her stand; 3beside the gates in front of the town, at the entrance of the portals she cries aloud: 4“To you, O men, I call, and my cry is to the children of man.

22“The Lord possessed me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old. 23Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth. 24When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no springs abounding with water. 25Before the mountains had been shaped, before the hills, I was brought forth, 26before he had made the earth with its fields, or the first of the dust of the world. 27When he established the heavens, I was there; when he drew a circle on the face of the deep, 28when he made firm the skies above, when he established the fountains of the deep, 29when he assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters might not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth 30 then I was beside him, like a master workman, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always, 31rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the children of man.”

Psalm 8

1O Lord our Lord, how exalted is your Name in all the world! 2Out of the mouths of infants and children your majesty is praised above the heavens. 3You have set up a stronghold against your adversaries, to quell the enemy and the avenger. 4When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars you have set in their courses, 5What is man that you should be mindful of him? the son of man that you should seek him out? 6You have made him but little lower than the angels; you adorn him with glory and honor; 7You give him mastery over the works of your hands; you put all things under his feet: 8All sheep and oxen, even the wild beasts of the field, 9The birds of the air, the fish of the sea, and whatsoever walks in the paths of the sea. 10O Lord our Lord, how exalted is your name in all the world!

Second Reading: Acts 2:14a, 22-36

14aPeter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them:

22“Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know — 23this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. 24God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. 25For David says concerning him, ‘I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken; 26therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope. 27For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption. 28You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’ 29Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, 31he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. 32This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. 33Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. 34For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, 35 until I make your enemies your footstool.”’ 36Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

Gospel: John 8:48-59

48The Jews answered {Jesus}, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” 49Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. 50Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge. 51Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” 52The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon! Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’ 53Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?” 54Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ 55But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word. 56Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” 57So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” 58Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” 59So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

Wisdom and the Holy Trinity

The story is told of Jack, a big man, in more ways than just his size, who always seemed to have a smile on his face.  In fact, joy and happiness seemed to exude from him in all aspects of his life.  His happiness was so genuine that others discovered that joy and happiness increased in their lives, when they were around him.  He had many reasons to be joyful.  He had a good family.  He had a lovely wife and two college-age daughters who were doing well in school.  He had a large home in the country.  He was active and well respected in his church.  He was the vice-president of a large defense-oriented company which paid him a large six-figure salary.  By all measures of earthly success, he seemed to have it made.  Suddenly, all that changed.

One day, without warning, he was called into the boss’ office and fired.  He was devastated.  He had invested his life in the company.  He was a dedicated executive who worked hard.  He had helped the company to grow, and now, they were letting him go.  Economically speaking, he had little to worry about.  He had used his money wisely, had invested well, so he was financially set for life.  However, emotionally, he was devastated that his company would let him go in the prime of his life.  He felt he had so much more he could accomplish.  For weeks he was lost and didn’t know what to do.

His self-confidence was replaced with frustration.  His friendly attitude changed to one of bitterness.  He questioned God.  The anger and emptiness he felt brought him to a point where he even considered suicide.  After weeks of feeling helpless and not knowing what to do, Jack prayed, and then began to take an inventory of his life.  With God’s help, he took stock of his blessings.  His wife, who had been his high-school sweetheart, still loved him.  His children were in college and their grades were excellent.  He was still a respected member of his church and in the community.  His only real problem had been that he had allowed the anger and bitterness and rejection to wage a war within his soul.

Once he stopped dwelling on what was wrong in his life and started looking at what was right, once he understood that his only real problem centered on the way he looked at himself, once he stopped waging war within himself, Jack was wise enough to realize that he was still on his way to living an effective Christ-centered life.  The question is, what is the secret of effective Christian living?  The writer of Proverbs paints a beautiful panoramic view of wisdom as being the key part of living an effective Christian life.  

For Solomon, Wisdom is described as being the first thing God created and an essential characteristic for every man or woman if they’re going to experience any joy in living.  As the writer of Proverbs, Solomon expressed this very clearly when he wrote: Happy is the man who listens to me (that is wisdom) watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors.  For he who finds me finds life and obtains favors from the Lord (Proverbs 8:34-35).  This tantalizing glimpse at wisdom is clearly portrayed as appealing for every believer to discover her secrets.  

Wisdom offers a significant reward to those who follow her way, and that reward isn’t centered on wealth, power, or prestige.  The reward of wisdom is part of the secret of effective Godly living.  Now speaking of God, it would be good for us to take a moment to examine this passage in light of the fact that this is Holy Trinity Sunday.  There is perhaps no doctrine of the Christian Church more obscure in the minds of church-goers than is the doctrine of the Trinity, the fact that God is One in three Persons.  The early church councils of the fourth and fifth centuries A.D. debated long and hard before they arrived at a satisfactory statement of the doctrine, and even today, people still misunderstand or distort this teaching.

The doctrine of the Trinity is rooted and grounded in the testimony of the scriptures, beginning with their witness to Jesus Christ.  Most of the writers of the New Testament were originally Jews who believed in one God.  But when the apostles and disciples encountered Jesus of Nazareth and witnessed His life, death, and resurrection, they became convinced that He was the promised Immanuel, God with them, the Son of God incarnate in human flesh.  After Jesus’ resurrection and ascension, the apostles and disciples also found that God in Christ continued to be with them fully in the Person of the Holy Spirit, as Christ had promised.  Thus, the one God of the Old Testament was fully present in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  He is One God, in three Persons.  

Not just the Father, but also the Son and the Holy Spirit, all are wholly divine.  Jesus became incarnate in the flesh and is also fully human as well as fully divine.  The Son who is with us, is God.  The Holy Spirit who comes to us is God.  God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are not lesser deities than the Father, and as we will profess in the Nicene Creed, “We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified.”  None of this is new information; most of us have been taught these facts since Confirmation.  What’s interesting is the Old Testament lesson for this Trinity Sunday.

So why do we read this passage about Wisdom from the Old Testament?  Are we to somehow connect Wisdom as a fourth Person in the Trinity?  The answer is of course a resounding no!  Examine the passage more closely.  The figure of Wisdom is, for whatever reason, personified as a female figure.  She calls to human beings to listen to her and to learn her teachings (vv. 1-5).  She is described as the product of God’s first act of creation (v. 22), and she says she was present when God made all of the rest of the universe (vv. 23-30).  God rejoiced in her (v. 30), and she rejoiced in God’s creation of the world and of human beings (v. 31).

It’s from this passage, a minority within a fringe group of so called Christian denominations, have thus elevated wisdom to that of a divine being, even to that of being equal to the Triune God.  So we must be careful and clear here, wisdom is not a separate person or deity of the Holy Trinity, wisdom is an aspect, an attribute of the Trinity.  To worship wisdom, Sophia in the Greek language, is nothing short of idolatry.  Anytime we replace the worship of God for something else, we violate the first Commandment.  As the Bible and the church teach, “we are to worship God alone, and in Him alone are we to serve” (Matthew 4:10).   God the Father has revealed Himself to us in His incarnate Son, Jesus Christ, and He continues to be our God and to be with us in the Person of the Holy Spirit, who “proceeds from the Father and the Son.”  So with that understanding, how, then, are we to understand this text from the Old Testament about Wisdom?

This personified figure of Wisdom in Proverbs will become more clear for us if we understand that in the Old Testament wisdom is the plan of God.  Wisdom was with God when He made the universes, the fifty billion galaxies that our astronomers tell us they have discovered through their telescopes.  God had a plan when He created all things and all people.  And God delighted in His plan, because He wanted to make a creation that was “very good” (Genesis 1:31).  This is why you and I can celebrate God’s good plan — how He brought forth the rivers and raised up the mountains; how He laid out the fields with their good earth, and how He established the deeps of the seas; how He brought order out of chaos and made a world of delight and beauty and fruitfulness that you and I were given to tend and to enjoy.  And the scriptures have more to say about God’s wisdom, about His plan for His world.

In the New Testament, Jesus is clearly identified with the wisdom of God and in fact replaces all wisdom in the Old Testament.  “Christ Jesus,” Paul writes, “whom God made our wisdom, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30).  And just 6 verses earlier, Paul also made it clear that, Jesus is the power of God and Jesus is the wisdom of God (vs. 24).  St. John records, “Christ is the wisdom of God, and in him is found the truth of God (John 14:6).  Moreover, St. Paul also teaches us, the eternal plan of God is to unite all things in Christ (Ephesians 1:10).

Through Christ, God has made all things (John 1:3) and according to Jesus, He orders all things: According to His love in Christ Jesus, God loves His world.  According to Jesus’ teaching, God calls and instructs all people.  According to the forgiveness of Christ, God forgives and redeems His world.  According to His purpose in Christ our Lord, God will save His world.  There is no other name under heaven given to us by which we may be saved, only the name of Jesus Christ our Lord (Acts 4:12).  Sophia is not our God.  Jesus Christ is our God, the one through whom the Father in His mercy revealed Himself, and the one with whom He sends His Holy Spirit to be with us always.

The bottom line is, Wisdom according to the Bible is Jesus and Jesus is God.  We also must acknowledge that the divine Trinity, or our Triune God, is a mystery we must accept in faith.  A mystery we will only fully understand in eternity.  And with that understanding, we can come now back to the issue of living an effective Christ-centered life.  And the first the secret of living and effective Christian life is discovering the truth.  Wisdom is characterized by truth and the truth is portrayed as a key component to effective Christian living.  Remember Jesus was clear, I am the way, the truth, and the life.  Any so so-called truth separate from Jesus is incomplete at best.

Diogenes went searching so that he might discover the truth.  Our court systems are involved in the pursuit of discovering the truth.  Pilate, in his moment of judgment over Jesus, looked at Jesus with a questioning mind and asked: “What is truth?”  We are a people who have been involved in the search to discover the truth from the beginning.  However, truth isn’t some abstract idea which we try to comprehend.  Truth isn’t a scientific idea we can isolate in a laboratory.  Truth isn’t simply a matter of never telling a little white lie.  Nor is truth subjective.  Truth can only be discovered in the person of Jesus Christ.  We can only discover the real truth when we open ourselves up to the presence of Jesus in our life.  And here is just one of those beautiful truths for us to remember.

There’s an old story about the theologian, Karl Barth, who was on a speaking tour here in the US.  On college campuses across this country, he drew large crowds to hear his very complex answers to the questions of life.  When he was speaking at Princeton University, during the question-and-answer period, one student asked, “Dr. Barth, may I ask you a personal question?”  Dr. Barth smiled and said, “Yes, you may ask anything.”  The student then asked, “Dr. Barth, you are a very learned man.  What is the greatest truth you have ever learned?”

Dr. Barth bowed his head, thinking for a moment about how he would respond.  Then, he raised his head and looked out at the student who asked the question and said, “The greatest truth I ever learned was at my mother’s knee: ‘Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.’”  The secret of effective Christ-centered living is to discover the truth about Jesus Christ.  When we focus on Him, we then discover that truth is a caring love, that truth is the Word who became flesh.  Truth is experiencing His life-giving power.  Truth is discovering His love with arms outstretched to embrace us.  When we grasp this truth, we’re on our way to discovering the secret to effective Christian living.  The second secret of effective Christian living is living moral integrity.  Wisdom is characterized by righteousness or moral integrity.  It’s only when we maintain a sense of integrity that we discover any real meaning in life. 

In 1882, Charles Spurgeon wrote to then Prime Minister, William Gladstone, and said: “You do not know how those of us regard you, who feel it is a joy to live when a premier believes in righteousness.  We believe in no man’s infallibility, but it is restful to be sure of one man’s integrity.”  We can never make this discovery as long as we allow ourselves to be blown about by the shifting winds of public opinion, to the subjective nature of worldly truth.  There are some issues that are not up for popular vote.  There are some issues in which we must stand firm and never waver if we’re to maintain any sense of moral integrity.  There are many times in life when we must stand for Biblical truth, for what is right, for what is just, and for what is honorable.  With God’s help, we must live a life of integrity.  The third secret of effective Christian living is to learn to rejoice.

Our first reading from Proverbs speaks of one of Wisdom’s main priorities as rejoicing.  In verse 31 we read: … “and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always, rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the children of man”.  This passage affirms that wisdom doesn’t speak as a tired cynic, but as one that has learned to rejoice.  It’s easy for us to become cynical because there are so many problems in this world.  

The economy is in trouble.  Church bodies are divided and splitting over social and Biblical issues.  There are hungry children in much of the world.  Since WW II, wars and conflicts continue that have claimed more than 145 million lives.  There are so many tragic events that come our way, we can easily become numb and hurting.  It’s easy to allow these problems to make us cynical.  But the wise person learns to look to God for the strength and wisdom we need to overcome the problems and difficulties of life, and to look for God at work in and through these situations and then rejoice and be thankful.

Recently, I read an interesting story about Thomas Edison.  When he was 67 years old, his laboratory caught fire and burned to the ground.  Thomas Edison lost $2 million of property and a lot of work on various projects in that fire.  His son, Charles Edison, said, “My heart ached for Dad as we stood watching the fire.  He was no longer a young man and everything he had worked for in his life was going up in flames.”  However, something beautiful happened the next morning as they were walking through the charred embers.  Thomas Edison said to his wife and son, “There can be great value in disaster.  All our mistakes have burned up and we can rejoice and thank God that we can start anew.”

Instead of giving in to despair, instead of becoming cynical in the face of adversity, instead of arriving at the false conclusion that there’s nothing more after encountering something tragic, we need to be wise enough to look beyond the problems of the moment and rejoice that, in God, there are opportunities still before us.  When we place our faith and trust in the God that we know in Jesus Christ, He will never allow a problem to be the last word.  Effective Christian living comes down to placing our faith and trust in a living and ever-present God and believing in Him to be our ever-living Shepherd.

Let me conclude this morning with a thought that came out of the Pro Ecclesia conference this week.  I want to paraphrase a statement the Rev. Dr. Amy Schifrin said: The fact that we are not sovereign, that God is, is actually quite freeing.  The fact that we can look to a wisdom beyond ourselves, to a truth that is absolute, a truth that is unchangeable, means that we can look to God’s wisdom and truth and use God’s wisdom and truth as the very foundation for our moral values, and as such our laws and guiding principles by which we live our lives.  By listening to, and learning from, Jesus, God’s Wisdom, we will be able to lead Christ-like and effective lives till He returns.

Amen

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