A love story

The Holy Trinity, May 30, 2021

Text: John 3:1–17

Theme: A love story

Other Lessons: Isaiah 6:1–8; Psalm 29; Acts
2:14a, 22–36

1. In the Name of
   the Father…Amen.

2. The Gospel
   reading serves as our sermon text for this morning.

3. Dear brothers
   and sisters in Christ, let us pray:

• Merciful
  Father, You have given Your only Son as the sacrifice for sinners. Grant
  us grace to receive the fruits of His redeeming work with thanksgiving
  and daily to follow in His way; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who
  lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
  Amen.

4. Grace, mercy,
   and peace be yours from God the Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus
   Christ. Amen.

Introduction

1. “For God so
   loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him
   should not perish but have eternal life” (verse 16).

2. Love is
   expressed by giving something of great value, and the greatest
   demonstration of love is to give one’s own life.

1. A parallel to the love shown by giving oneself is the
   giving of one’s child for the sake of another.
2. A
   profound act of love was shown when Abraham was willing to sacrifice his
   only son out of love for God.
3. Abraham
   loved God in this way, that he was willing to give his only son, Isaac
   (Genesis 22:1–19).
4. In
   a similar but infinitely greater way, God the Father demonstrates his
   love for the world by giving his one and only Son.
5. In
   John 3:16 where we read that God “so” loved the world, the Greek word
   for “so” (hooto) does not mean “so much.”

1. Instead it means “in this way”

6. It
   is not that God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son
7. Though,
   of course, he did!
8. Thus
   John 3:16 is translated accurately with the wording “God loved the world
   in
   this way, that he
   gave his one and only Son.”

3. It is not a
   coincidence that John 3:16 is prefaced by a lengthy discussion on the
   work of the Holy Spirit.

1. The Bible and the history of mankind are about this
   very thing:

1. God showing his love for the world by giving his only
   Son, and the giving of his Son is entwined with the working of the Holy
   Spirit.

2. Throughout
   history, God indeed kept loving the world by giving his Son, and he
   always gives his Son in connection with the Holy Spirit.

4. Thus, as God
   demonstrates his love for the world again and again, we see the doctrine
   of the Trinity conveyed.

1. In summary, understanding the doctrine of the Trinity
   begins by realizing that there is but one God, one being, one essence.
2. Yet
   there are three distinct persons—identified clearly in Scripture as
   Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
3. Scripture
   informs us that each of these three persons is completely and fully God.
   
4. Thus
   we can say of the Father, “There is no other God.”
5. And
   we can say of the Son of God (as Luther does in his famous hymn, “A
   Mighty Fortress”), “There is no other God.”
6. And
   we can say of the Holy Spirit, “There is no other God.”
7. Still,
   as Scripture repeats, there is only one God, one being, one essence.

5. We cannot
   begin to grasp the doctrine of the Holy Trinity on this side of heaven,
   yet we can only begin to understand God’s love for the world if we
   believe in the doctrine of the Holy Trinity.

1. You will not find the word trinity in the Bible.
2. Nonetheless,
   from the beginning to the end of Holy Scripture, you will find the
   doctrine of the Holy Trinity.
3. You
   will find the doctrine of the Holy Trinity as you recognize that:

1. At the
   Highlights of Salvation History, God Is Loving the World by Giving His
   Only Son, Entwined with the Working of the Holy Spirit.

6. So the
   doctrine of the Holy Trinity, which we consider this Sunday in
   particular, isn’t some lifeless discussion you would only find in a
   classroom.

1. Instead, it is a love story:

1. God loved the world in this way: he gave his Son to create the
   world.

1. In the
   beginning God (the Father) created the heavens and the earth (Genesis
   1:1).

2. The Spirit,
   brooding over the waters, would breathe life into this watery world
   (Genesis 1:2).

3. When God
   spoke, he was creating through his Son, with whom the world was designed
   to be uniquely intimate (Genesis 1:3; John 1:1–5; Hebrews
   1:2; Proverbs
   8:27-30).

1. When he [the Lord] established the heavens, I [the Son
   of God] was there; when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,
    (28)  when he made firm the skies above, when he established
   the fountains of the deep,  (29)  when 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,  (31)  rejoicing in his inhabited
   world and delighting in the children of man.

4. Transition

1. Man rejected God’s loving gifts of this creation, and
   thus man ceased to be intimately associated with the Son of God, who
   walked in the garden of paradise.
2. In
   rejecting God, man became the “walking dead,” citizens of Satan’s domain
   (Ephesians 2:1–2).

1. Dead in our trespasses and sins.
2. The
   devil is our best friend.

2. After man’s fall into sin, God loved the world in this way: he
   gave his Son in the promise of salvation.

1. In his love,
   the Father promised a seed of a woman to conquer Satan (Genesis 3:15).

1. The first gospel.

2. The Son is the
   heart of God’s word of promise (John 5:39).

1. You search the Scriptures because you think that in
   them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me.

3. The Spirit
   inspired the prophets to foresee the beau­tiful Savior, the one who
   fulfills God’s promise (1 Pet 1:10–11; 2 Pet 1:21; Isaiah
   53).

1. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man,
   but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

4. Transition

1. By God’s loving promise of the Savior, the Spirit
   powerfully breathed faith and hope into his ancient people’s hearts.
2. Theirs
   was an Old Testament faith that trusted in the coming Savior and a hope
   that yearned for life eternal.

3. To save fallen man,
   as promised, God loved the world in this way: he gave his Son to become
   flesh.

1. The Father sent his Son into this world (John 3:17;
   8:42).

1. Jesus said to them, “If God
   were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here.
   I came not of my own accord, but he sent me.

2. The Spirit caused the incarnation in the womb of Mary
   (Matthew 1:20).

1. But as he considered these
   things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying,
   “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that
   which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

3. The Word (the Son) became flesh (John 1:14).

1. And we have seen his glory,
   glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

4. Transition

1. The world did not recognize or
   accept the Son of God with whom there was to be intimacy.

2. They so rejected him that they
   purposed to kill this Son of the vineyard owner (John 1:10;
   Mt 21:37–39).
   

1. He was in the world, and the
   world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.
2. Finally he sent his son to
   them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’  (38)  But when the
   tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come,
   let us kill him and have his inheritance.’  (39)  And they
   took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

3. Yet,

4. God loved the world
   in this way: he gave up his only Son on the cross to save the fallen
   world.

1. To save his haters, the Father willed that his Son be
   given into their hands (Luke 22:42).

1. “Father, if you are willing,
   remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”

2. The Spirit guided the Son to obey the Father and be
   lifted up on the cross (John 3:14).

1. Jesus trusted the
   Spirit-inspired promises of the Old Testament (Luke
   24:26–27).

1. Was it not necessary that the
   Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?”
    (27)  And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he
   interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning
   himself.

2. Jesus trusted the Spirit as the
   Spirit led him into the wilderness of Satan’s domain (Matthew 4:1).

1. Then Jesus was led up by the
   Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

3. The Son submitted to his Father’s command and thus was
   crucified and raised again, winning salvation for fallen mankind (John
   10:17-18).

1. For this reason the Father
   loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again.
    (18)  No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own
   accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it
   up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

5. Then God loved the
   world in this way: he gave his Son to save us by faith.

1. The Father desires that we be saved by believing in him
   whom he has sent (John 3:15–16; 6:29).

1. “This is the work of God, that
   you believe in him whom he has sent.”

2. Believing in the Son who for us died and rose again is
   the heart of Christianity (1 Corinthians 15:1–3).

1. Now I would remind you,
   brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which
   you stand,  (2)  and by which you are being saved, if you hold
   fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
    (3)  For I delivered to you as of first importance what I
   also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the
   Scriptures,

3. By the Spirit’s power, we are given to believe in Jesus (1 Corinthians
   12:3).

1. Therefore I want you to
   understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is
   accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.

6. God continues to
   love the world in this way: he gives his Son to sinners through the Word
   and Sacraments.

1. The Father established the Word and Sacraments that we
   become his children in Christ (Acts 2:37–42; Galatians
   3:26–27).

1. for in Christ Jesus you are
   all sons of God, through faith.  (27)  For as many of you as
   were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

2. The preaching and bestowal of the Sacraments convey
   Christ, our Savior (1 Corinthians 1:18; Rom 6:3–5; 1 Cor 11:23–26).

1. For the word of the cross is
   folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is
   the power of God.

3. The Holy Spirit, as of old, still works through the
   preached and sacramental Word to bring new birth and faith (John
   3:5–8; 1 Peter 1:20–23; Romans 10:17).

1. So faith comes from hearing,
   and hearing through the word of Christ.

7. Finally, God loves
   the world in this way: he will give his Son to call believers to
   paradise.

1. The Father has given all judgment to his Son (John
   5:21–22).

1. For as the Father raises the
   dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will.
    (22)  For the Father judges no one, but has given all
   judgment to the Son,

2. The Son of God will return to this world and speak the
   dead to life (John 5:26–29).

1. For as the Father has life in
   himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.
    (27)  And he has given him authority to execute judgment,
   because he is the Son of Man.  (28)  Do not marvel at this,
   for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice
    (29)  and come out, those who have done good to the
   resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection
   of judgment.

3. The Spirit will give immortal life to our formerly
   mortal bodies (Romans 8:11).

1. If the Spirit of him who
   raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus
   from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his
   Spirit who dwells in you.

Conclusion

1. There are many
   unexplained phenomena in nature.

1. For instance, there’s something called Quantum
   Superposition.
   
2. Scientists
   at Stanford University have discovered that one atom can be found
   simultaneously in two different places, even connected miles apart!
3. Albert
   Einstein once called this “spooky action.”
4. Sound
   strange?
5. Indeed,
   wild beyond our imagination!
6. Science
   has shown that when something travels extremely fast in relation to
   another thing, time actually slows down for the thing that is traveling
   really fast.
7. We’re
   not talking about clocks, but we are talking about time itself.
8. Sound
   strange?
9. Indeed,
   beyond our imagination!

2. Should not the
   Creator of such things be even more incomprehensible?

1. If the nature of atoms or time can be outside our
   thinking, does it not make sense that the very nature of God is outside
   our comprehension?
2. Truly,
   this is the nature of our triune God.
3. Holy
   Scripture, not science, reveals that there is but one God, one being,
   one essence.
4. Yet
   Scripture reveals that, beyond our comprehension, there are three
   distinct persons, each person different from the other two, yet each
   person being 100 percent God.

3. So we shall
   know our God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—into eternity.

1. The Father will eternally love us, as into eternity he
   yet gives his Son, who—as a man conceived by the Holy Spirit—will
   continue to dwell with us uniquely, feasting with us in the heavenly
   mansions forever. Amen.

4. Let us pray:

• O
  heavenly Father, grant that our lives may be ones of vivid testimony to
  Your sacrificial and faithful love in Christ. Amen.

5. 2 Corinthians
   13:14  The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and
   the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

6. The peace of
   God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ
   Jesus. Amen.

7. In the Name of
   the Father…Amen.