But Wait... There's More!

This past Sunday was Trinity Sunday, the day when we emphasize the three persons of God. But what does that mean, anyway? I have tried to explain the Trinity in a creative way in this sermon. I hope that it is helpful to you!

I get a lot of laughter out of the sales pitches on TV. All the products are “must have” items: air purifiers to help us sleep better, gadgets that fix flat tires, and scissors that will cut through a penny. Our lives would be incomplete without them! Besides, they’re such a good deal – only a modest price (plus a small shipping and handling fee). And as those ads go along, the deals get better and better! Why, along with that food processor that already slices and dices, they’ll throw in a shredding blade at no additional charge! But wait… there’s more! If we call in the next 15 minutes, we’ll get a cookbook that’s guaranteed to help us make meals that our families will rave about! No, there’s nothing like TV ads for some amusement.

Now, what might a pastor do if she decided to preach a sermon in the style of those TV ads? What might that preacher say that would get the listeners interested in connecting with God? It’s an interesting idea, isn’t it? I think that it might sound something like this. “Is your life was going nowhere? Do you feel lost and alone? Do you feel like nobody cares about you? Ouch! That’s a terrible feeling! Well, I want to tell you how you can avoid that feeling. The one who can do it is God – yes, God: the very One who created everything in the universe, and who created you, too! God is interested in you, whoever you are! God wants you to know him better, too! Just bow your head and say a prayer! That’s all it takes. And there’s no cost or obligation to this offer. But wait… there’s more! If you pray right now, you’ll get a relationship with Jesus absolutely free! God came to us as a human being in Jesus. With him at your side, God isn’t just Big Daddy; God is your brother, too! And that’s not all! If you pray in the next 15 minutes, you’ll receive the Holy Spirit, and you’ll be filled with joy and love! We’ll even give you, at no additional cost, prayers for all occasions, from thanksgiving on the mornings that you wake up feeling great, to prayers for peace on the nights that you’re having trouble sleeping. Why, with God on your side, Jesus as your friend, and the Holy Spirit as your power source, you’ll be ready for anything! Why not bow your head and pray right now?”

So, what do you think? Will it make it onto the USA network sometime between 2 and 4 in the morning? Probably not. I don’t think that this is really the best way to get people interested in hearing about God. But I do think that these TV salespeople are on to something when they say, “But wait… there’s more!” In the case of the TV ads, it’s a gimmick to sell products that aren’t really as useful as they claim to be. But in the case of God, it’s the truth. There is always more to God than we realize! And no day in the church year is more appropriate for considering that reality than today, Trinity Sunday. Trinity Sunday follows Pentecost; and it’s one of the few days in the Christian year that celebrates something other than an event in the life of Jesus. Trinity Sunday shines the spotlight on an aspect of God that we don’t much think about – the fact that God works in different ways at different times. The early church was so struck by this fact that it came up with the doctrine of the Trinity. The Trinity says that God the Creator, Jesus the human being, and the Holy Spirit are different forms of the same essence, like steam and water and ice. Those three things are all H2O, but they are in different forms, and they do different things. I hope that you never try to cool down your lemonade with steam! Ice cubes are much better at doing that. But swimming in ice isn’t such a good idea, even you’re a member of the Polar Bear Club. Liquid water is much better for that. Steam, water, and ice are different forms of H2O, just like the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are different forms of God’s essence.

The Trinity is a tough idea to live with, though. All of us are more comfortable with one person of the Trinity than with the others. Many Christians love Jesus with a passion and think of him as a brother; but they tend to forget about the sovereignty and majesty of God the Creator. Others get stuck on the grandeur of God the Creator as seen in the heavens; and forget about the intimacy of the Spirit that fills us like our breath. And Pentecostals emphasize the Spirit, sometimes to the point of forgetting that there even is God the Creator!

That’s what happened to Nicodemus in the reading from the gospel of John that we heard this morning (John 3:1-17). It is so familiar that it’s easy to concentrate on Jesus in that text and entirely miss God and the Spirit! But they’re all in there. Nicodemus is a highly educated Jewish rabbi; and he’s completely stuck on God. He can’t see Jesus as more than a young man who might offer him a good theological conversation. And he certainly doesn’t get it when Jesus tells him that he must be born “from above” (an equally good translation of the phrase that we usually translate as “born again”). Of course, Jesus is referring to the workings of the Holy Spirit; and Nicodemus misses the point entirely. We’re not all that different from Nicodemus. We are all set in the way that we imagine God: powerful Creator, loving Friend, or empowering Spirit. We all have one that we like better than the others. But wait… there’s more! God is always more than we imagine him to be! We can see that if we look through the Bible for the images that are used for God. There are a lot more than you probably imagine in both the Old and New Testaments. Here are just a few that pop up in the pages of scripture.

The Creator God is like a father. We’re all familiar with that image. But God is also like a mother hen who protects her chicks under her wings. God is like a solid, dependable rock; but God is also like a cloud that wafts silently overhead. And God is sometimes like a fire, a mighty wind, a storm, and even like a still, small voice. What about Jesus? He described himself in all kinds of ways! Jesus said that he is like a shepherd who cares for his sheep. But he’s also the gate to the sheepfold, the way to a place of safety. He’s the bread of life, living water, and the vine that connects us to God. He’s certainly the sacrificed lamb, but he’s also the victorious conqueror on a white horse. And when we talk about the Spirit, the images really challenge us! The Spirit is a fire that motivates us, a wind that blows away the old and unusable, and the breath that fills us. The Spirit is the one who comforts us, like a close friend; the one who reminds us of what Jesus has said, like a string around our finger; and the source of our power, like an Energizer battery.

How do you suppose that the Bible would describe the persons of the Trinity in today’s world? Well, we could compare the Spirit to the internet. After all, Jesus said that the Spirit would reveal all things to his followers at the right time. That’s why I often wear a stole that says “God is still speaking.” (Fortunately, though, the Spirit is a lot more trustworthy than the internet!) Jesus might be like an antibiotic: he can help to heal us of whatever is hurting us. The kind of antibiotic and the dose is customized to each person, of course; but he’s got all our ailments covered! And God the creator might be compared to a Hazmat suit! A Hazmat suit protects the one who wears it from all the toxic materials that are around, like God can keep us safe from the poisons in our modern culture.

God is so much more than we expect or even imagine! But then, God is… God. We can’t put God in a box and say that God is only this or that or something else. Where God is concerned, we humans are like the blind men who tried to describe an elephant. God can be like a wall, a spear, a rope, or a fan; and it all depends on which part of God you encounter.

On this Trinity Sunday, I invite you to let your mind and your heart out of the box. Encounter the God who comes to us in many forms. God is not one, but three; and each of those three is something beyond our wildest dreams! If you still don’t know what I’m talking about, just wait… there’s more! There’s always more where God is concerned.