TRINITY SUNDAY / FATHERS DAY

Sermon Notes, June 16, 2019

Rev. Garry McGlinchy

Pastor Garry’s sermon on Trinity Sunday was based on the scripture in John 16:5-16.  Since it was also Fathers Day, he started off by talking about family resemblance.  For example, he is short and stocky, much like his great-grandfather Ishmael Miller.  As Christians we are called to bear the likeness of our Heavenly Father.  In Genesis we find that we were created in the image of God.  (Genesis 1:26)  God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…”  God is referring to Jesus and the Holy Spirit.  We need to ask ourselves are we reflecting the image of God?  Is our church reflecting the image of the Godhead, 3-in-1?

In today’s passage, John 16:5-7, Jesus tells His disciples that He is going to the Father, who sent Him.  He says that it is for their good that He is going away, because unless He goes away, the Advocate will not come to them.  If He goes, He will send Him to them.

In verses 8-11, He tells them what the Advocate, the Spirit of truth, will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment.  In verses 12 and 13 He tells them He has much more to say to them, but that it is more than they can bear now.  When the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth.  He will speak only what He hears and he will tell them what is yet to come.  He will glorify Jesus because it is from Him that He will receive what He will make known to them (and us).

Let’s look at the nature of the Trinity.  Jesus describes the sharing and sending nature of the Trinity in verses 5-7.  God sends His Son, and the son sends the Holy Spirit.  God is a sending God, a God on the move, who does not stay in a holy huddle, but actually moves in and among the world that He created and that He loves.  God is not only a sending God, but He is a sharing God.  He not only goes out; He gives out.  He does not come to your heart empty-handed.  He brings “house-warming” gifts, if you will.

Verses 14-15 Jesus says that the Father shares with the Son, who shares with the Spirit, who shares with the disciples.  The Trinity shares amongst each other in a way that extends to us.  The mutual love within the Trinity does not turn inward, but outward to the cosmos, and primarily to us, His creation, His children. God’s love is not centripetal, but centrifugal.  It comes out to where you are, to invite you into Himself. 

Because of the sending, sharing nature of the Trinity, we benefit from the Trinitarian love and purpose, if we dare to enter into it.  The Holy Spirit of the Trinity is sending and sharing through us, not just to us.  The sending and sharing nature of God must pass through us as a benefit to the world. Our lives and relationships should reflect the Trinity itself, in the same way Abraham was blessed so that all the people in the world would be blessed through him.  (Genesis 12:3)  Those caught up in the Trinitarian love of God are called to go and to give what we have received from the sending and sharing God.

Matthew 7:7-12 talks about the Father giving good gifts.  We are to ask, seek, and knock. The divine irony of this passage is that Jesus, the one telling the people that the Father wants to give good gifts to His children, is Himself the greatest gift given by God the generous Father to His children.  Were it not for the love of the Father, we would not have the love of the Son.  Jesus is the gift that the Father gives us, but He is also the one who shares with us His salvation and the Holy Spirit.  Through the Son, we are also sent out into the world in order to spread the news of His great love for all.

Why do we need the Holy Spirit?  Jesus tells His followers in John 14 that the Holy Spirit’s purpose is to serve as their “Counselor.”  The Greek word for counselor is paraclete, which literally means “helper.”  The purpose of the Spirit, then, is to help disciples align their lives obediently with the truth of God’s will and word.  This connects perfectly with what Jesus says about the Holy Spirit in John 16:13.  “He will guide you into all truth.”

Jesus’ first disciples knew, from their reading of the Old Testament, that the Holy Spirit comes upon people.  However, Jesus radicalizes this when He says that the Spirit will be in you. (John 14:17b)  God places Himself within those who love Him and obey His commands.  The Holy Spirit within followers of Christ enables us to live faithfully obedient lives until Christ returns.

As fathers it is in our nature to want to pass down everything that we know to our children.  From practical everyday wisdom to taking care of the yard, it is part of our nature to pass all of our skills down to our kids.  This may look different for every father-child relationship; however it is part of our makeup to share those skills with our kids so that they can take care of themselves and their families.  We do this because we know that the day will come when our kids will suddenly grow up and we will send them out into the world.  Hopefully, they will remember every lesson, every ounce of wisdom, every skill that we have shared with them, and put them into practice.  However, there is something that every father needs to know…. .Those lessons, those words of wisdom, those skills that you spent years teaching and reteaching will most likely have to be repeated, along with all of the other lessons, words of wisdom and skills that you have yet to teach your kids as they move through adulthood with their own families.  And this is exactly what God does with us daily.  That’s why we have the Holy Scriptures.

So, where is the sending God calling you?  The Father sends the Son who sends the Spirit who sends the Church into the world.  Therefore our response should be to GO to some location or to some people God is calling us to in order to reflect Trinitarian love.

What is the sharing God calling you to give?  The Father shares with the Son who shares with the Spirit who shares with the Church who shares with the worlds.  Therefore our response should be to GIVE generously of something you have to someone who needs what you have in order to reflect Trinitarian love.  The sending and sharing Trinitarian God has established the Church to be a going and giving community.  “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’  And I said, ‘Here am I.  Send me!’” (Isaiah 6:8)