2013 Advent Midweek Worship: The Trinity in Advent The Love of God Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ! Amen. Our Advent midweek worship is focusing upon that blessing written by God’s apostle Paul, printed on the cover of your bulletin, “the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit are among you all” (2 Corinthians 13:14) or perhaps, “in the company of you all.” It might seem strange to you that Paul would begin his blessing with “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.” This might seem strange because we normally think of the Father as the first person of the Trinity. Because of this, it would perhaps seem more natural to begin this blessing with the Love of God. But Paul’s blessing begins with the Second Person of the Trinity, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul has done this because our Lord Jesus is that one person of the Trinity who makes the others known. The only way we know about our dear Father is the presence of the Son among us. (Where there is a Son, there must be a Father.) · Here is a bad analogy: You might think of God the Son as being somewhat like a flashlight that shines on the Father and the Spirit, making it possible for you to know that they are near. · Here is a terrible analogy, and it will only work for you if you can remember the television programing of the 1980s: Maybe God the Son could compared to Larry, who introduces the Father Darryl and the Spirit Darryl to you. (Like I said, it is a terrible analogy.) The point is this: Without God the Son—our Lord Jesus Christ—you have no access to the Father and the Spirit. God the Son makes God the Father and God the Spirit known to you. Now I must revise the point to make it narrower and better. God the Son is the ONLY WAY for you to know that God the Father is a LOVING Father. · The Scriptures make it clear that you can certainly know something about God your heavenly Father by going out into the woods and studying nature. The Scriptures teach that, when you try to learn about God by studying nature, there you discover that God is angry at you. Thus it is written, “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men” (Romans 1:18). · The Scriptures also teach that, if you want to know something about God by looking into your own heart, you will again find nothing but divine anger and foreboding punishment. Stated another way, your guilty conscience teaches you the same thing about the heavenly Father that you already learned by going out into the woods. Your guilty conscience teaches you that your God is an angry God because the works of His law are written on your heart. Thus it is written, “Their conscience bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse” (Romans 2:15). So Paul’s blessing begins with “the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ” and moves to “the Love of God” because Jesus shows you a different aspect of God the Father—a different “face” of God, so to speak—than you can find anywhere else in the entire creation. “The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ” reveals “the Love of God.” Paul’s blessing also assures you that your heavenly Father’s love for you is not a begrudging love, a reluctant love, or cold and distant love. “The Love of God is among you all,” or “The Love of God is in the company of you all.” Because of “the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,” “the Love of God” is now your constant companion. Because God the Son became eternally advent among us, it is now impossible for you to fall out of the love of God. God the Father has a new attitude and disposition toward you, solely because of the work accomplished by God the Son. God the Father is so pleased with the high and holy work of God the Son—the Father’s love for the Son is so abundantly overflowing—that you and I now get the pleasure of basking in the warmth of that love. The Love of God, shown to you by the Grace of Jesus, now exerts great power for you. Remember that guilty conscience? Be done with it! Turn your thoughts and attention toward the Love of God displayed for you by the Grace of Christ. As to the wrath of God displayed in the creation, go out into the woods and see something new. The grace of Christ transforms even the wilderness, so that you may see there what the psalmist could likewise see: “Your steadfast Love, O Lord, extends to the heavens, Your faithfulness to the clouds” (Psalm 36:5) _______________________________________________ Sermons mailing list [email protected] http://cat41.org/mailman/listinfo/sermons
