Pastor Dan Eddy
Genesis 1:1---2:3, Acts 2:22-41, and Matthew
28:16-20
Create, Recreate, and Multiply
6-19-11
I.
Introduction
– How much do you value God?
How much do you value God? What impact does
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit have on your life today?
The challenging times we live in force us to
face these questions, daily.
Take 18-year-old Kyle Gearwar. He was the
2011 Valedictorian at
You see Kyle wanted to share how the value and
impact God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit has had on his life. But,
school officials told him to remove any references that had anything to do with
religion, God, the Bible, Jesus, talking about how He can help you. Kyle told Fox News “The thing that actually changed me, I couldn’t talk about.”
Principal Brett Blanchard defended the
censorship saying that public schools must be careful about allowing some to
talk about their religion at a school-sanctioned event. “We are absolutely
strong supporters of free speech. The federal law limits the kind of religious
speech that’s permitted at a commencement at a public high school.”
An editorial in the Burlington Free Press chastised school administrators for “playing it safe.”
“The school’s decision says much about how uncomfortable
we all have become about discussing religion publicly,” the
newspaper wrote. “We should be able to
listen to others talk about their faith – those different from our own –
without feeling threatened. Instead we live in a sad time when the risk of
offending someone also carries the risk of being sued.”
How much do you value God? What impact does
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit have on your life today? How do you
speak of Him to others?
You know what’s amazing about the one Lord
God. Despite the challenges we believers in Christ face in our culture with
regulations and law suits in a land supposedly promoting free speech…they/we
can try, but none of us can put God in a box.
And that is the lesson of our three readings
for this Holy Trinity Sunday. The one Lord God is the Creator of all, your Re-creator,
and the multiplier of His Church, our faith. And all who don’t reject or
receive His love are the benefactors of the Awesome God.
II.
Create
– Recreate
For example from Genesis 1 and 2, all three
persons of the one Lord God were involved with Creation. Did you know that?
Generally when the name “God” is used alone
in the Bible it’s shorthand for referring to the Heavenly Father. But most of
the time when God speaks His Word He is doing so through His only Son, Christ, before
He became Jesus.
John
1:1-3 ESV “In the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning
with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing
made that was made.”
And
the Holy Spirit was involved in Creation. Genesis 1:2b ESV: “And the Spirit of God was hovering over
the face of the waters.”
Now
you know we don’t believe in 3 gods, but in 3 persons of the one Lord God.
The
whole idea of Genesis 1 and 2 is God the Father spoke through His Son and by
the power of the Holy Spirit creation came about miraculously.
I
know this presents great challenges to our modern age, especially when parts of
evolutionary theory appear to contradict this true, miraculous creation account
of Genesis 1 and 2. And the purpose of this sermon is not to discuss or rectify
those differences but merely to let Scripture interpret itself. Hebrews 11:3
ESV: “By faith we understand that the
universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not
made out of things that are visible.”
You
can’t put God in a box.
And
you know what’s so wonderful about this Creation account. You and I, the human
race, were created differently, specially, uniquely from all the rest of
creation. Genesis 1:26 ESV…the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit said, “Let us make man (humans) in our image.”
We
were initially created in His Image….but as Psalm 51:5 says we were also
conceived and born sinful, because of Adam and Eve’s choice to put God in a box
by sinning.
You
see if the creation account isn’t real as expressed here…then Adam and Eve
weren’t real, which means they didn’t sin, plunging the perfect creation into
its sin-fallen state. If none of that happens, then the promise made by the
Lord in the Garden of Eden to send a Savior didn’t really happen. Then the rest
of the message of the Old Testament doesn’t make sense.
And
if that promise wasn’t first made at that time, then we can ultimately question
the ministry, suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And if Jesus
didn’t exist as God incarnate, then you can’t be recreated in the image of His
Son by faith through the Holy Spirit in the Word and the waters of baptism. And
if you can’t be recreated there is no hope for you and me. If we are not
created by God the Father to be recreated in the image of Christ through the
power of the Holy Spirit by faith alone, then our sins can’t be forgiven, and
we can’t make it to Heaven. At death we
are condemned forever.
Now do I, do we, understand all the inter-workings of the one Lord God? No, God only reveals to us what He needs to reveal in order to show that He loves us. And to demonstrate just a glimpse of how the relationship between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit works I have asked Sunday School Students: Andrew, Robbie, and Haley to help me.
You see one of the ways you can make a distinction
between the three persons of God is to remember it is God the Father’s will
that all be saved. God the Father is represented by Haley Dockendorff. God the
Father conveys His will only to Christ His Son, represented by Robbie
Dockendorff. Christ alone speaks the Word of God. But, the only way you know
that it is Christ speaking for sure is through the power of the Holy Spirit, represented
by Andrew Slekis.
So here is God’s will. (Haley holds up paper that
says “Will of God the Father.”)
God the Father relays His will to His Son. (Haley
hands the paper to Robbie.)
God’s Son speaks His Father’s will as the Word of
God to the Holy Spirit. (Robbie speaks Acts 2:38a into Andrew’s ear.)
Then the Holy Spirit speaks boldly:
Andrew: “Repent
and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ.”
Thank you kids.
That’s
the message the Apostle Peter was conveying in today’s Second Reading from Acts
2 on the Day of Pentecost. Peter is tying all the promises of the Old Testament rightly and
completely being fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
In Acts
2:39 He ties it right to baptism “For
the promise is for you and for your children…” You are those children. Recreation
is the work of God’s Hand.
III.
Multiplication
And
that brings us to multiplication. What was the first command the Lord gave to
Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden? “Be
fruitful and multiply.” And that is really appropriate on this Father’s Day
as dads (and moms) you look around you and you see your own offspring. Inside
of your children is you. And it has to satisfying to know that your offspring
has been recreated in Christ through baptism. You have contributed to a larger
population in Heaven.
In
our Gospel reading from Matthew 28:16-20, Jesus is giving a command to those
assembled worshipping Him to multiply. He wasn’t necessarily prescribing the
same method that the Lord spoke to Adam and Eve. His method of reproduction…of
multiplication is through the Church.
In
a way, Jesus is saying we are the mothers and fathers to give birth to the new
children of God and make them into His Disciples. And the methods of
reproduction, of multiplication, are very simple…baptism and teaching…ongoing,
continuous actions the Holy Spirit moves the Church to do that through us.
And
by the way, not just teaching anything…but teaching everything God’s Word
speaks…everything Christ spoke. And He is emphatic about being with us till the
end of time for we do not do this on our own.
And
Kyle our valedictorian, is great example of how multiplication happens and how
Christ’s Disciples are made today.
He
did not defy the principles orders. He took out the portions they wanted taken
out, BUT he still gave a mature witness of Christ as he did say: “I am not trying to cause a problem or
direct attention to myself, but I have always dreamed of speaking about God in
front of my school as the Valedictorian. This was my message God gave to me and
I am not allowed to share it with you even though it [is] my testimony, the
most important change my life has ever experienced, and the one thing I stand
for no matter what.”
Kyle’s
speech has gotten so much attention that the censored portions have been posted
on-line.
Here’s
some of what he wanted to say to the graduation assembly, “Jesus said I am not perfect and God forgive me for every sin I
commit.”
He
then writes about how he has acted less than honorably as a Christian. How he
harbored hatred in his heart over the struggles a senior faces in High School.
And through the help of a friend and reading a book from a pastor he discovered
“The reason I acted this way for so long
was because I harbored this extreme dislike for myself and held onto the things
people have said and done to me. But as soon as I gave this to God and let him
fight my battles my entire life changed. I don’t dwell on the past. I have
peace and can finally enjoy every moment God has given me, good or bad. I
wouldn’t be standing before you without the blessings God has given me through
my tough situations. He is the reason I am the man I am today, made new through
Jesus’ death on the cross.”
This is how the
Church multiplies with loving and bold testimonies of believers like Kyle. The
proclaimed Word of God was in action to not only recreate Kyle but to sanctify
Him with a stronger faith. That’s how Disciples are made.
Kyle showed that
when it comes to multiplication to sharing your faith, you don’t put God in a
box. The Lord used the event of censorship to bring more people to hear His
Word through Kyle by the Internet.
How much do you value God? What impact does
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit have on your life today? How do you
speak of Him to others? Do you believe He is the God who created you and all of
creation, recreated you at your baptism by faith in Christ, and gives you the
power to multiply His Church by being made His Disciples?
I leave you with these last words from Kyle:
“Now I can live
in freedom from sin. Now I can look at each new day with a smile. Now I can
face each trouble and problem with a glad heart. Now I can live with God and
not try to barely survive without Him. Amen.”