The Festival of The Holy Trinity

Jesse Jacobsen

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Last modified: (Sat May 21 19:28:55 2005)

Ezekiel 18:30--32



``Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways,'' says the Lord GOD. ``Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,'' says the Lord GOD. ``Therefore turn and live!''

God Judges Each According to His Ways

Christianity is considered one religion among many. But God disagrees. He says that Christianity is the only true religion. Don't argue with me. You'll have to take it up with Him when you see Him.

In its first years, Christianity was called by another name. Believers in Christ called it ``the Way.'' They followed ``the Way.'' It's singular: there is only one way. It also echoes everything that Jesus taught. He is the Way, and it is only through Him that we will find our loving Father in heaven.

Another early name for Christianity is hard to translate into today's English. The word is didache. In fact, some of the early teachers wrote down a summary of Christian teaching, and called it by that name. The name is hard to translate because the best English word for it is so misunderstood and maligned: the word ``doctrine.'' We see it in Acts 2:42, describing the early Church: ``They continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.''

When the lives of early Christians were threatened by persecution, the Church would pray for them. Christians did not pray that their persecuted brethren would speak in a more sensitive or tolerant way to make themselves less offensive. No, the Church prayed that God would sustain their brothers in the Way, giving them courage to confess the didache --- the doctrine. Jesus has given us only one Way, one doctrine, and it does sometimes offend.

Now consider our text. God speaks to us, and here He is telling us His reason for showing us the Way. It's why His doctrine is so important. Our theme is this: ``God judges each according to his ways.'' He cannot abide transgression. He wants you to live.

He cannot abide transgression

Our text is found at the end of Ezekiel chapter 18. In the rest of that chapter, God carefully explains to us that there are two approaches we can take to life. One approach is disobedience and transgression. The other is obedience and faith. Parents are not responsible for the sins of their children, nor children for the sins of their parents. Everyone must stand in his own right. One approach leads to death, and the other to life. ``The soul that sins shall die.''

One of the things that Jedi Master Yoda warned young Luke Skywalker in the movie The Empire Strikes Back was this: ``One you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny.'' That may have been true in the imaginary galaxy of Star Wars, but it's not necessarily so in real life. Ezekiel wrote that it's possible for someone on the path of life to fall and take the path of death instead. His righteousness will be gone. Likewise, it's possible for someone on the path of death to repent and take the path of life instead. His former transgressions will be gone forever.

This might sound like works righteousness, but it's not. It's perfect love. God judges each one according to his ways. That's the way God is, because of that word ``perfect.'' He can't abide transgression. We'll get to the word love a bit later. Please remember our first point this morning: God can't abide transgression.

On this Trinity Sunday, we focus upon the doctrine of the Trinity, revealed throughout the Bible. There is one god, no more or less. In that one god are three Persons, no more or less. Each Person is fully God in His own right, and all three are God at the same time. All three were involved in our creation, and in the stories of our lives. But only one of them said, ``I am the way, the truth, and the life.'' That was Jesus, and He is our Redeemer. He alone is true god and true man at the same time. He is our god and our brother at the same time.

We just confessed all of this in the Athanasian Creed. It's a good confession to make --- the best. What does all this have to do with our text? It's the basic foundation for the didache, the Christian doctrine that Ezekiel's words direct us to. Yes, even Ezekiel the prophet believed in the Trinity and in the Son of God. Ezekiel taught the same doctrine as the apostles, and was therefore part of the same holy, catholic church as them. Everyone today who follows that Way to eternal life is also part of the same catholic Church.

In our text, God was describing a fork in the road that we come to every day. In fact, He puts us there through the preaching of His Word. You can remain on the natural path that leads to death, or you can take the uncomfortable path that leads to life. Taking the Way of life is the same as repenting of all transgression, and getting a new heart and spirit. That's what God wanted from Israel, and it's what He wants from you and me today. He's here now, holding out the forgiveness of sins for you, because He cannot abide transgression. He says, ``Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit.''

You may be frightened at the thought that God will judge you on the basis of the way you have chosen. That's good. You should be frightened. The ways that Israel chose of old, and the ways that we choose today are not ways that lead to life. Instead, our inclination is to take the seamless docrine of Jesus Christ and pick it apart. ``I'll take the Father and the Son, but I want a Holy Spirit who I can see and feel.'' Or, ``The Bible is too exclusive. There must be many saviors --- not just Jesus.'' Or, ``That whole business of crucifixion and blood is too gruesome. It's unenlightened. It's not spiritual.'' Or, ``There must be some requirement I can fulfill, because forgiveness is just too easy without it.'' On and on. We all have a weakness, where we question the one-and-only Way of life. That means we prefer another way, though all other ways lead to death.

God judges each according to his ways. How can you escape that judgment? Give in to Him. Stop choosing ways of your own liking. ``Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin.'' Take the path of God's own choosing: the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Repent again, and let the Holy Spirit wash away your sins in Jesus' blood. Learn to keep the didache of our Lord, and your iniquity will be gone forever. If your way is his Way, then God's judgment will find that you are righteous.

He wants you to live

God judges each according to his ways. But remember our second main point this morning: He wants you to live. There are many things about God that we can't fully understand. There have been many religious sects that can't accept the Trinity for just that reason: mortal humans can't understand it. Examples of those people in our day are the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Mormons, and the Unitarians. It's sad, because nobody who rejects what God says about himself can be saved. But there's a difference between believing what God says and understanding what He says. Baptized infants believe, and they are saved. I'm pretty sure they don't understand the Trinity any better than we do. A child-like faith believes something simply because God said it. But now, God says something to us that we can understand.

`` `For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,' says the Lord GOD.'' God wants you to live. He wants you to have everlasting life in heaven. He wants that for everyone on earth. Not everyone has heard that from Him. Some who hear disbelieve what He says. But this morning, He's telling you again: He wants you to live.

This is the reason God wrote the Bible and brought you here today. It's why He called me to preach His Word and administer His sacraments. It's why Jesus was born, and it's why He died. It's the central teaching in every divine service, and the reason we gather weekly around God's saving Word and Sacraments. This is the message God has taught to the members of this church so that we can tell it to others. God wants you to live.

``Ah,'' someone says, ``but if God wants me to live, then why did He frighten me so much with all His talk of judgement?'' The reason is simple: perfect love. God's love and mercy are behind the message of forgiveness and life. But it's not a cheap love. God's love is perfect, because He is perfect. He can't abide transgression. Because of this, there must be an accounting. As He said himself: ``The soul that sins shall die.''

Today, His message to you is that the soul who sinned has already died. That was Jesus. God's Son was born to take all our transgressions upon Himself, and in that way, to die as the world's only sinner. Mission accomplished. There was never any doubt, because this is all God's work, all prompted by that perfect love.

Some people have wrong ideas about Christianity. Maybe it was because they were taught these wrong ideas in churches that are straying from the doctrine of the apostles. Maybe they learned these things in schools, or from their families. Whatever the reason, some people think that the Church's doctrine is a matter of opinion. That would explain why so many churches have so many contradictory teachings, wouldn't it? Some think that all these disagreements are about the best way to obey God. That may be true for most churches, but not for the Lutheran Church.

The Church that confesses the Athanasian Creed together with the Lutheran Confessions believes the same thing that Ezekiel and Jesus and the apostles taught, because it's the doctrine of Jesus Christ from heaven. That doctrine forms our worship, and it's not about the best way to obey God. It's about the things that God has done for us, and continues to do. We are the heirs of Jesus Christ, through His Gospel. We inherit the forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and salvation. This, dear friends is the Way of Jesus Christ. This is true Christianity. So let your way be his Way, and on the Last Day, He will judge you to be righteous. That's the kind of God we have. He can't abide transgression, but He wants you to live. Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Listen online at www.grace-els.org

This document was translated from LATEX by HEVEA.