"What's On Your Mind:" Trinity and the Creed

Candidate Rodney Serbus

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen.

Would you pray with me? Dear God, open us up to your Word for this day and help us to see you move more clearly as our loving God who came and who still comes to rescue us through and in baptism. Help us to see you as you have revealed yourself to us as a God who is triune, a God who is ever pursuing us. In your name, we pray, Amen.

What’s in a name? He-Man. He-Man. The show that was back in the late 80's, the cartoon character, He-Man: Masters of the Universe. He-Man, what’s in this name? Well, with a name like He-Man, surely you must be a manly man and He-Man, the character, was a manly man. He was a hero who was fighting wrong, standing up for what was right and his mission? It was simple. He would stand up to protect this Eternia where he lived from the tyranny of Skeletor and the darkness of all evil foes. The name says it all. He was a he-man. He was to be the hero of Eternia who would save the day by the power of this gray skull at some magical castle off to the side. It was by this power he would be imbued with these super powers. And if you’ve ever seen the show, you really haven’t missed that much. But what you do see in this show is a hero who comes to save the day and was given more so he was given some super powers. We see similarity there between him and Jesus but it’s just a similarity. Because Jesus is the real God-man, a real He-Man.

And although, as a child, I enjoyed this television program, I enjoyed sitting there for the 22 minutes of the same cut scenes every time, I doubt I gleaned anything of real sustainable value from this show. But, in a single episode that took place also in my young life before a baptismal font much like that one in the corner that is illuminated for us, an episode in my young life in front of a baptismal font with the water and the Word of baptism, an episode happened in my life that forever gave me something of real sustainable value when my He-Man, my God-man king, Jesus, rescued me in the waters of baptism, defeating the tyranny of death in the waters of baptism and rescued me from my sins at the font.

See, in today’s scripture for this Trinity Sunday, we watched an episode between Jesus and Nicodemus. And Nicodemus was a ruler, he was one of the teachers of God’s people. People looked up to him and they went to him with theological questions. He was supposed to have the answers but he saw this Jesus character walking around and He looked an awful lot like this Messiah he had been looking for. So Nicodemus goes, with questions loaded in his head, at night to talk with this Jesus. And before he even asks the first question, Jesus has answers for him. “How does this kingdom of God come?” It comes through water and the spirit. It comes through baptism. It comes with being baptized by the spirit into the cross of Jesus Christ. Firstly, the kingdom comes in the water and the Word of baptism. The small Catechism makes it so clear and concise that I actually brought one of Little Blue up here, as I like to call it, Little Blue. Question 3 on baptism talks about how water can do such miraculous things. How can water in a bowl do such miraculous things and save our lives? From the Catechism, how can water do such great things, “Certainly not just water, but the Word of God in and with the water does these things, along with the faith which trusts this Word of God in the water. For without God’s Word, the water is just plain water and there is no baptism. But with the Word of God, it is a baptism that is a life-giving water, rich in grace and a washing of new birth in the Holy Spirit.” Wow. Water by itself is just water but with the Word, it becomes a life-giving water capable of rescuing us from death and from our sins.

The kingdom comes by the power of the spirit through baptism into Jesus’ cross. See, Nicodemus knew the Old Testament Torah so when Jesus brought up to his mind that Exodus story where Moses would lift up the bronze serpent and that if anyone who is bit by a snake would just look up on this pole he had raised up with the bronze serpent, they’d look up at it and they wouldn’t die. They’d just look at the serpent and be saved by looking up at this pole that Moses had lifted up. When Jesus says the Son of Man will be lifted up like Moses lifted up that bronze serpent, Nicodemus probably didn’t quite fully understand that. But I imagine shortly later, when Jesus, the Son of Man, was lifted up on the cross, he could maybe more fully see what his teacher, Jesus, was trying to teach him, that being baptized in this water and the Word or being baptized into Jesus, into His name, baptized into God’s working salvation for us, baptizing to His work on the cross for us so that because He died, we could live and because He bore our sins, those foes would be defeated.

So what’s on our minds today? Some of us here wonder about these creeds of the church and you might be thinking, “What does that have to do with baptism? What does it have to do with what we’re talking about today in the text with this episode between Jesus and Nicodemus?” Friends, it has a lot to do with it because we’re baptized into the name of God and who this God is, is very important, for God is God alone. There’s no one else but God who has this identity. It’s solely His. God is God. It’s a simple sentence, three words. But it’s huge. God is God. And salvation comes from this God and the creeds profess and confess how God has revealed Himself in scripture and it acts both as a confession of our faith and a defense against heresies that would point us away from the cross of Christ into some other way of salvation.

Let’s look at the old Roman baptismal creed first. We more commonly call it the Apostle’s Creed now in its final form. This creed was in use at baptisms for Christians well before the last book of the New Testament was even written. When we look at this creed, the Apostle’s Creed, we see how God has revealed Himself in three persons but yet one God because that is how scripture has revealed Him. It starts with the First Article, “I believe in God, the Father, maker of heaven and earth,” that God is the source of everything. He created everything. Nothing that was made was ever made apart from God our Father and, like a good loving father, actually showing us how to be good loving fathers, He creates and sustains that life for us. In the Second Article, “And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord,” His Word was there, His Son is God and that God’s name is Father. God’s name is also Son. And what did this Son of God do? “He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried.” He emptied Himself. He became man and He lived a life perfect and holy because we couldn’t and because the Father loved us, He sent His Son to do it for us.

And He didn’t stay dead and buried, Friends. No, Jesus, the Son of God who was raised up for us, descended into hell victoriously. He rose from the dead and we look, as baptized Christians, we look to the day when He will come again to judge the living and the dead, all when our Lord comes, we wait for that day with eager anticipation.

The Third Article, “We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Christian Church,” God makes this church by calling us through His Spirit, “and the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins,” and because death is defeated, we look for “the resurrection of the body and life everlasting” with our triune God who has revealed Himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.” If creeds confess and profess the faith that we see in scripture and we see it in scripture but as God has revealed it to us, He’s revealed Himself to us. Now Nicodemus, he didn’t have the benefits of these creeds in the early church but he did have that tugging to go and to see this Jesus. Now, Nicodemus had the scriptures and he pointed them at Jesus and Jesus pointed them to the good gift of baptism.

So what’s in this name of God that we’re baptized into? Salvation is in that name, in the name of Jesus, the creeds, the baptism, they’re linked together. That’s why the creed accompanies a baptism. We’re baptized in the name of God.

What does it mean to be a member of my family? Whether they have the last name Serbus or not? What it means for some of the people in my family is we’ll get in a car and drive 12, 13, 14 hours to come to see our family members on big days. What does it mean to be a son of my parents, a son of your parents, a daughter of your parents? It means that you love them, you try to do what they ask you and it also means that when you slip up, you trust and have hope that they’re going to forgive you and love you and take you back in.

For my wife, what does it mean for her particularly this morning? It means driving all the way back 20 minutes to Granger because I forgot something. It means that she’s spending a lot of time here today because she loves me. And I ask you, good friends, fellow members of Gloria Dei, Gloria Dei, what’s in the name Gloria Dei? Glory of God and, as baptized children of God made right by the baptism into Jesus’ name, we are God’s glory. Gloria Dei members, what’s in the name, what does it mean to be a member of Gloria Dei? It means that as being part of the church, we are made right with God via His calling and the gift of faith given in baptism and in the name of Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

But before I go on, Friends, if any of you haven’t been baptized, I urge you to be like Nicodemus. Come, seek out this Jesus and hear His teaching. Come, see the kingdom of God. Be born of the Spirit and water. Come seek out one of your many fine pastors here and sit and speak with him about being baptized. It’s in the name of God. And what does it mean to be a baptized Christian? It means our real life He-man, our God-man, Jesus Christ, has called and saved you. He has defeated death and all evil foes who stand in front of you.

And whether you were baptized as a child or as an adult or with a bowl of water or with just three little drops in a hospital, Jesus Christ is your saving, loving Lord and He’s revealed Himself to you as a loving God. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Copyright 2009 Gloria Dei Lutheran Church