Trinity - apologies for lateness

Matthew 28:16-20

The Commissioning of the Disciples

¹⁶ Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. ¹⁷When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. ¹⁸And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’

My text this morning is written in Matthew 28:19-20:

¹⁹Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’

The disciples were living in difficult and uncertain times. Their world had been turned upside down, they had all been on an emotional roller-coaster ranging from despair when their Lord had been arrested, and executed, and then the news that he had been resurrected – followed by doubts and disbelief – and the many appearances of Jesus to them to reassure them. They had also lost a much loved member of their group – Judas – and if they were honest with themselves, many of them might have had the same questions and doubts he had, at different times, but they had just never acted on them.

Matthew is disarmingly honest – throughout his Gospel – and even now. Some critics of our faith have suggested that we cannot trust the Gospels, because they have probably been altered to suit the message of the early Christians. But this is difficult to accept, because they are so imperfect, in fact sometimes even contradictory, and it is this that gives them the historical credibility that confirms their authenticity. The imperfections of the disciples are never hidden – and the same remains true here.

The eleven are obedient and go to Galilee as they had been instructed, and to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw Jesus, they worshipped him. It is interesting to note that, despite the many claims Jesus made to be the Messiah, the disciples had never worshipped Jesus before this event, because it was only now, after all that had happened, that they finally understood, but they still doubted.

People often misunderstand the notions of faith and doubt. They are not opposites, but different sides of the same coin. Our faith is not something that is unreasonable; we do not need to commit intellectual suicide, suspend all reason, and blindly accept things, even if they do not make sense. It is good to question, it is good to doubt, it is good to challenge. For our minds are finite and limited and are bound by limits of what we can think. It is wonderful to know that every generation and age should always push the boundaries of knowledge and understanding, and today we live in a world which has a far deeper understanding than ever before. And the engine that often drives this forward is the combination of doubt and faith; doubt raising questions and faith daring to think the impossible.

God is infinite and we are finite; we will never be able to fully understand God. St Paul speaks of God being like the potter and we merely like the clay that the potter uses; there is no way that the clay can even come close to understanding the potter.

But what we can understand, what we can follow, what we can know about God has been revealed to us in Jesus. If anyone wants to know what God is like, then our answer is, look to Jesus.

Brett Blair uses the example from the Work of Soren Kierkegaard to illustrate this point:

Soren Kierkegaard, the great Danish theologian of another century tells a story of a prince who wanted to find a maiden suitable to be his queen. One day while running an errand in the local village for his father he passed through a poor section. As he glanced out the windows of the carriage his eyes fell upon a beautiful peasant maiden. During the ensuing days he often passed by the young lady and soon fell in love. But he had a problem. How would he seek her hand?

He could order her to marry him. But even a prince wants his bride to marry him freely and voluntarily and not through coercion. He could put on his most splendid uniform and drive up to her front door in a carriage drawn by six horses. But if he did this he would never be certain that the maiden loved him or was simply overwhelmed with all of the splendor. As you might have guessed, the prince came up with another solution. He would give up his kingly robe. He moved, into the village, entering not with a crown but in the garb of a peasant. He lived among the people, shared their interests and concerns, and talked their language. In time the maiden grew to love him for who he was and because he had first loved her.

This, simple almost childlike story, written by one of the most brilliant minds and it explains what we, Christians, mean by the incarnation. God came and lived among us. It is wonderful that this happened, because it shows us that God is with us, that he loves us and wants us to live fulfilled lives. It also gives us a firsthand view of what the mind of God is really like. When people ask what God is like, we point to the person of Jesus Christ. God himself is incomprehensible. But in Jesus Christ we get a glimpse of what he is like. In the person of Jesus we are told that God, that mysterious ‘other’, as Anselm of Canterbury hundreds of years ago explained as ‘… that, than which, nothing greater can be conceived …’ the one who created the universe, was willing to be one of us, talk our language, eat our food, share our suffering and die on a cross for us.

Jesus commissioned his imperfect, doubting, fallible disciples and through them us; as De Dietrich explains:

It is indeed by his power alone that they will go everywhere he will command them to go.

It is the task of the Church, to make disciples of Jesus everywhere in the world. We are given the authority to do so by Jesus, who has the authority from God, authority because it works, is powerful and can make a real difference in the world.

Just pause and think for a moment: If everyone in the world followed the ways of Jesus, honestly and sincerely, the world would be a wonderful place to be. We could all experience ‘… earth as it is in heaven …’ The fact that we do not live in such a world is not God’s fault, it is the fault of humankind, who stubbornly refuses to be disciples of Jesus.

This is so important as it is the final message Jesus gave to his disciples, and through them to us. The most central element is not the baptising – which – while this is important, it is not as important as our Lord’s command – ‘… [to teach] them to obey everything I have commanded you …’

The message of Jesus, is the message of God, authenticated by the Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus.

he Trinitarian formula – ‘… in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit …’ is only ever mentioned here and nowhere else in the New Testament. But it encapsulates the truth of God because this is how we experience God.

Baptism is important because of what it symbolises – the need to repent – to stop doing those things which are unloving towards others as well as ourselves. We are exhorted to admit when we get things wrong (something some of our politicians need still to learn to do). It is only when we do this that we will ever stop doing them. Not only is the wonderful gift of forgiveness possible, it is freely available, because Jesus gives it to us as a gift on repentance.

Baptism is also symbolic of dying with Jesus to sin. This is a lovely image: we need to die to the old ways, and if we do this these ways will no longer have any impact on our lives. We can be born to the new ways of Jesus. This is the wonderful good news of our message. To follow the ways of Jesus – the ways of forgiveness and love – are difficult, in fact impossible – if we try to live this way in our own strength. Not only has the way of Jesus, the way of life in all its fullness – been revealed, the ability to live this way – the ability to make life on earth as it is in heaven has also been offered to all as a free gift. Last week we celebrated the gift of the Holy Spirit, the spirit of Jesus which is within us to equip and enable us to live as disciples of Jesus.

This is why Jesus ends with the reminder:

… And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

As de Dietrich explains:

… Thus, in this new birth which baptism signifies, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are all present and active …

Jesus will be present in their midst through the word and sacraments and through the Holy Spirit – to the end of the age.

Whenever we meet together in churches and chapels, in homes and other gatherings Jesus is present with us in the power of his Spirit. Remember in Matthew 18:20 Jesus said:

²⁰For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.’

On this Trinity Sunday, we rejoice that it is our experience of God is as Trinity, one God but experienced as Creator (Father), saviour (Jesus the Son) and that all this is real for us today in our own lives, Holy Spirit. And let us ask that we might be challenged to repent of our sins, that we might die to them and that we might be given the ability to obey everything Jesus has commanded us to do. So that where we are, people might have the experience of living on earth as it is in heaven. For this is what Jesus wants of us. As Matthew wrote:

¹⁹Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’

Pentecost

Acts 2:1-21

The Coming of the Holy Spirit

²When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. ²And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. ³Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. ⁴All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

⁵ Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem.⁶And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. ⁷Amazed and astonished, they asked, ‘Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? ⁸And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? ⁹Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, ¹⁰Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, ¹¹Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.’ ¹²All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, ‘What does this mean?’ ¹³But others sneered and said, ‘They are filled with new wine.’

Peter Addresses the Crowd

¹⁴ But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them: ‘Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. ¹⁵Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. ¹⁶No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
¹⁷“In the last days it will be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
   and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
   and your old men shall dream dreams.
¹⁸Even upon my slaves, both men and women,
   in those days I will pour out my Spirit;
     and they shall prophesy.
¹⁹And I will show portents in the heaven above
   and signs on the earth below,
     blood, and fire, and smoky mist.
²⁰The sun shall be turned to darkness
   and the moon to blood,
     before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.
²¹Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

My text this morning is written in Acts 2.21:

… everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved …

Pentecost was originally a Jewish festival. Literally it means 50^th - because it fell on a ‘week of weeks’ after the Passover – so it is also sometimes referred to as ‘The Feast of Weeks’. The weather was mostly good at this time and a great many people travelled to Jerusalem for the occasion, and so never was there a more international crowd in Jerusalem than at this time. God’s timing was perfect – something special and significant would happen - and the news would be taken to the four corners of the then known world.

Pentecost, for the Jews, had two main significances: (i) a reminder of the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai and (ii) an offering of the first omer of the barley harvest to God – two barley loaves were offered to God in gratitude for the completed harvest. On this day, no ‘servile’ work was to be done and so it was a holiday for all and there was generally a great crowd in the streets. There would, therefore, be no better time for God to reveal his truth to the people of the day – especially something as important as the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai – the giving of the new law of love.

Notice how on the first Pentecost, the people were all together in the one place. It is so vital that people come together, because this is a time of special blessing and encouragement. People claim that it is not important to attend worship regularly. I beg to differ. Without regular worship, prayer and the study of the Scriptures together, we begin to starve, spiritually and we will struggle to keep going. Luke gives us the recipe for spiritual growth and renewal as he explains later in this chapter – in verse 42: ‘They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.’

In the past the Spirit of God had been given only to special people for special occasions. In the days of the Old Testament, it was also a temporary gift. The people in the Old Testament times longed for a time when the Spirit would be present all the time and be available to all people and so Moses prayed – as recorded in Numbers 11.29: “Would that all the Lord’s people be prophets, that the Lord would put his Spirit upon them!” In their foretelling of the coming of the Messiah, the prophets hoped that he would be different from all others in that the Spirit of God would rest on him (Isaiah 11.1-3). On the first Day of Pentecost the longing of the Old Testament was fulfilled for the Spirit came, ‘... not to some individual in crisis, but to an assembled people ...’ and not temporarily, but to dwell in their midst, to be their bond of fellowship, the secret source of their common life, the inspiration for their mission to the world, and to be the power of their preaching.

The disciples were so overwhelmed by the presence of the love of God that they could not express it in ordinary words and so they burst into ecstatic speech. You cannot speak in this way by trying to do so, because it is not the work of normal human faculties – it is a gift of the Spirit of God – and it has recurred in the Church from time to time as we read in 1 Corinthians 14 as well as Acts 10.46 and 19.6, and it continues to the present day, especially in times of revival.

St Paul was sceptical of all these ecstatic utterances, preferring intelligible words, making the important point that, if a stranger came in to an assembly and this was happening, he would think he had stumbled across a gathering of the insane. A message that all can understand is much more important. But we must not dismiss this gift too quickly.

In my first pastoral appointment, a retired minister and his wife were a wonderful support to me. After one Pentecost Sunday service, Mel told me the story of a time when she was nursing in Port Elizabeth. A very ill patient was admitted from a Russian trawler and was in a coma. She felt called to pray for him and, having the gift of tongues, began to pray in her ecstatic language. When the sailor recovered he asked for the nurse who had prayed for him in Russian and it turned out to have been Mel!

On this first occasion the gift was the ability to speak in other languages. We know that such a miracle was unnecessary as all the people present would probably have understood Aramaic – as we see when Peter explained everything in the second part of our reading – he just used his normal language and all the people there understood him. There is also no evidence that there was any need to use this special gift in the later ministry of the Apostles.

Why then did it happen? Because it symbolised something important– the healing of the nations by bringing people together and reversing the divisions as symbolised by the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11.1-9. All divisions can be healed when people come to Christ.

In all my many travels throughout the world – whenever I have met Christians – Amish, Mennonite, Brethren, Roman Catholic the experience has been the same, one of immediate kindred spirit and a sense of fellowship. Paul is so right when he explains in that, in Christ, we are one (Galatians 3.28).

It also symbolises the importance of people being able to have access to the truth of God in their own language – so that they can be nourished, blessed, encouraged, challenged and be given the gift of God’s truth for their own lives that they too ‘... can hear the message in their own languages telling of the mighty works and love of God.’

This has inspired missionaries to reduced languages and dialects to writing – and to make illiterate masses literate – so that they can find things out for themselves, and make free decisions for themselves, by studying the Scriptures for themselves.

Peter’s sermon was more important than this miraculous gift. The Greek word translated as ‘addressed’ in verse 14 is the same word used in verse 4 to speak of the gift of tongues. It is the explanation of things that matters most, because faith comes from understanding and deciding for oneself. We read in Romans 10.17 where we read: ‘So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ’, and again in 2 Timothy 2.15: ‘Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth.’ Judaism has a lovely image of a pious Jew being covered by the presence of God as they study the law – the shekinah – the glow of God that accompanied Moses when we he returned on receiving the Law from Mount Sinai. As people prayerfully study scripture today, this can be their experience as the Holy Spirits refines – like fire – and inspires with depth of insight and understanding.

Peter explains that what happened was in fulfilment of the Old Testament prophecy of Joel.

This prophecy speaks of the last days – and these clearly have not happened yet. Does this mean that Joel and Peter got things wrong? I do not think so. Rather, the event of Jesus and Pentecost ushered in a new kind of time. We live in a time when the ‘Kingdom of God’ could reign and where there could be peace and the end of poverty; a time when justice and fairness could prevail. A small percentage of the defence budget of each country could end poverty. But then people would all need to accept the ways of Christ: repent of the sins of selfishness and pride, be willing to admit fault and apologise, attempt to right the wrongs we have done and work for a better world.

But sadly the people of the world have chosen to reject the ways of Christ and so in reality we still live in the kingdom of this world and injustice, suffering, poverty and warfare remain the order of the day. But this need not be so for Jesus came to show us a different way, the way of love, and he gives us His Spirit to be able to live in the ways of his Kingdom.

To put it most simply; on this feast of Pentecost, we must also remember that the reality of the presence of the Spirit of Jesus is also real for us in our own lives. It is not just for someone special, because in God’s eyes, we are all special. This is what Wesley discovered and it was this message and this experience that set England and the world ablaze with love and hope and peace as people learned how special they and others are. It is this truth and this experience that enables us to love ourselves and others. It is a life-changing message.

When evangelist John Wesley (1703-1791) was returning home from a service one night, he was robbed. The thief, however, found his victim to have only a little money and some Christian literature. As the bandit was leaving, Wesley called out, "Stop! I have something more to give you." The surprised robber paused. "My friend," said Wesley, "you may live to regret this sort of life. If you ever do, here's something to remember: 'The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin!'" The thief hurried away, and Wesley prayed that his words might bear fruit.

Years later, Wesley was greeting people after a Sunday service when he was approached by a stranger. What a surprise to learn that this visitor, now a believer in Christ as a successful businessman, was the one who had robbed him years before! "I owe it all to you," said the transformed man. "Oh no, my friend," Wesley exclaimed, "not to me, but to the precious blood of Christ that cleanses us from all sin!"  

Our Daily Bread, October 1, 1994.

Pentecost is a time of the giving of a new law – the law of the Kingdom of love. It is a time to be reminded that we can live as citizens of the Kingdom of God, because God’s Spirit enables us, equips us and empowers us. It is a time when we are inspired to go out with the message to the world – extolling – “Things need not be this way, there is a better way ...” for as Peter quoted from the prophet Joel for as Luke wrote so many years ago ‘...everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved …’

Amen.