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Trinity Sunday John 16:12-15 |
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"STAY TUNED." If you ever watch television or listen to the radio, you've heard that phrase probably more times than you would like to think. Sometimes it comes in other forms like, "Don't touch that dial," or "we'll be right back after this important message from our sponsor." Of course, we all know what's coming: a commercial. And, so, we have a decision to make: Do we head for the bathroom or the kitchen? Or, do we just grab the remote control and make a quick run through the channels to look for something--anything--that might be a bit more interesting than what we're already watching? Whatever we decide to do, we can be sure of one thing: the station, and its sponsors, want us to "stay tuned." Now, I'll confess to you this morning that I don't always "stay tuned" when I'm told. But there was one announcer who used to always hold my attention right through the commercial. His name was Paul Harvey. And he was a wonderful storyteller who seemed to follow the same pattern each time he came on the air. He told just enough about a subject to pique your interest, and then he would say (in a way that only Paul Harvey could say it), "Stay tuned for the rest of the story." (And I always did.) Whenever we study the Bible--when we consider the ways God makes Godself known to us--when we seek to live a truly Christian life in what is something less than a Christ-like world, God seems to be saying to us, "Stay tuned for the rest of the story." Listen to these words of Jesus in this morning's Gospel lesson. "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now." Although we don't find these words anywhere else in Scripture, surely they reveal something of the mind of God as he inspired the Biblical writers. Jesus came to earth to reveal the Father. But even after three years of being with his disciples, of living with them and ministering to them and teaching them through word and deed, they still had a lot to learn--a whole lot--because Jesus shared with them only what they could "bear," meaning only what they could understand and put into practice. But this has always been God's way of revelation, of making God's self known to us. It's a process, a gradual knowledge and understanding of God, that keeps us from taking on more than we can "bear," so that we don't have to try to grasp everything at once. We Christians are often disturbed by certain passages in Hebrew Scripture that fall so short of the teachings of Jesus. We sometimes cringe at Old Testament stories which seem to reveal God as being wrathful and vengeful, when we have come to know God through Christ as loving and compassionate and forgiving. What we need to remember is that the Bible itself is a progressive story of God's revelation to humankind. A revelation which finds its fullness in the person of Jesus Christ. That doesn't mean that in order to have a knowledge and understanding of God--a relationship with God--one has to begin with Genesis and read straight through Revelation, though it wouldn't hurt. What it means is that God inspired the Biblical writers and opened their minds in a way that would make God known only to the extent that humankind was able to receive and understand God's message at that particular moment in history when it was given. That's why you can't take a Bible passage here and another one here and lay it out there and say, "This is who God is," or "This is how God thinks," or "This is who God wants us to be." It doesn't work like that. God's revelation to us is a gradual, ongoing process that is complete only in its wholeness. And if Jesus is that wholeness--if Jesus is the full revelation of God--and he certainly is, that still doesn't mean that we as Christians have a full understanding of Jesus. We don't. The disciples didn't and neither do we, because at this particular place, at this particular time, we couldn't bear it. We couldn't take it. We're not ready. So God reveals Godself to each of us progressively, gradually, according to our ability and readiness to receive God's truth. And every time we read about or talk about or think about God, we are preparing ourselves, opening ourselves up, to further revelation. In our text today, Jesus tells his disciples that he has taught them all they can take in, but that there will be more to come. He then explains how "the rest of the story" will come to his followers. Jesus says that the Holy Spirit, whom he identifies as the "Spirit of truth," will guide people into all truth. The Spirit's purpose is to make God known through God's Son: the Spirit's concern is the communication of that truth, and to work in our lives to help us see it, understand it, and apply it. In other words, the entire Godhead is involved. The Holy Spirit relates to us only that truth that has come to us by way of the Son, and the Son has received all truth from the Father. We serve one God who has been revealed to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This is what we mean by the Trinity--God in three persons. And this one God has one body of truth which is revealed through the cooperative efforts of each distinct person in the Godhead. Now, if all this sounds mysterious to you, good. It's supposed to. God is a mystery. It's when people start trying to figure God out that heresies arise. Down through the centuries the doctrine of the Trinity was formed and refined to help us talk about the ways we experience God, but ultimately, the Church confesses that there are those things about the infinite God which finite minds can't fully comprehend. As Karl Barth once wrote, "When we have said all that we have meant by Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we must continue, and say that we have said nothing." Let us not forget, however, that there is much of God's truth that we can understand, and it is the Holy Spirit who guides us and makes this truth plain to see. Above all, the Spirit works in our lives to draw us to Jesus, to bring us to repentance and faith in him, and to help us understand and follow his way for our lives. Jesus Christ is the truth that the Father wants us to receive; thus the Spirit always points to Jesus. In verse 14 of today's Gospel, Jesus says, the Holy Spirit "will glorify me, [by taking] what is mine and declaring it to you." Just as the Son glorified the Father through his earthly ministry, the Holy Spirit glorifies the Son by bringing us to the point of understanding Christ's claim upon our lives as Savior and Lord. So, in a way that we cannot fully understand, the eternal God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, works to make God's truth known to us. And it is this truth of God, rooted in the Father, revealed by the Son, and communicated through the work of the Spirit, that sets us free. And when we receive it by faith, not by knowing, not necessarily by understanding, but by faith. God's truth will set us free from sin and death, from selfishness and pride--free to experience the joy and peace of the life abundant. If you're a Christian today, then this is how God's truth has come to you. God has revealed Godself progressively, in stages, as humankind has been ready to receive it. And God has employed all that God is, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in making that truth known. There's one more thing Jesus says in our text this morning. Remember, he's speaking to his followers, his disciples; but through them, he also speaks to us. And what does he say? "Stay tuned . . . for the rest of the story." "You can't bear it all now, you can't take everything in at once, so don't think you know all there is to know. You Don't! There's more to come. Stay tuned!" This, my friends, is the word of the Lord for us today, because most of us really don't want to stay tuned. Even if we don't think we know all there is to know, we're content in that we know all we want to know. We're not interested in any new revelations from God or any new insights about God. That might challenge our faith or cause us to question our beliefs or to open our minds to new possibilities. So, we just close our eyes and ears and we settle back into that comfortable, safe, little religious nook we've carved out for ourselves, where the Protestants think the Roman Catholics are wrong, and the Roman Catholics think the Eastern Orthodox are wrong and the Eastern Orthodox think Anglicans are wrong and we Anglicans who are much too liberal and forward thinking to accuse anyone of being wrong, simply say that we are right! About everything. All the time. So why should we seek truth when we have the truth? Why stay tuned for the rest of the story when we have all the information we need? Because we are called to be disciples of God's truth. Not our truth, but God's truth--and to be open and attentive to God's Spirit in our lives as God leads us to new truth. It's unfortunate that some Christians go for years without any new insight into the will of God. It's even more unfortunate when they fail to realize their need for anything more than what they already have. And I'll tell you something. Listen to me. If you can fit your God into a box called Protestantism, or Catholicism, or Anglicanism, or for that matter, Christianity, or Judaism or Islam, or whatever label you choose to put on that box, then your God is too small. God is bigger than that--bigger, in fact, than all the denominations and all the religions put together. And so is God's truth. (None of us has it all.) So don't think you know all there is to know about God's truth. You don't! If you do, then what in the world are you doing hanging around here with the rest of us bozos. If you knew all there was to know about God, God would take you up in to heaven in a whirlwind so fast that the rest of us wouldn't even know what happened to you. But if we're sensitive to the Spirit's leading, if we're open to receiving something new and different from what we already have, there will be those times when God will break through all our preconceived notions and confront us with some new truth. When's the last time that happened in your life and mine? Could it be that we've become so comfortable in our status-quo religion that we can't remember the last time we allowed God's Spirit to challenge us about anything? If that's where we find ourselves today, then we can be certain that we have not "stayed tuned" to God. For as God molds us into the people God wants us to be, God must continually challenge our beliefs, attitudes and actions, our values and motives, our apathy and neglect. When we fail to allow God to challenge us, faith shrivels and the Christian life becomes a bore. The excitement, in worship, in service and ministry, in being a Christian, is in the challenge. So, if you're a Christian, and you haven't been challenged by God's Spirit lately, then I have a challenge for you this morning. Shake the dust off you faith and get in touch with the Spirit of God within you. And then, "Stay tuned . . . for the rest of the story" that God has for your life! In the Name of the One God, the F, the S, and the HS. Amen.
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