Iliff & Saltillo UM Churches
Trinity Sunday
May 22, 2005
“What’s So Important About the Trinity?”
Ephesians 2:13-22
INTRODUCTION: Today is Trinity Sunday, however, the word “trinity” is not mentioned in the Bible. We say, “I believe in the “Trinity” but what does that mean? Have you ever thought about it?
The “Trinity” is a description of the unique relationship of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. There are many references to the Trinity in various scriptures such as in John. Jesus is talking to his disciples, and He refers to the Holy
Spirit as well as to the Father. He says, “unless I go away, the Counselor [Comforter] will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.” Many times people refer to the Holy Spirit as “it”--but Jesus goes on to say, “when he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment...” Then he refers to the Father
when he says...”I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer.”
One of the better known scriptures referring to the Trinity is Mark 1:10. “As Jesus was coming up out of the water [at his baptism], he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my
Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” Again you see evidence of all three persons in the Godhead. In today’s scripture in Ephesians 2:13-22 there is mention again of all three persons in the Godhead. Paul says “but now in Christ Jesus you who once
were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.” Mention of the Holy Spirit where “through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.”
You might say, “this is hard to understand how there is One God and Three Persons.
ILLUSTRATIONS: There are several ways to visually explain it. One is with an egg--you have the egg shell, the egg yolk, and the egg white. They are three distinct parts--but they are all EGG.
We have God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit--they are three distinct persons but are all GOD.
Another way to explain the Trinity is by referring to water--a glass of water, an ice cube, or steam--it is different but all WATER.
It is said that St. Patrick explained the Trinity with a shamrock. The three parts of the shamrock represented the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit--but at the same time they were all SHAMROCK.
Jesus emphasized the importance of the Holy Spirit as well as Paul in the epistles to the churches. To the fearful and worried disciples Jesus gave them the assurance that he was not going to abandon them. The King James version says, “It is expedient for me to go away.” He is saying, “actually it will be BETTER for you--to your ADVANTAGE if I go away because then I will send the Counselor or Comforter and he will guide you into all truth.” Christ’s departure at the ascension was absolutely necessary to the Holy Spirit’s coming. The disciples had been used to seeing Jesus every day and they needed
to get weaned away from his physical presence now that he would ascend into heaven. As long as he was here on earth, he was limited to one place at a time, but the Holy Spirit’s presence can be everywhere at the same time. Paul was also trying to teach the
new Christians the importance of all three persons.
Let’s see what we can get out of today’s scripture that will help us to understand
the third person of the Trinity a little better.
1. The Holy Spirit before the day of Pentecost: The concept of the Holy Spirit was not new at Jesus’ time. The Spirit of God was on the scene at the beginning of Genesis. Genesis 1:2 says, “...the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters” at the creation. In Genesis 6:3 at the time of the flood the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with man forever...” In Judges 3:10 “the Spirit of the Lord came UPON Othniel, Caleb’s younger brother, so that he became Israel’s judge.” In Old Testament times the Spirit of the Lord CAME UPON certain people to fulfill leadership responsibilities. (See Judges 13:24-25; 15:14; 14:6, 19; Zech. 7:12).
Jesus was telling the disciples that on the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit was going to be operating in a different way--not just available to certain people for certain leadership roles once in awhile but for ALL people.
He said there are a lot of things you don’t understand right now but when “he, the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth” (v. 13).
Story: Several American nurses were training at a hospital in Liverpool, England. They had little money for meals so they ate the awful food provided at the hospital. Sometimes visitors would give them some of the treats they had brought for patients who had not wanted to eat them.
One night a woman brought an apple pie to the kitchen and said to one of the nurses, “Would you eat this up, love?” So she and another American student nurse devoured every delicious crumb!
Soon the woman returned, however, and asked, “Is me ‘husband’s pie ‘ot yet, dearie?”
At Pentecost the Holy Spirit DID come just as Jesus had promised and he clarified many things that up to that point had been misunderstood.
2. The Importance of the Holy Spirit: Why don’t we just say, “I don’t understand the Holy Spirit so I think I’ll just skip that part of the Trinity. I know about God, the Father the Creator of the universe and I know about Jesus the Savior. So that’s all that matters.”
The role of the Holy Spirit is of great importance and we can’t leave Him out. One reason is that all three members of the Trinity are involved in our salvation. That’s pretty important to us today.
Story: A woman went to a jewelry store to have her watch fixed. He disappeared to the back and soon returned with it running perfectly. Surprised, she asked how he could fix it so soon. He told her it only needed a new battery. Battery? Battery?
Nobody said anything about a battery. I’ve been winding it every morning. A lot of Christians do not realize the importance of the Holy Spirit in our salvation as well as the inner power of the Holy Spirit for us today in order to handle things in our
daily life.
1. God, The Father loved us so much that He sent His son Jesus to bridge the gap between us.
2. Jesus, the Son, fulfilled the mission to come to earth to die on the cross for our sins.
3. The Holy Spirit convicts us of our sins and draws us to salvation. The Holy Spirit enables and empowers us to live a Christian life.
Romans 5:5 says, “...God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us...at just the right time when we were still powerless Christ died for the ungodly.” Here again you have evidence of the Trinity each fulfilling his
own particular role in the salvation process.
3. Important Tasks of the Holy Spirit: Today’s scripture points out three important tasks of the Holy Spirit. When the Spirit comes he will convict the world of guilt regarding
1. sin
2 righteousness
3. judgment
(a) Sin: He will expose the error of the world’s view of sin. He will convict the world of its sin and call people to repentance. The Holy Spirit has a way of bringing home the sense of sin. You might say, “When I sin I feel guilty or I feel I shouldn’t have done it.” This is the work of the Holy Spirit trying to let you know that you need to make some changes in your lifestyle.
It is the Holy Spirit that can open a person’s heart to receive the gospel. When all else fails, the Spirit can CONVINCE a person bringing about a desire to change.
We might point out specific sins and rank them in order of their severity. We might say that murder is worse than telling a little white lie, but actually the basic sin that this scripture points out is UNBELIEF in Jesus. “...because they do not believe in me” (v.9) The Spirit not only accuses people of sin but brings them to an inescapable sense of guilt so that they realize their shame and helplessness before God. He creates an inescapable awareness of sin so that it can’t be dismissed with an excuse or evaded by
saying, “Oh, well, everybody’s doing it.”
The Holy Spirit’s task is to confront us--convicting and convincing us of our sin. The essence of sin is unbelief--not simply a difference of opinion but rather a total rejection of God’s messenger and message. When we are confronted by the Holy Spirit,
we have to make some choices. Do we believe or not?
(b) Another task of the Spirit is to convict the world of guilt in regard to righteousness.
What does that mean?
It is Christ’s personal righteousness or right standing which the Spirit brings home to the sinners heart. He reveals the standard of God’s righteousness to anyone who believes.
Sometimes we are tempted to think, “I am such a good person and a righteous person. I do this and that and keep all the rules.” Romans 1:17 says “For in the gospel a righteousness FROM GOD is revealed, a righteousness that is by FAITH from first to last...”
Romans 3:22 says, “This righteousness (right standing) from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.”
The Holy Spirit reveals the standard of God’s character to which all thought and action must be compared. Apart from a standard of righteousness there can be no sin. There must be an awareness of the holiness of God before a person can realize his own
deficiency. The Holy Spirit brings us to an awareness that a divine mediator is necessary. If you think you are OK, you won’t sense your need of a Savior.
(c) He will convince the world of judgment.
“When you were dead in your sins...God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code that was against us...and having DISARMED the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing
over them by the cross” (Colossians 2:13-15).
We have too long been willing captives of the prince of this world--Satan. As Christians we are not to be left under the power of sin. Why? With Jesus’ death on the cross Satan has already been judged. “...the prince of this world now stands condemned” (John 16:11).
Colossians 1:13 says “for he rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
You may have habits you are struggling with thinking that you can never be free.
Scripture tells us that we can be free. The Holy Spirit has shown that the prince of this world is already judged. He has no power over a Christian so don’t let him have power over your life. You do not have to be a defeated Christian. You do not have to live in slavery to sin any more because the prince of this world has already been judged. The Holy Spirit lets us know of God’s goodness to us.
ILLUSTRATION: It is said that the basic principle of diving is: “Don’t Stand On Your Own Airhose!” Sadly too many Christians are standing on their own spiritual
airhose by failing to realize the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives to help us be overcomers. Don’t allow Satan to cause your defeat by your wrong thinking and wrong actions.
John 14:30 Jesus said, “for the prince of this world is coming and he has no hold on me.”
CONCLUSION: The Trinity--we need all three. We need God the Father and we need
Jesus the Son who is our Savior.
Don’t skip the work of the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit has three important tasks--convicting the world of sin,
of righteousness, and of judgment.
The Holy Spirit will lead you into all truth.
