Trinity Sunday

SERMON

Text: Jeremiah 10:1-16

Hear the word which the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel. Thus says the Lord:

"Do not learn the way of the Gentiles;
Do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven,
For the Gentiles are dismayed at them.
For the customs of the peoples are futile;
For one cuts a tree from the forest,
The work of the hands of the workman, with the ax.
They decorate it with silver and gold;
They fasten it with nails and hammers
So that it will not topple.
They are upright, like a palm tree,
And they cannot speak;
They must be carried,
Because they cannot go by themselves.
Do not be afraid of them,
For they cannot do evil,
Nor can they do any good."

Inasmuch as there is none like You, O Lord
(You are great, and Your name is great in might),
Who would not fear You, O King of the nations?
For this is Your rightful due.
For among all the wise men of the nations,
And in all their kingdoms,
There is none like You.
But they are altogether dull-hearted and foolish;
A wooden idol is a worthless doctrine.
Silver is beaten into plates;
It is brought from Tarshish,
And gold from Uphaz,
The work of the craftsman
And of the hands of the metalsmith;
Blue and purple are their clothing;
They are all the work of skillful men.
But the Lord is the true God;
He is the living God and the everlasting King.
At His wrath the earth will tremble,
And the nations will not be able to endure His indignation.
Thus you shall say to them: "The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under these heavens."
He has made the earth by His power,
He has established the world by His wisdom,
And has stretched out the heavens at His discretion.
When He utters His voice,
There is a multitude of waters in the heavens:

"And He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth.
He makes lightning for the rain,
He brings the wind out of His treasuries."

Everyone is dull-hearted, without knowledge;
Every metalsmith is put to shame by an image;
For his molded image is falsehood,
And there is no breath in them.
They are futile, a work of errors;
In the time of their punishment they shall perish.
The Portion of Jacob is not like them,
For He is the Maker of all things,
And Israel is the tribe of His inheritance;
The Lord of hosts is His name.

Gracious, almighty Triune God, who has revealed Yourself as three Persons in one essence, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; keep us always trusting in You as our Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier, through whom we have the gift of eternal life by faith in Jesus. We ask it in His saving name. Amen.

Today is Trinity Sunday. It is the beginning of the non-festival half of the church year which continues until after Thanksgiving Day. On this day we take special note of the fact that our God is Triune. Not suprisingly, many of the texts for today lead into the question, "Who is the Triune God?"

That is an important question. It is vitally connected to our eternal salvation. But the idea that God is triune is beyond human grasp. The teaching is that, while there are three persons in the godhead, God is only one God. While the words "triune" and "trinity" are not found in Scripture, yet it clearly teaches that concept.

This morning we shall consider what Scripture teaches concerning our Triune God. We shall also consider the alternatives found in the false religions and their gods. Therefore, on the basis of the inspired words of our text, and with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, let us consider that OUR GOD, the Triune God, is the TRUE, LIVING, AND EVERLASTING God.

The accounts that we find in the Old Testament make it clear that while the children of Israel were God's chosen people, they were sinful human beings. They had one especially serious weakness. That was their attraction to the worship of false gods.

The source of the temptation was their heathen neighbors. When they invaded the Promised Land, they did not drive out all the inhabitants immediately. God had told them earlier, "I will not drive them out before you in a single year, that the land may not become desolate, and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you. I will drive them out before you little by little, until you become fruitful and take possession of the land." Ex. 23:29-30.

In the meantime, the Israelites were to have nothing to do with them. Just after they left Egypt God had warned then concerning their dealings with the inhabitants of Canaan, "You shall make no covenant with them nor show mercy to them. Nor shall you make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to their son, nor take their daughter for your son. For they will turn your sons away from following Me, to serve other gods ... But thus you shall deal with them: you shall destroy their altars, and break down their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images, and burn their carved images with fire." Deut. 7:2-5.

Unfortunately, this advice was not followed. Joshua, their leader in the conquest of the Promised land died. And when those who had known him died, their descendants quickly turned away from the true God. "Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served the Baals; and they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt; and they followed others gods from among the gods of the people who were all around them, and they bowed down to them; and they provoked the Lord to anger. They forsook the Lord and served Baal and the Ashtoreths." Judges 2:11-13.

From then on the history of the Israelites followed a tragic pattern down to the days of our text. They would turn away from God and worship idols. God would permit enemies to invade and afflict them. They would repent of their sin and return to the worship of the true God. He would send help and free them from oppression. But when Jeremiah wrote the words of our text, adversity no longer caused them to repent. Only removal to Babylon and a 70 year captivity would be able to cure them of their attraction to the worship of false gods.

In our text God speaks through the prophet. Idols are being compared to the true God. The people of Judah are being warned not to be fooled by false gods. "Do not learn the way of the Gentiles; do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven." That was not a new warning. Moses had told them, "Take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, ... and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, 'How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do like-wise.'" Deut 12:30.

The false gods referred to by our text were represented by idols made of wood and covered and decorated by thin sheets of gold and silver. Apparently they represented Baal and his female counterpart, Ashtoreth. These were the most common heathen dieties in that area. But the Israelites also fell into the worship of other gods of their neighbors, - the Moabites, the Ammonites, the Edomites, the Philistines, the Sidonians, the Syrians, - anyone with whom they came into contact, even the gods of those whom they defeated in war.

There is the case of King Amaziah of Judah whom God had permitted to defeat the Edomites thoroughly. "Now it was so, after Amaziah came from the slaughter of the Edomites, that he brought the gods of the people of Seir, set them up to be his gods, and bowed down before them and burned incense to them." God was angry and sent a prophet to point out to the king the absurdity of what He was doing. "Therefore the anger of the Lord was aroused against Amaziah, and He sent him a prophet who said to him, 'Why have you sought the gods of the people, which could not rescue their own people from your hand?'" 2 Chron. 25:14-15.

Our text describes the idols. People cut down a tree, carved it as they wished, covered it with precious metal, clothed it with material of royal colors. Then they would set it up and nail it to supports so that it wouldn't topple over. It had to be carried, it couldn't go anywhere by itself.

The phrase in our text, "They are upright like a palm tree," is perhaps better translated, "They are like a scarecrow in a cucumber patch." The scarecrow is of no real danger to the birds and animals. They are fooled into thinking it is. And even they learn, after observation, that the scarecrow is a fake and are no longer fooled.

But the heathen continue to let themselves be fooled. They worship objects which can do nothing for anyone, - cannot even defend themselves. When the O.T. judge Gideon destroyed the altar of Baal and the image of Asherah, the people wanted to kill him. But Gideon's father challenged them, "Would you plead for Baal? Would you save him? Let the one who would plead for him be put to death by morning! If he (Baal) is a god, let him plead for himself, because his altar has been torn down!" Judges 6:31. Apparently those people had never stopped to consider how worthless their false gods were.

Baal and Ashtoreth are worshipped nowhere today. But there are still idol worshippers around. One of our mission hymns contains these words:

"The heathen in his blindness
Bows down to wood and stone." Hymn 495

We think, for example, of the Buddhists of the Far East and their statue of Buddha.

Much more common false gods, are the gods of the non-trinitarian religions. During the Persian Gulf War we were made very aware of Islam, the Mohammedan religion and its Allah. Now, in Europe, and even in our country, there are many Muslim mosques.

We are all acquainted with the Jehovah's Wit-nesses who show such zeal and devotion in trying to mislead people into believing in their false god. They flatly reject the idea of a Triune God.

There are the Mormons, the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints. Many of them become very angry when they are referred to as non-Christians. But the better informed Mormons will admit it. They do not look upon Jesus or the Holy Spirit as members of the godhead.

Some years ago the Unification Church, better known as the Moonies, received a lot of attention. And there are the Hare Krishnas and many other strange groups. All of them are dangerous, especially to the unconcerned and unwary Christians.

But there are great dangers other than the gods of such false religions. Our Catechism has the question, "Of what do people make idols?" And the answer is given, "Of created things, of themselves, and of other persons." Anything or anyone becomes an idol when it becomes more important to an individual than God and His will.

The list of possibilities is long. Possessions, either the enjoying of them or the gaining of them, hobbies and pastimes, one's job, a person's reason, his physical ability, laziness, other people, - children, parents, boyfriend, girlfriend, ruler, employer, entertainers, sports stars, etc. When a person's time, thoughts, energy, and devotion are primarily centered on something or someone other than God, the person is involved in idolatry. Even temporary lapses are dangerous because they could lead to permanent involvement.

All those who serve idols of any kind actually serve Satan. The apostle Paul commented on the worship of Greek and Roman gods. He said, "I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God." 1 Cor. 10:20. The devil's goal is to divert all people from the worship of the true God. He wants to enslave them through preoccupation with money, property, fame, power, comfort, ease, self-indulgence and anything else that interferes with their serving the Lord. And when they are so preoccupied, they actually lose true contentment, happiness, and peace. Worst of all they stand to lose eternal life.

The alternative to serving false gods, which leads only to eternal destruction, is serving the TRUE, LIVING, and EVERLASTING GOD revealed in Scripture. That God is the Triune God. Some people will not accept the idea of the Trinity. They claim that the terms "trinity" and "triune" are not found in the Bible. They claim that the idea of a triune God is a human concept developed by the early Christians.

But those people must then reject the inspiration of Scripture also. And they do. It is true that the words "trinity" and "triune" are not found in the Bible. But that which those words describe is found there. Scripture clearly teaches that there is only one God and that there are three Persons involved.

In Genesis we have God using the plural in announcing His creation of man, "Let US make man in OUR image according to OUR likeness." 1:26. After Adam and Eve sinned, God commented, "Behold, the man has become like one of US, to know good and evil." 3:22. In both places, the plural refers to the three Persons in the godhead.

There is also the blessing which God instructed Aaron to use in blessing the people of Israel. We use it at the close of most of our regular worship services.

"The Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make His face shine upon you,
and be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
and give you peace."

The Lord is mentioned three times. Each time it refers to a member of the Trinity.

In the New Testament the teaching of the Trinity is much clearer. There is the Great Commission which Jesus gave to His disciples of all time. "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you." Matt. 28:19-20. The three Persons are listed.

All three Persons were present at Jesus' baptism. The Son was being baptized. The Father spoke from heaven, "This is My Son, in whom I am well pleased." "The Holy Spirit descended like a dove and lit upon Jesus." Matt. 3:16-17.

Scripture contains many other references to the persons of the Trinity. Those who are led to listen to God's Word know that God is Triune. They believe that He is different from the gods that men have imagined and created for themselves. He really exists.

Our text says of Him, "He has made the earth by His power, He has established the world by His wisdom, and has stretched out the heavens at His discretion. There is a multitude of waters in the heavens: and He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain, He brings the wind out of His treasuries."

What have the heathen gods created? Nothing. They themselves are created by the mind of man.

Where are those false gods whom the Israelites were tempted to worship? The words of our text are true, "The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under these heavens." Who today worships Baal and Ashtoreth? Most people could not even identify them if they were asked. Those false gods have perished.

We are led to the same conclusion which we find in our text, "Inasmuch as there is none like You, O Lord (You are great, and Your name is great in might), who would not fear You, O king of the nations? For this is Your rightful due, for among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like You."

Truly, there is no one or nothing like God. He is more than a Creator. He is a loving God. He saw that all mankind had become "dull-hearted and without spiritual knowledge" through the fall into sin. They could not free themselves from the curse of sin. To help them God sent His Son. "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16.

The Son willingly came to earth, being born of a woman. As true God and true man. He kept God's law for us. He took upon Himself the sins of mankind. He died to pay the penalty for the sins of all. With His death, He opened the way to eternal life for all people.

The Father and the Son have sent their Holy Spirit to bring this salvation to mankind. The Holy Spirit brings God's Word to people. Through that Word, He opens their eyes to see their hopelessly sinful condition. He offers them forgiveness for all of their sins in Jesus. He leads them to accept that forgiveness through faith in Jesus which He gives them. Through this faith in Jesus as their Savior, they are part of spiritual Israel, the tribe of God's eternal inheritance. They are assured of life everlasting in the presence of the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Concerning their God, the Triune God, they confess in the words of our text, "The Lord is the TRUE God; He is the LIVING God and the EVERLASTING King."

May God grant that that be our confession as we serve Him in this life and look forward to rejoicing in His presence in eternity. Amen.

—Pastor Keith Olmanson