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Holy Trinity Sunday, 06/16/2019
Sermon on John 8:48-59, by Paul C. Sizemore
We’ve all heard about them before, I’m sure, from time to time! We’ve all heard about people who, unfortunately, have become the victims of a MISTAKEN IDENTITY; a mistaken identity that most often results in all sorts of serious ramifications!
One such case, of a mistaken identity, that made the national news in 2006 was about a young lady, who was enrolled as a freshman at a Christian college known as Taylor University in Upland, Indiana, named Whitney Cerak.
For five agonizing weeks, she lay in a hospital bed, gravely injured, unable to speak, as the result of her being a victim in a terrible automobile accident.
Loved ones, at her side, prayed and comforted her. But the people who came to the hospital so very faithfully, for weeks; it turns out, were not really her family members or friends. They were the family members and friends of another student, who was also in that horrible automobile accident, a young woman named, Laura Van Ryn.
In a tragic case of mistaken identity, 13 years ago, Whitney Cerak and Laura Van Ryn were wrongly identified in the case that followed a devastating crash on Interstate-69; involving a van full of Taylor University students and staff.
Initially, authorities said Cerak had died and Van Ryn was criticially injured. Both girls were blond and had similar features. It would later be determined that the comatose, bandaged young woman in the hospital bed was Cerak. Van Ryn had died in the April 26, 2006 crash that killed three other students and a staff member.
In 2016, ten years after that whole drama unfolded, Whitney Cerak—now Whitney Wheeler, was married and the mother of three children, who returned to Taylor University to speak at a memorial service for the victims.
Whitney Wheeler said: “My family even had a funeral for me! A lot of people wonder what will people say, about you, at your funeral. I know!”
Friends, on this Trinity Sunday, it is good day, for us to remember, that our God never wanted to become a God with a Mistaken Identity; or to have this true identity stolen away from him.
Today the Church around the world celebrates “The Festival of the Holy Trinity;” a day when the whole Church on earth professes loudly and clearly, our belief, that there really is only One, True, and Triune God; One Divine Being in three distinct Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
In our OLD TESTAMENT LESSON (Exodus 3:13-20), the discussion that is taking place between God and the soon-to-become “prophet” named “Moses,” is centered on our Lord’s truest identity being revealed to Moses.
This discussion takes place right after God has spoken to Moses out of a burning bush, when God said to him: “Moses, take off your sandals for you are standing on HOLY GROUND!” Yes, God informs Moses that he is fully aware of the plight of his adopted people, the Hebrew people, the people of Israel, who have now been living as slaves in Egypt for some 400 years.
Moreover, in Exodus 3:10 we hear God tell Moses: “Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt!”
Many of us here today, may well remember Moses’ initial objections to God’s call, but when he acquiesces then Moses asked the LORD God what might seem to us, actually, to be a very worthwhile and legitimate question: “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?”
God said to Moses. “Tell them – ‘I AM WHO I AM’!”
“Say this to the people of Israel, the LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you!’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations” (Exodus 3:14-15)!
Friends, in the Bible, a person’s name most always reveals something very significant to us about that person’s character! May I, therefore, give you some examples? In the Old Testament Book of Genesis:
- Adam names his wife “Eve” because this is the Hebrew word for “life” or “life-giving,” because she will now become the “mother of all the living” (Genesis 3:20).
- God changes the name “Abram” to “Abraham,” because Abraham means “the father of many nations!” One day, through Abraham’s descendants all the nations of the world would one day become blessed—because through Abraham’s seed (or descendancy) would eventually come the birth of our Savior (Genesis 12:1-3).
- God changes Jacob’s name, remembering that Jacob means “one who struggles,” to “Israel,” which means “son of God” because Abraham’s descendants will now continue down to the Promised Messiah through Jacob and not Esau.
Of course, there is a big difference between our God and us! When we name a child, we don’t have either the power or the authority to make the person, we are naming, actually “fit” fit their title, but God has the right and the power to cause anyone he names to become what their very name implies.
The names God gives are sure indicators of the destiny of those whom he names. And so, when our God gives names to himself, for the sake of the people, to whom he is choosing to reveal himself, we may be sure that his name, of which he has many, many names, is a powerful description of WHO HE IS AND WHAT HE INTENDS TO DO.
God does not choose names for himself at random. God chooses names for himself that will deepen our love for him and enlarge our admiration for him and strengthen our faith in him.
Brothers and sisters, THE MOST IMPORTANT NAME FOR GOD IN THE OLD TESTAMENT is a name that is usually translated in English Bibles with that four-letter word “LORD,” but with each of those four letters appearing as a capital letter! The importance of this name for God, that is, moreover, the HEBREW PARTICIPLE FOR THE VERB “TO BE,” that could also be translated as “BEING” or the “One who causes all things to be.”
This word “LORD” which can also be translated as: “I AM WHO I AM,” occurs 6,822 times in the Old Testament.
That’s more than three times as often as the simple word for “God,” which is “Elohim,” that appears 2,600 times, and “El,” that appears 238 times.
Friends, this Old Testament name by which God reveals himself to us, sometimes translated as “Yahweh,” or “Jehovah,” or the “LORD God;” or even “I AM WHO I AM,” is full of some very important implications for us.
Here we are reminded that God’s name teaches, first and foremost, that HE EXISTS.
And yet many people who live out their lives in this world may do so --- as if he does not exist!
And even if they believe that he exists, they live as if this truth makes no difference to them at all in their daily lives!
By the way of a hopefully meaningful analogy, let me ask you to call to mind for yourself, that man that worked out of the Oval Office in the White House, who was by far, your own most loved and favorite President of the United States, of all time!
Let’s suppose that your very favorite President of the United States, whose life upon this earth, coincided with yours, had actually sent a personal invitation to you, inviting you and some of your family members to be his guest one evening at the White House in Washington D.C.
As you entered that cozy green room, the President of the United States would be sitting right there, next to the fireplace, when you walk into the room, but without even going over to introduce yourself to him, you look right past him as if he isn’t even present there at all! Why you never shoot even one meager glance in his direction!
You offer him no personal greeting, not even once, throughout the whole evening; nor do you ever look at him or speak one word to him. You don’t even bother to thank him for his having invited you and your family and friends to the White House. You never even asked him why he invited you there.
Nevertheless, let’s further pretend that a newspaper reporter would also walk into the Green Room that evening! What if he came up to you and ask you: “Do you believe in the existence of the President of the United States?”
You would reply, “Of course! Yes, I believe in the existence of the president!”
You would even agree with that reporter that the house you were sitting it was indeed the president’s house, and the food you were eating had come from the White House kitchen, is the president’s food.
NEVERTHELESS, YOU PURPOSEFULLY CHOSE TO NEVER SHOW YOUR FAVORITE AMERICAN PRESIDENT—ANY RESPECT THAT NIGHT AT ALL!
Practically, speaking you were acting as if you did not believe that he existed! You pay him no regard! He has no place in the affections of your heart. His gifts that you were receiving that night, but NOT HIM, become the center of your affection!
On this Trinity Sunday, my dear friends, I want to ask you: Isn’t it possible that certainly a great many people who profess that they believe in God, end up also treating him in a very similar fashion?
To many people God, many people who may even claim that the believe in the existence of God; the Triune God is not anymore important to them than the hydrogen that is included in the air we breathe; because although hydrogen is included in the air we breathe, its component part is only MINUSCULE AT BEST—ONLY OUT OF 2,000,000 MOLECULES OF THE AIR WE BREATE IS HYDROGEN, WHICH IS A GOOD THING BECAUSE HYDROGEN IS HIGHLY FLAMMABLE AND WOULD BE DETRIMENTAL IF YOU WERE EXPOSED TO IT IN MUCH TOO BIG OF A QUANTITY!
If asked: “Do you believe hydrogen exist?” You might say, “Of course, hydrogen exists,” then you WOULD return to all those other things IN THIS LIFE that really matter to you!
Contained in God’s answer to Moses, when Moses inquires of God about his name, God replies: “I AM WHO I AM.” God is teaching us that not only does he exist, but for those who will stop for long enough from simply pursuing their own glory and their own private pleasure long enough to consider that he is right here next to us, as close as our very breath, that recognition, and that belief, can make all the difference for you AND ME in the world!
But this is precisely the reason we want God the Holy Spirit – to sanctify us to such a degree – that there are indeed those times when we proclaim from the top of our lungs: “MAKE A JOYFUL NOISE TO THE LORD, ALL THE EARTH! SERVE THE LORD WITH GLADNESS! COME INTO HIS PRESENCE WITH SINGING! KNOW THAT THE LORD, HE IS GOD! IT IS, HE WHO HAS MADE US, AND WE ARE HIS; WE ARE HIS PEOPLE AND THE SHEEP OF HIS PASTURE! ENTER HIS GATES WITH THANKSGIVING, AND HIS COURTS WITH PRAISE! GIVE THANKS TO HIM; BLESS HIS NAME! FOR THE LORD IS GOOD; HIS STEADFAST LOVE ENDURES FOREVER AND HIS FAITHFULNESS TO ALL GENERATIONS” (Psalm 100)!
Moreover, our God is a God who does not change!
In Malachi 3:6, God says: “I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.” Within the name LORD, or JEHOVAH, OR YAHWEH,” is the affirmation: “I AM WHO I AM.” In James 1:7, we read: “With him there is no variation or shadow due to change.” And in Hebrews 13:8, we read: “He is the same yesterday, today and forever!”
Our God is also the God with an inexhaustible source of energy. In Isaiah 40:28 we read: “The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary!”
But if we who were by nature Gentiles and not Jews were ever to come to know him, we could only come to know, we profess again this day on this Trinity Sunday, because this God WHO REVEALS HIMSELF TO US AS “I AM WHO I AM,” HAS NOW DRAWN ABSOLUTELY NEAR TO US IN THE GIFT OF HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST!
You know the complete scoop behind this mysterious revelation: “When the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem all of us who were under the law, that we might receive adoption as children, whereby we also call out to him – “Abba, Father” (Galatians 4:4-7)!
Because he has conquered sin, death and the power of the evil one, he who also exists and always existed as the Eternally Begotten Son of God before the time of his Incarnation, when he was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, he can reveal himself to us by the same name today.
In our Gospel lesson today, in John 8:56-58, Jesus is answering the criticism of the Jewish leaders, who were mocking him because he dared to say: “If anyone keeps my words, he will never see death!”
When these critics ask our Lord, “Are you greater than Abraham,” even without batting an eye, Jesus says, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day. He saw it and was glad!”
And when they next reminded our Savior that he was still about 17 years shy of being 50 years old, Jesus said to them: “Before Abraham was I am,” the title Jesus as the Holy Son of God is also claiming for himself is that of his also being the GREAT I AM.
Because of our Savior’s perfect life, death and resurrection, because he has come into this world to pay the price for our rebellion and sins, and was raised again on the third day, pouring out the HOLY SPIRIT upon us that we might fully become with him now partakers in his divine nature: Then we can say with St. Paul despite all our sins of past, present and future: “By the grace of God, I am what I am, and his grace towards me was not in vain” (I Cor. 15:9-10)!
But in closing, I want to ask you some rather personal question: Does this close relationship you now enjoy with God, actually change the way you are living out your life in this world, not only in your coming faithfully to the LORD’s House every time God grants you that opportunity, especially, so long as you have the health and the wherewithal to do so?
Does this close relationship you now enjoy with your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ reflect itself in your faithful stewardship and prayer life?
Does this close relationship you now enjoy with our Heavenly Father through his Son Jesus Christ, make us more devout in your prayer life?
You may have heard about that retired country preacher who decided to skip worship service, one Sunday morning, since he no longer absolutely had to be there in the pulpit to deliver God’s Word to his people every Sunday! He decided instead to do something he had never done before: to spend that whole Sunday hiking in the wilderness instead. Rounding a sharp bend in the trail, he collided with a bear and was sent tumbling down a steep grade. He landed on a rock and broke both legs.
With the ferocious bear charging at him from a distance, the preacher prayed, “O Lord, I’m so sorry for skipping the worship service this morning! Please forgive me and grant me just one prayer request—make a Christian out of that bear that’s coming toward me!”
At that very instant, the bear skidded immediately and unbelievably to a halt. That’s when the bear fell to his knees, clasped his paws together, and began to pray aloud at the retired preacher’s feet, “Dear God, for this thy bounty that I am about to receive, I give thee thanks!” Amen