Today is Trinity Sunday. It is a festival that originated in northern Europe in the ninth and tenth centuries to celebrate our triune, that is our three-in-one God. This year we are going to celebrate Trinity Sunday by taking a close look at the blessing that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit place on us.
The blessing has always been one of my favorite parts of the worship service. From the time of Moses God has instructed His pastors to put His name on His people. God told Moses, “So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.”[1] I consider it a great honor for me to put God’s name on you. As a pastor, I get to stand in the shadow of Old Testament priests, prophets, and New Testament apostles and speak the words of the Almighty God. Like them, I have been tasked with the responsibility of putting God’s name on you. Every now and then the gravity of what God has asked me to do weighs heavy on me and I find myself struggling with emotion as I raise my hands to bless you. Last Sunday Bob was gently teasing me about forgetting the words of the blessing the first Sunday we returned to public worship. I told him, I didn’t forget the words, I was fighting back tears.
The blessing is not something that I am eager to give up. I told our summer interns that I would teach them how to lead God’s people in worship. Over the next few weeks they are going to read the lessons, lead us in prayer, and guide us in the confession of faith, but I told our interns there were two things I was reluctant to give up. One is absolving you of your sin, the other is placing God’s blessing upon you. I told them maybe I would be willing to share later this summer, but, after studying the blessing in preparation for my sermon today, I find myself even more unwilling to give the blessing up.
There are two “versions” of the blessing that are most familiar to us, the Aaronic and Apostolic blessings. The Aaronic blessing (not ironic but Aaronic blessing) is named after Moses’ brother Aaron who served as the first priest of the Israelites. This blessing is recorded in Numbers 6:24-26, 24 “The LORD bless you and keep you; 25 the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; 26 the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.” This is the blessing you hear me use most Sundays. The Apostolic blessing comes from the inspired words of the apostle Paul. This blessing is recorded in 2 Corinthians 13:14, “14 May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” Both of these blessings highlight the work of our triune God, but today, to celebrate Trinity Sunday, we will be taking a close look at the Apostolic blessing.
The Apostolic blessing is found at the end of Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians. The relationship between the Corinthian congregation and their pastor had been difficult at times, to say the least. Shortly after Paul left the congregation the Corinthians began to struggle with sin. Paul addressed these struggles with sin in a letter we call 1 Corinthians. When sin persisted, Paul wrote what is often referred to as the “lost letter” because a copy of this letter was not preserved. In 2 Corinthians 2:4 Paul says he wrote this “lost letter”’ out of the “anguish of his hear and with many tears”. The “lost letter” received mixed reviews. While most repented of their sin, there were some who continued to struggle with sin. This prompted Paul to write what we call 2 Corinthians. In this letter Paul writes, “I already gave you a warning when I was with you the second time. I now repeat it while absent: On my return I will not spare those who sinned earlier or any of the others”.[2] Paul did not take their struggle with sin lightly. He came at them with the full force of the law in order to help them overcome their struggles with sin.
I mention the struggles the Corinthian had with sin for two reasons. One, in the context of pathetic Christians who repeatedly struggled with sin, it makes the goodness of our triune God stand out all the more. Two, it reassures us that the blessing of our triune God is for people who struggle with sin; it’s for people like us. I mean, let’s face it, week after week we gather together to confess that we are no better than the pathetic sinners who belonged to the congregation in Corinth. Struggling with sin is kind of our thing; it is what we do. We are serial sinners! Yet, despite our repeated struggle with sin, we can be assured that our triune God blesses us. I say that because in spite of the reports Paul had heard, in spite of what Paul himself had witnessed, and in spite of what Paul had found it necessary to say and to do to confront people who struggled with sin, Paul still closed his letter to the Corinthians… with a blessing. So, let’s dig into it.
We are not at all surprised to observe that the blessing of the triune God is easily divided into three parts. The first part of the Apostolic blessing emphasizes “the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ”. The Greek word for grace is χάρις. The essence of χάρις is joy and happiness. In the context of salvation, it is the joy and happiness that comes from the realization that our sins have been forgiven. We can feel the effects of grace, but grace is not simply a mood or emotion; grace is also a deed or action. Still in the context of salvation, the specific deeds and actions are those performed by Christ on the cross. For the apostle Paul, grace cannot be separated from the Lord Jesus Christ. As far as Paul is concerned without the Lord Jesus Christ there is no grace because without the Lord Jesus Christ sins are not forgiven. Without the Lord Jesus Christ there is no reason for joy or happiness; there is no grace.
However, we are not without the Lord Jesus Christ. Though God and anyone with a lick of sense knows that serial sinners like you and me should be, we are not without the Lord Jesus Christ. The first part of the Apostolic blessing assures you of that. With these words your triune God announces to you that the deeds and actions performed by Christ on the cross were performed for you. You have been forgiven your sins. You have reason to feel joy and happiness, because you are blessed with the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The second part of the Apostolic blessing emphasizes “the love of God”. The intention of love is to establish a relationship. The Greeks used love to establish relationships in three different ways. There was ἔρως, an uncontrolled feeling of erotic passion that established a relationship between lovers. There was, φιλεw a well-reasoned feeling of mutual admiration and respect that established a relationship among friends. Finally, there was ἀγάπη, the word that the Apostle Paul used here to describe the relationship between God and you. Unlike ἔρως, ἀγάπη is not an uncontrollable pursuit of pleasure. Rather, ἀγάπη is a deliberate decision to act on the other’s behalf. Further, unlike φιλεw, ἀγάπη is not based on mutual admiration and respect. Rather, ἀγάπη is a love that reaches down to lift the other up.
Paul chose the word ἀγάπη to describe the kind of relationship that God the Father established with you because acting on your behalf in order to lift you up is exactly what God the Father has done and continues to do for you. God the Father showed you this love in the sending of His one and only Son to save you, He showed you this love by selecting you to be an heir of salvation, and He shows you this love by richly and daily providing you all that you need. As a serial sinner you have nothing to offer your God and you most certainly have not earned His mutual admiration and respect. However, the second part of the Apostolic blessing assures you that your relationship with God endures, because you are blessed with the love of God the Father.
The third part of the Apostolic blessing emphasizes “the fellowship of the Holy Spirit”. The Greek word for fellowship is κοινωνία. The word κοινωνία expresses a willingness to share. Though the Greeks had a strong sense of the individual, the willingness to share was a foundation of the Greek culture. As citizens of the same city, they shared responsibilities and they shared resources. Sharing was a way in which the Greek citizens secured a future for all.
Paul uses the word κοινωνία because God the Holy Spirit is willing to share with you. The Holy Spirit shares citizenship in the kingdom of heaven with you; a kingdom where no harm can ever come to you; a kingdom of everlasting peace. And, as if citizenship in the Kingdom of heaven were not enough, The Holy Spirit even goes so far as to share with you a seat at the banquet table of the King; where all your wants, all your needs, and all your desires are fulfilled forever. What makes the Holy Spirit’s willingness to share so remarkable is, He shares these things with serial sinners like you and me who have nothing to share with Him and even if we did, let’s face it, we are so selfish we probably wouldn’t. There is no reason the Holy Spirit should share anything with us. However, the third part of the Apostolic blessing assures you that your citizenship in heaven and your seat at the banquet table are secure, because you are blessed with the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.
The Apostolic blessing is a remarkable thing. It offers the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit; it offers the very blessings of the triune God and it offers them to “you all”. Through this blessing serial sinners like you are reassured that your sins are forgiven, you are reassured that your relationship with God endures, and you are reassured that your citizenship in the Kingdom of heaven and your seat at the banquet table of the King are secure. Paul offered these blessings to a congregation that struggled with sin and I get to offer them to you.
At the end of every service I get to put the name of the triune God on you; I get to share with you the blessing of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Interns, I hope you understand why I am so reluctant to give that up. Amen.
[1] Numbers 6:27
[2] 2 Corinthians 13:2