Trinity Sunday - May 31

Salvation
Romans 8:12-17
John 3:1-17

Today is Trinity Sunday. That unique day in the calendar of the church year when we focus on a doctrine. It’s really about God, of course. A doctrine about how we describe God’s indescribability.

One piece I read this week included this statement: The Trinity cannot be analogized. I didn’t know “analogized” was a word, and it may not be, but it’s still a good statement to hang on to. The Trinity cannot be analogized. No analogy is correct. Even your favorite. Some may be a bit better than others. But no analogy of the Trinity is correct. So I’m not going to try.

I’m going to preach on something “easy” instead… John 3:16. It’s a familiar verse: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” Very familiar! But not really all that easy to interpret. As often as we hear it, what does it really mean?

I think the most common interpretation goes something like this: If we believe in Jesus, then God will give us eternal life. Although, what exactly are we supposed to believe about Jesus? If we believe somehow that Jesus is our Savior, in return for that belief, God will reward us with life after death.

But what if we only 80% believe? We want to believe, we want to understand, but we’re not always there 100%… Do we still get eternal life? Or only 80%?

 John’s Gospel continues: God sent his Son “in order that the world might be saved through him.” Again, what really do we mean by salvation? And is John’s proclamation reassuring or discouraging? Did God set the bar for the world’s salvation high or low? How does it look to you? All it takes is our belief.

Many people before I have noted that there is another way to look at salvation. To think about salvation as something God offers now, not just later, not just after death.

In this context, Jesus’ life and death are viewed primarily as expressions of God’s love for us. Illustrations. Look, God says, to us THIS is how much I love you. I sent my own Son to bring myself to you, to offer my own presence and love to you.

Paul is talking about this in the passage from Romans we heard today. Paul says: God loves us as much he loves Jesus. “All who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.” Like Jesus, we are children of God.

“When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.” We are in the same relationship with God that Jesus is. Heirs of God’s love.

And it is the Spirit, God’s own Spirit, God’s own power, that leads us to see and understand that God loves us. It doesn’t depend upon our belief.

What would it be like to really live with that awareness of God’s love for us all day every day? That’s salvation!

To live knowing we are God’s beloved children, adopted and chosen and named co-heirs with Christ. To live with the awareness that we are unconditionally loved. That we have immeasurable value in God’s eyes. That no matter what we do; no matter what is done to us; no matter where we go… God always loves us and cares about us. To live in that love is salvation.

David Lose, whom I often find quotable, wonders if “part of the reason so many of our people have a hard time connecting faith to everyday life is simply because we don’t take God’s promises seriously enough.” We don’t take God’s promise to love us unconditionally seriously enough.

This week’s readings reminds us of God’s expansive, comprehensive, unconditional love and acceptance of us as his children, co-heirs with Christ of his love.

What if we could hang onto that promise throughout our daily lives? Really hang onto it. How would it affect our relationships, to enter into those relationships knowing ourselves unconditionally loved by God? How would it impact our conversations with others, those close to us and the casual conversations of every day? How would it affect the decisions we make and how we spend our time if we remembered that nothing can take Gods love from us? Think about it.

Think about it. Would we… Risk more? Care more? Share more? Fear less?

You have immeasurable value in God’s eyes. No matter what, God always loves you and cares about you.