Matthew 28:16-20 (NIV)
The Great Commission
16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Today is Trinity Sunday. It is the day that church recognizes the triune nature of God. That means that around the world in churches that follow the liturgical calendar, or church calendar, preachers are attempting to explain somehow the nature of the Trinity. How God is Three in One, how God is like a three leaf clover, how God is like water that can be in a frozen, liquid, or gas state. It's a very complicated topic that I just this week learned a lot of clergy stress over.
In fact, on a Facebook post just this week by the pastor of one of our local churches, he commented that he was stressing over this Trinity Sunday. Several of his clergy friends commented that they often hand this Sunday over to their Seminary students, or plan their vacation days for specifically whichever Sunday is Trinity Sunday. Isn't that kind of crazy?
By the way, for those of you visiting with us today, my name is Ryan and I am the student associate pastor here and a seminary student. Pastor Laura is on vacation. I assure you this is just coincidence, after all I am pretty sure her In-Laws, the Bairds, planned this trip. And the fact that Don Baird is a retired pastor who planned the family vacation for Trinity Sunday is strictly a coincidence. Right? Right?
If you looked at the lectionary reading for today you would see that alongside of Matthew's great commissioning, there is also Genesis chapter one. Most of us are familiar with that chapter, but let's do an interactive recap, shall we?
In the beginning God created the...
God made people in God's...
And God said all these creations were...
God created the heavens and the earth and everything in them and declared them good. But the Hebrew word of Genesis means more than just simply good. It means good, pleasing, beautiful. My mentor, Pastor Kevin Phipps, describes it as God stepping back and declaring “WOW!”.
But what does the creation story and the Great commission have to do with one another?
God created us in God's image and declared it good, pleasing, beautiful. But what does it mean to be created in God's own image? Does it mean we just sit around and look good, pleasing, and beautiful?
Humankind seemed to struggle with this very question. Throughout the stories of the First Testament, we learn that God tried over and over to help us understand what we were created for. God used Moses to deliver the ten commandments, but that didn't seem to be enough. People still struggled to live their lives and fulfill their purpose of creation. God sent prophets to the people of Israel, but the people continued to do their own thing. The Jewish people struggled with trying to serve God and created more and more complex rules and regulations on what it means to be holy and fulfill God's dream for humankind. But it did not seem to work.
We were created in God's image. God declared us as beautiful, pleasing, and good. But we have such a hard time living God's calling for us. But what is that calling? What is God's dream for us?
It's Trinity Sunday, and so far we have talked about God creating the world and making it pleasing and good. But what did Jesus do when He was on earth? Jesus revealed God's dream to us, didn't he? Jesus said he came so that we may have a life that is abundant, a life that is eternal, a life that is whole! But isn't that what God has been telling us all along? We were created in God's image, and surely God isn't ugly or bad, and surely God doesn't have a life or existence that is incomplete. So what makes Jesus' message and life different?
Redemption! The Good News! Healing, wholeness. Jesus came into a sick world and showed us that we do not have to keep living that way. When we are confronted with violence, we should confront violence with love. When we have an enemy, we should pray for that enemy. If someone is hungry or thirsty, we should meet their need. In every way we have figured out how to fall short in following God's dream for the world, Jesus provided us with healing.
The Apostle Paul commands us to have our minds renewed by God, and to not conform to the patterns of this world. The patterns of this world that demand we meet violence with even greater violence. The patterns that tell us it is ok to destroy creation to make a quick fortune. The patterns that tell us to turn our eyes from injustice. The patterns that tell us it is ok to use people to get what we want. We fight against these patterns by renewing our minds--but how?
This is where the Holy Spirit comes in. The Holy Spirit, the final third of the Trinity. When Jesus ascended into Heaven, he promised the Holy Spirit would come--which we just celebrated on Pentecost. When we commit our life to Christ we are empowered by the Holy Spirit to live like Jesus.
This is where our gospel reading comes back around. We are to go into the world and make disciples. Or in other words, to go into the world and inspire other people to follow Jesus. But how?
We were created in God's image. God created the heavens and the earth and declared them beautiful, pleasing, and good. We too should go out into the world and through the power of the Holy Spirit we should also seek to create beautiful, pleasing, and good things wherever we go.
Sometimes we over-complicate the idea of creating disciples. We create trainings, classes—all kinds of programs to teach people theology and evangelism or witnessing techniques. These are all fine and good. But sometimes the first step in creating disciples is simply giving them a glimpse of the beauty and pleasing goodness of God's dream for our lives. Sometimes it's as easy as throwing a birthday party.
Tony Campolo, a sociologist and Christian writer and preacher, fulfilled the Great Commission by throwing a birthday party. I will let him take over as we watch him recount the story.
Are we as a church up to the challenge of creating disciples in the world, even if it is at 3:30am with a bunch of prostitutes in a diner? Amen.
