Sermon Illustrations for Trinity Sunday (2021)
Illustration
Isaiah 6:1-8, Psalms 29
A.W. Tozer wrote in his book The Knowledge of the Holy: The Attributes of God, “The Church has surrendered her once lofty concept of God and substituted it for one so low, so ignoble, as to be utterly unworthy of thinking, worshipping men.” Tozer, in a powerful and articulate manner, has described a tragic condition in the contemporary church.
Marisa Scolamiero, in a May 21, 2009 article in “Bleacher Report”, described her first visit to Yankee Stadium. She wrote, “I was in such awe of the stadium, I almost forgot I was going to a baseball game.” Scolamiero is not unlike so many others, including me. I’ve found myself in awe of some spectacular sights. Like her, I love baseball games and stadiums. For others, it may be the view from a mountain peak, or a glimpse at the vastness of the ocean as the sun sets. There are a lot of things that leave us in awe.
Is God one of them?
Bill T.
* * *
Isaiah 6:1-8, Psalm 29
It’s not safe in the divine throne room, but it is magnificent and awe-inspiring. Isaiah is speaking from a position of abject terror. The description includes winged seraphs – which we learned in the March 14 “Charting the Course” are winged, fire-breathing snakes. These are frightening creatures, not the soft-faced, friendly angels we sometimes depict. Thunder and lightning, very, very frightening! It is with good cause that Isaiah shouts out “Woe is me!”
The closest most of us get to this feeling is when we encounter nature at its rawest. Psalm 29 sets us down amid storm and fury, shaking, earth-quaking, remaking nature, and lets us know God is in the midst of this tumult, and God is praised in the midst of this terror. In a way, nature at full bluster is also God’s throne room.
Which leads me to another depiction of the throne room – the picture we get in Revelation of strange beasts, like Isaiah’s account, and innumerable saints who witnessed through their blood, and what happens when we all shake in terror because the Lion of Judah is about to burst on the scene, and what we get is a lamb, a little lamby-kin (check the Greek) bearing the marks of slaughter. Now we can approach the throne room, because of what the Son of God has done. That’s worth noting on this Trinity Sunday.
Frank R.
* * *
Romans 8:12-17
Fear is a difficult emotion. It can cause us to act very unlike ourselves. It can freeze us from acting at all. But fear does not come from the Lord. Fear comes from our humanness, our frailty, perhaps even from the spirit of evil in the world or in our lives. But Paul writes, “For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption.” Paul proclaims that as children of God, as followers of Jesus, we are empowered to live lives of hope, of strength, and peace in Christ. Sometimes occurrences in our lives can batter us, weaken us, and cause us to lose hope. This passage in Romans reminds us that we are people of life, of eternal life and hope through Jesus. What a blessing when fear comes!
Bonnie B.
* * *
Romans 8:12-17
John Calvin saw this lesson as offering comfort. He wrote:
It seems to me, that there is here especially a consolation offered, by which the faithful are to be strengthened, lest they should faint in their efforts after holiness, through a consciousness of their own weaknesses. (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.XIX/2, pp.232-233)
Calvin’s view of the Trinity is relevant here. He writes:
... to the Father is attributed the beginning of activity, and the fountain and wellspring of all things; to the Son, wisdom, counsel, and ordered disposition of all things; but to the Spirit is assigned the power and efficacy of that activity. (Institutes [Westminster ed.], pp.142-143)
The Father the fountain, the Son the wisdom, and the Spirit is the power of God. Think of the Holy Spirit that way, as God’s power. And knowing that you have God’s power in living the Christian life is certainly consoling. To believe in a Triune God with the Spirit in your life entails that God is doing the heavy lifting for you, even working faith, and pushing you to do good works. Martin Luther made that point once in a sermon on this text:
This is the true inward witness by which thou mayest perceive that the Holy Spirit is at work in thee... it is a witness of the Holy Spirit in thee that He gives thee special gifts acute spiritual understanding, grace and success in they calling; that thou hast pleasure and delight in God’s Word... (Complete Sermons, Vol.4/2, p.177)
Mark E.
* * *
John 3:1-17
I found an interesting old story in the “San Francisco Examiner”. In May of 1962, an advertisement by Gladys Kidd in the San Francisco Examiner caught the attention of a lot of people. She wrote in the ad, “I don’t want my husband to die in the gas chamber for a crime he did not commit. I will therefore offer my services for ten years as a cook, maid or housekeeper to any leading attorney who will defend him and bring about his vindication.”
The advertisement caught the eye of Vincent Hallinan, a legendary lawyer known for his pugnacious nature and his progressive politics. Since he often represented unpopular causes and notorious criminal defendants, Hallinan decided to take up Robert Kidd’s case. Hallinan’s defense was brilliant, and he was able to get the jury to declare Kidd “not guilty.” Hallinan declined to accept Gladys’ offer.
John 3:16 is one of the most popular and powerful passages in the Bible. God, through his Son Jesus, did far more than Vincent Hallinan did for Robert Kidd. While Hallinan got Kidd off death row, Jesus spared all of humanity the “wages of sin” or spiritual death. One of the most well-known verses of the Bible tells the story that never gets old. Let’s never forget.
Bill T.
* * *
John 3:1-17
Both the “Charting the Course” and an installment of “Emphasis” for March 14 give background and information about preaching on this passage. On this Trinity Sunday, the focus of the sermon should be on the action of God as son, explaining the salvific action of the nine being the result of God’s love for all people, not just people who make us comfortable. The whole world includes people we consider enemies, as well as people we consider lost. God considers all of this worth saving.
Frank R.
A.W. Tozer wrote in his book The Knowledge of the Holy: The Attributes of God, “The Church has surrendered her once lofty concept of God and substituted it for one so low, so ignoble, as to be utterly unworthy of thinking, worshipping men.” Tozer, in a powerful and articulate manner, has described a tragic condition in the contemporary church.
Marisa Scolamiero, in a May 21, 2009 article in “Bleacher Report”, described her first visit to Yankee Stadium. She wrote, “I was in such awe of the stadium, I almost forgot I was going to a baseball game.” Scolamiero is not unlike so many others, including me. I’ve found myself in awe of some spectacular sights. Like her, I love baseball games and stadiums. For others, it may be the view from a mountain peak, or a glimpse at the vastness of the ocean as the sun sets. There are a lot of things that leave us in awe.
Is God one of them?
Bill T.
* * *
Isaiah 6:1-8, Psalm 29
It’s not safe in the divine throne room, but it is magnificent and awe-inspiring. Isaiah is speaking from a position of abject terror. The description includes winged seraphs – which we learned in the March 14 “Charting the Course” are winged, fire-breathing snakes. These are frightening creatures, not the soft-faced, friendly angels we sometimes depict. Thunder and lightning, very, very frightening! It is with good cause that Isaiah shouts out “Woe is me!”
The closest most of us get to this feeling is when we encounter nature at its rawest. Psalm 29 sets us down amid storm and fury, shaking, earth-quaking, remaking nature, and lets us know God is in the midst of this tumult, and God is praised in the midst of this terror. In a way, nature at full bluster is also God’s throne room.
Which leads me to another depiction of the throne room – the picture we get in Revelation of strange beasts, like Isaiah’s account, and innumerable saints who witnessed through their blood, and what happens when we all shake in terror because the Lion of Judah is about to burst on the scene, and what we get is a lamb, a little lamby-kin (check the Greek) bearing the marks of slaughter. Now we can approach the throne room, because of what the Son of God has done. That’s worth noting on this Trinity Sunday.
Frank R.
* * *
Romans 8:12-17
Fear is a difficult emotion. It can cause us to act very unlike ourselves. It can freeze us from acting at all. But fear does not come from the Lord. Fear comes from our humanness, our frailty, perhaps even from the spirit of evil in the world or in our lives. But Paul writes, “For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption.” Paul proclaims that as children of God, as followers of Jesus, we are empowered to live lives of hope, of strength, and peace in Christ. Sometimes occurrences in our lives can batter us, weaken us, and cause us to lose hope. This passage in Romans reminds us that we are people of life, of eternal life and hope through Jesus. What a blessing when fear comes!
Bonnie B.
* * *
Romans 8:12-17
John Calvin saw this lesson as offering comfort. He wrote:
It seems to me, that there is here especially a consolation offered, by which the faithful are to be strengthened, lest they should faint in their efforts after holiness, through a consciousness of their own weaknesses. (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.XIX/2, pp.232-233)
Calvin’s view of the Trinity is relevant here. He writes:
... to the Father is attributed the beginning of activity, and the fountain and wellspring of all things; to the Son, wisdom, counsel, and ordered disposition of all things; but to the Spirit is assigned the power and efficacy of that activity. (Institutes [Westminster ed.], pp.142-143)
The Father the fountain, the Son the wisdom, and the Spirit is the power of God. Think of the Holy Spirit that way, as God’s power. And knowing that you have God’s power in living the Christian life is certainly consoling. To believe in a Triune God with the Spirit in your life entails that God is doing the heavy lifting for you, even working faith, and pushing you to do good works. Martin Luther made that point once in a sermon on this text:
This is the true inward witness by which thou mayest perceive that the Holy Spirit is at work in thee... it is a witness of the Holy Spirit in thee that He gives thee special gifts acute spiritual understanding, grace and success in they calling; that thou hast pleasure and delight in God’s Word... (Complete Sermons, Vol.4/2, p.177)
Mark E.
* * *
John 3:1-17
I found an interesting old story in the “San Francisco Examiner”. In May of 1962, an advertisement by Gladys Kidd in the San Francisco Examiner caught the attention of a lot of people. She wrote in the ad, “I don’t want my husband to die in the gas chamber for a crime he did not commit. I will therefore offer my services for ten years as a cook, maid or housekeeper to any leading attorney who will defend him and bring about his vindication.”
The advertisement caught the eye of Vincent Hallinan, a legendary lawyer known for his pugnacious nature and his progressive politics. Since he often represented unpopular causes and notorious criminal defendants, Hallinan decided to take up Robert Kidd’s case. Hallinan’s defense was brilliant, and he was able to get the jury to declare Kidd “not guilty.” Hallinan declined to accept Gladys’ offer.
John 3:16 is one of the most popular and powerful passages in the Bible. God, through his Son Jesus, did far more than Vincent Hallinan did for Robert Kidd. While Hallinan got Kidd off death row, Jesus spared all of humanity the “wages of sin” or spiritual death. One of the most well-known verses of the Bible tells the story that never gets old. Let’s never forget.
Bill T.
* * *
John 3:1-17
Both the “Charting the Course” and an installment of “Emphasis” for March 14 give background and information about preaching on this passage. On this Trinity Sunday, the focus of the sermon should be on the action of God as son, explaining the salvific action of the nine being the result of God’s love for all people, not just people who make us comfortable. The whole world includes people we consider enemies, as well as people we consider lost. God considers all of this worth saving.
Frank R.
