“I Believe in One, True God”
Matthew 28:18-19
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus.
A little boy came home from Sunday School and his mother asked if he had learned anything that day. He answered, “Pastor said God was everywhere.”
“That’s true,” said his mother.
“Is He in the oven when it’s hot?” “I guess so,” replied his mother.
“How about in the cupboard?” “I suppose,” said his mother.
“How about in the fridge when the door is closed and the light is off?” “I guess so,” answered his mother.
“How about in the sugar bowl?” asked the boy as he took off the lid.
“I suppose He is,” answered his mother.
Then the boy slammed the bowl shut and announced triumphantly, “Got Him!”
As humorous as that story might be, that is what some believe. They think God is small enough to fit inside a tiny, little package which they’re able to understand and control. They want a God of their own making who will pander to their every beck and call—a sort of cosmic bell-boy. And when they snap their fingers and He’s performed to their expectations, they’ll offer a quick thanks and a nice tip.
But as we celebrate the Festival of the Holy Trinity, we find that God is not that way. He cannot be tamed nor can He be neatly trapped in a sugar bowl. He is God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. One Sunday, on the Feast of the Trinity, one parish pastor announced to his congregation that since God is such a great mystery, of which he understood nothing, there would be no sermon that day. Don’t get your hopes up.
Almost 1700 years ago, a 28-year-old man named Athanasius attended one of the most important church meetings of all time. It took place in a little town called Nicea, resting on the banks of the Marmara Sea.
And this man was troubled. For six years already, a pastor by the name of Arius had caused deep division within the Christian church. He said he was Christian, but his doctrine wasn’t Christian at all. He said Jesus was some kind of inferior being, little more than an angel, and not really God at all. And what made it worse was that pastors throughout the Christian church were singing his catchy little Arian tune: “There was a time when the Son was not.” Pastors and people were fighting against each other, so much so that one historian said it was like, “swarms of gnats fighting in the air.”
If only his enemies hadn’t gotten so personal. Sure, he was short and his skin was dark. But they certainly didn’t have to call him such awful names. In time he would be he was known as, “The Black Dwarf.”
And the lies they told about him hurt even more. They said he gave money to criminals, smashed a communion chalice, and cut off a dead man’s hand. You should have seen the look on everyone’s face when that man, very much alive, stood up to testify in his defense in court.
And whenever the emperor got wind of another problem, Athanasius was always the one to blame. Out of the forty-five years he served as bishop of Alexandria, seventeen of them were spent in exile. And when soldiers broke in his church in the middle of worship and killed some of his own members, that hurt worst of all.
But there was nothing more important than the fact that Jesus was both God and Lord. In fact, it was so important, everything rested on it.
If Jesus was only a man, He couldn’t have died for our sins. And that would make Him no different from Mohammed or Buddha or countless others who claimed to be divine. And maybe, just maybe, all religions are just different paths to God. And the cross is nothing more than a symbol, little more than yin-yang, and is, by no means, the place where our salvation was accomplished.
But that couldn’t be. So many had already confessed Him as God and Lord. Ignatius, a disciple of St. John himself and the bishop of Antioch, said, “Jesus is God in human flesh.” A hundred years after Christ, a pastor named Justin Martyr said, “Christians baptize in the name of the Father and of the Lord of the universe, our Savior Jesus, and of the Holy Spirit.” And Irenaeus wrote, “Beyond all men who have ever lived, Jesus is God, Lord, and King eternal.”
And how else can we explain the words of Thomas? When Christ appeared to him, risen from the dead, his knees buckled beneath him and he cried, “My Lord and my God!” Paul wrote to the Colossians, “By Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities…He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” And Jesus Himself said in the book of John, “I and the Father are one.” If Jesus was not God in human flesh, then His death meant nothing and His resurrection must have been a lie. And we are lost and dead in sin.
And that’s why this man named Athanasius made his way to the council of Nicea on the banks of the Marmara Sea.
And as those 318 pastors met, what did they say? They confessed the words of the Nicene Creed: “I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of His Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.”
If there are not three persons in one God, then the Father didn’t give His only-begotten Son to die in our place. If Jesus was only a man, then His death didn’t mean anything and His resurrection must just have been a lie. And if there are not three persons in one God, then that rushing wind and the tongues of fire meant nothing on that first Pentecost day.
But we believe in God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We believe He made us and all creatures, that He’s given us a body and soul, eyes, ears, and all our members, our reason and all our senses, and still preserves them. Richly and daily He provides us with all that we need to support this body and life. We believe in Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true Man, born of the Virgin Mary, is our Lord. He has redeemed us lost and condemned creatures, purchased and won us from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood. And we cannot by our own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, our Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called us by the gospel, enlightened us with His gifts, sanctified, and kept us in the one, true faith, just as He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies this whole beautiful Christian church on earth and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith.
This is our God. This is the One we worship and adore. And as Jesus Himself has commanded, we go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and we teach them to obey everything He has commanded us. And best of all, we are confident to know that He is with us always, even to the end of the world.
On May 2, 373 years after Christ, Athanasius died quietly in his own home after a lifetime of defending the Christian faith before emperors, bishops, and theologians. And while some believed he was a nuisance, a menace, and a trouble-maker, we know he was one of the staunchest defenders of the Christian faith. How fitting it was that his epitaph would read: “Athanasius contra mundum,” “Athanasius against the world.”
Anthony Bloom once told the story of a simple Russian country priest who was confronted by an eminent scientist. And as they talked, the scientist presented apparently devastating arguments against the existence of God, then finally declared, “I don’t believe in God.” And the priest replied, “It doesn’t matter, because God believes in you.”
God believes in us all. And because He does, we worship and serve Him—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—both now and forever.
Eternal Lord, You have revealed Your majesty and glory as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You are a great God and You are our God and Lord. Preserve us in this saving faith, and give us the grace to confess You all our days, until by Your grace, You call us to live in heaven forever. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen