SERMON: 'Rejoicing In The Confession of The Trinity'

It's a couple of weeks old now, but this sermon from Rev. Bryan Wolfmueller at Hope Lutheran Church in Aurora, CO is very, very good.

My kids and I listened to it this morning and even they had several good comments about it (Luke will be 9 and Amelia will be 8 next month).

It was the sermon given for Trinity Sunday and it was based on the following passage of Scripture...

Romans 11:33-36 (ESV) 33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! 34 "For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?" 35 "Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?" 36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

"There is an old quip, attributed to different wits, something like this, 'In the beginning God created man, and ever since man has been returning the favor.' There is some truth to this. We are tempted to fashion God after ourselves, to have a god to suit us."
[Sermon Text]

Please CLICK HERE to listen to the MP3 file of this sermon via streaming or download.

Just a few additional words about that passage from Romans 11 from the footnotes in my Lutheran Study Bible...

*- Romans 11:33-36 is an ascription of praise in doxological form as Paul ponders in awe God's inscrutable ways (Ephesians 3:21).

*- Romans 11:33 speaks of the wealth of God's grace and glory (Romans 2:4; Romans 9:23; Romans 10:12; 2 Corinthians 8:9), the wisdom of His purposeful actions in history to save (1 Corinthians 1:18-31; Ephesians 1:8; Ephesians 3:10; Colossians 2:2-3), and His intimate knowledge of us (Romans 8:29; Romans 11:2; 1 Corinthians 8:3) are too deep for human beings to fathom.

*- Romans 11:34 are rhetorical questions highlighting the absurdity of anyone teaching God anything. We have no access to God's thinking except what He chooses to reveal to us.

*- Romans 11:35 rules out any thought that the Creator God owes us anything.

*- (Romans 11:36) With 3 prepositions, "from Him and through Him and to Him," Paul declares God, Creator and Savior, to be the source, means, and goal of everything. He is Alpha and Omega.

*- (Romans 11:25-36) In ways beyond our understanding, God has acted in mercy to bring salvation to Jews and Gentiles. Human beings cannot exchange roles with God, presuming to sit in judgment of Him. But we in whom His Spirit dwells praise Him for His inexhaustible kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

In a Lutheran layman's terms, faithful sermons are hard to come by these days, and so I'm going to continue to call attention to any that I find.

I hope you are blessed and edified by it as much as I was.

NOTE: As you know, I am a newly converted Confessional Lutheran who recently escaped American Evangelicalism. That being said, please contact me ASAP if you believe that any of my "old beliefs" seem to have crept their way into any of the material you see published here, and especially if any of the content is not consistent with our Confessions and Lutheran doctrine (in other words, if it's not consistent with God's Word, which our Confessions merely summarize and point us back to) so that I can correct those errors immediately and not lead any of His little ones astray (James 3:1). Finally, please be aware that you might also discover that some of the earlier pieces I wrote on this blog back in 2013 definitely fall into that category since I was a "Lutheran-In-Name-Only" at the time and was completely oblivious to the fact that a "Book of Concord" containing our Confessions even existed. In addition, there are some entries that are a little "out there" so-to-speak since the subject matter was also heavy influenced by common Evangelical concerns/criticisms that aren't that big a deal for us Lutherans. I know that now and I'm still learning. Anyway, I decided to leave those published posts up on this website and in cyberspace only because we now have this disclaimer and only to demonstrate the continuing work of Christ and the Holy Spirit in my life (Hebrews 12:2; Philippians 1:6). Finally, please know that any time we engage in commenting on and/or interpreting a specific portion of the holy Scriptures, it will always follow the verse-by-verse notes from my Lutheran Study Bible unless otherwise noted. Thank you for stopping by and thank you in advance for your time, help, and understanding. Grace and peace to you and yours!

Share|