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Sermon:
Today is Trinity Sunday, when we think about how we relate to God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and where we fit in. How is our identity as kingdom people interwoven into the trinity? How are somehow involved, invited into, the community of being which the Father, Son, Spirit relationship somehow mysteriously is? And what is the impact of that on our lives, on our discipleship?
So what makes up our identity? It’s often tied up with how we are related to others, and what our job, or main role in life is.
When you move somewhere, and get to know a new group of people, start to build relationships, there’s often a pattern to many of the conversations. People might say, “I’m so-and-so, and that lady over there with the blue dress on is my wife”, or “I’m a grandmother – I’ve got six grandchildren”, or “I’m so-and-so’s sister”. We then usually have a chat about what you do work-wise or in your retirement, what you’re involved in in the church, and I might talk about what I do as an archdeacon. In other words, how we all fit into the scheme of relationships, and what we do.
These things are important, and they go a long way towards making up our identity. But the worrying thing is, these things are also transient, and can suddenly or gradually be taken away from us. We may lose or change our job, and relationships may end.
When my maternal grandmother died, she was the last remaining one of my grandparents, so suddenly I was not really someone’s grand-daughter anymore. An aspect of my identity has changed. Some of you may know the pain of losing a partner through death or divorce, which of course brings about a major change of status. Some will have recently become parents for the first time, bringing about a new identity of mum or dad. Eventually you’ll probably wonder if you ever had an identity other than “Sam’s mum” or “Katy’s Dad”. But eventually these children grow up, and flee the nest, bringing about a change in your role as parents, as you care for them from more of a distance, or perhaps they have to start caring for you instead.
Yes, our identity, as formed in relationship to others, be it as wife, parent, son, sibling, does change as we go through life, and when big changes happen, especially when people close to us leave or die, it can make us feel very insecure and shaky on many levels, as if we don’t quite know who we are for a while.
But friends, the good news is, as Christians we have one identity which can never be taken away from us, and which will never change. That is our identity as children of God. In Paul’s letter to the Romans, in chapter 8 he tells us that we have been adopted into God’s family. We are his sons and daughters. We are his heirs. As his children we can call him “Abba, Father” And this identity lasts for ever. It’s guaranteed for life, for eternity even! It’s an identity which brings with it security and confidence.
But do we live as if we are secure in this identity? Do we know in our hearts that we are children of God? I think for many of us, being a child of God comes quite a long way down the list of how we identify ourselves, perhaps because deep down, we don’t feel worthy to be called his sons and daughters, or we think we haven’t quite done enough to earn that status yet, or we can see how it applies to other Christians, but can’t quite believe it for ourselves. We can’t quite believe that God loves us as his children, even though we have the Spirit to guide us into all truth, and enables us to know that God’s love has been poured into our hearts.
That’s one of the reasons why God gives us his Holy Spirit! One of the things the Holy Spirit does, is to assure us that we are God’s children. When we allow the Holy Spirit into our lives, the Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. That’s all of us. “All those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.”
God so loved the world, our gospel reading says, that he sent his son, so that we might be saved through him. By sending his Son Jesus to die for our sins, God enabled us to have the status of children of God, by then sending his Spirit into our lives God enables us to experience that relationship with him, being part of his family.
Each of us who has accepted Jesus as our saviour, as adopted children inherit all that is our Father’s – everything. And the transaction is complete. We don’t have to earn it, or build up to it. We just live it – from now on. But because we’re beginners, and because God’s kingdom hasn’t come fully on earth yet, he’s also sent his Holy Spirit to help us live it in the meantime. The Holy Spirit is living in us. He teaches us how to relate to our Father. He prays in us, so we learn the language of intimacy which God’s children have with their Father. The Holy Spirit enables us to say “Abba, Father” or “Dad”. To use intimate, family language, to know Jesus as our co-heir and brother, and, most importantly, to know God as our Father. What a privilege!
When we feel unworthy, or simply that we don’t know where to begin living as God’s children, the Spirit is there to help, to both remind us of God’s love for us, deep within, and also to help us find ways of expressing our love for God. In fact, the Spirit in us can enable us to love the Father in the same way that Jesus loves the Father. Imagine that!
So what difference does it make, living as those led by the Holy Spirit, having received the Spirit of adoption in our lives? In essence, it affects our whole identity. It affects who we are, and what we do!
Who we are, is children of God. We are loved by God more than the best-ever human father could love and care for his children. Do you know that for yourself? Do you know the loving-heart of God? Are you sure of your identity as his child? Do you know that he delights in you? If not, ask the Holy Spirit to reveal these things to you. To speak the truth into your life that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Jesus.
Who we are, as children of God, means also that we can come to him as children come to their father, and experience the intimacy of a really close relationship, expressing our love for him. With the help of the Holy Spirit, in our worship and prayer, we can relate to the Father in the same way that Jesus does.
And if that is my identity, if I know who I am, it will also affect what I do. Not that I do things so that I will be God’s child, I do things because I am his child. Walking in the Spirit means we start to take on the family likeness. The fruit of the Spirit starts to become evident in our lives. We start being transformed, becoming like Jesus. As well as him putting in our hearts a love for our Father, The Spirit inspires us with the Father’s love for the other members of the family, even those we disagree with!.
Living confident that we are God’s children can change our whole identity, making us secure in who we are and how we relate to our Father and to each other. If that is not our experience, then we need to ask the Holy Spirit into our lives afresh, to testify to that fact in our hearts, to assure us of God’s love for us, and to increase our intimacy with him.