Feast of The Holy Trinity, 2011
Genesis 1:1-2:3
“Loving Father”
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
What a wonderful day to celebrate Father’s Day as we join together in worship and praise of the Holy Trinity—God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. As we give thanks to God our Heavenly Father for the loving fathers He has given us…let us not forget to also celebrate God the Father’s Day. As a father’s love is a reflection of the Heavenly Father’s love let us go back to the beginning where love first began.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1) Out of nothingness God created the heavens and the earth. You know the story of creation. On the first day God created the heaven’s and the earth and light. On the second day God separated water from the sky. The third day He made dry land and created plants and trees. The fourth day God made the stars and planets to mark days, years, and seasons. On the fifth day God created birds and fish. On the sixth day he created land animals and man and on the seventh day God rested after seeing all that He created. Not only did God create but after creating He looked and saw that “it was good.” Over and over again those words are a common refrain to God’s creation.
But there was one creation that was different. It wasn’t just good but our text says that “it was VERY good.” (Genesis 1:31) Can you guess what that creation was? “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so. God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.” (Genesis 1:26-31)
Before His creation was complete God made a very special creation…a creation unlike anything else. It was man; Adam and Eve. All of the sudden God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit created man in their image…in the image of God. All of creation was created good but man was very good. All of creation was special but only people were created in the image of God. All of creation is a wonder to behold and it was all given to mankind to use and rule over. What a wonderful creation. What a wonderful beginning. What love God had for man at the very beginning.
Unfortunately…things would change…and we know that change wouldn’t be for the better. Very soon after God created the heavens and the earth and all that are in them…sin would enter the world. Eve would be tempted by Satan who took the form of a snake. Eve would eat of the forbidden fruit as well as Adam. Their eyes were open. They had disobeyed God. The world would never be the same. The perfect creation had been corrupted. All of the sudden death would enter the world…as well as trouble and heartache, sickness and disease, murder and jealousy and on and on…sin was everywhere.
We too, whether we like it or not, are also sinners. Our sinfulness indeed traces itself all the way back to Adam. As Scripture records: “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned.” (Romans 5:12)
Many wonder if God the Father isn’t loving. They question: if God loves us why is there sin and death? If God loves us why do people suffer? If God loves us why is there violence, sickness, disease, warfare, murder, adultery, rape, and the like? Why?
But that puts the question in the wrong place. We are guilty of our own sin we have only ourselves to blame. God gave Adam and Eve free will to choose because God wanted Adam and Eve to love Him…not because they were forced to but because they really loved Him. But through Satan’s tempting Adam and Eve sinned. The world was corrupted…free will destroyed…and the will of man was bound in sin.
God never stopped loving us. He banned Adam and Eve from the garden so that they wouldn’t live forever in corruption. God even made them garments to wear. (Genesis 3:21). But the most important thing God did was promise Adam and Eve…and their children…all of us…a Savior. “And I will put enmity between you [Satan] and the woman [Eve], and between your offspring and hers; he [Jesus] will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” (Genesis 3:15)
There is our Father’s love. From the very beginning He created…for you. Even as you sin God loves and cares for you. God loves each of you so much that He not only promised to send a Savior…but sent us our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
Today…we celebrate Father’s Day. We celebrate all the faithful and loving fathers we have been blessed by God to have. We give thanks for all the hard work they do, the love they share, the devotion they have for us and the sacrifices they make for each of us. And so we also celebrate God the Father’s day this Holy Trinity Day as we recall the sacrifice God our Father made by sending His only Son to die for our sins. We give thanks for Jesus who died for us. We give thanks that salvation has been won as our Heavenly Father promised. And we give thanks that God has sent His Spirit to create and sustain our Faith; to bring us home to heaven.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all humand understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior. Amen.
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