Sermon for May 31, 2026, The Holy Trinity

Matthew 28:16-20 (The Holy Trinity—Series A)

“The Triune God Has Saved Us”

Lutheran Church of Our Redeemer, Enfield CT

May 31, 2026

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Our text is the Gospel Reading from Matthew 28:

¹⁶Now the Twelve disciples went to Galilee to the mountain where Jesus told them to go. ¹⁷And when they saw Him, they worshiped Him, but some doubted. ¹⁸And when Jesus had approached them, He spoke to them saying, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. ¹⁹Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰teaching them to guard all things which I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you for all the days, until the consummation of the age.”

         Lutheranism is not some sort of “new version” of Christianity. Neither Martin Luther nor any of his colleagues ever claimed to be starting a new church. Such a thought was the farthest thing from their minds. Lutheranism is a continuation of the historic, Christian faith of all times and places. With Christians of every time and place, we confess what God’s Word teaches—nothing more, and nothing less. The Lutheran Reformation was not about throwing away the past, but about keeping and preserving the best, while filtering out whatever hides and contradicts the Word of God in Holy Scripture.

         On June 25, 1580, the Book of Concord was published containing the Lutherans’ confession of faith and doctrine. The first thing included are the three Universal Creeds of the Church—the Apostles’, the Nicene, and the Athanasian Creed, which we confessed earlier in our service. This was done on purpose to show that the Lutheran Church was not some kind of new Christian sect, but believes, teaches, and confesses the Trinitarian faith handed down by the Church from the time of the Apostles. Article I of the Augsburg Confession acknowledges this straightforwardly: “Our churches teach with common consent that the decree of the Council of Nicaea about the unity of the divine essence and the three persons is true. It is to be believed without any doubt. God is one divine essence who is eternal, without a body, without parts, of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness. He is the maker and preserver of all things, visible and invisible. Yet there are three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit [Matthew 28:19]. These three persons are of the same essence and power.”^[1] Along with Christians of all times and in all places, we “worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity, neither confusing the persons nor dividing the substance” (Athanasian Creed).

         It is this One God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity who has saved us, His creatures, from all sins, from death, and from the devil’s power. In His last post-resurrection appearance, Jesus spoke a Good News Word to remove any lingering doubts His disciples had then—or now have—about His victory over sin, death, and the devil. All Trinitarian power and authority of the One, True God—including the power to save—has been given to Jesus. And it is Jesus who shares God’s authority with us, His disciples, so that God Himself might bring salvation to all nations, all people.

         As the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, Jesus is God, without beginning and without end. He is one with the Father and the Holy Spirit even as all three persons are one God and one Lord. This is the mystery of the Trinity that simply cannot be understood by our finite human brains. St. Paul puts this in proper perspective for inquiring minds who try so hard to use human reason to figure out God, saying, “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen” (Rom. 11:33-36 ESV).

         Therefore, we do what the Church has done from the beginning. We receive God’s Word and the testimony about Himself. We worship and confess the Trinity in Unity and the Unity in Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; one God, now and forever—who has saved His fallen creatures from sin, death, and the devil. God the Son took upon Himself human flesh and blood so that He might be able to take humanity’s place under the wrath and condemnation of God. In His Incarnation, Jesus kept perfect the very Law that He had given in the Commandments for us to do, and we failed. Jesus, True God and True Man, suffered the punishment for our sins against God and our neighbor as He bled and died on the cross.

         The perfect life and sacrificial death of Jesus, God and Man, purchased and won the forgiveness of our sins, saved us from eternal death, and rescued us from the power of the devil. The bodily resurrection of our Lord Jesus on the third day proves that He is the Son of God, that what He taught in His Word is the truth, and that God the Father accepted Christ’s sacrifice for the reconciliation of the world to Himself. This is the Gospel—the Good News—that the Church is privileged, indeed, sent into the world, to proclaim!

         The One, Triune God has given all His authority to the Lord Christ who lived, died, and rose again to accomplish our salvation and rescue from sin, Satan, and death. It is the Lord Christ who commissioned His disciples with the authority of the Triune God to share the Good News of salvation through the making of more disciples by baptizing and teaching.

Isn’t that how you came to receive the forgiveness of sins, rescue from death and the devil, and eternal salvation? God the Holy Spirit used water and the word of Christ to deliver the forgiveness of sins personally to you. That is His role in salvation, to make you holy by delivering to you what Jesus won for you with His perfect life, death on the cross, and resurrection from the grave. The Holy Spirit, coequal in glory, honor, power, and majesty with the Father and the Son, makes Christ known to you in Word, Baptism, and the Lord’s Supper. These are the Means of Grace. We Lutherans believe, teach, and confess in the Augsburg Confession, “So that we may obtain this faith, the ministry of teaching the Gospel and administering the Sacraments was instituted. Through the Word and Sacraments, as through instruments, the Holy Spirit is given. He works faith, when and where it pleases God, in those who hear the good news that God justifies those who believe that they are received into grace for Christ’s sake. This happens not through our own merits, but for Christ’s sake.”^[2]

In Holy Baptism, water was applied to you with Jesus’ Word, “In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” “To be baptized in God’s name is to be baptized not by men, but by God Himself. Therefore, although it is performed by human hands, it is still truly God’s own work.”^[3] In this Sacrament the Spirit created saving trust in you to believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. This faith received from God Himself the forgiveness of sins won for you by your Lord Jesus. Through this washing of water and the Word, God rescued you from death and the devil. Colossians 1:13-14, “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” In Baptism, the Lord has also given you eternal salvation. 1 Peter 3:21, “Baptism, which corresponds to [Noah’s flood], now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”

Those who are baptized into the Holy Christian Faith, baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection, are also taught the Christian faith according to our Lord’s command. Jesus inseparably connects Baptism and teaching, so that those who are able to receive instruction are normally baptized after being taught the main articles of the Christian faith. Infants and young children are brought to Baptism as soon as possible and then are instructed in the Christian faith as they grow and are able to receive it—in the home first, and in Sunday School, Confirmation instruction, and Bible study. You see, the Baptized never stop being taught, never stop reading and learning and taking to heart the Word of God that saves them through the Good News of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

The Baptized continually need the power and strength of the Gospel that the Spirit supplies through Baptism, Word, and Supper. While only the Word of the Gospel and Holy Baptism create saving faith, the Gospel, Baptism, and the Lord’s Supper all sustain and strengthen that holy faith and empower Christian living through the work of the Holy Spirit. All of us believers in Christ, baptized into His Name, need the comfort and strength of Christ’s forgiveness for living our new life while we are assaulted by the devil and struggle with our sinful nature in this life.

For this reason, the One God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity has given us the Gospel of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection for the forgiveness of sins in written and spoken words, but also in Word and water in the Sacrament of Baptism, and Word, bread, and wine in the Sacrament of the Altar whereby Christ gives us His true Body and Blood in, with, and under the bread and wine for the forgiveness of sins, life, salvation, and the strengthening of our baptismal faith.

The One, Triune God, who put His Name upon us in Baptism—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—has saved us from all sins, from death, and from the devil’s power. The Father sent His only Son to live a perfect life in our place and then to suffer, die, and rise again to redeem us from sin and death. The Ascended Christ and God our Father have poured out upon us the Holy Spirit through the Means of Grace. The Spirit uses these Means of Baptism, Word, and Supper, to deliver personally to us the gifts of saving faith, forgiveness, eternal life, and salvation which Jesus’ won for us. Along with the prophet Isaiah, we also proclaim, “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation!” (Is. 25:9 ESV). Amen.

     ^[1] Paul Timothy McCain, ed., Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions (St. Louis: Concordia, 2005), 31.

     ^[2] Paul Timothy McCain, ed., Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions (St. Louis: Concordia, 2005), 33.

     ^[3] Ibid., 424.