245. Tuesday after Trinity Sunday.
Lord, teach us to know
thy power and glory.
Matthew 28, 18-20. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
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Christ is almighty God from everlasting; here, however, he speaks of his power as our high priest, prophet, and king. The whole world has been given him to save, and he has redeemed it through his death; whereafter the Father gave him a place at his right hand, and “there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom.” (Daniel 7, 14). All things are at his disposal in his work of extending the church by means of the word and sacraments; he can make use of all angels and spirits in heaven, and of all men and powers on earth. This we should bear in mind, in order that our faith may be strengthened. I wonder, if we have given due consideration to this glorious truth: “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.” “All power,” and all wisdom, and love, and righteousness, are in the service of the Christian church; and what, then, shall do it any injury? He who has dominion over all things for the benefit of the church is with his own alway, unceasingly, every hour, unto the end of the world. Therefore he is able to command his disciples to go and make all the world subject to him. 1) They are to make all people his disciples; Christianize all nations. Truly, a royal command; and it is obeyed! The whole mission work of the church rests on this command of the Lord. Satan has all the time furiously opposed it, — by means of persecutions, by the secularization of the church, and by all manner of sects, which try to prevent the conversion of the nations to the Christian faith. But his efforts are vain; for no power can nullify the command of Christ: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations.” 2) “Baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” He can speak in the name of the holy Trinity, and has control of the whole power and revelation of God in word and deed. To be baptized into the name of the Father is to be united with the Father of Jesus as his child. Baptism into the name of the Son is to be received into his kingdom, and to have part in his work of redemption. To be baptized into the name of the Holy Ghost is to receive the Spirit into the heart, and become his habitation. “Baptize them,” and “teach them;” by these two means the kingdom of Christ is extended. Teach them to “observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” Have not the apostles done this? We need have no doubt whatever that they have imparted to the church “all utterance and all knowledge;” and when we teach that which they taught, we need not hesitate to declare that it is the full and complete doctrine of Jesus Christ. But neither must we forget to “observe” all these things. Even among the Christianized nations the true disciples are apt to be few. The wheat is there; but the tares are there in still greater abundance. There are many who confess Christ, but few who follow after him. Let this grieve us; and let us fulfill the command of Christ by taking upon our shoulders the sins of our people, and praying, as he prayed, that they may be forgiven; and let us, like Paul, Daniel, Nehemiah, Moses, and all the saints of old, feel ourselves to be one with our people.
Our text brings out with clearness that the Father and Son and Holy Ghost are three persons, but one God, as the church teaches. God has revealed himself as the triune God, because that is what he is in fact. And our faith needs just such a God. We could not do without the Father; what would in that case become of our adoption of sons, our right of inheritance, or of the prayer which Jesus has taught us to address to “Our Father”? In like manner we need the Son, our Savior and Lord, who is our only way to the Father. And the Spirit is equally necessary; for who but the Spirit could lead our hearts to Jesus, and teach us to cry Abba, Father? Blessed be the triune God, the God of our salvation, the God of our strength and our song! Amen.*
To the great One in Three
Eternal praises be,
Hence evermore!
His sovereign majesty
May we in glory see,
And to eternity
Love and adore. [TLH 239; LSB 905]
* Here the head of the family says a short morning or evening prayer in his own words, and closes with the Lord’s Prayer and the Benediction. This is to be done every day. If the stanzas are not sung, they may be read in their proper place before the impromptu petition and the Lord’s Prayer.