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Have you ever heard of the “I-AM-CANADIAN” rant?  This was a beer commercial in which a man named Joe talked about what it means to him personally to be Canadian.   He listed a few points that most Canadians could relate to and then said, “My name is Joe, and I-AM-CANADIAN”!

The particular commercial ended up being a cultural phenomenon.   Even people who don’t drink beer raised their hands to their hearts and cheered along.   They showed that they knew that to be a Canadian is to be something special.   They identified with something outside of themselves and joined in the wave of national pride.   We are Canadian, and as Canadians, we have a sense of what this actor in that beer commercial  was talking about.

In our Gospel lesson this morning, Jesus used words that identified Him for who He was, too.   He said, “Before Abraham was born, I AM!”   In doing that, He was saying something that set Him apart from everyone else in a way that was so clear that the people who heard Him on the Temple grounds that day picked up stones to kill Him!   

That is what happens when you clearly identify yourself.   You put yourself at risk.  You challenge yourself to accept yourself for who you are and you challenge others to accept you for who you are, too!  This Trinity Sunday, we see in our lessons how God identifies Himself to us.  By letting you know who He is, He is inviting you to know who you are, too.   Thank God that, by His grace, you can say, “I-AM-CHRISTIAN”!

 

I certainly hope that it doesn’t imply too much to use a beer commercial as an outline for a sermon.    Then again, we are Lutheran, and there have been people who have somehow made a connection between Lutherans and beer anyway, based on a special talent that Martin Luther’s wife, Katie, had for brewing beer.  Nevertheless,  this certainly gives us a great way to see how God Himself identifies Himself to us and teaches us who we are in Christ’s name! 

The I-AM-CANADIAN rant started off with the guy named Joe saying what he is not: He is not a lumberjack or fur trader and does not live in an igloo, eat blubber or own a dog sled.  He said that he has a prime minister and not a president and speaks English and not American.   He set himself apart from Americans by pointing out some of the differences between an American and a Canadian.

God’s Word does the same thing when talking about God.  God’s Word was given to us at a time when people had decided to believe in gods that made more sense to them than the God of the Bible.  It came at a time when almost everyone had taken every little thing that God actually does and assigned those roles and blessings to an entire army of false gods.   For the greatest part of ancient times, for example, there were sun gods and moon gods and fertility gods and harvest gods and water gods and fire gods and on it went.   According to the Concordia Study Bible notes, “There were different gods for different peoples, different geographical areas, different cosmic regions and different aspects of life.” Most groups would have an entire political system of gods so that one god would rule above all the others, but in their minds, gods were simply like people who happened to be able to do more than what people could do.   

In response, the Living God made it clear what He is not: He is not like the false gods and human inventions and useless idols that so many people would rather cling to.   There are many references to these false gods in the Old Testament.  We read that the Living God “is to be feared above all gods.” (1 Chronicles 16:25).  We hear that God is “the great king above all gods.”  (Psalm 95:3)   We are told that “the Lord is to be exalted far above all gods.” (Psalm 97:9)   This does not mean that there are other gods that actually exist beyond the imagination of the people who came up with them in the first place.   It simply means that the Living God deserves the glory and the honour and the praise that countless people waste on the gods of their own invention and useless idols that bring a false sense of meaning into their lives.

There is even more to it than that.   Paul said in 1 Corinthians 8:4, “We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one.”   A person who knows the living God as Jesus Christ Himself has brought us to our God knows that pagan gods simply do not exist, but the people who are still caught in idol worship are in a completely different place.    There is no such thing as harmless superstition when it comes to the actual worship of false gods.   Paul warned the congregation in Corinth against the idea that, if idols don’t exist, then it doesn’t matter if people worship them.    He said to them, “The sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to participate with demons.  You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons, too.  You cannot have a part in both the Lord’s Table and the table of demons.”  (1 Corinthians 10:20-21)  

You see, there is no such thing as worshipping the Living God if you only agree to acknowledge one thing about Him.   You can’t say, “I see God in nature, so if I am worshipping nature, I am worshipping God.”  You can’t say, “Those people who believe in God but reject Jesus Christ are still worshipping God if they pray to the Creator.”  Any time you try to chop God up into little parts like that, you are going right back to the many false gods of paganism.  You are going right back to the very real truth that you are setting aside God and worshipping demons instead!   

This is the great irony of our Gospel lesson this morning.  The Jews who spoke to Jesus at the Temple grounds accused Jesus of being possessed by a demon.   The reality was that, in rejecting Jesus, they had actually turned their worship of God into the worship of demons.  They still used the Scriptures and they still used worship styles and they still lived a lifestyle that looked right, but they had traded the worship of the True God into the worship of only a part of God.  They had confused themselves so much that they were completely convinced that they were doing the right thing, even while they were worshipping themselves straight to hell!

This is why the prophets spoke the same startling words to the Jews time and time again that Hosea spoke: “I am not your God!” (Hosea 1:9)    That was the very point that Jesus made to the people who refused to believe in Him.   “He who rejects Me, rejects Him who sent Me!”  (Luke 10:16)   Those Jews in our Gospel lesson who were so upset with Jesus that they tried to stone Him to death were aggressively rejecting God.  They didn’t want God.   They wanted the idol they had created which gave them the sense that they were a superior people who were entitled to power and glory and wealth and all the other goodies that people who like to think they are superior think makes them superior.   They did not want the truth.   They did not want the real God.  They only wanted to be right at all costs.

In our second lesson this morning, Peter preached a sermon that got right to this point.  He quoted King David, who worshipped the Living God and understood that the Living God was also the Messiah who was always before him in faith.    Peter said, “David was a prophet and know that God had promised him on oath that He would place one of his descendants on his throne.  Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that He was not abandoned to the grave, nor did His body see decay.  God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of this fact.”  (Acts 2:30-32)   The whole point is this: the true believers of the Old Testament understood what God is not.  They understood that God is not the god that so many Jews worship when they claim to know the Creator but they reject the Redeemer.   

There are people today who think that people are doing fine as long as they get even a little bit right about God.  They say things like, “As long as you know how to love, then you are worshipping the real God no matter what you call Him.”   They say, “As long as you are good and moral and sincere, it doesn’t matter what you think about God if you believe there is a god or not; you still belong to God!”  They say, “The Moslem God is really God and the Jewish God is really God and it is very intolerant and unkind of you to say anything different.”  In order to say those things, you have to ignore the clear words of the Bible.   When you do that, you are making an idol out of your own sense of superiority over God’s Word.  To put in into Paul’s words, you are “having a part in both the Lord’s Table and the table of demons.”    With God, it is all or nothing.  That is why God spends so much time in the Bible making it clear who He is not!

In that “I-AM-CANADIAN” rant, the actor who called himself Joe first spoke about what he is not, but then he spoke about what he was.   He said he  was someone who could proudly sew our flag onto his backpack, who was into peacekeeping and not policing around the world, who preferred diversity over assimilation.    

That is something that God does in the Bible, too.   God also makes it clear who He is.   The clearest and possibly most famous statement of who God is, is found in Deuteronomy 6:4, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.”    Some people think that this is all there is to it, but God spends a great deal of time in the Bible making it clear that this is just an introduction to who God is!

In our Old Testament lesson this morning, there are clearly two completely different persons.  We hear how the Holy Spirit was appointed from eternity, from before the world began to convey God’s Word and empower God’s Word.   The Spirit, called Wisdom in this lesson, witnessed how the Father created the world.   He was the craftsman at the Creator’s side who rejoiced in everything that the Father had done and who delights in mankind.    There are other references, too, like the one in Genesis 1:2, where the Spirit of God hovered over the waters.   Jesus famously acknowledged the Holy Spirit as the Counselor and then showed us that the Holy Spirit is equal to Him as He gave us all authority in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and commanded us to baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  (Matthew 28:19)   

There is an entire list of things in the Bible that describe who God is.   You may have learned about that in confirmation class.  God is eternal, unchangeable, almighty, present everywhere, holy, just, faithful, good, merciful, gracious, and loving, and He is all those things to perfection.  God is very much a personal God who knows you personally and loves you personally and has every desire to keep that relationship personal through all of eternity.    What defines Him more than anything else is that “God so love the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.”   This is what makes John 3:16-17 such an important passage for everyone to learn!   There is no other God like our God because only the Living God actually desires for the whole world to have the chance to be saved!   Only the Living God reveals Himself so fully and clearly for who He is  – the God of forgiveness and mercy and grace!

In that “I-AM-CANADIAN” rant, Joe followed up with his statement of who he is not and who he is by setting a few facts straight.   He addressed the misconceptions that people who don’t know Canadians seem to have about Canadians.   He clarified that a toque is a hat, a chesterfield is a couch, and that the last letter of the alphabet is zed, and not zee!

This is something that the Living God also does.   There are some very serious misunderstandings that people have when they don’t know God.   For example, many, many people claim that there is no such thing as sin.  God’s could not make His Word on that one any clearer: “If we claim we have not sinned, we make God out to be a liar and His Word has no place in our lives.”  (1 John 1:10)   Another common mistake that human beings make is that you can follow the rules and to good things and make everything so right in your life that you don’t need someone like Jesus to save you, or at least you can help Jesus save you.  There is another clear answer to that wrong idea: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves – not by works, so that no one can boast.”  (Ephesians 2:8-9)   Then again, there are many people who claim that there is no such thing as hell and no such thing as judgement or punishment from God, because a loving God could not possibly reject anyone.    To this, God turns it around and makes it clear that He does not reject us, but it is people who reject Him.   Jesus said, “There is a judge for the one who rejects Me and does not accept My words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day.”  (John 12:48)   

The Bible is filled with direct answers to the misconceptions and the false teachings and the hatred and everything that people say and do to try to confuse others or push God out of their lives.   There are many accounts of the hatred that people showed in response the love and the compassion of God.  There are many examples of the rejection that Jesus suffered, not because Jesus was doing things wrong, but because He threatened their self-righteousness and their sense of self importance and kept kicking over their idols and kept confronting the very demons that the people worshipped.  

In fact, this is the entire point of the Bible.  The Bible is given to show us our sins and to testify to our Saviour.   It was given to make it clear to us how much we ignore God and abuse God’s love and how little we deserve His compassion and His love.   It was given to show us just what kind of God we really have: someone who chose to deal with us not as our sins deserve, but with mercy instead.    It is very clear in our second lesson this morning that we, “with the help of wicked men, put Jesus to death on the Cross.  But God raised Jesus from the dead, freeing Him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on Him.”  It is very clear that God took all that we meant for harm and used it in order to save us as “God made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ!”

In that “I-AM-CANADIAN” rant, the actor who called himself Joe wrapped things up with some statistics.    He gave some simple facts to help people define this place called Canada: Canada is the second largest country by landmass, is the first place in hockey and it is the best part of North America.  The man stated those facts and the Canadians who listened to them understood that they were invited to agree with them and to celebrate them!

We have a great number of facts about God in the Bible.   It is a fact that God is the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, who is one God in three persons and three persons in one God.  It is a fact that as one person reaches out to us, all of God reaches out to us.  As one person of God forgives us, all of God forgives us.   As one person blesses us and keeps, all of God blesses us and keeps us.  We are loved by the entirety of God and cherished by all of God and saved by all of God and kept holy by all of God.  

This is what Jesus was telling the people in our Gospel lesson.   He stated the facts and the people understood what He said very, very clearly.  Jesus said, “Before Abraham was born, I AM”.   Jesus connected Himself directly with the Father, who had told Moses through a burning bush that this is who God is: “I AM”.  (Exodus 3:14)   The people were supposed to recognize Moses as their deliverer when Moses gave them the message, “I AM has sent me to you.”   In the same way, the people were supposed to recognize Jesus and rejoice in Him when Jesus told them “I AM”, because this was the sign that not only was Jesus sent by the Father, but that He was equal to the Father!   There was no issue here about the people not getting the point.  They got it, but they didn’t want to get it!  

Saving faith does something quite different.  Saving faith moves you and me to truly rejoice in the fact that Jesus is “I AM”.   Saving faith invites you to rejoice in the fact that God Himself gave up His life for you.  God Himself saved you.  God Himself loves you.   God Himself has come to you in Jesus so that you may know the truth about God and worship the true and Living God!

Now that “I AM” moves you to rejoice that you are someone, too!   In Christ, you can say, “I am saved.”  “I am a child of the heavenly Father.”  “I am Christian!”

What does that mean?  It means that you understand beyond just your mind but in your heart of hearts that God has made you and all creatures; that He has given you your eyes, ears, and all your members, your reason and all your senses, and still takes care of them.   He has also given you clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, animals and all that you have.   He richly and daily provides you with all that you need to support this body and life.  He defends you against all danger and guards and protects you from all evil.  All this He does purely out of fatherly divine goodness and mercy without any merit and worthiness in you.  For all this it is your duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him.    Not only that, the Creator gives you Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of God from all eternity and also true man, born of the virgin Mary to be your Lord, who has redeemed you, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won you from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy precious blood and His innocent suffering and death that you may be His own and live under Him in His Kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence and blessedness, just as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity.   

How has that come to you?   It is not by your own reason or strength that you believe in Jesus Christ, or come to Him, but the Holy Spirit has called you by the Gospel, enlightened you with His gifts, sanctified and kept you in the true faith.  In the same way He calls, gathers, enlightens and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith.  In this Christian church He daily and richly forgives all your sins and the sins of all believers.   On the Last Day He will raise you and all the dead and give eternal life to you and all believers in Christ.  This is most certainly true.

That “I-AM-CANADIAN” rant stirred a great deal of national pride in many Canadians by reminding them how special it is to be Canadian.   The same thing is true when we consider who the Living God is.  Taking the time to be reminded about our God stirs up gratitude for what God has done.   It stirs up the fact that we truly have much to celebrate when we consider all the blessings we have received when Jesus brought us into the family of our Triune God!   May God fill you with this gratitude for Jesus’ sake as He reminds you who you are in telling you what it means for Him to be “I AM”.   Amen