All Saints Day
You’re a Saint
1 John 3:1-3
1 November 2015 – Redeemer
Today, I’m going to tell you a secret but it is not a secret intended to be kept secret. You are a saint. And I know your first reaction is to protest with all your being. But pastor I never stood up like Martin Luther to false doctrine. I never reached down to the least of the least like Mother Theresa. I never had a dramatic change like Satanic Saul becoming Apostolic Paul in the New Testament. I completely agree with your assessment – you are not a saint based on what you do.
Saint John reveals this secret in today’s Epistle. See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. God’s love has made you a Saint. God’s love has begotten you as His children.
Here’s another secret – God’s love is not your grandpa’s love. God’s love is not a love which says, “Do anything you want and I will still love you.” God’s love is a love that recognizes you aren’t lovely. God’s love calls your sin sin and warns you against the danger of remaining in love with sin. God in His love clearly says, “Either I have you or your sin has you – you cannot have Me and sin.” God’s love does not overlook your rebellion and selfishness. He is holy and therefore must deal with you and your disobedience. Here’s the mystery of God’s love dealing with your hatred of Him – for that is what sin is. His love sheds His own blood for your sins. His love covers your life with His Son’s good works. God’s love for you is found in Jesus, in God made flesh, in His dead and now living body and blood. See what kind of love the Father has given to us – He has given Jesus.
You are a child of God by Jesus. You are a Saint by Jesus. You are what John saw and wrote down for us in today’s reading from Revelation. You are in that multitude that no one can number. Standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with a palm branch in your hand, crying out, “Salvation, belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb!” That’s you – you’ve washed your robe and made it white in the blood the Lamb. That’s you – no longer hungry for life, no longer thirsting for refreshment. That’s you in the shadow of Christ’s throne, drinking from His refreshing waters, every one of your tears wiped away.
And to that you say, “Pastor, I think you’ve had too much coffee. You’re seeing things.” I’m not there. I’m here. I’m not perfectly praising Jesus the Lamb of God, I’m struggling with my sin. I’m not living forever, I’m dying a little day by day. And far from resting and refreshed I get beaten, burned, and battered every day. I’m weary from life and worried about death.
Here’s the third secret of the sermon – that’s what you see, but that’s not what you are. Beloved we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is. Here’s the secret – your life is tied to Jesus, or better His life is tied to yours. Head and Body. Master and Servant. Lord and Disciple.
Consider Jesus’ life. What was His life like before His resurrection? His mother’s fiance, Joseph, thought he was the by-product of adultery, a clump of fetal tissue he could do without, until the angel told him differently. Herod would have killed the boy Jesus had it not been for the Angel’s warning. Jesus’ work was, by all visible measures, a failure. One of His own disciples betrayed Him and all of the disciples, save John, abandoned Him. The religious and political leaders, whose support was essential for success, put Jesus to death. Jesus wasn’t much to look at. The world mocked Him, beat Him, and killed Him. And only rarely, during that time, did anyone see Him for who He really was – when the Angels sang at His birth the secret was made known, at His Baptism the Father testified and some of the crowd heard the mystery of God made flesh, at the Transfiguration, Peter, James, and John, got to peak under the veil of Christ’s humanity. And there were a few miracles, but then came the resurrection. That Sunday morning Jesus’ appearance changed – Mary Magdalene didn’t recognize Him, the Emmaus travelers didn’t have a clue. From that moment on Jesus held nothing back, nothing hidden, nothing veiled. Now it was revealed – He is true God and true Man. This is the secret, the mystery, the hidden treasure of Christianity – that no other religion has or confesses. God died on the cross. God’s blood cleanses you of your sin. God’s own flesh paid the price for your rebellion. When Jesus rose and pulled back the veil revealing Himself once and for all as true God He declared, “Your sin is forgiven. Your life is forever. Your body will rise. When you believe in me what is mine is yours and we are in this together. See what kind of love the Father has given us.
Right now, what you are, is hidden, secret, you’re a mystery even to your own eyes. You are a Saint. You’re part of that heavenly assembly. Though you struggle with sin you are forgiven. Though you are dying you are alive forevermore. Though your body is moving closer to the ground in reality you are nearing the resurrection. When Jesus appears (and we pray “Come quickly Lord Jesus) when He appears we shall be like him, because we shall see Him as He is.”
Now, there’s one last word from Saint John in today’s Epistle. You don’t need to keep what you learned this morning a secret. In fact, you should let this mystery, this secret, this hidden truth of your sainthood, have its way with your life, your body, your family. This is how Saint John puts it, “And everyone who thus hopes in (Jesus) purifies himself as he is pure.”
So if you believe this secret, this mystery that God loves you, that you are His child, that you are a forgiven, living, white robbed, cleansed-in-the-blood-of-the- Lamb-saint, then this unseen truth will have its way visibly with your life. Since you are forgiven your love affair with sin is over and you’re divorcing sin from your life. Saints hate sin, fight against it, and repent of it. Since you’ve seen by faith that you’re living forever you now see your life here with open eyes – it isn’t about you dying with the most toys or pursuing your happiness. Now you are free from grabbing and hoarding and complaining to live your life for others – for your wife or husband, for your children, for your neighbor. Now that you have your eyes firmly fixed on the resurrection you look upon your body differently – your body is a holy gift from God, which He will raise on the last day. Therefore you treat your body with humility and respect. After all your flesh is holy, God has washed it in the blood of the lamb and it’s yours for all eternity. Even in death, Christians care for their bodies by laying them to rest in the ground in anticipation of the resurrection. You’re a saint – that’s a secret in that it is hidden from your eyes, but it’s not a secret, because God has spoken it into your ears. It is true. You are a saint. In the name of Jesus. Amen.