The Grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ, The Love of God, and the Fellowship of the Spirit be with you all. Amen.
1 John 3:3 “See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” (NASB)
Today we celebrate All Saints Day. It is, among Roman Catholic, mainline protestant, and Lutheran churches one of the high church festivals of the year. There is among liturgical churches agreement that we should celebrate “All Saints Day” as an expression of what Hebrews 13:7 instructs us to do as Christian. In this verse God says, “Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their way of life, imitate their faith.”
Honoring the Christians who have come before us, either historically as the Christian Church or in our own personal lives is a good and God pleasing thing. We are to remember whose who have passed on to us the faith once delivered to the saints.
The difference between our various celebrations, is what we are exactly celebrating. To say it more precisely, who are the saints? According to the Bible’s definition of the word, “saint” (agios) means “holy one.” A holy one is one without sin, one who is pure. One who looks like Jesus, that is, is in the image of God. You heard that in the first lesson assigned for this morning. “We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” (1 John 3:2-3)
The Roman Catholic Church teaches that the “saints” are all those who have attained heaven. Well there you go, we agree again, but then that gives rise to another question. Who are those who have attained heaven? The Roman Catholic Church teaches that they who have attained heaven are those who have been recognized in the canon of the saints by the Roman Catholic Church. Well now, that answer doesn’t seem to help much now, now does it?
So who are they who have attained heaven and whose names are written in the canon of the saints? Now here’s where we part company. They who have attained heaven and whose names are in the canon of the Roman Church are they who are recognized as saints and a saint is one who is recognized as saints by virtue of said saints’ faith and meritorious works.
In other words, in the Roman Catholic tradition there are a relatively a few people have been able to earn their entrance into heaven, thus bypassing time in purgatory. They did so by living an extra-ordinary life of faith (whatever that means) and good works (whatever that means).
So now keep in mind all I just said, while at the same time keeping in mind the why we keep and celebrate All Saints Day in the first place. (“Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their way of life, imitate their faith.”)
Contrary to what many Christian Churches teach, the Bible teaches that we sinners cannot make ourselves saints. We are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves. We sin because we are sinners. We are not sinners because we sin. The Bible teaches that God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit makes us saints, holy ones by grace through faith in Jesus Christ for Christ’s sake alone by way of the Word and Sacrament ministry of the Church. God calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies us and the whole Christian church on earth.
This means that real sainthood and immediate access to heaven is granted to the Christian upon a Christian’s immediate departure from this world. Access to heaven is granted only to all the holy ones. Immediate access is not reserved for the elite few.
“See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. . . 3 And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”
This is the only reason that All Saints Day exists and it is one of the more joyous days in the church calendar. It celebrates the people who came before us and who upon their departure joined Jesus and all the saints in heaven: loved ones, family members, friends, and historical figures.
Today you are called upon to remember and celebrate the faithful loved ones who’ve been separated from you by death, but who now reside in heaven. For us, the congregation of Immanuel Lutheran Church here in East Peoria, we remember and celebrate the two saints who departed from this world this past year and who now reside in heaven. Kathy Atkinson and Elaine Debis.
“These who are clothed in the white robes, who are they, and where have they come from?” I said to him, “My lord, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” (Rev. 7:13-14)
Think of all of your loved ones who have died the physical death and whose Christian faith and life influenced you, brought you to the baptism waters, to church, and who lived as Christians. Now such remembering is always bitter sweet. It is natural that we miss them and our missing them produces saddness. But our sadness will give way to heavenly joy, because they have reached their heavenly home. This is what we celebrate on All Saints Day.
What St. Paul wrote of grieving Christians is true. “You will not grieve as indeed the rest of mankind do, who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose from the dead, so also God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus.”
We grieve, not like those who have no hope in the heavenly reunion, but as people who will be united with our Lord Jesus Christ and all the saints in heaven. We grieve the separation. Having said all this, All Saints Day not only looks back to the saints who blessed our lives and the life of the Christian church, it is about the future too.
The reading from Revelation tells us that there are a lot of saints. “After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all the tribes, peoples, and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.” (Rev. 7:9) St. John also tells us what makes a person a saint. “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”
The writer to the Hebrews wrote, (13:12) “Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.” “Sanctify” means makes holy. Again Hebrews (9:22) “And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” The Apostle John wrote in 1 John 1:7 “The blood of Jesus [God’s] Son cleanses us from all sin.”
Our Lutheran Confessions approves or honoring and remembering the saints of old.
“For here a threefold honor is to be approved. The first is thanksgiving. For we ought to give thanks to God because He has shown examples of mercy; because He has shown that He wishes to save men; because He has given teachers or other gifts to the Church. And these gifts, as they are the greatest, should be amplified, and the saints themselves should be praised, who have faithfully used these gifts, just as Christ praises faithful businessmen, (Matthew 25:21, 23). The second service is the strengthening of our faith; when we see the denial forgiven Peter, we also are encouraged to believe the more that grace truly superabounds over sin (Romans 5:20). The third honor is the imitation, first, of faith, then of the other virtues, which every one should imitate according to his calling. These true honors the adversaries do not require.”
The world has the idea that sinners can make themselves pure by virtue of their own moral character, own good intentions, and deeds. But there is no comfort, no joy, or no peace in a doctrine that teaches that sainthood is a combination of faith and ones own good deeds. There is no comfort upon death when it is taught and believed that only a very, very few have achieved sainthood by what they have believed and done.
The Apology of the Augsburg Confession says this “Wherefore we hold, according to the Scriptures, that the Church, properly so called, is the congregation of saints [of those here and there in the world], who truly believe the Gospel of Christ, and have the Holy Ghost.”
While we and the world were busy rejecting God, God had already put a plan into place to reconcile us with Him, to make sinners saints. “Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons and daughters through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.” (Eph. 1:4-6)
Remember our study of Romans 8? “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.” (Rom. 8:29-30)
By the way, to be conformed to the image of God’s Son is to be sanctified, made a holy one. To be glorified by God is to be sanctified, made a holy one.
When we see the Father’s only begotten Son on the cross, we see “how great a love the Father has bestowed on us.” John 3:16 –“ God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.”
You, right here and right now have been called, gathered, enlightened, and sanctified. You have been glorified. You have been wrapped in the white robe of Jesus Christ. You bear the image of Christ Jesus.
The robe the your departed Christian loved ones wore into the grave, that’s the robe they are wearing now in the heavenly realm. It is the same robe that was place on you in the waters of your baptism and in the spoken Word. What is hidden from view now and only grasped by faith, will be seen. 2 “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.”
O blest communion, fellowship divine, We feebly struggle, they in glory shine, Yet all are one in Thee, for all [including you] are Thine, (TLH 463 v.4) Behold a host arrayed in white, Like thousand snow clad mountains bright, with palms they stand. Who is this band before the throng of Light? Lo these are they of glorious fame [people known for their faith and life in Christ] who from the great affliction came And in the flood of Jesus’ blood are cleansed from guilt and blame. Now gathered in the holy place their voices they [your] in worship raise. (TLH 656 v.1)
AMEN.
May the peace that surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.