Church Sermon - November 3, 2002

ALL SAINTS’ DAY

Rev. Bernt P. Tweit

Epistle Lesson; Revelation 21:9-11, 22-27; 22:1-5
Old Testament Lesson; Isaiah 26:1-4, 8-9, 12-13, 19-21
Sermon Text; Matthew 5:1-12

Last week has prepared us for this week. Even though the two festivals of Reformation and All Saints’ Day are not related, the sermon that Pastor Bartels had for the Reformation, prepares us for the sermon that I am going to have today, on All Saints' Day. How did last week prepare us for this week? Well, the Reformation reminded us that we are justified by faith. God declares us not guilty, by faith in Christ. This is the central truth of the Bible.

Which leads us into our message for today. Today the message for All Saints’ Day is that we are sanctified through faith, now that we are justified by faith. As we know, we have been declared not guilty, through faith in Christ Jesus. We are now sanctified through faith. We are made holy through faith. Now that we have come to faith, we want to live a life that is God pleasing. God enables us to live a life, pleasing to Him. I will go into more detail, in a bit.

Today is All Saints' Day. Today we remember our members who have gone before us, into Heaven. And we especially remember those who died this past year, with the tolling of the bells, earlier in the service today.

As we remember the faithful people of the past, we are reminded that God has also made us saints, through faith in Christ Jesus! Jesus' perfect life and death covers our sin. Through Jesus, God has restored His holy image in us. And now we are to be faithful examples, for future generations.

What or who is a saint? People often think there are two criteria for being a saint. They think the person must have led a very, holy life and must now be dead. The Bible, however, calls all who believe in Jesus, living or dead, saints! We can look at passages in God’s Word that call the living, saints. For example, in the book of Ephesians, it calls those believers who are living, saints.

"For this reason,

ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints..."

Ephesians 1:15

And, in the book of Psalms it calls believers who have died, saints.

"Precious in the sight of the LORD

is the death of his saints."

Psalm 116:15

This means that believers who have died are saints and that you, me, and all other believers who are living, are saints! We are holy people, in God's sight!

At the same time, the Bible makes it clear that we are sinners. As we examine ourselves in the light of God's Law, it becomes very obvious that even our sanctified lives fall far short of what God demands.

"For all have sinned and

fallen short of the glory of God."

Romans 3:23

Even if we thought we were close to being perfect, and we committed only one sin per day, in the course of a 70-year lifetime, we would have committed over 25,000 sins.

No matter how hard we try, we do not carry out God's Will, as we wish to carry it out. In fact, when we examine ourselves, we see a sinful nature within us that goes against the new life God has given each of us. Thus we are at one and the same time, both saint and sinner.

Knowing that we are both a saint and a sinner at the same time, there is a temptation to take God’s grace for granted. There can be a danger in knowing that we are both saints and sinners. When we think that being a saint gives us the right to sin with safety, when we think we can live in sin and God will still view us as under grace, we need to hear the law of God’s threats, to keep sin in check.

Can two people live together, and enjoy the privileges of marriage, without the commitment of marriage, and still retain faith? Can people follow the loose morals of the world, and still remain God’s Children? Can people abuse alcohol and drugs, can they abuse their spouse and children, can they live with hatred in their hearts, and still keep their faith? Can someone give money the first place in their lives, and still keep faith? We obviously cannot judge hearts. Only God can do that. Yet, for those whose lives are characterized by repeated and willful disobedience to God, the warning is in place.

"Those who live like this

will not

inherit the kingdom of God."

Wake up! Evil works to destroy faith! Faith will not flirt or live with sin. Rather, in the face of sin, faith responds with Joseph,

"How then could I do such a wicked thing and

sin against God?"

Genesis 39:9

How long will this struggle between saint and sinner go on? Is there any hope we will have some relief from it, here in this world? The Bible tells us this struggle will continue, until we die. As long as we have this sinful flesh with us, we will have to struggle with temptations that arise from it. We need to remember that we will find ourselves facing daily temptations. These arise from our sinful flesh.

However, God has not left us without hope. Perhaps an illustration from Luther will help us understand this. "…no one is free from trials. However, we can defend ourselves against them and check them by asking for God’s help in prayer. Thus we read in the book of hermits how a young brother longed to rid himself of his thoughts. The aged hermit said to him, ‘Dear brother, you cannot prevent the birds from flying over your head, but you can certainly keep them from building a nest in your hair.’"

Paul also recognized the seriousness of the struggle he faced. He cried out, "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?" Romans 7:24. But he goes on to exclaim in relief and joy, "Thanks be to God-through Jesus Christ our Lord!" Romans 7:25

We are not capable of conquering the struggle by ourselves. But Jesus did. He won the struggle for us, by His victory on the cross! By ourselves, we could never hope to preserve our faith, to eternal life. It is only in Christ that we are assured of victory. As He said to His disciples on Maundy Thursday evening,

"In this world you will have trouble.

But take heart!

I have overcome the world."

John 16:33

Christ’s victory

is

our victory,

through faith!

This leads us to our text, which is the beginning of what is known as the Sermon on the Mount. We must keep in mind the audience to whom it was preached and the purpose Jesus had in mind. The audience was, primarily, Jesus’ disciples, although the large crowds, who had been following Jesus, were evidently in the background listening in. The purpose of the sermon was to give the believers a better understanding of the God-pleasing, Christian life. Here, Jesus is not teaching us how to be saved, but how we are to live, now that we have come to faith.

These words from our text, in the Sermon on the Mount, are also preached to you, believers. You know that you are justified and seen as not guilty of sin, in God’s eyes. You know that you are saved. And, you too want to live a life that is pleasing to God.

By faith in Jesus, wonderful blessings are yours! Let us look at the first four ways that God says we should live and how we are able to live a life that is pleasing to Him. Jesus said,

"Blessed are the poor in spirit," (Jesus doesn’t say ‘Blessed are those who are financially poor’, but He says, ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit’. These words are for you, because you know that you are unworthy sinners.)

"for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." (You will receive the kingdom of Heaven!)

"Blessed are those who mourn," (Today, as we come here for All Saints’ Day, we are mourning over sin and mourning over the consequences of sin, which is death. So we are mourning our loved ones who have been called home to Heaven, especially those who have been called home this past year.)

"for they will be comforted." (The Bible says that God will wipe away every tear from our eyes.)

"Blessed are the meek," (Blessed are you, because you are humble, gentle and patient.)

"for they will inherit the earth." (It is preserved for us. God will create new heaven and a new earth, and it will be given to us."

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness," (Blessed are you, because you trust God’s promises. Blessed are you, because you hunger and thirst to hear God’s Word and to know that you are declared not guilty in God’s eyes.)

"for they will be filled." (Your heart will be filled with forgiveness of all of your sins, until life everlasting.)

These verses from our text don’t tell us how we are saved, but rather they describe the blessedness that belongs to all believers in Christ. Our life of sanctification comes after we have been declared not guilty. Our life of sanctification is a powerful thing.

Luther speaks beautifully of the power in us, through faith. "Oh, faith is a living, busy, active, mighty thing, so that it is impossible for it not to be constantly doing what is good. Likewise, faith does not ask if good works are to be done, but before one can ask, faith has already done them and is constantly active."

Today the saints from this past year no longer struggle with sin. Their lives of sanctification are complete. But for us, we will struggle. But take heart, God still sees us as saints because Jesus went to the cross for us. May we always remember that because Jesus has won the victory for us, we are saints in God’s eyes. And, we sinners can come to Him in prayer, asking Him to help us in our daily life, so we can live a sanctified life, a life of holiness. His death on that cross has given us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ.

How can we ever thank you, Lord Jesus, for the great love that you have shown in saving us? How can we ever thank you, Holy Spirit, for working faith in our hearts? You have caused us to see our need and you have led us to trust in Jesus, as the one who meets our needs. We ask for your blessing today. Enable us to grow in our understanding of your saving word and see even more clearly our reason to thank and praise you.

Amen.

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