All Saints: Thank God for the Saints 2023
Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 3 viewsNotes
Transcript
Introduction/Sermon
Introduction/Sermon
though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more:
circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee;
as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.
But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.
What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ
and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.
I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.
Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,
I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Pray.
In the words of Dr. Ellsworth Kalas… “the good news is today is All Saint’s Day, an important and beautiful part of the Christian year. The bad news is I have to convince you that it matters.”
Contemporary acknowledgement of All Saints Day in the church is about remembering all those that we have lost this year. Later on we will read the names of our church family that have passed.
But the history of All Saints has a wider scope:
All Saints’ Day (November 1). Major observance dating to at least the late fourth century, originally set aside to honor Christian martyrs. Other (non-canonized) deceased Christians are honored the following day, on All the Faithful Departed/All Souls’ Day (November 2). Many Protestants, holding that all Christians are saints, honor all the Christian departed on All Saints’ Day (November 1) or the Sunday following. Historically, the date has varied widely among traditions.
Ignatius:
Bishop of Antioch in Syria. Spending his last days on the way to his death writing and encouraging Christians in the faith.
I am not commanding you, as though I were somebody important. For even though I am in chains for the sake of the Name, I have not yet been perfected in Jesus Christ. For now I am only beginning to be a disciple, and I speak to you as my fellow students.
Polycarp:
Bishop and defender of the faith in Smyrna for 60 years
“Leave me as I am; for he who enables me to endure the fire will also enable me to remain on the pyre without moving, even without the sense of security which you get from the nails.”
“O Lord God Almighty, Father of your beloved and blessed Son Jesus Christ, through whom we have received knowledge of you, the God of angels and powers and of all creation, and of the whole race of the righteous who live in your presence, (2) I bless you because you have considered me worthy of this day and hour, that I might receive a place among the number of the martyrs in the cup of your Christ, to the resurrection to eternal life, both of soul and of body, in the incorruptibility of the Holy Spirit. May I be received among them in your presence today, as a rich and acceptable sacrifice, as you have prepared and revealed beforehand, and have now accomplished, you who are the undeceiving and true God. (3) For this reason, indeed for all things, I praise you, I bless you, I glorify you, through the eternal and heavenly High Priest, Jesus Christ, your beloved Son, through whom to you with him and the Holy Spirit be glory both now and for the ages to come. Amen.”
Martin Luther:
Great reformer that would risk it all because he knew the church had gone astray, that people were not being led in the way of Christ and given proper access to the free gift of Jesus Christ.
John Wesley:
taking the faith to the people and brought renewal into the land for he knew that we could experience the presence of the holy spirit and that grace is given not just to forgive but to free us.
“Lord, I am no longer my own, but Yours. Put me to what You will rank me with whom You will. Let be employed by You or laid aside for You, exalted for You or brought low by You. Let me have all things, let me have nothing, I freely and heartily yield all things to Your pleasure and disposal. And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, You are mine and I am Yours. So be it. Amen.” ― John Wesley
William Seymour, Azusa street revival:
Several months later, the Times hit Azusa Street again, denouncing its “disgraceful intermingling of the races.” The article pointed an accusing finger at members because they “cry and make howling noises all day and into the night.” It ridiculed attendees as “mad, mentally deranged or under a spell.” And it insulted Seymour as “a one eyed, illiterate, Negro … who stays on his knees much of the time with his head hidden between the wooden milk crates.”
Mother Teresa....
“NOT ALL OF US CAN DO GREAT THINGS. BUT WE CAN DO SMALL THINGS WITH GREAT LOVE.” — MOTHER TERESA
Tim Keller:
“All death can now do to Christians is to make their lives infinitely better.”
Boom Pa
My grandfather. He gave me my love for the aggies. Integrity. God captured his attention late in life and the grandkids are better for it.
Thank God for the Saints
Paul shows us the stuff of saints
Paul shows us the stuff of saints
which brings us back to Paul. Yes he is a martyr, but that is not necessarily what makes him a saint. Or at least that is not the only reason. He says to the Philippians:
Sainthood is not about worldly achievement.
If success, prowess, education, titles or anything of this world was the measuring stick; I could be confident. That is why he says....
though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more:
circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee;
as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.
No....
2. Saintliness is about the uninhibited pursuit of Christ above all other things.
This is why Paul says, I consider it all loss. It is about the restlessness knowing that we are not quite fully who we are called to be. It is the imagination to see what most cannot and to desire more of heaven on earth.
3. The saints show us a holy discontent. To not stop until the fullness of Christ is their experience.
Paul says,
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.
Writing from prison, this is the discontent of Paul.
Why do we give thanks for the Saints? Because as a world seems to spiral, they go about this pursuit becoming the city on a hill, the leaven that makes the bread rise, the salt of the earth.
Of all of the times in our lifetime, we need the saints. Hopelessness, fear, political strife. Systemic injustice. Entertainment and technology. secularism and individualism. And the Church is full of people with no distinguishing marks of the Christian faith.
Thank God for the Saints who swim upstream, who fervently pursue Jesus and thereby show us the way, who pour out themselves as an offering to the church and the world.
and lest you think this is only for the “Saintly” or the bible heroes or the once in a lifetime persons. No. This is the calling for us all.
Kalas:
“In the dark, hopeless streets where death and ugliness reign, a Mother Teresa walks. Christian laypeople go each week into prison compounds, to lead Bible studies and to listen to sometimes lonely, sometimes angry souls. Devout Catholics go each morning to their mass, and devout Protestants open their Bible each day, to read and pray. Such meaningless acts, some would say—nothing like the power brokering on Wall Street or the clever manipulating in the entertainment industry. Ha! While all these are parading their power in New York, Washington D.C., and Los Angeles, the saints are going to their morning prayers, where they hold back the very powers of hell.”
There are not 10 steps to Sainthood. I cannot lay it out for you today in that way. Paul in his 50s here says, I dont have it yet. Myself, only just beginning to scratch the surface… have a long way to go. It is a long journey, but it is a magnificent one.
Today is the perfect day to begin that journey. All Saints Day, as we remember those that have pointed us in that direction.
Thank God for the Saints.