Faith As God's Children

All Saints’ Day

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

See what kind of love the Father has given to us - that we should be called children of God, and so we are. This may be one of the only places that being compared to a child is a good thing. In the Church, we talk about child-like faith. But outside the Church, it’s less likely for someone to be called child-like (unless it’s used to say that someone is naive or gullible) but more likely to be described as “childish.” “Childish” is not a compliment. It often talks about someone who is selfish, immature, unable to take care of themselves, and vulnerable. If you’ve ever been called “childish” you probably don’t remember that event with warm, fuzzy feelings. Instead, you were probably hurt and upset.

When I was a child, I didn’t really want to stay a child for very long. I wanted to wear grown up clothes (just like my dad), read grown up books, have a grown up bedtime, and take care of myself. I didn’t want to rely on someone to help me, and I didn’t want anyone to do things for me. Maybe you were like me as you were growing up. Then again, now that I am an adult, there are a few things about being a child that I would like - having people make decisions for me, having someone help me when I’m overwhelmed, and naptime! But so often, children want to act like grown-ups because they know what adults know too - children need help. Children are vulnerable, children can’t fully take care of themselves, children rely on others, and children can’t be left alone.

And God loves us so much that He calls us children. For adults who worked so hard to grow up and mature, we don’t want to live like children. We resent depending on anyone else. Honestly, there are days that we resent needing to trust God because we would like to handle all of our problems - physical, emotional, and spiritual. We don’t want to think of ourselves as vulnerable, limited, dependent, or needing help. We would rather be ambitious, competent, confident, and reliable. We would like to set our identity around what we are able to do and how we can take care of and provide for ourselves. Do you want to be a child - even a child of God?

Yet, there is something about being a child that hasn’t been mentioned yet. A child is loved. In general, people love children. In specific, parents love their children. That bond between a parent and child is special. Even though God hasn’t blessed me with children, watching so many of you serve as Christian parents who love your children is encouraging to me. The love between parents and children is sacrificial, gracious, patient, and kind. Parental love isn’t perfect, and it’s a fair assumption that your relationships with your parents and (for you who are parents) your relationships with your children are imperfect. Sometimes, there are hurts and resentments and betrayals between parents and children. Ideally, though, there is love.

God shows us what perfect parental love looks like. That’s because He calls us His own children. We are God’s children now, not because we filled out an application process to qualify as children of God, but because He adopted us as His own with a gracious baptism that unites us with the death and resurrection of Jesus. We can confidently say that we will be like Jesus when He appears, even though we don’t know what that looks like.

1 John 3:3 says that everyone who hopes in Jesus purifies himself as Jesus is pure. As we think about hoping in Jesus, though, it’s important to understand that word “hope.” Sometimes, “hope” means what we would like to see. Sometimes, we “hope” wishfully, hoping that things will work out well in the future. Maybe that has to do with relationships or the weather or the economy. Sometimes, our wishful hopes are sincere, but don’t have much behind them for facts or confidence. Yet, when John writes about our hope in Jesus, there is nothing wishful about it. Instead, this is a confident expectation based on the sure and certain promises that God, our heavenly Father, has made to us, His dear children.

All this talk about children and confident hope is especially important to us as we observe All Saints’ Day. Historically, the Church recognized famous Christians as saints (or “holy people”), usually observing them on the day of their physical death. Over the centuries, it got to the point that several saints were remembered every day, and it got to be a bit much, so the Church collected one day to remember God’s fatherly goodness to the saints on November 1. Today, we remember those among us who lived with confident hope in Jesus and died with that faith this year - especially Jim Gain and Kenny Siebert. When we are confronted with death, human vulnerability and weakness and need for help comes to light. Death makes us like children.

If you’ve ever been called on to care for someone who is near death, you may have observed that they become more and more like children as death draws near. They need help with eating and dressing and bathing and many other things. As death gets closer, the ability to take of yourself like a grown up disappears. It’s hard to watch someone who had been full of life and independence and strength lose that and become dependent on others for even the most basic needs.

In this way, those Christians who are near death show us what it is to be children of God. They rely on God to provide for all their needs. This confident hope in God to provide for them is a bold example of faith and confidence that God will care them in life and death. They live as children of God as their heavenly Father cares for them. We don’t know what life will look like when Jesus returns and raises those who died with faith in Jesus, and we can’t speculate on what life with Jesus looks like for those who have died before the resurrection. But we can say that those who have been purified in the blood of the Lamb of God - our Lord Jesus - are pure as Jesus Himself is pure and they are children of God.

Thankfully, many of you today aren’t near death. You can take care of many of your own needs. Still, that doesn’t change the fact that you can’t manage your own sin or cope with your own failures. Today, see the kind of love that God our Father has given to us, that we are called children of God, even now. Rejoice that you are God’s dear child, baptized in His holy name and purified by Christ your Savior. The same Lamb of God invites you to His communion table to taste and see that the Lord is good, as He gives you life, forgiveness, and salvation with His own body and blood. You are a pure and holy saint of God, one of His dear children who doesn’t need to be ashamed that you need God’s help. Your dear Father in heaven provides every blessing to you, His dear children. Hope confidently in the Lord your God who cares for you and forgives your every sin. You are God’s children, and He gives you every good gift today, tomorrow, and forever. After all, when Jesus returns in glory is will be a great family reunion as you see Him, and as we all gather in the mansions that He has prepared for us by His grace. Amen.