All the Saints

Sermon Notes, All Saints 2020 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes." Rev. 7: 16,17 Every year as the Feast of All Saints comes around, I wonder if we should rejoice or mourn. There are good reasons for each response. Joy because of all the goodness coming our way as saints of God ourselves. Salvation belongs to our God and the Lamb. Angels and saints fall down before the Lamb in worship. And on earth an end to hunger, thirst, wars and tears forever. There is great reason to joy in the glory we approach and the struggle we leave behind us. But then there are all those who are no longer with us. Although we glory in their victory over death, we miss them. We wish they were still here with us, helping us to shoulder the load as they always have. Just a week ago we mourned the passing of one of our own, Deb Bubb. There were tears, but also laughing. We lost a bit of sunshine that brightened our day. But we also know that her light still shines and lights a path for us to follow. Our response is to both rejoice and mourn. Or to say it in spiritual terms, we hope and we lament. Nowhere is this drawing of our heart poles better said than by Jesus in the Beatitudes. "Blessed are the poor in spirit..." "theirs is the kingdom of heaven" "Blessed are those who mourn..." "they shall be comforted." "Blessed are the meek..." "they shall inherit the earth." "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness..." "they shall be satisfied." All Saints Day calls us into a solemn remembrance and excited anticipation of the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God. One might expect the candle of faith to flicker when challenged by the winds of an anxious, hostile world. But in fact, just the opposite is true. Recent reports from the Middle East speak of a revival underway amid Arab populations that have historically repressed the Gospel message. Despite heavy-handed repression, Christianity is gaining new converts in record numbers across China. And in Europe where Christianity was seemingly buried as irrelevant to a modern socialist world, home churches are starting up everywhere and the Name of Jesus is again being heard on the streets of London and Paris. Instead of snuffing out the candle of faith, repression and even persecution make faith flourish. It's almost as though Satan's greatest efforts play right into God's hand. Which is to say new saints are created day by day, every day. God's church is a host of saints, living and having lived, marching in one direction. New saints join the ranks and the host swells. Some die and pass on to glory but they never lose their place in the host of saints. War, pestilence, hatred, bigotry, starvation...Satan uses all his weapons against this host of God but all they do is make more saints. I love the exchange we find in Revelation where one of the elders asks John the Revelator, "Who are all these folks?" As if John is supposed to know. He uses the Ezekiel gambit and replies, "Sir, you know." And he said to me, "These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. And that is really what we celebrate this day called the Feast of All Saints. It's not a remembrance of individuals who are now with the Lord, though we do that with respect. It's a celebration of all saints, who are made saints not by what they've done, but by the blood shed for them by the Lamb. Their individuality no longer matters. What each did, heroic or otherwise, is lost in the common song. It's not their faces we see, but their white washed robes and not a single one did their own laundry. To God be the glory then. It is God we praise because it is God who moves us from the ranks of sinners to rows of saints. We have all fallen far short. There is no health in us. Even at our very best we cannot muster up enough goodness to make ourselves saints. It's God work and His alone. We may ask ourselves why does he bother? "What is man that you are mindful of him?" If we look to ourselves to answer that question, we find nothing. Maybe once upon a time...in Eden before the Fall. When we were as he created us we did have enough of his reflection to earn sainthood. But not any more. Sin has so corrupted us that we can only look on ourselves with shame. As Paul using scripture reminds the Roman church, "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands. No one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless, there is no one who does good, not even one." Rm 3:10-12. We won't find the answer looking inward. We need to look upward. Toward God's glory. We are made saints to glorify God. God's glory is reflected in the host of saints who sing and worship before him. In that resurrection moment, the great tribulation the elder refers to, the moment of death and rebirth, something happens to us. We lose our individual identities as sinners and victims, corrupted sons of men, and become glorifying saints worthy to rest in the presence of God. Paul does not leave us wallowing in our wretchedness but says in Romans 8:18 "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed to us." Having been created to glorify God, we finally get to do it. Paul has one more profound revelation for us and it speaks directly to what we do on All Saints Day. We hope. And hope is our salvation. Think about what that means. Our hope that we will ourselves be among the saints glorifying God is a saving hope, not a wishful hope. Paul says, "For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. For who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently." Rom 8:24,25. So ultimately, and ironically, All Saints Day is about ourselves. Not as we are, but as we will be. When we lose ourselves to find ourselves in the company of Saints glorifying God in the presence of God. It is a day of hope most assuredly. It is also a day of lament because we are still in a world affected by loss and acquainted with grief. But not for long. Soon our song will be, "Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen."