Difference between revisions of "Sermon for November 5th, 2023"

Latest revision as of 22:20, 4 November 2023

Psalm 24:1-6

1The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it; 2for he has founded it on the seas, and established it on the rivers. 3Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? 4Those who have clean hands and pure hearts, who do not lift up their souls to what is false, and do not swear deceitfully. 5They will receive blessing from the Lord, and vindication from the God of their salvation. 6Such is the company of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob.

1 Corinthians 1:1-9

1Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes, 2 To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours: 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

4 I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, 5 for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind— 6 just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you— 7 so that you are not lacking in any gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. 8 He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the partnership of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Saints Among Us

In a small town, there were two brothers who, over the course of many years, cheated, swindled, robbed and generally stole from everyone that they ever did business with. The entire town and surrounding community reviled and despised these two brothers as everyone was aware of just how disreputable and dishonest they were. One day, one of the brothers died. Although they had never attended church, the one remaining brother went to the local pastor and gave the pastor an envelope and said, "here is a check that will pay for the entire amount needed for your new sanctuary and I only ask one favor: Tell the people at the funeral that my brother was a saint." The pastor was troubled by the request, however, it was a very poor church and the church desperately needed repairs. The Parishioners had heard about the pastor's dilemma and were curious as to what he would do. The Funeral began, the church was packed, and the pastor launched into his sermon: "As you all know, the departed was an awful individual who robbed, cheated, swindled and stole from everyone he ever did business with. However, compared to his brother here... he was a Saint!"

Today is All Saints Sunday, the first Sunday after all Saints Day, which always occurs on the first day in November. All Saints Day is a Christian holy day that dates at least back to the 8th century, possibly earlier. It was a feast day, a celebration designed to honor all those men and women whom the church had declared to be saints.

So... what exactly is a saint?

In the popular imagination, a "saint" is what we call a person who has lived an exemplary life, someone who is almost perfect. The word "saint" in English comes from the Latin word "sanctus" which means sacred or holy.

So... how does one get to be a saint?

That's actually the question asked by the Psalmist in today's scripture passage from Psalm 24: Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? The Psalmist then seems to give his own answer: Those who have clean hands and pure hearts, who do not lift up their souls to what is false, and do not swear deceitfully. They will receive blessing from the Lord, and vindication from the God of their salvation.

Simple enough. Do these things and you will be holy, sacred, you'll be a saint. But it's not quite that simple. Just ten Psalms earlier in Psalm 14, the Psalmist (or perhaps a different Psalmist) says, "The Lord looks down from heaven on humankind to see if there are any who are wise, who seek after God. They have all gone astray, they are all alike perverse; there is no one who does good, no, not one."

That sounds pretty bleak. Here's how you can be holy, how you can be a saint... but no one can actually do that. It's impossible.

Except... look a bit more closely at Psalm 24. And this time, let's ask the question a different way: Not "what" makes a person holy...but rather "who" makes a person holy? Who makes anything holy for that matter? Psalm 24, verse 1-2: "The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it; for he has founded it on the seas, and established it on the rivers."

In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul puts it this way: "To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours." The people Paul is writing to in Corinth are not exactly people of outstanding moral character. In fact, they are horrible, horrible sinners, which becomes obvious if you read the rest of the letter.

But Paul calls them saints! Why? For Paul and the earliest Christians, you get to be a saint NOT because of anything you've done (or haven't done), but rather because of who loves you, because of who you belong to. You belong to God, and God loves you. More than anything else, THAT makes you holy. THAT makes you sacred. And because we are ALL God's people--the ones he created in his image, the ones he claims and calls precious--despite all our flaws and failures and imperfections, we are, every one of us, God's saints.

But that's only the beginning of our journey.

Verse 6 of Psalm 24 says: "Such is the company of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob." As we seek God, as we live into that identity as God's people, as we draw closer to God and to each other, we become more and more transformed--we become people with "clean hands and pure hearts, who do not lift up their souls to what is false, and do not swear deceitfully." The good things we do are not what make us saints. The good things we do, however great or small, are signs of what God has already done for us, and is continually doing through us as we continue to seek him.

This is also what Paul is talking about in his letter to the Corinthians when he says that "in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind . . . He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ."

In other words, we're not static. We're moving toward an eventual goal. Yes, like the Corinthians, we are horrible, horrible sinners (we know this). That's part of our identity, but we're not stuck there. God is always at work, sanctifying us, turning us in to saints, inspiring us to seek him and know him, and through him to love and serve the ones around us...all of the other sinners, seekers, and saints.

And so while many churches celebrate All Saints Day by honoring those exceptional men and women of great faith who walked among us centuries and millennia ago, WE celebrate by honoring...you. Us. Each other. We recognize and give thanks for the good and holy things done right here in our midst; for the people who do them; but most of all for a God who STILL works through sinners, seekers and saints, loving us, sanctifying us, and calling us forward in our journeys of faith.