The Day of All the Saints
“I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints.” That lyric from 1977 is typical of how people tend to associate “saints” with their own holy living (which in this case was not very exciting according to Billy Joel). We can and do remember those who in faith leave a “saintly” example for us to imitate. However, when we see the word “saints” used in the Bible, it’s not on account of their holy lives, but their being made holy by Christ. Ephesians 5:25-26 tells us how we become saints: Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word.

“Saints” in the Bible is another word for . . . . believers or Christians. If we believe in Jesus as our Savior and are baptized, we are washed clean and are holy before God. It’s not what we do that makes us saints, but what Christ did for us.

All Saints’ Day is a centuries-old tradition that appears to have begun to remember the martyrs. It grew to include all those who have passed on to glory as believers in Jesus. Revelation 20:4-6 presents them to us in a vision given to John, focusing especially on those who were put to death for their faith:
And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God….  6 Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years. (Revelation 20:4,6)

In this picture language those who share in the first resurrection (being brought to faith during their lives on earth) will not experience the second death (eternal condemnation). They rule with Christ for a thousand years (the time from Jesus’ first coming to his second coming) in heaven.

The saints are, of course, not just those whose names we know in history or only those who have been called to the ultimate sacrifice for their faith. They are the grandmothers who faithfully trusted in their Lord, passed on the Word to their children and grandchildren, and are now enjoying the blessed life in heaven. They are the teachers and preachers who stayed true to God’s teaching in their own belief and in their proclamation of the gospel and are now at God’s side.

Perhaps in our time in the Word and our prayers today we can take a moment to reflect on the great and wonderful heritage we have received. Countless believers, made saints by God’s grace in Christ, have passed on to life eternal. What a treasure we have in their stories, chiefly as a testimony to God’s tirelessly merciful work in the world!

“Live each day like it’s your last.” You have probably heard that advice. It sounds wise—an encouragement to take advantage of the time you have. However, that advice is completely backwards. Because the reality is, thanks to Jesus, we have an unending amount of time. Let that sink in. Really think about it. Jesus has given you the gift of eternal life. You are going to live forever.

If you really thought it was your last day, that belief would shape how you lived that day. In this series, let us consider how the gift of eternal life shapes how we live each day. Live like you’ll live forever!
 
Join us for the first Sunday of the new series as we celebrate the Reformation with the theme “Live a Life of Fearless Witness.” We pray always that the Lord strengthen us to give witness to his message of salvation by grace in Jesus Christ.
 
16 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. 17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. 18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” (Daniel 3:16-18)

We all appreciate it when someone takes responsibility for what’s going on. Enough with the finger-pointed and the blame game! It’s so refreshing to hear, “We see the problem. It’s our job. We’ll take care of it.”

A former U.S. president had a plaque on his desk that read, “The buck stops here!” With that he meant to show he was taking responsibility for everything that happened during his administration. It may well be popular, and a common human trick, . . . . to dodge responsibility, but there are those who still take it on. Good parents accept that they have some responsibility for their children’s behavior. Occasionally a coach or quarterback will say, “It was my fault,” even if it mostly the fault of another player.

Where does the buck stop with all the sin in the world that has caused so much pain and suffering? It should stop with each individual who sinned. But Isaiah saw that in this case it would be different:
… by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
    and he will bear their iniquities (Isaiah 53:11)
The Suffering Servant is Jesus. None of the iniquities (“sins”) he bore were his own. Not a single one. Who would take that on and pay for all the wrongdoing of all people past, present and future? Only God in human form, Jesus Christ.

There was no reason God had to see it that way, except that he loved us all. Jesus saw many who were saved through faith in his death for them, and that was enough:
After he has suffered,
    he will see the light of life and be satisfied (Isaiah 53:11)
By that selfless act of Christ we are freed from the impossible task of trying to bear our own iniquities, and free to tell the world what he has done for us.

Tougher Than a Camel Walking Through the Eye of a Needle (Without Christ)

We can send and receive signals from Voyager 1 fifteen billion miles from earth. Our best microscopes can detect atoms, and one human hair is millions of atoms thick. But no one has ever pushed a camel through a needle’s eye. Jesus’ comparison still stands! It’s impossible, which is exactly Jesus’ point.

A man wanting to get into eternal life by what he did asked Jesus what the requirements were. Jesus told him to . . . . sell everything and come back as his disciple. The man left with a very sad face because he had great wealth, and since he did not return, we can assume he was not ready to part with it.

Jesus’ commentary to his disciples was this: It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God (Mark 10:25).
The message of the story shows the obstacle wealth can be in our life with God, but Jesus is most definitely not teaching us that rich people can’t go to heaven or that we have to sell everything to get into eternal glory.

If the man had actually sold everything, would that have gotten him eternal life? No. The disciples recognize that with their follow-up question, “Who then can be saved?” (v.26) If this successful and upstanding man can’t win eternity with what he does, who can?

If it’s not love of possessions, then it would be any other sin. It would be an unending statement by God that we had something we needed to change, only to return and find out there was still more sin in our lives. There would be no hope if Jesus had not come to open up eternal life through faith in him.

On the camel comment, some have tried to soften it to make it more “possible.” There are those who have tried to change the word for camel to a similar Greek word meaning “rope” instead. A rope going through the eye of a needle is maybe a little more likely, but still not really something that can happen. And the word in Scripture is “camel,” not “rope.” Others have come up with a theory about a Needle Gate into Jerusalem that was low and narrow, but that a camel could get through on its knees. However, there’s no evidence this gate ever existed.

What Jesus said is what he meant. Trying to find something we can do to get eternal life is just as impossible as a camel passing through the eye of a needle. But Jesus also meant what he said after that: “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God” (v.27). The impossible becomes possible through faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection for us. It’s God’s work! For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in[a] Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23).

There was one. One that was fully loving, perfectly harmonious, one hundred percent supportive and fulfilling of the needs of the other. The one marriage that followed God’s plan to a tee. The union between Adam and Eve.

God took the rib from Adam in his sleep and created his wife Eve. This made them fit together like puzzle pieces, as is often said.

And they lived happily ever after … until the fall. In the next chapter of Genesis. We don’t know exactly how long their sinless state and idyllic marriage lasted. Adam and Eve enjoyed it for a while, but then it came to an end. The breaking of their perfect bond with . . . . God also quickly led them to tempt each other, blame each other, and into an “out-of-balance” relationship in general. So it’s been with all marriages ever since.

We don’t expect marriages to be perfect after the fall. In fact, many wedding sermons go to great lengths to point that out and dispel any illusions of it all being an easy path with no effort involved.

Apparently, the divorce rate in the U.S. recently reached a 50-year low, which is great news. However, the marriage rate also reached a new low about the same time. This probably shows a lack of confidence in marriage among some people that has been increasing for decades. Into the gap have stepped all kinds of other “new” ideas of how to have a relationship other than the marriage union between a man and woman God gave us. But as one popular commentator on marriage mentioned, no one has ever come up with a better alternative.

One of the most powerful pictures of the relationship between God and his people in the Bible is marriage. God is married to his people (Isaiah 54:5). Husband and wife are like Christ and the church (Ephesians 5:31-32). Heaven is the wedding supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:9).

As people contemplate how they will lead their lives, let’s be strong advocates for one of God’s earliest gifts to the world. Pray for, support, and live out under God’s grace Christian marriage. God’s plan from the Garden is still the best one out there!

That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. (Genesis 2:24)

Everyone wishes for peace on earth. However, if you looked through history you might have a hard time finding even one year in which there was no war at all! Maybe there are some that exist, but it would not be very common. We know that unfortunately armed conflict happens all the time.

But war in heaven? War in the presence of God?  Spiritual warfare made its way even into the gathering of God’s messengers, the angels. It appears in Revelation 12:7-12. Satan wished to reassert his right to be in heaven and accuse God’s people of sin. Even though we are not able to see this happen, the Scriptures give us at least one case . . . . where the devil accused an Old Testament priest before the Lord: Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him (Zechariah 3:1). He tries to do the same against all of us. The devil is called the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night (Revelation 7:10).

8 But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9 The great dragon was hurled down (Revelation 7:8-9). Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection and then ascension to heaven kicked Satan out of God’s presence for good, and his accusations have no power. God commissioned Michael, presented as the leader of the angelic army, and all the good angels, to carry out the expulsion of the evil ones.

For the time being Satan has only been thrown down. He has not met his final judgment. He still goes around trying to convince us all of what he was unable to convince God – that we cannot stand in the presence of a holy God. Don’t believe that for a minute! Even though our sins trouble us, God does not hold them against for the sake of Christ in whom we put our trust.

What a relief when a war is over and peace reigns again! That goes for human battles, but so much more so for the war in heaven. Celebrate with the hosts of heaven: Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah (Revelation 7:10).

Now that would be a statement on your gravestone! Not that anyone would want to do that if they were truly humble. In a cemetery the gravestones that are most visible are not necessarily humility-based, but more designed to stand out above the others as a testament to their greatness or accomplishments.

God had that to say about Moses in Numbers 12:3: Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.

How much do we value humility? We do value it, especially as Christians. We recognize it and appreciate it in our personal relationships. However, it can easily become overshadowed by other qualities. An article on humble leaders had this to say, among a number of other observations: “And because the overlap between confidence and competence is just 9%, when our main criterion for appointing leaders is how good they think they are, we will inevitably end up with lots of leaders who are not very good, except in their own mind” (Forbes, “Why Humble Leaders Are Rare”)

Most people are aware humility is a wonderful trait. But we can get distracted by . . . . other traits and fail to appreciate it as much as we could in practice.

For the most part Moses exemplified humility in his dealings with God and the people (within his human limitations, of course). He had to face many challenges from a group that was often not happy with wandering around in the desert for years. He also showed that humility doesn’t translate to being a push-over. Even though he hesitated at first, he did stand up to one of the most powerful figures of his time, the pharoah of Egypt, and demanded freedom for his people. Not everyone is ready to do that! He lasted 40 years as a leader. And when it came to the Word of the Lord, Moses was very bold and confident in proclaiming God’s will to the nation of Israel. Moses stood up when it mattered, and when God’s truth and the spiritual health of God’s people were at stake.

Even Moses’ legendary humility would not top that of Jesus. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:8) Christ’s humble life and death for our forgiveness and eternal home lead us to value a humble attitude of service.