We Remember... All Saints Sunday

[00:00:01] Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. [00:00:10] I want to reread just a bit of the. Well, let's just say the collect of the day again. [00:00:20] Almighty and everlasting God, you knit together your faithful people of all times and places into one holy communion, the mystical body of your son, Jesus Christ. [00:00:33] Grant us so to follow your blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living, that together with them we may come to the unspeakable joys you have prepared for those who love you through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. [00:00:52] So grant us so to follow your blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living. [00:01:01] How often do we think about it that way? [00:01:04] Grant us to follow your blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living. [00:01:09] As Lutherans, we're very aware of our own sin. I mean, this is important. We should recognize our sin and our unworthiness before God. And that apart from God's forgiveness, given freely through Jesus Christ, we're nothing. [00:01:27] We deserve God's wrath and punishment. [00:01:31] We don't deserve anything of ourselves, and we can't earn God's favor. It doesn't matter if you could be the most moral, upstanding person, but not look to God for every good thing, not look to him in faith, not repent before him. [00:01:53] And none of that matters then before God. God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Humble is the humility, is the starting place. Repentance of sin, recognition of our own filthiness. [00:02:10] That's where it all starts. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Right? The fear of the Lord. Well, to fear the Lord, you have to recognize we have to look to him and see him as the highest thing and as holy. And part of that, then is recognizing that we are not. That we are sinful. [00:02:30] All right, so then how could we say, grant us so to follow your blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living. Like what? So there are holy people that we should look to and imitate their virtuous and godly living? [00:02:46] Yes, yes. That's why we pray this. [00:02:52] Grant us so to follow your blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living. [00:02:59] Now, do I live up to this? Should I be looked to for my example to be followed? Well, immediately my sin and unworthiness comes to mind. And it's like, oh, boy, Lord, forgive me, because my children could tell you I'm not always a good example. [00:03:24] Well, what about the saints of old, like David, King David, he wrote the Psalms. That's the prayer book of the church. [00:03:33] The Spirit speaking through him, offering prayers, the Spirit's own prayers that we get to speak because he wrote them down. [00:03:42] David is one of the saints. We look to him and follow his example. But wait a second. [00:03:47] David had some big problems, right? He. Well, for one thing, he had an affair and then covered it up by killing the husband, Uriah. [00:04:00] Oh, man. [00:04:02] So you mean we should follow his example? [00:04:06] Well, yeah. You know, then we get Psalm 51, which we sing, you know, create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from youm presence. There you go. The fear of the Lord and the recognition of his own filthiness and a prayer. Create in me a clean heart, O God. We should imitate the faith of David. And when we sin and by God's grace come to recognize it, ask for forgiveness and ask that God would create in us a clean heart and that he wouldn't take His Holy Spirit from us because we recognize that's a gift that we can't get for ourselves or make him give us, but that he just gives to us in his mercy and by his grace as we look to him in faith and repentance. [00:04:51] Yeah, we should imitate David. And part of David's virtue and godliness is his repentance, his example of repentance. I mean, that's the start of it. [00:05:07] That's fundamental. David says, like, yeah, God, whatever. [00:05:11] I'm just following my dreams. Then, no, don't follow David. [00:05:17] But he's one of the saints because he didn't give up the faith because by God's grace, he repented and looked to God for His mercy and he received it. [00:05:28] We could do that. Of all the saints of old, Abraham had his own problems. [00:05:35] So did Noah. I mean, they all, every one of them has sins portrayed for us geographically in the Bible, where we could say, well, yeah, sure, but they're not really that godly, right? Look at what they did. [00:05:53] They shouldn't be followed. [00:05:55] But the key is that they repented and they looked to God in faith. [00:06:00] Do you see? So the saintliness, the holiness, it's not because they followed all the rules most of the time or like almost all of the time or something like that. Like, you see, it's faith, right? Faith is the key part of the reason that I start this way is that we can sometimes focus on the sin of the saints and Kind of leave it at that. [00:06:31] Right? [00:06:33] So, like, I've never done the Bible study, okay. But from time to time, I hear about. Maybe you've heard of this one. There's a Bible study called Bad Girls of the Bible. [00:06:44] All I can do is guess what that's about. Okay. All right. But you've got, like, you know, so it probably. It probably does something helpful. Okay. But there are other versions of this, and one is just to say. [00:06:56] Just to point out all the sins of the. Of the saints. But our culture does another version of this, which is just to. To draw attention to all the hypocrisy in the church or something like that. Right. So that only the bad news, you know, the bad examples end up in the news. [00:07:16] The result of that can be just to say, well, there's actually no virtue and godliness anywhere. [00:07:23] It's all hypocrisy. [00:07:26] So anybody who is, you know, in a position of authority and seems to be somebody who's worthy of being imitated, it's a sham. They're hiding something. [00:07:47] What's the movie? [00:07:51] Okay, younger people in the room. [00:07:57] What's the movie with Elsa in it? [00:08:00] Frozen. Thank you. I think I heard that from a lot of adults, too. [00:08:05] Right. Thank you. It's like, I just cannot think of the name right now. Right. [00:08:10] Okay. So Frozen kind of does this, too. [00:08:15] So Elsa's famous song. It's like the thing that put Frozen on the map and made it famous is, I think Elsa's song. Let it go. [00:08:26] Right? Let it go. And if you look at the lyrics and, like, forget about the melody, okay? Just read the lyrics sometime. [00:08:35] And it's about. Which matches the story of the movie. Okay. But it's about, like, I'm not gonna hide my sin anymore, essentially. Right? Like, there's darkness inside and, well, whatever. I'm not hiding it anymore. [00:08:51] So that's me, okay? I'm just going to embrace it and let it out. [00:08:58] I'm not going to put on a show anymore of hypocrisy. I'm just going to be what I am. There's a line in there that's particularly egregious that says, I had to memorize this because I don't actually know the song. So I apologize. Now, no rules, no. How does this go? Anybody? Can anybody help me? No right, no wrong. No rules. I'm free. Thank you. No right, no wrong, no rules. I'm free. That's giving up on virtue and godliness. It's like, well, whatever. It doesn't matter anymore. [00:09:35] And I think that's where we are politically as a nation. [00:09:40] You know, it's not like we expect political leaders to. [00:09:47] I'm not picking a side here, okay? Really. I'm serious. Okay. [00:09:53] I just mean, this applies to politicians and to, like, people on the news, all right? There's not really an expectation that they're telling the truth or that they're virtuous, just like they're not. We don't expect them to be good examples anymore. And it's not as big a deal anymore when we find that they're not. We don't hold people up as like, well, these are the people who are in front of our faces. And so when they lead a bad example, this is bad for my children. This is. This is just not really a concern anymore that I see in our culture. All right? But I think this is also exemplified in Elsa. Honestly, this is my. You know, here it is. This is my opinion of Elsa, all right? [00:10:51] She kind of embodies this. No right, no wrong, no rules. I'm free. [00:10:57] But then she's like, she's a role model. [00:11:00] She's a role model. So who are our role models? [00:11:06] Who do we look to? Well, who do we listen to? What are we watching? What are we listening to? [00:11:12] What are we paying attention to? [00:11:15] Those are our role models. Now, some role models, you intentionally lift up and say, that person. [00:11:22] I want to become more like that person. I want to learn from that person. [00:11:27] So I see courage or, you know, bravery in somebody, and I say, wow, I want to be like that. And then if I think. If I think of them, I might be courageous in a situation where I might otherwise, you know, run away. [00:11:47] Parents, you are role models, right? You don't have to be chosen as role models. You just. You just are. [00:11:55] There can be good role models and bad role models, but we're constantly modeling behavior for those who watch us. And so anybody in a position of authority where you are looked to, the behavior that you model really matters. Like, the language that you use matters and the choices that you make. Everything matters. Because it's obvious with children, children watch their parents, and then they become like their parents in ways that the parents don't necessarily want. Right? And in some ways that the parents do want. [00:12:29] But it's true, not just of children, it's true of us, too. [00:12:34] We become what we look like, what we look at, what we look to. This is an ancient. [00:12:42] Just sort of ancient wisdom. Everybody used to know that whatever we pay attention to, that's what we become on purpose or not so again, maybe especially in this election cycle, like, who are we looking to and listening to? [00:13:01] As the narratives intensify, it's like we've only got a few days left to get you really angry about this or make you. Right. [00:13:11] Think about what it's doing to you or what it might do to you. [00:13:16] Right. [00:13:20] For example, maybe decisions can be made politically without spending too much time paying attention to it. [00:13:30] Probably you already know how you're going to vote, or you already voted, and a lot of it could just be noise that could be shut out now at this point. Right. Why is that important? [00:13:41] Because our hearts are malleable and because we're shaped by what we pay attention to. And so we should be careful. [00:13:48] We should guard our children as well from this. [00:13:55] Examples matter. And we're called to follow the saints. At least this was the prayer given to us, handed down to us through the tradition of the church, to follow God's blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living, so that together with them we may come to the unspeakable joys you have prepared for those who love you. [00:14:22] Of course, the Christian life is about following Christ. Christ says, if anyone would follow me, he must take up his cross. [00:14:29] Follow me. So the Christian life. And so does our. [00:14:35] Our verse this morning, the alleluia verse. Since we're surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us look to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. [00:14:48] The Christian life is one of looking to Jesus. That's the goal. [00:14:53] But like when you go to the grocery store, you see a whole lot of people, not just Jesus, right? It's like when you go home today, you're going to have conversations with people, not just with Jesus. [00:15:05] See, our lives are full of people, of influences, of voices, and you're one of those for somebody else. [00:15:16] But by faith in Jesus, you no longer live, but Christ lives in you. [00:15:22] And so as you speak to somebody in faith and speak God's word to them and are considering God's perspective on things, as people hear you, then as people interact with you, they're interacting with Christ by God's grace. [00:15:39] So this is why we would follow the saints. It's because we're following the saints, following Jesus. Just like Paul says. [00:15:46] He says, imitate my example as I imitate Christ. [00:15:51] So Paul is imitating Christ and being shaped by him. [00:15:56] And so then as people, I mean, people know Paul, it's just another way to know Jesus. They see Paul humbly saying, I consider everything that I used to have as Loss for the sake of knowing Jesus Christ, so that I can be united to him in his death, so that I can share in his sufferings and share in his life. So I looked at Paul and I'm like, wow, you gave up everything. Like, you used to have all kinds of authority and you were kind of a big guy on the religious scene, but you gave it all up for the sake of knowing Christ. [00:16:32] So when I see Paul, I see just another example of Christ. I see Christ's death and life worked in Paul's life. Paul becomes an image of Christ for me to imitate in that way. [00:16:45] Or when I see Ignatius, an early Christian bishop, going to his death in the arena, he's going to be eaten by lions, and he's saying, look, like, don't pity me and don't try and get me out of this either. [00:17:02] Just know, just recognize that this isn't my death, this is my birth. [00:17:08] Like, yeah, I'm losing everything. But that's just sharing in Christ's sufferings so I can share in his life. Because it's through the loss of all things. The loss of all idols, you could say, too, it's through the loss of all things that I receive everything. [00:17:27] We look to the saints as they look to Christ. [00:17:31] We have around us a cloud of witnesses. [00:17:35] We're surrounded by people, also people in this room who by faith are giving up worldly pursuits for the sake of Christ. [00:17:51] And I thank God for your example. Every time I go out and visit our members who can't come to church, who are shut in. [00:18:01] I'm encouraged, you know, I'm encouraged by their faith. I see them in the midst of suffering, looking to Jesus, and it lifts me up. [00:18:11] They're a wonderful example to me. [00:18:14] And so I, you know, as I think of them, then I follow them, right? [00:18:20] They show me Christ. [00:18:22] And then on purpose or not, I imitate their example. I come away having learned something. I'm changed by my interaction with them. And I pray that God would keep me in the faith with them so that I can with them share the joys of everlasting life. [00:18:43] So perhaps one takeaway could be, who do you hold up as an example? [00:18:53] Is it. Is it an entrepreneur that is really successful? [00:19:02] You know, if you're pursuing business that, you know, that could be helpful, right, for learning how to get there. But, like, in your life, what's your ultimate goal? [00:19:15] Somebody was telling me this morning, the goal of life is to get to heaven. [00:19:20] Like, yes, you know, just step back and look at these saints who have Come out of the tribulation, the great tribulation. They've washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. What else matters at that point? Nothing. [00:19:39] They're there around the throne of God, rejoicing. [00:19:49] They are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple. And he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. 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. [00:20:19] This is the future in faith. [00:20:24] So this week it's going to be decided, you know, what direction does the country go, so to speak. But either way, I saw a graphic. It was like an elephant and a donkey, and then in the middle was a lamb just popping out at you. [00:20:40] It was like, I trust in the Lamb. The Lamb is yes. Wash our robes and make them white in the blood of the Lamb. And no matter what happens in our country, in our personal life, with our health, no matter what happens, this is the future by faith in Christ. And so we follow the saints and their example so that we'll keep the faith. That's the goal, is to look to Jesus and not get sidetracked by any other thing, but just to hang on to him no matter what comes. [00:21:17] And he will take us through everything. [00:21:21] He'll take us through death, to life. [00:21:25] Thanks be to God. In Jesus name, amen.