This is my sermon from Sunday, 3 November 2013; preached at New Hope Anglican Church, in Oakville, CT

All Saints Sunday                               Rev 7:9-17; Mt 5:1-12

“Letting the Light Shine Through”

I. Windows “Washed In the Blood of the Lamb”

Many of you are probably familiar with the story of a Sunday School class of elementary aged students that was discussing the idea of the saints the Sunday before All Saints Day.  The teacher asked, “Who is a saint?”  One kid said, “A really, really good person.”  Another said, “Someone who prays a lot.”  A third said, “Someone who never gets angry.”  One little boy sat and thought for a bit.  He remembered the big stained glass windows in the church building.  His parents had pointed out that one was about St Paul, and another about St Mary, and another St Peter.  Thinking about those windows, and the sun streaming through the colors of the stained glass gave him an answer: “Saints are the people the light shines through!” he exclaimed.

And that is really the best answer.  Saints are not amazingly good, prayerful, or peaceable people – saints are people through whom shines the light of Christ.  This past Friday was All Saints Day, a day on which we remember the many saints who have been and who still are serving the Lord in their daily lives and occupations.

We tend to think of saints in the same way that the kids in that Sunday School class did: saint are especially good, or extraordinarily prayerful, or exceptionally self-controlled.  However, when Paul wrote to the churches scattered around the Mediterranean during the first thirty or so years after Christ died, he addressed them to “the saints in Corinth” or the saints who are Ephesus,” or wherever it was he was writing.  From the letters, it is clear that many of the believers were in serious error of belief, or action, or both – but Paul did not write to “the saints and other believers in Corinth;” he simply wrote “to the saints who are in…”  From the New Testament usage, the word “saint” is not a special category of Christian, but rather that a saint is anyone who believes in his heart that God raised Jesus from the dead and confesses with his mouth that Jesus is Lord.  The original, literal meaning of the word “saint” is “one set apart for God.”  The word “saint” does not describe a person’s moral condition; it describes their spiritual status: they belong to God.

A moment or so ago, I said that saints are the ones that the light shines through.  If these two things are true, how are they related to each other?  The answer lies in the spiritual realities that accompany faith in Christ.  Being a Christian is not simply intellectual assent to the essential teachings of the Christian Church – it is a dynamic connection with God in which he is at work in us.  Having been set apart for God through our reliance upon his mercy in Jesus Christ, he is at work within us, and his presence shines through us.  It is a lifelong process, and it is never fully completed in this lifetime – but through the power of the Holy Spirit, the light of Christ shines through ever more strongly.

II. The Foundation of Our Transformation

In the reading from Rev 7, we hear of “a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’”  When John is asked who these people are, his response is, more or less, “I don’t know, but I am sure that you do.”  John’s angelic escort tells him, “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.”

These are the saints of God, coming out of all times and all nations, and all languages.  They have come, the angel says, “out of the great tribulation.”  One popular view of the tribulation is that it is a seven-year period of intense persecution just before Christ returns to establish his kingdom, but that is not the only way to understand the tribulation, especially since the number seven is often used symbolically to refer to completeness.  I believe that the tribulation is the entire time period between the ascension of the Lord Jesus into heaven and his physical return to establish his kingdom in its fullness.  This vast multitude gathered before the throne and worshiping are all the saints – all those who have entrusted themselves to the Lord Jesus, from the first disciples up to whenever the Lord returns – be that this afternoon or ten thousand years from now.

This vast multitude are the saints.  They vary in nationality, ethnicity, language, and culture; they vary in personalities, skills, talents, and interests; they vary in spiritual gifts, in status as lay or ordained, in the nature and timing of their conversion to Christ, and in their roles within the local congregation.  But there is one thing – one essential thing – that they all have in common: as verse 14b says, “They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”  Whatever variable things there may be among the saints, that one thing is essential.  If you are a believer, you have admitted that you are dirty and need to be cleansed, and you have trusted not yourself or your own efforts, but the sacrifice of Christ upon the cross as atonement for our sins.  As the Apostle John said in his first letter, in 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  The blood of Jesus makes us clean: we are forgiven.  And it is not a conditional forgiveness, as if the Lord were saying, “I’m wiping the slate clean and giving you a second chance, so be careful from now on.”  No, it is complete forgiveness for all our sins.  As Paul says in Romans 5:1-2, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.  Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”  We have access to God the Father, through the blood of his Son.  We have been reconciled to God, he has forgiven us completely, and his has sent his Holy Spirit to dwell in our hearts, so that we will be changed.  Romans 8:29 has been overshadowed by the verse that precedes it, but Romans 8:29 is an even more powerful verse: “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.”  God intends to restore in us the fullness of the image of God, an image that was marred by our rebellion against God.  We are promised in verse 28 that “All things work together for good,” – and that good is that we will be like Christ.

Our spiritual foundation is that one thing: the blood of Christ.  It has been shed as an atoning sacrifice on our behalf, and it cleanses us from sin.  We are acceptable to God, for he declares innocent.  Indeed, he declares us as fully righteous.  On the cross, he took our sins upon himself.  In his resurrection, he gives to us who trust him the righteousness that is his from his fully obedient life.  We are not only “not guilty,” we are fully accepted as having completely obeyed the Law.  In Romans 5:17, Paul speaks of those who trust Christ as being “those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness.”  We need have no fear in coming to God in prayer; he sees us as he sees his Son.  We have Jesus’ righteousness.

As Christians, as saints, this is our spiritual position: we are forgiven and we have credited to us the very righteousness of Christ.  We stand with that noble and vast crowd, those who have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb.  Through this truth, and through the reality that the Holy Spirit has made his dwelling in us, we have the light within us that can shine out to a dark and troubled world.

III. Analyzing the Need

We have also read from the first verses of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.”  In this reading, we hear the Beatitudes, in which Jesus says that those who exhibit the qualities he lists will be blessed and joyful.  “Blessed are the merciful” does not make sense to many people; it is, after all, a “dog eat dog world” and we need to defend ourselves, or even attack first lest we be overwhelmed.  The Beatitudes sound lovely, especially in King James English, when you are in the stillness of a worship service – but they can certainly be dim and distant on a Tuesday morning when you are fighting traffic on the way to an important meeting.

Nevertheless, the Beatitudes are what Jesus taught as being the truth of life: it is blessed to be poor, to mourn, or to seek righteousness as if your life depended on it.  It is even blessed to be threatened with death because you have allied yourself to Jesus.

Let me read those seven key traits again, verses 3-9: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.  Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.  Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.  Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.  Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.  Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”

If these things are blessed, then these are what we should seek – although I will hasten to say that seeking persecution is wrong.  However, if you seek the things listed in verses 2-9, you will be persecuted.  The world (those who ignore God) does not like godly people, so seeking persecution is not needed. But seeking will be needed to grow in having poverty of spirit, an attitude of mercy, a willingness to let go of your own agenda, or a desire to be at peace with others.  These things go against the grain of how the world works.

When a person who is set apart for God is mature, these are the qualities that will be part of their life.  When a person has these qualities, light shines through them.  Indeed, light begins to shine long as these qualities are being developed in a Christian’s life.

If that is true, then how do we manifest these qualities?  The classic American way of going about such a process is to ask, “Where do I want to be?  Where am I now?  How can I take steps to move from here to there?”  As those questions are dealt with, a plan is formed – steps to take to move from where I am now to where I want to be.  Anytime you go through a supermarket check-out line, you are going to see this idea on the covers of the magazines: “Thirty Days to a New You!”  “Five Easy Steps to Family Harmony.”  You have all seen things like this – and perhaps have bought a magazine with some hope of making progress in some area of your life.  Almost everyone wants to get better in some way.

There is one problem with this approach with regard to spiritual growth: it doesn't work.  It’s not a bad idea, and it might be part of what enables us to grow spiritually – but it is impossible to do the job all by itself.  We human beings are complex creatures.  We are intellectual, social, emotional, psychological, and spiritual beings, and anything that seeks to make a life change through only one of those aspects of being human will prove to be insufficient.

We are intellectual beings, and we need to understand a problem and be able to devise a logical plan.  We are social beings, and we need encouragement from others when things are difficult, or someone to be glad with us when we are glad.  We are psychological beings, and we need to know something about ourselves.  One of the most helpful books I have read is called Telling Yourself the Truth.  We all tell ourselves lies about life:  One possible lie is “If this person rejects me, I am worthless.”  We tell ourselves lies that block the reality that one person cannot give you worth.  It may be deeply painful to have someone important to you reject you – but that is not a measure of your worth.  Your worth comes from God who created you and who loved you even as a sinner.

It is important to deal with the intellectual, social, emotional, and psychological aspects of our lives.  As I said, we are complex creatures, and there is no simple answer to any of the challenges we face.  We need to work through these areas as we grow.  The most important aspect of our nature, however, is that we are spiritual beings – and we need to use spiritual means in order to grow spiritually.  Those other elements are important, but they are not sufficient in themselves.  We need not just a plan, not just a reality check about our emotions and patterns of thinking – we need spiritual help.

Pastor J. D. Greer writes: “Think of [our relationship with Christ] like a balloon. There are two ways to keep a balloon afloat. If you fill a balloon with your breath, the only way to keep it in the air is to continually smack it upward. That’s how [mere] religion keeps you motivated: it repeatedly ‘hits’ you. ‘Stop doing this!’ ‘Get busy with that!’  This is my life as a pastor.  People come on Sunday so I can ‘smack’ them about something.  ‘Be more generous!’ And they do that for a week.  ‘Go do missions!’  And they sign up for a trip.  Every week I smack them back into spiritual orbit.  No wonder people don’t like being around me.

But there's another way to keep a balloon afloat.  Fill it with helium.  Then it floats on its own, no smacking required.  Seeing the size and beauty of God is like the helium that keeps us soaring spiritually.”

Guilt is indeed a powerful motivator, which is why it is easy for pastors to start using it.  But guilt is like a whip cracking in your ear – it motivates by fear.  We can easily become driven by fear of finding that God’s patience with us has run out.  But the reality is that his grace truly is gracious – he offers us unmerited favor.

There is a story told about a mother who came to Napoleon on behalf of her son, who was about to be executed. The mother asked the ruler to issue a pardon, but Napoleon pointed out that it was the man’s second offense and justice demanded death.  “I don’t ask for justice,” the woman replied. “I plead for mercy.”

The emperor objected, “But your son doesn't deserve mercy.”

“Sir,” the mother replied, “it would not be mercy if he deserved it, and mercy is all I ask.”  Her son was pardoned.

God offers us mercy in abundance.  As C. S. Lewis once observed, “The Christian does not think that God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because he loves us.”  The Beatitudes tell is where God wants us to be, but it is a misunderstanding of how God works in us to think that he tells us where he wants us to go and says, “All right, now it’s up to you.”

In order to grow into the characteristics expressed in the Beatitudes, we read them carefully, confess to God we are not there, and pray that he would empower us to grow into them. Indeed, given that there are so many areas in which we need to grow, the sane prayer is to ask God, “Where do you want me to start?  Show me the next thing to do, so that I can make progress.”

Last August, my son did a full Ironman competition – 2.4 miles of swimming, 112 miles of biking, and 26.2 miles of running.  He did not, of course, just show up on August 18^th and cover these 140.6 miles of strenuous activity without having done anything else.  Rather, he began over a year beforehand, running a bit one day, biking another, swimming another, as he conditioned his body for endurance and strengthened it to be able to run, ride, or swim more effectively.  He started small and kept at it, increasing his activity a little at a time.  With this kind of thoughtful preparation he was able to complete the competition in 12 ½ hours.  It was far from easy, but because he approached the day gradually and thoughtfully, he was able to finish well.

Read the Beatitudes and ask God, “Where should I start?”  The Lord might tell you to take the area where you are weakest – or perhaps the area where you are currently the strongest, so that you can grow more there and that area can serve as something of an anchor for growth in other areas.  Because we are intellectual, social, emotional, and psychological beings as well, it can be helpful to use such things as personality analyzers or spiritual gift inventories.  The spiritual dimension is foundational and essential, but it is not alone.  If we ignore the spiritual dimension, we will be frustrated, for our problems all have a spiritual aspect that must be dealt with.  But if we let other aspects go in order to be “spiritual” we ignore tools that God has given us.

IV. Letting Our Light Shine

There are three things that I believe are essential in this process of spiritual growth.  One is regular study of the Bible.  When we read the Bible regularly and thoughtfully, allowing it to search our hearts, we know God better and we know ourselves better.  A second thing is prayer, which is a conversation with the living God who hears us – and who will speak to us. He will not use audible words, but he will bring Scripture to mind, or remind us of something a friend told us, or give us an insight into a situation that helps us to see the spiritual dimension that is going on there.

The third thing is a little harder to describe because it is not as objective as Bible study or as orderly as prayer – and that is keeping an eye out for God and his work as you go about your day: looking for answers to prayer, being aware of your heart, paying attention to the people around you to see their needs or their strengths, being aware of divine coincidences, and so on.

If you can build such foundational activities into your walk with God, you will make progress as one through whom the light shines.  As you take the Beatitudes or the list of the fruit of the Spirit as a way to look for an area to grow these basic disciplines will help you to grow.  You will be deepening your relationship to the Lord, and as you do his light will shine through you more and more.

I do think we need to look at our lives and see areas where we need to change in order for the light to shine more fully through us.  But when we look at them, we cannot get bogged down in those things.  We must also keep our eyes on God, remembering the cross where our sins were taken from us, remembering the resurrection, where Jesus rose in victory over sin and death, and rejoicing in God’s love for you and delight in you.  As we see the challenges we face in the light of God’s mercy, power, and love, we can be confident that God is at work in us.  When we pray, think, and plan, God is at work in those processes – and he is also at work in ways we do not see, which is wonderful news – he knows even better than us what is needed and how best to move us along.

Friday was All Saints Day, and today we are gathered as a body of saints in Oakville, Connecticut.  None of us is likely to show up on the calendar of saints that has come about as we seek godly examples of what it means to trust and obey the Lord – but we who trust in the Lord Jesus are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.  That is what matters forever – that God has recorded us as his own holy ones, set apart for him.

His love will shine upon us – and as we rejoice in that love, his light will shine through us.  To the Lord who gives us light and life be glory now and forevermore, Amen.