Sermons for the Month
Growing In Saintliness
DATE: November 7th, 2004
SERVICE: All Saints' Sunday
TEXT: Luke 6:20-31 and Ephesians 1:11-23To all of you Saints here this morning, grace and peace to you from God our Father, from His Son, Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. AMEN
There is a big difference between thanking someone and being thankful for someone. I thank people all the time, having been taught good manners as a child. At the grocery story I thank the cashier, even if I've been thoroughly ignored. At the restaurant I thank the server even if my food is plopped unceremoniously down in front of me. At the car wash I thank the driers even if they miss spots on the wind shield.
I say thank-you partly out of habit and also because I hope that being positive will have a positive result. But, saying thank-you does not necessarily mean that I am thankful FOR all those to whom I express appreciation. It would be good if that were the case, but it's often not true.
Just think about that take the rummage sale as an example what if we had been truly thankful for every person who came in the door? If that had been the case, it would have been obvious in our responses to people, and the impact on Fairlawn could have been huge. (I imagine there is a lesson for business people in this idea of not only saying thank-you to people, but actually being truly thankful for them.)
That's certainly something to work on developing the reality, though is that I am truly thankful for people when they have influenced my life in some way. Usually they have done something that I admire, or that touched me emotionally, or met a need, or had an impact on me. Or, that person's faith and trust in God astounds me. It is then that I can say, "I am thankful for you."
We see this in the Apostle Paul letter to the Ephesians where he writes that he does not cease to give thanks for the Christians there because he has heard of their faith in the Lord Jesus and their love toward other believers. Evidently there is something about their faith and the love that they have shown that made an impression on him. And, not only is Paul thankful for them, but he prays that they will realize what is already theirs', nothing less than the immeasurable greatness of God's power at work in their lives.
The reality for them - and for us - is that if we become enlightened "with the eyes of their hearts" concerning how God's power is within us, then people will have more and more reason to be thankful for us because we will be more and more saintly each day.
Now, I'm not saying that we will become more and more sanctimonious. I did not mean that we will be "holier-than-thou." Instead, we are growing as the saints we are. Remember that all Christians are saints - believers in Jesus who God has called out to be blessed, different and distinctive - and to have an impact on others. We all are saints who are striving to be more saint-like, and some are a bit further along in the process that others.
Think about this for a moment. Who are the people in your life - both those who are living and those who have died - who you do no hesitate to call a saint? Aren't they people for whom you are thankful because they did something that you admire, or that touched you emotionally, or that met a need, or had an impact on your life, or whose trust in God inspires you? Aren't they often ordinary people, but there is, or was, something distinctive about their lives because they grasped the immeasurable greatness of God's power at work within them. Throughout their lives they became more and more saint-like, or are still in the process of doing so. Since that's what we are striving to do as well, it's good that we take some time to focus on saintliness.
In today's Gospel lesson from Luke we read a portion of the Sermon on the Plain in which Jesus gives a good review of saintliness. He points out who are among the blessed - we might say blessed saints - and he details the proper behavior of saints. Both sections are challenging, although the second probably is more difficult that the first.
You probably noticed that the people Jesus calls blessed - the poor, the hungry, the grieving and the persecuted - are the ones that we would be inclined to feel sorry for rather than admire. We ask ourselves, "Why does Jesus called them blessed?"
It's certainly not because of the situations in which they find themselves. Being hungry or poor or grief-stricken or persecuted does not in itself make a person blessed. It's true that Jesus takes the side of the disadvantaged, but the reason he says they are blessed is because they bring nothing but their need to God. For them trust cannot be placed (or perhaps we should say misplaced) in their own abilities, in money or in connections with important people. They must trust in God, and God alone. Their openness makes them fertile soil to receive God's blessing. It's not suffering that makes a person a saint, nor does abundance automatically disqualify someone from sainthood. Instead, a "blessed" saint is marked by humility, trust and faith.
Then Jesus goes on in his sermon to describe some other marks of saintliness. He uses some strong verbs telling his followers to love, to do good, to bless and to give, and to do these things even to those who do not deserve love, goodness, blessing and gifts. This is where it gets challenging, because most of us deal with someone who challenges our saintliness, and who we would rather not respond to with love.
I've become convinced that Jesus is not saying we should set ourselves up to be abused or taken advantage of, BUT he is telling us go the extra mile and to be sacrificial. We must not create more negativity with our behavior. And we must give up any bitterness or anger that we are harboring. Why? It's because these things get in the way of the immeasurable greatness of God's power flowing through us, and affect our Christian witness. So, Jesus sums his expectations of saints up in those well-known words, "Do to others as you would have them do to you." (Do it even if you would rather not, and the other person seems unworthy.)
We the living saints strive to develop these saintly characteristics and behaviors - humility, trust, faith, love, goodness and giving - in our lives, realizing that doing so is possible only because God's power is at work within us. In a sense, doing so is our life's goal a far different goal than what "the world" fosters.
You know, I have presided at many funerals and memorial services. More often than not I am touched by what people say about their loved ones. Perhaps it's egotistical, but I sometimes find myself wondering what will be said about me one day. I always hope that it will be something other than, "She was a good person who worked hard all her life." I pray that I will have drawn on that internal Divine strength to become a person Jesus would call blessed because I trust in God above all else. And I hope that I learned to live sacrificially just as Jesus requests when he tells us to love and do good and bless and give.
I guess I'm not the first one who has thought about becoming a more saintly saint. I read a story this week about the well-known and much admired Henri Nouwen, a Catholic priest and author. He wrote about meeting Mother Theresa in Rome, saying that the first thing he noticed about her was her constant focus on Jesus. People were asking questions, and she was answering in a way that deflected attention from herself to the Lord. Her answers seemed simple, but there was power in them.
So, he finally had the opportunity to speak with her, and evidently he discussed various struggles in living his life as God's saint. (No doubt struggles that all of us face.) He asked for her advice. Mother Teresa said to him, "If you spend one hour each day in prayer and never do anything you know is wrong, you will be all right."
Does that sound too simplistic? Perhaps, but there also is such wisdom there because if a person connects with God for one hour daily figuring out right and wrong becomes not only easier to understand, but easier to do. No wonder Mother Teresa got a little further down the road than most of us when it comes to saintliness.
On this All Saints' Sunday we don't just say "thank-you" because it's the polite thing to do. This isn't the grocery store or a restaurant or the car wash. Instead, we give thanks for those saints who are in God's care whose lives have touched our own. We give thanks for those who are living saints who we wish to imitate. And, we acknowledge that, we too are God's living saints, growing each day in saintliness. It's not something to get discouraged about because the immeasurable greatness of God's power is at work within us, making it possible for us to live like the saints we are.
And, for those of who want to get further down the road of saintliness, remember the advice of Mother Theresa spend one hour in prayer each day and never do anything you know is wrong. AMEN