I fear my inferiority complex is not as good as yours.
‹anonymous›
Atlantis: the domain of the Stingray
7Nov
2004
Sun
02:09
author: Stingray
category: Sermons
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All Saints' Day (observed)

Matthew 5:1-12

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
As Jacob with travel was weary one day, / At night on a stone for a pillow he lay; / He saw in a vision a ladder so high / That its foot was on earth and its top in the sky.
This ladder is long, it is strong and well-made, / Has stood hundreds of years and is not yet decayed; / Many millions have climbed it and reached Sion's hill, / And thousands by faith are climbing it still.

Welcome, friends and family, to one of the happiest days in the church year. Today is the day when we recall the blessedness of those who have trod the path of faith before us. Today is the day when we get a glimpse into the magnitude of the Church, its size and the greatness of her glory. Today is All Saints' Day, a day to gaze upon the effects of Christ work, as He died and rose again, establishing the Church, His Bride, and granting entrance into her for many millions upon millions of saints.

We look in the book of Revelation and see with St. John the multitude of saints as the angel shows him the bride, the wife of the Lamb. We see the greatest of cities, the Holy City, Jerusalem, wherein all the saints dwell, descend upon the Mountain of God. We hear the millions of voices sing all the great songs that we also sing in our liturgy. We see the saints and martyrs praying for us under the altar: "How long, O Lord?" We see that in the end, all of the blessed, all who have lived and died in Christ, will forever be in the Light of His face and sing praise and worship Him.

We look at the vision that the prophet Isaiah had and also see the great city, with salvation its walls. All who would enter are those who enter by faith in God and His Christ. We see that all who are dead in Christ are indeed alive and well in the eternal life they have gained through the righteousness that He has won for us and given to us.

We look around us and remember our blessed dead. We recall with great joy the life in Christ that those we have known and have gone before us had and still have. We recall, specifically, those who have gone before us this church year. We rejoice that their robes have been washed clean, made white in the blood of the Lamb.

But today is not only about those who have gone before us, but also about those who are here, right now. It is also about those who are yet to come—like our little one—those for whom we pray, that they may be baptized and come to know the salvation of our God. For it is on All Saints' Day that we rejoice not only to call our blessed dead saints, but also in the fact that we are also made saints, and we rejoice to know that, Lord willing, there will be those who follow us who will also know the joy of being made and called saints of God.

You see, we learn today that Church is a much bigger picture than what goes on here for an hour or so every week. While we are a small church by today's standards, we are actually quite large. You see, when we gather to worship, we gather with our brothers and sisters of our sister congregations around the world, even though we may meet at different times. When we gather to worship, we are joined in our songs of praise and thanksgiving with all the saints on earth who share our song. More than that, however, we gather with all the angels and archangels and all the company of heaven who join in our songs of laud and magnification of God's glorious name. We gather with all the saints on earth and in heaven and sing the same song. Though we may not see it, it is a glorious picture, a picture we get a glimpse of through the prophet and the apostle.

This glorious picture is what the evangelist St. Matthew refers to when he recounts the words of Christ: "Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you." Jesus says this after a list of signs that mark a saint on earth. He tells the saints to rejoice, despite the trials and hardships of this life, because eternal life in Christ is waiting, in which are living the prophets who endured such hardships. These prophets and martyrs wait for you, they sing with you, they worship God with you, they rejoice in the life of Christ you have been given.

Dear saints of God, let us rejoice this day that we have such a great and large family to be part of. Rejoice and be glad that eternal life awaits us. Rejoice and be glad, because the prophets, martyrs, angels and archangels, apostles, evangelists—the whole heavenly host—sing with us a song that will not die, a song that cannot be muted:

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come. You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being. Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise! To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power for ever and ever! Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!

So sing we with them, as their songs are recorded in the books of Isaiah and Revelation.

These are indeed the songs they sing with us, but they sing them for us as well. For as they once were, we are now climbing the ladder of faith, walking the path of faith they once walked. It is a treacherous path, to say the least, filled with many holes and covered with numerous stumbling blocks of sin in which to fall and over which to trip.

For instance, let us look at that list that the evangelist gives us. Blessed are the meek...blessed are the merciful...blessed are the pure in heart...blessed are the peacemakers. Not an extensive list, to say the least. But have we stumbled in any of these? Have we fallen into any holes and missed any of these? To be sure, we have stumbled in all of these and fallen into the trap of sin!

Meek? Given the chance, our sinful nature seeks to indulge itself, over and above, and often at the expense of others. No, we are not meek.

Merciful? Why should we show mercy to those who seek our harm? No, we seek revenge and demand what we are owed by those who are indebted to us. No, we are not merciful.

Pure in heart? Well, this one's easy. Have you ever hated your parents or other authorities or been angry at them? Ever hated someone so much you wished them harm? Ever had any lustful thoughts? Ever lied about anyone or anything? Ever desired the spouse, house, animal, land, or anything that belonged to someone else? No, we have no purity of heart.

Peacemakers? Well, there's nothing like a good fight...either to be in one or watch one. Besides, it's not my place to get between a fight. Sometimes, we need to vent our anger, and the best way is to yell and shout all manner of evil at someone, maybe even to hit or punch the person. No, we are makers of no peace.

Where, then, is meekness? Where, then, is mercy? Where, then, is purity of heart? Where, then, is peacemaking? ... It is only in Jesus Christ! He who knew no sin—who remained meek, who was always merciful, the most pure in heart, the ultimate example of making peace—became sin for us. That is to say, he takes our self-indulgence, our revenge and greed, our impurity, our anger and hate upon himself, and he took it to the cross and there died with it, destroying it. He took the death we deserved, destroying the sins we commit.

But He does so much more. He was meek; His inheritance was the earth. He was merciful; His reward was mercy. He was pure in heart; His gift was to see God. He was the peacemaker; He is called the Son of God. Having taken our sin upon Himself, He gives His meekness, mercy, purity of heart, and peace to us. Where, then, is meekness, mercy, purity of heart, and peacemaking? It is in Christ Jesus our Lord, who gives Himself and of Himself for us.

By His grace, our inheritance is the earth—the new earth and the city of God, Jerusalem. By His grace, our reward is mercy—God is indeed merciful to us; our cups run over. By His grace, our gift is to see God—St. John the apostle says of us in today's epistle, "They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads." By His grace, we are called sons of God—in the waters of Holy Baptism we are adopted as sons of God, with every right and privilege. These are the rights and privileges He has given to the saints who have gone before us and now wait for us. These are the rights and privileges He has given to you, saints of God!

By God's grace, and only by God's grace, we are called saints. As saints, our song is the same as those saints who have gone before us. With them, with the whole glorious band of angels, archangels, prophets, martyrs, apostles, and with all the saints on earth, we sing our songs of thanks and praise to God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. For it is He alone who is worthy to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise! To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power for ever and ever! Amen!

Come, let us ascend! All may climb it who will; / For the angels of Jacob are guarding it still: / And remember, each step that by faith we pass o'er, / Some prophet or martyr hath trod it before.
And when we arrive at the haven of rest, / We shall hear the glad words, "Come up hither, yet blest, / Here are regions of light, here are mansions of bliss." / O who would not climb such a ladder as this?
Alleluia to Jesus, who died on the tree, / And hath raised up a ladder of mercy for me. / And hath raised up a ladder of mercy for me!
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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