We are God’s Children
1 John 3:1-3
All Saints’ Day
Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ amen. The sermon text for All Saints’ Day is the epistle reading 1 John 3. Today we celebrate All Saints Day. A saint is one whose sins have been wiped clean by the blood of Christ. A saint is a person who has received God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ. A saint is anyone who believes Jesus has died to save him or her. The saints would include all believers in both heaven and here on earth. As we look at our readings for All Saints Day, we see the saints being described. In our first reading from Revelation we see the people of God who are in heaven with the Lord. They are enjoying perfect peace and joy. “Therefore 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.” On this day we remember those who have died in the faith and who now rest from their labors. Later in the service I will read the names of the past years faithfully departed. We certainly remember our loved ones who are now with the Lord.
When we look at the epistle reading and the Gospel reading, we see the description of the saints who are still living in this world. That would be us. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.” The saints living in this world have been given salvation through Christ Jesus and are richly blessed but will still experience sin and pain.
Most families take a family picture from time to time. In the picture everyone looks good. The family picture shows everyone sitting up straight and smiling. It is that great family picture that you post on Facebook. That perfect family picture reminds us of the saints in heaven. The saints who are still here on earth looks more like the family before the picture is taken. The baby is crying the kids are arguing and the mother is franticly trying to get everyone in position. The saints here on earth have blemishes and warts. The church here on earth can look small and weak. We all look forward to that time when we will be able to live a perfect life in heaven but until that time comes, we still live in this world. We are blessed but we also struggle.
Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ we have been made children of God. This is what John said in our epistle reading for today. “See what kind of love the Father has given to us that we should be called children of God; and so we are”. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ we have been made saints. This is what Peter said about God’s people in 1 Peter 2. “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people that belong to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light”. These words are describing God’s people here on earth. It is important for us to remember that because when we look at the people of God here on earth it does not always look impressive. According to our epistle reading from 1 John the world often dismisses Christ’s church here on earth. There are times, because of our sinful nature, that we even have our doubts about God’s church.
When we look at the church in this world it sometimes looks weak. John tells us that the world will often dismiss the church completely. Recall what he said. “The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know Him.” The church speaks about the seriousness of sin. The world denies sin. The church preaches and teaches that salvation is given to people through Christ Jesus. The world tells us that there are many ways to God. The world tells us that we don’t even need God.
John states in our reading for today that the sinful world does not understand the Christian church because it does not understand God. Because of our sinful nature there are times when we have our own doubts about God’s church on earth. John tells us in our reading that through Christ we are children of God. Peter tells us in 1 Peter that we are a royal priesthood and a holy nation. But we don’t always see that when we look at ourselves or when we look at the church. We will experience affliction in this life. This affliction will include all the suffering that we will endure, including sickness and pain. But when the Bible speaks about affliction it is often speaking of our distress over our own sins and failures. There are times when we fail in our attempts to resist the temptation to sin. Sometimes our own flaws, issues and addictions get the best of us. We want to be strong Christians but we are not always strong. We experience weakness and doubt. We experience sadness and guilt. When we looks at our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, we see that they are going through the same struggles.
The church here on earth does not always look impressive. The sinful world will ignore it and we sometimes doubt it. But what the church looks like with the naked eye and what the sinful world says about it is not the point. The only thing that matters is what God does for His saints and what God says about us. Remember what John said. “See what kind of love the Father has given to us that we should be called children of God; and so we are”. God’s love was shown to us when He took all of our sins, failures, weakness, doubts and guilt, and placed them upon Christ as He hung on the cross. God’s love was shown to us when He took the righteousness of Christ, His goodness kindness, strength and victory, and placed it upon us. We are now children of God through faith in Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus has saved us from sin and death and brought us into the eternal family of God.
That is what the Lord has done for you. It’s also important to hear what the Lord says to you. You are forgiven. Your sins have been wiped away. You are declared righteous by God through faith in Jesus. You have been given new life. You have been restored and made holy. You have been given an eternal inheritance. You will be part of the finale resurrection on the last day. When the Lord looks at you, He is pleased because He sees the righteousness of His Son upon you. He is pleased because you are His child.
Remember what was said in our reading. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself as He is pure.” On this All Saints Day we rejoice because of God’s blessings given to us right now. We rejoice knowing that when Christ returns, we will rise again at the final resurrection. We rejoice knowing that we will see the Lord with our own eyes. We rejoice knowing that we will join all the saints in heaven. As we wait let us look to the Lord who gives us a sure and certain hope. Amen.