What We Shall Be

This is All Saints Sunday. What is a saint? It’s someone who has exemplified the Christian life. It is someone who has been set apart. It is someone who has become holy.  We don’t have a way of criteria where people are formally named as saints. Even in those systems, I have come to learn that saint does not equal a perfectly lived life. It ultimately means a trust in God with one’s life.  How does one become holy and set apart? By having faith in Jesus Christ.

What is All Saints day?  It is a day to celebrate the communion of saints as we remember those who have died.

I brought this picture of my grandparents. Were they perfect? Yes, as grandparents go. I couldn’t have asked for any better.  Did they have flaws? Yes but they are getting harder to remember as the years roll on. They had faith in Jesus Christ and I look forward to seeing them again in the life to come.

Some of you brought photographs this morning. How did you choose which picture to bring? Was it because of the accomplishments of the person in the picture? Was it because they lived a flawless life?  Was it something else? What do you feel when you remember the person you hold in your heart? What do you remember? What do you let go of?

The reason you brought the picture is your own definition of a saint. Many of you did not bring a picture but you hold someone in your heart this morning. Perhaps you lit a candle in their memory. You hold them in your heart this morning on All Saints Day.

We have so many memories and stories of those that we have loved and lost in this life. But if you could boil it down to one word, one reason, one idea, one feeling, what would that word be?

If you would like, please share the word that comes to mind about the person you are remembering today…

All good things.

We have a promise. We will be made new.

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians “ⁱⁿ an instant, in the blink of an eye, at the final trumpet. The trumpet will blast, and the dead will be raised with bodies that won’t decay, and we will be changed. ⁵³ 

We will be changed. But what shall we be?

Paul says we will have a body that won’t decay. But that is a little less information about eternal life than is satisfying isn’t it?  What I want to know is what life is like when we cross from this life into the next. And more importantly what will it be like when Jesus returns?

Let’s look at what Jesus says.

In the beginning of Chapter 5 of the Gospel according to Matthew we have a series of statements from Jesus.  They are traditionally called the Beatitudes. Do you know what beatitude means? It means the state of great joy, or supreme blessedness.

As you heard me read earlier the passage of scripture is repetitious in the phrase blessed are the… Blessed are those who…

Poor in spirit

Mourn

Who are meek

Who hunger and thirst for righteousness

Are pure in heart

The peacemakers

The persecuted

This is not a fun list of attributes. This is a list that represents a life that from the outside seems difficult and uncomfortable at best. But Jesus says they are blessed, that they are set apart for God.

Because our God is a God of reconciliation and transformation.

Because our God can bring life out of death.

God can fix what is broken and heal what is wounded.  

God has provided a way for you to have that healing. God has provided a way to have life that never ends and it is found in Jesus Christ.

But are you willing to let God transform you?

The love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ that reconciles us to God is the only path to blessedness. And while we live this life we have been gifted with the church. The Church is intended to be the body of Christ on earth.  The problem with the church is that it is filled with people who are broken and looking forward to being made whole again.  But we are a people set apart for God. By God’s grace we have become his children. We have taken on the mission to make disciples for him. To know Christ and to make him known.

Sometimes we forget to show love. Sometimes we forget to show mercy. But then sometimes we get it right. Sometimes by God’s grace we can be used to pass on a blessing to another. When we recognize our own brokenness and our own woundedness, we begin to forgive others for theirs and carry one another’s burdens.

When we learn that we cannot stand on our own, that we need someone else to lean on that ultimately we have to admit that we are powerless in this life, then God can truly move into your spirit and teach and guide you.  

This is what it means to be poor in spirit. Blessed… are those who are poor in spirit. Why? Because theirs is the kingdom of God. This is the definition of freedom and this leads to faith in Jesus Christ it is the definition of salvation.

And that’s what we are about. The kingdom of God, where we will be comforted. We will inherit the earth. We will be satisfied when we hunger and thirst for righteousness. We will be shown mercy. We will see God. We will be called the children of God!

Rejoice and be gland because your reward is great in heaven.

So how is it with you today? We have given only a little piece of time to accomplish His work on this earth. We celebrate those who have gone before us on this All Saints Day, this is a day of remembrance with joy, a celebration that there is life beyond life, and that death is not the end of life. Something that Jesus Christ accomplished for us.

What shall we be?  What will it be like in the resurrection? I don’t know but we know it will be blessed and supremely joyous.