“Saints Now & Then” 1 John 3.1-3 All Saints Nov. ‘25

 

“Saints Now & Then” 1 John 3.1-3 All Saints Nov. ‘25

1.                Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. The message from God’s Word as we observe All Saints’ Day is taken from 1 John 3:1-3, it’s entitled, “Saints Now & Then,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.                Did you notice the title for today’s sermon? “Saints Now and Then.” The expression “now and then” usually means that something only happens occasionally, not regularly. This may be the way we think about being saints. Every now and then, we get it right and act like saints. You know, like the time you actually let someone else go first at the four-way stop, or resisted that second piece of pie at the potluck. Now and then! But, that’s not the way we’re going to look at saints on All Saints’ Day. You are saints now because God calls you saints. You will be saints then when Christ returns because God’s call does not change. You might wonder how we can say all of this about saints, because this text never uses the word saint. It does have the word children, though, and in a very special sense: children of God, real children of God. God pours His love on us so that we are real children of God now and forever.

3.                John begins our text, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him” (1 John 3:1). On All Saints’ Day we remember the children of God, the saints of God, who have died this past year. At their funerals, we match Scripture to life, beginning with Ecclesiastes 3:2: There is “a time to be born.” Jane Doe was born October 7, 1952, to John and Mary Doe. Then, John 3:3: “Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” God caused Jane to be born again as his dear child, fathering her in Baptism. Then Romans 10:9: “Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord.” Jane was instructed in the Lutheran faith and confessed that faith in the rite of confirmation at Grace Lutheran Church. God said in Genesis 2:18, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” Jane was the helper that God gave to Sam Smith in holy marriage on June 14, 1975. Psalm 68:6: “God setteth the solitary in families” (KJV). Four children were born to Jane and Sam. Ecclesiastes 9:10 says, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.” Jane especially had the Philippians 2:3 ability to “count others more significant.” Then, back to Ecclesiastes, “there is a time to die.” Jane died on July 25, 2024, at the age of 71 years. She is survived by her husband and children, grandchildren, relatives, and friends. She was preceded in death by her parents and especially by her Lord Jesus Christ, who died and rose again so that whoever lives and believes in him isn’t really dead!

4.                When all of that is read at a funeral, who in their right mind would say that Jane’s birth as a child of John and Mary was only an empty ceremony? That it didn’t really happen? That’s outrageous. People saw her. We saw her. She was a real, live person! But many people would say that the birth from heaven, being fathered by God, never happened, that it was just an empty ceremony. Ridiculous! We saw the new Jane! We saw her new nature in her confession of faith, her marriage, and her life of faith. Her life was better, she was better, because she was a child of God. The love of God can be seen! “See what manner of love God lavished on Jane, on you, on me, that we are called children of God—and we really are.” We are just as much a real child of God as we are a real child of John and Mary! But the world doesn’t recognize that child because it doesn’t recognize our Heavenly Father. Even Jesus was seen by some as only the child of Joseph and Mary, because they didn’t recognize his Father.

5.                “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” (1 John 3:2). There are many “alternative” burial practices that are readily available these days—totally legal and increasingly popular. Cremation is chosen more often than embalming a body and burying it. Cremated remains can be kept in a closet, on the fireplace mantle, or scattered in the deceased’s favorite spot. There is, however, much to be said about the traditional practice of burying remains with a stone marking the site and listing the person’s name. One former pastor, Pastor William Knaack, who for many years served deaf parishioners in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and North Dakota, says it this way: “It’s a reminder that God isn’t done with this body yet.” What God will do with that body is too glorious for us to comprehend, but those whose souls are with Jesus will have bodies raised to be like his.

6.                Jesus will come back, appear again, and we will then appear “like him” in glorious ways we can’t understand now. But we will still be children of God, really. We will continue to exist in a way that we don’t know, but we will be. I stopped with the word be deliberately. We don’t know what we will be, but we will still exist, still be children of God. Job said that even after his body was destroyed his eyes would see God. John tells us that we shall see our Redeemer too. There is a resurrection, and we’ll be there.

7.                “And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.” 1 John 3:3 calls all this a hope, and a wonderful hope it is! Then, though, there’s something that sounds like a catch to all these great promises. There’s always a catch, right? Like the commercials that say, ‘Free trial—just give us your credit card, your email, and your firstborn child! A child of God that has this hope now and then “purifies himself.” How can we purify ourselves? Am I disqualified because I can’t make myself saintly enough? That’s what the word purify means. It’s directly related to the word for “saint.”

8.                No! It’s not a catch. No one is disqualified whose sins are covered by Christ. Jesus’ death on the cross paid for all sins. And just as we are justified by grace, by God’s work and not ours, we are also sanctified, purified, by grace, through faith—God’s work, not ours. God does this through the means of grace: Word and Sacraments. God calls us to faith by the Word, keeps us in faith by the Word, makes us a child in Baptism, and feeds us with the body and blood of Christ for the forgiveness of sins and strengthening in faith. God made you his child, and, now and then, God keeps his children clean! Really! Parents, you know what it’s like—keeping your kids clean is a full-time job! Mud, peanut butter, and mystery stains appear out of nowhere. But God never tires of washing His children in grace. Amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, until life everlasting. Amen.

 

 

“Stilled by God, Gladdened by His Presence” Psalm 46 Reformation Oct. ‘25

 

“Stilled by God, Gladdened by His Presence” Psalm 46 Reformation Oct. ‘25

1.                Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. The message from God’s Word as we observe Reformation Day is taken from Psalm 46 and it’s entitled, “Stilled by God, Gladdened by His Presence,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.                “Look what they’ve done to my song,” sang folk singer Melanie. What they had done was “turn it upside down” (Melanie Safka, “What Have They Done to My Song, Ma,” lyrics © Bienstock Publishing Company, Yellow Dog Music Inc., 1970). Can you legally turn someone else’s song upside down? It turns out that in certain cases, you can. The Supreme Court ruled that a parody was an acceptable way to change someone’s song because it really does turn it upside down, changing the meaning completely (Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music Inc., March 7, 1994). Now, if you’ve ever heard someone try to sing one of your favorite hymns off-key, you might understand how poor Melanie felt when her song got turned upside down! I sometimes think God must feel that way when we sing ‘A Mighty Fortress’ on autopilot instead of with joy.

3.                What about changing God’s song? Psalm 46 is God’s song. When Martin Luther told Philip Melanchthon, “Let’s sing the Forty-Sixth Psalm,” they didn’t sing from the Bible. They sang Luther’s “A Mighty Fortress.” Luther didn’t turn God’s song into a parody to make it funny. He interpreted God’s song to show the joy and confidence God always intended for that song to convey. Today, we’re looking at two words of God’s song, Psalm 46. The first is from verse 10, the word still. The other is from verse 4, glad. They make up our theme today: God Stills Souls So That His Presence, Protection, and Power Make People Glad.

4.                Since courts recognize humor as a fair First Amendment right, the law is on my side if I try a little humor today. I like a parody in which a comedian uses the form of one song to make it totally different and much funnier. For instance, a country musician wrote a song about a long-lasting love that went, “Still, after all this time, still, you are on my mind. I love you still” (Bill Anderson, “Still,” released by Decca records 1963). The parody is about a thief who stole a car that was low on gas. It goes, “Still, though you took my car. Still, I know you won’t get far. You’ll be sitting still” (Sheb Wooley as Ben Colder, “Still No. 2,” released by MGM Records 1963).

5.                What a strange route I’ve taken to get to the theme of the sermon! In verse 10, God says, “Be still.” Psalm 46 was sung by travelers on their way to worship at the temple in Jerusalem. “Be still” wasn’t telling them to stop for a moment. “Be still” means “stop striving” or “stop resisting.” What does it mean to strive against God? It means resisting God’s Law, what God wants for people, as well as resisting God’s Gospel, what God does for people. When Luther read the words, “Be still,” he must have thought of all the ways he strove so hard to please God—fasting and praying and starving. Finally, it was the Word of God that got him to “be still” and stop fighting God’s grace and trust that “the righteous shall live by his faith” (Hab 2:4). The Reformation took place because God stills souls so that his presence makes people glad.

6.                What about us? We strive with God’s Law, questioning what he is doing and why. We strive with God’s Gospel when we think we must add to what God did for us on the cross. Wouldn’t it be great if God’s command here had the same force as when he said, “Let there be light,” and there was light? Wouldn’t it be great if God said, “Be still,” and we stopped striving at his command? God could use his strong arm to knock us out and make us still, but it’s much more in keeping with God’s grace to believe that he stills our striving souls in gentler ways. His Law has power to bring us to repentance and faith in his forgiveness for all our striving. God stills souls so that his presence makes people glad. Sometimes I think if God told us, ‘Be still,’ many of us would respond, ‘Sure, Lord—right after I finish these seventeen other things!’ We’re not very good at being still, are we? We’re like kids at bedtime—wiggling, talking, negotiating for one more story.

7.                To “be still” or “stop striving” isn’t something people can do. So, God stops the striving. Sometimes the bad things God allows are so bad that we are shocked into stillness. Sometimes the good things God gives are so good that we stand still in wonder and awe.

8.                Military aviators are given this strict training: If they have to eject from their plane over water, they are to expect a rescue helicopter on the way. When the helicopter arrives and a rescuer jumps from the helicopter into the water, the pilot is instructed to do nothing. No matter how agitated he is and no matter how much he wants to help, he is to do nothing. Doing anything might actually hamper the rescue effort and endanger both the pilot and the rescuer. The rescuer will wait until the pilot is completely still before proceeding to save him.

9.                This is the sense in which “be still” is understood in Psalm 46. Stop striving. Stop trying to help. Be still and know that God is the Savior. The Lord’s invitation—even command—to be still, to stop striving, is a wonderful expression of the great truth of the Reformation: that we are saved by grace alone, not by any work of our own. 

10.             Do you remember the old TV westerns? When someone was drowning, the cowboy who came to the rescue knocked the drowning person out so that he could drag him to shore without resistance. That’s probably not a recommended method for our ushers’ training.” Paul knew what that was like, striving to the point that Jesus stopped him in the middle of the road and said that Paul was kicking “against the goads” (Acts 26:14). Goads were sharp things used to control animals. Striving, kicking against them, only hurt the animal. When God got Paul stilled, God made him an instrument, a messenger of the Gospel to tell of grace and faith from God alone.

11.             Here’s where we pick up the other word we’re looking at today. The word is glad from verse 4: “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God.” The people going to the temple knew there wasn’t a river in Jerusalem. They knew the song must be talking about a different river that makes glad. One day Jesus went to the temple in Jerusalem for the festival where they poured on the great altar a pitcher of water, which then ran down the steps to the Pool of Siloam. Jesus put it all into perspective and said, “ ‘Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, “Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” ’ Now this he said about the Spirit” (Jn 7:38–39a). God’s Holy Spirit is “living water.” The Holy Spirit stops peoples’ striving, as we learn in the meaning of the Third Article of the Apostles Creed: “I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel.” That faith puts believers in the crowd of Isaiah 35:10: “And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; . . . they shall obtain gladness and joy.”

12.             Martin Luther interpreted Psalm 46 in this way when he wrote “A Mighty Fortress.” Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promise. Jesus is the champion who comes to fight for his people. Jesus is the one who stills people in their striving because he does all that is necessary for our salvation. He goes to the cross and dies for our futile strivings—and to make our strivings unnecessary. That makes the city of God, the church, glad, and it makes the future city of God, heaven, glad eternally. God stills souls so that his presence brings great gladness.

13.             How are we at being still? When God says, ‘Be still,’ some of us reach for our phones to Google what that means. Stillness doesn’t come naturally in a world where the microwave takes too long! The psalmist says, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea” (Psalm 46:1–2). When we hear of wars and rumors of wars and kingdoms tottering, it’s hard to remember that God is our fortress and refuge and a present help in times of trouble. When mountains tremble and the earth gives way, will we not fear at least a little? The two things that have been our theme today, “be still” and “be glad,” are things we don’t do very well. That’s why, though it sounds a bit clumsy, it’s better Gospel to say “be stilled” and “be gladdened,” so that we know that God is the one who is “stilling” and “gladdening” us. God stills our souls so that his presence brings gladness now and forever.

14.             I still like when a song is changed so that we laugh. How much greater that God gives us faith to believe his Song—his unchanging words—and know the greatest joy! Amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, until life everlasting. Amen.