Luke 6:20-31
"What Makes a Saint?"
One day a man was walking through a beautiful church building with his 4-year-old son.
As they walked, the young boy looked around.
He stopped and was curious about the stained glass windows that looked so beautiful with their bright
colors.
As he looked at the windows, he asked, "Who are all the people in the windows, daddy?"
"They are Saints," said the father.
"What are Saints daddy?," the kid asked.
The father was stuck.
How was he going to explain who saints were to a four year old boy?
As the boy was still looking up at the
windows and the father was still wondering how he would explain who saints are, the young boy suddenly shouted out, "I know who saints
are daddy.
They are the people that the light shines through."
Quite often we think of saints in the same way we may think of angels or, at the very least, only the very, very well-known people from the past such as Saint Francis or Mother Teresa.
But in the Bible, a saint is simply a follower of Jesus Christ.
They become saints by being born again by the Holy Spirit, which can only happen through God.
The people described as saints in the Bible were still very much human.
They were called, they were holy, and they were extremely dedicated (both in terms of attitude, and in the sense of being set apart), but they were still real people, far from perfect.
They were fishermen, farmers, tent makers, doctors, teachers, carpenters, former prostitutes, extortionists, outcastes, robbers--you name it!!!
They weren't infallible, and sometimes they disagreed with one another.
They weren't perfect by any stretch of the imagination.
They were on a journey...
...the journey of following Jesus...
...the journey of learning to be more and more like Jesus...
...which means, becoming more and more loving, less and less judgmental, more and more accepting of others, and less and less condemning of others.
As far as The Bible is concerned, Jesus is Perfect, but Jesus' people, were and are not perfect.
As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13: "Now we see a reflection in a mirror; then we will see face-to-face.
Now I know partially, but then I will know completely in the same way that I have been completely known."
Just think of all the mistakes the Apostle Peter made...
...or John...
...or James.
They learned as they went.
They learned from their mistakes.
They learned by allowing Christ to forgive them, by accepting Christ's forgiveness and moving on in Christ, in love.
I mean, think about how radically we, as Christ's followers are called to live.
In our Gospel Lesson this morning from Luke Jesus says:
"Love your enemies.
Do good to those who hate you.
Bless those who curse you.
Pray for those who mistreat you.
If someone slaps you on the cheek, offer the other one as well.
If someone takes your coat, don't withhold your shirt either.
Give to everyone who asks and don't demand your things back from those who take them.
Treat people in the same way that you want to be treated."
If we were to read on we would find that we are also called to "lend expecting nothing in return..."
We are called to "be kind to ungrateful and wicked people..."
We are called to "Be compassionate just as [God] is compassionate..."
We are not to "judge," nor are we to "condemn" others.
Raise your hand if you live like that all the time!!!
And still...God calls us saints!!!
All the words in both Greek and Hebrew that are used in the Bible and are translated into the word "saint" all have the same definition.
According to the Bible a saint is someone who is sacred, holy, pure, blameless, dedicated.
Of course the word "holy" doesn't mean "perfect"...
...it means "set apart."...
..."set apart to serve God."
And the only way people can be "pure and blameless" is through the blood of Jesus shed on the Cross covering and washing away the stain of their sins.
But "dedicated."
Now that's interesting.
Yes, a saint is dedicated.
A saint may fall down, but a saint gets back up again.
A saint may fall into sin, lose their temper, hurt another by word or deed, but a saint asks God for forgiveness, accepts that forgiveness and asks God for the strength to grow in love.
That's what it means to be "dedicated."
A dedicated follower of Jesus Christ may not always love their enemies, but that is their goal.
When they find that they cannot love their enemies, they ask God for God's love to overcome their anger and hatred.
When they find it difficult to pray for those who mistreat them, a dedicated follower of Jesus Christ prays for those who mistreat them anyway.
If a dedicated follower of Jesus Christ finds it nearly impossible not to judge another person, they admit this failure to God and ask God to enable them not to judge.
They pray to God to help them to love all persons, no matter who that person is, what they look like or how they live their lives.
And because dedicated followers of Jesus Christ are called to "turn the other cheek," and if someone takes their coat--they are to give their shirt as well...
They are to pray to God that they don't demand "special rights and privileges" from the world and from other people.
They are not to take others to court, blast other people in the media or from the pulpit, or from the ballot box!!!
There can be no doubt that this kind of living, this kind of lifestyle we are called to is as radical as it can possibly get...and no one gets it completely right.
If we even begin to think we are getting it right, we are already getting it wrong!!!
For "All who exalt themselves will be humbled."
"The first shall be last and the last shall be first."
And "Pride comes before a fall."
Wow.
It sounds impossible.
And it is.
In verse 20 we are told that "Jesus raised his eyes to his [dedicated] disciples and said:
"Happy are you who are poor, because God's kingdom is yours.
Happy are you who hunger now...
Happy are you who weep now...
But how terrible for you who are rich, because you already received your comfort.
How terrible for you who have plenty now, because you will be hungry."
What are we to make of all this stuff?
Jesus just turns things upside down and inside out again and again.
Could it be that part of what it comes down to is that a secure financial future, and a full stomach are not necessarily bad things in themselves, but they can be deceptive.
They are temporary.
And rather than being evidence of God's favor, prosperity can actually get in the way of our relationship with God and with other people.
It can steal our love.
To be truly "happy" or "blessed" is to have a relationship with God that is not in jeopardy.
Self-sufficiency traps us and separates us from God.
Those who lay up treasures for themselves are not--and cannot be--rich toward God.
We are blessed or happy when we rely solely on the mercy and love of God, from Whom all good things come.
Yes, true happiness comes when we rely exclusively on God.
And when we rely exclusively on God, we find that we are more loving, more compassionate, and less judgmental only because we are more dedicated to following Christ.
And when we love Christ more--we love others the best.
It's been said that "A saint is someone whose life makes it easier to believe in God."
I think most of us have known such people.
If we had not, I doubt we would be here this morning.
Most of us were given our first glimpse of Jesus through one of His saints.
Maybe it was our mother or father.
Maybe it was a neighbor, school teacher or friend.
Maybe it was a pastor or a member of the church fellowship we were raised in or a Sunday School teacher.
Whoever it was, there was something about them…
…something that separated them from the rest of the crowd…
…something special about them that intrigued us and caused us to want to have that something special as well.
They were the people who would go the extra mile for us or anyone...
…they were the people that we knew we could count on no matter what…
…they were the people who made us feel loved…
…who gave us just a glimpse of the Divine.
A fantastic pastor who I grew up knowing told the story of his introduction to Christ, to his calling in life, to be holy, pure, blameless, dedicated.
He was raised in a family that did not attend church.
His father was a hardened man.
This pastor, his name was Bob…
…when he was a young boy Bob used to deliver newspapers.
And I know that many of the younger people here probably aren’t very familiar with paperboys…
...there really haven’t been paperboys for a good fifteen years or so.
I used to be a paperboy, and so did most of the kids I grew up with.
I would get up early every morning…at about 4:30…a distributor would drop the papers off in front of my house…
…I would put the sixty or so newspapers in my newspaper bag, get on my bike and deliver the paper before going to school.
We paperboys would get to know our customers pretty well because each week we had to go to each of their houses, ring the doorbell and collect the cost of a week’s worth of newspapers.
Oftentimes we’d make a little tip.
Well, one of the customers on Bob’s paper-route was a Methodist Minister, and one day when Bob came to ring the man’s doorbell to collect his paper money the minister said to him:
“You know Bob, I was wondering.
I’m the pastor of the Methodist Church down the street.
And we don’t have anyone to hand out bulletins on Sunday mornings.
I wonder if you’d be willing to come hand out our bulletins?”
Bob was astonished.
He’d never been in a church before, let alone handed out bulletins, but he was honored that this man had asked him to do this so he decided he would give it a shot.
This invitation to hand out bulletins at the Methodist Church turned out to be the changing point in Bob’s life.
He met and was befriended by the dear saints of this church who loved him, took him under their wing, became his family, and taught him the love of Jesus.
Bob ended up going on to seminary, and from there had a lifelong ministry of loving others into God’s kingdom.
I didn’t meet Bob until he had already retired from the ministry…
…but then, Bob never really did retire.
In retirement he was the minister of visitation at our church, would occasionally preach, and led the weekly Bible study.
And Bob took a keen interest in me--as he did everyone he met.
He would tell me that I ought to go into the ministry.
Before I left for college Bob showed up on my doorstep and handed me a small leather-bound Bible for me to take with me to school.
That was the first Bible that I really, really read…that was the Bible I was using when I had my born again experience.
While in college, Bob paid for me to fly out to St. Louis in order to attend a conference for young people who might be thinking about entering the ministry.
Bob used to tell me: “I look forward to the day when I can attend your ordination.”
Well, Bob passed away several years ago.
So, when I was finally fully ordained an Elder, Bob wasn't there physically…but he was there...
Bob and many others like him have put their full trust in the Lord, given their complete lives to Him in service and dedication and have experienced more out of life than they ever could have imagined.
And because of this, they have also passed this fullness of life to others.
These people are saints…saints of God.
They are the people through whom God's light shines through.
Who are the saints that have touched your life with the incredible love of Christ?
Maybe they are still alive.
Maybe they are members of this very congregation.
Maybe they have passed on, and you lit a candle in memory of them this morning.
We are to let Christ’s light shine, like the light shining through the figures in the stained glass windows that the four year old boy saw.
We are all ‘called to be saints’--people dedicated to God-- so
that the light of Christ may shine through our words, and our actions.
A saint is someone through whom we catch a glimpse of what God is like –
and of what we are called to be.
A saint is not perfect.
But nevertheless, we thank God for them because a saint is someone through whom God tells God's story.
Praise God.
Amen.
