Sermon Series: I Am Thankful For…

Sermon #1 I Am Thankful for the Saints

Ephesians 1:11-23

November 5, 2006

Dr. Larry D. Thorson

 
 You may not have noticed but last Wednesday was All Saint's Day - a day that has been celebrated for hundreds of years by churches, particularly Roman Catholic, Orthodox and Anglican churches, but in many others as well. Unfortunately churches that grew out of the Protestant Reformation that we celebrated last week often don’t say much about saints or All Saints Day: except to explain that the night before, the night of witches and devils and other things that we should not pay attention to, received it's name because it is on the Eve of All Hallows Day, or All Saints Day. Halloween gets the publicity but not All Saints Day. 

That’s a pity because we owe a lot to the saints. This morning I want to pay tribute to the saints who helped us get to where we are today. There’s some confusion as to what a saint is and that’s partially because the Roman Catholic Church believes that only certain people whom they decide are worthy are called saints. You’ve heard of St. Paul. St. Peter.

In my hometown of San Jose which is Spanish for Saint Joseph there is a church called St. Christopher. What’s interesting about St. Christopher is that before the 1969 reform of the Roman Catholic calendar, Christopher was listed as a martyr who died under Decius. Nothing else is known about him. There are several legends about him including the one in which he was crossing a river when a child asked to be carried across. When Christopher put the child on his shoulders he found the child was unbelievably heavy. The child, according to the legend, was Christ carrying the weight of the whole world. This was what made Christopher patron saint of travelers and is invoked against storms, plagues, etc.. His former feast day is July 25.

Before the formal canonization process began in the fifteenth century, many saints were proclaimed by popular approval. This was a much faster process but unfortunately many of the saints so named were based on legends, pagan mythology, or even other religions -- for example, the story of the Buddha who traveled west to Europe and was "converted" into a Catholic saint!

In 1969, the Roman Catholic Church took a long look at all the saints on its calendar to see if there was historical evidence that that saint existed and lived a life of holiness. In taking that long look, the Church discovered that there was little proof that many "saints", including some very popular ones, ever lived. Poor Christopher was one of the names that was determined to have a basis mostly in legend. Therefore Christopher (and others) were dropped from the universal calendar.

 In the Bible the word “saint” is derived from the word Sanctus - which we translate as the word "holy". Paul in his letter to the Ephesians, and in all of his letters uses the word - sanctus - or saint – as applying to all those who believe in Christ Jesus.
 Listen again to verses one and two of the Letter to the Ephesians - where Paul tells them who is writing and to whom it is that he is writing.
 "Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus – grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."
 
 Listen as well to how Paul addresses both the Roman church. “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle... to all God's beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints. Grace to  you and peace...." Romans 1:1 & 7
 
 In the Bible a saint is someone who is set apart because of their faith. A saint is someone whose life is dedicated to the worship of God and the doing of God's will.  
 A saint is someone who inspires in us the desire to know and follow Christ Jesus. Saints are normal people who differ from others in this world, not because of the degree of their moral perfection, but because of their faith and how, because of their faith and how they live it, draw others to give praise to God and inspire them to want to believe in and follow the Christ whom they believe in all follow.
 Think about it for a minute: doesn’t it make sense that we - who are called to be saints – should pause once a year in our public worship to think about who the saints of God are and to thank God for them?
 Does it not even make sense to perhaps pause once a month - or even once a day - in our private worship, and give thanks to God for all the saints and especially for those saints who have touched our lives and showed to us something of Christ's love, something of God's glory.
What we admire in them after all is part of what we are called to imitate part of what we hope God will work thru us,
part of what God calls us to be and to embody and to live out.
 A saint is a person who is an example of faithfulness; a person who, because of their faith in Christ, shows forth something of his light in their lives.
 Think about the saints -not the famous saints - like Saint Paul or Saint John or Saint Theresa, or Saint Catherine, or Saint Francis but think of the saints who have touched your lives. Think of those who have inspired in you a deeper faith in God, of those who have made you want to bless the God they believe in...of those whose love and whose testimony have awakened something in your
soul.
 Who are you thinking of? I want you to close your eyes and think about saints who have touched your life. Think about whose names you would like to write as a thank offering to God.
 I think of my own sister who helped me to meet Jesus for the first time and to follow him with my life. I think of my wife who has gently pushed me to see things less black and white which has caused me to focus my vision on the spiritual dimension of life. I think of Lowell Sykes under whose preaching I became a Presbyterian Christian, in whose church I met my wife and when I was a young pastor would endure my bad racquetball games but in the process helped teach me the basics of being a pastor and a father. I think of Harry Chase who before he went to be with the Lord in January spent six years helping groom me for this job. 
 Everyday whenever I’m honest and quiet before the Lord I remember that I didn’t get myself to this spot but I stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before me. 
 Who do you think of? Write the name or names of those whom you want to thank God for, of those whose faith has inspired you to faith, of those whose dedication to God and to showing God's love has warmed your hearts.
 Jesus Christ in his great love for us placed those people in our lives to help us know him better. Jesus Christ in his great love for us placed us in someone’s life to help them know him better. 
 We’re at a crossroads in our church right now. God is doing some amazing things. The staff and the volunteer leadership that has arisen up in such a short time is nothing short of a divine miracle. Unlike a lot of churches that might gripe and complain about all the changes that are going on in their church you have instead pulled together and pushed ahead. 
 Last week on All Saints Day Bob Browning our Finance Chairperson came in to see me and told me that with all our staff additions and initiatives we’re spending as a church $10,000 a month more than we’re taking in. Afterwards I went to our Lord and I asked “how can this be?” “God we didn’t go seeking these changes, we believe that you sent them.” 
 God never gives us a task that he doesn’t provide the saints that we need to get the job done. I got up on Thursday morning and I had what I call an “uneasy peace.” I just knew that day that because God was doing a big thing in our midst he would provide but I was uneasy because I couldn’t see how.
 I had a 9:00 appointment with someone who had been visiting our church since August taking care of a family member. She was headed home out of state but she wanted to talk to me before she left. She had been listening and doing the daily devotions in our You Are Called sermon series this fall and she caught the vision for the outreach that God is doing here. 
 She told me that she and her husband had sold land recently and knew that God wanted them to tithe 10% of the proceeds to him but they didn’t know where or the exact amount. They went back and forth on the amount. Finally they settled on an amount. She pulled a check out of her purse not knowing what Bob Browning had told me the day before and said “I believe in what you’re doing here, I saw your list of opportunities to serve a few weeks ago and my husband and I have decided to give our tithe here”. I opened the envelope and the check was for $10,000.
 I am grateful for these saints who saw God’s vision for reaching our valley in the short months they were with us. It was a sign from God to me at the most opportune time that we’re going to make it. This vision of being a multi-generational church with such excellence that it becomes the center of classical music in our valley, that reaches out to every economic and racial segment in our town, that leaves no one shut in at home, it is a vision from God. 
 I believe that and I have staked my career on that vision. But I have that “uneasy peace”. Somehow, someway we’re going to make it but I can’t see how. That’s the place God wants us to be.
 If you’ve accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior and are rusting in him for your salvation you are a saint. If you haven’t prayed and asked Jesus to come into your life why don’t you do so today? Say “Lord, I am a sinner in need of a savior. I confess my sins to you and accept Jesus Christ into my heart.”   
 You saints of the First Presbyterian Church of Hemet I am so grateful to be your pastor. This is an exciting time to be a part of this church. Every Tuesday when I meet with our staff I am in awe of what God is doing in our church. Would you do as the daughter of this church did last week with her gift that I told you about, would you pray again about what you can give to this vision? Somehow, someway God is going to use each one of us saints to fulfill his vision in this place. Amen.