Sermon All Saints Day Observed
Sunday, November 6th 2011
Matthew 5:1-12
There are times when I have asked someone how they are doing they say, “They are blessed.” I sometimes wonder if it is an invitation to additional conversation. When they say they are blessed what do they mean? I know that when asked to count our blessings we are invited to look at the glass half full. We count the good things in our lives, such as our family and our homes, perhaps our jobs and health.
Very rarely if any times have I heard someone say they are blessed and then talk about how out of control their life is or how they are mourning over a loss or how they are plagued by their sinful nature or how they are being persecuted for confessing Christ. Are any of you out there this morning blessed in this way? If you are then you know what it is to be a blessed saint in Christ.
It seems almost counter intuitive. If someone told you that they were blessed and then the recounted their loss of control, sinfulness, mourning and persecution you would not consider them blessed but rather cursed. However this is the sinful world in which we live in, where the saints of God and His church face tribulation not only from the devil and the world but from our very flesh, so everything is back words and topsy turvy.
We tend to frustrate ourselves when we think we can control our lives and others. There may be ways to be successful at this through self-centered manipulation but in the end we will come across something that we cannot control such as sickness and death.
There is also the idea prominent in American Evangelicalism that free from sin means free from sinning. In an interview with Rev. Todd Wilken of Issues Etc.org former American Evangelical president Ted Haggard stated that he has gone days without sinning and that it is possible to completely conquer sins in his life. As an example he asked Rev. Wilken if he had ever murdered anyone to which Rev. Wilken said no but he stated he has hated someone to which Haggard said well you need to work on that and that he no longer hates. I kept thinking or the Holy Spirit brought to my attention , “If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us…” (1 John 1:8)
The trouble is that Pastor Haggard, who is the pastor of an 11,000 member mega-church, has lowered the bar on sin. He has lowered the bar so far that sinlessness is achievable. Pastor Haggard’s idea of sanctification means that one will conquer sin in this life, through the help of the Holy Spirit. But true biblical sanctification is not simply changing the behavior of the old Adam but killing it entirely so that it is Christ working in our lives. We will never be free from sinning until we are raised from the dead, but we are free from sin because Jesus the Son of God declares us to be. Jesus said, if the Son declares you to be free you are free indeed. (John 8:36)
I can see how Pastor Haggard’s unscriptural view of sanctification in a culture that is all about behavior modification and self-improvement can attract a crowd. We are all looking for an answer to stop our suffering, to improve our lot.
I have learned from my sickness that there are times when there is nothing one can do to improve one’s situation. So I am driven to prayer and dependence on the Lord. The Holy Spirit is not a power source to help us achieve our goals but it instead convicts us of our sin and points us to our Savior, that is true biblical sanctification. He sanctifies us by forgiving us. This is what our creed confesses. If we are no longer sinning then we no longer need forgiveness. The American Evangelical view, which is not evangelical at all, of sanctification leads to either despair or phariseeism, a false confidence from keeping the law.
So what is Jesus saying in these beatitudes? First of all they are blessings received. They are not attitudes to be activated. The idea of them being called be-attitudes comes from a reformed unscriptural view of sanctification. They are not goals to be attained but blessings to be received. We know this intuitively when we receive a blessing from a parent or from a pastor or someone in authority over us.
Perhaps as parents you bless your food more than you bless your own children but that is part of your role as parent. And this is what our Lord is doing for us.
When Jesus says blessed be the poor in spirit, he is not talking about socio-economic status but a condition of the soul. When the disciples of John the Baptist ask Jesus if He is the Christ, one of Jesus’ responses is that good news is being preached to the poor. These poor souls are ones that are emptied of any self-justification, of any claims of control. So it is good news to them that Jesus is keeping the Law that Jesus is forgiving their sins and reversing its consequences.
Blessed are they who come this morning as poor beggars bringing nothing righteous before God confessing their sins and sinfulness and hearing our Lord’s declaration of grace, of forgiveness. Blessed are they, for they are a saints in Christ in God’s kingdom.
Blessed are those who mourn over their condition, their sinfulness, for the preaching of the good news will comfort them. Blessed to those who are humbled by this world, the world is not their friend, but one day they will be an inheritor with Christ of a new heavens and a new earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. One does not hunger of thirst for righteousness if one already has their own. Christ himself laden with your sin on the cross cried out, “I thirst.” Jesus satisfied the requirements for righteousness through His life and sacrificial death which He has given to you.
These first four blessings are received by those who have nothing of their own to bring. The second set of four blessings are themselves gifts that are from Christ filling the saints and working through them to serve others.
Our merciful Lord works mercy through the saints and then rewards them with mercy. Our Lord cleanses their dirty hearts through the waters of baptism and the cleansing blood from His side received in the sacrament. Through this blessing they receive the promise of seeing God with all the saints in the Holy Jerusalem.
Our Lord, the prince of Peace, reconciles the saints to the Father the saints are sons, their son ship and inheritance will be realized on the Last day as it is revealed to all the waiting creation. Saints in Christ will be persecuted just as their Lord was persecuted but the blessing is they are counted among the saints who are in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Finally in this final ninth blessing there is no doubt as He switches to second person he means you. The blessed, that is you, cannot escape it. In one form or another you will be persecuted, misrepresented, reviled and lies will be said about just as your Lord on Good Friday. But our Lord says this is not the time to be frustrated or angry but rather rejoice that you have been counted to suffer with your Lord. He promises that in the future when He returns your reward will be great even unimaginable. You will find yourself in the company of the saints as you behold your Lord on the Last Day.
Where these beatitudes, the blessings passively describe the saints they actively describe Jesus. He is poor in spirit as he emptied himself to become man. Jesus mourned for the plight of mankind. He mourned for Jerusalem. He mourned for his dead friend Lazarus and He mourned His own impending crucifixion but the Father comforted Him and raised Him from the dead.
Jesus did not come in all His glory has God but humbly and meekly riding into Jerusalem on the foal of a donkey. He humbled himself before the authorities even unto to death. Jesus without righteousness on the cross hungered and thirsted for it and He satisfied God’s righteous wrath.
Jesus today is merciful as he welcomes sinners into His church and He cleanses their hearts through the sacraments. He makes peace between us and the Father so that we may be reconciled and forgive one another. Jesus was persecuted for our sake. He is the propitiation for our sins and He sits now at the right hand of God with all power and authority. He is in control.
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