Pastor Tim Patoka We Feebly Struggle; They in Glory Shine
All Saints’ Day November 6, 2022
Blessed Are You, Saints of God Luke 6:20-23 1) Who Suffer Now 2) When Persecuted When I mention the word “saint,” what comes to mind? If you’re a fan of New Orleans, you might be thinking of their football team called the Saints. If you weren’t thinking football, then you probably thinking of a Christian who was larger than life and is now in heaven. But do you know how the Bible speaks of saints? As any Christian because they are holy? To be holy means to be purified from sin and set apart for God. That’s what every Christian is through their faith in Jesus. But what is perhaps most surprising is where you find saints. They’re not just up in heaven, but also here on earth wherever you find Christians. On this All Saints’ Sunday, we talk about the bond we have as the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints. This body of believers located in heaven and on earth isn’t just holy, we’re also blessed. That makes sense for the saints in heaven. But we saints on earth are also blessed, even while we suffer or are persecuted. As we consider how the saints in heaven are now shining in glory, we saints on earth are encouraged to continue in our current, feeble struggles. Who Suffer Now When we talk about our blessed status as God’s saints, it’s important to remember that it is not dependent on what’s current happening. If you had to use another word for blessed, you could say that we saints of God are favored or fortunate. Yet blessed is not the same as happy. Think of the Christian who’s grieving the loss of a brother or sister in Christ. Though they are blessed, favored, and fortunate to have the comfort of the resurrection and the joy of an eternal reunion, that doesn’t mean that they are happy. Though related, the two are different. We see how this difference matters when God calls us blessed in our current sufferings. Jesus mentions three ways that God’s saints can suffer. One is to suffer monetarily, that is, to be poor as those in poverty do. Though God’s saints may suffer monetarily, they now have a priceless treasure: God ruling in their heart through faith with all his promises and benefits.
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Pastor Tim Patoka We Feebly Struggle; They in Glory Shine
All Saints’ Day November 6, 2022
A second way that God’s saints can suffer is bodily, that is, from hunger. This is the kind of hunger that comes from a lack of consistent or sufficient nutrition you can observe just by looking at a person. Though God’s saints may hunger now, they will be satisfied to their heart’s content when their stomachs are filled and leftovers remain. If God doesn’t grant this blessing later in life, he will certainly do so when they join the saints in heaven and feast at the wedding supper of the Lamb. A third way that God’s saints can suffer is emotionally, that is, from weeping. You know how it is when that gut-wrenching, raw emotion of yours can only be expressed in bawling your eyes out? That’s the weeping we’re talking about here. Though laughter may seem like the las thing, it will return along with a gleeful spirit. Again, if God doesn’t grant this blessing later in life, he certainly will when these saints join their brothers and sisters in heaven and hear that joke that Adam thought of in the Garden of Eden or reconnect with loved ones. It’ll be easy to call ourselves blessed when we receive these future blessings! But do you consider yourself blessed now in your current sufferings? When you have to wait till your next paycheck to buy what your eyes desire? When you become hangry or endure a chemical imbalance because you haven’t eaten in a while? When you shed tears over a frustration that sadly will not go away? If you were to live in abject poverty, hunger, or weeping? Probably not. We often look to our surrounding circumstances to determine if we’re blessed or not. When we’re in the midst of suffering, we do not consider ourselves blessed. And when we hear God’s Word telling us otherwise, we can doubt God. Because to us, our blessed state is like a line graph that goes up and down as our day gets better or worse. However, it’s right to say that we are blessed, even in our current sufferings. That’s because our blessed status comes from God. Remember how you became one of God’s saints: through faith in his Son, Jesus Christ, and what he did to save you from your sins. Our current sufferings cannot undo what Jesus did on the cross when he gave his life as the perfect sacrifice to take our sins away. Through the faith that God has given us, he has made us holy, purified from sin and set apart as his children. In other words, he made us part of the communion of saints. As his saints on earth, we have his promise of what will be ours when we become his saints in heaven. How Christ’s rule in our hearts will also include his rule in our surroundings. How hungry stomachs will be replaced with satisfied
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Pastor Tim Patoka We Feebly Struggle; They in Glory Shine
All Saints’ Day November 6, 2022
appetites. How moans of weeping will be replaced with shouts of laughter. How that wonderful glimpse from our First Reading will be our constant view. As a Christian, see yourself how God sees you: his holy saint who has been purified from sin and set apart as his child through faith in his Son, Jesus Christ. Remember that your blessed status doesn’t depend on what’s happening now, even if you’re suffering. It depends on God who blesses you regardless and promises you immense blessings in the future. If you need some encouragement, consider the saints in heaven. Though they feebly struggled while here on earth, they now in glory shine. As did they, so will you, you saint of God. For you are blessed who suffer now. When Persecuted As God’s saints, we remain blessed by him when persecuted. It’s interesting what Jesus lists as persecution. It’s not the typical examples of martyrdom, torture, or exile. Rather, it’s common things like hatred, exclusion, insults, and rejection of our reputation as evil or worthless. When we receive these, we can rejoice and leap for joy as we would on the dance floor at a wedding reception. For we are blessed! Our reward is great in heaven! We’ve already identified this reward in heaven as our future, promised joys. However, this reward isn’t ours because we’ve earned it with our persecutions. Rather, God gifts it to us and all his saints. But what is true is how great this reward will appear in contrast to the persecutions we go through. And the harder they are, the greater our reward in heaven will be. I want you to think back (or imagine) a time when you were persecuted like this. When you were hated because you had in mind the things of God rather than the things of man. When you were excluded by your friends so they could enjoy sinful pleasure. When you were insulted for trying to share Christ with someone who needed to know him or better know him. When your reputation was trashed and your words were brushed aside because of your known Christian character. How did that make you feel? Were you galvanized in your faith? Did you dig in your heels to be God’s persecuted saint? Probably not. Most likely, you felt alone, isolated, and hurt. You possibly even felt abandoned by God who let this happen to you, his saint. Though it may feel like it, you’re not the first saint to be persecuted nor will you be the last. Rather, you stand in good company with the rest of God’s 3
Pastor Tim Patoka We Feebly Struggle; They in Glory Shine
All Saints’ Day November 6, 2022
persecuted saints. We met a handful in our Second Reading: Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets. You could also list just about any believer from Bible history. Also look to your dearly departed who now reside in heaven. All these saints endured persecution while they feebly struggled on earth. But now they are shining in heaven’s glory. As God’s saints on earth, we have the same promise as they did and are now enjoying. That’s why we can rejoice and leap for joy when persecuted. For our reward is great in heaven! As your persecution increases, so does the greatness of your reward in heaven by contrast. And that reward won’t go away for it depends on God, what he has done, and his promise to give it to you, his saint. We also rejoice and leap for joy because we’re in the good company of fellow, persecuted saints here on earth. Look to your brothers and sisters in Christ who are worshiping with you today. Though their stories may be different, they too have been persecuted like you. As such, encourage your fellow saint and reach out to those who aren’t here today. Build each other up with the promises we have from God. Because even when persecuted, we saints on earth are blessed by God in our current, feeble struggles. Closing Encouragements When we heard the word “saint,” it’s best to think of it in biblical terms: a Christian who is holy because they are purified from sin and set apart as God’s child. Every Christian is a saint through their faith in Jesus Christ whether they live on earth or in heaven. In addition to being holy, every saint is also blessed. We saints on earth can doubt that when we suffer. Rather, we should see ourselves how God does: his blessed children who will one shine in glory as the saints in heaven currently do. We saints on earth remain blessed when persecuted for our reward is great in heaven. Rather than feel alone or abandoned, we rejoice and leap for joy because our reward depends on God and we’re in the good company of other persecuted saints. Back when I attended Martin Luther College, I noticed how then President Zarling typically answered the question, “How you are today?” President Zarling would reply, “I’m blessed.” Though I found it unusual at first, I later grew to appreciate it because it always fits. Whether it’s sufferings, persecution, or future joys, this truth remains: we’re blessed by God as his saints. And after our current, feeble struggles, we will shine in glory. Amen. 4