We are all called to be saints. On the Sunday of All Saints Christ says, “Every one who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven; but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny him before my Father who is in heaven.” If we want to be holy as Saints, then we will confess God by loving Him more than anything else in the world.
My brothers and sisters, today we celebrate the Sunday of All Saints. It is the day that the church recognizes the known and the unknown holy men and women who have loved God more than anything else in the world. More than families. More than their jobs. More than their own bodies, they love God. And God says, these are the ones who are worthy to be his disciples, worthy to enter into heaven. He says it very clearly in the gospel. He says, “Whoever confesses me before men, I will also confess before my Father who is in heaven.” Now, here’s the difficult sentence that comes after. I didn’t say this in Greek, “But whoever denies me before men, him, I will also deny before my Father who is in heaven.” My brothers and sisters, whether we are holy or not, whether we are saints or not depends upon these two sentences.
Do we confess our love for God more than anything else in the world? Do we confess him more with just our lips? Do we confess him with our actual lives, the way we treat other human beings, the way we pray for the world, the way we take care of each other and the church? This is how we confess our love for God. Not just by reciting the creed, I believe in one God, as if those words are sufficient.
I’m going to offer a very difficult suggestion. Every time we choose something ahead of God, we have denied him. Now, it isn’t that we are perfect. We are not perfect, only God is perfect. But when we choose something and place that something or that someone ahead of God, that is the same as denying him. We wake up in the morning and we know how God wants us to live and our entire day, moment from moment, moment to moment are filled with these decisions. Do I place God first or do I deny him?
Then Christ continues. He who does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. My brothers and sisters, the Christian life is not easy. The Christian life is a cross. You’ve heard me say how many times you can’t always have what we want. It was a famous song back in the olden days. But it’s more true today than it has ever been because we live our lives seeking out our own will. And when we do that, we are denying God. The only way, my brothers and sisters, to become holy, which is our calling from God, the only way for us to become holy is to learn bit by bit and to live day by day putting God as the single most important thing in our life.
And so the church today, my brothers and sisters, reminds us of the holy ones. There are so many we don’t even know their names. Some saints are revealed through dreams that have died centuries ago when we find their relics buried under a tree, still not decomposed. We know these stories in church history. So today we honor all of the saints known and unknown that have come before us as inspiration for us to live those lives. The church doesn’t just put the saints in front of us to have a nice day. The church puts the saints in front of us to teach us a lesson, how to live for God, putting him first.
I’m here to tell you that the Christian life, my brothers and sisters, never ends with these choices. We must be patient and trust God at all times. Whether we like what is happening around us, whether we don’t like what is happening around us, when we follow God, everything makes sense. When we love and trust God more than anything in the world, even the difficult days will be blessed.
If you think the saints had it easy, go read their lives. They were tortured. They were exiled. Their life was not easy, but it was blessed. And what was the response? God confesses them to us and lifts them up and glorifies them to give us the example. So good strength, my brothers and sisters, this new season of the church, the season of all saints, when each and every one of us is called to live a holy life. Just because it is difficult doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be attempted.
I think there’s a saying that says, the good things are worth the hard work. Well, having God confess us, having Christ proclaim our name in front of the Father is a good thing and it must be worth the hard work. The work of being saints. Glory to God for all things.
