Rev. Jonathan Gruen
All Saints Day
November 1, 2009

Text: 1 John 3:1-3 “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.  The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.  Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.  And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.”

 We Shall Be Like Him

             I find that being a father gives me a perspective on life that I never had before.  I have watched my own offspring interact.  I am filled with joy and happiness when my two boys speak kindly to one another, help each other, play nicely together.  I’m quite pleased that they do this often, and they are only 4 and 2 years-old!  But I have also experienced the maddening and frustrating behavior of children who squabble with each other, fight, bicker, and refuse to get along.  Yes, this happens too, as we might expect from a 2 and 4 year old.

            As a father, I want my boys to grow and learn and mature, and really to become more like me.  Not that I am a picture of perfection (far from it!), but being an adult I have learned better ways to communicate, better ways to cope with disappointment, better ways to live in love, and peace, and joy.  And if you are a parent, I know you can relate to what I am saying because you want your kids to mature as they learn good things from you.

            What we want for our children is a picture of what our Heavenly Father wants for us.  Today on All Saint’s Day we celebrate that the victory over sin, death, and the devil has been won for us by Jesus Christ.  We thank God for all the saints, those who rest from their labors in paradise with Jesus, and for those who continue to battle on in the contest of this life.  We thank God for these saints, that Jesus has won the victory for them, and also that by the grace of God these saints have left or are leaving a powerful witness and testimony concerning the love of God.

            Today, our All Saint’s Day text equates being a saint with being a child of God.  They are one in the same.  In this his first letter, the Apostle John rejoices over the love of God.  He exclaims, “See what love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; as and so we are.”

            John rejoices in this astounding manner of love because we had no right to be called children of God.  When this world fell into sin, humans (past, present, and future) and all creation fell under a curse.  God’s wonderful creatures, made in his image, male and female, were no longer his children, but rebelling against God they became the children of the devil.  Therefore, by nature we are all like that terrible devil: by nature unclean, deceptive, self-centered, proud, wicked, and rebellious.

            But God’s love never ceased!  God so loved the world that he decided to do something about our sinful condition and save us.  So, he sent his Only Begotten Son into the world.  That’s right, the Son of God became flesh and was given the earthly name Jesus.  Now here was a true Child of God, Son of God!  He was like his Father, pure, righteous, holy, good, just, true, perfect!  Oh, and loving!  Yes, the Son of God is loving just like the Father.  And so Jesus, in great selfless love, took our sins and burdens of guilt upon himself to the cross.  There he shed his blood, yielded up his spirit, and died that our sins might be forgiven.

            Because Jesus died and rose for us, (as our liturgy says), “he gives power to become the children of God.”  What is this power, and how does it happen?  Well John says that this is the great love of God, that “we should be called children of God, and so we are!”  God calls us his children, and his Word, his calling, makes it so.  Friends, this happened when you were baptized.  His Word was spoken over you and adopted you into God’s family.  For certainly, as you were baptized into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, then the Father became your Father, the Son became your Savior and Brother, the Holy Spirit became your comforter, helper, and strength!  Incredible!  Amazing!  No wonder John rejoices, saying: “See what kind of love!”

            On this All Saints’ Day, friends, God reassures you that this is true, trustworthy, and certain!  Even if the world does not recognize it, we are the very children of God!  As John says, “The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.”  But though the world does not recognize the Triune, and therefore fails to recognize us, we are assured that this is a present reality: we are God’s precious and dearly loved children.  Yes, even here in this cursed Creation.  Yes, even now in our sinful state.

            And this is not the end of the Good News.  John continues, “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.”  As John assures us of the present reality of our being saved by Jesus, that is, that we are made sons and daughters of the Heavenly Father, he also motivates us to look forward with joy and anticipation to the “not yet.”  Now we are God’s children, but when we reach the “not yet,” the “then” of our eternal life, we shall be like God.  We won’t become God, but we will be like him.  Specifically, we shall be like our Brother, Jesus Christ.  We shall see him as he is, John says.

            And this is the best part of Heaven.  We can speculate what it will look like, what we will do, what we might experience, and that is all well and good.  We are told in Scripture that God has stored up and planned for us more than we can possibly think or imagine.  But the best part will to be in the presence and glory of God!  Imagine, seeing our Savior’s face!  Now we can only see artists’ renderings, or an imagined appearance, or hear words like glory, light, and radiance, and all these only dimly describe for us what it will be like to actually see Jesus’ face.

            Jesus is perfect, glorious, and radiant, and we are amazed that and now we are told that we will be like him!  We are actually told that in more than one place in Scripture.  John says it here.  Paul says that we will bear his image and that our bodies will be raised to be like his resurrected and glorified body.  It is clear from Scripture that we will be like Christ.

            And what is he like, exactly?  Well, we said before that he is like his Father: pure, righteous, holy, good, just, true, perfect!  Oh, and loving!  Imagine, all of us, his children, like that too.  No more bickering, hurt feelings, pains, struggles, frustrations.  No more sickness, exhaustion, weariness.  No more dying, no more grief, no more emptiness, no more sorrow.  To see him and to be like him, oh how wonderful it will be!  And to think that the saints in heaven experience that already.  My loved ones, the church fathers, the apostles and martyrs, the holy heroes of faith in the Bible, what a group that is with their Brother, Jesus.  They see him face to face.  They are like him.

            Friends, what peace and joy that the Apostle John shares with us today.  It is an encouraging word, isn’t it?  We are refreshed by this Word, this Good News.  We are strengthened also through the Body and Blood of our Brother and Savior Jesus, that we might be reminded and reassured that we are indeed the beloved children of God already now, and we shall be like our Brother fully and completely very soon!

            So now, what do we do with this encouragement and motivation that we receive today?  St. John doesn’t just leave it blank for us.  No, all throughout the book he encourages us to show the fruits of faith.  A saint, a child of God, it seems, confesses sin, leaves that life of sin behind, and bears fruits of faith, that is, lives as a redeemed and holy child of God should live.

            In our text, John applies it to us this way: “And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.”  Jesus is pure, we’ve already seen.  He was without sin.  He was morally clean, decent, good, and perfect.  Someday we will be completely pure, decent and clean too.  But for now, while we are saint and sinner at the same time, we are encouraged to purify ourselves.

            Now, if you are a good Lutheran, you might be puzzled by the saying that we are to purify ourselves because isn’t the work of forgiving and cleansing sin God’s work?  And that’s true.  However, there are many such expressions in Scripture, and they speak about the role we fulfill in the sanctified life.  You see, now that we are God’s children, we are to live holy, or sanctified, lives for God.  Because we are new creations through the water and Word, we have a regenerate will.  That means that alive in the Spirit, you are free and empowered to make decisions that are God pleasing.  And John encourages us that as we go about living our lives, to remember that Jesus was pure, someday we will be completely pure, but as we are still in this life battling against our own sin, let us do everything in our power to root out all sin, evil, and wickedness from us.  Let us purify ourselves.

            So, as saints, as children of God, what does this look like?  Well, we need to get rid of everything that is the opposite of pure.  Let’s call it trash.  Have you heard the expression “trash in, trash out?”  If you keep putting moral filth and garbage into your minds, your hearts, your bodies, your lives, then all you will produce will be trash.  It doesn’t matter if you are 90, 60, 30, 21, 18, or younger.  Fill your lives with trash, impurities, and filth, and that is what you will produce.  That is what you will experience.  That will be your life.  And is that how a child of God should seek to live?  Trashy?

            Think of the stink, the mess, the vermin that would fill your house if you never took out the trash, but let it pile up.  In the same way, if you never take the trash out of your life, it will overwhelm you and overpower you.

            What trash do you need to get rid of?  Do you need to delete songs off your computers and iPods, or throw away your CD’s?  Do you need to start hanging out with a different crowd, a group of friends that is not immoral and impure?  Do you need to start hanging out with children of God instead?  Do you need to give your marriage a new beginning, a fresh start?  Throw out all the anger, revenge, spite, and hurt and have a renewed union together by forgiving and loving?  Do you need to go get Christian counseling to help you repair a relationship, kick an addiction, or deal with depression so that you can live fully to God’s glory as he desires you, his child, to live?  Do you need to call a family meeting and set some priorities so that you have time, treasures, and talents that can be dedicated to Christ’s Church rather than just to the world?  Do you need to tear all the worry and fear out of your heart so that there is room there for peace and hope?

            God tells each and every one of us today that because we are his children, we ought to purify ourselves so we can live as a child of God.  So I encourage you today to take out the trash, and keep it out.  Stop putting trash in your lives, so that being pure at peace with one another and with God, you can glorify him in all you say and do, and so prove that you are his child.

            And guess what?  When we live as his children, we benefit our individual brothers and sisters in Christ.  We benefit God’s family, the Church, as well.  We also benefit the world.  Though the world as a whole may not care, there will be some who take note, see the love of God in us, learn of God’s forgiveness and love through us, and be joined to God’s family as they believe and are baptized.

            And someday, together with those we reach with the Gospel and those who have already gone before us, we will finally see Jesus face to face, and be like him.  Until that day, my beloved brothers and sisters and fellow saints, may God help you everyday with his grace.  Amen.