To be a saint of God, one of His own, a child of God, is to have your identity completely swapped, from a child of this age to a child of eternity, from a child of the world to a child of God.
The pericopes assigned for the Feast of All Saints are the same year by year. Most churches observe All Saints the Sunday that follows closest to November 1, even if the Sunday does not hit it on the dot, because it is a principal feast and has such a long tradition. What began with the commemoration of martyrs in the fourth century continues in the churches I serve with the tolling of bells and a commemoration of the dearly departed from the congregation. That list keeps getting longer and longer the longer I serve. When I started, I knew few names. Now, I know many personally. It is sobering, and comforting, to realize (now that I am more than halfway through my life) my name may likely be listed among them sooner rather than later too!
Revelation 7 is the inspiration for such a roll call of the saints, as the 144,000 from the tribes of Israel are counted, a foretaste of Revelation 7:9 when an uncountable multitude is described by John in his vision. This is the great cloud of witnesses of Hebrews 12, those who have joined the penultimate fifth-seal-saints of Revelation 6, those who have come to rest and enjoy the fulfilled promise of the Lord and savior, the Church triumphant with whom we yet have fellowship on earth in the Church militant (as we worship with angels, archangels, and all the company of Heaven). Matthew 5 matches the Revelation rolls with its own kind of roll call. The beatitudes describe the saints as citizens in the Kingdom of Heaven, a citizenship that looks as wonky as the topsy-turvy Kingdom the King has come to rule, where the first are last and last first, the greatest least and the least greatest, and where Jesus can say “blessed” (happy, fortunate, makarios) are the poor, the meek, and the persecuted. The Church militant is identified by our Lord as His favorite kind of people in Matthew 5, for which they are to rejoice. After all, they are in good company with the prophets and martyrs who paved the way before them (Matthew 5:12).
We focus here on the epistle, as others will no doubt treat the Old Testament and Gospel pericopes more substantially. The 1 John 3 reading picks up on the theme confessed in Matthew: The world is at odds with the Church of Christ, at odds with His interrupting and invasive Kingdom. Indeed, 1 John characterizes the world as a great enemy of the Christian. Here is the classic “unholy trinity” of enmity: The Devil, the world, and our own sinful flesh war against us in this temporal realm, the source of our trials before the coming of Christ. 1 John 2 warns, “Do not love the world; the world and its desires pass away” (2:15-17). He underscores the point in this pericope by saying “the world does not know” those who know the Father’s love (3:1-2). “Knowing” carries the valance of the 1 John 2 verb “love.” Indeed, all of 1 John is a meditation on love, God’s love for His people, our love for God, and our love for one another. Furthermore, “knowing” is charged with intimacy in both the Old and New Testaments (see Genesis 4:1, Hosea 2:20, Matthew 7:23, and 1 John 4:7-8). Keep that “knowing” and “love” connection in mind as you meditate on the meaning of these three brief verses, and as you consider the contrast between the world and the children of God.
The reason the world does not know you is because it does not know Jesus. You, saint of God, have a new identity in Him. The illustration I think of immediately here is that of the baby animal. Indulge me. I know it is a myth. But it is one that nine out of ten folks I know grew up knowing by the second or fourth grade. If you find a baby bird or another baby animal, do not touch it, because if you do it cannot go back to its mother. The bird or animal will smell the human scent on the little one and it will be abandoned.
The reason the world does not know you is because it does not know Jesus. You, saint of God, have a new identity in Him.
The story seems to me like one that may well have had an origin in parents warning kids not to disturb a nest and making up or assuming consequences in order to put some teeth in the admonition. In actual nature, however, this is a load of malarkey. Birds, by and large, do not even smell. But what is not malarkey is the fact that once Jesus has handled you, the love of God the Father making you a child of His instead of a child of the world (1 John 3:1), then the world sniffs you and says “not my kid” (1 John 3:3). To be a saint of God, one of His own, a child of God, is to have your identity completely swapped, from a child of this age to a child of eternity, from a child of the world to a child of God, from “not My people” to “My people” (Hosea 2:23; 1 Peter 2:10), from dead to alive, from sinner to saint. The well-meaning hands of a child wanting to care for a fuzzy fledgling are simply the shadow to the reality of the well-meaning hands of the Son of God who takes us abandoned fledglings (refer to Luke 13:34) and nurtures us to soar as eagles (Isaiah 40:31). They are well-meaning hands that cared best for His people by stretching on a cross beam, being pierced for our transgressions, dying and rising, greeting and welcoming and proving His love and glory to His disciples, His children, and His saints.
Here is an outline which plays with that image to deliver God’s Word to His saints from the epistle this observation of All Saints!
Introduction: The Baby Birds and the Urban Legend
- Personal story: Baby birds hatched near the house.
- The old saying: “If you touch a baby bird, its mother will not take it back.”
- Whether true or not, the image helps us think about our new identity as God’s children.
The Christian’s New Identity
- Scripture: “Behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us, that we should be called children of God. And we are” (1 John 3:1).
- The world does not recognize us because it did not recognize Christ.
- Like fledglings handled by another, our old “parent,” the world, no longer claims us.
- We belong to a new family, marked by God’s adoption through Christ.
The World’s Rejection of Christ and His Children
- Though Christ reconciled the world through His cross and resurrection, the world does not acknowledge His lordship... until the Last Day.
- That Day will reveal His reign and renew the world for His beloved children.
Christ Makes Us New
- Transformation begins now, not just on the Last Day.
- Christ touches us with real means: Water and Word.
- Baptism is the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5-7).
- Through the Word and water, He makes us His saints - new creations.
The Hope and Identity of the Saints
- Our hope is anchored in Christ, who justifies and sanctifies us.
- We rejoice even in suffering, because: Suffering → perseverance → character → hope (Romans 5)
- Hope does not put us to shame because God’s love is poured into our hearts through the Spirit.
- Imagery of being poured out: Christ’s blood on the cross; baptismal washing; the Spirit’s continual renewal.
- The “fuzzy fledgling” becomes the eagle, soaring on alien wings, renewed in Christ.
The Hidden Glory and Future Hope
- “The world does not know us” but that is no cause for fear.
- “We are children now... what we will be has not yet appeared.”
- We live in hope and purity, returning always to our baptismal cleansing.
- Baptism = continual purification = living as God’s own in a world that does not know us.
Blessed Are the Pure in Heart
- Beatitude: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
- Christ alone is truly pure, but He shares His purity with us.
- His “well-meaning hands” lift us from the mire, cleanse us, and give us sight.
- We join the great cloud of witnesses; those purified and made holy in Him.
- Because of Christ’s blood and priesthood: Draw near with a true heart. Hold fast to our confession of hope. Stir up one another to love and good works. Do not neglect to gather but encourage one another as the Day draws near (Hebrews 10:19-25).
Conclusion
- The Father’s love has made us His children.
- The Son’s blood has purified us.
- The Spirit’s power keeps us in hope.
- Until the Day of His appearing, we live as saints; known to God, though unknown to the world.
