• Sermon for 11.07.21 All Saints Day
Text: Matthew 5:1-12
Theme: Blessed beyond belief
• *In the Name of the Father…Amen.*
• *Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let us pray:*
• *Gracious God, You send great blessings New each
morning all our days.*
* For Your mercies never ending, For Your love we offer
praise. *
* Lord, we pray that we, Your people Who Your gifts
unnumbered claim, *
* Through the sharing of Your blessings May bring glory to
Your name. Amen.*
*Text: © 2004 Gregory J. Wismar. Used by permission: LSB Hymn License no.
110000247*
• *Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God the Father
through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.*
• *The Gospel lesson serves as our sermon text for
this morning. *
• *Introduction*
• *The theme of today’s worship is “Blessed beyond
Belief.” *
• The word blessed is suggested by the Gospel for this
All Saints’ Sunday.
• “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven.
• Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be
comforted. . . .
• Blessed are those who are persecuted because of
righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” and so on.
• These blessings, the Beatitudes, are some of Jesus’
most famous words.
• And, indeed, they remind us this day that WE SAINTS
HAVE BEEN BLESSED BEYOND BELIEF.
• *A. Even we saints have no inherent claim on
blessedness, for our sin often makes the Christian faith beyond belief to
those outside the church. **For a moment, let’s focus on the phrase “beyond
belief”.*
• Forget for the moment about being blessed.
• Forget about those who are in heaven and the hope you
and I have in Christ for heaven when we die.
• For now focus on the phrase “beyond belief.”
• Do you and I sometimes act in ways that put the
message of Jesus Christ “beyond belief”?
• A world-class athlete—whose name you’d all
recognize—tells about his stepfather, a man who professed to be a
Christian:
• He’d talk a good game, talk about Christ, about
faith, but he had a frightful temper. He used to whip his stepson for silly
things—kid things—like being messy.
• *B. Even we saints have no inherent claim on
blessedness, for our sin often makes the Christian faith beyond belief to
those outside the church.*
• When the boy was 14, his mother went into the
hospital for surgery.
• He had to leave for a swim meet while she was still
recuperating, and his stepfather came along as a chaperone.
• As they waited together at the airport, the
stepfather began to write notes on a pad.
• He’d write, then ball up the paper and toss it into
the garbage can, and then start again.
• Strange. After a while he got up to go to the
restroom.
• The boy went over to the garbage can, retrieved the
wadded papers, and stuffed them into his bag.
• Later, when he was alone, he took them out and read
them. They were to another woman. His stepfather was writing to another
woman while his mom was in the hospital recovering from surgery (adapted
from Lance Armstrong, It’s Not about the Bike [New York: Putnam, 2000], 21,
24–25).
• The athlete? Bicyclist Lance Armstrong.
• *C. Even we saints have no inherent claim on
blessedness, for our sin often makes the Christian faith beyond belief to
those outside the church.*
• What kind of impression of Christ do you suppose that
gave this boy?
• Maybe you haven’t sinned in a big way like that, but
ask yourself this:
• Does my conduct ever put the blessings of the Christian
life beyond belief for others?
• Foul language,
• watching pornography,
• financial cheating,
• slandering others,
• self-righteousness,
• a judgmental character.
• Jesus says, “Woe to the world because of the things
that cause people to sin! Such things must come, but woe to the man through
whom they come!” (Mt 18:7).
• Yes, there is forgiveness for all these sins, but
that’s not the point right now. The point is that our sins, our forgiven
sins, still have consequences—and one consequence is that we sometimes make
the blessings of the Christian life unbelievable for others.
• *D. Even we saints have no inherent claim on
blessedness, for our sin often makes the Christian faith beyond belief to
those outside the church.*
• Each year on All Saints’ Day we hear the Beatitudes
read.
• The Beatitudes are beautiful Gospel, good news of
those blessings God has given us.
• But how so?
• You hear the Beatitudes and think of “sugar and
spice and everything nice”—sweet and pleasant, but not the Gospel they in
fact are.
• To really understand how the Beatitudes are rich
Gospel, try, for just a moment, listening to them as Law, as condemnation
for the godly lives you and I don’t live.
• “Blessed are the meek,” but how often do you turn
the other cheek?
• “Blessed are the merciful,” but how many times do we
who have been forgiven not forgive others?
• How many times do we refuse to give God the
firstfruits of our time, talents, and treasures?
• “Blessed are the peacemakers,” but how many times do
we fly off the handle and create bigger problems?
• “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of
righteousness.” How many of your daily decisions do you base on what God
has revealed to us in the Bible?
• Are you getting the point? The purpose of God’s Law
is to accuse us because of our sin.
• *E. Even we saints have no inherent claim on
blessedness, for our sin often makes the Christian faith beyond belief to
those outside the church.*
• *“Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do
everything written in the Book of the Law” (Gal 3:10; Deut 27:26). *
• “Blessed are the poor in spirit” is the very first
of Jesus’ Beatitudes.
• We may not fit the bill of most of the Beatitudes,
but at this moment, at this moment I pray you’re feeling poor in spirit.
• *2. A. Blessed be Jesus, who alone meets the description of the
Beatitudes as one blessed. There’s only one person who in himself is in
fact accurately described by the Beatitudes. *
• That’s the Son of God.
• Blessed be he!
• Listen now to the Beatitudes and think about Jesus.
• These Beatitudes describe the perfect Son of God,
not us sinners.
• *Now when [Jesus] saw the crowds, he went up on a
mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach
them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed
are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger
and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the
merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for
they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called
sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Vv 1–10)*
• *2. B. Blessed be Jesus, who alone meets the description of the
Beatitudes as one blessed. There’s only one person who in himself is in
fact accurately described by the Beatitudes. *
• Did you hear it?
• Jesus is the only one who in himself is all the
things the Beatitudes talk about.
• Blessed be he!
• Jesus, as you’ve heard many times, died for our sins
on the cross.
• But there’s another reason why he’s the Savior, the
one who rescues us.
• It’s called Jesus’ “active obedience.”
• Before his crucifixion, during all the years of his
visible presence on earth, Jesus kept the Law of God perfectly.
• As a baby, as a toddler, as a teen, as a mature man,
Jesus did the will of his heavenly Father without fail.
• Whereas you and I, in our daily life, often break
under the pressure and give in to our sinful nature and break the
commandments of God.
• Jesus has no sin of his own to atone for and
committed no sin for which He deserved to die.
• Jesus, Son of the Most High, blessed be he!
• *2. C. Blessed be Jesus, who alone meets the description of the
Beatitudes as one blessed. There’s only one person who in himself is in
fact accurately described by the Beatitudes. *
• And yes, Jesus did endure the punishment of God
against our sins.
• All those times that you and I have not led the
blessed life, all those times when you and I have put the blessings of
following Christ beyond belief for others, all those sins he paid for on
the cross.
• Most important of all, the greatest reach of his
suffering on the cross is into your soul and mine to remove the curse.
• *“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by
becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung
on a tree’” (Gal 3:13). *
• Jesus, Son of the Most High, blessed be he!
• *3. A. The Gospel—beyond belief except by the working of the Holy
Spirit—is that he makes Christ’s blessedness our own. Blessed be he! But
what about us? Can we be blessed?*
• After all those Beatitudes, Jesus turns to us in our
text and adds,
• *“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute
you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice
and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way
they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (vv 11–12, emphasis
added). *
• Yes, Jesus says you, we, will be blessed.
• *3. B. The Gospel—beyond belief except by the working of the Holy
Spirit—is that he makes Christ’s blessedness our own. *
• *How can this be? C. S. Lewis once wrote:*
• Christ says, “Give me all.
• I don’t want so much of your money and so much of
your work—I want you.
• I have not come to torment your natural self, but
to kill it.
• No half-measures are any good.
• I don’t want to cut off a branch here and a branch
there; I want to have the whole tree down.
• I don’t want to drill the tooth, or crown it, or
stop it, but to have it out.
• Hand over the whole natural self. . . . I will give
you a new self instead.
• In fact I will give you myself; my own will shall
become yours.” (C. S. Lewis, “Beyond Personality,” in Sermon Illustrations
for the Gospel Lessons [St. Louis: Concordia, 1982], 81, author’s emphasis)
• *3. C. The Gospel—beyond belief except by the working of the Holy
Spirit—is that he makes Christ’s blessedness our own. *
• How in the world can we empty ourselves so
completely that Christ will move in, reside in us, and let us partake of
his blessedness?
• This, too, is beyond belief.
• Yes, that we should be blessed is beyond belief,
save for one teaching of the Bible:
• *“No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy
Spirit” (1 Cor 12:3).*
• The blessings of the perfect life of Christ and his
forgiveness would be beyond our belief were it not for the working of the
Holy Spirit.
• That’s why Baptism is so important.
• The old Adam is drowned.
• Christ makes his home in us.
• *“I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer
live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal 2:20).*
• *3. D. The Gospel—beyond belief except by the working of the Holy
Spirit—is that he makes Christ’s blessedness our own. *
• Martin Luther once said:
• “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength
believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to him; but the Holy Spirit has
called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, sanctified and kept
me in the true faith” (explanation of the Third Article, emphasis added).
• Sanctified means to be made holy.
• The Holy Spirit has brought you into the blessedness
of Jesus Christ.
• *3. E. The Gospel—beyond belief except by the working of the Holy
Spirit—is that he makes Christ’s blessedness our own. *
• Luther goes on to say:
• “In the same way he calls, gathers, enlightens, and
sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus
Christ in the one true faith” (author’s emphasis). As the Spirit has
gathered us in the church, he’s still calling to those whom we may have
offended.
• “In this Christian church he daily and richly
forgives all my sins and the sins of all believers. On the Last Day he will
raise me and all the dead, and give eternal life to me and all believers in
Christ.”
• *Conclusion*
• That’s the climax, the day when we will truly be
blessed beyond belief.
• On that day we will no longer walk by faith, but by
sight (2 Cor 5:7).
• We will see our Savior face-to-face.
• On that day we will dwell with God and all his saints
in heaven.
• We will live with God and God with us (Rev 21:3).
• We pray that people who’ve been offended by our
conduct will be there with us.
• How many people will be in heaven that had no use for
the Christian message at first, but the Holy Spirit worked on their hearts
with the Gospel?
• The encouraging answer is this: *“A great multitude
that no one could count” (Rev 7:9). *
• Blessed be our Savior Jesus Christ! Amen.
• *Let us pray*
• Heavenly Father, may our caring Bear the imprint of
Your grace;
With the Son and Holy Spirit, Praise be Yours in every place!
Lord, we pray that we, Your people Who Your gifts unnumbered claim,
Through the sharing of Your blessings May bring glory to Your
name. Amen.
*B. 2 Corinthians 13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of
God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.*
*C. The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and
minds in Christ Jesus. Amen. *
*D. In the Name of the Father…Amen.*