Sermon from November 3

This past week, I read the kind of email that you always dread.  Way back in 2001, I graduated from Concordia Seminary with about 75 other men.  We headed out to our respective places throughout this world to serve God and His people with the message of the Good News.  Now, my class was pretty typical.  We had those younger guys that went straight from college to the seminary, and we had a decent amount of guys who had heeded God’s call to ministry after working in some other field for a time.

All in all, my class was pretty typical, I would think.  But what has happened over the past 18 months or so hasn’t been all that typical.  During that time, I have received a message on four occasions that one of my classmates has gone from this world to receive his eternal inheritance.  Two of these have been dear brothers who were my very own age.  One was a man who had some serious health issues already, but whose leaving of this world was rather unexpected anyway.  And then, this past Wednesday, I got the email.  Yet another dear friend, a man a mere 17 years my senior, had gone on to receive his eternal inheritance.  I had been keeping up with his health issues over the past week or so, as he’d gone in for some heart troubles.  And so it was that, on Wednesday, the eternal kingdom received one more who is no longer sinner, but purely a saint.

So this All Saints day that we observe today is one that has some special meaning for me.  A few moments ago, we heard the beautiful picture that was painted for St. John when he received the revelation of Jesus.  A great multitude standing before the throne and the Lamb, crying out their praise to God.  An unnumbered crowd whose robes have been washed in the blood of the Lamb.  An unnumbered crowd who have no cause for tears because their sin has been fully and completely put away from them forever, and they live in the full, unencumbered presence of God forever.

That’s a crowd that contains four dear friends and classmates of mine.  It’s a crowd that contains many in your lives who can drop the “sinner” label of their existence and fully seize the “saint” aspect of their life in Christ Jesus.  But those aren’t the only ones in that crowd.  What John saw at that moment was every single one of the redeemed of Christ Jesus standing there.  That means that you are in that crowd that he saw.  John himself was in the crowd that he saw.  Even those who have not yet been born are part of that crowd.  And that’s significant as we remember All Saints Day today.  

That crowd consists of every single person who has, does, and will put their faith in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, the Lamb who was slain.  That is a crowd who recognizes the importance of “Connecting Community and Christ.”  Every single one of the members of that crowd is connected to Christ Jesus, through the saving waters of their baptism and through the gift of faith that God the Spirit grants.  And every single one of those people there are present in that crowd because someone saw fit to bring them to Christ Jesus.

You’ve heard our little catchphrase since Easter of this year.  “Connecting Community and Christ.”  It’s what we here at Oak Road Lutheran Church do as we live out our lives as God’s saints in this world.  We connect the various communities that we are part of to Christ Jesus.  In His wisdom, God has seen fit to spread the message of His victory over sin, death, and the devil through His saints.  He sends every single one of us out into our personal, unique communities with that message of hope and good news in our hearts and on our lips.

But all too often, that task seems overwhelming to us.  We can be tempted to wonder if it really matters if we connect community and Christ together.  Maybe it’s because we’ve tried, but it didn’t seem to ‘take hold’ somehow.  Maybe it’s because we feel that we’re inadequate to the task.  Maybe it’s because we feel like we can’t make a difference here in Gwinnett County.  And so we start to wonder if it really matters if we connect community and Christ together.

Does it really matter?  That’s the question, really, isn’t it?  Does it really matter if I take my faith out into my everyday life?  After all, I’m forgiven.  My robes have been washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb.  Jesus has lived for me, died for me, and risen back to life for me.  I have all that I ever need when it comes to my relationship with God.  If I don’t connect community and Christ, does it really matter?  My hope and place in that crowd is secured.

Does it really matter?  After all, I can’t really make that big of a difference. I’m just one person in a sea of faces.  I don’t have the gift to simply insert Jesus into every conversation I have.  In fact, I’m rather uncomfortable about speaking about my faith even with those closest to me.  Does it really matter if I go about connecting community and Christ?

Does it really matter?  After all, I’m not someone with a lot of influence.  I don’t have a really large circle of friends, and most of them already know that I go to church.  Does it really matter if I share anything more than that with them?  It would seem that, if God really wanted me to do that, He would have had them ask questions that I would have been able to answer, but that just hasn’t seemed to happen.

Does it really matter?  After all, it seems like our community and our nation seem to be heading in a direction other than that which reflects faith in Christ Jesus.  I’m just one person, and I can’t really do anything to change that tide.  So it seems more prudent not even to try.  I know where I stand in God’s eyes.

Does it really matter if Christ and community get connected?  My friends, look at that Bible reading from Revelation 7 on the back of the worship folders again.  In particular, look at the last few verses there.  “Therefore they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.  They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat.  For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Does it really matter?  It seems to matter a great deal to God and to the Lamb.  Every single one of those who stands in that unnumbered multitude is a dear one of God’s.  God knows each of them so intimately that He protects them from anything that would harm them.  God knows each of them so intimately that He provides everything they need for that eternal life that they inherit.  God knows each of them so intimately that He shepherds them.  God knows each of them so intimately that He knows, not just them, but knows every tear that falls from their eyes.  God knows each of them so intimately that He wipes each tear from their eye because each of them matter to Him that much.

Does it really matter if we take seriously our task to connect community and Christ?  Right here we see a picture of just how much it matters.  For my friend who went to receive his eternal inheritance this week, it matters to him that God’s servants saw fit to bring him to the waters of baptism, and to raise him to know the God who redeemed him.  Does it matter that someone in his life connected him to Christ?  It does, especially now that he has received his eternal inheritance.  

Does it really matter if we connect community and Christ?  It matters to every person who gets the joy and privilege of standing in that unnumbered multitude before the throne and the Lamb.  They will each know God intimately, just as they will be intimately known.  And that’s good news.  It matters because that connection to Christ will be lived out in a life that never ends.  Nothing will ever separate that crowd from Christ.

Does it really matter if Christ and community connect?  Let’s look at it from the other side of the coin.  There’s another reality that we don’t see in this picture.  It’s the reality of all of those who don’t get to be part of this crowd, those whose robes are not washed in the blood of the Lamb, and who don’t receive an eternal inheritance.  Does it matter to them that Christ and community remained unconnected in their lives?  It does, and it does so forever in a reality that does not end.

Does it really matter if we connect Christ and community?  Let’s think about this for a moment.  Does it matter if you connect Christ and that person who regularly cuts or styles your hair?  Have you ever thought about how you can serve God and that particular neighbor by thinking about ways to connect that person to Christ?  It could very well be that they get the joy and privilege of spending forever with you in this crowd because of your sharing with them.

Does it matter if your neighbor is in this crowd because he or she saw your life, or heard your words, and became a part of that crowd?  Chances are, you know the people who live on either side of your house, or across the street.  What do you know about their connection with Christ?  In what ways might Christ be calling you to connect them to Him, so that their robes can be washed white in His blood, and they be part of that unnumbered multitude?

Does it matter if you know a young person who may be missing a parent in their life, and you chose to make some small effort to connect with that part of your community?  They may be missing more in their life than you could ever imagine, and your influence in their life may be the very thing that introduces an eternal change in their destiny.  Would you say that matters?

Does it matter if you talked, not just about your church, but about your faith, with that person who asks about your church?  The Holy Spirit may simply be waiting to seize the opening in order to plant the gift of faith into that person’s soul, and introduce them to an inheritance that never passes away.  Would you say that matters?

Does it really matter?  It’s easy to fall into Satan’s trap to think that our words or our lives don’t really make that big of a difference.  But this All Saints Day, as we once more hear of this beautiful picture of the unnumbered multitude who stands before the throne and the Lamb forever, we’re reminded that it really does matter.  How we live our lives as God’s saints does make a difference.  Being prepared to share our faith really does matter.  Connecting Community and Christ really does matter, because God works through those efforts to add more and more to that unnumbered crowd.  May we respond to God’s call to connect community and Christ, for the sake of Christ.  Amen.