 Holidays
The leaves are releasing their grip and cascading to the ground as the appetite for all things pumpkin spice begins to grow strong. Many of us are no doubt preparing to harvest a large buck and all of us are anticipating the many good meals to be enjoyed over the next couple of months. We have now entered the holiday season. Of course, we have many national holidays which are scattered throughout the calendar year but the time of year generally associated with the holidays is usually commenced for most folks by the tricks and treats of Halloween. I prefer to reflect on the anniversary of Martin Luther’s nailing of the 95 Theses to the door of the church in Wittenberg, Germany over the celebration of death and darkness. However, the holiday we call Halloween is really the eve of an ancient celebration of the saints. I must admit that as a Baptist I am not well versed in the history or the traditions dealing with “ALL Saints Day” or “All Souls Day” but since today is the day I thought we could meditate on the meaning of the title “Saints.” Only Sinners Well, everyone knows that we are only sinners saved by grace, of course. Actually, no! We were sinners dead in tresspasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1-3). We were prisoners in bondage to the desires of our flesh (Galatians 5:16-17). We were slaves to the lusts and passions of our rebellious hearts but now we are SAINTS (Titus 3:3-7)! I understand and appreciate the gratitude and humility that we are expressing when we say that we are only sinners saved by grace. We want all the glory and credit to go to Christ for bearing the penalty for our sin. We want the praise and honor to go to God our Father who gave us His own Son (Romans 8:32-33) and gave us to His Son as a gift (John 6:37-40). We want blessing and reverence to go to the Holy Spirit who applied the gospel to our hearts and took up residence in our souls so that we could have true union with God. However, when we say we are only sinners, we innocently and ignorantly, actually deny God the glory for raising us up to the positional place of inheritance with Jesus (Ephesians 1:3-14)! We also rob Jesus of the credit for giving us the imputed righteous by which we become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:20-21). Lastly, we are not honoring the accomplishment of our progressive sanctification being worked in us through the power of the Holy Spirit. All Saints The term “saints” means holy ones. Some people believe that it is a special title only to be given to honor the believers who have merited it through their lives of good works. But the Bible simply uses the term to refer to believers (Hebrews 13:24-25). Christians are saints! If you are not a saint you're not a Christian. The Apostle John is clear that we do not reach a point of sinless perfection in this life, but we do grow in holiness and practice righteousness as we walk with the Lord (1 John 1:5-10). I am afraid that often we do not like to use the word saints for ourselves because we are afraid of some implicit hypocrisy. But the antidote for this is not to deny the sanctifying activity of God in our lives. Rather we must repent of any known sin and use this as a catalyst to greater growth in holy living. The Scripture teaches that we are called by God to apply the holiness given to us by the work of Christ to the transformation of our lives.(Romans 12:1-2) Even as our God is holy so we are called to be holy (1 Peter 1:13-19). So today, November 1, 2024, let’s celebrate that God, in Christ and through the Holy Spirit, has made us saints. And let us rejoice in this by seeking to encourage each other to a greater experience of righteousness, holiness, and sanctification!
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