"Signed, Sealed, Delivered"

(Ephesians 1:11-23)

Rev. Billy D. Strayhorn

INTRODUCTION:

There have been numerous variations on the story about two wealthy brothers who had terrorized the small town where they lived for decades. They were unfaithful to their wives, abusive to their children, and dishonest in business. They were loud, boisterous and just plain rude to nearly everyone. One day, out of the clear blue, the younger brother died. The older brother went to the pastor of the local church and said, "Preacher, I'd like you to conduct my brother's funeral. And it's important to me that during the service, you say my brother was a saint."

The preacher immediately popped up and said, "But we both know he was far from that."

The older brother pulled out his checkbook and said, "Preacher, I'm prepared to give $100,000 to your church. All I'm asking is that you publicly state that my brother was a saint."

On the day of the funeral, the preacher began his funeral sermon this way. "Everyone here knows that the deceased was a wicked man, a womanizer, and a drunk. He terrorized his employees and cheated on his taxes." The preacher paused for a second and then continued, "But as evil and sinful as this man was, compared to his older brother, he was a saint!"

Today we come to celebrate a very special day in the life of the Church, All Saints Day. A day we celebrate those people whose lives have most influenced our lives by making Jesus very real to us.

We come today to remember those folks who have gone before us, our saints. We all have them. These are the folks who, either here, or in another Church, have made the love of Christ and the love of God very real for us. These are the folks who lived their faith before us and helped us know that we too are child of God. Some of these folks have passed on and received their eternal reward and their crown of glory, but some of them still sit in the seats in this Church or another church. The truth is the that the church is filled with all kinds of saints.

I. SAINTS:

Who are the saints? Ruth Bell Graham once said, "A saint is one who makes it easy to believe in Jesus." (1)

I like that. As I understand it, saints are just ordinary people loving God and following Jesus. God takes ordinary people and uses them for a holy purpose. Sometimes God calls them to speak a word or to perform some deed. But saints are just ordinary people who have listened to God's extraordinary call and said, "Yes."

That is what God has been done for each of us. We have become holy people. God has made us saints. We are just ordinary people. We are not world leaders. We're not miracle workers. We're not billionaires who can support all the missionaries of the world. We are just ordinary people. But one day, the Son of God came in an extraordinary way. God's Son came as an ordinary person to the ordinary people. And the Son of God called us to be saints.

II. SEALED:

A. And this isn't our doing. This is what God in Christ has done for us. It is part of the inheritance that Paul describes here in Ephesians. Through the work of Christ and through our faith in Christ, Paul says we "were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit." (1:13) NRSV. Just as those who have gone before us were marked and those before them and the ones before them and the ones before them. Through our faith in Christ we have been marked. And that mark, that seal, is the water of our baptism. It is invisible to the human eye but God sees and knows because it changes the heart.

Neil T. Anderson in his book, Victory Over The Darkness, has a very thought provoking paragraph that I would like to share with you. He writes, "Many Christians refer to themselves as sinners saved by grace. But are you really a sinner? Is that your scriptural identity? Not at all. God doesn't call you a sinner; [God] calls you a saint--a holy one. If you think of yourself as a sinner, guess what you will do: you'll live like a sinner; you'll sin. Why not identify yourself for who you really are: a saint who occasionally sins. Remember: What you do doesn't determine who you are; who you are determines what you do." (2)

Through our faith in Christ and the water of our baptism, we have been signed, sealed and delivered. We are the current and future saints of the church. The truth is that you are someone else's saint. You are one whose faith and walk and spirit makes the love of God real in someone else's life. You are someone else's saint. But don't let that frighten you. Remember, saints aren't perfect people. Saints are just ordinary people, children of God leading other ordinary people and children of God to a closer, more personal relationship with God.

III. STEWARDSHIP:

How do we do that? By continuing to say "Yes" to God through Christ. Through being good stewards of all that God has given us. And by reaching out to others through the ministries of our Church. Our Loaves and Fishes program of preparing meals for folks facing or recovering from surgery and taking meals after the loss of a loved one is a very good example. Did you know that Loaves and Fishes have taken more than 90 meals to over 45 different families? That vegetable dish or casserole you were asked to make or the box of chicken you bought contributed to your sainthood. Support of things like the Stephen Ministry and the Prayer Chain add to that ministry of congregational care. Support of ongoing missions like the Night Shelter, Arlington Charities, Adopt-a-Family, the blood drive, Habitat for Humanity, Arlington Urban Ministries and the Christmas blanket drive help us look beyond ourselves, but also help us see the need for our own folks a little more clearly. This outreach to others both in the Church and in the community helps us grow to the saints God calls us to be.

CONCLUSION:

Through the love of God and our faith in Christ, we have been signed, sealed and delivered. We are the saints who come to celebrate our saints and what they have meant to us. God has set a feast of remembrance today. Let us remember with love, those who have gone before us and give thanks to God for their lives. But let also remember and rejoice in what God has done for us through Christ Jesus our Lord.

This is the Word of the Lord for this day.

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1. Edythe Draper, Draper's Book of Quotations for the Christian World (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1992). Entry 9771

2. (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1990), pp. 44-45.