Hebrews 6:9-20
Paul said that we are all sinners and we are baptized in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. Baptism marks us as God’s children. In our repentance, God’s forgiveness, grace, and love have washed our sin away. The power of the Holy Spirit living in us brings a changed life. In faith, we bear the marks of God’s saints because He is now our Lord and Savior. How does faith affect how we live out our days on earth? The saints of God have some markings that can be seen. The saints have true joy and happiness as they go about living life. They love people and love to be a part of people who desire to worship God. They love to join together with other happy saints in worship. They are not afraid of life and what it may bring. This old gospel hymn shares how the saints face death and live life. “When the saints go marching in, O when the saints go marching in, O Lord, I want to be in that number when the saints go marching in. O when the sun refused to shine, O when the sun refused to shine, O Lord, I want to be in that number when the sun refused to shine.O when they crown Him Lord of all, O when they crown Him Lord of all, O Lord, I want to be in that number when they crown Him Lord of all.”In my baptism, I desire to be in worship with other believers. In this fellowship, I find the joy of love we have for Jesus and that brings us together and we care for each other’s life. The marks of the saints are that they have a ‘can-do and be’ attitude.
I became a local pastor in 1964. I was ordained Deacon in 1967 and then ordained Elder in 1968. I was appointed to my first parish of four churches in 1966. I have been blessed to have had some can-do saints in my church. I will call one can-do saint “Granny”. Now Granny had a very hard life. Her husband died in an accident and left her with six young children to raise. She cut firewood to heat her house and used wood for her cooking stove. She did not have electricity so she used lamps for light. She did not running water in her house, but carried water from a spring that would freeze over in the winter. She grew corn and other food to feed her family and her livestock. She plowed with oxen. She loved her children and they had a deep love for the mother that had kept them through all the hard times growing up. She wanted the best for her Christian family and stayed involved all her life within the service of Jesus and His church. When she grew older, she developed cancer and was facing medical treatments that would not cure the disease and would mean most of her last days would be spent in the hospital. She told her family and her doctor, “I am going home to the mountains and people that I have loved and lived among. God’s got a better plan for my life.” Even in the face of death, she had a can-do spirit that came from her faith in God.
I have been blessed to know many people with a can-do faith in the churches I have served in these fifty plus years. They have a different approach to life and its problems. These can-do Christians bless the family, church, and their community by the power of faith.The marks of the saints also can be found in their faithful service for Jesus Christ. In trying to plug people into a leadership role in the church, I have had all kinds of excuses given for not serving. It is rather easy to be a pew sitter, or an attendee, when we have nothing else to do. I have asked young adults to become leaders and the response is that they say they are too young and inexperienced, someone else should do it. Older adults have told me that they are just too busy with family and work to serve as a leader in the church. Adults that are retired tell me that they have served and it is time for someone else to lead. They just want to be free to go and travel and just enjoy being free from responsibility for anything. Regardless of our age God has not stopped caring for us and blessing our lives.
These kinds of attitudes produce empty lives, broken families, and empty pews. I have found in the can-do saints a heart for service in Jesus, regardless of their age, because it brings them joy to do be about helping others know Jesus and His love. These can-do saints know the joy of sharing the Good News now. In other words, every day is a good day to serve a Holy God. Without the can-do saints, a church will die. The building will remain but the pews are empty; the pulpit is empty, classrooms for study groups are empty. The Good News of life has become silent and the pain, suffering, and misery of life without God takes us to a sad death. When a church no longer has any can-do saints, the pews become empty and the doors of the church are closed. A seeking, searching person might come looking for the Good News of Jesus, but when they are no longer any can-do saints in the church, the doors are closed to service for Jesus and the seeker goes away into a godless and hopeless world.
The can-do saint has another mark. Their lives are filled with generous hearts. In the scripture lesson for today, the writer of Hebrews lets us see how the can-do saints have generous hearts. “Dear friends even though we are talking this way; we really don’t believe it applies to you. We are confident that you meant for better things, things that come with salvation. For God is not unjust. He will not forget how hard you have worked for Him and how you have shown your love to Him by caring for other believers, as you still do. Our great desire is that you will keep loving others as long as life lasts, in order to make certain that what you hope for will come true. Then you will not become spiritually dull and indifferent. Instead, you will follow the example of these who are going to inherit God’s promises because of their faith and endurance.”
The can-do saints with generous hearts never become spiritually dull or indifferent to needs of family, friends, and community for they continue to care and have love for others and respond with faith in action. The can-do saints live among us. When you look at your faith in Jesus, what kind of faith do you find? Is it an I-can faith? Is it an I-can’t, or won’t, faith? The I-can faith comes out of our lasting hope found in God’s forgiveness. “This is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary. Jesus has already gone there for us. He has become our eternal High Priest in the Order of Melchizedek.”I want to be, and pray that you will be, among those can-do saints that go marching into God’s eternal kingdom.
