“Sinners and Saints”

Luke 6:20-31



Pastor Tom Johnson, November 3, 2013

 In his book called Do No Harm, Stephen Ray says that “even the best-intentioned sin-talk can participate in needless and, in many cases, malicious harm to marginalized persons and their communities” (p. xi). Calling a person “sinner” or a group of people “sinners” is not a winsome way to share the good news of Jesus. It is not wise. It is not even biblical. Highlighting certain behaviors over others as sin has the same detrimental effect. I may as well go on the record right now to say that I don’t like the words “sin” or “sinner.” The biblical meaning is often lost to a narrower one in English. I think a lot people think of sin as merely a damnable act and sinner as a person who is the object of God’s disapproval, anger, and wrath. It has a much more universal meaning.

 “But,” someone might say, “how can you preach and teach God’s truth without talking about sin?” That is a fair and good question. My answer is: Just as Jesus and the Scriptures do—by talking about the human condition. We find that sin describes not only the things we do, but a more insidious power that can deceive us and hold us captive. And we find that we all share in this struggle against the powers of evil, the world, and even ourselves. In that sense, I preach a lot about sin. But we should be careful to talk about sin and sinners in a universal way. In response to someone who complained that a pastor (Jack Miller) did not use the word “sin” enough, he said, “Cheer up, it’s worse than you think.” “All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way, but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him” (Isa 53:6). We are all sinners.

 You’ll remember that the Apostle Paul calls himself “The Chief of Sinners” (1 Tim 1:15). St. Patrick introduces himself in his Confession as “Patick, the sinner.” St. Augustine, in his Confessions painstakingly and transparently recounts his struggle with his own captivity to sin. And both Patrick and Augustine do this 1,500 years ago. Even Pope Francis recently called himself a sinner and criticized the church for overemphasizing ‘disjointed’ moral doctrines. It’s why I find Jesus’ words in our Gospel reading so intriguing:

“Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.”

On so many levels, I find Jesus’ warning immensely helpful. First, beware of people that give you empty praise. They may only be speaking well of you because they only know part of the story of who you are. They may be trying to butter you up and then eat you for breakfast. The psalm writer in Psalm 141 (v. 5) says, “Let the righteous strike me; let the faithful correct me. Never let the oil of the wicked anoint my head.” Proverbs 27:5,6 says, “Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Well-meant are the wounds of a friend, but profuse are the kisses of an enemy.” “Woe to you when all speak well of you,” Jesus says, “for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.” Don’t be flattered by a chorus of people who sing your praises, because only phonies are believed to be perfect. Only fakes are so well-spoken of.

 Today we sing of about saints—those believers that preceded us and now are glorified and radiate Christ’s perfection in heaven. But we should remember that even they once tread this earth and got their sandals muddy and dusty. We are both sinners and saints. We are as the reformers put it “both sinners and saints simultaneously” simul iustus et peccator. It just sounds so unarguably true in Latin! It simply means that we are still in the struggle with evil, the world, and ourselves but we also enjoy the assurance of God’s love, acceptance, forgiveness, and adoption.

This is one of the reasons I find the Bible so believable. From Adam and Eve who ate the forbidden fruit we call our first parents, to their son Cain who murdered his brother Abel who nevertheless was promised divine protection…to Noah who drank way too much but faithfully built the ark, to Abraham who lied to cover his own skin but was the Father of a multitude of nations under God…to Isaac who valued one son over another and whose name reminds us of the God who gets the last laugh, to Jacob who was a deceiver and a thief but who prevailed over God in a prayerful wrestling match…to Joseph who was a braggart but became governor of Egypt, and Joseph's 10 brothers who left him for dead but were delivered by the kindness of their reconciled brother, to Moses who was a murderer but led God’s people out of slavery and to the promised land…to Rahab who was a prostitute but preserved the lives of Israelite spies, to David who was an adulterer but upon whose throne would come the Messiah, to Peter who denied Jesus three times but then publicly preached him on Pentecost and brought in 3,000. The heroes of the Bible are not those who overcame weakness, obstacles, and sinfulness by their own strength. They are those who knew God’s unconditional love despite their weakness, obstacles, and sinfulness. They were sinners but God made them saints.

 And so today, we remember these sinners and saints. Better yet, we celebrate God who transforms us from sinners into saints. We give thanks for the lives of those we love but who are no longer with us. There were indeed sinners and saints. But now the perishable has put on the imperishable and the mortal has put on immortality (1 Cor 15:53). As Scripture says, now we see in a mirror dimly but then face to face (1 Cor 13:12). “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” (2 Cor 5:17). That is our journey: from death to life, from captivity to freedom, from orphans to adoption, from brokenness to wholeness, from sin to holiness, from sinners to saints. They are now shining in glory like the midday sun. They have completed their journey. The rest of us are still in the struggle. But we are assured that in Christ we will safely arrive at our destination. I love the way St. Augustine puts it, “There is no saint without a past, no sinner without a future.”