1. Have you faith in Christ?
2. Are you going on to perfection?
3. Do you expect to be made perfect in love in this life?
The answer is supposed to be “Yes!” although we often add, “by the Grace of God.”
We know our own failures much too well to name ourselves as perfect but on this All Hallows Eve Sunday as we celebrate All Saints Day we name the saints in our lives (some of them just as much sinner as saint) and claim our place among the saints of God, disciples of Jesus the Christ.
I sing a song of the saints of God,
patient and brave and true,
They lived not only in ages past;
there are hundreds of thousands still.
The world is bright with the joyous saints
who love to do Jesus' will.
You can meet them in school, on the street, in the store,
in church, by the sea, in the house next door;
they are saints of God, whether rich or poor,
and I mean to be one too.
We move from looking at ourselves in last week’s text (Luke 18:9-14) of the tax collector and the Pharisee and saying, “What a Jerk!” to this week’s Ephesians 1:4-5 4 just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. 5 He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will.
We move from jerk to saint through the grace and forgiveness of God and our whole life from then on is one of sanctifying grace – going on to perfection.
