We Are Saints

For Sunday School, May 5, 2024, we talked about how there is a big difference between people who die without hearing the gospel, and those of us who do. We're held more accountable because we're now expected to know the difference between what God wants us to do, and what he doesn't. People who don't know can't exactly hold accountability, because they haven't been taught the difference and are ignorant to what is expected of them.

Yet we are to live blamelessly, so that you can't look at someone else's life and blame them for the way YOUR life is. You can't pre-judge people, but you can have opinions. Opinions are how you feel. Judging people is a false fact. An opinion of mine would be: I don't like okra. But a judgement of okra would be for me to say: Okra is disgusting. One states what I personally feel about it, and the other assumes that it is the opinion for everyone. And to assume makes an ass out of u and me, as the saying goes.

What do you think of when you hear about a Saint? Did you know we are to be saint-like? Because we are saints. As Ephesians 1:1 says, "Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus." To Paul, a saint was anyone who believed in Jesus. Saints are those who are consecrated and claimed by God for His service.

But you might ask the question, "How can we call ourselves saints if we are sinners?" So let's say you're in a dirty room, and there's dirty people. And there's well dressed people. Who is more likely to get upset when they get dirty in that room? The well dressed people. Dirty people will be fine with the dirt.

What I'm saying is that - the reason why we should see ourselves as saints is because we will do better to be good people and stay clean if we hold ourselves up to being pristine. If you're clean and you get dirty, it will bother you more than if you are already filthy and you get more filth on you. So if you are spiritually clean and you do something bad, it will bother you and you will do better to try and stay clean, rather than someone who is a constant sinner and thinks to themselves, "Eh, it's only one more sin. How bad can it be?"

The difference between someone who has heard the gospel and someone who hasn't – we have heard it so we're held more accountable. So if we see ourselves as saints, we try to do better to be good people and stay clean. We're more inspired to live in our souls rather than our bodies.

2 Corinthians 5:6-10 says "So we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the Lord. For we live by believing and not by seeing. Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord. So whether we are here in this body or away from this body, our goal is to please him. For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body."

As long as we are in our bodies, we're not truly with God. You are not a body, you possess a body, and your soul should be in charge, not the body. We're supposed to walk by faith, not by sight (or as some people believe - seeing is believing. Sometimes you just have to trust and have faith.)

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 tells us "And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died. We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. So encourage each other with these words."

Every christian is to live with the hope that Jesus will come back in their lifetime. The body goes to sleep in the ground and the soul goes into the presence of Jesus. Even if all the things you wanted don't work out, if all of your hopes and dreams remain just hopes and dreams and never come to pass, our hopes when we die should be to meet with the Lord. Everything we believe is based on Christ's resurrection.

For example, in 1 Corinthians 15:21-23, it says "So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life. But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back." Because Jesus was resurrected, so shall we be resurrected as well. Not those who just belong TO Christ, but those who belong IN Christ. They are the ones who shall be made alive again.

When Jesus was resurrected, his body was transformed. If we believed that he just mystically arose from the grave, we have nothing to go off of. He had to physically get out. With his new body, he went through the stone at the resurrection. Like a 4th dimensional being, he knew the insides and out. (In the 3rd dimension, we can only see the outside of a box unless we open it and look inside, in the 4th dimension, you see both the inside and outside without having to open it. One day I should make a blog about the specifics of the first 4 dimensions and how they work.)

To believe it was just his spirit that showed himself to his disciples means there might as well not have been a resurrection at all. He had to physically be there for them to hold his hands and see the wounds that he bore. Why do people who don't believe in the resurrection even show up? (That's a personal statement.)

Anyway, to conclude this entry... You are a saint whether you feel like you deserve to be called one or not. And why should you believe that? Because as 1 Corinthians 15:47-54 says, "Adam, the first man, was made from the dust of the earth, while Christ, the second man, came from heaven. Earthly people are like the earthly man, and heavenly people are like the heavenly man. Just as we are now like the earthly man, we will someday be like the heavenly man. What I am saying, dear brothers and sisters, is that our physical bodies cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. These dying bodies cannot inherit what will last forever. But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies. Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled: “Death is swallowed up in victory."

One day, you will be with God in his Kingdom. While you are still in this body, right now in this time, do what you can to be a good person and do good things. Live a good Godly life. Be saint-like. Keep yourselves clean. Yes, your body will be transformed some day, but it is your soul that will be judged.