26 Sermon Illustrations on Saints

A piece of plate may become battered and scratched, so that its beauty is hopelessly gone, but it loses not its real worth; put it into the scale, and its weight and not its fashion shall be the estimate of its preciousness; throw it into the melting-pot and its purity will show its actual value. So there are many outward circumstances which may spoil the public repute in which a Christian is held, but his essential preciousness remains unchanged. God values him at as high a rate as ever. His unerring balance and crucible are not guided by appearances. How content may we be to be vile in the sight of men if we are accepted of the Lord!

In October 2006 the heart of John Viannney, an alleged Roman Catholic saint who died 220 years ago, was displayed in the Cure of Ars Parish in Merrick, New York. Two lines of parishioners knelt before the heart in an act called “veneration.” This is pure paganism. We don’t come to God through bones or “saints”; we come through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, the only Mediator between God and man. “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus” (Hebrews 10:19).

There is not one hint in the Bible that Christians are to save the bones of the dead and make keepsakes of them for any purpose whatsoever. This is pagan and occultic. When the first martyr Stephen died, the church at Jerusalem did not keep his bones. They did not hack off a few pieces and distribute them to the other churches. They buried the man (Acts 7:2). All of him!

Even in Old Testament times the bones of believers were not kept and incorporated into their worship. The body of Joseph was kept, not to use in worship but to carry to the Promised Land so that he could have a proper burial there (Gen. 50:25; Exodus 13:19; Joshua 24:32). God buried the body of Moses to prevent any possibility that his bones would be used as holy relics (Deut. 32:5-6). “Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen” (1 John 5:21).

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Additional note by Holwick:

I do not believe in venerating bones (or hearts), but there are other Old Testament passages that may be quoted by Catholics. 1 Kings 13:29-31 shows the honor given to dead heroes and focuses on the human remains:

So the prophet picked up the body of the man of God, laid it on

the donkey, and brought it back to his own city to mourn for him

and bury him. Then he laid the body in his own tomb, and they

mourned over him and said, “Oh, my brother!” After burying him,

he said to his sons, “When I die, bury me in the grave where the

man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones.

Probably the clearest parallel to Catholic practice comes from the account of Elisha’s death in 2 Kings 13:20-21. The bones themselves are involved in the miracle:

Elisha died and was buried. Now Moabite raiders used to enter

the country every spring. Once while some Israelites were

burying a man, suddenly they saw a band of raiders; so they threw

the man’s body into Elisha’s tomb. When the body touched

Elisha’s bones, the man came to life and stood up on his feet.

Finally, Josiah’s cleansing of Israel focused on the destruction of cult objects and included the annihilation of the human remains of opponents. However, the bones of the Bethel prophet were treated differently. 2 Kings 23:14-18 says:

Josiah smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles

and covered the sites with human bones. ... Then Josiah looked

around, and when he saw the tombs that were there on the

hillside, he had the bones removed from them and burned on the

altar to defile it, in accordance with the word of the LORD

proclaimed by the man of God who foretold these things. The king

asked, “What is that tombstone I see?” The men of the city said,

“It marks the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and

pronounced against the altar of Bethel the very things you have

done to it.” “Leave it alone,” he said. “Don’t let anyone

disturb his bones.” So they spared his bones and those of the

prophet who had come from Samaria.

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[Original illustration at this number was deleted for being obsolete]

In reply to an inquiry made to Martin Luther in 1528, he wrote,

“You ask whether the magistrate may kill false prophets. I am slow in a judgment of blood even when it is deserved. In this matter I am terrified by the example of the papists and the Jews before Christ, for when there was a statute for the killing of false prophets and heretics, in time it came about that only the most saintly and innocent were killed. ... I cannot admit that false teachers are to be put to death. It is enough to banish.”

On many church calendars, this day marks the celebration of All Saints' Day. This is a day when we can make a point to remember the children of God who have gone before us.

The word “saint” may bring varied pictures to your mind. You may picture someone with a halo over his head, someone who sacrifices her life to help the poor, or someone who was thrown to the lion as a martyr. The New Testament definition of a saint is a bit simpler. The Greek word “hagios” refers to one who has been set apart as holy. The apostle Paul uses it to refer to groups of believers in different cities, writing “to the saints in Ephesus” and “to the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi.” He does not use the term to refer to marked-out individuals that have achieved a certain standard of holiness. (In fact, the word is almost always used in the plural and rarely used to describe an individual.) To verify this, you need only read about the problems he confronts in his first letter to the Corinthians, which he addresses “to the saints in Christ Jesus.” Only a few chapters later, he rebukes these saints for being mere infants caught up in worldliness instead of walking in Christlikeness.

By this definition, all who are in the faith qualify as saints, though some are much farther along in their sanctification than others. It has benefited my faith inestimably to study the lives of those who have walked the road before me, to see how they dealt with life's struggles and successes. The book of Hebrews encourages this sort of reflection, setting before us a magnificent parade of flawed though faithful characters. In chapter eleven, we read about the patriarchs as well as Rahab the prostitute. We read descriptions of others who were stoned, sawed in two, or put to death by the sword because of their identity as one of God's own. Of all of these, the writer writes, “These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect” (Hebrews 11:40).

In the history of Christendom, God has not left us with a scarce legacy of faith. The testimonies of the great cloud of witnesses who have gone before us fill more volumes than you could read in a lifetime. This week we want to set before you the stories of just a few of those who have trusted God at great cost to themselves but with the promise of great reward. We hope that these brief biographies will inspire and encourage you (and perhaps lead you to further reading), but also that they will call forth from your heart a spirit of thanksgiving. When we read of lives set apart in Christ, lives which bear bountiful fruit in his name, we should give him the glory. One of my favorite hymns does just that in words penned by William How:

For all the saints who from their labors rest,

Who Thee by faith before the world confessed,

Your name, O Jesus, be forever blest.

Alleluia! Alleluia!

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Copyright © 2004 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. "A Slice of Infinity" is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

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[Original illustration at this number was deleted for being obsolete]

Dorothy Sayers said that God has three great humiliations. The first was the Incarnation, when God took on the confines of a physical body. The second was the Cross, when he suffered the ignominy of death by public execution. The third humiliation, Sayers suggested, is the church.

Sadly, the watching world judges God himself by the actions of those who bear his name. Nietzsche said bluntly, “His disciples will have to look more saved if I am to believe in their Savior.” The church is indeed God’s humiliation: as one critic said, we “make the world safe for hypocrisy.”

The Crusades, pogroms against the Jews, slavery, and the K.K.K. are all movements that have claimed Christ’s sanction. (One slave ship even sailed under the name THE GOOD SHIP JESUS). The world has the impression that the “Christian West” represents decadence and immorality.

Just as Christians can bring God humiliation, we can also bring him pride. The Old Testament has heroes of faith, highlighted in Hebrews 11. Most of them went through severe times of testing. “Saints become saints by somehow clinging to the stubborn conviction that God deserves our trust, even when it looks as if the world is caving in.”

On any given week, three to five biographies make The New York Times list of best-selling non-fiction. Though historical biographies have changed with time, human interest in the genre is long-standing. The first known biographies were commissioned by ancient rulers to assure records of their accomplishments. The Old Testament Scriptures, detailing the lives of patriarchs, prophets, and kings, are also some of the earliest biographies in existence. Throughout the Middle Ages, such histories were largely in the hands of monks; lives of martyrs and church fathers were recorded with the intention of edifying readers for years to come. Over time and with the invention of the printing press, biographies became increasingly influential and widely read, portraying a larger array of lives and their stories.

In reading the accounts of men and women in history we find ourselves living in many places, hearing fragments of our own stories. The questions and thoughts we considered our own suddenly appear before us in the life of another. The afflictions we find wearying are given hope in the story of one who overcame much, or the life of one who found joy in the midst of loss. As Thomas Carlyle once noted, “Biography is the most universally pleasant and profitable of all reading.” We move toward it because we seem to know that life is too short to learn by our own experience.

And as Christians we are moved similarly. The most direct attempt in Scripture to define faith is done so by the writer of Hebrews. The eleventh chapter begins, “Now faith is being sure of what you hope for and certain of what you do not see” (11:1). It is a definition that has always somewhat eluded me, and I was thankful to read I'm not alone. (John Wesley once observed of the same words, “There appears to be a depth in them which I am in no wise able to fathom.”) But moving from this definition of faith, the writer of Hebrews immediately expands upon the weighty statement with a list of people who lived “sure of hope” and “certain of the unseen.” From Noah and Abraham, to Rahab and saints left unnamed, we find faith moving across the pages of history, the gift of God sparkling in the eyes of the faithful, the hope by which countless lives were guided. In this brief gathering of biographies, the writer seems to tell us that faith is better understood functionally than philosophically, that our own faith is more fully understood by looking at the lives of the faithful.

At the end of his compelling list, the writer of Hebrews concludes: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us” (12:1). The lives of those who followed Christ before us urge us onward, strengthening our hearts with stories of faith, stirring our minds at the thought of God's universal sway, reminding us that He moves in our biographies and yet beyond them.

Amidst the chronicles of kings and kingdoms in some of the earliest recorded biographies, we are given this promise: “For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him” (2 Chronicles 16:9). Moved by the hearts of the faithful, may we be moved further into the arms of God.

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Copyright © 2004 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. "A Slice of Infinity" is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

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[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #21983]

The word saint has come far from its original New Testament

meaning. When we think of a "saint," we think of some stylized human

figure depicted in stained glass, or of a person long dead who has

been officially declared as an ecclesiastical relic. However, one of

the clearest definitions is "A saint is a dead sinner, revised and

edited."

Christian history is no dull thing; it is full of rises and falls, conflicts and climaxes. Twenty centuries of saints and scoundrels tell a compelling story. There are moments of high drama such as Martin Luther, the father of the Reformation, standing before the diet of Worms, before the potentates and powers of his day, refusing to recant, and boldly proclaiming, “Here I stand, I can do no other.”

Or recall St. Patrick. Enslaved as a teenager by pagan Irish pirates, he escaped their clutches and made his way home to Britain, only to return to Ireland under the call of God to proclaim the Gospel to the Druid dominated isle. It was a dangerous call of which he wrote, “Daily I expect murder, fraud or captivity, but I fear none of these things because of the promises of heaven. I have cast myself into the hands of God almighty who rules everywhere.” [1] By St. Patrick's death, Ireland had been transformed from a barbaric pagan island to a haven of Christianity. That is drama.

Christian history is full of such stories — stories of the God who broke into human history in the wonderful work of the Gospel touching down again. Such stories remind us that our faith is not an impotent thing, but rather is potent to break into history and make change. Of course, such stories can also be discouraging because we don't see such drama in our daily walk of faith. My personal antidote to such discouragement is this reminder:

“To those who know a little of Christian History probably the

most moving of all reflections it brings is not the thought of

the great events and the well-remembered saints, but of those

innumerable millions of entirely obscure faithful men and women,

every one with his or her own individual hopes and fears and joys

and sorrows and loves and sins and temptations and prayers – once

every whit as vivid and alive as mine are now.” [2]

The author perceives something quite astounding: the countless faithful that history forgets, they matter. More than that, they are precious. If you see it, you will understand. There is something quite sweet in considering a life lived in quiet devotion to God. A life not exalted by canonization or heralded by biography, but a life piously lived before God. Such a life's praise, as Paul says in Romans, is not from man, but from God. (Romans 2:29)

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1. http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/60h/60h010.html

2. John, Baille, Ed., A Diary of Readings (NY, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1955), p. 64.)

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Copyright © 2002 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. "A Slice of Infinity" is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

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[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #14947]

"Called to be saints." - Romans 1:7

We are very apt to regard the apostolic saints as if they were "saints" in a more especial manner than the other children of God. All are "saints" whom God has called by His grace, and sanctified by His Spirit; but we are apt to look upon the apostles as extraordinary beings, scarcely subject to the same weaknesses and temptations as ourselves. Yet in so doing we are forgetful of this truth, that the nearer a man lives to God the more intensely has he to mourn over his own evil heart; and the more his Master honors him in his service, the more also doth the evil of the flesh vex and tease him day by day. - Charles Spurgeon

The fact is, if we had seen the apostle Paul, we should have thought him remarkably like the rest of the chosen family: and if we had talked with him, we should have said, "We find that his experience and ours are much the same. He is more faithful, more holy, and more deeply taught than we are, but he has the selfsame trials to endure. Nay, in some respects he is more sorely tried than ourselves." Do not, then, look upon the ancient saints as being exempt either from infirmities or sins; and do not regard them with that mystic reverence which will almost make us idolaters. Their holiness is attainable even by us. - Charles Spurgeon

”To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints.” Romans 1:7

Every true Christian is called of God; and lying behind that call is divine foreknowledge and predestination (Romans 8:29, 30). Behind our conversation is the electing will of God; and our regeneration by the Holy Spirit is the experiential evidence of it. The subject of predestination is one of vast mystery, but emerging from it are practical truths which the simplest of us can easily grasp. Here is one of them: “Called to be saints.”

God would have us to be reflectors of His own holiness because He has speciallv set His love upon us, as our text says. Am I truly born again of His Spirit? Am I washed from guilt before God, by the precious blood of Calvary? Do I really love the Lord Jesus? Then I am one of “God’s loved ones” who are “called to be saints”. This carries with it three weighty reflections.

The first of these is, that here is the supreme glory of the Christian life: we are “called to be saints” Nowadays that word “saint” is often used sarcastically as a poke at some sanctimonious person — “Oh, he’s a saint”. A young boy who was asked to define a saint, replied, “A saint is a dead Christian”; and that is a pretty common idea.

It is a pity the word has been so mishandled. We must not fight shy of it, for it is one of the great terms in our Christian vocabulary. Sainthood is the call of the New Testament to every Christian, as we see from the word, “all”, in our text. Positionally, in Christ, all Christian believers are “saints” (1 Corinthians 1:2; Ephesians 1.1 etc.); and what we all are positionally is meant to have its practical counterpart in saintly character and conduct.

The meaning of the word “saint” is exactly the same as “sanctify”. True sainthood is Christian sanctification or separatedness — separatedness from our unregenerate past, from worldliness, from all known sinful ways; and separatedness to an outward confession of Christ, and an inward fellowship with Christ, and a daily usableness by Christ. The first business of every Christian is this sanctification, or separatedness, and the developing of holy character. This is not incompatible with legitimate employment in business, unless our occupation itself is wrong. We can make all our circumstances contribute, if we will, to the furtherance of real sainthood. This is the highest of all callings; and this is the supreme glory of the Christian life.

As has often been said, we are not called to be preachers, teachers, missionaries, authors, hymn-writers, full-time evangelists, or public Christian leaders; but we are all “called to be saints”; that is, we are all called to entire sanctification.

Have you noticed that one of the most frequently used words of identity for Christians in the New Testament is saint? A saint is literally a holy person. Yet Paul and the other writers of the Epistles used the word generously to describe common, ordinary, everyday Christians like you and me. For example, Paul's salutation in 1 Corinthians 1:2 reads: "To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours."

Notice that Paul didn't say that we are saints by hard work. He clearly states that we are saints by calling. Some of us have bought into the mentality that saints are people who have earned their lofty title by living a magnificent life or achieving a certain level of maturity. No way. The Bible says you are a saint because God called you to be a saint. You were "sanctified in Christ" -- made a saint by participating in the life of the only true holy one, Jesus Christ.

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; He 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 sins. Remember: What you do doesn't determine who you are; who you are determines what you do.

Since you are a saint in Christ by God's calling, you share in Christ's inheritance. That which is true of Christ is now true of you, because you are in Christ. It's part of your identity. You are not the great "I Am," but with Paul you can say, "By the grace of God I am what I am" (1 Corinthians 15:10).

Your grace and Your calling in my life are totally undeserved, but it is my privilege to claim my inheritance. Thank You, Father. Thank You, Jesus.

We have all types of memberships in America. You can be a member of Sam’s Club or a rewards member of Chick-fil-A. You know people who are members of a local gym or the Lions Club. Membership is all around us. Yet, all of these memberships are voluntary, and, in many ways, purely transactional.

Is church membership like all of these other memberships? Or is there something fundamentally different about being a member of a church? Should churches even have membership? If yes, who should be a member? What should membership look like? Let’s take a look at these.

Most Baptist churches have some form of membership.

But why? Is it just the way we have always done it? There are two vital reasons to have local church membership.

1. Membership is Biblically Modeled.

The word “member” is used in three vital places: Romans 12:4–5; 1 Corinthians 12:12–27; and Ephesians 5:29–30. Each of these passages refers to individuals being members of the body of Christ. Paul, speaking directly to the Corinthian church, says in 1 Corinthians 12:27, “Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.”

In Acts 6, the church is neglecting care for certain widows. Surely, the daily distribution was not for all widows in Jerusalem but specifically for those who were part of the church in Jerusalem, who were members. These widows are considered part of the church.

Both Matthew 18:15–18 and 1 Corinthians 5:1–12 deal with church discipline. When a person continues in sin, the issue must be told to the church and can eventually lead to removal from the church. In both passages, there seems to be an understanding of who is part of the church (who is in and who is out). The consequence of unrepentant sin is for the individual to be removed from the church. He or she is no longer a member of the body of Christ.

2. Membership is Practically Helpful.

The Bible is clear: Believers must gather together (Heb. 10:24–25). Membership in a local church is helpful so that there is a clear understanding of who I should gather with every week and encourage toward love and good works.

Additionally, pastors will give an account for the souls in their flock (Heb. 13:17). As a pastor at Ridgewood Church, I am greatly helped by knowing that I will give an account for the 225 other members. I know their names. I know their faces. I pray God will help me watch over their souls well.

Who Should Make Up the Membership of a Church?

So, church membership is biblically modeled and practically helpful. The next question is, “Who should be a church member?”

The biblical model for church membership is regenerate church membership, what John Hammett calls “the Baptist mark of the church” (Hammett, Biblical Foundations for Baptist Churches, 2nd ed, pg. 91). Some will also call this “meaningful membership.”

With regenerate church membership, a local church consists only of people who are:

Born-again (John 3:3, 7)

Baptized as a believer (Acts 2:38–41; 8:12)

Following Jesus (John 8:12; 10:4, 25–27)

Committed to the church (Heb. 10:25)

The acronym I have shared with our church to remember these four is that when we practice regenerate church membership, we are Big Baptists For Churches.

The term church primarily entails assembling those called out by and living for God. Local congregations consist of “saints” or “holy ones,” a term used over 60 times in the New Testament (Hammett, 39–40, 43; cf. Rom. 1:7; 1 Cor. 1:2; Eph. 1:1; Phil. 1:1; Col. 1:2; 1 Thess. 1:1; 2 Thess. 1:2).

Moreover, the universal church, comprising all Christians in all times and all places, consists of only believers. Why would the local church have a different standard? Simply put, the local church should be made up of believers.

Churches will not be able to assess perfectly who is a believer and who is not. The New Testament anticipates that local churches will inadvertently bring those with false confessions of faith into membership. Church discipline is the Lord’s provision to remove those who claim to be a brother or sister but live contrary to that claim.

The purity of the church matters. Why would Jesus (Matt. 18:15–18) or Paul (1 Cor. 5:1–13) encourage removing unrepentant people from the church if the church is not supposed to be a pure body of genuine believers? The members make up the body of Christ (Rom. 12:4–5) and are called saints (Eph. 4:12). Therefore, the local church should practice regenerate church membership.

Why Do Baptists Demand Regenerate Church Membership?

Regenerate church membership means the covenant community consists exclusively of believers. Augustine (A.D. 354–430) believed in the corpus permixtum, a church body mixed with believers and unbelievers — wheat mixed with tares.

In the parable of the wheat and tares (Matt. 13:24–30), the wheat and the tares grow together. At harvest, they will be separated. Augustine incorrectly thought that the field where the wheat and tares grow was the church. Instead, the field is the world — Jesus says as much (Matt. 13:28). Believers will live, work, play, and function alongside unbelievers in the world. However, churches are not to be mixed with wheat and tares.

This practice of regenerate church membership is essential for Baptist churches because we practice congregational church governance where the congregation has the final say on the most critical issues. We can say that the buck stops with the members. They have the ultimate responsibility. Therefore, we do not want unbelievers who lack the indwelling of the Holy Spirit influencing the direction of the church. Or stated positively, we want believers filled with the Holy Spirit to make the trajectory-shaping decisions for the local church.

How Does Regenerate Church Membership Practically Work?

A church practicing regenerate church membership should consider the following:

Hold a new members class where newcomers get to know the church: its mission, its values, and its ministry.

Conduct membership interviews where the church, typically represented by the pastors, gets to know a newcomer, discerns if he or she has made a credible profession of faith, and learns if the person has been baptized as a believer.

Have new members sign a church covenant for accountability and encouragement (for more on church covenants, see chapter 5 of Hammett’s Biblical Foundations for Baptist Churches or the 9Marks Ministries website at www.9marks.org. 9Marks is wholly devoted to helping develop healthy local churches.

Keep an active membership roster. I grew up in a church with thousands of people on the membership roll and a few hundred in attendance on a Sunday. Something was amiss there.

Encourage members to attend regularly.

Acknowledge that church membership has certain privileges and responsibilities (see No. 3 in this article for a list of some of those, https://www.9marks.org/answer/what-meaningful-membership/).

Practice church discipline.

Regenerate Church Membership Promotes Long-Term Health

My prayer and hope is that Baptist churches can encourage one another toward the practice of regenerate church membership for the sake of the health and long-term gospel ministry of each of our local churches.

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This article first appeared at Baptist Courier.

Dorothy Sayers said that God has three great humiliations. The first was the Incarnation, when God took on the confines of a physical body. The second was the Cross, when he suffered the ignominy of death by public execution. The third humiliation, Sayers suggested, is the church.

Sadly, the watching world judges God himself by the actions of those who bear his name. Nietzsche said bluntly, “His disciples will have to look more saved if I am to believe in their Savior.” The church is indeed God’s humiliation: as one critic said, we “make the world safe for hypocrisy.”

The Crusades, pogroms against the Jews, slavery, and the K.K.K. are all movements that have claimed Christ’s sanction. (One slave ship even sailed under the name THE GOOD SHIP JESUS). The world has the impression that the “Christian West” represents decadence and immorality.

Just as Christians can bring God humiliation, we can also bring him pride. The Old Testament has heroes of faith, highlighted in Hebrews 11. Most of them went through severe times of testing. “Saints become saints by somehow clinging to the stubborn conviction that God deserves our trust, even when it looks as if the world is caving in.”