The prophet Daniel gives you this promise, "that those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever." Amen. (Daniel 12:3)

John 5:25-29 I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. ²⁶ For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself. ²⁷ And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man. ²⁸ "Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice ²⁹ and come out-- those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.

Are you a "saint"? You probably would hesitate to call yourself a "saint." I’m sure you don’t write the word "saint" in front of your name when you sign things. "I’m no saint," you probably would say. "A saint is someone like Mother Theresa – you go and live in a third world country somewhere and dedicate your life to helping others – that’s a saint. Stephen was a saint. He was martyred for his faith. The Apostle Peter or the Apostle Paul – those guys are saints – the real good people. But me? No way. I’m definitely not a saint."

According to the Catholic Church, there are four steps to sainthood. 1) A bishop investigates the would-be saint’s life for evidence of "exceptional holiness"; 2) Promising cases are referred to Rome, where judges must agree on the candidate’s faith, charity and other virtues; 3) There must be evidence of a posthumous, or after death, miracle; 4) After evidence of a second posthumous miracle, the person is sainted by the pope and then venerated, worshiped, adored, by all Catholics. (Newsweek, October 20, 2003)

According to the Catholic Church, a saint is someone that was a very special Christian. Someone who demonstrated extraordinary "faith, hope and charity, as well as humility, prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance." (Newsweek) In fact, in 2003, following the death of Mother Theresa, Newsweek reported that there were 67 volumes collected which argue that Mother Theresa had all the requirements for sainthood.

"I’m no Mother Theresa," you might say. "I’m not in her league. I’m definitely not a saint." I’m here on this Saints Triumphant day to disagree with you, because according to the Bible, you are a saint.

Today we are going to look at the difference between the "Saints" and the "Ain’ts". Jesus is going to return to this earth to judge the living and the dead. On that Day of Judgment, we will shudder if we are judged as "ain’ts" – as sinners, because that is really what we are. But we can stand proudly and with confidence on that Day of Judgment since we are saints because that is what Christ made us to be.

1. We shudder to be judged as aint’s – what we are

Let’s say that we have a committee here at church, called the "Saint Committee." And their job is to determine if you should be called a "saint" or not. And so this committee goes into your house while you’re not home, and sets up hidden cameras. They set up microphones all over your house. They set up surveillance equipment at your work. They bug your phone so that they can listen to your conversations. They follow you around, take pictures of you, and take notes on everything you say and do.

Then, after gathering all this information, they meet as a committee, and the chairman says, "Well, what have you learned about so-and-so? (Remember, they’re talking about you.) Is that person a saint?" What do you think they would say, after observing your life so closely?

"He’s no saint," one of them might say. "I’ve listened to his conversations. I’ve watched what he does. He’s not a saint! He’s a sinner!" Do you think that’s what the committee would say about you?

It is true, that we are sinners, and we have more than earned that title in our lives. If our all of our conversations were recorded, and we were watched every day, we would be embarrassed by what other people would see in our lives. We certainly don’t live like saints, look like saints, talk like saints, or act like saints. We’re more like "ain’ts."

I know "ain’t" is poor English, but I would describe an "ain’t" as somebody who appears to look good on the outside, who tries to do popular, decent things, and who usually says all the right words and is in the right places. This "ain’t" person can be coming to church, but his heart is far from God. This "ain’t" person may give offerings, but she is grumbling because that means less money to spend on herself. This "ain’t" person may sing songs of praises to God, but then shout in anger and frustration at the kids as soon as they get in the car.

An "ain’t" person is someone who loves self more than God, who loves sin more than the Savior, who loves the things of this world more than the treasures of the world to come.

Basically, an "ain’t" person can be any one of us.

An "ain’t" person is someone who pretends to be good, while at the same time living and thriving in sin. He or she is playing a role.

Ray was a 3-year-old boy who loved to play Superman. Each morning Ray would ask his mother to pin a bath towel to the back shoulders of his T-shirt. Immediately in his young imaginative mind the towel became a brilliant red cape. And he became Superman.

Outfitted each day in his "cape," Ray's days were packed with adventure and daring escapades. In his mind, he not only played Superman, he WAS Superman. This fact was clearly pointed out when his mother enrolled him in kindergarten class. During the course of the interview, the teacher asked Ray his name. "Superman," he answered quickly and politely.

The teacher smiled, cast an appreciative glance at his mother, and asked again, "Your real name, please." Again, Ray answered, "Superman." Realizing the situation demanded more authority, or maybe to hide her amusement, the teacher closed her eyes for a moment, then in a quite stern voice, said, "I will have to have your real name for the records."

Sensing he'd have to play straight with the teacher, Ray slid his eyes around the room, hunched closer to her, and answered in a hushed voice, "Clark Kent."

We laugh at this child's imagination and childish self-deception. But you know that, far too many of us as adults put on a public face (our "Super-whatever" mask) and pretend to be outwardly what we're not inwardly. And when we live with this deception for so long, we end up believing our mask is the real us.

The most dangerous mask of all is that we believe that we really aren’t bad people. We really haven’t done anything too bad. We really don’t deserve God’s wrath and eternal punishment.

But that is all a lie. Jesus says, "for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear [the Son of Man’s] voice and come out--those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned." Jesus says "those who have done evil" will rise from the dead to be judged and condemned. "Those who have done evil" are those who are continually wasting their time with worthless matters. They are those who habitually keep going back to the same sins over and over again. They are those practice their sins until they become professionals at it.

You and I are "aint’s" by nature. We are all sinners. We sin in our thoughts. We sin with our mouths. We sin with our bodies. We are really good at sinning. And we are really good at covering up that sin and looking good for the public. But Jesus sees through our façade. If we are relying on our good life to get into heaven, then we are going to be standing before Judge Jesus on Judgment Day we are going to be shuddering and shaking in our boots. We are going to be "aint’s" who condemned to eternal death in hell.

And yet, as bad as we are, God calls us saints, because that is what Christ has made us. Martin Luther once said that as Christians we are both sinners and saints. That explains a lot doesn’t it. That is why we have such a difficult time doing good and not doing evil. Like the apostle Paul, we struggle to do good: "I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing. (Romans 7:18-19)

So, if you struggle with sin so much, how can God call you a saint? The key, my friends, is that sainthood, in God’s eyes, is not based on what you do, but on what Christ has done for you.

So how does a person becomes a saint in the eyes of God? You don’t have to move to a third world country and dedicate your life to taking care of the unfortunate. That’s a fine thing, if that’s what a person wants to do. But if you want to become a saint, here’s what you do: believe in Jesus as your Savior. That’s it. Pretty simple.

It is all about Jesus. He is the one who has the power of life in his voice. You and I are dead in our sins. But when the dead hear his voice, they will live. That is what Jesus says. Through his Word he brings us from spiritual death to spiritual life. On the last day he will bring us from physical death to physical, eternal life. "A time is coming," Jesus says, "and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live."

Do you realize that Jesus gives you life today? Later you will confess all your sins to God. After confessing your sins you will receive the forgiveness for those sins. And this won’t be some general statement about how God is nice and loves everybody and forgives everybody. No, the forgiveness of sins you receive is a special kind of forgiveness. It is forgiveness that was earned by Jesus Christ, when he shed his blood on the cross. As that famous Bible passage says, "The blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin." This morning, you will hear that your sins were taken away by the blood of Jesus Christ. You believe it, you put your faith in it. That is when you are taken from spiritual death to spiritual life. God looks upon you as a living saint.

You see, a "saint," as the Bible defines it, isn’t one of those good people that you could never be. A "saint" is someone who realizes that he is a dead sinner, and is made alive through the words of Christ.

Some of you became saints when you were baptized. At that moment, God cleansed you for your sin by connecting you to the blood of his Son. An infant, baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, right before your eyes, becomes a saint when you watch that baptism on a Sunday morning.

When you take the Lord’s Supper – what are you doing? You are receiving the very body and blood of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, given and shed for you, for the forgiveness of your sins. At that moment, Jesus is giving you the Bread of Life. And then, you turn around, and you walk back to your seat, and as you walk back to your seat, you are a "saint" in the eyes of God. It’s not because you did something so good in coming up to God’s altar, but because your sins have been taken away by Christ.

Every single one of you, when you talk with people after service, when you drive home, when you sit behind a desk at work or take care of the kids or take out the garbage, you are a "saint" in the eyes of God. And the reason why is because in your heart, you believe that the Word of Jesus Christ has made you a saint, instead of being the "ain’t" that you were at birth.

On Judgment Day, you and I can proudly, yet humbly, stand before Judge Jesus as saints. Our names will be written in the Book of Life. We will shine like the stars. We will rise to live, to live eternally with Jesus, the angels, and all his other saints. We get to be saints, not because of what we have done, but because of who we are, what Christ has made us to be.

That, my friends, is the Lutheran Christian approach to sainthood. You and I are sinner saints. By nature we are "aint’s" but Jesus makes us into saints. We aren’t super-Christians. We can’t perform miracles. We don’t have exceptional holiness on our own. We are simply forgiven. And that’s enough for sainthood. That’s enough for eternal life. Amen.

Daniel reminds us: "Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt." Amen. (Daniel 12:2)