The Dead, the Living, and Learning (Romans 6:1-11)
Gary McManus, 11/01/2020Part of the Life With Jesus is Better series, preached at a Sunday Morning service
November 1, 2020 Romans 6:1-11
All Saints Day. All Saints Sunday
The day gave us the name for Halloween.
The evening before November 1st (All Hallowed’s Day)
=All Hallowed’s Eve = Halloween.
All “Hallowed’s” as in the prayer:
“hallowed be Thy name.”
The NT speaks of the saints as alive and
present for good works. (60 times in the KJV)
Other versions: “the sanctified, “the Lord’s people”,
“holy ones”. “Holy ones” is not a status anyone attains.
Saint is term bestowed on those of faith in Jesus.
Holy = set aside / God has set people aside for
God’s use and God’s purposes. (Titus 2:14, Titus 3:1
and more )
Then the Church “qualified” the term “saint”.
At first you had to be a martyr (dead) for Jesus.
(See Acts 7:55-58)
Can you learn anything from the dead?
Even many American pagans know a couple of saints.
We CAN learn from dead people.
AND THE CHURCH PEOPLE OF JESUS
have always believed that!
(Hebrews 12:1-4)
Americans usually use “the dead” for entertainment
purposes. Yes, odd, isn’t it?
We could be learning how to get through this
pandemic from the past, but we think we know better.
This is a message about the saints. . .the saints,
living and “dead” (because they are alive in
Jesus). This message is for YOU, the living.
American Christianity has often made faith more
about death than living. “What will happen when
you die?” is often asked.
If the faithful have been watching the saints (at church), they will have an idea as to how they got through this mess of a world—they get through this mess of a world . . .with Jesus.
They get through this mess by faith, faith in Jesus.
Mind you, God’s Word is very clear about the reality of death. (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2)
But God has made us more than bodies that live and die. God gave us souls. (John 8:12, John 12:26)
For the faithful baptized into Jesus, they have
rehearsed their death (Romans 6:4)
When the baptized come up out of the water,
they are a new person—a new way to be YOU.
. . . a new way to be human.
Then you ARE ready for heaven (1 Corinthians 15,
2 Corinthians 5: )
How you are we going to get through this life?
Jesus’ answer: “follow me” ( Matthew 16:24,
(28 times in NT, John 6:68)
“Believe in God, believe also in me. . .
have faith in God, have faith in me/Jesus”
(John 14:1)
All of the saints did.
That is what the dead in Christ taught the
living. The dead teach the church how to live. . .in Christ. Amen.
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