“Our Church Speaks” (Eph 4:11-16) - Belong VI -

 

Who Are the Saints?

Many of us find inspiration in The Upper Room devotional, and I want to share a story from October 10 that particularly touched me. In this story, the author and his wife took a summer hike through New Mexico. The landscape was brown, dry, and desert-like. But as they walked, they noticed a few green trees standing out against the dry land. They found out these were juniper trees. They have a special root system that goes as deep as 25 feet and spreads up to 100 feet wide to find water. These roots allow them to survive even in drought.

This reminds me of the beautiful truths written in Psalm 92:

 

The righteous flourish like the palm tree

and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

They are planted in the house of the Lord;

they flourish in the courts of our God.

In old age they still produce fruit;

they are always green and full of sap,

showing that the Lord is upright. (vv. 12-15a)

 

Today, we remember our saints. Who are the saints? Saints are the ones who believed in us, invested in us, and helped us grow in faith. Who are the saints? Saints are the ones who took us under their wings and guided us. They taught us, prayed for us, and lived out God’s love in such a way that shaped us.

When I think about the saints in my own life, I see the faces of several people who have deeply impacted me. My grandfather stands out as a hero of faith. Through his life and his actions, I learned how precious Christ is. Through his preaching, I came to faith when I was 12 years old. My mother is another hero. When I was in high school, I went through a season of spiritual drought. I felt like my prayers were just words hitting the wall. The Bible felt like a book of fairy tales to me. I shared these struggles with my mother, and she listened carefully, then shared her own faith story—how she grew up in a pastor’s family and encountered the living God. Her story and her steady, persistent prayers helped sustain me through that time. 

I also remember my 8th-grade Sunday School teacher, Mrs. Won. At that time, I wasn’t very interested in Christianity. But I could tell she was praying for me and each one of her students. Her godly life made a lasting impression on me, even when I didn’t realize it.

 

Called to Equip the Saints

I am sure you have those heroes of faith. Each of these saints in our lives acts like stepping stones along our journey of faith. God has sent us saints – apostles (spiritual leaders), prophets (those correcting us), evangelists (those preaching the gospel to us), pastors (those shepherding us), and teachers – to help us grow. Isaac Newton once said, “If I have seen further, it is because I am standing on the shoulders of giants.” In the same way, we are standing on the shoulders of saints today.

Now, we are called to do the same for others. We are called to equip other believers – potential saints, the next generation. Perhaps they may be skeptics or seekers. They may be new believers. They may be our own family members or neighbors. Whoever they are, God calls us to equip them for one purpose: to build up the body of Christ, strengthen the church and God’s kingdom. Some of us in this room may feel unprepared, thinking, “I don’t know what to do.” But every of us can do three things for others right now: we can love them, serve them, and pray for them. We never know how these simple actions might change their lives.

Have you heard of the name Edward Kimball? Probably not. But his story shows how even a “nobody” in the world’s eyes can make an incredible impact when they care about others and God’s kingdom. Edward Kimball was a Sunday school teacher in Chicago in 1855. One day, he visited a teenage student from his class at the shoe store where the teen worked, and there he shared the gospel with him. Kimball then helped nurture the young man’s faith through his Sunday school class. That young man’s name was D.L. Moody.

1.      Moody shared Christ with a man named F. B. Meyer.

2.      F. B. Meyer’s preaching led to the conversion of J. Wilbur Chapman.

3.      Chapman’s preaching led to the conversion of Billy Sunday.

4.      Mordecai Ham was converted at a Billy Sunday meeting.

5.      Billy Graham was converted at a Ham meeting.

6.      Graham preached the gospel face-to-face to more people than anyone else in history.[1]

 

This whole chain of faith began with one Sunday School teacher who simply cared enough to do his part and share the gospel according to his gifts.

 

Small Things Like These

Mr. Holland’s Opus is a movie about a dedicated music teacher who dreams of becoming a famous composer. He does not have those gifts and, instead, makes an impact he does not fully appreciate in the lives of a generation of students in his high school music program. Mr. Holland never writes the musical opus that will make him famous but pours himself into the young people before him: a redheaded girl with pigtails who struggles to play the clarinet, a football player who cannot keep rhythm but needs a band credit to keep his game eligibility, a street kid who is mad at the world but who discovers the beauty of his own soul in music.

As the movie concludes, Mr. Holland is fighting budget cuts for the survival of the high school’s music program. He loses. And he retires. The last day of school he cleans out his desk and, with shoulders slumped down, walks the school hall for the last time. He feels defeated, as if this life’s work was wasted. But as Mr. Holland walks, he hears noise in the auditorium. He goes in to see what is happening and faces a packed auditorium of students and alumni thundering an ovation and chanting his name. The little girl with pigtails is now the governor of the state, and she addresses Mr. Holland from the podium. “Mr. Holland, we know that you never became the famous composer you dreamed of being. But don’t you see it today? Your great composition is what you did with us, your students. Mr. Holland, look around you. We are your great opus. We are the music of your life.”[2]

One of my Korean clergy friends recently visited some of her Sunday School teachers to express her deep gratitude while visiting Korea. It was a way of honoring those saints who poured into her life. Today, you may feel like you don’t have much to offer. You may feel like you are planting in dry soil. But let us remember God’s promise and be encouraged. “Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” (1 Cor 15:58) Let us remember the words of missionary C. T. Studd and be encouraged, “Only one life, ‘twill soon be past. Only what’s done for Christ will last.” Amen.

  

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[1] Kenneth Boa and Jenny Abel, Recalibrate Your Life (pp. 200-201). InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition.

[2] Bryan Chapell, Ephesians (Reformed Expository Commentary) (pp. 195-196). P&R Publishing. Kindle Edition.