Mar 6
Saint Harry
1Co
1:2 … to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints …
In his 8 volume study on the book of
Romans Donald G. Barnhouse relates a wonderful story in Vol. 1, pg 89. Dr. Harry A.
Ironsides was traveling to the west coast by train. Several nuns were in the same
car he was in and during the 4 day trip they discussed spiritual things from
time to time. Near the end of the trip he asked the nuns if they had ever met a
saint? They had not and doubted they
ever would meet anyone with such an exalted position. He asked if they would like to meet a saint
and they gave a similar reply but agreed that it would be wonderful. So he
stuck out his hand and announced “Hello, I am Saint Harry!”
It
is a wonderfully funny story. I imagine the Nuns were greatly perplexed. But people who are familiar with the Bible
understand that Dr. Ironside was a saint. If you have accepted Christ as your
savior, been born again, then you have been redeemed, justified and are a
saint.
In
the introduction to Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2nd Corinthians,
Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians Paul addresses those epistles to the
Saints. He means all who name the name
of Christ, the born again ones. He is not addressing some select group of
special holy people. Everyone in the church that has been saved by Christ’s
shed blood and names Him as Savior is a saint.
And
yes some saints do not behave in a saintly manner, but the word saint refers to
their position, and not their conduct. When Paul wrote to the Corinthians, he
called them saints but they were a mess. There was arguing in the church,
incest, people suing one another, getting drunk on communion wine, and a host
of other unsaintly activities. Yet he calls them saints.
Several denominations, such as the Roman
Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Coptic Orthodox churches have established
policies on how they can decide if a person is a Saint or not. The Roman
Catholic Church began to canonize (make a person a saint) in the year 993 and
to date have created 921 saints, more or less. They have a lengthy process to
create a man-made saint.
The process outlined in the
Bible is faster. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, look to him for the
forgiveness of your sins, and accept Him as your Savior and thou shalt be a
saint!
Unfortunately
not all of us who are saints behave in a saintly manner. But we do not lose our sainthood, in the same
way that a sin does not terminate our salvation. We have both the Holy Spirit and Christ making
intercession for us. What a blessed thought.
Rom 8:26 Likewise
the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray
for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with
groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth
what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints
according to the will of God.
Col 1:26 Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages
and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: 27 To whom God
would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the
Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
We also have some responsibilities. We need to contend for the faith. The word
contend comes from a French word that means to “stretch” – exert yourself,
overcome the struggles that prevent you from standing up for your faith. In
boxing the term “contender” is descriptive of one who is willing to take some
pain, some punches, but desires to stand his ground and overcome his opponent’s
resistance. The book of Jude exhorts us to contend for the faith.
Jude 1:3 ¶ Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write
unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and
exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once
delivered unto the saints.
Lastly saints are not perfect. We have a responsibility to
grow, to learn and be perfected.
Eph 4:11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets;
and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12 For the perfecting of
the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of
Christ:
Well, fellow saints. We are indeed
blessed. Perhaps knowing you are already a saint might help you to strive to be
saintly. "What would Jesus do?" is a popular question today. Maybe we should also
ask ourselves “Is that how a saint should behave?”
Let us meditate on the idea we are
saints! Thank you for reading my blog. May God richly bless you.
Saint David
2Pe 3:18 But grow
in grace, and in the knowledge
of our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ.
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