Sunday, August 17th 2025
Tenth Sunday after Pentecost, Series C (Proper 15C)
Text: Hebrews 11:17—12:3
Sermon Audio
As we gather… Being at a sporting event is exciting, especially when you’re on the field. The crowd cheering can pump you up and inspire you to perform. The spectators watching the game inspire you to give it your best because you know everyone is watching. In a similar fashion, the author of Hebrews has us consider the cloud of witnesses that surround us as we go forward in our walk of faith. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are just a few examples. However, an athlete would be removed from the team if he just kept staring at the spectators. He must keep His eye on the ball. In the same fashion, we keep our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. Even as we know we are surrounded by a multitude of saints who have gone before us, we use the time we have in this life to follow Jesus where He leads.
People throw around the word saint fairly casually. In the minds of the collective conscious, a saint is just someone who does good things. Bill Gates is a saint because he donates much of his fortune to charity. A wife is a saint for putting up with a difficult husband. About 15 years ago, the New Orleans Saints didn’t act so saintly as they were caught placing bounties on other NFL players being injured.
Today, we’re going to examine parts of Hebrews 11 and 12 to learn more about what the Bible says about saints. Today we learn THE SAINTS AMAZE US BECAUSE THEY TOO SET THEIR EYES ON JESUS. First, I. The saints amaze us.
Now, there can be a lot of confusion about the definition of saints. The Roman Catholic church has a rigid definition of saint. In fact, there are four stages to sainthood. First, you have to die as a Christian. Second, to become Venerable, the Pope has to recognize you for living a life of faith. Third, one earns the title blessed by performing a miracle as a result of someone praying to that venerable Christian. Finally, after a second miracle occurs, then one attains the title saint. Confusing?
From the outside looking in, it can appear very attractive. Many of us have been to the Shrine of Guadalupe outside of town and have seen the side altars to the saints in the church at the top of the hill. They even have bits of the saints’ skeleton on display as holy relics to which to pray.
Beyond the glitz and glamor, the Bible rejects such a hierarchy. It uses the term saint in a variety of ways. Simply put, saints are those ones made holy by Christ’s righteousness. Unlike popular opinion or the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, sainthood is not a ladder you climb. It is something that is given to us. All Christians are saints made holy by the Holy Spirit.
The idea of relics, that is, body parts of holy Christians that are to be reverenced, most commonly bones, are something that the reformers cast doubt upon. Martin Luther wrote in the Smalcald Articles, “Here so many open lies and foolishness are based on the bones of dogs and horses…. In addition, they lack God’s Word, being neither commanded nor advised, and are a completely unnecessary and useless thing” (SA II II 22).
But there is a proper amazement that we can have toward the faithful people of old. The Augsburg Confession is one of the Lutheran Church’s earliest documents which presents what the Bible teaches. In this document we read, “our people teach that the saints are to be remembered so that we may strengthen our faith when we see how they experienced grace and how they were helped by faith. Moreover, it is taught that each person, according to his or her calling, should take the saints’ good works as an example” (AC XII 1). We here at Faith Lutheran teach that remembering the Christians of old is helpful because we can recall the ways that the Lord was gracious to them, and we can model their good works.
Thus, II. The saints set their eyes on Jesus. All of this is perhaps a long introduction to our epistle text, Hebrews 11 and 12. Hebrews 11 is colloquially called the hall of faith as the author highlights many Old Testament saints, or faithful Christians of old. Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and even Rahab the prostitute. Nineteen times throughout the chapter we read the phrase “by faith.”
Hebrews defines faith as, “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” As the chapter progresses, we see how these saints obeyed God, trusting Him even if the result was not clear at the time. Thus, Noah built an ark. Abraham left for Canaan. Sarah conceived because she trusted the Lord. These all set out because they were seeking a better city.
Abraham believed in the resurrection when he trusted God enough to send his own son Isaac to his death. By faith Isaac and Jacob blessed their sons. Joseph believed in the exodus from Egypt by telling his family to take his bones back to Canaan. Moses led an Exodus out of Egypt, crossing the Red Sea. Rahab only heard the accounts of the Israelites defeating the Egyptians, but that was enough for her to believe that the God of Israel was someone to be worshipped. By faith in Yahweh, she risked her own life by betraying the people of Jericho for the sake of sheltering Israelite spies. After verse 32, the author of Hebrews goes into a laundry list of people, listing feats and miracles that I’d frankly like to hear more about.
But then the text takes an unexpected turn, “And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.” What does this mean?
We might think that if we lived in the time of Moses or Abraham and saw all the miracles that happened then, we would be a better Christian. The author of Hebrews tells us that Moses and Abraham are jealous of us, so to speak. Throughout their lives, they trusted in the promised Christ, but He didn’t come in their lifetimes. For us Christ has been born of the Virgin Mary, lived a perfect life, died for our sins, rose again, and ascended to heaven. The saints of old are now waiting for the resurrection just like we are. We will enjoy our resurrected bodies at the same time Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will.
These believers of old were holy not because of what they did, but because they set their eyes on the savior who was to come. The trick was, they didn’t know who it was going to be. We can be encouraged by their faithfulness as we consider their good works, but we can also be encouraged by the grace the Lord has shown them in forgiving them for their many failures and sins.
Finally, III. We also set our eyes on Jesus. This segues nicely into chapter 12 of the book of Hebrews. In light of so many faithful Old Testament people, we are to set our eyes upon Jesus.
Many of us like watching sports. It’s easy to be a Brewers fan this summer. Perhaps some of us have made it over to Milwaukee to see a game. You know who watches more sports than we do? Professional athletes. It’s their job not only to play sports, but to know the competition and watch their rivals as well as to watch their own gameplay to improve.
The saints are certainly helpful examples who we can follow. However, there comes a time when we need to get off the bleachers and onto the field. We ourselves are running a race of faith. Yes, the saints encourage us, but we are to set our eyes upon Jesus because we too are saints made holy by Christ.
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
This happens as we spend time in personal devotion throughout the week. Again, I will suggest taking the green insert home with you and if nothing else, doing the Bible reading appointed for each day. Join us for worship each Sunday. If you’re traveling, find an LCMS church to attend when you’re on vacation. Go to LCMS.org and use the church locator on the top right hand corner to find a nearby church.
We set our eyes upon Jesus as we partake of the Lord’s Supper. In this meal, the Lord comes to us with His literal body and blood in with and under bread and wine for our forgiveness, life, and salvation. Some of you may not yet be admitted to the Lord’s table because you are of a different denomination or have not yet been confirmed. Part of setting our eyes upon Jesus is examining the Scriptures and learning what the Bible teaches and taking a catechism class leading to membership wherein you agree that the Jesus of the Bible believes and teaches what we teach here.
Sainthood is something that is given to us by Christ’s grace alone. The Lord Jesus is the starter and finisher of our faith. As we set our eyes upon Him, we see the Holy Spirit coming to us to provide us strength in weakness, forgiveness in sin, and holiness through His Word and Sacrament. Before we know it, we will join the saints of old, the race will be won, and we will be there in peace forevermore. Amen!