If you’ve been to University Lutheran recently, you know that we started a sermon series called “Saints”. We started it on November 1st, All Saints Day, but we’re taking it through the sometimes dark and menacing texts of that show up at the end of the church year. The end of the church year is famous for turning our eyes toward the judgment of Christ when He returns in glory. The readings are often frightening and filled with Law that makes us question if we really are ready for Christ’s return – last last week’s reading from Amos that said that we shouldn’t desire the day of the Lord because it is like running away from a lion and meeting a bear.

There’s a fair amount of realistic trepidation that we should have with God around the topic of judgment. We’re not new to that. We know that we are sinners, we confess that every Sunday here – and if you’re honest with yourself and God, you probably confess it at least a couple of times in between the Sundays as well. That’s all very real.

But hear me out — I think we spend plenty of time confessing our sins, but we don’t really spend enough time confessing our sainthood. Now I think the problem here is actually a “middle position” in between sinner and saint. Let’s call that middle position “good enough.” Good enough doesn’t really confess that you’re a sinner. It says, “I mean, I am a sinner, but at least….” But good enough also doesn’t confess that you’re a saint. I mean, “saint” is a pretty big statement. Saint puts you in the likes of Mother Teresa, Augustine of Hippo, C.S. Lewis, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, your favorite aunt who showed you how much she loved Jesus all the time, and so many others.

Lutheran theology is clear: we are sinners and saints simultaneously (the fun Latin phrase for this is “simul iustus et peccator”). And it is time you claimed the saint thing along with the sinner thing. You are a saint. You have been made so by the death and Resurrection of Jesus, you are being made so by the sanctification of the Holy Spirit, you have been created for this by the Father of all Creation. So don’t settle for good enough. You’re a saint. Claim it, say it to yourself, and then go act accordingly.

This is what Jesus Christ has done for you so that on that last day, you need not fear, but speak with confidence at the judgment – I am a saint for the sake of Christ. Go out and confess that with your thoughts, your words, and your deeds.