Bible Text:

“After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands.”                                                                                                                                                                 (Revelation 7:9)

Singers Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash were married for 35 years. Both of them died this past year, Johnny very recently. Years ago Johnny Cash wrote a song for his wife, June. Here are some of the words. 

We walked trouble’s brooding, windswept hills,

And we loved and we laughed the pain away.

At the end of the journey, when our last song is sung,

Will you meet me in heaven some day?

We’ve seen the secret things revealed by God,

And we’ve heard what the angels had to say.

Should you go first, or if you follow me,

Will you meet me in heaven someday? 

Country music fans probably know the song well. However, the song poses a question of sorts that many of us will ask: Will I meet someone I have loved in heaven someday? Or maybe even the question will be, “Will I get to heaven?” Or perhaps we will frame it in the words of that famous song; “Lord will I be in that number when the saints go marching in?” 

The text for today is from the Book of Revelation. It’s a vision by John of Patmos. In part it says this: 

After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne… 

Here stands a great multitude. The number is so great that no one can count it. Will I be in that number? 

Some believers say there will be only 144,000 people in heaven. That is a number that is mentioned three times in the Book of Revelation.  I remember seeing a cartoon where two people were talking about their churches. The first man said, “We stopped our evangelism program at the church recently.” Queried the second, “Why did you do that?” The first man replied, “Because we figured out that every one we converted makes the odds that much worse for the rest of us.”  

Lord, will I be in that number when the saints go marching in? 

Some believers utilize a carefully marketed evangelism program. It essentially requires you to go up to the door of a home and knock on the door. When someone answers the door you say, “Good evening. My name is _________. If you died tonight, are you sure you would go to heaven?”  

Lord, will I be in that number when the saints go marching in? 

Some believers suggest universal salvation. They say everyone gets to heaven. God does not and will not foreclose on anyone. Like the father in the Prodigal Son story that Jesus told, God assumes that no one is beyond redemption.  

Lord, will I be in that number when the saints go marching in?

This is All Saints Day in the life of the church. What does that mean? Is heaven only for those deemed worthy of the title, “Saints?” 

Two brothers were noted in a town for riotous living and generally bad character. One day one of the brothers died. The surviving brother talked to the minister and asked the minister to pronounce his brother “a saint” at the funeral service. The minister said he simply could not do that.  

The surviving brother handed the minister a check for $1000. “Name my brother as a saint,” he said, “and you can keep this thousand dollars.. If you don’t do it, I want the thousand dollars back.” 

The minister wrestled with the matter late into the night and early into the next day. Finally he came to the service and he said this; “Our departed brother was about as bad as any human being gets. He was rowdy, he was vulgar, he took the Lord’s name in vain, and he drank too much. He was a generally bad character. However, compared to his brother, this man was a saint.” 

Who are the saints? Are they just a select few? Are they only the Mother Teresas of the world? Or is every believer a saint? 

There is a hymn which is  very popular in the Episcopal Church. It is sung a lot by the children in the Sunday School. Recently when the Episcopalians revised their hymnal, there was a plan to leave this hymn out. Such a hue and cry went out that they decided to include it. Here are some of the words. 

I sing a song of the saints of God,

Patient and brave and true,

Who toiled and fought and lived and died

For the Lord they loved and knew.

And one was a doctor, and one was a queen,

And one was a shepherdess on the green;

They were all of them saints of God,

And I mean, God helping, to be one too. 

They live not only in ages past;

There are hundreds of thousands still.

The world is bright with the joyous saints

Who love to do Jesus’ will.

You can meet them in school, on the street, in the store,

In the church, by the sea, in the house next door;

They are saints of God, whether rich or poor,

And I mean to be one too. 

So are all believers saints? This hymn seems to suggest so. The Bible seems to say so. But still the question begs for an answer. Lord, will I be in that number when the saints go marching in? Will you? How will I know? 

I don’t believe that I can ever earn the gift of heaven. Heaven is a gracious gift of a gracious God. But perhaps I can purchase a little extra insurance. Scripture offers some clues that might make the gift of heaven more real. See if you agree. 

STAY CLOSE TO JESUS 

The first clue is to stay close to Jesus. I don’t know what happens to non-believers after this life. I certainly don’t know what happens to those who have never heard of Jesus. All I know is that I am called to stay close to Jesus, and so are you. Let Jesus be the center of your life.

One of the most important mentors in my youth was Bishop Lloyd Wicke. He was my pastor for 4 years, then bishop of the Pittsburgh area, and my neighbor for 16 years. I can still remember a line from one of the sermons he preached in the late 1940s when I was very young. He said this; “I do not care how many skills you master in this life. But I do care very much who is the Master of your soul.” Let Jesus be the master of your soul. 

Each October marks the anniversary of the death of St. Francis of Assisi. St. Francis lived in the 12^th century in Italy. He died in 1226. He founded a religious order. He loved nature and creation. He worked for peace. St. Francis tried to live a life that followed literally the teachings of Jesus. Some say that his life most closely approximates Jesus in all of history. I think I would probably concur. 

St. Francis followed Jesus closely because he was a romantic. He had fallen in love with Jesus. 

I am no St. Francis, and I don’t think I would use the same terminology. But something like that has happened to me. My faith is very Jesus-centered. 

I sat with a colleague who had just left a large membership church in the Midwest. He was asked to leave the church. The committee said to him, “You talk too much about Jesus. We don’t do that here!” 

You want some extra insurance for heaven? Stay close to Jesus. 

STAY TUNED IN TO GOD 

A second clue is to stay tuned in to God. Maintain the practice of prayer. Paul says, “Pray without ceasing,” and “Be constant in prayer.” 

Jesus modeled this for us. Several times in the Scripture we are told that before dawn he went out to a lonely place to pray. I believe the Gospel writers recorded this because they wanted us to know that Jesus was modeling prayer for us. 

The gift of heaven is more real and more certain if we stay tuned to God. It does not mean we have to say great prayers or long prayers. We just have to pray. 

Yours might be a ritual prayer. One that I remember is the one that goes like this: “Almighty God, unto whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid, cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your holy spirit, that we may worthily love you and perfectly magnify your holy name.” 

Or maybe it’s the Lord’s Prayer, which most of you know well. Whenever you don’t know what else to pray, it is appropriate to pray the Lord’s Prayer. Or maybe it’s a childhood prayer. When our children were young, my wife and I taught them a bedtime prayer that Elaine had learned at the knee of her grandmother. It’s a very simple prayer: “Jesus tender shepherd lead me; bless your little lambs tonight. Through the darkness be thou near me; keep me safe till morning light.” 

Or you can say a prayer in your own words. The issue is to stay connected to God. Stay tuned in to God. 

All around the church every week I see covenant discipleship groups meeting. Covenant groups practice the disciplines of the Christian life. One of those disciplines is prayer. They encourage each other to remember to pray. In my own covenant group we say we should spend at least 20 minutes each day alone with God. It’s not some law, but it’s a discipline of staying tuned. 

STAY IN TOUCH WITH QUALITY LIVING 

A third clue would be to stay in touch with quality living. There is a story from the childhood of Dr. Norman Vincent Peale. In 1910 Halley’s Comet came close to earth. Peale was a small boy at the time. His father wanted him to see the spectacle. As they looked up at the comet passing across the night sky, Peale’s father said, “That comet won’t be back for 77 years, son.” 

“Not for 77 years?” Peale asked. “That’s right,” said his father. And then the young boy asked this question: “I wonder if I will still be alive then to see it again?” 

Peale’s father responded with words that Norman never forgot. “Son, the most important thing is not whether you will be alive when it comes back, but rather whether you will have done something important with your life by that time.”[i] 

Jesus said something very similar. He called upon his disciples to bear fruit. “A good tree is known by its fruit,” he said. He also said, “The one who does the will of my Father in Heaven is the one who will enter the Kingdom of God.” (see Matthew 7) 

Jesus said, “Involve yourself in the healing of the hurts of the world.” The parable of the last Judgment in Matthew 25 is a clear signal. The ones who will be welcomed into God’s heavenly Kingdom are the ones who have fed the hungry and clothed the naked and sheltered the homeless and visited the prisoner. 

A few years ago Peter Drucker wrote a book entitled Adventures of a Bystander. If I could borrow the phrase from that title, I would suggest the Bible says, “Don’t be a bystander. Don’t be an onlooker.” 

Gandhi, the great leader of India once said, “What you do will never be enough; but it matters enormously that you do it.” 

Jesus might have said something similar. “What you do will not earn you a place in heaven; but it matters enormously that you do it. It’s a way to walk with the saints.” 

A few weeks ago the Chicago Cubs were in the National League baseball playoffs. The city was alive with excitement. It had been a long time. They even sold t-shirts in Chicago that said, “Any team can have a bad century.” John Buchanan wrote a lead editorial in the Christian Century. He closed the editorial with these words: “With the Cubs in the playoffs, I live each day with a heightened awareness, a keen anticipation, and a little [edginess]. Not a bad description of being fully alive.”[ii] 

Not a bad description of the life of a believer either. It’s not a bad description of the saints: Heightened awareness! Keen anticipation! And a bit out there on the edge. Stay close to life throughout your life journey. 

So the question continues: do you want to be in that number when the saints go marching in? Do you want to be in that great number that no one can count? First, trust in the loving grace of God. Then, the Bible teaches that you should stay close to Jesus, stay connected to God, and involve yourself in life. It’s the way of the saints of God. 

Amen.