In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Even from the earliest times, Christians have always set aside certain days of the year to remember important events and important people from the Bible. Today, in the historic Church calendar, it’s the commemoration of Saint Peter and Saint Paul. That’s why we have the color red on the altar instead of green. Red is the color of blood, and both of these two men were martyred for the Gospel, meaning, both of them shed their blood confessing that Jesus Christ is Lord.

In today’ sermon, I’d like to do two things in commemoration of these two saints. First, I simply want to take some time to explain why it’s okay to observe saint days in the Church at all, and how to do this correctly. And then, I want to talk some more about what we learn from these two saints specifically. 

Lots of times we Lutherans can be hesitant to talk about the saints because we are very aware of how easily this topic can be abused. This is definitely one of those instances where you might hear the phrase, “Pastor, that’s too Catholic.” But claiming that because Roman Catholics do something we automatically shouldn’t do that thing as Lutherans is not actually a good metric for quality decision making. There are a lot of things that Roman Catholics do that we do as Lutherans too. Catholics baptize babies. Are we going to stop baptizing babies just because the Catholics do it? Catholics read the Bible in church. Are we going to stop reading the Bible on Sunday’s just to prove how we’re different from the Catholics? Catholics wear vestments, they light candles, they sing hymns, and they have Communion. Clearly, we are not going to stop doing any of those things just because the Catholics do them too. That would be ridiculous.

And the same thing applies to remembering saints from the Bible. It’s not that we shouldn’t do this at all, but rather, that we should do it in the right kind of way. We should do it in accordance with what the Scriptures teach us and apart from all of the abuses that we see in Rome.

Obviously, it’s wrong to pray to the saints and look to them for help in times of need. God’s Word teaches us that we should pray to Him alone and no one else. As we read in 1 Timothy chapter 2, “There is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” Just so you know, though, whenever you talk to a Roman Catholic about why praying to the saints is wrong, you should expect them to ask you a question. More than likely, they’re going to ask you whether or not you ask other people to pray for you sometimes. And then they are going to say that praying to the saints is the same thing as asking other people to remember you in their prayers. It’s sound legit, but the problem is that that is not what they’re actually doing. Here is a prayer that is sometimes prayed in Catholic churches, “O Mary, conceived without stain, pray for us who fly to thee. Refuge of sinners, Mother of those who are in their agony, leave us not in the hour of our death, but obtain for us perfect sorrow, sincere contrition, [and] remission of our sins… so that we may be able to stand with safety before the throne of the just but merciful Judge, our God and our Redeemer.”

That prayer speaks for itself. Not only does it teach people to look to Mary in times of need and not to Jesus, but it gives the impression that through her intercession we can receive the forgiveness of our sins. It’s hard to think of something that is more blasphemous than that. Asking your grandma to pray for you when you’re sick isn’t the same thing as pleading with her for the forgiveness of your sins. Jesus doesn’t tell us to go to someone else for that. He tells us to come directly to Him. As He says in Matthew chapter 11, “Come to Me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.”

Besides praying to the saints and looking to them for help in times of need, it's also wrong to talk about the saints in such a way that we hardly ever talk about Jesus. Even if we don’t pray to them, or look to them for forgiveness, if all we ever do talk about is how great they are and how we should be more like them, it’s going to give the impression that we’re saved by copying them instead of through trusting in Jesus. But what does Jesus say? He says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Jesus gives us access to heaven, not the saints. Jesus died for our sins, not the saints. Jesus has the power to answer our prayers, and help us in our time of need, not the saints. Jesus is our Savior, not the saints.

And yet, just because we shouldn’t talk too much of the saints, that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t talk about them at all. Of course, we should talk about the saints! The Bible talks about the saints. The Bible literally records for us the lives of these faithful people so that we can learn from them. It has never been the position of the Lutheran Church that we don’t talk about the saints at all or remember them in worship services. What is the name of our church? It’s St John Lutheran church. Listen to what it says in the Augsburg Confession, which is one of our confessional documents as Lutherans, something that was so important to our ancestors that they literally carved its initials in stone on the walls of this very building. The Augsburg Confession says, “Our churches teach that the history of saints may be set before us so that we may follow the example of their faith and good works, according to our calling. For example, the emperor may follow the example of David in making war to drive away the Turk from his country. For both are kings. But the Scriptures do not teach that we are to call on the saints or to ask the saints for help. Scripture sets before us the one Christ as the Mediator, Atoning Sacrifice, High Priest, and Intercessor. He is to be prayed to. He has promised that He will hear our prayer. This is the worship that He approves above all other worship, that He be called upon in all afflictions.”

We don’t worship the saints. But we do learn how to worship from the saints. We learn how we should present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God like they did. And that’s why it’s okay to observe saint days in the Church. Again, not to praise them, but to learn how to better praise Jesus.

Just think about those two saints that we are commemorating this morning in church, Saint Peter and Saint Paul. Look at how their lives bear witness to the mercy of God in Christ. Neither of them had a stellar background before they became Apostles. Peter was a lowly fisherman, and Paul made it his life’s mission to murder Christians. Have you ever spent some time around a sailor? It’s probably not your first choice for who you’d want to be your pastor. And you certainly would be taken back if your pastor had a notorious reputation for physically hurting people just because they believed in Jesus. But that’s who God chose. God chose what was weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what was low and despised by others to demonstrate His great mercy and love.

Peter and Paul had their faults. One of them denied the Lord three times after swearing with a vow to be faithful to Him, and the other one held people’s coats and cheered for them while they stoned a guy to death for being a Christian. And yet, God forgave them both. God brought them to repentance over their sins and then He gave them the gift of faith to trust in Jesus for forgiveness.

God not only brought Peter and Paul from spiritual death to spiritual life, but after that, He even used their life for His service. It was from Saint Peter’s mouth that God chose to reveal that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God, as we heard about in our Gospel reading. It was the same mouth that once denied the Lord three times, that the Lord used to preach a sermon that converted 3000 souls in a single day on Pentecost. At one point, Peter was so weak in his faith that he was afraid to even be associated with Jesus at all, but then Jesus filled him with the Holy Spirit and caused him to write down Epistles that have strengthened the faith of countless Christians during their most intense persecution and suffering.

And then there’s the apostle Paul. It’s hard to image a bigger turn around then his. Paul went from trying to kill Christians, to trying to make everyone he met a Christian like him. When Paul stood before King Agrippa, facing the possible death penalty, he didn’t even try to use that time to get himself released from prison. Instead, he used it to try and get Agrippa to convert. And when Agrippa said to him, “In a short time would you persuade me to be a Christian,” Paul responded, “Whether short or long, I would to God that not only you but also all who hear me this day might become such as I am.” Few people have ever suffered what Paul suffered for the sake of Christ. He was stoned. He was beaten. He was flogged. And he was put in prison. But that didn’t stop him from proclaiming to good new of salvation in Jesus. Paul went to the end of the known world preaching the Gospel, establishing churches, and writing more books of the Bible than anyone else.

The point of all of this is that if God could forgive Peter and Paul, and use them for His service, He can forgive you and use you too. If God can change Paul, who once called himself the chief of sinners, then He can change you too. If God can absolve Peter, who once pretended that he didn’t even know Christ, then God can absolve you too. No, we shouldn’t use the examples of these men to excuse our sin, or to make light of it, but we absolutely can use their example to comfort ourselves when we sin and our sorry for it with the promise that Jesus will forgive us. 

Have you ever denied the Lord? Have you ever pretended that you didn’t know what the Bible said about something because you were too embarrassed to say it? Have you ever been ashamed of what the Scriptures teach because there were other people around who didn’t believe them, and would have made fun of you for confessing them? Have you ever secretly wished that something from the Bible wouldn’t come up in conversation so you didn’t have to talk about it? Don’t lie. You know you have. Maybe not out loud, but I bet you have in your heart. And God sees the heart too. God sees the heart, but God can also cleanse the heart. God can give us a new heart, and forgive us for the sins that soil our hearts. He did it for Peter and Paul, and He promises to do it for you too.

When we hear about what these two men did in spite of their sins, it should embolden us to do the same. Just like when a little boy hears about Babe Ruth calling his shot and hitting a home, and then he wants to go outside and play baseball, when we hear about Saint Peter and Saint Paul, it should make us zealous to serve the Lord like they did.

I’m not saying that we should all become missionaries or act like we have the ability to write a book of the Bible, but I am saying that we can all be faithful in our calling, and do our own part in service to God’s Kingdom. It may not look as spectacular or feel as fulfilling as what Peter and Paul did, but that doesn’t mean that it is any less valuable in the eyes of God. Remember what the hymn says, “If you cannot speak like angels, if you cannot preach like Paul, you can tell the love of Jesus, you can say He died for all.” It's a little bit cheesy, but that’s a good line. The Scriptures teach us that the angels in heaven rejoice over one sinner who is brought to repentance. There is literally a party in heaven every time a dad gets out the Bible and does a devotion with his wife and kids. All the vault of heaven resounds when a Christian invites their neighbor to church, or takes the time to try and explain the Scriptures to them. God sees it when His children suffer for the sake of His Name, even if it was just that other people laughed at them for believing what the Bible says. God sees it, and He smiles upon it for the sake of His Son.

Yes, it's wrong to pray to the saints. It’s wrong to look to them for help and for forgiveness. But it’s not wrong to learn from their example. Peter and Paul were sinners. But they were also great men that God in His grace used to do great things. They died for the faith. They showed us that some things are worth dying for. Jesus is worth dying for. The confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, is worth losing your life for. Maybe you won’t be martyred for the faith. Most people aren’t. But that doesn’t mean that you won’t suffer for the faith. That doesn’t mean that you won’t lose things because of what you believe. Everyone loses something. But nothing compares with what you gain as a Christian. You gain heaven. You get a seat at the table with Peter and Paul. You, the lowly sinner that you are, get a spot with these great men. Why? Because Jesus took your spot. Because just like He died for them, Jesus died for you too so that your sins would be forgiven and so that you would have a place in heaven also. So, be like Peter and Paul, trust in Jesus for forgiveness and use your life to serve Him and not yourself. In Jesus’ Name. Amen