November 1, 2026 – All Saints Text: Revelation 7:9-17
Dear Friends in Christ,
Toni and I were guests of Trinity Lutheran El Paso at a recent Marriage Night Out. After dinner I gave a presentation on marriage. As part of the evening’s fun, each couple were given a card with the word him on one side and the word her on the other. Statements were then read, and each couple would raise the him or her. One example was, “who is the better driver?” Toni and I did not agree there, but we did on all the rest including this one, “which of you likes to dress nice more?” We both put up him. It is true. I like to shop for clothes, and I do put an effort into looking good. It has been this way since my mom and I spent a half an hour at Richman Brothers at Hickory Point Mall in Forsyth trying to match a shirt and tie to go with my first new suit.
How about you? Dress for success or whatever? Today is All Saints Day and we are going to talk about clothing. Step into the fitting room because you are about to be told . . .
“HEY, I LIKE YOUR OUTFIT”
Steven A Hein wrote this about our life in Christ in a book entitled The Christian Life Cross or Glory?: “We incompetent and disqualified sinners are clothed with the righteousness of Christ, a constantly worn garment that gives us saintly status and life as God’s children. With his righteousness, we are outfitted – made totally fit – for sainthood and citizenship in His Kingdom. And then miraculously, the robe of righteousness also creates and develops us on the inside into a mature image of the righteous Son of Man.” How do you like that outfit? Stylin’.
Before we get to this point we have to undergo some wardrobe changes. We were born in the nakedness of fallen Adam. As babies we were soiled in our clothes. But then we were clothed in righteousness through Baptism. The soiled clothes washed away. A clean baptismal garment wrapped our body. Luther writes, “with this change of garments a new birth, a new life stirs in us.”
This holy clothing of Jesus has a powerful, renewing effect on us. The more we grow in Christ, the more daily living can take on a reflection of His righteousness and the fruit of faithfulness increasingly accents our life. We have been declared holy because Jesus is holy. We are considered saints – holy people – in the kingdom of grace.
Today is All Saints Day. There are saints down here and saints in heaven. The saints down here are all those who believe in Jesus Christ and are struggling and overcoming sin in this messed up world. The saints in heaven await their new body and we await our new outfit, “After this I looked and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’” (v. 9-10)
Salvation is always the objective. We only have it because Christ died for it. We are clothed in Christ. “Hey, I like your outfit.” We are saints in white robes. “Hey, I like your outfit.” In this life, the white robes that cover us are only seen by faith. In the kingdom of glory, the white robes of Jesus Christ will be seen with our own two eyes. The saints who have gone on before us have fought the fight, run the race, and have kept the faith. For us, we are fighting, running, and keeping the faith in the death and resurrection of Christ.
In order to keep our clothes looking good and our whites looking white, we wash them, launder them, dry clean them. This is also true of our heavenly robe. “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” (v. 14) Looking good. “Hey, I like your outfit.” The tribulation is everything waging war against faith in Jesus. We only stay white if the Lamb, Christ Jesus is part of our lives. The Holy Spirit showers us with unconditional grace as we use the Means of Grace – baptism, Holy Communion, God’s Word. These make the man. These make the woman. Draped in these clothes, we are ready for the fashion runway. We walk in faith here on earth and someday will walk into eternity. No more fashion faux pau’s, just the beauty of that white robe.
Today I wore my white sport coat. It reminds me of being clothed in Christ. I pray when you see white in your wardrobe or even on someone else it will remind you of that righteousness that is yours in Christ Jesus. And the next time someone says, “Hey, I like your outfit,” you can say, “Thanks, my designer is Jesus.”
Amen.