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THE TRANSFIGURATION OF OUR LORD Sunday, March 2, 2025 Pastor Tom Steers Christ the Saviour Lutheran Church, Toronto Our Opening Hymn: 537 “Beautiful Saviour, King of Creation” ... View MoreTHE TRANSFIGURATION OF OUR LORD Sunday, March 2, 2025 Pastor Tom Steers Christ the Saviour Lutheran Church, Toronto Our Opening Hymn: 537 “Beautiful Saviour, King of Creation” Lutheran Service Book https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptW9VKgh8hI The Invocation Confession and Absolution Page 184-185 The Introit – Psalm 84:1-2, 9, 11; antiphon: Ps. 84:4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise! How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God. Behold our shield, O God; look on the face of your anointed! For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen. Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise! Our Collect Prayer: O God, in the glorious transfiguration of Your beloved Son You confirmed the mysteries of the faith by the testimony of Moses and Elijah. In the voice that came from the bright cloud You wonderfully foreshadowed our adoption by grace. Mercifully make us co-heirs with the King in His glory and bring us to the fullness of our inheritance in heaven; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. Our First Reading Deuteronomy 34:1-12 Psalm 99 (antiphon: verse 9) Epistle Reading Hebrews 3:1-6 Gospel Reading Luke 9:28-36 THE NICENE CREED Page 191 HYMN OF THE DAY: 413 “O Wondrous Type! O Vision Fair” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhxyX-QcMBk THE SERMON – Brothers and sisters, peace, grace and mercy be with you through God our Father, and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen. How much easier would life be if we could have a peek at the "end result” when times are hard? Those tough times that seem like they're never going to end wouldn't be quite so hard. Because the thing that really wears us down when we face a crisis, are the questions: When will this end? When will the pain stop? How do I get through this? Will I get through it? If we could just get a glimpse into the future that lies beyond the difficult uncertainty of the here and now, that glimpse, without a doubt, would cause a change in how we live and handle hard times. In fact, the painful uncertainty we all feel from time to time would be replaced with a sense of how temporary our problems are. No longer would we go through difficulties and ask, "Will this end?" Instead, we'd look past the pain and know, "This too will pass." In our Gospel lesson today, we see this reality being played out before the eyes of the Apostles Peter, James, and John. In the verses immediately before today’s reading from the Gospel of Luke we hear Jesus foretelling His upcoming arrest, death, and resurrection to His disciples. Christ was telling those closest to Him that He would die a condemned criminal. We know they didn't take it well when they heard it. We're told Peter took Jesus aside and plead with Him. Peter said -- ‘Lord, no way, you can’t do this.’ What Peter and the other disciples didn't understand is that the pain, suffering and death Christ would endure were absolutely necessary for their salvation, and for the salvation of the entire world. Without Christ's suffering and death – redemption, our salvation, wouldn’t exist. It was hard news, but did God leave the disciples high and dry? Did Christ tell them of the bad times to abandon them in uncertainty and sorrow? He did not, because Jesus also foretold His resurrection. The disciples, in a sense, were no different than you or me at times. They heard the warning of pain, sorrow and death, and that caused them to overlook the promise of the resurrection. Thankfully our Lord knew their weakness, as He knows ours. He knew when His prophecy began to unfold before their eyes, the disciples would be afraid, that they’d go into "self-preservation" mode and run, as they did in the Garden of Gethsemane. That’s exactly why Jesus took Peter, James, and John up that mountain of Transfiguration, before all the pain and suffering started, and gave them a glimpse, a reminder of who He really is and why He came to earth. This is why God the Father’s voice booms from heaven, "This is My beloved Son. Listen to Him." It’s also why Moses and Elijah, representing Old Testament Law and Prophecy, were sent by God to appear with Jesus before the disciples. Our Lord Jesus Christ wanted the disciples to see and understand that God's plan for salvation, since He proclaimed it in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3:15, had always pointed to Him and His all-atoning death. (Genesis 3: 15 “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”) In fact, we're told in Luke's Gospel account that Moses and Elijah spoke with Jesus about His upcoming journey to Jerusalem and the cross; spoke about the necessary and willing death that would produce the completely free gift of salvation and eternal life for believers. Think about that for a moment. Because of Christ, sin, death and the grave don’t get the final say over you. The appearance of Moses on that Mountain of Transfiguration speaks to it. If you remember, Moses was forbidden from entering the Promised Land because of his disobedience to God. But Moses was shown the Promised Land from a mountaintop in the pagan country of Moab where he died. God Himself buried Moses. Yet here’s Moses on the mountain of Transfiguration with Jesus, talking about the salvation-producing sacrifice Christ would make on the cross. This is no coincidence. Our Lord knew exactly what He was doing when He had Moses appear on that mountain with Him. Sin, death, and the grave didn’t have the final word. Here’s Moses, once forbidden from entering the Promised Land, now standing tall with Christ in glory … in that Promised Land! In those moments when Jesus was ‘transfigured,’ He gave these disciples, and all people, a glimpse of the "end result," just as He told them. On that mountain they were shown that Jesus is God, the Saviour, who would die on the cross, descend into hell, and proclaim victory; that Jesus was the Christ who would walk out of the tomb on Easter Sunday morning; the Son of God who went up to Heaven and sits victorious at the right hand of God the Father. Notice: Jesus didn't show His disciples a set of options. He didn't show them, or us, a fork in the road: one without pain and suffering, and one with a cross stuck in the middle of it. There is no shortcut, no other way. The road to salvation is a narrow path and it leads right through the cross of Jesus. You can't get around it, no matter how hard you may try or how much some people disagree with it. As Christians, we too will face pain, suffering, and death. The way of Christ is the way of the cross. And, sadly, we don't have to go looking for those crosses in life. They find us. Christ's call to follow Him includes His words, "Take up your cross and follow me.” Jesus doesn’t promise us a trouble-free life; in fact, He warned that in this world you will have trouble. What He promises us, as believers, is salvation. Jesus, Our Lord and Saviour, knows how tough life on earth is, especially when it’s a life lived in faith and service to God. He lived that hard reality. But He also didn’t leave us to fend for ourselves; He never abandons us. Jesus keeps His Word: "I’m with you always, to the very end of the age." Christ continues to give you a heavenly glimpse of His almighty and divine love by pointing you to His presence — His Word, the Bible, and His Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper —the great "foretaste of the feast to come." And that’s exactly what God is doing for us today. He doesn't split the heavens apart and scare us out of our wits like the three disciples on the mountain top. He comes to us through humble means of grace, Word and Sacrament, and says you’re loved, you’re forgiven. And He offers you the peace that passes all understanding. Jesus Christ suffered and died. Through the power of God, He was raised to life. Because of Christ, through the faith worked in you by the Holy Spirit, because of your Baptism into Christ’s death and His resurrection -- His victory is yours. May God grant you the saving faith to see His presence in your life this day and always. May you have the reassurance and hope of the life to come, through Christ our Saviour. Amen. THE PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH THE SERVICE OF THE SACRAMENT (The Lord’s Supper) Page 194 Post Communion Collect (Left-hand column) Page 201 CLOSING HYMN 918 “Guide Me, O Thou Great Redeemer”

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Pastor Tom Steers

February 25, 2025 8:06 pm

The Beheading of 70 Christians by a Muslim Terrorist Group in the Democratic Republic of Congo -- Lutheran Public Radio https://issuesetc.org/2025/02/24/the-beheading-of-70-christians-by-a-muslim-terr... View More

The Beheading of 70 Christians by a Muslim Terrorist Group in the Democratic Republic of Congo – Ryan Brown, 2/24/25 (0552) - Issues, Etc.

issuesetc.org

Ryan Brown of Open Doors Open Doors

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MAGA

Sounds like we need 2 take a lesson from the machine gun preacher and start killing all the Muslims in the Congo, i would volunteer for that missions trip/crusade 😉

February 26, 2025 Edited

Pastor Tom Steers shared a photo

February 23, 2025 7:52 pm

THE SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY February 23, 2025 Pastor Tom Steers Christ the Saviour Lutheran Church, Toronto Our Opening Hymn is: “O Love, How Deep” ... View MoreTHE SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY February 23, 2025 Pastor Tom Steers Christ the Saviour Lutheran Church, Toronto Our Opening Hymn is: “O Love, How Deep” Lutheran Service Book, 544 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHASptbZB-A Confession and Absolution Page 184 The Introit – Psalm 37:1-5; antiphon: v.7 a,b Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way. Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers! For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb. Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way. The Kyrie (Lord Have Mercy) – Lord have mercy upon us. Christ have mercy upon us. Lord have mercy upon us. Gloria in Excelsis (Glory to God in the Highest) Page 187 Our Collect Prayer: O God, the strength of all who put their trust in You, mercifully grant that by Your power we may be defended against all adversity; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives an reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. Our Bible Readings: Old Testament – Genesis 45:3-15 Psalm 103:1-13 Epistle – 1st Corinthians 15:21-26; 30-42 Gospel – Luke 6:27-38 The Nicene Creed – Page 191 Our Hymn of the Day is: “My Soul, Now Praise Your Maker” Lutheran Service Book, 820 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1q9hj9nurYA The Sermon – Martin Luther once said, “when I look at myself, I don’t see how I can be saved. But when I look at Christ, I don’t see how I can be lost.” As we read Christ’s words in the Sermon on the Plain from today’s passage in Luke, or the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, we can understand Luther’s point. Here we see God’s standard of perfection. It’s 100 percent, 100 per cent of the time. In these passages Christ’s words can be terrifying if we read them incorrectly; if we see them as a spiritual ‘must do’ list for salvation, as Law. God’s Law is a curb, a mirror that shows us our sins, and a guide to how God would like us to live. The Law, however, is not a means of self-salvation. God is aware we can’t fulfill it, that we’re sinners. That’s why He came to earth. The only sinless human being who ever lived, true God and true man, paid the penalty for our disobedience on the cross. When we read the ‘Sermon on the Plain’ in this light, we see it rightly. It isn’t unusual to hear Jesus calling us to love one another. After all, He said elsewhere that love is the fulfillment of the Law. It’s the fulfillment of God’s Commandments. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” (Luke 10:27) A love that as Christians reflects the love of Christ. A love that flows from faith worked in our hearts by the Holy Spirit through God’s means of grace: His Word and Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. A love explained by the Apostle in 1st John 1:10 when he wrote, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” Yet here in Luke 6, Jesus calls us well beyond our comfort zone, to a place we find uncomfortable and impossible. Christ says, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” The reason these words of Jesus are so hard for us, is that loving our enemies is a completely unnatural thing for broken human beings to do. On honest reflection, do we find it easy to love those who hate us, bless those who curse us, pray for those who abuse? Or, is it more to our liking to collect emotional debts in life, and make people pay for what they owe us? These aren’t idle questions; they’re important ones, because they show that what God commands is beyond our ability to accomplish. He sets the bar so high, not to frustrate us and drive us away from Him, but to drive us away from ourselves, from self-righteousness, and to the saving Gospel. The Beatitudes describe Christ. He is the blessed One. He gives the blessings. He is the blessing. Even faith in Him, trust in Him, is beyond our abilities, and is a gift of God. Over and over, the Bible tell us the things of God are spiritually discerned, and therefore, it is the Holy Spirit who must change our hearts from unwilling to willing. As the Apostle Paul said, “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Corinthians 2:14) Since the things of God are folly to us, and discerned spiritually, it is, “by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9) Martin Luther wrote in his Small Catechism, “I believe I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.” To trust in Christ is impossible for the natural, sinful human being, but with God, “all things are possible.” The call to love your enemies as yourself is part of that. We’re bound by the burden of original sin, and our own transgressions that flow from it. So, how are we to even begin to love our enemies, to bless those who curse us, pray for those who abuse us? At the end of this section of Luke’s Gospel, Jesus directed His followers to the source that enables one to begin to do such things, but not on our own strength or ability. In the Bible, we’re told that, “we love because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19) When we view our sin as insignificant, we also tend to think of the Gospel that way. In other words, people who see themselves as only ‘slightly’ sinful, also see themselves as only needing a small measure of God’s grace and forgiveness in Christ. However, as we come to realize and confess our utter spiritual hopelessness apart from Jesus, we see just how amazing God’s grace and forgiveness in Christ truly is. St. Paul reminds us of where we came from before we found ourselves standing in this grace and forgiveness of God. “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” (Ephesians 2:1-3) The power to love our enemies doesn’t come from within us. It comes from outside us, from Christ, who loved you unto death, even death on a cross. The mercy that God showed in giving His only-begotten Son to die for you, is the love that can, by God’s grace and power, through the work of Holy Spirit, flow from you to others, even to your enemies. “God (says Jesus) is kind to the ungrateful and evil.” Romans 5:6-8 explains, “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person – though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die – but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” If you think there is someone in your life who deserves your vengeance, rather than your love, imagine how God must have felt about us. He created us, body and soul, gave us talents, abilities, possessions. Still, we misuse and abuse these gifts. And we’re quick to question, doubt, blame Him when He doesn’t give us everything we want. Yet, He reveals Himself to us in His Word. He invites us to regularly receive His gifts of grace within His Church – but so many despise His Word, and either don’t read it, won’t hear it in Church, or place themselves in judgment over it. In the Ten Commandments God laid out His will for our lives in every situation – yet we do the opposite. Our world treats the Commandments like suggestions. Our society lives as if it knows better than God. In thought, word, and deed we’ve looked on God as our enemy. How did God get even with us? He sent His Son to save us. And he did it by allowing sinful humanity to do its very worst to His Son – to curse Him, slap, whip Him, parade Him through the streets of Jerusalem, strip Him naked, and nail Him to a cross. How did Jesus respond? By saying, “Father, forgive them.” If you ever wonder how God should have treated us – look to the cross. That’s what we deserved. If you ever wonder where God’s love is – again look to the cross. See God’s Son hanging there in your place, suffering for your sin. In reflection, when we honestly look at ourselves, we don’t see how we can be saved. But when we look to Jesus our Saviour in faith, we don’t see how we can be lost. In the words of a beloved hymn: “Lord of glory, You have bought us With your lifeblood as the price, Never grudging for the lost ones That tremendous sacrifice. Give us faith to trust you boldly, hope, to stay our souls on you; but, oh, best of all your graces, with your love our love renew. May the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Jesus Christ. Amen. The Prayers of the Church The Service of the Sacrament – Page 194 The Benediction – The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen. Our Closing Hymn is: “Lord of Glory, You Have Bought Us” Lutheran Service Book, 851 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQW6b_eygNY 1 Lord of glory, you have bought us with your life-blood as the price, never grudging for the lost ones that tremendous sacrifice; and with that have freely given blessings countless as the sand to the unthankful and the evil with your own unsparing hand. 2 Grant us hearts, dear Lord, to give you gladly, freely, of your own. With the sunshine of your goodness melt our thankless hearts of stone till our cold and selfish natures, warmed by you, at length believe that more happy and more blessed 'tis to give than to receive. 3 Wondrous honour you have given to our humblest charity in your own mysterious sentence, "You have done it all for me." Can it be, O gracious Master, that you need what we can do, saying by your poor and needy, "Give as I have given to you"? 4 Lord of glory, you have bought us with your life-blood as the price, never grudging for the lost ones that tremendous sacrifice. Give us faith to trust you boldly, hope, to stay our souls on you; but, oh, best of all your graces, with your love our love renew.

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Pastor Tom Steers shared a photo

February 18, 2025 8:39 pm

MARTIN LUTHER, Reformer of the Church – There is no more important spiritual question than how we’re saved, and who we’re saved by. The Bible is clear – we’re saved by God’s grace alone, through fa... View More

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David Main

For this and 98 other reasons the pope sent hit squads to kill this man, Martin Luther

February 18, 2025

Pastor Tom Steers shared a photo

February 16, 2025 8:05 pm

THE SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY February 16, 2025 Pastor Tom Steers Christ the Saviour Lutheran Church, Toronto Our Opening Hymn is: “Blessed Jesus, at Your Word” ... View MoreTHE SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY February 16, 2025 Pastor Tom Steers Christ the Saviour Lutheran Church, Toronto Our Opening Hymn is: “Blessed Jesus, at Your Word” Lutheran Service Book, 904 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhbTXFHv5Uc 1 Blessed Jesus, at Your Word We are gathered all to hear You. Let our hearts and souls be stirred Now to seek and love and fear You, By Your teachings, sweet and holy, Drawn from earth to love You solely. 2 All our knowledge, sense, and sight Lie in deepest darkness shrouded Till Your Spirit breaks our night With the beams of truth unclouded. You alone to God can win us; You must work all good within us. 3 Gracious Savior, good and kind, Light of Light, from God proceeding, Open now our heart and mind; Help us by Your Spirit’s pleading. Hear the cry Your Church now raises; Hear and bless our prayers and praises. 4 Father, Son, and Spirit, Lord, Praise to You and adoration! Grant that we may trust Your Word, Confident of our salvation, While we here below must wander, Till we sing Your praises yonder. We begin our service with the Invocation: In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Confession and Absolution – L.S.B. p. 184 The Introit – Psalm 119: 1-2, 4-5; antiphon: verse 7 I will praise you with an upright heart, when I learn your righteous rules. Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord! Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart. You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently. Oh that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes! Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen. I will praise you with an upright heart, when I learn your righteous rules. Our Collect Prayer of the Day: O Lord, graciously hear the prayers of Your people that we who justly suffer the consequences of our sin may be mercifully delivered by Your goodness to the glory of Your name; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. Our Bible Readings: Old Testament – Jeremiah 17:5-8 Psalm 1 Epistle – 1st Corinthians 15:1-20 Gospel – Luke 6:17-26 The Apostles’ Creed – I believe in God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, And in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father almighty. From there he will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. Our Hymn of the Day is: “Songs of Thankfulness and Praise” Lutheran Service Book, 394 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOwiBa4EVdI The Sermon – In the Church season of Epiphany our Bible passages reveal Christ. They tell us who He is, and why He came to earth. For you, for me. The scriptural narrative is action-packed. There were the Magi, gentiles who followed the star to Bethlehem to worship Jesus as their Saviour. (Matthew 2:1-12) The heavens opened, God spoke, and the Holy Spirit descended at Jesus’ baptism. (Luke 3:15-22) Then Christ miraculously saved a wedding from disaster in Cana (John 2:1-11), escaped murder by his neighbours in Nazareth (Luke 4:16-30), and filled Peter’s nets with fish (Luke 5:1-11). With Epiphany’s emphasis on Christ’s power to perform miracles, to heal and provide, we might get the wrong impression. We may be tempted to believe that if you follow Jesus all the problems in your life will suddenly disappear. That every difficulty will be solved and need satisfied. That your life as a disciple will be one of unbroken happiness and joy. You might falsely conclude if those things aren’t true for you, that your faith isn’t strong enough, that Jesus doesn’t love you, or worst of all that Jesus isn’t really God and your Saviour. So today, in Luke’s account of the Sermon on the Plain, Jesus reveals the stark truth about this life, and true life. It’s not what you may think. Christ tells us in this life it may be better to have poverty than wealth; hunger than satisfaction; weeping than laughter; persecution than popularity. And let’s be honest, this can be a hard message to hear. It’s as though Jesus is describing an alternate universe. Then again, you may have noticed that much of what we say and do here as Christians in the Church is what the world considers “nonsense.” We see living unbelievers and say they are dead in sin. (Psalm 51:5) We stand before caskets and urns of the dead and declare they are only sleeping and will rise again through Christ. (Matthew 9:24) We pour water into a bowl, and through the power of God’s Word in Baptism, call it the fountain of life (Titus 3:5-6). We eat and drink bread and wine and confess it to be the very body and blood of Christ. (Matthew 26:26-27) You believe that your sins are forgiven before God in Heaven when a Pastor says so here on earth. (Matthew 16:19) The point is that it’s not about what human beings or popular opinion thinks. It’s about what God’s Word says. God tells us that unbelievers are dead, and dead believers are alive. God says that the water of Baptism and His Word give life, that the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper bring believers forgiveness of sin and salvation. God says that confessed sinners are justified, made right with Him, and that self-righteous hypocrites are damned. What God says – that’s reality. Not what a lost human being, a film celebrity or a rock star thinks or feels. And as Job in the Bible realized, who are we to argue? When God in Genesis said, ‘let there be,’ the universe and everything in it came into being! When God sent His Son to earth to make the blind see, the dead come alive, and free those possessed by demons – that’s what happened. Fine, you might say, but in this Sermon on the Plain, Jesus is speaking about things that hit really close to home. He’s talking about our wealth, health, our happiness, and social status. So, what is Christ driving at? Let’s consider the context. People had flocked from all over Israel to see Jesus. Why? To hear him and be healed of their diseases. But Luke makes it clear that not all these people were disciples, believers. Some were coming simply to benefit from His divine power, to have their temporary needs satisfied, and be sent on their happy way. Jesus knew his disciples might get the wrong idea about the Christian life from these miracles. So, He presses pause on the healing, and explains how the blessings of this life relate to true, and everlasting life. The Bible is painfully clear that God didn’t send his only Son into the world to make us financially rich, slaphappy, or popular. He didn’t come to establish a utopia – a perfect paradise – on earth. Why? For the very same reason that God turned Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden in the first place. Sin. The only way to understand life now is to remember what happened in the Garden in the beginning. God gave Adam and Eve one simple command: “ . . . of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:17) Eve and Adam ate, and the death they earned by their disobedience wasn’t just the separation of body and soul – it was separation from God. From the moment our first parents sunk their teeth into the forbidden fruit they forfeited perfection, and lost a perfect relationship with God that He established. This sin had consequences. “Then the Lord God said ‘Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever –’ therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.” (Genesis 3:22-24) God kicked Adam and Eve out of the perfect bliss of Eden so they wouldn’t have to endure the curse of sin, of separation from Him, forever. The thorns and thistles, the pain in childbirth, the murderous hatred between human beings, would remind them that the world wasn’t the problem; they were. In other words, God threw them out of paradise to lead them to repentance – He did it out of love. Why doesn’t Jesus just give us everything we think we might want for happiness in this life? Why doesn’t He just snap His fingers and turn this world into paradise once again? Because even if Jesus recreated the paradise on earth we think we want – we would still be a broken humanity under God’s curse. And this is because we have violated and continue to break God’s Law. (Galatians 3:10) He could cause us to live forever. But it would be an awful existence; we wouldn’t be forgiven, we wouldn’t be justified, we wouldn’t be saved. Worse than the living dead, we would be the living damned. It would be hell on earth. The very life God wanted to spare us from by driving Adam and Eve out of the Garden would be our eternity. The Bible tells us, “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins.” (Ephesians 2:1) So, we have an even more pressing matter to deal with than physical demise, and that’s eternal spiritual death. We were born dead spiritually. Sin is an inherited disease from our first parents who rebelled against God. We wanted to just live out our fleshly desires at any cost. All our hearts longed for was sin. (Matthew 15:18-19) And that is why Jesus says that in this life poverty is better than wealth, hunger than satisfaction, weeping than laughter, and persecution than popularity: because that’s the reality of our standing with God. The broken world around us, the consequences of sin that touch our lives are vivid reminders that the world is not the problem, we are. Repentance, realization of our spiritual poverty, and hunger for God’s grace and mercy are the only proper response – because only then will we appreciate the real reason Jesus came to earth. Christ didn’t come to renovate a broken world – He came to get rid of sin, death, and God’s curse. God sent Jesus to gather up the pieces of the Commandments we’ve broken, and carry the weight of our sins. He came to take our sin and rebellion upon Himself, so that when God looked at earth on Good Friday, the only sinner He saw was Jesus. (2 Corinthians 5:21) When Christ was nailed to the cross, God unleashed all His wrath over sin. All of His curses meant for sinners were on Jesus. Then, and only then, was God’s justice satisfied, His wrath quenched, His curse removed. By His perfect life and hellish death, Jesus won true life for you; life in an eternal kingdom filled with riches beyond imagination, an endless feast hosted by Jesus Himself, a place of unbroken joy where God Himself calls us His beloved children. And when the Holy Spirit works on your heart to see, understand, and believe that this is true life, then you will see the reality of our earthly existence. Martin Luther describes this awakening beautifully in The Bondage of the Will: “Scripture represents man as one who is not only bound, wretched, captive, sick, and dead, but in addition to his other miseries is afflicted, through the agency of satan his prince, with this misery of blindness, so that he believes himself to be free, happy, unfettered, able, well, and alive. For satan knows that if men were aware of their misery, he would not be able to keep a single one of them in his kingdom, because God would at once pity and help them in their misery and cries for help.” The devil either wants to fill you so full of wealth, food, and happiness now that you don’t see or feel the real misery of your sin, or wants you to see Jesus as nothing more than a cosmic genie who came to give or deny you these things. The devil would have you believe you’re rich in ‘good works,’ would have you not confess your spiritual poverty, and be satisfied in self-righteousness. Satan doesn’t want you to hunger for God’s righteousness; he’d rather you laugh at your sin or deny it, not weep over it; to value what other people say about you more than what God tells you. The awful reality is that if we believe, because of earthly pleasure or self-righteousness, that everything is fine between us and God – then the devil has won, then we truly are lost. Because that’s a delusion. Popularity and riches are mirages that are gone almost as soon as you have them. We may eat at the best restaurant this morning – but we’ll have to eat again later tonight. Money can’t buy everything – especially the most important things. And, sooner or later, we die, and it’s all gone. Most importantly – and this is Jesus’ main point here: our circumstances in life now are not an accurate measure of our standing with God. Only the cross is. We deserved to hang there – because we are all poor, miserable sinners; but Jesus hung there in our place. That’s the truth the devil doesn’t want you to see, or witness to others. And that’s why Christ preaches this shocking sermon, wakes us up to the truth, and turns the world upside down here. He lets us in on the secret that what made Eden paradise was not the climate, the cuisine, or the fact that men and women got along. What made Eden paradise was the fact that Adam and Eve were perfect and had a perfect relationship with God. That’s what Jesus came to restore. And He has. He kept all the Commandments for you – and gives believers the benefits. He suffered the death your sins deserved – and your record is wiped clean. In Christ, when God looks at you Christian, He’s as pleased as He was when He first created Adam and Eve, and called them very good. (Genesis 1:31) Now, if you were all-powerful, if you could give your child anything, would you just give them riches, happiness, and popularity in a world that’s infested with sin and sickness, and ends in death? Of course not. If you could give someone you love anything at all – it would be a one-way fare out of this world to a place where there is no sin, death, or the devil. And that’s exactly what God has given us in Jesus – a one-way ticket from this life to true and everlasting life with God. That is why Christ came. In Luther’s day, when plagues, famine, and death were everyday realities, people would say, “In the midst of life we are surrounded by death.” That’s what the devil would like you to think, that this is THE life. This is as good as it gets. Eat, drink and be as merry for tomorrow you die and life will be over. Martin Luther turned that saying around. “In the midst of death we are surrounded by life.” This place – where sin, death and the devil stalk us, hurt us, kill us and our loved ones – this is not true life. True life is with God, and He gives us signs of this life even in a world of death. He gave you new life in the waters of Baptism. He gives you His life-giving Word found in the Bible. He restores you day after day with His forgiveness. He gives you the body and blood of His Son which preserves you to life everlasting. It’s not what we think; it’s even better. Amen. The Benediction – The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen. Our Closing Hymn is: “May God Bestow on Us His Grace” Lutheran Service Book, 824 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4AhYdwW4t4 Written by Martin Luther (1483-1546) 1 May God bestow on us his grace, with blessings rich provide us; and may the brightness of his face to life eternal guide us, that we his saving health may know, his gracious will and pleasure, and also to the heathen show Christ's riches without measure and unto God convert them. 2 Thine over all shall be the praise and thanks of every nation; and all the world with joy shall raise the voice of exultation. For you will judge the earth, O Lord, forbidding sin to flourish; your people's pasture is your Word, their souls to feed and nourish, in righteous paths to keep them. 3 O let the people praise your worth, in all good works increasing; the land shall plenteous fruit bring forth, your Word is rich in blessing. May God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit bless us! Let all the world praise him alone; let solemn awe possess us. Now let our hearts say, "Amen!"

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February 9, 2025 7:45 pm

THE FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY February 9, 2025 Pastor Tom Steers Christ the Saviour Lutheran Church, Toronto Our Opening Hymn: “Jesus Sinners Doth Receive” ... View MoreTHE FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY February 9, 2025 Pastor Tom Steers Christ the Saviour Lutheran Church, Toronto Our Opening Hymn: “Jesus Sinners Doth Receive” Lutheran Service Book, 609 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RODV7z-UQhI We begin our service with the Invocation: In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Confession and Absolution – p. 184 The Introit Psalm 71:15-18; antiphon: Psalm 71:12 O God, be not far from me; O my God, make haste to help me! My mouth will tell of your righteous acts, of your deeds of salvation all the day, for their number is past my knowledge. With the mighty deeds of the Lord God I will come; I will remind them of your righteousness, yours alone. O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds. So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen. O God, be not far from me; O my God, make haste to help me! Our Collect Prayer of the Day: O Lord, keep Your family the Church continually in the true faith that, relying on the hope of Your heavenly grace, we may ever be defended by Your mighty power; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. Our Bible readings: Old Testament – Isaiah 6:1-13 Psalm 138 (antiphon verse 5) Epistle – 1st Corinthians 14:12b-20 Gospel – Luke 5:1-11 The Apostles’ Creed – I believe in God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, And in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father almighty. From there he will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. Our Hymn of the Day: “Hail to the Lord’s Anointed” Lutheran Service Book, 398 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fARIFEVeYt4 The Sermon – Martin Luther, the Reformer of the Christian Church, preached on our text from Luke some 500 years ago. He wrote: "This Gospel is easy to understand for those who believe, and it presents two thoughts: Faith in its relation to earthly blessings, and faith in its relation to Heavenly blessings.” “I would add a third, faith in relation to the Church for both earthly and Heavenly blessings. I. Faith in its relation to earthly blessings -- “All who believe will have enough, but those who do not believe will never have enough. "There is no lack of provision, only a lack of faith . . . “ “Do your work according to your station in service towards others -- that is why you were created. Because of the curse of sin, it will be laboursome, full of grief. “Peter laboured, and yet is finally given more than he knows what to do with because he’s not a fisherman for himself, but for many. “This is a powerful, comforting lesson to us -- the Lord is near. “Though God may delay while we continue to let down our nets according to our calling while abiding in His Word, He will ultimately give us what we need, and as well what He wishes to deliver to others through us. Ultimately the nets will burst forth. II. Faith in its relation to Heavenly blessings -- “When Simon Peter saw the miraculous catch of fish, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, ‘Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!’ “As Isaiah said: ‘Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!’ “This is where ministry starts, and where our Church Service begins as well -- in confession. Finally, it is also our touch point with the world. The Apostle Paul wrote in 1st Timothy 1:12-15: ‘I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.’ Luther stresses, "All ‘gods’ that do not take away sins are idols. . . for false gods wish to discover righteousness, but our true God brings it; God the Lord brings it with Him and does not discover it among the people to reward it. . . . the more disgraced you are, the quicker God imparts grace." “And there is truly no end to the supply of this grace, this forgiveness. III. Faith in its relation to the Church for earthly and Heavenly blessings. “Christ's Church is where, and only where, God forgives sins. “While He is doing this among us, He also provides for our daily needs. “Think of the boat in our Gospel text as the Church, Peter as the Pastoral office, and the net as the Word & Sacraments. “The great temptation for the servant of the Word, as well as the people God gathers to hear and be led by the Word, is to give up, give in, when, like Peter, James, and John it seems we’ve toiled all night in fishing and took nothing.” This kind of despair, of lack of trust in God, is what led to: • 40 years of wilderness wandering for the Israelites, • Three days in the belly of a great fish for Jonah, • Moses not being allowed to set foot in the Promised Land of Canaan, and • Saul being replaced as king of Israel Today in 2025, it’s what leads to false church organizations that substitute the sinful passions and evil work of human beings, for the powerful, perfect Word and will of God. It’s what leads people to abandon the true, Triune God, for false human ‘political correctness,’ atheism, perversity, and the demonic occult. It’s what leads many to bypass the true Christian Church – the Confessional Lutheran Church – for false churches that called themselves ‘reformed’ or evangelical but only offer un-Biblical lies. The Prophet Isaiah wrote, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9) This means God measures success and counts treasures much differently than human beings, or sinful secular cultures that deny Him. God does not work by motivating people to be ‘the best that they can be,’ or manipulating them to do what He wants. He works to kill the sinful nature in us, and leads us to repent of our selfish desires so that we turn to Him and receive the gifts He gives out of pure love for us in Christ. He desires all people to be saved, while in this world they serve one other. This is why Jesus tells us to "seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." (Matthew 6:33) It is what Peter, Andrew, John and James discovered. It’s what gave them the faith to continue putting out into the deep of an un-Godly world with only the nets of God's Word and Sacraments -- even to the point of martyrdom and exile. Luther wrote, "If one believes, God gives him so much that he is able to help all people." We see this time and again throughout Scripture, and especially in: • Noah and his Ark, • Peter and a net bursting with fish, and yes, • Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. We receive not necessarily what we want, but what God wills for the good of His most beloved creation, human beings. The true Church is where God delivers us from sin, death, and the devil, not with gold or silver, but with Christ’s holy precious blood and innocent suffering and death into which you are baptized. The true Church is where God delivers us into His eternal life, a life not of outward success, riches, and great numbers, but a life united with Him and all believers in His resurrected flesh. The Apostle Matthew recorded Christ’s Great Commission, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20) Fellow Christians, take comfort that the Lord of Heaven and earth is with you today, and always. Through His true Church He is making poor sinners rich, feeding the hungry with the Gospel, the Good News of salvation. He is working faith in you through the power of the Holy Spirit. By His Holy Word, He forgives sins, giving you eternal life in Heaven. Through the Lord’s Supper, He offers us His true Body and Blood for the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. With this blessed assurance, witness to our Saviour in Your daily life. Spread the Good News to those in darkness. Be comforted that the Lord of all creation is with you, now and forever. Amen. The Benediction – The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and + give you peace. Amen. Our Closing Hymn: “Come Follow Me,” the Savior Spake” Lutheran Service Book, 688 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gScrhj7eUIc 1 “Come, follow Me,” the Savior spake, “All in My way abiding; Deny yourselves, the world forsake, Obey My call and guiding. Oh, bear the cross, whate’er betide, Take My example for your guide. 2 “I am the Light, I light the way, A godly life displaying; I bid you walk as in the day, I keep your feet from straying. I am the Way, and well I show How you must sojourn here below. 3 “My heart abounds in lowliness, My soul with love is glowing, And gracious words my lips express, With meekness overflowing. My heart, My mind, My strength, My all, To God I yield, on Him I call. 4 “I teach you how to shun and flee What harms your soul’s salvation, Your heart from every guile to free, From sin and its temptation. I am the Refuge of the soul And lead you to your heavenly goal.” 5 Then let us follow Christ, our Lord, And take the cross appointed And, firmly clinging to His Word, In suffering be undaunted. For who bears not the battle’s strain The crown of life shall not obtain.

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