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THE SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER May 5, 2024 Pastor Tom Steers Christ the Saviour Lutheran Church, Toronto OPENING HYMN: 823 “May God Bestow on Us Grace” by Martin Luther (1483-1546) Lutheran Service Book https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnhQJ8m3B3o The Invocation Page 184 Pastor: Halleluiah, Christ is risen! Congregation: He is risen indeed. Halleluiah! Confession and Absolution (Please stand) Page 184-185 Introit (read by the Pastor) Psalm 66:1-2, 8-9,20; antiphon: Psalm 66:16 Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for my soul. Shout for joy to God, all the earth; sing the glory of his name; give to him glorious praise! Bless our God, O peoples; let the sound of his praise be heard, who has kept our soul among the living and has not let our feet slip. Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me! 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. Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for my soul. Pastor: Halleluiah, Christ is risen! Congregation: He is risen indeed. Halleluiah! The Kyrie (Lord Have Mercy) Congregation: Lord, have mercy upon us. Christ, have mercy upon us. Lord, have mercy upon us. The Salutation – Pastor: The Lord be with you. Congregation: And also with you. Our Collect Payer: O God, the giver of all that is good, by Your holy inspiration grant that we may think those things that are right and by Your merciful guiding accomplish them; 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: First Reading Acts 10:34-48 Psalm 98 Epistle Reading 1st John 5:1-8 The Verse (Romans 6:9; John 16:33b) Alleluia. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. Alleluia. I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. Alleluia. Our Gospel Reading John 15:9-17 Nicene Creed Page 191 HYMN OF THE DAY: 556 “Dear Christians, One and All, Rejoice” verses 1-4 by Martin Luther https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJF3xuytmFw THE SERMON – Today's Gospel text begins where last Sunday's passage left off. Last week we heard Jesus compare our relationship to Him as a branch connected to a vine. Just as a branch can’t produce anything without a vine, we cannot do anything without Christ. Jesus wants us to keep this image in mind of a branch lovingly grafted in. Last week we learned that abiding means to simply remain within. The Holy Spirit places us in Jesus through faith, and we are to abide in Jesus where He feeds us with forgiveness, life, and salvation within His true Church. As we hear more of Christ’s teaching today, we learn that one of the main nutrients Jesus feeds us is the nutrient of love. Jesus said, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.” This can lead to misunderstanding. ‘Love’ is one of the most overused words in the English language. We use it for so many things. We love our spouse, children, pets, our favourite songs. If you look up the word love in the dictionary, you’ll find a long entry. But when we come to the confession of our faith, we say we receive salvation because of God's love. Don’t misunderstand. It’s perfectly right and worthwhile to say God saves us through His love. However, if we don't explain what we mean when we say God loves us, we haven’t appreciated the true gift of His love as we abide in Him. We can begin by looking at the original Greek John’s Gospel was written in. The word translated as love is agape -- ἀγάπη. Agape gets us away from self-centered love, the result of fulfilling our own pleasures. It rules out the overly sentimental love of romance novels. Agape is a selfless love that seeks nothing in return; it has grit and courage. Αgape does what is right, even when it’s hard. It is sacrificial love. This Greek word provides a closer understanding of the love Jesus gives us. In today's Gospel, Jesus takes agape love to its fulfilment, when He says, "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends." Jesus did more than talk about the Gospel. Even while Jesus was speaking these words, Judas was on his way to the authorities. He would lead soldiers to Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, and betray Jesus. The next day, Christ would demonstrate His description of love through suffering and death on the cross. He would endure not only death, but also the anger of God at our sins. This is the love that saves us. The true nature of this love becomes even clearer when we consider the object of God's love. As much as we hate to admit it, we have no redeeming qualities of our own. We are sinners. The Apostle Paul said it clearly in Ephesians, Chapter 5: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ -- by grace you have been saved . . . .” When we are preparing for confirmation, Lutherans learn the Ten Commandments. As we consider the Commandments honesty, we realize we break them. The Bible tells us when we break one of God’s Laws, we break them all. (James 2:10) We know from God’s Word that we are not sinners because we sin. We sin because we are sinners. The Bible tells us we inherited this sinful nature from our first parents, Adam and Eve, who disobeyed God. No one has to teach a child how to lie. We don’t instruct children to be selfish. No one has to coach a child to consider themselves the centre of the universe. We know all these things from the womb. As we reflect on the Ten Commandments, we understand that our condition, if left untreated, leads to nothing but punishment -- here in time, and forever in eternity. In spite of all this, God still loves us. The love of Jesus Christ on the cross is the perfect expression of God's love for us. Romans 5:8 explains, “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” His love depends on His nature, not our own. His love for us is always perfect, beyond our understanding. This is the love of the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep. It is the love of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The love of the God-man who stood between our Heavenly Father and us and took the full force of the Almighty’s righteous anger against sin. This is the love that bled on the cross and said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." (Luke 23:34) And this is the love that rose from the dead, and promises believers eternal life. The devil, the world, and our sinful flesh seek to cut off this relationship between our Saviour and us. The faith’s enemies constantly say we don't need God -- that we can be our own ‘gods.’ They direct us to earthly pleasure, worldly riches, popularity, and other fallible sources of love. In those things we find ourselves in a never-ending spiral of disappointment, and defeat. The world is always ready to supply the next enticing thing when the current fad doesn't satisfy. If only we drove the right car, wore the right styles, or lived in the right house we would be happy. Many spend their lives obtaining things that don’t satisfy for eternity, while ignoring the God who wants to give us the ultimate, lasting love for free. The Apostle John in his Epistle text today explained, “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world -- our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1st John 5:4-5) The Holy Spirit has placed us in Christ through the gift of faith. In our First Reading, Luke describes the conversion of gentiles. As the Apostle Peter was preaching, “the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word.” “Then Peter declared, ‘Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?’ And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.” (Act 10:44, 46-47) The same is true for us today. God’s Word and Sacraments are the means of grace the Holy Spirit uses to work faith in our Saviour within us. Any work we do to ‘buy’ God’s forgiveness with our own merits only serves to reject that faith, and sever us from Christ's love. Abiding in God's love means He will work in us to strengthen our faith toward Him. And He will work through us to show fervent love towards one another. God is the only source of pure, unconditional, ‘agape’ love. It is in this love that God created, and sustains us. It is this love that compelled the Son of God to take on human flesh and sacrifice Himself on the cross to save us from sin. It is in this love that we abide by faith. Just as God's love raised Christ from the dead, it promises that He will be with us here on earth, and that we shall be with Him forever in Heaven. He that began the good work by planting us into the true vine, Jesus Christ, will perform it until that great day of glory. Amen. PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH SERVICE OF THE SACRAMENT Page 194 (Our Communion Hymn is 627 “Jesus Christ, Our Blessed Saviour”) Communion Collect (Left-hand column) Page 201 CLOSING HYMN: 895 “Now Thank We All Our God” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eXcRepj6RM