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THE ELEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST August 4, 2024 Pastor Tom Steers Christ the Saviour Lutheran Church, Toronto Divine Service Setting III (Pages 184 – 202) Lutheran Service Book 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 Page 184-185 Introit (read by the Pastor) Psalm: 78:23-25; antiphon: Psalm 78:72 72 With upright heart he shepherded them and guided them with his skillful hand. 23 Yet he commanded the skies above and opened the doors of heaven, 24 and he rained down on them manna to eat and gave them the grain of heaven. 25 Man ate of the bread of the angels; he sent them food in abundance. 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. 72 With upright heart he shepherded them and guided them with his skillful hand. 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 with thy spirit. Our Collect Prayer: Merciful Father, You gave Your son Jesus as the heavenly bread of life. Grant us faith to feast on the Him in Your Word and Sacraments that we may be nourished into life everlasting; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. Our Opening Hymn is: “The Church’s One Foundation” Lutheran Service Book, 644 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxdX3wgNSu0 Our Bible readings this Sunday: Old Testament – Exodus 16:2-15 Psalm 145:10-21 Epistle – Ephesians 4:1-16 Gospel – John 6:22-35 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: “O Living Bread from Heaven” Lutheran Service Book, 642 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqUpkoTBGSU The Sermon “I Am the Bread of Life” – It had been a long time without any rest for Jesus and His disciples. Christ spent the previous day ministering to people in the wilderness. He even multiplied a boy’s lunch of bread and fish to feed 5,000 men and their families. Then the twelve spent all night trying to row across the sea against a strong head wind. They weren’t able to cross until Christ walked to them over the water. As the day dawned, they arrived at the other side of Lake Galilee. People ran from all over the countryside to bring the sick and injured to Jesus for healing. There was no stop … no letup. The crowd that Jesus left on the far side of the lake showed up for breakfast, but quickly figured out He was no longer there. When more boats came along, they also crossed the waters, and found Jesus. When they reached Him on the other side of the sea, they asked, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” (John 6:25) They were trying to understand how Jesus got across the water and back to Capernaum. He hadn’t left with the disciples and hadn’t taken a boat from shore. It seems like a fairly innocent question. Nevertheless, Jesus looks at the heart. He understood that the motive of the crowd wasn’t as innocent as it might seem. Jesus answers: “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” (John 6:26–27) Jesus understood they were just interested in another free meal. They didn’t understand that Christ came to give eternal life, not just a complimentary breakfast or lunch. The question-and-answer session they have with Jesus clearly demonstrates they don’t get it. Eventually the crowd asked a question revealing their unbelief. “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” (John 6:30–31) Our Lord replied, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” (John 6:32-33) The crowd asks, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus replies, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” (John 6:35) Jesus had been healing the sick, curing the lame, causing the deaf to hear and the blind to see. He cast out demons and raised people from the dead. This very crowd had eaten bread and fish miraculously multiplied from His hand, yet they ask for a sign. The stubborn, unbelieving heart is never satisfied. It will always ask for more proof. The same is true today. Jesus is the bread of life. Many have read and heard those Biblical words, but do we take them into our hearts? Without food we die. Without Christ we die spiritually, eternally separated from God. Jesus is that important, because ultimately, we are dying – physical life in this world has a 100 percent mortality rate. We can exercise, avoid risks, take vitamins, but death is inescapable. The death of our physical bodies though isn’t the half of it. The bad news for atheists and agnostics is that death isn’t the end. The irony for those who want nothing to do with Christ in this life is that they will get their wish in eternity. Science offers no hope in the matter, it doesn’t even acknowledge there is a spiritual world because it can’t find an instrument to measure it. If Christ is real life, what hope do we have of connecting to Him? He lived, died and rose up to Heaven some time ago. We live in a secular, even anti-Christian culture that either ignores or mocks our faith. We hunger for the things of God while living in God-less times. Where do we find hope, sustenance? The Good News is that Jesus truly is the bread of life – He’s come to save this world because it is dying. My death isn’t an obstacle for Him. He raises dead people. It’s His job description. The promise He makes is that His gift is not only for this life and day, but for eternity. We aren’t phantoms, briefly seen, but beloved children of God, precious to the eternal Lord of Heaven and earth, and He’s worked mightily, effecting salvation for believers. This isn’t a salvation we earn with our ‘good works,’ it isn’t about what we do. The Prophet Isaiah made clear that before God those deeds are filthy rags. (Isaiah 64:6) It’s about Christ, the sinless Son of God, and His ultimate good work, what He’s done for us on the cross in paying for our sins. The Apostle John wrote: “Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” (John 6:28-29) Faith is worked in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Trinity, through God’s Word and the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Of course we’re broken, it’s the way we were born, but Christ is not broken. The same Jesus who fed the multitudes and rose from the dead has joined Himself to us in the waters of our Baptism, come to us time and again in His Word, and given us His very body and blood in the Lord’s Supper. He does this out of love for you and me, and carries us in the day of heartache, loss, and despair. He loves to work through the broken and weak things of this world. He died a slavish death on a cross, cruelly treated by people He created. Don’t look for His strength in displays of worldly power, but in other-worldly love and compassion. Look for the Lord’s power to be shown to us in His mercy, through the crucified and resurrected Christ. For some that opens a door for doubt, He knows it. Yet He doesn’t tell fearful disciples as He walks across the sea that He’s done with knuckleheads, and that He’ll be replacing them with more ‘spiritual’ sorts of people. He doesn’t look at our brokenness, our repeated sins and say, ‘I’m out of here.’ He comes down from Heaven, and on His way to the cross speaks words of hope and salvation, offering a starving world the true bread from Heaven – Himself. The crowds that look for a sign are patiently taught, and many hearts and minds transformed. Peter, who will deny the Lord and yet go on to die a martyr’s death for Him in faith, will say, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” Amen. PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH SERVICE OF THE SACRAMENT Page 194 THE LORD’S PRAYER Page 196 THE WORDS OF OUR LORD Page 197 Pax Domini Pastor: The peace of the Lord be with you always. Congregation: Amen. THE DISTRIBUTION Post Communion Collect (Left-hand column) Page 201 Salutation and Benedicamus Page 201-202 Benediction Page 202 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 is: “Guide Me, O Thou Great Redeemer” Lutheran Service Book, 918 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fk8iY7do4A