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THE TWELFTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST August 11, 2024 Pastor Tom Steers Christ the Saviour Lutheran Church, Toronto Our Opening Hymn is: “Lord Jesus Christ, Life-Giving Bread” Lutheran Service Book, 625 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTE0BvNeTmI 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 The Introit – Psalm 34:8-10; Psalm 145:16 You open your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing. 8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! 9 Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack! 10 The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. 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. You open your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing. 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: Gracious Father, Your blessed Son came down from heaven to be the true bread that gives life to the world. Grant that Christ, the bread of life, may live in us and we in Him, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. Our Bible readings this Sunday: Old Testament – 1st Kings 19:1-8 Psalm 34:1-8 (antiphon v.3) Epistle – Ephesians 4:17 – 5:2 Gospel – John 6:35-51 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: “Lord Jesus Christ, You Have Prepared” Lutheran Service Book, 625 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTE0BvNeTmI The Sermon, God Comes to Us in Jesus – There are no more important questions than: how are we saved, can we be saved, and by whom? Jesus Himself gives us the answers this morning in the Gospel of John. In pagan religions and false Christian denominations, you must save yourself, in whole or part. Whether its climbing mystical staircases to Heaven, memorizing chants, self-denial, or vision-seeking contemplation, this false spirituality insists you must ascend to God. We should literally thank God that He hasn’t left us to our own devices, abandoned us to self-salvation. God the Father has sent a Saviour, His only Son Jesus, who descends from Heaven to feed us the food that leads to eternal life, Himself. He sacrifices His body on a cross to pay for our sins, not His own, to reconcile us with a perfect, holy, and loving God. Notice in our passage from John that it’s the Father who gives believers to Christ (v.37,39). Jesus explains, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” (v.44) It is God who instructs and leads us to Christ and salvation, “And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me.” (v.45) Why has God done all this, our Saviour tells us, “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” (v.40) So much for the vain, self-centered salvation of the so-called ‘reformed’ churches with their altar calls and ‘decision theology’ that claims we choose God. Jesus made clear, even to the disciples in John 15:16, “You did not choose me, but I chose you.” So much for the mystical, egotistical ‘spirituality’ of the catholic church that falsely teaches we must, or even can, contribute to our own salvation. Christ alone is the Saviour. Romans 3:10-11 explains our condition: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.” The message of the Lutheran Reformation is the message of the Bible: We’re saved by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone. In the Gospel of John those who preferred self-salvation will soon get angry at Jesus, angry enough to kill Him, yet God the Father will raise Him. Today the secular world denies Christ, and believes it’s good enough, smart enough, strong enough to do without God, turning instead to the idolatrous ‘gods’ of money, status, and personal pleasure. To hunger after these things and make them our ‘gods’ is death. This Sunday our Lord, the living bread from Heaven, God in human flesh, speaks directly and plainly to us, telling us who He is, where He comes from, and how and why we’re saved. We cannot ascend to the Almighty. We can’t save ourselves by our ‘good works,’ Christ did that good work on the cross. In today’s Gospel passage we hear the words of the Saviour of the world who descended to us and promises eternal life. The gracious God who knows our hopeless, sinful condition lovingly calls to us and through His Holy Spirit creates the faith which trusts in Jesus. He does that through the means of grace in our Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and in His Word, the Bible. He’s done that and continues to do it, even now. For you, for me. We can’t make faith, but God can. And that faith delights in the presence of Jesus Christ, our only Saviour. To Him alone be all glory, honour, and praise. 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 (Right-hand column) Page 201 Salutation and Benedicamus Page 201-202 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: “God of Grace and God of Glory: Lutheran Service Book, 850 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUioKmx_vvA