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THE FOURTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY September 1, 2024 Pastor Tom Steers Christ the Saviour Lutheran Church, Toronto Divine Service Setting III (Pages 184 – 202) Lutheran Service Book OPENING HYMN: 791 “All People That on Earth Do Dwell” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mc4gEC2lInU Confession and Absolution Page 184-185 Introit Psalm 84:1-2a; 4, 10b, 11b, antiphon: vss. 9-10a Behold our shield, O God; look on the face of your anointed! For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the LORD; Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise! I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. 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. Behold our shield, O God; look on the face of your anointed! For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. 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: O Lord, keep you Church with Your perpetual mercy; and because of our frailty we cannot but fall, keep us ever by Your help from all things harmful and lead us to all things profitable to our salvation; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. Our First Reading – Proverbs 4:10-23 Hear, my son, and accept my words, that the years of your life may be many. 11 I have taught you the way of wisdom; I have led you in the paths of uprightness. 12 When you walk, your step will not be hampered, and if you run, you will not stumble. 13 Keep hold of instruction; do not let go; guard her, for she is your life. 14 Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of the evil. 15 Avoid it; do not go on it; turn away from it and pass on. 16 For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong; they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble. 17 For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence. 18 But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day. 19 The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know over what they stumble. 20 My son, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. 21 Let them not escape from your sight; keep them within your heart. 22 For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh. 23 Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. Pastor: This is the Word of the Lord. Congregation: Thanks be to God. Psalm 119:9-16 9 How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. 10 With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! 11 I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. 12 Blessed are you, O LORD; teach me your statutes! 13 With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth. 14 In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. 15 I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. 16 I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word. 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. Epistle Reading – Galatians 5:16-24 16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Pastor: This is the Word of the Lord. Congregation: Thanks be to God. Our Gospel Reading – Luke 17:11-19 11 On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. 12 And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance 13 and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” 14 When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. 15 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; 16 and he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. 17 Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? 18 Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.” Pastor: This is the Gospel of the Lord. Congregation: Praise be to Thee, O Christ. THE APOSTLES’ CREED Page 192 HYMN OF THE DAY: 655 “Lord, Keep Us Steadfast in Your Word” by Martin Luther https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8ViZi7M5p4 THE SERMON – Brothers and sisters, peace, grace, and mercy be to you through God our Father, and our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen. Sometimes we can wonder, “Does God notice me?” Especially in difficult times. There are a lot of people in this world, with lots of problems. It’s a big universe. We can feel overlooked. We may even, in our hearts, feel abandoned. But God’s Word comforts, and saves. The Gospel of Luke reassures that God notices us so well, He even knows the number of hairs on our heads. (Luke 12:7) The Bible tells us God is so all-knowing, that if a single sparrow dies in the forest, He’s aware. (Matt. 10:29-31) But when we, in our own hearts, ask if God takes note of us, we’re usually not questioning the knowledge of the Almighty, but, whether we’re personally important to Him. We’ve read John 3:16 -- “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” But are we able to trust in this promise? Our reconciliation with God and salvation, were so important, to the Father that He sent His only Son to the cross to make complete payment for our sins a debt we could never pay in whole, or part. So, can a human being who believes this, who holds to this truth, be anything less than profoundly thankful to God? Yet sometimes when we start to think about our duties as Christians, we can make the mistake of turning them into a ‘should situation,’ a law. But is it really a matter of obligation? Or is it a joyful, faithful response to God’s great personal love shown to each one of us in Christ. When we care for children or a spouse, perhaps our parents, do we do it only because we should, or because we love them? It’s the same in our relationship with God, our Father and Creator. The Christian life is a thankful response to the saving act of mercy, and compassion by Jesus. And it’s His grace and mercy that I preach today. It is Christ who reminds us, in these words from Luke in our Gospel text, that we have been healed, our lives transformed. Not by the Law of God. Not by ‘self-healing’ – but by our Saviour. By faith in Him alone. The Apostle Paul, in our Epistle text, assures us that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are love, joy, patience, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. He ends by saying that against these things there is no law. In our Gospel passage, Luke is recounting something that speaks powerfully to true thankfulness, joy, and love. Jesus notices the thanksgiving of a Samaritan. Samaritans were considered outsiders among the people of Israel because they were of mixed blood. The Samaritan was a foreigner. When we look carefully at what takes place here in this encounter between the ten lepers and Jesus, something remarkable happens. After healing them, Jesus tells the lepers to show themselves to the priests, as would have been appropriate under Jewish law. The priests had to officially ‘'certify’ them as healed of leprosy. Jesus doesn’t want the priests, or the Pharisees, to condemn them for not following the rules. But the Samaritan returns. He returns to Jesus not out of obedience to a rule, but out of true thankfulness to His Saviour, out of gratitude for what God has done for Him. One might thank a gifted physician. But people fall on their knees and worship their Lord and Saviour. The Samaritan’s return is the joyful response of a heart that’s been set free from burdens, both physical, and spiritual. He’s been cured of a disease that separated him from other people. But he worships the Lord who will save him from eternal separation from God. Have we, too often, followed the example of the other nine lepers instead of the one leper whose heart drove him to give thanks to His Saviour? The nine did no wrong, in fact they did exactly what Jesus said, yet they get no notice here. Because this is not about duty and obedience, it’s about another principle that moves in our life – the saving love of Christ for us, the one who frees us from the deadly consequences of sin and frees us to praise and worship Him. When we fail to express or feel that same joy as the leper, are we perhaps afraid that when God sees us, He is not smiling, that we expect the look of an angry judge who only sees our sin? Sometimes, this isn’t our fault. Perhaps we’ve spent times in other denominations where the Law of God is made into a ‘means of salvation,’ into a false Gospel, which of course is no Gospel at all. Thankfully, the Word of God comforts. The Law of God is good, it remains, and is not to be denied. Human life is sacred is from conception to its natural end. Marriage is the union of one man and one woman. God’s Law is a curb on evil in society. The law shows us our sins, and how God wants us to live. But the Gospel shows us our Saviour. Holy Scripture reassures that when God the Father looks at us as believing Christians, He looks at us in love, and sees the righteousness of our Redeemer, His Son, Jesus. So, praise and thanksgiving are every-day events for us. They’re expressed in the confident and joyful living of our lives. In our attendance at weekly worship where we encounter Christ and receive God’s gifts in the Divine Service. Christ has given His life for us. We are to remain united to His Church, and fellow believers. Because although we were foreigners as sinners, God still loved us. And lovingly welcomes us into His New Covenant, through faith in Christ alone. A faith the Holy Spirit works within us and sustains through God’s means of grace: His Word and the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, which are found within His Church. Jesus may not have healed our earthly, physical illnesses, but He has made us spiritually whole again. He has said the same words to you that He said to the leper: “Your faith has saved you.” And because we are in that wonderful relationship with Christ, we’re no longer outcasts, but adopted children of God. God does notice us, our praise, our worship, and the service we render to others for Jesus’ sake. This joy at being noticed by Christ our Redeemer, is infectious. It changes the way we live our lives, the way we look at the world at other people, and our feelings for them. Doubt and begrudging obedience give way to the loving service we see in the Apostle Paul, and in Christ Himself. And the great news is that even when we fail, God loves us. He is always faithful and true. So, as we await the final feast of Heaven, let us give thanks, praise, and worship to our Redeemer. The Saviour of the world, Jesus Christ. Amen. PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH SERVICE OF THE SACRAMENT Page 194 THE LORDS PRAYER Page 196 THE WORDS OF OUR LORD Page 197 Pax Domini Pastor: The peace of the Lord be with you always. Congregation: Amen. DISTRIBUTION Post Communion Collect (Right-hand column) Page 201 Salutation and Benedicamus Page 201-202 Benediction Page 202 CLOSING HYMN 923 “Almighty Father, Bless the Word” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJu3-_3wFYM