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THE THIRTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST September 7, 2025 Pastor Tom Steers Christ the Saviour Lutheran Church, Toronto OPENING HYMN: 685 “Let Us Ever Walk with Jesus” Lutheran Service Book https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v24_el_c2aY&list=RDv24_el_c2aY&start_radio=1 The Invocation Page 184 Confession and Absolution Page 184 The Introit Psalm 119:28-32; (Antiphon) Ps. 119:27 27 Make me understand the way of your precepts, and I will meditate on your wondrous works. 28 My soul melts away for sorrow; strengthen me according to your word! 29 Put false ways far from me and graciously teach me your law! 30 I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I set your rules before me. 31 I cling to your testimonies, O Lord; let me not be put to shame! 32 I will run in the way of your commandments when you enlarge my heart! 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. 27 Make me understand the way of your precepts, and I will meditate on your wondrous works. The Kyrie (Lord Have Mercy) Lord, have mercy upon us. Christ, have mercy upon us. Lord, have mercy upon us. Collect Prayer (Please Stand): O merciful Lord, You did not spare Your only Son but delivered Him up for us all. Grant us courage and strength to take up the cross and follow Him, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. Our First Reading (please sit) Deuteronomy 30:15-20 Psalm 1 (antiphon: v. 6) In the front of our Hymnal Epistle Reading Philemon 1-21 Our Gospel Reading (please stand) Luke 14:25-35 THE APOSTLES’ CREED Page 192 HYMN OF THE DAY: 688 “‘Come, Follow Me,’ the Saviour Spake” Lutheran Service Book THE SERMON – ‘The Cost of Discipleship’ Our Gospel reading provides what seems to be a challenging directive from our Saviour. Jesus tells us to take up our cross and follow Him. The words appear difficult, but they’re really about love, a sacrificial love, and walk in life, which will be difficult for us if we follow Christ. The Lutheran Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who opposed Hitler and was executed for it in Germany in 1945, once wrote, “the life of the Christian is the way of the cross.” What he meant is that the Saviour who died for us on the cross for our sins makes a radical claim on believers. Jesus says to us in these words from Luke, ‘if you truly are my disciple, there will be costs, and a cross for you to take up.’ This is the theme of our Gospel passage. But it’s also a theme Christ is asking us to take into our daily lives and the way we live them. Jesus warns us, out of care and compassion, to be aware of the cost of discipleship. Yet, we can take up our cross and bear it knowing the Good News that’s been proclaimed for the past 2,000 years to a broken, sinful world. That’s the Gospel of salvation and eternal life, through Christ. One person who took up his cross was the Apostle Paul. In the service of Jesus, he was stoned, imprisoned, flogged, and finally executed as a Christian martyr. In our Epistle reading, we hear of what might have seemed to be a deliverance from slavery in the Book of Philemon. The Book is unique in the Bible. It’s only one chapter, 25 verses long. And originally, it was a letter to only one person, Paul’s friend Philemon, whose slave had escaped and run away to the Apostle. At the time, Paul was under house arrest in Rome. Philemon was a leader in the Colossian church. This letter deals with forgiveness, and reconciliation. But it also describes a situation that talks volumes about the service, dedication, and self-sacrifice that comes out of Christian love and faith. Onesimus was a runaway. And Paul was writing this letter to his master, Philemon, to take back the former servant. At the time, it would have been not only accepted, but expected for masters to severely beat a runaway slave. They were considered criminals. The master also had the right to have the bondservant crucified as a warning to other slaves. Philemon was a wealthy Christian, a leader of the church that met at his home in Colossae. According to Church tradition, Philemon did, in fact, free this runaway, as Paul requested. Onesimus would continue to serve with Paul throughout the Apostle’s life. After the death of Timothy, Onesimus would become the second bishop of Ephesus. While he was the leader of this congregation, Onesimus, the former slave, would collect Paul’s letters, bind them into a single book known as the Apostolicum, and distribute it widely. The letter, which had won his own freedom, was included as the last in the volume. The runaway had become a slave out of choice, out of love, for His true master, Jesus. Paul, Timothy, and Onesimus all lived lives of service to God and other people, even people they didn’t know. But they knew the dangers, and ultimately paid the cost. Paul was executed, and both Timothy and Onesimus were stoned to death for the faith. They made that sacrifice in their lives, not out of hate, but out of love for God and other people. That’s what Jesus is really talking about in His Words today. To understand this passage, we have to know the world of the Bible, and a little Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke, as well as Hebrew. For all their differences, the two languages have a similarity. No word describes "liking" someone more or less. You have the choice of "love" or "hate." The ancient world talked in absolutes. Genesis 29, verses 30-31, says that Jacob had two wives, Rachel and Leah. It says Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah. But it goes on to say, “When the Lord saw that Leah was hated, He allowed her to have a child, but Rachel was without a child." Do you see the comparison between loving someone less and the word ‘hate’? Jacob took care of Leah, his wife, stayed with her, honoured his vows, raised his children. But he had more feelings for Rachel. Being loved less here, is called ‘being hated.’ Jesus says in Luke 16, verse 13, “No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.” Christ doesn't say the servant will yell at the other master, or discredit him. But he will have to obey the call of one, and ignore the orders of the other. This is what the Bible calls ‘hate’ in the way Jesus is using the term. So, if our family or friends try in some way to get us to follow something other than Jesus, we have to say no. We can't follow Christ and yet obey another voice that denies Him or would lead us away from our Saviour or God’s Word. That would do nothing for us, or the other person, except lead to mutual, spiritual destruction. Jesus is saying that the water of Baptism should have priority over the blood of our earthly relationships. Because in the waters of Christian Baptism, God adopts us into His family. God makes us His sons and daughters. And we have a new family in Jesus Christ. Does that mean we abandon those who don’t believe? No. But Jesus is saying we can’t allow their unbelief to draw us away from God. Rather, our belief and love, even self-sacrificial love, can help point unbelievers to Christ. Jesus teaches that our relationship with Him has priority over all other relationships. This includes our earthly family, and at times even the relationship we have with our own life. When Christ talks about bearing a cross, He’s not talking about the normal issues and problems we deal with every day. Our cross is the hardship we endure simply because we are Christians. I know a Pastor from Germany that told me about a couple originally from the Middle East who began attending his church. Many times, they appeared sad. They eventually told him they’d both grown up in Moslem families in Iran. After they were married, through contact with a home church, they were converted to Christianity. When their neighbours learned of their conversion, a vigilante group broke into their house and dragged them all out into the street. The leaders of the mob told this couple to renounce Christ. They said, "Just deny Jesus and we’ll go away." The couple refused, and so the mob executed their children on the street in front of them. This couple had a cross to carry. Today, in North Korea, the situation is the same. Many die for the faith, but others survive, and Kim Eun Jin is one of them. This 41-year-old woman was born in Pyongyang, North Korea. In 1994, police discovered that Kim's father was leading a secret underground church in their home. Christianity is against the law in this outlaw state. They raided the house, arrested Kim’s father, along with an uncle, and both men ended up in labour camps. Kim Eun Jin said, "The day my father was arrested I was at school, but I'll never forget it. He hugged me before I left for school and like every other day reminded me to be careful.” "Every morning at the breakfast table he told us that one day the government could come and arrest us for being Christians. He warned us of the price we might some day pay for our faith. I remember him saying often, that, ‘Even if I face death, I’ll follow Christ.’” Kim never saw her father again. She said, "Everyone knows what happens when government agents arrest Christians in North Korea. They never make it out alive.” She decided to leave everything she knew, although she was a good student, and could still have been accepted by the North Korean authorities if she told them she was not a Christian. In 2005, with the help of a Chinese Pastor, she swam across the Tumen River and defected to China and then stole away to Seoul, South Korea, where she lives today. Christians have made sacrifices in the past, and continue to be asked to today. So, when we’re faced with things that may compete with our faith and the exercise of it, when we endure tensions or even abandonment from family or friends because we’re believers, when we’re called to do something that means sacrificing some of our time and financial resources, Jesus reminds us that we are His, and that one cross we will never have to bear is the one He carried that paid for our sins. Paul in his letter to Philemon, was saying something radical, he was saying to his friend: ‘You have a worldly right to own Onesimus, but the One who really owns him, and me, and you, is God. ‘And I’m asking you to release your earthly personal claim over Onesimus so he can go on to a service, to a slavery, based on love for our Saviour.’ The world has countless excuses and enticements for not following Christ. It’s not practical, not popular, it doesn’t seem to offer a pay-off in this lifetime. And it’s true, there are no guarantees of success, or even comfort, in this life for following Jesus. But there is an eternal guarantee of comfort and hope, life and salvation, that non-believers will not enjoy. Jesus is a Saviour who experienced persecution and attacks, and triumphed over them so His followers could, as well, through Him. Before Jesus ascended to Heaven, He said, "Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." He has reassured us, saying, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." And so, when we carry the cross, when we feel pain, suffering or separation because of following our faith, we have the closeness and comfort of the One who paid our sin debt, we have the reassurance of One who always keeps His word, as believers, we’re offered a free gift: Christ’s promise of eternal life and Heaven, a promise no one can ever take away from you. And so, may the peace that passes all human understanding keep your hearts and minds in Jesus Christ. Amen. PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH (Please stand) SERVICE OF THE SACRAMENT Page 194 Sanctus (Holy, Holy, Holy) Page 195 The Lord’s Prayer Page 196 The Word of Our Lord Instituting the Lord’s Supper Page 197 Agnus Dei (Laamb of God ) Page 198 The Distribution Nunc Dimitis – The Song of Simeon Page 199 Post-Communion Collect (Left-hand column) Page 201 CLOSING HYMN: 783 “Take My Life and Let It Be” Lutheran Service Book https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FHU2h1000I&list=RD4FHU2h1000I&start_radio=1