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THE EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST October 12, 20225 Pastor Tom Steers Christ the Saviour Lutheran Church, Toronto Brothers & sisters, peace, grace and mercy be to you through God our Father, and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen. Our Opening Hymn is: “Sing to the Lord of Harvest” Lutheran Service Book 893 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hfP0q7fLl4 The Introit Psalm 34, verses 2-4, 17; Psalm 48, verse 1 48 1 Great is the Lord and great to be praised in the city of our God! 2 My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the humble hear and be glad. 3 Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together! 4 I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. 17 When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. 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. Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised in the city of our God! Our Collect Prayer: Almighty God, You show mercy to Your people in all their troubles. Grant us always to recognize Your goodness, give thanks for Your compassion, and praise your holy name; 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 – Ruth 1: 1-19a Psalm 111 Epistle Reading – 2nd Timothy 2: 1-13 Gospel Reading – Luke 17: 11-19 The Apostle’s 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: “Your Hand, O Lord, in Days of Old” Lutheran Service Book 846 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqmoNJJz5OQ The Sermon – ‘Giving Thanks to God’ 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 us. The Gospel of Luke reassures us that God notices us so well that He knows the number of hairs on our heads. Holy Scripture tells us God is so all-knowing that if a single sparrow dies in the forest, He’s aware. But when we, in our own hearts, ask if God takes notice of us, we’re usually not questioning the knowledge of the Almighty. He fully knows every atom in the universe. He can tell you the precise number of electrons in the solar system, but there’s a difference between being counted, and noticed. And so, our question really isn’t ‘does He notice me,’ but am I personally important to Him? We teach our children the same song we sang ourselves, “Jesus loves me, this I know.” We read and repeat 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 do we emotionally know this, has it truly sunk in, become part of us. Are we able to delight and trust in the fact that God knows us, and when thinking of us, He smiles. When we suffer, that He grieves. When we rejoice, He has joy too. Our reconciliation with God and salvation, were so important, that the Father sent His only Son to the cross to pay the sin debt we could not. So, can a human being who believes this, who holds this truth in the very core of their being, be anything less than profoundly thankful to God? Of course not. Yet, most of the time when we start to think about our duties as Christians, we can make the mistake of turning them into only a ‘should situation,’ a law. But is it really a matter of obligation? Or is it a heartfelt, joyful, faithful response to God’s great and personal love shown to each one of us in Jesus. 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 whole Christian life is a thankful response to His saving act of mercy and compassion. And it’s that 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. Not by self-justification. But by the love and healing of Jesus. In our Old Testament reading we’re told of Ruth, who went beyond the call of duty. Her mother-in-law, Naomi, released Ruth her from any obligation she may have felt after Naomi’s husband died. Ruth didn’t have to go to Bethlehem, to a county where she would have been considered an outsider as a Moabite. But she begged to follow her mother-in-law, even though her husband, Naomi’s son, was dead. Naomi had become a true mother to Ruth. Ruth’s action is not duty, it’s not obedience to a commandment, it’s a much higher and more beautiful thing. It is love. In our reading from Psalm 111, the first verse says the psalmist praises God with his whole heart. And it’s that wholeness and joy of heart that’s the real issue throughout our readings today. Yet at times our joy seems flat. At times our faith can feel weak, not able to meet the test life, and its problems, throw at us. Here is where the Apostle Paul and his words come to our aid. Paul himself, in our Epistle text, assures us. His words may seem surprising. Because Paul writes, “if we are faithless, God is faithful.” We can think of God’s Old Testament people, the children of Israel, or people today. When the ancient Israelites were faithless to God’s word, God kept His promises. He never completely abandoned them. But Paul’s words mean that when we fail, God does not abandon us either. At those times God’s love for us doesn’t depend on the perfection of our faith, but on His perfect faithfulness. He keeps promises, even when our well-intentioned vows are shattered on the ground. Paul is explaining that because Jesus has come into the flesh, because believers have been united with Him in Baptism, because we are the body of Christ, Jesus cannot deny us. He would be denying His very self. God who made a good promise to us in our Baptism has never forgotten our name. He remembers us, even when at times we forget Him. 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, just as Ruth was as a Moabite. 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 a slavish obedience to a rule, but out of true thankfulness and love of God, out of gratitude for what God has done for Him. The overwhelming love and compassion of Christ reaps a harvest of praise from this man. We’ve all heard the command to praise God, but obedience to a commandment is not what brought the Samaritan man to Jesus’ feet that day. This is the sincere and delightful response of a heart that’s been set free from a burden. And so, he praises his Savior and healer. We have, too often, followed the example of the other nine lepers in obedience to a command, instead of the one leper whose heart drove him to praise Christ. 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 love of Christ for us, and by us. When we fail to express or feel that same joy, are we perhaps afraid that when God sees us, He is not smiling, that we expect the stern 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 false Gospel, which of course is no Gospel at all. Thankfully the Word of God comforts. Holy Scripture reassures that when God looks at us as believing Christians, He looks at us in love, and sees the righteousness of our Saviour, His son, Jesus. So, praise and thanksgiving are every-day events that mark the life of a Christian. Praise and thanksgiving are expressed in the confident and joyful living of our lives. Do our neighbors know that we rejoice in the Lord? Or has it become a private joy? Christ has given His life for us. That light and love are for sharing. Although we were foreigners as sinners, God still loved us. And we have a Saviour who counts Ruth, a Moabite, and a poor woman, as an ancestor. King David was a descendent of Ruth. Despite Ruth’s background she was totally welcomed into the covenant that God had made with Abraham. Just as we are lovingly welcomed into God’s new covenant through Christ. Jesus may not have healed our earthly physical illnesses, but He has made us 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. We're saved by God's grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone. God does notice us, and the service we render to Him for Jesus’ sake. The obedience is due, but the praise of the leper, the service of the joyful heart, the gift of the simple joy in Christ, is precious to Jesus and received with delight. This joy at being noticed by Christ 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 Ruth, in Paul, or 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, honour, and glory, to our Redeemer. The Saviour of the world, Jesus Christ. Amen. The Benediction – The Lord bless you and keep you. The make His face shine upon you and be gracious unto you. the Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen. Our Closing Hymn is: “Now Thank We All Our God” Lutheran Service Book 895 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eXcRepj6RM