Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

Jesus Cancels Meaningless Living

Psalm 8

I have a question for you. (As I usually do.)

What is the meaning of life?

I know. I know. I couldn’t have asked a harder question this morning.

This is a hard question to answer because people have been struggling to answer this question from the beginning of time and will continue to ponder, debate, and give their own opinions as to what the answer to this question is until the end of time.

Some of the answers that people give and some of these may be your answer or answers are:

The meaning of life is….

  • Entering a romantic relationship — having a boyfriend or girlfriend, getting married, and staying married until death do you part
  • Procreation — having children and raising them to be good and decent people who are kind, generous, and a help to others
  • Finding a career — picking a major in college, studying hard to learn all of the ins and outs of that major, graduating, and entering the job field where you can make a lasting difference in your area of expertise

Pop culture has even offered their opinions to the what the meaning of life is through literature and film.

In one of my favorite science fiction book series, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, after 7.5 million years of calculation by a supercomputer named Deep Thought, the answer to the meaning of life is given as being the number “42.”

In Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life, there are several allusions to the meaning of life. At the end of the film, a character is handed an envelope containing “the meaning of life”, which she opens and reads out to the audience: “Well, it’s nothing very special. Uh, try to be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try to live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”

And, in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, the characters, after finishing a report on the history of the world, her major leaders, and their philosophies,  are asked how what the meaning of life is.  They respond to their classmates with the answer, ‘be excellent to each other’ followed by ‘party on, dudes!’.

Even though we may spend time trying to find meaning and purpose for each day we walk this earth, the hard truth is that many of us often end up with the hopeless thought and feeling that there is no meaning or purpose to life.

Regardless of what we say or do, we live as practical nihilists. 

In our text for this morning, from the book of Psalms, when we hear King David speak, the one that God himself called “a man after his own heart,” we get the sense that when King David looks at himself and the rest of the human population he can’t help but think about the meaning of life and the thought that maybe there isn’t any real point or purpose to our lives.

However, as we will hear, when King David once again focuses his attention on God, the creator of the Universe, and the redeemer of humanity through the gift of His Son Jesus, he finds himself standing in awe of the fact that God, regardless of humanity’s brokenness, has instilled in each of us meaning and purpose for this life.

Let’s hear what King David has to say.

In Psalm 8, King David says this:

[1] O LORD, our Lord,

how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory above the heavens.

[2] Out of the mouth of babies and infants,

you have established strength because of your foes,

to still the enemy and the avenger.

[3] When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,

[4] what is man that you are mindful of him,

and the son of man that you care for him?

[5] Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings

and crowned him with glory and honor.

[6] You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;

you have put all things under his feet,

[7] all sheep and oxen,

and also the beasts of the field,

[8] the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,

whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

[9] O LORD, our Lord,

how majestic is your name in all the earth! (ESV)

As King David looks at God and then looks a his own brokenness and selfishness, he can’t believe that God thinks about him all of the time.

In verse 3 and 4, King David says,

[3] When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,

[4] what is man that you are mindful of him,

and the son of man that you care for him?

What King David is pointing too is the fact that God, yes, the One who created the Heavens and the Earth and sustains them day to day, thinks about him every second of his life.  

God didn’t turn his face away or shut David out after his ungodly thoughts, words, and behavior, NO!, God’s love for David, regardless of his sin, puts David at the forefront of God’s mind all of the time.  

Through faith in Jesus, God is a friend that is real, a friend that loves you, a friend that you can trust, and a friend that is forever.

One of my favorite verses, that I have shared with you several times before, comes from Isaiah 49.16, where God says this to me and you:

[16] Behold, I have engraved you [and your name] on the palms of my hands;

your [life] is continually before me. (ESV)

Because God’s grace leads him to love you, regardless of the brokenness and selfishness that you bring into this world, God has also created you with meaning and purpose.

In verses 6-8, King David says this about himself, me, and you:

[5] Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings

and crowned him with glory and honor.

[6] You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;

you have put all things under his feet,

[7] all sheep and oxen,

and also the beasts of the field,

[8] the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,

whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

God cancels meaningless and purposeless living for King David and for you!

In this life, God has given you authority and responsibility to take care of all that he has created.

That means, as you walk the earth today, tomorrow, this week, next month, and even years from now, your life has eternal meaning and purpose as you take care of the things and people that God has made.

Marvel Comics fans the world over were shaken when they learned about the death of Chadwick Boseman, the star of Black Panther. Death is always shocking, but Boseman’s passing was all the more gripping because nobody knew what the star had been facing.

While filming for blockbusters like 21 Bridges, Avengers: Infinity War, Black Panther, and Marshall, Boseman was undergoing treatments for stage 3 colon cancer. He knew something about trials, and shared this wisdom in a 2018 commencement address at his alma mater, Howard University:

Sometimes you need to feel the pain and sting of defeat to activate the real passion and purpose that God predestined inside of you. God says in Jeremiah, “I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”.

Later, he continued:

… you would rather find purpose than a job or career. Purpose crosses disciplines. Purpose is an essential element of you. It is the reason you are on the planet at this particular time in history. Your very existence is wrapped up in the things you are here to fulfill. Whatever you choose for a career path, remember, the struggles along the way are only meant to shape you for your purpose.

Then he concludes:

When God has something for you, it doesn’t matter who stands against it. God will move someone that’s holding you back away from the door and put someone there who will open it for you if it’s meant for you. I don’t know what your future is, but if you are willing to take the harder way, the more complicated one, the one with more failures at first than successes, the one that has ultimately proven to have more meaning, more victory, more glory then you will not regret it.

In the on-going attempt to trap Jesus, God’s Messiah, the Savior, in words of blasphemy against God and/or the state, a nah-sayer, who also happened to be a lawyer approached Jesus with this question:

Matthew 22:34–40

[36] “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 

[37] And [in response Jesus] said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. [38] This is the great and first commandment. [39] And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. [40] On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (ESV)

What Jesus is saying to all of those that are listening, including you this morning is that life has meaning and purpose.

Through faith in Jesus’ perfectly lived life for you, death on the cross for you, and resurrection from the grave for you, your brokenness, your selfishness, your sin, is forgiven and you are restored back into a relationship with God the Father in Heaven.

In that relationship, meaningless and purposeless living in canceled because your eyes are opened once again to the responsibility that God has built into your very nature from the moment of conception.

In these simple words, with a hat tip to pop culture, Jesus cancels meaningless and purposeless living by letting you know that the meaning of your life is to:

“Love God and be excellent to one another!”

With this simple definition of the meaning of life, straight from the mouth of Jesus, who is God in the flesh, you are strengthened everyday to make the world a better place one thought, one word, and/or one deed at a time.

So, go this week and live your life with meaning and purpose by

“Loving God and being excellent to one another!”

This is the Word of God for you today. 

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

August 11, 2024.

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

You’ve Got a Friend in Me!

John 15.12-17

When you choose friends, what qualities do you look for?

Do you choose friends based on similar interests and hobbies?

Do you choose friends based on a similar place in life — for example: married with same aged kids; retired with free time; or, young and single?

Do you choose friends based on character traits such as loyalty, honesty, dependability, kindness, gentleness, and respectfulness?

Do you choose friends based on a common faith that allows you to love, support, prayer for and encourage one another on a daily basis?

Do you choose friends based on who is going to let you drink and drug without accountability?  

Do you choose friends based on their wealth and the extravagant lifestyle they can provide for you?

Or, do you choose friends based on their position and power in your community and/or world?

Cultural commentators speak about the fact that we are more connected to other people and events than at any other time in history because of the globalization that technology allows.

However, at the same time, those same cultural commentators, with the statistics from medical professionals, speak about the fact that despair, depression, and loneliness are more prevalent than any other time in history as well.

The irony is that we have the ability to be connected to more people than ever before but we feel more alone than ever before.

A California startup claims it has a solution to loneliness. 

Groundfloor, which began in the San Francisco Bay Area and will soon open a location in Los Angeles, is a social club with a focus on friendship.

Groundfloor co-founder Jermaine Ijieh says the club provides space for work (meeting rooms and phone booths), wellness (classes, gym space, and meditation circles), and socializing. There are karaoke nights, member-led special interest groups and craft workshops. It’s not aiming to compete with WeWork or elite social clubs, Ijieh says. Instead, he likens it to “an after-school club for kids,” but designed primarily for adults over 30.

“There’s always been an issue once you start to hit this age range,” he says. “We start to lose institutions where we used to build communities, such as places of worship, colleges, offices, schools … Once you leave your 20s, it sort of feels like a social purgatory.”

The pitch is working: Groundfloor’s new location in Los Angeles already has 2,000 would-be members on its waitlist. Perhaps that speaks to the isolation of a city of endless traffic, few pedestrians, and its own scientific scale for loneliness. But the club also has three locations in the San Francisco Bay Area that almost 1,000 people have joined. Those numbers underline the reality of the loneliness crisis, especially when you factor in the club’s price tag: $200 a month.

I ask you again, when you try to lessen the loneliness in your life and choose friends, what qualities do you look for?

The Bible tells us this:

Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.” (1 Corinthians 15:33, ESV)

Sometimes we choose friends to our benefit and health.  

But, sometimes we choose friends to our detriment and destruction.

Someone once said that “Jesus most impressive miracle was being 30 years old and having 12 close friends.”

When Jesus, God-in-the-flesh, chose his friends, he didn’t pick the most popular kids or the most wealthy kids or the most educated kids.  Instead, when choosing friends, Jesus used the measuring sticks of faithfulness, availability, and willingness to learn.  

The theme this week at VBS is “Diving Deep Into Friendship With God.”

Every day at Vacation Bible School we are going to be teaching the kids that they have the greatest and truest friend in Jesus. 

So, for this morning’s text, this VBS Kickoff Sunday, I chose a Biblical text from the disciple John’s biography of Jesus, or John’s Good News about Jesus (as we can also call it), in which we are told what Jesus is the greatest and truest friend we could ever have.

Let’s hear from John 15.12-17 now.

John 15:12–17 has Jesus speaking these words to us:

[12] “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. [13] Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. [14] You are my friends if you do what I command you. [15] No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. [16] You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. [17] These things I command you, so that you will love one another. (ESV)

To begin, let’s look at the four (4) qualities that make Jesus the greatest and truest friend we could every have.

First, Jesus obeys God.

The two greatest commandments are love God and love your neighbor.

That means that Jesus loves God always and perfectly and therefore Jesus love you always and perfectly. 

You can’t say that about your human friends.

Second, Jesus loves unconditionally.

The Bible makes it clear that there is nothing we have done, nothing we are doing now, and nothing we will possibly do in the future that will cause God, in Jesus Christ, to stop loving us and chasing after us.

You can’t say that about your human friends.

Third, Jesus sacrifices himself for the needs of others.

The Bible says to put the needs of others above the your own needs.

And, since Jesus always and perfectly obeys God’s commands, that means that He has, is now, and will always put your well being first on his list of priorities.

The ultimate demonstration of this is when Jesus gave His life over to death on the cross for you.  This personal sacrifice of Jesus ensured that through repenting of your Sin—which includes being a selfish and self-centered, unloving, using and abusing friend to others—and placing your trust in Him as the only Lord and Savior who is able to open up the gates of God’s Kingdom wide for you, ensures you that you have the forgiveness you need and the righteousness you need to be accepted and welcomed by God the Father in Heaven.

You can’t say that about your human friends.

And, fourth, Jesus never leaves you or forsakes his friends.

When Jesus ascended back to Heaven after He was crucified and resurrected for your forgiveness and eternal life, he promised you that he will never leave you or forsake you and that he would be with you and living in you every second of every day under the end of time.

You can’t say that about you human friends.  

Friendships in this world come and go as we have all experienced.

But through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, friendship with God will come to you but will never be taken away from you.

Songs often have a way of clearly and succinctly putting truths out into the world.  I want to share with you several songs this morning that describe great and true friendship.

In 1971, Carol King, wrote “You’ve Got a Friend,” in which she said:

Now, ain’t it good to know that you’ve got a friend

When people can be so cold?

They’ll hurt you, yes, and desert you

And take your soul if you let them

Oh, but don’t you let them

You just call out my name

And you know, wherever I am

I’ll come runnin’, runnin’, yeah, yeah

To see you again

Winter, spring, summer or fall

All you have to do is call

And I’ll be there, yes, I will

You’ve got a friend

In 1995, Randy Newman wrote “You’ve Got a Friend In Me,” for Disney’s blockbuster Toy Story.  In this iconic piece of music from 20th Century America, we hear this:

You’ve got a friend in me

When the road looks rough ahead

And you’re miles and miles

From your nice warm bed

You just remember what your old pal said

Boy, you’ve got a friend in me

Yeah, you’ve got a friend in me

You’ve got a friend in me

You’ve got a friend in me

If you’ve got troubles, I’ve got ’em too

There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for you

We stick together and can see it through

Cause you’ve got a friend in me

You’ve got a friend in me

As the years go by 

Our friendship will never die

You’ve got a friend in me

Now, after describing what a true friend is like, using the four above qualities of (1) obeys God, (2) loves unconditionally, (3) sacrifices their own wants for the needs of others, (4) and sticks around in good and bad times, Jesus commands us to love others the way that He loved us.

Let’s be honest.  That’s impossible!

We are naturally selfish.

We are naturally self-centered.

We don’t want to waste our time bending over backwards to help someone else. 

“Ain’t nobody got time for that!”

After all, people are annoying; People are needy; People are difficult. 

Getting involved in the lives of other people is messy and uncomfortable and requires the hard work of compromise, forgiveness, and self-sacrifice.

Like I said,

“Ain’t nobody got time for that!”

So, if we have a natural aversion to doing everything we possibly can to make sure the people in our lives feel loved and valuable, what hope is there for us?

After all, to disobey Jesus’ command is to disobey God’s command since Jesus is God-in-the-flesh with us.  And, the punishment for disobedience to God’s command, even one single time, is rejection from Heaven and eternal separation from God, your Father in Heaven, the Creator of all things.  

Well, this morning’s Biblical text tells us the good news about the hope we have.

Through simple faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, as the only way to God in Heaven, we have the promise and presence of Jesus living in us doing the work of love for us.

The only hope we have for a never-ending friendship with God, the Father in Heaven, the Creator and Maker of all things, is through faith in Jesus which transforms and renews our hearts and minds to be just like His.

In 1855, Joseph Medlicott Scriven wrote the hymn “What a Friend We Have in Jesus,” where we are reminded day after day that:

What a friend we have in Jesus,

all our sins and griefs to bear!

What a privilege to carry

everything to God in prayer!

O what peace we often forfeit,

O what needless pain we bear,

all because we do not carry

everything to God in prayer!

Have we trials and temptations?

Is there trouble anywhere?

We should never be discouraged;

take it to the Lord in prayer!

Can we find a friend so faithful

who will all our sorrows share?

Jesus knows our every weakness;

take it to the Lord in prayer!

This morning dive deep into your friendship with Jesus who lovingly sacrificed himself by obeyed God’s command to die on the cross to forgive you of your Sin and who promises to never leave you or forsake you, but instead walk with you through every trial and temptation until the very end of time when you will be welcomed into God, the Father’s, Kingdom of Heaven.

This week, go into the world and love others as you have first been loved by God—obey God’s commands, love without expecting something in return, make sacrifices for the good of those around you, and stand strongly next to those that are celebrating and those that are suffering.

I want to insert a Biblical note of caution and warning when we are taking about being loving friends to others.

At some level, we all have a Savior complex. But, You are not a Savior.  You are not someone else’s Savior.  You will never be someone else’s Savior.

The only person that can save someone from their self-destructive thinking, speaking, and behavior is God through Jesus. Jesus is and will always be the only Savior and life-changer.

It is always easier for someone to bring you down than it is for you to lift them up.  Without exception.  

As we heard in the beginning, we need to be wise in choosing friends because,

“Bad company ruins good morals.” (1 Corinthians 15:33, ESV)

Choosing the wrong friends that reject the help that true love provides will destroy you, your reputation, your family, your health, and everything and anything else that you hold dearly.

Sometimes, the most loving thing, from a Biblical perspective, that you can do for a friend is walk away.  Some people don’t want the help that true love provides and just want someone to commiserate and join in their self-destruction.

The hope is that the time left alone and separated from the presence of real and true love will be the wake up call that is needed to bring the person to their senses that they are losing everything that means anything.

With that Biblical warning and caution in mind, I leave you with two pieces of good news and some encouragement for your life this week from the disciple John’s 1st letter to the churches around the world.

1 John 3:16–18 tells us this:

[16] By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. [17] But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? [18] Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. (ESV)

And, a little further on in his letter, 1 John 4:7–12 tells us this:

[7] Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. [8] Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. [9] In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. [10] In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. [11] Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. [12] No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. (ESV)

You’ve got a friend in Jesus! 

Bring all of your friendships to him prayer. 

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

August 4, 2024.

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

Jesus Cancels Tiredness

Psalm 6

An elementary school photographer was snapping pictures of first graders, making small talk to put his subjects at ease.

“What are you going to be when you grow up?” he asked one little girl.

She looked at him, shaking her head back and forth, and said, “I am going to be just like my parents when I grow up.  I am going to be tired all the time!”

As a full time parent with a full time job, let me tell you, that little girl is right.  I am tired ALLLLLL the time!

Let me ask you, “Are you tired this morning?”

And, I don’t mean, are you tired from not getting enough sleep last night.

What I mean is, are you tired from the relentless demands of life?

Listen to this list of words and ideas:

  • Troubled
  • Fading strength 
  • Failing strength
  • Weary
  • Whimpering
  • Sobbing
  • Tears welling up
  • Weeping
  • Grief
  • Burdened
  • Weak
  • Desperate
  • Desperately wanting help
  • Desperately needing help
  • Wanting to scream
  • Worn out
  • Burned out

What were you thinking as I read off that list?

I tell you what I was thinking.

I was thinking…

  • “Yes.”
  • “Check”
  • “That’s me!”
  • “That’s how I feel”
  • “Amen”
  • “Preach it”
  • “Was somebody listening to me share my feelings with my wife this week?”

Maybe you are in the same boat now, or have been in this boat before.

So, I ask you again, “Are you tired?”

Well, if you are tired from the relentless demands of life that seem like crushing weights on your back, you are not alone.  Not only am I here with you feeling that way, King David, the writer of this morning’s Biblical text is here with you as well.

Let’s hear about the tiredness that Kind David experienced as he brings his life to God in prayer.

King David’s prayer is Psalm 6 says this:

[1] O LORD, rebuke me not in your anger,

nor discipline me in your wrath.

[2] Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am languishing;

heal me, O LORD, for my bones are troubled.

[3] My soul also is greatly troubled.

But you, O LORD—how long?

[4] Turn, O LORD, deliver my life;

save me for the sake of your steadfast love.

[5] For in death there is no remembrance of you;

in Sheol who will give you praise?

[6] I am weary with my moaning;

every night I flood my bed with tears;

I drench my couch with my weeping.

[7] My eye wastes away because of grief;

it grows weak because of all my foes.

[8] Depart from me, all you workers of evil,

for the LORD has heard the sound of my weeping.

[9] The LORD has heard my plea;

the LORD accepts my prayer.

[10] All my enemies shall be ashamed and greatly troubled;

they shall turn back and be put to shame in a moment.

Listen to the words that King David uses to describe his mental and physical state.

He says:

  • His bones are troubled
  • He is languishing (which is a fancy way of saying weak)
  • His soul is greatly troubled
  • He is thinking about death
  • He is weary
  • He is moaning in pain and agony (both mental and physical)
  • His tears are flooding his bed
  • His couch is drenched with weeping
  • He is filled with grief
  • He is weak
  • He is screaming at God asking “How long do I have to suffer? When are you going to rescue me? Don’t you love me?”
  • And, he is tired of the people around him.  He wants to yell at the top of his lungs, “Leave me alone!”

The list of words and ideas that I shared with you a few minutes ago—the list that described what it feels like to be tired from the relentless burdens of life—is actually a list of words and ideas about how King David felt—straight from the Bible.

Let me ask you another question.

Have you ever been worried to the point that it made you physically sick?

Our mental burdens often have the ability to affect us physically.

When we are overwhelmed and burdened with worry, we experience headaches, anxiety attacks, nausea, sometimes to the point of throwing up, we have trouble focusing on one task, and we can’t shake tiredness.

King David’s mental tiredness, that led him to be physically sick and tired, stemmed from his worry over two separate issues.

The first issue that made King David tired of life was his worries about other people. 

He was mentally and physically tired because he was worrying about what other were saying, or could possibly say about him.

And, he was mentally and physically tired because he was worrying about what other people were trying to do, or could possibly try to do to harm him.

The second issue that made King David tired of life was his worries about God.

He was mentally and physically tired because he was worrying about what God would and could do to him because of his sin.

In 2005, A store called MinneNAPolis opened in Minnesota’s Mall of America. It rents comfy spots where weary shoppers can take naps for 70 cents a minute. Founded by PowerNap Sleep Centers of Boca Raton, Florida, the new store includes themed rooms such as Asian Mist, Tropical Isle, and Deep Space, and the walls are thick enough to drown out the sounds of squealing children outside.

The company’s website says, “Escape the pressures of the real world into the pleasures of an ideal one.” “It’s not just napping,” reads the press release. “Some guests will want to listen to music, put their feet up, watch the water trickling in the beautiful stone waterfall, breathe in the positive-ionization-filtered air, enjoy the full-body massager, and just take an enjoyable escape from the fast-paced lifestyle.”

David wanted rest more than anything else.

He wanted rest from his manic state of worry and panic.

In his words and thoughts in Psalm 5, which we heard from 3 weeks ago, King David knew that his disobedience to God’s laws for life and love put him in a position where God have every right to punish him or destroy him.

But, his prayer showed that he knew the truth about God, the Father in Heaven, the Creator of all that exists.

King David knew the truth that God offers forgiveness for disobedience, forgiveness for ungodly thoughts, forgiveness for unGodly words, forgiveness for unGodly deeds, forgiveness for wrongdoing, and the forgiveness for sin, whatever you call it—the stuff that goes completely against God’s holiness.

King David’s prayer, here in Psalm 6 shows King David’s confidence in God to heal, deliver, punish sin, rescue him, guide him, protect him, and provide for ALL his needs—physical, mental, emotional, and relational.

David’s prayer starts with the plea, “Help me! Save me from myself!”

And, David’s prayer ends with the confidence that because of God’s grace, God will save him and allow him to rest.

King David could rest because the most important thing in his life was fixed and could never be broken again—his relationship with God.

The bottom line in this morning’s text is this:

King David was tired from the relentless burdens of life but God and his grace allowed David to rest.

King David’s words in Psalm 4 say:

[7] You have put joy in my heart…

[8] In peace I will both lie down and sleep;

for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety. (Psalm 4:7–8, ESV)

God took David to his own MinneNAPolis.

God’s promises and God’s active work in David’s life canceled David’s ultimate tiredness.

The bottom line for you this morning is this:

You are tired from the relentless burdens of life but, God and his grace allow you to rest.

For you, Jesus cancels tiredness—the tiredness that comes from worrying about what other people think about you and what other can can and will do to you.

For you, Jesus cancels tiredness—the tiredness that comes from worrying about what God thinks of you and what God can do to you because of your sin.

The first question that is proposed and answered in Luther’s Small Catechism, one of the books we use to teach our Confirmation class is:

What are God’s thoughts about me?

And, the answer given and the Bible verse quoted are:

“God’s thoughts about me are thoughts of love and blessing.”

John 3:16—For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Jesus calls his followers to obey God and rest.

Mark 6.31 has Jesus commanding his disciples with these words:

[31] … “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.”

The idea of resting in and with God was not new to Jesus’ ministry.

God built rest into Creation. So, rest is natural — regardless of what your anxiety, workaholism and worry tell you.

[1] Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. [2] And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. [3] So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. (Genesis 2:1–3, ESV)

And, God made rest one of the Ten Commandments.  Rest is good for you.

[8] “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. [9] Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, [10] but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. [11] For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. (Exodus 20:8–11, ESV)

In Matthew 11:28–30, Jesus tells you how that Godly rest comes about for you.  Jesus says:

[28] Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. [29] Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. [30] For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (ESV)

With faith in Jesus, you can rest, because all of the work that needs to be done to restore your relationship with God is done. It is completed 100%. It is finished.

Those are Jesus’ exact words to you as he looks at you from the cross.  As he breaths his last breath on the cross, bearing all of the guilt for all of King David’s sin, for all of my sin, and for all of your sin, Jesus says to you,

“Rest because the ultimate work of pleasing God is finished for you!”

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

July 28, 2024

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

Who Is This Jesus?

Mark 6.1-6

The Apostle Paul, who is responsible for writing most of the New Testament part of our Bible, once said that he had many personal accomplishments to boast about.

To boast is to brag, or to talk with excessive pride about personal achievements, possessions, and abilities.

In the words and likes of the Apostle Paul, I, Frederick Reid Scragg V, also have many reasons to be confident and to boast.

I am the Pastor of Bethel Lutheran Brethren Church, baptizing, confirming, counseling, discipling, and ushering God’s saints into glory for almost 18 years.

I am a Board of Education Trustee in South Huntington, running the entire public school system with 6 of my peers.

I am a Trustee on The Town of Huntington’s Public Art Advisory Committee, securing artists and artwork to beautify our public spaces.

I am a Trustee on South Huntington Educational Foundation’s Executive Board, raising money to build art galleries, recording studios, and outdoor performing venues in our school district.

I received a full academic scholarship to college.

I am a recording and touring musician.

I am a cancer survivor.

I am a grateful recovered alcoholic.

I am a published author.

And, the list goes on.

But, when I go away from all of those places and positions, when I walk through the doors of my home, I am husband and father.  

And, in my home, all that is cared about is what I will be cooking for dinner, and where I obviously “maliciously” hid the newest super tiny video game cartridge.

To the people outside my home, I am often told how amazing I am for all I do for them and our community.

To the people closest to me, those in my home, I am amazing at being annoying.

There is often a huge difference in how the people close to us think about us and how people who don’t know us as well think about us. 

In this morning’s text, chosen for us, once again, by the lectionary, we return to the Good News according to Mark.  

In this morning’s Biblical text, we are told about the time when Jesus returns to his hometown, after teaching amazing things and doing amazing miracles, to share about the grace and mercy of God.

However, Jesus, in his hometown, is met with rejection from those who knew him closely.

Mark 6:1–6 tells us this:

[1] He went away from there and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. [2] And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands? [3] Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. [4] And Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.” [5] And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. [6] And he marveled because of their unbelief.

And he went about among the villages teaching. (ESV)

At this point in Jesus’ life, Jesus had been traveling around the Mediterranean region preaching about the need to repent of one’s Sin and the need to believe and receive the good news of God’s forgiveness, righteousness, and life, through faith in His life, coming death, and coming resurrection.  

Jesus was also teaching what God’s Law, revealed throughout history (in what we  now call the Old Testament), truly meant for life and love on a daily basis.

And, in addition to that teaching and preaching with Heavenly authority, Jesus was also healing the sick and raising the dead to demonstrate that He truly is God in the flesh, 100 percent fully God and 100 percent fully man at the same exact time.

We are told over and over again that people followed Jesus from town to town to hear him speak and to experience His healing touch.  Up to this point, the crowds outside of his hometown experienced God’s grace when they came into contract with Jesus.  And, the news about the things that Jesus said and did outside of his hometown certainly made their way back to his relatives and friends at home.

However, when Jesus returned to His hometown, the place where He grew up, those that were overly familiar with Him before His ministry days, laughed at him, mocked him, questioned him, and rejected the fact that He was God in flesh who came to help them, teach them, heal them, and save them.

After all, how could this rambunctious toddler, moody teenager, and unmarried and childless adult from their small and nowhere town, that grew up before their eyes, be someone great or do something great?

The people outside of His hometown often told Jesus how amazing He was for all that He did and was doing for them.

To the people closest to Jesus, those in his hometown, He was amazing at being arrogant, annoying, and overstepping His humanity.

Their initial amazement at Jesus’ words and actions, that Mark tells us about, quickly turns to skepticism.

They would immediately ask:

Where did Jesus get this teaching?

What is this wisdom given to him?

How are these miracles performed by his hands?

Isn’t this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon?

Are not his sisters here with us now?

Two weeks ago, at the beginning of my piano lesson, my teacher asked me, “How close are you with Jesus?”

To his question, I replied, “So close that we are united.  Everything that He has is completely mine.”

He sat back in his chair after I answered and thought quietly.  He then spoke up and said, “I have never heard an answer like that before.”

He asked me that question because he has a Catholic and Franciscan background and is no longer connected to a church or religious institution.  I think he is trying to figure out how a guy like me, his age, with a love for music and black heavy metal t-shirts, operates in daily life as a pastor.

If we asked the people in front of Jesus in this morning’s Biblical text the same question, “How close are you with Jesus?,” we would get a bunch of different answers.

Some would say, “We are so close that I babysat for him and changed his diapers when he was a toddler.”

Some would say, “We are so close that he built the table in my house with his father, Joseph, during his carpentry apprenticeship days.”

Some would say, “We are so close that our kids played games with him out in the field when they were teenagers.”

So, when Jesus attempted to teach them about the promise fulfillments from God’s Word in his presence with them that day, they had a hard time believing that this Jesus that they knew so closely was something other than the guy they could see at face value. 

This visit to his hometown was actually his second and final visit.  On his first visit, those that were relationally close with Jesus accused him of overstepping his bounds and attempted to kill him.

But, Jesus, having a heart of compassion for everyone and a desire and will that all men and women be saved from their sin, returns to those who tried to kill him, to once again give them the opportunity to repent, believe, and receive forgiveness for sin and  eternal life.

What we see and hear in this text should lead us to consider and answer three questions.


The first question is, “When Jesus is before you, are you only amazed?”

What we learn from Jesus’ hometown acquaintances is that being astonished by Jesus’ teaching is not enough, being captivated by Jesus’ miracles is not enough and Jesus’ unimpressive background is no big deal.

Like Jesus’ hometown acquaintances, do you find yourself only amazed at Jesus this morning?  Or, do you have faith in Him as God’s Savior sent to you?

The second question is, “When Jesus is before you, are you offended?”

What we learn from Jesus’ hometown acquaintances is that in spite of clear evidence, we may reject him, and in spite of being in close proximity to Jesus, we may dishonor him.

Like Jesus’ hometown acquaintances, are you offended by Jesus this morning?  Or, do you have faith in Him as God’s Savior sent to you?

And, the third question is, “When Jesus is before you, are you guilty of unbelief?”

What we learn from Jesus’ hometown acquaintances is that unbelief limits Jesus’ work in your life, and unbelief is one thing that amazes Jesus.

Like Jesus’ hometown acquaintances, are you guilty of not believing in Jesus this morning?  Or, do you have faith in Him as God’s Savior sent to you?

I can guarantee that those that rejected Jesus on this day in his hometown would no doubt attempt to use their physical closeness to Jesus when they stood before God’s throne.

Caught by God apart from faith in Jesus, they would say:

“God you have to love me, I changed Jesus’ diapers.”

“God you have to love me, I hired Jesus and his poor father to make furniture for my house.”

“God you have to love me, I fed Jesus dinner when he came in tired after playing games with my boys.”

And, I can guarantee that those who reject Jesus today, will do the same.

“God, you have to love me, I went to church most Sundays.”

“God, you have to love me, I gave money into the collection every time I went to church.”

“God, you have to love me, I sat through the boring Confirmation class for 2 whole years!”

“God, you have to love me, I took sermon notes and reviewed them when I got home.”

“God, you have to love me, I helped with VBS every single summer.”

Although those things are all good things, they are not things that make you lovable and acceptable to God.

The apostle Paul, who I mentioned at the outset of this message, knew that the things of this life, regardless of how good they seem, do not matter and do not earn you anything when standing before God’s throne in Heaven.

The apostle Paul said this in his letter to the church in the city of Philippi during the 1st Century:

[4] …I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: [5] circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; [6] as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. [7] But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. [8] Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ [9] and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—[10] that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, [11] that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3:4–11, ESV)

Oseola McCarty, 87, did one thing all her life: laundry.

Now she’s famous for it–or at least for what she did with $150,000 of the $250,000 she saved by washing the dirty clothes of wealthy bankers and merchants in her hometown of Hattiesburg, Mississippi. For decades she earned 50 cents per load (a week’s worth of one family’s laundry). But when she finally laid down her old-fashioned washboard–which she always preferred over new-fangled electric washing machines–McCarty decided to ask her banker how much money she had stowed away.

The figure astounded her. Then it set her to thinking. “I had more than what I could use in the bank,” she explained to Christian Reader, “and I can’t carry anything away from here with me, so I thought it was best to give it to some child to get an education.”

To the astonishment of school officials, the soft-spoken, never-married laundry woman from a not-so-posh part of town gave $150,000 to the nearby University of Southern Mississippi to help African-American young people attend college. 

The first recipient is 18-year-old Stephanie Bullock, a freshman at USM, who has already immediately invited Miss McCarty to her college graduation ceremony which was 4 years away.

To date, McCarty has been interviewed by Barbara Walters, each of the major network news programs, CNN, People magazine … and the list goes on. Though she had never traveled out of the South before, McCarty visited the White House, where President Clinton awarded her the Presidential Citizenship Award.

McCarty attends Friendship Baptist Church and reads her Bible every morning and prays on her knees every evening. 

Discounting the publicity, she says she is simply grateful for the chance to help others gain what she lost: in the sixth grade she was pulled out of school to care for an ailing family member and to help her mother with the laundry.

“It’s more blessed to give than to receive,” she tells reporters when they ask why she didn’t use the money on herself. “I’ve tried it.”1

Jesus returned to his hometown to help people gain what they lost—a connection to God, their Father in Heaven, because of the Sin that so easily entangles.

Jesus returns to you time and time again in your baptism, in the Word, and in the Sacrament of Communion, to help you gain what you lost— connection to God, your Father in Heaven, because of the Sin that so easily entangles.

In all instances, Jesus knows God’s promise that He is more blessed to give—to give His life over to death on the cross to provide you and me with forgiveness for our sin—than to receive the temporal rewards and fading glory that this world would give him.

The people of Jesus hometown were hard hearted and rejected Jesus because of their past experiences with Him and His people.

This morning, do not be like those that were physically close to Jesus but spiritually separated from him.  

Repent of your sin of being hard hearted when it comes to Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection of you.

Repent and confess that you have been amazed by what you heard about Jesus and from Jesus, but never believed in what you heard about Him or from Him.

Repent and confess that you have dishonored and rejected  Jesus because you were offended by the evidence of your Sin and need for a Savior.

And, repent of your sin of unbelief.  

When I stand before God, He will not care that I spent my time in this life a pastor, or a Trustee on the Board of Education, Huntington’s Public Art Advisory Committee, and South Huntington’s Education Foundation.

When I stand before God, He will not care that I received a full scholarship to college, that I am a cancer survivor, a published author, and that I had been a recording and touring musician.

The only question God will have for me and you is, “How close are you to Jesus?”  

And, the only answer that matters comes from having in faith in Jesus and Lord and Savior.  

The answer that God wants to hear is, “I am so close with Jesus that we are united.  All that He has is mine today, tomorrow, and forever.  His perfect and righteous life is mine, His atoning and sin forgiving death is mine, and His resurrection life is mine.”

Go into the villages of your world this week—your home, your office, your camp, your school—and teach this good news of rescue to all that you come into contact with.  

The Apostle Paul tells you how to teach that Good News in 2 Corinthians 12:9–10 when he says:

[9] [Jesus] said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. [10] For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (ESV)

I leave you with Jesus’ words from the Good News according to Matthew:

[32] So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, [33] but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 10:32–33, ESV)

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

July 14, 2024.

  1. Kevin Dale Miller, Christian Reader, “Ordinary Heroes.” ↩︎
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Jesus Cancels Your Lies

Psalm 5

Do you feel guilty about lies you have told in the past? 

Do you find yourself re-running over and over and over the moments that you got caught in your lies?  

Do the feelings of embarrassment, shame, guilt, and anger at yourself continue to follow you around?

Do you feel like you are being crushed by the lies you are telling now? 

Do you feel like it is a full time job with a full schedule of overtime trying to keep the lie going while you meticulously obsess over covering up your tracks to make sure, to the best of your ability, that you aren’t found out and don’t get caught?

Do you feel angry about those around you who seem to be living their best life (better than yours) but are lying to get what they have?

Jason Walker, the Austrailian country music singer and song writer penned this thought in one of his songs:

Everybody lies, lies, lies

It’s the only truth sometimes

Doesn’t matter if it’s out there somewhere 

waiting for the world to find

Or buried deep inside

Yeah, everybody lies

Everybody lies

I tend to agree with Walker’s assessment of the human race in these words.

A few years ago, two defendants who appeared in a Montana County District court received unique punishments as part of the sentencing phase of their trial. Their punishment involved wearing signs.

Back in 2017 and 2018, Ryan Morris and Troy Allen Nelson were in violation of their respective probations related to previous criminal offenses. They both lied to the court about having served in the military in order to receive more lenient sentences for their previous criminal behavior.

Judge Pinksi sentenced Morris to ten years for felony burglary, and Nelson five years for felony criminal possession of dangerous drugs, both with years suspended. 

The judge ruled that Morris and Nelson would be required to write letters of apology to various veterans’ groups as well as complete 441 hours of community service. This was one hour for each citizen of Montana killed in combat since the Korean war. 

Then, during the years of their suspended sentence, they would be required to spend each Memorial Day and Veterans day visiting the Montana Veterans Memorial. While they are at the memorial they would be required to wear a placard that reads, “I am a liar, I am not a veteran. I stole valor. I have dishonored all veterans.”

Judge Pinski said, “I want to make sure that my message is received loud and clear by these two defendants. By lying, you’ve been nothing but disrespectful in your conduct. By lying, you certainly have not respected the Army. By lying, you’ve not respected the veterans. By lying, you’ve not respected the court. And, by lying, you haven’t respected yourselves.”

In our text this morning, King David, the writer of most of the songs found in the book of Psalms, wants to make sure that God’s rules surrounding lying is received loud and clear.  

Let’s hear what King David prays in Psalm 5.

Psalm 5 says this:

[1] Give ear to my words, O LORD;

consider my groaning.

[2] Give attention to the sound of my cry,

my King and my God,

for to you do I pray.

[3] O LORD, in the morning you hear my voice;

in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.

[4] For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;

evil may not dwell with you.

[5] The boastful shall not stand before your eyes;

you hate all evildoers.

[6]You destroy those who speak lies;

the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.

[7] But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love,

will enter your house.

I will bow down toward your holy temple

in the fear of you.

[8] Lead me, O LORD, in your righteousness

because of my enemies;

make your way straight before me.

[9] For there is no truth in their mouth;

their inmost self is destruction;

their throat is an open grave;

they flatter with their tongue.

[10] Make them bear their guilt, O God;

let them fall by their own counsels;

because of the abundance of their transgressions cast them out,

for they have rebelled against you.

[11] But let all who take refuge in you rejoice;

let them ever sing for joy,

and spread your protection over them,

that those who love your name may exult in you.

[12] For you bless the righteous, O LORD;

you cover him with favor as with a shield. (ESV)

One of God’s major commandments, found in the list of His Ten Commandments has to do with truth telling and denying the temptation to lie in order to make yourself look better or feel better.

In the Ninth Commandment, God tells you this:

[16] “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. (Exodus 20:16, ESV)

This commandment to “fear and love God so that we do not misrepresent, betray, lie about, nor slander our neighbor, but defend him, speak well of him, and say the kindest things we can about all he does,” obviously extends truth telling in all areas of our lives.

If we have been honest thus far, we have established that we are all liars to some degree.

And, if you are listening to me now and you respond, “I am not a liar!,” the ironic thing is that you are lying to yourself, to me, and to God with that statement.

By lying, you’ve not respected God.

So, if we are all liars, what does lying get us?

What is the end or the fate for liars?

This morning’s text has much to say about that.

Here is what King David says in Psalm 5 about those who lie.

First, King David says that God does not delight in you.

Second, King David says that you will not be able to stand before God.

Third, King David says that you will not be able to live with God.

Fourth, in one of the strongest statements, that I find it hard to say out loud, King David says that God hates you.

Fifth, if knowing that God hates you, the liar, isn’t enough, King David says that you who have lied or are lying or who will lie in the future, will be destroyed by God.

And, finally, King David says that God will not even look at you if you have lied or are lying or lie in the future.

When we hear how God thinks and feels about liars and how God treats liars, it is terrifying, but it is also heartbreaking.

When he came face-to-face with God, who is holy, the prophet Isaiah was driven to examine himself.  In that examination, the prophet Isaiah realized that he had used his mouth in unGodly ways, including lying.

Here is what Isiah said as he stood before God’s throne:

“Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” (Isaiah 6.5)

Isaiah was both terrified and heartbroken when he realized that the things that came out of his mouth affected his relationship with God.

He was terrified because he realized that his misuse of his mouth made him guilty before God and therefore God had every right to punish him with all of the power in the Universe.

He was also heartbroken because his misuse of his mouth separated him from God, who chose to create him and love him.  His God couldn’t even look at him because of the garbage and filth and lies that poured so easily out of his mouth.

He realized what James, the brother of Jesus, would vocalize and write down thousands of years later.

James puts it this way:

How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! [6] And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. [7] For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, [8] but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. [9] With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. [10] From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. (James 3.5-10, ESV)

For each of us listening this morning to what God has to say about liars and lying, we should be saying the same thing as Isaiah:

“Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips;

However, there is good news for you this morning.

In fact, there is great news waiting for you as you confess misusing your mouth as Isiah did.

As you confess that sin, you will be assured or reassured of God’s grace, which acts quickly to forgive us, just as Isaiah was.

Isiah tells us that after his confession of using his mouth for evil purposes, including lying, this happened:

“Then one of [God’s angels] flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” (Isaiah 6.6-7)

When you confess your sin of misusing your mouth to both boast and lie, you have the good news that we hear at the beginning of every Sunday morning service:

[9] If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1.9)

When we confess our sin to God, our Father in Heaven, our fears are calmed and our broken hearts are mended.

Through the life, death, and Jesus Christ, God forgives our boasting and lying.

Therefore, the good news for you is that Jesus cancels your lies.

His death on the cross took the guilt of your boasting and lying away.  

On the cross Jesus took your sin, which includes boasting and lying, and gave you his perfection, his holiness, his righteousness, in truth telling.

In what has become my favorite Bible verse, Jesus says this in John 14.6:

[6] Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (ESV)

This week as you make your way throughout the days that God gives you, speak the words that King David spoke which remind you that your past, present, and future sins that involve the misuse of your words and mouth are forgiven. 

Say, with King David:

[6]You destroy those who speak lies;

the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.

[7] But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love,

will enter your house.

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

July 7, 2024

Pastoral Responsive Prayer:

Lord God Almighty, 

As we gaze upon your holiness, we are left devastated by our sinfulness. We are lost in the uncleanness of our lips. Unimaginably selfish, utterly prideful, and crushingly unloving words have been spoken freely from these lips. At the same time, we often use our lips to say good things only so that we will be praised by others or so that you will accept us based on our righteousness. We constantly fail to use our lips to say loving or truthful things because we would rather save ourselves the trouble of loving you and others. We live among others who also have unclean lips: we have been mocked, offended, and hated through the lips of others. We confess that we have often responded to these sins with spiteful anger. 

Show us our Savior! The prophet cried, “Woe is me!” as his unclean lips were exposed in light of your holiness. We come boldly to you because the woe that we deserve has been entirely poured out on your Son, Jesus Christ. The sacrifice appointed to redeem our shameful lips was none other than the gruesome death of one whose lips were perfectly clean. Jesus’ lips spoke love to children, quieted storms, declared forgiveness to sinners, and remained silent before his accusers. When Jesus was angry, his lips remained pure, as his anger was expressed in ways that continued to fulfill your commandment to love you and others before himself. The very lips that spoke, “Father forgive them,” that we might be saved, cried out in agony, “Father, why have you forsaken me?” so that we would not be forsaken. We are left in awe at this unfathomable act of love. 

Thank you, Father, that the cross stands empty now. Jesus is risen, and you have made us alive in him. Help us, Lord, to speak in light of this gospel news. May we use our lips to speak the same grace and love that have been so richly lavished upon us. When we fail, Lord, help us to remember the words of forgiveness that have been so powerfully guaranteed by the blood of Jesus. Help us to wait patiently for the day when our faith will be sight, the day our lips will finally and purely sing, “Hallelujah, what a Savior!” 

In Jesus’ name, amen.  

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

Your Great Physician and Savior

Mark 5.21-43

Mark 5:21–43 tells us this:

[21] And when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered about him, and he was beside the sea. [22] Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, and seeing him, he fell at his feet [23] and implored him earnestly, saying, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well and live.” [24] And he went with him.

And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him. [25] And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, [26] and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse. [27] She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. [28] For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.” [29] And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. [30] And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my garments?” [31] And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’” [32] And he looked around to see who had done it. [33] But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth. [34] And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”

[35] While he was still speaking, there came from the ruler’s house some who said, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?” [36] But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.” [37] And he allowed no one to follow him except Peter and James and John the brother of James. [38] They came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and Jesus saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. [39] And when he had entered, he said to them, “Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but sleeping.” [40] And they laughed at him. But he put them all outside and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him and went in where the child was. [41] Taking her by the hand he said to her, “Talitha cumi,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” [42] And immediately the girl got up and began walking (for she was twelve years of age), and they were immediately overcome with amazement. [43] And he strictly charged them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat. (ESV)

This Biblical text from Mark’s account of the Good News of Jesus Christ, tells us two stories at the same time.

The first story is about a man named Jairus.  Jairus, we are told is a ruler in the local synagogue.  Jairus comes to Jesus because he has lost all hope in the powers of this world.  

Jairus’ daughter is on her death bed.  In contrast to many of his Jewish friends at the synagogue, Jairus finds himself believing in Jesus as the person who possesses the full power of God, the Father in Heaven, and can therefore help his daughter.  

Jesus, knowing Jairus’ faith, goes home with him and brings his daughter back to life after she dies.

The second story is about an unnamed woman who has been physically suffering (and we can assume mentally suffering) for 12 years with a condition that caused her to bleed without stopping.  The woman hears that Jesus has come to town and has faith that He is sent by God as the Healer/Great Physician and Savior.  This woman also believes that Jesus’ power is so great that even if she simply touches a piece of his clothing, God’s power will stop her bleeding and restore her to life.  

So, the woman follows Jesus in a crowd, reaches out and touches His robe.  She is immediately healed of her debilitating illness.  

Jesus senses that power has gone out from him and has changed someone’s life for the better.  After the woman admits her doing, Jesus commends her faith for believing that He is God present with her.

The faith of Jairus and the faith of the bleeding woman caused them to do what Paul encourages us to do in our faith.

In 1 Peter 5:6–11, Paul gives these instructions for Christian living:

[6] Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, [7] casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. [8] Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. [9] Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. [10] And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. [11] To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. (ESV)

And, Jairus and the bleeding woman also knew, possibly from hearing King David’s words in Psalm 34 that:

[17] When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears

and delivers them out of all their troubles.

[18] The LORD is near to the brokenhearted

and saves the crushed in spirit. (Psalm 34:17–18, ESV)

In our Biblical text for this morning, in contrast to these two people of faith, we see great numbers of faithless people breaking God’s commandments.  

Many do not believe that Jesus is God’s Messiah—the Savior of humanity.

Many do not believe that Jesus is fully God and fully man in one person.

Many do not believe that Jesus is able to heal those that He comes into contact with.

Many laugh at Jesus and mock Him when he talks about raising the dead the life.  

Many have other false gods that they follow.  

They trust and follow rulers of this world who promise to save them from the discomfort that is often part of daily life.  

They trust and follow religious and spiritual gurus who promise inner and outer peace by meditation and good and sacrificial works.

They trust and follow philosophers who promise a better world through reason, logic, and knowledge.

They trust themselves to be able to change and prove their worth and value and lovability to the world and to their god (their unBiblical and false conception of God that they came to in their own darkened and broken understanding).  

The faithless ones all look at Jesus and say things like:

“You don’t have the power to heal!”

“You don’t have the power to save us from our Sin!”

“You are such a silly man for saying you can heal a person or raise someone from the dead.  That is simply illogical and unreasonable.  All I can do is laugh at you.”

We are often the faithless men and women in this morning’s text instead of the faithful Jairus and sickly woman.  

So, what hope do we have?

We have the hope that comes from Jesus in our place.

Jesus completely trusts God, the Father in Heaven. From conception to death to resurrection and ascension Jesus never wavered in his trust of God.  There is never a moment that Jesus does not trust God’s goodness.  Even in the moments of facing the excruciating torturous and painful death on the cross, we hear Jesus pray to God in the Garden of Gethsemane and say, “Not my will, but yours be done!”

Even when we are faithless, Jesus is faithful for us.

And, through faith in Jesus as fully God and fully man, as God’s Messiah—the Savior and Great Physician, just like the synagogue ruler, Jairus, and the bleeding and unclean woman, we are united with Jesus and the power of God is released into our lives for healing and salvation because we are given everything that Jesus did as if we did it ourselves.  

This is the love of God for you in action!

God, in Jesus Christ, did for you what you could never do for yourself—perfectly obey every single one of God’s commands for loving Him and loving others.  

Jesus has the faith in God that you need because you do not always believe.

Jesus has the trust in God that you need because you often doubt and laugh at His promises and power.

Jesus has the constant focus on God that you need because you rely on the things and people (including yourself) of this world for help and hope—only to be let down over and over again.

It is only through Jesus that we receive the forgiveness of our sin, the eventual full healing of our bodies for an eternal existence in Heaven, and peace and hope for today, tomorrow, and forever.

In the Old Testament, the prophet Isaiah speaks of Jesus many years before He would walk the earth.

In Chapter 53, Isaiah speaks about Jesus in a way that has caused us to label Jesus The Suffering Servant.

In verses 3-6 of Isiah 53, the prophet says this:

[4] Surely he has borne our griefs

and carried our sorrows;

yet we esteemed him stricken,

smitten by God, and afflicted.

[5] But he was pierced for our transgressions;

he was crushed for our iniquities;

upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,

and with his wounds we are healed.

[6] All we like sheep have gone astray;

we have turned—every one—to his own way;

and the LORD has laid on him

the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:4–6, ESV)

As the Suffering Servant, Jesus has come to suffer for and serve you.

The prophet Hosea spoke of God’s heart when he shared this:

[6] For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,

the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. (Hosea 6:6, ESV)

Many years later, Jesus uses these same words to describe his ministry to you.

In Matthew 9:10–13, you hear Jesus describe the reason He is here with you.

[10] And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. [11] And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” [12] But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. [13] Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” (ESV)

In this text, we see that God in the flesh, Jesus, considers mercy greater than sacrifice.

Jesus does two things in that prove He cares more about taking care of you than He does about doing things according to the religious rulers misinterpretation and misunderstanding of God’s Law. 

First, Jesus touches a sick and unclean woman.

Second, Jesus touches a dead body.

Both of these things were forbidden by Jewish Law and made the person who did them unclean in return and therefore unable to participate in the temple and synagogue rituals.  And, what they means is that they were cut off from God for a set period of time and weren’t allowed to experience his love, grace, and mercy.

Jesus will do whatever it takes to heal you and save you from the sickness and sin that leads to the ultimate death of eternal separation from God so that you can continually experience the love, grace, and mercy of God.

In an interesting textual note from this morning’s Biblical text, the Greek word that is translated as heal can also be translated as save.

So, we are being told in these two personal encounters that Jesus does whatever is takes to heal you and save you.  

Because of sin, our disobedience to God’s standards for life and love, we have both a sickness and death that we cannot escape or overcome on our own.

Therefore, Jesus dies on the cross the pay the price for your sin and carry you into God’s presence in the Kingdom of Heaven.

In that crucifixion that Jesus experienced, your life was crossed with his.

For the young girl who died, Jesus took her death and gave her life.

For the sick and bleeding woman, Jesus took her uncleanness and gave her purity.

Jesus is the Great Physician.  He came to heal you and save you too.

Jesus comes to you right now to reach out and touch you so that you receive the healing from and forgiveness for your Sin that you need in order to be reconnected back to God in Heaven for eternity.

When you come into contact with Jesus, he takes your sickness and death and gives you purity, righteousness, and life.

Repent and believe this morning.

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

June 30, 2024

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

You Shall Not Perish

Mark 2.23-28

In August 2000, 118 Russian sailors perished when the Kursk nuclear submarine suffered an underwater explosion and became disabled in the depths of the icy Barents Sea. High-level Russian sources recently told Time magazine that some of the men could have been saved had rescue gear aboard the Russian submarine been tested. According to studies done after the mishap, 23 surviving crew-members rushed to a floating rescue capsule located in the rear of the submarine. But the capsule failed to disengage and surface because of mechanical problems that existed from the time the sub was commissioned. It seems the ship’s completion was behind schedule and “orders from the top” demanded that shortcuts be taken to make the construction deadline. One such shortcut was failing to test the capsule to see if it could handle the pressure of a rescue procedure.

Over 100 men perished on a disabled and sinking ship because their escape plan was unreliable.  The thing and the people that they trusted did not deliver on their promises to save them in their moment of need.  So, instead of continued life, death was on the menu for them.

This morning’s Biblical text is about death. (I know a very light topic.)

We are going to see and hear from the disciple Mark that Jesus’ followers were seeking rescue from a sinking and disabled ship so they they didn’t die.

Mark 4:35–41 tells us this:

[35] On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” [36] And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. [37] And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. [38] But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” [39] And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. [40] He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” [41] And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” (ESV)

The first thing we should always do after reading a Scripture is to summarize the facts of who, what, where, and when.  This gives us the only context to understand what God is teaching us through Jesus’ words and actions.

In this morning’s text from the good news according to the disciple Mark, we have Jesus and his disciples crossing a lake in a boat.  While they are in the boat, a storm overtakes them and begins shaking, rocking, and filling the boat with water.  The disciples enter into panic and survival mode and go to Jesus for help.  When they approach Jesus, Jesus is sleeping and the disciples immediately, without a second thought, question Jesus’ concern for them.

Doesn’t that all sound familiar?

When there are no considerable troubles in front of us, we live day to day like God doesn’t exist and we don’t need the love and forgiveness of Jesus.

However, the second life gets uncomfortable and troubles arise that threaten our peace of mind, we, without a second thought question Jesus’ concern for us.

In the past, I have focused on the fear and the lack of trust in Jesus when approaching this passage. 

Now, to be clear, both of those things are important and true applications of this passage.  But, this week, I realized that I have spent decades missing a key point in this piece of Biblical text.

And, that key piece comes from the question that the disciples ask Jesus.

I have come to love the question that the disciples ask because it is the peak of irony.

The disciples ask Jesus, “do you not care that we are perishing?”

The disciples think that because Jesus was resting from the travel, teaching, and constant care of all of those that he came into contact with (or, finding a few minutes of Sabbath in the context of last week’s message), that he just didn’t care if they died.

This is ironic because they overlook Jesus’ primary purpose in coming to them and being with them.

Jesus was present with them in this life so that they would not perish.  

The most famous Scripture of all time, which we probably gloss over in our minds at this point because we have heard it so many times, says this:

[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. [17] For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. (John 3:16–17, ESV)

The very reason that God is with the disciples in the flesh and bones of humanity in the person of Jesus Christ is to ensure that they do not perish—that is, so that they do not die.  And, by death, Biblically, we mean being separated from God the Father in Heaven eternally.

What the disciples forgot in their moments of being afraid and uncomfortable is that God is with them in the person of Jesus to save them from the effects of death due to sin.

You see, because of sin—our inborn desire to deny and disobey God for our own immediate pleasure and satisfaction—each of us is on a disabled and sinking ship and we need a reliable escape plan in order to spend eternity with God in Heaven instead of spending an eternity separated from God in a place that is described over an over again with images of torture and pain such as “weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

In sin, they, and us, deserve to die and be separated from God forever.  We have broken God’s commandments for life and love and mocked him by thinking we know better and don’t need an invisible, possibly non-existent, tyrannical overlord.

However, God’s grace and love is shown to the disciples on the boat that day, and to you and me, in the fact that even in the midst of not trusting him and questioning his goodness and motives, Jesus acted miraculously to save them from perishing in the storm and flood.

One very important part of this morning’s Biblical text that we cannot skim over is the call to repentance.

Although Jesus very much cares about the lives of those on the boat with him and does not want to see them perish in that moment or eternally, there is a need for each of the men to repent of their sin and confess their sin and therefore confess their need for a Savior.  

The disciples, in the moments of uncertainty, lost trust in Jesus’ love and promises to take care of them today, tomorrow, and forever.

This lack of trust in Jesus and this doubting of his goodness is pure evil and sin.  

So, the disciples have to ask Jesus for forgiveness for their lack of peace in his presence and for their fear that they let overcome their faith.

2 Peter 3:8–10 tells us this:

[8] But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. [9] The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. [10] But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. (ESV)

And, Matthew 18:10–14 has Jesus telling us this:

[10] “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. [12] What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? [13] And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. [14] So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish. (ESV)

Jesus is always running after you.  

Jesus is always offering himself to you.  

Jesus is always calling your name.

Jesus is always willing to rescue you.

Do what Jesus asks, “Repent and believe.”  

Know that when you confess your sins, God is faithful and just to forgive you of all of your sins and purify you from all unrighteousness, giving you the reliable escape plan that you need to defeat death and live eternally in the Kingdom of Heaven with your Creator and Savior.

The Scriptures are clear as we have heard.  God, the Father in Heaven, and Jesus Christ, His Only Son, do not want anyone to perish—they do not want anyone to be eternally separated from them.

However, the Scriptures are also very clear that many will see that end—they will perish and be separated from God the Father and Jesus the Son into a place of eternal suffering.

This week, I looked up and read every single verse in the Bible that contains the word perish.  What I was looking for was the good news that God does not wish anyone to perish but instead He wishes for everyone to find forgiveness and eternal life in Jesus.

And, of course, I found that because it is abundantly clear.

But, I was shocked at how many more times the Bible uses the word perish as a warning. The idea is spoken over and over and over again that the wicked, the unrighteous, the unrepentant, the self-centered, the godless, the self-sufficient, the denier, the liar, etc., will die apart from God’s grace and find their eternal existence spent in the suffering and pain and torture of the hellfire.  

To give you an example of this from another recent sermon, Psalm 1:5–6 make this point unquestionable clear when King David, inspired by God, says:

[5] Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,

nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;

[6] for the LORD knows the way of the righteous,

but the way of the wicked will perish. (ESV)

John Lennox (an author and professor of mathematics at Oxford University) tells a story about touring Eastern Europe and meeting a Jewish woman from South Africa. 

The woman told Lennox that she was researching how her relatives had perished in the Holocaust. 

At one point on their guided tour, they passed a display that had the following words written on it: Arbeit macht frei” (or “work makes free”). It was a mock-up of the main gate to the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz. The display also had pictures of the horrific medical experiments carried out on children by the infamous Dr. Josef Mengele. At that point of their tour, the Jewish woman turned to Lennox and said, “And what does your religion make of this?”

Lennox writes:

What was I to say? She had lost her parents and many relatives in the Holocaust. I could scarcely bear to look at the Mengele photographs, because of the sheer horror of imagining my children suffering such a fate. I had nothing in my life that remotely paralleled the horror her family had endured.

But still she stood in the doorway waiting for an answer. I eventually said, “I would not insult your memory of your parents by offering you simplistic answers to your question. What is more, I have young children and I cannot even bear to think how I might react if anything were to happen to them, even if it were far short of the evil that Mengele did. I have no easy answers; but I do have what, for me at least, is a doorway into an answer.”

“What is it?” she said.

I said, “You know that I am a Christian. That means that I believe that Yeshua is the messiah. I also believe that he was God incarnate, come into our world as savior, which is what his name ‘Yeshua’ means. Now I know that this is even more difficult for you to accept. Nevertheless, just think about this question—if Yeshua was really God, as I believe he was, what was God doing on a cross?

“Could it be that God begins just here to meet our heartbreaks, by demonstrating that he did not remain distant from our human suffering, but became part of it himself? For me, this is the beginning of hope; and it is a living hope that cannot be smashed by the enemy of death. The story does not end in the darkness of the cross. Yeshua conquered death. He rose from the dead; and one day, as the final judge, he will assess everything in absolute fairness, righteousness, and mercy.”

There was silence. She was still standing, arms outstretched, forming a motionless cross in the doorway. After a moment, with tears in her eyes, very quietly but audibly, she said: “Why has no one ever told me that about my messiah before?”

Jesus, your Messiah, your Savior, defeated death for you.

In Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, you have the 100% reliable escape plan from the suffering that comes from remaining separated from God today, tomorrow, and forever.

Jesus perished on the cross so that you do not have to be punished for your sin and perish as you deserve to.

In this act of pure grace and love for you, have peace—you have been made right with God, be still—stop the never ending and never successful task of trying to earn God’s love, and walk in faith this week simply confessing your sin and believing in the forgiveness that is yours through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.

It is with Jesus alone that you will not perish but be rescued for eternal life.

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

June 23, 2024.

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

Rest and Mercy For You

Mark 2.23-28

A few weeks ago, a reporter at an alternative newsmagazine out of the Pacific Northwest, wrote that he has been noticing a particular trend in the Portland, Oregon food scene. Many boutique restaurants, pop-ups, and food truck proprietors are intermittently closing their establishments to take needed times of rest.

According to the reporter, the pandemic has reset expectations in way that created space for such prioritizations of health and wellness. And unlike conventional wisdom, the customer isn’t always right. Cohen found several examples of owners making frank, impromptu social media posts or even posting physical signage explaining the need for sudden, unforeseen closings.

“CLOSED TODAY FOR CATERING. WE ARE NOT SORRY, WE GOTS TO GET THIS WORK WHEN WE CAN,” read a sign at Kim Jong Grillin. The food cart Poppyside said something similar last summer, “Closed August 3 to 6 to recharge and enjoy time with the people I love.”

Restaurant owner Maggie Irwin said, “I feel like post-pandemic, there’s been a much broader conversation around mental health in the workplace. We have so many repeat customers, and a lot of them that came in [after a closure] were like, ‘Hey, we saw your posts and like we’re so happy you guys did that. Like, it means a lot to us that you guys take care of yourself so you keep being in this neighborhood.’”

The article concluded with pensive note of positivity. “In the endless seesaw of work-life balance, consider this a win for life.”

What do you do to recharge and enjoy time with people you love?

What do you do to rest?

What amount of time, or what type of activities, do you schedule for you and your family to find a reprieve from the go, go, go of everyday life in a meritorious 21 Century world?

Maybe, I should just ask, do you rest?  

Do you see the utmost importance of letting your mind, heart, soul, and body have time to be renewed and refreshed after running from place to place and activity to activity during the week?

In this morning’s text, once again chosen for us by the lectionary, we find ourselves in the disciple Mark’s biography of Jesus.  

In this piece of the world’s historical record, we have a clash of ideas about what God’s Sabbath, or God’s set aside day for rest, is for.

Let’s hear from our Biblical text now.

Mark 2:23–28 says this:

[23] One Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. [24] And the Pharisees were saying to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” [25] And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: [26] how he entered the house of God, in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?” [27] And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. [28] So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.” (ESV)

After hearing our text, let’s begin by asking, “What were Jesus and His disciples doing?”

We hear in this specific Biblical text that Jesus and His disciples were traveling from one place to another and began to gather some food from the edges of a grainfield that they were passing by. 

Seems simple and innocent enough? Except for maybe taking food from a field that they didn’t own, right?

Well, the Jewish religious teachers, known as the Pharisees, didn’t think what was happening with Jesus and his disciples was kosher (pun completely intended).

The Pharisees get really upset with Jesus and His disciples and accuse them of sinning by breaking God’s Laws about the Sabbath day.

Now, to catch you up, or to refresh your memory, the Sabbath day was the 7th day of the week, Saturday, and it was put in place by God during Creation as a time for rest.  

Rest, after working hard all week, is so important to God that He actually built it into the created order of the universe for every man, woman, and child.

And, not only did he build a period of rest into the week for you and for me to have our minds, hearts, bodies, and souls renewed and refreshed for another week of life ahead of us, God also made it a commandment for you and me to obey if we are to live a balanced and healthy life.

When giving the commandments to His people, God said this in Command 4 out of 10:

Exodus 20:8–11

[8] “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. [9] Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, [10] but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. [11] For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. (ESV)

What this commandment is telling you is that God, out of pure love for you, wants you to have some down time—a break from the constant go, go, go, of daily life.

God knows you need rest if you are going to continue to be able to live a life of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  

If you are stressed out and burnt out, you easily become unloving, joyless, irritated, impatient, unkind, evil, faithless, rough, and out of control.

So, in order to help you recharge your battery, God commands you to rest and makes it a requirement for your life.

That means that NO work is allowed on the Sabbath.  

You are to cease from working in order to focus on the things of God, express thanksgiving and gratitude for all God has done for you and provided for you, experience some peace, and have your hope renewed after spending time in the often burdensome grind of the broken and fallen world. 

Martin Luther, the 16th Century Church Reformer, said this about the Sabbath, the day of rest:

“Man was especially created for the knowledge and worship of God; for the Sabbath was not ordained for sheep and cows but of men, that in them the knowledge of God might be developed and might increase.”

Now, because it was the Sabbath, the day of rest, where no work was allowed, the Jewish leaders got upset when they saw Jesus and His disciples doing the work of gathering grain from the field.  

In their religiously zealous minds, working to gather food to eat was a clear violation of God’s Commandments.

The interesting thing about the Jewish religious leaders of Jesus’ day is that they were always arrogantly boasting about what they believed was a superior knowledge of God’s Word and about a lifestyle that actually went above and beyond what God required.

However, as we see time and time again, they didn’t really know God’s Law or God’s Word and they definitely were not living according to God’s standards for life and love.

In this morning’s text, they were telling Jesus and His disciples that it was unlawful to pick grain to eat on the Sabbath.  

However, that is not what God’s Law says or what it intends.

Let’s first address the issue of taking food from someone else’s property.

In another place, God institutes a Law about picking grain from someone else’s field.  The law is found in Deuteronomy 23:24–25.  It is there that we hear this:

[24] “If you go into your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat your fill of grapes, as many as you wish, but you shall not put any in your bag. [25] If you go into your neighbor’s standing grain, you may pluck the ears with your hand, but you shall not put a sickle to your neighbor’s standing grain. (ESV)

This piece of God’s Law is just one of many, many places that you get to see God’s heart for you.

First, it is God’s desire to make sure that you have what you need on a daily basis for life and love.  So, here he makes sure the poor and the traveler (or, the sojourner, to use Biblical language) have food to eat to strengthen their bodies and minds for the days ahead.

God let’s everyone know that it is the right thing to do to let those that are in need of food take what they need from a field owned by someone else in order to meet their immediate need of hunger.  But, to safeguard the fields and lands from the sinful greed of humanity, God establishes that no one can take more than they need in that moment.  The poor and traveler cannot fill up a bag or cart with food from someone else’s field.  

Second, it is God’s desire that you are generous and caring.  This law about helping the needy have food shows that God desires for you to be like Him—doing all that you can to ensure that the needy around you are provided for.

Next, let’s address the purpose of the Sabbath, or day of rest.

As Jesus points out, even on the day of rest, the first priority is the health and well-being of His creatures—you and me.  

Jesus says, “The Sabbath is made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”

The Pharisees believed that man was made for the Sabbath.  This means that the Pharisees believed that humanity earned God’s love and place in God’s Kingdom by strictly obeying God’s Law—and the Jews still believe this today.  

In the context of today’s verses, we see that even though they are claiming that no work can be done on the Sabbath, the Jews were working overtime to “not work” in order to prove to God that they knew how to rest.  

This shows us that even when we attempt a day of rest, as commanded by God for our good, we cheat and make excuses to justify working.

The Jews spent their Sabbath stressed out.  There was no rest.  The same is true for observing Jews today.  They stress out on Thursday and Friday preparing to make sure their rest is perfect on Saturday.  And, on Saturday, they stress out about perfectly obeying hundreds of rules so that they don’t ruin their day of rest.

To update the idea for you and me today, our Sabbath, or day of rest, is now Sunday.  

After Jesus’ resurrection on the first day of the week, Sunday, the disciples starting meeting on Sundays as their Sabbath day so that they would always be reminded of the resurrection—the day of forgiveness and eternal life.  

So, we can say that we actually celebrate Easter, or Resurrection Sunday, every single week on our Sabbath. Not just once a year.

For some of us, Sunday is a day like any other day: a day to catch up on work, to play and recreate with no thought of you and no desire to make worship and fellowship a priority. We foolishly believe that we can love God well on our own, without the brothers and sisters whom God has called us to walk through life with. We feel little awe and reverence for God or gratitude for all He has done for us. Our appetite for God’s Word is small, while our belief in our own understanding looms large. We are wise in our own eyes, and we fail to see the consequences of our selfish and immature behavior. This is just one of the countless ways that we live in weakness and sin.

But, God knowing our sin and weakness and still loving us with an unstoppable love gave us Jesus.

Jesus loved our Father in Heaven above all and delighted to worship and study in his house. 

From Jesus’ childhood, He was a careful scholar, dedicating Himself to studying and teaching others. 

Jesus loved to pray and withdrew often to meditate and speak with our Heavenly Father. 

Jesus’ heart was never cold, but always warmly devoted to living in gratitude, faith, and obedience. 

Jesus, always honored the Sabbath for us, in His heart and with His body. 

Jesus courageously faced every temptation to misuse God’s appointed time of rest.

Jesus always stood firm in obeying God’s Law because He knew we would need His goodness to stand before a Holy God. 

For this, we should be quick to say, “Thank you, precious Savior.”

As Jesus pointed out to sinners like the Pharisees and you and me, the Sabbath was made for man.

The Sabbath is a day for you and me to take time to focus on God’s gift of Jesus, the One who died to take punishment for all of our commandment breaking—including not obeying God’s law to rest our mind, heart, body, and soul—and offer us forgiveness and reconciliation with God, our Father in Heaven.  

The Sabbath is a day for us to take deep breaths while we remember and celebrate all that God has done to be gracious and merciful to us in the person and work of Jesus Christ and say in response, “Thank you, precious Savior.”

In his book, The Wisdom Period, author Brett McCracken says this:

Beauty and Sabbath go hand in hand. Both are extravagant. Unproductive. Unnecessary. Both are reflections of God’s abundance and reminders that the world is chiefly a gift to receive, not a prize to be earned. Beauty doesn’t have to exist. The fact that humans delight in sunsets, symphonies … and pecan pie cannot be explained by the Darwinian account of human existence.

The only explanation that makes sense of beauty is that we are created in the image of God who relishes it; a non-utilitarian God. Just look at the ten thousand species of birds in the world, or the four hundred thousand species of flowers; each unique in color, shape, and texture. Consider the diversity of spices—from cumin to cayenne to nutmeg and turmeric. God could have created the world so that humans only needed to have a bland, gruel-like substance in order to survive, but he didn’t. 

He created thousands of edible plants and animals, from which millions of culinary combinations could be made. He created humans with taste buds to appreciate things like salted caramel gelato, buttermilk fried chicken, and lamb tagine. Just as he is a God who not only creates but pauses to enjoy what he has created (Gen. 1:31), so he created us with the capacity to enjoy. 

That’s why beauty exists.

When we refuse to observe the Sabbath and don’t allow space for the enjoyment of beauty, we implicitly signal a mentality that doubts the goodness of God. But when we do stop to rest, to feast, to “smell the roses,” we display a contentedness and calm acceptance about the world and the One who holds it together.

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.


Reverend Fred Scragg V.

June 16, 2024.

Prayer:

Holy Spirit, correct our thinking and strengthen our souls. We are blind and deceived by our own wisdom; open our eyes and show us our hearts. Remind us of the love of Christ until our hearts are humbly drawn to hunger for God’s Word preached faithfully. Help us to understand your Word and to know what you ask of us. Help us to believe that you are loving and that all your commands are good for us and are meant for our joy and growth. Holy Spirit, help us to worship wholeheartedly, and strengthen us with the body and blood of Christ at the Lord’s Table. Enable us to love other believers, even when it feels uncomfortable to be in church. May all other things seem small and insignificant compared to loving and obeying you well, as we look forward to worshiping you forever, gathered with all the saints around your throne. Amen.

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

Prayer: Jesus Cancels Silence

Psalm 4

How’s your prayer life?

When do you pray?

Where do you pray?

How much time do you spend praying?

What do you say when you pray?

I shared this story a few years ago, but I return to it again and again because of how clear it describes genuine prayer.

A pastor from Florida told the following story about a woman he knew who showed up at church and prayed the same simple prayer. “O Lord, thank you Jesus,” she prayed week after week. The kids at church would start laughing every time she opened her mouth because they knew it would be the same prayer—”O Lord, thank you Jesus.”

Finally somebody asked her, “Why do you pray the same little prayer?” She said, “Well, I’m just combining the two prayers that I know. We live in a bad neighborhood and some nights there are bullets flying and I have to grab my daughter and hide on the floor, and in that desperate state all I know how to cry out is, ‘O Lord.’ But when I wake up in the morning and see that we’re okay I say, ‘Thank you Jesus.’ When I got to take my baby to the bus stop and she gets on that bus and I don’t know what’s going to happen to her while she’s away, I cry, ‘O Lord.’ And then when 3:00 P.M. comes and that bus arrives and my baby is safe, I say, ‘Thank you Jesus.’”

She said, “Those are the only two prayers I know and when I get to church God has been so good I just put my two prayers together, “O Lord, thank you Jesus.”

Prayers come in all shapes and forms.  

Some are elongated dissertations on the eternality and efficacy of the triune Godhead.

Others are just a simple statements that say the same thing; like, “O Lord; Thank you Jesus.”

But, one thing is for sure…

All prayers offered in Jesus Christ-centered faith are heard by God the Father in Heaven, Maker of Heaven and Earth.

That being said, the question, “How’s your prayer life?,” can bring up two totally opposite emotions or thought patterns.

The first is, “My prayer life is amazing.  I love getting up early each morning to have my coffee while I prayer for each item and person on my prayer list.  I feel so connected to God in those moments because I know he hears me and I see the answers to my prayers piling up in my life in real time.”

And, the second response is, which is my personal response, as I always try to be honest with you from the pulpit, “Prayer is hard.  I struggle to do it.  I don’t often do it. Don’t get me wrong, I want to do it more.  I want to be one of those first thing in the morning people.  But, I continually struggle to pray because I find prayer hard.”

For many of us, prayer is hard.

And, prayer is hard for many reasons.

Prayer is hard for some of us because we get distracted.

We have kids knocking on our bedroom or office door in need of help getting a snack or changing the television channel.

Or, we have cell phones at our side that are always ringing, vibrating, and giving off text alert sounds.

Prayer is hard for some of us because of busyness.

We have school buses to catch, laundry to do, groceries to buy, dinner to cook, and bedtime stories to tell.

We have 5 AM alarms, 60-90 minute commutes to work, 8-10 hour work days, 60-90 minute commutes from work, and midnight bedtimes.

We have classes to attend, homework to do, papers to write, teams to practice with, television shows to binge watch, and boyfriends or girlfriends to hang out with.

Some of us are all too familiar with the line, “I will prayer after I….” (Fill in the blank).  But, we are also familiar with the truth that the “after I….,” never comes.

Prayer is hard for some of us because of we just don’t want to do it.

We don’t think we have the time.

We think it is a waste of time.

We think our prayers fall on deaf ears.

We don’t think we know how to pray correctly.

We think it is boring.

And, for some of us, we are afraid of silence.

Prayer can make us uneasy if we aren’t use to quietness.

Regardless of how we feel about prayer, as pastor Bill Hybels famously said and then titled a book, “We are too busy not to pray!”

The German Lutheran Pastor, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who served and was imprisoned during Adolf Hitler’s reign of terror, highlighted the utmost importance of prayer for the Christian life.

He said, “Prayer is the heart of the Christian life.” 

He said, “Where a people prays, there is the church.” 

And, he said “Prayer is necessary for the Christian life and necessary for life together in the church.”

In this morning’s text, which once again comes from the book of Psalms, King David is praying to God asking him for help at a time when the people around him are gossiping about him and spreading lies about him.

Let’s hear about King David’s prayers and prayer life from his words in Psalm 4.

King David says to God:

[1] Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness!

You have given me relief when I was in distress.

Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!

[2] O men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame?

How long will you love vain words and seek after lies?

[3] But know that the LORD has set apart the godly for himself;

the LORD hears when I call to him.

[4] Be angry, and do not sin;

ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent.

[5] Offer right sacrifices,

and put your trust in the LORD.

[6] There are many who say, “Who will show us some good?

Lift up the light of your face upon us, O LORD!”

[7] You have put more joy in my heart

than they have when their grain and wine abound.

[8] In peace I will both lie down and sleep;

for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety. (ESV)

It is in this prayer of King David’s that he complains that enemies are speaking badly of him in an attempt to shame him.

After voicing the problem and naming the problem people that he is dealing with, he turns away from his problem and makes statements reminding himself (and all that would hear his prayer throughout history) that God protects the faith-filled from those who do the things that these problem people are doing.

It is true that we often find ourselves in the same position as King David.  We do have points in our lives where people try to cause problems for us.

But, how often do we find ourselves in the same position as those speaking badly of King David, their leader?

We are often quick to open our mouths and share our opinions about how terrible people in positions of power around us are.  We speak badly about our bosses, our teachers, our principals, our presidents, our elders, and our pastors.  

So, we are in the same position as King David’s enemies.

And, what position is that?

The position where our sin completely breaks our relationship with God and communication back and forth between us and God becomes impossible.

Because of sin, there is silence when we pray.  

Like King David’s enemies, we pray but do not trust God. 

Therefore, God does not respond or answer us.

We find ourselves experiencing silence from Heaven.

In June 1730, a handful of Cherokee Indian Chiefs crossed the Atlantic seeking an audience with King George II. They first appeared in court at Kensington Palace. They were there to sign treaties, to present their grievances against the French, and to petition the king for aid and support. They had to wait in the lobby for days, returning again and again until the king granted them an audience. They were finally granted their opportunity to present their petitions. Custom dictated that the king would signify his acceptance of their petition by giving them gifts. King George II gave the Cherokees clocks. 

They were fine clocks, no doubt. Any English nobleman would be honored beyond words to have such a gift, and he would be just as sure to display the clocks prominently. But these Cherokee had no idea what these clocks were and had no use for them whatsoever. It’s not even clear that they took the clocks home with them as they crossed the Atlantic on their return to the colonies. History is clearer on what became of the treaties King George II made with the Cherokee. 

How opposite is prayer to the almighty God, sovereign King of the universe. We do not need to board a ship and travel thousands of miles and wait for days in a grand entrance hall. And when we do get an audience with this King, he does not give us clocks. He graciously grants to us exactly and precisely what we need. And we know that his promises are sure. He does not break treaties. 

Bonhoeffer reminds us that the journey of prayer is actually far more costly than a transatlantic trip. Our journey of prayer into the presence of God cost the precious blood of Christ, God’s Son. Christ’s sacrifice grants us entrance to the Father’s court.

This morning, me and you have the good news that the line of communication between us and our Creator has been repaired for us.

In his first letter to his student and mentee, Timothy, the apostle Paul reminds you that the connection between man and God, that is, between you and God, that was severed and broken because of sin, has been repaired.

In 1 Timothy 2:5–6, Paul tells Timothy, and in turn through the canonization of the text, us, that:

[5] For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, [6] who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. (ESV)

When you find yourself believing in Jesus as Lord and Savior, as the one who lived a perfectly righteous life for you, obeying all of God’s commands for you every second of every day, as the one who gave his life over to death on the cross to forgive your sin, and as the one who defeated the power of death and sin for you by raising from the grave on the first Easter morning, 

silence is broken, 

silence is canceled, 

and your prayers fall of the loving ears of God, your Creator, who hears and responds to you in any and every moment of need.

Without Jesus, there is silence when you pray.

But, Jesus cancels silence.

Jesus cancels silence for you.

And, we can, like King David say, 

the LORD hears when I call to him.

That means that we can talk to God in prayer, whenever we want, with big words or small words, with run-on sentences, or simple statements, always trusting in the promise that God gave to his people through the prophet Jeremiah.

In Jeremiah 29:12–13, God promises:

[12] Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. [13] You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. (ESV)

And, we can say with confidence, alongside the psalm writer who wrote Psalm 66:

[18] If I had cherished iniquity in my heart,

the Lord would not have listened.

[19] But truly God has listened;

he has attended to the voice of my prayer.

[20] Blessed be God,

because he has not rejected my prayer

or removed his steadfast love from me! 

(Psalm 66:18–20 ESV)

The German Lutheran Pastor, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, that we heard from earlier, also said these Biblical things about prayer:

He said, “Christ is the ground and basis for prayer, Christ enables us to pray, and Christ even teaches us to pray.”

He said, “Prayer means bending our desires o God’s determinations, bringing our petitions in line with his priorities, and having the kingdom and our agenda at the center.  Simply put, prayer is the orientation of one’s life to God.”

And, he said, “prayer is about God first; then it is about us.  It’s wrong to think and pray otherwise.”

The comforting thing for us is that God knows our weakness so well that he has even safeguarded prayer for the times we pray for the wrong things and the times we neglect prayer.

In his letter to the Christians gathered in the city of Rome during the 1st Century, the apostle Paul lets them (and you by extension) know this:

[26] Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. [27] And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. (Romans 8:26–27, ESV)

Although you start out in the same position as the problem people in King David’s life, as enemies of God who hear nothing but silence when we pray because our relationship with God is cut off due to sin,…

You, by God’s grace alone, find yourself faith-filled, believing in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, with the silence canceled and God graciously hearing and answering you when you pray.

So, I leave you with this encouragement for the week:

[16] Rejoice always, 

[17] pray without ceasing, 

[18] give thanks in all circumstances; 

for this is the will of God for you [that you have an open line of communication with him] in Christ Jesus. 

(1 Thessalonians 5:16–18, ESV)

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

June 2, 2024.

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

Known by God

Psalm 139.1-16

Have you ever felt lowly?

Have you ever felt lost?

Have you ever felt unnoticed?

Have you ever felt unremarkable?

Have you ever felt excluded?

Have you ever felt powerless?

Have you ever felt broken?

Have you ever wanted someone to wrap their arms around you and let you know with full assurance that, “Everything is going to be alright,” that, “You are known and loved and are cared for?”

Maybe you know the feelings that Foreigner described in their 1984 hit, when they said:

In my life, there’s been heartache and pain

I don’t know if I can face it again…

I want to know what love is!

In this morning’s Biblical text, chosen for us by the lectionary, we are going to return to the book of Psalms.

The book of Psalms is a collection of 150 songs written mostly by King David.  

King David was the 2nd King of Israel and is famous for battling Goliath.  King David is also infamous for lusting after another man’s wife, Bathsheba, using his power to force her to sleep with him, getting her pregnant, and then ensuring that her husband is killed in battle in order to cover up all of his misdoings.

Like all of us, King David had ups and downs along his journey.

This morning, we are going to be hearing from the beginning of Psalm 139 in which King David let’s us know that the maker of Heaven and Earth, God the Father, knows us and is with us every second of everyday.

Psalm 139:1–16 says this:

[1] O LORD, you have searched me and known me!

[2] You know when I sit down and when I rise up;

you discern my thoughts from afar.

[3] You search out my path and my lying down

and are acquainted with all my ways.

[4] Even before a word is on my tongue,

behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.

[5] You hem me in, behind and before,

and lay your hand upon me.

[6] Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;

it is high; I cannot attain it.

[7] Where shall I go from your Spirit?

Or where shall I flee from your presence?

[8] If I ascend to heaven, you are there!

If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!

[9] If I take the wings of the morning

and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

[10] even there your hand shall lead me,

and your right hand shall hold me.

[11] If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,

and the light about me be night,”

[12] even the darkness is not dark to you;

the night is bright as the day,

for darkness is as light with you.

[13] For you formed my inward parts;

you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.

[14] I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Wonderful are your works;

my soul knows it very well.

[15] My frame was not hidden from you,

when I was being made in secret,

intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

[16] Your eyes saw my unformed substance;

in your book were written, every one of them,

the days that were formed for me,

when as yet there was none of them. (ESV)

There are three big theological truths that we can use to describe what we hear about God in these verses from 139.

Those three truths are:

God is omniscient.

God is omnipresent.

And, God is omnipotent.

These three truths work individually and together to bring us comfort in our daily lives.  

First, the fact that God is omniscient means that God knows everything.  In relation to these verse from Psalm 139, God knows everything about you.

In this Psalm, King David makes it clear that God knows each human being, that includes you!, and will always be with you.

King David tells you that God knew you from the moment of conception.  God knew you before you physical entrance into the world.  And, God knows each day that you will have on this earth and what you will face during those days.  

God knows your heart.

God knows your actions.

God knows when you sit down and when you stand up.

God knows when you travel.

God knows when you lie down and go to bed.

God knows you during the day and during the night.

God knows your words.

And, in all of that, God has his providing and helping hand placed on you when you walk with faith in Jesus Christ, His Son, who died to forgive you of your sin, who gave you his righteousness and perfection so that you could be reconciled to God the Father in Heaven, and who makes it possible for you to live eternally with God in His Kingdom.

Second, the fact that God is omnipresent means that God is everywhere.

You cannot run and hide from God, even though you try.  

God is in all space that has been created.  He is above and he is below us.

God is in all time that has been created.  He is there when the sun rises (East) and he is there where the sun sets (West).  And, in all of the time that we have been given God holds onto us and leads us.

And, God is present in the darkness and the light.  He in fact is the light that shines in the darkness that we try to hide in.  

Finally, the fact that God is omnipotent means that God is all powerful and can do anything.

King David applies this to the truth that you are here on this earth today because God created your body.

So, when we piece his all together, we are comforted because we are never alone.  The God who created the Universe knows our name, our thoughts, our words, and actions, and amazingly, He still loves us!

God chose you!

God foreordained your life.

And, because God created you and guides your development from the moment of conception, you have value!  And, because your life is eternally precious to God the Father in Heaven, He will be everywhere you go and do everything possible (even dying on a cross) to ensure your eternal safety, security, and comfort.

In Jesus Christ, the place where God’s omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence meet, you have comfort and hope for today and for tomorrow!

In a recent issue of CT Magazine, Astronomer David Block tells how he learned that the same God who numbered the stars knew and loved him personally.

He tells his story this way:

I grew up a Jewish boy in a South African gold-mining town known as Krugersdorp. I remember sitting in (synagogue), enthralled as our learned rabbi expounded how God was a personal God—he would speak to Moses, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to many others. Growing up, I often pondered how I fit into all this.

By the time I entered the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, I was deeply concerned that I had no assurance that God was indeed a personal God. I was confident that he was a historical God who had delivered our people from the hands of Pharaoh. But he seemed so far removed from the particulars of my life. Where was the personality and the vibrancy of a God who truly could speak to me?

I became friendly with Professor Lewis Hurst. He had a great interest in astronomy, and we would discuss the complexities of the cosmos for hours at a time. I remember attending a meeting of the Royal Astronomical Society graced by Stephen Hawking. The atmosphere there was intellectually stimulating, but inwardly I could tell that something, or someone, was missing. To be brutally honest, I did not know God.

Back in South Africa, my friendship with Professor Hurst grew, and I started sharing with him my thoughts and feelings about the cosmos. I said, “The universe is so beautiful, both visually and mathematically.” The idea of the universe being designed by a Master Artist continued to resonate with me, but I struggled to find evidence that this artist had any interest in knowing me personally.

I shared further doubts: “Are we,” as Shakespeare said in Macbeth, “just a fleeting shadow that appears and then disappears? What is our reason for living? What is the purpose of life? Is it possible to have a personal encounter with the creator of the cosmos?”

Hurst listened intently. He said, “There is an answer to all the questions you are asking. I am well aware that you come from an Orthodox Jewish family, but would you be willing to meet with a dear friend of mine, the Reverend John Spyker?”

My Jewish parents had taught me to seek answers wherever they might be found, so I consented to meet with this Christian minister. Taking the Bible in his hands, Spyker turned to Romans 9:33 where Paul affirms that Y’shua (Jesus) is a stumbling stone to the Jewish people but that those who freely choose to believe in him will never be ashamed.

By divine grace, suddenly everything became perfectly clear. Y’shua was the stumbling stone—my stumbling stone! Jesus had fulfilled all the messianic prophecies in the Hebrew Scriptures (where the Messiah would be born, how he was to die, and much else besides). While most Jewish people today are still awaiting the Messiah’s coming, I knew I had found him and that all I had to do was respond to his free offer of grace.

Immediately, I asked Spyker to pray for me, which he did. And on that day, at the age of 22, I surrendered my heart and my reason to Christ Jesus. His Spirit spread through every cell of my being.

(Reflecting on my early days), I realize they had been infused by God’s grace. He had been planting spiritual seeds every time I gazed up into the heavens. And I still marvel that a God so majestic and powerful would know my name—and love me as intimately as his own begotten Son.

Pro quarterback Patrick Mahomes had just limped his way through a last-minute, game-winning drive in the 2023 AFC Championship when he gave the credit for his performance to someone that even the biggest Kansas City Chiefs fans had never heard of. 

“Julie WAS the reason I was the guy I was on the field today!” Mahomes wrote to his millions of followers on Twitter that night. 

Her full name is Julie Frymer.

Who is she and why is she so important to the team? She’s the assistant athletic trainer. Frymyer had one of the NFL’s most important jobs in the 2022-2023 season: She was in charge of putting Mahomes through rehab for his injured ankle and getting the star quarterback ready to play for a spot in the Super Bowl.

Hobbling through a nasty sprain that often requires weeks of recovery, Mahomes wasn’t just able to play against the Cincinnati Bengals. He was fantastic. He was clearly gimpy, grimacing through several plays, but he was mobile enough to make several key plays, including a crucial run setting up the last-second field goal that sent the Chiefs to the Super Bowl to face the Philadelphia Eagles.

Mahomes going out of his way to praise her was the first time most people in Arrowhead Stadium had ever heard the name Julie Frymyer, but the Chiefs knew her value long before the guy with a contract worth nearly half a billion dollars, might as well have given her the game ball.

Julie Frymyer wasn’t known by the world, but she was known by those that she closely worked with, loved and helped to succeed in life.

You may not be world famous, but you are known by God the Father in Heaven, the maker of Heaven and Earth, and Jesus Christ, His Only Son, your Savior, who work with you, love you, and help you succeed in life by strengthening you by faith to live a life of love for God and others. 

You may, or I should say, you will, have moments, days, weeks, or even years of feeling lowly, lost, unnoticed, unremarkable, excluded, powerless and broken.

But, know this: 

God your Father in Heaven, maker of Heaven and Earth, and Jesus Christ, His Only Son, your Savior, know your name and speak it constantly in the Kingdom of Heaven as they are preparing an eternal place for you.

King David knew what it was like to feel lowly, lost, powerless and broken.  Because of his great sin against God he knew what it was like to feel unremarkable and excluded from God’s Kingdom.  

However, King David also knew the greatest truth that there is…While he was still a sinner God knew his name and loved him the same.

For us, we know this same great truth…while we were still sinners, Christ died for us to rescue us and redeem us for God’s Kingdom.

In Jesus Christ alone, you know what love is.

John 15:12–13

[12] “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. [13] Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. (ESV)

In a book I read this week that summarized Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Theology of the Christian Life, he is noted as saying:

“God draws near to the lowly, loving the lost, the unnoticed, the unremarkable, the excluded, the powerless, and the broken.”

Or, using Bible words, Psalm 34:15–18 says it this way:

[15] The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous

and his ears toward their cry.

[16] The face of the LORD is against those who do evil,

to cut off the memory of them from the earth.

[17] When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears

and delivers them out of all their troubles.

[18] The LORD is near to the brokenhearted

and saves the crushed in spirit. (ESV)

When you are feeling lowly, when you are feeling lost, when you are feeling unnoticed, when you are feeling unremarkable, when you are feeling excluded, when you are feeling powerless, when you are feeling broken, read Psalm 139 and be reminded of the comforting truth that God knows you and God is always for you as you live with faith in Jesus Christ who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and the Only One who is able to bring you to the Father in Heaven.

I leave you with two more comforting truths from Scripture, God’s Word to you.

1 Corinthians 8:3 says:

[3] But if anyone loves God, he is known by God. (ESV)

And, Romans 8:35–39 says:

[35] Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?…

[37] No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. [38] For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, [39] nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (ESV)

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Pastor Fred Scragg V.

May 26, 2024