Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

What’s Your Reputation?

1 Thessalonians 1.6-10

What kind of reputation do you have?

If I asked your neighbors, your co-workers, or your family about your character traits, what would they tell me?

Would I hear that you are kind and helpful?

Would I hear that you are patient and self-controlled?

Would I hear that you are generous and charitable?

Or, would I hear that you are grumpy and always complaining?

Would I hear that you mean spirited and quick to tear others down?

Would I hear that you are irresponsible and cannot be trusted to follow through?

After asking about your reputation, if I told the people who know you best that you came to the church I pastor on Sunday mornings, would they be shocked because your daily life doesn’t look or sound like the life of Jesus?  

Or, are the people who know you best able to figure out and tell me first that you have the reputation of a a God-fearing follower of Christ simply by the way you live in the world?

In his general orders to his troops at Valley Forge on May 2, 1778, George Washington spoke about the reputation he desired his men to have, saying,

”To the distinguished Character of Patriot, it should be our highest Glory to add the more distinguished Character of Christian.”

In this morning’s Biblical text, a text that has us returning to our series through the New Testament book of 1 Thessalonians, we are going to hear about the reputation of the mid-first Century Greek Thessalonians.  Their reputation was spreading and changing lives in their town, in their city, in their region, and in the countries around them.

Let’s hear what the authors of this letter say about the reputation of the Thessalonian Christians.

1 Thessalonians 1:6–10 tells us this:

[6] And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, [7] so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. [8] For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. [9] For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, [10] and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. (ESV)

From this section of Paul, Silas, and Timothy’s letter, we learn several things about the reputation of the Thessalonian Christians.

Let’s briefly look at what defines the Thessalonian’s reputation.

First, the Thessalonians had a reputation for turning away from idols to serve the living God.

The Thessalonians were known for the dramatic upside-down and inside-out change that the Good News of Jesus Christ caused in their thinking, speaking, and acting.

For those that knew them, the now Christian Thessalonians went from making offerings to the mythological Greek gods in the local temples to loving and serving the living and true God as revealed in the Scriptures as well as the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

When we find ourselves believing in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, God takes up residence in us through the Holy Sprit and immediately begins enacting changes.  We are given eyes to see and hearts to believe that the things of this world, things like money, upward career moves, possessions and relationships, can never truly satisfy us.  These idols always leave us wanting more.  We are given eyes to see and hearts to believe that the only thing that truly brings satisfaction, rest, and peace, is God’s love that has been poured out on us in the forgiveness and life freely offered to us in Jesus Christ.  

So, with gratitude and a real sense of hope, we end up turning away from chasing the idols of this world and we turn to the transforming love of God which strengthens us to serve Him by loving others.

When Christ saves you, you cannot stop becoming a new person with a new life and a new reputation.  And, when you become the new person that God makes you, the people around you near and far cannot help but notice and be drawn to the mystery of God in Christ.

The writers of this morning’s text have this testimony of reputation change after placing their faith in Christ.  We have one of those accounts recorded for us the Biblical book of Acts.

Acts 9:19–22 tell us this about the Apostle Paul:

…For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus. [20] And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.” [21] And all who heard him were amazed and said, “Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name? And has he not come here for this purpose, to bring them bound before the chief priests?” [22] But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ. (ESV) 

Before having faith in Christ, Paul had the reputation of causing havoc in the cities he visited as he was on a mission to capture, imprison, and kill Christians.  

However, after coming face-to-face with Jesus and the truth that he was living a life of hating God and denying God’s love for him, Paul’s faith immediately changed him into a Gospel preacher and Christian church planter.

Are you known for turning from idols and serving the living God?

Second, the Thessalonians had a reputation for waiting for Jesus’ return.

We are all somewhat familiar with the main arc of Jesus’ story.  Jesus was born through the virgin Mary making Him fully man and fully God.  Jesus lived a life in perfect service to God by obeying every commandment and law.  Jesus was crucified on the cross to pay the debt that sin created.  Jesus rose from the dead three days later defeating the power of sin and death.  And, Jesus ascended back to Heaven where He is currently ruling with God the Father.

However, one of the final pieces to Jesus’ life that is probably more mysterious for you is the fact that Jesus will return one day.

To put this into context, first, we have Jesus’ promise that He will return one day.

In John 14:2–3, Jesus says,

[2] In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? [3] And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. (ESV)

Second, almost immediately after Jesus’ ascension, we have an angelic confirmation of Jesus’ promise to return.

Acts 1:10–11 tells us that,

[10] …while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, [11] and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” (ESV)

Third, we have the good news that causes us to hope and wait in anticipation of Jesus’ return in the letter to the Hebrews.

Hebrews 9:27–28 speaks this truth:

[27] And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, [28] so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. (ESV)

The reason Christ will return and the reason we pray, hope, and wait in anxious expectation for His return is that His return will be the final nail in the coffin for the pain, suffering, persecution, and injustice that still remains with us because of Sin.

When the Apostle Paul speaks of our current life, a life lived in faith post-resurrection but pre-return, he describes our time as living in the “already but not yet.”

In Christ, through faith, you have already been forgiven of your sin.  You have already been justified before God.  You have already bee sanctified and made holy in God’s eyes.  All of this is completely true for you because Jesus has already defeated Satan, his minions, and the power of sin and death to enslave and kill.  

But, you don’t experience the fullness of that “already” life because you are still in your sinful flesh in a fallen world.  In this current world, Satan still roams around trying to seek and devour anyone he can in order to steal life from God the Father.  

So, you are already saved and brought into God’s eternal family.  But, you aren’t experiencing the full benefits of that yet.

So, like the Thessalonians, you wait for God’s son, Jesus, to return from heaven to finalize the righting of every wrong, the wiping away of every tear and the healing of every pain.

Are you known as someone who is waiting for Jesus’ return?

The last thing we learn about the Thessalonians reputation is that they were confident that they were safe from God’s wrath.

Church, do not believe the lies that God is only love and therefore he would never punish anyone for not believing in Jesus.  

Church, do not be fooled.  God will destroy sin and cast unbelievers into the eternal torment of Hell.  

Church, do not follow the trends in culture that lead you astray by teaching that God allows many different (and even contradicting) religions, philosophies, ideologies, worldviews, through the gates of the Heavenly city.

In preparing the world for Jesus, John the Baptist says this:

[36] Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. (John 3:36, ESV)

That being said, God is not a vindictive and sadistic God waiting to cast people away from Him and His Kingdom.  In fact, the exact opposite is true.  In Jesus, God came to save you through providing a way of rescue and escape from His just wrath on sin.  

Romans 5:8–9 tell us this good news that brings hope into our hearts.

[8] but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. [9] Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. (ESV)

Are you known for being confident that you are saved from God’s wrath?

A graduate school student, who lived with faith in Christ, but feared what that truth about her would do to her reputation, tells the following story:

When I attended graduate school for English, there were many occasions when my fellow students openly ridiculed the name of Christ. To my great detriment, I stayed silent. I was quite vocal about my belief in Christ at church and with my friends, but I was terrified of what might happen to my reputation if the people at my school found out I believed in Jesus. … Most of them were just ignorant about who Jesus is. Several of them had never even met a Christian before and assumed that all Christians were the uneducated, judgmental stereotypes we sometimes see in the media. Yet, I was still afraid.

As the program went on, I began to feel guiltier for these silences. If I couldn’t be obedient to Christ in such a central thing, how would I be able to serve him in other ways? God was faithful in my rocky road to obedience—opportunities to speak up for Christ continued to come my way.

One day a fellow student asked me flat out—right before class, when many other people were around—if I was a Christian. I was at a crossroads. … I had a clear decision to make.

I took a deep breath, and, with God’s help, I said a soft, shaky, “Yes.” The student looked at me for a second, skeptically.

“Interesting,” she said. “I always thought that Christians were like circus freaks…but you’re actually kind of smart!”

It was a small step, but even the smallest step made in obedience is progress. God tells us not to fear for our reputations, because the truth will always win out.

Henry Ford, the American industrialist that is credited for making automobiles affordable for the middle-class in the early 20th Century, once said:

“You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do.”

Jesus built a reputation on what He did and is doing for you.

When tempted by the idols of this world, Jesus turned away and continued to serve the living God.

Jesus lived, died, rose, ascended, and is eagerly waiting to return to right all wrongs and bring you home to God’s Kingdom.

Jesus died on the cross ensuring that you will be saved from God’s wrath as your punishment for sin has already been poured out on Him.

At the beginning, I asked about your current reputation?

Now, I ask you to look down the road and think about what do you want to be remembered for.

What do you want said about you at your funeral?

I have done countless funerals over the past 20 years.

Some of the funerals had a profound sense of joy in the background of the mourning and grieving.  

That profound sense of joy came from the testimony of the deceased having the reputation of a being one who lived like Christ, shining the light of God’s love in the darkness of the world.

However, I have also done funerals where the life of the deceased was not one lived with faith in Christ and therefore didn’t have much to champion except the places they worked, their personal hobbies, and maybe a list of family members left behind.  Those funerals were simply a stark reminder that we are all going to pass on from this life, at a point that will catch us and everyone around us by surprise.  

The one good thing about these funerals is that I was able to share the good news of Christ with the friends and family experiencing the loss letting them know that we who have been left behind still have the opportunity to find hope, rest, and peace, through a life lived abundantly in the light of God’s transforming love delivered in the person and work of Jesus.

Just like the Thessalonians, your current reputation doesn’t have to be your final reputation.

Your reputation can and will be changed through the love that God has for you in Jesus Christ.

Just like the Thessalonians did, let the words of Psalm 40:1–5 be your joyous testimony and reputation today:

[1] I waited patiently for the LORD;

he inclined to me and heard my cry.

[2] He drew me up from the pit of destruction,

out of the miry bog,

and set my feet upon a rock,

making my steps secure.

[3] He put a new song in my mouth,

a song of praise to our God.

Many will see and fear,

and put their trust in the LORD.

[4] Blessed is the man who makes

the LORD his trust,

who does not turn to the proud,

to those who go astray after a lie!

[5] You have multiplied, O LORD my God,

your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us;

none can compare with you!

I will proclaim and tell of them,

yet they are more than can be told. (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 5, 2025.

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

Fickle to Forgiven

Matthew 16.21-28

In the early 2000s, former pro soccer star Landon Donavan was the standard-bearer of American soccer for more than a decade. Six years ago, in 2020, he was voted “The Best U.S. Soccer of All-Time,” in a poll taken by ESPN.

When Donovan was growing up in California, he was known around the neighborhood for always wearing a T-shirt that read: “Soccer is Life. The rest is just details.” 

In a recent interview Donovan admitted, “[Soccer] was my identity.” But in the last stage of his career that identity started to crack. From 2012-2013 Donovan struggled with depression, watched his celebrity marriage disintegrate, and took a four-month break from soccer.

The pressure to perform and keep pleasing fans and coaches became too much. Donavan said:

[Fans, coaches, and the media] want us to live, breathe, eat, and die the sport. Every game they want you to go out and do everything you can to make the fans feel good, make the coach feel successful, make the owners successful … After the ’06 World Cup … I realized, clearly, that it was a business. And that it was fickle. I was foolish enough to think that these people who were showing me so much love genuinely liked me .… [But after the ’06 World Cup people said], “Now you had a bad World Cup. We don’t think you’re that cool anymore.” That, for me, was a very eye-opening experience. And it made me very sad.

In this interview, Donovan points out something about humanity that is as old as time and space—one of the common traits that we all share is fickleness. 

To be fickle is to continuously change our mind on what we want based on our ever-changing feelings and emotions.

As Donovan’s story illustrates, we will rally behind someone as our hero and champion one minute but call for their crucifixion the next.

In an issue of Christianity Today, prolific Christian author Warren Wiersbe, shared that Oliver Cromwell, who took the British throne away from Charles I and established the Commonwealth, said to a friend, 

“Do not trust those who are cheering, for those persons would shout just as much if you and I were going to be hanged.”

As humans we are fickle.

We will sing the praises of our job and boss on Monday because they pay our bills and put food on our table but on Tuesday we will hand in a resignation letter because we can’t take the burden of being told what to do and how to do it anymore.

When a friend posts a picture on social media with us in it, we hit the like button, but when they post pictures with other friends on an outing that we weren’t invited to, we sulk, we curse, sometimes we contemplate the solitude of the monastic life, or sadly we may even think about suicide. 

We will clap and applaud inauguration day when a new President takes office, but quickly share our dissatisfaction with his policies and leadership at the next, “How’s he doing?,” poll.

We feel encouraged when 8 people show up to Bible study, but the following week we will go home depressed when only 2 came out to discuss God’s love for us as revealed in His Word.

When our favorite athlete is scoring goals and leading his team to championships, we wear his jersey out in public 7 days a week.  But, the very second he has a bad game or two in a row, we are burning that jersey and petitioning the team owner to replace him.

We are fickle people.

In our fickleness, pride and arrogance rule the day!

We think we always know the best way to do everything.

In this morning’s Biblical text from the book of Matthew, or, in other words, Matthew’s biography of Jesus, we are going to hear about the fickle human heart of one of Jesus’ disciples when he is confronted with the way God plans to work out the forgiveness of sin and eternal life in Heaven.

Let’s hear from Matthew 16.21-28 together now.

The Biblical text says this:

[21] From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. [22] And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” [23] But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

[24] Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. [25] For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. [26] For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? [27] For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. [28] Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.” (ESV)

In the first verse of this morning’s Biblical text, several very important historical and eschatological things happen.

This moment with Jesus and the disciples marks a change in Jesus’ communication with them.

Up until this point, Jesus has used metaphors and similes to describe who he was and what he was doing amongst them.

For example, Jesus said he was a Shepherd, Jesus said that he was a gate, Jesus said he was the Way, the Truth, and the Life, Jesus said he was God’s Son, Jesus said he was the Son of Man, Jesus said he was the Word, a Light, the Lamb, a Vine, and the Bread of Life.

However, at this turning point, Jesus begins to very clearly, very confidently, and very transparently, share about who is and what he is doing amongst them

Jesus tells them outrightly that he is God’s Messiah, the Savior of humankind, the One spoken of for thousands of years by the prophets, priests and kings.

And, Jesus brings his position as Savior and King to the forefront by sharing with his disciples 4 key points about his person and work that will unfold before their eyes.

First, he must go to Jerusalem, the Holy City, where His formal presentation to the public as Savior and King would take place.  Here he was referring to what we call Palm Sunday.

Second, he must suffer many things from the elders, chief priests and scribes, the three groups that made up the Jewish “Supreme Court,” also called the Sanhedrin throughout Scripture. Here he was referring to his rejection, mocking, imprisonment, and beating.

Third, he must die. For only though His death could the key to the Kingdom of Heaven be made for you.  There could be no good news of forgiveness of your sin without the just judgment on sin being poured out.  Here, Jesus was choosing this path of death on the cross for you and your eternal good.

Fourth, he must be raised up, back to life from the dead, to verify His office of Savior for you, continue His work as the Great High Priest for you—always mediating your relationship with God for you—and be prepared to reign over all Creation as King of Kings and Lord of lords, remaining true to his Word and Promises.

And, all of that is found in just our first verse for this morning!

So, what we have heard and seen is that Jesus clearly says to his followers, “Hey guys, I know things haven’t been crystal clear up to this point, but here’s exactly what God’s plan is! I am your Savior, the One who will provide forgiveness for your sin and a place in Heaven for you.”  In an act of pure grace, Jesus does not leave any mystery to be solved.  Jesus lays out what will happen and why for the finite human mind.

In response, without hesitation, without truly listening or thinking through everything, Peter says, “No sir! I don’t like”

It is here that we see the fickleness of humanity in action.

In the Biblical text immediately before this, Peter is championed by Jesus as the first of the disciples to recognize and confess that He is the Savior, the Christ.

But, in the very next interaction that Peter has with Jesus, Peter changes his tune and says, “I don’t want you to do Savior things because it sounds like it will be unpleasant for me.”

Peter goes from being Jesus’ rock, in the previous Biblical text, to Jesus’ stumbling block in this week’s sermon text.

Why doesn’t Peter like what Jesus is saying? 

Because Jesus is saying that things are going to get difficult and bumpy on the next part of their journey through life together.

Jesus is going to suffer and be killed right in front of them.

And, because they are friends of Jesus and work beside him on God’s mission in this world, they too will experience moments of hardship and suffering.

Just like us, Peter in his humanity, doesn’t like suffering, or even the idea of suffering.

However, what Peter isn’t hearing in his selfishness, self-centeredness and self-righteousness, is that from Jesus’ suffering will come his personal salvation.

From Jesus’ death on the cross will come resurrection life with God in his Kingdom.

Peter’s feelings and emotions that caused him to waiver in his trust in God and God’s plan for him caused him to miss the point of the cross—the point that God’s love for him and for you is so great that He willingly suffers for our salvation.  

Some years ago, a 14-foot bronze crucifix was stolen from Calvary Cemetery in Little Rock, Arkansas. It had stood at the entrance to that cemetery for more than 50 years. The cross was put there in 1930 by a Catholic bishop and had been valued at the time at $10,000. The thieves apparently cut it off at its base and hauled it off in a pick-up. Police speculate that they cut it into small pieces and sold it for scrap.

The thieves figured that the 900-pound cross probably brought about $450. They obviously didn’t realize the value of that cross.

That is often our problem—misunderstanding the value of the cross. 

As Matthew begins to relate the story of Jesus’ crucifixion to us, the theme that runs through all the details is rejection. Not only did Peter not see the value of Jesus, he also didn’t understand the value of Jesus’ death on the cross.

It is easy to sit in front of a text like this and judge Peter.

But, the truth is that we are just like Peter.

We confess Jesus as our Savior in one moment and deny the way He works in our life in the next because the way God is working isn’t comfortable or easy and therefore not the way we want it done.

A friend of mine spoke this week on his podcast and made the very astute observation that God never shows up late, but he also never shows up early.  God always shows up on time.

And, for us, let’s be honest, we always want God to show up early—when we demand he shows up—like some cosmic genie in a bottle.

Where in your relationship with God are you being fickle right now.  I know there is a situation where your trust in God is rocky at best because you aren’t getting what you want when you want it.  I know that there is a place where God isn’t showing up early for you and you are throwing a temper tantrum like a demanding spoiled child?

There is always a place, for all of us, in our sinful humanity that fickleness is usurping our trust in God.

What we need to hear is what Peter needed to hear and what would be written later on by the apostle Paul to recalibrate our minds…

From Romans 5:3–6:

[3] Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, [4] and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, [5] and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

[6] For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. (ESV)

And, from 2 Corinthians 4:6–11:

[6] For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

[7] But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. [8] We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; [9] persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; [10] always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. [11] For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. (ESV)

What happened when Jesus suffered and died on the cross?

When Jesus died on the cross, your sins were forgiven—including your pride, arrogance, and self-righteousness that leads to your fickle attitude and behavior causing wavering trust in God and His desire to do good for you.

When Jesus died on the cross, your broken relationship with God was fixed.

When Jesus died on the cross, you were declared righteous and perfect in every way before God’s throne.

When Jesus died on the cross, the gates of Heaven were thrown wide open for you to enter.

When Jesus died on the cross, you are changed from the inside out to love others as you were first loved by God—even if it means suffering along the way.

All of this happened at the perfect time in the perfect way.

Out of suffering comes salvation.

Out of Jesus’ suffering comes your salvation.

And, sometimes, out of your suffering for others, comes their salvation as they are led back to Christ for ultimate hope and peace.

At the very end of the interview with Landon Donovan that we began this conversation with, he added: 

“At the time, it was by far the hardest thing that ever happened to me in my life. But the beauty is it was the best thing that ever happened to me, and it allowed me to wake up and see the world differently for the first time.”

Listen to these verses from the Bible:

Philippians 2:3–11 encourages you to:

[3] Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. [4] Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. [5] Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, [6] who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, [7] but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. [8] And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. [9] Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, [10] so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, [11] and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (ESV)

Martin Luther spoke of our fickle hearts in relation to our faith and forgiveness when he said,

“When you don’t feel like singing hymns of praise and thanksgiving, that is the time that you need to sing hymns of praise and thanksgiving the most.” (My paraphrase)

I implore you to pick up your cross this week and follow Jesus, always seeking to find those lost in sin in order to bring them home to God through faith in Jesus the Son, our Savior.

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

June 28, 2026.

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

Joy in Pain

1 Thessalonians 1.6-7

At the September 15, 2001, satellite broadcast of “America Prays,” Christian author Max Lucado read the following prayer that he wrote in response to the September 11, 2001, attack on America.

Dear Lord, we’re still hoping we’ll wake up. We’re still hoping we’ll open a sleepy eye and think, What a horrible dream.

But we won’t, will we, Father? What we saw was not a dream. Planes did gouge towers. Flames did consume our fortress. People did perish. It was no dream and, dear Father, we are sad.  There is a ballet dancer who will no longer dance and a doctor who will no longer heal. A church has lost her priest, a classroom is minus a teacher. Cora ran a food pantry. Paige was a counselor, and Dana, dearest Father, Dana was only three years old. (Who held her in those final moments?)


We are sad, Father. For as the innocent are buried, our innocence is buried as well. We thought we were safe. Perhaps we should have known better. But we didn’t.


And so we come to you. We don’t ask you for help; we beg you for it. We don’t request it; we implore it. We know what you can do. We’ve read the accounts. We’ve pondered the stories and now we plead, “Do it again, Lord. Do it again.”


Remember Joseph? You rescued him from the pit. You can do the same for us. Do it again, Lord. Remember the Hebrews in Egypt? You protected their children from the angel of death. We have children, too, Lord. Do it again. And Sarah? Remember her prayers? You heard them. Joshua? Remember his fears? You inspired him. The women at the tomb? You resurrected their hope. The doubts of Thomas? You took them away. Do it again, Lord. Do it again…

Most of all, do again what you did at Calvary. What we saw here last Tuesday, you saw there that Friday. Innocence slaughtered. Goodness murdered. Mothers weeping. Evil dancing. Just as the smoke eclipsed our morning, so the darkness fell on your Son. Just as our towers were shattered, the very Tower of Eternity was pierced. And by dusk, heaven’s sweetest song was silent, buried behind a rock.

But you did not waver, O Lord. You did not waver. After three days in a dark hole, you rolled the rock and rumbled the earth and turned the darkest Friday into the brightest Sunday. Do it again, Lord. Grant us a September Easter…

And we thank you for these hours of prayer. The Enemy sought to bring us to our knees and succeeded. He had no idea, however, that we would kneel before you. And he has no idea what you can do.

…Have mercy upon the souls who have departed and the wounded who remain. Give us grace that we might forgive and faith that we might believe. And look kindly upon your church. For two thousand years you’ve used her to heal a hurting world. Do it again, Lord. Do it again. Through Christ, Amen.

This Christ centered prayer was how one man responded to a situation that brought physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual pain into his life and the lives of countless others.

So now, I ask you, 

How do you respond to difficult situations?

What’s your go to reaction when something happens that you did not expect?

In moments of suffering, where do you go for comfort?

In moments of pain, who do you look to for answers?


In moments of affliction, what brings you reprieve and hope?


Your response to difficult situations reveals who and what you really trust.


When you are feeling down and out, 


Do you run to a parent to tell you that you are the greatest thing since sliced bread, no matter what anyone else says?

Do you run to a friend or friend group to rally around you with an attention diverting night out on the town?


Do you run to Amazon, Target, or the Mall to buy yourself something nice or something fun?


Do you run to book a vacation to get away from the problems of your daily life?


Do you run to the computer for sexual satisfaction by drooling over images of girls in bikinis or muscle men with ripped 6 packs?


Do you run to a bottle to numb your experiences in a euphoric buzz?


Do you run to a drug dealer (some who are unfortunately legal in today’s world) to help you escape the moments of life that you are tired of dealing with?


Or, do you run to God in prayer like the Christian author who wrote the response to the events of September 11, 2001 that we just heard?  


Or, do you run to God in His Word, in His Church, in His people, in Bible Study, like the Apostle Paul, and his companions Silas and Timothy who authored this morning’s text?


As we return to the first chapter of 1 Thessalonians for the 6th week in a row, we hear about the Godly way to respond to life’s troubles.


1 Thessalonians 1:6–7 says this:


[6] And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, [7] so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. (ESV)


Last week, we focused on verses 5-6 from chapter 1.  In those verses, we heard that the Christian leaders writing this letter—Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy—were thankful that the Greek Thessalonian Christians were faithfully imitating them as they were first imitating Jesus.  


What we didn’t have time to hear about was the specifics of how the Thessalonians were imitating Paul, Silas, Timothy, and ultimately, Jesus. 


So, today, we that the Greek Thessalonian Christians were imitating Jesus and Jesus’ leaders in their local church by copying the way that they responded to affliction.


Affliction encompasses many things.  Affliction can be physical pain.  Affliction can be mental suffering.  Affliction can be distress.  Affliction can be spiritual struggle against lies and evil.


And, affliction can come from many different places.  Affliction can come from disease or illness.  Affliction can come from financial or physical hardship.  Affliction can come from mental and spiritual struggle that causes things like depression, despair, and anxiety.


One of the authors of our Biblical text, the Apostle Paul, was well-acquainted with the hardships of often intense suffering on many different levels.  In his 2nd letter to the Christians in the city of Corinth, he lists off some of the mental, physical, and spiritual struggles that were an intimate part of his daily existence.


In 2 Corinthians 11:24–29, the Apostle Paul gives a rundown of some of the troubles he faced saying this:


[24] Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. [25] Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; [26] on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; [27] in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. [28] And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. [29] Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant? (ESV)


Just like the Greek Thessalonians, many of the troubles that the Apostle Paul dealt with stemmed from his faith in Jesus Christ.  Paul’s confidence in Christ alone for salvation led the politicians to hate him.  Paul’s trust in Jesus as God’s Savior led the most popular religious leaders of his day to desire his death.


When Paul felt like he was at a breaking point and couldn’t take any more trouble, he cried out to God to remove all of the suffering from his life.


As Paul prays, God responses to Paul, but doesn’t give Paul the answer he was looking for.


God does not remove the affliction from Paul’s life.


God never promises to remove pain and suffering from your earthly life.  God only promises to remove pain and suffering from your eternal life.  But the promise that God does make to you is that he will be with you in this world through every moment of pain and suffering.  And, you can rest in that promise because in the life and death of Jesus Christ, God became personally acquainted with every single form of human pain and suffering.  Therefore, God knows how to help you because he once thought what you are thinking, he once felt what you are feeling, and he once struggled with what you are struggling with.


Hebrews 4:14–16 makes this good news for you clear.


[14] Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. [15] For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. [16] Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (ESV)


As Jesus, Paul, Silas, Timothy, and then the Greek Thessalonians knew, it’s only by running to the God the Father in Heaven, in one of the many ways He has reveled Himself, that you hear the good news that gives you the comfort and peace you are genuinely seeking.  God’s promise is that He will eventually, at his return, right all wrongs and eradicate all pain and suffering for you in the life that comes through faith in Jesus Christ, His Son, who saved you.


The Greek Thessalonians did not believe the message of Jesus’ cross because it made their life easier and more comfortable.  The Greek Thessalonians believed the message of Jesus’ cross even though it, at times, made their life harder and more uncomfortable, because the message of the cross of Christ instilled in them a hope in God’s grace and love for them that was alive and active working all things out for their good—their salvation—regardless of what they experienced on any given day.  


A few years ago, I was at a Christian leadership conference in Brooklyn and one of the speakers said, “If you want a day without problems and frustration, walk away from pastoring, leadership, and Christianity.”  


Being a pastor, leader, and Christian, I understand what the speaker was saying.  However, the truth is that even for those who are not pastors, leaders, or Christians, problems and frustrations still fill the days on this earth.


Everyone of us is well acquainted with affliction and suffering from time to time.


But, as our text for this morning is telling us, as Christians we have a blueprint for understanding the problems and frustrations of our daily lives and a blueprint for responding to the problems and frustrations of our daily life.


When he was imprisoned for preaching the Good News of Jesus Christ, Paul sang hymns in his jail cell.


Acts 16:16–34 tells us about one of these incidents where two of our text writers, Paul and Silas were wrongfully imprisoned but responded with joy!


Acts 16.(16-18)19-34 records this piece of history.


After telling us that a slave girl turned away from her sin, which included the unGodly dark art of fortune telling, and turned to a life of preaching Jesus as the Savior, like she heard Paul and Silas do, the slave owners who made money off of her evil dealings were upset.  The story continues like this:


[19] But when her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers. [20] And when they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, “These men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city. [21] They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice.” [22] The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods. [23] And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. [24] Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.


[25] About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, [26] and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened. [27] When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. [28] But Paul cried with a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” [29] And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas. [30] Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” [31] And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” [32] And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. [33] And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family. [34] Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God. (ESV)


Why should we respond with joy in times of pain and suffering?



Because our suffering in this world unites us with our Savior Jesus who suffered so that we could be saved.


What did Jesus do in the difficult situations that the affliction of rejection, persecution, imprisonment and the wrongful sentence of the death penalty on the cross brought his way?


Hebrews 12:1–4 answers this question in the midst of the encouragement it provides.  These verses say:


[1] Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, [2] looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.


[3] Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. [4] In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. (ESV)


Nothing in your life compares to the level and amount of suffering that God in Jesus faced in this world. 


However, we often ridiculously act like our momentary troubles are comparable to Jesus’ life and death.


“Starbucks is out of my favorite pink drink! FML!”


“Gas is $4.00 a gallon. Kill me!”


“I only got a 99 out of 100 on my test.  I wish I was dead!”


Even in what can be considered real suffering in this life, things like dealing with cancer and depression, losing a job and struggling financially,  being bullied, enslavement to addiction, etc., you have not been asked to offer your life and have your blood shed because of your Sin and the Sin of others.


When Jesus was asked and tasked with being the Lamb without blemish that would be led to the slaughter to pay for your Sin, Jesus endured the suffering of death on the cross for the joy that he knew was coming on the other side.


Death on the cross was not easy.


Death on the cross was not comfortable.


Death on the cross was not enjoyable.


In fact, death on the cross was the worst form of capital punishment available at the time.


However, Jesus knew that by walking the road up to the cross, after being physically beaten and tortured, and then being crucified with real criminals in a such a brutal way that a new word had to be invented to describe the pain suffered, he would have the joy of knowing and seeing you saved from Sin and reconciled to God.


It’s so hard to understand and believe, but throughout of the most disgusting and despicable event in human history, Jesus had a mind and heart set on the joy that his death would bring to you and to God the Father in Heaven as repentant sinners could now find forgiveness once and for all.  


In her book Ten Fingers for God, Dorothy Clarke Wilson writes about Dr. Paul Brand who worked with leprosy patients in India.


Sometimes they would all gather together in fellowship. One evening, Paul joined them, and they asked him to speak.


Dr. Brand had nothing prepared, yet he willingly stood up, paused for a moment and looked at their hands, some with no fingers, and some with only a few stumps. Then he spoke: “I am a hand surgeon, so when I meet people, I can’t help looking at their hands. I would like to have examined Christ’s hands. With the nails driven through, they must have appeared twisted and crippled. Remember, Jesus, at the end, was crippled too.”


The patients, on hearing this, suddenly lifted their poor hands towards heaven. Hearing of God’s response to suffering had made their suffering easier.


In Jesus’ life of obedience to God and service to you and in Jesus death on cross where he shed his blood for you, he did not grow weary or fainthearted.  Jesus faced all of the suffering, walked through all of the suffering, and Jesus overcame all of the suffering with an attitude of joy.  Jesus willingly ran this race set before him by God the Father in Heaven knowing that he would be the victor winning the prize of your salvation.


When Paul and Silas responded to suffering with joy by singing hymns and praying for God’s help, one of the prison guards watching over them witnessed their joy-laced demeanor and came to believe in Jesus so that he too could experience joy despite worldly suffering.


When the Greek Thessalonians responded to suffering with joy by remaining faithful to the tasks of preaching Christ crucified and resurrected while being persecuted by the government, the non-Christian religious leaders, and sometimes family and friends, residents of the towns and regions surrounding Thessalonica came to believe in Jesus so that they too could experience joy despite worldly suffering.


Just like the Thessalonians, as you endure the suffering of this life with joy, knowing that by suffering God is uniting you with Jesus, making you like Jesus, and will exalt you like Jesus in the Kingdom of Heaven, others will see your faith driven, hard to understand and believe, joy in affliction and come to repentance and faith as they see the life of Christ exemplified in your daily experiences.


This week, hide 2 Corinthians 12:9–10 in your heart for times of trouble and affliction. 


[9] But [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)


This is the Word of God for you today.


This is the Grace of God for you today.


Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.


June 21, 2026

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

The Only Role Model

1 Thessalonians 1.5b-6

There is a famous quote, that states “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.”

This saying, which has survived for over 200 years, refers to the idea that we will copy and try to replicate the choices and work of another that we find admirable.

We all have someone, or several someones, that we look up to.

Who is your role model?

Who in your life do you look at and think, “Someday, I hope to be just like them!”

AskMen.com, the largest men’s lifestyle website in the world, surveyed over 2,000 men and asked them: 

“Who do you consider your role model?” 

The survey results were broken down into four major categories:

  • 8 percent of men said they look to actors or entertainers as their role model.
  • 24 percent of men try to emulate athletes.
  • 31 percent of men said “I’m my own role model.” (what a weird, egotistical, and stupid statement!)
  • Lastly, 35 percent of men admitted to looking to entrepreneurs as role models.

According to AskMen.com, the men that aren’t absolutely blinded by ego and pride, admire men like Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg, who are known for “breaking the mold,” along with other men described as those “who see the risks and take them anyway, achieving success on their own individual terms.”

In this morning’s Biblical text, returning to our series through the New Testament book of 1 Thessalonians, we hear that the professing Christians in 1st Century (AD) Thessalonica have willingly chosen Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy—the men that first shared the Gospel of Jesus Christ with them—and most importantly, they have chosen the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, to be their role models.

Continuing on in 1 Thessalonians, 1:5b-6 says:

[5]…You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. [6] And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, (ESV)

As a reminder, the Biblical book of 1 Thessalonians is a letter written by 3 of the first-ever Christian leaders to some of the first-ever Christian men and women gathered in the Greek city of Thessalonica.  This letter was written and sent in the mid-1st Century shortly following Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and ascension back to Heaven.

This morning’s portion of the letter comes from the opening section in which the leaders are encouraging the local church with a list a of things that they are thankful for.

In the two verses we just heard from, the Christian leaders—Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy—are thankful for two specific things.

First, they are thankful that the Thessalonian Christians are imitating them personally.

Second, they are thankful that the Thessalonian Christians are imitating Jesus.

An important question that arises out of this Biblical text is, “As a Christian, is it ever appropriate to imitate another human being?”  

In our text, the authors are thanking God and encouraging the Thessalonians for imitating them.

This seems counterintuitive to our Christian life because we know from various Biblical passages that we should love as Jesus Christ first loved us and we should serve others unconditionally as Jesus Christ first served us unconditionally.  We are exhorted throughout Scripture to walk in a manner worthy of Christ.

However, at various places throughout the Bible, we are told that it is OK to imitate other human beings.  But, the caveat is that it is appropriate to imitate other human beings only as far as they are first imitating Jesus Christ.

Paul, Silas, and Timothy were men worthy of imitating because their testimonies showed that their lives were miraculously turned upside down and inside out.  These men started out as self-serving and self-exalting deniers of the grace of God in Jesus Christ.  After coming face-to-face with the grace and love of God, they ended up as men who lived with the heart and mind of Jesus overflowing with grace and love for those around them.

In a book that I recently read about loving others just like Jesus first loved us, the author speaks about Paul’s transformed Christian life and says,

“One of the reasons why [the Apostle] Paul prioritized relationships is because he saw other people through the lens of Christ. Jesus—God come down—had every right to claim authority. He had every right to be unknowable. He had every right to keep his distance. God does not have to share his space with messy, sinful, ridiculously unwise human beings. Yet he did. That is exactly what Jesus chose to do throughout his earthly ministry.”

Paul, being changed by God’s love for Him, which drove God to die on the cross to forgive his Sin in the person of Jesus Christ, could not help but pattern his life after the sacrificial love of Jesus so that others could also experience the rest and peace that come from being personally cared for and watched over by God the Father in Heaven.

So, to reiterate, it is appropriate to imitate other human beings only as far as they are first imitating Jesus Christ.

Now, as Christians, as those who find ourselves believing in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, we have the daily calling to be like Jesus by imitating his thought patterns, his speech patterns, and his patterns of action.

The Apostle Paul tells the Christians gathered in the city of Ephesus that because God, in Jesus Christ, has forgiven them, they are to be…

[1] …imitators of God, as beloved children. [2] And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (Ephesians 5.1-2, ESV)

When we hear exhortations like this, exhortations to love others as Christ first loved us, it is easy to mentally assent to the idea.  However, when the day begins and people begin to not act as we want them to act, it can be hard to live up to this essential part of the Christian life.

The good news for you is that you are not left alone to find the strength to be all of the things that Jesus Christ is—loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled.  The good news for you is that through faith in Jesus Christ, God takes up permanent residence in your heart and mind to help you become more like Jesus day-after-day.

In this world, on this earth, Jesus imitated the heavenly and eternal characteristics of God the Father for you!

Jesus was able to act, speak, and think like God the Father because He is 100% God and 100% man at the same time.

Jesus, the Christ, thought as God thinks.  

One of the questions in Luther’s Catechism asks, “What are God’s thoughts about you?”  And, the is God’s thoughts about me are thoughts of love and blessing.”  In and through Jesus, God considers you precious and desires nothing more than to shower you with love and blessing every single day.

Jesus, the Messiah, spoke as God speaks.

Every word out of Jesus’ mouth was a word out of God the Father’s mouth.  Imitating God’s words to perfection, Jesus constantly spoke of repentance and faith.  Jesus’ words lovingly lead you to the mirror to examine how far you have fallen short of God’s standards for life and love so that you can be honest about your need for help, ask God for that help, and be strengthened to put your trust in Jesus who is the only one who can help you by making all things right for you when you stand before God’s throne.  Then, and only then, will you find the rest and peace that every one of our souls is constantly searching for.

And, Jesus, the Savior, acted as God alone acts.  

From birth, to death, to resurrection, to ascension, to eternal life, Jesus did that Jesus did to secure forgiveness of sin, reconciliation with God the Father, and a joyful and peaceful eternal existence for you in God’s Kingdom.

In response to Jesus’ rescuing you through His life, death, and resurrection, you are called to BE like Jesus.

You are not called to LOOK like Jesus.  

There is a growing request in Utah for models who look like Jesus. That’s because for an increasing number of people in the state, a picture isn’t complete without Him. Jesus lookalikes are being hired for family portraits and wedding announcements. Jesus lookalikes are showing up to walk with a newly engaged couple through a field, play with young children in the Salt Flats, and cram in with the family for the annual Christmas card.

Bob Sagers was walking around an indie music festival in Salt Lake City when a friendly stranger approached and asked for his number. “Has anyone ever told you that you have a Jesus look to you?” Sagers, a 25-year-old who works as a cheesemonger at a grocery store made the joke that it wasn’t a pickup line—the man’s wife was an artist looking for religious models. Being 6-foot-5 with dirty-blonde, shoulder-length hair and a beard that gives off Irish and Scandinavian vibes, Sagers added, “I make for a pretty tall Jesus.”

And so it was that Sagers began a side hustle as a savior. Since being recruited about four years ago, Sagers has posed as Jesus nearly a dozen times. Others have done so far more often, charging about $100 to $200 an hour to pose with children, families, and couples at various locations in the Beehive state.

For the newly sought-after models, the job can be freighted with meaning and responsibility. Lookalikes find that people expect them to embody Jesus in more ways than the hair and beard. Some models said they feel like a celebrity when they don the robe—and get treated like one too. (One felt compelled to remind an onlooker he wasn’t the real Jesus.)

You are not called to LOOK like Jesus.  

You are called to BE like Jesus.

Let me explain what this means.

It’s easy to look like Jesus outwardly.  

You can look like Jesus by going to the church building and sitting in a pew while spiritual songs are sung, while people are confirmed, while sermons are preached, and while the Lord’s Supper is served.

You can look like Jesus by putting money in the offering box.

You can look like Jesus by donating goods to the food pantry.

You can look like Jesus by baptizing your babies.

You can look like Jesus by showing up at funerals and weeping with those who weep.

You can look like Jesus by celebrating with those who a celebrating.

You can look like Jesus by helping the poor.

The ways you can look like Jesus are never-ending.

But, looking like Jesus outwardly doses’t mean that you are like Jesus internally.

Matthew 7:21–23 gives us this warning:

[21] “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. [22] On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ [23] And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ (ESV)

If we look like Jesus in our actions but don’t have the heart of Jesus through faith and trust in Him for salvation, Jesus will say to us on our last day, “I do not know you.”

Doing some of the “right things” doesn’t make you right in God’s eyes.

Only believing the right things makes you right in God’s eyes.

And, what is the right thing to believe?

Jesus tells us what the right thing to believe is, in a verse that one of our confirmands shared last week as her favorite verse, 

[1] “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. [2] In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? [3] And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. [4] And you know the way to where I am going.” [5] Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” [6] Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. [7] If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” (John 14:1–7, ESV)

Nothing you do and no one around you can connect you to God expect Jesus Christ alone.  Without faith in Him, you will never see God face-to-face.  

Being saved from Sin by a Savior who died on a cross to rescue you from being eternally separated from God, your Creator, gives you a life that is freighted with purpose, meaning, and responsibility.  

In the words of Uncle Ben in Spiderman, “With great power comes great responsibility.”

There is only one person that you can place in the category of “role model” that will make sure, without a single doubt, that you achieve the goal of being pure and holy as God is pure and holy.  His name is Jesus Christ.  He is the God-in-the-flesh.  He is Emmanuel, God with you!

Jesus doesn’t just show you how to live a Godly life, Jesus lives the Godly life for you and with you.

I leave you with two Bible verses this morning.

Colossians 3:2 encourages you to, 

[2] Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. (ESV)

And, 1 John 4:10–11, 18-19 describes what is it to imitate Jesus.

[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.

[18] There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. [19] We love because he first loved us. (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 14, 2026

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

Confirmation Testimonies 2026

These student testimonies are unedited. I am sharing them just as they wrote them.

Carter Garcia

I was raised in a Christian family by my parents, Stacy and Luis. For many years, my family and I attended Gloria Dei Church, which has always been a very special place to us. My grandparents were married there, my mom was baptized there, and my parents were married there as well. Growing up, we regularly attended church services, celebrated Christmas and Easter together, and I received my First Holy Communion at Gloria Dei.

I was also baptized at Gloria Dei as a baby. My godfather is Uncle Fred, and my godmother is Aunt Jackie. Pastor Brandt baptized me, and according to my parents, I smiled the entire time and never cried once.

Through church, Confirmation classes, Church Camp at Bethel, and reading the Bible, I have learned that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. These experiences have helped strengthen my faith and better understand what it means to live as a Christian.

Jesus Christ is important to me because He guides me to live a good and meaningful life. He reminds me to be kind, helpful, faithful, and caring toward others. I know I can always turn to Him for support, comfort, and guidance during both good and difficult times.

Having faith in Jesus Christ affects my daily life because it gives me someone I can trust completely. I believe He helps guide my decisions and leads me down the right path. Knowing that He is always with me gives me confidence and strength every day.

Confirmation is especially important to me because it represents my personal decision to continue following God and living in faith. When I was baptized as a baby, that decision was made by my parents. Now, through Confirmation, I am choosing for myself to continue growing in my relationship with God and living as a Christian.

My favorite Bible verse is 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. I memorized and recited it in front of more than 100 people at my cousin Ava and Mike’s wedding. I love this verse because it beautifully describes the power and meaning of love, especially God’s love.

Love is patient and kind.
Love does not envy or boast.
It is not proud or rude.
It does not insist on its own way.
It is not irritable or resentful.
It does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth.
Love bears all things,

believes all things,

hopes all things,

endures all things.
Love never ends.

Braydon Garafola

I was raised in a Christian home and taught about God and Jesus from a young age. Faith has always been an important part of my life. I was baptized as a baby, which was important to my family because they wanted me to grow up knowing God and being part of the church. Even though I was raised in a Christian household, my Sunday mornings were not always spent at church. My faith is still important to me. Most Sundays were spent, and continue to be spent at hockey rinks, baseball fields, or volleyball courts. We also spend a lot of Sunday mornings around the same kitchen table my mom sat at when she was a child. My grandpa makes Sunday morning breakfast. Family is one of my biggest values.

I learned that Jesus Christ was my Lord and Savior through my family, prayer and Confirmation classes. As I got older, I started to understand more about who Jesus is and how He helps people through difficult times. I learned that he is with me at all times and I can always turn to Him for guidance, strength, and comfort.

Jesus Christ is important to me because He gives me strength and someone to lean on when life is difficult. I know that I can pray to Him during hard times, but also during good times. I pray for my family, all the people I love, my pets, my sports games, and for each day to be a good day. Knowing Jesus is with me helps me feel supported, safe and grounded.

My faith in Jesus Christ affects my daily life by helping me try to be kind, thoughtful, and respectful to others. It also helps me stay positive and work hard in school and sports. I try to remember that God is with me no matter what happens, and whether I win or lose.

Confirmation is important to me because it allows me to grow stronger in my faith and my relationship with God. I love God and am a supporter of God. It is also important because I am choosing to continue my faith journey for myself. Church is where I reflect on myself and grow stronger. Confirmation helps me better understand what it means to live as a Christian.

One thing I learned in Confirmation that sticks out to me is reading and understanding Scripture. I enjoy learning about the Bible and hearing stories that teach lessons about faith, strength, and helping others. I am able to relate the scripture and bible verses to my own life. It has helped me think more deeply about my relationship with God.

My favorite Bible verse is Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” This is my favorite verse because it reminds me that I am never alone and that God gives me strength during challenges. When I am down on myself, I remember this bible verse. I also relate to it through sports because it reminds me to work hard, stay confident, and trust in God.

Ashley Herold

I was raised by Christian parents and they raised me using their spiritual support system. We attended religious services weekly and consisted of going to religious instruction on Wednesdays at St Elizabeth.  I also learned to say my prayers at night. I was baptized in a small church in Glendale, Queens named Sacred Heart.  My godparents are my aunt and uncle.

I learned about our Savior Jesus Christ at religious instruction. In grade school I learned how he died for us and that part made me want to learn more about his life.  The belief hit harder around 5-6th grade when more hardships came. I realized faith in him was nice and good to have, and it made me feel safe.

Jesus is important to all of us because of how he cares for us unconditionally.  He is important to me because I knew he would always be there. I also knew I could always talk to him and he would be supporting us in prayer, all the time. I need Jesus in my life as one of the ways to maintain balance and health.

Jesus affects my daily life positively. I know he is always with me and watching me, no matter what. I know he always loves me and he helps me feel supported, even when it feels like nobody is there and around for me.

Confirmation is important because it is a part of being a Christian’s journey. I want to finish my Christian journey and complete what I have to. This includes confirmation, to be confirmed.

Confirmation helps strengthen a person’s faith. This sticks out to me because I know I want to do exactly that—keep faith. As I have said, I want to continue even after being confirmed, and want to be confirmed to continue my Christian journey.

My favorite verse is one of the verses we have done, John 14:6. It reads, “I am the way and the truth and the life”. This is important to me because as much as it is a fairly popular one, it holds significance in how Jesus is the truth.

Dominick Lipari

I was raised by Christian parents. I grew up learning about God and Jesus my whole life starting from when I was baptized as a baby.  I heard Bible stories growing up, went to religion classes, and also made my communion in the 2nd grade.  Church, faith, and family values are a huge part of my life because my parents taught me the importance of all of these.

I learned that Jesus Christ was my Lord and Savior through Church, prayer, the Bible, and from my parents.  From listening in church and reading the Bible I have learned just how much Jesus sacrificed for all of us.  He died for all of our sins which gives us hope and forgiveness.

Jesus Christ is important to me because he reminds me that I am never alone.  I can always find hope, strength, and courage when I pray to Him.  It is because of Him that I have learned to believe in myself and in the things that I do.

My faith in Jesus Christ affects my daily life by teaching me to always help people and put others before myself.  It also helps me to be an honest, respectful, and compassionate person. Praying also helps me to calm down when I am stressed out and need help or guidance.

Confirmation is important to me because it has helped to make my relationship with God stronger.  It has helped me to learn about the things that God and Jesus have done for us.  I have also learned more about the Church and what it means to be a Christian.

One thing I learned from Confirmation that sticks out to me is how Jesus rose from the dead after he sacrificed his life for our sins.  Another thing that I learned is that God is with me no matter what especially during the difficult times he is right by my side.

My favorite Bible verse is Philippians 4:13– “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

This Bible verse has taught me that I am never alone and I just have to believe that God is always with me.  It also makes me want to keep trying even when things are difficult in my life.

Caleb Meis

Christian parents raised me.  I was baptized on June 2, two years ago at Bethel by Pastor Fred.  I spent my Sundays at the church, especially because my Dad played in the band.

I learned that Jesus Christ was my Lord and Savior through Confirmation.  I learned that by going over it in the Bible.  I also learned that Jesus Christ was my Lord and Savior through His death and resurrection.

Jesus Christ is important to me because he has taught be how to push through hard times in my life.  I need in my life because he has taught me to forgive, love, teach, and accept.  One other way that I need Jesus is to show me that nobody is perfect and that we show be treated and treat others with respect.

May faith in Jesus affects my daily life because he has shown me how to go the right way when there are two different paths.  My faith in Jesus also affect my life by teaching me how to handle the not nice people who want to annoy me.  And, the last affect of Jesus in my daily life is to remind me that faith isn’t also perfect but it is His forgiveness that matters.

Confirmation is important because it is something that I can do on my own and can’t be told what to think or do.  I can have my own thoughts and realizations.  One other thing that makes Confirmation important to me is that I can have questions and have them answered.

One things that sticks out to me in Confirmation is that you always have a choice to choose the good side.  One more important thing is that you can always have grace.  You can have grace with siblings, teammates, classmates, teachers, family, neighbors, and more.

My favorite Bible verse is Proverbs 3.5-6.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart,

  and do not lean on your own understanding.

In all your ways acknowledge him,

  and he will make straight your paths.

This is my favorite verse because it teaches me how to go through hard times.  One more thing about this verse is that it tells me that there is always a right choice, no matter what, and God is trying to guide you to the right path.

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

Yes! That’s The Book For Me!

1 Thessalonians 1.4-5a (Part Deux)

Words are powerful.

Words are expensive.

And, ignoring or rejecting words can lead you to the wrong destination.

Because words are powerful and expensive, a good translation or translator really does matter. 

Professional translator Nataly Kelly tells the following story about what journalists have called the “$70 million word.”

In 1980, 18-year-old Willie Ramirez was admitted to a Florida hospital in a comatose state. His friends and family tried to describe his condition to the paramedics and doctors who treated him, but Willie’s family only spoke Spanish. They told the hospital staff that Willie was intoxicado. The word is what translators call a “false friend”—it doesn’t mean what you’d assume it means. 

In Spanish, intoxicado refers to a state of poisoning, usually from ingesting something toxic to the system. Ramirez’s family was trying to say that Willie was suffering from food poisoning—literally, “he is poisoned.”

But when the doctors grabbed a hospital staff person to translate for the Ramirez family, the staff worker said that Willie was “intoxicated.” The doctors treated him as if we were suffering from an intentional drug overdose. Willie was misdiagnosed and, because of the wrong course of treatment, became a quadriplegic. 

The hospital finally settled in court with the Ramirez family for $71 million.

Words are powerful.

Words are expensive.

And, ignoring or rejecting words can lead you to the wrong destination.

The word that the Ramirez family was using had the power to communicate the truth of Willie’s situation and therefore, the power to get him the help and healing that he needed.

However, due to the lack of care and concern for the word being shared, the word became expensive.  First, the rejection of the word cost Willie his ability to use his torso and limbs for the remainder of his life.  The ignorance and rejection of the word ultimately cost Willie Ramirez his life.

Second, the rejection of the word cost the hospital $71 million dollars in payments that could have been avoided.

In this morning’s Biblical text, we are returning to our very slow crawl through the the deep and wide grace of God found in the New Testament book of 1 Thessalonians.  (For more information on how we got here, please see the previous sermons now at home on my blog www.sinnerandsaint.blog). 

All you need to remember, or know, this morning is that 1 Thessalonians is a letter written by a few of the first Christian leaders to one of the first churches that was gathered in the Greek city of Thessalonica.

In the verses that we will hear from now, we hear that the Word of God is powerful, the Word of God is expensive, and depending on your response to the Word of God, the Word of God can lead you to the wrong destination or the right destination.

1 Thessalonians 1.4-5a says this:

[4] For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, [5] because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction…(ESV)

Last week, in this series through the New Testament book of 1 Thessalonians, we received other-worldly comfort from the first half of these verses as we were washed in the Good News that God has chosen to love us (yes, stubborn and disobedient us), God has chosen to forgive us (yes, stubborn and disobedient us), and God has chosen prepare a place for us in His Kingdom of Heaven (yes, stubborn and disobedient us).  

God has chosen to do all of this for you and for me through choosing to die on the cross in the God-man, Jesus Christ

This morning, we are going to move on to the second half of these verses, specifically verse 5(a), and hear how we can be confident in the truth that God has chosen us because of the changes that occur in our daily living when we recognize that we are sinners and that Jesus Christ is our loving and forgiving Savior.

More than 20 years ago, I was at a Lutheran Brethren Youth Conference in Seattle, Washington.

One of the presenters, the then President of our Lutheran Brethren Seminary, shared about assurance of salvation.

In answering the question, “How can we know and trust that God loves us, forgives us, and has a place waiting for us in His Kingdom of Heaven?,” the pastor and professor shared a verse that has taken up permanent residence in my heart and mind ever since.

The Apostle John, the one who is known Biblically as, “the disciple that Jesus loved,” shared the reason he was writing his first letter to a group of Christians in Asia Minor during the 1st Century AD when he said,

“I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.” (1 John 5:13, ESV)

This statement does not just pertain to this letter that John was writing.  

This statement pertains to the entirety of our Bible.  

All of Genesis 1.1 through Revelation 22.21, all 66 Biblical books, all 31,102 verses, are written to you hearing this message today so that you can be given exactly what you need to be made wise for salvation being confident in God’s never ending love of you.

This happens because the Holy Bible is not some dead text.  The words contained within The Word of God, are not just ink on paper.

Hebrews 4:12–13 sums this up when it says:

[12] For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. [13] And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. (ESV)

The Word of God is powerful.

The Word of God is expensive.

And, ignoring or rejecting God’s Word can lead you to the wrong destination.

Eleanor Turnbull, a veteran missionary to Haiti, shared a few of the simple prayers that Christians in the Haitian mountains prayed in her presence.

One prayer shared went like this:

Our Great Physician,
Your word is like alcohol.
When poured on an infected wound, it burns and stings,
but only then can it kill germs.
If it doesn’t burn, it doesn’t do any good.

Another prayer like this:

Father,
A cold wind seems to have chilled us.
Wrap us in the blanket of your Word and warm us up.

And, still, another prayer like this;

Lord,
We find your Word like cabbage.
As we pull down the leaves, we get closer to the heart.
And as we get closer to the heart, it is sweeter.

What these Haitian Christians are professing in their prayers is the good news that the Word of God, the Bible, is not a dead word but a living and active Word.  And, that being true, the living and active Word of God always does God’s work when it is read and preached.

One more verse about God’s Word, the Bible, tells us that there is never a time that the Bible is read or preached that God remains quiet.  God always does some sort of work in the lives of those that hear His Word.

Isaiah 55:10–11 says:

[10] “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven

and do not return there but water the earth,

making it bring forth and sprout,

giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,

[11] so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;

it shall not return to me empty,

but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,

and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. (ESV)

1 Corinthians 1:18 addresses the power and conviction of sin and salvation brought to us by God’s Holy Spirit whenever we read or hear God’s Word.

1 Corinthians 1.18 says:

[18] For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (ESV)

2 Timothy 3:14–17 addresses the expensive side of God’s Word when it says:

[14] … as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it [15] and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. [16] All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, [17] that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (ESV)

The Word of God is powerful.

The Word of God is expensive.

And, the Word of God leads you to the right direction to the right destination.

After two years without a vacation, Edward Gamson, an American dentist, was excited to board his plane and do some site seeing in Granada, a province in Spain. But some nine hours later, he landed in the Caribbean island of Grenada (not Granada), 4,000 miles from his intended destination.

Mr. Gramson told a newspaper, “I made it absolutely clear to the booking agent I wanted to go to Granada in Spain. Why on earth would I want to go to Grenada in the Caribbean if I was flying back to America from Lisbon? It’s just so sad.” He’s suing the airline for $34,000. The judge refused to throw the suit out and then added, “This case proves the truth of Mark Twain’s aphorism that ‘the difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.’ Except here only a single letter’s difference is involved.”

The Word of God is expensive for you if you ignore it or reject it.  By ignoring and rejecting the Word of God that God has graciously and mercifully given to you, you are led away from God and toward many false hopes that can never satisfy you.  By ignoring and rejecting God’s Word, you are led in the wrong direction to the wrong destination.  There are only a few letters separating Heaven and Hell.

The Word of God is also expensive for God because for those of you that receive and accept it, the forgives and eternal life and righteousness it provides you with was purchased with the body and blood of His One and Only Son, Jesus Christ on the cross.  The price for your sin had to be paid and God’s love for you does not want you to pay the cost so God, in His love for you, chose you to be brought back into His family through the atoning substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus Christ’s death on the cross.

The Word of God is powerful.

The Word of God is expensive.

And, the Word of God leads you in the right direction to the right destination.  By following Jesus Christ you are lead joyously into the Kingdom of Heaven today and forever.

Someone once said, “You cannot tells a hungry children that you gave him food yesterday.”  In the same way, you can’t tell your hungry soul that you gave it some hope through God’s Word yesterday.  You need to go to God the Father, in His Word, daily so that He can feed you faith, hope, and love.  It is God’s will that you be filled daily with the food of the Gospel that only He can provide.

There is a plaque on the wall in my office with a quote from the late pastor and theologian R.C. Sproul.

The quote from his book, Knowing Scripture, says, 

“The power of the word is not in the people’s being able to summarize a message they’ve heard.   Rather it is the power of God’s Word piercing the soul.”

Knowing this all to be true, that there is power in God’s Word to change us and give us hope for life with God on our side, I began to make it as easy as possible for you in this congregation to be exposed to the life-altering and world-changing Word of God on a regular basis.  

That is why I send an almost-daily email (and Facebook post) with a piece of Scripture and a few words of explanation to you.   It is always my hope that you are opening your Bible without my help, but I provide the help in getting God’s Word to you because I know from own personal experience how hard it often is to find a few uncluttered moments during the day to do so.

When we began today, we heard the truths that words are powerful and that words can sometimes be expensive for those that ignore and reject them. 

As you have heard and hopefully experienced, the Word of God is powerful.  The Word of God is able to penetrate the deepest recesses of your heart and mind to lay out your ungodliness before your eyes to convict you of your sin and your need for a Savior.

The Word of God has the power to reveal the darkest parts of who you are, the parts that you try hard to hide and have never spoken of before.  But, the Word of God also has the power, by the working of the Holy Spirit, to take what is in Heaven with God and deliver it directly to you where you are at any given moment in time.  By showing you Jesus, your Savior, the Word of God has the power to give you rest and peace in the finished work of Christ on your behalf.

This morning, God does not leave you alone to figure things out.  God gives you His Word.  In His freely gifted Word to you, God is always speaking to you, God is always leading you, and God is always assuring you that He has chosen to love you so that you can rest today.

The Word of God is powerful.

The Word of God is expensive.

And, the Word of God leads you to the right direction to the right destination.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

May 24, 2026.

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

I Choose You!

1 Thessalonians 1.4-5a

Rejection hurts!

According to an article published by Reuters, the world’s largest international multimedia news provider, that “kicked-in-the-gut” feeling that you get when you’re ignored at a party or not chosen for a team generates physical symptoms. According to the article, “Brain-imaging studies show that a social snub affects the brain precisely the way visceral pain does.”

“When someone hurts your feelings, it really hurts you,” states Matt Lieberman, a social psychologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, who worked on the study.

In the study, 13 “volunteers were given a task they did not know related to an experiment in social snubbing. Writing in the journal Science, Lieberman and Naomi Eisenberger said the brains of the volunteers lit up when they were rejected in virtually the same way as a person experiencing physical pain.

“In the English language we use physical metaphors to describe social pain like ‘broken heart’ and ‘hurt feelings,”‘ said Eisenberger. “Now we see that there is good reason for this.”

None of us lives life free of rejection.

Maybe your prom-posal was met with the response, “I already have a date,” or, “No, thank you.”

Maybe you received a letter from one of your first choice colleges that began with the phrase, “We regret to inform you that we cannot offer you admission at this time.”

Maybe a company called you after an in-person job interview and said, “Thank you for coming to see us.  However, at this time, we have decided to go in a different direction.”

Maybe a group of peers that you desperately wanted friendship from refused your advances because of superficial judgments—you weren’t wealthy enough, 

you weren’t athletic enough, 

you weren’t musically talented enough, 

you didn’t measure up to their  definitions of beauty, 

your skin color didn’t match theirs, or

your worldview clashed with their thoughts, language, and behavior.  

Maybe you have heard the life-altering devastating words, “I don’t love you any more.”

So, I repeat today’s initial truth, rejection hurts.  

Or, in a saltier, but probably realer statement, rejection sucks!

The deepest longing of the human heart has always been to be loved.  

To be loved is to experience euphoric comfort and rest that comes from knowing that you have been chosen by another.  To be chosen means you have both worth and value to another.  

To be loved is to have someone else willingly choose to sacrifice their time, their resources, and even their own wants and desires to focus on you and your well being.  

To be loved is to know that someone has chooses, on a regular and consistent basis, to make sure your needs will be met.

To be loved is know that you have been accepted and welcomed in a very broken world that finds sadomasochistic enjoyments in exclusion and rejection.

Two weeks ago, we began a sermon series through the Bible’s New Testament book of 1 Thessalonians.  As a reminder, this book is actually a letter written by some 1st Century AD Christian leaders to some 1st Century AD Christians in the Greek city of Thessalonica.

In this morning’s Bible verses, still from chapter 1 of 1 Thessalonians, we are going to hear about the God who created all that exists, the One and Only that is God the Father in Heaven, making the conscious choice to love us when He has every right to reject us.

Let’s hear from 1 Thessalonians 1.4-5a now.

1 Thessalonians speaks these words of truth and encouragement:

[4] For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, [5] because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction…(ESV)

The Bible tells us some real hard truths about the human spiritual condition—that means my spiritual condition and your spiritual condition—that initially leave us in a place unworthy of God’s love.

Romans 3:10–18 says:

[10] as it is written:

“None is righteous, no, not one;

[11] no one understands;

no one seeks for God.

[12] All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;

no one does good,

not even one.”

[13] “Their throat is an open grave;

they use their tongues to deceive.”

“The venom of asps is under their lips.”

[14] “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”

[15] “Their feet are swift to shed blood;

[16] in their paths are ruin and misery,

[17] and the way of peace they have not known.”

[18] “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” (ESV)

And, Romans 3.23 tell us that:

[23] …all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (ESV)

Let’s be honest, on most days, we don’t get out of bed thinking, “How can I serve God and love others today?”

On most days, we get out of bed and start thinking, “What can I do today to make sure I feel happy and good about myself (and have the people around me tell me how good I am!)?”

Because of the original Sin that dwells inside of us actively corrupting our motives for the life we have at every turn, we do not naturally choose God or the things of God.

Let me say that again.

We are not naturally inclined to choose love for God and choose love for others every part of every hour as God desires us to do. 

In fact, the absolute bad news of Sin is that without some sort of help, you remain 100% self-centered, selfish, and claiming a self designated self-righteousness, completely powerless to move toward God.

In the go-to text for helping addicts recover from a hopeless state of self imposed destruction, Alcoholics Anonymous’ “Big Book,” speaks clearly to the human condition when it says:

“Above everything, we alcoholics must be rid of this selfishness. We must, or it kills us! 

God makes that possible. 

And there seems no way of getting rid of self without His aid. 

Many of us had moral and philosophical convictions galore but we could not live up to them, even though we would have liked to. Neither could we reduce our self-centeredness much by wishing or trying on our own power. 

We had to have God’s help…

We could wish to be moral, we could wish to be philosophically comforted, in fact we could will these things with all our might, but the needed power wasn’t there. 

Our human resources, as marshaled by the will, were not sufficient; they failed utterly. Lack of power, that was our dilemma.” 

So, because we naturally and zealously break God’s first and second greatest commands which tell us to love God and love others, loving ourselves instead, God has every right to punish us and crush us and He would remain perfectly just in doing so.

However, there is beautiful life-altering and world-changing good news for you in our Biblical text for this morning!

The good news for you is this:

God has chosen you!

Despite your Sin and selfishness, God has chosen you to be one of His children.

The good news for you is this:

God has chosen to forgive you!

Despite your never-ending record of wrongs, God has provided a way for your sins to be wiped away.  God willingly chose to intervene in the human dilemma by coming to you in the person of Jesus Christ to be the perfect substitutionary sacrifice who would freely choose to die on the cross to pay the price for every last unGodly thought, word, and deed that has been and will be part of your earthly life.

The good news for you is this:

God has chosen to love you!

Despite your lack of love for God and His commandments, God has chosen to have compassion on you and care for you and provide for your needs—your ultimate need of being saved from Sin, and your penultimate needs of the worldly goods and services you need to survive day-to-day.

The 18th Century English theologian responsible for the development of the Methodist Church once prayed a prayer that has since been titled, “Give Me a Humble Heart.”  As I was working through this prayer in my own prayer life this week, I was struck by these sentences:

“Let me be always looking to Jesus Christ, who is pleading for me at your right hand.  Give me grace not to do my own will, but yours.  Make me content with everything.  The least of all the good things you give me is far more than I deserve.”

The good news for you is this:

God has chosen to make room for you in His Kingdom of Heaven.

John 14.1-7, a very familiar set of Bible verses to our church say:

[1] “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. [2] In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? [3] And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. [4] And you know the way to where I am going.” [5] Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” [6] Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. [7] If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” (ESV)

To better contextualize the “bad news” verses we heard from the Biblical book of Romans a few minutes ago and end where God wants you to end up—with the “good news”—let’s look at Romans 3.23 in the full passage which it calls home.

Romans 3:21–26 says this:

[21] But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—[22] the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: [23] for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, [24] and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, [25] whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. [26] It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one  who has faith in Jesus. (ESV)

If you have kids, or, if you are a big kid yourself, maybe you are familiar with (or obsessed with) the Japanese media franchise Pokemon. Pokemon is a decades long series that includes video games, animated shows, books, films, and a trading card game.

Pokemon is a shared universe in which humans co-exist with mythical creatures who have special powers.  The humans act as trainers for the pocket monsters who eventually use the trained Pokemon to battle other Pokemon.  When a victory ensues, the winning Pokemon trainer captures and collects the weakened and defeated foe.  The ultimate goal is to “collect them all,” meaning, collect every species of Pokemon the index or “Pokédex” of creatures.

In the debut episode of Pokemon, a 10-year-old trainer, Ash, oversleeps on his first day. Having missed out on the standard, more sought after, starter creatures to train such as Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle, Ash is left choosing a stubborn and disobedient Pokemon named Pikachu.  

When Ash looks at the less-than-desirable Pikachu, Ash boldly proclaims, “I choose you!”  After choosing the one that everyone else rejected, their soon-to-be legendary bond begins when Ash risks his life to protect the stubborn and disobedient Pikachu from a flock of violent flying species known as Spearow.

As the good news from this morning’s Biblical text tell you, God chose you! Yes, God chose stubborn and disobedient you to be blessed and exalted in His eternal Kingdom of Heaven.  God chose to give His life over to death to protect you from the condemnation and destruction of Sin.  God’s choice to do this creates a legendary and eternal bond between you and your Creator and Savior.

So, how can you be confident that God chose you and always will?

Look to the cross of Jesus Christ, where He died, choosing you over His own own life.

Jesus tells you this good news in John 10:10–18 when He says to you:

[10] The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. [11] I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. [12] He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. [13] He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. [14] I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, [15] just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep…[18] No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord…(ESV)

In Jesus, God has chosen to accept you and welcome you into His family.

In Jesus, God has willingly chosen to sacrifice His time, His resources, and even His physical life to to focus on you and your well-being.

In Jesus, God chooses to regularly and consistently provide for your needs.

In Jesus, God lets you know that you have value and worthy today and forever.

In Jesus, as God has chosen you, you can know real and lasting comfort and rest.

This morning, look to Jesus Christ on the cross and hear God saying to you, “I choose you!”

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

This is God choosing you and choosing to love you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

May 17, 2026.

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

Faith Hope Love

1 Thessalonians 1.2-3

In the greatest television comedy that has ever been produced, NBC’s The Office, the regional manger of Dunder Mifflin paper company, turns to one of his employees, an employee who is challenging his ridiculous idea of inviting local children from the community to a casino night of gambling and drinking in their company warehouse, and says,

“Why are you the way that you are?”  

The regional manager, frustrated with the employee’s push back, ends with the statement, 

“I hate so much about the things that you choose to be.”

I want to ask you the same question this morning,

“Why are you the way that you are?”

To make the question more specific,

“Why do you think the way you think?”

“Why do you speak the way you speak?”

And,

“Why do you do the things you do?”

When you ponder those questions, another question that has to be asked is, “What is the driving force behind the life you choose to lead?”

Do you think, speak, and act the way you do because of the way you were raised?

Do you think, speak, and act the way you to to fit in at work or school?

Do you think, speak, and act the way you do to avoid conflict with your spouse?

Do you think, speak, and act the way you do to gain praise and recognition and pats on the back from your peers?

What is your motivation to be the way that you are?

In our text for this morning, as we return to the New Testament book of 1 Thessalonians, we are going to hear the authors of this book, or more specifically, this letter, point out the very clear patterns of thought, speech, and action that the Thessalonians have become known for as well as the driving force behind those patterns that are life-changing and world-changing.

So, Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy let us know why the Thessalonians are the way that they are.

Let’s hear from the verses in 1 Thessalonians that we are up to.

1 Thessalonians 1.2-3 says this:

[2] We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, [3] remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. (ESV)

If we remember from last week, the New Testament Biblical book of 1 Thessalonians is a letter written from three of the first Christian leaders (Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy) to some of the very first people in the Greek city of Thessalonica who had found themselves believing in Jesus Christ as the One and Only sin-forgiving, life-giving, Lord and Savior. 

In typical Pauline fashion, Paul and his companions begin their letter to the Christian Thessalonians by letting them know that they are thankful for them and why they are thankful for them.

So, why are Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy thankful for the Thessalonians?


Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy are thankful for the way that the Thessalonians are.  Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy are thankful for the Thessalonians because they are actively living out the Christian life.

The Christian life is often Biblically defined by the trio of faith, hope, and love.

First, Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy are thankful for the faith of the Thessalonians.

Faith is defined in the dictionary as complete trust, confidence, or reliance in a person, entity, or doctrine.

The definition of faith in clarified in the Bible when Hebrews 11:1 says that,

[1] …faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (ESV)

The Thessalonian’s faith was founded in the conviction that,

[16] … 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)

Second, Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy are thankful for the hope of the Thessalonians.

Hope is defined by the dictionary as the desire for a specific, positive outcome combined with the expectation or belief that it is attainable.

The definition of hope is clarified by the Bible, once again in the New Testament book of Hebrews, when the author says,

[17] So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, [18] so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. [19] We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, [20] where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever… (Hebrews 6:17–20, ESV)

That being said, what was the hope of the Thessalonians?

Well, that question is answered when we look down a few verses to verse 10 in chapter 1.  

Verse 10 of this current chapter says that the hope of the Christians in Thessalonica has two parts.

Part one of the Thessalonians hope comes from placing their trust and hope in the promise of Jesus’ return.  

Part two of the Thessalonians hope comes from placing their trust and hope in Jesus’ promise to rescue them from God’s wrath.

I want to point out that it is easy to fall into the trap of believing in a domesticated God.  

A domesticated God is a God removed from the Bible and placed into the context of your own beliefs.  Many call this false version of God a “god of your own understanding.”  And, because we shy away from wanting to have a backbone and standing on real truth which is often hard to do, we are only willing to say that God is loving.  

In our unBiblical attempt to be politically correct, we remove the other half of God’s character which is 100% Biblical.  We are often quick to brush God’s promise to judge the Sin of those that don’t repent and trust in Jesus under the carpet or, completely openly deny it because we don’t want to be offensive.

Well, I want you to know, not from me, but from this morning’s text, that God has very clear standards of right and wrong and those that choose to ignore and/or reject God’s offer of forgiveness for Sin through faith in Jesus and in turn ignore and/or reject God’s rules for life and love will be rejected by God and punished eternally for their unbelief in God’s goodness and grace.  

However, the Thessalonians knew the Good News!

The Thessalonians have hope because they fully trust that in Jesus, God has already punished their sin and therefore they are free from being punished themselves when Jesus returns to judge all men and women and set up God’s eternal Kingdom of Heaven.

And finally, the third thing that Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy are thankful for is the love of the Thessalonians.

Once again returning to the dictionary for help, love is defined as a profoundly tender, passionate affection or a strong feeling of personal attachment, often directed toward family, friends, or a romantic partner. Love is characterized by deep caring, self-giving concern for another’s well-being, and can be shown through actions of commitment, intimacy, and passion.

The Bible, in 1 Corinthians 13:4–7, clarifies what love is by telling us how love looks in action.  In these verses, we hear that,

[4] Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant [5] or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; [6] it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. [7] Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (ESV)

In December of 2016, a ride at Knott’s Berry Farm in California became stuck 148 feet in the air. There were 20 people on board, including seven children. Firefighters tried to reach the stranded passengers by using a massive ladder, but it was too short. Fire crews had no choice. They would have to lower each passenger from 148 feet in the air, harnessed to a single rope.

Fire Captain Larry Kurtz said, “It sounds scary, but … we have very, very strong ropes that have 9,000 pounds of breaking strength on them.” He was building the faith of those who were trapped. He was giving them information that, if believed, would dissipate their fears. It was up to each person to believe what he said and place their trust in the firefighter.

One of the youngsters was named Luke. He was seven years old—old enough to feel terror as he looks at the ground 148 feet below. The fire­fighter looked Luke in his eyes, and with a steadying voice said, “Trust me, Luke. I won’t let you go. Your life is very precious to me, and I will have you safely down before you know it.”

7 year old Luke listened to the firefighter and thought about the “very, very strong rope.” Luke believed the firefighter’s reassuring words and trusted him completely. This was his only hope of getting to safety. If he didn’t have faith, then he didn’t believe that the firefighter cared for him. Luke would then lose his only hope of reaching the ground. Faith, hope, and love are bound together.

As the promised was fulfilled, Luke and all 20 passengers were lowered safely to the ground just before 10 p.m. that night.

The end of 1 Corinthians 13, verse 13, says this, 

[13] So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. (ESV)

If you, and only if you, have faith in Christ, love is why you are the way that you are.

God’s love is the reason why you are the way that you are.

God’s love is the driving force behind the faith that we have and the hope and love that is produces.

God’s love imparts faith in his love for you into your heart.

Faith is shown and known in the hope it produces.

And, faith is shown and known in the love it produces.

1 John 4:7–21 tell us this life-transforming good news when it says,

[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.

[13] By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. [14] And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. [15] Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. [16] So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. [17] By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. [18] There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. [19] We love because he first loved us. [20] If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. [21] And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother. (ESV)

By watching the Thessalonians and by hearing the reports from others about the Thessalonians, the Thessalonians faith in Jesus Christ is undeniable because their faith in Jesus Christ has done what it promises to do—given them hope and caused them to love.

Before we end this morning, I will ask you one more time,

“Why are you the way that you are?”

Now that you have heard the Good News of God’s love for you, you can answer, 

“God hated so much the things that I chose to be because of my Sin that He gave me faith in Jesus Christ, His One and Only Son, who lived a perfectly righteous life for me, died a sacrificial death on the cross in my place, taking all of my sin and the punishment that I deserved, rose from the grave for me three days later to defeat the power of death which would separate me from God my Father and His Kingdom, and who is now seated in the heavenly realms, preparing a perfect and painless place for me.  I have the hope that Jesus will come back one day and bring me to the place where God and the Son and the Holy Spirit dwell eternally.”

This morning, as you prepare to approach God in prayer, remember that even though God the Father in Heaven has promised to hear you and respond to you and give you what you need (and sometimes want) in this life, He is not Santa Claus and He is not a genie-in-a-bottle.  Ask Jesus to teach you how to pray just like the disciples did.  Let your prayers be more than a wish list of things you want.  Remember to thank God for His grace, mercy, and love which saved you from being destroyed by Sin and separated from Him forever.  Remember to thank God for the Christians around you who walk alongside of you with support and encouragement in this broken world.  And, remember to thank Him for the faith you have, asking Him to allow that faith to work itself out in your daily life by empowering you to love as you have first been loved and to have hope in His promises for a peaceful future in His never-ending Kingdom of Heaven.

Back in the late 1900s, as the kids these days say, in the year 1990, Christian prog-rock band, King’s X, released their 3rd album titled, Faith Hope Love.  The title track, Faith Hope Love spoke these truths:

We’ve all seen the evil of this world

And we feel so helpless with all the lies

You see the word brings no lies

I believe it has a name

I believe he is alive

Listen to me very closely

There is more heaven than hell

Faith, hope, love

This is the Word of God of you today.

This is the Faith of God for you today.

This is the Love of God for you today.

This is the Hope of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

May 10, 2026.

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

Turned Upside Down

1 Thessalonians 1.1-10

In the movie The Poseidon Adventure, the ocean liner S.S. Poseidon is on the open sea when it hits a huge storm. Lights go out, smoke pours into rooms and, amid all the confusion, the ship flips over.

Because of the air trapped inside the ocean liner, it floats upside down. But in the confusion, the passengers can’t figure out what’s going on. They scramble to get out, mostly by following the steps to the top deck. The problem is, the top deck is now 100 feet under water. In trying to get to the top of the ship, they drown.

The only survivors are the few who do what doesn’t make sense. They do the opposite of what everyone else is doing and climb up into the dark belly of the ship until they reach the hull. Rescuers hear them banging and cut them free.

Our human instincts often calculate situations wrong.  What we swear is up is actually down.  And, what we fully believe is down is actually up.

In the case of the passengers on the fictional S.S. Poseidon, when they refused to believe that turning their life upside down was the correct positioning, they were led on a path to death.  Only those that were willing to have their understanding of their lives and the world around them turned upside down lived.

Over the next ten weeks, if my ADHD doesn’t get the best of me, we are going to hear from 1 Thessalonians in it’s entirety.  

I have never preached though this New Testament book so this series of sermons will be new to all of us.

In this morning’s text, from the first couple of verses of this Biblical book, we are going to hear and find comfort in the truth that what the world around us considers a life turned upside down by believing and following Jesus is actually a life turned right-side up by God’s grace for our ultimate good.

Let’s hear from the beginning of 1 Thessalonians now.

1 Thessalonians 1.1-10 begins like this:

[1] Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy,

To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

Grace to you and peace.

[2] We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, [3] remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. [4] For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, [5] because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. [6] And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, [7] so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. [8] For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. [9] For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, [10] and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. (ESV)

To begin this morning, we have to understand that the Biblical book of 1 Thessalonians is a letter from some 1st Century AD Christian leaders to some of the very first Christians following Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.

In the Bible, a large percentage of the books that make up what we call the New Testament are letters, or, using the fancier word that you will sometimes hear, epistles.

Now, a little bit about the form of these ancient letters.

In an ancient letter, we have to recognize is that the authors of the letter put their name first so that you know who is speaking to you.  This is different than our letter writing style today in that we put the name of the person or people that we are writing to first and then reveal our name, as the sender of the letter, last.

In verse one, we hear the names of the Christian leaders who are writing this letter.  Their names are Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy.

So, our first question should be, “Who are these writers?” 

Let’s take them one by one.

First, we have Paul.  

We hear a lot about Paul when we study the Bible because Paul, or, the Apostle Paul, is responsible for writing many of the letters that make up the New Testament section of our Bible.  However, Paul wasn’t some life-long committed follower of Jesus.  No, the exact opposite is true.  For a large part of Paul’s life, he was an active opponent of Jesus and God’s work in Jesus. 

However, after coming face-to-face with Jesus and His forgiving grace, Paul’s life was turned upside down (which is right side up to God) after believing in Jesus.  Paul went from imprisoning and murdering those who believe in Jesus to believing in Jesus and leading others to believe in Jesus for grace, peace, and hope. (See Acts 9 for the whole story)

Next, we have Silvanus.  

In other parts of the Bible, Silvanus goes by the Greek form of his name, Silas.  Silas was one of the leading members of the church in Jerusalem.  He became a traveling ministry companion of the Apostle Paul and they preached the Good News of Jesus together all throughout the Mediterranean region.

Silvanus’ life was turned upside down (which is right side up to God) after believing in Jesus.  Silvanus went from having no great purpose outside of seeking his own fickle happiness to being a traveling preacher and church planter.

And, the last name on the list of those that penned this letter is Timothy.  

Timothy was a young man whose Jewish mother found herself believing in Jesus as the Christ/Messiah when Paul had visited their city of Lystra to preach the Gospel.  Later on, Paul met up with Timothy and took him on as a mentee.  Paul’s affection for Timothy led Paul to write two personal letters to Timothy to help him with his budding ministry.  We have these two letters as part of our New Testament as well—they are named 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy.

After living in a Greek/Pagan and Jewish household, Timothy’s life was turned upside down (which is right side up to God) after believing in Jesus.  Timothy went from worshiping many false gods to believing in the one true God who lived, died, and rose for the salvation of those who believe.  He then became a traveling church planter and eventually a pastor.

The next questions we have to ask, in order to get a full understanding of the Good News of Jesus Christ in this text are, “Who are the recipients of the letter?” and “Who are the Thessalonians?”

Well, the Thessalonians are the people who live in the city of Thessalonica.  Very helpful, I know.  That’s like someone asking you to tell them about Long Islanders and you responding, “Long Islanders are the people that live on Long Island.”

To be more specific, in the context of this morning’s Biblical passage, the Thessalonians were the Christians living in the Greek city of Thessalonica, which was the capital province of Macedonia—the largest city on the Greek peninsula.  These Christians, in this city, experienced immediate threats and persecution from the Jews and the government after having their lives turned upside down by faith in Jesus (which is right side up to God). 

I know we often talk about all of these Biblical cities from at least 2000 years ago.  Just so you know that these aren’t fantastical lands from a long time ago in a galaxy far far away, here is a map to show you where Thessalonica was and still is today (renamed to Thessaloniki):

Now, to get a fuller picture of how the Good News of Jesus Christ’s life, death, and resurrection for the forgiveness of Sin and eternal life got to the city of Thessalonica and what happened when it was preached, we can turn to the Biblical book of Acts.  

The book of Acts is the second part of the book of Luke.  The book of Acts tells us what happened after Jesus resurrected from the dead and ascended back to Heaven.  Specifically, the book of Acts tells us the history of the message of Jesus being spread in different cities, the lives that were changed by faith, and some of the rejection and persecution that Christians faced in the very early days of the Christian Church.

In Acts 17.1-9, we are told about Paul and Silas’s ministry (remember Silas is Silvanus from 1 Thessalonians) in Thessalonica.  Let’s hear from Acts 17 now:

[1] Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. [2] And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, [3] explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.” [4] And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women. [5] But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd. [6] And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, [7] and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.” [8] And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things. [9] And when they had taken money as security from Jason and the rest, they let them go. (ESV)

The Thessalonians who found themselves believing in Jesus as their personal Savior had their lives turned upside down (which is right side up to God).

They went from being selfish and self-seeking in all of their motives, never finding rest or peace because what they could accomplish on their own never brought true fulfillment or satisfaction, to having the ability to rest and find peace knowing that the love of God in the life of Jesus completed the requirements of righteousness for them, the love of God provided the forgiveness for their life of self-centered Sin, and the love of God defeated the power of death to condemn and kill by Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.  They also went from having a obsession with loving themselves to having a Godly love imparted in their hearts that led them to have compassion and concern for the people around them.

When the Jewish religious leaders and the politicians saw this change, they made the right call when they recognized that the preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ turns the world upside down.  The world says bow down to the human authorities in all areas of your life and seek after your own good only.  The Gospel says, that God, the ultimate universal authority chose to serve you in doing everything you need done to be restored into a right relationship with Him.  God did this instead of demanding you serve Him until He considers you worthy of His love and care.

This caused unrest for the religious leaders and the politicians because they knew the real sheriff was now in town and those who believed the truth wouldn’t see the need to bow down to them in their positions of authority that they selfishly loved.

So, the Jewish religious leaders, often with the backing of the politicians, tried to eliminate and even exterminate the Christians and the message of Jesus from the world.

The next question we ask of this text is, “Why are Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy sending this letter to these people at this time?”

There is a story told of an eccentric English evangelist who took the text from Acts 17 which we heard from a few minutes ago for one of his open-air sermons in a new place. He began by saying, “First, the world is wrong side up. Second, the world must be turned upside down. Third, we are the men to set it right.” In the man’s quaint phrases, this is really the purpose of the gospel. It is God’s way of making things right.

Knowing that rejection and persecution have been a part of the Thessalonians’s God-fearing, Christ-exalting faith, from very second that they found themselves praising and thanking Jesus for His death on the cross, which is the only thing that forgives their Sin and reconciles them to God the Father in Heaven, Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy want to provide some encouragement to keep hope alive for these brothers and sisters in Christ.

So, Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy start their communication by reminding the Thessalonians that with faith in Jesus Christ both Grace and Peace are a daily reality for them.

This week, I was listening to one of the newer album’s in Rush’s 50 year catalog of music.  While I was driving, I was struck by the lyric, “No one gets to heaven without a fight.”

This is the world’s way, and the way that some churches look at as the path to God’s Kingdom.

The world says, “You can do it!  Work harder! Try again, and again, and again, until you make it!”  There is no grace with the world.  You succeed with your own blood, sweat, and tears”—tears from failure to ever arrive at a place of comfort and peace.  This is right side up to the world.

However, God says, “You can’t do it! You can’t succeed in finding comfort and peace with me on your own because of the Sin that corrupts you.  So, I did it all for you!  Through Jesus, I made you a success in my eyes!”  This unconditional love is upside down to the world, but this unconditional love for you is right side up to God.  

And, this leads you to rest and peace because in Jesus, all you need to be right with God is finished.  You don’t have to struggle daily with thinking you owe God more good works to gain His approval and acceptance.  In Jesus you are always completely loved by God—regardless of how you perform today.

The second-century Greek philosopher Celsus captures well just how upside-down the Kingdom of God is—and just how confusing that can seem to unbelievers. In an attack on followers of Christ, he writes:

Those who summon people to the other mysteries [i.e. other religions] make this preliminary proclamation: “Whosoever has pure hands and a wise tongue.” And again, others say, “Whosoever is pure from all defilement, and whose soul knows nothing of evil, and who has lived well and righteously.” Such are the preliminary exhortations of those who promise purification from sins.

But let us hear what folk these Christians call. “Whosoever is a sinner,” they say. “Whosoever is unwise, whosoever is a child, and, in a word, whosoever is a wretch, the kingdom of God will receive him.” Do you not say that a sinner is he who is dishonest, a thief, a burglar, a poisoner, a sacrilegious fellow, and a grave-robber? What others would a robber invite and call? Why on earth this preference for sinners?

Be honest right now.  You are a sinner.  You are unwise.  You are a wretch.  

But know this, in grace alone, God is calling you just as you are to find peace and rest in Jesus right now.

To close, I will leave you with a verse that sums all of this truth up.

Proverbs 16:9 says:

[9] The heart of man plans his way,

but the LORD establishes his steps. (ESV)

In Sin, you make as many plans as you can for your life, thinking that your world is right side up.

However, in Jesus, you quickly find out that all of the plans you were making were being made with selfish motives to lead you to the be the king of the hill.  And, that road that you placed yourself on would ultimately lead to death and separation from God.

So, through faith in Jesus and the hope and love that you receive from God your Father in Heaven, your life is turned upside down (which is right side up in God’s eyes) and you are placed on the correct path that leads to forgiveness and life eternal with your Creator and Redeemer.

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

This is the Peace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

May 3, 2026.

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

By Our Love

1 Peter 1.13-25

In the early years of the 2nd Century A.D., Christian teacher Aristides wrote to Emperor Hadrian saying, 

Now the Christians trace their origin from the Lord Jesus Christ. And He is acknowledged by the Holy Spirit to be the son of the most high God, who came down from heaven for the salvation of men. . . . They have the commands of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself graven upon their hearts; and they observe them, looking forward to the resurrection of the dead and life in the world to come. They do not commit adultery nor fornication, nor bear false witness, nor covet the things of others; they honour father and mother, and love their neighbours; they judge justly, and they never do to others what they would not wish to happen to themselves; they appeal to those who injure them, and try to win them as friends; they are eager to do good to their enemies; they are gentle and easy to be entreated; they abstain from all unlawful conversation and from all impurity; they despise not the widow, nor oppress the orphan; and he that has, gives ungrudgingly for the maintenance of him who has not. 

If they see a stranger, they take him under their roof, and rejoice over him as over a very brother; for they call themselves brethren not after the flesh but after the spirit. 

And they are ready to sacrifice their lives for the sake of Christ; for they observe His commands without swerving, and live holy and just lives, as the Lord God enjoined upon them.

I don’t know if you caught all of that.  It was a lot to take in.

In this letter to the Emperor, Aristides listed off most of the Ten Commandments and a bunch of other Biblical exhortations for living a Godly life day-to-day.  Aristides then told the Emperor that if he looked around him, he would be able to identify the Christians in his kingdom by their love—their behaviors that pointed to their love for God and their love for those around them.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus says, “By this all people will know you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13.35).

If someone were to write about your life right now, would it be similar to the way this 2nd Century teacher described the life of Christian?

Would your love for God and your love for others, a love that flowed out of God’s love for you, be evidence that a court could use to convict you of your Christian faith?

In this morning’s text, a text chosen for us by the Epistle section of the lectionary, the Apostle Peter writes to the Christians scattered around the Mediterranean region during the middle of the 1st Century A.D.  The Apostle Peter reminds those that have found themselves believing in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior that their daily lives are to showcase the change that should be undeniably present in the life of a person who has been transferred from the domain of darkness to the kingdom of light.  Love for God and love for others should define the Christian’s existence.

Let’s here from this morning’s Biblical text now.

1 Peter 1:13–25 says this:

[13] Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. [14] As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, [15] but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, [16] since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” [17] And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, [18] knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, [19] but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. [20] He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you [21] who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

[22] Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, [23] since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; [24] for

“All flesh is like grass

and all its glory like the flower of grass.

The grass withers,

and the flower falls,

[25] but the word of the Lord remains forever.”

And this word is the good news that was preached to you. (ESV)

This week, in one of my daily devotionals, the author shared the following story and his thoughts on it’s connection to our daily lives:

Several years ago, my son-in-law asked me to teach him cabinet-making. He had never done this kind of work before, so I agreed. We immediately ran into a problem. My son-in-law was eager to learn, but he didn’t understand the value of wood. He would often make mistakes and then say, “I’m sorry.” The next day he would repeat the same mistake and make the same response. 

After a while, I realized I would have to confront him. I called him into my office and said to him, “These mistakes are costing me money. I don’t want to hear you apologize again until you’re ready to start doing things differently.” 

I noticed a change that very day. My son-in-law started paying more attention to what he was doing, and his mistakes were reduced dramatically. He understood that his mistakes were costing someone—me. He doesn’t have to say, “I’m sorry,” much anymore, and he has become a fine cabinetmaker! 

When I fail to understand the price that was paid for me, I repeatedly make poor choices. Grace is not free. The price that was paid for me is greater than my human mind can comprehend. That’s why I pay attention to what God has instructed me to do and carefully consider my choices before I jump into something. My mistakes cost me nothing, but they cost God his Son.

Have you ever experienced a moment of conviction in which the Holy Spirit said to you, “You shouldn’t be doing this!,” and you found yourself thinking, “What’s the big deal?  I can always ask God for forgiveness later, after I do it.”  

Well, if you haven’t, you must not be as much of a sinner as I am.

The author of this devotion is making the point that asking for forgiveness isn’t genuine if there is no real conviction in your heart to actually change the behavior that you are asking to be forgiven of.  Being forgiven by God, in the death of Jesus, leads you to place where you should have the daily conviction to love God by obeying His commands and love those around you as God first loved you by showing grace, mercy, and patience.

In our Biblical text this morning, the apostle Peter, the one who denied Jesus three times to save his own reputation and life and had the experience of God’s grace in later being able to tell Jesus to his face that He loved Him three times, is describing the life that flows out of Christian faith.

The Apostle Peter gives us instruction for living our life in such a way that our faith in Christ plays an active part in the things we think, the things we say, and the things we do.

In verses 13-15, you are given the charge to “prepare your mind for action.”

Why are we told that we need to prepare our mind for Godly action?   Because our minds aren’t naturally set in a mode to do Godly things.  Because of Sin, our minds are set in a mode to do selfish, self-centered, and self-preserving things.

So, as Christians, how do we prepare our minds for action?

Well, the Apostle Peter tells us to start with grace.

What does that mean?

It means that every day, you should begin your day by priming the pump of your thoughts with God’s grace toward you.  

How do we do that?

Well, upon rising, you can read a bit of Scripture and you can pray and thank God for another day while asking Him to let your thoughts, words, and actions be driven by the grace that was shown to you in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.  You can ask God to let His love for you lead you to respond by loving Him, obeying His commands, and loving others as you have first been loved by Him.  In the Apostle Peter’s words, you set your mind on being holy as God is Holy.

As the text tells us, the faith filled driving factor to conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of Christ is being mindful of the need to respect God by properly fearing Him.

At our Men’s Bible Study on Thursday nights, we were studying Psalm 111 and Psalm 112.  Psalm 111.10 says:

[10] The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom;

all those who practice it have a good understanding.

His praise endures forever! (ESV)

This verse led us into an extended discussion on what it means to fear God.

We noted that idea of fearing God has been pushed out of much Christian theology due to a misunderstanding of the word fear in our current cultural context.

When the word fear is used, we often think about being scared of something.  However, that is not genuine meaning when applied to our relationship with God.

If we have a Biblically correct view of God, there should be some of that “scared” definition when we think about God.  We should be scared that God could punish us and crush us at any moment because of our Sin.  However, we know that God’s love for us has caused Him to take the punishment—the punishment that we fully and rightly deserve—on Himself in the person and work of Jesus Christ on the cross.  In Jesus’ death, God willingly chose to pass over our Sin by providing the atoning blood sacrifice in His only Son Jesus Christ.

All of this history changing truth should cause us to stand in awe of God’s love, grace, mercy, and faithfulness to us.

While we are to fear God, we’re also to remember that God has already judged our sin in Jesus. Consider the cost of your redemption, and as you meditate on the truth of this gospel, you will be motivated to pursue holiness.

When we are rightly standing in faith, with an understanding of who we are—sinners in need of a Savior, and who God is—the Savior who overcomes our Sin, we are inhabited by the Holy Spirit who works in us to conform us to the image and will of God our Father.

As new creations in Christ, we are called to love God and love one another.

Should familiar? It should.

In Matthew 22, when Jesus is asked about which of God’s commands is the greatest, Jesus responds that the first and greatest commandment is to love God and the second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor.

This is the exact life plan that Apostle Peter is reminding the Christians they are expected to be living as men and women of faith.

They are to love God by obeying His commands and seeking holiness in all they do every day.

They are also to love one another in the church, as well as those in need of love and hope outside of the church.

So what do you do when you mess this whole thing up and you don’t conduct yourself with a healthy fear of God and you slip back into your old selfish and self-serving ways?

Run right to Jesus!

In 1 John 2:1, we are told the reason why we have the Bible with us today:

[1] My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. (ESV)

This morning, if you are someone who makes a habit of calling on God in prayer, approach Him in the reality of who truly is. God as both loving Father and righteous judge.  God punishes Sin and condemns unbelief, but God has graciously chosen to pay the price for all of your Sin and unbelief in His own death on the cross in the person and work of Jesus Christ.  

As the Apostle Peter says in this morning’s text:

“…you were ransomed from…futile ways…with the precious blood of Christ.”

And, God did all of this in real historical time and space for “your sake.”

In the 1960s, a Catholic priest turned all of this Biblical theology into a catchy chorus that has been sung by the church ever since.

We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord.

We will work with each other, we will work side by side.

We will guard each man’s dignity and save each man’s pride.

And, they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love

Yeah, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.

Go forth today loving God by obeying His commands.

And, go forth today loving each other and those around you in need.

This is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

April 26, 2026