Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

Rest and Mercy For You

Mark 2.23-28

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

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

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

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

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

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

What do you do to rest?

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

Maybe, I should just ask, do you rest?  

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

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

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

Let’s hear from our Biblical text now.

Mark 2:23–28 says this:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Exodus 20:8–11

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

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

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

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

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

That means that NO work is allowed on the Sabbath.  

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That’s why beauty exists.

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

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.


Reverend Fred Scragg V.

June 16, 2024.

Prayer:

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

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

Prayer: Jesus Cancels Silence

Psalm 4

How’s your prayer life?

When do you pray?

Where do you pray?

How much time do you spend praying?

What do you say when you pray?

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

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

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

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

Prayers come in all shapes and forms.  

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

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

But, one thing is for sure…

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

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

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

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

For many of us, prayer is hard.

And, prayer is hard for many reasons.

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

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

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

Prayer is hard for some of us because of busyness.

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

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

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

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

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

We don’t think we have the time.

We think it is a waste of time.

We think our prayers fall on deaf ears.

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

We think it is boring.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

King David says to God:

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

You have given me relief when I was in distress.

Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!

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

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

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

the LORD hears when I call to him.

[4] Be angry, and do not sin;

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

[5] Offer right sacrifices,

and put your trust in the LORD.

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

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

[7] You have put more joy in my heart

than they have when their grain and wine abound.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And, what position is that?

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

Because of sin, there is silence when we pray.  

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

Therefore, God does not respond or answer us.

We find ourselves experiencing silence from Heaven.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

silence is broken, 

silence is canceled, 

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

Without Jesus, there is silence when you pray.

But, Jesus cancels silence.

Jesus cancels silence for you.

And, we can, like King David say, 

the LORD hears when I call to him.

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

In Jeremiah 29:12–13, God promises:

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

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

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

the Lord would not have listened.

[19] But truly God has listened;

he has attended to the voice of my prayer.

[20] Blessed be God,

because he has not rejected my prayer

or removed his steadfast love from me! 

(Psalm 66:18–20 ESV)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[16] Rejoice always, 

[17] pray without ceasing, 

[18] give thanks in all circumstances; 

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

(1 Thessalonians 5:16–18, ESV)

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

June 2, 2024.

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

Known by God

Psalm 139.1-16

Have you ever felt lowly?

Have you ever felt lost?

Have you ever felt unnoticed?

Have you ever felt unremarkable?

Have you ever felt excluded?

Have you ever felt powerless?

Have you ever felt broken?

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

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

In my life, there’s been heartache and pain

I don’t know if I can face it again…

I want to know what love is!

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

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

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

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

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

Psalm 139:1–16 says this:

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

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

you discern my thoughts from afar.

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

and are acquainted with all my ways.

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

behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.

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

and lay your hand upon me.

[6] Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;

it is high; I cannot attain it.

[7] Where shall I go from your Spirit?

Or where shall I flee from your presence?

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

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

[9] If I take the wings of the morning

and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

[10] even there your hand shall lead me,

and your right hand shall hold me.

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

and the light about me be night,”

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

the night is bright as the day,

for darkness is as light with you.

[13] For you formed my inward parts;

you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.

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

Wonderful are your works;

my soul knows it very well.

[15] My frame was not hidden from you,

when I was being made in secret,

intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

[16] Your eyes saw my unformed substance;

in your book were written, every one of them,

the days that were formed for me,

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

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

Those three truths are:

God is omniscient.

God is omnipresent.

And, God is omnipotent.

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

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

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

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

God knows your heart.

God knows your actions.

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

God knows when you travel.

God knows when you lie down and go to bed.

God knows you during the day and during the night.

God knows your words.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

God chose you!

God foreordained your life.

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

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

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

He tells his story this way:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Her full name is Julie Frymer.

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

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

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

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

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

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

But, know this: 

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

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

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

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

In Jesus Christ alone, you know what love is.

John 15:12–13

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

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

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

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

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

and his ears toward their cry.

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

to cut off the memory of them from the earth.

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

and delivers them out of all their troubles.

[18] The LORD is near to the brokenhearted

and saves the crushed in spirit. (ESV)

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

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

1 Corinthians 8:3 says:

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

And, Romans 8:35–39 says:

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

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

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Pastor Fred Scragg V.

May 26, 2024

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

Jesus Cancels Fear

Psalm 3

What are you afraid of?

What do you fear?

Some famous people would answer those questions like this:

Jennifer Aniston, Cher, and Whoopi Goldberg are all aviophobes. They are afraid of flying. 

Barbra Streisand is xenophobic—she is uncomfortable around strangers. 

Michael Jackson was haunted by the fear of contamination, infections, and diseases. He was mysophobic. 

Woody Allen is afraid of insects, sunshine, dogs, deer, bright colors, children, heights, small rooms, crowds, and cancer.

Famous people of the past were no different. 

George Washington was scared to death of being buried alive. 

Richard Nixon was terrified of hospitals,.

And, Napoleon Bonaparte, the military and political genius, feared cats.

H.P. Lovecraft, the 20th century writer of very weird science fiction, once said,

“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.”

We humans like to be knowledgable about what is going to happen next in our life and also have the ability to control what is going to happen next in our life.

We are all control freaks!

However, as we can all attest too, we don’t always know what is going to happen and we don’t have the ability to control everything that happens.

Therefore, we often live in fear.

Fear is a strong emotion, often an unpleasant emotion, caused by the anticipation or awareness of danger.

When we don’t know all things about a person, a place, a situation, or an event, we sometimes find ourselves fearing the possible danger that could come as a result of being around that person, in that place, from that situation, or at that event.

The list of things that we fear is unending.

Some of the things that we fear are:

Spiders

Flying in an airplane

Needles at the doctor’s office

Being in large crowds

Snakes — think “Indiana Jones”

Being alone

Germs

Sickness

Disease

Heights

Closed/Tight spaces

The dark

Death

Public Speaking

We fear:

Bad news from a doctor

Not being liked by someone in power

Being gossiped about

And, having that false gossip believed by others

We fear:

Losing a job

Losing a spouse

Losing our kids

Losing a friend

Losing a position that we enjoyed holding

In this morning’s text, we are going to hear that Kind David, described as a man after God’s own heart and the writer of many of the songs in the book of Psalms was afraid at times and had fears of his own.

In Psalm 3, King David talks about the fear that he experienced during a very troubling time in his life.  

King David’s words describe a time when his own son, that’s right, his very own son, was trying to stage a coup to have Him  at the very least kicked off of the throne, if not killed.

Let’s hear about one specific fear of King David’s that he wrote about in Psalm 3.

Psalm 3 says this:

[1] O LORD, how many are my foes!

Many are rising against me;

[2] many are saying of my soul,

“There is no salvation for him in God.” Selah

[3] But you, O LORD, are a shield about me,

my glory, and the lifter of my head.

[4] I cried aloud to the LORD,

and he answered me from his holy hill. Selah

[5] I lay down and slept;

I woke again, for the LORD sustained me.

[6] I will not be afraid of many thousands of people

who have set themselves against me all around.

[7] Arise, O LORD!

Save me, O my God!

For you strike all my enemies on the cheek;

you break the teeth of the wicked.

[8] Salvation belongs to the LORD;

your blessing be on your people! Selah (ESV)

The first thing that David tells us in Psalm 3 is that his faith was being attacked by his son and his son’s allies.  They were attempting to instill fear in him.

Specifically, they were saying that God isn’t real, God isn’t alive, God isn’t active, God doesn’t care about him, and God can’t save him.

We have probably heard someone make those statements at some point during our life.

Those accusations and attacks against God have become more common in the Westernized world which we live.

I think back to the famous cover of Time Magazine from 1966 that had a solid black background and bold red typeface letters asking the question, “Is God Dead?”

And, let’s be honest, when statements like these, that bring God’s existence and activity into question, arise, fears start to creep in.

We pour over questions like:

What if God isn’t real?

What if I have believed in lies all this time?

What if God doesn’t care about me?

What if God can’t save me?

A few minutes ago, I shared a quote from H.P. Lovecraft that went like this:

“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.”

In one of Lovecraft’s books that I read this week, The Nameless City, he tells the story of an explorer making his way through the remains of a primordial and antediluvian city.  

(Antediluvian means before the flooding of the earth that happened in Genesis 6)

Each step and each turn in the pitch black underground tunnel system of the city causes the explorer to make the decision between fear and curiosity.  

Will the fear of, “What will he find or what will find him?,” win and cause him to turn back to the world he knows. 

Or, will the curiosity of, “What will he find or what will find him?,” win and lead him to venture on?

Lovecraft’s explorer mentions that fear doesn’t triumph over him.  Fear of the unknown doesn’t stop him from living his life.  Curiosity wins every time and therefore he ventures on into the unknown only to ultimately be undone by what he finds [was] finding him.  

For Lovecraft’s explorer, curiosity canceled fear.

Just like Lovecraft’s explorer, King David doesn’t let the fear of, “What will he find or what will find him?,” stop him from living his life.

That’s what he tells us in Psalm 3.

Through the grace and faith strengthening that God provides for him, King David goes to sleep at night in peace and wakes up refreshed in the morning ready to face the next day, regardless of the good or bad that it will bring.

And, King David is able to stare his fears in the face because he remembers three things from his lifetime of walking with trust and confidence in God’s grace and goodness.

After admitting his fear of his son Absalom and his son’s allies in verses 1-2, King Dvid remembers three things about God’s grace and goodness.

He remembers that God promises to be his protector when he is afraid.

He remembers that God promises to be his helper when he is afraid.

And, he remembers that God promise to listen to and respond to his fears when he bring them in prayer.

For King David, faith canceled fear.

Now, follow his logic into verses 5-6.

Even though David should fear his son and his son’s allies as they are seeking to have him dethroned and/or killed, because God makes and keeps his promises to him, King David can lay down at night and sleep peacefully.

King David can lay down and sleep peacefully because regardless of what people or places are trying to do to him, God graciously holds King David in his hands, the same hands that created and redeemed the world.

King David even says that because of God’s control and power over all people, places, and things, he can wake up each morning fully ready to face the day knowing that no matter what comes his way, the maker and savior of the universe is on his side.

I am sure that each of us is familiar with the tossing and turning, the restless nights, the sleepless nights, that invade our lives when we are overwhelmed by our fears.

We each have fears.  Some of us have fears on top of fears on top of fears.

So, what do we do about it?

The only thing we can do is the only thing King David could do.

We look at God and remember what he has done for us. 

We remember his grace toward us.

We remember all of the good that he has done for us.

God’s grace led him to send his son, that’s right, his very own Son, Jesus Christ into the world, to us, to you and me, to die for our sin, to pay the price for our sin, and to forgive our sin, which includes the sin of fear (fear being a sin because it is not trusting God to be who he said he was and not trusting God to do what he says he will do—including forgiving us and saving us from that sin).

In another book that I read this week which summarized Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German Lutheran pastor, theologian, and anit-Nazi dissident during Hitler’s reign of terror, theory of the Christian Life, Bonhoeffer on the Christian Life: From the Cross, the author says that Bonhoeffer was adamant about this truth: 

To set everything right, we need Christ. Christ remakes us. In Christ, we are again reconciled to God and again reconciled to each other. In Christ, we are truly persons. Christ overcomes the human condition. The crucified and risen Christ becomes “God’s incarnate love for us—as God’s will to renew the covenant, to establish God’s rule and thus to create community.” It is Christ’s action as “vicarious representative” that makes the crucial difference. The community between God and humanity is restored, and “the community of human beings with each other has also become a reality in love once again.”

For us, Jesus cancels fear.

First and foremost, Jesus cancels the fear of receiving the punishment of God’s wrath.

And, secondly, Jesus cancels the fear of people and places being able to harm us by somehow overthrowing God’s promises to us.

Just like King David, we remember all of the good that God has done will continue to do for us.

We remember that God promises to be our protector when we are afraid and that God has protected us in the past when we were afraid.

We remember that God promises to be our helper when we are afraid and that God has helped us in the past when we were afraid.

And, we remember that God promises to listen to and respond to our fears when we bring them in prayer and that God has heard us and responded to us in the past when we brought our fears to him in prayer.

This week when you wake up and before you go to bed, repeat King David’s words which are powerful enough to calm and squash all of your fears.

Say with confidence:

[3] But you, O LORD, are a shield about me,

my glory, and the lifter of my head.

[8] Salvation belongs to the LORD;

your blessing be on your people!

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Pastor Fred Scragg V.

May 19, 2024

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

Jesus Cancels Opposition

Psalm 2

Have you ever felt like the whole world was against you?

Have you ever felt like every person, place, thing, and institution had it in for you and was trying to make your life as miserable and unbearable as possible?

Maybe you have heard over and over again, “You can’t do that!”

Maybe you have heard over and over again that you are not smart enough, you are not wealthy enough, you are not skinny enough or pretty enough, you are not physically fit enough, or you are not experienced enough.

Maybe the opposition came at school.  Maybe you were constantly in the sights of a bully or bullies.  Maybe you felt like a teacher had it out for you because no matter how hard you worked they just wouldn’t give you an A.

Maybe the opposition came at work.  Maybe your ideas were constantly rejected or unheard.  Maybe your co-workers looked down on you and spoke badly about you.

Maybe the opposition came from your home.  Maybe your spouse didn’t support your hopes and dreams.  Maybe your parents had rules that prohibited you from having the freedoms that you wanted to have.  Maybe your kids were disobedient. Maybe you were abused.  

Maybe the opposition came from your church.  Maybe the passions that you had and the gifts that God gave you were denied or went unused.

Each of us faces opposition from a variety of people and places throughout our life.

And, sometimes opposition can come from many different places at the same time making us feel like the whole world is against us.

In this morning’s text, King David, the writer of many of the songs recorded in the book of Psalms, feels like many of us do on a daily basis—like the whole world was against him.

Let’s hear about the opposition that King David faced from his own words which are recorded for us in Psalm 2.

In Psalm 2, King David says:

[1] Why do the nations rage

and the peoples plot in vain?

[2] The kings of the earth set themselves,

and the rulers take counsel together,

against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying,

[3] “Let us burst their bonds apart

and cast away their cords from us.”

[4] He who sits in the heavens laughs;

the Lord holds them in derision.

[5] Then he will speak to them in his wrath,

and terrify them in his fury, saying,

[6] “As for me, I have set my King

on Zion, my holy hill.”

[7] I will tell of the decree:

The LORD said to me, “You are my Son;

today I have begotten you.

[8] Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,

and the ends of the earth your possession.

[9] You shall break them with a rod of iron

and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”

[10] Now therefore, O kings, be wise;

be warned, O rulers of the earth.

[11] Serve the LORD with fear,

and rejoice with trembling.

[12] Kiss the Son,

lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,

for his wrath is quickly kindled.

Blessed are all who take refuge in him. (ESV)

Let me break down this Psalm for you into 4 parts.

Part 1 comes from verses 1-3.  

It is in these verses that King David describes his problem.

And, the problem is that when he examines the motives of the leaders of his world, he sees them making decisions and carrying out plans that go completely against God’s standards for life and love. 

He sees the leaders asking their subjects to bow down and worship the king instead of bowing down to worship God, the Father in Heaven.

He sees the leaders of the nations around him conquering, killing, and enslaving people, instead of gathering, protecting, and providing for people.

I didn’t mention this in the beginning examples, but maybe we are like David and experience opposition from the leaders and nations that have ruled throughout our lifetime.

In our recently deeply divided nation, people, including each of us, have been very vocal about the opposition that we felt was limiting our ability to live the way we wanted to.

From 2016 to 2020 some of us believed that our government and leaders were our enemies.  It seemed to us like every decision and move that was made was against our belief system and way of life.  We felt like those who were supposed to take care of us and protect us were actually opposing us.

And then,for the next four years, from 2020-2024, some of us believe that our government and leaders were our enemies. It seems to us like every decision and move that has been made is against our belief system and way of life.  We feel like those who are supposed to take care of us and protect us are actually opposing us.

When we live feeling opposed by the leaders and nations that are in position to rule and make decisions, we live in fear.  We fear what they are going to do to us.  We fear for our lives.

However, the next part of this Psalm brings some comfort to King David and to you.

In verses 4-6, King David talks about God’s response to those who think, say, and do things that oppose His rules for life and love.

King David says that God sits on His throne in Heaven and laughs at all of those that oppose Him.

God laughs at those who oppose Him because He sees the silliness that exists in anyone who thinks they can do whatever they want without any care or regard for their Creator who also happens to be the One responsible for the existence of the Universe.

God’s laughter at those who think they have more power than Him brings comfort to King David while he is being opposed for his belief in God because it reminds him that God is always in control, God is always in charge, and God will always be victorious.  No one can ever overthrow God or His good and gracious plan for humanity.

Part 3 of the psalm is found with verses 7-9 and tells us of God’s solution that he will use to defeat any opposition.

God’s solution is His Son, Jesus Christ.

Jesus will rule the universe eternally with justice and love.

That means that those that do not find themselves believing in Jesus and openly oppose God’s standards for life and love will receive exactly what they deserve—punishment for their sin.  Justice will be served and the guilty will be punished—opposition to God and His Kingdom will be squashed!

However, those that find themselves believing in Jesus as Lord and Savior will be recipients of the grace that flows from Jesus’ eternal reign. That grace that Jesus lovingly and willingly bestows gives forgiveness of sin through His death on the cross for you, eternal life in God’s Kingdom of Heaven, and righteousness.

A few years ago, the song Old Town Road came on the music scene fast and furious.  The world-wide popularity of the song had it playing on the radio, in commercials and ads, and in stores.  It seemed like you couldn’t make it through one day without hearing the song in some capacity.

Although the song became an instant world-wide success, it has a very interesting story attached to it.

When newcomer Lil Nas X was told his viral single was being removed from a Billboard chart, that might’ve looked like the end of his run of success. As it turns out, it was just the beginning.

“Old Town Road (I Got Horses in the Back),” is in many ways a country record. Its subject matter (riding horses) and slight vocal drawl are evocative of new country stylings. The official YouTube video consists entirely of footage from a popular video game set in a sprawling epic Western adventure.

Nevertheless, it still has a distinct hip-hop influence. Thus, after complaints from several unnamed Nashville country music gatekeepers, Billboard announced in a statement that “Old Town Road” was removed from the country music charts:

Upon further review, it was determined that “Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X does not currently merit inclusion on Billboard’s country charts. When determining genres, a few factors are examined, but first is musical composition. While “Old Town Road” incorporates references to country and cowboy imagery, it did not embrace enough elements of today’s country music to chart in its original version.

The subsequent fan outcry produced allegations of racism. Several industry analysts compared “Old Town Road” to country-chart-topping crossover pop singles with hip-hop influences from megastar artists like Taylor Swift.

But Lil Nas X has since gotten the last laugh. The controversy subsequently rocketed “Old Town Road” to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and spawned a remix collaboration with Billy Ray Cyrus of “Achy Breaky Heart” fame … which also charted on the Billboard country charts.

When you are feeling like the world is against you, like you meet opposition at ever turn, know that God in Heaven knows exactly what you are thinking and experiencing in each of those moments because in Jesus God felt and experienced opposition in this world as well.

We say that we feel like the whole world is against us but,

because of sin, the whole world was in fact against Jesus.

But, Jesus, through the complete presence and power of God that dwelled in Him, overcame the power of sin, overcame the forces of the Devil and evil, and overcame death, all which opposed him and tried to cancel Him.

Instead of being able to cancel Jesus, the opposition found it self canceled.

In His life, death, and resurrection, Jesus cancels opposition.

And, he cancels opposition not just for himself, but for you as well.

Colossians 2:13–15 tells us this good news with these words:

[13] And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, [14] by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. [15] He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. (ESV)

Jesus knows what it feels like to be opposed on a daily basis.

You know what it feels like to be opposed on a daily basis—

opposed for who you are, what you think, what you say, and what you do, and, like the Psalm writer King David as well, for your faith in God.

The truth is that we have spiritual opposition that tries to separate us from God.


But, Jesus, on the cross and at the grave, has been 100%, completely, victorious over the opposition of Satan and his evil spiritual forces and temptation that try to keep us separated from God.

And, Jesus has been victorious over this opposition for you!

So, the question now is, “Will we have completely peaceful lives once we find ourselves believing in Jesus as Lord and Savior?”

And, the answer that can be shouted from the rooftops is:

No!

Absolutely not!

No way!

Jesus reminds us in John 16:33 of this when he speaks these words:

[33] I [say] these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (ESV)

In a book that I read this week, the author says this:

Christian believers can be assured that the weight of brokenness is no longer theirs to bear; Christ covers all our brokenness in His redemption. Yet we live in a now-and-not-yet world. While all brokenness has been redeemed on the cross, there remains this time we live in when we wait for all brokenness to be restored. We will still feel brokenness pressing in, and we will bear some parts of brokenness in our lives until we see the Bearer of every shame face-to-face. In Christ Jesus, we live in the knowledge that there is something better to come, that sorrow and hurt last for the night, but joy will come—joy does come—in the morning (Psalm 30:5). What we see in front of us won’t be broken for all eternity. 

This awareness of brokenness brings struggle and wrestling into our lives. God will certainly use this wrestling for His good, but it won’t be removed until Christ comes again. The force of the wrestling feels all too reminiscent of the weight of our sin. Satan will use this constantly to his advantage. He wants our awareness of brokenness to weigh us down in the shame that was lifted from us on the cross long ago. When we don’t talk about the concept of brokenness or understand its impact on our lives, we can end up applying shame to ourselves and to others around us who are asking for help in this broken world. 

Brokenness isn’t always about what we individually have done wrong, although that’s part of it. Brokenness also isn’t always about what we as humanity do wrong. Sometimes it simply means that we reside in a sinful world and we are all people impacted by sin in every area of our life.

Finally, part 4 of Psalm 2 has King David leaving us with words of encouragement and exhortation to live with faith, love, and hope everyday.

He tells us to:

Be wise.

Serve the Lord.

And, rejoice, because you are saved from opposition, and God will protect you and provide for you all the days of your life.

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Pastor Fred Scragg V.

May 12, 2024

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

Love Conquers All (in the Ashes of the Fall)

John 15.9-17

When you leave this physical world, what do you want to be remembered for?

When you die, what do you want to leave behind?

What will be your legacy?

Godfrey Barnsley was one of the wealthiest men in the world in the early 1800s. He directed a shipping empire that sailed the world sea’s and transported 60% of the South’s cotton to his native England. He was well respected all over the world.

Barnsley decided to build a luxurious and magnificent home for his wife, Julia. He purchased 400 acres of land in the wilderness of northwest Georgia and created a vast estate and gardens. Since his wealth was so immense, he shipped in hundreds of rare trees and shrubs—ancient Cedars from Lebanon and other bushes from around the world. He chose handcrafted windows with sterling silver latches, marble from Italy and France, and priceless furnishings from the four corners of the world. It was one of the most exquisite antebellum estates east of the Mississippi river.

Unfortunately, his wife passed away before the home was completed in 1848, but several generations of the family lived at this estate until 1942. However, by the 1980s, the home and grounds were vacant and falling into ruins. In 1988, the property was purchased by an investor who developed it into the upscale resort it is today. If you go to Barnsley resort, all that remains of Godfrey Barnsley’s investment is a pile of rocks, known as the “Manor House Ruins.”

Godfrey Barnsley spent his life collecting money and possessions.  However, less than one lifetime later, nothing was left of his life’s work except a pile of rocks.  A sad remembrance of what used to be.

Godfrey Barnsley thought that he was changing the world for the better, but today, you didn’t know his name until I shared it with you.

When we think of the few short years we get to live on this earth, what are we spending our time doing?

To leave something lasting behind in this world is not an easy task.  

Are we collecting things that in my Dad’s words, “You can’t take with you?,” or, are we using our time wisely to live in a such that the world is truly impacted by the the way we think, act, and speak?

In our Biblical text for this morning, chosen by our lectionary for this Sixth Sunday After Easter, we are going to hear about the eternally lasting legacy that Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, God in the flesh, left behind after His death and resurrection.

Our Biblical text for this morning comes from the disciple John’s biography of Jesus.

Let’s hear together from John 15.9-17.

John 15:9–17 shares these words of Jesus with us:

[9] As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. [10] If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. [11] These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

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

Here, Jesus is sharing the legacy that he will leave behind, that will last forever, after He leaves this world.

Two weeks ago, we heard Jesus promising to leave his followers with peace.

In Luke 24, we heard Jesus say to each of us, “Peace to you!” (Luke 24.36), and from John 14, Jesus said to each of us, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid” (John 14.27, ESV).

We learned that after Jesus’ life on earth is ended through death on the cross and after he rises from the grave and ascends back to Heaven, we are left with peace, specifically, peace with God.  

This peace with God comes to us after confessing and repenting of our Sin through faith in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.  We are left at peace at that point because we know that we do not have to work to earn God’s approval and acceptance.  Jesus has done all that was needed for us to be approved and accepted by God.  And, we receive that peace only and simply through believing in Him as God’s chosen and sent Savior.

In addition to leaving us with peace, Jesus tells us in this morning’s Biblical text that he is also leaving us with love and joy.

Now, I have to point out that Jesus’ words here can be confusing if we don’t put them in the greater context of His teaching.

The English translation of this portion of the passage is a bit awkward, and that awkwardness can easily mislead us from Jesus’ intended meaning.  The language here, “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love,” makes abiding in Christ seem conditional.  It seems as if Jesus was telling his disciples, “I’ll love you as long as you are obedient, but the moment you’re disobedient, you can kiss my love goodbye.”

What Jesus was actually saying was, “If you stay in my love, you will be obedient.”  His love is not a result of our obedience, our obedience is the result of his love.

We are not driven to obey Jesus in order to get in good with him; we are driven to obey Jesus by a heart that is filled with gratitude for the ways he plucked us out of this world and poured his love out on us.

The epistle text from the lectionary for this morning from 1 John clarifies this point a bit.

[1] Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. [2] By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. [3] For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. [4] For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. [5] Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

[6] This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. [7] For there are three that testify: [8] the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree. (ESV)

Here, the disciple John makes it clear that love is an outflow of our faith.  Not the other way around.

Jesus in us, through the workng of the Holy Spirit, moves us to think, speak, and act in manner that is worthy of Him.  And, that manner is love toward him and love toward others because of the gratitude we have for his sin-forgiving and life-saving acts for us.

In other word of the disciple John, “We love because He first loved us.”

To further this good news for us sinners who can do nothing to make ourselves holy enough for God, here is a little bit of theology for us.

In the Lutheran theological tradition, we talk about two kinds of righteousness.  Alien righteousness and proper righteousness. 

Alien righteousness is the righteousness that comes to us from the outside. This alien righteousness refers to the perfect and Godly righteousness that God gives to us (Not from little green men in spaceships).  We play no part in obtaining this righteousness, it is a complete and unconditional free gift from God because of His love for us.

Proper righteousness is the righteousness that comes from our own acting.  This is the God given righteousness that is demonstrated in our thoughts, words, and actions, after we come to faith in Jesus as our Savior, and are in turn, transformed by His love to show love to God and those around us.

I have recently been reading Carl Trueman’s organized summary of some of Martin Luther’s theology that describes how and why we live the way we do as Christians.

In chapter 7 of Luther and the Christians Life: Cross and Freedom, Trueman shares this:

The alien and the proper are not unconnected and independent. But the alien righteousness has the logical priority: proper righteousness built directly upon the relationship with Christ that is constituted by the believers, possessing Christ and thus his alien righteousness. Indeed, Luther says that proper righteousness is the result of the Christian’s working with his alien righteousness and, indeed, is the fruit and consequence of alien righteousness. He describes it as follows: 

the proper righteousness goes onto complete the first [i.e., alien righteousness] for it ever strives to do away with the old Adam and to destroy the body of sin. Therefore it hates itself and loves its neighbor; it does not seek its own good, but that another, and in this whole way of living consists. For in that it hates itself and does not seek its own, it crucifies the flesh. Because it seeks the good of another, it works love. Thus in each sphere it does God’s will, living soberly with self, justly with neighbor, devoutly toward God. 

The motive for this righteousness is rooted in Christology. Luther sets forth Christ as the great example to follow, but does not do so in a short-circuited manner, such as “Christ helped the poor; go out and help the poor!” Rather, he takes his cue from Philippians 2: “Let this mind be in you.” Thus, he sees the motivation of Christ as shaping the ethics of his practical conduct. Christ humbled himself in the incarnation, and thus all Christians who understand what it is to be clothed in alien righteousness will, or at least should, start to act as servants toward their neighbors. We might say that Luther regards proper righteousness as the natural outgrowth of the cognitive realization of the significance of being justified by the alien righteousness we receive in Christ. Love is both the motive for works and that which shapes them.

Thus, the purpose of expounding the law is not simply to terrify consciences; it is also to shape the social mores of Christians. The teaching of the catechisms clearly implies that a way of life is to be taught and fostered (“this is what love looks like in action”), and not simply theological principle (“God is holy; you, as a sinner can never measure up”). This message is of a piece of what Luther taught earlier, in his first series of lectures on Galatians in 1519: 

The Commandments are necessary, not in order that we may be justified by doing the works they enjoin, but in order that as persons who are already righteous we may know how our spirit should crucify the flesh and direct us in the affairs of this life, less the flesh become haughty, break its bridle, and shake off its rider, the spirit of faith. One must have a bridle for the horse, not for the rider. 

Here the commandments of God to fulfill a positive function. They do not create justifying righteousness, but they do provide a guide to how the Christian is to keep his flesh under control and thus shape his outward life.

That being said, we do have to remember that in these bodies of flesh and bones, we will never get love completely right in this world.  Even after faith, we struggle with Sin.  We struggle with the Sin that continues to tell us to look after #1 first in selfishness and self-centeredness. 

However, with faith in Jesus, the working of the Holy Spirit will convict of us of those times so that we can confess that Sin and repent of that Sin, staying connected to God the Father and Jesus, God the Son.

And, the result of God’s peace and love being given to us and left with us, until we eventually meet Him face-to-face, is joy.

We rejoice because of God’s grace that loves us, even when we are stuck in Sin, to work through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, His Only Son, to ensure that we are not separated from Him, but reconnected to Him forever in this life and the next.

In his book, Thinking for a Change, leadership guru John Maxwell says this:

“If you are successful, it becomes possible for you to leave an inheritance for others. But if you desire to create a legacy, then you need to leave something in others. When you think unselfishly and invest in others, you gain the opportunity to create a legacy that will outlive you.”

The now defunct punk band Anti-Flag has a lyric that I have written on a post-it note next to my desk that says:

“Love conquers all in the ashes of the Fall.”

Jesus’ peace, love, and joy persist through all of the world’s hatred and sustain you, the Christian, as you endure it.

Jesus’ peace, love, and joy do not depend on your immediate circumstances or situations.

Jesus’ peace, love, and joy transcend this world into eternity.

That means that whatever happens to you today, through faith in Jesus, you have peace with God.

That means that whatever happens to you today, you are loved unconditionally by the Creator and Redeemer of the Universe.

That means that whatever happens to you today, you have reason to rejoice when you lay your head down at night because you have been forgiven of the sin that separates you from God.

This is Jesus’ legacy for you.

This is what Jesus leaves you with.

This is what Jesus works in you—peace, love, and joy—so that you can do his work, through obeying his commands, and with his daily help, work to create peace, through love, leaving others with joy. 

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Pastor Fred Scragg V.

May 5, 2024.

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

Somebody to Love

1 JOhn 3.16-24

I want to you to put on your thinking caps as we begin this morning.

I am going to read you ten statements and I want you to tell me what these ten statements have in common.

What is the theme?

What binds this thoughts together into one cohesive unit?

Here we go:

  1. You shall have no other gods. 
  1. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.
  1. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 
  1. Honor your father and your mother.
  1. You shall not murder. 
  1. You shall not commit adultery. 
  1. You shall not steal. 
  2. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
  1. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. 
  1. 10.You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

Does anyone have a guess as to what the commonality is with these 10 statements, or, as you probably know them, The 10 Commandments?

Well, if you said, “love,” you are right!

Each of the 10 Commandments that God lays out for humanity, for you and for me, is centered on thinking, speaking, and acting in love.

Commandments 1-3 are about loving God.

And,  Commandments 4-10 are about loving the people around you.

These 10 Commandments are how God measures true love in the heart.

Again, how do you measure love?

Do you measure love by the cost of the gifts that you are given?

Do you measure love by the words that someone uses when they talk to you and about you?

Do you measure love by the amount of time someone spends with you?

Do you measure love by the acts of service that someone does for you?

Or, do you measure love by the physical touch that you receive from another?

Well, in the fall of 1937, Ed Keefer was a senior in the school of engineering at the University of Toledo in Ohio. Tall, slender, and bespectacled, Keefer was the president of the calculus club, the vice-president of the engineering club, and a member of the school’s exclusive all-male honor society. He also invented the Cupidoscope.

The electrical device could not have been more perfectly designed to bring campus-wide fame to its creators, Keefer and his less sociable classmate John Hawley. It promised to reveal, with scientific precision, if a couple was truly in love. As the inventors explained to a United Press reporter as news of their innovation spread, the Cupidoscope delivered on its promise “in terms called ‘amorcycles,’ the affection that the college girl has for her boyfriend.”

Built in the school’s physics laboratory, the Cupidoscope was fashioned from an old radio cabinet, a motor spark coil, and an electrical resistor. To test their bond, a man and a woman would grip electrodes on either side of the Cupidoscope and move them toward one another until the woman felt a spark—not of attraction, but of electricity. The higher her tolerance for this mild current, the more of a love signal the meter registered. A needle decorated with hearts purported to show her devotion on a scale that ranged from “No hope” to “See preacher!”

It all sounds like a slightly painful party game—but the Cupidoscope was one experiment in a serious, decades-long quest to quantify love. This undertaking garnered the attention of leading scientists across the United States and in Europe in the early years of the 20th century, and it is memorialized most prominently in the penny arcade mainstay known as the Love Tester.

In order to measure love, Mr. Keefer used electrical current.

In this morning’s Biblical text, we are going to hear more about how God measures true love in a person’s heart, mind, and soul.

In order to hear more about how God measures love that meets his standards for perfect, true, and lasting love, we are going to hear from the disciple John’s first general letter to the Christians in the first century immediately following Jesus’ death and resurrection.

Let’s hear what John has to say about life and love together.

1 John 3:16–24 says this:

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

[19] By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; [20] for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. [21] Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; [22] and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. [23] And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. [24] Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us. (ESV)

As we have discussed, many times over the years, love is a often presented to us in the form of a verb.

That means that love is not a noun describing a feeling.

That means that love is an action word.  To love someone or something is to do something for that person or thing.

So, how do we know when someone truly loves us?

We know that someone truly loves us when that person acts intentionally, thoughtfully, purposely for our personal good.  And, in addition, those actions that demonstrate true love are often done by the other sacrificing their own good in order to benefit us.

In our main Biblical text for this morning, we are told that we know true love based on the fact that he, meaning Jesus, laid down his own life for us.

That is of course referring to Jesus’ death on Good Friday.  Jesus willingly chose the path of his own pain, suffering, and death so that we could benefit from the forgiveness of sin and righteousness that we are given through that act of pure and true love.

In the Gospel text from the lectionary for this morning, we hear about this act of sacrifice that defines true love when Jesus tells us this:

[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. [16] And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. [17] For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. [18] No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.” (John 10:11–18, ESV)

Let’s circle back for a minute.  If God considers true and perfect love to be measurable by strict adherence to the 10 Commandments, which means always putting God and others first in our thoughts, words, and actions, have you ever compared your life to the 10 Commandments and felt like a failure?

Does hearing the 10 Commandments lead you to know that you have failed to live and love as God desires you to?

This happens because you realize that:

At times, you have chosen to love others things or people more than God.

At times, you have used God’s name in vain.  Does the term “OMG,” or, “Oh my God!,” slide way too easily off of your tongue?

At times you have chosen not to keep the Sabbath Holy by going to church.  Instead, you have willfully chosen to sleep in or attend a sporting event on a Sunday morning.

At times, 

  • you have chosen to be angry, 
  • you have chosen to gossip, 
  • you have chosen to entertain sexual thoughts about another human being, 
  • you haven’t been content with what God has given you and wished that you had the possessions or life of another.

Maybe, when you read or hear the 10 Commandments, you feel like the band Convictions, who pretty much penned a psalm comparable to King David’s psalms, as they say this in their new single,  “Sleeping Lotus,”

Stagnant, complacent

Anxiеty’s chokehold pulls me down

A tattered lily amongst the dancing waters

Iridescent beauty waiting to be found

I’ve grown restless, searching through the darkness

Longing to prove myself (And rise out of the dirt)

A glimmer of hope dampened by constant defeat

Reaching through oblivion

God set me free

I feel weightless, I’m falling under

An endless dream, eternal slumber (Slumber)

I’m lost, I’m too far gone (Too far gone)

Show me a sign so I can follow your every word (Your every word)

Lost sight of who I am

God, no one understands (Understands)

Encompassed heart, time ticks away

A weathered seedling

I wither and decay

God, water these roots and drown out the doubt

Nourish my purpose

Turn me inside out

Illuminate your design

I’ll leave the old me behind

If you are feeling the burden of your sin that has kept you and is keeping you now from loving God and loving others,, here is the good news: 

as you find yourself staring at true love measured by the 10 Commandments and exemplified in the person and work of Jesus, coming to know that you will never be able to measure up to God’s standards, Jesus graciously says this to you, in Matthew 5:17–20:

[17] “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. [18] For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. [19] Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. [20] For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. (ESV)

So, when Jesus says, “It is finished!,” to you from the cross, He is telling you that a perfect life has been lived according to God’s commandments, or, standards for life and love.

And, Jesus is telling you that by faith, “It is finished!,” for you!

Through faith in Him, you are completely united with Jesus and everything that He has and is, becomes 100% yours!

That means His track record of a perfectly lived life following every one of God’s commandments, perfectly loving God and perfectly loving others, becomes your track record, and, therefore, that is the life that God will measure you by when it comes time to meet Him face-to-face.

It is only through being united to Jesus through faith in Him that you will hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant,” on the last day.

And, what is the result of being loved by such a generous, sacrificial and unconditional love?

The result of being loved by such a generous, sacrificial and unconditional love is to go out and love others with that real Jesus love with which he first loved us.

That is to say, real love changes you.

Caring and sharing is the result of real love.

Jesus cared for you and therefore shared his life, death, and resurrection with you.

He gave you his earthly life so that you have a perfect record of loving God and loving others.

He gave you his death so that your own earthly record of not perfectly loving God and not perfectly loving others can be forgiven.

And, He gave you his resurrection life so that the power that Sin and Death had on to, to continue making you love yourself more than God or others, can be broken today, tomorrow, and forever.

As we heard Jesus say a few minutes ago, the Pharisees, the religious leaders of his day talked the talk but didn’t walk the walk.

So, I encourage you, with the new life you have been given in Christ through God’s great and endless love for you, walk the walk don’t just talk the talk this week.

Go, this morning, in the freedom you have been given through faith in Christ, and speak, think, and act in ways that love God and love others unconditionally.

God, the Creator and Redeemer of all things, considers you somebody to love.

Go, and respond by considering God somebody to love and the people around you somebodies to love.

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Pastor Fred Scragg V.

April 21, 2024.

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

You Got Served!

Mark 10.32-45

The lonely artist had made up his mind. Today was the day he would end it all for good. He climbed the tropically wooded hill behind his Tahitian hut, more alone than he had ever been. 

The now-famous French painter and atheist Paul Gauguin had failed to achieve meaningful success as a painter in his lifetime. He’d abandoned his wife and children, alienated his friends, and headed to Tahiti in search of the authentic life untouched by the poisons of conventionality, greed, and power. Now he had come to the end.

Just days before, he’d completed one last painting, intended as his final testament to the world. He’d described its philosophical ambition to a friend as “comparable to that of the gospel.” It was a massive, three-panel work depicting Tahitian women of all life phases. Moving from right to left, it showed the beginning of life in an infant and the end of life in a sad, old woman—and various stages between. In English it was titled: Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?

And now, having finished his greatest work, Gauguin walked up the wooded hill and swallowed all the arsenic in the tin. But he ingested too much arsenic, causing him to violently vomit the poison before it could take effect. He managed to find his way back down the hill, and would die a few years later at the age of 54.

But those three questions—Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?—didn’t come from Gauguin. They came from a Christian leader in France named Bishop Felix Dupanloup who drew from a much larger story than himself. 

Gauguin had studied under this dynamic Christian leader during most of his teen years. Dupanloup’s introduction to Christianity instilled in Gauguin the practice of pondering these basic questions about God, our selves, and others. Dupanloup was convinced that once these three questions get into our hearts and minds they cannot be erased—not completely anyway, particularly in this young student. No matter how far he roamed (or ran) from God—no matter how he tried to shake his past—the passionate bishop’s three questions, those he taught as more fundamental than all the others, could not leave the tormented and seemingly unyielding Gauguin. They became the substance of his final testament.

On that hilltop, when questioning the value of his own life, Gauguin had three questions for God:

Where do we come from? 

What are we? 

Where are we going?

We all have questions for God.  Some of our questions would just require answers in the form of information as an explanation.  

However, some of our questions want an answer in the form of God getting actively involved in our every day lives.

If you could ask God to do one thing for you today, what would you ask God to do for you?

Would you ask God to fix your marriage?

Would you ask God to bring back your rebellious kids?

Would you ask God to help you pass your midterm exams?

Would you ask God to increase your paycheck?

Maybe, instead of asking God to get you a pay raise, you would ask him to let you hit the lottery so you could retire immediately and live in leisure for the rest of your life.

Would you ask God to explain all of the suffering in the world—the miscarriages, the cancers, the drunken drivers that kill parents and children, the homelessness, the starvation, the wars?

Would you ask God to explain one of the harder things to understand in the Bible?  

For example, would you ask God what the unforgivable sin is?  

Or, would you ask God to tell you the day and time and Jesus was going to return so that you could make sure you are ready to meet him?

Each of us has a list of questions that we would want to ask God right now, if we were face-to-face.

In this morning’s Biblical text, chosen for us by the lectionary for this Fifth Sunday in Lent, we are going to hear two of Jesus’ disciples, James and John, ask Jesus to do one special thing for them.  

Let’s hear from our Biblical text together now.

Mark 10.32-45 says this:

[32] And they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. And they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. And taking the twelve again, he began to tell them what was to happen to him, [33] saying, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. [34] And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him. And after three days he will rise.”

[35] And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” [36] And he said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” [37] And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” [38] Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” [39] And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized, [40] but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.” [41] And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John. [42] And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. [43] But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, [44] and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. [45] For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (ESV)

We all know, well, at least most of us know, that there is a social code that makes some questions inappropriate.

For example:

Asking a friend how much money they make…inappropriate.

Asking someone at the polls who they voted for…inappropriate.

Asking a relative to give you a job over more qualified candidates…inappropriate (and illegal).

Asking your wife how much she weighs…inappropriate (and also dangerous).

In this morning’s Biblical text, two of the disciples, James and John have an inappropriate question that they ask Jesus.  

Well, to be more exact, with a detail from Matthew’s biography of Jesus that also records this event, James and John have a question that they ask their Mommy to ask Jesus for them.

Doubly inappropriate.

And, their question is “Can you make us more important than everyone else in the Kingdom of Heaven by giving us the seats directly on you left and right.  This way when everyone looks at you, their Savior, they will also see us!”

They obviously forgot what they heard Jesus teach when he said:

[7] Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, [8] “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, [9] and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. [10] But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. [11] For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 14:7–11, ESV)

With that being said, there are three main problems with the question that James and John have their Mommy ask Jesus.

First, their question shows a superficial understanding of what it means to follow Jesus.

James and John knew that Jesus was moving forward towards glory and world renown.

However, they didn’t know that the glory and world renown was going to come through rejection, suffering, pain, and death.

Jesus did tell them about this upside down path to glory and world renown in John 10:14–15, when Jesus says to us:

[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. (ESV)

And, later on, in his letter to the Church after Jesus’ death and resurrection, John reminds us of Jesus’ death and our responsibility to make similar sacrifices for others in our leadership.

1 John 3:16–18 tell us this:

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

Following Jesus means doing what Jesus did—considering the needs of others more important than your own, or, sacrificing your own comfort and resources to make sure those around you have what they need for life and love.

Second, their question shows that they have an inflated opinion of themselves.

The ironic thing is that James and John want everyone to see what great leaders they are, but they don’t even have the guts to ask Jesus the question about being leaders in His Kingdom themselves.  Mommy has to do it for them.

James 4:8–10 says:

[8] Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. [9] Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. [10] Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. (ESV)

Humbling ourselves goes against human inclination.

Because of the sin into which we are born, we enter this world and make our way through this world thinking and believing that there is no one smarter than us, no one more capable than us, and no one more deserving of a pat on the back than us.

Pastor Timothy Keller of Redeemer Presbyterian in New York City once wrote that another way to describe sin is self-centeredness.

And, that is exactly what James’ and John’s problem was when their asked their inappropriate question.  They were being selfish and self-centered, or, sinful, and thought that they were better in every way when compared to the rest of their friends and family.

Third, their question shows that they misunderstand how God measures greatness.

When James and John brought their question to Jesus, they were operating with the world’s understand of greatness. 

According to the world’s sinful understanding of greatness, greatest comes from having the most trophies, the highest grade point average, successful kids, the most money, the fanciest and most expensive possessions, going on lavish vacations, and holding the highest position of power possible within and organization which would give you the most amount of employees/servants underneath you to do your bidding.

However, in Matthew 23:11–12, Jesus tells us how God measures greatness when he says:

[11] The greatest among you shall be your servant. [12] Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. (ESV)

Jesus is always the greatest among us.

Jesus humbled himself by dying on the cross even though he was sinless and innocent before God so that you could be rescued from death and eternal separation from God.

And, therefore, God exalted Jesus so that at one point or another, before or after physical death, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord.  Some will do this to glory in Heaven, and some will do this to judgment and destruction in Hell.

Confess Jesus as Lord and Savior today.

Jesus puts your needs before his own.

Jesus shows you what real leadership is.

Jesus shows you that real leaders serve others in the Kingdom of God and Jesus showed you that by example in His life, death, and resurrection for you.

In a devotion that I shared with you through email and over Bethel’s social media accounts this week we heard this verse:

Who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? (Luke 22:27)

And, then, we were given this short commentary, titled, “The Servant Is Greater.”

When the Lord asked the disciples this question in the Upper Room, it seemed obvious that the one being waited on is greater. In the world, the more people you have doing what you want, the greater you are. This is what we sinners desire. But Jesus said, “I am among you as the one who serves” (Luke 22:27). He washed their feet; He fed them the Sacrament. In God’s kingdom, it’s not the one who receives service but who gives service who is greater.

God is pure, self-giving love. He did not create man to serve Him (as if He needed anything) but so that He might serve man—breathing life into His people, blessing us with the gifts of His creation, and ultimately laying down His life for us. God is glorified in giving Himself to man, not in man giving Himself to God.

We gather for worship, then, as receivers. We give God nothing except the sacrifice of thanksgiving for the mercy He freely bestows. It truly is divine service. The Lord is still among us as the One who serves—from His font and pulpit and table. The highest form of worship is faith, to receive His gifts and to reverence Him as the One who is greater, from whom all blessings flow.

In Jesus, God serves you and puts your needs above his own.

You got served by God who did what was needed for you to be forgiven of sin and given righteousness and eternal life.

Go this week, in the power of the Holy Spirit, and be the humble servant of all, demonstrating the love of God in Jesus Christ that helps not hurts.

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Pastor Fred Scragg V.

March 17, 2024.

Prayer: Lord, grant me humility to receive Your gifts and to serve others. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

Love Won Another

Numbers 21.4-9 + John 3.14-21

I read once that the devil was having a yard sale, and all his tools were marked with different prices.  

They were a fiendish lot.  

There was hatred, jealously, deceit, lying, pride—all at expensive prices.  

But over to the side of the yard on display was a tool more obviously worn than any of the other tools.  

It was also the most costly.  The tool was labeled, 

“DISCOURAGEMENT.”

When questioned, the Devil said, “It is more important to me than any other tool.  When I can’t bring down my victims with any of the rest of these tools, I use discouragement, because so few people realize that it belongs to me.

We live in a broken and fallen world where it becomes very easy to fall into the trap of discouragement.  

In today’s political and economic climate, the list of worries grows by the minute:

Am I going to lose my job?

What decision is the government going to make next?  How will it affect me and my family?  

Who is going to be the President next year?

I have a family to take care of.  How will I provide for their needs?

I have bills to pay.  Where is the money going to come from to pay them?

And the list of worries grows and grows.  

And, as we worry and as life unfolds and not everything goes according to our plan, we become impatient and discouragement sets in.  

The problem with impatience and discouragement is that they lead us away from God as we try to lean on our own power and understanding instead of His.  

We only get discouraged because life does not go as we have planned it out in our own minds.

In this morning’s main Biblical text, chosen for us by the lectionary for this Fourth Sunday in Lent, we are going to visit a very interesting piece of history from the Old Testament.  

Now, to remind you, the Old Testament is the first part of the Bible that tells us everything that happened from Creation up until about 400 years before Jesus as born.

In this piece of history, found in Numbers 21.4-9, we are going to get a glimpse into a time when God was doing miraculous things for His people but, the people didn’t feel like he was doing them good enough or fast enough and became discouraged in their impatience.

Let’s look at this Biblical text together now.

Numbers 21.4-9 says this:

Numbers 21:4–9

[4] From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. [5] And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.” [6] Then the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. [7] And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you. Pray to the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. [8] And the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” [9] So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live. (Numbers 21.4-9, ESV)

In this Biblical text, we learn many things about how discouragement functions in our lives.

First, discouragement leads to speaking against God.

The Israelites, we are told, immediately point the finger at God the moment they become uncomfortable.  When life does not unfold in the manner that they believe it should, those whom God has shown Himself to time and time again, stare God directly in the face, raise their finger and say “You have brought us out here to die!”

When we get discouraged, we automatically forget all that God has done for us, to us, in us, and through us.  

The Israelites forgot all that they had experienced while following God—transformation from slavery to freedom, a complete unharmed escape from the largest and most powerful empire on earth, miraculous provision of food from the sky, and drinking water pouring forth from rocks in the wilderness. 

In a moment of discomfort, having to spend some time in the hot desert away from the comforts of living in a settled area, the Israelites became discouraged because this was not the life that they would have chosen for themselves.  In their self-centered sinfulness they cast God’s works for them aside and spoke against their Creator and Savior.

You may be sitting there saying to yourself “How could they forget all that they experienced while following God?”  But I am here to tell you that you do exactly the same thing!

Our speaking against God sounds something like this:

My food isn’t tasty enough…

My clothes aren’t stylish enough…

My body isn’t beautiful enough…

My house isn’t big enough…

My car isn’t new enough…

My family isn’t refined and educated enough…

My church isn’t exciting enough…

My paycheck isn’t big enough…

Instead of saying “I am thankful to God for His provision.  He has given me a job, a house, a family, clothing, food, life, and a place in the body of Christ,” we criticize everything that we have and do and go through because we want to be God and think that we could run creation in a better way.  The very second in time that life does not go the way we want, the very second people do not do what we think they should, the very second that our plan does not match God’s plan, our impatience leads us to discouragement and we ultimately end up pointing the finger at God and accusing of Him of doing things wrong.

Second, discouragement leads to speaking against God’s appointed leaders.

We are told that the Israelites spoke against God and against Moses who was God’s appointed leader.  

Moses spent time in prayer, God called Moses by name, God chose and appointed Moses to lead His people through some miraculous but difficult times, and God directed Him step by step.  

Even though Moses stood up for God’s people, protected them, and led them, when life got difficult, Moses became just as guilty as God in the people’s eyes.  Moses was actually more guilty because as God’s representative standing before them, He was tangibly and physically present.  So, the people’s discouragement with life was unloaded on Moses who was doing nothing but following God.

And each of us does the same thing.  Sin flows out clearly in our words, attitudes and actions: “I don’t like what God is allowing to happen in my life, both inside and outside the church and because you are God’s representative standing before me, leading me through this difficult time, you are guilty by association.” 

Third, discouragement leads to a false view of reality.

In one breath, the Israelites say “there is no food and no water and we loathe this worthless food.”  Well, which is it, do you not have any food or is the food you have not the food that you want?

We get discouraged because we place ourselves at the center of the world and the truth is that we are not the center of the world.  

When discouragement sets in, it becomes almost impossible to judge things objectively.  All words and actions become magnified as an attack on us personally.  We become blind to truth and reality and our sinful hearts and minds create a false world where we are always right and everyone else is always wrong.

Fourth, discouragement leads to telling lies to justify your wrong attitude and behavior.

Because we end up in a false reality where it is the world verse us, we end up lying as we describe what we believe to be going on.  

For the Israelites, they lied and said they did not have any food when in fact, God was provided food for them day after day by dropping bread from the sky.  

In order for us to always be right and never be wrong, we have to create and describe a reality in which we are perfect and know-it-all and those lies are nothing but a slap to the face of God Himself.

Fifth, discouragement leads to God’s Judgment.

Due to the impatience, lack of trust, and outright disobedience toward God demonstrated in our discouragement, God brings forth the law which shows us the guilt of our sin and sets out the method of punishment.

For the Israelites, God punished them by bringing snakes to bite and poison them.  When the Israelites saw the snakes they would have been quickly reminded of the serpent in the Garden of Eden that helped usher sin into the world by making Adam and Eve discouraged with their perfect life with God.

and because of God’s judgment…

Sixth, discouragement leads to a need to repent and be forgiven.

When the Israelites were confronted with the sin associated with their impatience and discouragement, they saw their wrong measured against God’s law and came to Moses admitting “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you.  Pray to the Lord that he take away the serpents from us.”

When God heard their repentance, He answered their prayer and cry for help in a way that exceeded anything that they could have asked for.  

The Israelites asked for the removal of the serpents, which meant that those who had already been bitten would die and suffer the penalty for their guilt.  However, God, in His grace and mercy, does not remove the snakes because their sin deserves to be punished, but God provides a way to be healed and restored to life.  

God has Moses create a pole with a serpent on it and promises that whoever realizes their sin and their need to be forgiven and looks up to the serpent hanging on the pole will immediately find themselves healed from the punishment they are receiving because of their sin.  

God places a serpent on top of the pole so that every time the repentant look at it to be forgiven, they are reminded of their sin (the serpent) and God’s grace in providing a new life in spite of their sin.

For you, sitting here in the pew today, life is hard and you do become discouraged, probably daily, and in that discouragement you do not trust in God, you speak against God, you speak against His leads, you buy into the picture of a false reality and you often try to justify all of that by telling lies to get the pity vote from others.  

However, God has provided forgiveness for you; He has lifted Christ up on the cross to receive the punishment for your sin.  

When you come to the foot of the cross and look up at Jesus who became sin for you, you are reminded of your grumbling against God but you are also shown the grace and mercy of God who provides a way out from that sin through healing, forgiveness, and restoration to life with Him.

In his book Hidden in Plain Sight: The Secret of More, author and pastor Mark Buchanan illustrates God’s love through the story of Tracy. He writes:

Tracy is one of the worship leaders at our church. One Sunday, as she sat at the piano, she talked about the difficult week she’d just been through. It was chaotic, she said—a mess of petty crises on top of a rash of minor accidents, all mixed up in a soup can of crazy busyness. It had left her weary and cranky. She got up that Sunday to lead worship and felt spent, with nothing more to give.

However, Tracy’s 8-year-old daughter, Brenna, helped her gain new perspective earlier that morning. When Tracy had walked into the living room, the window was covered with marks. Using a crayon, Brenna had scribbled something across the picture window, top to bottom and side to side.

At first, it seemed like one more mess for Tracy to clean up. Then she saw what Brenna had written: love, joy, peace, patience, kindnece, goodnece, faithfulnece, gentlnece and selfcantrol (in Brenna’s delightful spelling). 

Mark writes: “Tracy stopped and drank it in. Her heart flooded with light. It was exactly what she needed to be reminded about: the gift of the fruit of the Spirit that arises, not by our circumstances, but by Christ within us.

And then Tracy noticed one more thing Brenna had written at the edge of the window: Love one another. Only Brenna, in her creative spelling, had written: Love won another.”

As Mark concludes: “It’s what Jesus has been trying to tell us all along. You were won that way.”

And, then he quotes our second text from the Lectionary this morning, saying:

[14] And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, [15] that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

16“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light becausetheir works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” (John 3.14-21, ESV)

Cast your discouragement aside this morning.  Admit with the Israelites “I have sinned for I have spoken against God” and come to the cross where Jesus gives you peace with God by providing the healing and forgives you need through His life, death and resurrection for you. Trust in Him whom we have seen is able to do more than you can ask or imagine.

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Pastor Fred Scragg V.

March 10, 2024

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

Remember Redemption

john 2.13-22

Why do you go to church?

Do you go to church because you have always gone to church?

Do you go to church because your friends go to church?

Do you go to church because they give you a free bagel and coffee before the service begins?

Do you go to church because they have the best band, the biggest video screen and the fanciest laser light show, or, in other words, do you go to church for the show and performance?

Maybe you go to church because God’s Word, the Bible, with the good news of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins is always front and center—and you need to hear that good news time and time again to get you through the day?

Now, another question we can ask is, why don’t you go to church on a regular basis?

Do you avoid church because you think it is boring?

Do you avoid church because you think it is irrelevant?

Do you avoid church because you think Christians are hypocrites?

Do you avoid church because you think it is one of the many places in the world that abuses authority to oppress you?

Do you avoid church because your 5 year old needs to play baseball or do gymnastics so that in 13 years they may possibly have a small chance at being one the few will get a scholarship to college?

Do you avoid church because Sunday is your only time together as a family?; Maybe it is your only time as a family because you are living above your means and have to work several jobs and extra hours to pay for your 3 trips to Disney World each year and all the bills for the unnecessary possessions that keep you drowning in debt?

Or, do you avoid church because you simply do not see any need for God’s love to change your life from a life that is separated from Him forever because of Sin to a life that is connected to Him forever through forgiveness of sin.

In this morning’s Biblical text, chosen for us by the lectionary—a 3 year reading plan that let’s us hear every word of Jesus and see every deed of Jesus—we are brought to the biography of Jesus written by the disciple John.

In the book of John, which is found in the New Testament part of the Bible, we are going to see and hear Jesus talk about the meaning, purpose and importance of the church for each and everyone of us.

Let’s hear from John 2.13-22 together now.

John 2.13-22 says this:

[13] The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. [14] In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. [15] And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. [16] And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” [17] His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

[18] So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” [19] Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” [20] The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” [21] But he was speaking about the temple of his body. [22] When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. (ESV)

Looking back on this event, the disciples of Jesus that were present could have easily sung a song that was similar to Gnarls Barkley’s 2006 hit, “Crazy.”

The disciples could have sung:

“I remember, I remember when

[Jesus] lost [his] mind.

Does that make [Him] crazy?”

So, let’s first ask the question, “Does this event where Jesus pushes the tables of the businessmen over—like he just lost a game of Monopoly—make Jesus nothing more than a crazy out of control lunatic who has lost his mind?”

The answer is, “No, Jesus is not a crazy out of control lunatic who has lost his mind.”

And, to come to that conclusion let’s answer two other questions.  Those questions being, “Why was Jesus upset when he entered the temple, or, church of his day?,” “Why did Jesus chase the businessman out of the temple?”

Jesus was upset because instead of hearing prayers, instead of hearing people’s voices singings songs of praise, and instead of smelling the sweet aroma of incense and sacrifices, Jesus heard the sound of money clanging, animals mooing and cooing, and the place of worship literally smelled like crap because the animal feces was piling up all around the businessman who were trying to sell them.

Jesus was upset because God’s house, the place where people should come to hear the Word of God (the Bible) read—which reminds them of God’s love, grace, mercy, and forgiveness—,the place where people should come to pray, the place where people should come to sing praises, and the place people should come to find support and encouragement from other like-minded believers, has been converted into a market place.  

In this country we have The Mall of America.  In this morning’s text, the temple had been converted to The Mall of Jerusalem.

According to the apostle John’s biography of Jesus, which is our Biblical text for this morning, Jesus wasn’t angry at corruption and false practices, Jesus was upset with people forgetting about God’s love for them and weren’t remembering the reason for going to the temple, or, church of Jesus’ day.

The temple, like today’s church, should always be a place where we receive and remember redemption.  The Church should be a place where we are only pointed to Jesus for hope.

However, the people in the temple were not following the two greatest commandments which are love God and love your neighbor, or, as I like to put it, love God and don’t be a jerk.  

Instead, the people were following their own commandments—love myself and forget about everyone else.

Sometimes, because of human brokenness that is called Sin by God, churches today still smell like crap.

They smell like crap when you enter them because they are more concerned about selling you a cup of Starbucks and the latest self-help book in their foyer, and then selling you the lies in their sanctuary that God promises you health and wealth all the days of your life and that you have the power within yourself to become a better person, than they are about being dead honest with you about  the fact that without faith in Jesus you are dead in your Sin which means you are dead to God and separate from Him and His Kingdom of Heaven forever.

I will sell you no lie and give you no false hope from this altar today. 

Instead, I will freely give you the good news and truth that you need.

Jesus lived, Jesus died, and Jesus rose from the grave for you so that your sins could be forgiven, so that you can be credited with his perfection, and so that you could be reconciled to God in Heaven today, tomorrow, and forever.

That is all you need to be known by God and have a place prepared for you in His eternal Kingdom.  To say it is a bit differently, there is NO OTHER WAY to be known by God and have a place prepared for you in HIs Kingdom except through faith in Jesus. 

The truth is you don’t need an expensive coffee in an expensive Stanley cup, a Joyce Meyer self-help book, and a Ted Talk.  

The truth is that you need Jesus if you are going to have hope for a saving relationship with God.

And, God’s love of you is so great that He comes to you and freely gives you Jesus Christ, His Son, even while you are living in the crap and filth of Sin, making every excuse in the book to avoid Him, the Bible, and the Church, or, going to church for the wrong reasons, misunderstanding and misusing Him, the Bible, and the Church.

Sharing this good news was the purpose of the temple in Jesus’ day, and this is the purpose of God’s Church today.

Jesus wasn’t afraid of the businessmen in the temple because of their sin-filled lives and Jesus isn’t afraid of us because of our sin filled lives.  

Jesus loves us and continues to walk into our sin-filled lives and extend his nail pierced hand to us for us to take a hold of so that He can lead us back to God our Father in Heaven.

The irony of what happened on this day that Jesus entered the Temple is this:

People were committing sin in the temple when it is was the time of year—the Passover—when the temple was celebrating God passing over and forgiving sin.

About five minutes into every single morning, I find myself catching an angry or impure thought, I find myself filled with grumbling and complaining, and through the grace of God and the working of the Holy Spirit in my life, I come to complete agreement with the apostle Paul when He says this in his letter to the Christians gathered in the city of Rome during the first Century:

[24] Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? [25] Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. 

[1] There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 7:24-8:1, ESV)

Here’s the thing…sin doesn’t go away once we find ourselves believing in Jesus as Lord and Savior.  In this flesh and bones body, every Christian, and that includes every Pastor, struggles to do what’s right every single day.  

However, we know where our hope for forgiveness is found and where our strength for the day to aim to to live up to God’s standards for life and love come from—they come from God the Father in Heaven, Jesus Christ, His Only Son, the in Holy Sprit working in and through us.

In a book I read a few weeks ago, the author made this unbelievable true and comforting statement:

“Christianity isn’t tidy, and neither is the church. As long as there is a church, there will be church hurt. As long as there is a cursed creation, there will be suffering. As long as there is mystery, there will be unanswered questions. But as long as there is a risen Savior, there is hope. And that’s what I want to leave you with. I want to share a story of hope.”

In 1989, long hair and leather clad bad boy rockers, Skid Row, released a song that would quickly go on to reach #6 on Billboards Hot 100.

The song was called, I Remember You, and has the singer remembering a relationship from days past that made him feel loved and cared for.

The first verse and chorus go like this:

I paint a picture of the days gone by

When love went blind and you would make me see

I’d stare a lifetime into your eyes

So that I knew that you were there for me

Time after time you there for me

Remember yesterday, walking hand in hand

Love letters in the sand, I remember you

Through the sleepless nights through every endless day

I’d want to hear you say, I remember you

In our Biblical text for this morning, we are told that when the disciples remembered the things Jesus did and said in their presence when He was on earth caused them to remember two ultimately important things.

The first thing that the disciples remember about Jesus is that He had a zeal for God’s Church.  This means that Jesus had and continues to have a great love and enthusiasm for giving us a place and a people that will help us receive and remember the good news that forgiveness and redemption are possible for those that trust in Him.

And, the second thing that the disciples remember about Jesus is that He did what He said He would do.  He was killed and He came back to life to defeat the power of sin and death for everyone of us.

In other, words, when you stand at the gates of Heaven, you can have full confidence that Jesus will look at you with tears of joy in His eyes saying, “I remember you, welcome to Paradise.”

This morning, I am thankful that you are in church, and I invite you to make a habit of attending church, whether it is here or elsewhere—as long as it is a church that is a true church having it’s priorities right—holding out Jesus alone for forgiveness, redemption, and Heaven by always keeping God’s love for you, the Bible written for you, and the gift of Jesus Christ for you, front and center.

Receive and Remember your Redemption from this day forward.

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Pastor Fred Scragg V.

March 3, 2024