Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

Yes! That’s The Book For Me!

1 Thessalonians 1.4-5a (Part Deux)

Words are powerful.

Words are expensive.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Words are powerful.

Words are expensive.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1 Thessalonians 1.4-5a says this:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This statement pertains to the entirety of our Bible.  

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

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

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

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

The Word of God is powerful.

The Word of God is expensive.

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

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

One prayer shared went like this:

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

Another prayer like this:

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

And, still, another prayer like this;

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

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

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

Isaiah 55:10–11 says:

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

and do not return there but water the earth,

making it bring forth and sprout,

giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,

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

it shall not return to me empty,

but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,

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

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

1 Corinthians 1.18 says:

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

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

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

The Word of God is powerful.

The Word of God is expensive.

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

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

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

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

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

The Word of God is powerful.

The Word of God is expensive.

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

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

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

The quote from his book, Knowing Scripture, says, 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Word of God is powerful.

The Word of God is expensive.

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

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

May 24, 2026.

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

I Choose You!

1 Thessalonians 1.4-5a

Rejection hurts!

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

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

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

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

None of us lives life free of rejection.

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

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

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

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

you weren’t athletic enough, 

you weren’t musically talented enough, 

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

your skin color didn’t match theirs, or

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1 Thessalonians speaks these words of truth and encouragement:

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

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

Romans 3:10–18 says:

[10] as it is written:

“None is righteous, no, not one;

[11] no one understands;

no one seeks for God.

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

no one does good,

not even one.”

[13] “Their throat is an open grave;

they use their tongues to deceive.”

“The venom of asps is under their lips.”

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

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

[16] in their paths are ruin and misery,

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

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

And, Romans 3.23 tell us that:

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

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

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

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

Let me say that again.

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

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

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

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

God makes that possible. 

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

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

We had to have God’s help…

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

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

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

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

The good news for you is this:

God has chosen you!

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

The good news for you is this:

God has chosen to forgive you!

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

The good news for you is this:

God has chosen to love you!

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

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

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

The good news for you is this:

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

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

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

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

Romans 3:21–26 says this:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

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

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

May 17, 2026.

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

Faith Hope Love

1 Thessalonians 1.2-3

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

“Why are you the way that you are?”  

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

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

I want to ask you the same question this morning,

“Why are you the way that you are?”

To make the question more specific,

“Why do you think the way you think?”

“Why do you speak the way you speak?”

And,

“Why do you do the things you do?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1 Thessalonians 1.2-3 says this:

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[16] … God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. [17] For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. (John 3:16–17, ESV)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

However, the Thessalonians knew the Good News!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Faith is shown and known in the hope it produces.

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Why are you the way that you are?”

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

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

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

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

We’ve all seen the evil of this world

And we feel so helpless with all the lies

You see the word brings no lies

I believe it has a name

I believe he is alive

Listen to me very closely

There is more heaven than hell

Faith, hope, love

This is the Word of God of you today.

This is the Faith of God for you today.

This is the Love of God for you today.

This is the Hope of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

May 10, 2026.

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

Turned Upside Down

1 Thessalonians 1.1-10

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1 Thessalonians 1.1-10 begins like this:

[1] Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy,

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

Grace to you and peace.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Let’s take them one by one.

First, we have Paul.  

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

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

Next, we have Silvanus.  

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Proverbs 16:9 says:

[9] The heart of man plans his way,

but the LORD establishes his steps. (ESV)

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

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

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

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

This is the Peace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

May 3, 2026.

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

By Our Love

1 Peter 1.13-25

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1 Peter 1:13–25 says this:

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

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

“All flesh is like grass

and all its glory like the flower of grass.

The grass withers,

and the flower falls,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What does that mean?

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

How do we do that?

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

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

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

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

all those who practice it have a good understanding.

His praise endures forever! (ESV)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Should familiar? It should.

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

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

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

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

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

Run right to Jesus!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Go forth today loving God by obeying His commands.

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

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

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

April 26, 2026

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

Ignorance Is Not Bliss

Luke 24.13-35

Have you ever felt like you would be happier if you didn’t know certain things?

Maybe you would be happier if you didn’t know your ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend had a new good looking partner.

Maybe you would be happier if you didn’t know that some of your friends went out for dinner and drinks without you.

Maybe you would be happier if you didn’t know that your child wasn’t invited to a birthday party with their peers.

Studies have shown that social media leads us to greater depths of sadness and depression because we see what everyone else is doing, or, at least choosing to show us that they are doing, and we compare their “good” life to our “dull and difficult days.”

Thanks to the internet we get a front row seat to the vacations, the work promotions, the college acceptances, the prom-posals, the weight loss, the weddings, the child births, the friendships, and the awards of our acquaintances. 

In our online voyeurism, we even get to see those who have hurt us and turned their back on us moving on with what seems to be little to no consequences and tons of what we could consider blessings.

All of this leads us to believe the cliche that says, “Ignorance is bliss!”

However, as history has proven over and over again ignorance isn’t always bliss.

In fact, ignorance of the truth can often be physically, mentally, intellectually, and spiritually harmful to our well being.

Here are some examples:

  • When tobacco was first introduced, it was marketed as a safe and healthy way to have a good time. 
  • Slavery was based on the false belief that race and ethnicity defined human value.
  • In the 1960s people believed that Paul McCartney from The Beatles was dead and was replaced with someone who looked like him.
  • At one time pregnant women thought that if they broke their nose and it ended up crooked the their child would be born with a crooked nose.
  • At one time, some people thought that if you ate Chinese food, you would begin to look like Chinese people. 
  • Before the mid-1800s, society was ignorant of germs, so there were many unsanitary practices, like operating on multiple people without sterilizing the instruments.

In November of 2020, the New York Times reported the following story:

When a group of friends and families decided to hike to Shoshone Geyser Basin in Yellowstone, they tried to come prepared for the unexpected. But what they didn’t prepare for? Fines, probation, and a temporary ban from the park. Three of them pleaded guilty to the minor offense of “foot travel in a thermal area,” after being discovered by park rangers trying to cook their food in the park’s hot springs.

Park representative Linda Veress said, “A ranger responded and found two whole chickens in a burlap sack in a hot spring.” The ranger found the group and questioned them about their behavior before issuing citations. According to Veress, the laws in place that prohibit access beyond designated trails are there to protect not only the park itself, but the public as well. Hot spring waters can exceed 400 degrees Fahrenheit, with the potential to cause “severe or fatal burns.” Such was the case earlier [that] year, when a 3-year-old girl suffered second-degree burns after falling into a hydrothermal area. The same thing happened in 2016, but the 23-year-old died from his burns.

Eric Romriell says that he and his friends did their best to be careful, double-packing the chickens inside a roasting bag and a burlap sack to avoid contaminating the waters. He said, “The way I interpreted it was don’t be destructive, and I didn’t feel like I was.” Dallas Roberts, another member of the group, says he saw some signage indicating they were in a closed area, but didn’t think the signs applied to the hot springs themselves. He agreed that the group wasn’t doing any damage, but added, “I can see that we should not have done that.”

There are countless examples every day as to why we shouldn’t want ignorance to be our new best friend, regardless of how confusing and wild things seem to be around us.

As we have heard for the past couple of weeks,

Easter was confusing;

Easter was wild;

But, Easter was also glorious.

Because of the last fact, the fact that Jesus’s death and resurrection was a glorious event, we are going to see and hear in this morning’s Biblical text that ignorance is NOT bliss.

Just like two Sundays ago, we are once again going to enter into an event that happened on the first Easter Sunday.

This time, we are going to see and hear what happened in the early afternoon following Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.

In his biography of Jesus, the doctor and theologian Luke, records a post-resurrection encounter with Jesus for us.

Luke 24.13-35 tells us this:

[13] That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, [14] and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. [15] While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. [16] But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. [17] And he said to them, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?” And they stood still, looking sad. [18] Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” [19] And he said to them, “What things?” And they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, [20] and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. [21] But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. [22] Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, [23] and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. [24] Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.” [25] And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! [26] Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” [27] And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

[28] So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther, [29] but they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them. [30] When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. [31] And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. [32] They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” [33] And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, [34] saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” [35] Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread. (ESV)

Luke tells of two followers walking hurriedly away from Jerusalem, hoping to hit Emmaus by nightfall. Their journey was fueled by the adrenaline that one possesses when life crumbles and survival is the order of the day. They are together, yet alone. We feel the poignancy of their comment when they meet the stranger and tell of their troubles.

“We had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel,” they say. … The stranger–the yet unrecognized Jesus–does not respond by peppering them with homey advice (“It’s always darkest before the dawn.”); nor does he indulge their self-pity (“Here, here, tell me all about it.”). Instead he draws them back to what they know, the Scriptures, and teaches them again the things that drew them to follow him in the first place.

It has been said that tragedy is often like a giant eraser, cleaning our mental tapes of preceding data. 

The grace of God here is this—Jesus didn’t go to the man and woman on that road with judgment, condemnation, wrath, and punishment. No, he went to them with the answers to their questions and a desire to sit down with them and share a meal—signs of friendship and intimacy.

Jesus desired to correct their confusion and give them confidence in God’s love, grace, and mercy toward them.

A piece of the Good News that we receive in this morning’s text is the truth that the Word of God, the Bible, is living and active, and therefore able to speak into our hearts and minds, at every and any point in our lives, restoring us back to the objective truth of God’s love, God’s grace, God’s mercy, God’s forgiveness, and God’s abundant and eternal life, delivered to us in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, His Son.

The author to the Biblical book of Hebrews, reminds us of this in 4.12-13 when he says:

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

John Wesley, the 18th Century English theologian and evangelist, credited with establishing the Methodist Church, found his ‘Emmaus road’ in London, on May 24, 1738. ‘In the evening,’ he tells us in his personal journal, ‘I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate street, where one was reading Martin Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans.  About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed.  I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.’ 

That evening it was William Holland’s reading of Luther’s commentary on Paul’s epistle, but even as the Word of God was being shared from man to man, Wesley heard the voice of the living Christ and found in it salvation.

When Jesus enters into the life of these two disciples, who were not part of the original 12, their ignorance is extinguished and they end up enlightened.

On this afternoon of the first Easter, the day that Jesus Christ was resurrected from the dead, these two individuals were out for a walk discussing the recent events and news reports surrounding this man named Jesus. 

They had many of the facts, but they didn’t know the meaning of all that happened.

During their discussion, it was clear that they saw the crucifixion but they did not understand the cross.

They knew that Jesus was punished by the Roman government and hung out to die for all to see.  But they did not yet know that this was God’s gift to them for the forgiveness of sin, the imputation of righteousness, reconciliation with God the Father in Heaven, and eternal life in His Kingdom.

However, Jesus comes to them for the very purpose of opening their eyes fully to what has happened and what it means for them.

Jesus showed them that everything written in God’s Word from the beginning to the end is all about Him.  It is about Him working  throughout the history of the world for their good in their salvation. 

The entire Bible reveals to us God’s great love for us in God’s great grace towards us as God actively chases after us and saves us through the person and work of Jesus Christ.  

Other Scriptures point us to the same good news that Jesus shares with those in today’s text that were walking away from Jerusalem.

Earlier in Jesus’ ministry, when talking to the Jewish population that was questioning his authority as the Son of God, the Messiah, the Anointed One, the Savior, he said to them:

[39] You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, (John 5:39, ESV)

In his biography of Jesus, the disciple John tells us why he shares Jesus’ story with us when he says:

[30] Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; [31] but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:30–31, ESV)

And, later on in one of his letters to the Christian Church, he also reminded them of the purpose of his writing when he said:

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

The apostle Paul even gets in on this action when he writes to the Christians gathered in the city of Rome during the 1st Century A.D. when he tells them:

[4] For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. [5] May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, [6] that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 15:4–6, ESV)

After coming into contact with Jesus, the disciples were made wise for salvation and were therefore reconciled to God their Father in Heaven through their faith driven relationship with Jesus Christ, God’s son.

What Jesus made clear to the worried, burdened, and confused was that all roads DO NOT lead to God in Heaven.

Therefore, ignorance of who he is, is NOT blissful.

When Jesus enters your life, as He is doing right now, several things happen for you, just as they did on the first Easter when Jesus appeared to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. 

When Jesus enters your life, your ignorance is extinguished, and you end up enlightened.

And, when Jesus enters your life, God crushes your confusion and gives you confidence in the fact that you are forgiven of sin, credited with a full God-pleasing righteousness, reconciles you to himself today, tomorrow, and forever, and welcomes you with arms wide open into his eternal Kingdom of Heaven.

Easter was confusing;

Easter was wild;

But, Easter was also glorious.

Jesus comes to you in your ignorance of who He is and what He has done for you, not with judgment, condemnation, wrath, and punishment. 

Instead, Jesus comes to you with the answers to your questions and a desire to sit down with you and share a meal with you—a sign of friendship and intimacy. 

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

April 19, 2026.

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

From “Keep Out” to “Welcome”

Easter Meditation 2026

This meditation follows the reading of The Garden, The Curtain, and The Cross: The True Story of Why Jesus Died and Rose Again, by Carl Laferton.

__________________________________________________________

The original Sin that dwells inside each and every one of us is Pride. 

Pride causes us to live day-to-day not wanting God to be in charge of anything that would affect the way we want to live.

Even for the most committed believer, pride causes a reversion to a state of living as a practical atheist.  This means that we say God is sovereign over all things and that we desire to live and love and He has first lived and loved us in Jesus Christ, but we move throughout our days as if God was not real and present.

Because of the indwelling Sin that corrupts every human being and therefore makes it impossible for every human being to be near God’s holiness, God placed a “Keep Out” sign at the entrance to His Kingdom.

However, this was not God’s will.  God’s will was to have a “Welcome” sign for you and for me to freely enter into His presence and His eternal Kingdom of Heaven.

So, in order to change the “Keep Out” sign to a “Welcome” sign, God committed (for your ultimate good) to have the worst day that could ever happen.  God stepped into the world in the person of Jesus Christ to provide forgiveness for all of our Sin by being the perfectly innocent sacrifice that was needed to heal, to forgive, and to restore us to place of peace and friendship with Him forever.

This was God’s plan before time and space existed.

God’s love caused Him to plan the ultimate rescue mission through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  

Jesus’ perfectly sinless life is the perfectly spotless life that was needed to atone for your sins.

Jesus’ receiving of the wrath of God as punishment for your Sin by death of the cross is the substitution that you need to be set free from the condemnation and punishment that you deserve due to the corruption that Sin causes in your heart and being.

And, Jesus’ resurrection from the grave on Easter morning is the victory over Sin and Death that you need in order to be assured that you are fully at peace with God today and will one day be welcomed by your Creator with wide open arms into 

Through Jesus, God’s Keep Out sign that has been posted at the entrance to His Kingdom due to the universal human predicament of Sin has been ripped up and thrown out forever.  God’s wonderful place is open to you this morning and forever because Jesus walked out of the grave, fully alive, on Easter morning.

Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection turns God’s Keep Out sign into a Welcome sign.

Through faith in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection for you, you can now go into God’s Kingdom.

I leave you with this exhortation from the Apostle Paul’s letter the Church gathered in the city of Colossae.

Colossians 3:1–4 says this to you:

[1] If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. [2] Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. [3] For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. [4] When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. (ESV)

Christ the Lord is Risen today, Hallelujah!

Oh, Happy Day, Jesus washed our sins away!

This is the Resurrection of Jesus for you.

And, all of God’s people said, Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

April 5, 2026 — Easter Sunday.

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

By His Blood

Good Friday 2026

We are both fascinated and horrified by blood.  Blood is a wonderful, powerful liquid that nourishes our bodies and keeps us alive.  It carries oxygen and nutrients to our cells, and removes wastes and toxins from our bodies.  Blood protects us from infection by its antibodies and fights disease.

We value blood highly.  Yet we are also rather squeamish about blood.  We avoid contact with it, because we feel that it somehow stains us and makes us unclean.  In the UK, they even use bloody as a swear word, as if blood made things repulsive and disgusting.

Because of this, many are put off by the whole business of sacrifices in the Old Testament, and messages of Christ’s bloody death on a cross.

However, it is by Jesus’ sacrifice in His bloody death on the cross that each of us is a recipient of God’s grace, mercy, and love.  

Our access to God does not depend on the observance of God’s Laws and Commands.  Our access to God depends fully on His forgiveness of our Sin, His purification of our hearts, and the gift of a Christ-like conscience.  

Through the blood of Jesus, shed for you, God cleanses you so thoroughly from your Sin that He no longer has any reason to remember it. 

Through the blood of Jesus, you become blameless in God’s sight.  

By His blood Jesus cleanses you from the guilt of Sin and your pollution by it.  He cleanses your conscience from the stain of all impurity, so that you can participate in the Heavenly service of worship with a pure heart so that you do not desecrate God’s holiness with your impurity.

Having atoned for our sins with His blood, Jesus now offers us the benefits of that atonement (Rom 3:24). 

By His blood Jesus pardons our sins and releases us from their effect on us; he rescues us from our guilt and its power over us; he sets us free from the accusation and condemnation of the devil (Matt 26:28; Rev 12:10–11). Jesus redeems us from our sins by forgiving us (Eph 1:7). 

By His blood Jesus justifies us before God the Father (Rom 5:9); by His blood Jesus sets us free from our sins and makes us members of God’s royal priesthood who have access to His gracious presence (Rev 1:5–6); He reconciles us with God and gives us peace through His blood (Col 1:20). 

By His blood you who were once far from God have now been brought near to Him (Eph 2:13). 

Through His blood you now have access to God the Father in one Spirit (Eph 2:18). Just as the high priest was able to enter the holy of holies on the Day of Atonement by means of the blood from the sin offerings (Lev 16:14–15), so you have the right to enter the heavenly sanctuary and approach God the Father there by the blood of Jesus (Heb 10:19–22). It qualifies  you for entry into God’s heavenly presence with bold confidence in Him and the complete assurance that He will welcome you and bless you. 

By His blood Jesus sanctifies you inwardly and completely (Heb 10:29; 13:12). By yourself you are not holy. But you are holy in Him. He shares his own holiness with you, so that you are now as holy as He is. 

By His blood, we are saints, holy people who stand before God together with his holy angels. Through the Holy Spirit Jesus sanctifies us by sprinkling us with his blood (1 Pet 1:2). We therefore depend on it for our sanctification. Like the priests in the Old Testament (Exod 29:21; Lev 8:30), our “robes” are made holy by the blood of the Lamb, so that we can stand with Jesus in the presence of His heavenly Father (Rev 7:14). 

Through His blood we are blood brothers and blood sisters with Jesus. As coheirs with Him we have a foretaste of our heavenly inheritance already in this life here on earth.

All that and much more is yours by faith in Jesus and his blood—the blood which was shed on the cross for you and which you will soon receive from Him in Holy Communion. 

Thomas Aquinas summed this up in his hymn, “Thee We Adore, O Hidden Savior,” with these lyrics: 

Fountain of goodness, Jesus, Lord and God: 

Cleanse us, unclean, with Thy most cleansing blood; 

Increase our faith and love, that we may know 

The hope and peace which from Thy presence flow.

This is the Blood of Christ for you.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

April 3, 2026 (Good Friday)

*This message has been heavily influenced by excerpts from

John W. Kleining’s, The Lord’s Supper: A Guide to the Heavenly Feast.

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

Misunderstanding Jesus

John 3.1-17

Have you ever been misunderstood?

Has anyone ever questioned your thoughts, words, or actions?

Has anyone ever questioned your motives and morals?

Has your quietness been misunderstood as weakness?  When, in actuality, your quietness is just your way of listening and thinking through things so that you can be stronger and more confident when you speak and act.

Has your friendliness been misunderstood by the opposite sex as an unwanted relational advance?  When, in fact, you are just genuinely concerned for everyone’s happiness and comfort.

Has your spouse or significant other ever misunderstood your mood, tone, or inflection?

Have your parents ever misunderstood your mood, tone, or inflection?

Misunderstandings happen all of the time.

And, misunderstandings often lead to strained or broken relationships.

A few years ago, Garth Brooks hit the stage in Detroit wearing the jersey of retired Detroit Lions running back Barry Sanders. 

However, the photo he posted confused some of his fans. 

Because of the name “Sanders” and the jersey number 20, they thought the shirt was meant to convey support for Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, who at the time was embroiled in a race with former Vice President Joe Biden for the right to run against President Trump as a Democratic challenger for that year’s presidential election.

“Good grief,” responded one Instagram user. “Can’t you just do what you get paid to do? Why, why does it have to involve politics!!! So sad. We don’t pay good money for anything other than to watch you perform. Thought you were different.”

While there were plenty Garth Brooks fans online to correct the mistaken assumption, there were also more than a few Bernie Sanders supporters happy to play along:

“Welp. Looks like @garthbrooks just became my favorite country singer!” wrote one user, concluding, “#FeelTheBern2020.”

Even the Detroit Lions’ running back, Barry Sanders, himself got in on the fun. “Hey @garthbrooks you wanna be my VP? #Number20for2020.”

I am not sharing this story to make any kind of political point.

I am sharing this story to make the point that everyone is misunderstood at one point and everyone misunderstands at some point.

In this morning’s text we are going to listen in on a conversation where misunderstanding led to a strained, tense, and even broken relationship.

Our text this morning, from the lectionary is John 3.1-17.  Let’s listen in on this conversation between Nicodemus and Jesus now.

[1] Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. [2] This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” [3] Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” [4] Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” [5] Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. [6] That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. [7] Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ [8] The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

[9] Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” [10] Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? [11] Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. [12] If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? [13] No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. [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. [17] For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. (ESV)

In this back and forth exchange between Nicodemus and Jesus, we see that Nicodemus was misunderstanding Jesus on many levels.

First, Nicodemus misunderstood who Jesus was.

We see in this in the way he addresses Jesus. Nicodemus calls Jesus, “teacher.” Nicodemus lumps Jesus in with all of the other Jewish scholars around him. 

Nicodemus doesn’t recognize Jesus as God’s Messiah, the Anointed One, the Savior.

Second, Nicodemus misunderstood the things Jesus did.  

At the point of this meet up, Jesus had been traveling for some time, speaking about the Kingdom of God and doing miracles.  Nicodemus witnessed some of the unbelievable things Jesus was able to do and he certainly heard about most of the others.

Jesus was baptized in the Jordan river by the seemingly crazy homeless man John the Baptist with the voice of God speaking audibly afterwards for all to hear.

Jesus was getting successful businessmen, fishermen to be exact, to walk away from their means of income in the blink of an eye to follow him from town to town as he taught and healed people.

Jesus turned water into wine for all of the hosts and guests at a big blowout wedding party.

Nicodemus knows these events are out of the ordinary but has no reasonable explanation for how they could happen.

Third, Nicodemus misunderstood how a person enters the Kingdom of God.

When Jesus mentions being “born again” Nicodemus was confused.

Nicodemus was under the impression that a person entered the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Heaven, through hard work, perseverance, and doing the things God’s Law commanded a person to do.

However, through all of this, Jesus doesn’t leave Nicodemus lost in his misunderstanding of who He is and what He is on earth to do. 

Jesus doesn’t walk away from Nicodemus saying, “I am sorry, you are too stupid to figure it out right now. But, if and when you put the clues together and figure out the riddle, then you can come and see me and then God’s love will be yours.”

Instead of judging and condemning Nicodemus, Jesus, in an act of complete mercy and grace, fills in all of the gaps in Nicodemus’ misunderstanding and gives him the truth that will set him free.

Jesus lays it all out on the line so that Nicodemus can understand, believe, have faith, and enter into God’s eternal Kingdom.

Jesus explicitly reveals who he is first through saying that he is the Son of Man.  

The Son of Man is an Old Testament name for God’s Son who would save people from their sin through kingship and conflict.

When Jesus used this term in his conversation with Nicodemus, Nicodemus, being well versed in the Old Testament theology, would know right away that Jesus was referring to Himself as God’s Savior.

Jesus next explicitly reveals what He is going to go through in order to make God’s promise to humanity a reality.

Jesus says that He will be lifted up on a cross and all that have faith in his death for them will be forgiven of sin and granted eternal life.

And, then, Jesus sums up who he is and what he is going to do and what it is going to accomplish with what I would say are the most famous words in the Bible.

Jesus says to Nicodemus:

[16] “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. [17] For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. (John 3.16-17, ESV)

In late October of 2022, Erin Hatzi reported to police that her red Subaru Impreza had been stolen out of her driveway—according to her surveillance footage, “a woman [had] calmly enter[ed] her car and [drove] away” with it. Calmly, indeed: In fact, the woman had sat in the car for a couple minutes to scroll through her phone before driving away. “We were really confused because it didn’t seem like the normal actions of a car thief,” said Hatzi.

The next day, “[p]olice stopped a woman attempting to return the car outside of Hatzi’s home.” The driver offered up this explanation: The night before, “she had been sent to the neighborhood to pick up her friend’s car and accidentally took Hatzi’s vehicle instead.” The friend did not see the car until that morning, and upon realizing the mix-up, left a note and gas money inside the car and sent it back to its rightful owner.

So what had happened? How was the woman allowed to easily access the wrong car and easily drive away?  Well, according to police, “older Subaru keys are interchangeable and can be used to open different cars.”

Because of sin which corrupts our thinking and understanding, many people in our world misunderstand God’s forgiving love and replace God’s forgiving love with the idea that you can live anyway in this world that you want while believing whatever you want about who God is and how God acts.     

The common belief is that all roads lead to Heaven.

However, that very way of thinking and living causes you to get into the wrong car which will only take you to a place of trouble and imprisonment.  

Believing the wrong thing about who Jesus is and what Jesus has done leads you away from God’s forgiveness and love.

When Jesus met Nicodemus, Nicodemus misunderstood Jesus and was in the wrong car, headed for the trouble of being separated from God forever.

However, Jesus, through the grace of God that chases after and rescues those headed in the wrong direction—the direction that takes one away from the Kingdom of Heaven, clearly points Nicodemus to the right car that will take him down the road, the narrow path, that leads to God, his forgiveness of sin, and his eternal love.

Jesus does the same for you today and everyday!

Jesus doesn’t want you to misunderstand him and the things He has done for you.

Jesus lived for you.  Jesus’ perfectly lived life completes all of God’s requirements for you.

Jesus died on the cross for you.  Jesus’ death provides the forgiveness for your sin—the sin that often causes you to misunderstand him.

And Jesus rose from the grave for you.  Jesus’ resurrection defeats the power of sin and death that keeps you blocked from God’s presence and disqualifies you from the Kingdom of Heaven.

If you ever find yourself confused and misunderstanding who God is and what God has done for you in the person and work of Jesus, return to Jesus’ words that make everything clear for you which are found in John 14:1–6.

Jesus says to you:

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

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V. 

March 1, 2026.

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

Salt, Light, and Righteousness

Matthew 5.13-20

In 1987, British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac released their fourteenth studio album Tango In the Night.

Tango In the Night contained a song which would go on to become one of the band’s biggest hits of their career.

The song was titled Little Lies and contained the following lyrics:

If I could turn the page

In time, then I’d rearrange just a day or two

Close my,

Close my,

Close my eyes

But I couldn’t find a way

So I’ll settle for one day to believe in you

Tell me,

Tell me,

Tell me lies

Tell me lies

Tell me sweet little lies

(Tell me lies, tell me, tell me lies)

Oh no, no you can’t disguise

Tell me lies

Tell me sweet little lies

McVie said of the lyrics: “The idea of the lyric is, if I had the chance, I’d do it differently next time. But since I can’t, just carry on lying to me and I’ll believe, even though I know you’re lying.”

‘Little Lies’ sees McVie speak from the viewpoint – perhaps her own – of someone who has been tortured by the emotional uncertainty that romantic relationships bring. They have ultimately brought the curtain down on a past relationship but cannot help but think, “what if?”. This is most clearly exemplified when she sings the lyrics, “If I could turn the page/In time then I’d rearrange/Just a day or two.”

At one point or another, we have all been duped by the lies that someone else was telling us.

What lies have you believed?

What lies are you believing right now?

What lies do you want to continue to believe?

In this morning’s text, where we hear from one of Jesus’ sermons.  We are going to hear some really good news that brings freedom into our lives. However, this freedom is often covered up and made into a burden for us by the lies the world tells us, the lies Satan tells us, the lies that we tell ourselves, and sadly, the lies that some churches often tell us.

Let’s hear from The Gospel of Matthew, the disciple Matthew’s biography of Jesus, together.

Matthew 5.13-20 has Jesus preaching this message:

[13] “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.

[14] “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. [15] Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. [16] In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

[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)

This text from the Gospel of Matthew, which is the disciple Matthew’s biography of Jesus, allows us to hear part of a sermon that Jesus was preaching on a mountainside.  If you have been in the Church world for a while, you have probably heard of this text referred to as The Sermon on the Mount.

In this section of Jesus’ sermon that we just heard together, Jesus is pretty much saying, 

“God wants you to be a good person who does good things for those that you come into contact with each day.”  

Or, in other Biblical words,

[37] …“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. [38] This is the great and first commandment. [39] And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. (Matthew 22:37–39, ESV)

Seems simple enough. Right?

Well, we actually come into a problem when we hear about God’s desire for us to do good things in this world.

The problem rears its ugly head by presenting us with two lies that we often believe when we think about the good deeds that God wants us to do.

The first lie that we believe is this:

“Since it says that Jesus did everything for me in verse 17, I no longer have to do anything that God says.”

This lie is known in in the theological world as anit-nomianism.

When we break down that term we have the word anti which means against and the Greek word nomos which means law.

So, together antinomianism is the idea that as Christians we are against God’s Law and Commands.  Meaning that after we come to faith, we have no need to do anything that God’s Word tells us to do.

However, that idea is a lie because it goes against everything that God’s Word says about the Christian life.

Specifically, Jesus’ brother James, in the book named after him, tells us this:

[22] But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. [23] For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. [24] For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. [25] But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.  (James 1:22–25, ESV)

The second lie is the more common lie and that lie that we often believe is this:

“Good deeds will get me into Heaven.”

What we mean by this is that if our perceived good outweighs our perceived bad at the end of our life, God will finally love us and accept and let us into Heaven.

This line of thinking, that is completely wrong, unBiblical, and a lie straight out of the pits of Hell, is probably the biggest lie that people inside and outside of the Church believe.

It is wrong, unBiblical, and a lie, because God tells us over and over and over again, in his Word, that forgiveness of sin and eternal life only come to us through faith in Jesus Christ.

Here some of the Scriptures that tells us this:

In his letter to the church gathered in Galatia during the first Century, the apostle Paul says:

[16] yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. (Galatians 2:16, ESV)

And, finally,

[22] the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: [23] for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, [24] and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, [25] whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. (Romans 3:22–25, ESV)

There is no amount of good that you can do in your lifetime that will make God love you, forgive you, accept you, and welcome you into Heaven.  

That’s because without faith in Jesus which brings the knowledge and comfort of God’s love into your life, all of your attempted good deeds will also be stained and corrupted by some sort of false motives for self-exaltation and personal glory.

Good deeds done only to earn blessing or escape punishment are inherently self-seeking—the kind of good deeds that [the Apostle] Paul says God doesn’t recognize as good in Romans 2.6-7 which says:

“[God] will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.”

C.S.Lewis, the author of the acclaimed Chronicles of Narnia, was also an Oxford University professor and a convinced atheist who became a Christian in his thirties.  

One afternoon he was walking through the corridors of Oxford when he heard someone call his name from inside a classroom.  A group of his colleagues were gathered in a lecture room, listing out on a blackboard all the things world religions have in common—things like morality, accountability, judgement, worship.  Knowing that Lewis was a Christian, they challenged him: “Jack (that was his nickname—I have no idea how you get from Clive Staples to Jack), tell us what Christianity believes that is not already listed on this blackboard.”  Lewis went in, looked at their list for a moment, walked up to the board, took a piece of chalk and wrote just one simple word:

“Grace.”

Lewis put down the chalk and walked out without a a word.  

That’s an Oxford don’s version of a mic drop.  

Two things to learn from this story: one, never try to outwit C.S. Lewis.  Two, grace is what distinguishes Christianity from every other religion.  

Christianity at its core, is not good advice about what we must do for God, but rather, good news about what [God has] done for us.  It’s not primarily instructions in morality or accountability or goodness but a declaration of grace.

Grace means “underserved kindness.”

Through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, you, while you are still in your sin, are a recipient of God’s grace, or God’s underserved kindness.

The most important thing about Jesus is not what he taught but what he did.  

It’s not what Jesus taught that saved us, but what he did.  He lived in perfect obedience to God the Father in Heaven.  He died on the cross as the innocent and perfect sacrifice needed to replace you and me, in order to provide forgiveness for our sin.  And, he rose from the grave on the first Easter Morning, defeating the power of sin and death enabling us to walk into God’s Kingdom of Heaven with eternal life. 

We don’t go out into the world and treat others with love, grace, and mercy because we have to.

We go out into the world and treat others with love, grace, and mercy, because we get to.

And, we get to because Jesus treated us with love, grace, and mercy first.

1 John 4:9–11,19 tells us this truth with these words of encouragement: 

[9] In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. [10] In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. [11] Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. (ESV)

[19] We love because he first loved us. (ESV)

In this beginning portion of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, we are comforted by the truth that Jesus is the salt that never lost its saltiness.

We are also comforted by the truth that Jesus is the light of the world that never goes out and can never be fully hidden.

And, we are finally comforted by the truth that Jesus did everything that God’s law commands to be done in order to reach perfection, acceptance, and welcoming by God the Father in Heaven.

We are comforted by all of this because Jesus was all of this and did all of this for you and me.

Having faith in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection for you means that you will hear from God:

“You have never lost your saltiness. Therefore, you won’t be thrown out.”

“You have never hid your light. Therefore, you have brought glory to God by showing others the way to him through faith in Christ alone.”

“You have fulfilled and accomplished all of what the Law and Prophets say to do and not do.”

“You have taught the ways of God, the Father in Heaven, to others.”

“Your righteousness exceeds that of the Scribes and Pharisees.”

“Welcome home! Enter the Kingdom of Heaven!”

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

February 15, 2026.