Psalm 36

In a recent issue of CT (Christianity Today) magazine, Carrie Sheffield tells us her story as she shares how politics had become an idol to her and how she discovered a deeper source of purpose and meaning in Christ.

Carrie Sheffield was raised in extreme religious trauma in an offshoot Mormon cult. Her father believed that he was a Mormon prophet and was eventually excommunicated by the LDS church for heresy. She grew up with seven siblings in various motor homes, tents, houses, and sheds. Carrie attended 17 different public schools and when she took the ACT test, the family lived in a shed with no running water in the Ozarks.

All the children inherited trauma from their tumultuous family life. Two of her siblings have schizophrenia, including one brother who tried to rape her. Carrie has been hospitalized nine times for depression, fibromyalgia, suicidal ideation, and PTSD.

When she left home to attend Brigham Young University, her dad declared that she was satanic and therefore disowned her. As a student, she felt disillusioned by a growing list of unanswered questions about Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, and the prospect of polygamy in the afterlife. After receiving her journalism degree, she stopped practicing Mormonism, formally renouncing it in 2010. For years she assumed she would never return to belief in God or organized religion. She writes:

To fill the void, I threw myself into work, schooling, dating, friends, and travel as ultimate sources of meaning. I worked as an analyst for major Wall Street firms, earning unthinkable sums for a girl from a motor home. I launched a career in political journalism at outlets like Politico, The Hill, and The Washington Times.

But ultimately her career goals left her unfilled. It was during the 2016 election that she felt an existential crisis. She realized that when she’d lost faith in God, she had allowed politics to become a substitute religion. She had built her career toward working on a [political] campaign or in the White House. She had appeared on CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, Fox Business, and other networks, even sparring on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher. She says:

During this crisis of meaning, I felt distraught and adrift. So, I turned to church, first to Redeemer Presbyterian, founded by the late Tim Keller, and later to Saint Thomas Episcopal. It was during a service that I encountered Scripture’s answer to career and political idolatry in passages like Mark 8:36–37, which asks, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” Studying Christianity felt like uncovering buried treasure discarded by intellectuals who had discounted its scientific and philosophical heft.

I joined the [Christian] [C]hurch.  My baptism day—December 3, 2017—was the happiest of my life. A group of about 30 family and friends watched me vow to “serve Christ in all persons, loving my neighbor as myself” and “strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being.”

More than six years since my baptism, I enjoy a healthier relationship to politics. I still have strong convictions, which I don’t hesitate to share in columns, speeches, or TV appearances, but I know God is far bigger than any puny manmade system. As I returned to a walk with God, I felt enveloped with a sense of peace that surpassed understanding.

Every story has a beginning, a middle, and an end (whether you like it or not).

Carrie Sheffield’s story began with spiritual abuse and political idolatry.

In the middle, Carrie Sheffield’s story had her meeting the loving Creator and Redeeming God revealed in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Now, Carrie Sheffield’s story will end with her loving God and loving others all the way into the glory of eternity.

This morning, tell me your story.

Whether you have 10 or 20 years under your belt, or 50, 60, or 70 years of life on this earth, tell me you story.

What were you like in the past?

What happened to you along the way to influence and/or change the way you think, speak, and act?

And, what are you like today?

We all have a personal story that contains many subtitles, chapters, footnotes, and appendices.

In the AA, or Alcoholics Anonymous, program, we have a three strep process for speaking and giving our testimony of how we recovered and are staying sober 1 day at a time. And, as we also say, this is how we share our strength and hope.

Those three steps of testimony telling are:

1. Where I was.
2. What happened.
3. What I am like now.

This is one of many things in the AA program that I believe relate to and can help us in our daily life as we walk as Christians with faith in Jesus Christ.  This overlap is no surprise as the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous were personally familiar with the Christian faith and quote the Bible directly and indirectly throughout the entire Big Book that is used as the guide for the actions that lead one to becoming and staying sober.

In this Biblical text for this morning, from Psalm 36, King David shares the beginning, the middle, and the end, the “Where I was,” the “What happened,” and the, “Where I am now,” of every person who has the blessed assurance of God’s forgiveness as found and received only in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Let’s hear from Psalm 36 now.

In Psalm 36, King David says this:

[1] Transgression speaks to the wicked

deep in his heart;

there is no fear of God

before his eyes.

[2] For he flatters himself in his own eyes

that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated.

[3] The words of his mouth are trouble and deceit;

he has ceased to act wisely and do good.

[4] He plots trouble while on his bed;

he sets himself in a way that is not good;

he does not reject evil.

[5] Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens,

your faithfulness to the clouds.

[6] Your righteousness is like the mountains of God;

your judgments are like the great deep;

man and beast you save, O LORD.

[7] How precious is your steadfast love, O God!

The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.

[8] They feast on the abundance of your house,

and you give them drink from the river of your delights.

[9] For with you is the fountain of life;

in your light do we see light.

[10] Oh, continue your steadfast love to those who know you,

and your righteousness to the upright of heart!

[11] Let not the foot of arrogance come upon me,

nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.

[12] There the evildoers lie fallen;

they are thrust down, unable to rise. (ESV)

It is in these 12 verses that King David describes the 3 phases or our life.

Verses 1-4 tell the story of what we were like without God.

Before we had faith in the Creating and Redeeming God, revealed to us only in the Bible, we did not fear (or stand in awe) of God; we thought better of ourselves than we should have—thinking we could do no wrong and were never guilty; we used our words to lie and deceive; we acted in selfishness and did unGodly things; and we created trouble for ourselves and others.

Verses 5-9 tell the story of what happened to us.

God was loving and faithful to us.  He came to us in the person and work of Jesus Christ, living a perfectly righteous and innocent life when measured against God’s commands for life and love, dying on the cross to forgive us by using his life to pay the debt that our sin created, and rising from the dead to defeat the power of sin and death which separated us from God.

In the person and work of Jesus Christ, God saves us, God loves us, God protects us, God provides for us, God makes us joyful, and God brings us out of the darkness and into the light.

And, verses 10-12 tell the story of what we are like now.

We live everyday with God’s love leading us and guiding us.

God continues to forgive us and make us righteous—we are always ready for His Kingdom of Heaven.

God daily empowers us to choose right over wrong and love over hate.

And, God daily lifts us up from the low places we often find ourselves. 

We have many examples in the Bible of people telling the story of how they moved from wickedness to righteousness and from condemnation to salvation.

The author of our Psalm for this morning, King David, has his story told throughout the book of 1 Samuel but he tells us his story personally, over and over again, in the songs and poetry that he wrote and are now contained in the book of Psalms for us.

David was the youngest and least impressive of many siblings.  However, God chose him at a young age to be the next king of Israel.

Although David had an impressive start—being the only one in the entire nation of Israel brave enough to defend God’s name and honor by fighting and killing the giant Philistine solider, Goliath, his journey was not all up hill.  David spent many years in the dark valleys of life, so dark that he, in Psalm 23 called them the valleys of the shadow of death.  

David’s initial success at a young age caused the sitting King of Israel, Saul, to become jealous to the point of misusing all of his power and resources to attempt to have David killed.

David spent many years on the run and in hiding from the King and his armies.

Once David because King, he too misused his power and resources to steal another man’s wife, Bathsheba, and ended up getting her pregnant.  To cover his tracks and guilt, David sent her husband to the front lines of battle to ensure he would die.

But, God in his grace and mercy, sent a friend to show David his Sin against God and the people he was supposed to protect, so that David could repent and be forgiven.

In this meeting, after recognizing his Sin and disobedience to God the Father in Heaven, David cries out:

[13] … “I have sinned against the LORD.” (2 Samuel 12:13, ESV)

And Nathan [whom God sent to David to show him his sin] said to David, “The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die. (2 Samuel 12:13, ESV)

Where did David start?

David started out living his life not fully devoted to God.  When the rubber met the road of daily life, David chose to follow his own passions and desires for worldly unGodly pleasure.

What happened?  

God lovingly visited and spoke to David so that he could repent from his sin, receive God’s forgiveness, and have a new life devoted to loving God and loving others.

Where did David end up?

After encountering God’s grace and mercy and love, despite his record of wrong doing, David lived his life devoted to God and in service to others to the point that we hear this about King David:

[22] [God] raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’ (Acts 13:22, ESV)

God wants you to have the same story as King David.

God comes to you in the person and work of Jesus Christ, to meet you where you are at, even in the midst of Sin against him, so that you can repent, believe, and be called “one after God’s own heart who will do His will.”

We hear this desire of God laid out in 1 Timothy 2:1–6.

1 Timothy 2.1-6 says this:

[1] … I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, [2] for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. [3] This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, [4] who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. [5] For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, [6] who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. (ESV)

In 1980, the year I was born, Eugene Peterson, an American Presbyterian minister, scholar, theologian, author, and poet, said, 

“There is a general assumption prevalent in the world that it is extremely difficult to be a Christian. But this is as far from the truth as the east is from the west. The easiest thing in the world is to be a Christian. What is hard is to be a sinner. Being a Christian is what we were created for. . . . In the course of Christian discipleship we discover that without Christ we were doing it the hard way and that with Christ we are doing it the easy way. It is not Christians who have it hard, but non-Christians.”

Without Jesus, you do not have the strength or hope you need to face life 1 day at a time.

But, with Jesus, you are given the strength and hope you to need to make it to the end of each 24 hour period that God blesses you with on this earth.

Jesus didn’t die on the cross for you to keep you story of his grace,  mercy, and love to yourself.

Your story of Jesus’ sacrifice for you, Jesus’ forgiveness of your sins, and Jesus’ giving you his righteousness, is meant to help others find hope in God’s love for them.

If you don’t know where to start in telling your story, just begin by sharing the lyrics from the song we sang a few minutes ago, Blessed Assurance.

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine;

Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!

Heir of salvation, purchase of God,

Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.   

This is my story, this is my song,

Praising my Savior all the day long.

This is my story, this is my song,

Praising my Savior all the day long.

Perfect submission, all is at rest,

I in my Savior am happy and blest;

Watching and waiting, looking above,

Filled with His goodness, lost in His love.

This is my story, this is my song,

Praising my Savior all the day long.

This is my story, this is my song,

Praising my Savior all the day long.

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

September 29, 2024.

Prayer:

Almighty God, 

You never change. From age to age you are faithful to your promises, and you love to pour out generous blessings on your children. Like a good earthly father, you enjoy giving good gifts to those you love, and we have so much to be thankful for. We know that we are safe in your love, because your kindness to us does not depend on our faithfulness to you. We praise you, Lord, because you raise up the poor and needy; and, as spiritually poor and needy people, we need your constant care and attention. 

Father, we should be filled with gratitude to you every minute of every day. We owe you everything, so our lives should be devoted to acts of generosity to you, to your church, and your family. We ought to give the very best that we have of our gifts, time, and material possessions to you, with glad and joyful hearts. Yet we confess that we don’t even come close to honoring you in this way, Lord. We are often stingy in our giving to you and resentful of the demands that church and people place on our time. We are generous to ourselves and to those whom we love or wish to impress, but we rob you frequently by not giving to you in proportion to our great debt. Father, forgive us. 

Jesus, thank you for giving your life and yourself so generously for us. You lived each day in perfect gratitude to your Father, giving thanks for your daily bread and giving your mind, heart, soul, and strength to serving us. In the end, you even gave your body as a sacrificial offering on the cross. How can we repay such amazing love? 

Holy Spirit, teach us to excel in the grace of giving. Help our hearts to overflow with generosity to others in response to the outpouring of grace that we have received. Make us quick to identify and meet the needs around us, whether they are the needs of our church or the needs of one another. And, when we have done all that we can do, help us not to take pride in our giving, but to recognize that it is only a small return for your great generosity to us in Christ. In Jesus’ precious name, amen.

Go in peace and share your strength and hope.

Benediction:

Go, tell it on the mountain

Over the hills and everywhere

Go, tell it on the mountain

That Jesus Christ is born

Psalm 34.15-22

In their 2003 hit song, Bring Me to Life, rock band Evanescence sang:

(Wake me up)

Wake me up inside

(I can’t wake up)

Wake me up inside

(Save me)

Call my name and save me from the dark

(Wake me up)

Before I come undone

(Save me)

Save me from the nothing I’ve become

And, more recently, in 2018, metal band Underoath sang:

Open up my eyes and show me salvation

Wake this body up ’cause I’m tired of sleepin’

Our Biblical text this morning from Psalm 34 makes it clear that we need to be woken up to the truth of our relationship with God the Father in Heaven if we are going to live every day with hope for better tomorrow.

Psalm 34:15–22 says this:

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

and his ears toward their cry.

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

to cut off the memory of them from the earth.

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

and delivers them out of all their troubles.

[18] The LORD is near to the brokenhearted

and saves the crushed in spirit.

[19] Many are the afflictions of the righteous,

but the LORD delivers him out of them all.

[20] He keeps all his bones;

not one of them is broken.

[21] Affliction will slay the wicked,

and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.

[22] The LORD redeems the life of his servants;

none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned. (ESV)

Our piece of Scripture from Psalm 34 lets us know that there are two categories of people that God sees when he looks at humanity.

When God looks at you, God either sees you as righteous or evil.

As King David, the writer of Psalm 34 tells us, those that God calls righteous have the grace, mercy, love, and goodness of God poured out on them every day of their life and eternally.

King David, who is writing Psalm 34 after being rescued by God from the hands of the king who wants to kill him, and the people of Goliath’s hometown—Goliath being their champion, the giant solider that David killed with a slingshot and a stone, names some of the benefits of being labeled righteous by God.

According to our final verses from Psalm 34,

the righteous have God’s attention as God’s eyes are always on them, watching them to provide for their needs and protect them from ultimate harm.

The righteous are heard by God when they cry to Him for help in prayer.

The righteous have their cries and prayers for help answered by God.

The righteous are delivered from their troubles by God who hears and answers them.

The righteous always have God near them, especially when they are brokenhearted.

The righteous are saved by God when they feel crushed by their sin and the sin of the world around them.

The righteous find comfort in a God who cares for them.

The righteous are redeemed by God from their sin.

So, what does it mean to be righteous?

To be righteous means to be morally perfect when measured against God’s standards for life and love which are laid out for us in the 10 Commandments as well as the other 600+ commandments found it Scripture.

To be righteous means to have lived every second of every day with a record of 100% compliance to every single thing that God tells us to do and not to do.

If you are like me and think about your past and your present when you hear this, you are hopefully realizing that you are in trouble because their is absolutely no way you can claim to have a 100% record of compliance to every single thing that God, as only revealed in the Bible, has told us to do and not do.

When measuring ourselves against God’s standards for right and wrong we have to agree with the Scriptures that say:

[10] …“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.” (Romans 3:10–12,ESV)

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

(Romans 3:23, ESV)

And, Isaiah 64:6, which tell us that,

[6] We have all become like one who is unclean,

and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.

We all fade like a leaf,

and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. (ESV)

So, if we are living in an evil state, constantly failing to measure up to God’s standards for life and love because of the Sin that corrupts us, what is our position before God’s throne?  

Well, it would be the opposite of righteous according to our text for his morning and that puts us in God’s category of “evil.”

So, what is the life of an evil person like?

King David addresses that as well in this morning’s text.

He says that God looks away from the evil person.

He says that God does not remember the evil person.

He says that God will allow affliction to define the life of the evil person.

He says that God will condemn the evil person to an eternity separated from Him and separated from the Kingdom of Heaven.

Again, hopefully, we recognize our problem.

Our problem is that everything that King David says here about the evil person is our natural state of being because of Sin that is inborn and overflows from us.

But, because of God’s love for us, even in our evil state, He is gracious and merciful towards us giving us the ability to be transferred into the category of “righteous” where we receive all of the benefits of a reconciled relationship with Him that we heard King David mention a few minutes ago.

And, here’s the thing, to become righteous in God’s eyes isn’t something you can earn by doing good deeds or attempting to be the best person you can be.

To become righteous, all you need is faith in Jesus Christ, God-in-the-flesh, who is God’s freely given gift to you so that you can be delivered from slavery to sin, saved from death and separation from God, and redeemed for Kingdom life that is begun to be lived here and now and that will be lived eternally in Heaven.

Simply put, the righteous are saved by faith in Jesus.

In what may be familiar verses to you, John 3:16–17 lays out God’s deliverance, salvation, and redemption plan.

John 3.16-17 says this:

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

There are a bunch of verses in the Biblical book of Romans, which is the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Christians in the city of Rome during the 1st Century AD, that put our problems and and God’s solution for us together in a wonderful way that has become an easy way to sum up the good news of Christianity.

This collection of Bible verses has become known as Romans Road.

Let’s hear the good news of God’s love making us righteous for in the person and work of Jesus Christ through Romans Road together.

Romans 6:23

[23] For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (ESV)

Romans 5:8

[8] …God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (ESV)

Romans 10:9

[9] …if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (ESV)

Romans 10:13

[13] For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (ESV)

Romans 5:1

[1] Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. (ESV)

Romans 8:1

[1] There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (ESV)

And, Romans 8:38–39

[38] For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, [39] nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (ESV)

Have you ever heard the saying, “All roads lead to Heaven,” or, “All roads lead to God”?

Well, that is one of, if not the greatest, lies that exists.

Our Scripture from the Bible for this morning, along with every other Scripture that exists in the Bible, makes it explicitly clear that ALL ROADS DO NOT LEAD TO GOD THE FATHER IN HEAVEN.

And, to make sure we know this, Jesus Christ, God in the Flesh, makes it unquestionably clear when he tell us,

[6] …“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6, ESV)

Without Jesus, God calls you evil and your end is punishment and destruction because of sin.

However, with Jesus, God calls you righteous and you are delivered, saved, and redeemed from the hell of being separated from God today, tomorrow, and forever.  And, your new life is led by God, protected by God, and all of your needs are provided for by God.

May your daily prayer this week be:

Our Father, who art in Heaven, wake me up inside; call my name and save me from the dark; save me from the nothing I’ve become; open my eyes and show me salvation.

I leave you with this promise from Psalm 91:14–16:

[14] “Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him;

I will protect him, because he knows my name.

[15] When he calls to me, I will answer him;

I will be with him in trouble;

I will rescue him and honor him.

[16] With long life I will satisfy him

and show him my salvation.” (ESV)

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

September 22, 2024.

Prayer:

Holy Lord, 

We are not fit to come before you. We have no righteousness of our own to offer, and we possess nothing to sacrifice that is worthy of the great debt that we owe you. We have not done what is just and right, but instead have frequently sinned in our words and our actions. We have not loved kindness and delighted our souls in doing others good. Instead, we have delighted in harming those whom we deem our enemies, and even when we have done good to others, we have resented them in our hearts. We have not walked humbly and wisely before you, but rather we have walked in our own wisdom and followed the counsel of the world around us. Father, forgive us. 

Jesus, you are our righteousness, and you have made the perfect offering to atone for our sin. You walked humbly with God every day of your life, you loved faithfulness and mercy, and you burned for justice. These glorious attributes are our only hope of entering God’s presence, yet we wanted you dead because of them, and so we crucified you. What great arrogance, hatred of kindness, and injustice belongs to our race—and to us as well! Thank you for your great mercy in which you come to sinners like us, cleanse us with your precious blood, and clothe us in your perfect righteousness. Hallelujah! What a Savior you are! 

Holy Spirit, work in us true righteousness. Take away our hard and stony hearts and create in us true goodness and beauty. Give us a new desire to walk in your statutes and to live by your rules, out of the thankfulness of our hearts for our rich salvation. Give us deep and abiding joy in the gospel—a joy that neither our circumstances nor our sin can take away. Fix our eyes increasingly on the everlasting inheritance of righteousness that is ours in Christ—on the new heavens and the new earth where we shall finally be able to enter your presence, by your grace alone, standing on the righteousness of Christ alone. In Jesus’ holy name we pray, amen.

Benediction:

Go in peace this morning.  Jesus has transferred you from the domain of evil and darkness to the domain of light and righteousness.

Psalm 34.8-10

For those of us that grew up in or around the church, and maybe even if we didn’t, Psalm 23 is probably familiar.

The beginning of Psalm 23 is usually read or memorized as “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.”

However, when I was studying Hebrew and began to read the Old Testament part of the Bible in the original language, I noticed something very different if Psalm 23.

The word that is often translated into English as want, is actually the word need in the original Hebrew.

So, it would actual state that, “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not lack [any good thing].”

This brings a whole new level of confidence to our relationship with God when we realize that, “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not lack [any good thing].”

To lack means to not have or to be in need.  

To lack means that something is missing from your life.

In our Biblical text for this morning, continuing in Psalm 34 where we left off last week, King David, the writer of this song, as well as Psalm 23, returns to the theme of having everything we need for life and love when our trust in God, the Father, Creator of Heaven and Earth and the Redeemer of humanity.

Let’s hear King David’s words now from Psalm 34.8-10.

[8] Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good!

Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!

[9] Oh, fear the LORD, you his saints,

for those who fear him have no lack!

[10] The young lions suffer want and hunger;

but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.(ESV)

Here in this morning’s Biblical text, King David is confidently stating that when you walk this world with faith in God, the God who stepped into the flesh of Jesus Christ to deliver you, save you, and redeem you from the death and destruction that comes because of you Sin, you will never have an unmet need.

King David assures you that God, as revealed only in the Holy Bible, gives you every last thing you need to make it through this day, this week, this month, this year, this life, and into His eternal Kingdom of Heaven.

This means that everything you need physically, you will have!

This means that everything you need mentally, you will have!

This means that everything you need emotionally, you will have!

This means that everything you need spiritually, you will have!

Now, here’s the thing.  You may be sitting here and saying, “But, Pastor Fred, I am in need.”  

And, my first question to you would be, “Do you have actually have a need? Or, do you just want something that you don’t have and are mislabeling it a need?”

Do you have food for today?

Do you have clothes for your body?

Do you have a roof over your head?

Do you have faith in Jesus as both Lord and Savior—as the only one who is able to provide forgiveness for your sin and reconnect you back into a relationship with God?

If you answered, “Yes,” to all of those questions, then you have everything you need!

However, let me tell you, we are REALLY good at mislabeling our wants as needs.

For example:

If you have food in your home, then a meal at a restaurant is not a need. It is a want.

If you have clothes on your body, then a new addition to your wardrobe is not a need.  It is a want.

If you a have a consistent way to get from point A to point B, then the newest model of a car or a classic model of a car is not a need.  It is a want.

A lavish vacation is not a need.  It is a want.  

An glass of wine or a gummy laced with cannabis is not a need.  It is want. 

A new video game system is not a need. It is a want.

What are you saying you “need” today, but is actually just something you want?

I am confident you have a long list of wants that you labeled needs because I have a long list too!

In order to understand God’s goodness in always giving us what we need, let’s remember that King David is writing this song, found in Psalm 34, while living in the sufferings of the present age.

As we started to see last week, king David has a one track mind in Psalm 34. God has just rescued king David from the hands of the Philistine people shortly after he killed one of their heroes, Goliath, the giant soldier.

It is important to note that even while experiencing hardships, David is still able to say God has given him everything he needs for the day.

It is because of this great deliverance and salvation, or delivering and saving from fear and trouble, that king David is ecstatically excited, and wants to tell you about how good, and great, and merciful, and loving, and kind, God the father in heaven is.

I was reading something written by one of my mentors this week in which he addressed the topic of God providing for all of our needs even while we suffer from the brokenness and fallenness of our world.

He said:

Living in the “sufferings of the present age” means living with the lot of wanting more. In this agony where Christ hung, he calls out, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” John’s Gospel puts it only slightly differently: “It is finished.” This is what we have, the basis of our faith, that holds on, as David Ford says, during our overwhelming. “This overwhelming,” writes Stanley Hauerwas, “[allows] us to live not because we have answers to all the world’s troubles, but because God has given us a way to live without answers” (88). 

But before we grow our beards out, throw up our hands and retreat into the mystery of [the monastic cave life], let us be clear about what we can say, because too often the “sufferings of this present age” force pastors and theologians—and I am as culpable as anyone—to unanswered, unfinished speculation about the cross that subverts Jesus’ very cry.  

What’s worse, today’s moral teachers, across the political and theological spectrum, have turned this end into a beginning. “See,” it is argued, “Jesus did it all, now get going and do (or stop) x-y-z, because that can’t really be all there is to it.” 

This is a tragic irony: the very words signifying an actual end to something are parlayed into motivational grist for the mill of the suffering soul.  

In direct and steadfast opposition to this, we never tire of insisting that “it is finished” means just that. Everything that ever needed to be done or ever will need to be done by us to be reconciled to God has been done. 

God is in control. 

He is redeeming the world. 

We cannot mess up His plan because, well, “it is finished.” 

We are free to live as people in the “sufferings of this present age,” living squarely in the shadow of the crucifix, “always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks a reason for the hope” (1 Peter 3:15). In this hope we wait, because although our end has not yet come, the only “it” that matters is already finished.

Because God provides for our every need, even our most pressing need—the forgiveness of sin which reconnects us back into a relationship with God today and eternally and the daily empowerment of the Holy Spirit to love God and love our neighbor, let’s ask God to make the words of Jesus from His Sermon on the Mount a reality in our lives today and this week.

In Matthew 6:25–34, Jesus says this to you:

[25] “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? [26] Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? [27] And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? [28] And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, [29] yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. [30] But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? [31] Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ [32] For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. [33] But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

[34] “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. (ESV)

When I was in seminary, we had to listen to sermons on cassette tapes. 

(I know, some of you are asking, “What the heck is a cassette tape?” — it is just a sign that I am an old man).

Anyway, one preacher on one cassette tape told this story about a little boy:

He was just a little fellow. His mother died when he was just a child. His father, in trying to be both mommy and daddy, had planned a picnic. The little boy had never been on a picnic, so they made their plans, fixed the lunch, and packed the car. 

Then it was time to go to bed, for the picnic was the next day. He just couldn’t sleep. He tossed and he turned, but the excitement got to him. Finally, he got out of bed, ran into the room where his father had already fallen asleep, and shook him. His father woke up and saw his son. 

He said to him, “What are you doing up? What’s the matter?”

The boy said, “I can’t sleep.”

The father asked, “Why can’t you sleep?”

In answering, the boy said, “Daddy, I’m excited about tomorrow.”

His father replied, “Well, Son, I’m sure you are, and it’s going to be a great day, but it won’t be great if we don’t get some sleep. So why don’t you just run down the hall, get back in bed, and get a good night’s rest.”

So the boy trudged off down the hall to his room and got in bed. 

Before long, sleep came–to the father, that is. It wasn’t long thereafter that back was the little boy. He was pushing and shoving his father, and his father opened his eyes. Harsh words almost blurted out until he saw the expression on the boy’s face. 

The father asked, “What’s the matter now?”

The boy said, “Daddy, I just want to thank you for tomorrow.”

The preacher followed that story with this comment:

When I think of my past and the fact that a loving Father would not let me go, reached down in his divine providence, and lifted me off of the streets…, when I think of what he has done for me and then think that he is planning a new thing for me that will surpass the past, let the record show this night in this place that [I] testified, Father, I want to thank you for tomorrow!

This little boy was excited about doing something that he had never done before — a family picnic.

The preacher was excited about two things.  First, he was excited about what God the Father had already done for him — saved him from the problems of the inner city streets.  And, second, the preacher was excited about what God was doing and would do for him — prepare a place in Heaven for him and call him home to that place that is better than we could ever imagine.

When giving encouragement and instructions to the church, the Apostle Paul spoke these words:

[17] And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians 3:17, ESV)

And,

[12] We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, [13] and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. [14] And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. [15] See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. [16] Rejoice always, [17] pray without ceasing, [18] give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thessalonians 5:12–18, ESV)

This morning and this coming week,

Taste and see that God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit are good!

You are blessed if you have faith in Him and take refuge in Him!

Trust and fear the Lord you who have been made holy through Jesus Christ you already have everything you need for today and for eternity.

Seek the Lord and you will lack no good thing.

With Jesus, nothing is missing from your life.

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

September 8, 2024.

Psalm 139.1-16

Have you ever felt lowly?

Have you ever felt lost?

Have you ever felt unnoticed?

Have you ever felt unremarkable?

Have you ever felt excluded?

Have you ever felt powerless?

Have you ever felt broken?

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

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

In my life, there’s been heartache and pain

I don’t know if I can face it again…

I want to know what love is!

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

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

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

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

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

Psalm 139:1–16 says this:

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

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

you discern my thoughts from afar.

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

and are acquainted with all my ways.

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

behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.

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

and lay your hand upon me.

[6] Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;

it is high; I cannot attain it.

[7] Where shall I go from your Spirit?

Or where shall I flee from your presence?

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

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

[9] If I take the wings of the morning

and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

[10] even there your hand shall lead me,

and your right hand shall hold me.

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

and the light about me be night,”

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

the night is bright as the day,

for darkness is as light with you.

[13] For you formed my inward parts;

you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.

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

Wonderful are your works;

my soul knows it very well.

[15] My frame was not hidden from you,

when I was being made in secret,

intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

[16] Your eyes saw my unformed substance;

in your book were written, every one of them,

the days that were formed for me,

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

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

Those three truths are:

God is omniscient.

God is omnipresent.

And, God is omnipotent.

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

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

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

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

God knows your heart.

God knows your actions.

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

God knows when you travel.

God knows when you lie down and go to bed.

God knows you during the day and during the night.

God knows your words.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

God chose you!

God foreordained your life.

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

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

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

He tells his story this way:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Her full name is Julie Frymer.

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

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

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

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

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

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

But, know this: 

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

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

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

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

In Jesus Christ alone, you know what love is.

John 15:12–13

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

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

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

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

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

and his ears toward their cry.

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

to cut off the memory of them from the earth.

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

and delivers them out of all their troubles.

[18] The LORD is near to the brokenhearted

and saves the crushed in spirit. (ESV)

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

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

1 Corinthians 8:3 says:

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

And, Romans 8:35–39 says:

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

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

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Pastor Fred Scragg V.

May 26, 2024