Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

God Only Knows

Matthew 2.13-23

One of my greatest fears, a fear that sometimes keeps me up at night pleading with God, is the fear of losing a loved one.

I worry, with an extreme intensity, about things like my wife getting in a fatal car accident when she is driving around without me (you know, because I have a god-complex that leads me to believe I have the ability to protect her from ultimate harm when I am around).  

And, I worry, with the same extreme intensity, about outliving my own sons for a wide variety of reasons.  

The world can be violent and therefore emotionally devastating.  

Just listen to the news from any hour of any day — lives are always being taken away due to drunk drivers, overdoses, stabbings, shootings, people falling off ladders or down stairs in their own home, cancer, suicide, wars, genocide, and the list goes on and on and on.

If you have children, whether they are still in your care or grown and out on their own, I know you share my feelings, or at least have shared my feelings at one point, of being afraid for their safety.  

In this morning’s text, chosen for us by the lectionary for this first Sunday after Christmas, Jesus’ parents find themselves in a violent world that is emotionally devastating causing them to fear the death of their 2 year old son.

Let’s hear from Matthew 2.13-23 now.

Matthew 2:13–23 tells us this:

[13] Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” [14] And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt [15] and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

[16] Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. [17] Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah:

[18] “A voice was heard in Ramah,

weeping and loud lamentation,

Rachel weeping for her children;

she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.”

[19] But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, [20] saying, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.” [21] And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. [22] But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee. [23] And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene. (ESV)

In 2022, Ozzy Osbourne released the record, Patient Number 9.

On that album, he has a track called “God Only Knows.”

The gut-wrenching lyrics strike a chord with us because the hopelessness contained within the words resonate with the dark places and dark thoughts that often define our human condition and experience.

Osbourne hauntingly croons:

Facedown on the pavement like a wounded animal

Don’t know if I’ll make it but I’m giving up control

The sky is laughing at me, shivers through my bones

Does it have to end so badly? Am I out here on my own?

God only knows what’s going on

My life has become the saddest song

Even though Christmas was just three days ago, do you feel like your life is the saddest song right now? Or, can you look back to a place that you would have said that your life had become the saddest song?

For Joseph, not too long after Jesus’ birth, he could have defined his life as becoming the saddest song.

After celebrating the birth of his first son, a son whom was actually the Son of God given to him to save him and the world around him from being eternally separated from God, Jospeh finds himself being told to run and hide in a foreign nation because the head of the government was searching for his son so that he could kill him.

If Joseph is like you and me, which he is because he is human, he spent time facedown on the ground crying out in prayer, not knowing if he was going to make it through this present trouble, thinking that maybe God is laughing at him in his pain, asking why things have to be so bad, asking if he is actually all alone.

In a relatively short period of time, Joseph went from singing, “Celebrate good times, Come on!” (Kool & The Gang, 1980), to singing, “God only knows what’s going on” (Ozzy Osbourne, 2022).

Why was this happening to Jospeh, Mary, and Jesus?  The answer is the self-centered living that Sin causes.

King Herod felt personally threatened when he heard the news that a child was born that people were calling, “the King.”  Herod feared losing his throne that gave him power and control.

So, in an attempt to preserve his ego, Herod, in his arrogance, calls for those at his beckon call to go to the place that Jesus was born and terminate the child’s life.

Unable to pinpoint young Jesus’ exact location, Herod has every single male child under the age of two (the estimated age of Jesus at the time) killed.

Each of us is similar.  We feel threatened when hearing about Jesus being the true King.  We feel threatened because we, like Herod, like believing that we are in ultimate control of our lives and have the power to control the lives of others.  We don’t want to believe that there is someone else that is able to hold us accountable for our thoughts, words, and actions.

So, like Herod, we try to deny Jesus’ Kingship and get rid of him by any means necessary. 

The interesting thing is that Joseph did not try to get rid of Jesus.

Joseph could have easily said,”This isn’t my biological child. I didn’t sign up for this. I am walking away so that I don’t have to deal with the problems that this kid is causing.”

Why didn’t Jospeh throw in the towel and call it a day?

Why didn’t Joseph take his ball and go home?

It wasn’t because Joseph is better than you or me.

Joseph persisted because Jesus’ presence with him resulted in God actively leading and protecting him.  With Jesus’ presence in Joseph’s life, God was reminding him of the promises God had made to him and the world for thousands of years.  With the knowledge of God’s promises and the evidence of fulfilling those promises in Jesus, Joseph was able to trust that God was good, God was in control, and God was working all things out for his good—even if it was hard to see in the current moment of violence and devastation.

When God tells Joseph to go to Egypt, God is reminding Joseph (and you) that just as God saved His people from slavery in Egypt, Jesus’ return from Egypt is your return to God as He saves you from slavery to Sin.

When God spares Jesus from Herod’s slaughter of the young children, God is reminding Joseph (and you) that just as Israel had hope and life in the midst of the hurt and death of being conquered by Babylon, Joseph (and you) will have hope and life in the midst of the hurt and death that is experienced over the course of your days.

And, when Joseph is diverted off course to the city of Nazareth and not allowed to go home, Joseph is reminded (and you are too) of the words of promise that Jesus will be one who is despised, rejected, and not accepted by those he came to save.  

The three quotations from Scripture used to describe Jesus are signs that God is doing what God said He would do.  God is giving you a Messiah.  God is giving you a Savior. God is giving you the One He has promised you from the very moment that Sin entered the world in the Garden of Eden.

Stress kills.

Literally.

Sixty percent of all illnesses and diseases are related to stress.

Seventy-five percent of all doctor visits are connected to stress.

Thirteen percent of all Americans between ages 18 and 54 suffer from acute stress.  That’s 19 million people.  

Forty-four percent of all Americans lose sleep every night because of stress.

If you’re 65 or older, your number one health issue is stress.  We have a greater chance of having a heart attack, heart disease, or stroke because of stress.

Why are we stressed? Because we walk around with the world’s weight on our shoulders, convinced that if we work more, exercise more, party more, and make more money, life will work out.

Life in these finite bodies will always give us reason to be stressed into a mess.

As our text for this morning proves, life will always have it’s ups and downs. 

One minute Joseph was celebrating the birth of his first son.  Not just a normal son, but the Son of God, Jesus who would fulfill every promise of God including saving men and women from their Sin.

And, a few minutes later, Joseph was grieving and mourning the death that the birth of Jesus led to.  

Christmas is always about two trees.

Two very different trees.

The first tree is the Christmas tree.  Even though there were no Christmas trees in Jesus’ day, the historical development of the Christmas tree provides us with a visible symbol of the festival and celebration of Jesus’ birth.  The Christmas tree is signal to world that Advent and Christmas are upon us.  Advent being the time you rest in the truth that in Jesus’ birth, you are given the only gift you ever need.  In Jesus’ birth, God comes to you and is with you.  In Jesus’ birth, you are given hope and peace in knowing that all the wrong in your life is made right and all of the darkness in your life is made light.  And, in Jesus’ birth you are given reason to rejoice because God’s love has been poured out upon you and will never be taken away from you.

The second tree is the wooden cross on which Jesus was crucified.  Death is always part of the Christmas story.  If death wasn’t an integral part of the Christmas story, you would have no hope, no peace, no joy, and no love.  In Jesus’ birth, and eventual death on the cross and resurrection from the grave, your self-centered and selfish Sin is forgiven.

Howard Rutledge was an American fighter pilot during the Vietnam War who was shot down and captured by the North Vietnamese in 1965.  They locked Rutledge in a prison in Hanoi, North Vietnam.  The prison was infamously known as, “The Hanoi Hilton.”

Howard Rutledge was locked in a 6×6-foot cell.  There were no books, no magazines, and no newspapers.  The colors were drab gray and dirt brown.  He fought to keep his sanity.  

Sometimes life gets really dark when those in power choose to harm and hurt us.

The most accurate translation of Hebrews 13.5 is this:  Jesus says, “Never, never, never, never, never, will I leave you or forsake you.”  Howard Rutledge believed that.  He prayed for God’s presence while imprisoned by the North Vietnamese in the Hanoi Hilton.  One day, a glimmer of light dawned through the bottom of his prison door.  That was all he needed.  From that point, Rutledge knew that God would set him free.  And, He did!

When Jesus was with Joseph and Mary, they were set free from fear.  They were set free from fear because when Jesus was with them, God actively led them and protected them.

When Jesus is with you, God is actively leading you and protecting you.

How is God leading you and protecting you?  

God is leading you away from death and protecting you from the punishment that your Sin deserves.  

What you see in this morning’s text is that Jesus escapes death for you.

Through the love of God for you, God ensures that Jesus is able to give you hope, peace, and joy by escaping death as a toddler so that He could later escape death by rising from the grave three days after crucifixion so that you, through faith which unites you with every aspect of Jesus, can also escape Hell and find the comfort of God’s presence in Heaven.  

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

December 28, 2025.

Prayer:

Loving Father, help us to pray with Jesus, “Your will be done,” and follow where You lead. Amen.

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

Inspired By Awe

Psalm 34.11-14

In 2022 Chapman University surveyed adults on 95 fears. It turns out that the majority of Americans suffer from tremendous fear. Many–perhaps as high as 85 percent of the population–live with a sense of impending doom. (This is) a classic sign of clinical anxiety.

The survey follows trends over time and identifies new fears as they emerge. The survey is a nationally representative sample that gives us insight into what terrifies America. Fears are ranked by the percent of Americans who reported being afraid or very afraid.

Top 10 Fears of 2022 by % of Very Afraid or Afraid were:

  1. Corrupt government officials 62.1

2. People I love becoming seriously ill 60.2

3. Russia using nuclear weapons 59.6

4. People I love dying 58.1

5. The U.S. involved in another world war 56.0

6. Pollution of drinking water 54.5

7. Not having enough money for the future 53.7

8. Economic/financial collapse 53.7

9. Pollution of oceans, rivers, and lakes 52.5

10. Biological warfare 51.5

A general overview of America’s top 10 fears in the 2022 survey suggests that Americans’ fears center on five main topics: corrupt government officials, harm to a loved one, war, environmental concerns, and economic concerns numbers.

Do you fear anything on this list?

Do you have a fear that you would add to this list?

What are you afraid of, right now, as you sit there in the pew on this beautiful September Sunday morning?

In this morning’s Biblical text, once again from Psalm 34, we are going to hear King David talk about fear.  But, the fear he is going to talk about is not a fear that makes you run away, cover your eyes, and cower in a corner.

Instead, King David is going to talk about a fear that gives you hope and confidence for today and tomorrow.

Let’s return to Psalm 34 together now.

Psalm 34:11–14 says:

[11] Come, O children, listen to me;

I will teach you the fear of the LORD.

[12] What man is there who desires life

and loves many days, that he may see good?

[13] Keep your tongue from evil

and your lips from speaking deceit.

[14] Turn away from evil and do good;

seek peace and pursue it.  (ESV)

The first thing that King David does in these verses is to ask us to listen to him.

Now, in my arrogance, whenever someone says, “Listen to me,” I angrily and internally ask, “Who are you? Who do you think you are? Why should I listen to you?”

So, let’s ask that question, “Why should we listen to King David?”

Well, as we read through King David’s life story in the Bible, we come to learn that he has had many experiences with God providing for his needs, protecting him from harm, and most importantly forgiving his sin. (See the past two messages on Psalm 34)

King David isn’t just talking talk.  

King David is walking the walk about which he talks.

So, in listening to King David, and being obedient to what he says when he instructs us to repent of sin, believe in a good and gracious God, and rejoice in the forgiveness of sin and enteral life that God freely gives us, we can trust the source.

When I teach leadership courses, I always teach that a leader can only lead someone as far as they have personally gone in their life. 

David has gone all the way into the hell of sin and has been brought all the way back to joy of Heaven by God’s grace alone. 

Therefore, since King David has been there, he is able to help us know and understand that the only way from the hell of sin to the joy of Heaven is through the help of a gracious and merciful and loving God who is found in the person and work of Jesus for us.

Ok, now we are trusting and listening to King David (hopefully).

The first thing King David tells us to do is to fear the Lord.

What does it mean to fear the Lord?

Does it mean to be scarred of him?

In one sense, yes.  We should have a healthy fear of God because in His holiness and power, he could choose to crush us and destroy us for our sin which is disobedience to him and his commandments for life and love.

However, to fear the Lord also means to stand in awe of him.  

Awe is a feeling of reverential respect and/or healthy fear mixed with wonder.

We stand in awe of God because even though he has every right to punish us at ever turn because of our sin, he instead chooses to love us and lead us to repentance and forgiveness of sin through faith in the work that he has done for us and completed for us in Jesus’ perfectly lived life, Jesus’ death on the cross, and Jesus’ resurrection from the grave.

In one simple statement, we stand in awe of God because he is nothing but gracious to us.

Now that we understand what a healthy fear of God is, let us see what the Bible tells us about this healthy fear of God.

Job 28:28 says:

[28] …‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,

and to turn away from evil is understanding.’” (ESV)

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)

Proverbs 1:7 says:

[7] The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge;

fools despise wisdom and instruction. (ESV)

Proverbs 8:13 says:

[13] The fear of the LORD is hatred of evil.

Pride and arrogance and the way of evil

and perverted speech I hate. (ESV)

Proverbs 10:27 says:

[27] The fear of the LORD prolongs life,

but the years of the wicked will be short. (ESV)

Proverbs 14:26 says:

[26] In the fear of the LORD one has strong confidence,

and his children will have a refuge. (ESV)

And, Proverbs 14:27 says:

[27] The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life,

that one may turn away from the snares of death. (ESV)

The Bible says many more things about the benefits of living with faith in awe of God.

But, in these few examples, we hear that for you who trust is God’s power, grace, and mercy, and stand in awe of God, you will be wise.

When you stand in awe of God, you will turn away from evil.

When you stand in awe of God, you will will have a Godly understanding and knowledge to help you make decisions day after day.

When you stand in awe of God, you will have a strong distaste in your mouth for evil and wrongdoing.

When you stand in awe of God, you will have a prolonged life.

When you stand in awe of God, you will have confidence and hope for the day because you know that regardless of what happens to you, you have a God who loves you and will bring you home to His Kingdom in the end.

When you stand in awe of God, you will have life eternal in Heaven and not death eternal in Hell.

The March/April 2016 issue of Psychology Today attempted to give readers several reasons to cultivate a sense of awe and wonder with their article “It’s Not All About You!” The article mentioned the following non-biblical sources about our need for awe and wonder:

  • University of Pennsylvania researchers defined awe as the “emotion of self-transcendence, a feeling of admiration and elevation in the face of something greater than the self.”
  • A popular theoretical physicist wrote: “Awe gives you an existential shock. You realize that you are hardwired to be a little selfish, but you are also dependent on something bigger than yourself.” Being enraptured is a way “to remove the tyranny of the ego.”
  • Therapist Robert Leahy, PhD writes: “Awe is the opposite of rumination. It clears away inner turmoil with a wave of outer immensity.”
  • Social scientists have found that when people experience a sense of awe, they feel more empathetic and more connected with others. One scientist concluded, “Wonder pulls us together—a counterforce to all that seems to be tearing us apart.”
  • The Wharton School of Business evaluated the New York Times’ most emailed articles and found that the ones that evoked awe were the most shared.

In his book, Desiring God, pastor and theologian, John Piper, wrote the following:

Suppose you were exploring an unknown glacier in the north of Greenland in the dead of winter. Just as you reach a sheer cliff with a spectacular view of miles and miles of jagged ice and snow covered mountains, a terrible storm breaks in. The wind is so strong that the fear arises that it might blow you and your party right over the cliff. But in the midst of it you discover a cleft in the ice where you can hide. Here you feel secure, but the awesome might of the storm rages on and you watch it with a kind of trembling pleasure as it surges out across the distant glaciers.

At first, there was the fear that this terrible storm and awesome terrain might claim your life. But then you found a refuge and gained the hope that you would be safe. But not everything in the feeling called fear vanished. Only the life-threatening part. There remains the trembling, the awe, the wonder, the feeling that you would never want to tangle with such a storm or be the adversary of such a power.

God’s power is behind the unendurable cold of Arctic storms. Yet he cups his hand around us and says, “Take refuge in my love and let the terrors of my power become the awesome fireworks of your happy night sky.”

Where do we learn to stand in awe of God?

In His Word, the Holy Bible.

Why do we learn to stand in awe of God?  

We learn to stand in awe of God because He, the Creator and Redeemer of all that exists in time and space, has the power to punish us because of our sin against Him but, instead, has chosen to continue to love us to the point of dying for us.

In the person and work of Jesus Christ, God, our Father in Heaven, stepped into the flesh of Jesus Christ and lived a perfect and innocent life when measured against God’s standards for life and love, died a sacrificial death to pay the price of the debt incurred because of our sin, and rose from the grave three days later completely defeating the power of sin and death that had a hold on us.

And, simply through faith in Jesus alone, we are given credit for that perfect and innocent life when measured against God’s standards for life and love, that death to sin, and that defeating of sin today, tomorrow, and forever.

David next moves on in this Psalm to encourage us to properly respond to God’s goodness that leaves us standing in awestruck fear of a grace that is unlike anything else we have ever known or experienced.

In response to God’s unconditional and unending goodness toward us, David tells us that our response should be both faith and action.

King David mentions two faith empowered changes in our life that affect our actions.

King David encourages us to live our faith in Jesus through honoring God with the words that come out of our mouth and always choosing to seek peace in relationships instead of conflict.

These life changes that come through faith have benefits for us and the world around us just like fearing God did.

Let’s hear a bit about words and seeking peace from other places in Scripture.

Proverbs 18:21 says:

[21] Death and life are in the power of the tongue,

and those who love it will eat its fruits. (ESV)

Ephesians 4:29 says:

[29] Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. (ESV)

Psalm 37:37 says:

[37] Mark the blameless and behold the upright,

for there is a future for the man of peace. (ESV)

And, Matthew 5:9 says:

[9] “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. (ESV)

In Jesus, we don’t just have forgiveness and a place in Heaven.  We also have a new life on this earth where we are empowered everyday by the Holy Spirit to be more like Jesus on this earth.  We are strengthened and given the ability (although still often tainted by sin) to love God and love our neighbor.

As you walk in faith this week, living in awe of God’s goodness and grace toward you, make Psalm 19.14 your morning prayer.

Psalm 19:14 says:

[14] Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart

be acceptable in your sight,

O LORD, my rock and my redeemer. (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 15, 2024.