Matthew 22.15-22

Excuses for being late to work are essentially the same in every industry, according to a Career Builder survey of more than 1000 HR managers.

The most common reasons for employee tardiness are pretty familiar, with traffic (51 percent), oversleeping (31 percent), and weather (28 percent) topping a managers’ list.

But among the most unique excuses bosses have heard:

“I was here, but fell asleep in the parking lot,”

“my fake eyelashes were stuck together,”

and “an astrologer warned me of a car accident on a major highway, so I took all back roads.

“Another that raised eyebrows: ‘I had morning sickness'”—that was from a male employee.

The article noted, “One things for sure: innovation is not dead in America.”

When it comes to getting out of doing things we don’t want to, we automatically become excuse machines pumping out all kinds of reasons why we can’t and shouldn’t get involved.

In our text this morning, the people questioning Jesus were looking for excuses.

First, they were looking for an excuse to stop paying their taxes.

The Jewish population felt oppressed by the rule of Roman government and didn’t feel that they owed them anything—especially a portion of their hard earned money.  They wanted to use the excuse that God was their King and therefore, the local and federal earthly governments had no right to require taxes from them.

The second thing they were looking for was an excuse to have Jesus’ authority, which is God’s authority, removed from their lives.

The Herodians, the Jews who sympathized with the Roman government, were upset because Jesus was claiming to be King and people were following him because of the authority that flowed from his words and actions.  They wanted Jesus removed from the public eye so that they could retain the power and prestige that came to them for being the recognized religious leaders of the day.  They wanted to be their own authority and they wanted to be ultimate authority for everyone else.

So, the two groups teamed up to trap Jesus with a question that they believed there was no way out of.  This group believed that Jesus would find himself in the wrong in the eyes of his peers regardless of how he answered their question.  Therefore, Jesus would be removed from their life and they wouldn’t have to worry about His God-talk that made them uncomfortable.

Let’s hear how this encounter went.

Matthew 22.15-22 tells us this:

[15] Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words. [16] And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone’s opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. [17] Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” [18] But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? [19] Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. [20] And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” [21] They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” [22] When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away.

The ultimate question that these two groups are posing to trap Jesus with is, “Which authority is more important?”

They see this as a trick question because if Jesus answers that God’s authority is more important than the Roman government’s authority, and therefore you don’t have to obey human leaders by paying the taxes they instituted, the Roman rulers can sweep in and charge Jesus with treason because it would look like Jesus was leading a rebellion against the established order of society.

On the other hand, if Jesus answers that the Roman government’s authority is more important than God’s authority, and therefore you have to pay taxes to a ruler who deifies himself, Jesus would lose all respect in the eyes of the Jewish population and he would become a non-threat to their religious prestige and power.

However, Jesus being omnipotent and knowing what is in the hearts of man, recognized what was happening and answered the only way he knew how.  Through complete Godly wisdom, Jesus’ response left both parties speechless because neither got what they wanted in this encounter.

Jesus did not give them an excuse to stop paying taxes.

And, Jesus did not give them an excuse to disobey God by removing him from the public eye.

Jesus’s answer went like this — God has a place for both earthly authorities and heavenly authorities in His Creation.

By saying that we should pay taxes to the government that rules over our land, Jesus is saying that the government has an important function in our life.

Now, I know this is going to rub some of you the wrong way because you believe that taxation is theft.  In your rebellion, you make deals to get paid in cash so that you can hide money from the government and you believe that our current elected leaders or the possible elected leaders coming in a month from now are nothing but pawns in Satan’s game to destroy us and our country.

Regardless of what you believe, governments are set up, given power to rule, and staffed by God himself for our benefit.

This is made clear when the apostle Paul speaks of how Christians should view and treat the leaders of their communities and their nation.

Paul speaks in Romans 13:1–7 and says:

[1] Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. [2] Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. [3] For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, [4] for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. [5] Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. [6] For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. [7] Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

Paying taxes does not prevent one from serving God.

In fact, we can say that paying taxes is actually a way of obeying God’s command to love your neighbor.

Our tax money goes to make life better for everyone in this town, county, and country.

It pays the salaries of those that are appointed by God to work for us, overseeing the operations of this nation.

It pays the salaries of those that put their life on the line—police, firefighters, etc.—to keep us safe from harm.

It pays to provide help to the older generation so that their needs can be met after they retire.

It pays to provide help to single parents struggling to provide food for their children.

Regardless of your feeling on how any of these things are being managed at this point in time, it is the desire of God to have such practices in place for our good and the good of those around us.

In reference to the Jewish population speaking with Jesus in this morning’s text, one commentator says:

“They accepted the coin with [Caesar’s] image and thereby symbolically accepted the benefits of living under his government.  They used and enjoyed both the technology and peace supplied by Rome. Therefore, they had to be willing to render, that is, give back to Caesar what belonged to him for those services.  It was God’s will that the emperor be obeyed unless his laws were to clash with God’s edicts.”

But, Jesus’ answer doesn’t end with the idea that you should pay taxes because you are a citizen of an earthly kingdom.

Jesus’ answer goes on to mention that you are in fact a dual citizen.  You are also a citizen of God’s kingdom through your faith in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.

And, as a citizen of God’s Kingdom, you are also to give to God what belongs to God.

That begs the question, “what belongs to God?”

And the answer is, “You!”

You belong to God because he purchased you and forgave you of your sin through the death of Jesus Christ on the cross.

God did everything to make you his own.  God did it all for you!

In his 2023 book, Gentle and Lowly, Dane Ortland explains it this way:

“God didn’t meet us halfway. That is not his heart. He and his Son took the initiative. On terms of grace and grace alone. In defiance of what we deserved. When we, despite our smiles and civility, were running from God as fast as we could, building our own kingdoms and loving our own glory, lapping up the fraudulent pleasures of the world, [trying to get away from all authority in our lives—both earthly and heavenly], repulsed by the beauty of God and shutting up our ears at his calls to come home—it was then, in the hollowed-out horror of that revolting existence, that the prince of heaven bade his adoring angels farewell. It was then that he put himself into the murderous hands of these very rebels in a divine strategy planned from eternity past to rinse muddy sinners clean and hug them into his own heart despite their squirmy attempt to get free and scrub themselves clean on their own. Christ went down into death—“voluntary endurance of unutterable anguish,”1 Warfield calls it—while we applauded. We couldn’t have cared less. We were weak. Sinners. Enemies.

It was only after the fact, only once the Holy Spirit came flooding into our hearts, that the realization swept over us: he walked through my death. And he didn’t simply die. He was condemned. He didn’t simply leave heaven for me; he endured hell for me. He, not deserving to be condemned, absorbed it in my place—I, who alone deserved it. That is his heart. And into our empty souls, like a glass of cold water to a thirsty mouth, God poured his Holy Spirit to internalize the actual experience of God’s love (v. 5).”

Just as the roman coin was stamped with the emperor’s image, you through faith, are stamped with the image of the Son of God proving that you belong to him.

You belong to him today.

You will belong to him tomorrow.

And, you belong to him forever.

Forever!

That means that God’s love is with you and will never leave you.

That means that God will work in your life for your good and the good of those around you.

That means that you have meaning and purpose as you walk this earth.

So, know this today—God has placed authorities in you life for your good and there is no way out of that.

Give to earthly authorities what they deserve—honor, respect, and obedience (as long as they don’t ask you to disobey God).

But, more importantly, give to God what he deserves, your life through worship, thanksgiving, time in prayer communicating with him, spending 60 minutes a week in his house listening to His Word and responding to him, giving His Church a portion of your income so that others can be blessed by the work of God done by her, and following his commands to love God and others as He has first loved you.

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

October 18, 2026

Matthew 21.23-32

A married couple was celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary.

At the party everybody wanted to know how they managed to stay married so long in this day and age.

The husband responded, “When we were first married, we came to an agreement. I would make all the major decisions, and my wife would make all the minor decisions.”

At which point the wife took up the tale, “And in 60 years of marriage we have never needed to make a major decision.”

Every single day, from the moment we open our eyes to the moment we close our eyes, we are making decisions.

Think about how many decisions you make at the beginning of your day.

Here are a few of the decisions you have to make:

You have to decide if you are going to get out of bed or hit the snooze alarm in the morning.

You have to decide what you are going to wear.

You have to decide how you are going to style your hair (that’s an easy decision for me!).

You have to decide what you are going to have for breakfast.

If you are a parent of young children, you also have to decide what time to wake your kids up, what you are going to make them for breakfast, and what they are going to wear.

You have to decide what you are going to have for dinner in case you have to defrost meat or make a list of things to pick up while you are out and about.

And, you have to decide what time you are going to leave the house.

The amount of decisions we have to make, if you really think about it, is almost endless.

Columbia researcher Sheena Iyengar has found that the average person makes about 70 decisions every day. That’s 25,500 decisions a year. Over 70 years, that’s 1,788,500 decisions. 

The 20th century philosopher Albert Camus said, “Life is a sum of all your choices.” You put all of those 1,788,500 choices together, and that’s who you are.

In our Biblical text for this morning, we encounter a group of people who are facing one of life’s decisions, this one being the most important decision of their lifetime.

This one single decision, a choice that every human being also has to make, will sum up who they are when they meet God face-to-face.

Let’s hear from our Biblical text now.

Matthew 21:23–32 tells us this:

[23] And when he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” [24] Jesus answered them, “I also will ask you one question, and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things. [25] The baptism of John, from where did it come? From heaven or from man?” And they discussed it among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ [26] But if we say, ‘From man,’ we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was a prophet.” [27] So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.

[28] “What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ [29] And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went. [30] And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but did not go. [31] Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. [32] For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him. (ESV)

In this encounter, Jesus presents two scenarios to further his case that the Chief Priests and Elders of the temple (the Jewish leaders of His day), in their current state of rejecting Him as God the Savior, were not members of the Kingdom of God.

The first scenario has a son starting out by disobeying his Father but ultimately repenting of his wrong doing and then correcting his course by following the will of the Father.

The second scenario has a son starting out by agreeing to obey his Father but ultimately turning his back and disobeying the Father’s will.

After telling these two similar yet also different stories, Jesus asks the Jewish leaders which son did the will of his Father.

The Jewish leaders correctly point out that the first son, the one who eventually repented of his disobedience and went out to work in the Father’s vineyard, did the will of the Father.

Even though the beginning of this first son’s story was one of rejection and disobedience, the first son came to see his wrong and changed his life’s course to be aligned with his Father’s will.

Jesus’ then confronts the Jewish leaders.  He tells the truth that they have the knowledge of what is right yet they refuse to do what is right.  Even though they witnessed the non-Jewish population, including those considered the bottom of the barrel in society—the prostitutes and tax collectors—change the course of their lives through repenting of their rejection, denial, and disobeying of God, the Jewish Priests and Elders do not celebrate God’s grace and do the same.

The Jewish leaders knew the Old Testament Scriptures.  The Jewish leaders knew the promises of God to send a Savior to rescue them and bring them into God’s Kingdom of Heaven.  The Jewish leaders started out saying, “Yes! We are all-in on listening to the Father in Heaven and doing His will!”  However, when God’s plan for their life was not how they envisioned God’s plan for their life should be, they proved their initial promise was nothing more than lip service.  Jesus, God’s sent Savior, did not act like, or look like, or speak like someone who could and would save humanity from their Sin.  So, they refused to move forward with their promise to do the will of God, by trusting in His plan for their life.

Author Peter Killingly writes, “…the Christian life is about more than knowledge, information and facts.  God calls us to grow more like Christ.  And that involves searching the Scriptures, reading the word and praying, asking the Spirit to produce his fruit in us.”

Knowing the truth that we are all born with original sin inherited from our first parents, Adam and Eve, we all start out as the first son.  We are born with a heart predisposed to disobeying God while believing we are the center of the created universe and our wants and desires rule the day.

That means, each of us, has to come to a point in our lives where we can honestly look in the mirror and say, “I am not king of the hill and the things I want, the things I spend my time chasing after to possess, and the things I do, have not and do not bring me lasting satisfaction and peace.”

However, we are sometimes also the second son.  We get excited about God and his promises.  However, when God fulfills His promises in ways that we weren’t expecting, or in ways that we don’t like, our initial response of “I will do your will!,” turns into, “I don’t want to be part of Your will if this is how it is going to go.”

Here is the warning in today’s text. 

You cannot keep kicking the can of deciding who Jesus is down the road forever.  

If you have not already made a decision about Jesus having the authority from God to lead you to salvation by forgiving of your Sin through His death on the cross for your days of rejecting Him, denying His God given authority, and living in disobedience to to His will,  a day is coming for you when you will still have to call Jesus the Lord and Savior, admitting that He is the One whom you rejected, denied, and disobeyed to the very end.

Philippians 2:5–11 says:

[5] Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, [6] who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, [7] but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. [8] And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. [9] Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, [10] so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, [11] and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (ESV)

In this verses the apostle Paul clearly states that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord.

However, in this text, the apostle Paul doesn’t say that every confession of “Jesus Christ is Lord” is made by someone who will live eternally in the Kingdom of God.

When God closes up shop for this current world, as I spoke about a few weeks ago, and Jesus returns, every person will know Jesus is in fact Lord and Savior.  Those who did not repent of their disobedience to God’s will and place their trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior in their lifetime will be tearfully be cast away from the Kingdom of God.  Those who repented of their Sin and placed their trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior during their lifetime will be joyously ushered into the Kingdom of God.

Our text this morning shares the good news that:

It doesn’t matter how you start.

It matters how you finish.

It doesn’t matter how you begin.

It matters how you end.

It doesn’t matter what the opening to you life was like.

It matters how your life closes.

The introduction to your story doesn’t matter.

The conclusion of your story matters.

With Jesus, all sins, past, present and future are forgiven for you through faith in Jesus’ authority to grant that forgiveness through His death on the cross.

We all have a before Jesus chapter in our lives. Your before Jesus  chapter is either complete disobedience to God and His will, or giving lip service to God without a heart of faith that will lead you to follow through in the end.

Sadly, we don’t all have an after Jesus chapter in our lives.  But, we all can!  

For those of you that are like the first son, your after Jesus life of repentance and faith leads you to righteousness and abundant eternal life.  This righteous and abundant life gives you peace, hope, and love that surpasses all finite human understanding.  In that place, you can rest from the burdens of attempting to follow God’s Law in your own broken strength which only leads to failure after failure and insecurity after insecurity in your relationship with your Creator.

When the apostle Paul writes a letter to his mentee Timothy, we hear 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. (1 Timothy 2:1–6 ESV)

Faith in Christ Jesus is the Only way that you live a life in the will of God.

In some of the very early days of the Contemporary Christian Music movement, Christ Tomlin wrote a song that went like this:

You are my supply, my breath of life

And still more awesome than I know

You are my reward worth living for

And still more awesome than I know

You’re my sacrifice of greatest price

And still more awesome than I know

You’re the coming King, You are everything

And still more awesome than I know

And all of You is more than enough for all of me

For every thirst and every need

You satisfy me with Your love

And all I have in You is more than enough

Jesus is enough.

Jesus is enough for you to be in the Father’s will so that you go into the Kingdom of God.

Repent of your sin this morning and let the end of your story be the same as the apostle Paul’s who said this:

[7] I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. [8] Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing. (2 Timothy 4:7–8, ESV)

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

October 4, 2026

Matthew 20.1-16

In a 2023 issue of Christianity Today magazine, author Jen Wilkin writes:

Individualism says that I should do what’s best for me regardless of what’s best for others. Instant gratification assures me that waiting is an enemy to eliminate. At every turn, I am told that I can and should have what I want when I want it.

Earlier this year, my husband and I spent two weeks with an apparent narcissist named Charlotte. From the moment we stepped into her space, it was all about her. She demanded our full attention day and night. Forget rational arguments or the needs of others; it was The Charlotte Show 24/7. She thought only of herself and demanded loudly and often that her needs be met. Our schedules bowed to her every whim. She uttered not a word of gratitude during the entire 14 days.

And we didn’t mind one bit. Because all 7 pounds and 15 ounces of her was doing exactly what she should. Our newest grandchild’s age-appropriate focus is to declare, Me, right now! Any time she is tired, hungry, or needs a clean diaper. Babies self-advocate as a survival instinct. They understand only the immediate need.

But what is appropriate in an infant is appalling in an adult. In its obsession with “me, right now,” our culture doesn’t just worship youthfulness; it worships childishness, legitimizing it into adulthood. An adult who demands what he wants when he wants it is a costly presence in any community, prioritizing his own needs above those of others and of the group. He has not learned to “put away childish things,” as the Bible says (1 Cor. 13:11, KJV); he has managed to grow physically from a baby to an adult without shedding the childish mantra of “me, right now.”

In our Biblical text for this morning, chosen for us by the Lectionary, we enter into “Story-time with Jesus.”  In this story that Jesus tells, referred to Biblically as a a “parable,” we hear about the sinful human heart that lives in entitlement with the mantra, “me and my will, right now!,” and it’s opposite, the heart changed and led by God with the mantra, “God’s will, right now!

Let’s hear from Matthew 20.1-16 now

Matthew 20.1-16 has Jesus speaking this parable:

[1] “For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. [2] After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. [3] And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, [4] and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ [5] So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. [6] And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ [7] They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ [8] And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’ [9] And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. [10] Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. [11] And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, [12] saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ [13] But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? [14] Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. [15] Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ [16] So the last will be first, and the first last.” (ESV)

In this story, the early morning laborers believed that their work was more important and more effective than their companions who arrived later in the day.  

Even though the early morning laborers agreed to work for a set wage, they were still upset that they didn’t get paid more than the laborers who started in the afternoon hours.  

Their sin driven selfishness made them think that the vineyard owner was unfair in his dealings with them.

When it came time to get paid, they weren’t happy with what they were getting paid.  They believed they deserved more money or that their work companions deserved less money.  They were demanding, “Me and my will, right now!”

What we need to realize is that this parable isn’t really about laborers working in a vineyard.  As the parable starts out telling us, it is about how God and His Kingdom work.  And, God and His will and His Kingdom very often work in ways that are opposite to our sinfully selfish human sensibilities. 

As we heard in several of the text’s during this morning’s Elder Ordination, God gifts people differently but God is equally gracious to all.

Some grow up in the church and cannot remember a day that Jesus was not a part of their life.

Some grow up outside of the church, living in ways that ultimately give God the middle finger at every turn but find themselves later in life awe struck by and fully devoted to Jesus’ cross-centered sacrificial love for them.

Through faith in Jesus Christ alone, these two different people receive the same gift and blessing from God.  Through faith in Jesus Christ alone, these two different people receive the forgiveness of Sin, full righteousness, and eternal life.  No one gets more.  No one gets less.

In the church, some people are talented musicians and volunteer to use their time practicing songs and leading the Church in worshipping their Creator and Redeemer.

In the church, some people are able to teach the Bible so that the Scriptures are opened and understood and received by children and teenagers.  

In the church, some people are able to preach the Gospel so that God’s Holy Spirit reaches into hearts convicting the hearers of their Sin while at the same time bringing comfort to those convicted that Jesus Christ has made all things right for them.

In the church, some people have the ability to use tools to fix broken things and build new things that make God’s Church buildings safe and welcoming to all who enter.

In the church, some people have the ability to make coffee and lemonade, to set up tables and chairs, to sweep and mop so that those that attend feel like they are being hosted by family members.

In God’s Kingdom here on earth, people enter into the Kingdom, meaning they come to faith and find themselves believing in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, at different times and in different places, in different situations in life, with different talents and different passions.

Through faith in Jesus Christ alone, all of these different people receive the same gift and blessing from God.  Through faith in Jesus Christ alone, all of these different people receive the forgiveness of Sin, full righteousness, and eternal life.  No one gets more.  No one gets less.

However, in our sin struggle, it is way too easy to fall into the temptation of thinking things like, “How come I don’t get to sing and be in the front of the congregation every Sunday,” “How come I don’t get to teach a Bible study and be told how wise I am?,” or, “How come I don’t get asked to take on a position of leadership or authority?” “After all, I have been here longer than those doing the things I should be doing by now.”

In all honesty, each of thinks that there are areas in life that we deserve to get more than we are currently getting.  

However, in all honesty, if we got what we truly deserve we would all be doomed.

Romans 6:23 says that

[23] …the wages of sin is death…

The only thing we deserve is to be punished by God’s wrath and separated from Him forever.

But, the good news for you is that the verse goes on to say,

but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (ESV)

We don’t get what we deserve.  God, the Creator and Redeemer as revealed in the Bible, gives us the exact opposite.  God gives us exactly what He graciously wants to give us — forgiveness and eternal life.

In my studying and preparation for this morning, I pulled out an older commentary on the Biblical book of Matthew that I haven’t used in many years.  This was a Holy Spirit guided move because I read the following comment on today’s text that is couldn’t be more appropriate.

The author says,

“Are any persons especially targeted by the parable? Matthew may have in mind the seniority claims of the original apostles, who claim hierarchical authority (see 23:8–12). Perhaps he is thinking of Jewish Christians in his congregation who resent the leadership now being exercised by former pagans. Perhaps older members begrudge the spiritual gifts manifested in the youth. We understand such tensions. How easy it is for us to grumble to ourselves or to others when newcomers to the church (or recovering alcoholics, or ex-convicts, or “people of a different background”) receive more recognition than we who have worked so long and so hard! Such resentment can be overcome only by fixing our gaze on the goodness of God who is generous to all.”

In the last book of the Bible, Revelation, we hear Jesus telling us this in 1:17–18:

[17] … “Fear not, I am the first and the last, [18] and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. (ESV)

Jesus willingly chose to be the absolute last in line by dying on the cross and being punished for all of your disobedience against God and your denial of God’s existence.

Let me tell you something that you need to know.

The Bible is very clear.   A time is coming that God is going to shut things down here as we know them to be.  

At that time, the Kingdom of Heaven will be opened to only those who have faith in Christ will be welcomed in with the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”  You who have faith will hear those words, not because of what you have done in this world, but because you are united with Jesus who has perfectly done all that God has asked of you, for you.

Up until the moment that God shuts things down for this world, the Kingdom of Heaven is open for anyone and everyone to come into.  The entrance is not open to you because you worked harder or more hours than anyone else, but the entrance is open to you by realizing your only hope for being welcomed in is through God’s rescuing you through Jesus’ life, death on the cross, and resurrection from the grave, confessing your Sin, repenting of your Sin, and placing your full and complete trust in Jesus Christ alone to get your name written in God’s book of life that waits you at the entrance to the Kingdom of Heaven.

The sad and scary thing is that once God’s shuts things down for this world, those outside remain outside.  They will hear, “I do not know you.” And, they will cast away with all other unbelievers to the place of eternal death and torment. 

The amazing thing is that a person coming to salvation is so exciting to God that Scripture tells us that every time a person places their trust in Jesus to save them, the angels already in Heaven throw a party and rejoice.

And, it is so exciting, that the last people to believe in Jesus before God closes up shop, will be the first on the list to walk through the gates into the Kingdom of Heaven.

We shouldn’t care about our place in line at the gates of Heaven.   We should be joyously thankful that we have a place in line at all.

Right now, there is still room for you.  Right now, the gates are still open for you.  Put your contempt before investigation aside. Put your pride aside.  Put your arrogance aside. Put the skepticism that is deceiving you aside.  Put the devil’s false belief that many roads lead to God aside.  

Come to Jesus. 

You, who who grew up in the church, come to Jesus.

You, who came to the church later in your life, come to Jesus.

You, who who are still living in shame, doubt, fear and uncertainty, come to Jesus.

Jesus knows your name.  Jesus is calling your name.  

Jesus does not desire to punish you or hold you accountable for your past, present, or future.  Jesus desires to finally set you free from the burdens of attempting to work your way into God’s good graces by doing enough good deeds.  

Come to Jesus.  

Surrender your foolishness and find the freedom to take deep deep breathes and live life to the fullest today and forever. 

Right now, come to Jesus and get in line for the Kingdom of Heaven!

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

And all the people said, Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

September 20, 2026.

Matthew 15.21-28

Have you ever been ignored?

Have you ever spoken your opinion or asked a question only to be left hanging without a response or an answer?

Well, if you are a parent, I know the answer is a resounding, “YES!”

When our boys are playing video games or watching TV, it is as if they have been transported out of the house into a different dimension where they exist all alone.

It has come to the point that if I ask them a question or tell them something when they are playing video games or watching TV, I have to immediately follow it up with the question, “Did you hear me?”

And sometimes, I have to ask that question, “Did you hear me?,” several times before I get a response.

A story is told about a married couple that had a quarrel and ended up giving each other the silent treatment. 

A week into their mute argument, the man realized he needed his wife’s help. In order to catch a flight to Chicago for a business meeting, he had to get up at 5 a.m.

Not wanting to be the first to break the silence, he wrote on a piece of paper, “Please wake me at 5 a.m.” 

The next morning the man woke up only to discover his wife was already out of bed, it was 9 a.m., and his flight had long since departed. He was about to find his wife and demand an answer for her failings when he noticed a piece of paper by the bed.

The note read, “It’s 5 a.m. Wake up.”

There is something uneasy about silence.  And that can be clearly seen in the fact that we consider silence a punishment.  

If we are angry, we will give the victim of our sinful anger the dreaded “silent treatment.”  

When a child misbehaves we send them into the corner to sit by themselves with no one to talk to and nothing to play with.  

When no voices are speaking we call that time “awkward silence.” 

In this morning’s text, we hear a story about a woman in need of help going to Jesus.  After asking her question, she is met with an awkward silence when Jesus doesn’t respond to her.

Let’s hear what the Gospel of Matthew tells us happened in this strange encounter:

Matthew 15:21–28 tells us this:

[21] And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. [22] And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.” [23] But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.” [24] He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” [25] But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” [26] And he answered, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” [27] She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” [28] Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly. (ESV)

How would you feel if God ignored you?

How would you feel if those that believed in God didn’t want to deal with you and wanted to get rid of you?

How would you feel if God said that what you wanted wasn’t in His plan for your life?

How would you feel if God said that doing good to you wasn’t part of His itinerary?

Well, these are the exact questions that the woman in our passage this morning could answer from personal experience.

The woman had a great need.

Her daughter was ill.  Specifically, her daughter was possessed by a demon.  There was serious spiritual oppression in her house.

When the woman asks Jesus to help her by healing her daughter, Jesus is silent.  It seems as if Jesus, God in the flesh, is ignoring her.

When the disciples, Jesus’ followers, saw the woman and her problems they didn’t want to deal with the mess and asked to send her away.  The first response of Jesus’ followers to this woman and her difficult situation was to get rid of her.

When Jesus does eventually speak, he seems to tell the woman that he didn’t come into the world to help her in her moment of need and in fact doing good to her wasn’t part of God’s plan either.

If we were in this situation, we would be feeling agony and despair because of our sick child who we couldn’t help.

We would then be feeling hurt, like God was waving us away and showing favoritism to other people.

We would be questioning whether God hears cares about us.

Maybe you feel that way right now.  Maybe you feel like God is ignoring you.

Maybe you feel right now that God’s people, the church, don’t want to be bothered with you and want to send you away — to get rid of you.

Maybe you feel right now that God doesn’t want to help you in your moment of need.

Maybe you feel right now that God doesn’t want what is best for you.

I think it is safe to say that we have all experienced these feelings and thought these thoughts at one point or another.

And, I can promise you that as a person of faith, you will continue to find yourself experiencing these feelings and thinking these thoughts in the future as you struggle with God’s promises and God’s timing.

But, interestingly, in our text for this morning, the Canaanite woman didn’t despair, she didn’t get depressed, and she didn’t give up!

What did she do that gave her strength to carry on even when Jesus’ words and actions didn’t make sense to her?

She trusted in the words of the reports that she heard about Jesus.

She believed Jesus was good.

She believed Jesus was gracious.

She believed Jesus was merciful.

She believed that Jesus was God’s Messiah — the Savior.

She believed that Jesus had the power to forgive sins and give righteousness and eternal life to those who had faith in him.

And, she didn’t let her immediate circumstances deter her from believing those truths.

Yes, everything Jesus and his people were doing and saying didn’t exactly line up with the words about Jesus that she heard and believed, but she knew that there must be some explanation for that.  She also had confidence that the explanation for this seemingly strange behavior would further reveal that Jesus is both good and gracious.

And, the woman was right! By the end of her meeting with Jesus, it was revealed that Jesus was teaching her, the disciples, and the world that salvation, that forgiveness of sins is available to every last person.  It wasn’t for one person, one genealogical line, one race, one ethnic group, or one gender (male or female).  

As the apostle Paul tells Bishop Timothy in 1 Timothy 2.4,

“God, our Savior, desires all people to be saved to to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

The good news in our text this morning is that God is a dog person.  Sorry, cat people!

It is good news that God is a dog person, because each one of us is a dirty unclean dog, like the gentile woman, in our sin.  In sin, our thoughts, our words, and our deeds don’t line up with God’s rules for life and love.  Our disobedience to God’s commands makes us unclean and unworthy to be with Him.

However, the good news comes because God doesn’t care if you’ve eaten your own vomit, ate his son’s homework or chewed up his favorite slipper.

Jesus will never leave you without a response or leave you hanging.

That is what the Word of God, the Bible promises us.  

That is what we can believe because it is what we hear from God himself.

1 John 5.13 tells us that we can have assurance of our salvation and of God’s goodness and grace and mercy when we hear the words that say,

“I write these things (meaning the words of the Bible) to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.  And this is the confidence we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will (like the Canaanite woman did) he hears us.  And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we ask for.”

God is still present in agony.

God is still present in rejection.

God is still present in awkward silence.

And, God is working all things out for good, for your good and the good of every other person, even through your painful and difficult moments.

God does not show favoritism or partiality.

Jesus died for the sins of the entire world. 

In the New Testament book of James, we are commanded to not show partiality or reject someone based on our own created standards.  

What this means is that we are commanded in our faith to be like Jesus in this morning’s text and not push people away or treat them differently because they are different than us.

We are to be impartial and show mercy to all people regardless of things like socio-economic status or ethnicity because in the words of today’s text, Jesus is impartial and died to save the whole word—every last dirty dog included.

Here are James’ words:

James 2:1–8

[1] My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. [2] For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, [3] and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” [4] have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? [5] Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? [6] But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? [7] Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?

[8] If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. (ESV)

Trust in the words of the reports that you hear about Jesus.

Believe he is good.

Believe he is gracious.

Believe he is merciful.

Believe that he is God’s Messiah — the Savior.

Believe that he has the power to forgive sins and give righteousness and eternal life to you through faith in him.

And, don’t let your immediate circumstances deter you from believing those truths.

Yes, everything Jesus and his people do and say doesn’t always line up with the words about Jesus that you have heard and believed, but know that there must be some explanation for that and that explanation will further reveal that Jesus is both good and gracious.

In this morning’s text, Jesus’ awkward silence was the beginning of the most good and gracious act of God — the saving of the entire world from the sin that separates us from God.

Today, and everyday, pray like the woman in this morning’s text prayed, saying:

“Yes, Lord, it is true.  I am a sinner and unworthy of your grace.  Nevertheless, you have promised forgiveness to sinner, and you came not to call the righteous but to save sinners.”

Today, you can cry out, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David,” and confidently know from what the Bible tells us that God in his goodness and grace will answer and be merciful to your time of need.

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

August 9, 2026

Matthew 14.13-21

I love food!

Do you love food?

Food is an important part of life.  Not only is food the way that our bodies receive the nourishment that they need to survive, we also have a long human history of seeing that sharing food with one another is a way of building relationships and marking some of life’s most important events.

Do you have a meal or a bunch of meals that you will never forget?

Maybe there is a meal that is unforgettable because it celebrated a special occasion like a first date, a wedding, an anniversary, a birthday, or even the passing away of a loved one. 

Maybe there is a meal that is unforgettable because it celebrated a gradation, cancer going into remission, a baptism, a confirmation, an adoption, or a promotion at work.

Maybe there is a meal that is unforgettable because of the family fight that happened while people were eating.

Maybe there is a meal that is unforgettable because of the food poisoning and sickness that followed it.

Or, maybe there is a meal that is unforgettable because the food qualifies as the best thing you ever ate.

I have several unforgettable meals. 

Both unforgettable meals that I am going to share with you this morning surround my wedding. The first unforgettable meal is my wedding meal.  This meal is unforgettable because it celebrated one of the best days of my life.

Besides it being my wedding, this meal is unforgettable because we actually didn’t get to eat any of the food that we were served. 

While I and Kristina were making the rounds to thank all of our guests for joining us, we were served a platter with one of each of the meal choices on the menu.  But, we were so busy connecting with our guests, when we returned to our table, they were already serving dessert.  We didn’t get to eat dessert either because we were busy dancing the night away.

The second unforgettable meal that I will mention today, took place on our honeymoon.  This meal is unforgettable because the food quality and presentation was some of the best we have ever had.

For our wedding, we were given the gift of a 8 course Chef’s tasting meal at Disney’s Victoria & Albert’s.  

During the evening, some of the delicacies presented to us were plates of John Dory, elk tenderloin, and wagyu beef filet. At this unforgettable meal, the best ingredients in the world were cooked to perfection by some of the best chefs in the world.  When the plates arrived, each course looked like the work of a master painter that should be hanging in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Meals can be unforgettable.

In our text this morning, we come as bystanders to to wha would become an unforgettable meal because of the miracle that made it happen and the company that served the meal.

Let’s hear about this miraculous meal as it is recorded for us in Matthew 14.13-21.

[13] Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. [14] When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick. [15] Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” [16] But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” [17] They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.” [18] And he said, “Bring them here to me.” [19] Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. [20] And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. [21] And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children. (ESV)

Simple story, right?

People are hungry.

Jesus, the host, feeds the hungry people.

The people leave with their bellies full.

It may sound like a simple story at first, but what is actually happening at this meal is that all of history is unfolding and being brought into the light for the disciples, the guests, me, and you.

Let me explain.

God has always been about feeding people.

And, God has always been about feeding people in miraculous ways.

In today’s text, we see that very clearly.

5 loaves of bread and 2 small fish feed approximately 15,000 people.

But, stories like this, stories of miraculous meals, aren’t odd occurrences in the Bible.  When we think back over the history of God’s interactions with his people, we come across many stories of miraculous meals.  Another one of those miraculous meal stories is found in the Old Testament.

The Old Testament is the part of the Bible that talks about history before Jesus lived, died, and was resurrected.

In the story of God’s saving His people through the Exodus from slavery in Egypt, we hear and see God intervening to feed His people while they are in the middle of the desert with no food or water in sight.

While they are traveling from Egypt to the place that God will one day allow them to call home, the Israelites become weary from the journey and the oppressive desert heat.  So, they start grumbling and accusing God of not caring about them.

However, in His grace and mercy, God, seeing their need and being compassionate toward them, allowed bread to rain from the skies every day so that their need for physical nourishment could be met.  

Even though the Israelites were in the desert because of their sin, their disobedience to God’s rules for life and love, God still took care of them in their moments of need.

Today’s story and this Old Testament story of God’s intervening in the human experience to feed the hungry show us clearly that God is compassionate toward those He loves.

At both of these unforgettable miraculous meals, the one very important thing that we need to recognize is that we are no different from the Israelites in the desert or the people on the mountainside with Jesus.

We are hungry and in need of help that only God can provide.  Just look at our lives.  Everything we do is to help ourselves find satisfaction.  The satisfaction that we are looking for is a bit different than the actual food needed in today’s text.   The satisfaction we are looking for comes from a hunger that desires a place of rest, peace, hope, and security.

God sees our need for rest, peace, hope, and security and has compassion on us.  He knows we will work and work and work, but never fully have those needs provided for. 

So, He provides exactly what we need to be satisfied.

Let’s hear what God does to provide for our needs.

John 6:31–35 has Jesus telling us that,

[31] Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” [32] Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. [33] For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” [34] They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

[35] Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. (ESV)

This points to a third miraculous meal that I want to point out this morning, the never ending feast that happens in Heaven.

Through faith in Jesus Christ, through being fed by Him, the Bread of Heaven, we are invited to and welcomed at God’s eternal table where every single one of our needs will be met perfectly for all of eternity.

God’s compassion meets our need for the forgiveness of sins that allows us to have a space reserved for us at His Heavenly table.

Only through trusting in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection will you find the rest, peace, and security that you are looking for. It is only through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection that you can have peace with God and know that you are eternally loved and accepted because in Jesus every last fault in you is completely forgiven through God’s grace and mercy toward you.

God provided for the needs of the His people who were hungry in the desert and God provided for the needs of Jesus’ disciples who were hungry on the mountainside 

In Jesus, you are reconciled to God our Father in Heaven.

So, our God is a God who compassionately runs to meets your needs.

But, what about us?

How do we react when people who are in need come into our world?

Well, I would venture to say that many times, we are like the disciples in today’s text.

When the disciples saw that there were many needy people around them, what was their solution?

“Send them away!”

“Let them deal with their own problems.  Or, let someone else deal with their problems. I don’t want to be bothered figuring this out.”

For the times that we have had this mindset and the times that we have acted in this way, we need to repent and ask God for forgiveness.  

In the New Testament book of James, James says this to all of us who have faith in Jesus Christ:

“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit the orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the the world.” (James 1.27)

The ways of God are completely different than the ways of the world.

The world says, lookout for number 1! 

The world says, take care of yourself and let others take care of themselves.

God says that it is your calling to compassionately love others and consider the needs of others more important than your own needs.

In a book of sermons by the 20th century Swedish Lutheran pastor, Bo Giertz,  he writes:

“God is constantly putting people in our path. And he doesn’t expect that we shall pass on by. It is easy to do that. One can see them every day but not see that their workloads grow, not notice how tired they look, not think that one could and ought to take a part of their burdens. This happens in so many homes where the mother has so much to do but the husband and children, with pure thoughtlessness, pass on by and leave the work to her alone. But it also applies to work life and friendship. There is the man who does not work anymore. No one does like the Samaritan; no one has compassion for him. There are men who keep falling into the hands of robbers: bad company and bad habits. No one speaks a good word to them or tries to give them better friends or a nicer environment. There are complete social classes and entire neighborhoods that are marked by injustice, by poverty and overcrowding and discontent—and thousands after thousands walk on by and never ask about it. And there are whole peoples who live in the darkness of heathendom with all that that means concerning cruelty, barbarism, terror, and spiritual death—and millions of Christians pass on by without lifting a finger. 

The brother whom you shall keep is also the person you see is in need of help who may now be in your own house or your own stairwell or far away in Zululand or South India.”

God is compassionate to you and meets all of your REAL needs.

Go, and be compassionate this week as God was first compassionate to you.

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

August 2, 2026