Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

Jesus Cancels Tiredness

Psalm 6

An elementary school photographer was snapping pictures of first graders, making small talk to put his subjects at ease.

“What are you going to be when you grow up?” he asked one little girl.

She looked at him, shaking her head back and forth, and said, “I am going to be just like my parents when I grow up.  I am going to be tired all the time!”

As a full time parent with a full time job, let me tell you, that little girl is right.  I am tired ALLLLLL the time!

Let me ask you, “Are you tired this morning?”

And, I don’t mean, are you tired from not getting enough sleep last night.

What I mean is, are you tired from the relentless demands of life?

Listen to this list of words and ideas:

  • Troubled
  • Fading strength 
  • Failing strength
  • Weary
  • Whimpering
  • Sobbing
  • Tears welling up
  • Weeping
  • Grief
  • Burdened
  • Weak
  • Desperate
  • Desperately wanting help
  • Desperately needing help
  • Wanting to scream
  • Worn out
  • Burned out

What were you thinking as I read off that list?

I tell you what I was thinking.

I was thinking…

  • “Yes.”
  • “Check”
  • “That’s me!”
  • “That’s how I feel”
  • “Amen”
  • “Preach it”
  • “Was somebody listening to me share my feelings with my wife this week?”

Maybe you are in the same boat now, or have been in this boat before.

So, I ask you again, “Are you tired?”

Well, if you are tired from the relentless demands of life that seem like crushing weights on your back, you are not alone.  Not only am I here with you feeling that way, King David, the writer of this morning’s Biblical text is here with you as well.

Let’s hear about the tiredness that Kind David experienced as he brings his life to God in prayer.

King David’s prayer is Psalm 6 says this:

[1] O LORD, rebuke me not in your anger,

nor discipline me in your wrath.

[2] Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am languishing;

heal me, O LORD, for my bones are troubled.

[3] My soul also is greatly troubled.

But you, O LORD—how long?

[4] Turn, O LORD, deliver my life;

save me for the sake of your steadfast love.

[5] For in death there is no remembrance of you;

in Sheol who will give you praise?

[6] I am weary with my moaning;

every night I flood my bed with tears;

I drench my couch with my weeping.

[7] My eye wastes away because of grief;

it grows weak because of all my foes.

[8] Depart from me, all you workers of evil,

for the LORD has heard the sound of my weeping.

[9] The LORD has heard my plea;

the LORD accepts my prayer.

[10] All my enemies shall be ashamed and greatly troubled;

they shall turn back and be put to shame in a moment.

Listen to the words that King David uses to describe his mental and physical state.

He says:

  • His bones are troubled
  • He is languishing (which is a fancy way of saying weak)
  • His soul is greatly troubled
  • He is thinking about death
  • He is weary
  • He is moaning in pain and agony (both mental and physical)
  • His tears are flooding his bed
  • His couch is drenched with weeping
  • He is filled with grief
  • He is weak
  • He is screaming at God asking “How long do I have to suffer? When are you going to rescue me? Don’t you love me?”
  • And, he is tired of the people around him.  He wants to yell at the top of his lungs, “Leave me alone!”

The list of words and ideas that I shared with you a few minutes ago—the list that described what it feels like to be tired from the relentless burdens of life—is actually a list of words and ideas about how King David felt—straight from the Bible.

Let me ask you another question.

Have you ever been worried to the point that it made you physically sick?

Our mental burdens often have the ability to affect us physically.

When we are overwhelmed and burdened with worry, we experience headaches, anxiety attacks, nausea, sometimes to the point of throwing up, we have trouble focusing on one task, and we can’t shake tiredness.

King David’s mental tiredness, that led him to be physically sick and tired, stemmed from his worry over two separate issues.

The first issue that made King David tired of life was his worries about other people. 

He was mentally and physically tired because he was worrying about what other were saying, or could possibly say about him.

And, he was mentally and physically tired because he was worrying about what other people were trying to do, or could possibly try to do to harm him.

The second issue that made King David tired of life was his worries about God.

He was mentally and physically tired because he was worrying about what God would and could do to him because of his sin.

In 2005, A store called MinneNAPolis opened in Minnesota’s Mall of America. It rents comfy spots where weary shoppers can take naps for 70 cents a minute. Founded by PowerNap Sleep Centers of Boca Raton, Florida, the new store includes themed rooms such as Asian Mist, Tropical Isle, and Deep Space, and the walls are thick enough to drown out the sounds of squealing children outside.

The company’s website says, “Escape the pressures of the real world into the pleasures of an ideal one.” “It’s not just napping,” reads the press release. “Some guests will want to listen to music, put their feet up, watch the water trickling in the beautiful stone waterfall, breathe in the positive-ionization-filtered air, enjoy the full-body massager, and just take an enjoyable escape from the fast-paced lifestyle.”

David wanted rest more than anything else.

He wanted rest from his manic state of worry and panic.

In his words and thoughts in Psalm 5, which we heard from 3 weeks ago, King David knew that his disobedience to God’s laws for life and love put him in a position where God have every right to punish him or destroy him.

But, his prayer showed that he knew the truth about God, the Father in Heaven, the Creator of all that exists.

King David knew the truth that God offers forgiveness for disobedience, forgiveness for ungodly thoughts, forgiveness for unGodly words, forgiveness for unGodly deeds, forgiveness for wrongdoing, and the forgiveness for sin, whatever you call it—the stuff that goes completely against God’s holiness.

King David’s prayer, here in Psalm 6 shows King David’s confidence in God to heal, deliver, punish sin, rescue him, guide him, protect him, and provide for ALL his needs—physical, mental, emotional, and relational.

David’s prayer starts with the plea, “Help me! Save me from myself!”

And, David’s prayer ends with the confidence that because of God’s grace, God will save him and allow him to rest.

King David could rest because the most important thing in his life was fixed and could never be broken again—his relationship with God.

The bottom line in this morning’s text is this:

King David was tired from the relentless burdens of life but God and his grace allowed David to rest.

King David’s words in Psalm 4 say:

[7] You have put joy in my heart…

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

for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety. (Psalm 4:7–8, ESV)

God took David to his own MinneNAPolis.

God’s promises and God’s active work in David’s life canceled David’s ultimate tiredness.

The bottom line for you this morning is this:

You are tired from the relentless burdens of life but, God and his grace allow you to rest.

For you, Jesus cancels tiredness—the tiredness that comes from worrying about what other people think about you and what other can can and will do to you.

For you, Jesus cancels tiredness—the tiredness that comes from worrying about what God thinks of you and what God can do to you because of your sin.

The first question that is proposed and answered in Luther’s Small Catechism, one of the books we use to teach our Confirmation class is:

What are God’s thoughts about me?

And, the answer given and the Bible verse quoted are:

“God’s thoughts about me are thoughts of love and blessing.”

John 3:16—For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Jesus calls his followers to obey God and rest.

Mark 6.31 has Jesus commanding his disciples with these words:

[31] … “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.”

The idea of resting in and with God was not new to Jesus’ ministry.

God built rest into Creation. So, rest is natural — regardless of what your anxiety, workaholism and worry tell you.

[1] Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. [2] And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. [3] So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. (Genesis 2:1–3, ESV)

And, God made rest one of the Ten Commandments.  Rest is good for you.

[8] “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. [9] Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, [10] but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. [11] For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. (Exodus 20:8–11, ESV)

In Matthew 11:28–30, Jesus tells you how that Godly rest comes about for you.  Jesus says:

[28] Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. [29] Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. [30] For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (ESV)

With faith in Jesus, you can rest, because all of the work that needs to be done to restore your relationship with God is done. It is completed 100%. It is finished.

Those are Jesus’ exact words to you as he looks at you from the cross.  As he breaths his last breath on the cross, bearing all of the guilt for all of King David’s sin, for all of my sin, and for all of your sin, Jesus says to you,

“Rest because the ultimate work of pleasing God is finished for you!”

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

July 28, 2024

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5 · 1 Comment

Jesus Cancels Your Lies

Psalm 5

Do you feel guilty about lies you have told in the past? 

Do you find yourself re-running over and over and over the moments that you got caught in your lies?  

Do the feelings of embarrassment, shame, guilt, and anger at yourself continue to follow you around?

Do you feel like you are being crushed by the lies you are telling now? 

Do you feel like it is a full time job with a full schedule of overtime trying to keep the lie going while you meticulously obsess over covering up your tracks to make sure, to the best of your ability, that you aren’t found out and don’t get caught?

Do you feel angry about those around you who seem to be living their best life (better than yours) but are lying to get what they have?

Jason Walker, the Austrailian country music singer and song writer penned this thought in one of his songs:

Everybody lies, lies, lies

It’s the only truth sometimes

Doesn’t matter if it’s out there somewhere 

waiting for the world to find

Or buried deep inside

Yeah, everybody lies

Everybody lies

I tend to agree with Walker’s assessment of the human race in these words.

A few years ago, two defendants who appeared in a Montana County District court received unique punishments as part of the sentencing phase of their trial. Their punishment involved wearing signs.

Back in 2017 and 2018, Ryan Morris and Troy Allen Nelson were in violation of their respective probations related to previous criminal offenses. They both lied to the court about having served in the military in order to receive more lenient sentences for their previous criminal behavior.

Judge Pinksi sentenced Morris to ten years for felony burglary, and Nelson five years for felony criminal possession of dangerous drugs, both with years suspended. 

The judge ruled that Morris and Nelson would be required to write letters of apology to various veterans’ groups as well as complete 441 hours of community service. This was one hour for each citizen of Montana killed in combat since the Korean war. 

Then, during the years of their suspended sentence, they would be required to spend each Memorial Day and Veterans day visiting the Montana Veterans Memorial. While they are at the memorial they would be required to wear a placard that reads, “I am a liar, I am not a veteran. I stole valor. I have dishonored all veterans.”

Judge Pinski said, “I want to make sure that my message is received loud and clear by these two defendants. By lying, you’ve been nothing but disrespectful in your conduct. By lying, you certainly have not respected the Army. By lying, you’ve not respected the veterans. By lying, you’ve not respected the court. And, by lying, you haven’t respected yourselves.”

In our text this morning, King David, the writer of most of the songs found in the book of Psalms, wants to make sure that God’s rules surrounding lying is received loud and clear.  

Let’s hear what King David prays in Psalm 5.

Psalm 5 says this:

[1] Give ear to my words, O LORD;

consider my groaning.

[2] Give attention to the sound of my cry,

my King and my God,

for to you do I pray.

[3] O LORD, in the morning you hear my voice;

in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.

[4] For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;

evil may not dwell with you.

[5] The boastful shall not stand before your eyes;

you hate all evildoers.

[6]You destroy those who speak lies;

the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.

[7] But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love,

will enter your house.

I will bow down toward your holy temple

in the fear of you.

[8] Lead me, O LORD, in your righteousness

because of my enemies;

make your way straight before me.

[9] For there is no truth in their mouth;

their inmost self is destruction;

their throat is an open grave;

they flatter with their tongue.

[10] Make them bear their guilt, O God;

let them fall by their own counsels;

because of the abundance of their transgressions cast them out,

for they have rebelled against you.

[11] But let all who take refuge in you rejoice;

let them ever sing for joy,

and spread your protection over them,

that those who love your name may exult in you.

[12] For you bless the righteous, O LORD;

you cover him with favor as with a shield. (ESV)

One of God’s major commandments, found in the list of His Ten Commandments has to do with truth telling and denying the temptation to lie in order to make yourself look better or feel better.

In the Ninth Commandment, God tells you this:

[16] “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. (Exodus 20:16, ESV)

This commandment to “fear and love God so that we do not misrepresent, betray, lie about, nor slander our neighbor, but defend him, speak well of him, and say the kindest things we can about all he does,” obviously extends truth telling in all areas of our lives.

If we have been honest thus far, we have established that we are all liars to some degree.

And, if you are listening to me now and you respond, “I am not a liar!,” the ironic thing is that you are lying to yourself, to me, and to God with that statement.

By lying, you’ve not respected God.

So, if we are all liars, what does lying get us?

What is the end or the fate for liars?

This morning’s text has much to say about that.

Here is what King David says in Psalm 5 about those who lie.

First, King David says that God does not delight in you.

Second, King David says that you will not be able to stand before God.

Third, King David says that you will not be able to live with God.

Fourth, in one of the strongest statements, that I find it hard to say out loud, King David says that God hates you.

Fifth, if knowing that God hates you, the liar, isn’t enough, King David says that you who have lied or are lying or who will lie in the future, will be destroyed by God.

And, finally, King David says that God will not even look at you if you have lied or are lying or lie in the future.

When we hear how God thinks and feels about liars and how God treats liars, it is terrifying, but it is also heartbreaking.

When he came face-to-face with God, who is holy, the prophet Isaiah was driven to examine himself.  In that examination, the prophet Isaiah realized that he had used his mouth in unGodly ways, including lying.

Here is what Isiah said as he stood before God’s throne:

“Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” (Isaiah 6.5)

Isaiah was both terrified and heartbroken when he realized that the things that came out of his mouth affected his relationship with God.

He was terrified because he realized that his misuse of his mouth made him guilty before God and therefore God had every right to punish him with all of the power in the Universe.

He was also heartbroken because his misuse of his mouth separated him from God, who chose to create him and love him.  His God couldn’t even look at him because of the garbage and filth and lies that poured so easily out of his mouth.

He realized what James, the brother of Jesus, would vocalize and write down thousands of years later.

James puts it this way:

How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! [6] And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. [7] For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, [8] but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. [9] With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. [10] From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. (James 3.5-10, ESV)

For each of us listening this morning to what God has to say about liars and lying, we should be saying the same thing as Isaiah:

“Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips;

However, there is good news for you this morning.

In fact, there is great news waiting for you as you confess misusing your mouth as Isiah did.

As you confess that sin, you will be assured or reassured of God’s grace, which acts quickly to forgive us, just as Isaiah was.

Isiah tells us that after his confession of using his mouth for evil purposes, including lying, this happened:

“Then one of [God’s angels] flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” (Isaiah 6.6-7)

When you confess your sin of misusing your mouth to both boast and lie, you have the good news that we hear at the beginning of every Sunday morning service:

[9] If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1.9)

When we confess our sin to God, our Father in Heaven, our fears are calmed and our broken hearts are mended.

Through the life, death, and Jesus Christ, God forgives our boasting and lying.

Therefore, the good news for you is that Jesus cancels your lies.

His death on the cross took the guilt of your boasting and lying away.  

On the cross Jesus took your sin, which includes boasting and lying, and gave you his perfection, his holiness, his righteousness, in truth telling.

In what has become my favorite Bible verse, Jesus says this in John 14.6:

[6] Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (ESV)

This week as you make your way throughout the days that God gives you, speak the words that King David spoke which remind you that your past, present, and future sins that involve the misuse of your words and mouth are forgiven. 

Say, with King David:

[6]You destroy those who speak lies;

the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.

[7] But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love,

will enter your house.

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

July 7, 2024

Pastoral Responsive Prayer:

Lord God Almighty, 

As we gaze upon your holiness, we are left devastated by our sinfulness. We are lost in the uncleanness of our lips. Unimaginably selfish, utterly prideful, and crushingly unloving words have been spoken freely from these lips. At the same time, we often use our lips to say good things only so that we will be praised by others or so that you will accept us based on our righteousness. We constantly fail to use our lips to say loving or truthful things because we would rather save ourselves the trouble of loving you and others. We live among others who also have unclean lips: we have been mocked, offended, and hated through the lips of others. We confess that we have often responded to these sins with spiteful anger. 

Show us our Savior! The prophet cried, “Woe is me!” as his unclean lips were exposed in light of your holiness. We come boldly to you because the woe that we deserve has been entirely poured out on your Son, Jesus Christ. The sacrifice appointed to redeem our shameful lips was none other than the gruesome death of one whose lips were perfectly clean. Jesus’ lips spoke love to children, quieted storms, declared forgiveness to sinners, and remained silent before his accusers. When Jesus was angry, his lips remained pure, as his anger was expressed in ways that continued to fulfill your commandment to love you and others before himself. The very lips that spoke, “Father forgive them,” that we might be saved, cried out in agony, “Father, why have you forsaken me?” so that we would not be forsaken. We are left in awe at this unfathomable act of love. 

Thank you, Father, that the cross stands empty now. Jesus is risen, and you have made us alive in him. Help us, Lord, to speak in light of this gospel news. May we use our lips to speak the same grace and love that have been so richly lavished upon us. When we fail, Lord, help us to remember the words of forgiveness that have been so powerfully guaranteed by the blood of Jesus. Help us to wait patiently for the day when our faith will be sight, the day our lips will finally and purely sing, “Hallelujah, what a Savior!” 

In Jesus’ name, amen.  

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

You Shall Not Perish

Mark 2.23-28

In August 2000, 118 Russian sailors perished when the Kursk nuclear submarine suffered an underwater explosion and became disabled in the depths of the icy Barents Sea. High-level Russian sources recently told Time magazine that some of the men could have been saved had rescue gear aboard the Russian submarine been tested. According to studies done after the mishap, 23 surviving crew-members rushed to a floating rescue capsule located in the rear of the submarine. But the capsule failed to disengage and surface because of mechanical problems that existed from the time the sub was commissioned. It seems the ship’s completion was behind schedule and “orders from the top” demanded that shortcuts be taken to make the construction deadline. One such shortcut was failing to test the capsule to see if it could handle the pressure of a rescue procedure.

Over 100 men perished on a disabled and sinking ship because their escape plan was unreliable.  The thing and the people that they trusted did not deliver on their promises to save them in their moment of need.  So, instead of continued life, death was on the menu for them.

This morning’s Biblical text is about death. (I know a very light topic.)

We are going to see and hear from the disciple Mark that Jesus’ followers were seeking rescue from a sinking and disabled ship so they they didn’t die.

Mark 4:35–41 tells us this:

[35] On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” [36] And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. [37] And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. [38] But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” [39] And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. [40] He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” [41] And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” (ESV)

The first thing we should always do after reading a Scripture is to summarize the facts of who, what, where, and when.  This gives us the only context to understand what God is teaching us through Jesus’ words and actions.

In this morning’s text from the good news according to the disciple Mark, we have Jesus and his disciples crossing a lake in a boat.  While they are in the boat, a storm overtakes them and begins shaking, rocking, and filling the boat with water.  The disciples enter into panic and survival mode and go to Jesus for help.  When they approach Jesus, Jesus is sleeping and the disciples immediately, without a second thought, question Jesus’ concern for them.

Doesn’t that all sound familiar?

When there are no considerable troubles in front of us, we live day to day like God doesn’t exist and we don’t need the love and forgiveness of Jesus.

However, the second life gets uncomfortable and troubles arise that threaten our peace of mind, we, without a second thought question Jesus’ concern for us.

In the past, I have focused on the fear and the lack of trust in Jesus when approaching this passage. 

Now, to be clear, both of those things are important and true applications of this passage.  But, this week, I realized that I have spent decades missing a key point in this piece of Biblical text.

And, that key piece comes from the question that the disciples ask Jesus.

I have come to love the question that the disciples ask because it is the peak of irony.

The disciples ask Jesus, “do you not care that we are perishing?”

The disciples think that because Jesus was resting from the travel, teaching, and constant care of all of those that he came into contact with (or, finding a few minutes of Sabbath in the context of last week’s message), that he just didn’t care if they died.

This is ironic because they overlook Jesus’ primary purpose in coming to them and being with them.

Jesus was present with them in this life so that they would not perish.  

The most famous Scripture of all time, which we probably gloss over in our minds at this point because we have heard it so many times, 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. (John 3:16–17, ESV)

The very reason that God is with the disciples in the flesh and bones of humanity in the person of Jesus Christ is to ensure that they do not perish—that is, so that they do not die.  And, by death, Biblically, we mean being separated from God the Father in Heaven eternally.

What the disciples forgot in their moments of being afraid and uncomfortable is that God is with them in the person of Jesus to save them from the effects of death due to sin.

You see, because of sin—our inborn desire to deny and disobey God for our own immediate pleasure and satisfaction—each of us is on a disabled and sinking ship and we need a reliable escape plan in order to spend eternity with God in Heaven instead of spending an eternity separated from God in a place that is described over an over again with images of torture and pain such as “weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

In sin, they, and us, deserve to die and be separated from God forever.  We have broken God’s commandments for life and love and mocked him by thinking we know better and don’t need an invisible, possibly non-existent, tyrannical overlord.

However, God’s grace and love is shown to the disciples on the boat that day, and to you and me, in the fact that even in the midst of not trusting him and questioning his goodness and motives, Jesus acted miraculously to save them from perishing in the storm and flood.

One very important part of this morning’s Biblical text that we cannot skim over is the call to repentance.

Although Jesus very much cares about the lives of those on the boat with him and does not want to see them perish in that moment or eternally, there is a need for each of the men to repent of their sin and confess their sin and therefore confess their need for a Savior.  

The disciples, in the moments of uncertainty, lost trust in Jesus’ love and promises to take care of them today, tomorrow, and forever.

This lack of trust in Jesus and this doubting of his goodness is pure evil and sin.  

So, the disciples have to ask Jesus for forgiveness for their lack of peace in his presence and for their fear that they let overcome their faith.

2 Peter 3:8–10 tells us this:

[8] But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. [9] The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. [10] But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. (ESV)

And, Matthew 18:10–14 has Jesus telling us this:

[10] “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. [12] What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? [13] And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. [14] So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish. (ESV)

Jesus is always running after you.  

Jesus is always offering himself to you.  

Jesus is always calling your name.

Jesus is always willing to rescue you.

Do what Jesus asks, “Repent and believe.”  

Know that when you confess your sins, God is faithful and just to forgive you of all of your sins and purify you from all unrighteousness, giving you the reliable escape plan that you need to defeat death and live eternally in the Kingdom of Heaven with your Creator and Savior.

The Scriptures are clear as we have heard.  God, the Father in Heaven, and Jesus Christ, His Only Son, do not want anyone to perish—they do not want anyone to be eternally separated from them.

However, the Scriptures are also very clear that many will see that end—they will perish and be separated from God the Father and Jesus the Son into a place of eternal suffering.

This week, I looked up and read every single verse in the Bible that contains the word perish.  What I was looking for was the good news that God does not wish anyone to perish but instead He wishes for everyone to find forgiveness and eternal life in Jesus.

And, of course, I found that because it is abundantly clear.

But, I was shocked at how many more times the Bible uses the word perish as a warning. The idea is spoken over and over and over again that the wicked, the unrighteous, the unrepentant, the self-centered, the godless, the self-sufficient, the denier, the liar, etc., will die apart from God’s grace and find their eternal existence spent in the suffering and pain and torture of the hellfire.  

To give you an example of this from another recent sermon, Psalm 1:5–6 make this point unquestionable clear when King David, inspired by God, says:

[5] Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,

nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;

[6] for the LORD knows the way of the righteous,

but the way of the wicked will perish. (ESV)

John Lennox (an author and professor of mathematics at Oxford University) tells a story about touring Eastern Europe and meeting a Jewish woman from South Africa. 

The woman told Lennox that she was researching how her relatives had perished in the Holocaust. 

At one point on their guided tour, they passed a display that had the following words written on it: Arbeit macht frei” (or “work makes free”). It was a mock-up of the main gate to the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz. The display also had pictures of the horrific medical experiments carried out on children by the infamous Dr. Josef Mengele. At that point of their tour, the Jewish woman turned to Lennox and said, “And what does your religion make of this?”

Lennox writes:

What was I to say? She had lost her parents and many relatives in the Holocaust. I could scarcely bear to look at the Mengele photographs, because of the sheer horror of imagining my children suffering such a fate. I had nothing in my life that remotely paralleled the horror her family had endured.

But still she stood in the doorway waiting for an answer. I eventually said, “I would not insult your memory of your parents by offering you simplistic answers to your question. What is more, I have young children and I cannot even bear to think how I might react if anything were to happen to them, even if it were far short of the evil that Mengele did. I have no easy answers; but I do have what, for me at least, is a doorway into an answer.”

“What is it?” she said.

I said, “You know that I am a Christian. That means that I believe that Yeshua is the messiah. I also believe that he was God incarnate, come into our world as savior, which is what his name ‘Yeshua’ means. Now I know that this is even more difficult for you to accept. Nevertheless, just think about this question—if Yeshua was really God, as I believe he was, what was God doing on a cross?

“Could it be that God begins just here to meet our heartbreaks, by demonstrating that he did not remain distant from our human suffering, but became part of it himself? For me, this is the beginning of hope; and it is a living hope that cannot be smashed by the enemy of death. The story does not end in the darkness of the cross. Yeshua conquered death. He rose from the dead; and one day, as the final judge, he will assess everything in absolute fairness, righteousness, and mercy.”

There was silence. She was still standing, arms outstretched, forming a motionless cross in the doorway. After a moment, with tears in her eyes, very quietly but audibly, she said: “Why has no one ever told me that about my messiah before?”

Jesus, your Messiah, your Savior, defeated death for you.

In Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, you have the 100% reliable escape plan from the suffering that comes from remaining separated from God today, tomorrow, and forever.

Jesus perished on the cross so that you do not have to be punished for your sin and perish as you deserve to.

In this act of pure grace and love for you, have peace—you have been made right with God, be still—stop the never ending and never successful task of trying to earn God’s love, and walk in faith this week simply confessing your sin and believing in the forgiveness that is yours through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.

It is with Jesus alone that you will not perish but be rescued for eternal life.

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

June 23, 2024.

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

Prayer: Jesus Cancels Silence

Psalm 4

How’s your prayer life?

When do you pray?

Where do you pray?

How much time do you spend praying?

What do you say when you pray?

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

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

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

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

Prayers come in all shapes and forms.  

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

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

But, one thing is for sure…

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

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

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

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

For many of us, prayer is hard.

And, prayer is hard for many reasons.

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

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

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

Prayer is hard for some of us because of busyness.

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

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

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

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

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

We don’t think we have the time.

We think it is a waste of time.

We think our prayers fall on deaf ears.

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

We think it is boring.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

King David says to God:

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

You have given me relief when I was in distress.

Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!

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

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

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

the LORD hears when I call to him.

[4] Be angry, and do not sin;

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

[5] Offer right sacrifices,

and put your trust in the LORD.

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

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

[7] You have put more joy in my heart

than they have when their grain and wine abound.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And, what position is that?

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

Because of sin, there is silence when we pray.  

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

Therefore, God does not respond or answer us.

We find ourselves experiencing silence from Heaven.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

silence is broken, 

silence is canceled, 

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

Without Jesus, there is silence when you pray.

But, Jesus cancels silence.

Jesus cancels silence for you.

And, we can, like King David say, 

the LORD hears when I call to him.

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

In Jeremiah 29:12–13, God promises:

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

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

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

the Lord would not have listened.

[19] But truly God has listened;

he has attended to the voice of my prayer.

[20] Blessed be God,

because he has not rejected my prayer

or removed his steadfast love from me! 

(Psalm 66:18–20 ESV)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[16] Rejoice always, 

[17] pray without ceasing, 

[18] give thanks in all circumstances; 

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

(1 Thessalonians 5:16–18, ESV)

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

June 2, 2024.

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

Known by God

Psalm 139.1-16

Have you ever felt lowly?

Have you ever felt lost?

Have you ever felt unnoticed?

Have you ever felt unremarkable?

Have you ever felt excluded?

Have you ever felt powerless?

Have you ever felt broken?

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

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

In my life, there’s been heartache and pain

I don’t know if I can face it again…

I want to know what love is!

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

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

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

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

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

Psalm 139:1–16 says this:

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

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

you discern my thoughts from afar.

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

and are acquainted with all my ways.

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

behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.

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

and lay your hand upon me.

[6] Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;

it is high; I cannot attain it.

[7] Where shall I go from your Spirit?

Or where shall I flee from your presence?

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

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

[9] If I take the wings of the morning

and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

[10] even there your hand shall lead me,

and your right hand shall hold me.

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

and the light about me be night,”

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

the night is bright as the day,

for darkness is as light with you.

[13] For you formed my inward parts;

you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.

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

Wonderful are your works;

my soul knows it very well.

[15] My frame was not hidden from you,

when I was being made in secret,

intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

[16] Your eyes saw my unformed substance;

in your book were written, every one of them,

the days that were formed for me,

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

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

Those three truths are:

God is omniscient.

God is omnipresent.

And, God is omnipotent.

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

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

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

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

God knows your heart.

God knows your actions.

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

God knows when you travel.

God knows when you lie down and go to bed.

God knows you during the day and during the night.

God knows your words.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

God chose you!

God foreordained your life.

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

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

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

He tells his story this way:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Her full name is Julie Frymer.

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

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

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

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

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

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

But, know this: 

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

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

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

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

In Jesus Christ alone, you know what love is.

John 15:12–13

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

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

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

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

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

and his ears toward their cry.

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

to cut off the memory of them from the earth.

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

and delivers them out of all their troubles.

[18] The LORD is near to the brokenhearted

and saves the crushed in spirit. (ESV)

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

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

1 Corinthians 8:3 says:

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

And, Romans 8:35–39 says:

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

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

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Pastor Fred Scragg V.

May 26, 2024

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

Jesus Cancels Fear

Psalm 3

What are you afraid of?

What do you fear?

Some famous people would answer those questions like this:

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

Barbra Streisand is xenophobic—she is uncomfortable around strangers. 

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

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

Famous people of the past were no different. 

George Washington was scared to death of being buried alive. 

Richard Nixon was terrified of hospitals,.

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

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

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

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

We are all control freaks!

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

Therefore, we often live in fear.

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

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

The list of things that we fear is unending.

Some of the things that we fear are:

Spiders

Flying in an airplane

Needles at the doctor’s office

Being in large crowds

Snakes — think “Indiana Jones”

Being alone

Germs

Sickness

Disease

Heights

Closed/Tight spaces

The dark

Death

Public Speaking

We fear:

Bad news from a doctor

Not being liked by someone in power

Being gossiped about

And, having that false gossip believed by others

We fear:

Losing a job

Losing a spouse

Losing our kids

Losing a friend

Losing a position that we enjoyed holding

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

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

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

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

Psalm 3 says this:

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

Many are rising against me;

[2] many are saying of my soul,

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

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

my glory, and the lifter of my head.

[4] I cried aloud to the LORD,

and he answered me from his holy hill. Selah

[5] I lay down and slept;

I woke again, for the LORD sustained me.

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

who have set themselves against me all around.

[7] Arise, O LORD!

Save me, O my God!

For you strike all my enemies on the cheek;

you break the teeth of the wicked.

[8] Salvation belongs to the LORD;

your blessing be on your people! Selah (ESV)

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

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

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

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

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

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

We pour over questions like:

What if God isn’t real?

What if I have believed in lies all this time?

What if God doesn’t care about me?

What if God can’t save me?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

For Lovecraft’s explorer, curiosity canceled fear.

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

That’s what he tells us in Psalm 3.

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

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

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

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

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

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

For King David, faith canceled fear.

Now, follow his logic into verses 5-6.

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

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

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

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

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

So, what do we do about it?

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

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

We remember his grace toward us.

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

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

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

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

For us, Jesus cancels fear.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Say with confidence:

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

my glory, and the lifter of my head.

[8] Salvation belongs to the LORD;

your blessing be on your people!

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Pastor Fred Scragg V.

May 19, 2024

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

Jesus Cancels Opposition

Psalm 2

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In Psalm 2, King David says:

[1] Why do the nations rage

and the peoples plot in vain?

[2] The kings of the earth set themselves,

and the rulers take counsel together,

against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying,

[3] “Let us burst their bonds apart

and cast away their cords from us.”

[4] He who sits in the heavens laughs;

the Lord holds them in derision.

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

and terrify them in his fury, saying,

[6] “As for me, I have set my King

on Zion, my holy hill.”

[7] I will tell of the decree:

The LORD said to me, “You are my Son;

today I have begotten you.

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

and the ends of the earth your possession.

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

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

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

be warned, O rulers of the earth.

[11] Serve the LORD with fear,

and rejoice with trembling.

[12] Kiss the Son,

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

for his wrath is quickly kindled.

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

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

Part 1 comes from verses 1-3.  

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

God’s solution is His Son, Jesus Christ.

Jesus will rule the universe eternally with justice and love.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

No!

Absolutely not!

No way!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

He tells us to:

Be wise.

Serve the Lord.

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

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Pastor Fred Scragg V.

May 12, 2024

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

Love Conquers All (in the Ashes of the Fall)

John 15.9-17

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

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

What will be your legacy?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Let’s hear together from John 15.9-17.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This is Jesus’ legacy for you.

This is what Jesus leaves you with.

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

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Pastor Fred Scragg V.

May 5, 2024.

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

Love Won Another

Numbers 21.4-9 + John 3.14-21

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

They were a fiendish lot.  

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

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

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

“DISCOURAGEMENT.”

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

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

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

Am I going to lose my job?

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

Who is going to be the President next year?

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

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

And the list of worries grows and grows.  

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

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

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

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

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

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

Let’s look at this Biblical text together now.

Numbers 21.4-9 says this:

Numbers 21:4–9

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

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

First, discouragement leads to speaking against God.

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

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

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

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

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

Our speaking against God sounds something like this:

My food isn’t tasty enough…

My clothes aren’t stylish enough…

My body isn’t beautiful enough…

My house isn’t big enough…

My car isn’t new enough…

My family isn’t refined and educated enough…

My church isn’t exciting enough…

My paycheck isn’t big enough…

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

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

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

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

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

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

Third, discouragement leads to a false view of reality.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fifth, discouragement leads to God’s Judgment.

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

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

and because of God’s judgment…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Pastor Fred Scragg V.

March 10, 2024

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

Remember Redemption

john 2.13-22

Why do you go to church?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Do you avoid church because you think it is boring?

Do you avoid church because you think it is irrelevant?

Do you avoid church because you think Christians are hypocrites?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

John 2.13-22 says this:

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

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

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

The disciples could have sung:

“I remember, I remember when

[Jesus] lost [his] mind.

Does that make [Him] crazy?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The first verse and chorus go like this:

I paint a picture of the days gone by

When love went blind and you would make me see

I’d stare a lifetime into your eyes

So that I knew that you were there for me

Time after time you there for me

Remember yesterday, walking hand in hand

Love letters in the sand, I remember you

Through the sleepless nights through every endless day

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

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

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

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

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

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

Receive and Remember your Redemption from this day forward.

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Pastor Fred Scragg V.

March 3, 2024