Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

Crowned With Comfort

James 1.12-18

A few years ago, a YouTube video circulated among some of my pastor friends.

In that video, we learned about Andrew Brunson, a Christian pastor from North Carolina who spent 20 years in Turkey. 

He had a quiet but deep ministry there until 2016, when after a failed military coup, the government arrested him along with journalists, activists, military officers, and others. 

The Turkish government labeled Brunson a spy.

Brunson was held for more than a year without charges. 

He spent nearly two years in prison, often enduring long trial sessions. At one point, it looked like he could spend years or even decades in Turkish prisons. Finally, after pressure from the

United States Government, Brunson was released from prison and returned to the United States.

The video that circulated into my inbox contained a Wheaton College chapel talk in which Brunson candidly said that he did not feel God’s overwhelming presence during his stay in prison. Instead, he experienced something even deeper. Brunson said, “[After a few days in prison], I completely lost the sense of God’s presence. God was silent. And he remained silent for two years.”

When he was finally brought to trial, things were even worse. He says:

There are some who go into the valley of testing and some do not make it out … I was broken. I lay there alone in my solitary cell, I had great fear, terrible grief, and I was weeping. And the thought kept going through my mind, Where are you God? Why are you so far away? 

And I opened my mouth as I wept aloud, and I was surprised at what I heard coming out of my mouth. I heard, “I love you Jesus. I love you Jesus. I love you Jesus.” I thought here is my victory. Even if you’re silent, I love you. Even if you let my enemy harm me, I love you. [As] Jesus said, “But the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.”

What has happened in your past, or, is happening to you right now, that has you not feeling God’s overwhelming presence in your life, or, has you feeling like you lost the sense of God’s presence completely, believing God is silent?

When we experience periods of hardship and suffering (and we all do, trust me!) many questions arise for us about God’s goodness,  God’s promises, God’s presence, and God’s existence.

This was the experience of the pastor mentioned above, and at some point in life, it was your experience too.  It is only human to doubt and question God in a world filled with pain and corruption.  I say this to let you know that you are not alone this morning, even though you may think you are.

In this morning’s Biblical text, chosen for us by the lectionary for this First Sunday in Lent, we are going to hear some of what James, one of Jesus’ brothers, wrote concerning the place of hardship and struggle in our lives.

Let’s hear together from the first chapter of James’ letter as found in the New Testament section of the Bible.

James 1:12–18 says this:

[12] Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. [13] Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. [14] But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. [15] Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

[16] Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. [17] Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. [18] Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. (ESV)

Right before this section of James’ letter to the Christians in various cities throughout the Mediterranean region in the first Century following Jesus’ birth, James speaks about the testing of one’s faith.  He speaks very clearly about the times we experience fear, grief, weeping, pain, struggle and hardship.

For, faithfulness’ sake to this morning’s Biblical text, let’s read the  section of James’ letter that immediately precedes it and gives us context for what we hear James encourage us with in what we just heard.

In verse, 2-11, James says this:

[2] Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, [3] for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. [4] And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

[5] If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. [6] But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. [7] For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; [8] he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

[9] Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, [10] and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. [11] For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits. (ESV)

So, with all of this information, let’s ask and answer a question that arises out of this morning’s Biblical text from James 1.12-18.

Here’s the question: “Why should we feel like God is blessing us when we have difficulties and hardships in life?”

Well, according to James, when we walk through difficult moments and seasons of life and come out on the other side, our faith is strengthened because we see that God was with us the whole time, proving to us that nothing in all Creation can separate from us from his love.  

Even in the hardest moments of life, when we seemed to question everything and everyone, God did not leave us alone.  

In fact, we are reminded in Psalm 23, that God is not only with us in every moment, but he is also leading us, guiding us, and protecting us from ultimate harm.

Psalm 23 reminds us of this truthful good news when King David says:

[4] Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil,

for you are with me;

your rod and your staff,

they comfort me. (Psalm 23:4, ESV)

When the harder moments of life test our faith, our trust in God’s presence and goodness, that faith grows stronger as we learn that God is really real, really present, and really concerned for us, so much so that he would deal with the crap and filth of broken humanity, which spits in his face and denies that goodness and existence, in order to rescue and save us.

The Bible often speaks of the strength of God’s love for us and the fact that nothing in all of Creation, what has come before in our lives and what will come in the future for us, will ever be strong enough to separate us from His continuous grace, mercy, and love demonstrated most clearly in His rescue of us through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

In a specific example, the apostle Paul, when writing to the Christians gathered in the city of Rome in the first Century following Jesus’ death and resurrection, encourages believers with these words:

[31] What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? [32] He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? [33] Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. [34] Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. [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. (Romans 8:31–35, 37-39, ESV)

James goes as far to say that when we see, learn, and come to believe that God helps us in our times of need, we become perfect because we trust in God who is in control of all things and can do all things, instead of trusting in ourselves whom cannot control anything fully, regardless of how hard we try, and we will try, believe me.

We come to rest in the fact that God never changes.  God is always good to us.  God always acts with grace toward us.  God always acts with mercy toward us.  God always acts with love toward us.  God is always patient with us.  

The author of the Biblical book of Hebrews captures this point succinctly:

[8] Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. [9] Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace…(Hebrews 13:8–9, ESV)

It is God’s will that you be forgiven of your sin so that you do not remain separated from Him forever.  And, God does everything needed to make sure that happens for you.

God gives you the good and perfect gift of Jesus Christ, His Son, who is God in the flesh, God with you, who lived the life you couldn’t live—obeying every command of God for life and love, who died on the cross to pay the price and provide the forgiveness you need for your command breaking, lawless, self-centered life, and who walked out of the grave alive after three days, defeating the power of sin and death that once kept you separated from God eternally.

And, through standing firm in faith in that good and perfect gift that is Jesus Christ, you will be given the crown of life which is your one way ticket into the eternal Kingdom of Heaven.

Speaking of his life of standing firm in faith through both good and bad times, the apostle Paul talks about the crown of life that believers will receive like this:

2 Timothy 4:7–8

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

And, like this:

[24] Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. [25] Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable [crown], but we an imperishable [crown]. [26] So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. [27] But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. (1 Corinthians 9:24–27, ESV)

In his final letter to the churches on earth, the disciple John, shared this vision which has Jesus speaking to and encourages Christians saying:

[10] Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth. [11] I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown. (Revelation 3:10–11,ESV)

In this life, Jesus wore the crown of thorns, or, we could say, the crown of death, so that in your eternal existence, you could wear the crown of life, having been forgiven of your Sin, made righteous in every way, and therefore, welcomed into God’s Kingdom of Heaven.

At some each of us goes into the valley of testing and it is sad to know that some do not make it out.  We are broken. We lay in bed at night, feeling all alone, with great fear, with terrible grief, and we sometimes weep. The thought keeps going through our mind, Where are you God? Why are you so far away? 

In those moments, even as you weep aloud, hear Jesus saying to you, “Do not be deceived!,” “I love you!.” “I love you.” “I love you.”

And in response, say, “I love you Jesus. I love you Jesus. I love you Jesus.” “Even if you’re silent for a moment, I love you. Even if you let my enemy temporarily harm me, I love you.”

In every instance, ask God to remind you that Jesus said, “But the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.”

With faith in Jesus, you are always blessed when you remain steadfast under trial, for when you have stood the test you will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to you who love him.

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Pastor Fred Scragg V.

February 18, 2024

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

Jesus Clean

Mark 1.21-28

Have you ever been the victim of someone’s abuse of authority and power?

While I was doing research this week to find common day and historical abuses of power and authority, I came across a very sad truth.

That very sad truth is this—the vast majority of recorded information about abuses of power and authority were centered on sexual assault.  Throughout each and every generation of human existence, the most common reason that people abused their power and authority was to receive immediate sexual gratification from those left in their care.  Whether it was a family friend or relative asked to babysit, or, a CEO of a fortune 500 company, those asked and tasked to provide safety, security and guidance for those under them, have abused the power and authority given to them in every situation imaginable to take what wasn’t theirs for their own benefit.

If you have been a victim of this type of abuse of power, I am truly sorry.  No one deserves to be used by another for their personal satisfaction.  

What time as prove to be true is that people abuse power and authority for any reason—even silly ones.

In 2013, Mexico’s Attorney General for Consumer Protection shut down a restaurant based on a complaint from his daughter. She was mad because they didn’t seat her at the specific table she wanted.

The attorney general’s name was Humberto Benitez Treviño. His daughter had gone to a popular restaurant in Mexico City without a reservation. When the staff refused to seat her at the table she wanted, she threatened to call her father and have the restaurant shut down. 

Soon after, four officials from the consumer protection agency showed up to carry out a “lightning raid” on the restaurant. They said they found some violations, including a problem with their reservation policies. They shut it down. At the same time, the daughter went on Twitter to complain about the restaurant.

Public opinion quickly turned against her. Mexico has long had problems with officials abusing their power, and this case was particularly blatant. It became a topic for discussion across the country, so the Mexican president fired Trevino, and the restaurant was reopened.

In 2017, a mayor in Florida got caught using the handicapped parking permits of dead people.

Darlene Bradley was the Mayor of Davenport, Florida. What makes her abuse of power particularly outrageous is that she stole a dead person’s identity for something as trivial as a parking spot.

She got caught after someone tipped off police, and they reviewed security footage from the parking lot at City Hall. The video showed her parking in a handicapped space and then lifting a heavy, wheeled briefcase from her trunk. Police discovered her parking permit had been issued to a woman who died in 2012, and Bradley had altered the expiration date. They eventually searched her house and found she had additional permits, including one from someone who died in 2015.

Prosecutors said the mayor’s actions showed she thought she was above the law. As part of a plea deal, she was forced to resign. In exchange, prosecutors dropped the charge of criminal use of the identity of a deceased person.

When we are talking about the proper and improper uses of power and authority, it is only fair that we also ask an uncomfortable question that requires an answer that comes from taking stock of our own pasts and possibly present.

Here it is:

Have you ever been the one to abuse authority and power given to you, making others the victim of an abuse of authority and power?

In this morning’s Biblical text, chosen for us by the lectionary for this Fourth Sunday after Epiphany, we get to hear about the use of power and authority.  Specifically, we get to hear about how God, in the flesh and bones of Jesus Christ, used his power and authority, unlike the people just discussed, for the good of those He came to.

Let’s hear from the disciple Mark’s biography of Jesus now.

Mark 1.21-28 tells us this:

[21] And they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching. [22] And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes. [23] And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, [24] “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.” [25] But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” [26] And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him. [27] And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” [28] And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee. (ESV)

In this piece of history recorded for us, we see and hear that Jesus, God present with us, used his power and authority to help those that came into contact with Him.

First, we see that Jesus uses his power and authority to give us hope.’

And, he does this by using his power and authority to teach and preach a message that is actually called, “The Good News.”

As we saw last week, from the text that immediately precedes this one, Jesus’ message that He was teaching and preaching was, “Repent, Believe, Follow Me, and I will make you citizens of Heaven who love God and love others!”  

This message contained in all of Jesus’ preaching and teaching brings hope because with the message of God sending a Savior, He is also annoying and showing that He is the fulfillment of God’s promise to rescue and save humanity from being separated from God forever.

He is making the promise and fulfilling the promise all at once.

In my devotional reading this week, I once again came upon Galatians 4:4–7 which the apostle Paul tells us this very truth in this way:

[4] But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, [5] to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. [6] And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” [7] So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. (ESV)

Second, in our Biblical text for this morning, we see that Jesus uses his power and authority to make us clean.

Now, you may be asking, who is unclean?

Well, the immediate textual answer is the man that was possessed by an evil spirit.

We hear Jesus, with His power and authority over all things that were created, command the unclean spirit to leave the man it is bothering, enslaving, and oppressing.  And, because Jesus has power and authority over all things in existence, that unclean spirit had to obey and leave the man alone just as Jesus told it to.

It is here that we clearly see Jesus using his power and authority to set a man free from bondage to all things evil and ungodly, leaving the man in a better place, and a freer place, than he was before He met Jesus.

Even though our text focuses on this one unclean man, the text is also speaking to and referring to the fact that every man and woman that has ever been conceived and born into this world is unclean in God’s eyes before they are cleaned by the work that Jesus does in their lives. 

And, that includes you and me!

We are told over and over again in the Bible that being unclean, meaning morally impure, doing the things that God says not to do and not doing the things that God says to, separates you from God, your Creator and Father in Heaven.

Most of us go on living unclean, ungodly, selfish and self-centered lives, using whatever power and authority we can get to take what we think we deserve and are owed by the people and places around us.

However, because sin blinds us to our ungodliness and convinces us that we are in fact God, we often don’t see our need to be cleaned, saved, and restored into a relationship with God our Father until we encounter Jesus face-to-face.

Without the cleaning and transforming of our lives that Jesus ALONE provides for us, we are victimizers playing the victim to further use any and all power and authority we have to benefit ourselves.

The apostle John makes clear that those who remain unclean, that is untrusting and unbelieving in Jesus as Lord and Savior do not make it through the gates of Heaven.

In Revelation 21:22–27 when he writes about what Heaven will be like.  The apostle John says this:

[22] And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. [23] And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. [24] By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, [25] and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. [26] They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. [27] But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life. (ESV)

Later on in his ministry, after being asked to use his power and authority for the wrong purposes—to give a two men positions of power and authority over everyone else in the Kingdom of Heaven—Jesus answered with these words:

[25] But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. [26] It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, [27] and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, [28] even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:25–28, ESV)

Jesus always shows us his commitment to use his power and authority for the right reasons.

Unlike humans who use even the smallest bit of power and authority to serve themselves to the fullest, Jesus, God in the flesh, never once used his power and authority to serve himself.  Jesus always used his power and authority to serve you!

Jesus always used his power and authority to preach to you and teach you that there is hope for forgiveness, righteousness, and eternal life.

Jesus always used his power and authority to wash and clean you from all of the sin that separates you from God.

And, Jesus always used his power and authority to lead you back into the eternal presence of God, your Father in Heaven, who both created you and redeemed you at the price of His own life.

Author Vaughan Roberts recalled the following:

Bobby Moore was the England soccer captain who received the World Cup from Queen Elizabeth when England won the trophy in 1966. An interviewer later asked him to describe how he felt. He talked about how terrified he was as he approached Her Majesty, because he noticed she was wearing white gloves, while his hand, which would soon shake the Queen’s, was covered in mud from the pitch … As the triumphant captain walks along the balcony, he keeps wiping his hand on his shorts, and then on the velvet cloth in front of the Royal box in a desperate to get himself clean.

Roberts continued, 

“If Bobby Moore was worried about approaching the Queen with his muddy hands, how much more horrified should we be at the prospect of approaching God? Because of our sin, we are not just dirty on the outside; our hearts are unclean. And God doesn’t just wear white gloves; he is absolutely pure, through and through.”

The only way for you to become clean enough for God to be with you today, tomorrow, and forever, is to recognize Jesus’ power and authority to say what he going to do and do what he is says he will.

In 1958, Mr. Clean, the all-purpose cleaner was introduce to the world with the slogan, “There’s no clean, like Mr. Clean!’ 

For eternity’s sake, there’s no clean, like Jesus clean!

This morning, rejoice because in Jesus “you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:11, ESV)

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Pastor Fred Scragg V.

January 28, 2024