Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

Salt, Light, and Righteousness

Matthew 5.13-20

In 1987, British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac released their fourteenth studio album Tango In the Night.

Tango In the Night contained a song which would go on to become one of the band’s biggest hits of their career.

The song was titled Little Lies and contained the following lyrics:

If I could turn the page

In time, then I’d rearrange just a day or two

Close my,

Close my,

Close my eyes

But I couldn’t find a way

So I’ll settle for one day to believe in you

Tell me,

Tell me,

Tell me lies

Tell me lies

Tell me sweet little lies

(Tell me lies, tell me, tell me lies)

Oh no, no you can’t disguise

Tell me lies

Tell me sweet little lies

McVie said of the lyrics: “The idea of the lyric is, if I had the chance, I’d do it differently next time. But since I can’t, just carry on lying to me and I’ll believe, even though I know you’re lying.”

‘Little Lies’ sees McVie speak from the viewpoint – perhaps her own – of someone who has been tortured by the emotional uncertainty that romantic relationships bring. They have ultimately brought the curtain down on a past relationship but cannot help but think, “what if?”. This is most clearly exemplified when she sings the lyrics, “If I could turn the page/In time then I’d rearrange/Just a day or two.”

At one point or another, we have all been duped by the lies that someone else was telling us.

What lies have you believed?

What lies are you believing right now?

What lies do you want to continue to believe?

In this morning’s text, where we hear from one of Jesus’ sermons.  We are going to hear some really good news that brings freedom into our lives. However, this freedom is often covered up and made into a burden for us by the lies the world tells us, the lies Satan tells us, the lies that we tell ourselves, and sadly, the lies that some churches often tell us.

Let’s hear from The Gospel of Matthew, the disciple Matthew’s biography of Jesus, together.

Matthew 5.13-20 has Jesus preaching this message:

[13] “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.

[14] “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. [15] Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. [16] In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

[17] “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. [18] For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. [19] Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. [20] For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. (ESV)

This text from the Gospel of Matthew, which is the disciple Matthew’s biography of Jesus, allows us to hear part of a sermon that Jesus was preaching on a mountainside.  If you have been in the Church world for a while, you have probably heard of this text referred to as The Sermon on the Mount.

In this section of Jesus’ sermon that we just heard together, Jesus is pretty much saying, 

“God wants you to be a good person who does good things for those that you come into contact with each day.”  

Or, in other Biblical words,

[37] …“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. [38] This is the great and first commandment. [39] And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. (Matthew 22:37–39, ESV)

Seems simple enough. Right?

Well, we actually come into a problem when we hear about God’s desire for us to do good things in this world.

The problem rears its ugly head by presenting us with two lies that we often believe when we think about the good deeds that God wants us to do.

The first lie that we believe is this:

“Since it says that Jesus did everything for me in verse 17, I no longer have to do anything that God says.”

This lie is known in in the theological world as anit-nomianism.

When we break down that term we have the word anti which means against and the Greek word nomos which means law.

So, together antinomianism is the idea that as Christians we are against God’s Law and Commands.  Meaning that after we come to faith, we have no need to do anything that God’s Word tells us to do.

However, that idea is a lie because it goes against everything that God’s Word says about the Christian life.

Specifically, Jesus’ brother James, in the book named after him, tells us this:

[22] But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. [23] For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. [24] For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. [25] But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.  (James 1:22–25, ESV)

The second lie is the more common lie and that lie that we often believe is this:

“Good deeds will get me into Heaven.”

What we mean by this is that if our perceived good outweighs our perceived bad at the end of our life, God will finally love us and accept and let us into Heaven.

This line of thinking, that is completely wrong, unBiblical, and a lie straight out of the pits of Hell, is probably the biggest lie that people inside and outside of the Church believe.

It is wrong, unBiblical, and a lie, because God tells us over and over and over again, in his Word, that forgiveness of sin and eternal life only come to us through faith in Jesus Christ.

Here some of the Scriptures that tells us this:

In his letter to the church gathered in Galatia during the first Century, the apostle Paul says:

[16] yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. (Galatians 2:16, ESV)

And, finally,

[22] the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: [23] for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, [24] and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, [25] whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. (Romans 3:22–25, ESV)

There is no amount of good that you can do in your lifetime that will make God love you, forgive you, accept you, and welcome you into Heaven.  

That’s because without faith in Jesus which brings the knowledge and comfort of God’s love into your life, all of your attempted good deeds will also be stained and corrupted by some sort of false motives for self-exaltation and personal glory.

Good deeds done only to earn blessing or escape punishment are inherently self-seeking—the kind of good deeds that [the Apostle] Paul says God doesn’t recognize as good in Romans 2.6-7 which says:

“[God] will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.”

C.S.Lewis, the author of the acclaimed Chronicles of Narnia, was also an Oxford University professor and a convinced atheist who became a Christian in his thirties.  

One afternoon he was walking through the corridors of Oxford when he heard someone call his name from inside a classroom.  A group of his colleagues were gathered in a lecture room, listing out on a blackboard all the things world religions have in common—things like morality, accountability, judgement, worship.  Knowing that Lewis was a Christian, they challenged him: “Jack (that was his nickname—I have no idea how you get from Clive Staples to Jack), tell us what Christianity believes that is not already listed on this blackboard.”  Lewis went in, looked at their list for a moment, walked up to the board, took a piece of chalk and wrote just one simple word:

“Grace.”

Lewis put down the chalk and walked out without a a word.  

That’s an Oxford don’s version of a mic drop.  

Two things to learn from this story: one, never try to outwit C.S. Lewis.  Two, grace is what distinguishes Christianity from every other religion.  

Christianity at its core, is not good advice about what we must do for God, but rather, good news about what [God has] done for us.  It’s not primarily instructions in morality or accountability or goodness but a declaration of grace.

Grace means “underserved kindness.”

Through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, you, while you are still in your sin, are a recipient of God’s grace, or God’s underserved kindness.

The most important thing about Jesus is not what he taught but what he did.  

It’s not what Jesus taught that saved us, but what he did.  He lived in perfect obedience to God the Father in Heaven.  He died on the cross as the innocent and perfect sacrifice needed to replace you and me, in order to provide forgiveness for our sin.  And, he rose from the grave on the first Easter Morning, defeating the power of sin and death enabling us to walk into God’s Kingdom of Heaven with eternal life. 

We don’t go out into the world and treat others with love, grace, and mercy because we have to.

We go out into the world and treat others with love, grace, and mercy, because we get to.

And, we get to because Jesus treated us with love, grace, and mercy first.

1 John 4:9–11,19 tells us this truth with these words of encouragement: 

[9] In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. [10] In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. [11] Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. (ESV)

[19] We love because he first loved us. (ESV)

In this beginning portion of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, we are comforted by the truth that Jesus is the salt that never lost its saltiness.

We are also comforted by the truth that Jesus is the light of the world that never goes out and can never be fully hidden.

And, we are finally comforted by the truth that Jesus did everything that God’s law commands to be done in order to reach perfection, acceptance, and welcoming by God the Father in Heaven.

We are comforted by all of this because Jesus was all of this and did all of this for you and me.

Having faith in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection for you means that you will hear from God:

“You have never lost your saltiness. Therefore, you won’t be thrown out.”

“You have never hid your light. Therefore, you have brought glory to God by showing others the way to him through faith in Christ alone.”

“You have fulfilled and accomplished all of what the Law and Prophets say to do and not do.”

“You have taught the ways of God, the Father in Heaven, to others.”

“Your righteousness exceeds that of the Scribes and Pharisees.”

“Welcome home! Enter the Kingdom of Heaven!”

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

February 15, 2026.

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

The Blazing One

Matthew 4.12-25

In his novel, This Is Happiness, Niall Williams’ elderly narrator, Noe (pronounced No), remembers when electricity and light came to their little Irish village of Faha.

Noe narrates the life changing moment that light entered his world like this:

“I’m aware here that it may be hard to imagine the enormity of this moment, the threshold that once crossed would leave behind a world that had endured for centuries, and that this moment was only sixty years ago.

Consider this: when the electricity did finally come, it was discovered that the 100-watt bulb was too bright for Faha. The instant garishness was too shocking. Dust and cobwebs were discovered to have been thickening on every surface since the sixteenth century. Reality was appalling. It turned out Siney Dunne’s fine head of hair was a wig, not even close in color to the scruff of his neck, and Marian McGlynn’s healthy allure was in fact a caked make-up the color of red turf ash.

In the week following the switch-on, store owner Tom Clohessy couldn’t keep mirrors in stock, as people came in from out the country and bought looking glasses of all variety, went home, and in merciless illumination endured the chastening of all flesh when they saw what they looked like for the first time.”

When we are used to the darkness, light can be shocking to our system.

Light can be shocking because light has the power to expose the truth that we are trying to hide—an aging face, a wig to cover a balding head, the caked on dirt and grime from laziness in cleaning our home.

However, just because light can be shocking doesn’t mean that light is bad.  Light does the job of exposing the truth so that we can make the proper attempts to clean up our messes and live in the freedom of reality. 

In this morning’s Biblical text, chosen for us by the lectionary, we head back into the Gospel of Matthew, or, in other words, the disciple Matthew’s first hand account of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

In this text from Matthew’s experience with Jesus, we hear that when Jesus comes into our life, He shines a light on the truth of the way we are living and He shines a light on the truth of how we are restored into a healthy and life-giving relationship with God, our Father and Creator.

Matthew 4:12–25 tells us this:

[12] Now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee. [13] And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, [14] so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

[15] “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,

the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—

[16] the people dwelling in darkness

have seen a great light,

and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death,

on them a light has dawned.”

[17] From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

[18] While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. [19] And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” [20] Immediately they left their nets and followed him. [21] And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. [22] Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

[23] And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. [24] So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics, and he healed them. [25] And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan. (ESV)

Think about the ways light helps you on a daily basis.

You use your cell phone flashlight to look for something under the couch.

You use you cell phone flashlight to read a menu at a darkly lit restaurant.

You use your cell phone flashlight to illuminate the path from your car to your front door when you get home after the sun has gone down.

You need the help that light provides on a daily basis because there is a lot of dark and darkness in our world.

As our text makes clear, Jesus is the light that we need to help us on a daily basis.  Jesus is the one that shows you the way, the only way, to God the Father in Heaven.  

To make that point, our text for today has Matthew quoting from the prophet Isaiah to tell us about what happens when Jesus comes into the world and into our lives.

However, without a little history lesson, the prophecy about Jesus made in verses 15 and 16 can leave us scratching our head in confusion.

So, what does all of this talk about the ancient cities of Zebulun and Naphtali have to do with Jesus?

Well, Jesus went to the region of Galilee to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah 9:1-2. 

Centuries before Jesus went to the Galilee, when the northern empire of Assyria had conquered Israel, the darkness of the Assyrian invasion had fallen first on the northern tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali. But Isaiah had promised that they would be the first to see the light when God came to liberate his people. Matthew says that that’s now happening.  Through the ministry of Jesus, a new day or era is coming.

The Bible tells us that the world was cast into darkness because of Sin.  The darkness came because Sin causes humanity to give up loving one another in order to focus on serving and loving themselves.  Due to the inward, individual focus that Sin brings, people love themselves more than they loved God and therefore, more than they love those around them.

As the world became a place where you and I played the game, “Everyman, woman, and child for themselves,”  we all lost the safety and security that love brings to us.

As we heard from the Gospel of John around Christmas, 

[1] In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. [2] He was in the beginning with God. [3] All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. [4] In him was life, and the life was the light of men. [5] The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

[9] The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. [10] He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. [11] He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. (John 1.1-5, 9-11, ESV)

However, as John continues on, there is good news for you and for me.

[12] But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, [13] who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1.12-13,ESV)

Jesus is the light.

Jesus is the light of salvation.

Jesus is the light of rescue.

Jesus is the light of forgiveness.

Jesus is the light of freedom.

Jesus is the light of life.

First, out text shows us that Jesus shines brightly in every dark place so that your Sin can be exposed, and you can come to repentance and faith.

And, it is faith in Jesus, as the light of God for salvation that brings you the hope of forgiveness and life eternal.

1 John 1:5–7 tells us this:

[5] This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. [6] If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. [7] But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. (ESV)

Second, our text shows us that Jesus shines the light on our lives and reveals that our lives have been given to us and are meant to overflow with Godly, eternal meaning and purpose.

Jesus transforms the lives of simple fisherman by using their gifts, talents, and passions for a greater purpose.  Jesus tells Simon and Andrew that they are going to put down their nets on the seashore and instead focus their attention on going into the towns and villages around them to catch men, women, and children for the Kingdom of Heaven.  They would do this by sharing the good news of God’s Savior, Jesus, who has come to rescue them from the darkness of being separated from God because of Sin.

By the light of Jesus Christ that shines on the will of God for you and me, we are shown what it looks like to live in a manner worthy of one who is righteous and holy. By living with the fruit of God’s Spirit moving us, we are made to be loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled so that those we interact with will experience Godliness and will be drawn to the light of Jesus for themselves.

Finally, our text shows us that Jesus shines the light on our life and heals us from the sickness, disease, and spiritual forces of evil and Sin that hold us back from living in the freedom of being a child of God.

In our text, Jesus heals physical diseases.  Does that mean that Jesus will heal all of your physical illnesses and diseases in this life?  No!  There is no where in the Bible that promises that.  Instead, Jesus’ healing miracles point us to the fact that we are broken and unwell because of Sin and need to be spiritually healed if we are going to have the hope of being accepted by and reconnected to God our Father in Heaven.

In 2021, The Washington Post shared this story:

It started in November with a single string of Christmas lights on a Baltimore County street. Kim Morton was home watching a movie with her daughter when she received a text from her neighbor who lives directly across the road. He told her to peek outside.

Matt Riggs had hung a string of white Christmas lights, stretching from his home to hers. He also left a tin of homemade cookies on her doorstep. The lights, he told her, were meant to reinforce that they were always connected.

Riggs said, “I was reaching out to Kim to literally brighten her world.” He knew his neighbor was facing a dark time. Morton had shared that she was dealing with depression and anxiety. She was also grieving the loss of a loved one and struggling with work-related stress. The mounting pressure led to panic attacks.

A bit of brightness was in order, he decided, but he certainly did not expect that his one strand of Christmas lights would somehow spark a neighborhood-wide movement. In the days that followed Riggs’ light-hanging gesture, neighbor after neighbor followed suit, stretching lines of Christmas lights from one side of the street to the other.

When Leabe Commisso, who lives on the other end of the block, saw what Riggs had done, she wanted in. She said, to her neighbor, “Let’s do it, too. Before we knew it, we were cleaning out Home Depot of all the lights.”

Quickly, other neighbors caught on. Kim said, “Little by little, the whole neighborhood started doing it. The lights were a physical sign of connection and love.”

She and Riggs were stunned to see neighbors with drills and ladders, up on their rooftops and tangled in trees, doing whatever they had to do to hang the lights. For the first time in a long time, a feeling of togetherness—and light—had returned.

Riggs said, “What blows my mind is that it was all organic. It just happened. There was no planning. It just grew out of everybody’s desire for beauty and joy and connection.”

But the impromptu effort has perhaps had the most profound impact on the person for whom it was originally intended. Kim said, “It made me look up, literally and figuratively, above all the things that were dragging me down. It was light pushing back the darkness.”

When you see that Jesus has come to you, you see the sign that God has connected your home, in the darkness of a fallen world, to his home—the Kingdom of Heaven—through the light of Christ  your Savior.

Colossians 1:12–14 encourages us with these words:

[12] [give] thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. [13] He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, [14] in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (ESV)

As a sinner living with other sinners in a fallen world, you encounter darkness every day. While you may experience Instagram-worthy, sunny day picnic lunches, the reality is that life is more of a midnight walk through the woods. On any given day, you probably encounter more darkness than you do truth. So, to move forward without danger and get to where you are meant to go, you need something to light your way.

As a Christian who now has the light of God in Christ in your life, your proper response is to connect the light of Christ to others living in the darkness of this world so that they too are included in the ever expanding neighborhood family that makes up God’s eternal Kingdom.

All of this is brought together in a beautifully poetic way in a late 17th Century hymn:

O Christ, our true and only light,

enlighten those who sit in night;

let those afar now hear your voice

and in your fold with us rejoice.

Fill with the radiance of your grace

the souls now lost in error’s maze;

enlighten those whose inmost minds

some dark delusion haunts and blinds.

O gently call those gone astray

that they may find the saving way;

let ev’ry conscience sore oppressed

in you find peace and heav’nly rest.

Shine on the darkened and the cold,

recall the wand’rers to your fold;

unite all those who walk apart,

confirm the weak and doubting heart,

That they with us may evermore

such grace with wond’ring thanks adore

and endless praise to you be giv’n

by all your Church in earth and heav’n.

Or, in a more modern late 1990s Christian rap song, the truth of today’s Biblical text goes something like this:

The Light of Christ is a blazing one

there’s a fight to live right and it’s major son

but the grace has come so we praise the Son  

and celebrate Him cause we know what He saved us from 

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

February 8, 2026.

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

A Little Bit of Patience

Matthew 13.24-30, 36-43

What makes you impatient?

I mean, when you are out there just trying to live your life and get things done, what frustrates you and brings your lack of patience to the surface?

The comedian Louis C.K. did a routine many years ago that starts with the line, “Everything’s amazing right now, but nobody’s happy.”

Here’s what he said to poke fun at our ingratitude and impatience:

In my lifetime the changes in the world have been incredible.

When I was a kid, we had a rotary phone. We had a phone you had to stand next to, and you had to dial it. Do you realize how primitive that was? You were making sparks. And you would actually hate people who had zeroes in their number because it was more [work]. And then if you called and they weren’t home, the phone would just ring lonely by itself.

And then if you wanted money you had to go in the bank-and it was open for like three hours, and you’d stand in line and write a check. And then if you ran out of money, you’d just say, “Well, I just can’t do any more things now.”

Now we live in an amazing, amazing world, and it’s wasted on [a] generation of spoiled [people] that don’t care. This is what people are like now: they’ve got their phone, and they go, “Ugh, it won’t [work fast enough].”

Give it a second! It’s going to space. Will you give it a second to get back from space? Is the speed of light too slow for you?

I was on an airplane, and there was high-speed internet…. And I’m sitting on the plane, and they say, “Open up your laptop, you can go on the internet.” It’s fast… it’s amazing …. And then the thing breaks down. They apologize, “The internet’s not working.” And the guy next to me says, “O, great] this [stinks].” Like how quickly the world owes him something he knew existed only ten seconds ago.

People come back from flights, and they tell you their story, and it’s a horror story…. [They say], “It was the worst day of my life.

First of all, we didn’t board for twenty minutes. And then we get on the plane, and they made us sit there on the runway for forty minutes.” [And I say,] “O, really, and what happened next? Did you fly in the air, incredibly, like a bird? Did you partake in the miracle of human flight?” Everybody on every plane should be constantly [screaming], “WOW!” You’re flying. You’re sitting in a chair in the sky!

Here’s the thing: People say there are “delays” on flights. Delays, really? New York to California in five hours! It used to take thirty years to do that, and a bunch of you would die on the way.

It is often said that, “patience is a virtue.”

Or, as sung by Lois Reeves in her #1 1991 soul hit, 

“Patience is a virtue

And, good things come to those who wait.”

What that means is that the ability to wait for something without getting frustrated, angry, or upset is a sought after, useful and valuable quality for life.

However, one thing we can be sure of is that being patient isn’t easy for us.

We don’t like to wait for what we want.

We want immediate satisfaction.

What frustrates you and brings your lack of patience to the surface?

Think about ordering something from Amazon with a Prime membership.

Even though you know the package is coming today or tomorrow, it still isn’t fast enough.

You check several times a day to see when it is shipped and then you follow the tracking number to find out exactly when the package will arrive on your doorstep.

Impatience is on display when we are waiting for a simple delivery.

Think about getting stuck behind a slow driver.

After only a few seconds, our blood pressure rises, we start moving side to side in our own car to see if there is anyone else in front of the slow driver-possibly making the slow driver in front of us slow as well- and we strongly consider breaking the law and speeding around the slow driver as our minds become

filled with all kinds of profanities that we want to shout out as we get in another lane and speed past them. 

Impatience is on display when we want to get to our destination a few seconds faster.

Think about being online at the supermarket when the person in front of you asks for a price check.

Now, you have to wait for the cashier to call someone to the register, for that person to take the item all the way back into the store to check the price tag on the shelf, and to return to let the cashier know if the customer was correct in their understanding of the cost of the item.

Again, impatience is on display when we want to get out of the grocery store so that we can get back to our couch to continue doom scrolling on Facebook.

Those are a few examples of how we lose our patience with minor issues in our life.

However, we are also impatient with major issues in our life.

Some of us are impatient when we waiting for our boyfriend to get down on one knee and ask us to marry them.

Some of us are impatient when we are waiting for the results of an MRI or biopsy.

Some of us are impatient when waiting for a promotion or pay raise.

Some of us are impatient when we are waiting for the next election season to arrive.

And, some of us are impatient when we are waiting for our kid or and spouse to get their act together and do the right things.

In this morning’s text, from Matthew’s biography of Jesus, we hear about our impatience that comes to the surface when justice is delayed — you know, when we see evil happening around us that is going unrecognized and unpunished.

In this Biblical text, we are going to hear why we should have patience when the world around us seems to be getting away with fraud.

Let’s hear together what Jesus says about why the world is the way it is and why we should be patient in the middle of what seems to be a mess.

In Matthew 13.24-30, we are told:

[24] He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, [25] but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. [26] So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. [27] And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ [28] He said to them,

‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ [29] But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. [30] Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”'” (ESV)

Now, you and I, not having been raised in an agricultural society—meaning a society where everyone’s livelihood comes from farming — may have a bit of trouble understanding the meaning behind this parable—this story with a spiritual point.

And, Jesus knows that, so Jesus interprets the parable for us so that there will be no confusion as to what He is revealing to us.

Jesus says this in Matthew 13.36-43:

[36] Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” [37] He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. [38] The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, [39] and the enemy who sowed them is the devil.

The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. [40] Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. [41] The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, [42] and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. [43] Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear. (ESV)

What we hear in this parable—a story with a spiritual message—is that a farmer goes out and sows seed in his field. However, when he goes into his house, washes up, sits down for dinner, and goes to bed, his evil neighbor hops the fence and plants weeds all around the wheat crop.

When the wheat and weeds begin to grow, the workers in the field see what is going on and are confused.

They see that something bad has grown where the farmer has planted only good seed.

So, they ask the farmer if they should go out and rip out all of the weeds so that the wheat can grow unhindered.

However, the farmer points out that if the workers were to go in and rip out the weeds, they would also end up damaging and ripping out some of the good wheat as well.

So, the farmer tells them to wait until the end of the season when it is harvest time.

At that point, everything that has grown in the field can be pulled out and easily separated because the weeds are so vastly different from the wheat.

So, what is needed by the workers is patience.

And, they can be patient because they know that the farmer knows exactly what is going on and has a plan to make it all better.

We are very often impatient with others.

We are very often impatient with ourselves.

And, we are very often impatient with God.

When we see wrong doing, we want it punished right away.

When bad things are being done, or at the very least, what we personally perceive to be be bad things being done, we immediately want to take matters into our own hands to make sure what we think should be done is done.

In the context of Jesus’ parable, we want to run out into the field and rip those weeds out of the ground.

In an article from The Mockingbird Journal that I read a few years ago, the author made this observation:

People facing immediate danger want to hear an authoritative voice they can draw assurance from; they want to be told what will occur, how they should prepare, and that all will be well. We are not well designed, it seems, to live in uncertainty.

The history of humanity is the history of impatience. Not only do we want knowledge of the future, we want it when we want it.

The Book of Job condemns as prideful this desire for immediate attention. Speaking out of the whirlwind, God makes it clear that he is not a vending machine. We must learn to wait upon the Lord, the Bible tells us.

Good luck with that, Job no doubt grumbled.

At some level, people must be thinking that the more they learn about what is predetermined, the more control they will have.

This is an illusion. Human beings want to feel that they are on a power walk into the future, when in fact we are always just tapping our canes on the pavement in the fog.

God often has other plans-plans that don’t fall in line with our self-centered and self-righteous way of wanting things accomplished.

God wants to wait because sometimes, in a sheer God ordained miracle, weeds turn into wheat.

And, that is exactly what happened to us because of God’s great love, grace, and mercy.

God was patient with us in our messed up, ungodly living because of the sin that dwells deep inside of us, and because He was patient with us and didn’t rip us up and destroy us, we had the opportunity to hear the good news of Jesus Christ and

believe in the forgiveness of sins, and the gifts of righteousness and eternal life that come through faith in Him.

The Bible speaks of God’s patience with us and explains why He (and we) should be patient with him and others as well.

2 Peter 3:8-10 says 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)

Augustine, the first century theologian, called a Church Father, said that when Jesus explained this parable he told us this:

“The field is the world, and the church is spread throughout the world. Let the one who is wheat persevere until the harvest; let those who are weeds be changed into wheat. There is this difference between people and real grain and real weeds, for what was grain in the field is grain and what were weeds are weeds. But in the Lord’s field, which is the church, at times what was grain turns into weeds and at times what were weeds turn into grain; and no one knows what they will be tomorrow.”

The Egyptian lawyer and preacher, Adel Bestavros, who passed away in 2005, once said it this way:

“Patience with others is Love…Patience with God is Faith.”

Patience is no doubt something that helps you live a healthier life.

However, it is not a virtue in the sense that it makes you better than others.

Being patient doesn’t make God love you more.

Before you are patient, you are already fully loved and fully accepted by God because of Jesus’ death on the cross and resurrection from the grave.

Being patient with God and others is a proper response to God, the One who was first patient with you so that you could come to a saving faith and be grafted into His Heavenly family.

When, in the words of Guns ‘N’ Roses, “All you need is just a little patience,” remember that everything’s amazing right now, be happy!

God is patient with you.

2 Peter 3:15, tells you to:

[15] … count the patience of our Lord as salvation…

Your salvation.

And, the salvation of all of those weeds that God turns into wheat as well.

God, in Jesus Christ, is always patient with you so that you can be forgiven and saved.

So, be patient with God. this week.

And, be patient with others this week.

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

February 1, 2026.

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

Come and See

John 1.35-42a

Why did you come to church this morning?

What are you looking for today?

Are you looking for peace of mind?

Are you looking for relief from your anxiety?

Are you looking for strength to get through the day or the week?

Are you looking for some excitement to combat the drudgery of a boring, purposeless existence?

Are you looking for hope that things will get better?

Are you looking for assurance that God is real?

We are all, often, looking for an escape from our day to day experiences which seem to bring more questions than answers, more suffering than safety, and more despair than repair.

In this morning’s Biblical text, chosen for us by the lectionary for this Second Sunday after Epiphany, we enter into a scene where a few men were looking for all of the things above and found them all in an unexpected place.

Let’s hear from the Gospel of John now.

John 1:35–42a tell us this:

[35] The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, [36] and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” [37] The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. [38] Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” [39] He said to them, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. [40] One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. [41] He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). [42a] He brought him to Jesus.

As I often note in my messages, times and places are very important in understanding the Biblical narrative of God’s grace to us.

Our text for this morning opens us with a time stamp signaling that these things we hear about happened on “the next day.”

That means we have to ask the question, “what happened the prior day that was so important for us to remember?”

Well, if you remember last week’s message, what happened the day before today’s text was Jesus’ baptism.

I want to take moment to speak about Jesus’ baptism because I didn’t get to address this specific idea in last week’s sermon.

When Jesus approached John the Baptist to be baptized, John was taken aback because he knew that baptism for the washing and cleansing from Sin and he also knew that Jesus was sinless.  So, in John’s mind, Jesus did not need the effects of baptism in his life to make him right with God.

And, knowing that Jesus is sinless, we often come to the same conclusion as John, asking, “Why did Jesus have to be baptized?”

Again, if we remember from last week, Jesus said that He needed to be baptized to “fulfill all righteousness.”

To be righteous is to be perfect in every way.  To be righteous means that you have never done anything wrong, not even once, when measured against God’s standards for life and love.  And, in the Bible there are way over 600 specific commands for you follow.  

But, the Bible is clear, and you know it in your heart,  that not one regular human being is able to completely do everything that God says to do and not do.

The Apostle Paul quotes an Old Testament prophet and says,

“None is righteous, no, not one;

[11] no one understands;

no one seeks for God.

[12] All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;

no one does good,

not even one.” (Romans 3:10–12, ESV)

The only way that we can be called righteous, perfect, and good by God and welcomed into His Kingdom of Heaven is though faith in Jesus.  Faith in Jesus Christ completely unites us to Him and therefore everything that He has thought, said, and done is credited to our account before God.  That means, through baptismal faith which ultimately trusts in God’s gift of Jesus to do for you what you could never do for yourself—live a perfectly Godly life from beginning to end—God will call you righteous, perfect, holy, and welcome you with open arms into His Forever Kingdom.

So, even though Jesus did not need to be forgiven of Sin, He needed to be baptized because He needed to checkoff God’s command to be baptized so that when you stand with faith in Him, you will be seen by God as having completed God’s list of commandments—which includes baptism—without failure at any point.

Now, back to our originally scheduled programming.

So, the next day, after seeing Jesus baptized and hearing the voice of God say, “This is my Son with whom I am well pleased,” as the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus, what does John believe and tell others about Jesus?

As soon as John the Baptist sees Jesus, he turns to some of his students and confesses his faith to them by saying, “Behold, the Lamb of God!”

I ask you to consider this…

What do you think about Jesus and what do you say about Jesus the day after Sunday?

On Sunday you come to church, you sing songs about Jesus, you read Scriptures from the Bible about Jesus, you listen to sermons about Jesus, and you respond by confessing your sin, confessing your faith and then you receive communion, which is the body and blood of Jesus which makes you right with God.

So, after a day of seeing Jesus and coming to Jesus for forgiveness and life on Sunday, what happens on Monday morning when you wake up and begin your daily routine?

On the next day, the day after Sunday,

Do you think about Jesus?

Do you thank Jesus for being your Savior and Friend?

Do you trust Jesus to do what He says He will do, which is provide for your needs?

Do you talk about Jesus with others?

Do you invite others to Bible study or to a church service so that they too and come and see that Jesus is the Lamb of God, the Messiah, the One that they need?

Or, do you mostly forget about Jesus until it is time to go back to the building located at 10 Pinetree Road in Huntington Station?

In our text for this morning, John the Baptist did not forget about Jesus the day after God brought Jesus into his life to do what was impossible for him to do for himself—find the forgiveness of sin and an eternal home in God’s Kingdom.

And, in our text this morning, after taking up Jesus’ gentle and grace-filled invitation to come and see that He was the Savior that God promised, John’s students become Jesus’ disciples.  Being filled with awe and wonder at God’s great love for them, Jesus’ new disciples immediately go out and talk about Jesus and bring other people to Jesus so that they too can come and see that Jesus is the Lamb of God, the Messiah, the One that they need if they are going to live with peace and hope on a daily basis.

When I was doing my undergraduate work at Brooklyn College, I had a friend who was sadly a part of the 7th Day Adventist cult.  In an attempt to evangelize me, she gave me a pamphlet from her “church.”  On the cover of the pamphlet was artist’s rendering of an angry Jesus pointing his index finger at you in condemnation.

I will have the image from the cover of that cult’s communication forever in my memory because of the striking contrast between who they were telling me Jesus was and who the real Jesus is.

Jesus doesn’t wave His finger in your face to condemn you.

As you hear every Sunday before communion, Jesus gently and graciously invites you to come and see that He is willing to take all of your burdens upon Himself and give you rest.

You hear that every Sunday when I share from Matthew 11:28–30, which has Jesus saying to you:

[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)

As you have heard today, Jesus invites you to be part of God’s family by coming to walk alongside of Him where He will graciously show you that He loves you and willingly came to be the sacrificial Lamb of God on the cross so that He could also be your sin forgiving Messiah/Savior.

Think about a lifeguard who watches over a beach or a pool.  When a lifeguard sees a person begin to struggle, they don’t sit in their chair and wonder if he would if the struggling person would make fun of their swimming or reject their attempt to save them.  No, they see the helpless condition of the one in the water and they do something immediately.

All around you are men and women drowning in their own sin.  They are frantically waving, hoping for someone to notice them.  How often do you sit in your shaded chair and refuse to help them because you are concerned about what they might say about you or how they might respond?  

People are dying.  Will you get out of your chair and help them?

John the Baptist did.

Andrew did.

And they started with those closest to them—a brother and close friends.

Jesus was John the Baptist’s lifeguard.

Jesus was Andrew’s lifeguard.

And, Jesus is your lifeguard.

Jesus saw you struggling in your Sin.

Jesus immediately took action by getting out of His chair—His throne in Heaven—to come to your side and rescue you from death.

Jesus came to be the Lamb of God for you—the perfect sacrifice on the cross to pay for your Sin.

Jesus came to be your Messiah/Savior—the only One capable of forgiving your Sin, making your righteous, and handing you eternal life.

What are you seeking today?

Are you seeking peace?

In John 14:27, Jesus says to you:

[27] 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. (ESV)

Are you seeking strength?

Are you seeking assurance that God is real?

In 1 John 5:13, God says this to you about His Word, the Bible: 

[13] I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. (ESV)

Are you seeking hope that things will get better?

God assures you that He is alive and active pouring out every spiritual blessing in the Heavenly realms into your life when you read Philippians 1.6:

[6] And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (ESV)

Just as Jesus called John’s friends to “Come and see,” Jesus calls you to “Come and see.”

Seeing Jesus in action is an integral part of faith.

It is only when you witness Jesus words, thoughts, and actions that you can confidently say today and the next day that “Jesus is the Lamb of God,” and, “Jesus is the Messiah.”

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

January 18, 2026.

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

God Only Knows

Matthew 2.13-23

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

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

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

The world can be violent and therefore emotionally devastating.  

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

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

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

Let’s hear from Matthew 2.13-23 now.

Matthew 2:13–23 tells us this:

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

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

[18] “A voice was heard in Ramah,

weeping and loud lamentation,

Rachel weeping for her children;

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

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

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

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

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

Osbourne hauntingly croons:

Facedown on the pavement like a wounded animal

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

The sky is laughing at me, shivers through my bones

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

God only knows what’s going on

My life has become the saddest song

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Stress kills.

Literally.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Christmas is always about two trees.

Two very different trees.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

How is God leading you and protecting you?  

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

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

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

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

December 28, 2025.

Prayer:

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

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

Joyful, We Adore Thee

Matthew 11.2-15

God has a funny way of working in my life so that I am prepared each Sunday to stand in the pulpit and bring you a true-to-life message of how God’s grace meets the ground we are standing on.

God’s funny way of working is this: If the message’s theme is hope, like the first week of Advent, God allows most things in my life to lead me to the edge of insanity where I am tempted to give up all hope in good finally prevailing.  If the message’s theme is peace, like last Sunday, God allows me to have a restless week where I question every decision I ever made.

That being said, this week’s message, for the third week of Advent is always centered on the theme of joy.

Now, experiencing joy is something I struggle with on a regular week.  However, this week, God did his thing in my life and allowed me to experience the burden of a to-do list that exponentially generated more and more items that needed my attention alongside seemingly impossible relationships and seemingly impossible situations to navigate.

Midweek, as I was driving out to Garvie’s Point Museum to join my younger son on a field trip, I was experiencing great discomfort with a never-ending thought cycle that was attempting to figure out all of the current problems I had on my plate.

To help lessen some of that nervous anxiety, I decided to put on my mentor’s podcast just to hear the soothing and gentle and gracious tone of his voice.  

The podcast is always bookended with short musical content that pertains to the podcast’s topic of discussion.  

As soon as I hit play, I heard the 1963 bop from Lesley Core that contains these lyrics,

“Sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows

Everything that’s wonderful is what I feel.”

I immediately and literally laughed out loud.  

“Everything that’s wonderful is what I feel.”  What a striking contrast to my then current feelings!

Life is filled with doubts and disappointments.

Life is filled with unmet hopes and expectations.

And, all of this can easily steal our joy.

If you remember from last week, God sent John the Baptist to the people of Israel to proclaim that when God shows up on the scene in the person of Jesus Christ, God is giving out the gift of peace.  To make sure we have what we need to meet God face-to-face, John the Baptist laid out the specifics of being prepared for that encounter. 

He tells those that have ears to hear that peace with God comes from confessing one’s sin and repenting of one’s sin.  He also mentioned that peace with God comes from being washed clean of sin through baptism and receiving the guarantee of forgiveness and salvation through God living with you daily in the third person of the Trinity—the Holy Spirit.

All of this work is accomplished for you, the work of forgiveness and salvation that makes you right with God,  is finished for you through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

This week, as we celebrate the Third Week of Advent, the Sunday that thematically centers on joy, we meet back up with John the Baptist.

Let’s just say that John’s current situation tempts him to lose all hope and lack both peace and joy.

Matthew 11.2-15 tells us this:

[2] Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples [3] and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” [4] And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: [5] the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. [6] And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

[7] As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? [8] What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. [9] What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. [10] This is he of whom it is written,

“‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face,

who will prepare your way before you.’

[11] Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. [12] From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force. [13] For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John, [14] and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. [15] He who has ears to hear, let him hear. (ESV)

When we meet back up with John the Baptist, we find him in prison.

Why is John in prison?

Well, besides people causing an uproar after being offended by his message of sin and salvation (when they should have rejoiced!), John found himself in trouble with one of the political leaders. John, in his God ordained task, confronted King Herod in  his commandment breaking action.  King Herod, one of the Roman leaders, was having an adulterous relationship with his sister in-law.  When John informed King Herod of his disobedience to God’s by saying, “It is unlawful for you to have her,” King Herod imprisoned John. 

As John becomes intimately acquainted with shame, hunger, physical torment, and emotional struggle, it would have been really easy for John the Baptist to loose his joy.

After a life of following God and doing things that aligned with God’s will, John found himself locked up behind bars.

Seeing this progression of events, we can find ourselves asking, “Why did God allow him to end up in jail (where he would eventually be beheaded)?”

In a similar fashion, people often ask me to answer their big question of, “Why?” — “Why is God allowing me to experience this current suffering?”

The answer is, I don’t know exactly.  I don’t have an exact answer as to why God allowed John to be imprisoned following a life of service to God.  I also don’t have an exact answer as to why God allows you to experience the pain and suffering that you experience.

And, I never will never have that full answer this side of Heaven.

But, what I do know is that Jesus tells us that we will experience suffering this side of Heaven due to the persistence of Sin in this world.  We find ourselves in some very dark places due to the problems our own sin creates as well as the problems that the sin of others creates.

Oswald Chambers, an early twentieth-century Scottish Baptist preacher, wrote, “Happiness depends on what happens; joy does not.”

So, how can I be joyful if life is a dumpster fire right now?

That was basically John’s question that he had his disciples ask Jesus.

And, Jesus gives them this answer:

You can have joy in every situation and circumstance by looking to Jesus, the assurance of God’s love for you.

2 Corinthians 1:20 tell us this:

[20] For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. (ESV)

And, this is the exact message that Jesus gives John’s disciples to restore them to a place of joy.

Jesus tells them that, YES!, He is the Messiah, the Anointed One, God’s sent Savior.

He tells them that all they have to do is look at His actions and listen to His words because they match the exact description of the Savior that God has been talking about and promising for thousands of years.

Jesus lists off His qualifications.

He has restored sight to the blind.

He has restored the ability to walk to those that have been crippled and paralyzed.

He has restored health and wellness to the terminally sick.

He has raised people from the dead.

He has brought hope to the hopeless.

He has brought peace to the restless.

And, He has brought joy to the despairing.

All of this work of Jesus matches the promises of God.

One of those promises is found in the words of the prophet Isaiah who describes the coming Savior.

In verses 35:4–6, Isaiah tells us this:

[4] Say to those who have an anxious heart,

“Be strong; fear not!

Behold, your God

will come with vengeance,

with the recompense of God.

He will come and save you.”

[5] Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,

and the ears of the deaf unstopped;

[6] then shall the lame man leap like a deer,

and the tongue of the mute sing for joy…(ESV)                                                           

We often confuse joy with the absence of problems in our life.  

However, we hear James, the brother of Jesus, in his Epistle say 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. (James 1:2–4, ESV)

The Apostle Paul writes the following words from a prison cell, where he too was being held captive for preaching the Good News of sin and salvation.

To the church in Thessalonica, he writes:

[16] Rejoice always, [17] pray without ceasing, [18] give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thessalonians 5:16–18, ESV)

Joy does not come from the absence of problems in our life.  

Romans 8:31–39 reminds us of this truth.

[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?…

[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)

Karl Barth, another early twentieth-century preacher, this time from the Swiss Reformed tradition said, “Joy is the simplest form of gratitude.”

Joy comes from having faith and being thankful that God loves you and has made a way for you to find yourself in the comfort of His arms—even if you are experiencing difficulties right now.  

Joy comes from daily trusting that you have a Savior, Jesus, come to you and die for you and rise from the grave for you, so that you too can be dead to Sin alive to God.

“God’s Word is a rock, not because it makes everything easy, but because it keeps your feet out of sinking sand amid difficult situations and unmet expectations.

Even in the middle of difficult situations, unmet expectations, and limited perception, Jesus is worthy of our trust. Telling others about Him won’t be easy, but it is a calling worth giving our lives to. We fight doubt in this world and fight fear of this world with faith in the promised Messiah.”

Wherever you are right now, whatever you are experiencing, I leave you with a few other words, also written by the Apostle Paul from his own place of shame, hunger, physical torment, and emotional struggle, while being imprisoned for doing the work of God in the world.

Paul said this to the church gathered in the city of Philippi and he says it to you as well:

[4] Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. [5] Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; [6] do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. [7] And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:4–7, ESV)

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

This is the Joy of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

December 21, 2025.

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

Keep Calm and Carry On

Matthew 3.1-12

In September 1939, the British government distributed a poster that said, “Your Courage, Your Cheerfulness, Your Resolution, Will Bring Us Victory.”  Soon another poster was printed and distributed. “Freedom Is in Peril; Defend It with All Your Might.” 

During World War II, these two posters showed up all over England—on railroad platforms and in pubs, in stores and in restaurants. The government created a third poster in the series but it never saw the light of day. British officials held it in reserve for an extreme crisis, like a German invasion of Britain. More than 2.5 million copies of this third poster were printed, yet the public never saw it until 2001. That’s when a bookstore owner in northeast England discovered one in a box of old books. What did that poster say? “Keep Calm and Carry On.” 

“Keep Calm and Carry On” became so popular that the bookstore began putting it on items like coffee mugs, postcards, and T-shirts. The rest, as they say, is history. 

Management guru Jim Collins studied leadership in turbulent times. He looked at more than twenty thousand companies, sifting through data in search of an answer to this question: in an extreme crisis, why do some leaders make it while others don’t? Collins concluded that successful leaders in a crisis aren’t more creative, more visionary, more ambitious, or more risk-taking. What sets them apart? They’re more self-controlled. They keep calm and carry on.

One of the major messages of Advent and Christmas is the message of peace.  

Another way to understand that is to say that one of the major messages of Advent and Christmas is the message to “Keep Calm and Carry On.”

The experience of peace can be elusive. 

The experience of peace can be here one second and gone the next.

And, for some of us, we may believe that experiencing peace is an impossibility.

On this Second Sunday of Advent, I want to let you know that experiencing peace is possible. 

God does not desire for you to live in a constant state of restlessness, anxiety, and worry.  

So, let’s hear more about that by following our Biblical text for this morning.

Matthew 3:1–12 tells us this:

[1] In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, [2] “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” [3] For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said,

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:

‘Prepare the way of the Lord;

make his paths straight.’”

[4] Now John wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. [5] Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, [6] and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

[7] But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? [8] Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. [9] And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. [10] Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

[11] “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. [12] His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” (ESV)

The Bible tells us that it God’s will that every man, woman, and child would be able to live at peace.  

The peace that God desires for you to have is the peace that comes from finding rest for your heart, mind, and soul, by knowing and believing that in Jesus’ coming to you, living for you, dying on the cross for you, and rising from the grave for you, you are forgiven of your sin and reconciled to your Creator.

You can rest today because trusting in Christ gives you every last thing you need to be ready to meet God.  

Because of Jesus, God does not require anything else from you.  

Through Jesus, all of the work of has been finished for you!

The heart of God that wants nothing more than for you to live at peace with Him is spoken of by both the Apostle Paul and the Apostle Peter in their letters to the early Christian Church.

2 Peter 3:8–9 says 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. (ESV)

And, 1 Timothy 2:1–6 says this:

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

In this morning’s Biblical text, chosen for us by the lectionary for this 2nd Sunday of Advent, the Sunday that celebrates the Peace that comes with Jesus on Christmas, we are given what we need to have peace with God today.

In this piece of history that describes the ministry of John the Baptist,  John the Baptist tells us where peace comes from and how peace comes into our lives.

First, John the Baptist says that peace comes from being prepared to meet God and His Kingdom.

God’s eternal Kingdom of Heaven is described like this:

[1] …I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. [2] And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. [3] And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. [4] He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

[5] And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” [6] And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. [7] The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. (Revelation 21:1–7, ESV)

There is peace in God’s Kingdom because, as we are told in this text from Revelation, there will be no more reasons for tears, no more reasons for mourning loss, no more reasons for pain and suffering, and no more death.

There is peace in God’s Kingdom because in God’s Kingdom all wrongs have finally been righted. 

There is peace in God’s Kingdom because life has been restored back to what God originally intended it to be when He breathed life into Adam and Eve and placed them in the Garden of Eden.

Second, John the Baptist says that peace comes from repentance and confession.

Confession is to say, “I have been doing the wrong thing.”

Repentance is to say, “I will turn around and do the right thing.”

In the Alcoholics Anonymous recovery program, we confess our problem every time we open our mouth.  Any time you want to speak at an AA meeting, you have to begin with saying, “Hi, my name is Fred and I am an alcoholic.”  

This is statement of both confession and repentance.  By introducing ourselves this way, we are saying, “I recognize my extreme crisis.  I have a severe and life-threatening problem with alcohol and I am here to actively do what I can, with God’s empowering and leading help, to change this behavior.”

There is something freeing about admitting your faults and knowing that those that you are admitting your faults to will not judge you or expel you, but will rush to your side 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to encourage you, lift you up, support you, and correct you when needed.

The church is the same. It is the local chapter of a universal community. Call it Sinners Anonymous. Each week I stand up and say, “Hi, I’m Fred. I’m a sinner. I need help. And only a higher power can give me the help I need—though I admit I also need all of you to help me on the way.” 

As you well know, Christians know the name of that higher power. It’s Jesus. He is the help we need. He is where we’re going.  He is the way to where we’re going. His people, sisters and brothers in Christ, are fellow sinners on the way. They are Jesus’s uncountable hands and feet and eyes and ears, his friends guiding your steps along the path, one by one. When you fall, and you will, you can’t get up alone. He will pick you up with the help of those in this place. This is the Christian life. It is a fragile and vulnerable thing, but beautiful and peaceful for just that reason.

When our eyes are opened and we see the ways that we have been disobedient to God and we respond by confessing that Sin to Him, we find peace because we have the good news that He will always forgive us for the sin we confess (and even the sin we don’t! Praise the Lord!) and He will restore us into a right and eternal relationship with Himself.

Third, John the Baptist says that peace comes from baptism.

In his letter to the Christians gathered in the city of Rome, the Apostle Paul describes baptism this way:

[3] Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? [4] We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

[5] For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. (Romans 6:3–5, ESV)

And, the author of Hebrews adds this to the baptism discussion:

[22] let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. [23] Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. (Hebrews 10:22–23, ESV)

Baptism let’s us experience peace because the Word of God mixed with the water does what it promises to do—wash us and cleanse us from the dirt and filth of our Sin that keeps us away from God our Father in Heaven.

Fourth, John the Baptism says that peace comes from the Holy Spirit.

Again, the Apostle Paul helps us out here in his letter to the Roman Christians when he says:

[1] Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. [2] Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. [3] Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, [4] and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, [5] and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1–5, ESV)

And,

[11] In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, [12] so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. [13] In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, [14] who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:11–14, ESV)

Peace comes from the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit is God living in us.  With the Holy Spirit, we have God with us all of the time and everywhere.

The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity, the piece of God that He puts in us, to lead us and guide us and help us and empower us and correct us,  so that we are continually being renewed in the likeness of Jesus Christ.

The professional world has a slogan that goes like this:

“It’s not who you are.  It’s who you know.”

What that phrase is pointing out is that in order to get ahead in life, your qualifications often don’t matter.  You will get the job or position you are applying for only if you know the right people with the right names, the right titles, and the right money.

The fancy word for this unfair treatment is nepotism.

This is one of the sins that John the Baptist was confronting in our text this morning.

As John was preaching about God’s grace, mercy, and love coming to forgive and restore through His Savior, Jesus, the Jewish crowd was fighting back saying that they didn’t need Jesus because they were descendants of Abraham who was the Father of God’s people (see Genesis 12).

The Jews who were hearing John’s message of good news took offense to the idea that they were sinners in need of a Savior.

The Jews on the shore of the Jordan river that day believed they would get ahead in life, that is ahead in eternal life because of who they knew. 

However, peace with God doesn’t come from who you know—Peace with God doesn’t come from your past; Peace with God doesn’t come for the specific denomination listed on your church’s sign; Peace with God doesn’t come from the people you know; Peace with God doesn’t come from your family name; Peace with God doesn’t come from your grandfather’s spirituality and commitment to the church; Peace with God doesn’t come from your mother’s charitable giving and lifetime of service to a religious organization.

No, peace with God comes from who you are.  And, through faith in Christ, you are fully united with Jesus and everything Jesus every did, said, and thought, becomes yours when God looks at you from His throne.

Only when you are covered in the life and blood of Jesus can you rest in the assurance that God will accept you and welcome you into His enteral Kingdom.

Guitar virtuoso Jimi Hendrix once said, 

“When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.”

This morning, you are facing an extreme crisis.  Your freedom is in peril.  Because of sin, you are heading toward death and eternal suffering.  

As our Biblical text tells us this morning, it is not your courage, your cheerfulness, your resolution, or your families’ tradition and history that will bring you victory over this separation from God.  It is only God’s coming to you in the person of Jesus Christ and dying on the cross in Jesus Christ, and rising from the grave in Jesus Christ, that will make you into one who conquers Sin and Death. 

This morning, the power of love has overcome the love of power.  

The power of God’s love for you has over your love of worldly power.

Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand.  Jesus will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.  This is the promise and guarantee that you are at peace with God today, tomorrow, and forever.

So, when life gets chaotic, take a deep breath and Keep Calm and Carry On because you have been washed, sanctified and justified in the name of Jesus Christ your Lord (1 Corinthians 6.11).

This week, whatever your lot, God has taught you to say, “It is well with my soul!”

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

This is the Peace of God of you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

December 7, 2025.

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

The Reason For the Season

Luke 23.27-43

THE season is here.

Clocks are set back.

The temperatures are around the point where water freezes.

Snow flurries have already fallen

Gloves, coats and hats are the dress code.

Hot chocolate sales are up.

Egg nog is back in stock at the supermarket.

The Hallmark Chanel is operating in all of its glory.

Mariah Carey is on the radio.

And, Mariah Carey is on the radio.

And, Mariah Carey is on the radio.

The season that I am, of course, talking about is the Christmas season.

Next Sunday, when we are back in this sanctuary, we will be celebrating the first official day of the Advent and Christmas season.

Some of you have all of your decorations prepped and ready to go up the day after Thanksgiving.

However, there are also many of you that have bi-passed Thanksgiving, tossed the turkey and the cranberry sauce aside, and have been living in the light of the tiny colored bulbs of your Christmas tree since November 1st.  

Whether you are preparing now to set up those Christmas decorations as soon as the Thanksgiving left overs are put away or you are of the kind that forsakes the calendar and lives lawlessly by setting up your Christmas decorations weeks before the turkey is served, what this planning and excitement show us is that almost everyone lives in anticipation of the Christmas season.

And, we live with this anticipation because we all see something special about this season.  We all enter this time of the year with a specific reason or set of reasons for the celebration that this season brings.

So, I ask you, what is the reason for the season for you?

Do you see the reason for the season being family gatherings?

Do you see the reason for the season being gift giving and gift receiving?

Do you see the reason for the season being the smiles on the faces of your kids as they tear the wrapping paper off of their presents?

Do you see the reason for the season being a few restful days off of work?

Do you see the reason for the season as being a time to go out to catch up with your friends who are home from school on winter break?

Do you see the reason for the season being an opportunity to flee to the cold whether for a tropical vacation?

When you think about this time of year, what is the reason for the season for you?

This morning, to define the reason for the Christmas season, we are going to look at what probably seems like a strange Biblical text to use in order to do so. It may seem strange to you because instead of talking about happy and fun things like babies and animals and presents, our Biblical text that answers the question, “What is the reason for the season?,” talks about things like suffering and death.

Our Biblical text for his morning, picked for us by the lectionary brings us to Luke 23.27-43.  It is in this graphic scene from Jesus’ life that we are set up and led into the right mindset for the Christmas season.

Let’s hear from Luke 23.27-43 together now.

The text tells us this:

[27] And there followed [Jesus] a great multitude of the people and of women who were mourning and lamenting for him. [28] But turning to them Jesus said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. [29] For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ [30] Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ [31] For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

[32] Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. [33] And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. [34] And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments. [35] And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!” [36] The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine [37] and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” [38] There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”

[39] One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” [40] But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? [41] And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” [42] And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” [43] And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” (ESV)

Now, after hearing this text, this text about Jesus’ death on the cross, you may be thinking, “Pastor Fred, you must have read the wrong verses, those verses are for Good Friday and Easter.”

If you are thinking that, you aren’t alone.  When I opened up the lectionary and then opened my Bible to these verses this week, I thought the same thing.

But, as I asked the question, why are these verses chosen for the week before we officially begin celebrating Advent and Christmas, God, through the moving of His Holy Spirit, helped me understand why these verses are important in defining the reason for the Christmas season.

Although it is historically true that these verses tell us what happened on Good Friday and what led into the first Easter three days later, we have to remember that the Good Friday and Easter events, which are the reason we gather and celebrate every Sunday, were and are the driving force behind the Christmas season.

Yes, the Christmas season celebrates that a baby was born.

But, the Christmas season also celebrates that the baby, named Jesus, called “God with us” and “the One who would save men and women from their sin,” was born with the intention and goal of dying on the cross around 30 years later in order to provide what was needed to connect men and women back to God, the Father in Heaven.

Many of us are familiar with the Toys For Tots organization.  We see them out and about in the months and weeks leading up to Christmas collecting donations of toys that will eventually be distributed to families in need.

The Toys for Tots website states: “The mission of the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program is to collect new, unwrapped toys during October, November, and December each year, and distribute those toys as Christmas gifts to needy children in the community in which the campaign is conducted.” 

That being the case, it was surprising when the charity rejected a donation of 4,000 new, unwrapped toys heading into the 2006 Christmas season.

What was the reason for this rejection? The toys in question were battery-operated, talking representations of Jesus Christ. 

According to the website of the dolls’ manufacturer, One2Believe, the button-activated, bearded Talking Jesus doll is dressed in hand-sewn cloth outfits and sandals. It also recites Scripture verses, such as, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Bill Grein, vice president of the Toys for Tots program, said the charity chose to reject the dolls for several reasons. First, as a government entity, the Marines “don’t profess one religion over another,” Grein said. “We can’t take a chance on sending a Talking Jesus doll to a Jewish family or a Muslim family.”

He also added that, “Kids want a gift for the holiday season that is fun.”

Thankfully, this particular Christmas story does have a happy ending. About a week after his initial decision to reject the toys, Mr. Grein sent the following e-mail to their manufacturer: “Having reconsidered your kind offer of several thousand dolls last week, the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation would like to receive them. We believe that with some effort we will be able to find homes for them all.”

Even though I find it ironic that Toys For Tots’ mission statement uses the word Christmas and then rejects Christ, I share this story not to point a finger at Toys For Tots initial decision to reject talking Jesus dolls (although the description of them seems a bit weird and creepy, even to me, a Christian pastor).

I share this story because like Toys For Tots, like many of us define the reason for the Christmas season wrong.

Toys For Tots defined the reason for the Christmas season as “Fun.”

In our commercialization of the Christmas season, we try to make the reason for the season pure fun by focusing on a jolly old man who laughs while surrounded by dancing and singing elves who hand out candy and presents to all the good little girls and boys.

Although the reason for the Christmas season is defined throughout the week’s of Advent leading up to Christmas morning as love, joy, hope, and peace, that love, joy, hope and peace is brought into the world and into your life through the least fun event possible — death through crucifixion.

One of the criminals hanging next to Jesus on his own cross rejected Jesus because what was happening in that moment wasn’t fun.

However, the other criminal knew the truth of God’s grace and mercy in that horrendous moment of suffering and death — sin creates a mess that is cleaned up by an equally appropriate mess.  Sin brings death into the lives of each one of us and can only be overcome and defeated by the death of a perfect substitutionary sacrifice. 

The reason for the Christmas season is God’s love for you driving Him with the single-minded purpose of bringing you to a state of hope, joy, and peace, by providing you with the Savior you need to forgive you of your sin and re-connect you back to God your Father in Heaven today and forever.

When God steps into your life in the person of Jesus Christ, born into the world on Christmas morning, He is saying to you the exact thing that Jesus said to the criminal who had faith in Him on Good Friday — He is saying to you, “Today, you will be with me in paradise!” He is saying, “I am hanging here and being punished and condemned for sin, not my sin, but the sin of others, so that through my sacrifice, their debt before God can be paid completely off and they can be forgiven and connected back to God in Heaven.” 

And, though fulfilling the promise of providing a Savior to rescue you from the mess of this life and that sin causes, God is giving you the assurance that He truly loves you, the assurance of the forgiveness of sin that instills hope for a future in Heaven, the assurance of having peace with God today and forever, and all of those Christmas gifts of love, hope, and peace, give the you the final gift of joy, knowing that everything you ever need, God has provided for you through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, His Son.

In their typical 80’s glam metal style, the Christian band, Stryper, sang these lyrics over double bass drumming and squealing guitars:

You, your life can be a holiday

Everyday when He is with you.

Hey, let’s get back to what it’s all about.

Shout it out. Christ is the reason.

We all know it’s better to give that receive

His gift is for those who believe.

You got it if you want it, just believe.

He is the reason for the season.

He is the reason for today.

He is the reason for the season.

Celebrate.

Another Christian musician from that same 1980s era said this:

This is an exciting time to be a Christian! There is more and more opposition to real Christianity which means that there will be more and more opportunity to shine for Christ. The darker the room, the brighter the light will shine. (Michael Bloodgood)

And, that thought comes from the Biblical statement made by the disciple John when was discussing Jesus’ coming into the world by saying:

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.

God’s ultimate goodness is revealed in Jesus nailed to a cross. 

Jesus allows His body to be beaten, stripped, whipped, and pinned to wood to forgive every sin of every person who ever lived. 

Jesus sees Mary and John at the cross to comfort Him and instead He comforts them. Jesus promises paradise to a dying thief. With His final breath, Jesus prays for forgiveness—for the very people who crucified Him. What does the cross tell us? God is good—very good.

Put the scenes together: Judgment is coming. God is forgiving. Paradise is offered. But the only ones who receive it are the humble who admit their sins and confess that Jesus is the Son of God who died on the cross to atone for their sins and was raised from the grave three days later. 

Friends, this morning be humble enough to confess your sins and turn away from them, calling on the name of the Lord.  God promises he will forgive you of your sin and robe you in his righteousness. And today paradise will be your home.

This morning and this season, follow Jesus from the manger in which he was born all the way to the cross on which he died.

Follow him, believe in his death on the cross for you, have faith, fear God, and hear him say to you, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do…Today, you will be with me in Paradise…God’s eternal Kingdom of Heaven.”

This is the Word of God for you today.

The is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

November 23, 2025.

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

The Final Countdown

Luke 21.5-19, 25-28

What’s that taste?

It’s the taste of poisoned Kool-Aid.

During the 1960s and 1970s, American preacher/teacher Jim Jones formed the The People’s Temple. The  purpose of The People’s Temple was to create a socialist utopia free from American capitalism.  Jones convinced his followers that social justice, racial equality, and various humanitarian causes were the answer to humanity’s woes.  After finding himself in trouble in the United States, Jones fled with his cult to Jonestown, Guyana to keep his dream alive.

In 1978, after being investigated by the United States for human rights abuses and keeping hostages, cult leader Jones led 912 of his commune members to commit a mass act of suicide/murder by drinking Kool-Aid mixed with cyanide.

False teachers exist.

What’s that smell?

It’s the smell of burning human flesh.

In the first Century following Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, Emperor Nero attempted to divert attention from his own corruption and failure as a Roman politician by falsely placing blame on the early church and her Christian members for the problems of society.

In a government led religious cleansing campaign, Nero had Christians arrested and imprisoned.  He had some of the captured Christians thrown to wild animals to be torn apart while still alive.  Nero also had some Christians hung on the walls of his palace and set on fire as human torches.

Christians are persecuted.

What’s that sound?

It’s the sound of women and children crying, bombs being dropped, buildings crumbling, and tanks rolling by as national leaders vie for more and more position and power on the world map.

Wars are happening.

Alt-rockers, Hot Water Music, look at the suffering of the world around us and conclude, 

“Our state of grace is gone;”

They are then quick to offer this solution: 

“May we combine tradition, Science and innovation. To benefit what’s ailing…”

Yes, our world is falling apart.  

But, that is not a sign that grace is gone.

And, I would argue that as humanity has tried to use tradition, science, and innovation to solve problems, those things have only exacerbated our downtrodden situation.

In this morning’s Biblical text, chosen for us by the lectionary for this 2nd-to-last Sunday of the church year, Jesus addresses all of these things.  Jesus talks about the pain, suffering, loss, and destruction happening around us.  But, Jesus also makes it clear that the grace of God is still at work for our ultimate good.

Let’s hear what Jesus has to say in chapter 21 of The Gospel According to Luke.

Luke 21:5–19, 25-28 tells us this:

[5] And while some were speaking of the temple, how it was adorned with noble stones and offerings, he said, [6] “As for these things that you see, the days will come when there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” [7] And they asked him, “Teacher, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when these things are about to take place?” [8] And he said, “See that you are not led astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is at hand!’ Do not go after them. [9] And when you hear of wars and tumults, do not be terrified, for these things must first take place, but the end will not be at once.”

[10] Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. [11] There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. [12] But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake. [13] This will be your opportunity to bear witness. [14] Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer, [15] for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. [16] You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. [17] You will be hated by all for my name’s sake. [18] But not a hair of your head will perish. [19] By your endurance you will gain your lives…

[25] “And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, [26] people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. [27] And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. [28] Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” (ESV)

Our text opens with the people around Jesus standing in awe of the temple in Jerusalem. They believed that their religious monument, their worship center, constructed with the finest materials on earth, was an indestructible place of safety.  

The Jews who worshiped there and pilgrimaged there placed their hope in the strength and stability of their temple building.  They believed it was the greatest sign of God’s blessing.  They believed it was the undeniable evidence that they were God’s children.

However, for our benefit, Jesus tears down the things that we place our hope in and in fact, do not offer us hope at all.

Jesus tears down what we love in this world so that we will place our affections where they belong — on the God who gives, the God who takes away, and the God who redeems.

Jesus prepares the people in Jerusalem for the coming destruction of the temple by letting them know a day is coming when it will be nothing but a pile of rubble.  We now know that this happened in the year 70 A.D. 

And, just as Jesus prepared the temple worshipers for it’s coming destruction, Jesus helps us to be prepared for the eventual destruction of the created order as we know it.

So, as Jesus does, Jesus focused attention on what is truly important, what truly matters, and what truly gives us hope—His presence with us to rescue us from the destruction and death unfolding around us.

Jesus wants us to be ready for two things.

What does Jesus want us to be ready for?

The first thing that Jesus wants you to be prepared for is the suffering that you will encounter in this world.

If you have sat in this room for at least one Sunday morning church service, you are aware that every human being (and to be clear—that includes you and me!) is corrupted by Sin from the moment of conception.

Due to Eve and Adam’s disobedience to God in the Garden of Eden, the human experience in this world was broken by Sin and it’s effects.  The major effect of Sin for you and me is that we are separated from God and cannot, by any strength or accomplishment, find our way back into the holiness of God.  Sin takes our eyes completely off of God by making us self-centered, selfish, and self-righteous. 

On Bethel’s social media this week, I shared a quote from a book I am currently reading.

The quote goes like this:

“God is not for the little engine that could.  God is for the train wreck that can’t.”

The truth of being stuck in Sin is that we wrongly believe that we are the little engine that could.  We end up wrongly believing that with enough self-talk and focused determination, we will be be able to get ourselves up and over the hill that separates us from God.  However, Sin corrupts us so completely that there is nothing we can do to get over the obstruction it puts between us and God our Father in Heaven.

So, even though we think we are the little engine that could, the truth is that we are the train wreck that can’t!

Like I said, you are probably familiar with the effects of Sin on the human being.

However, you may not realize that with the entrance of Sin into the world in the Garden of Eden, the created order was also cast in corruption and decay.  As an example of that, Adam is told that the ground will now produce weeds that will make his work difficult.  

Did you know that?  After God’s creation, the earth was perfect in every way which meant that there were no weeds in the garden, only healthy plants!  However, because of the brokenness of Sin, weeds now grow as a sign of God’s judgment.

(I bet those of you with green thumbs have just a little more disdain for Adam and Eve now!)

We hear that Sin effects the created order, not just the human being, in Romans 8:19–22.

[19] For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. [20] For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope [21] that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. [22] For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. (ESV)

Because of the effects of Sin on humanity, we destroy one another through persecutions and wars.

Because of the effects of Sin on Creation, decay and imbalance causes natural disasters—earthquakes, flooding, tornadoes—that often result in things like famine and pestilence.

The second thing that Jesus wants you to be ready for is the end of space and time and you know it.

In his book, Overcoming Life’s Sorrows: Learning From Jeremiah, R. Reed Lessing makes the observation that:

“It’s liberating to feel and grieve our suffering and our losses. They are serious. They are weighty and difficult. They are real. They will never stop being a part of our lives. Nevertheless, we are not the primary carrier of those losses. Jesus is. And Jesus is coming again. On the Last Day, Jesus will return and our bodies will rise out of the grave. We will be more alive than ever before. Our eyes will see God in His glorious splendor. We will rejoice over the new creation in all its majesty and perfection. Colors will burst forth in plants and animals with a rainbow of beauty. There is more. We will reach out and hold the hand of that person we so dearly loved—taken from us by death. What a grand reunion. And our taste buds? You think chocolates on Valentine’s Day are delicious now? Just wait until Jesus gives us redeemed bodies. Our tongues will explode with tastes and flavors like never before. And the sounds we will hear! Songs of praise, music, birds, laughter—all the happiest sounds, amplified in ways that will fill our hearts with joy. [Luke 6.21 gives us this hope:]

“Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh”.”

In the context of today’s Biblical verses, it is freeing to recognize and sit in sorrow over the destruction that Sin is causing in us and in the world that we inhabit.  This is freeing because it put reason to the rhyme of chaos.  And, it let’s us rest in the truth that God knows, God cares, and God is still in control moving all things together for our ultimate good—our redemption and salvation.

In Scripture, we are told that “…we are strangers before You and sojourners, as all our fathers were. Our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no abiding” (1 Chronicles 29:15, ESV). 

Throughout both the Old and New Testaments we read that this world, as wonderful as it can be, cannot sustain our deepest yearnings.

C. S. Lewis once said, “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.” 

Amen to that—for we were made for a world that shall not pass away.

False teachers exist and will continue to exist.

The fallen and corrupted world, with the devil and his minions prowling around, has and will continue to persecute Christians in an attempt to annihilate God’s people.

Wars have happened and will continue to happen.

These things are signs that Sin is real and has the power to kill and destroy.

These things are signs that the world is in a downward spiral of decay.

These things are signs that the world as we know it has an expiration date.  

There are no caveats or escape clauses here.  The world that we inhabit today will not exist forever.  It is all coming to an end.

However, none of this is a sign of losing our state of grace under God’s sovereign care.

Jesus’ eschatological teaching reveals that wars, suffering, and death have no ultimate meaning or hold on Christians.

These things are warning signs for you and me to run to God and place our hope in His forgiving, saving, and redeeming love.  

Uncertainty and fear should lead us to focus on Jesus’ redemption.

It is not tradition that will save you or the world.

It is not science that will save you or the world.

It is not innovation that will save you or the world.

It is only the redemption that comes from faith in Jesus Christ that will save you and the world by making you and the world completely new creations untainted by Sin and it’s corruption that leads to death.

This morning, know that the end of life as you know it is eventually coming.  

Don’t drink the poisoned Kool-Aid of false teaching.

Don’t hide your faith and deny Jesus because of the threats made against the Christian Church.

Don’t cower in fear every time you turn on the news.

Instead, trust and hope in God’s grace.  Straighten up and raise your heads, Jesus is your Redeemer.  Jesus’ Sin forgiving death on the cross and resurrection from the grave will bring you home to the re-created perfect heavens and earth where pain, suffering, tears, and death do not exist.

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

November 16, 2025.

Prayer:

Grant us, Lord, not to be anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly; and even now, while we are placed among things that are passing away, to hold fast to those that shall endure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen. 

(Proper 20 — BCP p. 234) 

Benediction:

Go, in peace today.  In Jesus Christ, your redemption from the troubles of Sin, both in you and in the world, has come and is coming fully.  Amen.

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

Jesus’ Prayer List

John 17.1-11

When you pray, what do you pray for?

Do you pray that you would get a “good night’s sleep?”

Do you pray that you would pass your upcoming school exams?

Do you pray that the guy or girl that you really like would ask you out on a date?

Do you pray that you would get a call back from the job you interviewed for?

Do you pray that you would have the money to pay the rent this month?

Do you pray that a rebellious child would turn around and come home?

Do you pray for reconciliation in our currently divided and hostile nation?

Do you pray for the imprisonment of your political rivals?

Do you pray that a sickness or disease would be healed?

Do you pray that the addiction of a loved one would be broken? 

Or, do you pray that a personal addiction that you are enslaved by would be broken?

At the age of 16, in the year 371, Augustine ran away from his mother in Carthage. During the night he sailed away to Rome, leaving her alone to her tears and her prayers.

How were these prayers answered? Not the way Monica [Augustine’s mother] hoped at the time.

Augustine himself wrote, “And what did she beg of you, my God, with all those tears, if not that you would prevent me from sailing away? But you did not do as she asked you. Instead, in the depth of your wisdom, you granted the wish that was closest to her heart.

“For she saw that you had granted her far more than she used to ask in her tearful prayers. You converted me to yourself, so that I no longer placed any hope in this world, but stood firmly upon the rule of faith. And you turned her sadness into rejoicing, into joy far fuller than her dearest wish, far sweeter and more chaste than any she had hoped to find.”

God always has our best and his glory in mind, and he is willing and able to answer our prayers with more than we could ask or imagine.

Through a mother’s prayer, a once rebellious teenage son became a 4th Century philosopher who majorly influences Christianity.  Today, when we discuss his theological contributions to the Church, we refer to him as Saint Augustine of Hippo.

Prayer happens in a variety of ways for a variety of reasons.

Sometimes we pray with other people in church using pre-writen, guided words of prayer on a screen.

And, sometimes we pray, using our own words, in our bed at night after reviewing the day we just completed and anticipating the new day that will begin in a few hours.

Sometimes we pray because we are thankful.

And, sometimes we pray because we are desperate.

We all pray.  

But, the questions that come with our prayer habits are:

“Who do you pray to?”

“What drives you to pray?”

And, “What do you pray for?”

In this morning’s text from the Gospel of John, or, in other words, John the disciple’s biography of Jesus, we are going to hear who Jesus prays to, what drives Jesus to prayer, and what Jesus prays for.  

In John 17:1–11, we hear this:

[1] When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, [2] since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. [3] And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. [4] I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. [5] And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

[6] “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. [7] Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. [8] For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. [9] I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. [10] All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. [11] And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. (ESV)

This morning, we find ourselves in the room and at the table where Jesus is eating The Last Supper with his disciples.  This is the night that Jesus will be betrayed, arrested, and set up for the death penalty.

Jesus’ disciples were troubled at the news of Jesus no longer being physically with them on a daily basis.  They had many questions about who would lead them, guide them, teach them, protect them, defend them, and strengthen them for the hardships associated with everyday life.

They were filled with fear, anxiety, confusion, doubt, and were experiencing an existential crisis that demonstrated a great need for help.

In the texts leading up to this morning’s pericope, Jesus addressed their concerns and gave them confidence through assuring them that He would fulfill his promise to them—the promise to be with them always (see Matthew 28.20)—by living with them and in them through the third person of the trinity known as the Holy Spirit.  In His presence with them, in the person of the Holy Spirit, Jesus would do everything He did for them while present with them in the flesh and bones of Jesus Christ.  He would continue to strengthen them to know the truth of God when confronted with the lies for the world and He would strengthen them to be obedient to God’s commands for life and love while always providing forgiveness when they stumbled.

After speaking with the disciples about what life will be like once He was gone from the earth, but present with them in the Holy Spirit, Jesus turns his attention to pray.

Just as we mentioned a few minutes ago, prayer begs three questions whenever we do it.

The first question is, “Who do you pray to?”

Why is this an important question?

This is an important question because there is only One person you can pray to that is alive and powerful and can therefore hear you and respond.

And, this One person is the exact person that Jesus prays to.

In verse 1 of our text, Jesus begins His prayer by acknowledging that He is asking God, the Father in Heaven, for His help.

In 1 Peter 5.6-7, we have this directive:

[6] Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, [7] casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. (ESV)

And, in Proverbs 15.29, we are told:

[29] The LORD is far from the wicked,

but he hears the prayer of the righteous. (ESV)

God cares for us and wants us to speak with Him about EVERYTHING,  He wants to know when we are content, happy, and thankful.  But, He also wants to know when we are in despair, dealing with depression, and have questions about His love for us.

We also have a warning about addressing our prayers to the wrong people and places in Psalm 115:4–13 when we hear the song writer say this:

[4] Their idols [the false gods that they pray to] 

are silver and gold,

the work of human hands.

[5] They have mouths, but do not speak;

eyes, but do not see.

[6] They have ears, but do not hear;

noses, but do not smell.

[7] They have hands, but do not feel;

feet, but do not walk;

and they do not make a sound in their throat.

[8] Those who make them become like them;

so do all who trust in them.

[9] O Israel, trust in the LORD!

He is their help and their shield.

[10] O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD!

He is their help and their shield.

[11] You who fear the LORD, trust in the LORD!

He is their help and their shield.

[12] The LORD has remembered us; he will bless us;

he will bless the house of Israel;

he will bless the house of Aaron;

[13] he will bless those who fear the LORD,

both the small and the great. (ESV)

This Biblical text is saying that,

You cannot pray to a statue and expect results;

You cannot pray to Allah or Mohammed and expect results;

You cannot pray to Mother Nature, and expect results;

You cannot pray to “the god of your understanding” and expect results;

And, you cannot cause a manifestation of a wish or desire by speaking it out into the Universe and expect results.

All of those examples are just man-made fictitious gods and prophets who have no divine power.

This Biblical text is also saying that,

You cannot pray to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and expect results;

You cannot pray to man-named “saints” and expect results;

You cannot pray to Buddha or Confucius and expect results;

And, you cannot pray to your ancestors—your parents, grandparents, or other relatives—and expect results.

All of those examples of people that are prayed to are just plain humans, like you and me, who have passed on from this life.

Regardless of what other people or places tell you about who to address your prayers to, you should always be wise and go back to the Bible to find the truth about who is listening and wants to respond to you.

And, this is what the Bible says about who we pray to:

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

Jesus knew the truth that God, the Father in Heaven, the Creator and Redeemer of all things, was the One and Only true God who is eternally alive and active.  

So, Jesus’ prayer aligned with the truth that would later be recorded by the disciple John in his first letter to the Christian Church in which he states:

[14] And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. [15] And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him. (1 John 5:13–15, ESV)

The second question that has to be asked when we pray is, “What is driving us to prayer?”

Well, for Jesus, we see and hear that Jesus is driven to prayer because He knows God is good and He wants the world to know that God is good by having him provide for the needs of His friends.

Jesus asks over and over again in prayer for God to be glorified.

What does this mean?

For God to be glorified means for God to receive the recognition and honor and praise and thanks that He deserves for being good and gracious and merciful to the world.

We actually ask the same thing when we pray the Lord’s prayer.

When we pray the Lord’s Prayer, the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray, we open in a similar way to the way that Jesus opens his prayer during this Last Supper conversation.

We say, “Our Father, who art in Heaven, Hallowed be your name.”

When we ask, “Hallowed be Your name,” we are asking God to let His name be known everywhere by every person so that He receives the recognition and honor and praise and thanks that He deserves for being good and gracious to the world.

So, Jesus is driven to prayer so that God can act graciously and mercifully and be known by more people in more places by His miraculous answers to prayer.  Jesus is praying for people to be saved.  He is asking for people to recognize God and their need for forgiveness and eternal life.

And, finally, the third question that has to be asked when we pray is, “What do we pray for?”

Well, in Jesus’ prayer this morning, he asks for two things.

The first thing we just discussed, Jesus asks that God would be glorified as people believe in Him as Lord and Savior.

The second thing that Jesus prays for is unity among all who follow him.

Jesus knows that the Church is made up of people from different ethnicities, different socio-economic status’, different upbringings, and so on.  

And, on top of all of those differences, the Church is made up of individuals corrupted by sin who are all self-centered, self-seeking, and self-preserving.  The Church is made up of changed and transformed individuals who will continue to struggle with the temptation to sin by always seeking their own good above the good of others.

But, Jesus knows what God reveals as truth—when humans find themselves believing in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and they are strengthened by the Holy Sprit to love one another and put the needs of others above their own, the love of God is shown to the world because they are demonstrating that this is the way that God loves humanity—He puts the needs of others, meaning you, above His own.

Through the unity of Christian brothers and sisters, the love that God has for you, the love that God demonstrated to you by giving Himself over to death on the cross in the person and work of Jesus Christ for you—to forgive your Sin, which includes a messed up prayer life and your part in the disunity of the Church—God points us back to what the song writer says in Psalm 133.1 when he tells us this truth:

[1] Behold, how good and pleasant it is

when brothers dwell in unity! (ESV)

Tim Keller, reflecting on the passage, “Don’t be anxious but make requests to God with thanksgiving”, writes that, “We would expect Paul to say first you make your requests to God and then, you thank him for the answers. But that is not what Paul says.” Keller then illustrates his point with a story from his early twenties:

I prayed for an entire year about a girl I was dating and wanted to marry, but she wanted out of the relationship. All year I prayed, “Lord, don’t let her break up with me.” Of course, in hindsight, it was the wrong girl. I actually did what I could to help God with the prayer, because one summer, near the end of the relationship, I got in a location that made it easier to see her. I was saying, “Lord, I am making this as easy as possible for you. I have asked you for this, and I have even taken the geographical distance away.” But as I look back, God was saying, “Son, when a child of mine makes a request, I always give that person what he or she would have asked for if they knew everything I know”

Jesus, being God in the flesh, knew everything that God, the Father, knew.  Therefore, when he prayed, he prayed for the exact things that He needed and that those He was praying for needed.

In this morning’s text, Jesus prayed that God would be glorified in all things done by Him and in all things done by those that had faith in Him as Lord and Savior.  Jesus prayed for the disciples at the table during The Last Supper, and Jesus prays for you.

I will say that last part again…

Jesus is always praying for you!

You are on Jesus’ prayer list!

That means the God that created and sustains the universe knows your name, knows your troubles, and knows your needs, and has you on His prayer list every second of every day.

So, with the good news of Jesus’ prayers for you, 

Go this week and pray only to God the Father in Heaven.

Go this week, let the love that God has for you in the person and work of Jesus Christ—the love that leads to your forgiveness, your reconciliation, your righteousness, and your eternal life—lead you into moments of prayer.

And, go this week and pray that God would be glorified in your thoughts, words, and actions, and that God would allow you, and the Christians in your Church, and in the world around you, to be unified so that that people are drawn to the cross of Christ where there is rest, peace, encouragement, support, help, and hope.

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Pastor Fred Scragg

November 9, 2025