Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

Don’t Let Me Fall Apart

Luke 17.11-19

Dear God, don’t let me fall apart

Dear God, surround me as I speak

The bridges that I walk across are weak

In 1994, when Jars of Clay released their debut album, I loved the tune that contained these lyrics.

Back then, when I was 14 years old, I didn’t love the song for the lyrics.  I loved the song because there was finally a Christian band that grooved and bopped.  

However, 31 years later, and more importantly, 31 years older, I know find myself loving this song for this simple prayer that is the lyrical content of the track, “Like a Child.”

I love this simple prayer because it is very similar to the prayers that I pray all day everyday.

Let me tell you a little about the past couple weeks of my life.

Three weeks ago, on the second day of my vacation in Alabama, I got a text message telling me that one of the founding members of our congregation had died.  So, I spent my time of personal retreat helping a grieving family navigate the loss of their 98 year old patriarch.

When I returned to Huntington and was continuing to plan the funeral for this 98 year old man, I received a call from a father who just lost his 39 year old son to suicide.  In his death, he left behind a wife and two children who are 4 and 8 years old.

So, in the midst of holding up one family experiencing unimaginable pain and suffering, I now began to help hold up a second family experiencing unimaginable pain and suffering.

On Friday, as I was driving away from the graveside of that second burial, my cell phone rang.  While I was still on the grounds of the cemetery, I was being told that the UPS worker’s union was looking for Fred Scragg as the next of kin because my Uncle Wayne suddenly passed away the day before.

Life can be relentless.  It seems as if one of our hands is always holding onto what we would categorize as unimaginable pain and suffering.  

But, that unimaginable pain and suffering doesn’t have to just be death and loss.

Maybe you find yourself laying in bed at night, reviewing the day’s events, most clearly, all of your personal failures, but sprinkled with the pains and hurts you experienced, questioning absolutely everything, and the only words that you have the strength to speak are “Don’t let me fall apart,” or, “Jesus, have mercy on me,” or, “God, help me.”

Maybe, for you, your hands are trying to hold onto and manage the burdensome weight of your nation’s political assassinations and government shutdowns. 

Maybe, for you, your hands are trying to hold onto and manage an exhausting, never-ending to-do list that comes with the responsibilities and commitments of the vocations that God has placed you in.

Maybe for you, your hands are trying to hold onto and manage a rebellious child who is actively walking away from and challenging everything you have taught them and every ounce of love you have poured into them.

Maybe, for you, your hands are trying to hold onto and manage a marriage that is more difficult than you ever could have imagined marriage to be.

Maybe, for you, your hands are trying to hold onto and manage instability in your career, an ever depleting bank account, and an increase in the cost of living at that same time.

Maybe, for you, your hands are trying to hold onto and manage sickness and failing health.

The truth is that for each of us unimaginable pain and suffering exists but takes on different shapes and forms.

 You may think that because I am a pastor, my days are filled with hours and hours of praying.  You may think that because I am a pastor, my prayers are filled with big theological words.  

But, the truth is, because of the struggles of living life, just like you, in a broken body with a broken heart and a broken mind in a broken world, most of the time, the only words I can summon to pray to my God in Heaven who asks me to cast my burdens upon Him because He cares for me, are short statements like, “Dear God, don’t let me fall apart.”

And that is perfectly OK because God who created me, knows what I need before I even ask Him.

With that being said, when I come to church on Sunday morning, I don’t need to and I don’t want to come to a place that is going to lecture me on a topic.  I don’t need to and I don’t want to come to a place that has to prove itself to me by using big theological words.  I don’t need to and I don’t want to come to a place that is going to tell me that I don’t have enough faith in God if there is pain or suffering or sickness in my life.  I don’t need to and I don’t want to come to a place that is going to make me feel guilty for not feeling and acting happy when I don’t feel joyous or excited in that moment.

When I come to church on Sunday morning, I always need church to be the Church as Jesus Christ intended it to be.  

Church, as defined by Jesus, needs to be a place where God’s grace meets the ground that I am standing on.  Only then can I find the comfort, the peace, and the rest that I truly need to keep moving forward.

And, in this morning’s text, I know we have just that.  We have a true example of God’s grace meeting the ground we stand on.  We experience that as we see a group of people standing on the shaky and shifting ground of sickness, death, and separation from God and His people.  As they recognize that they need God’s grace to meet them and help them and restore them, God does just that and is merciful to them in the person and work of Jesus.

Luke 17:11–19 shares this piece of Jesus’ story with us:

[11] On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. [12] And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance [13] and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” [14] When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. [15] Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; [16] and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. [17] Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? [18] Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” [19] And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.” (ESV)

“Jesus, Master, have mercy on me.”

Or, in other words,

“God, help me.”

The only cry left for the men and women plagued by physical sickness and separation.

In our Biblical text, those who are experiencing unimaginable pain and suffering are a group of lepers who cry out to Jesus from a distance.

Let’s ask, “Why are these ailing individuals calling out to Jesus from a distance and not coming near to Him?”

Well, the lepers were forbidden from coming near Jesus, and every other human being who did not have the same disease that they had, because the disease which caused their skin to rot and fall off was highly contagious.  Therefore, the society in which these lepers lived classified them as outcasts and untouchables.  They were forced to lived outside the safety and security of the city walls.  They were only allowed to live where the garbage was taken and piled. 

And, as these lepers lived in homeless colonies outside the gates of the civilized cities, they were required to announce their presence whenever they saw healthy men and women coming in their direction.  This was a warning for the healthy to stay out of danger’s way.

To protect the healthy in society, lepers would announce their presence as a warning sign, by banging metal objects as loud as they could, pots, pans, or, scraps of metal from the garbage dump that they called home, while screaming the name of their disease as loud as they could.

Because life had taken it’s toll on these ailing individuals and they found themselves absolutely desperate for help.  They knew that they had no hope of being healed and restored unless someone came to their aid.

So, in their desperation, caused by their unimaginable pain and suffering, as well as their inability to help themselves, they place their trust in Jesus, having faith that He is able to help them in their moment of need.

And, what happened?  What did Jesus do?

Jesus, hearing and seeing their faith in Him, does exactly what they asked.  Jesus had mercy on them and brought God’s grace to the exact ground that they were standing on—the ground of sickness leading to death and the ground of separation from Jesus and others.  

This mercy-driven healing restored them back to health and enabled them to be restored back into the fellowship and friendship of regular life inside the city walls.

We could say, Jesus brought these men and women from death to life.

It’s no wonder that the Samaritan returned praising and thanking Jesus for the miracle that was the restoration of his life.  He was now able to be near to Jesus and other people.

The good news we have this morning, as witnessed in our Biblical text, is that when we call out to Jesus, with faith that believes and trusts in Him as the incarnate God, Jesus will always hear us and do what we ask.  Jesus will have mercy on us in our deepest moments of need.

Does that mean that God will take away every problem that we are facing and dealing with?  No.  There is no promise from God that He will end your suffering in this life.  However, there is the promise from God that He will be with you through it all until the day He calls you to your eternal home.  And, in your eternal home, and only in your eternal home, will you finally experience a complete rest from the unimaginable pain and suffering caused by the corruption of Sin in you and in the current world.

In Confirmation this morning, we were studying God’s grace in His act of creation and we looked at God’s promise of creating Heaven for us.

That promise and it’s description of Heaven goes like this:

[1] Then 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.” (Revelation 21:1–4, ESV)

Even though God doesn’t guarantee a life for us here and now that is free of pain and suffering, He does promise, through Jesus, we can know that He cares for us and will always be with us and have mercy on us.

First and foremost, God’s grace meets the ground that we are standing on when He has mercy on us in our sinful state by providing the forgiveness we need and the restoration into a relationship with Him and His people.

Through Jesus’ death on the cross, the ultimate act of mercy was shown to you.  In Jesus’ death, He took the sickness of Sin that led to death, paid the debt that your Sin created with God, and He provided forgiveness for you that is needed to be able to be in God’s presence today and forever.  Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection also restore you into the fellowship and friendship of the righteous—the spiritually healthy—God’s family, the Church.

In addition to that ultimate mercy, Jesus promises that He will also have mercy on you by providing you with the knowledge, the wisdom, and the hope you need to keep moving forward in the darkest of times.

In verses that I share at every funeral we are told of God’s grace that causes Him to have mercy on us.

Romans 8:31–39 tells us this:

[31] What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? [32] He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? [33] Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. [34] Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. [35] Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? [36] As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;

we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

[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)

As I mentioned earlier, this past Friday, I was once again given the privilege and responsibility to stand next to yet another family as a casket was lowered into the ground 

This time, we buried a 39 year old man who was a son, a husband, a father, and a younger brother to those who stood alongside of me.  

This man, who served our country through serval Naval tours in the Middle East, sadly gave into the struggles that often come home with those who give their lives to protect us from harms and horrors we will never know about.

As I always do, I bring God’s grace to the ground that we are all standing on in moments like this by sharing from Psalm 121.

Psalm 121 tells us about God’s ever present help in all seasons of our life.  The Psalmist writes,

[1] I lift up my eyes to the hills.

From where does my help come?

[2] My help comes from the LORD,

who made heaven and earth.

[3] He will not let your foot be moved;

he who keeps you will not slumber.

[4] Behold, he who keeps Israel

will neither slumber nor sleep.

[5] The LORD is your keeper;

the LORD is your shade on your right hand.

[6] The sun shall not strike you by day,

nor the moon by night.

[7] The LORD will keep you from all evil;

he will keep your life.

[8] The LORD will keep

your going out and your coming in

from this time forth and forevermore.

As I was reading these verses and looking into the faces of those with me, I could visibly see the glimpses of smiles and the melting away of unimaginable pain and loss.

As we cried out together, “Jesus, have mercy on us,” Jesus did just that through the promises and assurances of His love and care for us that are found in His Word to us, the Bible.

When God gives us eyes to see the clear battle between good and evil around us, and also recognize the battle between good and evil inside of us, there is nothing for us to do except ask God to be merciful and gracious, providing us with the hope and peace of knowing that He is still in charge and that this battle will be over once and for all when Jesus returns to make all things right, or, when we leave this world through physical death and end up comforted in His arms—whichever of those comes first for us.

Today, I invite you to cry out to God knowing that His grace is always willing to meet the ground you are standing out.

1 Peter 5:6–7 reminds of this:

[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)

You can use the words of the lepers, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on me.”

You can use the 1994 words of Jars of Clay, “Don’t let me fall apart.”

Or, you can use any words you wish, there are no “Rules to Prayer.” 

But, pray and call out to God knowing having the same simple faith that the Samaritan had in today’s text.  Jesus hears.  Jesus knows.  Jesus cares.  And, Jesus will have mercy on you in you need.

And, when Jesus answers with the mercy you need, God’s grace for the ground you are standing on, praise Him, along with the Samaritan, with words similar to the song that we often sing:

You’re rich in love and You’re slow to anger

Your name is great and Your heart is kind

For all Your goodness, I will keep on singing

Ten thousand reasons for my heart to find

So bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul

Worship His holy name

Sing like never before, O my soul

I’ll worship Your holy name

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

October 16, 2025.

Prayer:

Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.  Amen.

Posted on by Fred Scragg 5

Mercy Manager

Luke 16.1-15

“You get a good job with more pay and you’re OK.

Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash

New car, caviar, four-star daydream, think I’ll buy me a football team.

I’m alright, Jack, keep your hands off of my stack.

I’m in the high-fidelity first-class traveling set, and I think I need a Learjet.

Money, it’s a gas.

Money, it’s a hit.”

In case you didn’t recognize the words I just shared, they are the lyrics from Pink Floyd’s 1973 song Money.

Every day, each one of us makes decisions about what to spend our money on and what not to spend our money on.

The band members of Pink Floyd were using their money to purchase luxury cars, fancy meals, football teams, posh vacations, and private jets.

In this morning’s Biblical text, chosen for us by the lectionary, Jesus tells a parable, which is a story with a spiritual point about God and His Kingdom.  Today’s parable deals with the resources we have at our disposal and what the true purpose of those resources is.

Let’s hear from Luke 16.1-13 now.

Luke 16:1–13 says this:

[1] He also said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions. [2] And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’ [3] And the manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. [4] I have decided what to do, so that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into their houses.’ [5] So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ [6] He said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ [7] Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ [8] The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. [9] And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.

[10] “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. [11] If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? [12] And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? [13] No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” (ESV)

This morning, as we continue on in the Gospel of Luke, or, Luke’s biography of Jesus, we hear another one of Jesus’ parables.  When we hear this specific parable, if it easy to be left scratching our head and asking, “What the heck is going on in this weird story?”

After all, some of the details are:

  • A boss fires one of his managers for wasting resources.
  • The manager goes into “survival mode.”  He will do whatever it takes to maintain his lifestyle.  He lies, cheats, and steals to ensure his comfort, as he defines comfort, in life.
  • The manager, after he is fired, goes to some of the business’ clients and takes money off of their bills without the boss’ knowledge.
  • The boss then praises the manager for using his intelligence and insight to his advantage (even though the manager did the wrong thing).
  • The boss says that the people defined by evil and darkness are better at getting things done than the people of good and light.
  • And, the boss says that money should be used to gain friends.

I have to admit this is a very difficult Biblical text to understand.  It contains some of the hardest teaching of Jesus.  A surface reading of this text without any context just leaves us confused.

However, once we have the key piece to the puzzle, the picture becomes very clear.

And, the key to understand this text is the master/owner’s mercy.

Mercy is compassion and/or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one’s power to punish or harm.

Let’s see how mercy unlocks the good news in this text.

The master, who represents God, first shows mercy to His manager by allowing the manager to use goods that don’t belong to him in order to make a living for himself and his family.

Second, the master is merciful, that is compassionate and forgiving in that he does not exercise his right to throw the dishonest manager in jail for the rest of his life as punishment for the things he stole, cheated on, and lied about. 

Third, the master’s mercy is even the driving factor when the manager is acting dishonestly to lower the debts of some of the master’s customers.  The manager knows that his master has always been generous and merciful toward everyone in his life, even those who have done him wrong.  Therefore, the manager trusts in the mercy of the master that he and the customers have experienced.  The customers don’t question the reduction of their debt because they know this is something their merciful master would do for them.

A summary of this morning’s Biblical text goes like this:

  • God is the merciful master and owner of everything in the created order.  
  • Psalm 24:1–2 tells us this when it says, “The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.” (ESV)
  • In God’s mercy, God gives you some of His stuff—money and possessions—to use in this world for your own benefit and the benefits of others around you.
  • You are the manager of what your merciful God owns.
  • In Sin, you mismanage what you have been given by God.  You see money and possessions as a god that will get you everything you want and think you deserve—relationships, fun, power, position, prestige, comfort, etc.  In other words, you take what God wants you to use for the good of His eternal Kingdom and use it solely to build your own little kingdom here on earth.  In this way you are actually stealing from God.
  • In Sin, you love money and serve money.  
  • However, through God’s grace that shows you mercy in the person and work of Jesus Christ, you are given a new heart and new eyes that see that what you have right now, whether it is a little or a lot, has been loaned to you by God for your eternal good and the eternal good of others around you.
  • In the grace of Jesus Christ’s mercy toward you, the grace that forgives your Sin of placing your faith, trust, and hope in the wealth and material goods of this world, you are filled with God’s Holy Spirit which drives you daily to love God and serve God by loving others by being generous with what God has given you in this life.

Two years ago, when my wife received a promotion at her job, a promotion that came with an increased salary, I immediately thought to myself, “Thank God! We can finally pay off some of our debt and go on vacations every year without worrying about the money aspect of the trips.”

However, before I had a chance to voice that thought out loud, my wife’s first response to the increase in her salary was, “Now we can give more money to the church!”

After she made that statement, I immediately felt the crushing guilt of my self-centered thinking about money and what it’s primary purpose should be.

In the first sermon that Martin Luther ever preached, dating to either 1510 AD or 1512 AD, Luther addresses what we just heard from our Biblical text for this morning.

Luther says,

“With these goods [—the money and possessions that God gives us in this life—], then, each person can conduct himself toward his neighbor in two ways.  First, with these goods he can do harm and evil to him or, second, he can advance and benefit him…An example of the second way is when one gives him food and clothing, or heals his infirmities, or protects his body, or teaches him something better and incites him to do good, and so on.

It is not sufficient for salvation that a man merely refrain from doing hard and evil to his neighbor with these goods.  It is required rather that he be useful to him and benefit him with these…goods.

[God] has given to us His seed, that is, the external, internal, and intermediate goods.  It is not sufficient that we accept this and not produce thorns, offenses, and tribulations, not injuring our neighbor, but rather we must bring forth fruit by doing good to others.

All the goods we have are from God and they are not given to us to retain  and abuse, but rather to dispense.”

What does this look like practically for me and you? 

Well, in order to use our money and possessions to make friendships that will introduce people to eternal life through God’s love for them in Jesus, we first and foremost give generously to our local congregation.  

There is a Biblical example of giving 10% of your pre-tax income to the local congregation to enable the church to have what it needs to continue sharing the love of God in Jesus with the members, parishioners, and community.  This 10% of your pre-tax income is what is referred to when we hear the Bible use the word “tithe” as your personal responsibility to the church that you call home. 

I will say this, if every Christian trusted God’s ability to provide for their needs and didn’t live in fear of ending up in a state of want, and if every Christian trusted the will and plan of God to save sinners through the teaching, preaching, and exalting Jesus as the only Savior that rescues our friends, family, children, co-workers, school acquaintances, neighbors, etc., from the wrath of God and condemnation in Hell, and in proper response gave 10% of their income to their church home, no church would struggle and the work churches could do would be multiplied exponentially.  

Ensuring that your church and other church related ministries are funded is the major way that you use your money and possessions to provide a place to make friends and include new friends that will have the peace and hope of outliving this current world with you.

I ask you this morning, in light of the Biblical text chosen for us by the lectionary for this day, to evaluate your understand and attitude toward the money and goods you have been given by God in this world.

Do you grab cash and make a stash to be used on yourself and your personal enjoyment?  Or, do you grab cash and dispense it in a flash to God’s Church to help God’s Church preach and teach the mercy of God that has compassion on sinners like me and you so that those that are lost to God can be found and rejoice in an eternal love and hope that their Creator has for them.

This morning, I do ask you to consider your views toward money and evaluate where you have been greedy, stingy, and ungodly, not putting the good of others and their salvation over your desire to accrue wealth to live in luxury.  Where have you served money by working more hours than you should to the detriment of spending time with your family and being involved in the life of your Savior’s Church on earth?  Where are you stashing cash because you don’t trust God to fulfill his promise of meeting every one of your needs?

When money comes your way, money that ultimately belongs to God, do you think, “Now I can buy a new car, get a new cell phone, buy $400 sneakers, purchase a $1000 handbag, go on vacation, or gamble it away.”

Or, when money comes your way, that ultimately belongs to God, do you think, before all else, I have to give a portion of this to the church, or, I get to increase the giving I already do to the church?

Jesus reminds you of this:

[19] “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, [20] but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. [21] For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

[24] “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. (Matthew 6.19-24, ESV)

Look to Jesus this morning to put your earthly goods into God’s perspective which should be your perspective if you have faith in God’s mercy toward you in Jesus.

God gave Jesus the goods of His mercy and grace when Jesus stepped off of His throne in Heaven.  Jesus brought those goods of God’s grace and mercy fully and immediately to you through His death on the cross for your Sin and the establishment of the Church—God’s visible Kingdom on earth where you could continually be recipients of God’s mercy and grace leading you to outlive this world through resurrection from the dead and friendship with God in eternal life.

Jesus was the steward of God’s mercy and grace for your good.

Jesus was the faithful manager and used God’s mercy and grace in order to make you a friend who outlives this world with Him.

This morning, confess and repent of your sin that led you to mismanage the money and possessions that God has given you.

This morning, place your faith in Jesus who forgives you through His death on the cross where he properly managed God’s mercy and grace toward you.

And, as a friend of God, properly use your earthly goods to provide places and opportunities to ensure others are led to eternal life.

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace and Mercy of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

September 21, 2025.

Prayer:

Generous God, thank you for providing what I need and so much more. Help me to live in your blessing and so be a blessing to others. Amen.