salvation – Sinner & Saint

Posted on November 2, 2025 by Fred Scragg 5

Defying Boundaries

Luke 19.1-10

20th Century American novelist, Jack Kerouac once said,

“In America when the sun goes down and I sit on the old broken-down pier watching the long, long skies over New Jersey and sense all that raw land that rolls in one unbelievable huge bulge over to the West Coast, and all that road going, all the people dreaming in the immensity of it… And nobody, nobody knows what’s going to happen.”

Kerouac’s description of this scene reminds me of the grace of God—God’s grace is enormous, endlessness, and has boundary-defying possibility.

With the grace of God in your life and in the world, you just don’t know what is going to happen. Although you do know that it will be a kind of good that, in the end, blows you away.

As the Apostle Paul says, “And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages He might display the surpassing riches of His grace, demonstrated by His kindness to us in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6-7, BSB).

In this morning’s text, we are once again, thankfully!, surrounded by the grace of God in it’s enormity, endlessness, and boundary-defying possibility.

We see God defy human boundaries when He, in Jesus, makes friends with one that the self-righteous crowd turns their noses up at. The crowd calls this man that Jesus befriends “a sinner” and in turn are attempting to cancel and implicate Jesus as being “a sinner” as well.

However, in Kerouac’s words, when Jesus calls Zacchaeus, “nobody, nobody knows what’s going to happen.”

Let’s enter into our Biblical text this morning—a text that drips with grace, love, and hope for each of us.

Luke 19:1–10 tells us this:

[1] He entered Jericho and was passing through. [2] And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. [3] And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. [4] So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. [5] And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” [6] So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. [7] And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” [8] And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” [9] And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. [10] For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (ESV)

You may be shocked to hear this, but this passage has everything to do with Halloween.

Zacchaeus was an out-in-the-open sinner (tax collector), while those who grumbled were sinners hiding behind the masks

of self-righteousness.

Halloween used to be known as All Hallows’ Eve. To “hal-low” someone is to honor them as holy. That’s the etymology of the day that we dress up and demand some candy. A big part of the appeal of Halloween for young and old is the dressing up part. It is a relief to not be you, at least for a day. Especially when you are trying to be better (more holy) than you actually are.

Pretending to be somebody else in that way gets tiring, and fast.

We often try in vain to dress ourselves up to be holier than we actually are. But Jesus reminds us that holiness does not come from within, but is imputed (given) to us by Christ Himself. We are clothed in Christ’s righteousness. And it’s not a mask or costume; it’s the real you.

In this text, Jesus wants to come trick-or-treating at Zacchaeus’ house. But there are no tricks with the grace of God. Only the treat of being loved despite ourselves.

Salvation didn’t come to Zacchaeus’ house because He decided to donate his possessions to those in need or right his wrongs 4 times over.

No! Salvation came to Zacchaeus because the Son of God, Jesus Christ, came to seek and save those that are lost in Sin.

Zacchaeus wasn’t forgiven and restored into a right relationship with God because he was correctly focused on Jesus and doing things that Jesus would approve of.

No! Zacchaeus was forgiven and restored into a right relationship with God because Jesus was completely focused on Zacchaeus’ current situation and Jesus was completely focused on rescuing Zacchaeus from his unGodly life of lying, cheating, and stealing.

In theological words, we call this justification.

To be justified is to be made right.

1 Corinthians 6.9–11 speaks of justification when it speaks of being made right with God the Father in Heaven.

1 Corinthians 6.9-11 says:

[9] …do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, [10] nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. [11] And such were some of you [like Zacchaeus]. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (ESV)

And, Romans 5:1–2 tells us that:

[1] …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. (ESV)

Through Jesus’ death on the cross, our Sin is completely forgiven and washed away. This act, made possible only through God’s enormous, endless, and boundary-defying grace, makes us right, or, perfect in every way before God’s heavenly throne.

Martin Luther talks about the position that faith in Jesus puts us in when he says,

“Not only does faith bestow so much that the soul becomes equal to the divine Word – full of grace, free, and holy – but also it unites the soul with Christ as a bride is united with her bridegroom. From this marriage comes, as St. Paul says [Eph. 5:30], that Christ and the soul become one body, so that they share both fortune and misfortune and all things in common. Accordingly, whatever Christ has is the property of the believing soul, and whatever the soul has becomes the property of Christ. Christ has all goodness and blessings that are the soul’s property. The soul has in it all vices and sin; they become Christ’s property. Here now arises the joyous exchange and struggle.

For Christ is God and Human Being, who has never sinned. More-over, his righteousness is unassailable, eternal, and almighty. Thus, when he through the wedding band, which is faith, then makes the sins of the believing soul his own and behaves in no other way than as if he had committed them, then sin must be devoured and drowned. For his unassailable righteousness is too strong for all sins.

Thus, the soul, simply by virtue of its engagement ring (that is, because of faith), becomes unencumbered, free and endowed with the eternal righteousness of its bridegroom, Christ. Is this not a joyous marriage feast where the rich, pure, upright Bridegroom, Christ, takes in marriage the poor, despised, evil maid and releases her from all evil while adoring her with all good things.”

This week, in my Bible reading, I was once again back to the book of Proverbs in The Old Testament.

As I had this morning’s preaching text resting in my mind, I came to Proverbs 10 which profoundly speaks to Zacchaeus’ situation from beginning to end.

Here are a few verses from Proverbs 10 that would have received a loud, “Amen!,” from Zacchaeus after Jesus found him, forgave him, restored him, and reconciled him to God.

Proverbs 10.2 says:

“Treasures gained by wickedness do not profit, but righteous delivers from death.”

Proverbs 10.18 says:

“The wage of the righteous leads to life,

the gain of the wicked to sin.”

And, Proverbs 10:25, 27, 28-30 say:

[25] When the tempest passes, the wicked is no more,

but the righteous is established forever.

[27] The fear of the LORD prolongs life,

but the years of the wicked will be short.

[28] The hope of the righteous brings joy,

but the expectation of the wicked will perish.

[29] The way of the LORD is a stronghold to the blameless,

but destruction to evildoers.

[30] The righteous will never be removed,

but the wicked will not dwell in the land. (ESV)

Zacchaeus made a name for himself by gaining financial and material wealth through lying, cheating, and stealing during the regular course of his tax collecting business.

However, once he was found by Jesus, Zacchaeus repented of his sin. How do we know that Zacchaeus recognized, confessed, and received forgiveness for his life of wickedness?

Well, we see the fruit of God’s Spirit, the Sprit that is only given to those who find themselves believing in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, immediately take over and propel Zacchaeus life. Zacchaeus thoughts, words, and actions all become influenced and empowered by God’s Spirit living inside of him.

So, Zacchaeus didn’t give half of his possessions to the poor to earn Jesus’ love.

No. Zacchaeus became generous and righted his wrongs because Jesus was first generous with him and Jesus first righted Zacchaeus’ wrongs.

In Jesus’ calling and welcoming of him, Zacchaeus received first hand experience in knowing that God’s grace is enormous, endlessness, and has boundary-defying possibility.

I think that it is fair to say that when we hear this story, most, if not all of us, envision ourselves to stand in the place of Jesus. We have our two feet on the ground and we are looking, like Jesus, at Zacchaeus in the tree.

However, this morning, I invite you to join me up in the tree.

Sit next to Zacchaeus,

where it probably feels natural,

looking out over the crowd,

looking for someone to help you,

looking for the one that you have heard about,

looking for the one that you have been told performs miracles,

looking of the one that you have heard brings hope to the hopeless,

looking for the one that makes friends with the ones that no one else wants to be friends with,

someone to call you down onto the safety of the level and stable ground,

someone to call you down into a relationship defined by grace, mercy, hope, and love,

someone to forgive you and assure us that everything is going to be alright,

someone who gives us first hand experience in knowing that God’s grace is enormous, endlessness, and has boundary-defying possibility,

someone named Jesus, because as the angel told His parents, He will save us from our Sin and bring us home to God the Father in Heaven.

You see, we are just like Zacchaeus. Jesus finds us stuck in the midst of a life defined by self-centered and self-serving Sin. But, Jesus doesn’t leave us there to rot. Jesus calls us to quickly come to Him and be restored into a life with God who will use us to bless and change the world.

Contrary to popular belief, this text isn’t about Zacchaeus.

Like all Biblical texts, this text is about Jesus.

And, as always, Jesus proves to you that God’s grace is enormous, endless, and boundary-defying.

This morning, Jesus is looking for you.

This morning, Jesus sees you up in the tree, sick and dying in Sin.

This morning, Jesus calls you to quickly come to His side where He will give you hope, peace, rest by forgiving your Sin and restoring you into a right relationship with God.

This morning, Jesus makes His home with you and gives you His Holy Spirit which influences and empowers your thoughts, words, and actions to love and generosity, following Jesus’ eternal love and generosity toward you.

Come quickly. Do not wait. Jesus desires to bring salvation to you and your house.

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

November 2, 2025.

Posted on March 30, 2025 by Fred Scragg 5

Grace For The Ages

Galatians 3.1-9

Father Abraham had many sons

Many sons had Father Abraham

I am one of them and so are you

So let’s just praise the Lord

(Right arm; Left arm; Right Leg; Left Leg)

And, for the sassier youth groups,

(Right cheek; Left cheek)

The lyrics above come from a fun, catchy, easy to remember, and danceable tune that has been taught in Sunday School’s, Children’s Churches, Youth Groups, at Christian camps and in Christian homes since it’s arrival in the music scene in 1971. A very interesting note is that the song actually had it’s beginnings in an English opera from 1720.

Although the song is simple, it teaches a deep theological truth.

The truth that the lyrics to Father Abraham teach, inform us that each of us, who finds ourself believing in Jesus Christ and praising Him as Lord and Savior, are an integral part of God’s Heavenly family.

Abraham is called “Father” because God chose him to be the first person in God’s nation of people that God would set apart for Himself and for Heaven. Therefore, as we will hear in this morning’s Biblical text, each of us is related directly to Abraham as as the Father of God’s people through the faith that includes us in that set apart eternal nation. We, by faith, are each, one of the many sons or daughters of Abraham.

So, let’s just praise the Lord as we hear from Galatians 3.1-9.

Galatians 3:1–9 says this:

[1] O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. [2] Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? [3] Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? [4] Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? [5] Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith—[6] just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?

[7] Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. [8] And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” [9] So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. (ESV)

Let me begin here by saying that people don’t want the grace of God.

That’s why Jesus tells us that the gate that leads to life is narrow but the road that leads to destruction is wide.

In this portion of Galatians, Paul is reprimanding the Christians in Galatia because they are turning away from and rejecting the grace of God that was once precious in their sight.

Following Paul’s argument up to this point in this letter, that he wrote to the Christians gathered in the region of Galatia, Paul is saying, “you heard about the grace of God that forgives you, makes you righteous, and welcomes you home into Heaven, but you are once again following the lies of this world that say you have to work hard to possibly earn God’s love.”

To further reiterate his teaching, the Apostle Paul reminds the Christian churches that they received God’s Spirit in their lives by faith, not by a record of doing good.

And, what does receiving God’s Spirit in your life signify?

Receiving God’s Spirit in your life, that is, having God live in you and work through you, is a sign of salvation. It is sign that you have been forgiven of your sin and are loved by God today, tomorrow, and forever. Having the third part of the Trinitarian Godhead, the Holy Spirit, living and active in you, is a sign that you are part of God’s Heavenly family.

In the New Testament Biblical book of Ephesians, the Apostle Paul clarifies the meaning of receiving God’s Spirt when he says:

[13] In [Jesus] you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in [Jesus], 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 1:13–14, ESV)

How is someone blessed with God entering their life? By hearing the Good News of Jesus and believing in Jesus.

People are glory hounds and like to say that they earned what they have—although I would also argue that recently, the last coupe of generations of Westernized humanity, have unfortunately been lied to by their teachers, professors, and more sadly parents and sometimes pastors, with the idea they are simply owed everything they want without any blood, sweat, and tears shed.

But, even that posture of entitlement is a search for personal glory as it results in the boasting that “I got what I deserved!”

The search for individual glory begins in this world and is often transferred wrongly into our understanding of God and His Work for us.

Some that identify as Christians often teach, promote, and argue for the most ridiculous, unGoldy, and non-Biblical theological ideas as those in the region of Galatia were doing.

One of those completely wrong ideas is that forgiveness of sin and salvation do not come by faith alone and that idea is not a Biblical idea but an invention of humanity later on in history.

Specifically, these misled people, today, say that salvation by faith alone was forced on the world by the New Testament church and then by the Protestant Reformation of the 16th Century.

Anyone who believes, teaches, promotes, or argues that forgiveness of sin and salvation need human good deeds attached to faith in order to find rest in God’s love have absolutely no idea what they are talking about because the Bible never, ever, teaches such heresy. And, this morning’s text from the Biblical book of Galatians helps fight such botched theology.

Let’s see that salvation by faith alone is as old as the Creation in which we live.

Shortly after the Creation event when Adam and Eve’s fall into Sin in the Garden of Eden, God told them that He would right their wrongs in the future through a Savior—Jesus. God did not tell them to start working hard to prove to Him that they can once again be good enough to get on His good side.

When God set apart a nation of people for Himself, those that He would call His sons and daughters, He made sure that they knew, and that we would know by extension, that the one He chose to be the leader of the nation on earth, was not a super-human capable of more good deeds than others, or, any good deeds at all for that matter, God has Moses, in Genesis 15.6 let us know that Abraham, “believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness” (Genesis 15:6, ESV).

Paul not only repeats that exact idea here in Galatians 3.6, but He continually makes the point that salvation is by faith alone. In the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Christians gathered in the city of Rome, the Apostle Paul also says,

[1] What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? [2] For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. [3] For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” [4] Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. [5] And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, [6] just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:

[7] “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,

and whose sins are covered;

[8] blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”

[9] Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. [10] How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. [11] He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, [12] and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. (Romans 4:1–12, ESV)

This first Father of God’s people, the one that the Apostle Paul is referencing in this morning’s Biblical text, did not prove Himself to God through good deeds in order to be chosen by God for God’s Kingdom. Abraham was simply considered perfect and righteous by God because of his faith.

The Old Testament, the books of the Bible that tell us everything that happened from the moment of Creation up until God entered our world to rescue us in Jesus’ birth, death, and resurrection, are often spoken of like they teach and promote the idea that God’s love is earned by doing what God says to do and not doing what God says not to do.

However, the Old Testament, from the very beginning as we have already seen this morning, speaks of salvation by faith alone. We are shown time and time again that people who try to do what is right in God’s eyes always fail and fall short. But, grace of God was and is always present to call humans to faith and trust in His promise to right all wrongs for them. This grace of God in the salvation event, for you and me, is continued to be talked about in the New Testament.

Using the example of Father Abraham’s righteous before God coming ONLY from his belief in God’s promises and God’s goodness, that will lead God to fulfill those promises to him, is a clear and undeniable show that salvation comes by faith alone.

Another false argument relating to the idea of good works needing to be accepted by God for forgiveness of sin and salvation comes from the lie that, “There are people who don’t believe in God that do good things.”

Well, once again, the Bible very clearly addresses that misconception.

Speaking about all of the Old Testament figures and how it was their faith that made them righteous and perfect and acceptable to God, the author says:

[6] …without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. (Hebrews 11:6, ESV)

King David, the Psalm writer, another book from the Bible’s Old Testament, also addresses the fact that there is no possibility of doing Godly good without faith when he says:

[1] The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”

They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity;

there is none who does good.

[2] God looks down from heaven

on the children of man

to see if there are any who understand,

who seek after God.

[3] They have all fallen away;

together they have become corrupt;

there is none who does good,

not even one. (Psalm 53:1–3, ESV)

This idea of no human having the capacity to do true Godly good apart from faith is so-central to the human need for a Savior that the Apostle Paul quotes these exact verses from Psalm 53 thousands of years later when he is speaking to the Christians in Rome.

Paul says to the Roman Christians:

[9] What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, [10] as it is written:

“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.”

[13] “Their throat is an open grave;

they use their tongues to deceive.”

“The venom of asps is under their lips.”

[14] “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”

[15] “Their feet are swift to shed blood;

[16] in their paths are ruin and misery,

[17] and the way of peace they have not known.”

[18] “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

[19] Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. [20] For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

[21] But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—[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. [26] It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:9–26, ESV)

The Old Testament also defeats the claim that people who don’t have faith in God-in-Christ are capable of genuinely good deeds.

The prophet Isaiah, let God’s people know this:

[6] We have all become like one who is unclean,

and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.

We all fade like a leaf,

and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. (Isaiah 64:6, ESV)

What we are being told in these words from God’s prophet Isaiah is that even perceived good works by someone who doesn’t believe in Jesus Christ are a delusion and an impossibility.

In a very graphic statement, Isaiah states that even what seems to be the most generous, charitable, helpful, sacrificial, giving good deed from someone who doesn’t believe in the truth of sin and a Savior, are nothing more than a dirty menstrual pad in the eyes of God.

That is because every so-called good work by someone that does’t believe in Jesus Christ has selfish and self-centered motivations at the very core.

Mostly unspoken thoughts of receiving personal glory while doing good things go like this:

“I will give this homeless man some change because he will then think that I am a good person. Maybe someone will see me giving change to this homeless person and also think that I am a good person.”

Or, how about:

“If I go hand out food at the shelter, maybe my picture will be in there news letter or on their Facebook page.”

Without the driving true and sacrificial love of God at work in you, there is no true and sacrificial good deed. There is always sinful and selfish ungodly motivation present.

Whether these motivations for attempted good works without God are spoken out or not, the heart is always deceptive and selfish apart from God’s Spirit working the fruit of the Spirit in your life after you come to find yourself believing in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

Good works flow out of the man or woman of faith and are described as fruit in your life because they are planted in you and grow out of you only after trusting in Jesus for forgives of sin and abundant life now and forever.

Galatians 5:22–25 tells us what the fruits of God’s Spirit are in our life. Or, to say that another way, we are told about the truly good works that are a possibility for us as we live with faith in God’s goodness, grace, and unmerited love for us in Jesus Christ.

Galatians says:

[22] …the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, [23] gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. [24] And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

[25] If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.

Only God is good and capable of truly good works.

And, good works are only possible for you when that good and gracious God is alive and active in you by His Spirit that the promises He will give to you who repent and believe.

Don’t be tricked and fooled into believing that Jesus Christ’s crucifixion wasn’t enough to provide you with the forgiveness of sin, Godly righteousness, and eternal life in Heaven.

You, who find yourself believing in Jesus Christ as the Way, the Truth, and Life—the only One who can possibly make you right and reconciled to God, have the Sprit of God alive and active in you blessing you with a love that creates good works that bless the world around you and bring glory to God, the Father in Heaven.

Through faith in Jesus Christ alone,

Father Abraham had many sons

Many sons had Father Abraham

I am one of them and so are you

So let’s just praise the Lord

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

March 30, 2025

Prayer:

Living God,

We confess before you our deep attachment to dead works. We often seek to justify ourselves before you by our own obedience, even though the work of our defiled hands cannot be accepted into your holy presence. Sometimes we bind ourselves and others to do things in your name that you never commanded us to do. We think that by pursuing empty rituals or by denying ourselves things that you have declared good that you will somehow be pleased with us. At other times, we obey your Word out of a self-centered desire for our own glory and in order to declare our independence from you. We avoid small sins and pursue acts of righteousness that we find easy to perform, while blatantly ignoring far more important sins that have a strong grasp on our hearts. We denounce others for their inability to do these things, while ignoring the deep pride and lovelessness that pervade our lives. Father, forgive us.

Jesus,

thank you for being our great High Priest. Thank you that as our representative you never offered your Father dead works. All your obedience came from a heart fixed on pleasing God. There was no pride or self-exaltation in your acts of service, nor were you selectively obedient in the commandments that you kept. Your hands and your heart were pure and clean as you offered a perfect and unblemished life of obedience in our place. You presented your own blood as the atoning offering that enables us to draw near to God with boldness.

Holy Spirit,

give us confidence as we draw near to the throne of grace—not a confidence in ourselves and our own goodness, but a confidence founded upon Jesus Christ and his merits alone. Teach us to enthrone Christ in our hearts, and so be humbled; equip us to serve others out of the same mercy and grace that we ourselves have received. Give us the joy and gladness that comes from knowing that he has offered the once-and-for-all sacrifice in our place, and that he is returning again to be reunited with his people forever. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Benediction:

Go, in peace today, praising the Lord.

Father Abraham had many sons

Many sons had Father Abraham

I am one of them and so are you

Posted on February 9, 2025 by Fred Scragg 5

Terrorist to Evangelist

Galatians 1.10-24

One morning Mauricio Estrella walked into the office, sat down at his desk, and was greeted with the message: “Your password has expired. Click ‘Change password’ to change your password.”

You know how, when you are emotionally raw, small things can be so frustrating? This, for Estrella, was one of those times. He was running late that morning, had forgotten to eat breakfast, had a meeting to attend, and then there were those nagging frustrations with his ex. Estrella had just gone through an emotionally brutal divorce that had left him in a deep depression.

At his workplace, the server is configured to ask thousands of employees around the planet to change their password every 30 days. As the empty field with the pulsating cursor awaited his input, Estrella thought to himself, “I’m gonna use a password to change my life.” His password became: “Forgive@h3r.”

Each time he came back from a break or lunch, he typed “Forgive@h3r.” For one month, the password became a mantra. And that mantra changed his life. Estrella shared: “That constant reminder that I should forgive her led me to accept the way things happened at the end of my marriage, and embrace a new way of dealing with the depression that I was drowning into.”

Sometimes, the simplest messages can have the most impact on us.

Sometimes, the simplest messages can be the ones that drastically change our lives forever.

In this morning’s Biblical text, we continue on in the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Galatians.

In this section of the Apostle Paul’s letter, he shares that a very simple message drastically changed his life forever and that same simple message was changing the lives of the Galatian people forever, and that simple message can change your life forever as well.

Let’s listen to the words from the Apostle Paul’s letter in Galatians 1.10-24 now.

Galatians 1:10–24 says this:

[10] For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

[11] For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man’s gospel. [12] For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. [13] For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. [14] And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers. [15] But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, [16] was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone; [17] nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.

[18] Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days. [19] But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord’s brother. [20] (In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie!) [21] Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. [22] And I was still unknown in person to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. [23] They only were hearing it said, “He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” [24] And they glorified God because of me. (ESV)

In this section of the Apostle Paul’s letter to the churches gathering in the region of Galatia (modern day Turkey), we are given insight into two things.

The first piece of insight we receive is the origin of Paul’s message.

Some were accusing Paul of being brainwashed by what other people were telling him to think, believe, and preach. These opponents of the Good New of Jesus Christ were saying that Paul met with the disciples and listened to them and learned from them and is now just parroting what he heard in those meetings.

However, as we saw two weeks ago, Paul’s received the truth that Jesus is God-in-the-flesh, who stepped out of Heaven to come to earth to rescue us and be our Messiah—our Lord and Savior, directly from Jesus.

Jesus appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus and confronted him in his unbelief and his active ungodly opposition to the message of the cross and resurrection for the forgiveness of sin and eternal life.

Jesus shared the truth of sin and salvation through God’s grace alone and in that moment, Paul believed and began his traveling and preaching. It was only after 3 years that Paul went to Jerusalem and met with Peter (the text calls him Cephas) and James. After that, Paul went back to traveling and preaching the message that he received directly from Jesus for another 11 years. Then 14 years after coming to faith, he finally when back to Jerusalem and met with the other disciples and apostles.

So, Paul is making it very clear that the Good News of Jesus Christ which calls for repentance of sin and faith in God’s freely given grace is not a message invented by and man or woman.

In fact, no man or woman would invent such a message because the message says that humans are weak and helpless and only have hope by admitting their need for a Savior. Any message invented by a man or woman says the exact opposite. Human theologies and philosophies don’t like to say we are weak and helpless. Instead, they promote the idea that human strength, commitment, and determination can eventually get you to God and possibly turn you into a god. But, we all know that when we sit quietly and alone, our thoughts actually dwell and obsess on our failures and inability to officially and finally crawl out of despair because there is always something we could have done better or more of.

For more information on Paul’s conversion to Christianity through faith in the crucified and resurrected Jesus, you can return to Acts 9 this week.

The second piece of insight we receive in this morning’s Biblical text from Galatians that there is always a transformation of life that occurs after one rests in God’s grace and gives up the striving to get to God.

In verses 23 and 24, the Apostle Paul points out that the grace of God changed his life to the point where he could not help but live by loving God and loving others.

And, because of the dramatic change in his life—going from persecutor of Christians to a Christian and preacher of Jesus Christ alive, dead, and resurrected for the forgiveness of Sin and eternal life—people took notice of the 180 degree turn that his life took (for the good of God and the world) and some of them also came to believe in Christ and give thanks to God for His grace and mercy toward them as well.

When confronted with the grace and mercy that Jesus Christ had for him, despite his past of denying God’s love in a completely ungodly lifestyle,

Paul quickly turned from a terrorist to an evangelist.

It is no wonder people took notice of the change in Paul’s thinking, speaking, and acting!

Once we find ourselves comforted by faith in Jesus’ work for us, we, just like Paul, find ourselves responding to God and the people around us differently.

In Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, found in the book of Matthew, Jesus speaks of the 180 degree turn that each of our lives takes once faith and trust in God’s grace makes it’s home in our heart.

In Matthew 5:14–16, we hear Jesus speaking of the new creation we become through faith in Him.

Jesus says:

[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. (Matthew 5:14–16, ESV)

Paul, in other letters to other churches, encourages us to be the light in the world that causes others to recognize and praise God by responding to Jesus’ forgiveness and life when he says:

[10] … walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; [11] being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; [12] giving 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. (Colossians 1:10–14 ESV)

And, then Paul says:

[23]…be renewed in the spirit of your minds, [24] and…put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

[25] Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. [26] Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, [27] and give no opportunity to the devil. [28] Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. [29] Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. [30] And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. [31] Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. [32] Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4:23–32, ESV)

In this moment, I want to ask you to reflect on your life.

Has God’s grace and mercy changed the way you think, act, and speak?

Do people notice a difference in you because of your faith in Jesus?

Or, do you sit in church on Sunday morning confessing your sin and confessing your faith only to return to your old way of life once you walk out the doors?

Do you praise Jesus with your mouth in church and then use your voice to take out your frustration and anger with people and places by typing out rants and slanderous comments on social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram?

Have you experienced love, grace, and mercy, but forgotten to speak and act with love, grace, and mercy?

Do you use your hands to pray in church and hold the body and blood of Christ in Communion and then use those same hands to give the middle finger to another driver on the way home in a fit of road rage?

Do you praise Jesus for all he has given you and then refuse to give or just give leftover scraps to his church and people in need around you?

In the days of the Russian revolution, the Soviet state tried to stamp out Christianity and convert everyone to atheism. A popular Russian comedian developed a stage act in which he played a drunken Orthodox priest. Dressed in wine-stained robes, he did a comic imitation of the ancient but beautiful liturgy.

Part of his performance was to chant the Beatitudes. But he used distorted words—such as “blessed are they who hunger and thirst for vodka” and “blessed are the cheese makers”—while struggling to remain more or less upright. He had done his act time and again and been rewarded by the authorities for his work in promoting atheism and in making worship seem ridiculous.

But on one occasion things didn’t go as planned. Instead of saying his garbled version of the Beatitudes in his well-rehearsed comic manner, he chanted the sentences as they are actually sung in a real Liturgy. His attention was focused not on the audience but on the life-giving words that were coming from the Bible, words he had learned and sung as a child. He listened to the memorized words and something happened in the depths of his soul.

After singing the final Beatitude, he fell to his knees weeping. He had to be led from the stage and never again parodied worship. He was sent to a labor camp, but even so it’s a story of a happy moment in his life. He had begun a new life in a condition of spiritual freedom that no prison can take away. Whatever his fate, he brought the Beatitudes and his recovered faith with him. Truly, the Bible can change one’s life.

The message of the Bible, which was given directly to the Apostle Paul from the one that the Bible is all about, Jesus Christ, changed Paul’s life. Paul went from a murderous hatred of Jesus and His followers immediately to the most well known church planter and preacher of his day.

If the following lyrics were written when Paul was alive, I am sure he would have sung them as loudly as he could as he traveled and preached:

I love to tell the story

of unseen things above,

of Jesus and his glory,

of Jesus and his love.

I love to tell the story

because I know it’s true;

it satisfies my longings

as nothing else can do.

Christ Jesus, pure and holy,

without a spot or stain,

by wicked hands was taken,

was crucified and slain!

And now the word is finished,

the sinner’s debt is paid,

because on Christ the Righteous

the sin of all was laid.

I love to tell the story;

’twill be my theme in glory

to tell the old, old story

of Jesus and his love.

The message of the Bible, the message that continuously speaks to you and tells you that Jesus Christ lived, died, and was resurrected for the forgiveness of your sin and your eternal life in Heaven, changes your life as well. Jesus Christ comes to you this morning with nothing but grace and mercy.

This simple message that changes your life is this:

[16] “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. [17] For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. (John 3:16–17, ESV)

Today, set your daily password for daily life to, “I Am Forgiven!” (Don’t forget the exclamation point for security purposes!)

This is the simple message that changes your life forever.

This morning and this week repent of your sin, place your trust in Jesus alone, be transformed from a terrorist to an evangelist, and take the message of Jesus Christ into all of the places that you go.

Do so while singing as loudly as you can with full joy and assurance of your salvation:

I love to tell the story

of unseen things above,

of Jesus and his glory,

of Jesus and his love.

I love to tell the story

because I know it’s true;

it satisfies my longings

as nothing else can do.

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

February 9, 2025.

Prayer:

Blessed Lord God,

Your Word searches our hearts and condemns us. We are not poor in spirit: we are proud and self-dependent. We do not mourn over our sin and the sin of others: we hide and excuse our sin, while judging others for their sin. We are not meek but are eager to defend our own rights and reputations, while caring little for your good name and the name of others. We hunger and thirst far more to get our own way than for your righteousness. We easily forget the mercy that we have received, and as a result feel little mercy toward others. Our hearts are not pure but are divided between serving you and serving our idols. We have jealous thoughts that promote strife in our words and actions, instead of loving and pursuing your peace. We flee from the smallest hint of persecution, eagerly protecting our own comfort and security, instead of boldly proclaiming your truth like the prophets. Lord God, we confess before you that we deserve your eternal curse for all these things.

Thank you, Father, for Jesus Christ, in whom we are blessed with every spiritual blessing. His dependence, mourning, meekness, hunger for righteousness, mercy, purity, peacemaking, and faithfulness even to death are the righteousness that enables us to receive your blessing. Because of his obedience, our reward is great in heaven.

Lord, teach us to live as those who are blessed in Christ. Help us to proclaim to others the mercy we have received and to live lives that are in line with that mercy and holiness. Help us to love the righteousness that redeemed us and to long for the day when you will work that righteousness in fullness in our hearts. Purify our hearts and cleanse our minds increasingly, so that we may endure hardship as good soldiers for Jesus Christ, and may delight to bear the burdens of those whom you place around us. Amen.

Benediction:

Go in peace today. Jesus has made you a new creation, created after God in righteousness and holiness. This week, walk in manner worth of Jesus Christ, bearing fruit in every good work.

Posted on June 23, 2024 by Fred Scragg 5

You Shall Not Perish

Mark 2.23-28

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

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

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

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

Mark 4:35–41 tells us this:

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

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

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

Doesn’t that all sound familiar?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The most famous Scripture of all time, which we probably gloss over in our minds at this point because we have heard it so many times, says this:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2 Peter 3:8–10 tells us this:

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

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

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

Jesus is always running after you.

Jesus is always offering himself to you.

Jesus is always calling your name.

Jesus is always willing to rescue you.

Do what Jesus asks, “Repent and believe.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;

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

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

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

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

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

Lennox writes:

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

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

“What is it?” she said.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

June 23, 2024.

Posted on February 5, 2024 by Fred Scragg 5

Broken But Beautiful

Mark 1.29-39

“I’m one step closer to the edge

And I’m about to break.”

Back in the late 1990s, I sat in what was then called Giant’s Stadium, in New Jersey, while 80,000 people sang these words at the top of their lungs to Linkin Park’s nu-metal hit.

It was in the middle of that crowd, on that hot summer day, at that all day music festival, before the thought of pastoring ever entered my mind, that something strange happened. As the crowd was repeating the chorus, “I’m one step closer to the edge, and I’m about to break,” I was clearly led to think, “You have to help these people!” Compassion welled up in my heart as I realized these words were not just some random words to a well written song, they were a generation’s cry for help.

Have you ever thought the words that were being sung that day inside your mind or spoken them out loud to a loved one or therapist?

I personally have to admit that as I deal with deep dark depression most days of my life, these words are not just some lyrics to a 30 year old song. The words, “I’m one step closer to the edge, and I’m about to break,” are a daily thought and feeling that courses through my veins.

In that almost universal cry for help in the midst of the troubles of life, a deep desire for someone to come along us and assure us that, “everything’s going to be OK,” is wanted.

It’s like our soul wants someone to say, “Come to me, you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

Maybe you know this about me and maybe you don’t. I love art. I love art so much that one of my degrees is in Art History with a concentration in Gothic Architecture.

This week, while feeding the fire of that love by reading a biography of Lilias Trotter, the late 19th Century/early 20th Century British artist, who eventually set her art career aside to become a Christian missionary in Algeria, I was taken aback by the compassion for the sick, hurting, and lost that drove her daily habits.

The biographer shared this:

Lilias was thirty-four when she stepped off the boat. Her and her companions’ first ministry contact came through ministering to the women and children in the slums of Algiers. They were the first European women many of the Algerians women had ever seen. The place women occupied in that country at that time was not pretty. Many were married off when they were ten to twelve years old, taken into a harem, and then discarded for younger wives once they bore some children and got a little older. These women, many in their early twenties and with their whole lives ahead of them, became destitute. Lilias would gather them and teach them stories from the Bible and help care for their children. She wanted to help these women develop some kind of economic independence so they could live on their own, apart from their fathers’ and former husbands’ homes. So Lilias provided classes to teach them remarkable skills, much like her work with the women of London. In her mind, she wasn’t trying to start a movement; she was just trying to respond to a need she saw that was happening right in front of her.

Lilas’ aesthetic eye served her well in those early months. She regarded the country and people of Algeria as utterly beautiful. She wrote in her diary, ‘Oh how good it is that I have been sent her to see such beauty.’ She loved the place. Her journals were filled with small paintings of people and places, put down for no one’s sake but her own. She wanted to capture the beauty of those she had come to serve.”

In our Biblical text for this morning, chosen for us by the lectionary for this Fifth Sunday After Epiphany, the disciple Mark records for us a piece of history that involves Jesus looking at the people around him, seeing their great need because of their struggles, hardships, and sin, and offering them help and guidance because he had compassion on them, like Lilias Trotter had on the destitute women in Algeria.

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

Mark 1:29–39 tell us this:

[29] And immediately he left the synagogue and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. [30] Now Simon’s mother-in-law lay ill with a fever, and immediately they told him about her. [31] And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her, and she began to serve them.

[32] That evening at sundown they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons. [33] And the whole city was gathered together at the door. [34] And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons. And he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.

[35] And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. [36] And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, [37] and they found him and said to him, “Everyone is looking for you.” [38] And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.” [39] And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons. (ESV)

Our Biblical text for his morning tells us that Jesus came into contact with many people and did many miracles to help those people that were hurting and helpless. Jesus’ miracles turned things around for the hurting and helpless by providing healing and hope in every situation.

For those of you that were in Bible study last week, some of this is going to sound familiar.

Jesus’ preaching and miracles served four purposes.

First, Jesus’ miracles fulfilled Scripture’s prophecy.

Speaking of the things that God’s Messiah Savior would do, the prophet Isaiah says this:

[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.

For waters break forth in the wilderness,

and streams in the desert; (Isaiah 35:5–6, ESV)

And:

[1] The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,

because the LORD has anointed me

to bring good news to the poor;

he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

to proclaim liberty to the captives,

and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

[2] to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor,

and the day of vengeance of our God;

to comfort all who mourn; (Isaiah 61:1–2, ESV)

Second, the performing of these exact miracles proved that He was the Messiah Savior.

Simply put, Jesus did the things that God said He would do before Jesus did them. This confirmed that Jesus alone fulfilled the requirements set forth by God for the Messiah Savior.

Third, the miracles brought people to faith in Him as God’s Messiah Savior.

And, fourth, they demonstrated God’s outpouring of COMPASSION and love for his people.

Jesus’ healing miracles are reminders of the restoration He brings to His fallen creatures. Just as the lame person could walk, the blind person could see, and the deaf hear, at Jesus’ return al the ailments that afflict our bodies will be instantly healed, and we will leave before Him in perfect health in our resurrected bodies.

That why the disciple John vision and description of Heaven includes 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)

Miracles were not a magic show to, “Wow the audience.”

Miracles were a direct demonstration of God’s love for you through the person and work of His Son, Jesus Christ.

Miracles were a direct communication to you from God in which he says, “I see you. I know your hurt, pain, and struggle. I know your brokenness and helplessness. But, I got you. I am with you. I am working in you and through you and for you always.

Through Jesus, I will heal you and help you today, tomorrow, and forever, by forgiving you of your sin through Jesus’ death on the cross, giving you a perfect record of obeying every one of my commands by crediting Jesus’ life to your account, and I will welcome you home into Heaven through Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. Jesus life, death, and resurrection are now your life, death, and resurrection!”

In every miracle that Jesus performs, there is compassion for the one receiving the benefits of the miracle, and there is

compassion for you who hear about these miracles past because they point to the ultimate miracle that Jesus performed for you—

a perfectly lived life when measured against God’s standards for life and love

leading him to be the perfect sacrifice to take your place on the cross

to perfectly take all of your sins and give you all of his Godly perfection

and then rising from the grave to perfectly defeat the power of sin and death in order to open the gates of Heaven for you.

Everything Jesus did and continues to do demonstrates God’s compassion towards you.

As I continue to study artists and their artwork, it is common to hear that many people find themselves put off by the different forms of modern art.

When the people witness modern art or listen to depressing modern music and am tempted to write it off (or worse, to find it amusing), we should think of the words of Francis Schaffer, the 20th Century American theologian, philosopher, and Presbyterian pastor. He said this:

These paintings, these poems, and these demonstrations which we have been talking about are the expressions of men [and women] who are struggling with their appalling lostness. Dare we laugh at such things? Dare we feel superior when we view their tortured expressions in their art?

Christians should stop laughing and take such men [and women] seriously. Then we shall have the right to speak again to our generation. These men are dying while they live, yet where is our compassion for them? There is nothing more ugly than an orthodoxy without understanding or without compassion.”

When we view works of of art, the work is inseparable from the artist. Art is borne out of the artists life experiences which more often than not include struggle and hardship.

Knowing this and recognizing this struggle and hardship helps us understand what the artist has produced as either an explanation of those struggles and hardships or the hope that they have despite those struggles and hardships. Understanding the person and their needs helps us to have compassion on the things they say, do, and create.

According to an old Jewish story, once upon a time there was a four-year-old boy named Mortakai who refused to attend school and study Hebrew. Whenever his parents tried to immerse his mind in the Torah [or the Word of God], he would sneak away and play on the swing set. Every form of persuasion failed. Mortakai remained stubborn and defiant. The exasperated parents even brought him to a famous psychiatrist, but that also proved futile. Nothing changed the young boy’s heart, which seemed to grow more distant, lonely, and hardened every week.

Finally, in utter desperation, Mortakai’s parents brought him to the local rabbi, a warm and wise spiritual guide. As the parents explained their plight, pouring out their frustration and despair, the rabbi listened intently. Without saying a word, he gently picked up Mortakai, took him in his arms and held him close to his chest. The rabbi held Mortakai close enough and tight enough so the young boy could feel the safe, rhythmic beating of the rabbi’s heart. Then, still without a word, he gently handed the child back to his parents. From that point on, Mortakai listened to his parents, studied the Torah and, when it was appropriate, he also slipped away to play on the swing set.

Compassion changes a person.

In this old Jewish tale, the rabbi’s compassion made the young boy feel heard, understood, cared for, and safe. The rabbit did this by bringing the boy close enough to feel his touch and to set their hearts in the same exact motion.

In our Biblical text for this morning, Jesus has compassion on the sick, hurting, and helpless making them feel heard, understood, cared for, and safe. Jesus did this by drawing close to them so that they could feel God’s touch and have their hearts set into the same compassionate rhythm of their healer.

Although the world considered the troubled outcasts of society, Jesus saw a beauty in each one he had come to serve.

Through our Biblical text for this morning, Jesus let’s you know that he has compassion on you who find yourself troubled and helpless. Jesus hears you, understands you, cares for you, and keeps you safe from being separated from God from this day forward.

Rejoice this morning with the prophets Isaiah and Micah who exhort us with these words:

[13] Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth;

break forth, O mountains, into singing!

For the LORD has comforted his people

and will have compassion on his afflicted.

(Isaiah 49:13, ESV)

[19] He will again have compassion on us;

he will tread our iniquities underfoot.

You will cast all our sins

into the depths of the sea. (Micah 7:19, ESV)

Although you often feel alone and different because of your troubles, Jesus sees a beauty in you, the one He has come to serve.

Jesus comes alongside of you and let’s you know that everything is going to be OK. You are healed. Your sins are forgiven. And, Heaven is yours.

This week, when you cry out,

“I’m one step closer to the edge,

And I’m about to break,”

Hear Jesus who compassionately calls back to you, “Come to me, you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Pastor Fred Scragg V.

February 4, 2024.

Posted on January 22, 2024 by Fred Scragg 5

Don’t Play With God

Mark 1.14-20

Who do you follow?

We all follow someone or something.

What I mean is that we all take instructions for our daily life from a person, place, or idea.

And, in today’s technologically driven world, we actually find ourselves hitting a literal “follow” button on social media apps and websites.

Do you follow the Stanley Cup Fanatics, always chasing after the newest color or design of those sought after and worshipped water bottles?

Do you follow Dr. Phil, Dr. Ox, or Oprah Winfrey, looking for the perfect personally tailored path to mental and physical health?

Do you follow the leader of some pyramid scheme hidden under the guise of a business opportunity or side hustle to chase after a wealthy and luxurious lifestyle?

Do you follow the interpretation of world news from only one source, channel, voice, or YouTuber?

Do you follow the feeling at end of a glass of wine or the intake of weed?

Do you follow your own desires and instincts, always speaking your mind in the moment with little to no thought about what is coming out of your mouth or the actual consequences and implications for those around you?

If we sit back and examine our thoughts, words, and actions, we can all back track them to the input of someone, someplace, or something that came before us. Whether we realize it or not, whether we want to admit it or not, we follow after the path, or, paths, that another has paved for us.

In a semi-recent interview with with Denzel Washington, it noted that the actor has been getting more explicit about his Christian convictions.

In 2019 Washington called himself “a vessel of God.”

Privately over coffee with the interviewer Washington added:

The enemy is the inner me. The Bible says in the last days — I don’t know if it’s the last days, it’s not my place to know — but it says we’ll be lovers of ourselves. The No. 1 photograph today is a selfie, “[Look at] me at the protest.” “[Look at] with the fire [with a glass of wine].” [Look at me with my kids at the park. Look at me in church on Sunday.]

“Follow me.”

“Listen to me.”

We’re living in a time where people are willing to do anything to get followed. What is the long or short-term effect of too much information? It’s going fast and it can be manipulated obviously in a myriad of ways. And people are led like sheep to slaughter.

Don’t play with God. Don’t play with God. You hear what I said? Don’t play with God. You heard what I said? Don’t play with God.

Then the interviewer mentions that Washington urged her to download and use a daily Bible reading app.

Washington said. “You have to fill up that bucket every morning. It’s rough out there. You leave the house in the morning. Here they come, chipping away. By the end of the day, you’ve got to refill that bucket.”

In our Biblical text this morning, chosen for us by the lectionary, we enter into the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry as recorded for us in Mark’s biography of Jesus.

It is in this short narrative of Jesus preaching and gathering of disciples that we hear the words, “Follow me and I will make you a citizen of Heaven.”

It is here that Jesus preaches a message that can be summed up with the words, “Don’t play with God.”

Let’s hear was the disciples Mark records for us in these opening words of his gospel.

Mark 1:14–20 says this:

[14] Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, [15] and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

[16] Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. [17] And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” [18] And immediately they left their nets and followed him. [19] And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. [20] And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him. (ESV)

Our text for this morning opens up with interesting contextual note telling us that what Jesus was doing happened, “after John was arrested.”

This is an interesting time stamp that we may initially breeze over as inconsequential.

However, this simple statement is revealing to us a HUGE truth.

And, that truth is God cannot be stopped from loving you! Don’t play with God!

John’s preaching in the wilderness, and we have to assume elsewhere throughout his life, was “repent of your sins and believe in God’s promise of forgiveness through a Savior.” For more specifics on this, or, if you don’t trust me, you can look back at Mark 1.1-8.

This message of personal wrongdoing that separates you from God and makes you guilty before God’s throne and deserving of extreme eternal punishment, rubbed the ruler of the day the wrong way because he wanted to live self-centeredly, cheating on his wife with his sister-in-law, while promoting his self-righteousness to all of his subjects.

So, to silence the conviction that God’s Spirit was bringing upon him, Herod had John thrown in prison and eventually beheaded.

However, this did not stop God’s message of sin and salvation.

God’s message of humanity’s need to repent—that is, confess of their sinful living against God’s standards for life and love and committing to turn away from that lifestyle with the Holy Spirit’s promised help—and believe in the good news of God’s forgiveness of that sin through the Savior’s life, death, and resurrection—would go forward until the end of time.

Herod tried to play with God, but God is relentless in his desire to love you by forgiving you, making you righteous, and welcoming you home into His eternal Kingdom of Heaven.

So, after John was taken out of the public eye and ear, Jesus picks up where John left off—preaching the message of humanity’s need to repent of their sin and believe in Him, who is now present with them, as their ONLY Savior.

In a few short, seemingly unimportant words, we are hearing the life changing message that God cannot be stopped from loving you and the world around you!

In the NT Biblical book of Acts, when the religious leaders had arrested and imprisoned some of Jesus’ disciples, a Pharisee by the name of Gamaliel said this to his fellow leaders:

“I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God!” (Acts 5.38-39, ESV)

Getting rid of John the Baptist would not overthrow the power and plan of God who was, is, and will forever be, working for your good through your salvation!

Pop/Punk band, Green Day, released their newest record this past Friday.

The title track, called, “Saviors,” has them reaching out for help with the following lyrics.

Calling all saviors tonight

Make us believers tonight

Calling all strangers tonight

Will somebody save us tonight?

The interesting thing that we see when we compare these lyrics to this morning’s Biblical text is that Simon, Andrew, James, and John were not in the business of calling for and looking for a Savior.

In fact, we are told in the Bible’s Scriptures that none of us is ever in active pursuit of a Savior.

The truth is that we definitely need one.

But, Satan uses lies and evil to bring the sin within us to life in order to make us feel like we are self-sufficient through self-centered living and the the feeling of self-righteousness—meaning that we can be our own Saviors by putting in enough work and hours at decent living—or, having the good outweigh the bad in our lives.

The apostle Paul quotes Psalm 14 in his letter to the Christians gathering in Rome, found in the book of Romans in our Bibles and remind them and us that,

[10] as it is written:

“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)

But, here’s the good news, even though the four fishermen weren’t calling for a Savior, they had a need for one, and their Savior came calling each of them by name.

And, that Savior, Jesus, did everything for them that they couldn’t do for themselves.

Jesus through his grace, mercy, and love, showed them their sin and gave them the strength, words, and desire to repent of that sin.

Jesus through his grace, mercy, and love, placed faith in their hearts to believe so that they knew without a doubt that He was God in the flesh, God with them, their Savior, and the Savior of all of those who also heard HIs call, repented, and believed.

Jesus through his grace, mercy, and love, called sinful, God denying men by name to follow Him in bringing God’s grace, mercy, and love, into the world.

And, Jesus made them fishers of men, meaning, partners in the Gospel who would work alongside of him loving God and loving others so that they too would hear the call of God, repent of their sin, believe in Jesus as Savior, follow him, and also become partners in the ministry work of loving God and loving others.

Repentance, belief, following Jesus, and loving others is all God’s work in our lives. He works this things in and though us, not because we are calling him to do so, but because He loves us and wants the best for us now and eternally. So, He calls us by name and transforms us with His power because the power to change does not exist inside of us—regardless of what others tell you or you tell yourself.

In Ephesians 2:8–10, the apostle Paul lays it out like this:

[8] For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, [9] not a result of works, so that no one may boast. [10] For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (ESV)

Following Stanley Cups, Dr. Phil, Dr. Ox, Oprah Winfrey, a pyramid scheme, a business opportunity, a side hustle, news interpretations, conspiracy theories, alcohol, drugs, or your thoughts and desires, will NEVER get you any closer to genuine happiness, genuine fulfillment, genuine satisfaction, or genuine contentment.

We all know that to be true because we have all tried at one time or another, or are trying right now to follow someone, something, or some idea, that is not Jesus, and we still feel unhappy and even miserable.

But, here’s the good news, even though you weren’t calling for a Savior, you had a need for one, and God your Savior, in Jesus Christ, came calling you by name.

And, that Savior, Jesus, did everything for you that you couldn’t do for yourself.

Classic rockers, still releasing music in this post-modern era, The Dead Daisies, say it like this:

Chosen and Justified

…you know your satisfied

In your grace

You can’t erase

Hear my call

Don’t let it slip away

Chosen and Justified

I was leading an AA meeting on Wednesday night and we were discussing the need for God to intervene in our lives to help us when one of recovered addicts said, “God doesn’t wear off quickly like drugs do.”

I was taken aback because it was one of the most truthful, experience-driven statements that I have ever heard.

When Jesus speaks into your life by calling your name, which is has been doing and is doing right now and will continue to do tomorrow, through the Word (the Bible) and the Sacraments (Baptism and Communion), you clearly hear 4 separate things.

1. Repent.

2. Believe.

3. Follow Me.

4. I will make you fishers of men.

And, these four things are not one time events. They describe a cycle, or pattern, for your life from the day you find yourself believing in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior until the day you meet that Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in His Kingdom of Heaven.

Jesus points out that the beginning of your faith journey with Him is just like the middle and the end of your faith journey with him.

Matthew 16:24–27 has Jesus reminding his followers of this daily need to repent, believe, follow him, and be made into fishers of men.

These verses tell us this:

[24] Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. [25] For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. [26] For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? [27] For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. (ESV)

This morning, don’t play with God, repent of your sin, believe in Jesus as God’s gift of Savior, follow Jesus, and be made into one who can freely love those around you because you have first been freely called and loved by God, your Father in Heaven.

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Pastor Fred Scragg V.

January 21, 2024

Posted on January 8, 2024January 8, 2024 by Fred Scragg 5

Do The Right Thing

Romans 6.1-11

Have you ever struggled to do the right thing?

Have you ever thought to yourself, “what is the purpose of doing the right thing if I am the only one doing it?”

Maybe you’ve thought, “The people that don’t do the right thing seem to be happier, more fulfilled, and are having more fun.”

The original owners of Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company had the reputation for being people of integrity. The beginning of their story reveals their commitment to do the right thing—even when it cost them:

Northwestern Mutual was founded as the Mutual Life Insurance Company of the State of Wisconsin on March 2, 1857. Originally located in Janesville, Wisconsin, the fledgling company relocated to Milwaukee in 1859. Shortly after, the company experienced its first two death claims, when an excursion train traveling from Janesville to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, derailed, killing 14 people, two of whom were policy owners. With losses amounting to $3,500 and having funds of only $2,000, company President Samuel Daggett and Treasurer Charles Nash personally borrowed the needed funds to pay the claims immediately.

Later when asked why they didn’t simply default on the payments, they replied it would not have been the right thing to do to their fellow man. They both agreed they would rather see the company fail than neglect their obligation to those who trusted them to keep their word.

Doing the right thing can be hard.

Always choosing right over wrong can feel like a daunting task, especially in the moments of decision making.

In this morning’s Biblical text, chosen for us by the lectionary, we are going to hear the apostle Paul give us the encouragement we need to walk every day in the right and the light of our faith as defined in God’s commandments for life and love.

Let’s hear from the apostle Paul’s letter to the Christians gathered in the city of Rome during the first century now.

Romans 6:1–11 says this:

[1] What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? [2] By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? [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. [6] We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. [7] For one who has died has been set free from sin. [8] Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. [9] We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. [10] For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. [11] So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. (ESV)

Have you ever thought to yourself,

“If Jesus has already forgiven me of my Sin—my sins from the past, my sins in the present, and even the sins that I will commit in the future—why can’t I just do whatever I want right now? After all, I am forgiven by God and will be forgiven by God anyway?”

If you have thought that at one point or another, and I know you probably have, because I have, I want you to know that you aren’t alone.

That’s how tricky sin and Satan are. They corrupt our thinking to the point where we think we can get one over on God.

It is this exact broken train of thought that the apostle Paul had to confront in the church around 2000 years ago as witnessed by our Biblical text this morning.

Our text begins with Paul presenting the question, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?”

Here, in his letter to the Christians gathered in the city of Rome during the 1st Century, Paul is not posing this question as one to be answered by the hearers.

No! Paul is posing the question that he has heard from the Christians gathered in the city of Rome so that he can correct their thinking that is broken and corrupted by the Sin that dwells within us and seems so close whenever we want to do the right thing.

Paul sums up the way he feels, which is very often the way we feel a bit later in this same letter, that often leads to the train of thought being confronted at the outset of this Biblical text.

Romans 7:14–8.1 says this:

[14] For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. [15] For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. [16] Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. [17] So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. [18] For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. [19] For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. [20] Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

[21] So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. [22] For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, [23] but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. [24] Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? [25] Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. (ESV)

[1] There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (ESV)

When theologians get together to discuss some of the finer points of theology, one of the things they discuss is the way God uses his Law in our lives.

I teach the 3 Uses of the Law to all of my confirmation classes by having them memorize the following paragraph:

The Law is that part of God’s Word which tells us what we must do and what we must not do. It has two, possibly three uses: 1) to curb our natural tendencies by telling us what we must do under penalty of punishment or failure; 2) to convict of sin by describing where we have failed to keep the law, thus showing us our need for a Savior; and 3) to coach the believer regarding what Christ has given the believer to do.

Today’s text has Paul teaching what we would call “The 3rd Use of the Law.”

In the 3rd Use of the Law, we are told that God’s Law has an important place in the life of the believer.

This is very important to understand because there are many traditions that would call themselves “Christian,” but in fact deny that God’s Law has a place in the life of a person once they come to faith in Jesus Christ.

The wrong thinking of such heretical groups goes like this: “Jesus has done all that needs to be done for me. I am forgiven yesterday, today, and tomorrow. So, there is no need for me to follow any rules or standards for life and love found in the Bible.”

Those that believe that God’s Law has no place in the life of a person once they come to faith have been historically known as antinomians.

Antinomian comes from the combination of two ancient words; anti, meaning, “against,” and, nomos, meaning, “law.”

So, when you put them together, you are referring to those who are against God’s Law.

Why am I telling you all of this stuff?

I am telling you all of this stuff because it directly relates to what Paul was speaking about in this morning’s Biblical text.

Here’s the order of thought that the apostle Paul is confronting:

God’s Law shows me and the world what sin is.

When I sin, God has the chance to forgive me and show the world that he is a forgiving God.

Therefore, I should just keep sinning, or living like God’ Law doesn’t exist—living in complete disobedience to God’s standards for life and love—so that He can continue to show His love through forgiveness to me and the world.

As much as we would also confront that wrong way of thinking and behaving, we tend to think and behave in this exact way when the rubber meets the road of life.

We think differently than God who created us, forgives us, and rescues us.

And, we act differently than God who created us, forgives us, and rescues us.

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

[1] There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (ESV)

Jesus Christ, Himself tells us that God’s Law is important for our lives and that He didn’t come to get rid of it.

In the disciple Matthew’s biography of Jesus, Jesus says to those listening to the particular sermon that he is giving:

[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. (Matthew 5.17-20, ESV)

And, Jesus’ brother, James, reminds us of the connection of faith and works, the connection that faith such inform works, or that our creeds should inform our deeds, when he says:

[14] What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? [15] If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, [16] and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? [17] So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

[18] But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. [19] You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! [20] Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? [21] Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? [22] You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; [23] and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. [24] You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. [25] And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? [26] For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. (James 2:14–26, ESV)

The fact that Christians are known by their love and that true believers can’t help but be pushed and pulled in the direction of doing the right thing by the Holy Spirit alive and active inside of them.

We won’t always choose the right over the wrong or the light over the dark because we continue to struggle with the brokenness and corruption inside of us, but we will know the difference and have at least a desire to move toward the right and the light.

In my study this week, I was reading some of the writing of the fourth century pastor and teacher, Cyril, who served as the bishop of Jerusalem. He also spoke to the issue of faith informing the thoughts, words, and actions of our everyday life, or to state it again, our creeds informing our deeds.

Cyril said this:

“In this Holy [Christian] Church receiving instruction and behaving ourselves virtuously, we shall attain the kingdom of Heaven and inherit Eternal Life;”

Cyril—300 years after Jesus, Paul, and James—makes the connection between and doctrine and practice (or, the things we say we believe and the things we do). He emphasizes, as do Jesus, Paul, and James, before him, that our actions should flow from our beliefs.

In an earlier lecture of his, Cyril said:

“For the method of godliness consists of these two things, pious doctrines, and virtuous practice: and neither are the doctrines acceptable to God apart from good works, nor does God accept the works which are not perfected without pious doctrines.”

He goes on to explain that is it of no value to live a virtuous life and yet not believe in God; neither is it possible to retain your faith while living an unrepentant life of sin.

When we come to faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior—the one who saves us from our Sin that separates us from God eternally—we are untied to Jesus through baptism and are made into a new creation filled with God’s presence every second of every day through the gift of the Holy Spirit.

It is in this place that we are given the mind of Christ to see the world as Jesus sees it—as a place that ultimately needs to be loved and forgiven to find rest, peace, and hope. It is in this state of being that we can finally love God and love others as God commands us to do.

In 1 John 2:1–6, the disciple John writes this in his first letter to the Church:

[1] My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. [2] He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. [3] And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. [4] Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, [5] but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: [6] whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. (ESV)

Back in 1968, a theology student published in his school’s journal what he called, “The Paradoxical Commandments.”

They went like this:

People are unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered. Love them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Be good anyway.

Honesty and frankness will make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway.

People need help but may attack you if you try to help them. Help them anyway.

In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.

This morning, rejoice, celebrate, scream, shout, and dance. Through Jesus you are dead to sin and alive to God!

Jesus did the right thing for you. And, doing the right thing was hard. He followed God’s command to give his life over to death on the cross to be the payment for your sin. This is love.

Do the right thing this week—Walk in the newness of life that you have been given—in a manner worthy of Christ following God’s rules for life and love that He graciously gives you for your good and the good of the world around you. This is love.

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Pastor Fred Scragg V

January 7, 2024