Author: Higher Things

by The Rev. George F. Borghardt III

St. Matthew 19:27-30 – The Conversion of St. Paul

In the name of Jesus. Amen.   There is only one group that gets the Gospel right in Matthew chapter nineteen.  Just one group.  

The Jews blow it.  They wanna get rid of their wives.  The disciples follow with more cluelessness – trying to keep the children from Jesus. Then, comes the Rich Young Ruler.

You know one that asked Jesus how to earn salvation, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”   What must I do?  I.. Me…  You know… Me.. Me.. Me.. That makes me the center of my religion.  What do I do to earn heaven?  

Jesus responded, “Keep the commandments.”   “I’ve done that,” says the Lawyer, “since I was young.” 
Wrong answer.  There was something left, something undone.  The Law always has something that we don’t do, some place where we could improve.

And to the one who seeks to justify himself, Jesus says, “If you want to be perfect, go sell what you posses and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, then come follow me.”

The rich young man leaves saddened.  If that’s what it takes to be saved, how could anyone be saved?  The twelve apostles ask.  If you have to give everything away to the poor, if the Law has always something to demand of you, if you can’t be perfect, how can you be saved?  

What have you given up to follow Jesus?  Don’t dodge the Law.  Don’t lessen it.  What are you holding back?  Don’t try to escape in the “I’m only human.”  What have you held back from Jesus? How will you be saved?“With man, this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” says Jesus.  

Impossible?  You betcha!  It takes the impossible to save you and me from our sins.  God sends His Son to die for us to save us.  

Jesus gave up everything – everything.  His throne.  He set aside His glory.  The glory of the only Son of God.  He took upon the form of a slave – God serving you by dying. 

Then, comes today’s Gospel.  We can’t understand it without what comes before it!  That’s the beauty of verse twenty-seven, it comes right after Jesus talking about how He does the impossible salvation!
The question comes from St. Peter.  He’s always got to open His mouth and say what He’s thinking.  
Jesus’ answer is perplexing for us Lutherans.  Your pastor told me in Indiana with a smile that it creates more questions than it asks.  He seemed to chuckle as if the poor young pastor from Texas had quite the challenge.

To the twelve, the ones that left everything – thrones and judging Israel.   And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.

Dear Saints of God, Jesus hasn’t forgotten that you are saved by grace alone.  He hasn’t forgotten that your works help and save you never.  

The key is in the rebirth.  You die, He raises you from the dead.  You do the dying.  He does the raising from the dead.  You then see just how deep His love for you is in Christ.

In the midst of all your suffering and pain, don’t doubt that what waits for you will leave you no regrets.  Count on it.  Hundredfold.  Jesus said so. 

When you suffer rejection – even from your own loved ones, know that your suffering is not in vain.  Your pain is going to come to an end.  Your longing will be satisfied in Christ. And heaven really be all it’s cracked up to be – more than you could ever imagine. 

This is not an if you do this, I will give you this.  But, you have done this, I know you have, not for salvation, but for my sake.  I can’t wait for you to see all that is waiting for you.

Not by earning like that young ruler wanted.  No one is earning anything in chapter nineteen.  No one is right enough to earn anything!   Jesus makes that clear with these words:  But many who are first will be last, and the last first.

You don’t get any first-er than St. Peter.  Top of the apostles, always the one who bursts in, gives his statement, his opinion.  Everyone thinks he’s top.  But, yet, here Jesus sets Him last. 

Don’t look for the rewards, Peter, that will always land you dead last.  You too, if you would push yourself forward.  If you want to play that Rich young man game, you will find yourself out.  

And today, especially we must remember that there was no one more first than Saul.  A zealot for Judaism.  He advanced past all his contemporaries.  He was on the fast track to synodical president or at least a district president.

Saul had it all!  He knew the Law back and front.  He had zeal.  He had works – big ones!  He loved Judaism and hated her enemies. 

It was Saul who sat at that stoning of the young deacon named Stephen. Why was the young pastor martyred?  St. Stephen dared to preach Jesus and so he had to be silenced.

In today’s Acts lesson, Saul had the orders he wanted.  Let me go put to a stop this Jesus.  That’s Zeal!  He asked for them to let him go persecute Jesus’ disciples.  And no one… No one was safe from his murderous threat.  He goes to Damascus to bind and jail anyone – man or woman – who belonged to Jesus, who is the Way.

Then… The impossible.  The Lord Jesus saved Him.  He knocked Him off his high horse – literally.  He called Him to repentance.  Blinded him.   

The first, became the Last.  Suffering.  Rejection.  Shipwreck.  Despised.  Slandered.  Jailed.  And finally most likely beheaded.

But Saul was saved – saved by the One who set Himself last for us.  Jesus, who put all of us before Him and died for us all.  Saul was given a new name, given new birth in Christ.  Jesus converted Him – changed his direction.  He once persecuted the faith and now preached the One He had persecuted.  
His gospel was not from men, but from above.  He was sent by Jesus, made an apostle.  Yet, Paul says, a different sort apostle – one born out of the regular way.   

God does twelve, but this one makes for what I learned in Louisiana as lagniappe – a baker’s dozen.  Not the bling and glory or St. Peter.  If there are twelve thrones and twelve apostles, there’s no spot for the left over one.

Yet, Paul preached.  He travelled and brought the Gospel to the ends of the earth – all over and then some!  And your New Testament is filled with his epistles – all of them pointing to Jesus.

For if Jesus could be such a savior, to save one who murdered His deacon and persecuted His church – how much more can He save you?  

If Jesus is for Paul, who says of himself is the chief of all sinners.  By grace, not by what you do.  Received by faith.  

So, eyes off Paul, back on Jesus.  Even when we talk of St. Paul’s Conversion, his being turned to Jesus.  

Which takes our eyes back to Matthew 19, doesn’t it?  What group gets it right in Matthew nineteen?  It’s not the Jews, not the disciples, certainly not rich young man and St. Peter.  Who gets it right?
The children!  The little children were brought to Him.  The ones that the disciples, the twelve who have the thrones, tried to stop! They get it right – they receive. Receive a blessing, receive from the Lord, from the God who saves them by dying. 

That’s the Christian faith – to receive from Jesus gifts.  In the waters of their baptism, Christ Himself washes them.  Takes their sins away, and brings the regeneration which Jesus talks about in today’s Gospel to them!

Care for your kids, dear Saints of God.  Put the Scriptures in their hands.  Take them to the services in God’s house.  Encourage your children to take their children to church.  Teach them the Faith, the Catechism and creed. 

Teach them that the Christian Faith is not one option amongst many.  They have tons of things to distract them – softball, baseball, football, band.  Make sure that of those priorities that the Word of God is key.   In Sunday School, in youth group, in church.

That’s what it means to give up everything to follow Jesus.  It means to have nothing that is more important than Christ.  Nothing.

And pray for them – pray that they hear the Word and as the children in the Gospel lesson, receive from Jesus.  His life, His forgiveness, His salvation.

For the children, they are the ones that get it right in Matthew 19.  Jesus blesses them.  You too.  So, have a blessed Conversion of St. Paul day.  Jesus for Saul.  Jesus for little ones.  Jesus for you and me.  In the name of Jesus. Amen. 

Rev. George Borghardt is Associate/Youth Pastor at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Conroe Texas. Pastor Borghardt serves as the Higher Things Conferences Executive and hosts Higher Things Radio. 

by The Rev. William Weedon

[Acts 4:8-13 / 2 Peter 1:1-15 / Mark 8:27-35]

Poor Peter went from being the star pupil to the class dunce – and all in a matter of minutes. When Jesus asked: “Who do people say that I am?” the disciples gave the usual answers: John the Baptist, Elijah, one of the prophets. But then our Lord turned to them, the disciples who had been with Him now for some time. “But who do you say that I am?”

Peter speaks for them all when he answers: “You are the Christ.” Right answer. Totally right answer. And yet. It is one thing to KNOW the right answer and another thing to realize what this answer means.

Jesus begins unpacking it for them: The Son of Man will suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed and after three days rise again. He put this plainly in front of them. Peter listens with increased anxiety, thinking: “No, that can’t be right. He’s the Christ, the Messiah.” So he takes our Lord aside and he begins to rebuke him! Peter dares to tell Jesus that Jesus has it all wrong. The Messiah can’t be rejected, can’t suffer, can’t die! He’s to have a kingdom and live and reign through endless years bringing joy and peace to all. Not this death and resurrection talk!

Jesus turns and looks at His disciples, these men he loves so much, and it is looking at them that HE rebukes Peter with the harshest words He ever spoke to anyone. “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” You can look at the hurt in Peter’s crestfallen face. From being the favored student to the class dunce in a matter of minutes. He knew that Jesus was Christ, but he hadn’t the foggiest notion of what being the Christ entailed. And so Satan spoke through his lips – for anything that would turn our Lord from the triumph of His cross is Satanic pure and simple. 

But it’s even bigger than our Lord’s cross. He says plainly: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and for the Gospel’s will save it.”

Peter and the others must have looked at Him with perplexity and fear. What did He mean? “Take up a cross.” Was Jesus inviting them to die? Was He calling them to lose their lives? That’s not the rosy picture they had of fellowship with this Man who had done such great miracles and whose company was joy itself. What could He mean?

If they didn’t understand then, they came to understand. We meet the same Peter again in our first reading. This is the Peter who denied that he knew the Lord Jesus at all, out of fear of suffering and death. Now he stands in the presence of those he had once cowered before, and boldly confesses: “Let it be known to you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom YOU crucified, but whom God raised from the dead – by Him this man stands before you well.” No fear anymore. He’d seen his Lord suffer, he’d seen his Lord die, and he’d seen his Lord triumphant over death and the grave, alive again and promising him and all believers a share in that life that no death can ever take from them. What’s to fear a anymore? He plows on: “This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” So the cowering Peter, Peter the Dunce, now Peter the Apostle and bold confessor. He now understands what eluded him before – that for Jesus to BE Messiah meant precisely that He would go to the cross, shouldering the sin of the human race, stretching out His holy hands to be nailed to the wood, to spill the blood that would cover the sin of our race, and then to die so that Death might die itself, and to rise again in a body incorruptible as the first-born of many brothers and sisters. His is the Name that saves – for baptized into that name we have the fruits of all His bitter sufferings and death given to us as our very life.

When Peter knew that his own end was fast approaching, the moment when he literally would take up his cross and follow his Lord into death and through death into life, he wrote one more time to his beloved churches. He reminded them that Christ’s divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. That He has given us precious promises to make us partakers of the divine nature. That He gives us a brand new life characterized by faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love. That these qualities are to grow in us and keep us from being ineffective or unfruitful in our knowledge of the Lord. That whoever lacks them, lacks them not because he’s not trying hard enough, but because he’s forgotten the sufferings of Christ have cleansed him from his former sins. That through those qualities growing in us we begin to live already in this life the joy of the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior. Peter knows that we know all this already, but he writes again before he dies to stir us up by way of reminder so that we may be established in the truth that we have in Jesus. 

And so from star pupil to class dunce, from fearful denier to bold confessor, from reluctant sufferer to a willingly being crucified for his Lord, Peter shows the transformation which faith in the sufferings, death, and resurrection of Jesus brings about. When he lay dying, Jaroslav Pelikan, famous scholar and theologian, whispered these words: “If Jesus is risen from the dead, then nothing else matters; if Jesus is not risen, then nothing matters.” Peter would have “Amened” that all the way! But in fact, Christ has risen from the dead, and so THAT is what matters above all.

Today as you come to feast at His Table, the Messiah who travelled the path from suffering to death, from death to the grave, from the grave to the resurrection and from the resurrection to the Ascension, reminds you that you have nothing to fear: His body and blood have taken away your sin and destroyed your death and He gives them into you that you with Peter and all the others might be a partaker of the divine nature and escape the corruption that is in the world through sinful desire. Kneeling before Him we confess with Peter that there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved than the holy name of Jesus, to whom be glory with His unoriginate Father and all-holy and life-giving Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen!

Rev. William Weedon is Pastor of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Hamel, IL. Pr. Weedon is also on of the plenary speakers for this summer’s Sola Conferences. 

by The Rev. Mark Buetow

Jesus comes to be baptized by John and John says Jesus should baptize him. But our Lord says, “Let it be so now in order to fulfill all righteousness.” Warning! Big church word alert! “Righteousness.” It’s one of those big words we hear in church and don’t really know what it means. Do you know what “righteousness” is? Do you have any? How do you get some. What good does having it do you? It’s really not as complicated as all that. Jesus comes to be baptized in order to fulfill all righteousness. Right there, in the Jordan River, we learn everything we need to know about what “righteousness” is. So are you ready? Ears open? Paying attention? Here is everything you need to know about “righteousness.” Here, in simple terms, is a definition of “righteousness” that’s easy to remember and repeat. Ready? Here it is: “Righteousness” means “Jesus takes your place.” Practice that. Everybody say, “Righteousness means, ‘Jesus take my place.’” You got it. It’s that simple. Now you can answer the question, “Are you righteous?” Answer? “Of course! Jesus takes my place.” Do you have righteousness? Of course! Jesus takes your place? When you read in the Bible the words “the righteousness of God,” what does it mean? You got it…Jesus takes your place. God the Father desires to save you from your sins. Our sinfulness means we have no righteousness. So the Father sends the Son and makes Him into a sinner and in that way makes us into His children. That’s our salvation. That’s our righteousness.

What was John the Baptist doing in the wilderness? He was baptizing sinners. The Gospel say that John came “preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” So if you had sins, the Jordan River was the place to be, because John was washing those sins away by water and God’s Word. Now, we know that Jesus is sinless. He is the pure and spotless Lamb of God. He is the one sinless and perfect man. Even John knows that! Even John figures that since Jesus is perfect and holy and doesn’t have any sins, He should be doing the baptizing. So what a surprise when Jesus comes to get baptized by John! If He’s sinless, why does He need to get baptized? The answer is this: He doesn’t get baptized for Himself. He gets baptized for us. When JESUS is baptized, the sins that were washed away from sinners all stick to Him. At His Baptism, Jesus comes to be a sinner covered with our sins. And not just one person’s sins. He comes to take on EVERY person’s sins ever! And that tears open heaven. And it puts a huge smile on the Father’s face. When Jesus gets baptized, Matthew writes that “Heaven was opened to Him” and we hear the Father’s voice, “This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased!” Even the Holy Spirit is there, landing on Jesus and pointing out: This is the Guy! This is the One who is becoming the sinner for the sake of sinners to make sinners into children of God! He takes on our sins and then takes them to the cross and flushes them away with His blood and water that gush from His side. Jesus takes on our sins and then goes to die and take them away. He doesn’t just take them and keep them. He takes them from us, takes them to the cross and buries them forever in the tomb from which He rose!

Now understand something. God the Father is pleased with Jesus because Jesus does what He is told and takes the place of sinners. It’s His doing what His Father says and taking our place that makes us right with God. Nothing else. In fact, if you read this Gospel closely, everything good is said about Jesus. Heaven is opened to HIM. God the Father is pleased with HIM. The Holy Spirit lands on HIM. But wasn’t all this about Jesus taking YOUR place? It’s great for Jesus that heaven is open to Him and He’s got the Holy Spirit on Him and the Father says, “That’s my boy!” But how does that do us any good? Here’s how. Maybe you’ve heard the radio ad on WJPF that talks about “closing the circle.” It’s about recycling, so that instead of a car battery sitting on a pile of newspapers in your garage, you recycle them and they make it back into the store as something else instead of going to waste. Well, the Lord’s salvation is accomplished and delivered in a similar way. At His Baptism, Jesus takes your place. On the cross, Jesus is taking your place. But how does that benefit you? The circle is closed when what Jesus did is delivered to you and bestowed upon you. Where does that happen? It happens in YOUR Baptism! When YOU are baptized, that is God’s promise and seal that Jesus took YOUR place. That He died for YOUR sins. That YOU are a child of God. In other words, Jesus is Baptized for you and you are baptized to be given His place as God’s Son! Salvation is accomplished by Jesus taking your place and delivered to you when you were Baptized.

Another way to put it is this: since Jesus, the true Lamb and Son of God takes your place, everything that He does and accomplishes and everything that happens to Him is now yours. Because you are washed with water and the Word in Baptism, heaven being opened to Jesus means that now heaven is opened to you. Because you are baptized, the Holy Spirit who lands on Jesus has come upon you, giving you peace with God. Because you are baptized, the Father speaking of Jesus is now the Father speaking of you: “This is my beloved Son!” Because you are baptized, Jesus’ defeating the Devil in the desert is your defeating the Devil. Because you are baptized, Jesus healing forgiving is your healing and forgiveness. Because you are baptized, Jesus death on the cross is your death, His paying for your sins means your sins are paid for. Because you are baptized, Jesus resurrection is your resurrection and the promise of you too rising from the dead. Because you are baptized, Jesus’ Ascension and sitting at the right hand of the Father is your ascension and being seated in heavenly places. Because you are baptized, Jesus’ eternal glory and the defeat of all enemies on the Last Day is your victory for all eternity over every enemy. Get it? Whatever is Christ’s is now yours through Holy Baptism. All that God is and has and does for you is given to you as a gift at that font, by the washing of new birth by water, the Word and the Holy Spirit.

But be careful! Being baptized means that just like Jesus was a marked man who was attacked and assaulted by the world and the Devil, so those enemies will come after you. The Devil will tell you over and over NOT to trust in your Baptism. The world will tell you a thousand and one ways to find God, none of which are your Baptism. The world will tell you that “righteousness” is all about how you live. The Devil will tell you that your sins keep you from being a child of God. And the great temptation you will have, brothers and sisters in Christ, is to live as if you Baptism didn’t actually do anything. That your Baptism hasn’t changed anything. That you aren’t any different because you are baptized. That you can have some religion and find God apart from your Baptism. That if you a live a good life you can make up for your sins. All lies! Apart from your Baptism, you don’t have Jesus, heaven is shut, the Holy Spirit is nowhere to be found and God the Father calls you cursed and not His child. But in Holy Baptism, all of that is yours because it is Christ’s. Therefore repent of any despising of your Baptism and learn to live in it each day. Learn to make the sign of the Holy Cross and begin and end each day with your Baptismal name.

So, are you all clear on what “righteousness” is? It’s Jesus taking your place. Are you all set on where that righteousness is given to you? In your Baptism. The world and even the church are filled with people who want to make anything other than Baptism the big deal. But Baptism isn’t ours. It’s the Lord’s. Courtney didn’t get herself baptized today. The Lord baptized her. I didn’t baptize her, the Lord did. Sure, He used my hands but it is HIS water and word. Baptism is God’s work and gift! As you come to the Sacrament today, the font still has water in it. Why not splash a little on your forehead with the sign of the cross to remember your Baptism and to confess to the world that by that Baptism, Christ has taken your place and taken everything bad that is yours—your sin and death—and given you everything good that is His—heaven opened, the Spirit of Peace, and a heavenly Father who claims you as His own. Jesus was Baptized to take your place. Now in your Baptism, you have His place, as the dearly beloved Son of God for all eternity. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

Rev. Mark Buetow is pastor of Bethel Lutheran Church in Du Quoin, IL. Pastor Buetow is also Internet Services Executive for Higher Things.