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In episode 259 of HT-Radio Pr. Borghardt and Jon are joined by Pr. Mark Buetow. Pr. Buetow talks about John the Baptist and how he prepares the way for Jesus and how Advent prepares the way for Christmas. Then, in the last segment, Pr. Cwirla talks about the Magnificat. The Song of Mary.
If you have questions or topics that you’d like discussed on HT-Radio email them to radio@higherthings.org or send a text to 936-647-3235.
Rev. Mark Buetow
Rain down, you heavens, from above, And let the skies pour down righteousness; Let the earth open, let them bring forth salvation, And let righteousness spring up together.
– Isaiah 45:8
Truth shall spring out of the earth, And righteousness shall look down from heaven. – Psalm 85:11
Luther’s Small Catechism teaches us to say this about Jesus: “I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord.” The words above from Isaiah and Psalm 85 remind us that this joining of the Divine Nature of the Son of God to human flesh was always how God was going to come to us and save us. From above comes righteousness, the Holy Son of the Father. From the substance of the earth, dust, the flesh of Mary, is the human nature of Jesus. The divine and human natures in Christ are together one person we know as Jesus. Jesus is a man. Jesus is also God. This is one of the things that sets the Christian religion apart from other faiths. Many may believe that Jesus is a man, a good teacher, a prophet or whatever. But Christians believe, on the basis of God’s Word, that Jesus is true God. And we worship Him as true God.
The Son of God became man in Mary’s womb when the angel Gabriel spoke God’s Word to her. He told her that the Child she would bear would be the “Son of the Most High.” That means that baby will be God. Mary is the Mother of God! But the angel also said the Child would have the throne of His Father, David. That means the baby will be a true human being with a human family tree. And tying it all together? His name. Jesus. Joshua. “Yahweh (the LORD) saves.” God becomes a man to save sinners.
And that’s really what this is all about. What’s the big deal that God comes down? That He becomes a man? That He is born as a baby? Well, first of all, it means we can stop trying to figure out God as if He’s just some invisible, mysterious Being out there about which we don’t know anything. No more guessing what God is like or what He is up to. Now we know! He is about the business of saving sinners who have turned aside and made a mess of things. Of their lives, of other people’s lives. People who have turned away from God. Abandoned their neighbors. Failed in their callings. Ruined what was good. For them, what has God got in store? A manger. Diapers. A childhood. A baptism. A forty day fast followed by awful temptation. A secret arrest in the dark of night. A sham trial. A weak-willed Roman governor. A whip with razor blades. A crown of thorns. A cross and nails. Death. A tomb. And then an empty tomb. All of that is why God became a man.
As we get closer to Christmas, the church hears these words which came from the mouths and pens of prophets and psalm writers. These words invite us to behold the mystery of the incarnation, the “God-in-the-flesh” mystery which we could never make up or figure out. Rather, this mystery is revealed to us. The skies pour down righteousness. The earth brings forth salvation. The Son of God takes up a dwelling in Mary’s Womb and Mary gives to God of her own flesh so that when this Child is born, you have God and Man right there. God-with-us, Immanuel. In Jesus, heaven and earth have come together. Where man and God were as far apart as we could be because of sin, Jesus brings God and man back together in Himself. And by His death and resurrection brings us back to God the Father.
And then, baptized into Him, we in our dying dust, are washed with His righteousness in a new birth from above. And we see the beautiful parallels of Christmas. God became a Child so that we could become children of God. God is born as a baby so that we would be born anew from above. God takes on human flesh so that we would be joined to God through faith and Christ living in us. Christ came to have earthly life so that we would have eternal life. It’s all tied together in the Babe of Bethlehem.
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This week on HT-Radio, Pr. Gaven Mize of Divine Savior Lutheran Church in Shepherdsville, KY talks about Advent Joy. To talk about Advent joy he takes a look at John the Baptist and his preaching of repentance. In the second half of the episode, Pr. Borghardt and Jon are joined by Stan Lemon to talk about antinomianism, pronomianism, law and Gospel.
If you have questions or topics that you’d like discussed on HT-Radio email them to radio@higherthings.org or send a text to 936-647-3235.
Rev. Mark Buetow
John the Baptist (or, as some call him, John the Forerunner) was the preacher who came before and in anticipation of Jesus the Christ. To his old father and barren mother, John’s conception and birth was the event which signaled the beginning of the final fulfillment of God’s promise to save sinners. Not long after, Jesus was conceived in Mary’s womb. When he grew up, John preached and baptized, telling people the time was near. Then Jesus showed up to the Jordan River and John pointed to Him and declared, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
In that single sentence is contained the entire Christian faith. Here’s how: First, you have a preacher, preaching that Good News. The Christian church exists because the Lord sends preachers to proclaim His salvation. Your pastor’s job is to do exactly that: preach salvation in Jesus Christ. Your pastor’s job is to point you to Jesus. To be sure, John, prepared people by the preaching of the Law. He told people to repent and to love their neighbor in the various ways their callings life directed them. He preached the fiery judgment of God against those who rejected the Lord. But then, when Jesus showed up, John declared the Good News that this One was the Lamb who would take away the sin of the world. That’s your pastor’s job too. Preach the Law which shows your sin but also preach the Gospel which gives you Jesus.
So the Christian faith has preachers. And what do they preach? “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” John pointed to Jesus. This is the center of the Christian faith, this man, who is really true God and true man. John is pointing to Jesus as the fulfillment of all the promises and prophecies of the Old Testament. John points to Jesus who was born in Bethlehem, raised in Nazareth and has now appeared at the Jordan river. This man in particular, and no one else, is the One who is the Lamb of God.
And this short and to-the-point sermon tells us not just Who but What and How. Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Jesus is the fulfillment of the promise because He comes to take away the sin of the world. Just as the Passover Lamb was slaughtered, so Jesus will be sacrificed and killed on the cross on Calvary. His death will pay the price of all sin. Not only that, Jesus defeats the curse of death, because He rose the third day on Easter. Jesus’ death for sinners and His resurrection from the dead are the center and substance of the Christian faith. The Lamb of God came for this one purpose: not to make the world a better place; not to improve our lives; not to make us better people. He came to take away the sin of the world. He came to save sinners.
John did not live to see Jesus’ death and resurrection. But, after Easter, Jesus sent His apostles and today still calls and ordains preachers to do what John did: proclaim to people that the Lamb of God has taken away their sin. Thus the Christian faith and church continue by the Lord’s grace and work. Preachers preach Jesus, the Jesus who is the sacrifice for the sins of the world. In the season of Advent, when the church is preparing to celebrate Jesus’ birth and watching for His final return in glory, preachers preach the Lamb of God. And like John the Baptist, such preaching gives us the truest comfort of all: peace with God because of Jesus. So, behold! Jesus! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! The Lamb who has taken away your sin.
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In Episode 257 of HT-Radio, Pr. Borghardt is joined by Sandra Ostapowich as co-host and Stan Lemon as interview guest. Stan talks about why they don’t do Santa Clause in the Lemon house hold and even slips in a little history of St. Nickolas in the first half. In the second half of the episode Pr. Borghardt and Sandra are joined by Rev. Aaron Fenker, Associate Pastor at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Bossier City, LA. Pr. Fenker talks about how Christmas bleeds out of its season in to Advent and if it’s okay to put your tree up and listen to Christmas music before December 25th.
If you have questions or topics that you’d like discussed on HT-Radio email them to radio@higherthings.org or send a text to 936-647-3235.
Rev. Mark Buetow
Give us this day our daily bread.
What does this mean?
God certainly gives daily bread to everyone without our prayers, even to all evil people, but we pray in this petition that God would lead us to realize this and to receive our daily bread with thanksgiving.
The Catechism we just read (Fourth Petition) teaches us that we pray for our daily bread so that we would learn to “receive our daily bread with thanksgiving.” In our Gospel lesson, Jesus wonders why only one of the ten lepers comes back to give glory to God. Brothers and sisters in Christ: We are not here tonight to learn good manners. If thanksgiving is merely a day to say a polite “Thank You” for the things we have been given, then we could just send in a Thank You Note to church: “Dear God, thank you for the nice sweater and the new video game and all that stuff.” Of course we should thank God and give Him glory for even the smallest little gifts He gives us such as each breath and every heartbeat all the way up to the biggest gifts He gives us: His Son and the forgiveness of sins. But what does it mean to be thankful? To be thankful is to have faith. To be thankful to the Lord is to do as the Samaritan did: come back for more. Be where Jesus is. Believe and trust that Jesus is the only one who can and will take care of us. To put it another way: Being truly thankful to our Lord isn’t about being polite. It’s about clinging to Him because only our Lord will take care of us and save us and give us everlasting life.
I suppose that band of lepers is pretty typical of most people. They want something from God. They get something from God and then they don’t need Him anymore until the next thing goes wrong. You know how it is: When everything’s going well and you’re healthy and have a job and your marriage is fine and your kids are doing well and there’s money in the bank—when all that’s going on, you don’t really need the Lord. But when trouble comes, you get sick, or financial trouble hits—then suddenly its time to make deals with the Lord. To suddenly start praying a whole bunch. You might even start feeling guilty that you’re having problems precisely because you weren’t doing those things faithfully. That’s Nine Lepers thinking! Repent! The nine lepers had a nasty, gross skin disease. They needed Jesus to heal them. So He did and then they were done with Him. They got what they wanted and until the next bad thing happens they won’t come looking for Jesus.
But the Samaritan, as soon as he realized he was clean, cured of his leprosy, ran back to Jesus. Why? That’s faith. Faith says, “Jesus healed me. If Jesus can heal a leper then He can save a sinner.” The Samaritan learns and knows that the only guy who can help him is Jesus. Jesus gives healing. Jesus gives life. So the only conclusion faith can make is that you’d better be where Jesus is. Where Jesus is, there is life. The Samaritan knows that Jesus has more gifts. He clings to Jesus. That’s true gratitude, true thankfulness: to receive the gifts of Christ and expect that He has more for you. Jesus came in the flesh to die for your sins. He came to take your sins, carry them to Calvary and suffer for them there. He came to conquer death by rising from the dead. He rose and ascended so that He might send the Gospel of the forgiveness of sins to you. He baptized you, marking you as God’s own child. He absolves you over and over and He feeds you with the never ending feast of His body and blood for your salvation. That’s not just for when you are in trouble, when things aren’t working right, when things aren’t going your way, when you a need shot of “pick me up” from Jesus! His gifts are for you always unto eternal life. His gifts are not just one shot deals but a continually flowing spring of forgiveness, life and salvation!
So how do you thank Him then? I mean, really, what do you get for the guy who has everything? What does God need from us? It’s not “good manners.” As if God is not great unless we tell Him so! No, to properly thank the Lord, we do as the Psalmist says (and we’ll sing these words in just a bit): “What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits to me?” That is, what can we possibly do to say thank you? “I will take the cup of salvation and will call on the Name of the Lord!” That is, I will come to Him and live in His gifts that He gives! I will take the cup of salvation. I will come and receive more of what He has for me. To be thankful is nothing other than receiving good things from the Lord and EXPECTING to receive those gifts and returning to Him over and over to receive them. To be thankful is to live in your Baptism each day, to open your ears wide to hear the voice of Christ absolve you through your pastor, to run to the altar of God as often as you can and feast upon His saving body and blood. Of course, we DO offer our formal “thank yous” as we pray, praise and give thanks, especially in our worship. But the real heart of thanksgiving is to live like the Samaritan leper: to be healed by Jesus and to run back for more. Because Jesus is all about that: giving gifts, then giving more gifts and giving still more, all the way through life into eternal life!
Ten lepers were healed. But only one was saved. “Go, you faith has saved you,” says Jesus to the Samaritan. What happened to the other nine? I don’t know. All I know is that the Samaritan was saved because Jesus said so. What is the faith that saved Him? Jesus. Jesus is telling Him: You asked me for help and I healed you. And you have learned by the Holy Spirit to come back and expect everything good from me.” That’s your salvation too, dear Christian, to to be where Jesus is and to glorify Him by receiving His good gifts. So be thankful! Come to hear His Word preached. Come to the font and remember what the Lord did there. Come to the feast as often as you can. Live as the Catechism teaches, that is, run to the Lord and spread wide your blanket or cloak so you can receive every good gift in Jesus. But that’s not all! Come now to HIS Thanksgiving Feast, to receive more gifts, more Jesus. More faith. And then you too go in peace. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.
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In episode 255 of HT-Radio, Pr. Borghardt and Sandra Ostapowich talk about what to do when you find out your friend actually likes you. Then during the second half of the broadcast Stan Lemon joins them as the discuss the parable of the wise and foolish virgins from the Gospel Lesson appointed for the Last Sunday of the Church Year.
If you have questions or topics that you’d like discussed on HT-Radio email them to radio@higherthings.org or send a text to 936-647-3235.
Higher Things announces the Advent and Christmas Reflections for 2013-14. These daily devotions cover the time from the beginning of Advent, through Christmas and the first few days of the Epiphany season, calling us to trust in the Coming One who saves us from our sins, Jesus!
As always, you can download a printable booklet here or choose one of our many other formats at http://higherthings.org/reflections. And now, for the first time, we are offering the Daily Reflections in a Large Print Edition. You can get that edition here.
A Blessed Advent and Merry Christmas to all our readers! Thanks as always for your support for Higher Things.
In Christ,
Pastor Mark Buetow
buetowmt@higherthings.org
HT Media Services
