Category: Catechesis

Josh Radke

In the final part of The Lord of the Rings story, The Return of the King, Gandalf and Pippin are huddling together during a grim point of the siege of Minas Tirith. Pippin looks to Gandalf and admits he had hoped for a different end to their lives. Gandalf sees Pippin is discouraged with fear and weariness, that the hobbit is on the edge of hopelessness. It is a dramatic scene; one that many persecuted Christians experienced before their martyrdom, or during terrible battles in war.

In the story, Gandalf offers a comforting smile to the hobbit, “End? No, the journey doesn’t end here. Death is just another path, one that we all must take.” Then Gandalf proceeds to tell the young hobbit of the celestial, undying lands that await them after death. Indeed, many Christians under duress were also comforted by such words of hope-words with true value; words that a fairy tale can only echo. Those words are the Apostle’s Creed.

Although the Creed is commonly understood as a confession about our faith, this is not its primary function. The Creed is the summary of the whole Gospel, which comes from Christ Jesus our Lord. Through the Creed, God places His saving acts into our mouth for us to speak. Thus, it is appropriate to recite the Creed during private confession with your pastor. In the Divine Service, the Creed is spoken after the sermon but before Jesus’ Words consecrate bread and wine, where we receive Him into ourselves for the forgiveness of sins, and renewed spirits in the True Vine.

Through the Creed, our Father provides us a sanctuary from attacks against our faith by the world, the devil, our rebellious nature. Through the Creed, we are reminded that our salvation was obtained in real history; it is not a myth or a legend. Moreover, through the Creed, God reminds us of His promises given to us, by grace, in Holy Baptism for the sake of Christ: justification by faith alone, in Jesus alone; the preservation of our faith and the Church, by the Holy Spirit; the resurrection of our bodies at the Last Day; eternal life in the new creation.

We are reminded in Scripture and in our hymns that hardship, suffering, and struggles of the spirit will remain throughout our lives; sometimes it is because of the sins we commit, sometimes it is from the cross we must bear as Christians, and sometimes it is simply because we live in a broken cosmos that can only beget more brokenness. Whatever the instance, the devil hopes to use these to ambush us like a murderous thief, to rob us of Christ and the fruits of His cross given to us in God’s Word and Sacraments. As often as these times come, seek refuge in the words of the Gospel; bear the shield of faith in your Lord God and speak the Creed, and the arrows of the evil one shall be extinguished.

Rev. Michael Keith

I didn’t grow up going to church. At all. Ever.

But then in my late teens I did start going to church. I’ll not bother you with the details of how that happened. But it did. I started going to church. I went to a lot of churches. Lots. I checked out churches from all different kinds of denominations and talked to the pastors. I needed to find out what they believed and why they believed it. At first I started going to some evangelical style churches with some friends. I was so ignorant of what went on in a church that one Sunday I walked in and they handed me a little piece of a cracker and a little glass of grape juice. I thought that was weird, but kind of nice that they were handing out snacks, so I went to my pew before the service began and ate my little cracker and drank my juice. Everybody around me looked at me like I had just farted. Apparently there is this thing called “Communion” that this church did a couple times a year and you eat and drink the cracker and the juice in the pew later on in the service to remember Jesus. I didn’t know that. I felt pretty stupid and just faked it when it got to that point in the service.

Later I ended up attending a Lutheran church and staying. I’ll not bother you with the details of how that happened. But it did. However, that experience with the cracker and the grape juice made a big impression on me. I never wanted to feel stupid like that again. So, I asked my Lutheran pastors questions about everything. Everything. Why do we do this? Why do we do that? What does this mean? What does that mean? I wanted to know and understand. I had to learn the ABCs of Church.

One of the first things I asked about was the sign of the cross. I noticed that some people in the pews around me would make the sign of the cross at certain points in the Divine Service. I thought only Roman Catholics did that! What’s going on here? So I marched up to my pastor after Service one Sunday and asked what that was all about? He explained to me that was a way to help remember your baptism and the gifts that Jesus gave to you there. That blew me away. I had never heard that before. That seemed to me like a good thing to remember. I’ve made the sign of the cross several times daily ever since.

Why is it so important to remember that you are a baptized child of God? Because the devil wants you to forget. The devil wants you to doubt it. He will raise up the guilt of sins past and ask: “Would a child of God have done that? You must not really be a child of God.” He will work on you to cause you to question God’s love: “Sure, God loves her – she is pretty and nice and comes from a good family – but His love is not for you. Of course God loves him – he gets picked first for all the sports teams – but God isn’t really interested in you at all.” The devil continues to ask the question “Did God really say?” today to raise doubt and uncertainty just as he did in the Garden of Eden.

In Holy Baptism Jesus gives you something solid to hang on to. When everything else in life seems shaky – Jesus gives you something solid. In Holy Baptism Jesus gives you something that is sure and certain. You are a child of God because God said so in your baptism. And God does not lie. If He says it is so, it is so. Don’t argue with God. His Word stands forever! You are a beloved child of the heavenly Father!

In Holy Baptism your sins are washed away for the sake of Jesus. Your sins are removed from you as far as the East is from the West. When doubt creeps into your mind about God’s forgiveness of your sins remember His sure and certain promises given to you in your baptism. Through water and the Word He made those promises to you, personally. Directly. The water was poured on your head. Not someone else’s. God’s promises in Holy Baptism were made to you. God made those promises to you in a specific place and at a certain time. Making the sign of the cross reminds you of what God promised you at that time and place.

The devil deals in doubt and uncertainty. Jesus deals in the sure and certain. By remembering your baptism and the gifts Jesus gave you there you are on solid ground.

I had a lot to learn as I began attending church. By God’s grace I have had opportunities to learn from a lot of very faithful people. I still have lots to learn. Maybe we can talk about some more of the things I have learned along the way sometime in the future.

Rev. Michael Keith serves as pastor at St. Matthew Lutheran Church and SML Christian Academy in Stony Plain, AB Canada. He can be reached at keith@st-matthew.com.

Rev. George F. Borghardt

The Gospel is hyperbolic. Well, it seems like hyperbole anyway. It’s so over the top! It can’t be true! It can’t be real! It’s unbelievable and simple all at the same time. It’s too awesome and too good to be true. It’s amazing! Because it’s all Jesus-y goodness.

In Christ, your sins are forgiven-all of them. There’s not a sin that Christ did not die for; there’s not a sin that He leaves still on you. All of them-from Adam’s sin that you inherited to all the sins that you commit from the moment you were conceived to your very last breath. He has taken them all. He has redeemed you from them all.

You have been given everything as a gift. All that belongs to Jesus belongs to you. You have eternal life. You have heaven. He prepares a place just for you. You are a kingly, royal, holy priest, who sings the praises of the One who brought you out of darkness into His wonderful light.

You don’t earn it. You don’t deserve it. Jesus gives His Father’s entire kingdom away! He just gives it away for free-all of it. Forgiveness, life, salvation-all as a gift. He saves not holy people, but sinners. God reconciles the whole world to Himself in the death of His Son. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us!

The world certainly doesn’t work that way! You only get what you pay for and nothing is free. The Gospel is just foolishness to the rest of the world! The Gospel is absolutely moronic!

But the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of men. God knows that we cannot save ourselves. He knows we can’t dig ourselves out of the hell we’ve earned. We can’t think ourselves out of the hell we deserve.

The LORD was working to save us throughout the whole Old Testament. He sent prophets and preachers. He preached through them. He promised salvation. We believed-at first. But then we did our own thing. We silenced all His messengers-beat up and killed His messengers! We didn’t want to hear a single word.

So God goes and does something ridiculous: He sends His Son. Jesus is the Lord God Himself. And He is true Man, born of the Virgin Mary. He healed the sick. He preached the Good News that God was going to save us. And we rejected Him, too. We beat Him. We even executed Him on a Cross.

God shows His love in the giving up of His Son. That’s real love! He doesn’t love like we do, with empty promises. He put His love in our midst and let us nail it to a cross to save us. Jesus was crucified for our sins. And God raised Him from the dead for our forgiveness.

To make your salvation sure, the Lord places the certainty of it outside you in the external Word of the Gospel. He doesn’t leave you to look inside yourself or depend on your feelings to see if you really, truly, cross-your-heart believe…or not. You have been saved in the waters of your Baptism. God’s Word reminds you, “He who believes and is baptized shall be saved.” And you are forgiven in the words of Holy Absolution. The sins your pastor forgives really are forgiven. You are fed the very Body and Blood of Jesus. Jesus says in Scripture, “Whoever eats the flesh of the Son of Man and drinks His Blood has life and God will raise Him up on the last Day.” His gifts are the certainty of your salvation making everything Gospelly good!

When God has done everything imaginable to save you, you really have to work hard to lose your salvation. You’d have to despise Jesus’ forgiveness and love and make everything about yourself. You’d have to seek to save yourself and make everything about you-what you do and don’t do, how you feel, and what you are doing for God. You can read about life without Christ and its end in the other articles about the Law in this magazine.

But the Gospel! God wants to deal with you by the Gospel. He wants to be merciful. He wants to forgive you. He wants to give you life that goes on forever. He wants to deal with you, not as you deserve, but as His Son earned for you. So, in Christ, He does.

In Christ, there is no condemnation from God, no Law, no judgment. Christ’s Gospel trumps the Law’s demands, for Christ is the end of the Law for all who believe. In Christ, your salvation is as sure as Christ’s own death and resurrection. In Christ, you are unconquerable. You are saved.

You can’t get around it; there’s no better way. This is the way you and I are saved: Christ died for the sins of the world. Faith, which is born of the gifts of God, trusts that Christ died, not only for the sins of the world, but specifically for you. You are saved. You are forgiven. You have eternal life.

No hell; you get life. No judgment from God; you are let off, Jesus-free. No condemnation from the Law; now the Law itself has become almost Gospelly! The Law, in Christ, now provides a guide for you to love and serve your neighbor. It drowns your Old Adam and makes you alive to serve others.

It seems like hyperbole. But it’s definitely true. You are saved. You will be saved. Things are going to work out for you. They have to-all things are yours in Christ. Your good will be better. Your bad is going to turn out good. Your wins are real wins-eternal wins. Your losses are going to end up as wins in Christ. All things, even death itself, will work out to save you and those around you. That’s the unbelievable, hyperbolic, but completely true Gospel.

Rev. George F. Borghardt serves as the senior pastor at Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church in McHenry, Illinois. He is the president of Higher Things. His email is revborghardt@higherthings.org.

Rev. Mark Buetow

Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” – St. Matthew 22:37-40 (NKJV)

When we speak of “the Proper Distinction Between the Law and the Gospel,” we usually mean by “Law” the Ten Commandments or, if we use Jesus’ summarizing them, the Two Tables: Love God and Love your neighbor. The Gospel, we say, is about what Jesus does. The Law, we say, is about what we do, or at least what we are supposed to do. Thus, the Gospel is about Jesus and the Law is about us.

It comes out sounding something like this in our theology: We are sinful, so we break the commandments. Our sinfulness means we can’t keep the commandments. If we don’t keep the commandments, we’ll go to hell. Therefore, God sent His Son, Jesus, to keep the commandments in our place and to give His life as a sacrifice that forgives our sins of breaking the commandments. Then, with the Holy Spirit as our Helper, we go and try to keep the commandments. The problem with this approach is that it makes the Law about us when it’s really about Jesus.

Look closely at Jesus’ words above. “On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” The “Law” means the “Torah” which is what the first five books of the Bible are called. “Torah” means more than just “Law.” It could be translated as “teaching” or “Law and Gospel.” And the “Prophets” refers to rest of the writings of the Old Testament through which the Lord promised the sending of our Savior. So when Jesus says “the Law and the Prophets” He means Himself! That’s because He is the fulfillment of everything written in the Law and the Prophets (Luke 24:27, 44). So, everything in the Law and the Prophets-that is, Jesus!-hangs on these two commandments: Love God; love your neighbor. And the word there really is “hang,” as in “hang on the cross.” Now, consider that Jesus is both true God and true man in one person and all the pieces click together.

The law says we must love God and love our neighbor. In Christ, God and man are together in one person. And that Person, Jesus, loves God the Father above all things. He loves the Father in such a way that He even obeys the Father in dying for sinners! That’s the First Table of the Law. But He also loves His neighbor as Himself, even more than Himself, because He undergoes suffering and death for you! You can’t love others more than Jesus did-dying for their sins when He didn’t deserve to! So there it is. The Law. Love God. Love neighbor. And Jesus hangs on that Law on Calvary. There, He does what you don’t do. And He pays for what you did and haven’t done according to the Law.

So, the Law is not first and foremost about us. It’s about Jesus! Jesus, who perfectly loves God the Father and who perfectly loves and serves His neighbor. The Law pointed to Jesus and it is kept and fulfilled by Jesus. Everything the Law does-command obedience and punish sin-lands on Jesus on Calvary. He truly does hang on the commandments of the Law. So what does that mean for you? Do you have to worry about the Law? Do you have to bother doing and not-doing what it says to do and not do? The Law will always do its job to our Old Adam: crucifying the sinful flesh with its passions and desires. But the Spirit, by whom we have Christ’s forgiveness, dwells in us to bring forth the fruits of faith, namely, obedience and keeping the Law. Or, as St. Paul puts it, it’s not you living but Christ living in you. Or, even better, we learn to see the Law-the commandments-for what it really is: a gift!

You see, rather than just arbitrary rules God throws out there to trip us up and give Him a reason to condemn us, the Law is a list of all the gifts God gives us, beginning with Himself. The real nature of our sin isn’t that we “broke a rule” but that we have rejected a gift. “You shall have no other gods.” But we don’t want the true God. We want other gods. “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But we don’t like the people God has given into our lives and so we treat them badly and strive to please ourselves with other people. But Christ lives as if there is nothing better than loving God and receiving every good thing from His Father’s hand. And that life of Christ’s is now yours through your baptism into Him.

Sure, the Law is for you and about you, but only in and through Jesus. He is the great filter by which your sins against the commandments are forgiven and in whom your obedience and works are counted as perfect and pleasing to your Father in heaven. What we need to watch out for is getting hung up on the Law as if we could keep it ourselves or as if we could ever please God. Rather, because Jesus hung upon the Law as He hung on the cross, He has kept it for you and made you perfect in God’s sight. Touch the Law apart from Jesus, and it will bring down the damning curse. But in Christ, the Law is for you a gift that is delivered through Christ’s hanging on it and keeping it for you. So no more getting hung up on the Law since Jesus already was…for you!

Rev. Mark Buetow is pastor of Bethel Lutheran Church in DuQuoin, Illinois and serves as the deputy and media services executive for Higher Things. He can be reached at buetowmt@gmail.com.

Rev. Mark Buetow

“When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his Father, and he shall be My son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men.” 2 Samuel 7:12-14

When I was a kid, my parents used to read me bedtime stories from a Bible storybook. I heard the main stories about Adam and Eve and Noah and Moses and King David and Jesus, but I never understood how they fit together. What does David have to do with Jesus? I suspect if you ask most Christians, they’re not sure either. But the fact is, the Old Testament is all about Jesus in a very important way. When Jesus was born, He was born in a particular time and place from a particular family line. When the eternal Son of God became man in the womb of Mary, He was choosing a particular woman from a particular family tree. That family tree, as it turns out, went all the way back to Abraham (according to Matthew’s genealogy) and all the way to Adam (according to Luke’s). And Jesus’ family tree was traced through King David.

The birth of the Son of God on Christmas means that God the Father keeps His promises. And that’s really what the Old Testament is all about. It begins with the promise of a Savior to Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:15) and then it tells the story about how the Lord kept that promise by choosing a particular man, Abraham, and his family to be the family in which the Savior would eventually be born (Genesis 15). Seeing the connection between Jesus and these Old Testament saints helps us to understand how the Lord unfolded all these things to bring about the birth of Jesus to save the whole world—past and present—from sin.

Jesus is often called the “Son of David,” a reference to the fact that He was born from King David’s line. If you go back and read about David in 1 and 2 Samuel, you’ll see that his life is one picture after another that points to Jesus. He was a shepherd boy. Jesus is the Good Shepherd. He defeated Goliath the Philistine. Jesus defeated the devil, our giant enemy. David conquered the enemies of God’s people and established the kingdom of Israel. Jesus defeats our enemies, sin, death, and the devil by His death and resurrection.

David also wanted to build a house for God. He built himself a nice palace and then decided the Lord shouldn’t be living in a tent (the Tabernacle which was a movable tent) but in a nice house instead. But the Lord had better plans for David. He said, “No, you won’t build me a house. But I’ll build yours and it will last forever,” (the words I referenced above). What the Lord meant was, “The Savior is going to come from your ‘house,’ that is, your family. And that Savior will be an everlasting King.”

King Solomon, David’s son, did end up building a more permanent house for the Lord. It was a mighty temple in which the Lord Himself lived. Within that temple there was the Ark of the Covenant and all the sacrifices. That temple got torn down. When Israel returned from exile in Babylon, they rebuilt the temple. It wasn’t quite as big and awesome as before. Later, that temple got torn down, too. A Gentile king named Herod rebuilt it again with loads of money, making it the most impressive temple yet. That’s the temple that was there in Jesus’ day. But remember what Jesus told them? “Tear down this temple and in three days I will build it again.” But He was talking about His body.

The Romans eventually destroyed the temple Herod built. And there has not been a temple ever since. But the Lord kept His promise. He kept His promise by sending His Son in the flesh. King David’s family and the temple were pictures and foreshadowings of something greater: Jesus. Jesus the Good Shepherd. Jesus the King of Kings. Jesus the One greater than the Temple because He Himself IS the temple, the very bodily dwelling of God on earth (John 1:14).

David was from the town of Bethlehem. Jesus was born in Bethlehem. He was born there because that’s where David was from (and so Joseph and Mary had to return to the town of their ancestors). But He was also born there because “Bethlehem” means “House of Bread” and Jesus is the Bread of Life.

The more we read and hear the Old Testament, the more the New Testament makes sense. The more we read and hear the New Testament, the more we see what the Old Testament is about. All of it is about Jesus. The Old Testament points to Him. The New Testament is the eyewitness testimony about Him and the preaching of repentance unto the forgiveness of sins in His Name. What at first seems like stories that aren’t really connected, is really a complete and consistent message: God keeps His promises. He keeps those promises in Christ, through the family of real people—in this case King David’s family.

As we celebrate the Nativity of our Lord Jesus, we are seeing God keeping His promises. He kept His promises to David and Israel. He keeps His promises to you. The promise is that you have a Savior, born in the City of David, to be One even greater than David and the temple—to be the King of Kings and God-in-the-flesh, all so that you and I are now made a part of that family of God, too. David wanted to build God a house. But the Lord built a house for David and you and me—an eternal dwelling whose cornerstone is Jesus Christ. Merry Christmas!

Rev. Mark Buetow is pastor of Bethel Lutheran Church in DuQuoin, Illinois and serves as the deputy and media services executive for Higher Things. He can be reached at buetowmt@gmail.com.

Daniel Baker

As I walked down the middle aisle of the auditorium, along with many other Lutheran youth at the Higher Things Crucified conference this last summer in Logan, Utah, I soaked in the glistening hymns being sung. I stepped down toward Pastor Mark Buetow, who served me the body of Christ saying, “Daniel, take and eat the body of Christ given for you.” Again, when I received the blood of Christ, my name was spoken, and I was given Christ’s blood, which was shed for me. How great it was to hear it proclaimed BY NAME that Christ is for me! He is real. Communion is for REAL.

For those of you who have seen the movie Heaven Is For Real, I have no doubt that the movie itself was heartwarming and encouraging in its own way. I am not using the “is for real” part of the name for any specific disregard of the movie. Rather, I am declaring that the Sacrament of the Altar, Holy Communion, should be held to at least the same standard of reality as heaven. The Lord’s Supper is a taste of heaven on earth and points to the time when Jesus comes again and we celebrate/feast with Him forever. After all, it is Jesus’ own sacrifice for us on the cross, made personal and tangible to us through His very own Body and Blood given with the bread and wine, as expressed in An Explanation of the Small Catechism, “The bread and wine in the Sacrament are Christ’s body and blood by sacramental union. By the power of His word, Christ gives His body and blood in, with, and under the consecrated (blessed) bread and wine” (An Explanation of the Small Catechism, CPH, 1991). The beauty of this is that we are not simply eating and drinking in remembrance of Christ, but that we, through Christ’s word, are forgiven of our sins by looking to His sacrifice as we eat of His Body and Blood. By our faith in Jesus, we freely receive the gifts of forgiveness, life and salvation.

Honestly, I think our non-Lutheran brothers and sisters miss out on a great deal when it comes to Communion. I have watched them look for Jesus, or try to get close to Jesus, in all the wrong places, like in the emotions they feel through music, various church programs and even through Jesus “speaking to them.” If you believe Communion is only symbolic, then it’s like closing a door in Jesus’ face when He’s coming to YOU. Think about it. Jesus took on flesh and blood for us. He became human in every way but was without sin. He created us to think and experience things in physical terms, so how good He is to us to give us the gift of His Supper—something we can taste, smell and see with our senses. It’s like when Thomas said, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” So what did Jesus do? He offered Himself for Thomas to do just that. “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:25-28). Communion is for REAL.

Pastor Timothy Pauls had a great breakaway session in Logan, where he compared various teachings of Lutherans, Roman Catholics, Reformed and other Protestants. I was surprised at some of the background information, especially how it came to be that many Christians see Communion as a memorial only. He had it laid out so well and really helped me to understand the differences and appreciate what we celebrate as Lutherans. Surely non-Lutherans do partake of the Lord’s Supper, however they often serve it inconsistently and rarely, but it seems to me that what it really comes down to is the lack of value they give it. I have learned over the years and personally experienced myself that this gift from Jesus may seem like only bread and wine to most, but in reality, it is the REAL Body and Blood of Christ, the REAL sacrifice broken and shed for us, and is the REAL deal. Communion is for REAL.

Every conference I attend (Logan was my third) has magnified this reality for me. We begin and end with the Divine Service. Whenever I am blessed to receive the Body and Blood of the perfect Pascal Lamb, who was crucified for all of the sins I have and will ever commit, I get to depart in peace because I have true peace, completely confident that I have received REAL forgiveness of sins, from Christ himself. What can be more REAL than this?

Daniel Baker is a freshman at Northern Arizona University, in Flagstaff, where he attends Peace Lutheran Church. He spends his time studying exercise science to become a physical therapist and playing soccer and has his sights set on being a CCV at the Te Deum conference next summer in Las Vegas. Feel free to contact him at dkb99@nau.edu.

By Rev. George F. Borghardt

Dare to be Lutheran. It’s been our motto at Higher Things from the very beginning. We even trademarked it a few years ago! We dare you to be Lutheran, to live Lutheran, to grow up Lutheran, and continue to BE Lutheran.

But isn’t that arrogant? Isn’t that closed-minded? Shouldn’t you be daring youth to be Christians? Isn’t that good enough? Do you seriously think that Lutherans are the only ones who are right? Don’t you think that this just feeds more of that “only Lutherans go to heaven” stereotype?

A Lutheran is a Christian who believes that Jesus alone saves by grace alone, received by faith alone. We know this from Scripture alone. It’s as certain as 2+2=4. No one was ever called arrogant or closed-minded for believing that 2+2=4. It’s not five. It’s not three. Those other answers are wrong.

It’s not arrogant for Lutherans to believe we’re right either. It’s absolutely true that Jesus alone saves. He alone is right. Oh, we aren’t the only people who are right. The Gospel has a way of slipping through in places you wouldn’t expect! And we should never say we are right simply because we are Lutherans or that we are right in and of ourselves. We are right by Jesus alone, by grace alone, according to Scripture alone. We confess this Gospel only by the working of the Holy Spirit in us. We don’t make ourselves right. We certainly don’t deserve to be right. We are Lutherans by grace alone.

“Daring to be just a Christian” can’t be enough because so much of Christianity today is filled with all sorts of things that aren’t really Christian at all. It’s Evangelicalism. It’s filled with grace-talk that is followed immediately by works-talk. They say contradictory stuff like, “Jesus saves you by grace alone, all you have to do is this, that, and the other thing. And once you’re saved, Jesus expects you to change, to be better, to make your salvation sure or maybe you weren’t really truly Christian in the first place after all.”

That’s not daring to be Lutheran! That’s daring to be the same old sinner you were the day you were conceived, living out your inborn, self-made religion-that’s the religion that believes what you do and don’t do will put you in God’s good graces and make Him like you. That’s no dare at all.

Jesus lived His life for you. Jesus died the death you deserve on the Cross. He now lives, and true Life is found only in Him. What you do doesn’t save you-all it can do is damn you. But He was damned for you so that in Him, you will never see hell. So dare to be different. Dare to be Lutheran.

Not every Lutheran is the same, either. There is an alphabet soup of Lutheranism out there-some of which you need to dare NOT to be. If it looks like generic Christianity, worships like generic Christianity, is centered on you and not on Jesus crucified for you…it’s not Lutheran.

What kind of Lutheran do I need to dare to be? The Christ’s-cross-alone, received-by-faith-alone from-Scripture-alone kind of Lutheran, of course! The-Lord-be-with-you and with-thy-Spirit kind. The Holy-Baptism-saves kind. The Lord’s-Supper-gives-me-Jesus’-True- Body-and-True-Blood kind. The my-pastor-forgives-my-sins kind. The Bible-is-the-authoritative-Word-of-God kind of Lutheran. Dare to be THAT kind of Lutheran.

So why is this important? I’ve not always been Lutheran. I grew up Roman Catholic. The Lord converted me my freshman year of college. I had always heard what I had to do to be saved…maybe. Only in the Lutheran church did I hear that Christ saves totally by grace alone. It changed my life.

I’m mostly grown up now. I have three kids. I don’t want them to go on the same journey I went on. I want them to grow up Lutheran. I want them to believe what we believe and to receive the comfort and peace that comes only from the pure Gospel. I want them to receive the Sacrament with me. It’s important to me; it’s a matter of life and death. I’ll bet it’s important to your parents, too.

For, if you are a Lutheran, why would you want to be anything else? If the Gospel has become clear to you that salvation and heaven and faith and life are all about Jesus’ cross alone without any merit or worthiness in you, why would you want to trade that for anything else? Why would you want to be anything else?

Dare to confess that Jesus alone saves you. Dare to believe that His salvation is by grace alone, not by what you do or don’t do. Dare to confess that Jesus is received by faith alone. Dare to base your faith only from Scripture alone.

Dare to be Lutheran!

Rev. George F. Borghardt serves as the Senior Pastor at Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church in McHenry, Illinois. He is the President of Higher Things. His email is revborghardt@higherthings.org.

Rev. Mark Buetow

But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption— that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.” – 1 Corinthians 1:30-31

Have you ever witnessed someone’s behavior and just wanted to tell them, especially if they are a Christian, “Stop it! Stop doing that! Do the right thing! Do the Christian thing! Act like a Christian! Behave!” All of us have particular sins which we like to judge in others. All of us have particular sins others enjoy judging in us. But aren’t we saved? Aren’t we supposed to be holy? Are we sanctified? Where is our sanctification?

“Sanctification” is one of those big words we hear in the Bible and in the church. It literally means “holy-fication.” It comes from the Latin word “sanctus” which means “holy.” Sanctification is being holy. Acting holy. Living holy. But what is holy? For most people who misunderstand sanctification, holy means a certain type of behavior that is Christian as opposed to pagan. People assume that we are sanctified and lead holy lives simply by being told what is wrong and being told to avoid it and do the right thing. What’s more, many preachers, even some Lutheran ones, assume that if they just tell people God’s Word of Law, it will enable a Christian to do what it says.

“Sanctification” is one of those things we’ll get completely wrong if we think it’s about us and not about Jesus. In fact, in the words above, St. Paul says that Jesus IS our sanctification. Whatever our sanctification is, it’s Jesus. So let’s clear up some of the myths and false ideas about what it means to be a Christian and be holy, that is, sanctified.

False Statement #1 “Jesus saving us is our justification. Our living for Jesus is our sanctification.” It’s like Jesus saves us but then it’s on us to live the right way. But St. Paul declares, “ I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). Jesus doesn’t save you and then leave it up to you to “stay saved” by living a good life. Rather, it is Jesus who lives in you. When you sin and break the commandments, forgiveness means God doesn’t count that against you. It’s covered up by Jesus. When you do good for another person, that’s Christ living in you, loving others through you. Sure, it’s your hands and mouth and mind and body. But Christ living in you means you are the instrument through which Christ loves and serves others. This rescues us from despair that we haven’t “done enough” because it is Christ’s to live and to do in us.

False Statement #2: “If you are a sincere and mature Christian, you will sin less and less as you grow.” Here’s Paul again: “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.. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing…Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 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. (Romans 7:18-19,24-25) Does that sound like a man who is improving or getting better? Paul recognized that the more “mature” he got, the longer he lived, the more he sinned and the more he struggled against God’s will and Word. But he also knew his deliverance and peace were found in Jesus. Jesus’ forgiveness wipes out Paul’s sin, while at the same time working through Paul to make him a better person for his neighbor. You might say that the longer you are a Christian, the more sin you’ll see in yourself. And the bigger a Savior Jesus is!

False Statement #3: “God wouldn’t have given the Commandments if we couldn’t keep them.” Oh yes He would! He did! Why on earth would God tell us to do and not do what we can’t do and not do? To show us our sin. To teach us that we can’t make ourselves holy. Jesus said, “I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:20). These words tell us that we are not going to inherit the kingdom of God by our works because we can’t be that righteous. But Jesus is that righteous and therefore because He lives in you, His righteousness, His standing, is yours.

The obvious argument to anything we’re saying here is this old saw: “Well, if it’s just Jesus living in you and you’re forgiven, you can live however you want!” And that’s exactly right. But how do you want to live? Here we are reminded of the saying, “simul iustus et peccator” (at the same time sinner and saint). The Small Catechism nails it: What does such baptizing with water indicate? It indicates that the Old Adam in us should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires, and that a new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever (Baptism, Fourth Part).

So what does it all look like, this sanctification stuff? It looks like Jesus living in you. How does that happen? By Holy Baptism, Absolution, the preaching of the Holy Gospel, and the Holy Supper of Jesus’ body and blood. Which means the Christian life looks like this: You get up and go out into the world with all sorts of good works to do based on whatever your vocation and calling are. And when you mess those up, you live in the grace and forgiveness of Christ which is yours in His church, which He gives in His gifts of water, Word, and Supper. And so it goes back and forth. Round and round. Day in and day out. Christ lives in you to the world through your good works to your neighbor. He dwells in you by forgiveness and faith to cover your sins. Over and over, every day, Jesus lives in you until the day He raises you from the dead. That’s what it means to be holy. That’s what sanctification is: Jesus living in you; His Spirit working in you; Jesus being Jesus, and you along for the ride.

Rev. Mark Buetow is pastor of Bethel Lutheran Church in DuQuoin, Illinois and serves as the deputy and media services executive for Higher Things. He can be reached at buetowmt@gmail.com.

Rev. George Borghardt

You’ve already died. You did! Death’s already happened to you. There was no angel of death, no Grim Reaper, no Oscar-winning last breath. No, you died in the Baptismal Font. You were drowned in the water and in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus suffered for you. He was beaten in your place. He was crucified. He died. They pierced Him with a spear. The punishment which should befall you fell upon Him and, by His stripes, you are healed.

You died in the flood of blood and water flowing from Jesus’ crucified side. You were crucified with Christ. You died with Him. You no longer live—at least not the way you used to live before your Baptism.

You are dead to your sins.You are dead to having other gods. Dead to trusting to your works and stuff. You are dead to misusing God’s name and despising His Word. You died to disobeying your parents, hating and hurting others, fornication, porn, sleeping with those to whom you aren’t married, stealing, downloading music you don’t pay for, cheating on your taxes, lying, gossiping, slandering others, pushing others down to push yourself up, and wanting to have the things that belong to others.

Oh, you were that person. You did those things. You lived in that death and you called it “life.” You don’t any more. You’ve died with Christ. You are alive to God.

He rose from the dead on Easter morning. You were raised with Him in the water and the Word. He is sinless. You are sinless, in Him. He cannot sin. You cannot sin, in Him. He is holy. You are holy, in Him. He is righteous. You are righteous, in Him. He lives and you live in Him.

But you don’t live like you’re alive, do you? You live in your sins, as though you were still enslaved to them. You hang around the grave where your sins were buried with Jesus. Your world is a prison with shackles of the iniquity and filth that you feel you “must” do.

You want to stop. You can’t—not on your own, anyway. You know you are better than this, but you really aren’t, because if you were better then you wouldn’t be committing the same sins day after day.

It’s time to die again! Repent of your sins— that is, confess them to God or your pastor or your neighbor and then beg the Lord to have mercy on you. Hold your sins under the waters of your Baptism. Drown them. And if they should float back up again, drown them again. Pop up. Drown.

They resurface. Drown again. You die to sins. Jesus raises you from the dead again. Rinse and repeat.

This is the Christian life. It’s dying to your sins and rising again in Jesus. Die to the way you are doing things on your own, to the sins that enslave you, and be raised to new life—His life. Repent and believe that Jesus saves you. He must. He promised that He saves you in your Baptism.

His life is then lived in your life lived for others. It’s not you doing it, but yet it is. It’s your life lived in Christ. The life you now live you live by faith in the Son of God who loved you and gave up His life for you.

In Him, you fear, love, and trust in God above all things. You cherish the Lord’s Name and His Word. You honor Mom and Dad and all the authorities around you. You don’t hurt others but rather help and support them. You lead a chaste and decent life in all you say and do. You help improve and protect your neighbors’ possessions and income. You defend your friends, you speak well of them, and put the best construction on everything they do and say. And coveting? It’s not even something that comes to your mind.

When you fail, die and rise again in your Baptism. When you don’t fail, die and rise again in your baptism. For you have died to this world, to your sins, and you have been raised to new life in Christ—a life lived for the sake of others.

When you do die again, you won’t actually die, because you’ve already died once in Holy Baptism. Death will be just a nap. You will wake up. Jesus will awaken you to an eternal life where He is. You will be as you are now in Holy Baptism by faith—holy, perfect, and forgiven.

You will live eternally on that day because you are alive in Jesus right now. Right now, you are dead to your sins and alive to God in Christ. You have been crucified with Christ and now live in Him. The life you have now you live by faith in the Son of God who loved you and gave up Himself for you.

Rev. George F. Borghardt serves as the Senior Pastor at Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church in McHenry, IL. He is the president of Higher Things. His email is revborghardt@higherthings.org.

Rev. Donavon Riley

When I was 18, I had planned out my life completely. First, I’d enroll at the local college. Then when my girlfriend finished high school we’d move to the Twin Cities. We’d get married, finish college, land good jobs, and have a baby. We decided his name would be “Christian.” And if I could just find the right lead singer I’d gig with my band on weekends. The next year, a phone call woke me up from my daydreams.

My girlfriend said, “I just want to be free to see other people right now…” After she hung up, I collapsed into bed. I didn’t get up for three weeks. My mother, friends, classmates, professors—no one could coax me out of the emptiness into which I’d fallen. I thought, when I could think, “I will lie here and wait to become nothing. I don’t want to eat. I don’t want to drink. I don’t want to talk, to cry, to live. I feel nothing. I am nothing. I will lie here and eventually die.” That was the plan.

Twenty-four years later I try to remember the emotional pain that emptied me of all care for my life, but I can’t. I try to recall what I was thinking to pin all my hopes, all my happiness, on a teenaged girl. But I can’t. I try to picture what it was like to believe I wouldn’t die until I’d seen all my plans completed. I wish I could, but time makes a person’s memory soft and squishy. Some stuff you think you’ll never forget, will just disappear one day. Other stuff you think is unimportant will stick with you for 20 years, like the look on my ex-girlfriend’s face when she learned her grandma died.

I try to imagine the look on her face as I sit here fingering this memorial card. I try, but the card has my attention now. The back of the card reads: “In memory of… the son of… she preceded him in death…was a lifelong farmer…survived by…and other relatives and friends.”

Inside is a poem—one of those poems people who don’t attend church choose because it sounds religious. Services. Clergy officiating. There’s my name. Music. Casket Bearers. Interrment. Arrangement by…Eighty-six years of life summarized on a 4 by 5-inch bi-fold card.

So learn to count, run as fast as you can, scream at the ceiling, get tattooed, sing “Ain’t No Grave Gonna Keep My Body Down,” but if it doesn’t fit on the card, if somebody in your family doesn’t think it’s worthy of inclusion, then it’s cut out to free up space for a poem by “Author Unknown.” As if it never happened.

It’s not really about how you lived and died, anyway. It’s about when you died and began to live.

Despite my previous attempts at suicide, I was 28 years old the first time I finally died. The pastor and my wife were there. My mother and little brother were, too. It was quiet—not reverent silence, but muted tones. The faded yellow walls and red shag carpet dulled everything, even our voices. I remember the quiet, mostly, and the mildewy aroma that pervaded the church. Five people gathered round a baptismal font. It’s an odd thing when the pious and the godless stand round a baptismal font. My past and present relations were summoned to stand witness to a public drowning. June 3, 2008. 3:30pm. My death date.

I was drowned and put to death. Buried with Christ by baptism into death. It was very ordinary. Words were said. Water was poured. Then a smile, a confused glare, resignation, a handshake. Then we walked home, me and my wife. The two of us, justified by grace. Heirs in hope of eternal life.

That night I died again, and the night after, and the night after that, and… Every night since my Baptism I have died. But every morning I awake to a new life. Every day I suffer, I sorrow, I am poured out for my wife, my children, the couple across the street, this little church: I am repented. I am put to death by the crosses God has laid on me. Yet, hidden under that death is a new man, cleansed and made righteous by God’s Spirit. Life overwhelming death in a flood of grace.

Daily I am drowned. Daily I am repented. Daily I am righteoused. A new life, overflowing with the most extraordinary ordinariness. For “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

When I die the little death, if you should happen to attend the funeral, receive the little memorial card offered to you at the door. Turn it over. On the back you will read: “Donavon Riley was baptized into Christ. All the rest was chaff.”

Rev. Donavon Riley was born and raised in Minnesota and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Concordia University, St. Paul, Minnesota. Rev. Riley and his wife recently celebrated the birth of their fourth child. He can be reached at elleon713@gmail.com