Category: Articles

Rev. Jacob Ehrhard

The first and chief article is this: Jesus Christ, our God and Lord, died for our sins and was raised again for our justification (Romans 4:24-25). He alone is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29), and God has laid upon Him the iniquities of us all (Isaiah 53:5). All have sinned are justified freely, without their own works or merits, by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, in His blood (Romans 3:23-25). (Smalcald Articles II.I.1-3).

That right there is the heart of the Lutheran Confession. All have sinned. All have been justified freely without work or merit. Justification–becoming right with God–is something that happens outside myself, apart from myself. It’s objective. My redemption is in Christ Jesus, in the blood that He shed.

But that’s just the first part of the first and chief article. If this righteousness is outside of myself and apart from myself, then it does me no good. If the Lamb of God took away my sin and is nowhere to be found, if His blood was shed 2,000 years ago and is all dried up now, what benefit is it to me? So the first and chief article is completed: This is necessary to believe. This cannot be otherwise acquired or grasped by any work, law, or merit. Therefore, it is clear and certain that this faith alone justifies us. As St. Paul says: For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. (Romans 3:28) That He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Smalcald Articles II.I.4). Faith is the personal application of the benefits of the objective righteousness that is found in Christ. Faith saves because faith is not my own work, but the work of God for me and in me.

Nothing of this article can be yielded or surrendered, even though heaven and earth and everything else falls. For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. (Acts 4:12) And with His stripes we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5) Upon this article everything that we teach and practice depends, in opposition to the pope, the devil, and the whole world. Therefore, we must be certain and not doubt this doctrine. Otherwise, all is lost, and the pope, the devil, and all adversaries win the victory and the right over us. (Smalcald Articles II.I.5)

Nothing yielded or surrendered. Christ died for our sins, was raised for our justification, bore our sins, redeemed us by His blood, all by grace, apart from works. Faith grabs hold of that righteousness and receives it as God’s work alone. And He does it all as gift.

Rev. Jacob Ehrhard is pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in New Haven, MO. He can be contacted at pastor.ehrhard@gmail.com.

Rev. Christopher Raffa

The season of Lent is an oddity today. We don’t know what to do with it. The American religious scene has essentially blocked it out–unable to incorporate it into its theology that is devoid of suffering and self-examination. Perhaps there are some who still recognize its key importance in the Christian life, yet even they are hard-pressed to admit it. The lamenting tongue is stuck to the roof of the self-righteous mouth. Maybe as we bury our alleluias, fold up our tents on the mount of transfiguration and head into the valley of Lent we can turn our eyes to the kingdom which is coming precisely in a glory we cringe to behold and a salvation that salivates from the seven-word Savior.

Our tongue and its world of unrighteousness is loosened by the Psalms of lamentation. Psalm 6, the first of seven penitential psalms, is profoundly terrifying yet profoundly comforting. It teaches us that in all trials and afflictions we must hurry to God. “O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath.” We plead not for the abstaining of the Lord’s discipline, but rather that it not be carried out with any sort of mercy. We know the Law must be spoken, yet we couldn’t bear for that to be the last word. So, “be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing; heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled.” The weight of the Law is a spiritual malady with physical repercussions. Everything about us–all that we have and are given–passes away before God because of our sin. Nothing is left. Naked and alone we stand, begging to be dressed by the gracious sacramental gift-words of our Lord. “Blessed are they who experience this in life, for every man must finally meet his end. When man thus declines and becomes as nothing in all his power, works, and being, until there is nothing but a lost, condemned and forsaken sinner, then divine help and strength appear, as in Job 11:11-17: “When you think you are devoured, then you shall shine forth as the morning star.” [Luther, LW 14:141].

The Lord is kindly disposed toward those who claim nothingness, who cry and lament unto Him. The Canaanite woman who laments unto Jesus is instructive. The Lord hears the sighs of His broken creatures, but when it comes to the babblings of supposed self-made men, He plugs His ears. Weeping, that is, confession of sin, a repentant heart is always preferred to working, and suffering exceeds all doing. In the Apology of the Augsburg Confession we read, “But God terrifies…in order to make room for consolation and vivification, because hearts that do not feel that wrath of God loath consolation in their smugness” [XII: Repentance]. Trials are the Lord’s alien work, not intrinsic to His nature, but are intended to break down our self-righteousness flesh and bring us to our knees that we might finally turn to the Lord and hear the mercy He desperately wants to give to us. For this reason, Luther, regards the Lord’s chastisement as “blessed comfort.” Strangely, hidden under the Lord’s wrath is His mercy; hidden under His chastisements is His goodness. The horror of human sin and the terror of the Lord’s wrath are real and they must never be blunted or denied.

On the basis of His steadfast love, the Lord has heard our plea for mercy. “For the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping. The Lord has heard my plea; the Lord accepts my prayer.” Nothing is worse than having our Father turn His face from us, washing His hands of us. Yet nothing is greater than having our Father turn His face toward us, and engraving our sin-filled hands upon His pierced hands, washing us clean of all iniquity. With the Lord, His face doting upon us, His ears attentive to our pleas, lament turns to praise. Indeed, the praise of the Lord doesn’t come naturally from the lips of the Old Adam. Rather it comes from the Lord who, by His promise-filled Word, creates a new and right Spirit within us–a New Adam to praise and give thanks for the unexpected joy that life has just begun–this in the day that we thought we would be ended by our sin and death. This movement from lament to praise is an act of the Lord’s creation, which like the first creation occurs ex nihilo, out of nothing, through the spoken word. To be moved from pain to joy, lamentation to praise, is to see and hear the true nature of your Lord, that He is gracious and merciful, and His steadfast love endures forever. Bowed down in the dust, the Father’s face shines upon you in His Son and by His Holy Spirit, raising you up to eternal and glorious life.

Rev. Christopher Raffa is the associate pastor of Pilgrim Evangelical Lutheran Church in West Bend, Wisconsin. You can email him at revcraffa@att.net.

Rev. Harrison Goodman

I hope you fail at Lent.

Jesus says when you fast, do not look gloomy sort of like I do when my wife tells me “When you take out the trash, don’t forget the recycling too.” It’s not a question of if. It’s a question of how. So during Lent, we usually end up talking about giving something up for a few weeks.

It usually sounds like one of two things. Either “aim low and you’ll never be disappointed” or “New Year’s Resolutions 2: This time I’m serious.” In other words, we either give up something dumb like chocolate, roll our eyes at how backwards Christianity is, or use it as an excuse to try and make ourselves better people. Hear John the Baptist: “Jesus must increase, but I must decrease.” Lent is not about you. Lent is about a Jesus willing to die for sinners. Lent is about the cross. If your practices in Lent are all focused inward, instead of towards that cross, you’re doing it wrong.

A Lent spent giving up something you’re not all that enamored with in the first place is just an empty motion–a Pharisaical prayer from the street corner that doesn’t accomplish anything other than letting you tell yourself you outwardly followed a religion. Of course there’s no reason to it. Of course you don’t get anything from it other than a chance to wonder why it all matters anyway. That’s because there was no Jesus in the whole practice.

Or maybe we could aim a little higher. Let’s try and do something better with our time. Let’s actually look at God’s Law and find where we fall short. What are my idols? What are my pet sins? Could I maybe tackle those? Don’t get me wrong. A Lent that is nothing more than a Christianized New Year’s resolution won’t save you. But hopefully you’ll try it anyway and fail. Then you’ll see the truth. We don’t know how bad we are until we have tried very hard to be good. Jesus died for failures. Jesus died for you. A Lent that points us away from our egos and our sins is a Lent that draws us outside of ourselves and shows us Jesus. He bore your sins and failures, your ego and your death upon a cross. I hope you fail so hard at Lent you die inside. Then, I hope you receive the crucified Jesus to make you live.

Rev. Harrison Goodman serves as pastor at St. Paul Lutheran Church, Carroll, Nebraska.

Rev. Brandt Hoffman

While walking home one day, a man witnessed a terrible car crash. Without thought, he dialed 911 and ran to the wreckage. There were injured persons in both vehicles. Amidst smoke, glass, and twisted metal, he managed to free the drivers and pull them to safety before one of the cars caught fire. It was a horrible sight to see. A burning wreckage and a trail of blood that stopped at two bodies. Two people lying unconscious on the side of the road.

When the paramedics arrived they took one look at the scene and said to the man, “We need to take care of this guy first!” The man, taken aback, said “Don’t worry about me, take care of those two. I think one or both of them is bleeding.” The paramedic said, “Sir, you need to sit down so we can take care of your injury.”

He looked down then and noticed that the trail of blood wasn’t from the accident victims. It was his own blood. While he rescued the people from the wreckage, he’d drug his arm across a jagged piece of metal. It had drawn a six-inch gash along his forearm, ending at his wrist. The injury, even he could see, could end his life. The paramedic didn’t talk anymore. He treated him. He saved the man’s life.

But what does this story have to do with anything of import for you, the reader? Well, as we are now in the season Lent–a season of repentance, of turning away from chasing that which is not God, to God–there are a couple of points in this story that may serve as a helpful example for you. As your pastor preaches, God will undoubtedly give him His Word of Law to preach to you. It is this Word of Law that says: “That blood there on the ground isn’t someone else’s. It’s your blood. Death is sniffing round for you. It’s got your scent. It’s on your trail.” Then God will give your pastor another Word. Like the paramedic, your pastor will no longer point out the nearness of death. Instead, God will give him the promise, the good news that heals your sin-riddled body–the sweet, wonderful, life-saving Word of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Speaking God’s wonderful Word of Gospel has always been the primary mission of Higher Things, too. It is founded on the life-saving good news of Jesus Christ. For all those souls who have learned of the mortal wound of deathly sin, Higher Things is here to be a salve: preachers who point us all to the hope we have received in Jesus Christ because we are all in desperate need of His life-saving grace. To this end, everyone is invited to take advantage of the many Higher Things® resources, to help you better understand this important Church season.

We pray that this Season of Lent is one that not only alerts you to the deathly reality of sin, but ultimately to the good news of Jesus Christ for you, which God gives to you as free gift in His Word and Sacraments.

Rev. Brandt Hoffman is the Pastor and principal at Christ Lutheran Church and School in Coos Bay, Oregon.

Philippe deBlois

When I first joined the Lutheran Church, I wasn’t quite sure what to make of the Church calendar and all of its holy days and seasons. As with most evangelicals, I was accustomed to an abridged calendar where Christmas and Easter were celebrated and that’s about it. What was particularly perplexing to me was the season we now enter: Lent, a period of penitential reflection. Those words would bring me back to my evangelical days where the entire focus of the Christian life was on reflection and doing. Church teaching was geared towards making me read more of God’s Word, meditate more, pray more, be more mission minded, join the worship band, get involved in small groups, serve more, fast more…

Don’t get me wrong. Some of those activities can be good things. The problem is there is no Jesus there. And if He is there at all it’s only as a distant helper who helps me do more and somehow grow closer to Him. What I need is a Savior. What I need is the life, death and resurrection of Christ that happened 2000 years ago FOR ME and my sins of today.

I can fast or meditate on Scripture for hours, days, years, and still not find the forgiveness of sins FOR ME. Is my repentance genuine? Am I really truly sorry for those sins I committed? Am I acting Christian enough? Am I growing closer to God? Penitential reflection left to itself leads to despair. No matter how much I look into myself and repent of my sins, no matter how much I reflect on the sufferings of Christ, there is still no Jesus FOR ME. Remembrance doesn’t give me Jesus. Repentance doesn’t give me Jesus. And the more I look into myself, the worse it gets. I remember this as a very sad reality for many people I knew growing up. Older people who had been in church for years would not take the Lord’s Supper because they felt unworthy. They knew all the theology, read their Bibles and prayed daily, knew all the works of Christ, His dying and rising, but they could not be certain they were part of the elect. They felt too sinful, hadn’t repented genuinely enough or seen enough fruits in their lives. They abstained from the Lord’s Supper so as to not eat and drink in an unworthy way. How sad! They had misunderstood the Lord’s Supper and turned it into yet another act of devotion rather than the pure gift of the true body and blood of Jesus given to sinful beggars.

What brought me to Lutheranism was it’s Biblical understanding of the means of grace. As Martin Luther said:

“If I now seek the forgiveness of sins, I do not run to the cross, for I will not find it given there. Nor must I hold to the suffering of Christ as Dr. Karlstadt trifles, in knowledge or remembrance, for I will not find it there either. But I will find in the sacrament of the gospel the word which distributes, presents, offers, and gives to me that forgiveness which was won on the cross” (AE 40:214).

There I found true comfort and certainty! The Lord’s Supper is not some mental act of remembrance of Jesus and how He once lived, died and rose again. The Lord’s Supper is where I come as a beggar and am nourished with the gift of His true Body and Blood, shed for the forgiveness of sins FOR ME. In this Sacrament, Luther affirms, “Christ takes me and devours me and gobbles me up together with my sins. I partake of his righteousness such that His godliness swallows up my sin and misery so that I have nothing but righteousness” (All become One Cake: A Sermon on the Lord’s Supper, 1523¹).

Lent is a time of penitential reflection indeed but no amount of reflection, no amount of reading and meditating on Scripture, no amount of fasting brings me Jesus and His forgiveness. I get all of Him in the means of grace. So what better way to do Lent than to, as Dr. Norman Nagel once said, “Best way to celebrate Lent is close to the means of grace, rejoicing in our Baptism, rejoicing in the body and blood of Christ given and shed for the forgiveness of your sins.”

Philippe deBlois is a member of Glory of Christ Lutheran Church, in Plymouth, Minnesota.

¹ http://www.lcms.org/Document.fdoc?src=lcm&id=718.

Rev. Brady Finnern

“Ughhhhh…more church?” I recall the exact moment those whining words left my mouth one Ash Wednesday afternoon in high school. My parents had just told me that we were going to worship that night. I was a bit selfish in those days (now, I just hide it better) and in my mind I lamented over a list of things that, to me, were more important. “I’m so busy with basketball, I have to get ready for track season, homework is piling up, and I just want to get outside and hang out with friends! Now you want me to take an hour of my precious time and go to church?”

These conversations are happening in many households between young people and their parents this Lent. Each year it begs the question, why go to worship in the middle of the week during Lent? What is the purpose when I am already so busy? Why should I gather with old people who sing old songs and rarely use any kind of modern technology? Sure, most of us understand that Lent is about repentance, focusing on the cross, preparing for Easter, and meditation on God’s Word, but why take another night to do it? The answer is simple: to be filled with the gifts of Jesus.

Each day we are filled with different things: some good things and some not so good things. When I head to my local gas station for my daily soda, I am filled with the joy of different friendships, but I am also filled with sugar, carbonation, and empty calories. When I arrive at school I’m filled with knowledge and wisdom, but also the feelings of insecurity and pain from other people’s words and reactions. When I sit at my computer, I’m filled with the news of the world in an instant, but also with unhealthy webpages and meaningless relationships. When I attend college, I’m filled with a top notch education, but also the fear of future jobs and the instability of life after college.

This is why we need to be filled with the gifts of Christ. Scripture is very clear that when we gather around Christ’s gifts–Word and Sacrament–we are filled with His benefits. When Christ is present in the preached Word (Romans 10:17, 2 Timothy 3:16), our Baptism (Romans 6:4-5), Absolution (John 20:22), and the Lord’s Supper (Matthew 26:28), we are filled with the Holy Spirit, forgiveness, life, and salvation (Small Catechism)–not partly filled like we are after an appetizer at a restaurant, but completely filled with His holiness that gives us a taste of heaven here today.

We are filled all the day long, and since nothing can separate us from the love of Christ (Romans 8), His gifts are always there for us and they are free to us sinners. While you are busy this Lent, the gifts of Christ are there for you. When you have every excuse to not to go worship, Christ’s gifts are there for you. When you skip a week here or there, the gifts of Christ are there for you. This Lent the gifts are offered to you more than once a week, thanks be to God. Go and receive.

Rev. Brady Finnern is the pastor at Messiah Lutheran Church in Sartell, Minnesota. He is also a shotput and discus coach.

Molly Buffington

The church year has cycled through once more, and the season of Lent–a season of repentance–is here again. But what does that even mean? Well, it can mean that we say to ourselves, “I need to give something up–something BIG. I’ll remind people of what I’m giving up, because it’s a big deal and I’m doing such a good job. I’m being so faithful and strong! I’ll compare myself to people who don’t make as big of a sacrifice as I do, or to those who don’t even make a sacrifice at all. They’re so sinful! But I’m not. I’m doing it right; they’re doing it wrong. They sure aren’t as good at Lent as I am.”

Or, Lent can mean we roll our eyes and say, “I can’t believe them! I can’t stand those people bragging about their sacrifices. I don’t give anything up for Lent. That’ll show them. I make sure to tell people, because they ought to know that I’m not like those other people. I’m the one who’s really faithful. I’ll compare myself to people who are making sacrifices. They’re so self-righteous! But I’m not. I’m doing it right; they’re doing it wrong. They sure aren’t as good at Lent as I am.”

Repent! Repent of making Lent all about us: our works, our decision, our actions. Lent is a time of seeing our sin and our need for a Savior. And we can’t even do that right! We want to make everything about us. We say, “It’s all about me, even Lent.” We live like there is no God and we hate our neighbor. But it doesn’t end with that. What does Lent mean? Lent means Easter is coming and that Jesus, the very Son of God and yet a man, died and was raised from the dead, taking our sin and giving us His righteousness. He comes to forgive us of all of our sin, including our sin-ridden repentance, and even our sin-ridden Lent.

This Lent, we are free to give something up, and we are free not to. Neither choice makes us righteous; neither choice will make us better in the eyes of God. We all stand as helpless sinners, but sinners covered by the holy blood of Christ, washed in baptism, clean in God’s eyes. During Lent, we see our sin, we repent, and try not to fall into it again. There’s no “I’m righteous,” “I’m good,” “I’m pleasing God.” Instead, just like the rest of the church year, there’s “I’m a sinner. Christ died for me and redeems me.”

Molly Buffington is a member of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Cullman, Alabama, and studies history at the University of Alabama.

Rev. Michael Keith

I love food. A lot. I love trying different kinds of food. I like trying foods that I have never had before. I love going back and eating the old tried and true favorites. Food is a big part of my life. In fact, the grade eight kids that I teach a class in Christian Studies to each morning at our school have said that I talk about food a lot in class. Apparently many of my illustrations end up talking about food. I wasn’t aware that I do that, but they have noticed a pattern. I guess it is subconscious! I like food.

There are traditionally three customs that are associated with Christians observing the penitential season of Lent:

1. Increased time for God’s Word and prayer
2. Almsgiving
3. Fasting

It is quite common for Lutheran congregations to have mid-week Lenten Services to provide the opportunity to God’s people for increased time in God’s Word and prayer. It is also common for the offerings at those Services to be directed outside of the parish’s needs to support some charity, mission, or other cause. But what about the third? What about fasting? Did I mention I like food? I don’t know if I like the sound of that one!

Why would a Christian “fast” during the Season of Lent? Well, let’s clear away some of the junk before we go there. No, it’s not to punish yourself for your sins. No, it’s not some way to show God how sorry you are. No, it’s not some way to show God (or any other people who happen to notice) how sincere you are. No, it’s not a way to impress God or earn anything from Him. And no, it’s not to lose weight!

Why then? We Christians might fast during Lent to learn to discipline the desires that so often rule over us. It is not unlike going to the gym and lifting weights–the more you exercise the muscle the stronger it gets. The flip side of this is when you go and do something that you don’t normally do and use muscles that you don’t normally use you often find it very difficult and that the next day you are really sore! When you exercise your will over your desires you learn to exercise self-discipline. So, fasting during Lent is one way to exercise the “discipline muscle” over your desires.

What does fasting look like? How do you fast? There are different ways this is done among Christians and there is no “right” way. Some people will talk about “giving something up for Lent.” This is one form of fasting. You are “fasting” from that “thing you gave up.” It takes willpower to deny yourself whatever you have “given up for Lent.” Some common examples of this is a certain food or drink that you like or watching TV. Recently it has become common for people to fast from social media during Lent.

Another form of fasting is the reduction of food at meals. Fasting is not starving, nor should it be as that is unhealthy! However, one form of fasting is to consciously eat less. One tradition is to eat only one full meal a day with two considerably smaller meals. The idea behind this is that not only is it an exercise in self-discipline but it is also an opportunity to turn our hunger and desire from the physical to the spiritual. We fast to turn away from self and toward God. As the hunger created by the fast is directed towards God in prayer, we grow in understanding what Jesus said: “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst” (John 6:35).

So, does it matter if you fast? Nope. Not at all. You are free in Christ to eat all you want during Lent. Your relationship to God does not depend upon your fasting. Your salvation has nothing to do with fasting. Your salvation was secured for you by Jesus and His perfect life, His death on the cross, and His resurrection. It was given to you as the waters of Holy Baptism were poured over you. Your sins are forgiven as the words of the Holy Absolution are spoken into your ears. Forgiveness, life, and salvation are yours in Christ as it is placed in your mouth in the Holy Supper. Fasting has nothing to do with your salvation. Period. However, some Christians through the centuries have found it helpful in their life of faith. It has been a common practice among Christians since the earliest times. It sets apart the Season of Lent from the rest of the seasons. It also has the effect of connecting our spiritual life to our everyday physical life. It is a practice that has largely been lost among us North American Lutherans. Perhaps this Lenten Season would be a good time to rediscover this practice?

One last piece of trivia for you concerning the Season of Lent: The Sundays are not a part of Lent. All the Sundays are Sundays “in Lent” but not of Lent. Why? Because Sundays are always a feast day! Sundays are always a day when Christians gather around our resurrected and ascended Lord. Sundays are always days when we gather to rejoice and receive the gifts Christ comes to give. It is true that the Sundays in Lent will often reflect the penitential themes of the Season, but make no mistake about it: Sundays are always Feast days! So this means that during the Season of Lent–if you choose–Sundays are days during which your fast does not apply!

A blessed Lenten Season to you–however you choose to observe it–as we contemplate the wondrous love shown to us by our Savior, Jesus.

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