Category: Articles

Looking for past articles from our website? Find them here categorized.

Categories
Higher Homilies

River of Baptism

Rev. Randy Blankschaen

Romans 6:1-11

On April 29th, it rained in Pensacola, FL. It rained over 20 inches in 9 hours time. My wife and I were at church. My brother, Dan, was the only one in my home. He called and was worried. The water was up to our front bushes. If you could, please get the laptop on top of a counter, please. A call came a bit later – the water was knee high in the house. Well, that ain’t good at all. A call came a bit later – Your fridge is floating. The water’s chest high in the house. It’s rushing in. I think I’m going to die, Randy. I gotta go. I think I’m going to die. 911 wasn’t sending anyone. Roads were collapsing. I asked them to take my address so when they check the neighborhood they could at least know to look for his body there. Death was coming to my home.

Lydia and I went into the church to pray. “Why God?” popped in my mind, quickly followed by a “Where’s your God now, Randy?” We prayed Psalm 46. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God. “Be still, and know that I am God. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.

I didn’t pray smiling. With death so close, I wept. I prayed, kneeling next to my wife, that if it was the Lord’s will that my brother died that night, for the Holy Spirit to protect him from the evil one. I prayed that there’d be a reunion with my brother come morning. I prayed that if it was to be, that the Lord would give him a blessed end, so that we would reunite on the Last Day. The Lord may allow him to die, but the Lord wouldn’t forget my baptized brother, one who was carved into his hand on Calvary. While I hated the water rushing through my neighborhood and home with power to kill and destroy, I cherished and delighted in another river.

Dear Christians, my brother already died. He had died on January 1st, 1978 at roughly 8am. He was drowned, dead. A river that made glad the city of God had already flooded over him. This river was poured on his head as a little baby. And with that water, my brother, Daniel, was crucified with Christ. He died by crucifixion. Christ became my brother, Dan the sinner. He became Randy, Lydia, and even Adolf, and even you.

Baptism’s river makes us glad. We won’t smile amidst pain, suffering, or death; but baptism’s river does make us confident, glad, still and at peace in the promises of God. A wall of water may take us away. A fire may burn us. A bullet or car may hit us. But, even though we die, we baptized believers don’t die. Death doesn’t win. Jesus beat death. He rose. If we’re talking life, we’re not so much talking about a forever ticking heart and brain activity, like some vampire. This is eternal life: that we know the Father and His Son, Jesus the Christ. If we’re talking new identity, it’s not about what our friends say, if we fit in, or what the ACT or career survey says. It’s about what God says about you at the font. You are who you are in Christ. Baptism joins you to Jesus and Jesus to you. You’re a forgiven and loved child of God, righteous and pure, all wrapped up in Christ Jesus. It’s his promise. That river makes us glad.

Finally, I’m glad to have known that time of suffering for the joy of the phone call reporting that my brother was alive; that our cats were alive too. To see God love and support us through His church. That joy was joy in life restored. Death hadn’t won. That’s the joy that we baptized have. Our sins washed away by that baptismal river. Having died to sin, we live God in Jesus.

Categories
Higher Homilies

Cruciflood

Rev. Mark Buetow

St. John 19:31-37

Cruciflood. No, I didn’t say it wrong. I said cruciFLOOD. That’s what your baptism is. It’s a cruciflood! Jesus was crucified for you. And when He died and His side was pierced a crucified flood of water and blood flowed out. Water! Into the font. Baptism. Blood! Into the cup. The Sacrament of the Altar. Water and blood. Flooding from the pierced side of crucified Jesus means a cruciflood for you. This cruciflood saves you. It washes you. It drowns your wicked Old Adam and it lifts you up in the ark of the church. Jesus crucified for you. A cruciflood poured out for you.

You see, on the second day of creation, God made a firmament to divide the waters above from the waters below. He called the firmament “heaven” or “sky.” And in the 600th year of Noah’s life, the Lord’s wrath against sin pierced that firmament and the windows of heaven were ripped open and the water above fell upon the earth and drowned it. Drowned the people. Drowned the plants. Drowned the animals. Everything died. Nothing left. Nothing except what the Lord saved. Noah and Mrs. Noah and Shem, Ham, and Japheth and their wives and the animals he put in the ark. The Lord saved them. The Flood didn’t harm them or the animals aboard the ark because the Lord saved them for the sake of His promise to send a Savior some day. And on Good Friday, Jesus, that promised savior, is lifted up on the cross, crucified between heaven and earth, and He too is pierced by the wrath of God. And killed. And the flood that comes out destroys all your sin. All of it. Nothing left. Every sin you’ve imagined in your thoughts. Every sin you’ve spoken with your mouth. Every sin you’ve done with your body. All sins. Every sin. Your sinful flesh. Dead. Drowned in the cruciflood that pours from Jesus’ side.

And just as the waters of the Flood lifted up the ark above the drowned world, so the cruciflood from Jesus’ side lifts up His church. The ark of the church floats upon the waters from Christ’s side. The cruciflood has drowned your enemies: devil, world, sinful flesh. These waters have all at once drowned your Old Adam and saved your New Man. The cruciflood of water from Jesus’ side is the spring of the River of Life by which your sins are washed away and you are raised from the dead to live with Jesus forever. And remember that when Noah got off that boat, there were animals to be sacrificed. A holy cookout in which the blood of beasts was shed and the Lord smelled the sweet aroma of the meat and fire. That’s the cruciflood of Jesus’ blood! With a sacrifice of the animals Noah received the gift of the flood being over. And they were rejoicing not just to get out of the smelly ark where he was cooped up with his kids! They were rejoicing that God’s anger was over and dried up. Just so Jesus, the Lamb sacrificed by being crucified on Calvary, is the promise that God can no longer be angry over your sin. His cruciflood of blood is given to you in the Cup of His Supper as the pledge and promise that God’s anger is over. Jesus was crucified. He was pierced. The cruciflood that pours forth is your salvation. Crucified. Jesus on Calvary. Cruciflood. Jesus at the font and on the altar. And you, safe in the ark of His church unto life everlasting. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

Categories
Higher Homilies

Tetelestai!

Rev. George Borghardt

St. John 19:16b-42

In the name of Jesus. Amen. Tetelestai. Greek verb. Perfect passive. Completed action. It has been accomplished. It is finished. The account has been paid.

Say it. “Tetelestai.” Believe it. Be saved by Jesus’ cross alone. It is finished. Tetelestai.

He’s done. God’s dead on the Cross. Hell’s finished. Salvation has been achieved. God’s wrath is satisfied. The punishment due you has been paid for by the Son of God Himself. Perfect passive. Done deal. Jesus did it.

The conquerer of sin, death, and the devil is hanging, beaten and dead, on a Cross. He is God’s answer to sin. He is God’s remedy for death. He destroys death by dying. Death died in Him. For you. For me. For all.

Good Friday. The Cross. The Crucified Christ. That’s our theology, our Faith, our hope.

Luther said it this way: “Crux sola est nostra theologia,” The Cross alone is our theology. Christ and Him crucified for you. That’s daring to be Lutheran.

The Cross is justification by grace alone, received faith alone, from Scripture alone. The Cross is the Law of God. The Cross is the Gospel of God. The Cross is the righteousness God requires and the Cross is the righteousness God gives. The Cross is your salvation — your justification and your sanctification.

We try to dodge His Cross — the hideous sight of our salvation being won by His corpse hanging naked and lifeless on the Tree. We would get around Him. We’d take Him off the tree if we could. You know, “He’s not on the Cross any more.”

We would replace the Christ the Crucified with a present-tense religion that is more sanitized and sensible to us — one that looks a lot more like us! Our decisions, our giving Jesus our life, and our commitment (and re-commitments) to Him. We’d make a religion all about what we do, what we think, how we feel. What church means to me and how it can make my life better today.

Sure, you’ve got sins, but you will do better next time. You’ll do more good works and get your life together. That sin will never happen again. It’s not like it was that big of a deal anyway. It’s not like you killed someone.

But… you did. I did, too. Jesus was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The punishment that should have fallen on us fell upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. You crucified the Lord of Glory. You killed God. I did too.

But God has saved you in His death. You see, this dead God means a living you. Your sin, your evil, your transgressions have died with Him. Hell smolders no more for you.

Tetelestai. It is finished. Not “It’s almost finished and all you have to do is repent, choose, accept…” No, if you could do something, anything to fix your sins, God would not have had to die to save you.

So, “behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” Crucified, hanging on the Cross having answered for your crimes. Look on Him. Behold Him. Fix your eyes on Him and be saved in His Cross.

What you couldn’t do, God has done for you in the Cross of Jesus Christ. He was crucified for your sins. He was raised for your justification, for you forgiveness.

Receive His Cross today. Take eat His Body. Take and drink the blood flowing from His crucified side of Christ. Be forgiven. Be enlivened.

For you have been crucified with Him in the waters of Holy Baptism. You died to your former sins. The way you used to live, think, feel, and tried to save yourself was tetelestai-ed. That’s over and done with, and buried with Jesus.

And you have been made alive, raised with Jesus. Perfect passive. Completed action. He lives for you. You live now for others. You live and love others as He lived and loved others too, as He lives and loves you.

Jesus was dead. Now He lives forever. You live too. Present tense. Right now. Never to die again.

And on the Last Day, with your own eyes you will see the One Crucified for your sins. St. John says He sits on the throne looking as a Lamb having been slain. Jesus is always and forever the Crucified One. That means that you and I are always and forever saved in Him.

Tetelestai. Greek verb. Perfect passive. Completed action. It has been accomplished. It is finished. The account has been paid.

Say it. tetelestai. Believe it. Be saved by Jesus’ cross alone. It is finished. tetelestai. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Categories
Catechesis

Sanctification: Jesus Living in You

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.

Categories
Current Events

Marked Christians

Stan Lemon

“Do not fear any of these things which you are about to suffer.” – Revelation 2:10

Recently you might have seen this image on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. It’s the letter “N” in Arabic. Right now there is a lot of conflict in Iraq. There’s a group called ISIS, which is short for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and they’re a jihadist group. A jihadist group is following a specific teaching within the religion of Islam that leverage some particularly violent tactics to dealing with infidels, folks like you and me. What’s going on in Iraq right now is both sad and bloody. This past week ISIS told Christians to get out of the town of Mosul in Iraq or convert to Islam. If they didn’t, they would die. The “N” you’ve been seeing all over social media is for the word “Nasrani” (Nazarene) which refers to Christians. ISIS is using this to mark the doors of Christian homes. You can guess as to why.

Our Christian brothers and sisters in Mosul and throughout the world need our prayers. They are being persecuted for confessing Christ, for clinging to the Cross and the gifts which He, the very Son of God delivers to you. Christians are being marked by their enemies with this Arabic letter, but the reality of the situation is that these terrorists are too late. As ones redeemed by Christ, these Christians in Mosul, like you and I, have already been marked. It is not a visible stamp on our front door, but instead it is a sacred stamp upon the forehead and the heart. It’s a stamp that was sealed at the blessed font in the waters of Holy Baptism. A stamp placed upon you when a lowly “infidel” made the mark of the Cross and baptized you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. What’s more is this Arabic N intends to mark Christians for death, but you can’t kill the dead! In Christ your old man has already died, he has been drowned in those waters with that sacred stamp. Out of that death comes life, a life which cannot be taken away from you. A life given to you by the worst of the Nasrani, the Son of God, Jesus Christ of Nazareth. A life delivered to you in Holy Baptism and given over and again at the altar in His body and blood. There is no mark that can be placed upon you because you are already marked. There is no death which can conquer the death that Christ died for you. That is the hope of our brothers and sisters who suffer and flee.

What’s going on right now in Iraq is sad and scary. There is no doubt about that. But in Christ there is hope. There is the certainty that no death can overcome Jesus. And like the saints who suffered for the Gospel in days of old, the saints in Mosul shall bear witness to Jesus Christ and Him Crucified. With all the host of heaven we pray for our brother and sisters in Christ, that they might be spared the hand of their oppressor and that through their suffering they might be comforted by the greatest of Comforters and His very precious body and blood.

Lord Jesus Christ, before whom all in heaven and earth shall bow, grant courage that our brothers and sisters in Iraq may confess Your saving name in the face of any opposition from a world hostile to the Gospel. Help them to remember the long line of Your faithful witnesses who endured persecution and even faced death rather than dishonor You. By Your Spirit strengthen them to confess You before all, knowing that You will confess them before Your Father in heaven; for You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. (Collect for persecuted Christians)

Categories
Catechesis

The Life You Now Live

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.

Categories
Catechesis

The First Time I Died

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

Categories
Christ on Campus

His Name Is John

Article PDF | Bible Study PDF | Leader’s Guide PDF

By Rev. Marcus Zill

Language and faith always go hand in hand. Songwriters and poets have always sought to capture the essence of the Christian faith. Having dabbled in poetry myself, I have an appreciation for those who are actually skilled at the craft.

You would probably be thrilled to find out that when you were born, your dad made up a poem in honor of the occasion. But what if the point of it had more to do with your cousin who wasn’t even born yet? Well, that’s basically what happened with John the Baptist (we celebrate his Nativity on June 24). When John was born, his dad, Zacharias, composed such a piece but it turns out that most of it was about Jesus.

Of course, this makes total sense, as the supreme purpose in John’s life was precisely to point people to Jesus. His ministry was with his finger! John once said of Jesus, “He must increase and I must decrease.” Ultimately, everything about John, beginning at his birth, found its meaning in relation to Jesus— including his name.

In many families, it is customary to name the firstborn son after his father or grandfather and to name the other children after other relatives—at least their middle name. My first name, Marcus, was my dad’s first name. While it’s just a custom and there’s nothing wrong with disregarding it (I went by my middle name Todd growing up and was called Toddzilla by my peers in my youth!) the custom does express the hope that the qualities about one’s father or other relatives will be carried on by their descendants.

In ancient times, this custom was followed much more frequently than today. It wasn’t an option. It was expected. But Luke tells us that something different happened with the naming of John. In fact, it was so different that the other relatives and friends protested. “There’s nobody in the family by that name!” “Nobody in the family has ever borne the name of John.” “Why don’t you call him Zacharias, like his father?”

The fact that Zacharias and Elizabeth have a child at all was a miracle. They had every reason to name him Zacharias. But they don’t. Instead they give him a name which indicates who he is in God’s sight and what he has come to do. And so Zacharias, who had been kept until that moment from speaking because of his lack of faith in the promise, proudly announces, “His name is John.” Words have meaning and here language and faith go together perfectly. John means, “The Lord is gracious,” and the grace of God is precisely the message that John will preach, namely through repentance and the forgiveness of sins.

Zacharias was certainly a proud father. But his excitement was not only in the birth of his son, but also in the birth of his, and his son’s, Savior. In the canticle known as the Benedictus (Luke 1:67-80), when Zacharias does get around to talking about John, it’s all in relationship to the coming Christ. He, and He alone, is the point for both father and son. And so Zacharias looks at his newborn son and, led by the Holy Spirit, proclaims: “And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him.”

John’s mission would be to prepare the way of the Lord by proclaiming repentance and administering Baptism for the forgiveness of sins. He would ultimately point to Christ CRUCIFIED even before Christ’s death. “Behold, the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world.” (John 1:29) So it is fitting that even the song surrounding John’s birth also points the world to Christ! It is always, always, about Jesus!

Of course, John was eventually killed for his faithful confession of Christ. Pointing out the sins of others in order to lead them to repentance and pointing the world to Jesus ultimately landed John in prison and led to his death. His wasn’t an easy life, but through it all, “the Lord was gracious” to Him and to you as well!

You, too, will experience hardships and trials in your life, not only because sin still clings to you and you live in a sin-filled world, but also because you bear the name of Christ. Pointing your friends and loved ones to Christ and Him CRUCIFIED will also be met with scorn, and ridicule, and perhaps worse. But when you face those trials and temptations, know that God’s Word still proclaims to you that the end of even these things is eternal life: “The Lord is gracious.”

John’s life, from beginning to end, found its entire meaning in relation to Christ. It is the same for you. Your life has meaning—wonderful, walking, wet meaning—because you are joined to Jesus. You have been baptized into Christ, you are privileged to hear His Words, and even receive His body and blood for the forgiveness of sins.

Dear ones, “The Lord is gracious.” That, and only that, is the whole point!

“Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, for he has come and has redeemed his people.”

Rev. Marcus T. Zill just accepted a call to serve the LCMS as the full-time Director of Campus Ministry and LCMS U.

Categories
Life Issues

Mercy and the Gospel

Daniel Fickenscher

Consider these two scenarios. First, a pastor walking down the street comes across a five-year-old homeless boy who looks hungry and threadbare. The pastor tells him, “You’re a sinner, but your sins are forgiven! You have been given the gift of eternal life through Christ’s death on the cross.” The pastor then goes on his way.

Second, a 4’11”, redheaded girl from a small town Michigan is trekking through a wave of dark Peruvians in a dusty slum of Lima. It’s the sort of neighborhood where locals warn passersby like her, in a language that she is just barely grasping, to be careful.

Does one of these seem more familiar or recognizable to Lutherans?

While the first scenario sounds pretty “Lutheran” is there anything missing? When there’s a clear proclamation of Law and Gospel, what more could you ask for?

Well, Caitlin Worden, the 4’11” Michigander, could tell you what would make it better. Worden is serving The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod in an internship in Lima as part of her deaconess studies at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne. Her role is to provide exactly what is missing from the first scenario: mercy. She servers as the director of Castillo Fuerte, the mission’s mercy house.

Castillo Fuerte serves at risk youth in the La Victoria district of Lima. Several of the community’s children return home from school to an empty house as their parents work long hours in a nearby market. With no supervision, they’re left to wander the crime-ridden streets.

Before Worden’s arrival, the mission team recognized La Victoria’s apparent need, so they went to the government to inquire about using a park to host activities. It turned out that the government had paid so little attention to the neighborhood that it didn’t even know the park existed. Since then, a building just a block from the park has been acquired where Worden and the Peruvian staff look after and tutor the kids on weekdays. On Saturdays they host escuelita, a Sunday-School-like program.

While this sounds like a great idea for serving these youth in need, why aren’t the resources that are being used for Castillo Fuerte being put towards a new congregation, a new Word-and-Sacrament ministry, in Peru? Why mess around with an after-school program?

As it turns out, Worden and the staff often have the opportunity to teach Christ to the children through the inclusion of prayers and Bible stories in the program even as they care for the earthly needs of the children and their families. Their mercy work is a reflection of Christans who have been “loved much” loving much.” (Luke 7:40ff).

Rev. Matthew Harrison writes in Theology for Mercy, “Lives that have received mercy (grace!) cannot but be merciful toward the neighbor (love!). Thus the merciful washing of baptism (Rom. 6:1ff) produces merciful living (Rom. 7:4-6). In absolution, the merciful word of the gospel begets merciful speaking and living (Matt. 18:21ff).”

As wonderful as it is that Worden and the staff are serving their neighbors’ earthly needs, she is careful to point out, “If you only are doing mercy work, and you’re not sharing with them the hope that salvation brings, and the hope, the light of the Gospel, then all you’re giving them is a social ministry. It’s only for the here and now, for this life.”

Thanks be to God, the mission team is doing much more than just a social ministry. Rev. Mark Eisold is currently preaching and administering the Sacraments in two congregations, and the upcoming arrival of two new pastors will allow for the start of a Word-and-Sacrament ministry one floor below Castillo Fuerte! Join the team in giving thanks for the soon pairing of works of mercy with Christ’s Word and Sacraments in La Victoria.

While we are grateful for their willingness to serve the Lord far from home, it certainly doesn’t take a passport to act with mercy. Ask your pastor how you can help meet the heavenly and earthly needs of those around you. The same death and resurrection that gives us eternal life also gives us new hearts that desire to serve those in need and to show mercy, whether to those in need on the other side of the world or to the kid across the street.

Daniel Fickenscher is enjoying serving as a Globally Engaged in Outreach missionary with The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod. He resides in the Dominican Republic and serves as the communication specialist for the Latin America and Caribbean regions. He keeps Lutherans in the US up to date with what LCMS mission and sister churches are doing throughout Central America, South America, the Caribbean, and Spain.

You can learn more about the work being done in the Dominican Republic by watching this video on Castillo Fuerte or checking our their Facebook page.

Categories
Life Issues

Dark Addictions Need the Light

Rev. Ryan J. Ogrodowicz

The internet has flooded us with easy access to pornography. Just a few clicks of a button lead to innumerable free and legal sites of sexual graphics in which the heart and mind can indulge. And it’s easy to hide. Outward signs marking the alcoholic or drug abuser are absent in the porn addict, making the sin harder to detect. Pornography, then, is an addictive sin met with little resistance.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking pornography isn’t an addiction, or that it doesn’t cause physical damage. Studies show that extensive exposure to pornography arouses the brain in ways resembling an addict’s response to cocaine and heroin combined. This, in turn, creates a greater tolerance that drives the user to look for more graphic images to produce the same sensation. There is a difference, however, between drug and porn addiction in that drug users increase quantity to get the desired effect. Porn addicts, however, need novelty, something new and different that can lead to looking at unspeakable and even illegal images.1

Needless to say, all of this does great damage to singles and married people alike. For spouses, no one wants to be married to someone who constantly lusts after another person. They feel betrayed and violated. Single people fare no better. All the mental changes to neurological pathways result in stimulation over images instead of flesh and blood people. This means addicts have a harder time relating to real people and building meaningful relationships. After all, the brain has been trained to become aroused at pictures, not people.

Still think pornography is harmless?
Christ addresses this when He says “everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Highlighting the danger, He adds “if your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away… it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body to go into hell” (Matthew 5: 27-30). Sexual temptation is so powerful that God says it can drag someone right out of the kingdom and into hell—an outcome worse than self-mutilation.

So what’s the solution?
Blocking software, accountability partners, a computer in a public space—these things can provide some assistance, but apart from Christ such efforts are futile. We must know our enemy. In the Lord’s Prayer we pray “lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.” Note how close the words “temptation” and “evil” are to one another. With every temptation there is real evil at work and we are powerless to stop it. No amount of human will-power and strength can defend against the onslaught of the devil, world and our own sinful nature. Temptation must be met with a power outside of us, the gospel that is the “power of God for salvation” (Romans 1: 16). The power of God’s forgiveness is the remedy for every sick sinner caught up in a transgression. Therefore, if confessing sin and receiving forgiveness is the answer, then hiding sin is a surefire way to exacerbate the problem. The devil loves darkness, but hates the light. The sinful flesh hates the light and flees to the cover of darkness where sin can fester and rot. Keeping sins private may seem like a way of avoiding shame and embarrassment, but it’s just what the devil wants—for you to keep yours sins hidden from yourself, even from God.

The Psalmist speaks about containing sin. “When I kept silent my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long…I acknowledged my sin to you and I did not cover my iniquity; I said ‘I will confess my transgressions to the LORD, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin’” (Psalm 32 4-5). From decaying and groaning to receiving God’s mercy and healing, the Psalmist confesses and receives the grace and absolution God promises.

But the news gets better. Not only does God promise you absolution in Christ, He tells you where you can hear it, and this is vital. Your pastor, a called minister of Christ, is charged to forgive you, the repentant sinner. Your pastor is God’s man working under His authority and divine command to absolve those crushed, burdened, and looking for grace. This means you know exactly where to go when temptation hits. No guesswork and confusion; just go to the pastor and hear what Christ charges him to say: that you are forgiven for the sake of Jesus and that you can depart in peace. There is tremendous comfort in hearing your sins cannot kill you because you are justified and cleansed in Christ, and we mustn’t tire of hearing this message. Take advantage of confession and absolution, in which we are free to bring our sins into His light and receive His peace. Hear the gospel that is the true balm for the wounded conscience—the consolation of knowing the very sins we struggle with have been taken care of by Jesus.

Temptations are sure to come; evil never takes a break. Sexual addiction is powerful, but during the strife you know where you can go and what you will receive. Come into the light. Confess boldly again and again. Receive the gospel of Jesus, who has overcome your sin, temptation and even death. Pornography is easy access to sin. Absolution is easy and free access to forgiveness and everlasting life!

1 See “The New Narcotic” at http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2013/10/10846/, accessed 2/13/14.

Rev. Ryan J. Ogrodowicz is the pastor of Victory in Christ Lutheran Church located in Newark, Texas. He can be reached at pastor@viccla.org