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Higher Things
de n si n o In io es at nc rm re fo fe In Con ‘09 HT
Inside this issue:
• Swimming in Faith • Why Jesus? • ABCs of Christian Living W W W. H I G H E RT H I N G S . O R G
/ FA L L / 2008
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Contents T A B L E
O F
FEATURES 4
6
8
The Language of the Parables: Why Jesus?
By Rev. Bryan Wolfmueller It’s hard to understand parables. Are they about you, or your neighbor, or Jesus, or Christians, or non-believers? How can you tell? Pastor Wolfmueller helps to sort out the confusion by pointing you back to your Savior.
Swimming in Faith
By Mr. Kyle Verage Swimming is hard work. Sometimes it’s fun. Sometimes not. Sometimes it’s easy. Sometimes it’s hard. Daily prayer, personal devotion, and church attendance are hard work too. Sometimes they’re not fun or easy either. So, why bother? Swimmer Kyle Verage talks discipline, grace, and faith.
Amen Sermon
By Rev. Christopher Esget You heard Pastor Esget preach at the Amen conference and wished you had a copy of his sermon to read again. Well, now you do! For a little light reading on your salvation and God’s mercy, read on.
10 The ABCs of Christian Living
By Rev. Jim Roemke Have you stopped to wonder why we sing the Alleluia when we do in church? Or what the point of the Offertory is? Pastor Roemke lays out the Divine Service in a few easy steps so that you can understand exactly what’s going on on Sunday morning.
12 Is This Mission Work?
COLUMNS 20 Christ on Campus: Of Testimonies,
Volume 8/Number 3 • Fall 2008
Healings, and a Holy Spirit Carwash By Rev. Richard Woelmer All Lutherans have been there. One minute we’re talking about salvation, and the next minute someone’s wondering when we asked Jesus into our hearts. We fumble around and finally mutter, “Um, when I was baptized?” If you’ve been in that spot and don’t want to be again, Pastor Woelmer sheds some light on the situation.
22 A Boring Sermon and a Boring Listener
By Kathy Luder Most of us like our pastor. We know his preaching style and understand his sense of humor. But Kathy’s pastor is gone for the week, and a different pastor is filling in, a pastor she knows is old and dull. Just as she starts to wonder why she’s even bothering to go, Mom Luder sets her straight . . . and gets your priorities back in line too.
28 Learning by Heart
By Rev. David Petersen We’ve all complained about having to memorize the catechism or hymns or Bible passages. It seems pretty pointless. After all, if we need to know something, we can grab the book and look it up. But Pastor Petersen wants you to know that when the Word of God is in your heart—memorized and close at hand—it transforms you. And let’s be honest, who doesn’t want to be changed from a whiny teenager to a comforted believer?
By Rev. Tim Pauls Many fellow Christians don’t understand why we believe that in the Lord’s Supper Jesus gives us His Body and Blood in, with, and under the bread and wine. We can almost guarantee that you’ll be challenged on this doctrine, so read Pastor Pauls’ article for a few of the common criticisms as well as suggestions on how to respond.
Editor REV. TIM
PAULS
Managing Editor ADRIANE DORR Assistant Editor
JULIE BECKWITH Art Director STEVE BLAKEY Editorial Associates
REV. GREG ALMS REV. PAUL BEISEL REV. BART DAY REV. DAVID PETERSEN Thanks to retiring Bible Studies Editor REV. DAN MACKEY Business Manager
LYNNETTE FREDERICKSEN Subscriptions Manager
ELIZABETH CARLSON Webmaster STAN LEMON Great Quote
“LET THE UTTERANCES OF THE ANGELS AND PROPHETS AROUSE US AND MOVE US TO HASTEN TO HIGHER THINGS.” —ST. AMBROSE* Christ on Campus Executive REV. MARCUS ZILL Conferences Executive REV. GEORGE F. BORGHARDT
III
Internet Services Executive MARK BUETOW Publications Executive CAROLYN COCKEY Retreat Executive LANDON REED Not-As-Great Quote
“DUDE, WHAT’S WITH THE SHIRT?” —THE GUY AT THE SUB SHOP, LOOKING AT REV. PAULS’ CLERICAL. THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS President
REV. WILLIAM CWIRLA Secretary Treasurer
LYNNETTE FREDERICKSEN Subscriptions Manager
REV. JOEL FRITSCHE REV. DAVID KIND REV. BRENT KUHLMANN REV. LARRY NICHOLS MARK PFUNDSTEIN ___________
24 A Tale of Two Fish
26 How to Defend the Real Presence and Have Fun Doing It
Volume 8/Number 3/Fall 2008
SANDRA OSTAPOWICH
By Rev. James May Every summer your friends go on mission trips, and they always sound so exciting. They’re building houses and doing puppet shows, and you’re sitting at home doing nothing. Or are you? Pastor May fills you in on the true meaning of mission work and why it may be something different than what you think. By Rev. Dr. Nathan Jastram You see them all the time on the back of cars: a fish with a pair of legs or a fish that says “Darwin” swallowing the Christian fish. But do you know where those symbols come from and what they mean? If you don’t, Pastor Jastram has the explanation, and it just might come in handy next time you see one of those cars in the mall parking lot.
HigherThings
Top five reasons to Read Higher Things… 5. Did you read the latest about Britney, Lindsay, and Angelina? If you did, it wasn’t here. 4. It takes everything you learned in confirmation and shows why “What does this mean?” matters. 3. We’d boast that it’s the best Lutheran youth magazine in the world today, but that sounds a little too proud. 2. We “humbly suggest” that this is the best Lutheran youth magazine in the world today. 1. Christ and His gifts. Law and Gospel. Always.
*On the Death of His Brother Satyrus, 2:112.“Selected excerpts from ‘The Fathers of the Church,’ 86 volumes. Copyright © 1947-. Used by permission of Catholic University of America Press.”
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Higher Things Magazine ISSN 1539-8455 is published quarterly by Higher Things, Inc., 5009 Cassia, Boise, ID 83705. No portion of this publication may be reproduced without the written consent of the executive editor of Higher Things Magazine. Copyright 2008. Printed in the United States. Postage paid at St. Louis, Missouri. For subscription information and questions, call 1-888-448-2359 or e-mail subscriptions@higherthings.org. (This phone F number is only used for subscription queries.) For letters to the editor, write letters@ A higherthings.org. Writers may submit L manuscripts to: submissions@higherthings.org. L Please check http://higherthings.org/ magazine/writers.html for writers’ guidelines and theme lists.
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The Language of the Kingdom:
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Why Jesus
hen I was in college, I spent one of my summers in a remote village in the highlands of Fiji. There was no running water, no electricity.The people of the village spoke English, but whenever there was anything important to discuss the conversation would change to Fijian.
There was a man who would walk around the village each morning chanting the news. I had no idea what was being said. He could have been reviewing the points of the ongoing debate about the benefits of electricity in the village, or he could have said, “Keep the goats out of the toilets.”The business of the village happens in the language of the village; strangers are left out. The parables of Jesus work the same way.They are spoken in the language of the kingdom of God, spoken for the children of the kingdom.To His followers, Jesus is revealing the truths of His kingdom. To those who do not believe in Jesus, the parables hide these truths of the Lord’s kingdom. As Jesus gets farther from His Baptism and closer to the cross, opposition to Him grows.The crowds become polarized, pulled off the fence in one direction or the other. In this charged atmosphere, Jesus teaches in parables. The Lord’s disciples notice this change and ask Him about it.“Why do You speak to them in parables?” (Matthew 13:10). Jesus answers, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have in abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.” (Matthew 13:11–13) When Jesus uses parables, He is speaking in the language of the kingdom, and this speaking is for the citizens of the kingdom. Like the announcements chanted in Fijian, the citizens hear and understand what’s being said; outsiders don’t.
Teaches in Parables By Rev. Bryan Wolfmueller
Parables are for Christians.They are for us, the Lord’s baptized. We have learned the language of His kingdom. The parables deliver for us the treasures of our salvation and all the gifts of the Lord and His cross. We are the Lord’s forgiven sinners. Over and over we hear these joyful themes in the Lord’s parables. We are those who are forgiven much and, therefore, love much (The Two Debtors, Luke 7:36–50). Like the publican, we stand far off and beg the Lord’s mercy. He answers our prayer, and we are justified (The Pharisee and the Publican, Luke 18). As the Lord’s Church, we are His treasure, His pearl of great price, purchased not with gold and silver, but with His holy precious blood and His innocent suffering and death (Hidden Treasure and the Pearl of Great Price, Matthew 13). He has planned planted His Word in our hearts, and this Word bears the fruit of eternal life (The Sower, Matthew 13). We share in the angelic joy, knowing that we, like lost sheep or a lost coin, are sought after by our Lord Jesus, the Seeker and the Savior of the lost (The Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin, Luke 15).The open arms that receive the prodigal son, and the ring, and the robe, and the slaughtered fatted calf are pictures of our heavenly Father’s unbounded love and mercy for us sinners (The Prodigal Son, Luke 15). In the midst of trouble and tribulation, we take comfort that we are in the Church, the house built on the solid rock of the Lord’s Word (The House Built on a Rock, Matthew 7). We are the unworthy inheritors of the
Lord’s kingdom (The Wicked Tenants, Luke 20), and His kingdom is for us a great banquet (The Great Supper, Luke 14) and a joyful wedding feast (The Marriage of the King’s Son, Matthew 22). Not foolish or faithless, the Lord’s Christians are the wise virgins who, by faith, see the joy of their salvation in the eternal wedding feast of the Lamb (The Ten Virgins, Matthew 25). We trust not in our riches, our goodness, or ourselves, but rather in the Lord Jesus and His blood and cross (The Rich Fool, Luke 12). All these benefits come to us not from our labors, but from the Lord’s promises (The Laborer in the Vineyard, Matthew 20). We, like a faithful servant waiting for the master’s return, look for the second coming of the Lord Jesus (The Watching Servants, Mark 13), and when the Lord Jesus returns, like the wheat, we will be gathered by the angels into the eternal barn of the Lord’s mercy (The Wheat and the Tares, Matthew 13). Praise the Lord that we are the sheep on the Lord’s right hand of blessing (The Sheep and the Goats, Matthew 25). Praise the Lord that we are baptized into His kingdom. We hear in the Lord’s parables that echo of the Lord’s great and blessed judgment for us,“Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34). Rev. Bryan Wolfmueller is husband to Keri, father to Hannah, Andrew, Daniel, and another child due in November, and pastor of Hope Lutheran Church in Aurora, Colorado. After ten years, his tan from the Fijian sun has completely faded. He may be reached at pastor@hope-aurora.org.
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Swimming in H
ead in line, good shoulder rotation, butt tight, toes pointed, stiff kick—all parts of a good backstroke swim. It takes a lot of discipline, commitment, and straight up hard work to develop the technique necessary for a good backstroke, a good swimming stroke. It’s really hard to wake up, trudge half-asleep to an early morning workout still sore from the practice only ten hours earlier, and get motivated to swim hard. But that’s what it takes.That’s just what needs to be done. In the same way, it takes discipline and, indeed, training to go to church, pray, and live faithfully.
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So if I wake up at 5:30 on an average morning to swim, getting up for church on Sunday should be cake, right? Unfortunately, my sinful flesh wants nothing more than to stay away from church.The devil wants to kill my faith. And the world wants nothing more than to offer every sinful excuse and temptation not to go. On Sunday morning, my bed feels unusually warm and comfortable. I sometimes find myself justifying why skipping church would be okay. And of course, it always seems that everything fun happens on Saturday night, making the already-difficult-to-wake-up-Sunday morning even more tricky. So, no, getting up for church on Sunday is not cake. It’s more like brussels sprouts or runny eggs. But I need to constantly remind myself or, rather, God’s Holy Spirit constantly reminds me, that I need to go to church. That’s just what needs to be done. But why do we need to go to church? Because Jesus is there! We as Lutherans believe that at church, through God’s Divine Service, we see, hear, eat, and drink Jesus. We truly become one body with Christ and enjoy all the benefits of His divine Sonship, namely the forgiveness of sins, eternal life, salvation, and divine glory.Through Christ and His precious Sacraments, God no longer finds
us guilty of judgment and hell. So no matter how cushy my pillow is or how joyful I am with friends on Saturday night, these things pale in comparison to the comfort and joy found in Christ through His Divine Service. Just as daily swim practice prepares me for the next swim meet, so daily prayer and devotion prepare us for church on Sunday.Through the meditation and recitation of God’s Word, we come to know and appreciate Christ’s sacrifice more fully, making us long for His holy, sacrificial Body and Blood. By reading the Bible, reciting Luther’s Small Catechism, praying the psalms, and singing faithful hymns, we train our hearts and minds ever toward Christ, where they’re always supposed to be but aren’t because of our sinful nature. Swimming has become particularly advantageous to my faith life as a means to discipline my sinful flesh. Like Paul in Romans 7:18,“I know that in me (that is in my flesh) nothing good dwells.” And Luther tells us in the Small Catechism: The Sacrament of Holy Baptism that “the Old Adam [who claims our sinful flesh] in us should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires.” Swimming daily (not in the baptismal sense of course), therefore, helps me to this
By Kyle Verage
n Faith
end. Sometimes I would much rather eat a whole package of Oreos and play Guitar Hero for hours than go to swim practice. Oreos taste a lot better than chlorine and playing Guitar Hero feels a lot better than my burning lungs do after a difficult swim set. But it’s good to go to swim practice because it disciplines my flesh. In the same way, daily prayer and devotion denies our sinful flesh and trains us to be ever mindful of God and our neighbor.Thus, church and prayer not only help us as sinful individuals before God, but they help us to live the holy life that God intended for us before our neighbor. Christ fulfilled God’s Law—His Ten Commandments—but His Ten Commandments still stand to guide our thoughts and actions and to teach us how to best serve our neighbor in love. If my swim mate strays from his side of the shared lane and we hit hands mid-stroke, which can really hurt, my first inclination is to smack him. But as a Christian, I am called to deny myself and bear suffering with love for the sake of my neighbor. Discipline in holy living, therefore, is a good thing. While swimming is very different from my faith as a Christian, it has taught me discipline, which is good for my faith. No matter what teams, organizations, clubs, or groups we Christians find ourselves in, discipline in going to church, praying, learning, and living faithfully will always be good. Kyle Verage is a senior Classics major at Valparaiso University in Indiana where he is also captain of the swim team. His hometown is Hubertus,Wisconsin, and he intends to go to seminary upon graduation. He can be reached at Kyle.Verage@valpo.edu.
From this evidence the following is certain: as soon as the Holy Spirit has begun His work of regeneration and renewal in us through the Word and holy Sacraments, we can and should cooperate through His power, although still in great weakness.This cooperation does not come from our fleshly natural powers, but from the new powers and gifts that the Holy Spirit has begun in us in conversion. St. Paul clearly and eagerly encourages that “working together with Him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain” [2 Corinthians 6:1]. But this is to be understood in no other way than the following: the converted person does good to such an extent and as long as God by His Holy Spirit rules, guides, and leads him. As soon as God would withdraw His gracious hand from that person, he could not for a moment keep obeying God. But if anyone would take St. Paul’s words in this sense—the converted person cooperates with the Holy Spirit the way two horses draw a wagon together—this could not be allowed in any way without damaging the divine truth. Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain (2 Corinthians 6:1). For we are God’s fellow workers.You are God’s field, God’s building (1 Corinthians 3:9). But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me (1 Corinthians 15:10). What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make My dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people” (2 Corinthians 6:16). Formula of Concord, SD II: 65-66. McCain, Paul, ed.,Concordia:The Lutheran Confessions (St. Louis,MO:Concordia Publishing House, 2005), 562.
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