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Higher Things
In This Issue:
Scuba Diving for Sins
• Your Post-Confirmation Life • Receive the Gospel Like a Dog • A Bruised Reed He Will Not Break • Weekly Communion: the Gift that Keeps on Giving
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Contents T A B L E O F
Volume 15/Number 2 • Summer 2015
Special Features 4 Confirmation: All of Jesus’ Gifts and Then Some!
By Rev. George F. Borghardt Not merely a rite, not just a formality, Confirmation is a process through which you learn about all of the gifts Christ won for you on the cross and how He delivers them to you in abundance! Read up on it, Rev. Borghardt style!
6 Your Post-Confirmation Life
By Rev. Mark Buetow Yes, there is life after Confirmation. After all, that’s the whole purpose of Confirmation...to equip you for your life as a child of God! Rev. Buetow will show you how invaluable what you learn, memorize and study is for your spiritual wellbeing.
8 Scuba Diving for Sin
By Chad Bird You don’t need a license to scuba dive down into the depths of your own or someone else’s shipwrecked collection of sins. The reality is we have a natural inclination to do so. The good news, as Chad declares, is that the love of Jesus is deeper than you can even imagine and you don’t have to plumb the dark depths of sin any longer.
10 A Bruised Reed He Will Not Break
By Rev. Greg Eilers Rev. Eilers compassionately and Biblically addresses one of the most controversial social topics of the day: gender dysphoria. By sharing his lifelong and agonizing struggle with this disorder he demonstrates that His comfort has been and continues to be His identity in Christ.
12 Seven Apologists Every Christian Should Know, Part 4 The Dangerous Defiance of William Dembski: Why Design Reveals Intelligence
By Rev. Mark A. Pierson In Romans 1, St. Paul tells us that man is without excuse if he rejects God, because all of nature reveals His handiwork. In light of this truth, Rev. Pierson methodically explains how William Dembski, through the Intelligent Design argument, provides another very helpful tool for your apologetics arsenal.
14 Receiving the Gospel Like a Dog
By Anna Hahn Man’s best friend may be able to teach YOU a trick or two you never thought about...the Gospel! Anna shares her own observations with her beloved dogs and ties it into the reminder that we can confidently live each day, receiving Christ’s gifts with joyful trust.
24 Weekly Communion: the Gift That Keeps on Giving
By Taylor Schmidt Just like manna was something the Israelites came to take for granted and forget how vital it was for physical survival, we, too, can easily forget the blessing that the Lord’s Supper is to our souls which are desperate for nourishment that God promises to give. Taylor emphatically lays out the case for weekly communion.
Regular Features
20 Youth Ministry: Developing Your Youth Group
By Bob Myers Back to the basics...and the right tool for the right job. These two clichés actually are the key to getting your youth group started or strengthening the one you have. Youth directors especially will find Bob’s wisdom very encouraging no matter what stage a youth program is at.
28 Catechism: The Second Commandment
By Rev. William M. Cwirla What does it really mean to misuse the name of the Lord our God? Rev. Cwirla lays out not only what it means to break the Second Commandment, but also what makes God’s Name such a precious gift revealed to us in and through Jesus Christ.
30 Bible Study: Your Post-Confirmation Life
Be sure to check out this sample of one of our student Bible studies which links up with Rev. Buetow’s article on P. 6.
HigherThings
®
Volume 15/Number 2/Summer 2015 Bible Studies for these articles can be found at: higherthings.org/ magazine/biblestudies.html Editor
Katie Hill Art Director
Steve Blakey Editorial Associates
Rev. Greg Alms Rev. Paul Beisel Rev. Bart Day Copy Editor
Dana Niemi Bible Study Authors
Rev. Mark Buetow Rev. Jacob Ehrhard Rev. Samuel Schuldheisz Subscriptions Manager
Elizabeth Carlson IT Assistant
Jon Kohlmeier ___________
Board of Directors President
Rev. George Borghardt Vice-President
Rev. Dr. Carl Fickenscher Treasurer
Chris Loemker Secretary
Rev. Joel Fritsche Rev. Duane Bamsch Eric Maiwald Sue Pellegrini Matt Phillips Rev. Chris Rosebrough ___________
Executive Council Deputy Executive/Media
Rev. Mark Buetow Conference and Retreats Executive
Sandra Ostapowich Business Executive
Connie Brammeier Technology Executive
Stan Lemon
Higher Things® Magazine ISSN 1539-8455 is published quarterly by Higher Things, Inc., PO Box 156, Sheridan, WY 82801. No portion of this publication may be reproduced without the written consent of the executive editor of Higher Things Magazine. Copyright 2015. Higher Things® is registered trademarks of Higher Things Inc.; All Rights Reserved. Printed in the United States. Postage paid at St. Louis, Missouri. For subscription information and questions, call 1-888-4826630, then press 4, or e-mail subscriptions@higherthings.org. (This phone number is only used for subscription queries.) For letters to the editor, write letters@higher things.org. Writers may submit manuscripts to: submissions@ higherthings.org. Please check higherthings.org/magazine/ writers.html for writers’ guidelines and theme lists.
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Confirmation: H I G H E R T H I N G S __ 4
All of Jesus’ Gifts and Then Some! By Rev. George F. Borghardt
“All authority on heaven and earth has been given to me, therefore as you go make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to hold dear everything I have commanded and lo, I am with you always to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20)
Baptize. Teach. That’s how our
Lord Jesus makes disciples. He doesn’t just baptize. He doesn’t just teach. But where there’s baptizing, there’s also teaching. And where there’s teaching, there’s eventually a baptism. The two participles are so closely tied together that the Lord doesn’t even use an “and” in Greek to separate them!
You have been baptized. Now, it’s time to be taught. And you aren’t taught just a few things or just what you want to learn. The Lord is going to put it all—everything that He has taught—right into you. To do that, the Lord gave you parents. Yes, Mom and Dad are given to teach you the Faith of Jesus. They put the Scriptures and the Small Catechism into your hands. This little instruction book contains the chief parts of the Christian faith as drawn from the sacred Scriptures. Your parents don’t just teach you your ABCs. They also teach you about Jesus. And, Mom and Dad, if you aren’t teaching your kids to memorize the Small Catechism before Confirmation, you are falling down on the job! Help your pastor help you! Teach your kids the Faith! The Gospel is always more. So, the Lord gave Confirmation. Confirmation is a rite, not a right. You don’t have to be confirmed…you get to be confirmed. Yes, those sometimes long, boring classes with your pastor are a gift from God. There, you learn not “some” of what our Lord has commanded but “everything” He has mandated. It all starts with the Ten Commandments. These are not just the “don’ts” of God’s Words. No! The Lord has more than just what you are supposed to do and not do. He’s given the Ten Commandments as gift to you! All ten—oh, and a conclusion! You want that, too! He’s got good news that will last to a thousand generations of those who love Him and cherish His commandments. Then there’s the Apostles’ Creed. One God in three persons, confessed in three articles: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There’s the Father who created you, the Son who redeemed you “not with gold or silver but with His Holy precious blood and innocent suffering and death,” and the Spirit who delivers Jesus’ salvation to you through His gifts. Next stop, the Lord’s Prayer. “Lord, teach us to pray!” (Luke 11:1). God is our Father. He hears our prayers. His kingdom comes to us.
His will is good and gracious to us. He gives daily bread and forgives us our trespasses—all gifts, all freely given to us from the God who gave up His Son for us on the Cross. Faith, which flows from His gifts, says, “Amen” or “Yes, yes, it shall be so!” And what are these gifts? Since the Cross does no good without the Holy Spirit delivering Jesus’ forgiveness to us in His gifts, we confess Holy Baptism. His Baptism washes us with water and the Word. It isn’t just a moment in our Christian life—Baptism is our Christian life. Daily, we die to our sins, drowning them in the baptismal flood flowing from Christ’s pierced side. And daily, we are raised again with Jesus to new life. Most people think Confession and Absolution isn’t Lutheran. But in Confirmation you’ll hear about it right from the Small Catechism! You can’t get any more Lutheran than that! Jesus takes His forgiveness and delivers it to us in the Words of our pastor. When God’s ministers deal with us by His divine command, that is, forgiving and retaining sins, that gift is certain even in heaven itself. All of these gifts have prepared us for the Sacrament of the Altar. Under the bread and wine, Jesus gives to us His Body and Blood for the remission of all our sins. Into our mouths is put heaven itself! “For where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation.” There’s still more in the Catechism to learn: What a gift! There are Daily Prayers for morning, meals, and bed time. There is instruction on how to prepare to receive the Lord’s Supper and the Table of Duties: verses about the various stations in our life. It’s all there at the end of the Catechism. If this seems like a bit much, well, it’s given by the Lord to be too much! You can’t learn “all that the Lord has commanded” in just a few years. That’ll take a lifetime! But Mom and Dad can start, your pastor can confirm you, and you can even keep learning when you are old. You are never too old for the Small Catechism. Don’t worry. The Lord has promised to be with you. He’s where His baptizing and teaching is going on. Where there’s baptizing, there’s teaching. And where there’s teaching, there’s baptizing. They’re so connected that there isn’t an “and” between them. The command is for all nations— that means you and me, too! Rev. George F. Borghardt is the Senior Pastor at Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church in McHenry, Illinios. He also serves as the president of Higher Things.
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Your Post-Confi By Rev. Mark Buetow
Confirmation. It’s a rite of passage for most Lutheran kids. Maybe it happened at the end of 8th grade in Lutheran school. Maybe you were a bit younger and had Saturday morning catechism classes with the pastor. Maybe it was just a year. Maybe you went for two or three. You probably memorized most of the Small Catechism. You might have gone through a grueling questioning process in front of the whole congregation. Or maybe you just had to talk with the pastor and your parents. Perhaps you had to wear a white robe. Maybe you wore a dress or a tie. However it happened, you got confirmed. So throw that Catechism in your closet! You’re done! You never have to learn all THAT stuff again!
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Wait. That’s not right... Sadly, for many this is their Confirmation experience. It’s like studying for a final exam: You cram as much as you can into your head and then happily forget it when it’s all over. But that’s not what Confirmation is about at all! It’s not a “graduation.” And it’s certainly not the end of your learning as a Christian. So what exactly is your life supposed to look like once you’ve been confirmed? Let’s take a look, beginning with a refresher on what Confirmation is in the first place. The Small Catechism was written to teach Christians what their baptism is all about, to learn to confess their sins, and to prepare them to receive Jesus’ Body and Blood in the Lord’s Supper. It was also written to teach us how to pray and to guide us in our daily callings (vocations). When you were baptized (for most Lutherans, as a baby), your sins were forgiven, you were rescued from death and the devil, and given eternal salvation. But if you were a baby when that happened, you probably don’t remember it. So Confirmation is nothing more than the public recognition that (1) you are baptized and you know it, and (2) you know what the Sacrament of the Altar is and you are prepared to receive it. Confirmation is a nice rite, that is, a structured part of the liturgy with questions and answers and Bible verses. But that’s it. There is nothing given to you in Confirmation that you haven’t already received in Baptism. And the next gift Jesus has for you isn’t in the Confirmation itself but in the Sacrament of His Body and Blood. Confirmation is just the opportunity for you to stand in front of the church and say, “Yes,
I’m baptized. And as a baptized sinner and child of God, I am prepared now to receive Jesus’ Body and Blood for the forgiveness of all my sins.” So Confirmation is not anything in itself. You don’t get forgiveness by being confirmed or get “topped off” with the Holy Spirit. At its very heart, your Post-Confirmation life looks like you, with your ears open to the preacher’s words and your hands and mouth open to Supper of Christ’s Body and Blood. It’s you, the sinner, receiving forgiveness in the many ways Jesus delivers it to you. Your Post-Confirmation life is you, under the care of your pastor, who cares for you by putting God’s Word in your ears and Christ’s Body and Blood into your mouth. We aren’t prepared to receive the Sacrament of the Altar just so that we can forget about it! Your Post-Confirmation life is also about growing into your many
firmation Life callings. A calling (sometimes called a “vocation”) is a position into which God places you in life in which you love and serve your neighbor. Vocations include things like being a son or daughter, a brother or sister, a member of a Christian congregation, a student, a fast-food worker or babysitter, or lawn-care technician. As you get older, you may be given new callings as a husband or wife and then maybe as a father or mother. Your job may become a career: a soldier, or engineer, or assembly-line foreman, or miner, or bank teller, or software engineer. The possibilities are nearly endless. Your Post-Confirmation life is learning to use the gifts and skills the Lord has given you to do well at whatever you do, not just for yourself, but to be a blessing for others. And each and every vocation is also an opportunity to hurt others. To sin against them. To make mistakes. To let your selfishness take control. Every calling the Lord gives is a calling which you may want to rebel against. You don’t want to honor your parents or care for them when they are old. You don’t to be stuck with just one person the rest of your life. You don’t want to do someone else’s work or follow someone else’s orders. You want to be your own boss and the center of the universe. Sometimes you’ll sin and mess it all up. And that’s when you need that forgiveness Jesus has for you all the more. So when you put it all together, your Post-Confirmation life looks something like this: You live your life, doing the best you can in your various callings. Do what your parents say. Help take care
of your brothers and sisters. Pay attention in and do well in school. Be nice to the customers at your job and follows your boss’ instructions. In each and every calling, do your best, and love those whom you are serving and obeying. And when you mess it up, blow it, turn your back on others, and generally sin and make a mess of those callings, then back to church! Back to remember your baptism in which the Lord has washed away your sins and put His name on you, calling you His beloved child. Back to absolution, the comforting announcement by your pastor that God won’t hold your sins against you. Back to hear the Good News that your Savior Jesus perfectly lived for you and also died for you, taking away all your sins and clearing your account with God. Back to the altar, where the Body and Blood of Jesus are His promise that you really are forgiven, your mistakes are paid for, and that whatever you’ve messed up doesn’t count against you in God’s sight. And from all these things, you learn then, by the Holy Spirit, to love God and to love your neighbor. So then back into the world to do it all again. And in your sins, back to Jesus for more forgiveness, and back to your callings to do your best. And so it goes, your whole life long. Forgiveness. Callings. Forgiveness. Vocation. Life as a Christian in Christ’s church. Life as whatever you are out in the world. That’s what your Post-Confirmation life looks like. When it all comes down to it, getting ready for Confirmation is all about Jesus: what He gave you in Baptism and what He’ll give you in the Supper of His Body and Blood. Confirmation is really about Jesus, too, now that you’re old enough to say, “Hey! That Jesus is for me, too!” And your Post-Confirmation life is all Jesus, too. Jesus forgiving and saving you, Jesus living in you, and Jesus being with you by His gifts until He comes again and raises you from the dead. I guess you could say your Post-Confirmation life is really nothing more than the continuation of the eternal life that has already begun in your baptism. 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.
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