W W W. H I G H E RT H I N G S . O R G
/ SPRING / 2004
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Contents T A B L E
4
O F
The Greatest Comeback Ever By Dr. David Scaer
“Easter is not for the languid, the lethargic, the indifferent, nor for those who don’t care who wins. A wounded but undefeated Jesus steps out of the grave to confound the odds. He’s alive and that’s what counts.” Read this powerful sermon to find out about the greatest comeback ever.
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Learning to Be a Wuss By Nathan Fischer
How do you usually celebrate the Fourth of July? With firecrackers, parades, fun, and parties? Read about Nathan’s difficult experience, and lessons about depending on God.
11 The Liturgy of Sports By Gene Edward Veith
Do sporting events have their own liturgies? Gene Edward Veith discusses this issue and his conclusions give a surprising picture of our culture’s obsession with sports.
13 Love Thy Neighbor By Kathy Luder
In this, the latest installment of Kathy’s adventures and experiences, a neighbor visits their home with some sad news.
15 Christ Puts Death to Death: Does Suicide Give Life to Death? By Adrianne Dorr
Adrianne Dorr tackles the difficult and heart-wrenching issue of suicide, and explores the Biblical view as well as Luther’s thoughts on the topic.
17 Dumb Church Signs Compiled by Rev. Chad Bird
The stupidest church signs ever.
22 Texas Youth Group Dares to be Lutheran By Pam Knepper
Read about how one youth group has grown closer together by attending Higher Things conferences.
COLUMNS 19 Letters to the Editor 20 MINING THE RICHES: The Meat of the Gospel By Rev. Will Weedon
Find out what chili con carne and Christ’s incarnation—as well as your own resurrection—have in common.
26 Pulse: Sports Magazines and TV Shows By Rev. Eric A. Andrae
Pastor Andrae, the ultimate sports fan (and who can be found at any given time playing soccer, basketball, or at least watching ESPN), reflects on cultural attitudes toward sport, and some specific shows and magazines.
28 E-mail Information and News and Notes 29 Ex Cathedra
Internet theft, dealing with shyness, and drive-thru ATMs with Braille keypads?
30 The Catechism: Asleep in Jesus By Rev. David Petersen
HigherThings Volume 4/Number 1 Spring 2004 Editor-in-Chief REV. TODD PEPERKORN Assistant Editor JULIE STIEGEMEYER
Editorial Associates REV. TIM PAULS REV. DAVID PETERSEN REV. ERIK ROTTMANN REV. SCOTT STIEGEMEYER DR. GENE EDWARD VEITH Art Director STEVE BLAKEY
Business Manager LYNN FREDERICKSEN
Bible Studies Editor REV. TIMOTHY SCHELLENBACH Subscriptions Manager CYNTHIA HALL
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HIGHER THINGS, INC. BOARD OF DIRECTORS President REV. KLEMET
PREUS
Vice President REV. MARCUS
ZILL
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Secretary SANDRA
OSTAPOWICH
Treasurer LYNN FREDERICKSEN
REV. BRUCE KESEMAN SANDRA OSTAPOWICH REV. TODD PEPERKORN JEFF SCHWARZ DR. GENE EDWARD VEITH MOLLIE ZIEGLER REV. MARCUS ZILL Higher Things Magazine ISSN 1539-8455 is published quarterly by Higher Things Inc., 2026 22nd Ave., Kenosha, WI 53140. No portion of this publication may be reproduced without the written consent of the editor-in-chief of Higher Things Magazine. Copyright 2004. Printed in the United States. Postage paid at Fort Wayne, Indiana. For subscription information, write to: Higher Things Magazine, P.O. Box 8098, Fort Wayne IN 46898 or e-mail to Subscriptions@higherthings.org. For general information about Higher Things, Inc., please e-mail info@higherthings.org.
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The Greatest C A sermon by Rev. David Scaer, originally preached on Holy Saturday, April 18, 1992 at Zion Lutheran Church in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
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Comeback Ever By Dr. David P. Scaer not here. He is risen, as He said.” This is just another way of saying that winning is everything, and in this case Jesus won. and “March Madness” suggest a disease of epidemic Judah’s lion wins the strife and proportions, an altered state of mind, a common psychosis. “Lo, reigns o’er death to give us life.” It was a Time here is measured in NCAA championships. This grudge match between light and darkyear’s “madness” was Purdue beating Indiana and Indiana ness, heaven and hell, life and death, angels and demons, saints and unbealmost upsetting Duke. Then there was Kentucky and lievers, God and Satan. Like two men in Duke. With seven seconds left, Kentucky took the ball, a dark alley, it was a fight to the death. Jesus went on a search-and-destroy went up the center of the court, and scored for what mission. He came into the house of the everyone thought was a certain victory. With two seconds well-armed man, took his weapons, left, however, Duke threw the ball halfway down the stripped him of his military paraphernalia, and left the place in a shambles. As court. It was caught and shot. The buzzer went off as said:“It was a strange and dreadthe ball passed through the net to win the game by one Luther ful strife when Life and Death contendpoint. For Duke, certain defeat became absolute victory. ed. The victory remained with Life, the reign of Death was ended.” The one Tonight is not a night for the languid, the lethargic, the who died didn’t lose after all, but conquered death by His indifferent, nor for those who don’t care who wins. Tonight death, so that life could prevail. is for those who love challenges, who never give up, who Since creation, when God pushed back the primeval never surrender. If we had kept score, God was behind since forces of darkness with His eternal brilliance, there has never Genesis. The death cry, the limp body, the funeral cortege, and the tomb proved that Jesus was dead and that the God been a night like this. At creation, God was sovereign. On this night, every devil in hell was lined up against Him. But whom He preached and whom He claimed to represent God’s “Michael,” Jesus Christ, prevailed and led the holy was a dead god or even no god at all. Since He did not angels into hell and released God’s saints and reclaimed a come down from the cross, He was probably the impostor world stolen by Satan. Tonight is the new Genesis Chapter His enemies had claimed He was. Gethsemane, the arrest, One. God says,“Let there be light,” and the divine hostage is the trials, the execution of God’s champion, all made it look released from the cold tomb. “The death Christ died He as if God had lost again. Champagne bottles were being died to God. He dies no more. Death no more hath dominpopped in hell. But theirs was a triumph without a victory. ion over Him.” The creating light from His tomb with the “It isn’t over till it’s over.” roar of a tidal wave pushes back the cosmic darkness that Tonight a wounded but undefeated Jesus steps out of groans under the weight of its own evil until it thunders the grave to confound the odds. This is not the unbleminto hell’s murky pits. The custodians of hell and the ished Adam of Eden’s garden, but the tortured Second guardians of the grave are blinded by the brilliant Sun rising Adam of the cross. Wounded and scarred by the ravages of from the dark tomb. That light rushed from Christ’s tomb His ordeal, He is alive and that’s what counts. Etched out in blood on the majesty and brilliance of His resurrected body into the graves of God’s saints, unchaining them from death. And they came “into the holy city and appeared to many.” is the story of His suffering. His glorified body remains a The cross, which tolled the death of Jesus, trumpeted portrait of His suffering. His pierced hands, side, and feet, God’s victory. The shroud, stained with blood, is raised as the thorn-crowned head and the battered face, the back, the Redeemer’s ensign. Tonight the royal banners are fully scarred with stripes, tell a story that angels and saints will unfurled. Christ’s blood streams in the firmament for all hell sing forever. The old cliché that it’s not whether you win or lose but how you play the game, is not really true when you to see. Tonight God shouts into the abyss,“O death, where is are speaking about life and death, heaven and hell, freedom thy sting? O grave where is thy victory?” And in deathly silence there comes no echo of response. and slavery, God and Satan. This night is for God, who was There’s no thrill in knowing the outcome of a contest or fully convinced that His servant Jesus would come from a game before it even begins. What makes a contest behind and defeat His mortal enemy Satan. Jesus’ only thrilling is seeing losers win and winners lose. The poorest weapon was His complete confidence and trust that God guy in town wins the lottery. The kid at the bottom of the would come to His aid. class gets the highest score. The school klutz makes the first “You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is
In Indiana, the phrases “Hoosier Hysteria”
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MINING THE RICHES
The
Meat
Chili con carne
is chili with meat.The Latin of the Apostles’ Creed confesses that we believe in a carnis resurrectionem. A resurrection of meat! That is, what God raises from the dead on the Last Day is not just some piece of you, but the whole of you, including your body. Especially your body.
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When God created you, He didn’t just make you a soul or a spirit. He made you with a body—He put some meat on you! One of the oldest heresies (false teachings) is that God is somehow less than pleased with the “meat” aspect of you. That kind of thinking leads to all sorts of mischief. People could conclude then that it really doesn’t matter what they do with their body. St. Paul had to confront this dangerous thinking with the people of Corinth. He reminded them about the importance of their bodies: “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own. You were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (1 Cor. 6:1920, emphasis added).You see, God really does care if we sexually join our bodies to people we are not married to; he really does care if we torture or abuse ourselves, treating our bodies as if they were of no consequence. He cares about such things because He has great plans for that body. He is going to raise it from the grave (John 5:25-29)! He is going to make it indestructible (1 Corinthians 15:42)! He is going to stuff it full of glory, so that it literally shines (Matthew 13:43)! We can know this with absolute certainty not only because God’s Word tells us so, but because He has provided
us with a sneak preview of our own future. It’s called the Transfiguration. Read about it in Matthew 17:1-9. There Jesus was, shining with all the glory that is His as the eternal Son of the Father, and He was shining that glory in and through the flesh, the flesh He had taken as His own from His mother’s inviolate womb (a miracle, by the way, that we call the incarnation—the en-meat-ment of God). He came to do the exact same for your flesh. That’s why He took on flesh and blood for you! That’s why He went to the cross carrying, in His own flesh, your sin and the sin of the world! That’s why He was raised again—raised in His flesh! Think how adamant He was about that: “See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have” (Luke 24:39). It was the carnis, the meat of Jesus that was raised from the dead in glory—and He promises to do the exact same thing for your body. He makes that promise yours every time He puts His very real Body and Blood into your very real body and soul: “Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:54). Chili con carne. Chili with meat. Carnis resurrectionem. Resurrection of the meat, of the flesh, of the skin and bones. So now you know why we speak these powerful words over the dead bodies we bury in our cemeteries: “May God the Father who created this body; May God the Son who by His precious blood redeemed this body together with the soul; May God the Holy Ghost, who by Baptism sanctified this body to be His temple—keep these remains until the Day of Resurrection of all flesh. Amen!”That meat is going to live again—forever, indestructible, and shining with God’s glorious light! Rev.Will Weedon is pastor of St. Paul Lutheran Church in Hamel, Illinois.
of the Gospel
By Rev. Will Weedon
“See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have” (Luke 24:39)
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