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• They Testify of Christ • Your Church is Too Sexy • The Mark of a False Teacher •
Merry Christmas from Above higherthings
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Contents T A B L E O F
Volume 13/Number 4 • Winter 2013
Special Features
4 Merry Christmas From Above
By Rev. George F. Borghardt Delve right into the spirit of Christmas as we recapture the magic of Rev. Borghardt’s impassioned, Christ-laden Gospel message from the Higher Things 2013 conferences.
6 They Testify of Christ
By Rev. Mark Buetow From Genesis to Malachi, Jesus is on every page of the Old Testament Scriptures. Rev. Buetow takes us on a tip-of-theiceberg tour through the OT, demonstrating how it points to the promise of the Messiah to come.
8 Your Church is Too Sexy: Why Church Architecture Matters
By Chad Bird Think there’s a disconnect between theology and architecture? Chad Bird artfully presents just how intertwined they actually are and why this is so important when understanding the doctrines that undergird worship.
10 The Mark of a False Prophet: They Draw Away Disciples After Themselves
By Chris Rosebrough There are so many messages being sent out on blogs, twitter, radio airwaves, TV channels from preachers of every stripe... how do we know whom we can trust? What distinguishes a false prophet, or a wolf from a faithful preacher? Chris Rosebrough deals with this subject on a regular basis on his radio program and shares his insight with us.
12 Know-Nothing Know-It-Alls? The Curious Case of Agnosticism By Rev. Mark Pierson It’s one thing to deny there is a God. It’s another thing altogether to operate as if you cannot know if there is a God. Far from being “atheismlite,” agnosticism offers its own set of challenges. Rev. Pierson sheds some light on this lesser known belief system.
22 The Church Year and the Liturgy
By Dr. Jon Eifert Not only is our divine service liturgy filled with Scripture, it also sets the scene for God to give us His wonderful gifts of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, which Dr. Eifert explains as he lays out the cool connection between this same liturgy and our Church Year.
24 Ambition: Should a Christian Seek Success?
By Rev. James Hageman Rev. Hageman encourages us to take the talents God has given us and use them to the best of our ability for His glory. Such ambition, he says, is not contrary to the Christian life.
Regular Features 14 Poetry Page
20 Christ on Campus Christendom on Campus
By Bethany Lange No matter where you go to college or end up going, there will probably come a time when the views of your professor are diametrically opposed to the values of your Christian faith. Bethany Lange offers up her experience and advice on how to deal with these sorts of situations.
28 Catechism The Table of Duties: Parents and Children
By Rev. William M. Cwirla We live in a day when the roles of parents and children in the home are being blurred or sometimes even obliterated. As always, Rev. Cwirla provides an excellent walk through this area in Luther’s Small Catechism, which will equip you in the faith, whether you are a child, a parent or both.
30 Bible Study They Testify of Christ
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 13/Number 4/Winter 2013 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 Editors
Lu Fischer Dana Niemi Bible Study Authors
Rev. Mark Buetow Rev. Sam Schuldheisz Rev. John Drosendahl 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. William M. Cwirla Rev. Brent Kuhlman Sue Pellegrini Matt Phillips 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 2013. Higher Things® and Christ on Campus® are 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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Merry Christmas from Above! By Rev. George F. Borghardt
M
erry Christmas! In the Name of Jesus. Amen. Oh yes, Merry Christmas! Say it to me! Merry Christmas! Say it to those around you. Merry Christmas! “O Come All Ye Faithful” to hear some “Angels We Have Heard on High.”“Joy to the World the Lord has come” into “the little town of Bethlehem.” You see, there’s no FROM ABOVE without our Lord Jesus coming to you “from above.” And that first “from above” is all Christmasy! For Christmas is the celebration that Jesus is God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made;” (Nicene Creed)
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The eternal Word was with God in the beginning and is the One through whom all things were made… for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary and was made man.” (Nicene Creed) In the Virgin’s arms, wrapped in swaddling clothes is God Himself. God Incarnate! Like chili con carne is “chili with meat.”“Incarnate” means “became meat, became flesh.” God is in our flesh to save us. He’s in our flesh. The Word became flesh and dwelt, literally “tabernacled,” among us and not just in a tent like He did in the Old Testament where He was delivering blood-sprinkled forgiveness to us veiled and hidden behind a curtain, lest His glory do us in. But, since Christmas, God has “from-aboved” to us. He dwells with sinners now! With even you and me whose hearts are all “two sizes too small!” He tabernacles with us! We beheld His glory in the flesh and blood of the man, Jesus. Now all the rules of how the God-who-was-up-there are off! For since God in Christ has taken on your flesh, God has fingers like you. Ten piggies like you. He has a heart that beats fast when He’s excited. He hungers and thirsts. He has dirty diapers. He spits! God spits!
He gets cold. He even gets frosty like you do. And yes, crying He makes... And on Good Friday, we beat God up, we mocked, spit upon Him and stripped Him naked, we drove nails into His hands and feet and lifted Him up from the earth. Then, the God whose job description says “cannot die” did just that. God breathed His last. We then pierced Him with a spear through His side into His no-more-beating heart to make sure we’d properly killed Him. Nails, spear shall pierce Him through, The cross be borne for me, for you; Hail, hail the Word made flesh, The babe, the son of Mary! (LSB 370, 2) Behold God for you—come “from above” to be crucified for you under Pontius Pilate. He trades for you the wood of the manger for the wood of the cross. The swaddling clothes are traded for burial clothes and the warmth of the Blessed Virgin’s arms for the loneliness of the grave. Now He showers His Christmas gifts on you and into you in the water and blood flowing from His pierced side. You could live as if Christmas never happened. As if Christ hasn’t taken on your flesh, as if you are on God’s “naughty” list. As if you have got to be good for goodness sake for God to call you His child. You can “let your sins and sorrows grow and let thorns infest the ground” of your life. You can snatch and grab what you can while and act like the people trying to grab the last gift on a shelf on Christmas Eve. You could be hateful, so grinchy with yourself and those whom you love. You could live “from below” in your sins, clutching hold of them as if you’ll die without them. No Christmas cheer then! You will die in your sins. And God will give you what you want: a life without
Jesus—full of coal in your stocking and the dirt of the grave and the fires of hell. But, faith! Faith receives, faith believes, that God on Christmas came “from above” and changed everything for this world and so also for you. For in His incarnation, Jesus has become all that you are and all that is you to redeem all that you are and all that is you with His holy life and His Good Friday and Easter. What you suffer, He suffered. The hurt and aches that hurt and ache you, hurt and ached Him first: the heartbreak, failures, betrayal, abandonment, loneliness, joy, stress, temptation, sicknesses, pain, even death itself. He experienced it all. He took it into the grave with Him and left it there. He rose. You rose with Him. God dwells with you. Near you. He’s washed down your forehead, making you as white as snow. His Body and Blood are put into your mouth to drive away all your bah humbugs. His Words deck the halls of your life with the forgiveness of all your sins. So cue the Angels! Wake the shepherds—and sleeping youth leaders! God is with sinners. He has come from above into our world to save us from our world. It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Merry Christmas! Say it to me. Merry Christmas! Say it to each other. Merry Christmas! In the name of Jesus! Amen. (This article has been adapted from a sermon preached by Rev. Borghardt at the three From Above conferences last summer.) Rev. George F. Borghardt is the president of Higher Things and serves as the senior pastor at Zion Ev. Lutheran Church in McHenry, Illinois.
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The
Mark of a
False
They Draw Away the
False teachers and false prophets have been and will always continue to be a very serious threat to the Church and to each and every baptized Christian. In today’s postmodern society it is not considered politically correct to speak this way because people wrongly believe that everyone who claims to be a Christian is a Christian, regardless of what they believe, teach or confess. Yet, Jesus warns us in his Sermon on the Mount about false teachers and false prophets and describes them as wolves in sheep’s clothing and not has harmless people who should be ignored—or worse—tolerated. Here’s what our Lord said: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.” (Matthew 7:15–20)
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Notice that Jesus warns us that false teachers and prophets disguise themselves to look like Christians. But also notice that Jesus says the sheep-like camouflage won’t work too well because we will be able to recognize the wolves by their fruits. So what are these bad fruits that make wolves easy to recognize? Answer: their messages. One of the regular features on my radio program, Fighting for the Faith, is the sermon review. Over the past five and half years I’ve reviewed hundreds of sermons by the world’s most popular Bible twisters. Each one puts his own spin on the Bible and each one has concocted his own unique theology. Yet there is a common characteristic that each of these false teachers possesses: They preach about themselves, not Christ. The Apostle Paul, when he warned the elders of the church in Ephesus about the false teachers who would be coming after his departure, gave them a simple way to spot the wolves:
Teacher:
Disciples After Themselves
By Chris Rosebrough
“Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore be alert.” (Acts 20:28–31) Note well what Acts 20:30 says about the fierce wolves— they draw away the disciples after themselves. The 5th century Church Father Ammonius of Alexandria, preaching on this text noted: “In order to draw away the disciples after them.” Heretics strive to make the people their own instead of the Lord’s, so that they might boast in themselves...Paul himself checked this beforehand when he silenced and censured
those who were saying, “I’m Paul’s; I’m Apollos’s; I’m Cephas’s,” since he did not want their faith to be explained by the name of a person but by Christ’s name; he wanted them all to be called Christians, even though they had been taught by different teachers. Accordingly, whenever all the teachers strive for the same goal of proclaiming the true faith, of profiting the students while suppressing their own names, they are called, by the same name, Christians.1 The fruit of false teachers, prophets and ravenous wolves is easy to spot. If they preach themselves, not Christ, then they’re wolves.
Wolves preach about their lives, their victories, their dreams, their visions, their ideas, the tips and tricks they’ve discovered to achieve success. Jesus, if He’s mentioned at all by them, is merely held up as an example to be followed. The goal of their preaching is to convince you to apply the pastor’s insights and life tips so that you can be successful, just like the pastor is successful. Faithful teachers of the one true faith, on the other hand, are not like wolves but are like the apostle Paul who said: “But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God….For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.” (2 Corinthians 4:2, 5) If you ever find yourself in a church where the pastor is preaching himself, not Christ, run! As a baptized sheep in Christ’s flock you must always remember that wolves are not harmless, they eat sheep! The pastor who preaches himself rather than Christ is working for the devil and is preaching himself and his congregation into the fires of hell rather than into Christ’s eternal kingdom. And when you hear the faithful preaching of Christ crucified and raised for sinners, then rejoice and give thanks for that faithful pastor through whom Jesus delivers His forgiveness and life and makes you a member of His own flock of dearly bought sheep. 1 Martin, F., & Smith, E. (Eds.). (2006). Acts (p. 255). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
Chris Rosebrough is on the board directors of Higher Things and is also the captain of PirateChristianRadio.com and host of the Fighting for the Faith radio program.
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