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In This Issue:
Pax Domini
S U M M E R
• God’s Plan for YOU • Eat, Drink and Be Forgiven • Religion vs. Relationship: A Harmful Dichotomy 02
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It's more than just a coloring book. cph.org/illuminatedcatechism
Contents T A B L E O F
Volume 17/Number 2 • Summer 2017
Special Features 4 Pax Domini
By Rev. George F. Borghardt Pax! That’s Latin for “peace”, which Rev. Borghardt points out is at the heart of the Divine Service. After all, forgiveness and everlasting life bring the truest peace we can have, accomplished by Christ on the cross, and delivered to us in water, Word, Body and Blood.
6 God’s Plan for YOU
By Rev. Aaron T. Fenker Are you waiting for a flashing neon sign from God to tell you what you’re supposed to do in this life? Thankfully God has other means that help to guide you with such decisions, such as His Word, wisdom, or the counsel of others. However, as Rev. Fenker encourages us, you don’t have to fret. You’re not going to miss out on some perfect plan for your life because God has it all covered in Christ!
20 Truth and Grace
By Kelly Kyle Truth and grace—these are simple terms, yet for the Christian struggling with mental health issues, they mean survival. Kelly compellingly shows how her Lutheran faith in Christ and His abundant gifts have helped her understand that God works graciously through our weakness and that in Christ we truly find our strength.
22 Behold, They Stand at the Door and Knock
By Joshua Ulm If you haven’t already, at some point you’ll respond to a knock at your door and be greeted by a couple of Jehovah’s Witnesses standing there, eager to share their faith. What do they believe and how should you respond to them? Joshua hones in on some of the key contrasts and provides a few tools you can use if you encounter a Jehovah’s Witness.
8 The Law Only Instructs
By Rev. Brian L. Kachelmeier In Christ, we are no longer condemned by the Law because He has fulfilled its demands perfectly on our behalf. Rev. Kachelmeier chronicles God’s delivery of His Law to His people and demonstrates how the Law functions in your life as a baptized child of God.
10 Religion vs. Relationship: A Dangerous Dichotomy
By Kelly Klages Ever heard someone claim, “Christianity isn’t a religion—it’s a relationship!” That’s actually a false dichotomy because those are not two choices in opposition to one another. Kelly explains how Christianity is both a religion and a relationship and that we needn’t fear, but can embrace the term “religion.”
12 Back to Bach: Soli Deo Gloria
By Rev. Gaven M. Mize You might have heard at some point that Johann Sebastian Bach was a Lutheran but perhaps you don’t know much more than that. Read up a bit as Rev. Mize gives us a little more background on this famous kantor.
14 Eat, Drink and Be Forgiven
By Molly Buffington Molly explains the reality of college life—that you are surrounded by worldly ideas of happiness and fulfillment. She contrasts this to our reality in Christ, in which we have the freedom to enjoy our college experience, knowing that we are supplied with all the gifts we could ever want, especially forgiveness.
HigherThings
®
Volume 17/Number 2/Summer 2017 Bible Studies for these articles can be found at: higherthings.org/ magazine/biblestudies.html Executive Editor
Katie Hill Art Director
Steve Blakey Editorial Associates
Rev. Greg Alms Rev. Paul Beisel Rev. Gaven Mize Rev. Dr. Matthew Richard Copy Editors
Kay Maiwald Dana Niemi Bible Study Authors
Rev. Aaron T. Fenker Rev. Bryan L. Kachelmeier Joshua Ulm Subscriptions Manager
Elizabeth Carlson ___________
Regular Features 28 Catechism: Our Restless Hearts: The 9th and 10th Commandments
By Rev. William M. Cwirla If you think about it, the root of every sin is covetousness. I want this…I need that…So how do we battle against this perpetual struggle? Rev. Cwirla reminds us that Christ has fulfilled the 9th and 10th Commandments on our behalf. We don’t have to let our “want that” or “need that” lead us into sin because we are immeasurably blessed with all we could ever truly need through Christ’s death and resurrection.
30 Bible Study: Behold, They Stand at the Door and Knock
Be sure to check out this sample of one of our student Bible studies which links up with Joshua Ulm’s article on P. 22.
Board of Directors President
Rev. George Borghardt Vice-President
Rev. Duane Bamsch Treasurer
Mr. Eric Maiwald Secretary
Rev. Joel Fritsche Deaconess Ellie Corrow Rev. D. Carl Fickenscher Mr. Bob Myers Mrs. Sue Pellegrini Rev. Chris Rosebrough ___________
Executive Council Deputy Executive/ Conference and Retreats
Sandra Ostapowich Media Executive
Rev. Aaron Fenker Business Executive
Connie Brammeier Marketing Executive
Ann Osburn
Development Executive
Erica Jacoby
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 2017. 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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he Law only instructs! That’s right! For those who are in Christ it only instructs! Now, I can imagine that you are ready to respond by saying,“But doesn’t the Law always accuse?”“But don’t we as Lutheran believe, teach, and confess that the Law always accuses?” Before we address the notion that the Law always accuses, we must first understand what the Law is and why God gave it to His people. After Yahweh delivered the Israelites from Egypt, He gave them a new identity, with a new way of thinking, speaking, and acting. They were now liberated from serving Pharaoh. They were free to serve Yahweh. God instructed them how to serve. Notice that the Ten Commandments open with a statement of who God is, which directly informs His people of who they are. God says, “I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:2–3). God teaches His people exactly what type of a God He is. He is One who delivers them from slavery. Therefore, they do not need to enslave themselves to other gods. The people of Israel have been redeemed by Yahweh. They are His people. They belong to Him. As His people, they do not need to speculate about how they are to act as His people. God instructs them. He is basically saying, “This is what you are to do as my people.” The Law of God reveals
they would not sin in thoughts, words, and deeds. In Exodus 24 we read, “Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Come up to me on the mountain and wait there, that I may give you the tablets of stone, with the Law and the commandments, which I have written to instruct them’” (Exodus 24:12). There are two things to note here. First, the word Law is “Torah” in the Hebrew language, which means “instruction.” Second, notice the connection between the Torah and the purpose of writing the tablets of stone. Yahweh says, “I have written to instruct them.” The word instruct is from the Hebrew verb yarah which means “he instructs.” It is interesting to note that when Moses was on the top of Mount Sinai receiving the revealed will of God, Aaron was at the base of the mountain speculating on what he could do to please God. Aaron, without the Word of God, decided to become creative in worship and used the golden calf to assure the people of God that Yahweh was with them. However, Aaron did not
way, O Yahweh, that I may walk in Your truth; unite my heart to fear your name” (Psalm 86:11). With the words of the Torah we are invited to walk with God. The prophet Isaiah writes, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of Yahweh, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths. For out of Zion shall go forth the Torah, and the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem” (Isaiah 2:3). And again, Isaiah invites us saying, “O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of Yahweh” (Isaiah 2:5). The Law of Yahweh is like a light that tells us what is right. In John’s first epistle he tells us the reason why he instructs us saying, “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin” (1 John 2:1–2). God instructs us so that we would not sin. However, in this life we still do sin. Thus, John continues by saying, “But if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:1–2). Likewise, John also says, “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). You see, without Jesus our Advocate (one who stands between us and God’s wrath) the Law always accuses. But with
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have the Word of God. He did not have the instructions given by God. Thus, there was no institution to worship in that way or promise that God would be pleased by it. Without God’s instruction, the people fell into sin. With God’s Word, His people are instructed to walk in His way and not their own ways. With the written Law, that is the Torah, we have the revealed will of God. As His people, we are taught to pray and say, “Teach (yarah) me Your
Jesus, our High Priest by faith, we have the remission of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit. When our sins are pardoned by Christ, the Law cannot accuse us. Jesus is your light and your salvation. Of what shall you be afraid? In Christ, we rejoice in the Law’s instruction! Rev. Brian L. Kachelmeier is the pastor of Redeemer Evangelical Lutheran Church in Los Alamos, New Mexico. Shutterstock.com
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the will of God. Thus, when Luther teaches us to meditate upon the Ten Commandments as His redeemed people, we are taught that we should fear and love God so that we do what He instructs us to do. We do not need to guess what works are pleasing to God; God teaches us in His Word. In fact, in Hebrew, the original language of the Old Testament, the Ten Commandments are called the “Ten Words.” With these words God instructed His people, that
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Religion vs. Relationship A Harmful Dichotomy By Kelly Klages
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t’s been a rallying cry in many Christian circles for some decades now: “Christianity isn’t about religion, it’s about relationship!” It pops up in different contexts. Sometimes it’s thought of as an evangelistic slogan that might attract the interest of unbelievers who have already expressed a dislike for “organized religion.” Often it is used as a weapon against other churches: “Those people are all about dead ritual, dogma, and putting God in a box, but not us! We have a real, living relationship with God.” Regardless of the motives of those making the claim, it has the potential to do real harm. Here are some reasons why:
It uses a self-defined concept of religion not recognized by the Bible, church history, or even the dictionary. The meanings of words matter. Religion has to do with a set of beliefs about God or ultimate questions, recognized by a community engaging in regular rites and practices, and the way that worldview and its morality plays out in a person’s life. Christianity is a religion—the true religion. To define “religion” in general as “a bunch of hypocrites going through boring, empty motions without real faith” or “people trying to work their way to heaven” is to concede to an unbeliever’s hostile and biased definition of religion.
Downplaying “religion” has not helped Christianity in North America over the last several decades. Some Christians have thought that if they act as though they hate religion as much as unbelievers, they’ll win them to their side somehow. But have these semantic tricks worked? Of course not. Unbelievers have responded with, “You hate religion? Good, so do I– including yours.” Christians who insult “religion” are merely despised by unbelievers as dishonest fools. Religion as a category has found increasing disfavor in North America in the last several decades. Religious rights are viewed with more and more suspicion in the secular square. Tragically, Christians themselves are to blame for giving the word “religion” a bad name. Among Christians, “religion vs. relationship” is really an American sales pitch. In 19th- and 20th-century America, amidst its so-called revivals and the ecumenical movement, Christians began looking for membership for their churches not from the unbelieving world, but from other churches who might want to try a different experience. Revivalism set aside concerns about doctrinal unity in favor of the biggest tent, the most thrilling and entertaining speakers, and the most emotionfilled atmosphere. These consumerfocused concerns became the marks of a desirable church, rather than the faithfulness of the Gospel message preached and the right administering of the sacraments. We can see this influence well into the 21st century. It has created a cafeteria-style Christianity that would be unrecognizable to centuries of Christians. Rather than bringing unbelievers into the church,“religion vs. relationship” as a sales pitch merely tells some Christians that their churches aren’t good enough because they’re insufficiently emotionbased, and tempts believers to favor a weaker Christianity.
Relationship without religion becomes whatever I make it. For believer or unbeliever, the word “relationship” tends to be a comfortable one. Relationships can be highly individualistic, self-determined, and private. They make us think of nice, warm feelings, happy and informal bonds, and good times. Religion, on the other hand, takes self-determination out of our hands. It is much bigger than we are. It involves a community of people, including millennia of those who have gone before us. It is not a self-chosen country club for family and social programs or a way to enjoy personal nostalgia. It cannot be merely informal or private. Defining Christianity exclusively in terms of relationship over and against religion has led to the label of “spiritual but not religious.” The net effect of this is that people make up and define their own truth about God. They may like the idea of the happy, comfortable, informal bond, but not the connotations of a transcendent, absolute truth, suffering, or obligation. And anyway, who are you to butt in on anyone else’s private relationship? There is a better way. It is true that Christianity is a unique religion. Because of Jesus’ gift of salvation and forgiveness, freely given by grace, we have something that can be found nowhere else. Christianity is God reaching out to save man, not man trying to figure out a way to reach God. But to pretend that what we have isn’t religion at all would be both dishonest and harmful to the soul, which is in need of more than a cosmic buddy to hang out with. All human beings have some sort of relationship to God, good or bad. But that needs to be defined through the unchanging Word of God, and fleshed out and supported in the communion of saints—the Church. And that means we’re talking about religion. It’s not that the Bible is antirelationship when it comes to God.
We stand in relation to God in many different ways. Do you know someone who struggles with understanding what it means for God to be their Father? You can point him to the Lord’s Prayer, explaining how our Creator desires us to come to Him with all our wants and needs as children ask a dear father. Or, what does it mean that Jesus is our Brother? You can direct him to Hebrews 4, which explains that Christ is the God who took on our flesh, understands all of our temptations and weaknesses, and has mercy on us. A relationship with God isn’t experienced by trying to work ourselves up into a state of strong feeling, hoping to sense spiritual vibes that prove God loves us. Nor is it looking to our own works to sustain a bond with an invisible friend. It is the daily walk of faith, the receiving of His Word and gifts, the worship with saints on earth and saints in heaven, speaking to God in prayer, and service to our neighbors. In other words, relating to God through Jesus Christ is what true religion is all about! Kelly Klages is an artist, writer, and member of the Lutheran Church-Canada. She lives in Morden, Manitoba with her husband Alex and her children Ana, Micah, and Timothy.
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