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Concordia Concordia 2019 2019 HIGHER HIGHER THINGS THINGS CONFERENCES CONFERENCES
2019 HIGHER THINGS CONFERENCES Retrospective Issue
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Death is nothing to fear. The martyrs remind us of that. NEW from Bryan Wolfmueller
Study five martyrs’ lives, learn about the theology that inspired and guided them, and grow in your appreciation for the faith God has given you.
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Grow in knowledge and faith at
cph.org/martyrs
https://www.cph.org/p-32682-a-martyrs-faith-in-a-faithless-world.aspx
Contents T A B L E O F
Volume 19/Number 3 • Fall 2019
4 Holy Absolution: One Lord, Three Words, No Penance
By Rev. George F. Borghardt Part of living in light of our forgiveness in Christ is experiencing Absolution. Rev. Borghardt declares that hearing the words,“I forgive you,” from your pastor is not meant to replace going directly to the Father to seek forgiveness through His Son. Rather, it’s a gift from the Father that is to be treasured!
6 Concordia: Gospel Unity
By Rev. Jacob Ehrhard What’s the key to fostering real unity? Feelings, fundamentals, diversity? How about “None of the above”? Rev. Ehrhard focuses on what makes the most fertile ground for the much sought after unity of heart and soul: the Gospel itself!
8 When Relationships Go Bad
By Sandra Madden Some forms of abuse are very obvious and easy to spot, whereas other kinds are more subtle. Sandra not only lays out the red flags that signal you might be in an abusive relationship, but also lets you know where to turn for help.
10 Concordia, Jesus-Style
By Rev. Joel Fritsche Just like the stubborn, stiff-necked Israelites we can find ourselves turning from the concordia that God offers toward all the other possibilities vying for our attention. Rev. Fritsche points us toward the Divine Service, where we get to receive the Father’s gifts that promote true concordia.
12 The Scarlet Thread
By Rev. Mark Buetow From Genesis to Revelation, there’s a common thread: It’s all about Jesus. Rev. Buetow explains how Jesus, the Scarlet Thread, shows up in all sorts of places—sometimes where you’d least expect to find Him!
14 Concordia 2019 Photo Retrospective You’re bound to see some familiar faces of enthusiastic conference attendees in this photo collage. Check it out!
16 REGISTRATION DETAILS FOR WATERMARKED 2020 HIGHER THINGS CONFERENCES
®
Volume 19/Number 3/Fall 2019 Bible Studies for these articles can be found as appendices to this magazine
20 Time to Spill the Tea on Generation Z
By Erica Jacoby As a member of Generation Z are you to be fearful or hopeful? Erica demonstrates that if you put on Jesus-colored glasses you’ll be able to better understand your place in this fallen world that will one day be fully redeemed.
Executive Editor
Katie Hill Art Director
Steve Blakey Editorial Associates
Rev. Greg Alms Rev. Paul Beisel Rev. Gaven M. Mize Rev. Dr. Matthew Richard
22 The Stages of Daring to Be Lutheran
By Alayna Brandt Alayna takes you from her high school to post-college years, desiring to impress on you the amazing benefits of choosing to build relationships with like-minded believers.
Copy Editors
Kay Maiwald Dana Niemi
24 How to Survive and Thrive in the Military as a Lutheran Christian
Bible Study Authors
Rev. Aaron T. Fenker Rev. Joshua Ulm
By Rev. Dr. Steven Hokana Whether you are contemplating entering military service or would like to encourage someone currently serving our country, Rev. Hokana will help you understand the value of that vocation and how it can be God-honoring and faithpromoting.
___________ Board of Directors President
Rev. George F. Borghardt Vice-President
Rev. Duane Bamsch Treasurer
Mr. Kurt Winrich
Regular Features
Secretary
Rev. Joel Fritsche
18 Theology: God Speaks—We Confess
Mrs. Becky Clausen Deaconess Ellie Corrow Rev. D. Carl Fickenscher Mr. Anthony Pellegrini Rev. Chris Rosebrough
By Rev. Aaron T. Fenker When we confess rightly what we have been taught, that’s not only the way of faith toward God, it’s also how we love our neighbor. This, asserts Rev. Fenker, is where true unity blossoms.
___________
Executive Council
28 Catechism: Liturgical Catechesis Stillness, Symbol, Sacrifice, Sacrament: Reflections on Worship
Executive Director
Erica Jacoby
Dean of Theology
Rev. Aaron T. Fenker
By Rev. William M. Cwirla Rev. Cwirla takes you on a tour of these aspects of our worship, thoughtfully explaining how each is a delightful gift that mirrors the Feast to come!
Business Executive
Connie Brammeier Media Executive
Sandra Madden Conference Executive
30 Bible Study: Concordia: Gospel Unity
Crysten Sanchez Marketing and Development Executive
Patrick Sturdivant
Be sure to check out this sample of one of our student Bible studies which links up with Rev. Jacob Ehrhard’s article on P. 6.
lightstock - Kieran Metcalfe Photography
Special Features
HigherThings
Higher Things® Magazine ISSN 1539-8455 is published quarterly by Higher Things, Inc. P.O. Box 155 Holt, MO 64048. No portion of this publication may be reproduced without the written consent of the executive editor of Higher Things Magazine. Copyright 2019. Higher Things® is registered trademarks of Higher Things Inc.; All Rights Reserved. Printed in the United States. 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/ for writers’ guidelines and theme lists.
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HOLY ABSOLUTION: H I G H E R T H I N G S __ 4
One Lord, Three Words, No Penance By Rev. George F. Borghardt
J
esus came to forgive you. He lived your life. He died your death. He rose again for your forgiveness. He sent His men to deliver that forgiveness. He sent your pastor to say to you, “I forgive you all your sins.” All that Jesus did, all that He said, all the miracles that He gave to sinners was so that He could forgive their sins. He baptized. He taught. He breathed forgiveness. He fed them His Body to eat and His Blood to drink for the forgiveness of their sins. When He breathed His last, He died for your forgiveness. And on the Third Day, the One who was crucified for your sins was raised for your justification, your forgiveness, before the Father. Three of the Gospels report that when Jesus was at Capernaum, believers brought to Him a paralytic lying on a mat (Matthew 9:1-8, Mark 2:1-12, Luke 5:17-26). Everyone who was there knew what was wrong with the man. He was paralyzed. He couldn’t walk. He couldn’t get around. He was confined. He was imprisoned on his mat. He needed to be able to walk. Jesus passed by and saw the faith of the people who brought the man to Him and said, “Be of good cheer, your sins are forgiven you.” As if that would fix everything! As if forgiveness of sins would make it all better. It’s okay you are still on that mat. It’s okay that you can’t move. Don’t fret about it! Cheer up! Your sins are forgiven you! The Pharisees recoiled. How dare Jesus act this way! How dare He think that He could forgive sins! Only God can forgive sins! Only God can take sins away! To which Jesus retorts, “Why do you speak evil in your hearts? Which is easier for me to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven’ or ‘Rise, take your mat, and go home?’” No one said anything. How could they? The answer was obvious! It’s easier to just speak some churchy words and act like everything was better than to actually heal the man chained to his mat. “So that you will know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sin: rise, take your mat and go home.’” The man got up. Did he walk home? Did he run home? Did he skip home? He could do anything now! He was free!
He was free from his mat, free from the pain, and most importantly he was free from his sins! That’s why Jesus healed him! Jesus healed this man solely so that you would believe that He could forgive your sins. We look to God for other things: for healing, for a job, for a good grade on a test, for our car to start when we are alone in a parking lot at midnight. We look to Him when we need the hurricane to miss us, when we need the lights to come back on after the tornado, when we need a date to the dance, when we need Him to help us escape the consequences of that sin. We need and we need and we need from God all sorts of important things. But He knows what is most important: forgiveness of sins. You need it more than healing. You need it more than the grades that you think are most important. You need it because your car won’t start. You need it even if the hurricane misses you or if your lights come back on after the tornado. You need forgiveness for the doubts that you have about whether anyone will go with you to the dance. You need God’s forgiveness for your sins and your attempts to dodge its consequences. You need forgiveness for your trying to save yourself by your good deeds for others and for your unkind despising of those around you. You need and need and need from God forgiveness before and after anything else. This is why the Lord sent you your pastor! The Lord breathed on your pastor through the laying on of hands and said to him, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any they are forgiven. If you retain the sins of any they are retained” (John 20:22-23). That’s your pastor’s job! The same Lord who did all that He did to win forgiveness for you on the cross sent your pastor to deliver that forgiveness to you. “Only God can forgive sins,” your
doubts echo those of the Pharisees. He sent your pastor to speak His forgiveness, to deliver to you forgiveness. God established Holy Absolution so you would have peace with Him and those around you. He gave you your pastor so that when he speaks to you those three words, “I forgive you,” you would know without doubt, as the Small Catechism says, these words are just as “valid and certain as if Christ our dear Lord spoke them to you Himself.” Tell your doubts to take it up with Jesus! While everyone needs to confess their sins to God, confessing your sins to your pastor isn’t required. Holy Absolution has no laws, no rules, and no penance. It’s a gift for your comfort. After all, everything that Jesus did and said was so that you would be forgiven. Holy Absolution is the “very voice of the Gospel “! (Ap. XI, 15) It’s the Lord applying the Law to you (confession) and the Lord pouring into you the Gospel (absolution). It’s free without penance. It’s private between you and God. It’s social and restores communion. No penance! Your pastor isn’t going to send you home requiring some prayers or some other form of penance. You know that won’t make up for what you have done. God does, too, which is why He sent your pastor to you: to tell you that you are forgiven for free. Your pastor also is not going to tell anyone what you have done. He won’t even say that he’s seen you. You can come to him one time or many times and he will have forgiveness for you, won by the Son of God’s death for you on the cross, delivered to you in the Word. Forgiveness is why Jesus came! He came to forgive your sins. He came to save you. He came to bring you eternal life. He came to justify you by grace through faith. Jesus came to say to you through your pastor, “I forgive you.” Rev. George F. Borghardt is the pastor at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Bossier City, Louisiana and serves as the President of Higher Things. He focused on Absolution for his breakout sessions during the 2019 conference season.
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concordia:
W
e live in a world where unity often gets put on a pedestal, but often at great cost. Such an idyllic unity for the sake of unity will only lead to destruction. Anything we as sinful human beings attempt to construct will likewise be sin-plagued. On the other hand, unity based on a truth that unites, which can be found in the Gospel, will lead to a fruitful concordia (with one heart).
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In his 2017 book, How to Think, Alan Jacobs writes,“The only real remedy for the dangers of false belonging is the true belonging to, true membership in, a fellowship of people who are not so much like-minded as like-hearted.” Jacobs observes that we are all prone to conforming our thoughts to group-think. Peer pressure isn’t just for high schoolers. This is “false belonging,” to use Jacobs’ term, which leads to errors in thinking. In contrast, “true belonging” is a deeper fellowship where a person’s thinking is not conformed to his or her group, but transformed by the deeper fellowship found in membership to a body that is united in heart. The book of Acts describes the early Church in this way. “Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had
everything in common” (Acts 4:32, emphasis added). The first Christians were not only united in their thinking, but also in heart and soul. They were members of a fellowship, as if they were members of one body. And they took care of each other, including their bodily needs. But things changed very quickly. It wasn’t long before divisions appeared in the Church. Judaizers and Gnostics and Marcionites and Arians and Monophysites and…the list goes on. In every generation of the Church, it seems like a new division appears; people can’t agree on the Christian faith. The New Testament word for division is hairesis, which we know as heresy. And it hasn’t gotten any better in the last 2,000 years. There are anywhere between 33,000 and 51,000 different Christian denominations across the world. No one knows for sure,
GOSP because it’s impossible to count and some people define denominations differently. But even if there were only two denominations in the entire world, the Church would be a divided Church. Yet every Sunday, week after week, Christians across the world confess, “I believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church” (Nicene Creed). Many people in the history of the Christian Church have sought to address the disunity of the Church. I’d like to introduce three different perspectives. There are probably more, but these three are good instances when the attempt to solve this problem of disunity resulted in at outward unity but lacked the deeper unity of heart and soul. The first instance is from a man named Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768–1834). I choose him because his name is fun to pronounce. Freddy lived in a time when the Christian faith had been reduced to virtually nothing by the movement known as rationalism. Rationalism got rid of anything that didn’t measure up to human reason—things like miracles, angels, the incarnation of Jesus, and the resurrection of the dead. To preserve something of the faith, Freddy considered faith to be a “feeling of absolute dependence,” thus diminishing the Church to simply a community of like-minded individuals. Unity in feelings.
PEL UNITY
By Rev. Jacob Ehrhard
The second perspective was another reaction to rationalism which came full-force in the nineteenth century: fundamentalism. Fundamentalism sought to identify “fundamental” doctrines of the Christian faith, which are essential to believe in order to be included under the banner of Christianity. In the end, fundamentalism usually shakes out to five fundamental doctrines: the divinity of Jesus, the virgin birth, blood atonement, bodily resurrection from the dead, and the inerrancy of Scripture. These are all well and good, but notice what’s missing: original sin, Holy Baptism, Lord’s Supper. Can you disagree on these and still be united? Unity in fundamentals. The third attempt at unity came in the twentieth century, during which the Church was more divided than ever. The ecumenical movement was an attempt to bring all the however-many-thousand denominations together into one big, happy family. But this is easier said than done. The ecumenical movement only succeeded in diminishing the differences without achieving real unity. Unity in diversity. In contrast to these attempts at unity and others like them, which are only able to attain some measure of outward unity, is the confession of Church unity in the Augsburg Confession: “For the true unity of the Church it is enough to agree about
the doctrine of the Gospel and the administration of the Sacraments. It is not necessary that human traditions, that is, rites or ceremonies instituted by men, should be the same everywhere” (Augsburg Confession VII). “It is enough.” Satis est. The only thing necessary to be united in the Church is the Gospel—purely taught and rightly administered in the Sacraments. But isn’t this just another (failed) attempt at outward unity? Doesn’t this just reduce the Christian faith to the Gospel? Aren’t there other fundamental teachings that this excludes? Hermann Sasse, a German Lutheran pastor and theologian, remarked that this phrase does not demand a minimum for unity, but a maximum. It is not a Gospel-reductionism, but a Gospel-expansionism, where the Gospel pervades and permeates and predominates every other teaching of the Christian Church. It is a fundamental unity of faith in the heart, not an outward unity of feelings, fundamentals, or diversity. This is why our Lutheran Confessions are called The Book of Concord, or, in Latin, Concordia. With one heart. The Gospel brings us together into one body, the Body of Christ. And in that Body there are many members, but only one heart. The heart of the Body of Christ beats the Blood of Christ—given and shed for you for the forgiveness of
sins. These words require all hearts to believe. Faith in this Gospel is the “true belonging” in the Church. Concordia. With one heart. Gospel unity. Rev. Jacob Ehrhard is the pastor of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Chicago, Illinois. He was a 2019 plenary speaker at Concordia-Wisconsin.
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God Speaks T
By Rev. Aaron T. Fenker
he Lord speaks, and we receive His Word. It’s His Gift to us. We confess, (homologoumen, in the Greek, which means “say the same thing”) that Word. We say what He says to us. He speaks, we listen, we speak that Word as He gave it. That’s the way of faith. Faith defends our Lord’s Word, employing other words at times. “I and the Father are One,” (John 10:30) and “I will send from the Father the Helper, the Spirit of the Truth, who proceeds from the Father, whom the Father will send in My Name,” (John 14:26, 15:26) are all ways to confess “the Trinity in Unity and Unity in Trinity” (Athanasian Creed).
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As the Words are, so also are the Gifts: “Baptize in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” (Matthew 28:19). There, not just Trinity as a concept, as a doctrinal checkbox, but Trinity delivered for you and to you, and you to the Trinity, too, for your help and salvation in His Name (Psalm 124:8). There is unity in His Name, so also in His Word and His Gifts. “One body, one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of all” (Ephesians 4:4–6). It’s not a unity of our own confessing. What good would that do? It’s a “unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:6). The opposite of confessing is denying. To deny is to hear what Jesus says but to inject our own fleshly understanding into what our Lord says and gives (Matthew 16:21–23). The way of denying is to talk as if our Lord or His Spirit-filled messengers (apostles) meant something other than what was clearly said (John 20:23; 1 Peter 3:21). Or worse, it’s to discount His Word based on the limits of our categories and thinking (The Words of Institution, John 1:1). Or worst of all, it’s to go all the way to denying that Jesus said it altogether, following the way of various “quests” for the “historical” Jesus. There’s only disunity there, a lack of the Spirit. That’s the way of doubt and unbelief. There’s also the disunity of seeking a unity in our own confessing, because in that sort of unity not only what we say matters but also the exact way we say it. Words do matter. How they are said affects what they mean, but even as we are unified in our confessing, Old Adam rears his head, his thinking: my words are always better than your words. This is the war of words that Paul warns us about (2 Timothy 2:14). So also John said to Jesus, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us” (Mark 9:38). “Whoever is not against us is for us,” Jesus replies. Fighting over words is precarious
We Confess business. The Lord sends those who confess Him and His Word, and they end up in a particular place. Their speaking is for a specific “you.” The author of Hebrews, writing to Jews, and Paul, writing to Gentiles, differ on their Old Testament examples that point to Christ. Peter and Paul echo Jesus in their own particular way (Titus 3:5–8; 1 Peter 3:21; Mark 16:16), and Paul uses different words to preach the same Christ depending on whether he is preaching to common Jews (Acts 13:16–42) or Jewish religious leaders (Acts 23:1–8) or even Gentiles (Acts 17:19–34).“I have become all things to all people” (1 Corinthians 9:22). This would be something seen not only in deed but in word. What Jesus says is confessed by faith and not denied. Faith will declare Jesus’ Word in the way He gave it, at times defending what He says with other words. Those words are picked up, dropped, changed as the occasion demands. We don’t hang our hats on those words and categories.“For the true unity of the Church it is enough (satis est) to agree on the teaching of the Gospel and the administration of the Sacraments” (Augsburg Confession VII). So also, St. Peter and the Jerusalem church extended the right hand of fellowship to Paul and his Gentile gang. Different words, different lives, yet one Lord, one Spirit, one Father, one faith, all given to both sides in the one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We are all surrounded by specific “yous,” just where the Lord baptized us to be. There are good works He “prepared beforehand that we would walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). Even more the words we say! His Word becomes ours. He gives it to us, puts it into us—our hearts, souls, and minds. He preaches, absolves, Bible-studies, devotions, Word-of-Institutions it into us, and, filled up with His Word, we speak that Word to the person He’s neighbor-ed us next to. As that Word works on us, it comes out for the sake of those around us—different words, different teachings emphasized.“In, with, and under” (Small Catechism, What is the Sacrament of the Altar?; Apology of the Augsburg Confession X) is just as valid as “is” (Smalcald Articles III VI) when it comes to the bread and wine and Jesus’ Body and Blood in the Lord’s Supper. There may be some differences between us, but there may be overlap, too. Difference does not mean there is disunity. If particular speaking, preaching, and teaching must match 100% of the time, word for word, for there to be unity, there would never be unity. True unity isn’t in our doing, our speaking, our confessing. That would only last as long as we could keep it going through power, politics, labels, or force. It’s our Lord’s Word, not ours. He speaks His Word to us, into us, and each of us says it again as He gave it. That’s faith! We may use our own words from time to time, as the situation demands. If those words deny what the Lord Himself has said, that’s the way of doubt, disunity, and unbelief. Rather, we say what He says to us. He speaks, we listen, we speak that Word as He gave it. We confess. That’s the baptized life. That’s not just the way of faith toward God, but also the way of fervent love for one another. Rev. Aaron T. Fenker is the pastor of Bethlehem and Immanuel Lutheran Churches in Bremen, Kansas. He also is the Dean of Theology for Higher Things.
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