There is no Such Thing as an Atheist

    As I begin my sermon this morning, I want to make something very, very clear.  The Bible does not say that there is only one God.  The Bible says that there is only one True God.  If you listened carefully, you heard what I am saying.  The Bible does not deny the existence of other gods.  Listen to the first of the 10 Commandments, “I am the Lord 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.”  Listen carefully to that last statement, “You shall have no other gods before me.”  Meaning, there are other gods out there, but we should not put them in front of the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.

    This morning, I would like to argue that there really is no such thing as an atheist; that each and every one of us has a god of some fashion, and then show you why the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is the only one worthy of setting our hearts and minds upon.

    First, let’s deal with point one.  There is no such thing as an atheist.  If any of you here this morning lean that direction or are sympathetic to atheism, you might think I am crazy.  You might think that if someone doesn’t believe in a transcendent being, then by definition, that person is an atheist.  Let me take a moment to read to you what Martin Luther says in his Large Catechism.  What Luther says is very important as he defines what a god truly is:

    A god is that to which we look for all good and in which we find refuge in every time of need.  To have a god is nothing else than to trust and believe him with our whole heart.  As I have often said, the trust and faith of the heart alone make both God and idol.  If your faith and trust are right, then your God is the true God.  On the other hand, if your trust is false and wrong, then you have not the true God.  For these two belong together, faith and God.  That to which your heart clings and entrusts itself is, I say, really your God.

    What is Luther saying here?  Just this, whatever you put your heart’s trust in is your god.  Whatever captures the imagination of your heart has become god for you.  And every human heart is captured by something.  Every human heart.  This definition is quite different than seeing God as a transcendent being beyond the universe that may or may not intervene in this world.  If this is your definition of God, then you can actually be an atheist.  You can say that you do not believe in a being beyond this physical universe.  You can say that you do not believe in a transcendent being who created this universe.  However, if you understand Luther’s definition of a god, then there is no one who is an atheist.  There is no one whose heart is not captured by the imagination of something or someone.  Even those who have called themselves the “New Atheists” are not really atheists.  Richard Dawkins’ heart is captured by evolution and science.  Daniel Dennet’s heart is captured by philosophy and reason.  Sam Harris’ heart is captured by neuroscience.  Now, unequivocally, each of these folks would not say that they see these things as god.  None of them would admit they worship science and reason and philosophy; however, from Luther’s definition, one could say such folks are living a delusion.  (That’s a bit of a twist considering Richard Dawkins’ book titled, The God Delusion where he argues folks who believe in God are delusional.  Looks like the shoe might actually be on the other foot, if we were to agree on Luther’s definition.)

    The fact of the matter is that all of our hearts are captured by something.  All of our hearts’ imaginations are grasped in one way, shape, or form.  Thomas Chalmers in his sermon titled, “The Expulsive Power of a New Affection,” puts it this way”

     It is seldom that any of our bad habits or flaws disappear by a mere process of natural extinction.  At least this is very rare that it happens through the instrumentality of reason or by the force of mental determination.  What cannot be destroyed may be dispossessed.  One taste may be made to give way to another and to lose its power entirely as the reigning affection of the mind.  A youth may cease to idolize central pleasure but it is because the idol of wealth, the desire to make money, has gotten the ascendency.  So, he becomes disciplined.  But the love of money might actually cease to have mastery over his heart if it is drawn more to ideology and politics.  Now he is lorded over by a love of power and of moral superiority instead of wealth.  But there is not one of these transformations in which the heart is left without an object.  The human heart’s desire for one particular object is conquered, but its desire to have some ultimate object of adoration is unconquerable. 

    If you listened carefully to Chalmers’ sermon, he basically said this: our hearts will move from one affection to another.  I guarantee that most of you here this morning know this.  You know this even though you may not have thought of it.  Remember when you were younger.  Remember when you wanted a toy or a new truck or a new house or a new outfit?  Remember how you just couldn’t live without it and your heart longed for it?  Remember what happened when you got it?  You probably rejoiced for a few days or weeks, but then what happened?  What happened to your heart?  Well, another object popped in there.  You suddenly wanted another outfit, a piece of land, a different car or so on and so forth.  Your hearts desire wasn’t quenched, it was only displaced.  To go back to Luther’s definition of a god, one god was replaced by another.

    I want to break from this train of thought for a moment to return to our reading from 1 Peter.  Today, I want to focus on verses 13-21.  Take a quick listen to these verses again

    13 Therefore prepare your minds for action; discipline yourselves; set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you when he is revealed. 14Like obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires that you formerly had in ignorance. 15Instead, as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; 16for it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’  17 If you invoke as Father the one who judges all people impartially according to their deeds, live in reverent fear during the time of your exile. 18You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, 19but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish. 20He was destined before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake. 21Through him you have come to trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are set on God. 

    Peter exhorts us to set our hearts–to set all our hope–to set all our trust–on God; particularly on God revealed as Jesus.  And as people who set our hearts on this holy God, we too are called to be holy.  Peter basically says the condition of our hearts where we place our hearts’ desire and our hearts’ imagination will directly affect how we live our lives in the world.  Let’s see how this works.

    Remember how I argued earlier with Thomas Chalmer’s sermon that all of our hearts have an ultimate desire?  An ultimate concern?  An ultimate affection?  Why should we set our hearts on Jesus instead of anything else?  Why should we set our hearts on Jesus instead of science or money or clothing or possessions or our family or our friends?  Why should we set our hope on Jesus instead of all of the other gods of the other world religions?  What makes Jesus better than all of these things?

    Just this: no other god is willing to die for you.  None of them.  All the other gods; all of the other things that capture our hearts’ imagination will sure as heck demand obedience from us though.  They will demand our attention and affection.  They will demand our time and energy.  They will demand our efforts, and sometimes, they will even demand our very lives.  And they will never give us satisfaction.  What do I mean by this?

    Well, let me use an example from my childhood.  One of the members of my home congregation was very involved in teaching and leading the youth group.  He was a great guy who really tried to do some good work with us kids.  Just before I entered into that youth group, this guy stopped leading it.  There were some things happening in his life, and from what I could see, he decided to focus on his job.  And he was very, very good at it.  He was an ag teacher at one of the local schools.  He began pouring himself into that job.  And he excelled!  He did fantastic work!  He was even awarded the Ag Teacher of the Year!   Sounds pretty great doesn’t it.  But I didn’t tell you the cost, did I?  For as he poured himself into his job, his family life suffered.  His relationships with his wife and children fell apart.  He ended up divorced, and his son reeling from the brokenness between his mom and dad began questioning the existence of God because, “God let my mom and dad get divorced.”  When this guy’s job became his god, he excelled, but at great cost.  At terrible cost.  And if we are honest with ourselves, we will see that this is the case with all of our false gods.  Every false god demands obedience at great cost.  Every false god demands obedience before giving any sort of reward.  Every false god says, “Do this, and then I will love you.”

    Only Jesus does the opposite.  Only Jesus says, “I love you.  I value you.  I give you your worth and sustenance, now, love me; serve me; follow me.”  And how does He love us?  How does He prove His love for us?  By dying for us when we least deserve it.

    For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that all those who believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.

    This sets our God apart from all the others.  This sets Jesus apart from every other religion or philosophy or train of thought.  This sets Jesus apart from money and science and philosophy and possessions and the like.  This is what makes our God holy.  And you need to realize the biblical understanding of holiness.  Holiness means to be set apart.  Holiness means to differentiate from all the other stuff.  God is holy in that He acts completely different from all the other Gods.  The goodness and grace that He gives to us is not contingent upon our actions.  It’s contingent upon Jesus’ actions.  It’s contingent upon Jesus’ living the life we should live, dying the death we deserve and then placing His righteousness upon us.

    When we begin to set our minds upon this–as Peter instructs–things begin to change.  Those false gods find they have less and less of a foothold in our hearts.  Those false gods find themselves with less and less power.  And our hearts find themselves desiring other things less.  Our hearts find themselves less enamored with power and prestige.  They find themselves less and less enamored with popularity and power.  They find themselves less and less enamored with acceptance and being right all the time.  Our hearts find humility.  They find peace.  They find love.  Our hearts become centered on Jesus and captured by the Gospel. 

    Then, this love of God which has captured our hearts begins to filter out into the world.  It begins to look at others with kindness and compassion.  It begins to look at others with a sense of longing to spread the Gospel to them.  It begins to look differently and act differently than the world around us, and when it does, then indeed we are holy as God is holy.  We are set apart because our hearts aren’t captured by everything the world deems important.  Instead, our hearts are captured by Jesus.  Amen.

Changing One's Mind

    As the summer was winding down and my family and I began the preparations for back to school, my oldest daughter came up to me and said, “Daddy, will you take me fishing before the end of summer?”

    I wasn’t exactly thrilled by the request.  Not in the least.  Some of you might remember me articulating very clearly the experiences I had in my youth which made me basically despise fishing.  It has never really been my favorite sport.  Give me a rifle and a deer stand, and I am happy.  Shove a fishing pole and bait in my hand, and I’m much less inclined to smile.

    But this was my daughter making a rather simple request.  And those of you with daughters know that they can melt a daddy’s heart in an instant.  Somehow, daughters can make daddies do things they might not otherwise do, and I know deep down I am no exception to the rule.

    I looked at my daughter and said, “Yes.  I will take you fishing.”

    Well, that started the process.  A couple of trips to Wal-Mart, and I had obtained equipment for us to go fishing.  We planned a date, and with the help of a church member, we found a spot in a spring fed pond stocked with fish. 

    And then something even more interesting happened.  My other two children, upon hearing I was taking my oldest spoke up, “We want to go fishing too!”  A couple of borrowed poles turned a father/daughter outing into a family outing–an outing which increased my children’s desire to keep on fishing. 

    At this point, I began to think to myself: you know, my kids really enjoy fishing.  My wife really enjoys fishing.  I am the only stick in the mud preventing us from actually having an outdoor family activity which we all can do without argument.  Perhaps I would do well to get a better attitude toward fishing.

    And so I worked at it.  A few more trips to Wal-Mart and Academy, and I had all the basics for my family to fish together.  Looking around, I discovered tools and clothing which helps a person grab, hold, and take hooks out of fish mouths–something which had always given me a little bit of difficulty.  Fully equipped and having been invited to fish at local ponds, we made a few more fishing trips.

    And as I made these trips; as I spent time with the entire family; as I spent time engaging in the process, I began to change.  Years of hatred and uncertainty melted away, and now I am standing before you this morning recanting my earlier position on fishing.  I have come to really like it.  I won’t quite say that I love it just yet, but it’s getting close.  And what was the catalyst for this change?  What made me work through all the earlier baggage I had and arrive at a different place? 

    Initially, the love I have for my daughter who began the process, and then the love I have for my family and the desire to spend quality time with them.

    Love has such effects on people.  Love drives us to do things which we might not ordinarily do.  Love has the ability to change hearts and minds and bring about transformation.  Love even has an effect on God.

    That might sound a bit strange, but according to our biblical witness this morning from the book of Exodus, I can assure you, it is true.  The snippet of the story we have before us is actually very, very fascinating.  Let’s set the scene.

    God has delivered His people out of the hands of slavery in Egypt.  He has brought them to Mount Sinai.  After arriving there, Moses, the leader of God’s people, was called up the mountain, and God gave Moses instructions for how the people would live with God and with one another.  We call this the Law.  The Law includes the Ten Commandments of which the first is: You shall have no other gods before me.   When the people heard these laws, they agreed to keep them, and here is where things get interesting.

    God calls Moses to come back up on top of the mountain.  While there, God writes these laws in stone: literally.  Moses is up on the mountain for 40 days, and the people do not see him during this entire time.  They become restless.  They wonder what is happening.  They become anxious and worried.  And before you know it, they turn on God and create an idol–a golden calf representing another god and they begin worshiping it.  As you might imagine, God is none too pleased.

    And that’s where our lesson picks up this morning.  God goes to Moses and says, “Go down at once! Your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have acted perversely; 8they have been quick to turn aside from the way that I commanded them; they have cast for themselves an image of a calf, and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” ’ 9The Lord said to Moses, ‘I have seen this people, how stiff-necked they are. 10Now let me alone, so that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them; and of you I will make a great nation.”

    Take note of this little detail: God tells Moses–these are your people who you brought out of Egypt.  God does not claim them at this point.  He wants nothing to do with them even so far as to say that He was not the one who delivered them, but Moses was.  And since God doesn’t claim them, He can readily allow His wrath to consume them for their hypocrisy.  

    So, what does Moses do when faced with God’s anger?  How does Moses react?  In an intriguing manner to say the least.  Moses responds, “O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12Why should the Egyptians say, “It was with evil intent that he brought them out to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth”? Turn from your fierce wrath; change your mind and do not bring disaster on your people. 13Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, how you swore to them by your own self, saying to them, “I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it for ever.” ’

    Moses essentially gets in God’s face and reminds Him of His promises.  “You didn’t promise to make a great nation out of me.  You promised to make a great nation out of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants.  You made a covenant with them, and these people are their descendants–as numerous as the stars in the sky and sands of the sea.  That’s what you said.  Furthermore, if you destroy them, then the Egyptians will tell everyone about how cruel you are.  You delivered them from slavery just to kill them in the wilderness.  Do you want everyone saying that about you?”

    There is no doubt God was extremely angry, but Moses tapped into something more powerful–Moses tapped into God’s love.  There is no doubt God loved Moses and respected Moses for leading the people out of Egypt.  There is no doubt God loved Abraham and Isaac and Israel.  There was no doubt God had chosen them to make a great nation, and the love of Moses; the love of Abraham and Isaac and Israel; and the reminder of the promise broke through the anger and hatred and changed God’s mind.

    Love has that effect, even on God.

    And it makes me wonder, what do we love enough to change our minds over in this day and age?  What do we love enough to make changes in our hearts and in our lives?  What do we love enough to sacrifice our own egos for so that a better goal can be achieved?  What do we love enough to swallow our pride and engage in even though we have made public statements to the contrary?  Has God so touched our lives; have we such a deep love for Him that when He asks us to do something, we are willing to change our minds?   It seems to me that if we seek to live God’s Word daily, we might just have to do this from time to time.  May we have enough love to do so.  Amen.