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.

Why Worship...In Church?

For many years, I have struggled to answer this question.  In many ways, even some of the answers I have posted on this blog have left me unsatisfied.

I mean, I know what has been passed onto me:

• Worship is central to the life of a Christian.
• Worship is the place we encounter Jesus in the Word and Sacrament.
• Worship is where we meet fellow Christians who share our joys and sorrows.
• Worship is where heaven and earth intersect for precious moments helping us and equipping us to endure the grind of daily life.
• Worship is where we are instructed and equipped for living the Christian life.
• Worship is where we hear the Gospel.

All of these things (and a few more), I know deep within the depths of my being, but they are sorely inadequate in persuading people to attend worship on Sunday mornings.   Such points do not cut through the fortified walls people have erected in their lives--the walls of reasoning and thought excusing them from regular worship:

• I am spiritual, but not religious.  
• I can worship God anywhere.  I do not need to be in church to do so.
• I do not find anything compelling when I attend worship.
• This person hurt me, and I do not want to run into them at worship.
• I do not like the decision the church made, and I will not worship.
• I do not like the way the pastor preaches. 
• I do not like the music.
• I want more organ music.
• I want more contemporary music.
• I like being anonymous when I go to church and do not like small crowds.
• I like being welcomed and part of an intimate group and do not like large worship services.

And the list could go on.  Instead of picking at each of these points and arguing their merits or lack of merits, I would like to approach things from a little different manner.

First, a lengthy quote from Timothy Keller's book The Reason for God:

If you don't trust the Bible enough to let it challenge and correct your thinking, how could you ever have a personal relationship with God?  In any truly personal relationship, the other person has to be able to contradict you.  For example, if a wife is not allowed to contradict her husband, they won't have an intimate relationship.  Remember the (two!) movies The Stepford Wives?  The husbands of Stepford, Connecticut, decide to have their wives turned into robots who never cross the wills of their husbands.  A Stepford wife was wonderfully compliant and beautiful, but no one would describe such a marriage as intimate or personal.

Now, what happens if you eliminate anything from the Bible that offends your sensibility and crosses your will?  If you pick and choose what you want to believe and reject the rest, how will you ever have a God who can contradict you?  You won't!  You'll have a Stepford God!  A God, essentially, of your own making, and not a God with whom you can have a relationship and genuine interaction.  Only if your God can say things that outrage you and make you struggle (as in a real friendship or marriage!) will you know that you have gotten a hold of a real God and not a figment of your imagination.  (Kindle Location 1901-1907)

Can you connect the dots between worship and this quote?  I am sure many of you probably can, but if you are struggling, let me try and clarify.

At my congregation's last council meeting, one of the members brought up an interesting statistic: there are 8760 hours in a year.  If you worshiped every Sunday (at an average of one hour per worship service), you would only spend 52 of those hours in a place devoted to God--that's less than 1/2 of one percentage point of your time!!!

But let's also put a little more perspective on this.  During those other hours, everything else in the world is striving to garner your devotion.  Yes, I said that purposefully.  Everything else is trying to gain your worship and adoration--from your job to your family to your children to your leisure time  to television advertizements to your possessions to even your self!!  Each of these things is trying to draw your heart toward it, and they are obsessed with owning you and your time.  Don't believe me?  Try giving any one of them less attention than you do now.  See what happens.  Not only may you get a visceral reaction from one of these things, you will also feel torn, like you are letting it down.  You will feel guilty for not obeying one of your masters.  That may sound harsh, but it is assuredly true.  False gods do not let go of you easily--and it is not easy to give them up.  They have a special place in all of our hearts.

And there is no way to totally get rid of the heart's desire to worship.  There is no way to get rid of the heart's desire to grasp onto an object greater than itself.  Consider what atheist author David Foster Wallace said during a commencement address at  Kenyon College,

Everybody worships.  The only choice we get is what to worship, and the compelling reason to maybe choosing some sort of God or spiritual type thing to worship is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive.  If you choose to worship money and things, if they are where you tap real meaning in life, then you will never have enough, never feel you have enough.  Worship your body and beauty and sexual allure, and you will always feel ugly, and when time and age starts showing you will die a thousand million deaths before they finally grieve you.  Worship power and you will end up feeling weak and afraid and you will need ever more power over others to numb you to your own fear. Worship your intellect being seen as smart and you will end up feeling stupid, a fraud always on the verge of being found out.  But the insidious thing about these forms of worship is they are unconscious.  They are default settings.

Now, you may argue that there is nothing necessarily wrong with the "default settings" our hearts want to worship.  I mean, we do need money to survive in the world.  Taking care of our health and bodies are important.  Positive use of power makes a difference to people in the world--especially to those with no power.  Reading and studying to increase one's knowledge is generally a good thing.  I won't disagree with these statements, but that is not Foster's point.  Foster's point is that when these good things are turned into ultimate things, they will destroy you.  Each desire--while good in moderation--becomes destructive when it turns into an object of worship--a false god.  The reality is: there is no object of worship that does not lead to guilt, self-righteousness, pain, hunger, depression, anxiety, dissatisfaction, except God.  Unless Jesus is the heart's desire, one will remain unsatisfied and without peace.

Which leads right back to the worship of Jesus in church during the week.  Why?  Because we must answer the question: how do we put Jesus at the center of worship?  For a heart will not willingly give up its objects of worship.  It will simply turn from one to another.  Again, consider this quote
from Thomas Chalmers in his sermon "The Expulsive Powers of a New Affection":

It is seldom that any of our bad habits or flaws disappear by a mere process of natural extinction.  At least this is done very seldom through the instrumentality of reasoning or by the force of mental determination.  What cannot be destroyed; however, 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's because the idol of wealth--the desire to make money--has got the ascendency; so he becomes disciplined.  But the love of money might actually cease to have mastery over his heart if it is drawn 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 it's desire to have some ultimate object of adoration is unconquerable.  The only way to dispossess the heart of an old affection is to replace it with the expulsive power of a new one.  Thus it is not enough to hold out to the world the mirror of its own imperfections; it is not enough to come forth with a demonstration of its evanessive character of their enjoyment; it's not enough to simply speak to the conscience--to speak of its follies; rather, you must seek as a preacher every legitimate method of finding access to the heart for the love of Him who is greater than the world. (As quoted by Timothy Keller here.)   

What Chalmer's argues is that our hearts move from object of worship to object of worship to object of worship, and this only happens when one object gets displaced by another.  We do not give those objects up freely or rationally.  Only when one object is substituted for another does our heart let go.  Tie that to what Foster said previous, and one must ask himself or herself: to what am I giving my worship, and is that worship leading me towards abundant life here and in the world to come?

If Foster is right, and I think he is, then the only worship which will lead to abundant life and not devour you is the worship of God--particularly the worship of Jesus Christ.  And, it is only at worship apart from the rest of the world and false gods, where the Gospel is proclaimed--the action God took to save you, redeem you, and give you value and worth.  It is only in worship where you hold the body and blood of Jesus and take them into yourself that He may transform you from within.  It is only in worship where you shut out all the other false gods which demand your time, effort and energy and turn your attention to the One True God.  It is only by hearing that you are broken yet forgiven by no action of your own that the false gods begin to lose their grip and be displaced by Jesus.

For He is the center of all Christian worship.  Not the music we play.  Not who may or may not be at church.  Not the size of the church.  Or whether or not I feel welcomed.  Or I find anything compelling (unless you are only receiving the Law and being told what to do over and over and over.  That is not hearing the Gospel, that is for certain.)

And you cannot hear the Gospel sitting by yourself in a deer stand, or on the beach, or while fishing.  You may see God's handiwork, but you do not meet Jesus--sorry, you just don't.  The Word takes root in proclamation not in doing.

I know this post makes a very big assumption--that people actually want to be transformed into something different.  It assumes people want to know peace and joy.  It assumes they want to have an abundant life--much more abundant than running around from activity to activity feeling tired and stressed and overworked and the like.  It assumes people are dissatisfied with the way things are playing out deep within themselves and they would like to find a place of peace.

If that fits you, I invite you to worship.  Regularly.  Not once a month.  Not twice a month.  As much as you can.  No excuses.  Come meet Jesus.  As your heart is moved toward Him, you will notice the difference.