Atheist biologist Richard Dawkins: Loves the warm feelings of Christmas.
He said “I am a cultural Christian, but not a believing one.”
“I love Christmas carols. I feel at ‘home’ in a Christian culture.”
He said that he hates songs like “White Christmas” but loves songs like “Hark the Herald Angel Sings.”
What he loves, he doesn’t actually believe…for him, there was no newborn king…or Heralding angels.
He loves the warm feelings that it all evokes…and he likes the culture that it has created.
For some reason he hates a song that evokes another sort of warm feelings.
White Christmas is the best-selling single of all time, 50 million physical copies sold…100 million if you count the times it has been covered by artists other than Bing Crosby.
It was released in 1942, in the dark heart of the world’s worst war…it touched the deep nostalgia felt by the millions of service members who were so far from home.
Even those from Florida, who had never actually experienced a “White Christmas” found that it tugged on their heart strings.
I love “Hark the Herald Angel Sings”, because I believe it is factually true.
I believe Jesus is the offspring of the Virgins womb
I believe he is the incarnate deity and the everlasting Lord.
Dawkins also loves it, but he believes it to be factually, nonsense.
He also rejects the warm feelings of White Christmas.
Maybe because he knows that can’t trust his feelings…they are just chemical reactions formed in the mass of cells he calls his brain.
I love “hark the herald angel” because it is true.
I also love, White Christmas, because I can embrace the warm feelings it evokes…because these feelings are part of me being made in the image of God.
I don’t put full confidence in them, but they are real…and they are a part of who God made me.
So I get the best of both worlds…Christmas with a firm faith, and Christmas with some warm feelings…both point me to God.
My nostalgia for my home, points to how I was made for an eternal home.
So, while a firm faith allows for…it doesn’t require…warm feelings.
In 2005 I was deployed overseas during Christmas, and I didn’t have any warm feelings that year…but I did have a firm faith.
Some of you will lack warm feelings this Christmas…for many reasons.
That’s sad, but it’s okay…because you can have a firm faith.
A firm faith is the result of two complentary things:
- Fully trusting in Christ
&
- Faithfully training to become like Christ
The order is important.
The indicative comes before the imperative. (Sam Storms)
Indicative: A statement of what is true
Imperative: A command for what you must do
Christ has finished his work for you, your salvation is “done”
You must live out your faith; your faith is something you are to go “do”
So it is… “Done!” then “Do!”
Both sides of this coin, are vital for a firm living faith…warm feelings or no warm feelings.
Read 1 Peter 1:3-15
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, 11 trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. 12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things. 13 Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. 14 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
History tells us that Peter died at the wicked King Nero’s hand, crucified upside down…because he didn’t want his death to be compared to the death of his Lord.
If you remember Peter back in the day (as you have been reading through the Bible)…he was sometimes cocky, sometimes flaky, he denied Christ 3 times but was later restored by Jesus.
At the end of his life he was full of faith, a faith that carried him to a faithful death.
How do you explain this change?
The first important reason is that the Resurrection actually happened.
He experienced the resurrected Christ, and his resurrection power changed him.
The second reason is that Peter trained himself to grow in his faith in order to live out the reality of the gospel.
A firm faith is the result of:
Fully trusting and Faithfully training.
Let’s walk through the passage, written by Peter possibly in the same year that he was murdered by Nero.
We will see how trusting and training play out.
Look again at verses 3,4,5…the foundational hope for our lives.
(Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.)
Hope is not a strategy, but all successful life strategies require a foundational hope.
If you have no hope you will not train, if you do not train, you will not grow.
My grandson hopes he will make the 7th grade basketball team; he has asked me to help him make that hope a reality.
If he had absolutely no belief that this was a possibility…what are the chances he would let me push him to do drills? Zero.
He may or may not make the team…but you get the point.
Hope is foundational for training; training is essential for growth.
Our hope is not like wanting to make some team…it is founded on a fixed reality.
If we have truly trusted Christ…we have made the team.
Whether we feel hopeful or not…our hope is guaranteed.
But it is a living hope.
Something that is alive grows; it doesn’t stay the same.
This hope is not stagnant; it is meant to increase over time.
As godly men and women approach death their hope horizon grows larger.
As men and women who have not placed their hope in Christ approach death that horizon shrinks.
Winston Churchill gave no evidence in his last years if not much earlier of being a Christian, in fact his own words communicated that he was not.
But his life was so remarkable that 20% of British high schoolers believe him to be a myth…this is partly based on poor history teaching, but partly just on how hard it is to believe that one man could have experienced so much in one life.
His life was lived large, but it ended small, because he had a hope anchored only in time not eternity.
His final coherent words were…”I’m so bored with it all.”
We have a living hope that is ours through the resurrection of Jesus.
Not hope hung in mid-air but grounded on the facts of the resurrection.
The reality of the resurrection guarantees an inheritance that does not perish, spoil or fade and is kept in heaven and shielded by God himself.
The only way we can lose our inheritance is if someone stronger than God comes along and takes it from him…not going to happen.
Our hope as a certainty empowers specific lifestyle actions and attitudes.
Look at verse 6.
6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
The “This” is our hope of salvation
We “greatly rejoice” in our salvation
Even though now, we experience the grief of all kinds of trials.
Our hope does not keep us from trouble, it empowers “great rejoicing” regardless of circumstances.
Peter was writing to a church that was confused by their suffering…”what is going on here?”
“We have trusted Christ; we are doing the right things…what is up with all this suffering?”
In chapter 4 he will tell them, “Don’t be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes to test you, as if something strange were happening to you.”
Clearly when we are surprised by suffering it is not because Scripture has misled us.
Over and over, I hear of and talk with people who are surprised by their suffering…people who have been in church for years.
I understand being disorientated by troubles and pain…that is a normal human response…it takes time to find a new normal, when our world is turned upside down.
We may bounce and not break because of resiliency…but the ground always hurts.
But we should not believe that the Bible, or God, has mislead us.
It has not…he has not…”do not be surprised” Peter tells us.
In chapter 2 there is that famous quote, “We should follow in his steps”
From it came that whole “WWJD”…what would Jesus do thing.
In context we know what Jesus did and what he wants us to do.
“To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.” 1 Peter 2:21
WWJD? Suffer, but not just suffer…suffer well.
Then Peter tells us one of the main purposes of suffering.
It is so that our faith, which is more precious than gold, would be refined and confirmed and lead to glory of Christ.
Faith that goes through the purifying fire brings increased love for Jesus, and if we train to trust…it leads to our own inexpressible joy.
Couple of important things:
- This doesn’t mean that we will become people who automatically and easily rejoice in the moment of suffering
The very mature in their faith sometimes reach this point…I have not yet.
But for all who have placed their faith in Christ and who train to continue to trust him this is something that will become truer over time.
WE must not measure our progress in growth in this living hope by using clocks or calendars…God only knows what he is going in a heart.
In the moment of suffering we will often lose our balance…but if we put our hope in the promise of God not in the absence of trouble, we will regain our balance.
So, learn to measure long, TWT…don’t measure your growth in the moment…but in your long trajectory.
You may stumble in your hope the moment…but through God’s grace and your choice to trust him…you will find your footing again.
I have seen happen this over and over in the lives of people.
- Don’t doubt that scripture is true, just because you have not yet experienced some part of it.
This attitude of believing only what you have experienced and unbelieving what you have not, is unhelpful at best, and arrogant at worst.
Others, many others, have experienced great joy in suffering…I believe it is true, though it is often not been true for me…at least initially.
I know that it can be true for me if I will only grow up more in my faith.
I know that it has been more true as I have grown in my faith.
I don’t feel guilty, or “less” because others have more maturity of faith than I do…I feel hopeful, because what they have, I can also have…if I choose to train.
Scripture tells us what is true in fact, and what could be true in practice.
It is factually true that we have a living hope, it could be experientially true that we grow in the joy our salvation.
It could also be true that we don’t…but this isn’t a coin toss…it is the result of making certain choices…based on the settled facts of our faith.
Let’s go to those choices now but first look quickly at verses 10-12.
Our salvation is not some first century theological innovation…it is not wishful thinking.
Christ’s coming and his suffering for our sins was God’s plan for the ages.
It so fantastic that even the angels, including the heralding ones…are amazed by it.
Now, verse 13…see that very important “THEREFORE”
Therefore “What”…therefore all that we have just read…
The indicative…”All that Christ has done!”
Peter then goes to the imperative…”Christians, therefore must do!”
So our firm faith isn’t about chasing warm fuzzies but rather we are to faithfully train ourselves.
13 Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. 14 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
Prepare your minds for action is literally…”Girding up the loins of your minds.”
This comes from the dress style of the first century…in order to run, work, fight, to get stuff done you had to take up your robe and tuck it into your belt.
This was preparing yourself to act.
So, we start with our minds…we prepare in there to take action out here..
This is all very “human” “earthy” in nature…no spiritual hocus pocus.
God has made us embodied beings…we have brains, made of material stuff…but our minds are more than just a piece of meat forming chemical reactions.
Our thoughts, that we can choose to make…shape our physical brains and form neural pathways.
We are not just brains, we have minds…we are image bearers with the ability to produce thoughts and change.
So, while our hope is in Christ…we are not to “hope” we become more like him…we are to train to do so.
This training begins with good thinking.
This is often missed as an important part of spiritual growth because it doesn’t seem “spiritual”
“I mean, it’s just thinking thoughts, Terry!”
“Where is the spiritual part of that?”
That is an unbiblical view of what it means to be a human and of how we grow.
Romans 12:2, Paul wrote that we are to “be transformed by renewing our minds”…this act of training to think what is true is foundational for the Christian life.
How are minds renewed? By the thoughts we choose to go get and let shape us.
You are a spiritual/physical hybrid…thinking thoughts to the glory of God is as “spiritual” as it gets.
As you read through the NT next year, pay attention to how much it says about thinking.
Remember, when it talks about the “heart” it is not referring to the seat of emotions but to the command post…we would call it our “brains”…the thinking, choosing, part of us.
We are to cast away stinking thinking and think thoughts that are true, good, pure, right.
For instance, thinking of last week: To live is Christ to die is gain.
If you want to more faithfully life for the glory of Christ, and to experience a growing “hope” in heaven when you approach die…then you should spend a good deal of time thinking about those things.
Thinking about these things takes time and concerted effort.
It takes sitting quietly in your car, or a chair, or on a walk or run…and thinking thoughts of eternal things.
Not random thoughts…but biblical ones…revealed truth.
It means turning off the electronics sometimes.
If you have become accustomed to not actively going out and grabbing thoughts and holding onto them…it will take work.
We have trained our brains to not be good at training our brains.
We have become mere consumers of thoughts, rather than producers of thought.
It will take a lot of work at first…but then it will become easier…never easy.
We can become like a base with no security at the gate…any and every thought is welcome.
Some thoughts are like terrorists, and they want to blow things up.’
*I heard a report last week that said nearly 1 in 3 Americans are estranged from their family.
-There are many possible reasons, but I can assure you a primary reason for ongoing family trouble is stinking thinking on the part of someone.
-Bad thinking blows up our lives if we allow it take up residence.
Some thoughts are just foolish or empty and want to keep us distracted and unprepared.
Music or podcasts…are fine and can help shape your mind…but ultimately we have to do the work to “gird up our minds.”
This is always the important first step…get your minds ready to act.
Then be self-controlled.
This is about leading yourself…you are to be the boss of your own desires and appetites…they must not be allowed to boss you around.
This is one reason Jesus assumes that Christians will sometimes fast…”When you fast” He said in Matthew 6.
He didn’t say “if you fast”
He said, “When you pray.”
A meal, or a day of fasting…10 minutes or an hour of prayer…he doesn’t say.
But he knows that we have to train ourselves…this doesn’t just happen to us.
Again, this is an important part of spiritual growth, and it is very physical in nature.
It’s not magic…it is a part of training.
Then with ready minds and our physical selves under our own leadership…we set our hope fully on the grace that is to be given to us when the Lord returns.
In the present we are to train to trust God for our future.
This empowers us to live in the present with a joyful future hope…even in the midst of difficulties.
Our hope is alive…it is a growing thing…but what is true in fact must be actively taken hold of if we want it to be true in our daily experience.
I prefer to go on walks or a run and listen to music…it’s good…helps time go faster.
But I will often walk or run without music (at least some of the time)…because I know I need to train my brain to think thoughts…not just to consume them.
When I work with married couples who have lost trust and have become distant and are becoming more so over time the most important first step, in my experience, is for them to get their minds ready for action.
They fell in love because their hearts (minds) followed their investment.
They thought good things about each other; they found good things in their beloved.
Now, what has happened is that they have stopped making those investments, they have stopped training…they think about many things, but not much about each other…or at least in the positive.
This is often because now, the training is hard…early on it was much easier
The fact is, easy or hard…it is always about training not waiting on some magic wind of emotion to blow us in the right direction.
Fact: Christ has accomplished our salvation on the Cross.
-This is the indicative: “Done” he cried.
Potential: We can experience in growing fashion this living hope…and the corresponding joy, even in trouble, and a growing heart of love for Christ.
-This the imperative: “DO” that he commands.
Do what?
Train.
Turn that off.
Stop thinking that.
Start thinking this.
Read, pray, fellowship.
Take your hope…if it has become misplaced and set it fully over there.
Peter begins his second letter the very same way as his first, using different words.
We should really pay attention to this fact
His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. 5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love
2 Peter 1:3-7
It all sounds very familiar doesn’t it?
His divine power has given us all we need: indicative
For this reason make every effort: imperative
A firm faith is the result of two complentary things:
- Fully trusting in Christ
&
- Faithfully training to become like Christ
*I have trusted Christ…but this doesn’t seem to “work”
If you truly have trusted Christ , then at death, I assure you it will work…his work on the cross, will work for you.
But in this life we must faithfully train…I will give you one practical aspect of training.
PREPARE YOUR MINDS FOR ACTION/SET YOUR HOPE FULLY ON THE GOSPEL HOPE.
Hope must be set on a firm foundation.
The foundation for our hope is a fixed reality: indicative, Christ has done it.
Setting our hope is an ongoing choice: imperative, we must continually do this.
HOPE MOVES ILLUSTRATION WITH A BALL.
The holidays are a would be a great time to start or restart training our minds to trust and enjoy Christ.
This just takes some intentionality…a few minutes a day in God’s word, a short prayer walk, a perspective shift, forgive, hunt the good stuff…prepare your minds for action.
Let’s pray…then let’s go train.
Let’s pray…then let’s go train.