Atheism

[AI translation] There is a biblical guide - many of you know it - that guides hundreds of thousands of people to read the Scriptures every day around the world. According to this guide, the first Word of the year was the one I have just read as the keynote. Let me say at the outset that I want to talk about atheism on the basis of this Word. But make no mistake, it is not about the atheism that we encounter out in the world, that the world preaches; this atheism outside is not the subject of the preaching of the Word, nor does it pose any threat to the life of faith. It is about the atheism that is inside, within the framework of the Church, here in the Church, or more precisely, in our hearts. This is indeed a very serious problem for us!One might ask: How does atheism come into contact with this Word? Because that is not what we are talking about here! Well, that's exactly why! Because atheism is the opposite of what is in this Word. It is about doing everything with God, thinking about God, serving God. And atheism is doing everything without God. From our basic doctrine, it dawned on me how much we believers are in fact atheists! Because what is atheism? It is not a denial of God. The "a" is a deprivator; hence the meaning: Godlessness, the absence of God, the omission of God from thought, action, plans, everyday life, from actual life. You may remember that at Christmas it was also said, among other things, that God had done this by coming to us in Jesus, by living among us, as a human being, by entering into our family life, our everyday life... Then we should not have hours, days, affairs, thoughts, deeds in which we leave God out! Let us not have God-less, God-less, atheistic periods of our lives! Let there be no Godless areas of our hearts. For if we have such God-less, God-less, God-performed affairs, if we do leave God out of something: "that which we do in word or deed", then we are atheists!
And if we understand atheism in this way, then we must say that we are quite in common with believers and unbelievers, Christians and non-Christians - for let us confess frankly, we who believe in God very seldom do what our Word says: "And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God through Him." We are not atheists in principle, oh, you would object to that if you asked any of us, but practically, in our lives, in our actions. If I were to ask you this: do you believe in God, you would not be a moment late in answering, because you take it for granted that you believe in God. There is no doubt in your mind that God exists, that God's reality pervades the universe. Yet you live without God - without asking Him, without taking account of His will, without consciously experiencing being with Him. For example, did you have the thought of God in your heart and the knowledge that He was there with you when you filled out your tax return form? Or did you think of Jesus when you defended and proved your own righteousness in the face of unfounded accusations? Is the Spirit of Jesus in your words when you discuss the political situation with friends?
Look, the truth is, we have learned from the world that it is possible to walk without God, to talk without God, to work without God, to build a factory without God, to create great works of art, to do science without God, to do daily work without God, to have fun without God. We can experience life without God. And we are slowly getting used to this God-lessness. We continue our own life with Him, we do not involve Him in our affairs, we do not discuss our affairs with Him, we do not seek His advice in specific cases. When life is buzzing around us, we don't even think of God or of the fact that we belong to Him! It's as if we don't even believe in him... In our case, this attitude is all the more serious because it is contrary to our principles, our religious convictions. For we confess that there is a God, and yet we go about our practical lives without God. (It is much more honourable to confess that there is no God, and thus to disobey him, and thus to disregard his will.)
In our case, most of the time God is not in our actions, our speech, our thinking. our lives. When we are not praying, talking about Him, or sitting in church, we are in fact existing without Him. Turning away, away from Him, is how we become atheists. Here is where our lives match modern unbelief. Ideologically we are Christians, but in reality we are swinging between a massive atheism and a belief in God. Moreover, we even accompany our own practical unbelief with pious talk. For example, we can say so piously that we trust in God, but in reality we trust far more in the power of money, in good connections, in ourselves, in people, in the power of guns, in the power of drugs, and much more.
Let us understand well, not only are the actions we do in a despicable, sinful way lacking in God, but our good intentions, our good will, are just as lacking in the presence of God, so to speak: Jesus! Because to commit adultery without a thought for God is natural. When someone goes to steal, he usually does not think of Jesus. But that good people who want to help, to serve, to carry burdens, to build, that they want to carry out their tasks with or without Jesus: that is the essence of today's atheism! This is our problem! This is our problem! This is what the Word is against, when it warns us: 'And whatever you do, in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father through Him'. Let me draw your attention to the fact that such an exhortation occurs very often in the Bible. "Dedicate yourselves to God, your members, your heart, body and soul" - or "whether you eat or drink, do everything to the glory of the Lord", or "be holy in all your life..." In all these verses, it is about not leaving any area of our lives outside of Jesus' lordship, and certainly not our best intentions!
"And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God through Him." This means, paraphrased, that the person of Jesus, his presence, his relationship with me, should be real not only when I am praying, but also when I happen to be in a sharp argument with my enemy. Do everything in the name of Jesus, says the Word. Look, He died on the cross in my name and I live on in His name on earth. I represent Him, I display His spirit, His spirituality, His emotions, His love in my dealings with people. In His name, that is, clothed in the humanity we have learned from Jesus, in which Jesus lived, suffered, wept and died and rose again. In Jesus' name! This means: to say a word, to take a step, to look at someone, to open my hand, to give an opinion, in which Jesus himself is present, by his Spirit! In His name: that is to say, in such real communion with Him that He speaks through me, acts through me, is the agent of my actions. To let Him act through me in the world.
"And whatever you do, in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father through Him." Let me illustrate this Word with a very particular example. What it is like to do everything in the name of Jesus, to live your day with Jesus from morning till night in humble thanksgiving. Prayer: 'Thank you, Lord, thank you! Thank you for all your gifts today. I thank you for everything I have seen, heard and received. I give thanks for the water that refreshed me in the morning, for the fragrant soap, for the refreshing toothpaste. Thanks be to You for the clothes that cover me, for their colors and their tailoring. Thanks be to You for the newspaper delivered on time, for the serialized novel in it that makes me feel so good every day. And for the important meetings where the politicians of the world talk to each other, and for the football match you won. Thanks to you for the garbage truck and the people on duty on it, and the noise of waking street life. Thank you for the food that fed me and the glass of beer that refreshed me. Thank you for the motorbike that took me wherever I needed to go, for the petrol that kept the bike turning. For the breeze that caressed my face and the trees that waved at me. And for being able to be happy about everything. Thank you for the girls I met today. For Monica's braces, which suited her face so well. For Anna's cheerfulness and her ringing laughter. It was all good and beautiful. Thank you for the funny little guy on roller skates who made such a scared face when he fell. I laughed my heart out at him. Thank you for all the good wishes and handshakes people have given me. Thank you for my Mother who waits for me at home, for her humble affection and quiet presence. Thank you for the roof over my head, for the light, for the radio playing. Thank you for the vase of flowers that adorns my desk.
I thank you for the night, the stars for the silence, I thank you for time, for life, for your grace. Thank You for being my Lord. Thank you for listening to me. Thank You for taking me seriously, for loving me. Thanks be to You, Lord! Thank you for everything!"
Isn't that a strange, unusual prayer? At times almost profane to our pious ears. But please, one might say, how does a garbage truck and a glass of beer and lipstick on a little girl's lips and a rack of marbles fit into the prayer? Well, my brethren, is it not just that these everyday things of our lives never make it into our prayer, that is, into our relationship with God? The problem is that we do not walk with Jesus in the streets, among the magnificent shop windows and the speeding cars. That in our workplaces, where we deal with steel saws or boring files, we are not praying in Jesus' name. We miss God in the thousand little things of everyday life. We never connect those events with Jesus - big and small - that truly fill our lives. We live without God. That is our atheism! Our godlessness and Godlessness.
Come, let us now ask God in our prayer that, through the Holy Spirit, he will make every moment of our lives open to the Lord Jesus! He has promised that He will never leave us, so let us not be ashamed to walk with Him in the small things of our lives as well as in the big!
Amen
Date: 14 January 1962.