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Why Do You Live That Way?

Sermon by Rev. Paul Fahnestock — April 20, 2008
 

Introduction
The Apostle Peter is the one who denied Jesus three times on the night he was betrayed and condemned to die by crucifixion. Peter is also the one who later boldly proclaimed the gospel in the face of great opposition, and was willing to himself die for his faith in Jesus Christ. What happened that changed Peter from the fearful to the courageous disciple of Jesus? It was Peter’s coming face-to-face with the Jesus who died on a cross but was now raised from the dead.

Peter wrote two letters which are included in the New Testament. His letters contain practical advice and encouragement for living the Christian life, even in the midst of persecution and opposition. Listen to Peter’s message from his first letter, chapter 3, verses 13-16:

If with heart and soul you're doing good, do you think you can be stopped? Even if you suffer for it, you're still better off. Don't give the opposition a second thought. Through thick and thin, keep your hearts at attention, in adoration before Christ, your Master. Be ready to speak up and tell anyone who asks why you're living the way you are, and always with the utmost courtesy. Keep a clear conscience before God so that when people throw mud at you, none of it will stick. They'll end up realizing that they're the ones who need a bath.

1 Peter 3:13-16 (The Message)

The War in Our World
There is a war going on in our world. And I’m not talking about a war on terror. The war I’m thinking about is a war of ideas and beliefs. On one side of the battle are the secular skeptics and on the other are those with religious beliefs. It’s a battle for the hearts and minds of men, women, boys, and girls. On a more personal level, it’s a battle for the hearts and minds of your son, daughter, grandson, granddaughter, or another close relative or friend. I have had conversations with a number of you about how hard it can be to talk to your children and grandchildren about religion and faith. The question is raised, “Why are they so resistant to talking about faith in God?”

Eric Metaxas, our Bonita Christian Forum speaker on April 8, spoke about his experience with this culture war. When he was a student at Yale University, there was pressure to not talk about issues that ask the big questions — questions like “Why do I exist?” and “Do I have a purpose in life?” Religion was out of bounds; it was not cool to bring it up. Anyone dumb enough to make any exclusive religious claims was backwards and unenlightened. He found the same attitude in Manhattan, where he went after graduation as an aspiring writer.

Eric mentioned a new book by Tim Keller, The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism. Tim Keller is a Presbyterian pastor who started a church in Manhattan in 1989. Everyone tried to convince him that the people of Manhattan would not be receptive to the Christian message. Today, Tim’s church — Redeemer Presbyterian — has nearly 6,000 regular attendees at five services. I was interested to discover that Keller was a classmate of Pastor Doug Pratt at Gordon Conwell Seminary.

Keller’s book is about this culture war between skeptics and orthodox faith. He discovered as he dealt with this secular-skeptical bunch in Manhattan that the tendency was for each side to demonize the other. The secular skeptics claim that religious fundamentalism is growing rapidly, with mega-churches turning politics to the right. And conservative, orthodox believers point at a skeptical and relativistic society represented by our universities, media companies, Hollywood, and elite institutions and fear they are controlling the culture. Both sides are afraid the other will win.

Tim Keller sees this fearful attitude as counterproductive and talks about a way forward in his book; a way that orthodox Christians can engage with the skeptics of faith. I want to take the next few minutes this morning to share a few ideas I gleaned from his book.

Who Is Winning the War?
Keller asks the question, “Who is winning this culture war?” Is skepticism or orthodox belief on the ascendancy in the world today? His answer: “Yes.”

Polls in the USA and the empty churches in Europe both confirm that there is an increasing number of unchurched. Our universities began with Christian foundations, institutions suitable for training Protestant pastors. For a century they have shifted to overtly secular institutions.

On the other hand, churches with supposedly obsolete beliefs in the revelation of God in Scripture, miracles, and exclusive faith claims are growing in the USA and exploding in Central and South America, Africa and Asia. Thirty years ago, less than one percent of the professors in our secular universities were orthodox Christians. In certain areas of academics, this is changing. For example, today 10-25% of teachers and professors of philosophy hold Christian beliefs.

Both secularism and religious faith are each on the rise; the population is growing both more religious and less religious at once. The tendency is for each side to demonize and denounce the other, and public discourse has become emotional, intense, and even hysterical. Most of our children and grandchildren have much more exposure to secular skepticism than to Christian beliefs because it’s so prevalent in our schools, universities, and the media. This has to raise huge doubts in their minds about the validity of Christian faith. We have to ask ourselves, Will we ever reach them if we demonize and denounce them for their doubts? This approach will just push them away.

Faith Assumptions of a Skeptic
Keller believes the first step is to recognize and humbly admit that both religious belief and skepticism are on the rise. Each side is growing in strength and influence, and neither side is going to be overrun by the opposition. There is no reason to believe that either skepticism or religious belief is moving towards extinction.

This humble recognition will more readily allow for a second consideration Keller suggests, which is that each side be equally open to talk about and defend their claims. Believers must take a thorough look at the reasons behind their faith, and skeptics must acknowledge the “faith” that is hidden within their reasoning.

Do you know how disturbing it is to many people that religions make exclusive truth and faith claims? They believe that a major barrier to world peace is religion. Therefore, secular skeptics try to create an environment in which exclusive religious faith statements would be considered unenlightened, unacceptable, foolish and dangerous. And social conditions would likewise make exclusive religious faith claims politically incorrect.

How is this done? You introduce arguments that appear practical and open-minded into public dialog, and you repeat the arguments until they are accepted as common sense. For example, the skeptic says every religion only sees a part of the spiritual truth — none sees the whole truth — and therefore none can make exclusive claims to truth. It’s like blind men trying to describe an elephant.

In this analogy, the elephant is the whole truth and each blind man is a major religion. The Muslim felt the side and thought it was a wall. The Jew felt the tusk and said it was like a spear. The Buddhist, who felt the trunk, described it as like a snake. The Christian felt the leg and determined it to be like a tree. Finally, the Hindu touched the ear and said it’s like a fan. The skeptic claims that all religions are like these blind men who dispute the truth in ignorance because not one of them has seen the whole truth.

But how would the skeptic storyteller be able to say that no religion sees the whole truth unless he/she sees the whole truth? The skeptic, thus, claims an exclusive, superior, comprehensive knowledge of spiritual reality that no other religion has. The statement that “no religion sees the whole truth” is an exclusive statement about reality. The skeptic is doing the very thing he/she denies others.

Let’s look at one more secular skeptic’s posture about orthodox faith. This might be the most successful and threatening secular axiom perpetrated in our culture. It certainly has been said enough to appear as common sense. It sounds like this: You may believe whatever you want and hold any religious views you like, but keep it private and out of the public sphere. In public/political discussions, only secular, nonreligious positions may be offered.

The skeptic claims this is not discrimination. Religion is fine as long as it is kept in the private sphere. When introduced into the public/political sphere it is divisive, sectarian, and controversial, whereas secular reasoning is “universal” and available to all. Therefore, public discourse should be based on secular reasoning, not religion. This is the logic that drives the argument for separation of church and state.

Stephen Carter, a professor of law, religion, and culture at Yale University, answers this kind of reasoning saying, “Efforts to craft a public square from which religious conversation is absent, no matter how thoughtfully worked out, will always in the end say to those of organized religion that they alone, unlike everybody else, must enter public dialogue only after leaving that part of themselves that they may consider the most vital.”

You see, if we leave behind what we believe as Christians before entering into public debate, then we must leave behind our whole worldview which explains for us what life is about, who we are, and what are the most important things a human being should be doing with his or her life.

So if the secularist believes we are here by accident, and death and rot is the end of human life, how does that impact public policy over against a Christian view that life is eternal and we will answer to One who has created us for how we treat each other?

Even the secularist worldview is a set of faith assumptions about what life is about and the nature of things. In fact everyone lives and operates in life out of a worldview that determines what it means to be human and how one ought to live. It is impossible to arrive in the public square without one’s convictions about ultimate values.

The secularist brings his or her convictions about life to the social-political debate, but expects those with religious convictions to leave them at the door. It doesn’t even matter to the skeptic if you agree with his or her convictions, as long as you do not try to introduce your religious worldview.

If you find this argument intriguing, then you must see Ben Stein’s new movie, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. The movie is a documentary examining what is happening to professors who dare to pose alternatives or even to raise questions about Darwinian evolution theory. Stein is questioning a worrisome trend in repression of freedom of speech and thought today within our universities. I believe this documentary will help you understand the ideas and forces in our culture that are creating doubts about Christian faith in the minds of our children and grandchildren.

Speaking Up with Grace
Finally, we Christians must also be ready to openly talk about and live our faith claims. Our Scripture text this morning encourages us to “speak up and tell anyone who asks why you are living the way you are.” And Paul adds we should do it “always with the utmost courtesy.” I believe that is what Keller is getting at in his book when he says we need to move forward in a way that is not ugly and dismissive. Rather, we need to be prepared to answer the reason for our faith in a winsome manner.

Are we ready to explain to the skeptics why authentic Christians can be agents of peace in the world? Scripture’s teaching that God has created all human beings in God’s image is the reason Christians should have respect for all people in all cultures and look for the goodness and wisdom they have to offer. Of course, it’s not sufficient the Bible teaches this. We must also practice this in our encounters with all the different people in our daily lives.

Scripture also teaches that except for God’s gracious forgiveness, we would be lost. God’s grace did not come to us because we were better than others, and we do not have a relationship with God because of something we did. Christians are those who recognize their failure to live up to God’s standards and their need for a Savior. So rather than any sense of superiority over others, we can only be grateful for the grace God has shown us and humbly approach our sons and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters in order to share with them the good news of the gift we have received.

Yes, we have an exclusive belief system. We confess Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. The historical fact is he lived, died for us, and was raised from the dead. That is the critical evidence of our faith. And it is the belief in this person Jesus Christ that is the ultimate resource for peace as we follow him in sacrificial service, generosity, and peace-making. We are called to look like Jesus to a lost, self-absorbed, and violent world. Are we prepared? Let’s get ready and be ready to answer our children’s, grandchildren’s, friends’ and strangers’ questions when they ask why we live the way we do? And let’s do it with grace — gently and courteously.

THIS WEEK’S ASSIGNMENT
Get Tim Keller’s book, The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism
See Ben Stein’s documentary, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed