I was in seminary in the early to mid-2000s, and I remember during that time when I was in school,
! we saw the peak of a movement that has come to be dubbed New Atheism.
I remember discussing this a lot with other students and with our professors.
Names like Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris had become household names,
and we were discussing this because it really seemed as though secularism had finally triumphed.
A lot of people were hailing it as the end of the church, as the end of religion,
and that secularism had really won the day.
Now, 20 years later, we're seeing something that many people would have said was impossible 20 years ago.
We are seeing a resurgence of faith, particularly among the younger generations.
There was a recent study from last year that found that Gen Z are far more likely to be people of faith than their parents.
I think one statistic said that they are half as likely to be atheists compared to their parents.
One of the least religious generations next to baby boomers is actually my generation, Gen X.
But from my generation on, we see higher and higher and higher levels of faith.
And in interviews with these people who have come to faith find the same thing across the board.
You have a growing number of people who are deeply disillusioned by the empty promises of secularism,
by the trivialities, by the banality of secular humanistic life.
And these are people who are craving a sense of connection to something deeper, something bigger than themselves.
Louise Perry is a writer and podcaster who converted from her days of, she says, troubled atheism to Christianity.
In her words, she now goes to a happy, clappy church every week with her family.
And when asked why, she says simply, secularism has failed.
Secularism has failed.
And here's what I find most interesting.
These new converts to Christianity are not flocking to places where they are finding a watered down,
dumbed down, seeker sensitive version of Christianity,
which is something that was happening in also peaking around my generation,
which I wonder if there's a connection there.
I don't know.
But the phrase being used now, I read one article where somebody said,
what we're looking for is a full fat faith.
And I love that expression.
If you will pardon me, I'm going to use it this morning.
A full fat faith.
That's what people are craving.
And as it turns out, when it comes to Christianity,
and when it comes to the reality of following Jesus,
that's the only option there is.
That's the only option.
So what does that mean?
What is a full fat faith?
We're going to look at 2 Timothy chapter 2 to help answer that question.
So let's pray.
Lord, we thank you for your word.
We thank you that it has a power unto itself that comes from you.
And so we're not here merely to consider and reflect on ideas.
We're here to encounter the living God.
Through your written word, we're here to encounter your living word, Jesus Christ.
To not only see him, not only hear him, but to receive him.
Lord, and as we are preparing to receive his body and blood, so now would you give us the grace to receive his word.
We pray this in your son's holy name.
Amen.
So let me give you a little context.
Just as I know that Jeff started our series in the lectionary looking at 2 Timothy last week,
the apostle Paul is writing from prison in Rome.
He's writing to his protege, Timothy, who is a bishop over a network of churches, probably house churches in Ephesus.
And he's essentially writing to encourage Timothy, who's facing a whole array of challenges in his ministry.
And in doing so, the apostle Paul gives us this compelling vision of the Christian life,
or if you will permit it, a full-fat faith.
And so we're going to look at this vision of the Christian life.
And why would we call it a full-fat faith?
What does that entail?
And the first thing we see when we look at this passage is this.
We call it that because the Christian life, following Jesus, requires everything that we have.
It requires everything that we have.
In verses 3 to 7, Paul uses three metaphors to describe the Christian life.
He says it's like being a soldier.
It's like being an athlete.
It's like being a farmer.
Now, what do all those things have in common?
Well, they all involve people who are fully committed.
Fully committed to something bigger than themselves.
They all involve people who are willing to endure significant hardship.
They're willing to suffer.
They're willing to sacrifice in order to serve that higher aim.
So in order to live the Christian life, Paul is saying we need the single-minded devotion of a soldier.
We need to relentlessly resist anything and everything that distracts from that focus.
So success, comfort, politics.
He's not saying these are inherently bad.
But he's saying we can't allow them to entangle us.
The image is of a soldier's sword, the scabbard getting tangled up in the cloak so they can't walk because they're all tangled up.
He says we can't allow things like that, comfort, success, politics, the local crisis du jour, to entangle us, to distract us from our primary aim of pleasing the one we follow.
Likewise, he says we need the rigorous self-discipline of an athlete.
This is not a passive faith.
This is not a go to summer camp one summer and respond at the altar call and get saved and then nothing.
He says this is a faith, this is a life that requires daily focused spiritual habits.
Athletes were legally required to complete a regimen of training and you had to take a vow that said you had completed that training before you were allowed to compete.
That's what he's talking about.
So following Jesus requires daily focused spiritual habits and disciplines.
Why?
Because we are called to, with the help of the Holy Spirit, retrain our hearts to learn how to love God, to learn how to love other people.
That requires a lifetime of focused, disciplined, retraining.
And then he says we need the long view perspective of the farmer, knowing that we're not working for instant gratification.
That we are setting aside a life that focuses on immediate gain and immediate gratification.
We are, as Christians, playing the long game.
We are willing to forego.
We are willing to do without.
We are willing to sacrifice now in the immediate for the sake of that which will last into eternity.
We're investing in the kingdom.
That's what the farmer image is all about.
In the, in, in, what is the kingdom?
We're investing in the healing of the world.
We're investing in justice.
We're investing in mercy.
We're investing in the building of the church and the spread of the gospel.
We need the long view perspective of the farmer.
There is a lovely poem by Mary Oliver called A Summer Day.
And the last two lines of the poem say, tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?
Now, these words have been commandeered by Instagram self-help gurus to talk about the need to live for ourselves and be true to ourselves.
But if you were to ask Jesus that question, what are we to do with our one wild and precious life?
Here's what Jesus would say.
He would say, well, whoever would save his life will lose it.
But whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
And that's the choice, really, before us.
That's the decision.
Door number one.
Follow one of the various life scripts that the culture hands out.
You can find them everywhere.
They all boil down essentially to this.
Accumulate the things that you think will make you happy.
Build a little life for yourself that is safe and comfortable.
Where your needs are met reasonably.
And then do what you can to extend your life as long as you possibly can.
But to what end, I would ask?
Do you think so that maybe you can outlive your friends?
So that you can outlive most of your family members?
So that you can find yourself one day sitting alone,
wondering what it was all for?
Or door number two.
Starting today, aim your life at Jesus Christ and give it everything you've got.
Now your life is going to be harder.
It's going to be a lot harder.
You know, we're praying this morning for Grace Drexel's father,
who's one of the most well-known pastors in China
over the vast network of house churches there,
who's been arrested.
And we have no idea what his fate will be.
We are praying for his release.
Number of people in his congregation have also been arrested.
Other pastors have been arrested.
This is a big deal.
That's a man who made this choice,
who said, door number two,
I'm going to aim my life at Jesus.
I'm going to give it everything I've got.
Now your life will be harder.
You may face things that you never imagined possible
as a result of that choice.
It may be shorter, your life may be.
But you will know what it means to be fully alive
in a way that nobody who chooses door number one can ever imagine.
And the life you gain will be a life that lasts into eternity.
So the first thing we learn about full fat faith is this.
It requires everything that we have.
Everything.
But here's the disclaimer.
Following Jesus this way is not only hard,
it is going to ask more of us than we have the strength to give.
That's a guarantee.
It's going to push us beyond our limits.
I just recently read a story about a 12-year-old girl
named Lee Rodriguez Espada.
And she signed up to run a 5K.
And she's running late the morning of the race.
And so she gets there and she sees a group of people
at the starting line.
And so she rushes up and she jumps into the group
with the people right as they say go.
And she takes off running.
And she runs mile one.
And she runs mile two.
And she runs that.
And around mile four, she starts,
this is a long 5K.
What's going on?
And she starts asking around.
And she realizes that she made a mistake
and she jumped in with the wrong group.
And they were actually running a half marathon.
So her mom's freaking out.
Where is she?
Right?
Well, she realizes this and she decides to keep running.
And she not only finishes the race,
but she actually gets a medal.
And her mom's like, I have no idea how she did it.
I'm so proud of her.
So she found herself running a half marathon.
And I love this story because I think
that there are a lot of times like that
that happen in the Christian life.
You know, when God allows us to face a situation
where faithfulness and obedience mean taking something on
that we never anticipated.
You know, times when we are betrayed
by someone that we love and trust.
Or times when you get a cancer diagnosis.
Or times when you lose your job.
Or having to face unwanted singleness
or unwanted fertility.
Infertility.
Or unwanted fertility.
And these things happen and we say,
hey, this isn't the race I signed up for.
You know, when I came forward
and responded to that altar call in middle school,
I wasn't signing up for this.
You know, I never agreed to this.
I'm not prepared for this.
And we say, doesn't it say somewhere in the Bible,
doesn't it say that God will never ask us
to do anything that goes beyond what we can do?
Actually, it doesn't say that anywhere in the Bible.
Actually, it says the opposite.
More is gonna be asked of you than you have to give.
And so it confronts us with this question
of where do we find strength to keep running the race?
Right?
How do we continue when we figure out
we're not in the 5K, we're in the marathon?
How do we keep going?
And the truth is, if we rely on our own strength,
we're not going to be able to finish the race.
Full fat faith not only requires everything that we have,
but it is fueled by grace.
It's fueled by grace.
Paul says to Timothy,
you then, my child,
be strengthened by the grace
that is in Christ Jesus.
Now, at first, when you read this,
be strengthened,
it sounds like Paul is telling Timothy
to strengthen himself.
You need to get stronger, Timothy.
You need to buck up.
You need to cowboy up.
You need to get ready to do
some seriously hard work for the Lord.
That's not what he's saying.
He's saying to Timothy and to us,
Timothy, you need to learn how to grow stronger
by the strength that comes from outside yourself.
The strength that comes from the grace
that is in Christ Jesus.
And this, friends,
is one of the great mysteries and wonders
of the Christian faith.
The relationship between divine sovereignty
and human responsibility.
God not only calls us to faithful obedience,
he also supplies everything that we need
for faithful obedience.
Now, that is a mystery.
But you see it all over Scripture.
2 Peter 1,
Christ, through his divine power,
has granted to us all things
that pertain to life and godliness.
God gives you everything that you need
for godliness.
Philippians 2,
work out your own salvation
with fear and trembling.
Okay?
For it is God who works in you,
both to will and to work
for his good pleasure.
Is it up to me
or is it up to God?
Yes.
This is extremely important
for us to reflect on.
God is not just concerned
with our obedience.
God is not sitting there
with the checklist.
He did this,
she didn't do that,
she did this.
God is glorified
by our dependence on him.
He is glorified
when we depend on him.
He is glorified
not only when we follow and obey,
but when we depend on him
for that obedience.
See, some of us go wrong
by trying to live lives
of obedience
without dependence.
I got saved,
it's like God was angry at me,
but then God let me off the hook
and he was willing
to kind of give me a do-over,
but now it's up to me,
I've got to get my life together,
and you live your life
with this constant sense
that God is disappointed
or angry or frustrated.
You know there's things
you should be doing,
but you're not doing them,
and so your Christian life
kind of feels like
this sense of vague guilt
and shame
that you always carry around.
That's obedience
without dependence.
That's all up to me.
And I know other people
who, you know,
we go wrong
in the opposite direction.
We live lives
that are lives of dependence,
but with no obedience.
You know,
the kind of let go
and let God approach.
You know,
we kind of treat grace
like a get-out-of-jail-free card,
and it's like,
well, God forgives everything anyway.
What does it really matter?
And we kind of do what we want.
You know,
God will get over it.
He'll forgive me.
See,
both of those
are not only unbiblical,
they fail to glorify God,
and they collapse
something that is a profound mystery,
which is this,
that on the one hand,
we are called
to use every resource
at our disposal
to pour everything we have
into following and obeying Jesus.
Give it everything you've got.
On the other hand,
we are called to depend
entirely on his grace
as we do it.
You know,
St. Augustine captures this
beautifully in his prayer,
Lord,
command what you will,
but give what you command.
I love that.
Command what you will.
Whatever you want me to do,
ask,
and I'll do it,
but give me
the ability to do it.
So,
Paul wants us
to be assured
that we can always
trust God
to give us
what we need
to obey God.
So,
he gives us
this beautiful poem.
You know,
now this is probably
an early hymn.
You know,
you can imagine
the worship music
like we just had,
beautiful worship music.
What were they singing
in the first century church?
It's probably,
this is one of the hymns.
If we had died with him,
we will also live with him.
If we endure,
we will also reign with him.
If we deny him,
he also will deny us.
If we are faithless,
he remains faithful,
for he cannot deny himself.
Maybe that's the chorus,
for he cannot deny himself.
For those who are willing
to take the risk
of following Jesus,
this hymn says,
God promises you
new life.
If you're willing
to take the risk,
if you're willing
to give it everything
you've got,
God promises new life.
He promises victory,
and he promises
that you will one day
be vindicated.
For those who reject Jesus,
God honors that decision,
and he will respond
in the same way.
But here's,
listen to where it goes.
Here's the crux,
right,
the core.
No matter how unfaithful
we might be,
God will always
be faithful to us.
No amount
of our unfaithfulness
will ever eclipse
God's faithfulness,
and our faith
and our salvation
and our sanctification
ultimately hinge
not on the promises
that we make to God,
but on the promise
that God makes to us.
He will always
give us what we need.
So you say,
well,
how do I actually do that?
How do I get grace?
How do I get strength?
This is so esoteric.
This feels so abstract.
What does this actually mean
on a daily basis?
Let me give you a few
answers to that question.
Number one,
it means pray.
It means pray.
You know,
prayer is one of the things
that we can do
anytime,
all the time,
wherever we are.
We can pray.
Particularly,
is there someone
in your life
that you feel called to love,
but you find them
very difficult to love?
You don't have to say
who it is now,
but is there somebody
in your life?
Are there people
that you struggle to love
and you just don't feel it?
Commit to praying
for that person.
Don't do anything else.
Just commit to praying
for that person every day
and see what happens.
Pray that God
would strengthen you
with the grace
that is in Christ Jesus
to love that person.
And so often,
what you will find
in your heart over time
is a softening
and an opening
of your heart
toward that person.
Another way we access
the grace,
the strengthening grace
of Christ
is through his word.
I don't know about you,
but often for me,
just spending five minutes,
ten minutes,
reflecting on Scripture
in the morning,
even if it's not
a particularly profound passage,
even if I don't have
a particularly profound experience
of doing it,
I emerge from just that
five or ten minutes
feeling more aligned
with the heart of Christ.
You know,
I think that is
the grace flowing in,
right?
A third thing I would say
is through the sacraments,
particularly the Eucharist.
You know,
what we do at this table
is not just a ritual.
We're not just here
remembering,
reflecting,
celebrating something
that happened.
We believe
and teach in this church
that this is a means
of grace.
In other words,
this is a way
that God promises
to mediate his grace
in the lives
of his people.
We believe
that Christ
is really
and truly present
in this meal.
We believe
that God strengthens
and nourishes us
spiritually
when we receive
this in faith.
One of the reasons
I'm excited
to have our own building
in a few months
is so that we can begin
to offer
midweek opportunities
for prayer
and for Bible teaching
and for the Eucharist.
this is why
I believe
friends,
church should be
among your highest priorities.
I see people
bend over backwards,
rearrange everything
to make it
to a travel sports game.
This should be
the highest priority.
This should be
the highest priority.
I guess what I'm saying
is I don't believe
that we can live
the Christian life
faithfully
because I don't think
that we have the strength
to do it on our own
and in order
to get that strength
I think that we
need to gather together
to pray
and to open God's word
and to receive
the sacraments
and I don't think
that there's another way
to do it.
I think this is the way
that God has given us.
We need to be strengthened
to live lives
of faithfulness.
God has called us
to a life
that requires more strength
than we have in ourselves
and this is what
we do every week.
We pray,
we open God's word,
we share in the sacraments.
And if you can think
of the Christian life
as this rhythm
of inhaling and exhaling,
right?
We breathe in,
we come together
as a church,
we are strengthened
and then there's an exhaling,
we go out into the world
on mission.
And then we breathe in
and we're strengthened
by grace
and then we go out
into the world
on mission.
And that's the,
that's the respiratory system
of the church,
right?
In and out,
in and out,
contemplation and action,
right?
Drawing strength,
pouring out,
right?
Being filled,
pouring out.
So a full fat faith
requires everything
that we have
and it's fueled by grace.
But what's it all for?
Last point.
According to 2 Timothy 2,
it's all meant
to be shared.
This faith,
this gospel,
this good news,
this kingdom,
this work that the Holy Spirit
is doing in the world,
this good news
of restoration and renewal
and justice and mercy
and peace and eternity,
it's all meant
to be shared.
Paul's overarching concern,
I would say,
in the pastorals
and certainly in this part
of the pastorals
is that the gospel
would continue
to reach the lost.
I love this.
He says,
essentially,
I may be bound
with chains
as a criminal,
but the word of God
is not bound.
You know,
I would love
to think that
Grace Drexel's dad
is reading
and thinking about
and praying those words
right now.
I may be bound
with chains,
but the word of God
is not bound.
Therefore,
I endure everything
for the sake of the elect,
that they also may obtain
the salvation
that is in Christ Jesus
with eternal glory.
The word of God
is not bound.
God's work
is ongoing
in the world.
So we need
a much bigger
vision of conversion,
I think.
You know,
we tend to think
of evangelism
as something
that happens out there.
You know,
Christians in here,
non-Christians out there,
and evangelism
is a kind of
this subset
of the church
that some people do.
Some people
who are good at it
go out.
You know,
people like Lisa
go out
and they evangelize
because they're good
at that kind of thing,
right?
Sorry to put you
on the spot,
but she's really
gifted at it.
And,
but the rest of us,
you know,
and maybe we learn
some apologetics
and some good arguments,
but, you know,
we need a much
bigger imagination
for the fact
that God
is always at work
converting
and bringing people
to himself
all the time
around us
day and night.
The word of God
is not bound,
right?
Conversion
is happening
all the time.
And conversion
is not only happening
out there
among the pagans,
it's also happening
in here
all the time.
Right?
The Benedictines
talk about
daily conversion
of life.
You know,
you become a Christian,
you get baptized.
That's a one-time thing,
yes,
that's true.
But then,
as the Benedictines
say,
every day of our lives
we seek to be changed
by grace
and to be turned
more toward the heart
of Jesus.
So we,
those of us
who may have thought
of ourselves
as Christians
for many,
many,
many years,
we are in need
of continual conversion,
right?
And thank God
the word of God
is not bound
because it makes
that possible.
There are also,
by the way,
children and youth
in our midst.
Our primary
evangelistic responsibility
is to them.
It's to them.
It's often said
in the church
that the church
is one generation
away from extension.
I don't know
if that's entirely true,
but don't miss
the point there.
it is up
to every generation
to pass on the faith
to the next generation.
That is one
of our primary
responsibilities.
I think if we
really believed that,
we would be
turning people away
who want to work
with our youth ministry.
We would be
turning people away
who want to work
with our kids.
That's our,
one of our
top responsibilities.
They need to be
reached with the gospel.
And,
and frankly,
with all due respect,
there are people
who come to church
who assume
they are Christians
who are not.
They're not converted.
Grew up going to church.
It's kind of what you do.
It's what your family did.
But you're not converted.
You've never really
wrestled with your sin.
You've never really
repented.
You've never really
experienced the grace
of Jesus Christ.
And you need to be
reached with the gospel.
So the point I'm trying
to make is the work
of evangelism
isn't something
that we do out there
or that certain people do.
It is the work
of the church.
We're all responsible
for it.
And it starts right here
in this room with us.
And this is why
Paul tells Timothy
in verse 2,
what you have heard
from me in the presence
of many witnesses,
entrust to faithful men,
or that could be translated
men and women,
anthropoi,
faithful people
is what the NIV says,
entrust to faithful people
who will be able
to teach others also.
So think about
how many generations,
Jeff loves to ask
this question
when we meet
with our youth ministry leaders.
He'll read this passage
and he'll say,
how many generations
are there, right?
How many,
think about it, right?
Christ passes this
on to Paul.
Paul passes it
on to Timothy.
Timothy passes it
on to others
who are faithful
and competent to teach,
who then are meant
to pass it on
to yet more people, right?
So you see generation
after generation
passing on
this body of teaching, right?
So here's the principle.
If you want to live
a full-fat faith,
if you want to be
a healthy,
growing follower of Jesus,
that involves
both receiving
and reproducing.
In other words,
you should have people
pouring into you
and you should have people
into whom you are pouring,
right?
You should always have people
you're learning from
and you should also have people
you are investing in.
Now that doesn't mean
that everybody's called
to be a pastor,
doesn't mean that everybody's
called to be a teacher,
a preacher,
that's a subset of people
in the church
and it's an important part.
The principle though
that applies to everybody
is that we should always
have people
that we are looking to
and learning from
and we should always have people
that we are pouring into
and investing in.
And that's true
for every Christian.
We need both.
So I want to encourage you
to reflect on your own life.
Who's investing in you?
If you can't think of anybody,
I want you to spend
some time on it
because there may very well
be people who are
that you're not,
you don't think of
in that category
because you're not sitting down
every week at a coffee shop
talking about how your week went.
But that's not really
what we're talking about here.
Who has taken an active
and vested interest
in your spiritual life?
Who out there is praying for you?
Who cares about
how your relationship
with God is going?
Right?
If you can't think of anybody,
make that one
of your top priorities.
This is why, friends,
we have core groups.
So I would say
if you're not in one,
join a core group.
Immediately you have people
who are there
partly because they
want to know
and invest in
your spiritual well-being.
That's the whole point
of a core group.
Our expectation and hope
is that even though
I know it's logistical,
you know,
challenging and all of that,
is that everybody
who's a member or regular
or attendee of our church
would be part of a core group.
If there's not a core group
near you or that's accessible,
talk to us
and let's talk about
starting one next semester.
You could also
prayerfully seek out
one or two other
mature believers
in the church
and just say,
hey, could we get together
from time to time
for a season?
Let's try it.
You know,
let's get together
until December.
Let's get together
until May.
And maybe we could
read the Bible.
Maybe we could read
another Christian book together.
Maybe we could
just spend time in prayer
or do daily prayer together.
Maybe we could do
the Ignatian exam.
And there are things
that you can do together
to simply have people
who know you
have an active interest
in your spiritual life.
And then I would ask
the flip side of this,
who are you investing in?
If there's no one,
I would say make that
one of your top priorities.
And the first thing
you can do
is just start praying.
Start praying
and asking God
to put somebody
on your heart.
Just say,
God,
I want to invest
in somebody
and I don't even know
what that looks like,
but please help this happen.
Please bring somebody
to mind, right?
And let me just demystify
this whole thing.
You do not need
special training
or expertise
to do this kind of thing.
You don't need to be ready
to answer somebody's questions.
You don't need to be
full of life wisdom
to tell them
how to navigate
all of life's
turns and twists.
Frankly,
if you're doing
that kind of thing,
you're kind of missing the point.
People think
that that's what they want,
but that's really
not what we need.
You know,
here's what you need
to be able to do.
Just take
an active interest
in that person's
spiritual growth.
Just care about it.
Listen well,
which means
do more question asking
and listening
than answering.
You know,
be judicious
with your answers.
One of the best things
you can do
is just the phrase,
tell me more.
Tell me more.
Pray for that person.
Hey,
I'm gonna pray for you
every morning
when I wake up.
You're on my list.
I'm gonna pray for you
every morning.
That's all you need.
We can't cause growth
in another person.
The Bible's pretty clear
about that.
Only God can do that.
What we can do
is create the conditions
where growth
is more likely to happen.
We can plant,
we can water,
right?
We can create the time
and the space
where we're getting together.
But God's gonna do
what God's gonna do.
And God's gonna do
what only God can do.
So friends,
as we kind of step back
and look at this passage
as a whole,
there is an invitation here.
There's an invitation
to a full-fat faith,
right?
There's an invitation
to aiming our lives
toward Jesus
and giving it all we've got.
There's an invitation
to learning how to depend
on the strength
that comes
from the grace
that God provides.
And there's an invitation
to reorder your priorities
so that you are
being invested in
and so that you are pouring
into the lives of others.
And if you want
this kind of faith,
then you are
in the right place,
right?
This is what we are committed
to here at Advent.
And I believe
it's only going to become
more true,
more realizable,
more possible
in the coming years
as we move
to our new home.
Let's pray.
Lord, we thank you
and we praise you.
May these words
prepare us
to receive you.
there is no one here,
I believe,
who does not feel
the need for strength.
We need to be strengthened.
We pray, Lord,
that as we pray,
as we sing,
as we open your word,
and as we receive
your body and blood,
Lord,
we pray
for that strength
to come
that we might glorify you
not only with our obedience
and faithfulness,
but because we are
entirely dependent on you.
And it's in your son's
holy name that we pray.
Amen.