Practical Atheism

Good morning church family

If you are a guest, my name is Stefan Wilson and I am the pastor of preaching here at Harvest

And this is an exciting Sunday because we are back in the gospel of Matthew

We have been walking through Matthew's gospel over the last few years, taking each section of the Gospel one at a time and taking breaks at different points throughout each year.

We are at the half-way point in Matthew and we will be completing this series in the Spring of 2029, should the Lord not return before then

And we have been giving out Matthew Scripture journals over the past few years, every time we are back in Matthew - So if you have not grabbed one yet, be sure to do so (even head out to the lobby and grab one now if you would like)

Now, as we get back into Matthew, it is worth remembering that the Gospel of Matthew is about the Kingdom of God coming in the world through Jesus Christ

The kingdom of God is not like kingdoms of the world

It isn’t a government or a city like others in the world

The Kingdom of God is a reality that his people live in

It is the reality of his rule being experienced by his people.

And it is contrary to the kingdom of the world.

The kingdom of the world says, “My way for my glory”

The kingdom of God says, “God’s way for His glory”

In Matthew’s Gospel, we have seen:

The King arriving in ch. 1-4

We have seen what it looks like to live in the Kingdom of God in the Sermon on the mount in ch. 5-7

We have seen the Kingdom of God coming through Jesus’ miracles and teaching in chapter 8-10

We have seen the Kingdom colliding with mini-kingdoms we each try to build in chapters 11-13

And now, beginning in Matt. 14, we will see what it looks like for this kingdom to advance and take ground in the world

God’s kingdom will advance… And it will not be stopped.

But here is the deal: While the kingdom of God cannot be stopped, you and I can resist the rule of God in our own lives.

We can try to hold on to our little counterfeit kingdoms.

We can insist on our way for our glory rather than God's way for God's glory.

[Hook] And one of the ways that we do this is by practicing something called “Practical atheism”

Atheism is the belief that there is no God

Practical atheism, however, isn't denying that God exists.

It is living as though what God has said does not govern what I do.

While we would never say, “There is no God.”

Too often, our lives can say exactly that.

We should expect a world that denies Christ to live as though Christ does not rule.

But what should concern us is how easily those of us who confess Christ can live as if Christ does not rule.

That is practical atheism: Confessing the truth with my mouth, but living as though that confession is not true.

And in our text this morning, in Matthew 14:1-13, we are going to see what practical atheism looks like and what motivates it

And we need to see it so that where it is present in our lives, we can turn from it, repent of it, and embrace God’s way for God’s glory in our lives as his people.

Let’s give these words our full attention

[Now, the actual thought unit goes into v. 13 about half-way, so i am going to read through v. 13 and a half, since that is the actual conclusion of the thought]

Matthew 14:1–13 “At that time Herod the tetrarch heard about the fame of Jesus, and he said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead; that is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.” For Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because John had been saying to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” And though he wanted to put him to death, he feared the people, because they held him to be a prophet. But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before the company and pleased Herod, so that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask. Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.” And the king was sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he commanded it to be given. He sent and had John beheaded in the prison, and his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. And his disciples came and took the body and buried it, and they went and told Jesus. Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself.”

These are God’s words for us as his people - May we have ears to hear them and hearts to obey them

Big Idea: Unbelief trades eternal truth for temporary pleasure [8:00]

Now, what do I mean by unbelief?

Here is a short definition of what I mean when I say “Unbelief”

Unbelief: Anytime I fail to embrace the truth of God’s Word because it contradicts what I want.

[REPEAT] Unbelief: Anytime I fail to embrace the truth of God’s word because it contradicts what I want.

I don’t believe what God has said, BECAUSE there is something I want more

Some do this totally and consciously - The non-believer totally rejects Christ because God’s truth contradicts what they want

Others do this intermittently - The Christian genuinely believes, but his faith remains imperfect and is still affected by sin, temptation, and lies.

As followers of Christ, we experience unbelief from time to time, because we have not yet been perfected in our sanctification.

Though we are secure in our salvation, we still struggle in our minds and hearts, even though our lives genuinely belongs to Christ

This is why the man in Mark 9:24 says to Jesus, “I believe… help my unbelief”

Unbelief is a reality for all people, to varying degrees

But make no mistake… whether we are talking about the settled unbelief that rejects Christ or the momentary unbelief that still affects the Christian, unbelief is always rooted in a trade.

An exchange of eternal truth for temporary pleasure.

And when I say “temporary pleasure”, I don't just mean physical pleasure.

I mean anything I want in the moment badly enough that I am willing to exchange God's truth to have it.

“I know God says this, but in this moment I want something else.. and so I make the trade.”

[Bridge Question] What pleasures does unbelief trade the truth for?

We are going to see three trades that Herod makes that are indicative of three trades that we are tempted to make

So, we are going to say, “Unbelief trades” and then we will see the three…

So, first…

Unbelief trades…

Discernment for distortion (1-2) [12:00]

We read in v. 1 that Herod is “Tetrarch”, which is a word for a ruler over a region.

And because he is a ruler, he hears about what is happening in his region with Jesus

And look at what he says in v. 2 when he hears about the fame of Jesus:

Matthew 14:2 “This is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead; that is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.”

Now, Matthew is going to give us the background on John’s death in a moment, but I want us to see what is happening here:

Herod was a practicing Jewish leader who came from a Jewish family.

Therefore, he was aware of the coming messiah who would perform many signs and wonders to validate his messianic identity.

And rather than discerning the truth about Jesus from what he is hearing, he instead misidentifies Jesus for a distortion of the truth.

And this should not be surprising to us

Though Jewish by family lineage and by practice, Herod had spent his entire life seeing the world the way he wanted to see it, doing what he wanted to do, and only paying lip service to the God of Israel.

And now, when Jesus, the coming savior who was foretold in the Old testament, arrives… He simply continues the pattern of interpreting things according to what he wants to be true.

“This can’t be the messiah… he must be something else.”

Herod is confronted with the truth of Jesus, but because he does not rightly understand Jesus, he interprets what he sees through a distorted view of reality.

And we do the same thing whenever we construct a version of Jesus that permits us to keep believing what we already want to believe.

At the heart of unbelief is a willingness to distort the truth.

Anytime that we use a version of Jesus that accommodates our own preferences and desires, that is practical unbelief

Failing to embrace the truth of God’s Word because it contradicts what I want.

And so we say things like:

“I don’t think Jesus would ask me to give up something I love”

“I think Jesus would want me to be happy”

“I don’t think a loving God would ever call that sin”

“I don’t like to think of Jesus as judging sin, but as being inclusive”

“I think that Jesus understands why my life is an exception to that verse…”

In every instance like these, what we are really saying is: “There is something I want to be true, so I will distort Jesus to let me keep the delusion that it is true.”

That is unbelief… it is trading the eternal truth of Jesus for a temporary pleasure of having our own thoughts confirmed and reinforced.

But the response of faith and belief is the opposite

Where unbelief changes who Jesus is to fit what I want, belief asks Jesus to change what I want to fit who he is.

To discern right and wrong according to God’s word and for my life to be brought more in line with his word.

When Martin Luther pinned his 95 theses to Wittenburg door in Germany, effectively beginning the protestant reformation, the opening line was “All of a Christians’s life is one of repentance”

He recognized something very important: We are constantly prone to want the wrong things, to believe the wrong things, and to do the wrong things

And the answer is not to just reframe Jesus to permit all of it

The answer is repentance - To change your mind and to go a different direction

When we discern the truth of Christ, we will say, “Though I used to think this way and though I used to live this way… I now see it it differently and I want to think and live God’s way.”

So I think it is worth pausing and asking: How in your life have you been tempted to reframe Jesus to permit what you want?

And what does repentance look like, asking Christ to help you see it his way instead… Even if it means you have to let go of what you want?

Unbelief trades the eternal truth of Christ for the temporary pleasure of seeing life your way

True belief embraces the eternal truth of Christ and asks him to help us see life his way.

[Transition] Now, v. 1-2 tells us that Herod thought John had risen from the dead… but up to this point in Matthew’s Gospel we haven’t heard about John dying… so Matthew takes us back in time to explain how John died.

And in how John died, we see the other two trades that Herod made in his unbelief…

So, now we are onto our second point… Unbelief trades…

Duty for desires (3-4)[19:00]

I want to think for a moment about how the nature of a thing prompts a certain purpose for that thing.

By nature of what a chair is, its purpose is to be sat upon

By nature of what a car is, its purpose is be driven

It is much the same for us as people - By nature of what we are, we have a certain duty

By nature of what a teacher is, his or her duty is to educate

By nature of what a child is, he or she has a duty to listen to mom and dad

By nature of what a parent is, parents have the duty of raising their children well.

Listen to me: By nature of being a human being, you and I have a duty to live how we were made to live.

God is God and we are his creatures.

Therefore, his Word has authority over us.

We have a duty to submit ourselves to what God has said.

As human beings, created as the image of God, our purpose is to reflect God through how we live.

So submission to, and obedience to, God’s word isn't an arbitrary burden God has placed upon human beings.

It is the natural duty of what we were made to be

But because of sin, we trade what is right and good for whatever we think will please us more

Look at v. 3-4

Matthew 14:3–4 “For Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because John had been saying to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.””

Herod and Herodius were both previously married, but wanted to be married to one another, so they each divorced their spouses, and then married one another.

And Herodius was married to Herod’s brother

But God had spoken - Leviticus 18:16 and Leviticus 20:21 both say that a man must not take his brother’s wife

So we have a problem - God’s word strictly forbids what they have done

Remember: Unbelief is anytime I fail to embrace the truth of God’s Word because it contradicts what I want.

They wanted what they wanted and God’s word contradicted it

And they did it anyways…

And John was reminding them of this - “It is not lawful for you to have her.”

The greek phrase for “John had been saying” is a past tense that means he was continually, and on-goingly saying it.

As a prophet, he was calling Herod back to obedience to what God had said.

And rather than listening, Herod and Herodias silenced him.

Look back at v. 3:

“Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias”

Notice, Herod and his new wife want something… God’s word contradicts it..

So Herod simply removes the man who is telling him he is wrong.

Rather than changing his desires to conform to God's Word, he attempts to silence God's Word so he can continue satisfying his desires.

And we see this happen in our society all the time don’t we?

Our culture desires to redefine marriage and sexuality, so it tries to silence those who speak the truth about God’s good design for marriage and sexuality to be between one man and one woman.

Our culture desires to have all the freedom of sexual expression without any of the consequences, so it tries to silence the truth that every human life is knit together in its mother’s womb by the very hand of God

And it seeks to silence anyone who calls abortion what it is… the killing of the unborn who are in no way deserving of death for the actions of their parents.

God says one thing… but we want something else.

So we seek to silence God’s word, trading his eternal truth for our temporary pleasure.

Ultimately, unbelief consists of refusing God's authority over the life we want to live.

“I know what God’s word says, but I want something different, so I reject my duty to listen to God, so that I can have what I desire.”

And just in case we are feeling the self-righteousness that says, “Oh yeah, that is a problem with them out there…”

We do it just as much in here…

God says I must forgive as he has forgiven me, but I want to hold on to my grievance.

God says to speak truthfully, but I want to keep the truth hidden so I look as good as possible.

God says sexual intimacy belongs within marriage, but I want this physical relationship.

God says not to neglect gathering with the church, but I want control over my schedule.

God says husbands should sacrificially love their wives, but I want comfort more than sacrifice or I want control and power, not love.

God says that wives should submit to their husbands, but I want to be a strong, independent woman

God says to be generous, but I want to spend my money on myself.

God says to love my enemies, but I want the satisfaction of despising them.

God says… but I want… so I will silence God’s voice to be able to have what I want.

That is unbelief.

But the response of belief is to listen to his word and respond with submission and obedience.

You hear me every week after reading the passage say the words: “These are God's words for us… May we have ears to hear them and hearts to obey them.”

In Scripture, to hear and to obey are the same word - You have truly heard when you respond in obedience

And if you do not respond in obedience, it's because you didn't really hear

If we are to be a people who respond to God's word with obedience, it will mean that when we hear the truth of his word, we let it correct our desires

And we ask him to help us to desire what his word says

Because, as much as the world would try to convince you that the best life you could live is the one in which you get everything that you want…

Scripture makes clear that the truly good life is the one where you desire what God desires for you.

So… What has God said that you are trying to silence? What desires are crowding out your duty to submit to the Lord?

Ask him to show you and ask him to change your desires to be more in line with his word.

Unbelief trades duty for desires

But belief trades my desires for God’s desires

[Transition] and finally, Herod shows what he really cares most about in v. 5-11

And in his unbelief he trades…

Righteousness for reputation (5-11)[29:00]

What Herod cares most about is what people think of him.

Look at v. 5 & 9

Matthew 14:5 “And though he wanted to put him to death, he feared the people, because they held him to be a prophet.”

Matthew 14:9–10 “And the king was sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he commanded it to be given. He sent and had John beheaded in the prison”

When the crowd wanted John alive, Herod kept him alive

When the guests wanted John dead, Herod had him killed.

Though Herod is the ruler of the region, he shows that he is actually ruled by the opinions of other people.

And he could have said “No” - The teaching of the Rabbi’s at this time allowed for someone to negate an oath if they discovered after making the oath that their oath would require them to do evil.

So he says, “I’ll give you whatever you want”

She says, “Give me John the Baptists head”

He could have said, “No, because then I would have to kill him and that would be evil. You can’t force me to do evil”

But he doesn’t… He carries it out… precisely because his reputation was on the line.

And in this reality of Herod’s slavery to people’s opinions, we see something so important for us this morning:

You have a choice in this life: Fear God or fear man.

Either, you will fear the Lord and make what he thinks your priority

Or, you will fear people and make what they think your priority.

If you fear the Lord, people will not be happy

If you fear people, God will not be happy.

There is no scenario in which you can make people and God happy.

You have to choose.

And unbelief will choose reputation over righteousness, every time.

When i am functioning in unbelief, I will desire that people think highly of me, and I will then do unrighteousness for the sake of their approval.

I will withhold biblical convictions because I don’t want to appear judgmental

I will neglect parenting my children in what honors the Lord because I want them to think of me as a friend

I will refuse necessary confrontation because we want to be liked

I will change my convictions according to the current social mood

But all the while… I will hypocritically perform at church because I want to appear godly

Fearing people always results in doing what dishonors the Lord

But the response of faith is different

Belief chooses to fear the Lord

And the outworking of fearing the Lord is doing what is right in his eyes, even when it costs us.

In fact, listen to the way that Moses describes what it looks like to fear the Lord:

Deuteronomy 10:12–13 ESV

“What does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good

Belief says, “Lord, what is truly good is what you have said. And I desire to honor you, even if it makes me unpopular with the world.

Because the world’s goodness is not good

Only your’s is.”

I know that it is so tempting to listen to the messages in the world and to think, "it would be good for me to support these things society is clammoring for because I don’t want to seem unloving”

But that is simply trading eternal truth for temporary pleasure

It is a demotion of God's eternal truth for the temporary pleasure of being accepted.

What we should be saying is "it would be good for me to stand for what is right in the eyes of the Lord because the most loving thing for me to do is to point an unbelieving world to the goodness that can only be found in the truth of God.”

[Tie it all together] 35:00

Now, I want to tie these three points together and contrast unbelief with belief

Unbelief says:

I want to believe what I think

I want to have what I want

I want others to think well of me

Belief says:

I want to embrace Jesus for who he is

I want to desire what God has said

I want to do what is right in God’s eyes

What makes this passage so tragic is that Herod repeatedly encountered eternal truth and kept choosing something temporary.

He had God's prophet telling him the truth.

He heard about the works of Christ.

He had opportunities to change course.

But every time truth threatened something he wanted, he made the trade.

Everything in Herod's life is about protecting something temporary.

His way.

His desires.

His reputation.

And all the while, the eternal Son of God has come into the world.

The true King is right there.

His kingdom is advancing.

And Herod is so consumed with holding onto his little kingdom that he can’t see it.

So here is my question for us as a church family: What temporary thing has become so important to you that you are willing to resist what God has said in order to keep it?

Every one of us is prone toward unbelief like this

If you belong to Christ this morning, the answer isn't to pretend that you never struggle with unbelief.

The answer is the prayer:

“Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.

I believe you are better than what I want.

I believe your Word is true even when it contradicts what I want.

I believe your ways are good even when obedience costs me.

So help me let go of the temporary thing and hold fast to your eternal truth.

Help me to see the foolish trade I have made and to return again to the truth and goodness of Christ.”

When you and I will confess our unbelief and repent…

His grace with receive you

His word will renew you

His Spirit will transform you

He will transform your momentary unbelief into unshakable belief.

But if you are here this morning and you have never trusted in Christ, I want you to see what Herod could not see:

Whatever you gain by rejecting Christ cannot compare to what you lose.

You can have your way.

You can pursue your desires.

You can have the approval of the world.

And every bit of it will pass away.

But Jesus Christ is the eternal King.

He is the Son of God who came into this world, lived the righteous life you have not lived, died the death your sin deserves, and rose from the grave so that sinners like you and me could be forgiven and reconciled to God.

And he offers you something infinitely better than all of the temporary pleasures you are trying to hold onto:

He offers you himself for all eternity.

So don't make Herod's trade.

Don't trade the eternal Christ for something that will be gone tomorrow.

Turn from your sin.

Believe in Christ.

And discover that God's way for God's glory is infinitely better than your way for your glory.

The truth is that on the day that we all stand before God

We will not regret trading this world for Christ.

Many will regret trading Christ for this world.

May God grant us the grace to see the infinite worth of the eternal Christ and to see the infinite worthlessness of everything apart from him.

Amen.

[40:00]

COMMUNION

Elements - Means of grace

Open Communion

Two ways to mock the cross

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