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Text: Psalm 34:18-22

Today's sermon is the second in a series of sermons about the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. I wanted to study the Twelve Steps for myself because I am so impressed by the way that thousands and thousands of people have used these simple steps to recover from serious addictions. Miracles occur every day in recovery facilities like WestCare.

Like most of you, I have heard about the Twelve Steps but had never taken a serious look at them. It's high time that we do that.

And I would remind you that the Twelve Steps are for all of us. They are not really about addiction at all; they are about life. As the folks in the Living Free Training say, the Twelve Steps will help all of us "who are influenced or trapped by life-controlling problems - addictions, behaviors and relationships.

Last week, I talked about the first of the Twelve Steps to recovery, which says, "We admitted we were powerless over the effects of our separation from God and that our lives had become unmanageable." All of us need to overcome our denial and admit that we need help. I suggested that the story of the Prodigal Son was a good illustration of Step One. The Prodigal "came to himself" and turned away from the pig pen. That is the first step to recovery.

Today, I want to discuss the second step, which says, "We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity."

Step One leaves us feeling empty. We have admitted our own powerlessness and the unmanageability of our lives. So we are left saying, "If I am powerless and cannot manage my life, who can?" Now that is a profound question!

For some, there is no one else. Many people have only themselves as a resource for life. They think the world is flat in that they see no higher power. They choose to believe there is no God, there is nothing else in this universe, and they are left to their own devices.

Karl Marx once said, "Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people." He saw religion as a drug administered by the bourgeoisie to keep the workers docile when they should be rising up in rebellion to shake off their chains. He saw religion as the illusory compensation offered to the oppressed, and he maintained that religion would die a natural death as soon as true socialism came in.

Some people believe God is a crutch for children and weak-willed individuals. In a Playboy interview, Governor Jessie Ventura once said, "Organized religion is a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers. It tells people to go out and stick their noses in other people's business."

Are these men right? Is there nothing more in this world than what we ourselves are? The case has often been made, but I find it an unappealing view. I believe it is a sad and lonely world where there is no one else to help manage our lives. Such a world-view without a higher power leads to pessimism and hopelessness. How tragic if we are truly left to our own devices!

I want to believe that life is not a zero-sum game. Zero-sum is a game where there is only a certain number of chips on the table. As the players compete, they fight for that limited number of chips. There will be no more chips. What you see is what you get. The number of chips on the table is all there is.

Zero-sum means to me that we are alone. There is nothing more to life than what we see. The life we see and the world we see is all there is to reality. There is nothing more!

I remember being fascinated by the several philosophy courses I took in college. As a sophomore, I eagerly signed up for the course entitled, "Classical Proofs for the Existence of God." I was eager to prove God, but as the course progressed, I realized that none of those so-called "proofs" really held up under rigorous scrutiny. Furthermore, the God they attempted to prove - some unmoved mover, some uncaused cause - was hardly the God of the Bible. And I finally concluded that I couldn't prove God, and maybe I didn't need to.

I must confess that there are many questions that I still have about the Bible and about my faith. After a lifetime of study, I must confess that I sometimes have more questions than answers. I happen to think that is the sign of a real education - we learn just how much we don't know.

But I still believe in God, even if I can't prove God. I believe because I want to believe. I believe the words of the Bible because I want to believe them. As someone famously said, "I don't understand all of the Bible, but I stand on all of it." There are many mysteries in a life of faith that I really don't fully understand, but I would never want to live the empty life of no faith.

When our lives spin out of control, and we realize there are matters over which we are powerless, it comes as a great comfort to believe that there is someone else to help. I prefer to say with the Psalmist, "The LORD is near to the brokenhearted, and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD rescues them from them all" (Psalm 34:18-19).

One of Philip Yancey's recent books is entitled Rumors of Another World. He suggests that there is another world just on the edge of our existence. It is the spiritual world described in the Bible. It is the place where God is. Sometimes in this life we come on "thin places" where we can almost see into that other world.

I like the idea that there is more to existence that what we physically see and hear. That, to me, is a flat world, a lonely world, a hopeless world. I much prefer the multi-dimensional world of the Bible. I like better a world filled with love, mystery and presence. I would rather believe that there is a God who cares about me and what happens in my life - a God who is there for me in the midst of my troubles.

One of the most remarkable aspects of the Twelve Steps is this belief in a higher power. And I happen to like the vagueness of that reference. It assumes that God is so great and merciful that we are not required to provide a specific name for God. God is even willing to be anonymous for a time.

They call themselves Alcoholics Anonymous, and members use only their first name whey they say, "My name is John, and I am an alcoholic." Perhaps it is only fitting that if the alcoholics are willing to be anonymous, that God should be so too.

In AA meetings, they often encounter people who struggle with the Twelve Steps because they don't believe in God. Sometimes such people have had very negative experiences with churches or church people. Perhaps they have been abused by their drunk fathers, and don’t take easily to talk of "our heavenly Father." Perhaps they have prayed with all their heart for God to take away their addiction only to wake up the next day craving another drink. I suppose there are thousands of reasons for not believing in God, if one so chooses.

I think if we were to look closely at what kind of God these people don't believe in, we would have to agree that we wouldn't believe in that kind of God either! Many people have mistaken views of God which rightly make it hard, if not impossible, to believe. These people have never met the real God of the Bible. No wonder they don't believe.

Instead of immediately, rejecting that person for their lack of faith, those in the AA meetings say, "Okay, just believe in a higher power. And if you need to, just think that the letters G. O. D. stand for 'Good Orderly Direction.' We don't care what you call this higher power, but we want you to recognize that there is someone or something out there who is greater than we are. If you have a problem with your understanding of Jesus, just turn to God. If you have a problem with your understanding of God, then turn to a higher power. The name is not as important as the surrender!"

I find it interesting that the anonymous God was the topic of Paul's sermon in Athens found in Acts 17. Paul spoke to a gathering of Stoic and Epicurean philosophers and said, "Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, 'To an unknown god.' What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you."

Paul clearly acknowledged that the worship of an unknown god was the first step to faith in the known God. Step Two acknowledges the same. Recognizing that there is someone out there, some higher power, some God of the universe is the second step to recovery.

It's not much faith, but it is the beginning of faith and therefore, much better than no faith at all. Acknowledging a higher power is the seed which plants the beginning of hope. Step Two is often referred to as "The Hope Step." It gives us new hope as we begin to see that help is available to us. We must simply reach out and accept what our higher power has to offer.

In Step Two, we begin to reestablish our relationship, or, establish a relationship with God for the first time. Unless we let go of our distrust and begin to lean on God, we will continue to operate in an insane manner.

A common definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results each time. In this sense, much of our behavior is insane. Sanity means letting go of our distrust and beginning to lean on God. Otherwise, we will continue to operate in an insane manner.

Our goal is to believe that God, a power greater than ourselves, can guide us in our journey toward peace and healing. God can and does help.

Coming to believe in a power greater than ourselves requires faith. This simple seed of faith is the first step on the road to healing and health. It's a small seed, but it an important beginning. It gives us hope, without which we are lost indeed.

In Matthew 17:20, the disciples asked Jesus why they couldn't cast out a particularly difficult demon. Jesus replies, "Because of your little faith. For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you."

Mustard-seed faith is like a glimmer of hope mixed with confidence that God will take care of a dilemma in our lives.

Several Bible verses echo the meaning of this step. 2 Corinthians 1:9 says, "Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death so that we would rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead."

Philippians 2:13 says, "for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure."

2 Corinthians 3:5 says, "Not that we are competent of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our competence is from God."

I think the best biblical example of Step Two is the story found in Mark 9 where the disciples bring a demon-possessed boy to Jesus. Jesus asked the father how long the boy had been this way. The father replies, "From childhood. It has often cast him into the fire and into the water, to destroy him; but if you are able to do anything, have pity on us and help us."

Jesus said to him, “If you are able!—All things can be done for the one who believes.”

Immediately the father of the child cried out, “I believe; help my unbelief!”

I think that is a wonderful story of the birth pangs of faith. Here is a father who wants to believe that Jesus can heal his son, but in fact, there are lingering doubts within him. When confronted with Jesus, he boldly proclaims, "I believe."

But then his mind races over the doubts that plague him. He realizes he is not completely confident. He sees that he only has faith as small as a mustard seed. His questions far outnumber his answers. He is not quite sure about Jesus, perhaps about God. All he knows is that he is desperate for help. He wants his son to be healed. So then he tacks on to his bold proclamation of faith, "Help my unbelief."

Once again I think the Twelve Steps hit at the place where many of us live. We have faith… sort of. We want to have faith, but… We sip the Cup and taste the Crust, but we doubt. We read the Bible, but we don't understand what we read. We want to believe in something, someone greater than ourselves, but we are not really sure who that is.

With this father, we proclaim, "I believe… Help my unbelief!" And with the thousands in recovery communities around our world, we have moved up another rung on the Twelve Steps to recovery. We look down and read, "We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity."