|
The unknown god
Text: Acts 17:22-34
As Paul was WAITING he witnessed that one cannot
stop at serving just one idol.
1. Acts 17:16-21 Now
while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him
when he saw that the city was given over to idols. Therefore he reasoned
in the synagogue with the Jews and with the [Gentile] worshipers, and in
the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there. Then certain
Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, "What
does this babbler want to say?" Others said, "He seems to be a
proclaimer of foreign gods," because he preached to them Jesus and the
resurrection. And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus,
saying, "May we know what this new doctrine [is] of which you speak?
"For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore we want
to know what these things mean." For all the Athenians and the
foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to
tell or to hear some new thing.
2. In Athens there were the Academy of Plato, Court
of Aristotle, Porch of Zeno, the Garden of
Epicures, and the synagogue of the Jews.
a. Men had gathered to
these places to attain knowledge of the unknown.
b. Much like today they
could pick and choose one or all as their source of knowledge.
3. What is the unknown?
To them it is the same
as many today
Why
am I here, Where am I going, and Whom do I serve?
4. Regardless of the knowledge one attains, there
is no knowledge concerning God except that
which is revealed
through his inspired word.
A. We live in modern times but ancient gods still
rule the hearts of men.
1. Epicureans believed:
a. World created by
accident or happenstance - EVOLUTIONIST
b. Happiness is the
greatest purpose and pursuit of life – HUMANIST
c. Chance is the medium
in which events occur - FATE & SURVIVAL OF FITTEST
d. The world is to
conform to self - SECULARIST
2. Stoics believed:
a. God and matter are
eternal - NO CREATION, NEW AGE RELIGIONS
b. Pain and pleasure
should be met with same response – PSYCHOLOGY
c. Self should conform to
nature –NATURALIST
B. What will this babbler say?
a. Meaning one who “picks seeds.”
b. They claim Paul had
found bits and pieces of information they have never heard and
assimilated them to form a new idea.
c. A modern
interpretation might suggest
“Who
is he to say he’s got the market on truth?”
C. Bringing Paul to the Areopagus could mean honor
or death.
1. It was here that
Socrates was condemned to die.
Beaten over the
head with his own book saying the earth was round
2. It was at this
platform Paul was to preach the unknown God of grace, mercy, peace,
love
and judgment.
3. Remember his audience
-
a.
Epicureans - the world was made for pleasure - Lets party!
b.
Stoics – Who sought to subdue all emotions.
c.
Jews – Who thought they were God’s people - rest were hell bound.
d.
Gossips - Those who just love hearing and telling what they heard with
no
intention on believing or disagreeing with anyone.
4. All these groups
assemble every Sunday in the assemblies of Christ.
5. Unbelief is like a
wind mill - always turning but never going anywhere.
II. The sermon 17:22-34 A. Opening remarks
can be real attention getters
Vs. 22, 23 Then Paul
stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, "Men of Athens, I perceive
that in all things you are very religious; for as I was passing through
and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with
this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the One whom you
worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you:
1. He addresses them as “men” not “fools” that
they were. (Not a time to be insulting)
a.
Presentation of the gospel should be with outstretched arms
b.
not seen as one who would yield a sledgehammer to crush and
destroy.
Eph. 4:15 (but,
speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is
the head—Christ)
2. He commends them for their diligent attitude
toward religious things.
3. He did not attack one temple saying that one god
was better than the other
He brought their
attention to what each of them really desired
to
know and worship the RIGHT GOD.
It was his ideals and
demands which were unknown to them
Paul
helps us today to understand that no one can be saved in their
IGNORANCE!
4. Paul’s sermon helps us see if just being
religious was enough to save a city, culture or country then Athens
should have been the epitome of what God demands of society today.
5. We know America is very religious
Churches on every corner
A style of worship for
every believer
If you don’t like any of
these styles, go off and start your own and
“If
you build it they will come.”
6. Paul preached against this very problem we have
in our country today.
Having the church of your
choice is no better than worshipping the god of your choice. Learn what
is the church of His choice then become a member of it?
We are
encouraged to
(Jn. 4:24 "God is
Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."
7. Too many attend services from an intellectual
point of view like the Athenians.
They know to come to
worship, like to listen and observe worship practices
Fail
to ask WHAT MUST I DO? WHAT CAN I DO?
8. Are we too religious?
Do we just desire
knowledge but refuse to act to be saved or to save others?
People during Bible times
were accused of
2 Tim
3:7 “ever learning and never coming to the
knowledge of truth.”
B. The unknown God
1. God is Creator! v. 24 (evolution requires eons
of time)
V.24
God, who made the world and everything in it,
since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made
with hands
2. God is governor of creation. (Neither Chance
nor fate governs the universe.)
a. Lord of heaven &
earth.
b. He determined the
times
v.
26 "And He has made from one blood every
nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined
their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings,
1. God is not confined to where man puts him
Acts 17:24
God, who made the world and everything in it,
since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made
with hands.
(Psa. 139:7
Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can
I flee from Your presence?)
2. God is independent
v. 25
"Nor is He worshiped with men's hands, as
though He needed anything, since
He gives to all life, breath, and all things.
What can you give God
that will help him live longer?
3. God is our father, not a chunk of stone
v.28.
"for in Him we live and move and have our
being, as also some of your own
poets have said, `For we are also His
offspring.'
a. He sustains us and is
a spirit giver.
4. God is judge
v. 30, 31
"Truly, these times of ignorance God
overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He
has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by
the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by
raising Him from the dead.
1. He commands repentance from worldliness
1 Jn. 2:15-17
Do not love the world or the things in the
world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the
eyes, and the pride of life--is not of the Father but is of the world.
And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the
will of God abides forever.
2. Because he is our creator, the governor,
totally independent, our father,
he
has the right to set out rules and regulations for us to keep and
maintain.
3. Man
has no excuse today as men did during the ancient world.
4. His judgment is not
according to man’s appearance, but by his right doing.
5. He has proven himself
worthy to be served and able to save by the proof of
resurrection of his son.
Are you serving the unknown God?
Have you permitted yourself to fall victim to the
ideology of evolution, humanism or denominationalism?
God has proven himself worthy to be served.
1. I am here to glorify
God.
2. I am going to heaven
or hell one day depending on how I lived for Him.
3. I choose to serve the
God of the Bible
Will
you?
|
