Acts 17:22-34 (Click title for audio access)
"Not So Unknown" • 11.6.11 •
Sunday Morning Service, Calvary Christian Fellowship
Intro.
- When you look
at the world passing by, what is it that you see? Paul McCartney and John
Lennon looked around and saw all the lonely people. What do you see? A case in
perspective.
- In Athens, an
average person would have seen the most sophisticated, the most cultured,
probably the most self-satisfied people on Earth.
- When Paul
looked around, he saw a world of poor, ignorant people, enslaved by their
idolatry, alienated from the life of God and if nobody did anything, doomed for
an eternity!
- This caused
him to burn with a zeal that they might know God and therefore, know life.
There was just one problem: They did not know God! That is what Paul intended
to change!
- In this
incredibly rich and deep sermon, Paul will make the case for God, unveiling Him
to the Athenian heart.
Text
• Acts
17:22,23a : "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." : The
Areopagus, known by the Romans as "Mars Hill," was the judicial seat
where new intellectual ideas were heard.
- In Greek mythology, Ares or Mars, the Roman
god of war, was judged there for the murder of Poseidon's son, hence the name
Mars Hill.
- The Areopagites were the judges that sat and
listened to these new ideas. These men were the Grecian equivalent to the Roman
Senate or the Jewish Sanhedrin.
- Most who served on Mars Hill were men of high
civic standing. Politicians and members of the local businessmen's association
were the best candidates for the position.
- When you view pictures of Mars Hill, you will
look at what is a large rock formation. Paul stood out in front and addressed
them, noting first their religious nature.
- In all things, in every area of their lives,
they were very religious. When it came to having a plethora of gods to cover
any area of life, the Greeks had it covered.
- Historians remark that it was easier to find
a god in Greece than it was to find a man!
- There was a god for anger, lust, love,
justice, wisdom and their statues littered the landscape of ancient Athens. No
doubt, Paul had seen hundreds of statues with fresh worship offerings nearby.
- As he looked at the idols and their adoring public,
he noted their devotion, their religious honors that were given to the gods
including an altar that was devoted to "The Unknown God."
- As legend had it, 500 years before Paul, a
plague had struck Athens and nobody knew which god had been disturbed. The
Athenians let some sheep go, who would lay down at various altars.
- It was assumed that if they laid down in
front of an altar, that it was that god that was angry. If the sheep did not
lay down anywhere in particular, then that lamb was offered to the
"Unknown god."
- It was the Athenian way of saying, "Just
in case we made you mad, here's your statue!"
- Pagan worship brought such fear into the
hearts of men. There could be no satisfying of it. There could be no rest. As
they made new discoveries about life, new gods were necessary!
- This altar was a catch-all attempt at
appeasement for the Athenians, but an open door for Paul to begin his sermon.
• Acts
17:23b : "Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I
proclaim to you:" : Paul's platform was that He knew the one who they
intended to worship. The One whom you worship, you worship in ignorance,
blindly, not knowing Him.
- This is not to say that they worshipped the
true God on accident, but called Him by another name. Paul is underscoring
their utter ignorance of God.
- This God is the God that Paul proclaims or
"made known" to them. God wants to be known! The primary role of Christians
in this world is to make God known to the world!
- Paul says, and we would do well to follow,
"Him I proclaim, Him I make known to you!" His heart was to make an
introduction and there is nothing better than that.
• Acts
17:24,25 : "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. Nor is He
worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all
life, breath, and all things." : God made the world, literally the cosmos! He formed the universe!
All that exists in it, God created.
- He created by speaking it into existence, causing
it to come to be, either totally or through processes that He began. He spoke
and it happened! Theologians call this "Divine Fiat."
- Paul affirms the Genesis 1 account of creation and he will do so many times more.
- He was not the only one to have confidence in
creation. Jesus affirms God's creation in Mark
10:6 when speaking of marriage.
- The account of creation is less a scientific
debate, than it is an inerrancy debate. The Bible says that God did this in 7
literal days.
- If we can't believe that, how can we believe
in His ability and promise to save us, both of which are stated in the same
book!? When do we start to believe Him?
- I would have us know that if Jesus believed
it and Paul believed it, we'd be dumb not to!
- God, as the creator, is outside of His
creation. This is called "Transcendance," meaning that God is not
subject to the laws of what He has created.
- Consequently, God cannot dwell in their man
made temples where men believed that they were bestowing gifts upon Him.
Solomon learned this when He built his!
- God lives in heaven, satisfied in Himself. He
is not worshipped with Men's hands. The word "worshipped" comes from
the word that we get "therapy" from.
- God is not wounded by men and does not need
to be restored to health by what men give Him! He doesn't need anything from
men! The old puritans called this, "God's Aseity."
- What a strong indictment against those who
preach the prosperity doctrine! Paganism demanded that men placate the gods
with their gifts. But what is true is the exact opposite.
- Every man that has life, has it from God. Whoever
has breath, has it as a gift from God. For that matter, all things come from
God and are given to men!
- Before they even knew to worship, they were
given life! Before they could bring an offering to the altar, God had allowed
them to breathe every day of their lives previously!
• Acts
17:26-28 : "And He has made from one blood every nation of men to
dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times
and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in
the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from
each one of us; 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.’" : God, the Creator, fashioned every nation on earth from one
man's blood!
- According to geneticists, the difference
between races is virtually indistinquishable!
˚
"Every human being
in the world is classified as Homo sapiens. Scientists today agree that there
is really only one biological race of humans. Geneticists have found that if we
were to take any two people from anywhere in the world, the basic genetic
differences between these two people would typically be around 0.2 percent, even
if they came from the same people group. 'Racial' characteristics account for
only about 6 percent of this 0.2 percent variation. That means that the 'racial'
genetic variation between human beings of different 'race' is a mere 0.012
percent." [i]
- We are all much closer than we think. Our blood
is the same, despite external color variations! God created us this way and
determined when we would live and where we would live.
- You are no accident and where you live is an
intentional act of the Lord's to cause you, literally, He did this in order
that you would reach out to Him!
- Think about this: Your entire life, God has
been orchestrating an exhaustive plan that would lead you to a day when you
would respond to His grace! That's what Paul is saying here!
- God is not hiding Himself and He is not far
from any of us. He is transcendant, outside of time and space, but He is also
imminent, hearing us when we call with our lips to Him!
- This brings us to verse 28, where Paul makes
an incredible statement. In Him we live and move and have our being. This is
part of a quote from what would have been current culture.
- We understand that we live by or have our
life because He is sustaining our lives!
- Paul quotes a poet from the Stoic school,
Aratus, who wrote a poem called "The Phaenomena." In that poem, he
praises Zeus, who he sees in everything.
- Paul takes this and turns it around, saying
the the Unknown God, the real God, was seen in His creation, namely you and I,
His offspring!
- His point is that even though the poets were
wrong in who they believed, they were right in the concept of the nearness of
God!
• Acts
17:29 : "Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to
think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped
by art and man’s devising." : Paul is saying,
"Look at you. You are a living, breathing, individual."
- You are exceedingly complex and different,
even though you are of one group. You are much more complex than that idol you
are worshipping. Why is that? Because you reflect God!
- If you are that complex, how can you worship
an idol, which is less complex than you are?
- This Unknown God is in another category than
these gods that you worship. The Divine Nature cannot be compared to or
captured by an image that comes from the finite mind.
- Paul's point is that we reflect an image of
God. You and I carry certain attributes that can only come from a Creator. We
are creative. Where did that come from?
- We can give and receive love. We can extend
good will towards people. We can think and react with kindness. We can be
enraged at injustice. All of this comes from God.
- These are some of what theologians call
"Communicable Attributes." They are further proof that God has left
for His existence.
• Acts
17:30,31 : "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.'" : The
Greeks believed that they were superior for their knowledge. Paul calls them
ignorant! Idolatry, pervasive in Greece and Rome, represented times of
ignorance that God overlooked or "winked at."
- The word "overlooked" means that
God did not actively interfere.
- He did not destroy them for their false
worship. This is a God of incredible patience! In the annals of time, God
allowed men to worship their gods and allowed the results to judge.
- God was giving these people groups time and
opportunity to repent. His lack of action does not represent an inability or an
unconcern about the effect of their idolatry.
- His patience had given them time, but that
time was now coming to an end. Now, through the Apostles and the disciples and
through the church, God is commanding all men to repent.
- This is not an option for us or for them!
It's not optional as we speak of the gospel. It's not optional for those who
receive the gospel! Men, women, everywhere are commanded to repent!
- Change your mind about idolatry! Change your
actions that stem from debasing and devaluing yourself in the worship of false
deities!
- Change your mind about a relationship with
God that makes you believe that He needs something from you! He is the Creator.
He is the Sustainer. He needs nothing from you.
- Change these things and move now in the right
direction. Repent because He is the Judge!
- God has appointed a day. These are some scary
words for each of us to consider. There is a day of judgement. There is a day
that we will all stand before THE judge.
- For Christians, we will stand before God and
what we have done for the Lord will be judged. What were our motives? Why did
we do this? Was it for my own benefit or strictly for God?
- Salvation at the "Bema Seat"
judgment will not be the issue. Salvation is secured in Christ. However, for
the Christian, judgment will take place to determine reward.
- For the non-Christian, judgment will be the
moment when they answer the one question that has ever mattered: Has Jesus paid
for your sins? Is He Your Lord?
- On that day, God will judge in righteousness.
He will not be swayed by what the person has or has not done. He will not judge
based on riches or poverty, but in righteousness.
- He will judge according to a righteous
standard. He will have seen every opportunity to believe in and receive Christ.
He will see perfectly every time that Jesus was shared.
- He will reveal every moment that the person
in front of Him had to repent and did not! For those who stand there on that
day without Christ, this will be the moment that will forever doom them!
- It will be Jesus standing there judging every
soul. God confirmed this by raising Him from death. God in that action,
confirmed everything that Jesus ever said about Himself.
- At that time, God promised that He would
raise Him to the highest place, where He stands alone as the King who forever
reigns.
• Acts
17:32-34 : "And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some
mocked, while others said, 'We will hear you again on this matter.' So Paul
departed from among them. However, some men joined him and believed, among them
Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them." :
Paul has given them incredibly great content about the unknown God.
Their minds however, would not allow them to proceed beyond the topic of a
bodily resurrection!
- Last week, we took note of their responses to
the gospel and will simply review them today.
- First, there was mockery. Then there was
delay. There was not a heart to receive what Paul said by a majority of those
who had listened on that day.
- What did Paul do? He respected their response
and he departed from among them.
- He followed the Lord in allowing people to
exercise their response to God. There are some who will be happy to hear from
us. Others will be hardened.
- Some did join Paul, including one of the
leaders of the Areopagus, Dionysius. He was one of these very influential
members of the council. He believed what Paul said. God stirred that in Him.
- Damaris, as we mentioned last week, was a
prostitute. A cursory glance over the book of Acts, shows what incredible
diversity the salvation of God has had.
- Whether it be soldiers or former criminals.
Noblemen, rich women and the middle class jailer, as well as the woman with the
Python spirit and this prostitute.
- God's salvation is for every man, no matter
the state that Paul found Him in.
Conclusion
- God is our
Creator, needing nothing from us, but ever close whenever one calls upon Him.
You need to be reminded of that. Your issues are not bigger than Him and He
stands ready to help!
- It's out of
love for God and a reminder of our own weakness, that we make Him known.
- The world is
filled with scared people, trapped in their minds with the same pagan concepts
that plagued the Athenians.
- After you
have listened to Paul's words, what will you see in people tomorrow? More
important, how will you respond?
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