MAKING KNOWN THE UNKNOWN GOD

Transcription

1 1 Streetsville United Church Sunday, May 25, 2014 Rev. John Tapscott MAKING KNOWN THE UNKNOWN GOD Acts 17:22-34 A little girl was drawing a picture in Sunday School and the teacher asked, What are you drawing? Oh, I m drawing a picture of God, she said. But no one knows what God looks like. said the teacher. The girl replied, They will when I m finished. That girl s comment, though innocent, is actually the root of idolatry. We start with our idea of who God is and then make an image or statue in accord with that idea. The result is that we wind up with many false images of God or idols that stand in place of the living God. The Jewish people have been leaders in the world s culture, but not in works of art, because God commanded them, Thou shalt not make a graven image. And so works of art were not greatly encouraged among the Jewish people. But we certainly have our modern idols, don t we - money, success, security and so on? We even make an idol of ourselves. A woman named Sheila was interviewed by sociologist Robert Bellah. I can t remember the last time I went to church, Sheila said, My own faith has carried me a long way. It s Shielaism. Just my own little voice. It s just trying to love yourself and be gentle with yourself. Putting yourself on the throne is really the ultimate idol. Sheila, John, Michael, Sally - all our own little gods. Acts tells us that when the apostle Paul was in Athens, his spirit was provoked because the city was full of idols. They even had a statue there called, To an unknown god, so they wouldn t offend a god they might have overlooked. Now Athens was the great center of learning and philosophy. And the Greeks ideas about God started with human reasoning. As a result Athens became full of idols. Paul tells us in 1 st Corinthians, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom You see, our knowledge of God does not come from our own thoughts and speculations. Our knowledge of God comes from what he has revealed about himself in his holy word and in the word made flesh, Jesus Christ. Now Paul the preacher longed to make the truth about God known to everyone, including the philosophers of Athens. So Paul stood at the open-air gathering place called Areogapus, high above the city. He said to the wise men of the city, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 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. (Acts 17:23) Paul then proceeded to proclaim the truth about God to the Athenians. He started where they were, and made known to them the unknown God. This is one of the church s great tasks in the world. The church, by its proclamation makes known the unknown God. The Church proclaims the truth about God as God has revealed it to

2 2 us in the Bible. The church says to the world, What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. For many people today God is a big unknown. They re not bad people, but they re ignorant about God, because they ve never heard the message. But suppose such a person became curious about God. What would we tell them about God? Well, we could do what Paul did with the Athenians. We could start where the person is, and cast the message in terms that they could relate to. Here is what we might say to someone in making known the unknown God. Here are four simple, memorable and profound truths about God that we can share. First, God is Creator. That s where Paul started. The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth we ought not think that the deity is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals (vv.24,29) Something deep within tells us that we are not here by chance, but that we are created; indeed, that this whole universe has been created by One greater than ourselves. And science, far from disproving a Creator confirms what we sense. The magnitude of the universe and the order of nature, from the farthest star down to the incredible detail of a single cell it all gives the impression of being created and even designed. In the beginning, says the Bible, God created the heavens and the earth The Bible tells us that God created us in his own image. Paul says, We are his offspring,(v. 28) and deep inside we know it. Paul spoke of the God who made the world and everything that is in it. This witness spoke to the ancient Hebrews in the wilderness; to the wise men of Athens; to people in the 21 st century. When we make the known the unknown God we begin by speaking of God as Creator. That s consistent with the Biblical revelation and we can all relate to it. And if the person we re speaking to says, Tell me what this Creator God is like, we say, look at what he s made. Now creation does not reveal the fullness of God, just as a chair does not fully reveal the carpenter who made it, but it does give us clues into his character. Paul says in Romans, since the creation of the world God s invisible nature, namely his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made. And if the person wanted to know a bit more about this Creator God it would not be too soon to point them to God s Son, who came to earth and showed us who God really is and what he s really like. Paul says in Colossians, In Christ the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. Jesus said, Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. God is all that a good father on earth is - times infinity. The Creator God is our holy and loving Heavenly Father. But we re getting ahead of ourselves. Paul has not yet spoken to the Athenians about Jesus. But let s see what Paul says next as he makes known the unknown God. He says that God is near to us. From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him though indeed he is not far from each of us (vv. 26,27)

3 3 So that s the next thing we could say to our friend in order to make known the unknown God. We would say that God is near. Now God is above us, but he s also right here too, right at hand. God is not far from each of us. God is near to you and to me. And the Athenians had already heard that. Paul quoted the Athenian prophets who had said, In Him we live and move and have our being. (v. 28) God cannot be portrayed as an idol, because God is spirit. God is free to draw near to all that he has made. And if your friend wants to know what difference it means to us to have God near, you can quote the testimony of a man who wrote, I remember lying on a gurney in a hospital corridor waiting for yet another test when all the hopes and fears of the years began to close on me. As I became anxious I began to sing, My God and I go down this road together, We walk and talk as good friends should do, He takes my hand and whispers in the shadows, My God and I, are going to see this through. As I drifted off into that spiritual conversation an orderly came by and said, Sir, are you all right? To which I replied, Wonderfully so. You can t have that kind of relationship with an idol or get that assurance from a distant God. It comes from our loving Creator God who is not far from each of us. God is creator. God is near. The next thing Paul proclaims in making known the unknown God is that God is Judge. In Vv. 30 and 31 Paul says to the Athenians, While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness Our friend who doesn t know much about God may have less of an issue with God as Judge than we do. For popular culture often deals with the concept of judgement. Many books and movies convey the sense that something is radically wrong with the world and that it must be turned upside-down. And it will happen. Evil will meet its doom. The wrong will be made right. Some great apocalyptic event will bring it all to an end. It s evident even to people outside of the church things cannot and will not go on as they are. There will be a judgement. In the church we sometimes think that God is so loving and forgiving that he will just overlook evil and injustice and wrong forever. Things will carry on and gradually evolve into something better. But the biblical truth is that God is holy and righteous and one day will judge all that is unholy and unrighteous. Indeed, the Bible tells us that all of us will stand one day before the judgement throne of God. Our lives and the life of the world will be examined in the light of God s truth and holiness and righteousness. God will transform things to be in accord with God s original intention. God will make a new heaven and a new earth where righteousness is at home. And all that cannot be transformed or refuses to be transformed will be perish and be done away with forever. God is judge. It is a truth that must be spoken as we make known the unknown God. Here s the final thing we would tell our friend in making known the unknown God - God is Saviour.

4 4 When Paul spoke of God s coming day of judgement he added something. Paul said, God will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. (v. 31) God has put his judgement in the hands of the man whom he has raised from the dead none other than God s own Son Jesus Christ. Now we only have the bare outline of Paul s sermon at Athens, so we don t know how much more Paul said about Jesus. But certainly we would want to tell our friend this that in love God has provided a Saviour for us ahead of time. Jesus Christ, the God man, came into the world, took on our flesh, lived a righteous life without sin, then died on the Cross for our sin and was raised by God to live and reign forevermore. In Jesus God will judge the world one day. But through this same Jesus we can and will be saved. We could show that this is the pattern of God s saving grace. In Noah s day God brought judgement on an evil world. But before the floods came God had Noah build an ark to carry people safely through the judgement to the other side. Now only Noah and his family along with the animals actually boarded the boat. But there was room for many, many souls. And God has provided a Saviour for all people, a Saviour whom we can all trust. And everyone who puts their trust in Jesus now has nothing to fear when he comes again as judge. Trusting in Him we are forgiven of sin and made fit to live forever with our Holy Creator God. Trusting in Christ we will be carried safely over the waves of judgement into God s eternal Kingdom. We shall not perish but have eternal life. Of this God has given assurance by raising His Son from the dead. This is the truth we proclaim as we make known the unknown God God is Creator; God is near; God is Judge; God is Saviour. So we invite our friend to repent, that is, to turn from false ideas about God and to trust the true and living God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent. We who believe make that same act of repentance and faith, often, even daily. Acts tells us that some of the Athenians believed Paul s message. By God s grace we are numbered among those who believe. And we pray that God will bring faith alive in the hearts of all those with whom we share the message, all those to whom we make God known.

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