There is a difference between morality, religion, and Christianity. A person can be

Transcription

1 1 "The Proclamation of the Unknown God" Acts 17:22-31 Easter Immanuel Lutheran Church, Hamilton, Ohio Pastor Kevin Jud Acts 17:16-31, 1 Peter 3:13-22, John 14:15-21 There is a difference between morality, religion, and Christianity. A person can be quite moral without being a Christian. A person can be quite religious without being moral or a Christian. The Christian, however, is religious and, as a fruit of faith, desires to live a moral life. In our first reading, the Apostle Paul is on his 2nd missionary journey. He has been proclaiming Christ Crucified and Risen in Thessalonica and Berea. Fleeing a violent mob, Paul is taken to Athens, and is waiting for Timothy and Silas to rejoin him. Making the most of the opportunity, Paul presents Christianity to the leading philosophers of the city of Athens -- the native city of Socrates and Plato, and the adopted city of Aristotle, Epicurus, and Zeno. This is a strategic event for the spread of the Gospel among the Gentiles. As he enters Athens, Paul sees that the city is full of idols. Immediately Paul begins to proclaim Jesus and the resurrection. He does this in the synagogue where Jews and others are worshipping. This spills out into the marketplace. Soon there are philosophers debating with him. We see Paul encounter moral and religious men who are without eternal life and salvation and to them he proclaims the Unknown God. The Areopagus is a 370 foot high hill in Athens. The name is classical Greek for "hill of Ares." In Greek mythology, Ares (or Mars in Latin) is the god of war, bloodshed,

2 2 strife, and pestilence -- the son of Zeus. The assembled men of Athens make up a large audience for Paul to share the Gospel. The assembly includes Epicureans (who do not believe in God, but that the world was created by a fortunate collision of atoms) and Stoics (who believe that the gods are everywhere). Both groups are intellectuals who study philosophy and engage in academic debate. So Paul, standing in the middle of the Areopagus, said: "Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious." All around Paul are statues, temples, shrines, and altars filling the public places and the city generally. From Zeus and Athena they all have their devotees; there are statues and shrines in every house. Festivals to these gods are celebrated in grand style. All the temples have their priests or priestesses. Is it any wonder that Paul says, Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious? If the Apostle Paul traveled around our country today, visiting public places, examining our society and culture, looking at our artifacts, coming into homes he would probably make the same announcement, "People of the United States, people of southwest Ohio, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. I have seen your coins with the words, 'In God we trust.' I have heard you stand together and as you pledged allegiance to your nation 'under God.' At civic events and before the graduations you have invoked God. I have seen rock stars wearing crucifixes and gangsters with cross tattoos. I have seen little Buddha statues on dashboards and baseball players making the sign of the cross before going to bat. I have seen yoga studios and yin yang symbols in gumball machines. From pushers to politicians. From criminals to corporate leader. From the multitude of churches and synagogues to the minaret of the Islamic Center on I-75, I perceive that you are very religious.

3 3 Your bookstores have huge religion sections with topics from transcendental meditation to new age spiritualism to Bible diet books. You throw salt over your shoulder and will not walk under a ladder. With your mouths you use the name of God to damn things and even people. Indeed, I perceive that in every way you are very religious." But remember, being religious does not necessarily mean that one has eternal life or is saved. If that were the situation, then Paul would never have had to continue with his address to the Athenians, and you would not need to hear anything from this pulpit. If that were so, then all we would need to hear from someone would be, "Don't worry about me, I believe in God." Regardless of how much a person might believe, or how religious a person might be, where faith is focused is immensely and eternally important. That is why Paul does not stop talking when he perceives that the men of Athens are very religious. He tells them as I passed along, and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, To an unknown god. The Athenians had constructed an altar to an unknown god. Perhaps they are covering their bases in case they missed a god. Maybe it was for a god of whom they had heard a little, but they did not know his name, his power, or his work. Paul intended to consider this altar and its inscription only as a confession on the part of the Athenians that, despite their many gods, one God existed and they knew about Him. They knew about him, but they did not, in any way, know Him. It is as Jesus said John 14:15-17 (ESV) 15 If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

4 4 How Paul continues may, at first, seem strange. He does not appeal to the Scriptures and that is appropriate in this case. In dealing with unbelievers, an appeal to the Scriptures is useless; they don t believe the Bible. So Paul appeals to the Almighty God and His creative work. Acts 17:24-29 (ESV) 24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28 for In him we live and move and have our being ; as even some of your own poets have said, For we are indeed his offspring. 29 Being then God s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. 1 He presents God, the omnipotent Creator and Ruler, who is absolute and sufficient in Himself. He lays special stress on man's relation to God, who as His creature is altogether dependent on Him and His gifts -- who is intended to worship God. Then Paul continues to deal with the topic of the patience, the expectations, and the plans that this true God has -- past patience, present expectations, future action. Acts 17:30-31 (ESV) 30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he 1 The Holy Bible : English Standard Version. Wheaton : Standard Bible Society, 2001

5 5 will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. 2 God's patience with man's foolishness will end. In the past, in order to wait for the fullness of time when the Christ would come, God did not render judgment on sin. Or, as our epistle reading today declares, God waited patiently in the days of Noah. In the present He calls for repentance. Like John the Baptist, Jesus also looks for fruit that befits repentance. Today's Gospel says it, Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. In the future, He has set a day of judgment. The Bible is clear that the day of reckoning will come -- the righteous Judge will arrive. Paul tells his listeners that this judgment will take place and of this God has given assurance to all men by raising Jesus from the dead. This is when most of the Athenians stop listening to Paul -- this is the stumbling block -- the Resurrection of Jesus. Many mock Paul for preaching Jesus risen from the dead but some say, We will hear you again about this. Jesus risen from the dead. This is the Unknown God Whom Paul is called to proclaim. This is the One that the Church is to announce is Lord and God. This is the One Paul wants to tell them about, but for most it doesn't happen. The hardness of their hearts and the stubbornness of their wills keeps Paul from telling most of them that Jesus is Lord and He desires so much to be their God that He came to give His Life on the cross for them -- that He graciously announces, Because I live, you also will live. This Lord Jesus says to you, "I have loved you with an everlasting love. I have given you My Word which is able to make you wise unto salvation and to comfort you in times of tragedy I have given you my Promise that gives you hope when 2 The Holy Bible : English Standard Version. Wheaton : Standard Bible Society, 2001

6 6 all earthly hope disappears I have given my Good News to you that I have redeemed you, I have called you by Name and you are Mine." From centuries ago to the present, the Church has been entrusted with the Gospel; this Gospel with which you are being nurtured this morning, this Gospel with which the people of God continue to witness to those, like the men of Athens, who have never heard the Good News concerning the unknown God; this Gospel that brings forgiveness, life and salvation. This unknown God we proclaim because we know Him in our Lord Jesus. Pray that we may never tire nor grow weary of The Proclamation of the Unknown God! Amen.