Introduction: The Apostle Paul was in the city of Athens, Greece, waiting for his co-workers Timothy and Silas to join him there. While he waited I’m sure he must have spent some time walking the ancient streets of Athens. Perhaps he even toured The Parthenon, which was a temple built and dedicated to the Greek goddess Athena in the 5th century BC.
In verse 16 it tells us that Paul was “greatly distressed to see that the city of Athens was full of idols.” Then as he began to speak to the men of Greece in verse 22 he said, “I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god.”
Religions have existed since the beginning of time. Each country and culture tended to have their own gods. Most countries, with the exception of the nation of Israel were polytheistic in nature. Greece was certainly no exception to that rule. Greek Mythology had its beginnings around 3000 B.C. and had become fully developed by 700 B.C.
Greek mythology had several distinguishing characteristics. The Greek gods resembled humans in form and showed human feelings. Unlike ancient religions such as Hinduism or Judaism, Greek mythology did not involve special revelations or spiritual teachings. It also varied widely in practice and belief, with no formal structure, such as an organized church government. In addition it didn’t have a written code or sacred scriptures.
The Greeks believed that the gods chose Mount Olympus, in Northern Greece as their home. On Olympus, the gods formed a society that ranked them in terms of authority and powers. Zeus was the head of the gods, and the spiritual father of gods and people. The Greeks believed that there were 12 gods in all, and that these gods were free to go wherever they wanted. However, the individual gods were generally associated with three main domains—the sky or heaven, the sea, and earth.
Greek mythology emphasized the weakness of humans in contrast to the great and terrifying powers of nature, which was controlled by the gods. So the Greeks acknowledged that their lives were completely dependent on the good will of the gods. The Greeks believed that they were essentially at the mercy of the gods, who could either bless them or curse them at the drop of a hat, depending on whether the gods were pleased with them or not. Therefore, the people became very superstitious and would go out of their way to make sure they didn’t do anything to offend the gods.
By the time the Apostle Paul arrived in Athens, Greek mythology had become deeply rooted in every aspect of Greek life. Each city devoted itself to a particular god or group of gods, for whom the citizens often built temples of worship. They regularly honored the gods in festivals, which high officials supervised. At festivals and other official gatherings, poets recited or sang great legends and stories.
Greek parents taught their children about the gods at home. Different parts of the home were dedicated to certain gods, and people offered prayers to those gods at regular times throughout the day. An altar of Zeus, for example, might be placed in the courtyard, while an altar to the god Apollo might be located in another part of the house. Since they didn’t want to offend any of the gods were careful to honor all of them in some way. We see that in our text when the Apostle Paul noted that the people of Athens had even built an altar to “An Unknown God.”
Like the Apostle Paul I must admit to you this morning that I am deeply distressed at the Spiritual climate of the nation of Greece. While the Greek Orthodox Church is officially a Christian church and was founded by true believers, over the centuries false doctrine has made its way into the church to the point that the church is now keeping millions of people from knowing and experiencing the Truth of the gospel message.
1. The first thing I want to share with you this morning is that like the people the Apostle Paul spoke to in Athens, the Greek people today are still very religious people.
A. 97 % of people in Greece belong to the Greek Orthodox Church. 3 % are Muslims, and less than one tenth of one percent are what we would call Evangelical Christians. As we were touring the city of Thessaloniki on Monday, June 16th we came to a place where we could look out over the majority of the city. It was there that Sean Whently who is one of our Southern Baptist Missionaries told us that of the 1 million people living in Thessaloniki today there are maybe only 1,000 who are true believers. He went on to say that there are only 3 Evangelical churches in the entire city, and of those there are no Southern Baptist Churches.
B. During the reign of Alexander the Great the Greek Mythology was the dominant religion. However, when the Roman Emperor Constantine I converted to Christianity around 312 A.D. he immediately Christianized the Entire Roman Empire including Greece. Essentially the Greeks went to bed one night as pagans and when they woke up the next morning they were Christians. Since they were never truly converted from their pagan beliefs they simply began incorporating those beliefs into the Orthodox religion.
C. After the fall of the Roman Empire the Turks invaded Greece in 1453 and occupied it for 400 years. The Turks outlawed the Greek language and culture, but the Orthodox priests secretly taught people the Greek language, history and religion. As a result the Greek Orthodox Church is still seen today as the Savior of the Greek way of life. This explains why people believe that to be Greek is to be Orthodox regardless of whether they actually believe in God or not. To leave the Orthodox Church for any other church is considered treason against your country, your family and your way of life.
D. I would like to share the following beliefs of the Greek Orthodox Church.
1. The Greek Orthodox Church teaches that God is so Great, so Holy, so Awesome that there is no way that our finite human minds can comprehend or understand Him.
This belief comes directly from Greek Mythology. The ancient Greeks taught that the gods were powerful and in complete control of everything but that they were so great that the average person could never comprehend or understand them. So therefore the idea of having a personal love relationship with God is totally absurd to the Greeks.
2. They also believe that God is much too busy to hear our prayers, which is why they pray to Mary and the Saints. Let me attempt to help you understand their argument here.
If you wanted to get a message to President Bush but didn’t know him personally then at first it might seem impossible for you to do so. However, if you knew his mother or if the two of you shared a mutual friend then you could ask his mother or his friend to relay your message to the President. That is essentially the reason the Greek Orthodox Church believes in praying to Mary and the Saints. They see them as intermediaries between God and themselves. Of course this teaching isn’t Biblical in fact in 2 Timothy 2:5 the Apostle Paul wrote, “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men.”
I had the opportunity the first Sunday I was in Greece to attend a Greek Orthodox service, which was a very eye opening experience. I saw first hand the way the people prayed and even worshipped the icons of Mary and the saints.
When the people came into the church and as they approached the Icon of their chosen saint they would cross themselves. Then they would kiss the Icon and say a prayer. I’ll never forget a young father bringing his small son who looked to be about 2 years old into the church and taking that child over to an Icon and having that child kiss the Icon.
I even saw one place where several people had written out their prayers and left them on the table in front of the Icon or placed them in the picture frame itself.
After doing this they would take a candle and light it which they believe is another way of getting the attention of the saints and asking them to please pass their prayer on to God. They also believe that if a person has sinned that that individual must light a candle when asking for forgiveness. The worse the sin is the more candles they have to light.
Since the churches are not open 24 hours a day many Greeks have established little shrines on their property. They buy one of these little ‘churches’ and use it to light their candles in and say their prayers. This keeps them from having to go to the church all of the time. However, for the shrine to be acceptable the Priest must first bless it and dedicate it to the Lord. Which of course the priests are happy to do for a small fee.
The Greeks are very superstitious people, which I believe can also be attributed to Greek Mythology.
(1) Before they will move into a new house or into a new business they will have the Orthodox priest come and bless the home or business and sprinkle “Holy Water” in all of the rooms.
(2) They also believe that Evil Spirits are everywhere and so to ward of the evil spirits they “spit” at them. I’m not sure what the significance of that is, but they somehow believe that will keep the evil spirits away from them.
(3) When driving around town or riding the bus if they pass an Orthodox church they will cross themselves because they don’t want to offend the saints who would then in turn not deliver their prayers to God.
3. The Greeks believe the Bible is God’s Word, however they don’t read it because they
have been taught by the Church that only the priests can correctly interpret the Word of God. This is of course is a huge obstacle for our Missionaries to overcome as they seek to start Bible Study groups.
So I think it’s pretty obvious that Greeks are very religious people, but unfortunately Satan is using their religion and their sense of Greek nationalism to blind them from the Truth of the Gospel message. In 2 Corinthians 4:4 the Apostle Paul said, “the god of this age (which is Satan) has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”
So one of the things we need to be praying about is that God would open the eyes of the Greek people and help them to see the Light and truth of the Gospel message.
II. But you know what, the Greeks aren’t the only ones who have substituted a religion for a Relationship with God.
Many Americans including some who are members of Southern Baptist Churches have done the same thing. Their religion makes them feel better about themselves but unfortunately it also gives them a sense of false security when it comes to Eternity.
(1) These people attend church on a regular basis. To some people regularly means twice a year at Christmas and Easter. While to others it means attending services at least once a week.
(2) Even though most of these individuals don’t tithe they do give some money to the church, more out of a sense of obligation than anything else however.
(3) Many of these people attend Sunday School every week, although they probably spend more time talking about other things that are going on in their lives than they do about the Lesson.
(4) They attend the worship services and sing the hymns and some even pray, but they aren’t really worshipping God, they are simply going through the motions. They never really experience God in worship and therefore they leave the worship service unchanged. They may feel good about having been in church and done their religious duty, but the concept or idea of having really experienced the Presence of God in their lives is completely foreign to them.
Conclusion: Whether we want to admit it or not we have to some extent been influenced by Greek Mythology and other religions.
(1) Many people today who consider themselves to be Christians are Christian in name only. They don’t really believe it’s possible to have a personal love relationship to Jesus Christ.
(2) Many people who attend church services every week do so not because they love the Lord and want to worship Him, but instead they are afraid of what He might do to them if they don’t go to church.
(3) More and more people in America and around the world are convinced that there are many different ways to get to Heaven. Of course we know that that isn’t true. Jesus said, “I am the way the truth and the Life, No man comes to the Father except through me.” But many people today don’t accept that. Instead they believe it doesn’t really matter what you believe as long as you are sincere.
Yet these religious activities cannot save them, and are instead keeping them from really understanding the truth of the gospel. Satan doesn’t care if a person goes to church, he doesn’t even care if they are very religious. He just doesn’t want them to become a true believer.
Illustration: There is a fable that says that Satan met with three Demons who were preparing to come to earth and attempt to deceive men, women, boys and girls. The first Demon told the Devil that he planned to tell everyone that there is no God. The Devil responded by saying, well that’s good and you will deceive some but most people realize that there is a God. The second Demon said, well I plan on convincing people that there is no such place as Hell. The devil responded by saying that his plan was good, and he would deceive some but that the majority of people already knew that Hell was a very real place. The third Demon said, well my plan is to convince people that all they have to do to get to heaven is to be a religious person. Satan laughed and said, that is absolutely brilliant go and you will deceived them by the millions.
What about you this morning? Do you have a personal love relationship with Jesus Christ, or has Satan decieved you into thinking that you are going to Heaven simply because you are a religious person.
