Text: Acts 17:24-25, Title: Musings of a Seed-Picker 2, Date/Place: NRBC, 10/19/08, PM
A. Opening illustration: August 12th, 2000, I was getting my tux all ready to go, like 14 hours before the wedding for some unexplained reason, so I could hurry up and wait. Then the wedding director came in our little room and took me by the arm and led me to see Erika…then we said I do, under the impression that we knew this individual well that we were pledging our lives to…then that third month…then the five-year agreement to hold off on kids went out the window in six months…this should have been an indication that maybe we didn’t know each other as well as we thought. And I am sure those moments will keep coming…
B. Background to passage: Missionary journey #2. Spitefully treated in Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea, however planting churches in each of those places. Paul finds himself in Athens alone waiting on Silas and Timothy to come from Berea by boat. All that he sees reminds him of the One that has called him to bear the gospel to kings and princes, Jews and Gentiles. So, after going witnessing in the streets, the philosophers get ahold of him, and take him to the Areopagus to hear more from this seed-picker about Jesus and the resurrection. And after his introduction, the bulk of his message is describing the God that they do not know. It is a very theological message, but powerful none the less. In fact how we thin about God is really important. And constantly we need to be refreshed about what He says about Himself.
C. Main thought: In this text, we see the One True God as He is
A. He is Creator (v. 24)
1. Paul begins with the work of creation. And he clearly states that this unknown God made everything that was made in heaven and earth. The Epicureans said that there were no gods. The Stoics said that everything was god. And the Greeks believed that there were many gods, and many would have been involved in creation of certain things. Paul said, nope, there is One God who made it all. He is the author and finisher of all creation and life itself. In fact, creation itself testifies of the majesty of the Godhead who created her.
2. Isa 40:28, 45:18, Gen 1:1, Jer 32:17, Heb 1:1-3, John 1:3, Col 1:16, Heb 11:3, Ps 33:6, 9,
3. Illustration: William Provine of Cornell University said, “Darwinism is not just about mutations and fossils, it is a comprehensive philosophy stating that all of life can be explained by natural causes acting randomly—which implies that there is no need for the Creator. And if God did not create the world,” he notes, “then the entire body of Christian belief collapses.” All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen. — Emerson, our Baptist forefathers felt the need to revise the BF&M b/c of the threat of evolutionistic theory,
4. In our day the challenge of evolution hits at the very heart of this truth, seeking to undermine the Christian faith. Evolution is now the standard rather than the exception. Watching Billy Graham preach—what would he think now? The reason that this is so important is that people need to feel that there is a higher power who spoke them into existence and by implication can take them out (and God does still take people out). There is a major link from Creator to authority over. And the evidence for God in creation is mind-blowing. And you don’t have to be saved to see it; it is evident to all. In fact, the bible says that his eternal power and Godhead is revealed leaving everyone without an excuse if they are honest with the evidence and their own minds/hearts. Remind those you are sharing with that God created them
B. He is Lord (v. 24)
1. First Paul said that He made it, and now because He made it, He owns it. Not only does He own it, He runs it. Paul calls him Lord, Gr. kurios, which means the owner, master, or almighty, sovereign ruler. No Greek god held this kind of sway and power. They were only like men, only immortal, and slightly more powerful. And they were subject to other authorities. And most rulers were subject to other authorities. So to have one God who was absolute master was different.
2. Rev 19:16, 1 Tim 6:15, Philip 2:9-11,
3. Illustration: “He is Lord of heaven, Lord of earth, He is Lord all who live, He is Lord above the universe, all praise to Him we give,” Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ… Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble, it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him.” –Bonheoffer,
4. The absolute mastery of Christ is difficult for us democratically thinking, independently minded Americans to understand. There is always recourse for us in just about every situation. And this truth is the underlying reason why many people really do not want to believe. Oh, sure they give lots of reasons—the bible can’t be accurate, science disproves creation, hypocrites in the church, my feelings are hurt, too old-fashioned, don’t get anything out of it, etc., but what they really want is to run their lives their way. Nobody likes being told what to do. But the truth is either He is Lord of all in your life, or He is not Lord at all. There is no halfway.
C. He is Infinite (v. 24)
1. Next Paul speaks of the infinity and immensity of God. How foolish to think that a mere building could contain him! And that is the picture that Paul paints while standing among the rows of temples, shrines, and altars. Again, remember the Greek concept of worship—go to some temple and pay off a god with some act or sacrifice. Our God cannot be worshiped that way. He is a Spirit, and to worship Him, one must worship in spirit and truth. He is not bound by any limits. And to even think about such a concept is self-defeating. One cannot quantify infinity—that’s the point.
2. Isa 40:12, 22, 25-26, Ps 145:3, Job 11:7-9, Isa 66:1, 1 Kings 8:27
3. Illustration: think about a piece of paper that goes in every direction and has a one-inch line in the middle, that is time, quote on p. 44-45 of Tozer’s Knowledge of the Holy, Chris Tomlin calls Him, “indescribable, uncontainable, amazing, all-powerful, unchangeable…” Tozer says, quote p. 7 Attributes of God, vol. 1 about the little cheap God,
4. Don’t let you mind be lulled into the big ol’ grandfather in the sky distributing candy to his grandkids! Do not be conformed to our cultures weak pictures of Jesus as a powerless, hopeful deity, out there somewhere! Don’t treat him like Santa Claus! Let your mind be blown away with thinking deep thoughts about the character and nature of Almighty Jesus. Quote from Sex and the Supremacy of God, second part of the quote. Read authors that grasp the awesomeness of God. Throw don’t pidly fluffy, feel-good, pint-sized concepts of God found in lame denominational material and cheap Christian books. May God explode your brain with a fresh concept of a God who cannot dwell in a temple made with hands!
D. He is Self-Sufficient (v. 25)
1. God is self-sufficient and self-existent. He is uncaused, uncreated, undefended. No one ever brought God into being, because there was never a time when He was not. Tozer says about talking to a child who is asking who made God, “He knows that everything around Him came from something other than itself, and he simply extends the concept on up to God. The little philosopher is thinking in true creature-idiom and, allowing for his basic lack of basic information, he is reasoning correctly. He must be told that God has no origin, and he will find that hard to grasp since it introduces a category with which he is wholly unfamiliar…” He is independent being, we are dependent. He is a necessary being, we are contingent beings. To admit that God needed something is to admit a deficiency in God, something that He lacks. This would make Him insufficient and dependent on some outside source.
2. John 5:26, Ex 3:14, Ps 90:2, 1 Tim 1:17, 6:16,
3. Illustration: Someone said, if the whole world became atheists, it would not affect God one bit, other than the fact that he would be heartbroken, “To admit that there is One who lies beyond us, who exists outside of all our categories, who will not be dismissed with a name, who will not appear before the bar of our reason, nor submit to our curious inquiries: this requires a great deal of humility, more than most of us possess, so we save face by thinking God down to our level, or at least down to where we can manage Him.” “It is not a cheerful thought that millions of us who live in a land of Bibles, who belong to churches and labor to promote the Christian religion, may yet pass out whole life on this earth without once having thought or tried to think seriously about the being of God.”
4. God doesn’t need us to defend Him, nor angelic hosts, as if He has not infinite power and complete capability to take care of Himself. And this tends to bother us. We don’t like a being that is not accountable to something or someone. He doesn’t need someone to cheer Him up, or make excuses for His action or lack thereof. He doesn’t need helpers to bail him out of embarrassing situations. His is fully sufficient, completely self-existent, and although there are things from us that He desires (worship, love, fellowship), none of these things are truly needs—He has NO needs!
E. He is Giver/Sustainer (v. 25)
1. God is not only the source of creation and the beginning of life, but He is the sustainer of all life and non-living things, as well as the provider of everything for all creation. Most importantly He keeps all atoms in place in the universe, keeps properties of elements and structures consistent, keeps hearts beating at night, lungs working. If Jesus didn’t not uphold the world with His hand, it would fall. If he didn’t hold all things together, they would fly apart in chaos. He is the one that gives life, for He is the source; He sustains life; and He provides for our every need.
2. Col 1:17, Heb 1:3, Acts 17:28, Matt 6:26, 32, Gen 22:14, 2 Pet 1:3,
3. Illustration: He kept my kids hearts beating when I scared the daylights out of them the other morning, He also came through in a big way financially for us last week, At the height of the civil war conflict when asked if he thought he would succeed or fail, Lincoln said, "Without God I cannot succeed. With God I cannot fail."
4. Be in awe of His detailed care of all of the aspects of life. He is not only the source of physical life and material needs, but of spiritual life too. And He is the only one who possesses it inherently. We must learn to trust Him to provide that which we need. And this is a message that the unbelieving world needs to hear. Ultimately our “problems” are theological in nature. For God is the source of all things, and he has and will provide for us all we need for life and godliness. Not in a health and wealth kind of way, but everything we need for joy in Christ.
A. Closing illustration: “We try to promote religion, forgetting that it rests upon the character of God. If I have a low concept of God, my religion can only be a cheap, watery affair. But if my concept of God is worthy of God then it can be noble and dignified; it can be reverent, profound, beautiful. This is what I want to see once more among men.” –Tozer Attributes of God, vol. 1, God’s Perfection, p. 195-6, read the prayer that follows.
