Introduction:
1. Who is the God we serve? What makes him different from other gods? (Subject)
a. Greeks and Romans believed in a pantheon of gods who exercised control over particular areas of the world and human life.
b. Products of ancient folklore; existed in stories, minds.
2. In our "enlightened" age, the creation and worship of fictional gods seems primitive.
3. PEOPLE HAVE ALWAYS CREATED GODS FOR THEMSELVES.
Ø Israel created its own god of revelry in the golden calf.
Ø The Canaanites created their fertility god, Baal.
Ø The Greeks and Romans created their pantheon of immoral and often treacherous gods.
4. MODERN PEOPLE ARE NO EXCEPTION.
a. Custom-design their own imaginary god who is tolerant of their lifestyle and values.
· "I believe in God; I love God," they claim.
b. What they mean is that they believe in and love a god.
EX: 2 people both knowing someone named Joe Noles, but discover it not same one.
1) People may refer to their god by same name as we do, but when they describe him--what kind of God he is, you find out it’s not the same God.
· In one sense, they have a warped view of God.
· In another sense, they believe in a different god altogether.
2) The true God has revealed himself in his Word.
3) The god that many believe in is not the same as the one revealed in Scripture.
· They didn’t get their god from the Bible; they created him from their own ideas.
· They believe in and love a god, and they may even believe there is only one, but it is not the God of the Bible.
5. What good is a man-made god? (blessings? salvation?)
6. THIS WAS THE FRUSTRATION OF PAUL AND BARNABUS as they tried to introduce the power of the Gospel in Lystra (Acts 14:6-18).
a. Lystra full of pagan religion (temple to Zeus).
b. Paul and Barnabus came preaching Christ.
c. Paul performed miracle (paralytic)—hoping to bring the people to faith in the Lord.
d. People attributed it to their pagan gods.
· Believed Paul and Barnabus were Zeus and Hermes incognito.
e. Paul and Barnabus exasperated & tried stop sacrifices.
· Chided the people: & v. 15-17.
7. Paul paints a miniature PORTRAIT OF THE TRUE GOD. Notice the main features. Who is the God that we serve? What is he like?
The LIVING God (v. 15)
A. The true God doesn’t exist only in epics or in minds—HE LIVES.
1. He is the essence of being (only one whose very nature is to exist) . . .
· "I AM" (Ex. 3.14)
2. He exists independently of human recognition . . .
B. A living God stands IN CONTRAST TO WORTHLESS, IMAGINARY GODS.
. The god which most people believe in—as they have defined and characterized him—exists only in their imaginations.
a. E.g., Many believe in a god who doesn’t expect much out of them except to be a basically "good" person.
· He’s not real concerned about premarital sex, as long as there is love;
· He is not the originator of any particular religion;
· He doesn’t care whether you are a part of a church or not.
b. This god (as they envision him) doesn’t exist.
· He is "alive" only in their minds, and dies if they quit believing.
· He is no more real than Zeus or Hermes!
2. The true God lives, even if they (or everyone) don’t acknowledge him.
C. THE ADJECTIVE "LIVING" BRINGS MANY IMAGES TO MIND.
1. God is animated (to many, God is just a concept/idea)
a. He moves and acts.
b. He has acted in time and space.
c. He continues to act today (powerfully, but more subtly).
2. He is dynamic.
EX: Like a masterfully-written symphony (soft/loud).
a. Sometimes he’s loud and aggressive (EX: Sodom & Gomorrah; moving worship)
b. Sometimes he’s very quiet and barely discernible (EX: "still, small voice"; battling emptiness)
· A living God is dynamic; he doesn’t always act the same way.
3. God is not a cold, impersonal force (center of energy or energy in everything)
a. He is warmth and love.
b. He feels anger, sympathy, compassion, satisfaction, understanding, humor.
c. He thinks and reasons.
d. He is a God you can draw near to and embrace.
· When the foundations of your world are crumbling, you may fall into his open arms and experience his tender care.
ä No imaginary god can boast any of these things.
The Creating God (v. 15b)
A. GREEKS DID NOT BELIEVE GODS ETERNAL, NOR CREATORS OF WORLD.
1. Nature was eternal and it gave birth to the first gods (who gave birth to other gods).
2. Their gods were finite and imperfect—Why worship?
a. More reasonable to worship nature.
b. We say, "Irrational!" but how different than people today worshipping gods of their own mental creation?
B. THE TRUE GOD HAD NO BEGINNING. He was not created; he is the Creator.
1. Not responsible for only one or two forces in nature; responsible for all of it.
2. Greeks: Zeus rules (sky), his brother Poseidon (sea), his brother Hades (underworld), all three (land)—but didn’t create.
3. Paul stresses one God not only rules but made everything (sky, land, sea, everything)
a. The harmony (all parts in complex whole) indicates a single Mind behind it.
(EX: Like Bible)
b. Even destructive forces play their part.
C. THE CREATING WORK OF GOD TELLS US A LOT ABOUT HIM.
1. His boundless power - & Job 26.7-14.
2. A creating God is a creative God—unlimited ideas.
a. Where are ideas born? (the imagination; from asking, "What if . . . ?")
EX: Consider imagination of 3 engineers who (1971) invented microprocessing chip.
b. Who can imagine the imagination of God?
& Psa. 139.17-18.
c. Unlike humans, when God imagines, it becomes reality with mere force of will.
3. A creating God (as opposed to created) also has rights over his creation.
a. He is the potter and can do as he wishes with the clay.
b. He has all authority, and we as his creatures cannot rightfully talk back saying, "Why did you make me like this?" (Rom. 9.20-21).
c. If God is the creating God, we must seek to fulfill purpose for which created.
The Long-Suffering God
A. In spite of the true God’s greatness, FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS NATIONS WORSHIPPED CREATIONS OF THEIR OWN HUMAN MINDS.
1. (Already asked) How can people be so blind?
2. Even more puzzling, how could the true God put up with it? But - & v. 16
a. Doesn’t mean God did not hold them accountable.
b. Means that God was patient (gave time).
· If there was one thing the Greek gods were not known for, it was being long-suffering.
· Paul is saying, "It’s only because of God’s patience that he hasn’t destroyed you!"
B. WE OFTEN WONDER WHY THE WORLD HAS TO BE THE WAY IT IS.
1. Why must innocent suffer abuse? Why corruption, immorality, hate, rape and murder? Why doesn’t God stamp out the evil-doers? We want justice right now!
2. Then we remember that we were once one of the evil-doers.
a. We deserved to be stamped out.
b. How grateful we are that God gave us time to change.
3. Why should he not give the same opportunity to others?
a. He wants every broken relationship restored!
b. Requires patience rather than immediate retribution (2 Pet. 3.9).
c. God has power to be forceful; but he tempers his power with his love.
d. Wants what is highest & noblest in us to voluntarily come out.
e. Gives us opportunity for repentance and personal growth.
4. In the interest of becoming more godly, we need to be more patient w/ each other.
The Evident God
A. Although long-suffering (even towards tendency to design/worship own gods), he strongly desires that we recognize, worship and obey him.
B. HE LEFT CLUES OR TESTIMONY ABOUT HIMSELF in nature and the affairs of daily life - & v. 17a
· What is this testimony that speaks to all of the true God?
1. His good blessings (rains, fruitful harvests, food and gladness).
2. God blesses abundantly, to the point that we are "filled" or "satisfied."
C. Note: The particular blessings mentioned are significant (in relat. to their beliefs).
1. Zeus considered god of rain and Hermes believed to be responsible for prosperity.
2. "It’s not Zeus who sends rain nor Hermes that brings wealth! It’s the one true God! These things meant to draw you to him; instead gone after cheap imitations!"
[Here’s where questions get more difficult:]
D. WHY DID PAUL THINK PEOPLE SHOULD SEE THERE IS ONLY ONE TRUE GOD FROM BLESSINGS HE GIVES THROUGH NATURE AND PROVIDENCE?
· Why unreasonable to think these things came from their different pagan gods?
1. (?) Little justification for believing that a god who didn’t create nature could control it.
2. (?) Kind of gods that Greeks embraced hardly explained the existence of the world.
3. Question remains: Is Paul really arguing that the fact that there are not many gods, but a single Creator (monotheism) can be deduced from nature alone? And that this single Creator is benevolent and wants worshippers? --If so, how?
Ø If no special revelation, could we (through examining nature & life) come to this conclusion?
Ø Even further, ought we to come to this conclusion? (EX: Africans)
a. In this passage, seems Paul is crying out in frustration in the middle of a chaotic scene more than trying to present a logical argument for the existence of God.
b. As to the general question of whether God can be known apart from a special revelation, the answer must be no.
1) Knowing God is a matter of relationship, and
2) No substantial relationship possible w.o./ first knowing the other’s "story."
3) God’s "story" is learned only through his Word.
· May become aware of God from nature, but can’t know him.
4) I come to know God when I become familiar with his story (he knows mine) and when our on-going stories then come together into one.
EX: Human relationships; learn other’s stories gradually, and the more we learn, the better we know them. But relationships are not just about knowing each other’s stories, but also allowing them to become one.
c. Paul is not necessarily saying that nature proves monotheism (otherwise faith is no longer faith).
d. He is saying that the Greek pantheon and other pagan deities do not adequately account for the world and human experience.
1) Nature leads us toward a belief in the one true God.
2) Evidence for the one true God may be found all around us, pointing us in his direction.
3) Ultimately it is the will to believe, and the faith or conviction which the Word of God inspires, that leads to a relationship of commitment.
· Not until a person wants to believe, and goes searching for God, will he find him.
Conclusion:
1. IT IS EVIDENT THAT THE TRUE GOD EXISTS.
· All we have to do is open eyes, ears (consider universe, blessings)
2. HE DIFFERS FROM THE GODS we sometimes design for ourselves IN THAT:
a. He is a living Being, rather than a figment of our imagination.
b. He is our Creator, rather than our creation.
3. Though we may have acted foolishly in creating a god in our own image, the true God has been very patient with us and continued to love us.
a. He longs to save us, to bless us and to give us his power to live a victorious and holy life.
b. We must leave our imaginary gods behind and seek to come to know him.
c. It will be an eternally rewarding discovery!
PORTRAITS OF GOD
(Acts 14.15-17)
The LIVING God
The CREATING God
The LONG-SUFFERING God
The EVIDENT God
