The Unknown God Part 1
Acts 17:16-34
The Bible tells us about the unpardonable sin, meaning the rejection of God that will lead you to Hell, but I believe the greatest sin a Christian can commit is to distort the true knowledge of God. We all have established in our hearts that the purpose of our church is “To Give Every Individual in our Community an Accurate Picture of God.” But we also know that it is impossible for any of us to communicate an accurate picture of God, if we ourselves don’t have an accurate picture.
John 17:3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 1John 5:20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
1. What Paul Saw
Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols.
A. Idols
Athens had been home to philosophers like Socrates, Plato, Aristotle. The entire city is filled with intellectuals. But the people of Athens still hungered fro spiritual things. According to R.C.H. Lenski “In Athens it was easier to find a god than a man.” Athens had a population of 10,000, but the city contained over 30,000 idols.
Rather than viewing it from the perspective of a tourist, he saw Athens as a city full of lost men and women, doomed to a Christless eternity. Jerusalem moved the Lord both to tears and to anger, and Athens likewise stirred Paul to holy anger. He hated idolatry because it robbed God of His glory.
Romans 1:23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
Luke tells us that Paul’s spirit was provoked. At Sinai, Moses spirit was provoked of the same reason. When he received the laws of God, the things that are an abominations to the Lord.
Exodus 20:3-5 "You shall have no other gods before me. [4] "You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. [5] You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,
When God told Moses to go down to see how corrupted the children of Israel have become.
The Golden Calf was an example of worshipping God by an Image
Exodus 32:4-6 And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!" [5] When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made proclamation and said, "Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord." [6] And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. 7 And the Lord said to Moses, "Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. (8) They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, ’These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’ [9] And the Lord said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. [10] Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you."
Moses Reaction
Exodus 32:19 And as soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses’ anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain.
God’s Judgement
Exodus 32:27-28 And he said to them, "Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ’Put your sword on your side each of you, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you kill his brother and his companion and his neighbor.’ " [28] And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And that day about three thousand men of the people fell.
In verse 30 Moses told the people that they have committed a great sin. Verse 35 the Lord struck them with a plague because of what they did.
Josiah the King, the moment the law was read to him, his spirit was provoked.
2 Kings 23:4-7 And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest and the priests of the second order and the keepers of the threshold to bring out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels made for d Baal, for Asherah, and for all the host of heaven. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel. [5] And he deposed the priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to make offerings in the high places at the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem; those also who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and the moon and the constellations and all the host of the heavens. [6] And he brought out the Asherah from the house of the Lord, outside Jerusalem, to the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron and beat it to dust and cast the dust of it upon the graves of the common people. [7] And he broke down the houses of l the male cult prostitutes who were in the house of the Lord, where the women wove hangings for the Asherah.
2 Kings 23:24-25 Moreover, Josiah put away the mediums and the necromancers and the household gods and the idols and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might establish the words of the law that were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord. [25] Before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses, nor did any like him arise after him.
B. Our Idols
Many of us who are well-meaning Christians are also guilty of exchanging the Glory of the immortal God for a god of our own making. This god is the result of reflection, not revelation. Let me give you 6 false images of God.
Setting up Idols (Images) in our Heart
Ezekiel 14:3-4 "Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their hearts, and set the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces. Should I indeed let myself be consulted by them? [4] Therefore speak to them and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Any one of the house of Israel who takes his idols into his heart and sets the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to the prophet, I the Lord will answer him as he comes with the multitude of his idols,
1. A Celestial Santa Claus – Santa lives at the North Pole surrounded by elves. We know that He keeps a list, checks it twice, finds out whose naughty and nice. Then once a year he give gifts. Santa is perceived to be omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent. All-giving, all-loving, and all-wise. In many ways you an I have this image of God who simply exist to meet our needs requiring nothing in return. Like Santa, God exists to provide but never to discipline or punish. What do we do with passages like:
James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.Hebrews 12:5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? "My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him.
2. A Divine Co-Pilot – If you’ve been on a plane the first person positioned at the front door of the plane, smiling, welcoming everyone is the Co-Pilot. His job is to be on standby ready to step in and help during emergency, but never in charge or in control. In many ways we well meaning Christians have this image of Jesus as our co-pilot. We have reduced Him to a supportive role. He is always there, watching and waiting our call. Never to act until asked.
Luke 6:46 "Why do you call me ’Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? Matthew 28:18 And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
3. A Heavenly Repair Man – the third distortion of God: seeing Him as a heavenly repairman, as a benevolent jack-of-all- trades who can fix anything. Sometimes we see God’s goodness just in a problem solving capacity. Steven Lawson say’s “this view of God implies that He’s great when we are in a fix but unnecessary when everything is going well. This robs Him of his true Goodness.
Hebrews 4:15-16 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. [16] Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Jeremiah 33:11 the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voices of those who sing, as they bring thank offerings to the house of the Lord: " ’Give thanks to the Lord of hosts, for the Lord is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!’ For I will restore the fortunes of the land as at first, says the Lord.
4. A Galactic Grandfather – the fourth distortion of God is regarding him as a grandfather. Most grandparent’s are full of love and affection to their grand kids, lacking in discipline. They can be won with a shed tear or a gentle hug. This perception of a God as loving us all over, never showing a trace of displeasure. Steven Lawson says that God as a senile sovereign. Yes the Bible tells us that He is a loving God, but it also tells us that He is also a God of wrath and justice. (Look @ what happen to the Children of Israel that failed to worship the true God – Exodus 20)
Romans 8:35-37 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? [36] As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." [37] No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
Hebrews 12:5-7 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? "My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. [6] For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives." [7] It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?
