It has happened again! We have entered into yet another year in which most of us have spent time contemplating goals, wishes, and resolutions, hopefully to be fulfilled during 2012. I would like to add a personal note here and speak blessings of God upon your life this year as you seek to follow His will and purpose for your life. May you come to know the abundance of a glorious relationship with our Heavenly Father, through His Son, by the power of His Spirit. Also, thanks for taking the time to read this blog as posts are published. I pray that these thoughts would be a blessing to you as we all seek to drink deeply from The Well.
We have been placed by God in the midst of a chance oriented society. As we have conversations with friends and family, as well as watch T.V. and other displays of pop-culture, language of chance is prominent. We hear phrases and thoughts based on luck and Karma. Consider, if you will, how much of what we see, hear, and read, is based on the unknown, or suggests a force greater than ourselves. A force that impacts the outcome of the events of our lives.
The Apostle Paul experienced similar contexts; Conversations and teachings based on the latest thoughts and philosophies of pop-culture. We join this story in Acts 17, where Paul is in Athens, waiting for Silas and Timothy to join him on his journey. As we read, beginning in verse 16, we see how Paul begins to deal with new, popular thoughts of the culture.
16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. 18 A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. 19 Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20 You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean.” 21 (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)
22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 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. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.
In this scene, we see Paul beginning the process of defining the unknown, which I believe is our call from God for this new year. Our society around us is full of alters with the inscription, "To an unknown god." Our world needs to know that which is unknown. So then, what is the process of defining the unknown? The first step is found in verse 16, where we see that Paul is in great distress as he views all of the idols of Athens. We must have a holy distress as we observe all of the idols of America, our community, and of our churches.
As Paul was speaking to the men of Athens, he shows us the next step of defining the unknown; Finding God in obvious places. We see that Paul is speaking to a philosophically educated group of people. These are the academically elite of the day. So what does he do? He dives in to their world of books, poems, and philosophies to show them the unknown God. We rejoin the conversation in verse 24.
24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
Paul's words in verse 28 come from well know literature of the day by Epimenides, Aratus, and from Hymn to Zeus, by Cleanthes. Why does he do that? He finds descriptions of God from worldly sources to be able to show the world the unknown God.
Lastly, Paul speaks the truth in boldness. He doesn't shy away from what needs to be said. He discovers a way that will most connect with his audience, and he speaks the "good news about Jesus and the resurrection."
So where does all of this leave us? As one of our Vineyard teens said today, "Everybody (the body of Christ) needs to wake up!" The Body of Christ needs to come out from among the world and position herself in holy distress. As we look upon all of the idols in our land, we need to grieve that conditions have deteriorated to the point that our society is seeking popular talk show hosts for spiritual guidance regarding how to get to God. We should be in mourning over the fact that very influential Christian men and women are watering down the Word of God, as to be more appealing to the world. Rather, we should not be conformed to patterns of the world, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds. (Rom. 12:1-2)
Out of our distress, we must observe obvious ways that God can be pointed out to those who only know him as the "unknown god." If it is sports people worship, we should affirm the God-given talents of favorite teams and ask, "What God-given talents do you have?" and "How can I help you use your talents for God's glory?" If it is success that is being worshiped, we should honor the person's hard work and dedication, then point out that we are to do all things for the glory of God. We could then ask, "How can we give God the glory in our successes?" or, "Who else can benefit from our gains?"
As we embrace a pivotal year for the Body of Christ, let us remember that all things are possible for those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose. (Rom. 8:28) In a year where our society will be focusing countless hours on building a stronger economy, millions of dollars will be spent on negative political advertising, and multitudes will be wrestling with whether or not the world will end on December 21, we must be transformed. All of these things speak of an unknown god. All of these concerns should be used by the church to uncover the truths of Christ.
It's time to go to Athens. Where is your Athens? School? Work? Church?
What do you see? What idols are around you?
What do you hear? What are people saying about God?
Where is the search for God most obvious?
Be the Church.
Define the Unknown.
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