Paul in Athens (Part 3)
Scripture: Acts 17:22-23 (ESV)
22 So Paul, standing in the midst of
the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very
religious. 23 For as
I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar
with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as
unknown, this I proclaim to you.
Devotion:
In
today’s scripture reading, Paul has been brought voluntarily to the Areopagus
so that he can explain exactly what he is telling the people. The people of
Athens were always willing to listen to new religious thoughts. As Paul notes
in verse 22, they were a very religious people. The town was home to many
objects and places of worship. The people of Athens were free to worship any
God they chose at any time. The founders of the United States of America may
have had this kind of freedom in mind when they wrote the 1st Amendment
to the Constitution.
Paul,
however, found the many places of idol worship very irritating to his soul. So,
he chose to single out one to try to explain to the people the message of the
gospel he was preaching. The Athenians were so completely given over to worshiping
and honoring all the gods that they even built an altar to an unknown god just
in case they missed one. Paul latches on to that altar to explain that there is
a God that is unknown to the men and women of Athens.
Jesus,
the Messiah of the Jews and the world, was unknown to them. In their desire to
worship every god, they missed the one true God who created the heavens, the
earth, and everything in them. Paul preaches that the people can know this God
and worship Him in Spirit and Truth. Indeed, as Paul will explain, they can do
away with all their idols and worship Jesus instead. Why was it so hard for the
Gentiles to accept this new religion? All religious systems in that day,
including the Jews, involved the sacrifice of animals to appease the gods.
Christianity said that this Jesus they worshipped had performed the ultimate sacrifice,
and they need not bother with the smoke and blood of animal sacrifice.
While
bloodless, smokeless sacrifice may not seem so odd to those raised in 21st-century
America, it was a shock to the ears of the Athenians. It signaled a complete
change in the purpose of religious worship. What seems ordinary to us today was
radical to its first hearers. Americans do not sacrifice animals to any of our
modern idols. No one sets their iPhone up and sacrifices some animal for it. However,
we are diligent about recharging our phones and ensuring they never run out of
energy. With all our technology, however, we build systems of worship to honor
them. Let us pray for deliverance from the worship of idols of all kinds in our
modern world.
Prayer:
Lord,
we come before you today, recognizing our dependence on the idols of our
culture. We may no longer take the lives of animals to appease our gods.
Nevertheless, we still pay them homage and treat them with dignity and respect
that we only owe to you, God. You created the technology that drives modern
society, and we have turned that technology into an idol. Forgive us, Lord. Please
help us to restore you to the throne of our hearts. Help us, Lord, to recover
the respect and awe we only owe you. Amen.
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