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 1^st 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.