01/05/2009

ACTS 17:22-31 NIV


22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: "Men 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. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.
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, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. 27 God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each 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.'
29 "Therefore since we are God's offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man's design and skill. 30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead."

This is a sermon that Paul gave to the Athenians. He is telling them that he went around and was looking at the different objects of worship. He told them that he knew they were very intelligent men and they were curious and had respect for religion but it was only within their traditions. They didn't want to miss out so they had many altars for gods. Sometimes that happens even today. There are some churches who don't want to miss out on God so they let every "fad" come in to the church. Paul found that the Athenians were worshipping false gods. They had so many gods, many more altars and more festivals than many of the other people. He spoke to them of a specific altar that he saw that had an inscription "to an unknown god." Paul told them of the true God whom he had served. He told them to repent of all the false objects of worship and come to the one and only true God. In Verse 27, he told them to seek the Lord. We have been hearing a lot lately about seeking the Lord. This is so important. I also like in Verse 30 where Paul says that "in the past God overlooked such ignorance" now he "commands all people everywhere to repent." God has appointed a day when He will judge the world. So we need to look at ourselves and repent of anything that is not of God. We will find that many times we have worshipped false idols. A false idol can be anything that we love more than God. Be careful where you go to worship. Don't just go to any old worship service. Make sure you seek God and ask him where you should go. Remember in the last days even the elect will be deceived. There is only one God - He is the creator of heaven and earth. Search for Him - He is not far from us.