Knowing the Unknown God

Introduction

Paul’s waiting in Athens has not gone as planned. He has been moved to ministry by what he has witnessed there and now he has been given the opportunity to address the leadership of the city at Mars Hill.

Tonight we will take a look at the message that Paul preached to the Athenians and how he sought to introduce them to the unknown God that they had been ignorantly worshipping.

We should take particular notice of the way that Paul addresses them as it will help us to know the means by which we can introduce people in our world today to God.

Paul does not here begin at Abraham, Jacob, and Isaac but instead leads them to God down a different path.

Paul instead begins to introduce them to the true and living God. Paul’s desire is to lead them to:

Acknowledge the Existence of God (Vs. 24-26)

Paul begins at creation. Herein lies the most obvious evidence of the existence of God. How is it possible for anyone to explore the wonders of the world and come to any other conclusion than that there must be a designer behind it all.

Paul presents to the Athenians one God who is creator, sustainer, and controller of all things!

This would have been true in Paul’s day and should be even more so today as we have learned of the intricate detail of even the smallest components of creation.

The commonality and at the same time the variety in creation is the one of the greatest evidences in support of the existence of God.

He then moves to the fact that it is God who ultimately sustains and controls life. He declares that it is God who gives them breath and life and ultimately all things.

He declares to them that it is God who controls the rise and fall of nations and peoples appealing to their knowledge of history.

All of these appeals are designed to bring the Athenians to the realization that there is one God who rules over all.

Paul’s desire is that they would first acknowledge the existence of one true God and that they would recognize the false deities which they worshipped as but the work of men’s hands.

Psalm 14:1- fool said there is no God

Acceptance that God can be known (Vs. 27-30)

Paul’s point is that God has revealed Himself through creation and through His intervention in the events of history in order that men might seek Him.

God has sovereignly worked among men so that they may have the opportunity to know Him.

This would have been a very strange concept for the majority of the Athenians as many may have acknowledged the existence of deity but never had imagined that they might be able to have any relationship to God.

It is Paul’s desire to convince them that God can be known. The Athenians were highly religious but had absolutely no knowledge of the one true God for all of their God’s were their own creations made of gold, silver, or stone. Paul wants to convince them that God is not the creation of man rather man is the creation of God.

Paul is basically presenting the argument that God has so clearly revealed Himself to mankind that they are without excuse in failing to acknowledge Him.

The longer this world exists and the more we learn of creation and history the greater the evidence for the existence of God. Ignorance is no longer a legitimate excuse for rejecting God.

Some may say “If God is real why doesn’t he just reveal himself to us” but the truth is that He has revealed himself and yet men reject him. Romans 1:19-20- they are without excuse.

A relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ (Vs. 31-33)

Paul now arrives at what has been his aim from the start. If they will acknowledge the existence of God, and accept that he can be known, now Paul want to introduce the Athenians to Jesus Christ through which a relationship to God is made possible.

Paul, as he has done so many times before calls the Athenians to repent. He implores them to turn to God and to turn away from the idols which have so long been the object of their worship.

He warns them that there is coming a day in which the world will be judged and their only hope is found in Jesus Christ. (Hebrews 9:27)

He then moves to the preaching of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and this apparently proves to be the greatest point of contention as is still the case today.

Just as is still the case today some of the Athenians mocked Paul for suggesting that Christ had risen from the dead.

Some did not immediately reject Paul’s claims and desired to hear more and as Paul departed from them they clung to him, no doubt desiring further instruction.

Ultimately we have the names of at least two converts in Athens and the suggestion that there were more who also believed.

This passage is a wonderful example of Paul’s ministry strategy- I Corinthians 9:19-23- made all things to all men.

Paul constantly placed himself in the shoes of those he desired to bring to Christ seeking to understand their perspective so that he might effectively reach them with the gospel.

You and I must do the same and learn to recognize the variety of perspectives that we will face, and how we can effectively reach them with the gospel of Jesus Christ