Unknown

Full, yet completely empty. Full of “meaning,” but meaningless. Significant to the culture, yet lifeless and barren. These might have been the thoughts that Paul experienced as he walked the streets in Athens.

In his missionary journey, Paul found himself in a community that was marked by secularism and idol worship. in fact, Acts 17:16 indicates that the city was full off idols.

From monuments to temples, Athens was full of these lifeless distractions that people worshiped. Paul was greatly distressed at the sight for he knew just what kind of damage such distractions could bring to this community that so desperately needed the Lord.

In this moment, Paul decides not to simply pass by, but to engage the culture with the truth of God’s Word. Paul sees a very real problem: this town did not know God. And he wasn’t about to leave them in this position.

Now when I drove into town this morning, I cannot say that I noticed any temples or statues or any other form of obvious idol worship in the area. And it’s not all that often that we talk about this topic in general. However, “idol” worship is still very much a real concern and… I fear in some ways it is on the rise.

First off… what is an idol? Defined an idol is an image or representation of a god used as an object of worship.

Throughout biblical history we see several accounts where idol worship was a big problem. An image was created representing a false God of some sort and was worshiped in place of God the Father.

How serious of an offense is this kind of worship in the eyes of our God? Exodus 20:3 specifies 3 “You shall have no other gods before me.” This is the first of ten commandments given by God to His people!

God is worthy of our highest praise. God is the one true God. There is truly no other like Him!

In our day and age, it is not common for actual physical idols to make an appearance. Although our streets may not be lined with idols as they were in Athens in Paul’s day, we still have a massive issue taking place in our culture today… an issue that fills us but leaves us empty. An issue that might appear to significant but truly brings no real meaning to our lives.

Here’s the deal… just like in Paul’s day, people are looking for hope. The problem is, the source of hope to them is unknown. The answer they are looking for is unknown. The direction they feel they should go is unknown. So in the absence of any real clear hope, they turn to things hoping to find meaning, purpose, significance, etc. They end up “worshipping” false gods.

Even in a culture that has churches on street corners and crosses used as decoration, we still have a very real problem of people not knowing who God is.

It might be said that people know of God but do not really know Him. Somewhere a disconnection has taken place. Somehow we have lost sight of God the Father - even in the land that touts the motto “In God we trust.”