Idols and the living God
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Acts 17:16-34
BI: Turn from idols and turn to the living God through Jesus Christ
1. Introduction
Our world is filled with billions of people who devote their lives to idols. Many people worship gods they’ve made stone or metal or wood. Back in uni days I loved travelling to Malaysia, Thailand, China – cheap flights right, but step off the plane and you’d see idols everywhere. Big impressive Buddha statues overseeing the mountainside. Little shrines in the restaurants, in homes, hostels. They believed these gods protected you. You pray to give them thanks, ask for blessings. That might be true for some, but For many others idols are more subtle. Many say they don’t believe in god or gods but practically, they place ultimate value and worth on man-made ideas or things. I mean, that’s fundamentally what an idol is. It is to place anything, worship anything above God. We see this everywhere don’t we? Some people live for family, some for legacy, others the praise and adulation. In our world that holds to happiness as what’s most important in our culture, many live lives devoted to things like beauty, comfort, security from money, pleasure of drugs or sex, and of course, sport. Tim Keller says that the human heart is a constant idol factory. we take good things and turn them into ultimate things. What should we think about This? How should we feel? In Acts 17:16-34 this morning, The Apostle Paul comes to a place full of idols. he says it definitively, turn from idols by repenting, turn to the living God.
Paul is in Athens, an important intellectual centre. How’d he get there? Remember last week we were in Philippi. we are at the tail end of his second missionary journey. Paul travels through Amphipolis and Apollonia and preached the Gospel in Thessalonica and then in Berea. It was hard. He was being persecuted. He sneaks out and gets to Athens because of persecution. Here he is there waiting for Timothy and Silas to come join him.
2. Turn from following idols (17:16-26)
Pick it up with me from verse 16
Acts 17:16-17
Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there.
Paul gets to Athens but what he sees distresses him. The place is full of idols. The word there in verse 16 literally means it was swarming with idols. He is set on edge, irritated, stressed out.
Do false idols distress you? does it set you on edge that these things are worshipped instead of God? It takes away from Gods glory. Well It does for Paul. But notice what Paul does? He doesn’t rant and rave. No. He reasons in the synagogue. He explains. he persuades. He explains who God really is. He doesn’t just speak to the Jews. No, he’s going to the marketplace.. The bloke will speak to anyone about Jesus. It’s that important!
And his words are creating waves. Look at verse 18 he comes in contact with two other religious systems. Epicureans and stoics.
Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, “What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection.
What do these Epicureans and Stoics believe? Well, Epicureans believed you live for pleasure. Take life easy. Enjoy life. You live once. There’s no reckoning, there’s no justice there’s certainly no judgement. Live laugh be merry. That’s their philosophy. But the Stoics were different. They thought life was to be lived in harmony with nature and reason. Suffering is fate. So bear it and get on with life. There’s no future hope, live a good life but whatever will be will be. Neithersee belief systems offer hope of life beyond death. So of course, what Paul says is babble. But props to them, they want to hear more. So they take Paul to the Areopagus – think a public place where people talk politics, religion, ethics verse 19
And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.” Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.
Paul’s got the stage to himself. God gives him a great Gospel opportunity. Take the stage! Take the mic. Notice how Paul engages, he's respectful verse 22
Acts 17:22–23 (ESV)
So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’
He relates with them by saying ‘I can see you are very religious’. And he connects with them. He uses the context he is in. I can see you have an altar ‘to an unknown god’ let me tell you about this God you don’t know. Paul is respectful. He relates and connects. But he is not defensive about the truth. He proclaims it without hesitation. He wants them to turn from following idols. Verse 23 second half “What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.
So Paul tells gives the reason why we need to turn from idols. He tells us who God is. its compelling. First, God is the Creator verse 24
The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man,
God is the creator of everything under heaven and earth. We submit to him. The Stoics and Epicureans think the world is here by random chance, a series of flukes. They’re wrong. God is the creator. He made it. So, he doesn’t live in temples made by man. We don’t make space for God – a box for him to live in, he makes space for us – the earth. In fact, even the Athenian’s own poets have said the same ‘we’re his offspring.’ He made us. He’s the creator. Idols are not.
More than that, God sustains us. verse 25
nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.
Here’s the reality. We need God. He gives us everything. Everything we have. Every breath we take. He sustains us. Just think of the very next breath you will take. God’s given you that breath. Don’t be fooled, God created us. He sustains us. He gives us life and breath and everything. Idols are themselves dead, breathless and give us nothing.
Turn from idols. God is the creator, he is the sustainer. And he put us here, each one of us sitting here today. Verse 26 God is totally in control of us
And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,
God determined when the Athenian culture will flourish and when it would die off. He works in all of human history. The rise and fall of all cultures and people groups. In fact, God determined who and how many migrants would come Australia. In my church history assignment at Bible college, I was interested in how the Chinese churches sprung up so rapidly in Sydney in the 70s and 80s. The why’s easy. God made it happen. But the how God made it happen, fascinating. Over 120,000 South East Asian migrants care to Australia in that time. A big part of it was that God brought the Hong Kong migrants to Australia after Great Britain handed back the country to in 1984. God brought many Chinese students to Australia after the Tianamen massacre in 1989, a terrible time. He brought many Vietnamese after the Vietnam War. That’s how my family came here. We all came in search of a better life. But God put us here, he determined allotted periods and the boundaries of all of our dwelling place.
But why? Why did he do this? For my family part of the reason was yes for security, safety, a brighter future for our family. But actually, God’s purpose that’s whats Important is so that we will turn to him, seek him and find him. God’s put you here to find him. To turn to the living God.
2. Turn to the living God (17:27-34)
Verse 27, this is so important listen carefully
acts 17:27-28
that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for
“ ‘In him we live and move and have our being’;
as even some of your own poets have said,
“ ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’
God’s purpose is that we would seek him. Reach out and find him. That’s the reason God made us. So we would relate to him as God, as our heavenly Father, as our Lord. It’s so we might give him glory. So we might worship him. He created us. He sustains us. He put us here to seek him.
But here’s the thing. Even though this our purpose, most don’t believe this. Most people you come across, they don’t have a purpose. At best it’s about being happy. but we know happiness is so fleeting, what about all the suffering we face or will face? Others say it’s about family, but how do we know our children will leave anything for their children. Friends hear what Acts 17 says, life is not about being your best self, or being happy, or for family, life is about glorifying God. It’s to seek him and find him. To be in relationship with the God of the Universe.
So we don’t exist for ourselves. We exist to glorify God. This is hard for us to grasp because we think we are the centre of our lives. I don’t even need to train my child to think she’s the centre of her world. It’s mine! I won’t want to share that carrot with my sister! We are all the same. we think we are the centre of the world. You know what I mean? But actually, we exist for God. We exist to find him. We exist for God’s glory. So we need to change our thinking. get in line with Gods thinking. We need a Copernicus revolution. Remember what we he discovered? He discovered that actually, not everything revolves around the earth. The fact is, the earth and all the planets revolve around the Sun. In the same way, our lives is not about us. It’s about glorifying God.
And lest we think God needs us to glorify him, verse 25 tells us that he doesn’t need anyone to serve him. Yet it is right that he is glorified because he’s God! He’s not like man. I don’t say to my child, glorify me worship me because I’m just a human. Worse I’m not worth following, I’m a sinful flawed human. But God is unique as an all glorious totally self sufficient being. The rules of humility that belong to a creature cannot apply to the creator. It’s appropriate for him to have all the glory. In fact it’s right for him to have all the glory. Here’s the big point – turn to the living God because you were made to live for Him.
And so if that’s our purpose. Idolatry is absolutely wrong. It makes no sense. It completely utterly dishonors God. Verse 29
Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.
God’s not alright with idolatry, it’s clear. But he doesn’t give us the bad news without giving us the good news. It’s great news. We can find him. He is not far away. We can come back to live for him, find our life’s purpose. How do we turn to the living God? Repent. Verse 30
acts 17:30-31
The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”
Friends, God commands all people everywhere to what? Repent. It’s a command. Don’t mess around. Repent. This means to do a 180. You’re going one way – following your own desires, living following idols of your heart. Repent, turn sharply back the other way. How? Turn to Jesus. Trust in him who died and rose for your sins. It’s a big call. But we must get it right. Why? He’s coming to judge every one of us. He will judge in righteousness. It means God will judge justly. Everything will be laid bare. God doesn’t get it wrong. He knows everything we’ve done. Every thing. Nothing is hidden. He’s going to judge. God’s given the proof that he will carry this through. It’s guaranteed. How? He has raised Jesus from the dead. That’s his proof, the resurrection. Bertrant Rusell was a famous philosopher. He was asked what would you say if Christianity was true? He’d say, can’t be there’s not enough evidence. God’ saying here, I have given you enough evidence. Jesus rose from the dead. That’s enough evidence. And it’s got to be right? If Jesus didn’t rise from the dead you and I are wasting our time. We are still in our sins. For Christianity to stand, Jesus had to rise from the dead. We follow a risen Saviour.
This is the meaning of life. To be in right relationship with God. To glorify God, to live the way he made us. Our God, the creator sustainer who put you here to seek and find him. Find him by repenting and trusting in the Risen Saviour, Jesus Christ.
We find 3 responses to the speech. Some flatly reject, some want to hear more and some become Christians on the spot. Verse 32
Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.” So Paul went out from their midst. But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.
Implication
Implication 1: Turn from idols by trusting in Jesus
lets put some thoughts together from Acts 17. I wonder what’s your response? Have you turned from following idols to the following the living God? You can today. Trust in Jesus. I hope you can see that trusting in idols makes absolutely no sense. They are deaf, mute and dumb. God is speaking, he hears, he is understands and he made us to seek him. He has sent his Son Jesus to die and rise again for your sins. So trust in Jesus. He is coming back to judge. The resurrection proves it. Repent and believe in Him. You can be brought back into relationship with your creator. You can live life the way you were supposed to. Life has meaning. It’s to glorify our wonderful and mercifully loving God who would send his son to die and rise for our sins and give us eternal life. What a God! Come and believe in Him.
Implication 2: You were made to glorify God
And friends, if you are following Jesus – I hope you can see that worshipping idols makes no sense. You were made to glorify God. So let’s ask ourselves honestly, are you currently gripped by idols of work, of status, of money, sport, your phone, insert idol? Why do we chase these things over and above wanting to know the living God? It just doesn’t satisfy. I was listening to Bernard Tomic on A current affair, it’s tennis season after all. Well he's trying to change the Australian perspective of him. He wants us to know he’s changed. Anyways, what struck me in this interview was when he was asked about all the cars, houses and girls. He said, very enlightening, “I mean it doesn’t fulfill you end of the day, you’ve got money and houses and cars and its good for a second but as a person deep down inside you’re searching. Once you’ve experienced these things I’ve had it actually becomes boring, it becomes depressing at times. Here's a bloke who’s made millions. He has lived it up large. But he realises it doesn’t bring him fulfillment. These are idols they will not satisfy. Friends, God made us to seek him, to find him and live for His glory. To live with Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. We have been made with a purpose, joyfully honoring and praising God, loving others in light of Christ’s love for us. I know it’s hard in these times. We’re not with him yet, but hang in there. Don’t give up. Don’t give up for deaf, dumb and mute idols it’s not worth it because God will judge it all one day. God’s given you his Son Jesus, turn to him, live for him, you were made to glorify him. Let’s pray.