The God We Worship.

Setting & Into

pray & read

Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was being provoked within him as he was observing the city full of idols. 17 So he was reasoning in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, and in the market place every day with those who happened to be present. 18 And also some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers were conversing with him. Some were saying, “What would this idle babbler wish to say?” Others, “He seems to be a proclaimer of strange deities,”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. 19 And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is which you are proclaiming? 20 “For you are bringing some strange things to our ears; so we want to know what these things mean.” 21 (Now all the Athenians and the strangers visiting there used to spend their time in nothing other than telling or hearing something new.) Sermon on Mars Hill 22 So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects. 23 “For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. 24 “The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; 25 nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; 26 and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, 27 that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; 28 for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’ 29 “Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man. 30 “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, 31 because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.” 32 Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some began to sneer, but others said, “We shall hear you again concerning this.” 33 So Paul went out of their midst. 34 But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.

“I have found that I have the best converstions in the waiting between my calendar events.”

That is happening to Paul in our Text today.

Where:

Athens. City of importance and cultural influence because of its former glory under the Greek empires (Alexander the Great). Beuatiful aritecture and highly religious community. Full of “inteigence and thinkers.”

Areopagus:, literally, “Hill of Ares,” was the meeting place of the Council of the Areopagus, the supreme body for judicial and legislative matters in Athens.... The council wanted to know about Paul’s new teaching, which was strange to their ears. In Athens, the ancient world’s intellectual center, the Athenians and foreign residents loved to debate the latest ideas. This openness gave Paul an opportunity to preach his message. (Stanley D. Toussaint, “Acts,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures)

Who:

Epicureans: Hippy Thinkers

Stoics: Greek Legalism

Relious people:

What:

“new” Religion (v.18: & 21) (JESUS)

Why:

a god is foundational to all religion, but the true God is foundational to all redemption.

Who is our God? (v22-24a)

What is a god? something worshiped to fulfill a life longing that we as people can not provide ourselves.

Alter to “Unknown God”- seeking what they need from the true God they do not know.

Do we know the God we worship? & why do we worship Him?

God is the foundation of our faith.

1. God is the Creator (17:24-25)

The begining. The maker of all things. definer of truth and reality. designed what is and should be.

Created ex nihlo - “out of nothing”

Created us in his image. Valued, Creative, Intelengent, Responsible for moral and spiritual lives.

Creation, accorind to Romans 1, reveals God to us that we have no excuses to deny His exhistance.

2. God is the Ruler (17:24-25a; 26-27;30)

Lord: Position of authrority. v24-25. right to rule: God created therfore, He sets the standard and boundries.

Determines v 26

Not in a temple (like pagan Gods)

Not dependent or needing of humans (like the greek gods)

2. Known v27

a. life giving

b. life sustaining

3. Organized v30

a.God has determined His plan, and nothing we do disrupts the plan of God.

b. God determined the plan before the foundation of the World.

c. God designed the plan with the future fully known.

d. God desires the plan to be effective to save people by faith through grace.

e. God declaring the plan to draw people to Himself to be transformed from sin into the likeness of their Savior, by the life changing power of the Spirit.

3. God is th Father (17:28-29)

We come to God as children through repentance.

a Loving Father knows and is known.

A good father provides and protects.

4. God is the Judge (17:30-31)

note: twice God calls these itelligent men ignorant. They are schooled beyond there understanding.

God is just because He does not hold men to their ignorance.

God is just because we are responsible and no longer can claim ignorance.

How does knowing God change me?

v 30-34:

Are God is.... recap & we worship Him because He is the only one cappable of making us complete through redemption.

He changes me when:

- leads me to repentance

-gives me redemption

-allows me into a relationship

A god is foundational to all religion, but the true God is foundational to all redemption.

We are only as unstoppable as the God we serve and know.