Creator Of The Universe

"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." (Acts 17:24)

19th November, 2000

We saw previously in vv16-23 that Athens was educationally and culturally élite - the Oxbridge of the ancient world. It was the democratic metropolis of science, art, philosophy and literature. To top it all the Athenians were very religious. And yet Paul was unimpressed. He was “greatly distressed” (v16) by their idolatry! He looked beneath the beauty and sophistication of Athenian society and saw spiritual bankruptcy.

Paul’s address turns their cosy religious world upside-down by showing them that their religion teaches the exact opposite to the truth about God. They couldn’t be more wrong if they tried.

v24: Religion Puts God In A Building. They had the nerve to install God in buildings. But this would be like putting a toy maker in his doll’s house. God can’t be contained by the world, let alone a building. God made the universe; therefore it’s stupid to think he lives in buildings.

v25: Religion Serves God. This makes us feel good and puts God under our control. Somehow God benefits from our religious practices. Again, the truth is opposite to this. God doesn’t need us - we need him. He sustains that which he created.

v27: Religion Thinks God Is Far Away And Unknowable. There is an irony in religion. It makes God small and helpless and then puts him into buildings to be served by us. And yet, because of its patent absurdity, such religion still regards God as distant and anonymous. Paul asserts in v27 that God is near and wants to be known by us.

In considering the small, helpless, distant and anonymous God of religion, we meet the God so often cherished by our own 21st Century. Our society is at least as idolatrous as Athens. Today’s popular conceptions of God are really no different. Paul challenged his listeners to ditch their religion - in reality idiotic and deliberate idolatry - and his challenge confronts our own times. There are compelling reasons for responding, as today’s sermon will explain.

Darren Moore

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