Acts 17:22-31
Sixth Sunday of Easter
Pastor Nathan P. Kassulke Sunday,“The True God Makes Himself Known”
May 14, 2023
The Apostle Paul was exploring the city of Athens. This was the latest stop on his second missionary journey, and he was waiting in Athens for Silas and Timothy to join him. As he waited, he noticed something about the city. He had visited many other places already. Other cities had been more or less welcoming. He had found synagogues and marketplaces in which to meet with people and to talk to them about Jesus. But Athens stood out in a way that no other city had. Paul was distressed to notice that the city was full of idols. Shrines and temples were set up in various places. No doubt there were statues and figures. But perhaps the most interesting find out of all these things for Paul was one he mentioned to the meeting of the Areopagus. That speech is recorded in our reading from the book of Acts. The unique item he discussed was an altar that was dedicated to an unknown god.
Why do you suppose the people of Athens had this altar? Had they forgotten the name of a god that they used to worship? They had many different gods for sure, Zeus and Apollo, even the goddess Athena with whom the city shared a name. Perhaps the people were worried that they had left some god out. They were concerned that they needed another temple or another altar, but they didn’t even know what god was missing. They were covering all their bases and handling all their uncertainty by having this unique altar.
Paul’s discussion of the altar to an unknown god and of his observations of the city of Athens came in a meeting with the council of the Areopagus. The verses of our reading begin with Paul’s words, but Paul had already been preaching and teaching in the city of Athens. In fact, his preaching and teaching led to his meeting with the council. The Areopagus, which literally translates as “Mars Hill,” was a particular hill near the highest point in the city. The council that met on that hill had a variety of responsibilities over the years. For the most part at the time of Paul’s journey, the council was a group that liked to hear and debate ideas. They were a sort of court that dealt with matters of education and religion. They had heard something about what Paul was saying and teaching, and they wanted to hear from him directly.
So Paul spoke. He said that the Athenians must be very religious. They had so many religious temples and altars and shrines. They even had that unique altar. They were aware, apparently, that they might not know everything about spiritual matters. Paul used that altar and that uncertainty as an opportunity to tell about the true God. He said, “Now what you worship as unknown—this is what I am going to proclaim to you.”
But in one sense, the true God whom Paul was going to discuss didn’t need someone to proclaim him. The true God, as Paul explained, is the God who made the world. He made everything in the world. He made the people in the world, not the other way around where the people make idols, supposed gods for them to worship. The true God makes himself known in the world. He gives evidence of his existence by providing people with what they need. Even the Greek poets that Paul quotes understood this. They said things like ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ and ‘Indeed, we are also his offspring.’
The Athenians, like all people, knew something about the true God just by observing the world around them. But they didn’t know enough about him. They understood what we might call the natural knowledge of God, but the natural knowledge of God only causes people to look for him. In their case, they looked in many places. They had many gods. But they didn’t truly know the true God even though he makes himself known in the world. So God also makes himself known in another way.
The true God makes himself known in his Son. You are here in church because you have heard the message of Jesus. You are here because you have learned about his resurrection. Jesus, true God himself, came into this world because people did not live up to the expectations of their Creator. He came because we did not live the lives God wanted and expected us to live. So he did it in our place. He did it in the place of all people. He is going to judge the world, and he provided rescue for people who were otherwise doomed to
destruction and judgment. And he provided proof of all of this by rising from the dead after he was put to death.
That’s the message Paul was preaching when he was called to the Areopagus. That’s the message he wanted to share with the council there. That’s the message that defined his previous missionary journey, it defined the one he was on at that time, and it defined the juorneys that would come after. And that is the message that brings us together and that we have been called to share.
Paul was preaching and speaking in this instance to a pagan people in a pagan culture. The First Century city of Athens may seem a long way from Tucson in 2023. And it is, but we share more than you might think with the people listening to Paul at the Areopagus.
Just take a walk through the city of Tucson and its suburbs. See if you can find any temples or altars to false gods. With one glance you might find an altar to the god of greed and materialism. It won’t be called that, but that’s essentially what so many giant houses and fancy cars are for people. Look again and find all the idols that people make out of politicians and politics. They place signs all over yards and intersections proclaiming their devotion and allegiance. Look another direction and you can see an altar to the god of science or knowledge. You’ll find people worshiping at that altar with their chant of “trust the science” when they are not trusting God for health and safety and wellness.
There is nothing wrong with money or government or science and knowledge in and of themselves. But like so many good gifts of God, these things can be perverted by our sinfulness. We can become too connected to them. We can trust in and love them more than we do God, and they have become our gods. And we bow down and worship at those altars.
And what are our own sinful doubts and fears other than building an altar to an unknown god in our hearts? Our natural inclinations want to cover our bases. I confess that I am saved by grace alone, but I would like to make sure I have done enough—enough attending church, enough giving offerings, enough whatever. I don’t want to miss out on any unknown god that I ought to worship.
Thanks be to the true God, though, who makes himself known for us. He is the Creator of our world and our lives and every good gift that we enjoy. And he sent his own Son Jesus Christ to live and die and rise for us. He called us to be his own children by the preaching of that amazing message, that incredible news. He adopted us into his family through the waters of baptism and feeds us with Christ’s body and blood in Holy Communion. That means that instead of the destruction we deserve because of our idolatry, we have eternal life and salvation because of Jesus our Savior.
The true God makes himself known in the world. He makes himself known in Christ Jesus, his Son, our Savior, and he makes himself known in our lives. Paul makes the point as well that God calls us to respond to the good news of salvation. He is calling people to repent. He is calling for people to acknowledge their sinfulness, to trust in God for salvation, and to turn away from sin to serving him.
Paul didn’t have much longer to talk with the council at Mars’ Hill. He didn’t get into all the details of the Christian life, like what Jesus shared with his disciples in John 14. There Jesus talked about the gift of the Holy Spirit and the opportunity to show love for him by obeying his commands. Paul didn’t say these same things, but he did talk about where such obedience starts. It starts with repentance. It starts with turning away from sin and its selfish attitude. God makes himself known in our lives when he works faith in us and he leads us to serve and obey him. So we hold onto the amazing message of salvation in Jesus Christ, and then we put his commands into action by loving and serving others.
The Holy Spirit has given us the opportunity to listen to Paul’s words by having this event recorded for us in Scripture. He has given us the chance to walk through First Century Athens with the Apostle. But most of all, he has taught us and reminded us of the amazing and wonderful truth that in the world and in our hearts the true God, our God, has revealed himself. He has revealed himself in his Son, the risen Lord Jesus Christ.
The Text: Acts 17:22–31 (EHV)
22Then Paul stood up in front of the council of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I see that you are very religious in every way. 23For as I was walking around and carefully observing your objects of worship, I even found an altar on which had been inscribed, ‘To an unknown god.’ Now what you worship as unknown—this is what I am going to proclaim to you.
24“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples made with hands. 25Neither is he served by human hands, as if he needed anything, since he himself gives all people life and breath and everything they have. 26From one man, he made every nation of mankind to live over the entire face of the earth. He determined the appointed times and the boundaries where they would live. 27He did this so they would seek God and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘Indeed, we are also his offspring.’
29“Therefore, since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by human skill and planning. 30Although God overlooked the times of ignorance, he is now commanding all people everywhere to repent, 31because he has set a day on which he is going to judge the world in righteousness by the man he appointed. He provided proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”