Sermon: April 27 2008

Prayer: Gracious Lord, as you blessed and guided Paul in his proclamation of you the sovereign and true God, we ask this day that you would also bless us here, as people of faith, your church, to make that same proclamation and testimony that you alone are God. Help us to find common ground with our neighbors so that we also can share the Good News of Jesus Christ, to those who have yet to hear the story. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.

 In our reading from Acts this day the Apostle Paul finds himself in Athens, Greece, traveling there as the result of threats against his life by a particular group of extremist Jews who are irate because of his spreading the Gospel message of Jesus Christ to both Jews and Gentiles alike in places like Macedonia, Thessalonica and Beroea during his missionary journeys.

 While in Athens, which was at the time one of the leading intellectual and cultural centers of the ancient world, Paul travels around the city and becomes deeply distressed at all the pagan idols that he sees that fill the city. Paul even encounters an altar erected with the inscription “to an unknown god”.

 Upon witnessing these distressing conditions and this unique altar, Paul uses this situation as an opportunity to witness and testify for the one true God and Jesus Christ. And as Paul has done throughout his missionary journeys in Acts, Paul heads straight for the synagogue and then on to the market place and begins to debate with the religious leaders and pagan philosophers as well.

 Now as these Greek philosophers, in particular, listen to Paul speak about Jesus and the resurrection they misunderstand Paul’s argument and proposals about Jesus and believe that what Paul is arguing for is two different Gods…One called Jesus and the other resurrection. And can you really blame these Greeks for considering two Gods as they come from a culture and society that embraces, recognizes and serves many different gods, each god having a different role to play in their lives and the world in which they live. Athens was considered the god capital of the world at that time.

 Fascinated by this new religion Paul was teaching they invite him to debate and speak further in front of the Aeropagus which was both a place but also a council of the leading philosophers and leaders of the Athenian community.

 Paul who has never to this point had to preach in front of a totally foreign and pagan community employs  a very interesting and well thought out preaching tactic, a model for outreach that our church even in this day should consider…he engages them first on common ground. He is willing and eager to engage them respectfully in public debate which they just love. Paul’s first chord that he wants to strike then is to get their immediate attention and approval and he does so by stating the obvious to them…”Athenians I see how extremely religious you are in every way.” They are without a doubt an extremely religious bunch as they have gods they worship to cover every aspect of life, and some gods they worship and don’t even know. Paul then uses this image of the unknown god that he has seen as his springboard to proclaim and testify to the singular and true God that Paul is well aware of through his background both as a Jew and now as a converted Apostle of Christ, who has called Paul to the exact mission he is now engaged in. Paul cannot only claim knowledge of the true God through history, but can also declare a personal and eternal relationship with his God as well, something that these pagan philosophers could not claim with their gods.

 As Paul continues he strikes another, a second chord of common ground, to which this group can relate to and that is the need and the desire of human beings to know a God who is bigger, smarter and greater than us puny humans, a singular God who is able to create the Earth and stars and all that exists. Without the revelation of the real, true God these Athenians as have other cultures and civilizations throughout history, even in our own society, have created their own gods, made in the images most appropriate to their needs, to fill the void that we as human beings just can’t seem to fill; gods who we think can answer questions and solve problems and meet the needs physically, spiritually and even medically that overwhelms us and goes beyond our abilities to work out and satisfy.

 And if you want examples of this in our day and time, just tune your television in any afternoon to many of the talk shows or any of the infomercials that we are inundated with, walk through the aisles and explore the racks of any bookstore and you will find many resources that will offer you the answer to any and all problems and challenges in your life that you can possibly claim. These gods in our day and age can range from products to individuals that promise better health, longer life, getting in touch with the inner you, the god in you, greater wealth, younger looking features, to household accessories that will make your life easier and fun as well. And we come to realize very quickly when these gods don’t satisfy us and fulfill our needs we finally understand, as did Paul, that when gods are created by human hands then they are no gods’ at all…just idols, and the pursuit of that which has been offered or marketed is just good old fashioned idolatry.

 And that is the third chord that Paul relates to the Athenians and wants them to know that their idols and this unknown God are not the real and true God, and that nothing can be gained by their worship. Paul proclaims to the Athenians that his singular God is the one and true God and the real God of the Athenians too. A God who wants even these pagans to reach out and look to God and God will come to them as well.  As Paul stated to them in verse 24-28, “What you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you. The God who created heaven and earth does not live in temples built by human hands. And God is not served by human hands as if God needed anything, because God himself gives all mortals life and breath and all things. From one ancestor God made all nations to inhabit the whole earth; and God allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live. God did this so that they would search for God and perhaps reach out for God and find him…though indeed he is not far from each one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being; even as your own poets have said, we too are his offspring”.

 Paul has hit upon yet another chord with the Athenians and that is through the true God we are all connected by the same human community, community with each other being another basic human need, something that the philosophers can understand and embrace as they themselves spend hours upon hours each day in conversation and community debating the issues and great questions of life.

 We as a church, as a called and blessed community of faith have a similar challenge in our day as Paul did in his, and that is to find common ground with our neighbors who don’t know the story of God in Jesus Christ, who seek meaning in life and have a great desire for spiritual things but get led in the wrong direction and wind up pursuing false gods and idols that can only do them harm. Just a few days ago one of our members told me about a book that an afternoon talk show host is supporting on the show,  a book having to do with miracles and a kind of  new age Christ, Christ once again being reinvented, diluted and some of our most sacred beliefs rejected.

 Paul understood the problem of idolatry in Athens and addressed it by finding common ground to relate to the philosophers there and making God known, and being confident in Gods’ support through the Holy Spirit of his ministry there. Paul was faithful in his efforts because of his trust in God, if not exactly successful with the Athenians. As we look to the future not only of our own church in downtown Des Moines, but the church at large, how are we as Disciples of Christ going to respond faithfully to this same need to make Christ known to those who haven’t heard of God’s message of love, hope and salvation. That is the question we will continue to ask and wrestle with if we too want to be faithful and confident of our call as a church and God’s people in our present day Athens. And we can be certain as was Paul, that God will be a present help and guide us, in all that we take on in his name. Thanks be to God. Amen