Acts 17:16-31
(sermon note: 05-03 sermon note)
16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply troubled by all the idols he saw everywhere in the city. 17 He went to the synagogue to reason with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, and he spoke daily in the public square to all who happened to be there.
18 He also had a debate with some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers. When he told them about Jesus and his resurrection, they said, “What’s this babbler trying to say with these strange ideas he’s picked up?” Others said, “He seems to be preaching about some foreign gods.”
19 Then they took him to the high council of the city. “Come and tell us about this new teaching,” they said. 20 “You are saying some rather strange things, and we want to know what it’s all about.” 21 (It should be explained that all the Athenians as well as the foreigners in Athens seemed to spend all their time discussing the latest ideas.)
22 So Paul, standing before the council, addressed them as follows: “Men of Athens, I notice that you are very religious in every way, 23 for as I was walking along I saw your many shrines. And one of your altars had this inscription on it: ‘To an Unknown God.’ This God, whom you worship without knowing, is the one I’m telling you about.
24 “He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn’t live in man-made temples, 25 and human hands can’t serve his needs—for he has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need. 26 From one man he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries.
27 “His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us. 28 For in him we live and move and exist. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ 29 And since this is true, we shouldn’t think of God as an idol designed by craftsmen from gold or silver or stone.
30 “God overlooked people’s ignorance about these things in earlier times, but now he commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to him. 31 For he has set a day for judging the world with justice by the man he has appointed, and he proved to everyone who this is by raising him from the dead.”
This morning’s reading reminds me of the one about a guy who walked into a bar and ordered a beer. (I know, I know, I generally don’t like jokes about the bar!) He leaned into the bartender. “I just ended a five-year relationship,” he confided to the man. “Hey, I’m sorry to hear that. Have this drink on the house,” the bartender responded. “Oh, no reason to be upset,” the guy replied. “It wasn’t my relationship!”
It makes you kind of wonder what ole boy did to end somebody else’s relationship. Strange that he would boast about it to a bartender though! I suppose that’s the kind of people that frequent bars, the relationship destroying kind. Add a little “liquid courage” and I guess you would boast about destroying other people’s relationships. I find relationships are too precious to ever want to go about destroying them. Relationships are too important in this world and in this life. I don’t like to imagine there are people out there who boast about destroying other people’s relationships. Well, sadly there are such people, and I can only pray that God would somehow change their hearts and get them to appreciate relationships more, perhaps build ‘em up instead of tear them down.
No, relationships ARE important in this world and this life. In fact, it’s the relationships of this world that sustain this world. It’s the relationships that enrich life in this world. It’s the relationships that enable life to flourish in this world. Life doesn’t exist in a vacuum. No, life feeds off of everything around itself. Life exists in how it reacts to its surroundings. With nothing to react to and feed off of, to be in relationship with, life dwindles and dies. Yes, life needs relationships for its very existence. Now then, what does this have to do with our reading for this morning? Well, we heard how Paul found himself in Athens during his missionary adventures and the people he encountered there weren’t really living. They were just laying about, day after day, starving for relationships with our living God. Sure, they worshipped God but through static idols. There was no relationship with God. There was honoring and praising God but no actual relationship. God was found in idols to be praised and worshipped. But God wasn’t involved in their lives. God wasn’t interested in the minutiae of their daily lives. God had much better things to do like maintaining the entire universe. God had much more important things to do than empathize with the human experience, or so the Athenians believed.
Well, along came Paul who taught them a drastically difference understanding of who God is and what He has done and continues to do for us. Our God isn’t a static God. Our God isn’t hovering above us, forever out of reach. No, our God intimately knows our human experience. Our God chose to die for us just as we choose to die for others. Our God defeated death and the fear of death through the resurrection. Paul offered the Athenians a radically different understanding of who God is and what God expects of us. Our God doesn’t want to be worshipped from afar. Our God wants to be a part of our lives! Our God wants to free us from our fears and doubts! In short, our God wants to be in relationship with us! That’s the whole point of the resurrection, to show that the relationship we have with him doesn’t end with death. Our relationship simply changes in death. But the relationship itself is on-going, everlasting.
Relationships are important in this world and this life. In fact, both Peter and Paul had some important things to say about relationships. Recall the words of Peter who said, “Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins.” (1 Peter 4:8) He no doubt was channeling Jesus’ commandment for us to love each other as he loves us. It is in relationships where we love each other. And love is a great gift to share with each other! It “covers a multitude of sins” as Peter mentions. It allows us to forgive each other and maintain our relationships despite sin’s persistent aim to destroy our relationships. In fact, I think that man at the bar was the embodiment of sin, boasting about destroying relationships. Well, love is the antidote to sin as it holds all relationships together.
Paul also had some important things to say about relationships. He advises us to “encourage each other and build each other us, just as you are already doing.” (1 Thessalonians 5:11) By encouraging and building each other up, we further strengthen our relationships. In his letter to the Ephesians, he writes, “Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love.” (Ephesians 4:2) Again, humility, gentleness, and patience are essential for any relationship to grow and thrive.
Many of the great voices of scripture, from Jesus to Peter and Paul, recognize the importance of relationships in this world and this life. Let us heed the wisdom and give thanks for God’s unbroken relationship with us. He is constantly finding ways to keep our relationship alive and thriving. The resurrection was yet one more way. Let us give thanks for his unconditionally loving relationship with us. Thanks be to God!
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
