The Lutheran Hour
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"The Known God"
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Text: Acts 17:22-31
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Prayer: O Holy Trinity — Father, Son and Holy Spirit — by Your Word, bring light into our confused culture. Illuminate all dark areas of our society where the devil lurks and enlighten our hearts with Your Word of Law and Gospel, thereby granting unto us Your gracious gift of repentance and Your saving gift of faith. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
The section of the Word of God we are going to examine today briefly is from Acts, chapter 17. We will focus on this section of God’s Word for two reasons. First, this is the section of the Bible appointed to be read in many churches all over the world on this day. Secondly, we seek guidance from this section of Scripture because these words of our blessed and gracious Lord speak in a special way to our current cultural situation. I say this because 30 years ago there were two things you simply did not discuss publicly. These were politics and religion. Nowadays however, you can hardly go 24 hours without some “reference to” or even full-blown “discussion of” religion.
Tragically, our public discussions about religion are moving in the wrong direction. These demonic delusions often dwell on what the devil prefers instead of what God has revealed. Nowadays, instead of confessing the one true God and Jesus Christ, His only Son our Lord, we hear increasingly that there are many gods or there is one God and many paths to this “unknown” God.
This type of religious confusion is exactly what the apostle Paul faced when he arrived in the ancient city of Athens, Greece, 2,000 years ago. At that point in history, Athens was the greatest university town in the whole world. All people who sought the highest learning came to this city.
Athens was also the city of many gods. It is said there were more statues of gods in Athens than in all the rest of Greece put together. It was also said that, in Athens, it was easier to meet a god than a man. This then was the place where the apostle Paul arrived to do mission work and to preach “Jesus Christ Crucified.” Consequently, in the city square, the apostle Paul had no difficulty whatsoever finding someone to talk to, either about religion or about philosophy.
Two thousand years ago in Athens, Greece, there were many altars to various gods. There was also an altar dedicated specifically to the “unknown” god.
Now let me explain the reason why an altar would be designated to the “unknown” god. You see, a dreaded life-threatening disease had come upon this Grecian city. Nothing could stop this killer plague. Tradition has it however, that Epimenides, a Cretan poet, devised a plan he felt could stop this horrible epidemic.
And so, Epimenides arranged for a flock of black and white sheep to be let loose throughout the city of Athens. The people watched what happened. If a sheep lay down, it was sacrificed on the nearest altar to a particular god. However, if a sheep lay down near the shrine of no “known” god, this sheep was then sacrificed to the “unknown god.”
This then is what the apostle Paul was referring to when he began his preaching. As the introductory part of his address, St. Paul said: “Men of Athens, I observe you are very religious in all respects. 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.'” Then St. Paul looked at these philosophers and said, “What you worship in ignorance this [is the God] that I now proclaim to you'” (Acts 17:22-23).
Without fanfare, without sugar coating the subject, without dodging the issues of that day, St. Paul told these people how they, and also we today, can know the true God of the Bible. This is the “God who did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world” (John 3:17).
How appropriate this message of Jesus Christ crucified and raised from the dead is for us and our culture. In an era when we are hearing more and more that all religions are the same, and in a period of history when it is implied that all religions lead to the same God, we need to listen very carefully to the explanation of the apostle Paul so we also can know the real and “known” God as He has revealed Himself in Jesus Christ!
Yes, indeed, as he stood among the learned men of Athens, the apostle Paul explained the God of the Bible; and this is the God who made the world and all things in it. St. Paul says, “He is Lord” of heaven and earth.” This God of the Bible who has revealed Himself in Jesus Christ does not dwell in temples made with hands. And He is not served by human hands as if He needed anything [from any one of us.] Yes, as St. Paul stipulates, the true and “known” God gives to all people life and breath and all things. It is indeed correct as the apostle Paul explains it is through the “known” and revealed God, that “we live, we move, and we have our being.”
Now, at this point in his sermon, the apostle Paul came to a critical juncture. He said, “God is now declaring that all people everywhere should repent because He, God, has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness. And He will do this through [Jesus Christ] whom He has appointed having furnished proof to all men by raising Jesus Christ from the dead.'”
Oh! One can hardly imagine the impact St. Paul’s sermon must have had on the Greek philosophers of that day. First St. Paul said clearly that there is only one God. He gave proof of this God by anchoring his argument in the glorious and historical Easter resurrection of Jesus Christ. This, my friend, can be Good News and an anchor for you today. Maybe you have been searching for the same anchor. You need the anchor of Christ’s resurrection for stability and hope in your life.
There is no need, friends, to speak any longer about an “unknown god.” There is no need to stumble around in religious helplessness or spiritual hopelessness. God has made Himself “known” to you for your forgiveness and your salvation. We read in the Bible that long ago God spoke through Isaiah, Jeremiah, and many other prophets in many ways. Most recently, the Bible says, God has spoken to His church and He now speaks to you, through His Son the Lord Jesus Christ (Hebrews 1:1). And the God of the Bible wants you to know that because of Jesus Christ, as the psalmist says, God your gracious Father has not dealt with you according to your sins, nor has He rewarded you according to your iniquities. “For as high as the heavens are above the earth” the psalmist says “so great is God’s loving kindness toward you and all those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west,” my friend, “so far has God, because of Jesus Christ, removed your transgressions from you.” Finally, the psalmist says “Just as a father has compassion on his children, so also the Lord has compassion on you and on all those who fear Him.” Yes, God knows your frame. He is mindful that you are but dust (Psalm 103:11-14). Therefore, all of this compassion — all of this love the “known God” has for you — is all wrapped up and packaged for you in the bloody crucifixion cross of Jesus Christ. The apostle John writes, “The blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son cleanses us from all of your sin” (1 John 1:7).
Therefore, every time you see the symbol of the cross on a church steeple or on a necklace or on a gravestone or on a bracelet, let this powerful symbol be a gracious reminder of God’s most vivid and most memorable revelation of Himself to you. In the cross, God is making Himself “known” unto you. When Jesus Christ died on the cross, this uncoerced and totally intentional act was set high on Calvary’s hill for everybody in the whole world to see. On this cross Jesus Christ died for your sins. And when you become a member of Christ’s church, and when you receive Holy Communion, you then receive the blessings and the benefits of the revealed and “known” God. This is also why the hymn writer writes:
“O Jesus, blessed Lord, to Thee My heartfelt thanks forever be, Who hast so lovingly bestowed On me Thy body and Thy blood. Break forth, my soul, for joy and say What wealth is come to me this day! My Savior dwells within my heart, how blest am I! How good Thou art!”
Yes, let us never forget what St. Paul told those worldly wise Greeks in Athens 2,000 years ago. God has “fixed a day in which He will judge the world.” On that day, every man, woman, or child who has ever lived, will appear before the judgment throne of God. Then the perfect record God has kept of everything, everything you have ever done and even all you have ever thought, will be opened, and upon this your record, you will be judged.
Imagine all your faults and failures, like a recording, “played back” before your eyes. This is a frightening thought! But it can be different you see. The Good News is that in Jesus you need not be scared that all your past mistakes will be raised up before your eyes. Instead, in Jesus Christ, “As far as the east is from the west, so our gracious God will have removed your sins from you” in Christ (Psalm 103:12).
So, my friends, don’t let the devil mislead you into believing that the real God is obscure, unrevealed, or unknown. In Jesus Christ, God has vividly, powerfully, and forever made Himself “known” to you and unto all people.
Therefore, every time the devil tempts you to wonder if God exists, turn your eyes of faith to the historical facts of Christ’s spiritual conception. Turn your word-driven thoughts to the historical facts of His bloody and sin-atoning death and His glorious and triumphant resurrection. Because Jesus rose from the dead, you and all those who place their faith in Christ, will be raised unto life everlasting.
So then, dear friends, let these immovable historical facts be the solid foundation of your faith. If those around you, even your closest friends, desire to continue to stumble around in their own obstinate unbelief, be different, be totally different. Say with the apostle Paul, “I know whom I have believed” (2 Timothy 1:12). I believe in the “known” God, the God who has revealed Himself in Jesus Christ.
Then, confess with the saints of old, “But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through God who loved us.” Yes, we are followers of the “revealed” and “known” God. Therefore, we are “convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:37-39).
Dear heavenly Father, we pray, focus the faith of all listeners today upon You, the “known” God. For only You can cleanse us, heal us, forgive us, and guarantee us a life that is eternal. In Jesus’ powerful name we pray. Amen.
LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers) for May 5, 2002
ANNOUNCER: Dr. Schulz, in today’s message you pointed out how similar the situation is between what is happening today and what was happening in apostle Paul’s life and ministry.
SCHULZ: Well, Mark, I think anybody who reads what Paul was talking about in Athens, Greece, 2,000 years ago is probably somewhat shocked to realize St. Paul could speak the same words to our current culture and his words would fit in a most striking way, I think.
ANNOUNCER: What do you mean?
SCHULZ: The section of the Bible we focused on today describes how 2,000 years ago in Athens the apostle Paul found a bunch of people who were stumbling around, shall we say, in their search for real religion and the true God.
ANNOUNCER: Would you say this is what is happening in our culture today?
SCHULZ: I think it is. In fact, I am convinced so. In my own life, I have seen a tremendous increase in the idea or opinion that there are many religions but they all end up at the same God.
ANNOUNCER: Why do Christians have a problem with that type of thinking?
SCHULZ: It’s not really that Christians have a private or a personal problem with this. You see, Christians have the “mind of Christ,” as St. Paul says in Corinthians. Therefore, they think and speak like Jesus Himself. Jesus is God. Our Lord has said on many occasions He will not tolerate any other gods but Himself. In fact, one of the very key points in our catechism of religious instruction highlights the Bible passage where our heavenly Father says, “I am the Lord. That is My name; and My glory I will not give to another” (Isaiah 42:8).
ANNOUNCER: So instead of arguing how many ways there might be to God, you are simply saying that God, according to the Scriptures, does not have to be an “unknown” God.
SCHULZ: Well, I think this is the only way we can speak of this. You see, this is the whole point of the Scriptures. St. John writes the Scriptures “had been written so that people might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and by believing they might have life eternal in His name” (John 20:31). The main task of every church is to proclaim Jesus Christ and Him crucified. On this program, we proclaim God as He has revealed Himself or as He has made Himself known to us in Christ. Jesus said, “If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father” (John 14:9). So, as I mentioned earlier, in the Book of Hebrews we read that God spoke in many ways through the prophets long ago. But now, God has revealed Himself and He has spoken to us through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
ANNOUN0CER: Dr. Schulz, how would you summarize this?
SCHULZ: Well, the bottom line is that God is not unknown. He has made Himself known. The most memorable and dramatic way God has done this is through the crucifixion and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. There have obviously been many prophets who have walked this earth and claimed to have special or even miraculous abilities. However, only Jesus — only Jesus — was publicly crucified and then raised again from the dead. So, to all of our listeners, we simply say: Don’t be caught up in any philosophical arguments about whether or not God exists. Don’t be swayed by the new trends of searching for some type of a God outside of the Bible. Stick to the solid foundation of the faith. Believe that Jesus died for your sins. Believe the facts of history that Jesus rose again from the grave so that you also may be raised from the dead. Make your confession bold. Make your confession with great joy and leave all the doubts, the despair and the discouragement behind you. When it comes to Christianity, we don’t talk about some unknown god somewhere. God has made Himself known through Jesus Christ. Rejoice in this, be glad, and live now and forever in this glorious promise of your Heavenly Father.
ANNOUNCER: Thank you, Dr. Schulz. The next Lutheran Hour message is titled, “Celebrate the Ascension.”