Bottom Line: When we are impacted with God’s truth, wherever it is found, we are changed.
*Acts 17:22–28
22 So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28 for “ ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “ ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’
Tonight we are looking at the difference between basic religion and being Christlike.
What does religion look like? We carry out certain duties. We HAVE to do this thing or that thing. We HAVE to pray. We HAVE to gather together.
What is the impact that religion has on people? It strives to make you a good person a lot of times by human standards. (Vs 22) Have you ever met someone who simply believes in just “being a good person”? It is interesting because you can find some really “good” people morally that have no relationship with God whatsoever. They are sometimes even more moral than Christians! I have met many people who are on a “better” path in life. They are the people who strive to be good and friendly to everyone. Who think that stealing is wrong and that we should be the best we can in our societies.
A lot of times religion has just that affect on people. You can become a good catholic by not doing too much bad stuff. Most of the time bad stuff is just what your conscience “feels” is bad. You can become a good Mormon by not drinking coffee. You can be a good Muslim by praying 5 times a day.
Do you see what religion is about? It is about being good and following rules. Is that a bad thing? Not at all! Paul was able to see this in the Athenians and was able to point them in a direction that gave doing these things purpose. Your actions change, when you are religious.
What is the impact that Christ has on people? There are a lot of similarities aren’t there? You still need to pray. You still need to gather together. You still need to avoid sin. What is the significant change then? Are we any different from a “good” person? Example: Let’s think about it this way: If I tell you to go clean up these classrooms, you would probably do it just because I said so... maybe. But if I told you to go clean up these classrooms because the family that just lost their home was going to be living here for a while, do you think that would change your attitude in doing what I asked you to do?
There are a few reasons we are different from just being “good people”.
The first reason is that we have been redeemed by God’s grace because of our faith in Him. We are sinners in need of a savior, just as much as sinner that is a good person needs a savior.
The second reason is that we should have a complete change of our thought life. The way you see a situation should be completely different once you have been touched by God. Our lives should be centered on serving Christ. When you encounter a decision to sin, your question isn’t “How can I do this and become a bad person?”, but it should be, “How can I honor God in this situation?”
A good person looks for recognition for the good things he does. A Christian points the good things he does back to Christ, giving God the glory.
Look at how this next verse ties in to what we are talking about:
(Vs 23) The men of Athens worshiped what they did not understand. They were trying to worship God, but they didn’t know who He was in order to worship Him correctly.
People know right from wrong. They may not claim to know it because they don’t want to be held accountable to it, but they know it just the same. People know that they should worship, but they don’t know what they should worship.
Let me give you another example. Have you ever seen the Coexist bumper sticker? How many of you think this is a good thing? We should coexist with others. We should accept each other’s differences and live in harmony. Tell me what this bumper sticker is really saying. “We are all the same, we don’t need to get hung up on petty issues like doctrine or theology.”
That sounds good until you realize what God says about doctrine. You not only need to know what do worship, or better yet, who to worship, but you need to know why you worship it.
John 1:12 “To all who did receive HIM, He gave the right to be children of God…” Colossians 2:8 “See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.”
On a side note, here is the thing that gets me. The very sticker that is meant to bring about harmony is actually an attack on Christianity. Why? Because we are the ones that say Christ is the ONLY way to God the Father. Even though the explanation points out that Islam is in it to destroy every one of these other views and that Christianity is not a threat to any of the others. Christianity is the only one capable of coexisting with these other religions at the same time of pointing them to Christ. Isn’t that wild?
Paul proclaims Christ to the men at Athens because they were worshiping everything. Not understanding that they were supposed to worship only God. They knew there was something that they needed to worship, they just didn’t know what it was.
*Acts 24-27
24 “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us,”
God is in the details. He gives life, and everything needed for it. He determines where we live, what our circumstances are, and He continually reaches out to us. He wants us to find Him. To be impacted by His presence.
This ties in to what we talked about last week. We will not experience God unless we are seeking after Him, unless we are putting ourselves in a position to be impacted by Him.
I want you to realize that we don’t have some kind of magical solution for life. We are not good people because of what we do, we are good people because of who Christ is in us. You have probably heard the phrase “It’s not a religion, it’s a relationship.” That is very true. We have to have our relationship with God because otherwise being a good person makes no sense. Spending time in church makes no sense. Praying makes no sense. I am not religious, I’m a Christian. How is that going to impact your week? How are you going to allow God to impact others through you?
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