Title: The Unknown God / Acts 17:22-34
1 The Athenians Worship the 'Unknown God'
Introduction to 'point of contact' and 'attention' rather than praising the Athenians who built and served an altar for the 'unknown god'.
Stories related to 'The Unknown God'
- From the possibility of the existence of another god that we did not realize in a society with polytheistic ideas
- Legend to stop the epidemic of the Black Death: In Areopago, the sheep scattered and built a pedestal wherever they stopped.
Everywhere in the world there is a term for 'God'. Where Christianity enters, the 'God' is realized. First, it adopts the language of the society, but ultimately makes us realize the true God.
apply :
Even those living in the age of cutting-edge science have an 'unknown god'.
What you don't know increases in proportion to what you know (e.g. exam preparation-when you prepare and when you don't)
There is an 'unknown god' to all modern people
- People who don't want to admit it
With one's own power ...the effort of intellectual search, the possession of wealth, the pursuit of the possession of power and honor
- When you realize your limits....try doing good deeds, religious discipline, etc...
But as a human, no one achieves satisfactory results...
Even Christians sometimes lead a life of faith with an attitude toward an 'unknown god'.
- Choose from several religions in preparation for the possibility of the existence of God
- As a substitute for indigenous and traditional beliefs: a form mixed with superstitious Christianity and traditional shamanism
We need to know exactly about the God we believe in and the God Paul experienced and preached.
'God, who is he?' - 'My people perish for lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6), let's know the Lord. Let's strive to know the Lord (Hosea 6:3). I desire mercy, not sacrifice; I desire the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings (Hosea 6:6).
2. What God? (Verses 24-29)
The God taught in today's text is a personal, but invisible God.
You can trace it: God at work in history. God you can experience
Those who are not limited by time and space
However, those who have personal relationships with people
However, humans seek a visible God, but an impersonal God.
Make it visible: sculpture, form, nature...
But it demands impersonal: energy, strength, energy, reason, law...
Creating a god out of necessity (customization) and re-tethering to it
Creating a god that can be used to satisfy one's own desires - a sadly struggling human figure
Challenge: Christians tend to see God as impersonal and visible over time.
(The golden calf of the Exodus. Making idols. Making images and sanctifications - beyond the simple educational dimension)
3. So What? (Verse 30-)
What's wrong? It's going well.
God's Clear Messiah - Now is the day of salvation, the time of grace.
As an added bonus, God, who started history, determines and judges the end time: Evidence - The death and resurrection of Christ who came to this earth is the proof. call for repentance. God calls for faith.