"The Threat of Religious Fluff"
Text: Acts
17:16-23, 31
Putting
aside all pretense and hypocrisy, may you come face to face with your God here
this morning and, confessing your sins, stand before him confident in the righteousness
of his Son, Jesus Christ, and in the full and complete forgiveness of sins.
Amen.
Dear Fellow
Christians:
"Possession," as you may have heard, "is nine points of the law." In
more readily understandable terms, that means, more or less, that if I've got
my mitts on something, I'm already ahead in the fight to keep it. The saying
(or a variant thereof) reportedly goes back to early English law, and refers to
the fact that if I am in possession of something, the other guy has to produce
rock-solid evidence to prove it is his. There is, in fact, something powerfully
persuasive in the human existence when it comes to the concept of ownership. The
17th Century English philosopher/historian William Godwin once wrote:
"What magic is there in the pronoun "my", to overturn the
decisions of everlasting truth?"
Do you follow the sense of what he was saying? That
little word "my" tends to alter our perceptions and loyalties
dramatically – often much more than is fair or reasonable. Once we adopt a
position on a question, once it become mine, truth tends to take a back seat.
How many of us have, for example, defended positions in a debate or argument
that we knew to be flawed, or just plain wrong, for no other reason than that
it was our argument? It all goes
back, again, to ownership – to "my." In general, if it is mine, it
must be right.
This is probably little more than a demonstration or
manifestation of human pride, and it shows up in rather silly debates about
football teams (my team is of a more noble character than your team) schools, cars,
even children. If it is mine, it is automatically better, by default.
While such things are irritating and often divisive, the
real problems show up when we apply such nonsense to our spiritual beliefs. In
the end it really doesn't matter if the Packers or the Vikings are
"better," or if Bismarck is a better school than Century. What does
matter is when you and I allow "my" to cloud our understanding of the
truth of God's Word. In other words, one of our most fervent prayers to our
Creator God ought to be to strip each of us of the pride of "my" when
we approach God's Word. Sentiments like "I
just think…" and "It just
seems to me…" have no place in religion and the study of God's Word.
The only thing that we ought to be concerned with when we read our Bibles is "What does God say?" Like the
young prophet-in-training Samuel, we are to approach our God with a simple, "Speak
Lord, for your servant is listening."
Human opinion is, in fact, most often a great obstacle to Christianity.
Understanding this simple fact prepares us to approach and hear God's Word,
including our text for this morning, the Word of God recorded in the Book of
Acts, the Seventeenth Chapter. Here we will witness, among other things, the
natural reaction of opinionated men when confronted with the gospel of Jesus
Christ.
NKJ Acts 17:16-23, 31 Now while Paul waited for them at Athens,
his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to
idols. 17 Therefore he
reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers, and in the marketplace daily with those who
happened to be there. 18 Then
certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said,
"What does this babbler want to say?" Others said, "He seems to
be a proclaimer of foreign gods," because he
preached to them Jesus and the resurrection.
19 And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus,
saying, "May we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak? 20 "For you are bringing some strange things to our
ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean." 21 For all the Athenians and the
foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell
or to hear some new thing. 22 ¶
Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, "Men of Athens, I
perceive that in all things you are very religious; 23 "for as I was
passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an
altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the One whom you
worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: …He has appointed a day on
which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained.
He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead."
So far the verbally inspired words from God himself. What a joy and privilege for a mere
man to be able to read and study the very words of God, and to have our own
opinions guided by the Holy Spirit himself. That our God would so guide each of
us this morning, so we pray, "Sanctify us through Your
truth, O Lord. Your Word is truth!" Amen.
Obviously
nothing good happens when man allows his opinions to determine his religious truths
and convictions. When man formulates his own religion, the truths of God's Word
are never enhanced; they are always degraded. What results is never an
improvement – for how could any product of the mind of man ever improve upon
that which comes from God ? On the contrary, what
comes from man is always hollow and superficial in comparison. Man makes
religious fluff; belief systems that have only the outward veneer of substance
and truth.
While this
next example will mean nothing at all to some, others here will know exactly
what I am talking about. Do you remember the time machine that Kip and Uncle
Rico bought on eBay? That's the sort of religion that man manufactures –
hollow, pointless, nonsense. Man-make religions make a mockery of that which is
truly divine.
With that
we join Paul in Athens – the setting of our text for this morning. Our text
tells us that Athens at that time was "a city given over to idols." Paul even
offered them what they undoubtedly took as a compliment: "Men of Athens, I perceive that in all
things you are very religious." This was, in fact, anything but a
compliment from Paul. It was, to be sure, an acknowledgment that they were steeped
in religious ideas, for we heard in our text that "all the Athenians and the
foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell
or to hear some new thing."
But isn't that a good thing, to be very religious? The world supposes it is
so, but not God. Not that kind of "religious." Their brand of
religious was a perversion and an abomination to God – something deserving of
everlasting condemnation. He did not look on them favorably because they tried
so hard – even to the point of erecting that altar TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. God
condemned them for their unbelief and idolatry.
Hear this,
and understand it well. God is never pleased by the observance of man-made
religion, which is idolatry. Man is the only one that takes pride in his
religiosity. God is not pleased with anything false or misleading.
The problem
with the philosophers in Athens was, at least in part, that they were
philosophers in Athens. Having plumbed the depths of their own minds, they came
to the conclusion that they had actually been somewhere and accomplished
something. And they congratulated each other accordingly.
We saw in
our text what happened when they actually encountered true religion of a divine
origin – they were baffled by it, ridiculed it, and dismissed it. Do you recall
their words? "What
does this babbler want to say?" Others said, "He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods," because he preached to
them Jesus and the resurrection.
Their reaction isn't really all that strange, is it? In fact it is the
typical reaction of man to that which is above and beyond his mortal intellect.
Paul could undoubtedly have ingratiated himself to the men of the Areopagus if
he had just spouted some religious-sounding nothings like "To do is to be" or "Man
is the measure of all things." Had he said things like that, he
probably would have made a bunch of new friends and been asked to return. As it
was, they had pretty much heard all that they wanted to hear.
At what
point did Paul lose them? When exactly did they turn away and lose interest? He
lost them at the very point where his message departed from their rational
point of view. Look back at what Paul had been telling them. He credited these
men on their religious nature, remarking about the altar dedicated "TO THE
UNKNOWN GOD." He went on to explain how he, Paul, knew this "unknown
God" and that he was going to tell them about him. No doubt the
Athenians were all ears at that point. Any race of people so zealous to know
and please every god that they would erect an altar an unknown god (just in
case) would be keenly interested in hearing all they could about that god. Paul
began by speaking to them on their own level - with references to their
everyday life and culture. All of these things the men of Athens could accept.
They could tolerate the concept of a God who made heaven and earth, as well as
a God that was not made out of ordinary materials. It was not, in fact, until
Paul broached the first uniquely Christian
(and illogical) truth that the men of Athens had any objection to what he was
saying. And yet we note with great interest that it took only one such Christian saying. One was
enough. Paul had only to mention the resurrection of the dead and the Athenians
had had enough.
Again, it was not as if these men
weren’t religious – they were extraordinarily
religious. It was not as if these men were like the thugs in Thessalonica who
started a riot over what Paul was preaching because
it interfered with their pocketbooks. These were civilized, religious men –
wise men… and therein lay their downfall. Hear this well. Their earthly wisdom
and preconceived opinions served only to confirm them in their damning
unbelief. Learn this great lesson of our text. Religion, piety, civility - none
of these did the men of Athens any good when it came to the life and death
struggle between the gospel of Jesus Christ and the hollow musings of man. The
very intelligence of these men proved to be their downfall.
This same
damning tendency is alive and well in each one of us here. Recognize this in
your own heart and the danger it poses to your eternal soul. Christians are
continually tempted to abandon the simple truths of God’s Word in favor of our
own wisdom, logic, intuition - call it what you will. Every single Christian
carries a natural idea or conception of what is, in fact, true and right. Solomon
warned of the inescapable results of following our own natural preconceived
notions when he wrote by inspiration in Proverbs
14:12, "There is a way that
seems right to a man, but its end is
the way of death." Hear those words well, for they reveal
the subtle, terrible nature of the evil that resides in every one of us. This malevolence
is so terrible because, as Solomon warned, it does seem right to us; it seems natural, true, even
logical. Whatever therefore conflicts with what we naturally imagine to be
right is in constant danger of being dismissed as false.
The basic
truth here is that natural man is comfortable with certain elements of
Christianity, but only until such truths begin to interfere with what his mind
tells him is true. By nature you and I would have no trouble with kindness,
gentleness, peace and the like. That, however, is neither the sum nor the basic
substance of Christianity. Such things are products or fruits of Christianity.
Christianity is much more, and herein lies the second great lesson of our text.
Note well that Paul did go on to say
more. He could have meandered around in his speech to the Areopagus and never
once offended them. What good would it have done them? Paul would simply have
helped to confirm those blind souls in their unbelief. In fact every time any
Christian gives the impression to an unrepentant sinner that all is well
between him and his God, he confirms him in his sins and in his unbelief. Every
time you and I speak in "I’m okay,
you’re okay" terms to an unbeliever, we make him even more of an
unbeliever. Here’s the tragedy of today's one-size-fits-all religiosity. Damned
sinners could quite easily practice such a religion for a lifetime and never
once hear what they need to hear to be turned and to be saved. That simple,
saving, illogical message is that faith in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of
sins is the one and only path to heaven.
Let the
words of Paul to the men of Athens ring in your ears each time you are tempted
to compromise your witness: "(God) has appointed a day on which He
will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained."
The world needs desperately to hear this very message. A good life and pious
conduct will save no one. The world will be saved or damned alone on the basis
of Jesus Christ. "He that believes and is baptized shall be saved. He that believes
not shall be damned." Know then that unbelief will almost always
sound and appear completely logical. It is by default what natural man will
always choose. Saving faith, on the other hand, is a precious gift created in
our hearts only through the working of the Holy Spirit.
Praise God
that he has given this great gift also to you! A great change has been worked
in you by God himself, for you too embrace that which is foolishness to the unconverted
wise of this world. You possess, even now, the simple confidence that your sins
stand forgiven before your righteous Creator because those sins were loaded
upon Jesus and carried by him to the cross. There he paid for every single one
of them. Rejoice with me, fellow Christians, that Jesus Christ has written your
name too in the Book of Life. This is the mystery of the gospel – folly to the
world, but the great and powerful key to Life eternal for God's children. Amen.
Scripture Readings and Sunday
Bulletin for April 27, 2008
NKJ 1 Peter 3:13-22 And who is he
who will harm you if you become followers of what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer
for righteousness' sake, you are blessed. "And do not be afraid of
their threats, nor be troubled." 15
But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give
a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you,
with meekness and fear;
16 having a good conscience, that when they defame you
as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. 17 For it is
better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. 18 For Christ also suffered once
for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to
death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, 19 by whom also He went and
preached to the spirits in prison, 20
who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the
days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is,
eight souls, were saved through water. 21
There is also an antitype which now saves us -- baptism (not the removal of the
filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through
the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22
who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and
authorities and powers having been made subject to Him.
NKJ John 14:15-21 " If you love Me,
keep My commandments. 16
"And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He
may abide with you forever -- 17
"the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither
sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in
you. 18 ¶ "I will
not leave you orphans; I will come to you.
19 " A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will
live also. 20 "At that
day you will know that I am in My Father, and
you in Me, and I in you. 21
"He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is
he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by
My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him."
NKJ
Acts 17:16-23, 31 Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his
spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to
idols. 17 Therefore he
reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers,
and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there. 18 Then certain Epicurean and
Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, "What does this babbler
want to say?" Others said, "He seems to be a proclaimer
of foreign gods," because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection. 19 And they took him and brought
him to the Areopagus, saying, "May we know what this new doctrine is of
which you speak? 20
"For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore we
want to know what these things mean."
21 For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there
spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new
thing. 22 ¶ Then Paul
stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, "Men of Athens, I perceive
that in all things you are very religious;
23 "for as I was passing through and considering the
objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE
UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I
proclaim to you: …He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in
righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this
to all by raising Him from the dead."
ST. PAUL
Bismarck, ND 58501 (701) 223-4885 Cell: (701) 425-5483
Mr. Mark Johnson, President (222-1855) Mrs. Eileen McEnroe,
Organist
Michael Roehl, Pastor mjroehl@bis.midco.net
The Fifth Sunday after Easter – April 27, 2008
|
The Opening
Prayer by the Pastor
The Opening
Hymn ‑#728- (Brown Hymnal)
"Christ Is Living"
The Order
of Morning Service – Brown Hymnal page 12.
The Scripture Lessons: (Printed on the bulletin insert)
The New Testament Lesson: (1
Peter 3:13-22) The Holy Spirit through Peter once again reinforces God's desire
that we follow His will in our lives, come what may. Good will
certainly come of it. The greatest example is Jesus. The result of the
good that Jesus did was the forgiveness of our sins and the payment of our
sin-debt. Through baptism, Christ's payment becomes our own.
Psalm of the Day: Psalm 66 (Brown
Hymnal page 37)
The New Testament Lesson: (John 14:15-21) Jesus here talks
about the sending of the Holy Spirit following his Ascension (the event we
commemorate on Thursday of this week). Having brought the new man to life in
us, the Holy Spirit now lives within us. The natural result is good works in
our lives.
The
Confession of Faith ‑
The Nicene Creed (Brown Hymnal page 5)
The Pre‑Sermon
Hymn ‑#290- (Red Hymnal)
"We Have a Sure Prophetic
Word"
The Sermon – Text: Acts
17:16-23, 31 (Printed on the back of this bulletin)
"The Threat of Religious Fluff"
"Create
In Me" (The Offertory) – Brown Hymnal page 16 insert
The Offering, followed by the Prayers
Offering Hymn ‑#792- (Brown Hymnal)
The Pre-Communion Hymn -#755- (Brown Hymnal)
"What
Is This Bread"
The
Preparation for Holy Communion (Brown Hymnal page 17)
The
Distribution -Hymn #305- (Red Hymnal)
The Nunc
Dimittis and Thanksgiving (Brown Hymnal page 20)
The Benediction
The Closing
Hymn ‑#767- (Verses 1 &4) (Brown Hymnal)
"Church of God, Elect and
Glorious"
Silent
Prayer
Attendance ‑ Last Sunday (48) 2008 Average (52)
This Week
at
Today -10:00 a.m. – Worship Service w/ Holy Communion
-11:15 a.m. – Fellowship Hour
-11:30 a.m. – Quarterly Voters' Meeting
Wednesday -6:00
p.m. – Confirmation & Bible History
-7:00 p.m. –
Midweek Bible Study
Next Sunday -8:45 a.m. – Sunday School and Bible Class
-10:00
a.m. – Sunday Worship
Service
-11:00
a.m. – Fellowship
Hour
Quarterly Voters' Meeting – Voting members of St. Paul are
reminded of the Voters' Meeting following the fellowship time this morning.
Once again there are only a few items on the agenda, which should make for a
short meeting. Please take the time to participate.
Greeters Needed – One last plea for volunteers to
serve in this capacity. Please consider helping out with this service to your
Lord.
Church Council Notes – Strong offerings in March increased
check book balance from $1,437 to $4,680, eliminating the need to withdraw
funds from the CEF. 2007 Audit showed the books to be in good order. Several
Audit Committee recommendations have been implemented. Thanks to Señor
Willy for spring lawn prep. Council voted to make "family style" the
default serving style for funerals. The ACH program is nearing implementation.
Volunteers are in the process of formulating a logo for church use. The Pastor
was asked to repeat the plea for volunteer greeters and delegates. Council
approved the member donation of a serving cart.
Door Closing Problems – Please be sure to close the exit
door in the kitchen firmly. It has a tendency to blow open if not fully
latched. Give it a tug after closing to make sure it is secure.