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"So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: "Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 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."- Acts 17:22-23

Does this passage from God’s Word seem familiar?

Many have at least an arms length familiarity with the incident, or an academic acquaintance with certain particulars of the whys and wherefores concerning Paul's journey, etc. When reading the entire passage regarding this subject, one is struck by Paul’s directness and appeal to the Athenians logical mind set. His argument was one layer of truth laid upon another in a sequential fashion. He knew their penchant for things logical, and he used it to preach the Gospel to them (v. 21). He knew he needed to say much in a short time. There was a point of reference available in Athens, and Paul used it wisely. He met them where they were. The incident as presented is very interesting, even fascinating to read. But does this passage perhaps have another familiar ring to it - one that at first glance may slip past us? Does it sound eerily like the world of today - the world in which you and I "live and move and have our being"? The Athenians were covering their bets on gods. They wanted to be sure that the right one would be appeased - one way or another. They had no knowledge about "God", the ALL mighty one God of all (v.16). They had not so much as heard OF such a God.

It seems that more and more the God that so many have known in times past, has now become the God whom many have only "heard of". That would be only one step ahead of the Athenians...

It is impossible to "know" a God who is not known "of". Knowing of God is closer to God that not knowing of Him (the Athenian's understanding had become darkened because of their refused to know their "unknown" God (Romans 1:19-21), but only knowing OF the true God is no excuse. If the Athenians are therefore without excuse, how much more so are those who, having known God, become more and more like the Athenians! In our world - and even in many churches - the true God is becoming more and more "the unknown God". Not unlike the Athenians, there are more "gods" today than can be counted, though their monuments and shrines may be different. For many generations of times past, God has truly been "known" - not just "known of". Now, more and more - He is being known from a distance - a long distance, and getting longer. To many, He is the God they have heard of. Once it could be said that God was KNOWN in society. Where He was once known, many are afraid to refer to Him - even as the "unknown" God. He was once know in the schools, private and public (Harvard was founded as a Christian university, along with most others), and in the gilded halls of governments leaders of many persuasions called upon a God they knew. Will someone erect a shrine where the Ten Commandments once were with the inscription: "To The Unknown God"?

At one time there was an underlying, mostly unseen, foundation of Christian morality and fundamentals so that evangelizing was, in some ways, very simple: just turn from what you already know is sin (now sin is an "unknown" word?), in surrender to the God of our your fathers and my fathers. The seed could be sown in already fallowed ground (Mark 4:20). Where God is the "known of" God, how can one repent if they do not know what to repent of? Sin is seldom mentioned as an emphasis in presenting the Gospel. Since this is so, most are never told what "sin" IS! So, affectively, sin is not there. If sin is not there, they cannot repent of what they have not heard to repent of. If they cannot repent, they cannot be forgiven. Then where is the value of Christ’s sacrifice for them? Why preach about the "grace of God"? Grace is not needed, since there is no transgression. The true God becomes only the "heard of" God. God remains the Unknown God. Paul could not take the Athenians into these and other details of the faith, but he left them with the basics of the Gospel. He planted a seed in fallow ground. The Holy Spirit and others would follow and water and cultivate. The now "known God" would provide the increase (1 Corinthians 3:6)!

It is becoming more and more necessary, even in the Western world, to approach the preaching of the Gospel through the eyes of the Apostle Paul in Athens. Otherwise, the Gospel and true Christianity will become even more strange than it is now. Christian morality in many ways has become the butt of jokes among those whose gods are known by them, and among those who know more "of God" than know God, it is considered to be a remnant of past and outdated legalistic theology, that was "replaced by grace". This moral shuffle is not new (Jude 1:3-4). It just has new labels. Pendulums do swing. When God begins to work with someone, He will meet them where they are. Unfortunately, some today believe that in order to do so, the Gospel and the deliverer of the Gospel must become like they are. Then the messenger becomes like them, and becomes eventually ineffective, not to mention hypocritical (Proverbs 26:4-5). The Apostle Paul said woe be unto him if he did not preach the Gospel. But he did not become like those to whom he preached, but he became all things to them. There is a very big difference. So it is should be for those who preach the true Gospel today (Matthew 7:6).

Let us understand that we are living in an Athenian society. As is often said, things change. Our society has changed. Although there are many who know the true God, we are increasingly living in a land of monuments to many gods, along with its monuments to the Unknown God. There have been many wake up calls for the world, especially for America, over the years. Perhaps the shot over the bough was 9-11-01. The true God is increasingly becoming the Unknown God. Will the now Unknown God the true God - eventually become the Unheard Of God (John 4:35)? The Athenian Way of preaching the Gospel is now needed in a world that is increasingly becoming the land of "The Unknown God" (Matthew 16:2-3; Luke 10:2).

I pray that you will be known of, and come to know, the true God - the One that is more and more Unknown...

"The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 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, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 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.’ Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead." - Acts 17:24-31

"Refreshment in Refuge" from Gina Burgess

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