“The Resurrected Christ Reveals the Unknown God”
In the name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit.
[Amen.]
Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our
Lord [Amen.]
“Here stands the font before our eyes,
Telling how God has received us.
The altar recalls Christ’s sacrifice
And what His Supper here gives us.
Here sound the Scriptures that proclaim
Christ yesterday, today, the same,
And evermore, our Redeemer.”
(Lutheran Service Book, © 2006 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO.
645:4)
First
Reading..............................................................................
Acts 17:16-31 (esp. 22-23)
22So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I
perceive that in every way you are very religious. 23For 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.
Prologue: As we rapidly approach the completion of this 50-day
Easter Season, let’s review why Christ’s resurrection is so very important
and comforting. Our Synod Catechism tells us that “Christ’s resurrection
proves that A. Christ is the Son of God; B. His doctrine is the truth; C.
God the Father accepted Christ’s sacrifice for the reconciliation of the
world; [and] D. all believers in Christ will rise to eternal life.” (Luther’s
Small Catechism with Explanation. Copyright © 1986, 1991 Concordia
Publishing House, St. Louis, MO. Pages 139f.) Saint Paul captured that
catechetical explanation when he declared to the people of Athens who
worshipped many false gods and, just to make sure they covered all the
bases, even had an altar devoted the mysterious unidentified deity that …
“The Resurrected Christ Reveals the Unknown God.”
Pastor Marks very emphatically reminded us last weekend that there
is only one true God … all other perceived or supposed gods are, well, just
that … perceptions and suppositions. Again turning to our Synod Catechism
we’re instructed in the contexts of The First Commandment and The Apostles’
Creed that “The only true God is the triune God: Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit, three distinct persons in one divine being (the Holy Trinity).”
(Ibid. Pages 56 & 107.)
Now, just a quick review of what I stated in my sermon two
weekends ago: “Throughout this Easter season that consists of 50 days
including seven Sundays, the First Readings (which are usually Old Testament
Readings) come from the New Testament book of Acts. It was written during
the years 60-70 and its longer title is ‘The Acts of the Apostles’ or ‘The
Acts of the Holy Spirit.’ It’s actually a continuation of ‘The Gospel
According to St. Luke.’ As such, it provides a Spirit-inspired report of
the development of the early Christian Church after our Savior’s
resurrection from the dead and ascension into heaven.” In addition, “the
development of the Church in those early years had its challenges and
difficulties. The Christians then faced many of the struggles and
frustrations that we face today.” Among them were the wrong ideas that
there are multiple roads to heavenly glory; that all religions are valid
because, after all, they’re all trying to achieve the same thing; and that
no one religion should be considered the exclusively true religion.
First of all, the Christian religion is, indeed, the only true
religion. Second, within the Christian religion are many denominations
which are not equal in their validity, purity, or truthfulness. That’s why
this bold warning also appears in our Synod Catechism, “we should avoid
false teachers, false churches, and all organizations that promote a
religion that is contrary to God’s Word.” (Ibid. Pages 162.) And, that’s
why it’s so very dangerous to adopt the attitude regarding a son, daughter,
brother, sister, or someone else attending just any Christian church that,
well, “I’m happy that at least they’re going to church.” Oh? Even though
that church may be spewing forth false teaching that compromises and
contradicts Biblical truth that can thereby erode faith in Jesus Christ and
forfeit eternal life with Him in heaven?
In the context of all that and more, the early Christians then and
we today need to acknowledge, hold tightly to, and boldly proclaim that …
I. The Age-old Message About Christ and Christianity Rises
Above New Messages About False gods and Religions. (16-21)
16Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked
within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. 17So he reasoned in
the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace
every day with those who happened to be there. 18Some of the Epicurean and
Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, “What does this
babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign
divinities”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. 19And they
took hold of him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what
this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20For you bring some strange
things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.”
21Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their
time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.
Have you ever wondered what “Epicurean delight” means? It’s named
after the philosopher Epicurus, who “taught that the gods are not interested
in the affairs of men and that there is no afterlife in which we will be
called to account. His followers were urged to enjoy life by doing what is
wise and right.” Before the close of the first century of the Christian
era, “this philosophy had degenerated to … the love of pleasure: ‘Eat,
drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.’”
Another philosopher during the development of the early Christian
church was Zeno, who founded the Stoic school of philosophy. “His followers
considered it their highest pleasure to do their duty and their highest duty
to act reasonably.” (People’s Bible Commentary: Acts. Copyright © 1993
Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO. Page 191.)
Both of those philosophies and many others then and today as well
emphasized mankind as all-important and focused on personal pleasure and
satisfaction. They ignored and even denied the reality of the self-denying,
self-sacrificial God, who revealed Himself to mankind in the person and work
of Immanuel. So it was that Paul’s message about the Savior, Jesus Christ,
was so dramatically different that it grabbed their attention and they
wanted to know more about Him. The fact that God appeared in the form of
human flesh; extolled mercy, grace, and forgiveness; encouraged caring for
and serving others rather than being cared for and served; and even gave His
life on Calvary’s cross as the atoning sacrifice for the salvation of all
people was so radical and strange to them that they were filled with
curiosity and desire to know more about it.
And, that’s what’s happening throughout the world today as well.
Although it appears that Christianity is waning in America, it’s on fire and
spreading in many other places throughout the world. The Good News about
God’s free gift of salvation by grace through Spirit-given faith in Jesus
Christ is capturing the attention and hearts of people all around the globe.
And our church body, The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, is right there on
the cutting edge sending missionaries to many locations and educating
foreign men and women to tell the Good News about Jesus with both words and
acts of mercy. We’ll hear about that firsthand from the Reverend Stanish
Stanley, a Lutheran pastor from India who will tell us about the work of
Christian Children’s Concern Society (LeadaChild) during our summer missions
emphasis weekend in June.
What the apostle Paul was doing, what Rev. Stanley is doing, and
what Pastor Marks and I are doing is equipping our hearers to …
II. Be Repentantly Prepared for the Resurrected Christ’s Righteous
Last-Day Judgment. (24-31)
24The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and
earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25nor is he served by human
hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind
life and breath and everything. 26And 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, 27that 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, 28for
“‘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.’
29Being 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. 30The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all
people everywhere to repent, 31because 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.”
The Reverend Mark Jeske stated in a devotion he wrote for July 20:
“One of the good things that God can make happen through our pain is to
deflate our arrogance and bring down our pride. All of us try so hard to be
in control of our lives: we save money, we accumulate power, we plan and
work—all to feel in control. Actually, it’s not such a bad thing to realize
how little we really control. We do need God—who is in control of all
things—and we need Him more than anything in the whole world.” (Mark Jeske
in Time of Grace: Daily Devotional Companion. Copyright © 2010 Time of
Grace Ministry & Published by Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO.
Page 215.) That’s just another way of explaining repentance—a turn from
self-dependence to depending on God.
You see, when the Holy Spirit convicts us by God’s Law of our
guilt-laden sinfulness and desperate need to be rescued, He then also
reassures and comforts us by the Gospel of redemption and reconciliation to
God. The heart and soul of that Gospel is that Christ “died for all, that
those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their
sake died and was raised.” (2 Cor 5:15 ESV) In truth, “the blood of Jesus
[God’s] Son cleanses us from all sin.” (John 1:7 ESV) We are declared holy
by God and therefore able to stand before Judge Jesus on the Last Day and
hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful
over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your
master.” (Matt 25:21 & 23 ESV) It’s the victory message of the Easter
Season Gradual, “Christ has risen from the dead. [God the Father] has
crowned him with glory and honor, He has given him dominion over the works
of his hands; he has put all things under his feet.” (adapt. from Matt.
28:7; Heb. 2:7; Ps. 8:6 ESV) It’s the message of triumph that we heard in
today’s Epistle Reading, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the
righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to
death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and
proclaimed to the spirits in prison … . Baptism, which corresponds to this,
now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to
God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has
gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities,
and powers having been subjected to him.” (1 Peter 3:18-19, 21-22 ESV) And,
it’s what Jesus Himself testified to in today’s Gospel Reading, “I will not
leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world
will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will
live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and
I in you.” (St. John 14:18-20 ESV)
In conclusion, therefore, as we observe another annual Memorial
Day, let’s realize that it’s not about the living but about the dead. It’s
not about the many American men and women who have defended local and global
peace and freedom but about those who gave their very lives doing so. For
them we thank God, beg His comfort and consolation on family and friends who
still mourn the deaths of loved ones who died in military service, and
commend all our soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and coast guard
personnel into God’s care for safety and protection as they serve to insure
peace and freedom at home and abroad.
But of even greater significance is the Son of God and Son of Man,
who fought against, was defeated by, and in His defeat He defeated His and
our archenemies sin, Satan, and death itself. So it is that we rejoice and
celebrate the fact that …
“The Resurrected Christ Reveals the Unknown God.”
As He did so some 2,000 plus years ago, so He continues to do so
in our lives today as we read and hear God’s Holy Word, reflect on our
Baptism into Christ, be uplifted by the declaration of sins forgiven, and
properly partake of our resurrected Savior’s body and blood in, with, and
under the sacramental elements of bread and wine. Through those precious
means of grace …
I. The Age-old Message About Christ and Christianity Rises Above New
Messages About False gods and Religions. (16-21) As that happens let us
continue praying what we prayed in today’s Collect, “by Your holy
inspiration grant that we may think those things that are right and by Your
merciful guiding accomplish them … .” The wonderful result is that, because
as today’s Introit declared, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to
my path” (Ps 119:105 ESV), we will …
II. Be Repentantly Prepared for the Resurrected Christ’s Righteous
Last-Day Judgment. (24-31)
God grant it all for the sake of Jesus Christ, His humble Son, our
holy Savior. [Amen.]
In the name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit.
[Amen.]
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