Embedded Files
Want news and deals?
CLOUDED
When Paul was going through Athens, he spent time examining the objects of the Athenians’ worship. In Acts 17:23, he told them, “I also found an altar with this inscription, ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you.”
These people had been worshiping gods, and in some sense, acknowledging the true God, without any real knowledge of who these gods were. Why were they so ignorant? They had not received any messages from these gods. Poking fun at the idea of worshiping statues, Jeremiah records:
Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field are they,
And they cannot speak;
They must be carried,
Because they cannot walk!
Do not fear them,
For they can do no harm,
Nor can they do any good. Jeremiah 10:5
A god who cannot speak is useless. However, we serve a God whose voice has gone out into the whole world. Paul commended the Christians in Thessalonica:
For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith toward God has gone forth, so that we have no need to say anything. 1 Thessalonians 1:8
Before the end of the first century, the gospel “was proclaimed in all creation under heaven” (Colossians 1:23). Among those who heard the gospel in the first century, a large part were those who had been previously “led astray to the mute idols” (1 Corinthians 12:2). What a refreshing proclamation it would have been: “Your whole life, you have worshiped so-called gods who do not speak. I proclaim to you a God who has spoken since the beginning!”
When the death and resurrection of Jesus was first proclaimed in Acts 2, it was delivered through the gift of tongues. The people who heard this preaching were amazed that they heard the mighty deeds of God being proclaimed in their “own language to which [they] were born” (Acts 2:8).
Not only did God want the gospel proclaimed, but He also went to miraculous measures in the first century so people could hear the gospel in their own dialect.
Today, we have so much technology at our disposal. The gospel can easily be delivered across the world through a couple of keystrokes or taps on a screen. The gospel has been translated into hundreds of languages. We must be busy teaching our neighbors—both next door and on the other side of the world.
Discussion Question: What value might an idol worshiper see when first learning about a God who speaks?
Scripture quotations are taken from the NASB. Copyright by The Lockman Foundation
Google Sites
Report abuse