The easiest way to quench our pride and arrogance is, ‘make’ God unknown. We define it. And hence we rule over it. Make ‘it’ an energy, a force, a thing, an idea! And thereby ‘Use’ that force to meet all our needs. Thats it. Thats what we have reduced God to, so that, all can be happy with that definition and there is universal friendship and secularism because WE DON’T KNOW WHAT WE WORSHIP!
So the pride filled man can ignore sin, ignore wrath of God, wriggle out of the need to surrender to Him, Obey Him, Glorify Him, WORSHIP HIM. You need only answer to a person not to an energy! Easy way out!
The following extract from the Book of Acts (17:19-33) depicts how humans behaved 2000 years back and sadly have not changed in any way from that time till today:
19Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?
- God is immutable-there was and is nothing new in Him. Jesus Christ is the same in the past, now and forever…thats why when asked for His name, God replied- I AM WHO I AM. Paul preaching Christ was not hard to understand but difficult to accept.
20You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean.” 21(All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)
- The best way to negate God is to debate endlessly, to develop a million theories about it/Him, and drown Him in the chaos so he is lost in the confusion and the commotion. There are none who do it better than the ones who, in the name of religion ( often so called ‘Christians’) lead us out of Christ using his very words – all twisted and contorted and made for the masses! We want to conform God to be pleasing to every one…instead of everyone pleasing an unchanging God. God got reduced to a communal pleasantry.
22Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious.
- If Paul stood up today in any church, mosque, temple, synagogue, gig, party, rock show, business launch, Oscar awards, Grammy awards, Noble prize awards ; you name it, he would only repeat the same. We are prisoners to ‘ our idols’ ‘our religion’ ‘our cravings’. We define God and Good by our viewpoint of what’s right and the best that meets each and every one of our comfort zone and then worship that in the name of ‘RELIGION’. In truth, if there is one thing that Killed God- thats religion. That was Satan’s marvellous and effective plan!
23For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—
- Like the last nail on the coffin, like the epithet that’s written on the gravestone, this was the sign of victory to the Devil- TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Nothing made it more clear and more emphatic about the pride and arrogance of Man. By making God unknown they found a way to dilute it/him to anything they wanted. There was no more an absolute truth. The truth was what you wanted it to be and hence it was the one with the most votes, most consensus, most appealing, most popular, most non-controversial, most easy to explain, most secular- And, the one thing which appeals ‘MOST’ to all of these is ‘ME’. Make ‘ME’ the centre of all things and God becomes an instant Hit. You suddenly see God as your makeup, as your sports car, as your share price, as your gold medal, as your purse, as your Michelin star dinner, as your music band, as your sex, as your drugs, as your drinks – as anything you say is good and makes you happy. Period. Our way to happiness has become our way to GOD. And no one can argue or object to that mass hysteria. If you did, you must be out of your mind and possibly a lunatic. No wonder they branded Christ as a lunatic. Search happiness and you are searching God; this has become the new age ‘mantra’.
24 and this is what I am going to proclaim to you. “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands.
- God is sovereign over this entire universe and it is that same God who lives in us, not in temples made of stone or wood. He is a personal God and we are made in His image. He gives Life
25And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.
- God is sovereign and needs nothing from us. In fact, you cant give him anything as there is nothing you have, that you didn’t receive from Him. This very life you have is His gift and in His mercy you take every breath. He is Life and not some mere law of physics or a chemical in a test tube.
26From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.
- This universe and the humanity with in it, is His creation. He is in total and decisive control of all things within it. His providence is by design and not a random occurrence or a statistical probability. To Him there is no time. He is ever present.
27God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
- We try to find Him in many places although he is always near us. He dwells in us when we believe in Him. We are made His children with the new birth by the Spirit. Each one of us when in God clearly knows and feels the presence of God within us. He is not a mere emotion or a feeling but a real person to whom we converse, commune and coexist.
29“Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill.
- God detests in idol worship. for what stone or wood or metal has soul and spirit. Our God is a living and loving God. You can not capture and lock him in a statue or stone and no image can be as perfect as Him.
30In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.
- With the first coming of Jesus Christ and the introduction of a new covenant with God, He has written his commandments in our hearts. He expects nothing but perfection and in Christ He has made the provision for that sinless salvation by justification through His blood. He has given no other alternative – for He declared that He is the way, the life, the light- the Only way to God.
31For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”
- Christ crucified and Christ risen is the Gospel of salvation. Christ became man and died a death on the cross as a substitute for our sins. He redeemed us with His blood. Those who believe that will be set free. The second coming of Christ will be to establish his Kingdom and judgement will be delivered.
32When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” 33At that, Paul left the Council.
- Man’s pride and arrogance finds it hard to accept a salvation that is free. Nothing for us to do other than to believe means, it is not in your control. Christ crucified is both a stumbling stone and foolishness for those who cant accept Him, but for those who believe it is the gift of eternal Life.
34Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed.
- Broad is the Highway to destruction and many take it, narrow is the path to eternal life and few find it. We believe because of His grace and effectual calling. Those whom he predestined He calls. And those whom He calls He justifies.
