Idols in our midst…
Today we are reading from the book of Acts chapter 17, where Paul was waiting for Silas and Timotheus in Athens.
Paul addresses the Athenians in verse 22 saying that in all things they are too superstitions. The state of the Athenians is revealed in just a few verses before, to which in modern day we would describe as that they suffered from something called ‘FOMO’ – the fear of missing out.
Acts 17:20-21
For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears: we would know therefore what these things mean (For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing.)
They were chasing one doctrine after the other and Paul came and taught something they haven’t heard before, immediately they were interested and had to know more. Where ever there was something new to be heard, they wanted to be the ones doing so. Scripture state that they spent their time on nothing else but chase after whatever is new and causes uproar.
Now, in Acts 17:16 we read that while Paul waited his spirit was stirred within him and the sole reason being because the city was entirely given over to idols. It’s no wonder since the people were ever chasing whatever comes to ear!
Acts 17:16
Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry.
If we look to the meaning of ‘stir’, it can be explained as the following according to the Greek:
παροξύνω paroxýnō, par-ox-oo’-no; from G3844 and a derivative of G3691; to sharpen alongside, i.e. (figuratively) to exasperate:—easily provoke, stir.
The word ‘stirred’ in the above-mentioned context is used in Biblical outlines as: to make sharp, stimulate, spur on, urge, irritate, provoke, arouse anger, to scorn and to despise.
From this we can deduce that Paul was troubled by what he was seeing around him, he was disturbed and upset within his spirit! Rightly so! The people weren’t realizing what they were busy with, they didn’t know the truth! So, as Paul was accustomed to he starting ministering among the people, knowing he had to do something about the wickedness of this city! He went to the synagogues, committed in giving the truth to the Jews, the devout people, he even went to the market to share sound doctrine with the people he met there!
As Paul was disputing among the people, we read that certain philosophers encountered him. Hearing what Paul was teaching they made him out to be a babbler, thinking he is crazy in speaking such foolish things! Yet, they took Paul in order to know more about this new doctrine, possibly again in fear of missing out on the new teaching going around the city.
As read in Acts 17, we can derive that religion had a major role in the lives of the people. If the entire city was given over to idols, it obviously was something that was important for them, if devoting so much time in pursuing it. Yet, they had images of people and statues to look to. Something beside themselves for wealth, for protection, for blessing and favor! They looked to a system of rules and emptiness which promises falsely to change the outside of the person, yet fails to change the inside! Something that is dead and without power or salvation.
Being taken, Paul used the opportunity to give the people the truth, to tell them about the one and only God – Jesus Christ!
Acts 17:22-23
Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, To The Unknown God. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, Him declare I unto you.
Paul shares that the God which they are ignorantly calling unknown, is knowable! Using the platform he was given to disclose the truth to them as revealed to us also through Scripture and the Holy Spirit!
He starts off separating God from the profanity they falsely made Him out to be. Declaring that God isn’t like the idols needing anything (sacrificed foods for example) from humans – He is GOD! He doesn’t need anything. He cannot be contained by human hands or things built by the hands of man such as temples and statues, as the idols they are worshipping (v. 29).
The fact that they were worshipping idols, statues, things built by human hands – gave them a sense of control. Something they can have command over, have control over; they formed and created it by their own doing and in doing so, they want a spiritual connection to something that they can worship yet, within the confines of what they feel comfortable with!
This is something people of today can identify with all too easily – the only thing differing is the shape and form of the idol. Pride? Money? Lust? Prosperity? The chasing after vanity or teachings that makes you feel comfortable in your sin? Social media? The size and beauty of your house, the type of car you are driving? Unforgiveness towards someone that hurt you? Doctrines contrary to the Word of God?
Anything that we place above God or fail to set before the feet of Jesus in submission in order to be more and more in alignment with His Word and His Spirit is an idol! It’s something we value (worship) more than valuing God and His Word!
Paul continues in verse 27 explaining that the Lord is not afar off, He doesn’t hide Himself. If we seek Him with sincerity He will reveal Himself and we will find Him! In verse 29; we are His creation, we are His! In verse 30; Paul witnesses to God’s patience with mankind, yet states that God commands men to repentance!
1 Timothy 2:3-5
For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
2 Chronicles 7:14
If My people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
Jesus is coming again and idolatry will be judged. It is merely pride and ignorance using your imagination to worship God in such a way that is contrary to which He revealed Himself to be through His Word!
I want to ask the following questions and I pray that you will truly think them over, with honesty and sincerity:
1. Do you have idolatry in your life? Our ‘stuff’ can easily become an idol in our lives if we don’t remain vigilant against it. How you interact with your stuff, I’m referring to possessions or money for example, reveals the state of relationship you have with God. God loves a cheerful giver and generosity in a Christian is the mark of a heart that is trusting God. ‘Stuff’ can also be frustrations, irritations, culture or traditions set by families in which you refuse to conform to the Word of God. Pray that the Holy Spirit will reveal to you if there are any areas in your life to which you have not yet given over full control to Jesus. If you are relating to God in your quiet time on your terms, reading the Word of God with your own interpretations to suit your needs – it is something to lay before the Lord and to repent of.
2. In what ways are you trying to manage God, containing Him? Controlling and confining Him only to a certain place and box in your life? Evading certain areas in your life, pleasures or even hurts and sorrows in which you wish to remain in control and not allowing to God to take full control and have His work in you?
Understand, that we can never control or manage God, but God has given us free will and we can limit, by choice, the work of the Holy Spirit in us and thereby also limiting our growth in Jesus Christ and in the Word of God!
If you refuse to forgive someone because it hurts too much, it is something you are placing above God’s command and God’s Word. Also, it’s an area in your life that you are placing a box over, hiding it away and not allowing God’s healing to work in you.
3. Are you using God to evade God? By this I mean, are you worshiping God with your mouth but not with your heart? Hiding behind good works and things that might sound pleasing, sound according to the Word of God, yet it’s all for show and you haven’t truly given your life to Jesus through repentance, faith, baptism and living a Godly life?
Matthew 15:7-9
Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto Me with their mouth, and honoureth Me with their lips; but their heart is far from Me. But in vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
I pray that you’ll realize time is too short to waste to stand in enmity against God, repent while you have the chance to do so and live a life that is in right standing before the Lord.
Isaiah 55:6
Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near.
5. Is your spirit distressed by all the idols around you? Are the hidden idols in your life distressing you? Or are you numb for it all?
If your answer is yes to the above, I want to ask the next question:
6. Have you really said ‘Yes’ to Jesus? If we are truly standing in the salvation of Christ we will be stirred by what is going on around us and, just like Paul, DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! Not only so, but also realize that you are standing in disobedience if you haven’t laid everything down before God.
May we take this study today and truly do reflection in our own lives to identify anything and everything we value (worship) more than valuing God and His Word! Repent and flee from the idols in your life and that which is not of God, lay at the feet of Jesus that which you are holding onto and hiding in your life, and earnestly seek God while He can be found. Set aside the idols in your life, the pride and ignorance which separates you from the Lord and commit to living a life faithfully to Jesus Christ alone, helping others along the way to do the same – in truth and in love, guided by the Holy Spirit, founded upon the Word of God.
Lord, I pray and ask for forgiveness for all the times I placed ‘stuff’ above you, I ask for forgiveness for all the times I haven’t set you first in my life. Please help me to identify any areas in my life that I haven’t fully given over to you, or where I haven’t yet fully conformed to Your Word. I repent of these idols in my life Jesus and ask, that in humility I will be led by your Holy Spirit and Your Word to act in accordance to Your calling and worship You faithfully with all my heart and all my life, loving You solely above all! Lord, I pray for sensitive eyes for the needs in the people’s hearts around me, for a heart that is grieved by sin and for those that haven’t come to salvation. Please strengthen me with courage, boldness and wisdom to do something about it and to teach them about You! I pray this in the name of Jesus, amen.
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