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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
But when the Jews in Thessalonica learned that Paul was preaching the word of God at Berea, some of them went there too, agitating the crowds and stirring them up. The believers immediately sent Paul to the coast, but Silas and Timothy stayed at Berea. Those who escorted Paul brought him to Athens and then left with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible.
While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.”
They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.
Acts 17:13-18
This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
As Moses stood on Mount Sinai, God provided him ten fundamental commandments that He expected His people would follow. They included the following:
“You shall have no other gods before Me.”
“You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me.” Exodus 20:3-5
The bottom line was that God and God alone, the Maker and Master of everything in creation, was to be worshiped. Period.
So why did God issue the commands?
Because He knew His chosen people were sinners at their core and that there would be more than a few temptations that would seek to pull them away from being loyal to their Lord, especially when it came to worship. His concerns were well founded for we read all over the scriptures, and then have observed throughout history to this very day, how God’s people have willingly chose to turn away from God and give their allegiance to things of the world. This is nothing short of idolism and it’s an incredibly dangerous place to be because it places a person at odds with God.
At its most base level, an idol is defined as an object of extreme devotion and to worship something or somebody outside of God is flat-out idolism.
As we turn to our scripture passage for today, we find problems arise in Berea, just as they did for the apostles in Thessalonica. This is because the same Jews who stirred up trouble for Paul and the others had decided to follow the Gospel-sharing men to Berea and repeat their actions there, actions which included “agitating the crowds and stirring them up”. The atmosphere quickly escalated to a point of concern for the Berean Christians and it’s obvious that a majority of the focus was on Paul for he was the only one sent away to Athens. We read where “Silas and Timothy stayed at Berea” and were instructed to join Paul “as soon as possible”.
And so once again, Paul found himself in a foreign place, one he quickly discovered was steeped in polytheistic religious practices. For when Paul walked through the city, he saw where it was full of idols and quickly sought an audience in the synagogue to express the reason for his distress. The people of Athens were placing themselves squarely in the crosshairs of God’s judgment, something that happens to anyone who chooses to give their full devotion to anyone or anything except Him.
After all, didn’t God warn that He was a jealous God?
Back to the scriptures where we find Paul reasoning with “both Jews and God-fearing Greeks” not just in the synagogue but also “in the marketplace day by day”. He wanted everyone to know about the sinfulness that was happening whether they worshiped God or not.
Well, Paul’s words caught the ear of a “group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers” who entered into a debate with the apostle. We read where they asked a couple of questions:
“What is this babbler trying to say?”
and
“He seems to be advocating foreign gods.”
When a person who holds a certain belief is presented with a new way to believe, you often find a lot of resistance because it’s human nature to be adverse to change. The normal person likes routine and structure.
And so as Paul preached “the good news about Jesus and the resurrection”, it was all new to his listeners who held radically different beliefs than what Paul was proposing. They viewed him as a babbler and one who was advocating foreign gods, foreign because they weren’t familiar with them.
This is the danger attached to idolism. We become so accustomed to worshiping the wrong things that we are unable to accept what we should be giving our full devotion to. Our sinful beliefs serve to blind us from the truth and lead us down the road of destruction and demands at the hands of a jealous and angry God, the road of destruction that many people in Athens were traveling on.
All this challenges us with two simple questions:
What do you worship?
and
Do you give reverence to the things of the world or to the One who created those things?
The idols may have changed over the past 2,000 years or so but what hasn’t changed is God’s hatred for idolism and anyone who chooses to practice it.
Do yourself a favor and give God your undivided loyalty and dedication. You’ll never regret it.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
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