Acts 17:22-23
Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.”
Anthropologists who study this sort of thing tell us that one of the ways they determine whether a particular archeological site contains evidence of human life is the presence of what can be called “objects of worship.” If scientists find remnants of what might have been idols or altars they can safely conclude that these items were created by human beings for only human beings create objects of worship.
That makes wonder what anthropologists in the future, say in the year 4013, might think when they dig around in the artifacts we leave behind.
Will they unearth thousands of 21st century North American homes and notice how there is at least one room in every home where the chairs and couches are oriented toward one wall and conclude that there must have been some kind of sacred shrine or idol on that wall? When they discover remnants of millions of flat-screen TVs will they conclude that those glowing screens must have cast some kind of sacred images to be worshiped in each home?
Will they find evidence of ancient grills and conclude that each family offered burnt sacrifices on their patios and decks?
Will they excavate hundreds of cavernous stadia scattered throughout the urban ruins and conclude they were used for the observance of sacred ritual sacrifices of animals?
In the Book of Acts, Paul visits the great city of Athens and observes the pagan worship practices of the Athenians.
Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.” Acts 17:22-23
If worship can be defined as offering extravagant devotion to someone or something, then it is clear that human beings were created to worship. We can’t help worshiping any more than we can help breathing air! The only question is who, or what, we worship!
Pastor Tim Keller writes:
At our deepest level, we were created for worship. But this instinct has gone awry…Sin has caused our affections to stray, propelling us to worship relationships, achievement, work-everything but God…We obsess about those things, comfort ourselves with them, fantasize about them. Biblically speaking, those things are idols…The gospel moves our affections from the idols of this world and directs our devotion to God through Jesus Christ.
The church, therefore, exists to make God known and to call people to shift their worship from the idols of this world to the God who created them and saves them through Jesus Christ.
I like to imagine that when those future anthropologists and archeologists are digging up remnants of our culture 2000 years from now they will find the toppled West Campus steeple-tower and wonder, “Who or what did these people worship? Whoever or whatever it was, they must have been quite devoted!”
As human beings we were created to worship and we are capable of offering our worship, our extravagant devotion, to all kinds of objects, people and pursuits.
But we need to understand that the things we are devoted to become our gods and our gods determine our priorities, our behavior, and, ultimately, our eternal destiny.
So take some time to reflect deeply and honestly on these questions: Toward what object, pursuit or person(s) am I most extravagantly devoted? What is the evidence of that devotion?
Pastor Brian Coffey
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