LOOK AND LIVE

While strolling through Athens, Greece, Paul came across an altar with an inscription on it that read,  "TO AN UNKNOWN GOD" (Acts 17:23).  He was already “distressed to see that the city was full of idols” (vs. 16), and this inscription added to the distress but also gave him an opportunity to share Jesus with the philosophers who had gathered. 

           

They called on him to share the faith that he had been claiming, something that was new to them.  They asked, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean” (vs. 19-20). 

           

Paul used the inscription “To an unknown God,” as his point of entry to share with them the good news of Jesus.  He shared that the “unknown God” of the altar was in fact known, that He was present in the person of Jesus, and that Jesus’ credential were established when He was raised from the dead.  He told them that in Jesus God was inviting people to “seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him” (vs. 27).   Then Paul said this very powerful thing about God.  He said that God “is not far from any one of us” (vs. 27).

           

Paul takes us from an unknown God to the God who is not far from any one of us.  We believe God is here, that our lives are being encountered by His amazing grace.  God is not absent.  He is present.   God is not unknown.  If you want to know what God looks like, take a long, long, look at Jesus. Tear down any altars or idols that distracts from Jesus, and come into His resurrection. 

Look and live.