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September 2, 2012

An Audience of One - The Need to Worship

  • Acts 17:16-34
  • Pat Smith

“An Audience of One: The Need to Worship”

Acts 17:16-34

 

The title of Charles’ Mann’s National Geographic cover article caught my attention when I first saw it in June of last year. The title is, “Birth of Religion”. The sub-heading deftly summarizes a startling possibility being unearthed in a Turkish archaeological dig dating back 11,600 years ago. “We used to think agriculture gave rise to cities and later to writing, art, and religion. Now the world’s oldest temple suggests the urge to worship sparked civilization.” “The urge to worship” sparked civilization.”

 

Patrick Miller writes about this article in his blog called “Veritas”:

There are two logical conclusions. Either worship is part of our evolutionary make-up [as has been the operating hypothesis of anthropologists and archaeologists for years] . . . or humans were created by a worship-worthy being so that they could worship him.

 

Miller then calls attention to this cogent comparison by C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity:

Just because we experience hunger does not mean that we will find food to eat. However, hunger pains do suggest that there is such a thing as food. Just because we experience a longing to worship, does not mean that we will find the thing we are meant to worship. But it does suggest that such a thing (or person) does exist.

 

“A longing for worship”; it is a powerful phrase. For all people groups, from village family clans in South American jungles to the Macedonians of Alexander the Great, from modern European Serbs and Kenyan Zulus to ancient Mongolians and First People tribes in North America, history shows overwhelming evidence that every society no matter its size, place or time gravitates toward worship of something or someone.

 

Some years ago, Laura and I were part of a mission team that went to Peru to join in an amazing ministry beyond the Eastern slopes of the Andes. Before going to that area we took a few days to play the tourist around Cusco. One of the highlights was touring Machu-Picchu. I had to pinch myself. “I can’t believe I am here!” I thought over and over that day. Toward the end of our several hour guided tour, we came to perhaps the most important spot of all in the ruins. It is the spot called “Intihuatan”, meaning to the best guess, “hitching post of the sun”. As our guide told us about its perceived significance to the ancient Incas, we watched as two women haltingly, reverently, inched their way forward and placed their hands on the stone. We watched as they closed their eyes and raised their faces to the sky. Our guide quietly explained that this is one of the places on earth believed by some to be a point of energy where one can connect with the sacred life that pulsates through the earth. They had come there to worship.

 

The first chapter in Harold Best’s book, Unceasing Worship sounds grammatically misshapen but captures this “longing to worship” notion in a catchy way. The title of that first chapter is, “Nobody Does Not Worship”. Best writes, “. . . At this very moment, and for as long as this world endures, everybody inhabiting it is bowing down and serving something or someone—an artifact, a person, an institution, an idea, a spirit, or God through Christ. . . . No one is exempt and no one can wish to be. We are, every one of us, unceasing worshipers and will remain so forever . . . .” (page 17)

 

The various world religions reflect this longing to worship.  Jews go to the Western Wall in Jerusalem. Buddhists travel to a tree at Mahabodhit. Varanasiganga is a pilgrim site for Hindus. In Mecca, Muslims flock to the Kaaba. Stonehenge attracts self-proclaimed Pagans. Mormons go to the Temple in Salt Lake City and soon will come to Indianapolis with similar purpose. There are sacred places all over the world for adherents of any particular belief system to use to enhance their worship. Whatever spot signifies something larger than them, that place is a place of worship. Buildings, mountains, rocks, trees, forest glades all can be places of worship. There is an innate longing for worship. Places perceived as sacred figure largely in the life of all religions. But place is not the most important thing.

 

Jesus, who Christians believe to be the one true living God in human form, had a conversation one day that points to this reality. He sat at a well at the foot of Mt. Gerizim and had a conversation with a woman who was a Samaritan. Impressed deeply by Jesus, the woman concludes, “You are a prophet.” She then points up to the top of the mountain and says, “Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” Jesus’ reply nails his prophet status and trumps it with his response: “Believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. A time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” Place can be helpful, but it is not ultimately important. What is important according to Jesus is (1) the object of worship, and (2) the heart with which one worships.

 

In the Sixth Century B.C., a crushing sickness worked up out of Egypt across the sea to Greece. The people of Athens lost a quarter of their population over a couple of years. City leaders decided to call in a consultant. They were sure this devastating plague had come upon them because they had inadvertently offended a powerful deity. They desperately needed to make things right. No group was more sincere in their intent to worship the right god in the right way.

 

Their hired god-buster arrived. His name was Epimenides. He carefully considered their situation, and then told them what to do. He told them to take some ravenously hungry sheep to a certain hillside of the city. “Release them,” he said. “If after a few minutes any sheep uncharacteristically lies down rather than eats, you should take that as a sign from the god you have neglected that every such spot is sacred. Build an altar where any sheep lies, and sacrifice that sheep to this god. Then the god will be appeased and the plague will lift.” “What are we to call this god?” he was asked. “I don’t know. I suggest you dedicate each altar to him simply referring to him as the unknown god.”

 

As the story goes, they did exactly as Epimenides said. Several sheep lay down. Several altars were built. Each sheep was sacrificed to the unknown god. The plague lifted. Athens was saved. In their need the people of Athens sought out a god who needed to be worshiped and they came to worship with great sincerity. Their lives depended on it. I would guess that the Athenians came to the spots to genuinely worship for some time to come.

 

Fast forward five hundred years. Turn with me in your bibles to Acts chapter seventeen. Our text for the morning starts in verse sixteen. We pick up the story of the apostle Paul, a Jew who was very dedicated to the God of Israel. In time he also came to believe that Jesus, crucified as a criminal in Jerusalem, was the promised one of Israel. As we come to chapter seventeen, Paul has been sharing his message all over Asia Minor and in some cities of Macedonia and Greece. I’ll read starting in verse sixteen. Follow along. Remember, this is God’s holy word. [READ ACTS 17:16-34.] Every time we open the bible and read, God intends that we gain understanding by the power of his spirit. I pray this is true for each of us today.

 

The altars dedicated to the unknown god half a millennium earlier now number just one. One has survived as testimony to the heartfelt desire of Athenian ancestors to get it right, to cover their bases, to honor the right god in the right way at the right time. Sure, they had an end in mind; they wanted the plague that gripped their city to lift. But, isn’t that the story of every person’s desire to worship? In our hearts and with our hands and in our minds, we construct things or beings greater than ourselves and we pave the way to these “greater thans” with care so that life will be better. That’s why there were by this time hundreds of temples and altars all over Athens.

 

Then, Paul shows up. In verse seventeen, we are told he goes first to those who know or know of the one true God, the God of the Jews. He also steps beyond the synagogue into the marketplace to share with people there . Paul is eventually invited to speak to the council known as the Areopagus in verse nineteen. This council was made up of leading citizens. The opportunity to share with them was an important development.

 

What we have recorded for us of Paul’s message that day is remarkable. Not only is it the record of what this citizen council heard. It is also the key message to all people in all places related to what satisfies the innate longing all people have to worship. What Paul shares is the key for all people whether they consider themselves irreligious or adherents of Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism, Paganism, Mormonism or any belief system.

 

Please look at our text starting in verse twenty-two . You’ll see there are fourteen distinct points to his message. Paul says:

  1. 1.      There is a God who made everything
  2. 2.      He doesn’t live in temples
  3. 3.      He needs nothing religious from us
  4. 4.      He is the source of life
  5. 5.      He brought all people from one man
  6. 6.      He watched over humankind
  7. 7.      He has been near all the time
  8. 8.      He wants people to find him
  9. 9.      Many people have been aware  
  10. 10.   We want to make him like us
  11. 11.   He invites all people to repent
  12. 12.   He will justly assess all people
  13. 13.   Assessment is by Jesus
  14. 14.   The proof is in Jesus’ resurrection

 

In these words, Paul extends a gift to every person. It is the gift of the ages. The longing everyone has for something bigger, higher, something capable of gifting, providing, protecting is God-given. The one true living God wants the Athenians to find him, to quit running after all that is meaningless no matter what power or place they afford it. The Athenians are just like all people of the world in every time and place. All other belief systems are either watered down vestiges of what was once known about the one true God or are purely of human invention, fabrications for personal gain.

 

Then there are those of us who call ourselves Christians. We may well have settled for the mere shadow of what is real. We take Paul’s clear proclamation and confine it, stuffing God into our own comfortable parameters. We whittle him down to manageable size. Or we take him from his rightful place of worship, and we put other things in his place. We take work and give it ultimate prominence. We take a person and live fully for him or her. We take a goal and live to serve that end. We clutter our lives with so many “goods” and elevate some of these to “greatest”. We live around “we” and the works of our hands and minds and hearts. And we neglect to yield to just one god, the God fully revealed in the bible and in Jesus of Nazareth.

 

Do you remember my reference earlier to C. S. Lewis’ comparison of food and worship?

 Just because we experience hunger does not mean that we will find food to eat. However, hunger pains do suggest that there is such a thing as food. Just because we experience a longing to worship, does not mean that we will find the thing we are meant to worship. But it does suggest that such a thing (or person) does exist.

 

The full story of the bible can be understood to be a worship book with the same outline as Paul’s message to the Athenian’s. It starts with the macro of all creation. It then moves to a many god worshiper named Abram who is chosen by God to be the conduit of the truth about the one true God, about us and about what God wants to do through us. Abram’s people, Israel, are called, set apart and preserved so they will tell the world about God so all people will worship him. The impact on the world was drastically truncated because the messengers failed to truly worship him. Then, God steps in through his son, Jesus. Jesus and the message are almost obliterated. But, Peter stands up after Jesus’ resurrection and announces to people from all points of the compass that Jesus was the messiah after all. And the message of the resurrected rescuer is turned loose for all to hear just as it was intended by God all along. It made it to the streets of Athens. It made it to the streets of greater Indianapolis.

This is the good news that the worship longing world needs today. All people were created for worship. We long for it. We find our right place when we worship the God of the bible through Jesus. Consider who or what you worship. What has primary allegiance for you? Give an honest look at what you hold as most dear. What or who do you serve ultimately? Strip it all away. Ask God to help you clear the deck. Turn your heart to true worship of God, Father, Son and Spirit. Your longing for worship will be finally satisfied by, in and through Jesus the Messiah, God with us.