The Unknown God
Sermon notes for “The Unknown God,” preached by Pastor Andy George at Crossroads Fellowship. Acts 17:16-34 explores the God who makes himself known as Creator, Provider, Ruler, Savior, and Judge.
Worship and dependence
The service opens by praising God's greatness, the power of Jesus' name, and the hope of resurrection.
God is great at our lowest points and on the mountain peak. As we await Christ's return, we are called to be ready and share his good news.
Our worship expresses our dependence on him for daily life, strength, and eternal life.
Drawing closer to God
Missions Pastor John Fry encourages the church to take practical steps toward knowing God through connection, prayer, groups, and local and global service.
Giving is more than fundraising. It is an act of trust and worship. As we give, our hearts move toward what we support. Everything we have already belongs to God.
Opening prayer
Father, thank you that you are not distant or silent, but present and powerful. Open our eyes to your Spirit at work and prepare our hearts to receive your truth.
Shape us into a church that acts more like Jesus, listens well, loves generously, and shows up regularly in our neighborhoods. Let our study of Acts lead us toward action.
17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and God-fearing Gentiles, and in the marketplace with those he met each day.
18 Some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others said, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was proclaiming the good news of Jesus and the resurrection.
19 So they took Paul and brought him to the Areopagus, where they asked him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?
20 For you are bringing some strange notions to our ears, and we want to know what they mean.”
21 Now all the Athenians and foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing more than hearing and articulating new ideas.
22 Then Paul stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I see that in every way you are very religious.
23 For as I walked around and examined your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore what you worship as something unknown, I now proclaim to you.
24 The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples made by human hands.
25 Nor is He served by human hands, as if He needed anything, because He Himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.
26 From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their lands.
27 God intended that they would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.
28 ‘For in Him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are His offspring.’
29 Therefore, being offspring of God, we should not think that the Divine Being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by man’s skill and imagination.
30 Although God overlooked the ignorance of earlier times, He now commands all people everywhere to repent.
31 For He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the Man He has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead.”
32 When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some began to mock him, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this topic.”
33 At that, Paul left the Areopagus.
34 But some joined him and believed, including Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others who were with them.
What are we searching for?
Sometimes we search for something small, like shoes that have disappeared in a house full of children. Other times, we search for the right job, relationship, routine, or balance between life and work.
We keep thinking that if we can organize one more part of life, get ahead financially, or gain a little more control, we will finally feel settled.
These questions are not new: What gives life meaning? How do we find peace? How do we make sense of suffering? Is there a God, and what is he like?
Paul arrives in Athens
Athens remained an influential center of ideas, philosophy, religion, and debate. Its people were trying to make sense of the world.
Paul was not impressed by the city's idols. He was deeply troubled to see people created to know God giving themselves to things that could not save them.
Conviction and compassion
Paul sees clearly, cares deeply, and speaks truthfully. His distress moves him toward people, not away from them. He reasons in the synagogue and speaks with people in the marketplace.
We can become angry without compassion or accepting without conviction. Paul does neither. He does not dismiss people, and he does not avoid telling them the truth.
Two answers to the good life
Paul's conversations bring him to the Areopagus, also known as Mars Hill, where people discussed philosophy, religion, and public life.
He encounters two major schools of thought: the Epicureans and the Stoics. Both offer answers to the human condition, but neither begins with our need for a Savior.
The Epicurean answer
The Epicureans believed the gods might exist but were distant and uninvolved in ordinary human life.
Their goal was tranquility: sufficient food, a comfortable home, peaceful relationships, good friends, and freedom from unnecessary distress.
Peace, friendship, and contentment are good. But their answer falls short: arrange your life well enough, and you can find peace.
The Stoic answer
The Stoics believed the universe operated according to a rational order, which they called the logos. People would flourish by aligning themselves with that order.
They emphasized reason, discipline, and self-control. Experience emotion, but do not let emotion or circumstances master you.
Wisdom and self-control matter, but their answer also falls short: master yourself well enough, and you can find the good life.
Ancient ideas, familiar promises
We still hear these voices today:
- Build a life where nothing disturbs your peace.
- Find enough comfort, security, and enjoyable experiences.
- Become strong, disciplined, and mentally tough enough that nothing can control you.
Comfort can make life easier, but it does not make us whole. Self-control can shape our behavior, but it cannot save our souls.
Our deepest problem is not that we lack the right philosophy. We are alienated from God and need to be reconciled to him.
23 For as I walked around and examined your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore what you worship as something unknown, I now proclaim to you.
An altar to the unknown God
Paul begins where the Athenians are. Their altar admits that, despite their many gods and ideas, there may be something they have missed.
The altar does not show that they already understand God. It exposes the limits of their understanding.
Paul is not adding another god to their collection. He is proclaiming the God they have failed to identify, who is fundamentally different from everything else they worship.
God is Creator
God made everything. He is not part of creation, one spiritual being among many, or the god of one city, people, or part of life. He is Lord of heaven and earth.
He is neither distant and disconnected nor an impersonal force contained within creation. Creation depends on him; he does not depend on creation.
God does not fit into our world. We fit inside his. He is not one category alongside our plans and priorities. The Creator defines reality.
25 Nor is He served by human hands, as if He needed anything, because He Himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.
God is Provider
The Athenians' religious instinct was transactional: offer sacrifices, build temples, and perform rituals so the gods will give something in return.
Paul reverses that picture. God does not need us to sustain him. He gives us life, breath, and everything.
We do not sustain God. God sustains us. Every breath, ability, resource, and good thing ultimately comes from him.
Obedience is not a transaction
We can think that if we serve, give, pray, behave, or make the right choices, God will owe us the outcome we want.
But God is never in our debt.
Christian obedience is not our way of buying God's favor. It is our response to the God who has already given us everything.
God is Ruler
No nation exists because its people are inherently superior. God created the nations, determines their times, and establishes their boundaries.
Kings rise, empires fall, cultures change, and nations emerge and disappear. God remains ruler over it all.
His authority over history does not make him impersonal or inaccessible.
29 Therefore, being offspring of God, we should not think that the Divine Being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by man’s skill and imagination.
Above us and near to us
The God who rules over nations is also near to people. Every moment of our existence depends on him.
Paul uses the Athenians' own poets to point them toward this truth: we owe our existence to God. We cannot reduce him to gold, silver, stone, or something shaped by our imagination. We cannot create the Creator.
God is sovereign over nations and knows individuals by name. He rules history and sees us. Even when we do not understand what he is doing, he is not absent.
31 For He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the Man He has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead.”
God is Savior and Judge
Paul does not leave God as an interesting idea. God commands all people everywhere to repent and has appointed a day of righteous judgment.
The God who created and sustains us has authority over us. The God who rules history will bring history to judgment.
Paul points to Jesus' resurrection as God's assurance. Jesus lived, died, and rose again. Because he is alive, humanity must respond.
The resurrection changes everything
Christianity is not merely another philosophy or a strategy for a successful life. It rests on the reality of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection.
Without the resurrection, preaching and faith would be empty, and hope limited to this life would leave Christians most to be pitied.
Paul is announcing a King, a Savior, and a Judge. Jesus is not simply an idea to consider. He is the risen King we must respond to.
Our own altars
We can acknowledge God enough to feel spiritual while trusting something else to save us.
- Comfort: If I arrange my life well enough, I will be okay.
- Control: If I am strong, disciplined, and prepared enough, nothing will shake me.
- Morality: If I am a good enough person, surely God will accept me.
- Religion: If I attend, serve, give, and know enough, surely that counts for something.
Different altars, all carrying the same hope: maybe this can save me.
What only Jesus can do
We cannot manage ourselves into salvation. None of our strategies can reconcile us to God. Our deepest problem is alienation from him because of sin.
God has not remained unknown. He has come near and made himself known in Jesus Christ. Jesus did not come simply to give us another philosophy. He came to save us.
What have we been trusting to do for us what only Jesus can do?
From acknowledgment to surrender
We may believe in God, attend church, and know things about him while still trusting ourselves to save ourselves.
Jesus calls us beyond acknowledgment to trust, repentance, and surrender. He offers grace we could never earn and salvation we could never accomplish for ourselves.
Have we settled for acknowledging God when he is calling us to know him?
A prayer of surrender
God, I know that I have lived apart from you. I have made it about me and not about you.
I have wanted ideas, philosophies, or other things to save me. This morning I recognize that you alone are sufficient.
Would you save me from myself and welcome me as a son or daughter?
What altar needs to come down?
For those who have followed Jesus for years, the response may be recognizing where trust has shifted toward comfort, control, success, morality, or religion.
An idol takes something that may be good and asks it to carry the weight of being our God. Eventually, every counterfeit gospel makes a promise it cannot keep.
What have I been asking to give me life? What do I need to lay down and say, “Jesus, you alone are my Savior”?
Responding in prayer and worship
The invitation is to receive prayer, surrender to Christ, or lay down what has taken his place. Coming forward does not save us. It can be a physical acknowledgment of the work God has already begun in our hearts.
We do not need perfect words. We can come with open hands: “Jesus, I don't want the counterfeit anymore. I want you.”
The closing worship asks Jesus to be the center of it all, with our whole lives lived for his glory and our stories telling his story.
25 may the LORD cause His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
26 may the LORD lift up His countenance toward you and give you peace.’
